The whistle blows as Lucas tosses the ball, lightly jogging forward and tapping the ball to float it. Kurai steps back.
"Kyle!" Kyle nods, running over.
"On it!" Kyle reaches up, overhand, receiving the ball high. Kurai sprinting to the net and jumping. Marek and Tomasz exhale, watching the ball and the others. Jaden jumping backwards and sprinting towards the net. Max grinning and rushing from the back right, horizontally across the court to the left.
Marek grits his teeth. 'Their number 21 on to right, an their number 20 pulling a slide to the left, who do we block…!?' Tomasz turns towards Jaden. 'Their number 20 (Emelio) tends to play decoy, he hasn't scored many points himself, so we should focus on their number 21! (Jaden)' Sean flies forward, Kurai setting the ball short, right in front of Sean. Brine appears and jumps at the net with a grunt as Sean grits his teeth, swinging his arm forward. Smashing into Marek's arm suddenly and falling backwards. Kurai smacks the ball as Sean land,s turning around and kicking it.
"Get it!" Kyle dives, underhand receiving it as it flies back over the net. Lucas lifting both hands.
"It's out!" Everyone stands silently as the ball lands out of bounds.
USA 8-7 Poland.
The crowd explodes as Lucas lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.
"What a lucky point for Poland!"
"Definently! Marek showed up at the last second to help Brine block Sean! But the ball went short, throwing Team USA into disarray!"
"Now for Lucas's third serve!"
Lucas tosses the ball and sprints forward, flying into the air and power serving it across the net. Kyle steps forward.
"Got it!" Kyle reaches forward, softly bringing the power serve up. Lucas grins maliciously. 'Now way, they're Libero already adjusted!?' Kurai runs past towards the net.
"Nice receive!" Emelio sprints past Kurai on the left side of the court, grunting as he jumps into the air in front of the net. Marek and Brine rushing to the left side of the court.
Emelio smiles brightly as he twists to set midair. Brine gasping as Emelio turns at the last second, smashing the ball over the net. Recoilling off Marek's fingertips before going out of bounds.
USA 9-7 Poland
Emelio lands and turns, pumping his fists.
"YEAH! TAKE THAT!" the crowd roars as Kurai smirks.
"Emelio's right…" Lucas perks up, turning to Kurai who lets out a breath of cold air. Everything but the court becomign a white void. The echoes of the roaring crowd fading as his eyes glow an ice cold blue. "This game's reached a Vertex point… I think it's time we start getting a little serious…!" chills shoot down Lucas's spine as he gulps. 'Kurai just entered a state of flow… oh no!'
Jaden tosses the ball, sprinting forward and slamming the ball over the net. Piotr steps forward and receives the ball fully as Tomasz jumps to set.
"Brine!" Brine nods and sprints to the net as the ball is set towards him. Kurai jumps at the net to block as Brine grits his teeth, twisting and hitting at a sharp angle. Kyle is bringing the ball up. 'Wow, Kurai brought the ball straight to me…!' Kurai lands, his eyes glowing as he instantly sprints the full width of the court for a slide, jumping on the far side of the net. Marek and Brine sprint to catch up to Kurai as he smirks. Emelio jumping from the middle of the net, twisting to set the ball.
"Here come's Team USA's main decoy!!"
Emelio grins, tapping the ball over the net at the last second. Lucas gasps. 'A dump!?' Piotr dives, unable to reach the ball in time as it hits the court.
USA 10-7 Poland.
Lucas grins as Kurai turns, a metaphorical cape and crown on his head and shoulders. 'How much of a monster have you become, Kurai!?'
Jaden tosses the ball, exhaling as it serves it over the net. Lucas exhales.
"I got it!" Lucas brings the ball up as Tomasz rushes towards the net.
Kurai exhales, his pupils dilating. Emelio and Sean running to the right side of the court. Max and Kyle stepping forward for the block receive. Jaden sprinting towards the net.
Across the net, Tomasz jumps up to set as Adam, Brine, and Lucas all rush forward to spike. Marek stepping back to watch for a stray ball as Piotr watches Emelio and Sean.
Kurai exhales cold air. 'It's all coming together…'
Tomasz jumps at the net, last second tapping the ball over the net to dump it, Kurai appearing and sending it back over with a block at the last second. Tomazs gasps as the ball floats backwards. Piotr diving and bringing the ball up.
"An incredible save by Piotr!"
The ball floats in front of the net as Brine jumps up to spike it. Kurai's eyes tracking the court.
In an instant, Brine sets the ball across the court to Adam as he jumps first tempo, smashing the ball with a spie as it hits the court behind him. Emelio lands having blocked Adam.
The entire court freezes.
"...What… just happened…?"
"That was an insane rally!"
"I am so confused…"
"Of course you are, Tanaka."
Coach Copley smirks as he thinks to himself.
'Well done, Poland… you've awakened the Monster this early in the game… congrats…'
Kurai exhales as his eyes glow. 'They've been setting to Brine a lot… knowing Lucas, he was expecting us to notice that and turn our attention to blocking the powerhouse of their team any chance he came up to attack… allowing them to sneak in one of their other hitters to score the point… thus I let Emelio know to keep an eye on that Adam guy…'
Lucas grits his teeth despite his grin. 'This game just started, and we're already under Kurai's thumb!?'