Hey, King Spike Rules here and her is the next chapter to Spike's Basketball. The practice match continues into a second quarter and the Shark's quickly learn to fear more than just Spike.
Chapter 14: Holding Back.
The first quarter continued much like the first few minutes, Spike getting many of the points while the other team exploited Sandbar and Snips struggling to keep up with the rest of the team. By the time the buzzer hit for the end of it, the score with 21/17 with the Sharks getting a lead and both teams were resting while listening to their coaches.
"Snips, are you feeling okay?" Twilight asked looking at him while he panted, a towel draped over his head while he drank some water.
"Y-yeah, just a little tired." he said taking deep breaths and sweat running down his face, showing he was more than just tired, yet it was also clear that he was doing better than he did last time. Twilight noted this and looked at the others.
"Well, this went about as well as I thought for the first quarter." she said looking at the score and that it wasn't to bad comparing to what it could have been, "Mac, Soroan. Here is what I want in the second quarter." She began to explain and the two of them listened closely.
"Alright, good game out there so far." he said looking at them and smiling, they had handled the sudden skill of the green haired boy better than he could have hoped. "We'll keep the same line up from the first and I want extra focus on their ace, keep him grounded and they'll have nothing."
"That's easier said than done." one of them said panting, "he can get really intense and feel dangers."
"It's just mind game." the coach said looking at them, "You need to keep focused we will steal this game from them." They cheered and the whistle showed that they needed to head back onto the court.
"The whole first quarter and he didn't play." the guy with glasses groaned, leaning against the railing, "Not sure why they sent him to a game against a no name team."
"Maybe to test the waters on how he would handle a game?" Gallus said still confused as to who he was talking about and he looked at him.
"No, not him." he said looking at the bench, "I guess they may have been put with a restriction on using him." Gallus looked at the court and wondered what he could possibly mean.
Both teams stepped onto the court and looked at each other, eying the other when the ref handed the ball to one of the Sharks.
"That lead is only going to get bigger." he said smirking driving forward, slipping past Sandbar and Snails, and moved closer only for Spike to block his path. "Your good." he pulled back and looked at Spike, watching where his hands were and seeing if there was an opening, "But you really think you can beat us with players like those two?"
"Excuse me?" Spike asked his eyes narrowing and a glare appearing, the play felt something and flinched. that was all Soroan need to swoop past and snatch the ball.
"Damn it." he yelled turning and his eyes shot open with Soroan taking aim and then shooting a three pointer over the half center line. The ball fell through the net and the Sharks were left in a state of shock, their coach sweating as he had no idea that he could do that. The other team quickly moved towards the ball and started a new charge as the three looked to run over Soroan, Snails, and Sandbar. Yet When they got to the center line, a hand slipped through their passing, and tipped the ball away from them. They turned to see Spike had taken the ball and tossed it to Mac, who took the ball and leapt with all his might to dunk it. The coach turned to the clock and saw the second quarter had only started with less than a minute having passed, and they had lost the lead. Spike looked dead in the eye of the one that started.
"Never put down my team." Spike said staring at him and the played flinched, feeling something uneasy and the game resumed with Spike, Soroan, and Mac taking full charge in the game with Luna noticing this.
"Twilight," Luna said looking at the game with the teams continuing the play and try to force dominance of the court, "Why did you have Soroan and Mac hide their skills."
"To lull the other team in letting their guard down." Twilight answered looking at the court and the score changing, "Soroan's half court shot isn't that reliable as it only has a 30% chance of being made and Mac isn't really good at being a center, his play style is more to a power forward over that, yet I knew that we would need to them use these moves."
"Why? It's a practice game?" Luna asked confused and looked at her student, who looked at her with a serious expression.
"Because if you can't put your all with nothing on the line, how the hell can you with everything on the line?" Twilight's question threw Luna for a loop, she said with a passion that she could only see in a real player and she could see Twilight was honestly waiting for her answer.
"Hmmm, alright." Was the only thing Luna really could do as she turned back to watch the match, seeing her team work together on the attacks, well, three of them as Snails and Sandbar focused on defense. Yet everything seem to be going well as Luna watched with the Sharks having lost their edge in the quarter. Spike had the ball and drove forward, pushing past two defenders and slipping into the paint when another player put pressure on him, his arms stretched out.
"We won't give up." he said looking at Spike, who stared him down and than the guy flinched when a sudden looming dragon appeared over head. He stepped back before suddenly seeing the ball flying over head into the net, shocking him as he looked back to see Spike in shooting passion.
"Time out, black." the ref yelled out and both teams moved to the bench, their coach looked at them as they were breathing heavily while looking at the six players on the other team.
"Alright, this didn't go as i thought." he said biting his thumb and looked to the clock which showed they had three minutes left and the score was 38/29 with their lead into the third quarter clearly. His eyes moved to the other team and more focused on Spike, looking at their coach, "Those three are clear first string players if not starters, yet those other are much weaker and seem to three."
"So, what should we do?" one of the players asked as he looked at him and then at Masher, still in his game as he took a deep breath.
"Masher will be in the third quarter and as for right now." he turned back to the other team, "Try and stop their lead from getting to far ahead." They nodded and the ref blew his whistle as they all ran back on the court, and Twilight noticed something.
"Hmmm." Twilight mumbled under her breath watching the Sharks move the ball around in a way keeping the others away while looking for straight passing lanes, "I wonder what they're planning?"
"What do you mean?" Luna asked looking at her and than as one took a shot, the ball bouncing as another caught it as they were moving in a weird way than before, "They don't seem to be trying anymore."
"No, their waiting out the clock." Twilight said seeming their moves yet something made her feel off.
"Why would they do that?" Luna asked looking at her and then back to the game, "Don't that normally happens when they're winning and trying to keep the lead?"
"Normally yes, but they seem to be planning something in the second half." Twilight said puzzled while Spike got the ball and he charged through the Sharks, jumping and getting a slam dunk. The Sharks gritted their teeth as they did as the coach said and work to make the lead smaller with them able to lock down the passing after the dunk. The ref whistle blowing showed that it was time for half time and both teams went to their benches to rest.
"It looks like it's not going as the Sharks thought it would huh?" Gallus said looking at the team, hint of shock in his tone while he looked at the teams resting. he remembered when the team first started and could see that they were really had gotten better.
""Yeah, but these guys are just 2 strings at best on both teams." the guys with glasses said fixing his glasses and watched with a sigh, "How could a Kingdom have one of these weak players on their team." Gallus looked at him with a shocked expression and wondered what he could be meaning by that.
"Good work out there everyone." Twilight said looking at them and smiled as they were getting their water, relaxing from their moves with Snails panting heavily while Sandbar was a little short of breath himself, "You two showed rest up as much as you can. Snips, you'll be in the next quarter and Sandbar, lay back in the next quarter okay."
"N-no coach." Sandbar said looking at her, "I can handle this, please let me continue with how I was playing."
"We don't have enough players to risk you passing out." Twilight said looking at him with a worried look on her face, "please believe me with this okay."
"O-okay." He said sighing and looking at the other team, watching the coach talking to them.
"Yeah, I'm feeling something is going off too." Soroan said looking at him and the Sharks, seeing the coach point to the others while one who seem to be getting a game plan out. Twilight nodded and talked to them on how the next quarter would go for the rest of half time, and both teams were ready when the ref blew his whistle to singled that they should head onto the court. Twilight noticed a new played with brown hair and his eyes seem a little a loath.
"Why would they put him in play?" Twilight asked out loud looking at the team, seeing that they now had a different vibe than they had before and felt off as sweat ran down her face, 'Why do i feel like we're in trouble suddenly?'
"Oh, i guess they did decide to use him." he said excited and smiling while Gallus was confused while he looked down to the court, seeing that there was only one different player than before.
On the court, Spike got ready looking at the teams and he noticed Masher standing off looking around as he seem bored. The next whistle showed that it was time to plan and Soroan had the ball, moving on towards the other side of the court. Yet as he moved, he could noticed the team were acting different as he came face to a player. His defence was strong and Soroan watched him try to make a few steals while he looked for an opening only for the ball to be knocked out of his hand by Masher.
"Sorry, but could we move this along." Masher said getting the ball and moving to the outside, aiming the ball and getting ready to shoot when Soroan jumped into the way. Yet Masher still took the shot and slipped past Soraon's hand to get a three pointer to make the score 40/32. Soroan turned to him still looking bored as he said, "I'd like to get back to my game."
TBC.
