Chapter 2: Let The Training Begin.

Skye let out a yawn as she woke from her deep slumber, "I don't wanna get up", Skye complained as she forced her body up and slowly bad her way to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and got ready for the day, she planned to get to the school early and get a little volleyball practice in the gym done. Skye grabbed her school bag and quickly gave her mother a note before grabbing her bike and making the trip to the school, it wasn't that long of a ride so by the time she got their it was just hitting 7:30 and students didn't need to be at the school until 8:30. Skye locked her bike in the bike rack before heading over to the school doors, they we're unlocked and she made her way inside to the front desk.

"Excuse me ma'am", Skye said tapping the desk and getting her attention.

"Let me guess, your a new member of the volleyball team and you wanna get the keys to gym and get some practice in", the lady looked up at Skye with a smile on her face.

"How did you know?" Skye questioned.

"Your team captain Ryder always asks the same thing, almost every morning, so you should see him, Naomi and I believe Brian came this morning for practice, also two more boys", the lady told her.

"Thank you", Skye thanked before rushing off to the gym and getting changed in a pair of pink shorts and a white shirt. She came into the gym and saw Marshall was sitting with Andy talking, white Brian was busy hitting the ball against the wall with power, meanwhile Chase was hitting the ball against the wall over and over again and Ryder was wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Oh hey Skye", Marshall spoke up.

"Sweet hey guys come on we can get a quick game of 3 on 3 now that we have 6 people", Ryder spoke up.

"Sure", Chase said as he walked over and gave Skye a hesitant look \, "morning".

"Good morning", skye said cheerfully.

"Alright here are teams, it will be me Skye and Naomi going up against Brian Chase and Marshall", Ryder said as he took his spot on his side of the court.

"Sweet I get to team up with the captain", Skye said as she ran over and gave Ryder a high five.

Naomi walked over with a frown on her face and pulled Skye over to the side, "listen kid right now you are gonna do this, follow my lead so we can win".

"Don't you trust me" Skye asked.

"No I don't, you can only spike and jump, you are bad at blocking and you are bad at receiving, we need to work out those kinks", Naomi smirked as she ruffled Skye's hair a bit, "Don't worry we can make something out of you".

Skye huffed a bit, but she was right she wasn't that good at that many things, so she knew she needed to get stronger some how.

"We'll serve, game is to 15", Ryder said taking the ball, he bounced it a couple times before throwing it up into the air and hitting it, as of now only Chase had the skill to jump up and connect with a powerful jumping serve. So Ryder knocked it over the net with a simple serve. Marshall was quick to bounce the ball back into the air and knocking it over to Chase who set it up into the air.

"Skye backup!" Naomi knocked Skye out of the way and set her feet into the ground, "Brian Grant, the ace of the team with the most power at spiking, however I can receive his spikes", Naomi thought.

"Naomi, you a fool", Brian thought as he turned his attention towards Skye before bringing his hand down and spiking it towards Skye with major power. Skye stood her ground and brought her arms up to block, but the ball immediately went through her arms and landed hard against the ground before bouncing back against the wall.

"OW!" Skye screamed as she looked down at her arms and saw they had turned pink where the ball had hit.

"Oh shit my bad", Brian went under the net and came over to Skye, "you okay?"

"I'm fine", Skye said as she fought back tears and shook her arms around, "that was a good spike".

Chase held back a snicker which got him a dirty look from Skye, once they were sure she was okay the game went on, since Chase's team scored it was their turn to serve, Chase took a breath before throwing the ball high into the air he ran forward and jumped up connecting with a powerful serve knocking the ball towards Skye.

"You think i'm that weak Chase", Skye frowned as she held her arms up but she didn't have her arms right and the ball went flying sideways. "Dang it sor", she began to speak as Naomi suddenly ran for the ball and dived forward and hit the ball back towards the court.

"Ryder get the last hit!" Ryder ran towards the ball and hit it back over the net, Marshall was quick to recover and hit the ball towards Chase.

"Skye come here", Naomi got up and ran towards Skye, "on my mark jump as high as you possible can amd keep those arms locked close". She grabbed Skye's shirt and pulled her in front of the net before right as Chase had set the ball up to Brian. "Ready go!" Skye and Naomi jumped up and barely managed to block the ball high into the air. "There you go girl now get ready!" Naomi landed on the ground and looked toward Ryder, "Ryder one touch!"

"I know!" Ryder got in front of the ball and hit it into the air.

"Time to fly!" Skye ran back and went to the back line and rushed forward.

Naomi set the ball up into the air and Skye jumped up, "she can fly, but even bird can get ground". Brian thought as he jumped up and blocked the ball sending it crashing to the ground giving them a 2 to 0 lead.

"Dang it!" Skye shouted as she landed on the ground.

"Sorry Skye", Naomi apologizes rubbing the back of her own head, "I'm more of a defense player not a setter".

"Your better than me", Skye said with a small sigh, "I can't receive the ball very well", Skye said.

The game went on and Skye's team lost the game only by 6 points, Skye was currently looking down at the ground and was sniffling more frustrated in herself than anything else. All of her spikes were blocked way to easily.

"Skye", Naomi walked over and put her hand on her shoulder, "come on and get in a quick shower before school starts".

"Alright", Skye said as she was led to the showers.

"She seemed upset", Marshall noted.

"I don't blame her", Brian spoke up wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"What do you mean", Marshall asked looking up at the african american boy.

"For spikers it is the ultimate insult to have all of your spikes blocked", Brian said.

Meanwhile in the girl's locker room, Skye was done with her shower and had a towel wrapped around her. "You know it is okay to be frustrated", Skye turned to see Naomi had just got out of the shower with a towel around herself.

"I know", Skye answered.

"Well then don't hold it in, scream shout push things around", Naomi told her as she began to dress herself.

"Naomi", Naomi turned towards Skye and was a bit surprised to see tears rushing down her face, "can you help me receive balls perfectly!" She cried out, as she put her head in her hands.

"Why wouldn't I", Skye looked up at Naomi who placed her hand on her head, "after all I am a junior I might as well show you somethings".

Meanwhile Ryder was back in his usually clothes and went around looking for a teacher to become their new coach. After spending most of the morning he had almost gave up when finally someone came up to him, it was one of the new teachers, and her name was Jessica Masters.

"Your the boy looking for a volleyball coach right?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am…. You would perhaps be interested would you?" Ryder questioned.

"Well I don't know that much about the sport, but without a coach you can't enter any of the tournaments can you?" Ryder shook his head no. "Well I can be your coach until we find someone more suited to coach you guys", Jessica suggest.

"Thank you so much", Ryder thanked letting out a sigh of relief.

"Your welcome", Jessica said, "I guess I will see you after school, when are the practices anyway?"

"Well we have practice monday, tuesday, thursday friday and saturday at 1:00", said Ryder.

"Alright then i'll see you after school", Jessica said shaking his hand.

They went on pretty quick and after school the team meet outside of the gym and at the track field, "alright welcome to our first actually team practice, my name is Ryder and today we are gonna be working on the 4 basic cors to the sport, blocking, spiking, receiving, serving after that we are gonna play another practice game, I wanna introduce you all to our new coach Ms. Masters", Ryderm motioned to the new coach who gave a shy wave.

"Um hello…. My name is Jessica Masters, I just started teaching here so i might have some of you in my freshmen english class. I don't know that much about the sport but I do have some connect with other former coaches so I will be trying to get one of them to take over, until then I wish you all the best of luck", Jessica told them.

"SKye come here", Naomi spoke out.

"Yes naomi".

"Alright we are gonna work on that receiving of yours", Naomi spoke up. "So follow me into the gym", Skye nodded her head and when they got in there she saw, Rubble and Marshall were in their with Andy".

"Alright so here is what we are gonna do, you three are gonna keep that ball going for as long as you can passing it back and forth, each time it hits the ground you will run one suicide", Andy told Marshall and Rubble.

"Skye stand on the other side of the net", Naomi went and got a rolling box filled with volleyballs as well as a step ladder. She climbed to the top of the step ladder and got a ball, "okay Skye here is what we are gonna do, I am gonna spike this ball towards you 10 times each miss in one you will have to run for 30 seconds for each missed shot in order for it to count you must ", Naomi told her, once Skye was waiting in proper position, Naomi threw the ball up and hit gently towards Skye. Skye keep her knees bent and her arms out, once the ball was close enough she lifted her arms up and hit the ball up into the air, but it wasn't on the right path and hit the top of the net and landed on her side of the court.

"That 30 seconds", Naomi said picking up another ball and spiked it towards Skye again, this time she hit it hard enough so that went over the net and landed on the floor. "Good job", Naomi praised as she got another ball and hit it with a little more force towards Skye, this time she misjudged how hard the ball was hit and lifted her arms up weakly and the ball bounced off her arms and onto the ground. "Skye focus on the ball, you need to judge how hard the ball is being hit and then act accordingly, put more or else power in your return swings, oh and that is now a minute", Naomi spiked the same type of hit towards Skye 3 more times on the first try it went sideways and the next two times the ball went flying into the net. "That is now 2 minutes and 30 seconds".

"Focus!" Skye told herself, "plant your legs firmly", Skye watched Naomi spike the ball again, "keep your arms held tightly together no gaps", Skye waited and swung her arms up and knocked the ball over the net onto Naomi's side of the court.

"Good work, now 5 more left and these are coming near my full strength so you are gonna need too both judge the timing as well as the speed and act according", Naomi told her throwing the ball up and slammed her hand on it. On the last 5 Skye missed all 5 bringing her to a grand total 4 minutes of running.

"That is four straight minutes of running", Naomi told Skye taking a break.

"Can we make it 2" Skye asked with a small groan.

"You mean add two more onto the 4 you own me go ahead!" Naomi smirked as she went to get some water.

Skye sighed as she began to run from the sideline to sideline, while she did this Naomi walked over to Andy who was hitting a ball against the wall, while waiting for Marshall and Rubble to actually drop the ball, which they surprisingly were doing really really good. "So how are you doing with your newbies?" Naomi questioned.

"They are actually doing good", Andy noted looking at them, "I think they have good control so do you mind if we join your training with Skye once she is done with her running, I can serve the ball up to you and you can spike it?" Andy suggested.

"Yeah that would work pretty good", Naomi looked at her watch, she had 3 minutes and 25 seconds left", Naomi noted.

Once Skye time was done she collapsed to one knee and began to take deep breaths in and out, "Skye get some water and then come back", Andy called out. Once Skye had come back Naomi had moved the box of balls and the step ladder and was stretching out her arms.

"Alright you three we are gonna do some receiving practice as well as teamwork, i'm gonna take some time to spike the ball towards you, now this isn't a practice game this is just so you guys get used to the ball heading towards you and knocking it back over. You are working as a team and you are gonna do what you can to keep the ball in play, for every missed ball you are gonna run one lap around the court", Naomi told them.

"Also if one of you hit the ball out of bounce that also counts as a lap around the court, so you need to have control of the ball, figure out how much strength you need to hit the ball across the net, as well as keep it in play", Andy added.

Naomi nodded towards Andy before she threw the ball up towards him, Andy held his hands up above his head and set the ball in front of the net, Naomi ran forward, she jumped up and slammed her hand onto the ball and sent it flying towards, Rubble. Rubble held his ground, he bent his knees and holds his arms out, he lifted them up and hit the ball back across the net and near the back corner of the court keeping it just in play. Naomi grabbed another ball and threw it to Naomi before suddenly running left, Andy tipped the ball towards the far left side of the net and Naomi jumped up ready to spike it.

"Got it!" Marshall cried out as he looked at the girl.

"No you don't", Naomi thought as she turned a bit in midair and slammed her hand onto the ball sending it towards Rubble who was on the right side and startled him, Rubble watched as the ball bounced in front of him and hit the ground.

"That's one lap!" Naomi called out as she slapped Andy's hand.

"What was that?" Skye questioned.

"That was a cross court shot, I went left by hit the ball right", Naomi smirked as she grabbed another ball she threw it towards Andy who set it up right in front of the net.

"Skye be ready", Marshall called out.

Marshall was wrong as Naomi spiked the ball towards Rubble again who wasn't expecting it, "you need to be on guard the whole game guys, the ball can come towards you at any time", Naomi told them.

"That's three laps", Andy added.

Naomi threw another ball to Andy who served it up and she spiked it this time towards Skye as hard as she could. Skye dug deep into the ground and threw her arms up right as the ball came in front of her and she knocked it into the net. "Shoot my bad!"

This went on for a while, and Naomi and Andy stopped once they reached 20 Skye had shown improvement knocking the ball over the net a couple times. "Alright you can do either 10 now and then 10 after practice or 5 now 5 later ect or all 20 right now because you are not leaving until either me or andy see that you have done the laps", Naomi told them .

"Can I ask a stupid question?" Rubble spoke up.

"Go ahead".

"How come you and the other upperclassmen can make us do this stuff" Rubble asked.

"Because that is how it has always been here, freshmen and sophomores have always had to listen to the upperclassmen during practice", Andy answered.

"And what happens if we don't do it… I will but what if other kids dont", Marshall asked.

"Well the reason why we always have punishments like running laps, pushups and situps is because they they give you something to work to towards and avoid, this punishments push you to work harder and get better and if you don't do it then we see that like you saying hey I don't wanna get better so that will affect your time on the court as well as show that you don't really care", Naomi explained.

"That makes sense", Skye admitted.

Skye, Marshall and Rubble went to work on their laps while Naomi and Andy worked on some more of their skills, Naomi worked on her serving while Andy worked on more types of setting drills.

Meanwhile outside Zuma was covered in grass stains as Ryder and Kim took turns hitting the volleyball high into the air towards the sun so he would lose it. Zuma was working on his diving to save the ball, on the other side Chase and Everest were doing push ups with Tyson.

Inside the schools weight room, Brian had Rocky doing some drills of his own, "why am I doing this?" Rocky asked as he took a deep breath after finishing a set of dumbbells.

"Because", Brian walked over and set a water bottle down in front of Rocky, "you are the tallest kid and probably are best blocker, however you have no arm strength and no upper body strength".

"So", Rocky said shrugging his shoulders.

"So let me ask you a question man, can you block my spike?"

"Maybe", Rocky said.

"Then prove it in the practice game today", Brian said with a smile, "until then let's get stronger".

Rocky only shrugged his shoulders, the only reason he tried out for the team was because of Zuma.

After about an hour of regular training the team meet back in the gym for their practice game, "alright since it is 7 on 6 here is how we are gonna do it, the teams are gonna me be myself, Naomi,Andy, Marshall, Everest and Rocky, vs Skye, Chase, Rubble, Brian, Kim, Tyson. Zuma you are gonna be playing for both teams as the libero", Ryder told them.

"Um excuse me", Jessica walked over to Katie who was by the score cards, "you aren't gonna play in the game".

"I'm not a player i'm the teams manager Katie", Katie spoke up.

Jessica took a spot on the opposite side of the score cards, Zuma took a spot sitting by the scorecard and the match began with Naomi, Marshall, and Ryder in the back row with Everest Andy and Rocky one one side, on the other side was Rubble, Kim and Tyson in the back row with Skye, Chase, and Brian in the front row.

"Game is first team to win two 25 winning team, get dinners on me", Katie announced her family was a bit rich so she was able to do things like this. "Zuma since you are playing for both teams do as best as you can if you don't then you can't come, do your best and then you can come along with the winning team".

"Got it Katie", Zuma said with a thumbs up.

"Don't feed him", Rocky called out with a small smirk.

"Shut it Wocky!"

"Come here", Brian called out as they huddled up, "alright for you new kids my name is Brian let's take it easy and get a win because Katie is known for having a great a steak spot so I really want a steak, Chase your a great setter I will call out if I want a spike everyone else do what you do".

Everyone went back to their spots and Rubble was gonna be serving first, he took a deep breath before knocking the ball over the net with a pretty good spike. "Chance ball", Ryder called out as he hit the ball into the air and towards Andy.

"Let's see", Andy turned and saw Marshall with his hand up and he ran towards the net, "alright then", Andy pushed the ball forwards towards Marshall who jumped up and slammed his hand onto the ball straight towards. Tyson who hit the ball back into the air towards Chase.

"Give me the ball!" Skye shouted as she ran forward towards the right side of the net.

"Skye huh", Rocky watched as the girl moved in almost slow motion to him, "so fast and quick however", Rocky wasn't watching Skye he was watching the ball, he grabbed Everest and pulled her towards him. "On my mark ready… go!" Everest and Rocky jumped up in front of Skye spikes, Everest with arms straight up but Rocky had his long arms hanging over the net, so the second Skye's shot hit his arms it went straight down onto the ground.

"What!" Skye turned and looked at the ball as it bounced on the ground giving Ryder's team a 1 to 0 lead. Skye looked up towards Rocky who fixed his glasses a bit.

"Your shot is to easy to block, please change it", Rocky said, however the look on his face said, "your a loser and you need to get better".

"Shake it off Skye", Tyson called out.

Ryder got the ball and it was his teams turn to serve, Ryder threw the ball up and served it aiming towards Kim who knocked it up into the air, the only problem was that she hit straight into the air but it came right back to her.

"Sorry!" Kim called out as she moved out of the way, the rules are the same player could touch the ball twice in a row. Chase ran over and looked out of the corner of his eye and Brian gave him a thumbs up. Chase jumped into the air and hit the ball over to the net, Brian ran forward and jumped up. Rocky had time the spike perfectly but the power was just to much for Rocky as the ball went through his arms and landed on the floor before the ball could be saved by any of time giving them a 1 to 1 tie.

"Like I said", Rocky turned towards Brian who was stretching his arm, "to weak!"

As the the first set went on the score quickly went back in forth as a volleyball game should, each team getting points, currently Ryder team was leading 24 to 21. Zuma was in the game for Kim who wanted to take a break and he was showing the result of his training by saving many shots for his team that couldn't make it in time. In the back row currently was Chase, Zuma, and Brian with Tyson Skye and Rubble in the front row. For Ryder's team it was Marshall, Everest and Andy in the back row with Ryder, Rocky and Naomi in the front.

"Katie these points are going by quickly aren't they?" Jessica spoke out.

"Yep", Katie agreed, "Volleyball is a unique sport, the ball is usually only in the air for a minute or two at best, usually the points come back and forth unless it is a really good team, matches like this are quick".

"So who has the advantage?" Jessica asked.

"Well in order to win, you have to at least have a two point led, and with Ryder having a three point led against the others, that is a huge advantage, so he will probably take the first set", said Katie.

"So can I ask the question?"

"Go ahead coach", Katie said.

"I'm I allowed to come to dinner with the winning team?" Jessica asked with a small blush on her face.

"Of course", Katie confirmed.

Chase took a deep breath as he threw the ball up, he ran forward and jumped up sending the ball crashing towards Everest who hit the ball back into the air however, it hit a bad spot and went flying towards the back of the court and hit the ground giving Chase's team a 22 to 24 lead.

"Nice serve Chase", Brian called out.

Chase nodded as he threw the ball back into the air and served it again towards Everest who hit the ball back over the net.

"Sorry didn't want that!" Everest called out.

"Chance ball!" Zuma called out.

"Skye quick", Chase called out getting in position as the ball came towards him, he jumped up and quick tipped the ball towards Skye who spiked it down onto the ground so quick that no one could move.

"ALRIGHT!" Skye yelled as she opened her eyes and pumped her fist as the score was now at 23 to 24. She had no idea why she always closed her eyes when Chase called for a quick, it made no sense to her the ball always came right to her hand and all she had to do was swing.

"That is an amazing quick attack", Ryder noted.

"Your right that is amazing", Andy said.

"Excuse me", Rocky walked over and took off his glasses for a second, "if you don't mind can you stay out of this and let me get the block, I think I know how".

"Go ahead Rocky", Naomi said slapping him on the back.

"Be ready", Rocky said as he walked back and looked at Skye.

Chase served the ball again and Everest again put too much power into her recieve and the ball went back to Zuma who hit the ball up to Chase who quickly set it to Skye. Skye spiked the ball down and when she opened her eyes, she saw that the ball wasn't on the court of the opponent's side, it was in the air on the other teams side!

"One touch", Rocky called out.

"What!" Skye thought as she landed on the ground, she looked up and saw that Naomi had just spike the ball down on the ground. Giving Ryder's team 25 they took the first set.

Next time on Volleyball Wars.

Rocky has found a way to read, Skye's quick attack, and as her mood gets down chase comes up with a new way for her to attack, who will take the game and get a paid dinner by Katie find out next time on Volleyball Wars.

"That should have worked!" Skye shouted.

"Calm down and trust me!" Chase spoke out.

"Next Time on Volleyball Wars, I can make you the best: Sets two begins", Marshall said.