A mental War

"What an insane first rally of the third set! This is getting interesting!" 

Suddenly, a loud buzzer echoes.

"Oh, what's this? Mateo Santos is being subbed out for rookie setter, Luca Menendez, what's Coach Ramirez planning?"

Mateo walks off the court, not angry or sad, but stern. He looks down at Luca and nods.

"You can do this kid, show em' what you showed us back in training" Luca gulps and nods. Walking onto the court where all eyes fell on him.

The whistle blows as Kurai tosses the ball high. Exhaling and jumping forward, warping the ball in his hands as it appears over the net. Diego held his breath and brought the ball up.

"HAAA!!" Luca rushes to the net and his eyes follow the ball, the entire court behind him inflamed in strength, Kurai, Sean, Kyle, Max, Hector… that other dude. Luca closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. 'I am Luca Menendez the Chameleon… no Kurai Vlast, the Emperor of the Court' Luca jumps up to set the ball. He glances around as all the information fills his mind. 'Mateo tended to set to the right quite a lot while he was on the court… so they're expecting me to go to the left? Huh, funny' 

Kurai's eye glow. 'If this were a normal game, we'd be used to the old setter, so a new one comes in to throw off our balance by changing the setting style… but this guy radiates intelligence, he'll probably set the same way Mateo did to make it more abrupt when he switches to a different style later!' 

Luca quickly jumps and sets the ball to the right. Hector ran up to the net and jumped to spike.

"No blockers-" Suddenly, a massive wall appears. Hector hits the ball past the block, but it suddenly shifts and slams the ball on the court behind Hector. Kurai landed, having blocked him. Luca clenches his teeth with a smirk. 'No wonder they're called the Monster generation!'

The whistle blows again as Kurai floats the ball just in front of the net. Diego rushing over to bring it up.

"It's low!" Luca grits his teeth and bends down on one knee. 'My move last rally was too predictable, fine then, I'll do this!' Kurai watches with focus. 'He's setting from the ground, the exact same way I set the ball during the first set' The ball goes into the air, flying to the right of the net. Kurai's eyes instantly followed the ball and before anything could happen, he'd blocked the ball. The arena shook.

"An insane block by Kurai Vlast, but the rally ain't over!!" The ball flew over Hectors head and almost out of bounds as he turned and dove for the ball. 

"Come on, so close!" Suddenly, Diego appears and punches the ball back into the air, tumbling and rolling on the ground. Luca jumps up to set as he exhales. 'Kurai has been reading me flawlessly ever since I stepped on this court… So maybe' Luca spins a slight bit and prepares to set the ball. The ball suddenly appears on the court beside Kurai. Kurai smirks at Luca who had copied his setter dump from the start of the game. USA 2-1 Arg. The arena goes silent for a moment before violently shaking in the cheers and roars of the crowd. Kurai smirking and Luca returning the smile.

Coach Copley stood off to the side with his arms crossed and a confident smirk.

"A mental war between a puppeteer master setter and The Chameleon Setter"

A massive metaphorical hand outstretched over one side of the court as a Chameleon hisses from the other side.

A whistle blows and hector tosses the ball, flying forward and slamming it over the net. Luca exhales. 'Kurai Vlast… he's a player who uses high speed information processing to change the game how he wants it to go…' Kurai sets the ball and Sean slams it past the block and onto the court. USA 3-1 Arg. Diego walking over to Luca.

"Hey man, what's up, you seem out of it" Luca glances at Diego, his eyes glowing as chills shoot down Diego's spine. Luca looking across the net at Kurai.

"I finally understand it… so that's how he manipulates the game?" Diego steps back slightly as Luca smirks. Covering his mouth.

"Time to manipulate the manipulator"

Kurai stands at the back of the court as Sean prepares to serve. 'This kids adaptability is off the charts… he can copy anything and make it his own…' Kurai's eyes start glowing as he calmly exhales. The entire arena, except for the court and players, turns into a white void as Kurai thinks.

'Given how he's taken advantage of techniques I used from the first set and now he's using them against me, his strategy might just evolve for this next rally… he'll probably break down how I manipulate the court, then try to use both my manipulation AND the techniques I've used at the same time, I doubt he'll last two rallies that way… but with him…' Kurai turns and looks at Luca who is as calm as could be, a strong pressure rising ominously off his shoulders. 'It seems he's done it like I expected… he's copied my Court Vision and prediction techniques'