"And with that, Kurai steps up to serve!"
"This'll be interesting…!"
Lucas grits his teeth through a grin. Turning to the others.
"Step back, as far back on the court as you can go, spread out and leave not a single part of the back court uncovered!" Tomasz and Adam nod, stepping far back.
Kurai closes his eyes.
"...It was fun playing such a close game… let's see where you run to hide…"
"Back during last year's Olympics, Kurai pounded Australia with 8 consecutive Service Aces, all of which were completely untouched!"
"And from what I've heard, he's even recently beaten his own world record of fastest serve!"
"I, personally, can't wait to see it."
Kurai opens his eyes as they glow. The air around him grows cold as he spins the ball in his hands.
"Good serve…" He tosses the ball and steps forward. His eyes follow the spinning ball as he lightly jogs into a sprint. Stepping forward into a penultimate and his block step. Slamming his feet into the ground and flying into the air.
Lucas exhales as his eyes glow. Watching as Kurai swings his arm. 'Here it comes–'
The ball hits the court behind him instantly. Warping into a non-ball shape before bouncing high into the ceiling rafters. A sound akin to a canon echoing through the arena. 'How has it gotten faster since I last saw it!?'
Kurai lands with a soft exhale. The arena shook to the sound of the crowd's roar.
"SERVICE ACE!!!"
USA 5-4 Poland.
The whistle blows as Kurai tosses the ball again.
Lucas exhales, stepping to the left. 'Kurai isn't the type to use his power serve multiple times in a row… he'll probably try to throw us off by landing one of his nasty floaters! If that's the case, then-' the ball lands behind him, on the line. Piotr dives for the ball moments later. The whistle blows as Lucas smirks maliciously. 'He predicted my overanalysis!? How could I have fallen for that!?' He turns and glares at Kurai, who exhales.
USA 6-4 Poland.
Lucas growls.
"Piotr!" Piotr stands up.
"Yeah…?" Lucas nods.
"Become a decoy for the serve." Piotr nods.
"Gotcha."
Kurai tosses the ball at the whistle. Stepping forward as his eyes glow. Piotr stands in the center of the court. Tomasz to his left and Adam tight to his right. 'They plan to force my serves to where they want for an easier reception… sadly, they won't get that…'
His eyes track the ball as he jumps from his second step. Swinging his hand back.
Lucas grits his teeth, glancing back as Tomasz and Adam step backwards. 'No! That's a decoy! He's going to put it up front now!'
Kurai smashes his hand into the ball, hitting it at a sharp angle. The ball spirals at a sharp angle over the net. Piotr stepped forward with a platform outstretched. The ball curved hard to the left at the last second. Tomasz stretched out under the ball from the left. The ball hits the platform.
A bang echoes as the ball bounces high into the rafters. Tomasz gasps for breath as he tumbles on the court. 'What kind of float serve has that much power!?'
The ball flies down towards the camera crews. Lucas jumped out as far as possible, stretching his fist out to get under the ball.
The ball hits the court along with Lucas. The ball bounces away as Lucas groans. Sitting up and turning as Piotr helps him up.
"Good hustle, captain." Lucas nods and stands fully.
"Appreciate it…" Lucas and Piotr turn as Kurai stands, A metaphorical crown and red cape draped over his shoulders.
"Man… he's a monster…" Lucas shrugs.
"Boy, do I know that…"
USA 7-4 Poland
"What an insane serve from Kurai!"
"Exactly! From what I could see, Poland's defensive line tried to bait Kurai into serving where they wanted him to, but Kurai didn't let them!"
"He took their plan and turned it against them by throwing his power float serve!"
"That must have been an annoying reality for Team Poland."
"Did you see how hard Tomasz fell? Ouch"
Kurai takes a deep breath.
"Good serve." he steps forward and tosses the ball with a sharp forward spin.
Piotr squats down, stretching his hands as he steps to the right. 'Bring it to the right…'
Kurai smashes the ball over the net, grunting as it flies across the court to the far left side of the court. Piotr appears under the ball with his arms stretched out firmly. The ball smashed against his arm as Piotr gritted his teeth. 'What kind of power–!?' Piotr's platform breaks as the ball erupts high into the rafters and then into the distant viewer seats. Piotr is falling backwards.
USA 8-4 Poland
Piotr grits his teeth and pushes himself to stand. 'I was SO close! If only I coulda got that, we might've been able to get a point there…!' Lucas turns to Piotr. 'He gave physical signals to Kurai that he'd guard the right side of the court, so Kurai sent it to the far left corner, which is just what we wanted to happen, and even still, Piotr couldn't bring it up?' Lucas sighs and shakes his head, walking over and resting a hand on Piotr's shoulders.
"Good try; let's huddle up." Piotr nods silently.
"...Right…"
"And there it is, given this is a first-to-5 set match, Team USA's the first to reach 8 points in the first set, and thus, we enter a Technical Timeout."
"This is probably a good thing for Poland, because they have a chance to readjust and figure out how exactly they're going to bring Kurai Vlast off of his serve streak!"