The intense burning game between the blue team and the red team started, both teams were going at it in a more intense way, even more so the red team that was in all mood to beat the rival girls. Especially Akko and Marianne, wanting to defeat Diana, Hannah and Barbara, much for what they had been through these last weeks in Luna Nova.
Marianne arrives in the dugout, Akko throws the ball to her, which Leclerc ends up hitting Avery in the back, eliminating another one and in the rush, Hannah already picks up the ball and throws it back into the red team's court, where Sucy manages to grab the ball, giving a pass to the Frenchwoman who gives it back to Kagari who throws it back with everything catching Hannah's legs.
" Yes! This way we'll be able to win! " Akko said excitedly, until another ball came into play.
Now there are two balls in the field, this one fell well in the arena of the blue team in which Barbara catches it, passes to Diana who almost hits Akko who dodges it, the other ball is the one with dark hair from the red team who guarantees herself, catching and hitting Barbara well in the back of the head in an unprepared way, what was already leaving the victory of the red team.
" you are about to lose to us " said Sucy, who is suddenly hit in the back by Avery who was in the gravedigger.
This way there are two against Diana, and another ball is thrown to the pitch, this time falling on the red and with this there are three for Lotte and Akko, who throw one to the gravedigger where Cavendish tries to throw herself to catch it, even succeeding, but Yanson throws one of them to catch the Scottish who throws herself on the ground throwing the ball back, which catches the shin of the Finnish, leaving only Atsuko and Diana.
The Japanese throws the ball hard to catch the platinum haired girl, who throws herself a little more, then the brownish girl finds another ball, throwing it towards her rival.
" Go Diana! " The blue team girls cheer, only for this one to be hit right in the buttocks with a throw from Marianne, confirming the victory for the reds.
" First match over, victory is for the red team! " said Croix after blowing the whistle.
" Damn it! Be more attentive Diana! " Hannah said in frustration.
The second game is whistled, starting with only one ball, given to the blue team, this time Cavendish was a bit exhausted, the one who threw ended up being Hannah, where the ball was easily grabbed by Lotte who passed to Marianne, who jumped throwing with everything towards the distracted Avery, already making the first victim.
" Nice one! " Akko said to Leclerc.
The ball was this time passed to Diana who tried to quickly hit Akko who dodged making it fall into the dugout where Avery caught it trying to throw it the other way but it was too weak with the ball being caught by Sucy who passes to Kagari and almost hits Cavendish and Hannah who dodge.
Parker picks the ball up and goes running but makes a mistake, passing the ball back to the Scot who throws everything hitting the Japanese woman right in the chest.
" What? You tricked us! " Said Atsuko indignantly, but soon she was accepting, going at the gravedigger running and with that Sucy takes the opportunity to try a throw, where Hannah dodges, but the brownish one was the one in the gravedigger.
Without thinking twice, she throws the ball burning England which is another one eliminated, leaving only Barbara and Diana, but right at this moment also comes the second ball, thrown to the red side.
At this time Barbara tries to give a pass, only that Marianne cleverly throws the ball up, hitting the other one in the middle of the way, this time leaving two, one of them is passed to Akko in the ditchdigger, the other one is in the hands of Leclerc.
A throw by Kagari is dodged by Parker, but the one by the dark"haired woman with reddish highlights ends up putting Barbara out for good.
" Damn, we're leaving too much! " Hannah said.
" Try to play against them and complain less! You are always one of the first to be eliminated " Parker replies angrily.
Diana still had the two balls on the field, throwing one to the gravedigger and the other she didn't waste time, throwing to the field, managing to eliminate Lotte, and Marianne was almost not hit, managing to dodge, and catching the ball.
Only, a third out
comes, coming right at the dugout where Kagari was, which practically made a triangle surrounding Cavendish.
The three reds throw the ball with everything, but the Scot jumps, dodging in a miraculous way the three balls, falling on the ground and with that seeing the ball go to Atsuko
again who throws it to her that almost didn't catch her if it wasn't for the one with platinum hair rolling on the ground, only that just in the moment that she would get up, she almost gets caught by another ball that went towards her.
" Diana! Diana! Diana! Diana! Diana! Diana! " Shouted Barbara and Avery cheering for their friend.
One of those balls ended up in the hand of Diana who threw it all the way to Sucy, but she dodged it, with the ball going to the gravedigger, where Hannah caught it and almost eliminated Manbavaran who dodged it, giving the ball back to Cavendish, but in that moment of distraction, the blue"eyed one didn't touch the other flanks, where Marianne threw a ball and that made the Scot dodge.
She just didn't expect Akko'
s throw to hit Diana's ribcage, thus cementing the victory for the Reds who will advance to the next round of the finals.
" And the victory is for the red team, as they won the first two matches, they will advance to the semi"finals, as for the blue team, it was a pity that they were defeated, but they will still have more dynamics for you " said Croix.
" Woah! Diana, you played a great game, you were really right when you wouldn't give away the victory so easily, it was like The Matrix the way you kept dodging hahaha " Said Atsuko scratching the back of her head.
" I told you... I'm not as sedentary as you think Akko, now good luck from now on " said Cavendish all breathless.
The next match starts, the green team against the violet team, and it was simply an extremely easy victory for the greens, even though Sarah Bernhardt proved to be a tricky player to beat, despite being tall, she is still very agile.
The first match of the semifinals will be the grey team against the green team.
On the B side the dispute to define who will face the reds, yellow team x white team, an easy dispute for the yellows, they have a good ability and synchrony in the field, being even as the reds, the only ones to have 3 victories losing specifically to the green team.
" These yellows will be tricky for us to beat, just like us, they only lost to Amanda's team, we have to be vigilant or else we will end up losing in the semi"final " Lotte said.
" I watched their game, let's try to be as calm as possible and then we might have a chance to win," said Akko who was holding back her anxiety a little.
Semifinals:
Side A: Grey Team x Green TeamSide
B: Red Team x Yellow Team
The first match starts, on the A"side, being practically an easy game for the greens, they were practically dancing over each of the games, achieving a greater synchronicity, even using this game to train for the final, being an easy 2"0 victory, qualifying the greens for the final and the greys for a third place dispute.
" And the greens are the winners and finalists of our first burnout championship " Croix said.
Nervous, the reds are called to go to the match against the yellows, they go to the arena, with everyone watching them, Akko tries to keep calm, but it is remarkable how the Japanese woman's hands were shaking.
On one side the reds with Akko, Lotte, Sucy and Marianne, and on the other side the reds with Wangari, Kimberly, Joanna and Aira, two of whom, like the reds, have a very active physical condition, even the teams look alike, the only difference being that the yellows are the journalists from Luna Nova's little newspaper that is made to keep up with the gossip from the camp.
" Come on girls, let's keep calm and we can win this one " Akko said taking a deep breath.
The coin was drawn and the yellow ones got to be the ones to draw, they opted for the field, and the red ones got the ball, what was already starting the first game.
This first game was very intense and disputed, both teams were very balanced, barely managing to eliminate each other for a long time, until the second ball, where they were still holding on a lot, but soon Kimberly ended up eliminating Sucy, already missing a lot the team, but still creating one more tactical option, when Manbavaran was starting to try to hit the other side.
Even more when the third ball came, then the Yellows, were trying to hold what they could, they managed even, managing to stay on one side with three balls, which they threw with everything to the other side, which Lotte, Akko and Marianne, dodged and threw back.
Marianne hit Joanna who was more distracted with all this mess regarding the balls on the field, but the yellows smiled with this tactic. It was
not for less, it was when the fourth ball came, the tactic, favoured them that they managed to eliminate Lotte.
" Damn it! That's a lot of balls, how are we going to make it now! It's everywhere! " said Akko, already getting desperate.
The yellows, were surrounding more and more the reds, that Leclerc and Kagari accidentally hit each other on the back by a ball from Wangari and the other from Joanna, which cemented the victory of the yellows.
" The yellow team win! " Croix said.
" We have to play a different tactic, with a lot of balls, it is almost impossible to beat them," Akko said.
The second match starts, with the ball being the reds', Akko throws to Wangari who defends easily, returning it hitting Marianne who winked to the Japanese, and with that the tactic was already materializing.
Sucy and Marianne exchanged passes confusing the yellow team as much as they could, until they passed the ball to Lotte who was just waiting in the best corner, hitting Aira.
The yellows played to the gravedigger, but Akko jumped high enough to intercept the throw, passing the ball to Sucy who threw to the gravedigger pretending to be burning Joanna, only for the ball to go to Marianne who took the opportunity to throw in the same who was eliminated.
" Yes! It's working " said the excited Japanese woman.
The second ball comes into play, right at that moment, which Wangari tries to throw to Akko who miraculously makes another catch that even hurts the Japanese girl's hand, the other goes to the gravedigger, where Aira was, who tried to hit Kagari who threw herself as Diana used to do, and the ball with that went to Lotte which made their tactics easier.
Atsuko threw to the gravedigger, the same way Lotte was doing, as if it was a juggling, the two remaining are confused, but soon Yanson hits Kimberly in the scare when she turns her face, catching the girl's shoulder that is eliminated, leaving only Wangari.
" Perfect, now let's take a chance on that one," Akko said.
Wangari throws towards Akko, only for Lotte to be the one who jumps in front, getting hit, saving her friend, which gave the ball to them in addition to the tactical advantage.
With the two balls, it was where in a square format the red team girls were surrounding Wangari, passing the ball one to the other finishing with a throw from Marianne that makes the Kenyan dodge, but was caught by one of Akko that caught well in the foot of the leader of the yellows.
" Victory for the yellow girls! " Said Croix and with that they were even celebrating more relieved.
" Yes! We managed to draw! Now all we have to do is win this one " Akko said excitedly, while the green girls watching the game were analysing the tactics very well.
The third game is whistled the advantage of the ball stays with the yellows, which Wangari already arrives throwing to the reds, with the tactic this time being Atsuko who throws herself to be eliminated, already flashing to the reds who throw the ball quickly to the Japanese who runs to the gravedigger throwing herself, managing to hit well at the feet of Joanna who was caught in the distraction.
" Yes, the tactic worked! " Akko said.
The ball stayed with the yellows who were already catching the reds pretending a distraction, which in reality was all tactical, this time Lotte was the hit, she went running to one side of the field, the girls focused their eyes on her as the ball was passed to Akko, when they notice Kagari makes a risky throw catching well under the legs of the yellows, with the ball going to Yanson who takes a hit right on the back of Kimberly's head.
" Yes, Lotte! We're gonna make it! We're winning! " said Kagari excitedly.
This time Wangari goes for a direct shot, trying to hit Marianne that grabs the ball in a way that even she could not imagine, with so much strength that the Kenyan has, arriving at the second ball that comes to the red team, where Sucy throws to the gravedigger already Leclerc runs out throwing towards Wangari, Akko does the same, hitting the team leader and even one of the balls with the impact on the back ends up coming back to the area of the reds who had this luck.
With that left only Aira that was dodging as she could, even caught one of the balls throwing to the gravedigger, but Marianne easily held the ball and went with that surrounding the remaining that in only one precise hit on the feet of Aira, eliminated her.
" Victory for the red team! They are our second finalists! " Said Croix and with that Akko, Lotte, Sucy and Marianne go running towards each other panting.
They come together in a quartet hug jumping with joy, excited with the victory jumping with emotion, while the yellow ones just sit on the ground impressed that the red ones have gone so far.
" As for the yellow girls, they didn't lose so much, since they are together with the Ashes in the dispute for third place. As soon as the break is over you will go with the Ashes here to see who will be the third-placed girls of this championship," said Croix.
The reds also took the opportunity to rest, sitting on the bleachers, drinking water and replenishing themselves, even Diana came up to them to talk, in a miraculous way, as the girls of the green team were just sitting getting ready to perform the tactics of the match against Akko's team.
" The yellow ones try to hold the game as long as possible to fill the ball and then eliminate you, that's what I could notice, but now the green ones, you better watch out " said Diana and Kagari just shrugged.
" I just want to have fun, we have already gotten very far, I don't even know how, since we only have the strategies in the madness " Answers the Japanese.
" Very strange that you came to talk to us in such a relaxed way, wanting to help us, why don't you help your own sister? Especially since we beat you? " said Sucy suspicious.
" It's probably that thing with Akko," Lotte complements, causing Kagari and Cavendish to blush.
" No! It has nothing to do with Akko, I just want to help you because my sister is well prepared, the green team is really the strongest and you need to be very smart if you really want to win, you are not going to give up on winning now that you have come so far aren't you? " Diana said.
" I'm not giving up, but whether I lose or not is part of it, it was just a fun little game of burnout, I haven't had one of these in years at school, let alone in a championship format," Akko said rubbing the back of her neck.
" Anyway I can help you if you want " Cavendish said and the four just deny their heads.
" If we win or lose it will be our merit, we don't want help, I know you are trying to be nice Diana, but this is not the time to be like that, now our focus is on resting, because this final will be tiring, we played against them and we know it will not be easy, but that does not mean we will give up " Akko answers.
" Okay, I'll leave you two alone, sorry to bother you, I'll be cheering for you here, since my sister always wins everything anyway," Diana said shrugging and turning back to where she was in the stands.
" Diana! Damn... This Diana, what a complicated little girl " Akko said extending her hand and the other girls of the team only got suspicious.
" Akko, I'm thinking you deep down wanted that help and it wasn't even because of the team but because of Diana's presence hahahah " Manbavaran gets teasing again.
" Look it's not bad, this Diana is quite cute, she has been improving a lot these days " Lotte said.
" I don't know about you, but I've seen too many romance books and manga to know where this is going," Marianne giggled as Akko's cheeks flushed.
The burning games intensified, the reds after two fierce disputes are heading for the final against the greens, in what will be the game of their lives after having faced so many complicated matches, they are getting back together for the final game, also watching the dispute for third place which ended up with the yellows in a game that was easy for them.
See you, strategic witches...