After a little prowling around, Ace and Nadia managed to drum up a few more volunteers interested in a game of volleyball. Of the extended Koopa Troop, both Junior and Rika decided to take the duo up on their offers, the former out of enthusiasm for the sport and the latter out of curiosity. The acceptance of the former Abyssal helped speed Nadia to the conclusion that she would probably need to explain how the game actually worked, but she didn’t mind one bit. While she only got a chance to play it rarely, the feral loved volleyball most out of all the sports she’d tried, although golf and bowling weren’t too far behind. The motions for all three, in fact, played a part in her fighting style, often in tandem with her head to spike, roll, or drive it as the situation required. All that meant, though, was that she was overjoyed to share her favorite pastime with as many people as possible.
That said, not all of her fellow Seekers seemed too eager to participate. With the recency of their lunch and the general desire to relax after a ridiculously hard night’s work she didn’t blame them one bit, but after only the inexhaustible Blazermate pledged her support, Nadia found herself in something of a quandary. “Five, huh?” she observed, glancing around at the prospective players. “Maybe we can rope someone else in, just so we can have two teams of three.”
Since the luxurious Kanzuki beachfront estate did not feature a volleyball court of its own, the five hiked up the shoreline a short way past the sunbathing turtles and elaborate sandcastles. Nadia found it difficult to keep her eyes off the sparkling water, the myriad of corals that poked up from the shallows, and the strange but serene pillars just offshore whose wings undulated lazily beneath radiant halos. About halfway between Karin’s classy gala and the lively Island Paradise resort, her group found just what it was looking for: a pair of nets on neutral sand among the palms, their bounds marked by ropes along the ground. One looked to be in use, with a handful of players engaged in a rather extreme variant of the sport. The two teams, being
ping-pong master and a
stylish reptile versus a
hammer-wielding girl and a
skater robot, seemed to be trying to bean one another with the ball directly, racking up such impressive speed with their returns that Nadia couldn’t help but feel a little imperiled. On the other side of the palm tree row, however, the other court looked promising, empty except for a
kid messing around with the ball.
Nadia trotted up to him, greeting the boy with a cheerful wave. “Heya! We were hopin’ to play a game. Mind if we use your net?”
After a moment spent sizing up the newcomers, with his eyes lingering on Junior the longest. Ron nodded slowly. “That’s fine,” he replied, his tone curt. “I can’t help but notice you’re one person short of equal teams. If children are allowed, I would like to play, as well. I need to test my capabilities.”
“Oh, uh, of ‘courts’! Welcome aboard!” As oddly serious and clinical as this kid seemed to be, Nadia was only too happy to accept the opportunity for even playing fields. Ron tossed her the ball, and after expertly snatching it from the air, the feral clapped it between her hands. “Alright, so! Anyone else know how to play, or should I start from square one?”
The Cadet studied the court before them. The ropes were obviously the game's boundaries, and the net splitting it down the middle provided space for each team on either side. A quick glance over where the other group were already engaged in some spirited play told him that the ball would pass over the net, but beyond that it was hard to guess any specific rules or guidelines the game should follow.
”I already know, but best the others learn it. Its not too complicated. Not like Tennis...” Blazermate said, doing some stretches even though as a medabot she didn’t need to.
"Might as well take it from the top, but I'm sure we'll pick it up quick," he said. He gave a friendly nod to Rika, his fellow in ignorance of the sport, who gave him a grateful smile in return.
Happy to oblige, Nadia launched straight into explanation. “Well! The goal is to score twenty-five points. Ya get a point when the ball lands inside the court on the other team’s side, or when they mess up. You can mess up by hittin’ the ball outta bounds or under the net, hittin’ it twice in a row, or grabbin’ it. Oh, and this is a contact-free sport, by the way!” With that she scampered over into the playing field, taking up position on the far side of the net. “Every round kicks off with a serve, like this!” In a smooth, practiced motion she tossed the ball up a short ways with her left hand, and as it fell she struck it with the palm of her right. The ball bounced off and sailed over the net to splash down in the sand on the other side. “When the ball’s in your court, the goal’s to send it back over,” she said, bending under the net to come back. “‘But that’s where the team comes in. You can pass the ball around and set it up for a good return. All sorts of hits work, but ya gotta show control, or you’ll send it straight outta bounds. There’s a couple types of hits just about everyone uses: pass, set, and spike!”
Dropping her head into her hands, Nadia demonstrated each motion in turn, showing off the low double-forearm pass, the high fingertip set, and finally the leaping palm smack. The force of her spike created a miniature sandy explosion where her head came down, but after recovery and a little dusting she was right as rain. “Early on, there’s sorta a rhythm to it,” she continued, her head tucked under her arm. “The pass sends the ball to the setter. The setter pops it up for the spiker. The spiker nails it on the other side. ‘Course, settin’ up the perfect spike is rare, and even then the other team might block it or bring it back. You can go as low as ya gotta as long as you pop it up for your team, so better ‘save’ than sorry!” She tossed her head up as if to serve it, but then caught it on her neck. After brushing her hair back Nadia gave the others a smile. “With me so far?”
”Thats cool for starting, but what about the almighty spike? You know with the powerhouses here they WILL try that at some point.” Blazermate said, having finished her stretches during Nadia’s explanation and, to make them seem completely useless, hovered off the ground anyway.
Brows furrowed, Nadia looked dubiously at the assembled players, that being two actual children, Blazermate, two women of rather slender-to-average build, and Ace. “Well, I dunno about that,” she replied after a moment. “We’re not playin’ too rough, I don’t think, ‘specially ‘cause its the first time for some of us.”
“More importantly,” Ron interjected, his pointed gaze directed at the floating Medabot. “Do you intend to use special powers to give yourselves an advantage? I was under the impression this would be a normal game–although, if such abilities are allowed, that would make things rather…interesting.”
Still a little unnerved by the boy’s manner of speaking, Nadia held her hands up, shaking her head. “Oh, no, we oughta keep it vanilla. An even playin’ field, at least for now.”
Ron crossed his arms. “In that case, we should divide the teams to have one kid and one newbie on each side. Don’t you think?”
“Sounds good to me!” Nadia concurred.
”Sounds handicap for the team that gets you instead of me, but sure let's go with that” Jr said to the other kid cockilly, although considering he’d played this sport at the olympics vs heroes and villains of two worlds, in his mind he had every right to be.
”So who’s gonna be on team Bowser Junior and who’s gonna be on team… uh what your name?” The prince asked the kid he was underestimating.
“Ron,” the boy said in succinct reply, his hands in his pockets.
”-on team Ron” Jr smoothly completed with that knowledge in hand.
”I’ll be on whatever team. I’ll need to make sure I don’t float around though if we’re keeping this vanilla.” Blazermate said, landing. She was only hovering a few inches off the ground as it was anyway, but not flying at all was going to be tricky. She’d also have to make sure she didn’t trip over her own kimono part, that would just be embarrassing.
“I’ll be on your team, right jr?” Rika said, thinking it a given and as far as the prince was concerned it was
”Yeah, obviously. No one’s got a problem with that right?”If newbie Rika and the kid koopa were on the same team, then that meant the teams were handily decided.
"Then I guess that would put me and Nadia on Team Ron," the Cadet said. He looked towards his proposed teammates.
"That's Groovios with me!"“Mew-sic to my ears!” Nadia agreed. After a moment Ron gave a stiff nod, as if deeming his new comrades sufficiently capable by rather exacting standards.
”Alrighty, I’m on Jr.s team then! This should be fun.” Blazermate said, walking to stand with Jr. and Rika.
”So… Now we just need team names and we’re good to go!” Blazermate said.
”But what names to use…”“Names?” The idea of team names wasn’t something Nadia had considered. Not knowing a single thing about the young Ron made it a tall order to begin with, and while a single mojito wasn’t enough to impair her, she wasn’t feeling particularly creative either. If anything she was buzzing with excitement, eager to begin the game! “I got nothin’, but whatever, right? Let’s get this show on the road!”
She jogged over to the other side of the court, ducking under the net again before moving to the back right third of the court. “Tallest up front!” she called to Ace. “That way, you can jump up and slap any low balls right back!”
"Got it!" The hunter replied, sending a thumbs up her way before taking his position. Despite being a complete newbie to the game, he was equally as enthusiastic about getting started. His trademark grin was in place as he rolled his neck and shoulders in preparation for play.
”Rikas up front for us then.” Blazermate said, stepping back and pushing Rika gently up to the net to match where Ace was.
”Just hit the ball back over the net Rika, its pretty easy.” Blazermate said.
“Sure thing!” the ship girl replied, eager to try this out, as she got the bot’s point and walked the rest of the way to her designated spot without more pushing. Once there she waved a “Hi over there” to Cadet and then hopped a few times, hand outstretched, to get a feel for how high she could get compared to the net.The gauntlets, strapped to her back, did the opposite of weighing her down and instead left her with some slightly floaty jumps.
“So how do we start?” she asked once she was done with her practice hops, while mentally fiddling with the antigrav in her gauntlets to make them fit with the no power’s rule..
”Someone serves the ball, and then we’re off” Jr said, taking up the rear of the court, where he cracked his knuckles and then rolled his shoulders, which sent Mimi, still sitting there bobbing up and down much to her delight.
”Wouldn’t that be you Jr if we’re first to serve?” Blazermate said, actually bringing up a good question, which team was going to serve first?
”Wait, whos doing the coin flip for who goes first? I don’t have any zenny so…”“Aw, no need to sweat it!” Nadia laughed. She slung the ball underhand under the net, sending it bouncing across the sand toward Junior so that he could pick it up and kick things off. “Let’s get this paw-ty started!”
”Alrighty Jr. Show them what the monster trio team can do!” Blazermate said, giving a fist pump to Jr.
”You mean team.. Eh why not” jr decided not contest Blazermate’s impromptu naming of the inhuman team and instead snatched up the ball that had been sent his way, eager to get going. He gave the ball a test toss to get a feel of it, and then after checking everyone was ready got the game started with a powerful smack of his scally palm sending the ball soaring over the net towards a spot vaguely behind Ace.
Nadia narrowed her eyes against the sun as she tracked the arc of the incoming ball. The arc looked too high for the monster hunter to block it, typical for most serves, but it also looked too low to be an easy bump even if he took the risk of back-pedaling. In just a moment the ball would smack down right about in the center, and as the most experienced one here Nadia made the split-second decision to for it. “Mine!” she sang, calling the shot, and as she scooted toward the middle she stepped out into a kneel, one knee in the sand, with arms extended for a low intercept. Right on cue the ball smacked off her forearms, and just a little extra oomph was enough to pop it decently high. It went a little forward and to the left, meaning Ron probably wouldn’t be able to help, but Ace had a pretty good shot, and he wasn't one to let opportunity pass by.
He moved, positioning himself beneath the airborne ball. He was confident in his hand-eye coordination, but not so much his control. There was pretty much never a time where he had to pull his punches, so to speak, so there was a real possibility of sending the ball out of bounds. But Nadia's instructions were fresh in his mind, advising that the goal was just to get it over the net and back into the other team's court. And to have fun, of course.
"Alright, here we go~!" Rather than attempt to 'set' anything up just yet, the Ace Cadet just returned the ball to the monster trio. Technically he was successful, but the pathetic shot drew a quick laugh from the hunter, half sheepish and half amused at himself. Trying to reign his strength in, the Cadet had basically just pushed the ball back over with the tips of his fingers. It's trajectory was shallow and it's speed was slow, but at least it was back on the other side now.
“I got it” Rika called out excitedly as she shifted over and under the ball, only to entirely misjudged her jump and strike, hitting it a few moments too late and in doing so managing to just giving the slow bopped ball some height again and sending it lazily towards the back of their court “-oops”
Blazermate, not being new at this game, saw Rika mess up a little bit for being new and recovered the ball, hitting the ball when it got near her to set it up for Jr. to return it. “All yours Jr.” Blazermate said.
”Alright! Here it comes!” the prince shouted as his claws bit into the sand before he leapt up with that gravity defying power and gave the ball a hard slap, aiming it to land about as far to the back as he dared.
The young prince’s strike sent the ball sailing, a high shot to the farthest end of the court. Its arc brought it well out of the reach of both Ace and Nadia, but so close to the rear boundary that it could easily go either way. Even with her keen eyes and quick reflexes Nadia couldn’t call whether the ball would land out or in, but either way, her team’s third member was determined to not leave anything to chance. Ron slid to a dramatic stop in a spray of stand, twisted around, and with a shout thrust his palm to the heavens. He struck the incoming ball dead on–or so he thought, for to the boy’s dismay the ball veered off sideways at a low angle, almost certainly doomed to land out of bounds.
That is, until Nadia saved the day. “Whoa!” she yelped as she threw herself backwards. The ball rocketed in, but just inches above the ground, the feral managed to whack the ball upward again with her fingers. Unfortunately, the odd hit put a spin on the ball, putting it on a collision course with the net. Beyond that Nadia couldn’t tell, as she plopped down in the sand. Whether the rally lived or died was up to Ace now.
The monster hunter flung himself into the ball's path, intercepting it on its way to the net. Maybe a bit eager to make up for his clumsy hit prior, the Cadet caught the ball on the side of his fist and launched it up... and up and up, sending it hurtling into the sky. When it came back down the ball bounced off the top of the net, wobbling in the air for a moment before pitching onto Team Bowser Jr’s patch of sand.
What had been a
”Ha” from a prince at the sight of the flubbed shot quickly turned into an
”Oh no” when it unexpectedly still managed to come over the the net by but a hair’s breadth. He dived and swung wildly, only just managing to bat it up into the air towards Rika who tried to stabilize it but failed, sending the ball bouncing just out of the side of the court and onto the sand.
As the ball hit the ground Nadia clapped her hands together, beaming with pride. “That was a
fantastic fur-st round!” she declared as she treated everyone to her brightest smile. “Still, no matter how long it takes to get there, it’s just one point.” Her grin turned sly as she scooped the ball up from where it lay, then slapped it to get the sand off. “One down, twenty-four to go!”
The game began again, and though everyone from the total newbies to the more well-acquainted to the learned enthusiast tried their best, it took a while to recapture the magic from the first rally. Beginner’s luck couldn’t keep the Seekers from a handful of short-lived rounds on either side, whether that take the form of missing a pass, sending the ball out of bounds, or getting nothing but net. Nadia got ample time to teach everyone the practice of rotating on fresh serves, giving everyone a chance to not just play every position, but also try their luck at service. At one point a lopsided return caused the ball to
plonk right off of Blazermate’s head, and though Junior dove to the ground for the hero save, his arms bounced the ball sideways over the boundary. After receiving a chorus of ‘nice try!’ and ‘so close!’, however, the little prince was happy to dust himself off and get ready for the next round.
Though a little reluctant at first to open up to the squad of tight-knit strangers, Ron loosened up over the course of a dozen serves, and quickly proved himself not just a fast runner but a remarkably high jumper, hurling himself into the air with the practiced grace of a martial artist. When Nadia neglected to call the ball and collided with Ace hard enough to send both to the ground in a heap, it was Ron who saved the day with a soaring karate chop to spike the ball back down on the other side. Almost as stunning a feat of heroism was the Cadet’s, who managed to grab Nadia on the way down and twist so that the young woman landed on him rather than the other way round, though the sudden tight squeeze left both so blushy that Ron could only roll his eyes.
As the game progressed, Nadia’s team racked up a clear lead, owing to the feral’s winsome combination of athleticism and expertise. Not wanting to get too carried away, however, Nadia started goofing around a little, going for stylish rather than practical hits. At one point she sprang up to spike the ball with her iconic
flying screen door/, but the angle of the hit sent the ball too low, and it rebounded off the net like a wrestler on the ropes. Nadia landed in a handstand and flipped to her feet, but it was much too late to do anything other than observe the ball hurtle across the sand back toward the Island Paradise Resort. “Aw, kitty litter,” she griped, lightly slapping her knee. “I’ll get it!” So saying, she took off after the rogue ball. As she chased it down she watched it roll right for a
red-haired man laying on a dark turquoise towel, dozing in the sun with his hat over his face. It came to a stop just inches away from hitting him, but the fellow seemed to notice anyway. He rose, took hold of the ball, and tossed it to Nadia as she approached. She caught it with one hand and gave a friendly salute before turning to run back. How funny that there would be two strapping young men with longish scarlet locks on one beach, but one was all she needed. Once back with the ball, she tossed it to the other team for service, then jogged to her spot so the game could continue.
To avoid wasting time Nadia reigned in her tomfoolery a good bit, and after that the game didn’t last for much longer. It ended with a score of twenty-five to sixteen in her team’s favor, but without skipping a beat she went straight into being a good sport. “Alright, good stuff, everyone!” Win or lose, the game itself was enough to make her happy, and with friends it was all the better. “High fives all around!” With her hands held high she clapped Ace’s, then Ron’s, who jumped up to meet her before she could even think about crouching down. Once she’d done the same for the opposing team, she put her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s volleyball! My favorite sport, and some of the most fun I’ve ever had. And remember, if losin’s gotcha down…” she winked with a devilish grin. “Don’t hate the
playa, hate the game.” After laughing to herself she crossed her arms. “Or, we could switch sides and go straight into a rematch. Whatcha say?”
Game two ended up being a bit different from game one. Seeing as the newbies were starting to get a hang of the game, things were getting a bit more interesting. The game started with a serve from Nadia’s team, which thanks to Rika’s gloves, let her block the ball. However while she was able to easily catch and bump the ball, she missed it with Blazermate making the save and Jr. hitting the ball over, Ace accidentally bumping the ball out of bounds with his hit as Jr. hit the ball in an awkward part of the court. This was quickly made up for though with an ace from Nadia, making it past Rika and Blazermate tripping on her kimono, allowing the ball to land without issue.
The next few rounds went more like game one, with the newbies getting much better. Seeing this, Blazermate decided to spice things up a bit with what she mentioned earlier, and when Nadia served for her team again, Blazermate moved in front of Rika and spiked the ball down, catching Ace off guard, but also intriguing the hunter. And while his first attempt at a spike lead to the ball bouncing off his head, his next attempt was just as adept as Blazermate’s attempt, Rika trying but failing to catch the ball in time in a dive. Blazermate gave the hunter a thumbs up and after another spike from Nadia, Rika learned how to guard them.
And with that the newbies learned a new trick and how to counter it, leading back to a game where everyone had new tactics and used them in conjunction with their old ones to lead some strong rounds. Ace ending up to be a pretty nasty server, living up to his namesake at times. Jr. showed the other veterans a thing or two though, putting a nasty spin on a few returns that caught everyone off guard. Nadia also showed her cunning at times, making it seem like she was aiming at Blazermate but shooting the ball off towards Rika. Thankfully Rika’s giant gauntlets let her deal with these sneak attacks on occasion.
Eventually the game lead to a win for Jr.s team, thanks to a combination of some trick shots from Jr. and Blazermate getting some suburb returns thanks to her metal body. It wasn’t too shabby though and a good game all around. Rika and Ace had both grown well as they had gotten used to the game. And while Nadia and Ron had put up a good defense, Rika had learned a lot and caught up quick. Ace was definitely a powerhouse though, but that was made up for by Jr. and Blazermate doing all sorts of whacky shots to even up the score.
By the third game, the practiced volleyball players were well warmed up and the two newbies were hitting their stride. The pace of the game increased, as well as the general intensity of its players, with feelings of friendly rivalry struck up between the two teams pushing each to play harder.
It started with a serve from the Koopa prince, driving the ball toward the back corner of the other team's net. It was caught by his fellow kid Ron, who bumped it up back toward the net. It was a textbook pass, fast and efficient, and perfect for a follow up set. The Ace Cadet hopped up to tap the ball, stopping it's forward momentum and presenting it for his partner in crime to slam with the palm of her hand, spiking it back into the rival team's court.
The quick point they were looking for didn't come so easily though! The monster team's frontliner Rika was quick to move in with a dig, ducking under the ball and sending it skyward with both of her hands. At that point Junior had moved up to make a set of his own, followed by Blazermate on the attack. She sent the ball back over where it landed on the waiting forearms of the Ace Cadet. It was sent through each of Team Ron's players, with the team's namesake using his agility to dash to the far side of the net to try to get a point in an unguarded section of the court. The rally continued like that for a while, and each rally afterward as well.
The third game showed just how quickly the newbies had taken to the sport. The Cadet had a good handle on the game now, and started living up to his name with several service aces whenever it was his turn to serve. Of course the powerful shots found counters in both Blazermate and Rika, who used their metallic arms to save the ball when they could. In particular Rika had become a defensive monster, with her gauntlets and tenacity she would jump, run, and dive for any ball that her teammates didn't call out for - and successfully save it most of the time.
The battle between spear and shield was intense, but the one between the four veterans was even more so. Having learned to navigate the pair of lovebirds he'd been teamed up with, Ron proved not just a competent player but a decent strategist as well. As he gained more information about each player, including those on the opposing team, he called out instructions to Ace and Nadia in the heat of the match. When they cooperated it usually went well, but on the flip side Junior and Blazermate's tactics were hard to predict. Armed with plenty of knowledge about the game, but also aggressively ambitious and colorfully cheeky personalities respectively, they pulled out some unique and downright confusing shots.
Not to be out done, Nadia matched their energy with her own. Willing to think outside the box and wielding the talent to make it work, the feral's attacks were something to be reckoned with. In the latter half of the game she started making some fearsome cross shots, forcing the monster team to scramble to deal with them.
The match's high energy continued throughout. If it was possible the sand beneath them would have turned to mud from the amount of sweat the players poured into it. Everyone was scuffed up from sand being kicked up, or diving to save balls, but even so there were smiles on their faces. The more intense the match, the more fun everyone seemed to have. And so the game went on.
In the end, it was Team Bowser Jr's win. The spirited rallies toward the end of the match pushed the score passed the twenty-five point range, until they ended with 26-28. High on adrenaline, neither team was ready to quit playing yet, but they needed a quick break to recover. While they lounged, briefly retreating to fetch various bottles of water and sports drinks, Blazermate suggested spicing things up for the next game. Up until now they'd kept everything strictly vanilla: no special powers or abilities. However, now that everyone was familiar with the sport none of them had any objections to going wild in the next match.
The fourth, and what turned out to be the final, game was the one where all of the stops were pulled out. Jr suggested this primarily to advantage himself, and the reason for why he wanted that advantage, besides ego, was because his father had come along looking for him, initially to tell them about what was going down the rest of the day, but once he arrived he decided to stay and watch. Kamek was also there, but it wasn't her that Jr wanted to gain the approval of by winning.
Unfortunately for the prince, while he might have had a few volleyball related super moves up his non-existent sleeves it was Nadia who really shone when the gloves were off and the claws were out. Right out the gate she showed her stuff, sending a water-clone to catch a spike from jr, before propelling herself up via blood jets to get a high angle spike of her own driving into the sand a hair’s breadth past the center line.
She wasn't the only one who really benefited either, as Ron got to show off his own skills as he dashed through or hanging in the air to hit some shots, and even flashs stepping, briefly moving so fast the movement from point A to B wasn't visible.
With the teams having rolled back around to the original setup, only Ace on the human team wasn't pulling out absurd tricks, but the hardened hunter wasn't exactly a slouch when it came to the physicality department.
What the monster team had against this was a lot of air control, between Blazermate’s flight and Rika and Jr’s floaty jumps, and a secret little trick the prince had been counting on to win him this.
After enough back and forth one rally, Jr shouted for his team to
”Bounce it up for me! I’ve got something special lined up” which he got a few moments later, with Rika diving to bounce up a spike using her now gauntleted arms. The ball bounced high where Blazermate swooped in and passed it towards Jr who leapt into the air and then almost froze in time for a moment, having gathered enough power to perform a sporty special move.
He picked his target, and then slammed it home, sending the ball hurting at frightful speeds and slamming straight through the body of a water clone Nadia sent to interpret it, before bouncing hurtling onwards.
”Way to go junior! That’s my boy” Bowser cheered loudly in a way the prince wasn't old enough to be embarrassed by and instead only felt pride swelling in his heart at the praise. Enough that, even when the game ended with a close loss for his team, he didn’t really mind.
That was, however, the final game of the day. Both because after 4 increasingly intense games the players were all pretty tired, Rika for example more or less flopped down onto the beach next to where Kamek and Bowser had parked their butts to watch, and because the duo’s wandering had been in part to inform them as to what was happening next during their day off.
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