Evie tied her hair into low bunches. These past weeks had been nothing but a blessing to her. She met the new students since she was told they were low-tiers. Her first impression came in the form of Azazel looking down at her. It reminded her of John, who did the same when she tried reaching out. That is, until Vritra extended his hand.
"Don't worry about this asshole, he treats everyone the same."
They were both ridiculously tall, and they looked the same. She could picture them both in the NBA… if they were high level of course. The first week they arrived in was chaotic, no low-tier in Wellston had ever seen push-back when it came to being ordered around by mid-tiers. Yet, they did it like it was second nature. When asked why they bothered, their response was so odd it made her chuckle a bit.
"Why wouldn't we?"
Vritra was proactive in protecting everyone, and Azazel protected people as long as he felt like it. He at least helped out. Thanks to them, bullying in Wellston began to diminish, and low-tiers like Evie could walk around with their heads held high.
Evie wasn't just any low tier, she was the lowest tiered student in Wellston. Being friends with those two made life in the school a lot more bearable. They had completely changed how students viewed low-tiers, and how they treated them to a degree. A lot of people even began theorizing that they were actually high-tiers lying about their levels, but Evie wasn't sure about that, it seemed more like they evolved and grew stronger after every fight instead.
After several minutes of preparing herself, she opened the door to her dorm and ran outside with sports clothing on. She had a basketball t-shirt on, with her favorite number on the front and back, shorts and sneakers, because today they were going to play basketball.
She met up with Roland outside and waved at him. He pleasantly did the same back.
"Good morning!" He had no bruises, no scratches or wounds. It was as if none of the previous years had ever happened. "Those two are already on the pitch. They rushed there immediately." Those two were always competitive and were always challenging each other to meaningless dares like rock paper scissors, or exam scores, or games of chopsticks. When asked why, Vritra said that it was the only way to challenge someone like Azazel because he didn't see it as a victory or real loss… but still cared enough to keep track. It seemed like something he would do.
"Let's get going!" She shot both her fists into the sky and walked with Roland to the basketball court. It was early in the morning, they had to be early because otherwise mid-tiers could take the court for grabs and at that point all hell would break loose.
The court was your average multi-sport court with holes on the ground to put posts for football, or nets for volleyball. Right now there were only the hoops, and at the center were two sweaty tall teenagers. Azazel had the ball and was moving the ball all sorts of crazy ways. Vritra used his larger wingspan to try and keep him in one place, but after faking a spin only to then pass the ball to himself behind his back, Vritra was having trouble keeping up. He drove forwards, finally passing Vritra, but the tallest teenager Evie had ever seen was not done yet, he spun and ran back at the hoop. With his larger strides, he got there at the same time as Azazel was jumping.
Azazel grabbed the ball with both his hands and reached out to the hoop. Vritra, mid-jump, attempted grasping at it, but Azazel pulled his arms, waiting for Vritra to fall to toss the ball to the hoop from the other side.
Vritra started with the ball now. Azazel checked him at the start, and Vritra drove forward. Azazel reached out for the ball, but Vritra used his large wingspan to pass himself the ball from between his legs. Azazel seemed ready for it and reached out for the ball, only for Vritra to push against him with his hip, taking him off balance. Azazel recovered fast of course, but Vritra's height and weight made it too easy for him to just jump and slam the ball inside the hoop.
It was clear from the instant she saw those two exchanges, that whoever held the ball first would score. Azazel dominated with skill, and Vritra through muscle.
Now that Eview looked closer, Azazel was more built than she expected. She heard he never trained physically… What a bastard. She couldn't help but feel animosity as she recalled previous diets. Vritra on the other hand, was a wall of chiseled muscle, it looked as though he'd been carved by greek sculptors. He wasn't grotesquely muscular, it was a perfect blend.
"Hey guys." Roland took initiative, he walked to them and waved them hello. They reciprocate the sentiment. It turns out that despite Azazel's superiority complex, he wasn't completely unapproachable.
"Dibs on Evie," Azazel pointed with his thumb, there was an immediate reaction. Vritra looked astonished that he would even consider declaring dibs. Meanwhile, Evie was simply confused. She couldn't think of one scenario where she could be useful… she has never been picked first ever.
"Bullshit, rock paper scissors."
Roland had been picked second, and simply watched unbothered from the sidelines. Vritra lost 2 to 3, the curses he let out afterwards would have made a sailor blush.
"You should have picked chopsticks, I've already memorized your pattern for today." Azazel smugly stared at Vritra, and although he had to look up it was clear who was looking down on who. He raised his fist and walked up to Evie with a thumbs up, telling her to get closer. "Don't get nervous, no team of mine can ever lose." He was somewhat of a prick… but having him in your side was oddly reassuring.
"Okay Roland, my Goat, my glorious King. Best Baker in the world. You are the Lebron to their Norm Grekin." Vritra already had a hand wrapped around Roland's shoulder.
"Wha–?" Evie was confused, their expressions and even their references mostly went over their heads. Roland also looked confused, that was because the names they spoke most likely came from their town… or their neighbourhood. At least that's what Evie would like to say, but their parents lived on opposite outskirts of this town.
"Don't hear the foolish babble they speak, listen to what I will tell you," He came close to Evie's ear and whispered a few things and she could only stare at him in awkwardness.
"That's all?" She was confused by his strategy.
"Don't be scared of Vritra. For this game, you'll be the star." Azazel's expressionless face looked somewhat determined. Evie could never tell if he was having fun while playing games with Vritra. She nodded and hyped herself, grabbing the sides of her jersey before tugging on them for good luck. His number was 46, Roland's was 35 and Vritra's was 16.
"Hey, Lex!" Vritra pointed at one of the low-tiers sitting down with a coffee, Lex was bottom of the barrel, low grades, low level, invisible person. He wasn't particularly nice to anyone either – which is why Evie wasn't too uncomfortable with insulting him… in her mind. "could you please referee this before this moron, dipshit, slimy greeseball starts listing rules to his advantage?" Vritra pointed with his thumb at Azazel. Lex nodded and grabbed the ball.
"Ready," Azazel lowered his center of mass and got ready to receive the ball. Evie nodded and did the same… but she just couldn't see this plan ever working out… ever.
"Three, two, one… Go!" Lex tossed the ball up. Immediately, Evie ran up to Vritra, jumped and used her ability to her fullest extent.
"AGH! SON OF A PROTESTANT WHORE!" Vritra was already on the floor spasming everywhere. "WHY! EVIE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE ONE OF THE GOOD ONES! YOU ARE OFFICIALLY UNINVITED FROM MY BIRTHDAY PARTY! WAAAAAA-"
Azazel jumped up while he flinched and grabbed the ball, using Vritra's blindness to his advantage to get to the basket.
"Ignore Luigi, go to the side of the hoop!" Azazel was already near the basket, with Roland chasing right behind him. Evie gave Vritra one last glance before sprinting to the three point line. He threw the ball between his legs twice, then spun before tossing the ball Evie's way. It was a light toss that bounced on the ground once making it easier for her to catch.
Evie panicked and looked left and right. Roland was already rushing toward her, so she did what she could and simply tossed it up at the basket. The ball hit the rim and was about to fall to Roland's hands, but before it could, Azazel swooped in, grabbed it mid-air, then tossed it behind his back to make the basket.
"Don't sweat it, as long as we follow the plan, we'll win." Azazel sprinted to the back to defend. Evie felt a sense of achievement despite failing to get the point. Was this how Azazel felt every time he did something? She turned to look at his expression, but it remained entirely still and stagnant.
Vritra was in a Fetal position, hands over his eyes and tears streaming down his cheek. "My eyes have been defiled, I can't get married anymore." He sobbed, rocking himself back and forth. "What would my saint of a mother think-"
"That saint of a mother would think you're an exaggerated loser. I have to say, seeing you laid out is quite a sight for sore eyes." Azazel sneered, intercepting Roland from getting closer. He pushed through, passing the ball from behind his back toward Evie so she could rush to the basket. She did the best she could, but it hit the backboard again.
As if there were springs on his shoes, Azazel jumped, grabbed the ball and put it inside the basket before turning back at Vritra.
"Two Null? Aight. Enough fucking around."
"Four, as long as it's not a free throw or a three pointer, you count in twos." Azazel walked back to the center line. Last time they sprinted, but this time he was comfortable walking, Evie couldn't really understand what was going on inside his head.
"Whatever dude, that's for Lex to keep count of." Vritra shrugged, finally getting up and walking towards his net.
"Y-yeah…" Lex had a small scoreboard next to him, where he'd grabbed it from, Evie wasn't sure. Wasn't he doing something else? She hoped they weren't interrupting his routine too much. What worried Evie even more than Lex's wellbeing… was her own, was she going to have to spring full court every time they made a shot? She was under the impression that two versus two was played with just one.
"Roland's by himself Luigi," Azazel went to block Roland and intercept his shot, but surprisingly had good handle over the ball, he bounced the ball behind his back, then put it between his legs to keep Azazel in check, but despite him being better than what Evie envisioned, Azazel simply had a mastery over the game. He grabbed it as it bounced, then tossed it toward Evie.
Right as it was about to reach her hands, a blur of black and red went past them and leapt into the air. Evie turned her head as she heard a loud metallic thud. Vritra intercepted her shot and dunked the ball.
"Tch." Azazel grabbed the ball as it bounced. He tossed it at Evie, but she was being blocked by Roland, and she wasn't all that good at basketball, so she held her hands up. As if instinctively, Roland closed his eyes, and in that split-second she rushed toward the basket.
Immediately after, Vritra was in front of her. Evie saw a mountain move, there was no chance she could get past it. She stopped on her feet and tried moving around but the sudden movement made her fall on her back. Vritra took the opportunity to grab the ball and rushed to the other side with wind blowing at his back.
Just as he was about to score, black fog spread across the court, turning everything to darkness. There was a loud metallic thud before the smoke cleared, showing Vritra hitting the metal pole of the basket at full speed.
"Fucker!"
Azazel went to the outside to grab the ball, and tossed it to Evie. Roland intercepted it this time, and instead of getting closer or passing it to Vritra, he assumed a throwing form and tossed it in. Even Azazel looked shocked.
The ball made a full arch and entered the basket.
"Holy shit! He's not LeBron, he's Curry! He's Curry!" Vritra celebrated rushing through the court.
"I wasn't expecting Roland to have a game like that…" Azazel grabbed the ball, put one foot in front of himself and activated his aura.
"HEY NO FULL-COURT SHOTS!" Vritra yelled from the other side, "God damn it!" He dashed as fast as he could, but Azazel threw the ball before he could reach him. That wasn't a problem for Vritra however, who used the wind itself to stop the ball. "Piece of shit, I'm not letting you score threes from the other side of the court. Next time you try that fog shit, I'm swatting it with wind by the way!"
Evie heard a gasp come from behind her, she turned her head and saw nothing. There was no one but the five of them.
"Had to try and see if it worked." Azazel moved forward and pointed his thumb at Evie. He was telling her to swap positions. Evie unconfidently moved toward Vritra, guarding him while Azazel guarded Roland.
Vritra dashed past her fast, but she managed to activate her ability enough to make Vritra stop for a half a second, which was more than enough for Azazel to grab the ball from his hands. From that perspective, it looked like a Chimp stealing food from a tourist. Azazel rushed to the other side of the court.
"FUCK!"
"Sorry!" Evie couldn't help but apologize, with Vritra having control of wind – Evie had no idea how that was the case, but she wasn't going to deny it's possibility since they both are walking anomalies – Azazel couldn't throw the ball, meaning he had to dunk the ball again.
"6 - 5" Lex's announcement seemed to irk Vritra, who grabbed the ball and passed it to Roland, but the moment Vritra grabbed hold of the ball, Evie was tasked with blinding him.
"SHIT!"
Azazel swooped in like a hungry seagull and grabbed the ball from Vritra's hands again. With Vritra blinded, Azazel went for a three pointer, but the tall mountain wasn't going to let his dorm room score without being petty. Vritra made an explosion that accentuated with his aerokinesis to blast everyone backward in a circle, thus forcing Azazel's previous three pointer to become a 2 pointer.
"8 – 5" Lex announced to Vritra, who was rubbing his eyes and blinking them. They were probably dehydrated from the sudden exposure to high-intensity light.
Vritra grabbed the ball and just as Evie was about to blind him again, he passed it to Roland, but Azazel was right there to intercept it.
"You're getting mad, and predictable." Azazel went past Roland with some ease before stopping to throw a three pointer. Vritra pushed him forward with his wind out of spite, but instead of scoring, Azazel passed the ball back to Evie who tried scoring a three pointer… Roland slapped the ball out of her hand.
Vritra stood on the other side, waiting for a pass, but instead of getting one, Roland activated his aura and threw the ball in the air.
"He'll miss right?" Evie asked Azazel, who began walking to the other side of the court.
"Nope," he answered. The ball went in without making so much as a sound. Was Roland secretly super talented?!! Evie starred with her jaw hanging. "It's pretty impressive. If Vritra wasn't blocking my shots I'd be doing the same."
Azazel grabbed the ball, and looked at Lex who updated the scoreboard.
"8 – 8"
"Alright, let's go for plan B." Azazel bounced the ball and walked to the center of the court.
"I'm impressed you can play basketball considering what has been happening to you as of late." Azazel didn't show much expression, but the darkness falling over his face was readable to say the least. He looked annoyed to even hear that voice. Evie turned to see who could have him this annoyed and saw…
"Oh my gosh, it's the Royals!" She fawned, looking at Blyke, Arlo, Elaine… "and Isen I suppose." She said it only in a whisper, and it came out instinctively.
Vritra had a constipated look once his eyes landed on Arlo. "Arlo, Look dude, I appreciate it but I am not into men, the confession thing was a joke. Please stop sending people trying to get my attention, it's crass and barbaric."
So that was why there were so many people after Vritra, he angered the royals. That made a lot of sense… Wait, didn't that mean Evie was in danger right now?
Arlo's temple vein pronounced itself as he scoffed. "Your jokes are really crass, and unfunny."
"Tsun tsun. Tsundere." Azazel's sing-song voice came as a surprise to absolutely everyone. They all turned to see his inexpressive face.
Vritra looked Arlo up and down. "I see the Tsun, there is no Dere." he added.
"What do you want? Did you finally get tired of throwing your pawns at us like a coward and decided to come yourself?" Azazel took position and threw the ball, making it go in. He looked at Lex, who updated the scoreboard.
"11 – 8" Lex announced.
"HEY WE'RE HAVING A BREAK!"
"I saw no hands raised, no questions asked, no claims of a break. Game's still on…" Azazel put his hand on top of the other on a T and looked at Lex who nodded. "Now we're on a break" Evie looked at it with a deadpan… how petty.
Vritra's teeth were grinding and his eyes spelled bloody murder to the absolute amusement of a smirking Azazel. "Your Corgi is still on for the fucking asians you absolute disgrace of a fucking Wet Noodle!"
"Wha–??" Evie shook her head and knit her eyebrows, and tried to comprehend what had just been said.
"Don't mind him, when he's fuming and seething he says whatever comes to mind." Azazel turned to the ignored Royals – the amount of courage required to ignore the highest levelled people in the school was something Evie simultaneously admired, and feared out of Azazel and Vritra, "Well? What do you want?"
"We came here to play some basketball, but it seems like you four are already here. Don't you know higher levels and Royals have priority over the court?" Arlo crossed his arms, Evie did know of that rule, it was why they had to play this early in the morning. How weird, she was sure that during the mornings the Royals were asleep or doing a meeting, why had they come out here to play basketball? It couldn't just be a coincidence could it?
"What are you, middle school children on the playground? This isn't your sandbox Arlo, we were here first. You've lost your place, now leave." Azazel pointed his thumb at the entrance. Vritra was still ignoring the royals, cursing at Azazel as he walked around in circles.
"I thought you might say that, how about we play for it?" Arlo put his hand out. Playing the royals on basketball? Evie barely knew how to play! If abilities were allowed then nothing stopped him from just putting everyone on the enemy team in a barrier to score points!
"No abilities." Azazel said, making Evie almost faint. Without an ability, she was effectively useless.
"Afraid you'll lose otherwise?"
"A wise player doesn't leave when he can have home-field advantage."
"Fine. First to twenty one wins." Arlo turned to Blyke, Isen and Elaine to discuss their team strategy, and Azazel did the same.
"Hey, have you stopped stomping around like a moron? We're going up against Arlo and his goons."
Vritra looked at Arlo and his group with barely hidden disgust. "Great, time to show these Subhumans what actual training is. They are built like you Azazel, what the actual fuck."
"Don't compare me to these monkeys. I'm superior in every way." Whenever it came to the Royals, Azazel became a lot more aggressive. Although he was arrogant before, he was blatantly insulting them without any regard for consequence… did he not know Arlo was a level 6? Isen and Blyke were almost high tiers too, 4.4 and 4.5 respectively. Azazel grabbed the ball and tossed it to Lex before assuming the center position.
"W-Wait what about the plan?" Evie asked, walking onto the court. Both Azazel and Vritra looked at her and said the same thing.
"Don't need one."
"Jinx, you owe me a soda." Azazel rolled his shoulder, looking satisfied over his 'victory'.
"FUCK!"
The Royals stepped on the court, Lex threw the ball up, and immediately Vritra grabbed it. He barely had to jump at all. He passed it to Azazel, and he dashed past Elaine, who was up front. He was then blocked by both Blyke and Isen. Evie was confident he could just get past both of them, but instead of wasting any stamina, Azazel passed the ball back to Vritra.
Arlo and Elaine dashed in front of him to stop him, but Vritra dashed past them and toppled them like bowling pins before jumping and dunking the ball. So this was why they said they didn't need a plan… they were just going to brute-force their way through the Royals.
"You done yet?" Vritra asked as he walked back with Azazel.
"No, I might have a superior mental and processing capacity than you Sub-species homo-sapiens, but I still need time." Azazel walked backward, always keeping his eyes on the Royals team.
"Sounds like an excuse. You seem pretty homo to me." Vritra put both hands behind his back. They weren't defending at all! Evie had to step in to stop Blyke, however she just couldn't keep up with his fast-pace ball bouncing.
Blyke reached Roland and passed the ball to Elaine who shot at the basket and made three points.
"T-Three, Two!"
Arlo looked incredibly satisfied.
"Wow… how impressive…" Vritra yawned. "Bitch thinks she is the Goat." Azazel grabbed the ball and tried a full-court shot, he was intercepted by Blyke who moved in quickly and grabbed the ball from his hand before passing it back.
"G-Guys, why didn't you do anything?" Evie asked, looking at Vritra and Azazel who were just standing there.
"I'm waiting for this bum." Vritra pointed at Azazel, "He's still warming up, and the good old CPU upstairs crashed… too much porn the doctors say." Evie had to shake her head in bewilderment as she processed that information.
"Stop being weird." Azazel's eyes were fixed on the enemy team, "She'll actually believe what you're saying."
"I'm not the one checking out a group of 3 men and 1 woman."
"... How about you shut up so I can do my thing."
"Oh shit, please don't, not in public you absolute degenerate."
"Guys, they're advancing." Roland pointed it out and the two of them didn't seem to care much, they lazily went to stop the ball, but it went through. Isen dribbled past them, let Arlo get the ball, and they scored another three points"
"Six, Two." Lex announced, changing the scores again. It was frustrating! Evie looked at Vritra and Azazel, they were both serious about letting the Royals win? Why would they start the match then?!
Azazel grabbed the ball again and lazily walked up to the Royals, he dribbled the ball a little and attempted to score, but was ultimately stopped by Isen who grabbed it, then passed it to Blyke who shot another three pointer.
"Nine, two."
"Urrrghhhh! Are you guys going to just stand there and let them score! What was the point of challenging them to a match if you're just going to lose like this? You weren't playing like this when it was just us four! What's going on! Did they pay you or something?" Evie exploded, "are you too scared to face them on?" Vritra and Azazel looked at her, their gazes were colder than before, telling her she had pushed a line.
This kept going, over and over again. Evie and Roland tried stopping them, but with just the two of them putting any effort it was impossible. The Royals were far better physically conditioned.
"Eighteen to Two…" Lex didn't even sound enthusiastic anymore, he turned the scoreboard and put his chin against his hand.
"This is the difference between High-Tiers and Low Tiers" Arlo's cold words resonated in Evie's mind as she recalled the previous two weeks with Vritra and Azazel. Maybe she had gotten too used to it.
Roland grabbed the ball from under the net and began bouncing it toward the other side. At that point he might as well do whatever he wants.
"Warm up is over." Azazel grabbed the ball from Roland's hands.
"Holy mother of fucking god, took you long enough. Evie, love you girl, but if you ever say that we are scared of those pansy bitches, I won't help you with homework anymore." Vritra lazily said, his arm over his shoulder and stretching. The sounds of his joints popping were weirdly loud.
"But then why were you just standing –"
"Arlo!" Azazel interrupted Evie and walked to the middle of the court, "This match is over. From this moment onward, you won't be able to touch the ball." Azazel's confident demeanor was back, there was a light in his eyes for a second there.
"That's an audacious claim." Arlo narrowed his eyes and walked toward Azazel.
As if he'd changed gears, Azazel dashed toward him at full speed, then barely slowing down at all, he dribbled past Arlo. Arlo tried intercepting it from behind him, but Azazel crossed the ball between his legs. Meeting Blyke, Azazel passed the ball to Vritra, who dashed in.
"Roland! Take right wing!" Azazel ordered as Vritra grabbed the ball for a dunk. Mid-air, he was intercepted by Isen and Elaine who could jump a lot higher than Evie expected. They managed to intercept the ball with their hands just enough to make Vritra's positioning shift to the right. The ball bounced off the hoop. Before the enemy defense could grab it, Vritra pushed it with his other hand.
The ball landed perfectly in Roland's hands, who threw the ball into the three point line.
"Eighteen, Five."
Isen rushed to the base-line, however the instant he did, he was stopped by Vritra who used his full wingspan to block him out. Isen was forced to pass to Arlo who was closest to him, however the moment the ball was about to touch Arlo's hand, Azazel grabbed it, stealing it and bringing it to the other side.
Elaine and Blyke blocked Azazel's way, but he dribbled past them, he swayed his body to the left, faking a spin, then switched the ball's hand to force a small opening, which he used to pass the ball to Roland, who was on the right corner.
Roland threw the ball and made another point.
"Eighteen, Eight."
"Block out that low-tier!" Arlo ordered. They went to the baseline again, and Vritra acted as a wall to Isen, who passed it to Blyke this time. Roland grabbed the ball, and tried dribbling past Blyke, but he was out-skilled.
Blyke entered the radius of the three point line and got ready to shoot. As he tried to, Evie moved to jump and block the shot, but Vritra tapped her shoulder and got there before she could, slapping the ball out of his hand, and perfectly into Azazel's.
Azazel rushed to the other side with Arlo defending him, Blyke was blocking out Roland and Isen was doing his best to block out Vritra. Elaine was blocking out Evie. It was a one on one.
"Predictable," Azazel dashed sideways, forcing Arlo to follow, then changed directions, passing the ball under his leg. Arlo was forced to take a big step to recover, and in that instant, Azazel passed the ball under Arlo's leg to get through. Isen moved to get to Azazel and prevent him from scoring.
"What?!"
Azazel grabbed it, took two steps and jumped. Isen, had sprinted from the other side and tried taking the ball from his hand, Azazel stopped his hand, faking his shot before passing it behind him. Vritra grabbed the ball and dunked it.
"Eighteen, Ten."
They weren't even talking, what was going on? Vritra put his hand out and waved it as Azazel walked past it.
"Match's not over yet."
"Perfectionist bitch. Take that stick out of your ass will you?"
The moment they moved to the base-line Azazel was there to meet them. Isen passed the ball to Elaine, but Vritra was there to intercept. His larger strides and arms made it impossible to catch up to him. He scored a three pointer barely trying. Evie knit her eyebrows and wondered why it had been so easy, then turned her head.
Isen had been outsped, Arlo and Blyke were blocking Azazel, and Elaine was near Roland. Did Azazel know that this was going to happen? No, there was no way right? Azazel went to talk to Roland, and whispered something to him.
"Eighteen, Thirteen."
Again, they tried moving to the baseline, this time it was Roland who moved to intercept Isen. Isen looked shocked, he looked at Arlo and at Blyke who were being blocked by Azazel and Vritra. He took the chance and dribbled to the basket, attempting another three pointer. He jumped up, but Evie rushed in to jump and block the shot.
The basketball hit her hands and bounced forward toward Elaine, who grabbed it and tried to shoot again, this time she was stopped by Roland, who grabbed it and with all the strength he had, threw it to the other side of the field.
As if he were an Olympic sprinter, Vritra ran to the other side of the court to grab the ball. He was faster than everyone else on the court, and by the time Isen and Arlo got there, he was already dunking the ball on the basket.
"Eighteen, Fifteen."
"Whoah…" Evie widened her eyes as Azazel yawned, looking at Arlo with a smug expression on his face.
"What's with the expression on your face Arlo? Feeling left out?" Azazel was the one to intercept the shot this time. Isen tried passing it to Arlo, who looked angry, but was blocked by Azazel, who stretched his arm by overstepping, he looked out of balance. Arlo came to grab the ball – it would be easy since he didn't have his other hand.
Evie ran up to get herself open, but before she could do anything, Azazel passed the ball, curling his arm backward to Roland. By having both Arlo and Blyke close in toward him, he opened a path for Roland who was on the right wing. Roland took the path, but he wasn't fast enough and Isen got there in time to intercept him.
Roland pump-faked Isen, who jumped, then waited for Isen to fall so he could take a step side-ways before jumping to throw the ball in the basket.
"Eighteen, Eighteen! Amazing! The low tiers have caught up!" Lex finally showed some enthusiasm.
The high-tier team approached the baseline, and passed the ball to Blyke, who dashed forward, he was intercepted by Vritra, so he passed it back to Isen, then Isen to Elaine, slowly inching their way toward the basket. Isen passed the ball to Elaine who pump-faked Vritra and threw the ball to the basket. Roland slapped the ball out of the air, hiding behind Vritra's figure to appear suddenly.
The ball flew toward Arlo, who dashed forward to grab it, however just before it reached his hands, Azazel swooped in and grabbed it. He turned his head to Arlo and smugly grinned.
He dashed toward the three point line, but the entire Royals team rushed with him, trying to steal the ball back. Evie, Vritra and Roland were all rushing there as well, but they were all blocked off. Vritra was blocked by Elaine, Blye was blocking Roland, and Azazel was being blocked off by both Isen and Arlo.
"It's over!" Arlo reached out for the ball with Isen, but with a mocking tone and grin, Azazel leaned back and let himself fall back.
"We have one other member, you know?" The ball was passed back to Evie, who was free. She looked up at the basket and with her heart pounding, Evie threw the ball up. Without anyone blocking it, it flew and hit the corner of the basket.
Evie's eyes widened as she saw the ball slowly fall, having missed. The sound of thuds and grunts took Evie's attention as Vritra grabbed the rebound and dunked the ball inside.
"Eighteen, Twenty!" Lex announced, "Incredible! Amazing!"
"Phew… I thought I screwed up everything!" Evie let out a sigh of relief. Vritra grinned.
"Don't worry, I got you." Vritra ran past her to the defense line. Both him and Azazel were already there. She wondered how they weren't tired, Evie hadn't done much at all and could barely breathe. The same could be said for Roland.
They got to the baseline fast, but the Royals were definitely more tired than they were. Was that why Azazel let them run back and forth at the beginning of the match? How far ahead had he planned this through?
Isen passed it to Elaine, then Elaine to Blyke. They were inching closer to the basket. Which is when Evie noticed, the Royals weren't passing the ball to Arlo, they were down one man. They did it because Azazel was taking extra care of him?
Elaine went to take the shot, and Azazel jumped to block it. In that instant, Elaine faked her throw, and passed it to Arlo. Arlo grinned, his plan perfectly carried out… and then a mountain blurred past, grabbing the ball. Vritra dashed to the other side. Evie ran with him, but looked back to see Arlo's eyes widened with Azazel staring at him.
"I am absolute," although Azazel was telling Arlo that to demean him, at this point it felt more like self-reassurance… Maybe she was overthinking things.
Vritra went for the double point with a dunk, but before he jumped, he stopped and turned around to pass the ball to Evie. Evie looked at Elaine and Blyke rushed toward her to grab the ball and threw it at the basket half-hazzerdly, and it missed.
Vritra grabbed the rebound, pretended to dunk it so they would put their attention on him, then passed the ball back to Evie… who stared at him confused.
"I gotchu."
Evie threw the ball, and finally, it went in.
"Eighteen, Twenty-Two! It's a victory for Wellston's low-tiers!"
"GET FUCKED ASSLO!" Vritra cackled like a maniac, scooping Roland and Evie up and twirling them around.
"In school you might be a King, but here in the field, where there are no powers? You are lower than the dirt I step on." Azazel was sneering, he was gloating, he was doing everything to make Arlo feel worse about himself.
Arlo scoffed and got up.
"Don't forget the power that matters is out there, not here." Arlo, and the other Royals left.
"Weird way of coping with a loss, don't you think?" Azazel turned his head, he didn't even seem happy anymore… It was as if he was only happy about seeing Arlo lose, not that he'd won… Evie had never met a prettier person, but she was glad he was his friend.
"...Bet I can beat you guys in Super Piggy Party"
"Give me five minutes of prep-time, I've never played before."
"Okay Batman. Next thing you're gonna tell me is that you are studying under the Tibetan Monks."
"How'd you know? Homo-Stalker."
"No, your ass is just predictable. Overused Joke user."
"Then why'd you lose rock-paper-scissors?"
"Cause RNG-esus got a blowjob from you before the game. Whore."
"Oh, so now you're imagining homo-erotica. Well, it is fine if you want to stay in your closet. I'll just make fun of you for taking so long to get out."
"Nah, I aint Arlo. Now let's go, I want to watch you Cope, Seethe and Mald over your fist 3 loses before you start watching tutorials and cheating like a bitch."
Those two were incredibly weird... and Evie would not have it any other way.