Raiden looked concerned to Cynil as he watched her take the brunt of the ball. He rushed over to her. "Cynil! Are you okay?" Raiden didn't have much time to check on his cousin. He prepared for the next serve fully locking in on the opposing teams gimmick this time.
"That felt great! Let's do it again!" Matsumi was having the time of his life, his idiotic laugh emerging from his mouth again.
Joseph walked over to cynil to check on her wounds before the next serve, gently grabbing her hands and pulling them up to look. "Yeah it looks a bit bad, but she'll live, probably advised to not try to hit the ball anymore unless someone can heal these."
She snatched her hands from Joseph looking on. "I'm fine. I've dealt with worse. We're down 2-0. Let's continue." She looked rather focused, not bothering with her hands for the time being.
Gharma knew Cynil would push through. It's what the Zenin did. "We need more team work. Raiden we need this next volley. Pass it to me afterwards. Get it high though."
Joseph huffed at her notion but didn't protest, instead letting his shadows wrap around her hands as a sort of glove feature. "Well at least let me make it easier for you so it won't have such a long term effect on you."
Cynil nodded at Joseph. "Thank you."
Raiden nodded to Gharma's previous comment, kneeling in position to receive the ball. "Alright we'll get this next one together."
Raito delivered another strong serve for Ashina's side as the ball launched toward their middle court.
Raiden focused his strength into his palms as he hit the ball upwards, counteracting the strong serve from Raito. "HYAH!"
Gharma went to slam the ball, however he faked Yoshiwara completely out as the ball was only tapped, landing on their side. Ashina had scored. The score handled 2-1.
Raiden pumped his fist into the air im celebration. "Yes!" He looked around quickly. "So is it our serve?"
"Yeah, who's gonna do it?" Kasaru spoke.
"I got it. Let me handle the serve." The ball was thrown back to Gharma as he caught it with one hand. "Let's even the score then."
"Send it over, try not to give them a chance."
Gharma tossed the ball in the air and started a running jump. He slammed the ball clean, sending it straight toward the other side. Yoshiwara didn't move because they thought it was going out, however the ball smacked the line. Tobit looked on for a few seconds with a blank expression, and ruled it in. Ashina scored once again keeping it even.
"That was good whoever you are! I'll be sure to send one back!" Matsumi spoke.
Raiden watched Matsumi closely. "If that stupid kid hits towards the middle, i'm going to hit it upwards alright? Someone needs to come in for a spike."
Gharma received the ball back, but by its own volition. Almost like he telekinetically summoned it back to him. He went through the same motions. High toss. Jump high. Slam. Shizu tried to predict the ball, but same result. Gharma scored again. Shizu looked on with her squinted eyes as the score was now 3-2 in Ashina's favor.
Raiden jumped up into the air again. Does he ever stop jumping? "Haha! Yes!" He prepared for the possible next move, immediately getting back into a stance. "I'm going to use my ability if it gets close enough next Gharma."
"This guy's on a roll! I haven't seen any magic yet either!" Matsumi jumped in place, hyping himself up for the next play.
"3-2 huh…looks like the nose of the plane is starting to tip upwards." Gharma got the ball back and bounced it a bit. He served, but miscalculated on the serve. The ball headed straight for the center for Matsumi. Matsumi stepped back to have a better chance of passing the ball. Letting the ball bounce on his head to pass it over to Vermelha.
Vermelha's eyes glowed. To everybody else the ball was in motion, and they scored three straight points. She saw right through it. "That isn't true Matsumi. He is using magic. He used his Tokubetsu." High class mana users could see mana usage, though it was possible for a user to hide their Tokubetsu by concealing their mana. High class users could train their eyes to see even the tiniest of molecules. Her eyes panned to the ball, and she had reflexes like no other. She bent back and hit the ball upward. "Get me Matsumi. Give me one more pass." She darted and dashed around the court at unremarkable speeds into perfect position on the right. She eyed a specific spot she could hit it in. Unlike her peers she didn't bother targeting anyone, but instead went for the more logical route. Targeting a direct hole in their defense, which existed because realistically Ashina didn't have the most congruent defense or teamwork, not with the lack of chemistry or gameplan or practice going into this game. She didn't care nor did she know if they had that though, because even sharks playing at the highest level in any game slipped up eventually.
With the lack of knowledge of magic being used Matsumi obliged and passed the ball again. "That's your pass!"
Raiden's aura turned to a transparent red as he prepared for the ball to shoot down, showcasing a peek at his Tokubetsu. He was freaked out mentally from the fact that there was a gap in their defense that he noticed at the last second. "Shit!"
Vermelha spiked the ball as it flew clean into the hole into their defense, bouncing off the ground as Yoshiwara scored once again. The score now being 3-3.
"That was twenty awesome points, Verme! "It's twelve more points to win now, right?"
"Yeah and we take the first game." She smiled as the ball was tossed back to her. "I'm going to serve. Stay ready Matsumi."
"I'm waiting and ready!"
Vermelha served in the same way that Gharma did, the ball slamming on the sideline giving them another point. 4-3 Now. Not even a second had gone by. Ashina's defense wasn't even ready for how athletic she appeared to be in that moment. She received the ball back. She delivered a flawless toss and jump. Almost like a ballerina dancing in a ballroom, or a high level basketball star performing a slam dunk. This time she served, small flames danced on the ball, not enough to destroy it or break the rules, but it was slightly noticeable as the spin on the ball was higher and hotter, heading for Ashina's side.
Raiden's body produced steam as he dashed upwards to the ball, shifting his body in the middle of the air to stop them from scoring another point. "Dragon Kin: First Blood."
His aura expanded into a claw of sorts, almost like dragon talons. His sentient energy smacked the ball back down to the Yoshiwara side at an immense force. Not popping the ball as the aura itself wasn't strong enough. Raiden himself held back slightly. "Alright!"
Tengoku's aura leaked out as he caught Raiden's shot with his forearms. The ball spun off of his arms as he sent it upwards back toward Ashina. "A decent effort. I'll admit that."
Kokkaku had jumped in, bouncing the ball up with his left arm, leaving it up to whoever was closest to him to take the pass.
Raiden dashed to the ball again, jumping upwards, performing the same incantation once more, launching it downwards towards Yoshiwara once again. He puffed visible steak out of his nostrils once again. "Again!" He yelled, pumped from the adrenaline of the match and his mana itself.
Matsumi slid toward the trajectory of the ball, extending his leg to stop the ball from touching the ground with his foot, nearly allowing them to score a point. "Haha! I got it that time!"
Vermelha took the initiative and the advantage of the awkward angle the ball was in. She slammed it hard down toward Ashina, almost like they were trying to take their turf in this battle. Showing the king that they too, were strong in their own way.
Cynil dove for the ball as it nearly landed again, hitting it upwards toward Raiden. She slid across the gym floor out of bounds before she quickly gained her composure back, the shadows from Joseph dancing on the gym floor from her grip on the hardwood.
Raiden's dark red aura expanded into strands almost like waves itself. He used the momentum of the ball to aim and smack the ball downwards towards Yoshiwara. He let out a yell of defiance as his claw had a darker aura than before. A possible evolution in jid Tokubetsu. He had no more extensions of his ability as in truth he would need his blade to continue his Dragon Kin arts. That, and the fact that he did not want to get disqualified from the game.
The ball landed on the gym loor, bouncing out of bounds. The score was now 4-4. A Tied game. The Ashina crowd roared for their prince and his showcase of his ability to fight back against their rival school, something they didn't know was present with the absence of Mamba.
Shizu picked up the ball and moved in position to spike the ball across. No false judgements. She tossed the ball up and moved, her body twisting to slam the ball foward, headed straight for Ashina's territory as if they didn't score in the first place.
Raiden dashed to slide for the ball as it was fell downwards, he attempted to knock it up into the air.
The ball just so happened to be knocked back on top of the net, a place where Matsumi could easily reach. That kid again. Using this chance, he slammed the ball to Raiden again while he was still recovering, a smile on his face. Raiden, despite his royal status was not advanced enough to understand that there were no breaks in a competition and couldn't recover in time to hit the ball, he tried getting up and bumping it to little avail only slightly tapping it upwards, the luck of the gods on his side here.
"Use your magic again! I wanna see it blondie!" Matsumi was annoyed with Raiden's miscalculation.
Kokkaku tried to reach the ball in time but couldn't make it in time because of Raiden's bad bump. Letting the ball fall, the score was 5-4 for Yoshiwara.
"Haha! Look at that!" Matsumi laughed in both of their faces, doing a small victory dance before returning to his initial position.
Raiden shook his head and stood up patting his hands together, looking up at Matsumiz "You want to see magic huh? Be my guest." He smirked before stepping back to the middle of the court, a plan in his mind to counter Yoshiwara's lead in points over them.