Chapter 15
Pounding the Sand
Jockington turned out to be a fantastic volleyball player. Whenever Susie questioned if the guy could even do a certain sport considering his elongated body and lack of limbs, he always found a way to surprise her. Sometimes it was a little creepy, but always surprising.
"Alright guys, remember our roles!" Jockington explained extatically. "Susie serves, they hit the ball back, I slither and set the ball, Susie lifts Kris who spikes the ball. Fluffy boy cheers us on and provides heal if we need it. Because these guys bruuuuutally! I do mean that some of them, like Sir Sweat-n-Stuff puts the brute in in brutally!"
"But aren't we playing a gaggle of other teams first?" Ralsei asked.
"We sure are. But they are all throwaways meant to tire us out and give the cool kids a chance to figure out our style."
"It's rigged so we lose, huh?" Susie grumbled.
Jockington's permanent grin grew even wider. "Pretty much, but that's what makes the competition so much fun! Everyone loves a good underdog story!"
"Except for the people who are facing the underdogs…"
"Come on Sooz! Everything is going to be A-okay! We are a dynamic team, just like our old adventures in the Dark World! Plus, I breath, live, and eat sports all day, every day! And I'll bet Kris has some good plan cooking in their head!"
Kris felt like they were cooking under the summer sun. They could be heroic, but Kris still wasn't the most athletic human in existence, and definitely not the most athletically accomplished in school. This was a situation where Noelle would have come very much in handy. She was the other half of every sports team in Hometown!
Absent Noelle, Kris would have to figure out something.
"Don't worry! Kris always comes up with the best plans!" Ralsei said confidently. "And I'll be able to help out wherever Jockington is unable to catch and set the ball!"
"Ha! Like that's going to happen!"
The first team the Fun Gang went up against was a team of extremely buff reefers. They stood at over six feet tall and looked to be built more out of coral reef than seaweed. So this must be what Seaweed Head would look like if he decided to work out. They tromped around on their side of the court, barely able to use their arms and legs, they were so swol.
"Yoo-hoo! Fluffy Prince, we're rooting for you!" the coastmaids called out as the Fun Gang took to the sand.
"I-uh… Thanks?" Ralsei said. "Go Fun Gang!"
"Oh, no! We're rooting for the Reefmans! But we want you to know that we're here to comfort you when you guys lose!"
"Ah hell no! Enough of this!" Susie roared. "I'm serving first!"
Spurned on by her intense anger, she served the ball so powerfully and so directly that the barely able to move Reefmans had no idea what hit them. BOOM! The volleyball burst when it hit the sand, creating a small crater. It threw up a cloud of dust, obscuring everyone's sight.
The referee, a Darkner made up discarded and jumbled sports equipment, coughed and said, "One point to the Fun Gang. Their serve."
Susie didn't wait another second, grabbing another ball from a nearby shelf, she spiked it as hard as she could.
BOOM!
Another crater and another point. The Reefmans had no idea what was happening to them or how to react to Susie. They grunted to each other about shuffling around to new positions to intercept the ball.
"Woah, woah, Susie! Let's not burst all the balls," Jockington protested.
Susie eyed Kris, silently asking if she should continue. Kris gave her two thumbs up.
"Service!" Susie shouted, blasting another ball right at the reefers.
BOOM!
A third crater and a third point.
The crowd gasped as the court was soon covered in a haze of thrown up dirt. It became hard for the Reefmans to position themselves and they kept tripping and falling into the holes Susie blasted into the beach sand. Every serve was a point. She was absolutely unstoppable, spurred on by her hatred of the coastmaids and their promiscuity towards Ralsei. She was also angry with the cool kids and wanted to get to them as soon as possible to crush them.
"Do we have any indestructible balls?" Busty Belle asked.
"Ha! You said balls!" Lather Up giggled.
The other cool kids rolled their eyes and turned their ire towards the people who were now cheering for Susie. The losers she and the others had helped on their way to the Oasis Kingdom were in the throng, leading the new groupies in cheering on the Fun Gang.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Susie finished up the match. The Reefmans never stood a chance.
"Alright nerds!" she shouted, pointing at the cool kids. "Who's next?"
Their second lineup of opponents were beings made of water. Sinister Fountain was their team's name. They wore masks made from ocean junk. Kris felt an ominous aura radiating from them. They did not seem concerned at all when Susie won the toss for service and got her hands on a new ball. People were being sent out all over the Oasis Kingdom to gather more volleyballs to make up for the rate through which Susie was burning them up.
"Service!" she roared once again, viciously spiking the ball.
One of the water creatures undulated unpleasantly and shot out, intercepting the ball. They set it and the second one in the back spiked it back. The two up front leaped up to block and their bodies hovered there.
"Finally, we can play!" Jockington cried out happily slithering to catch.
The ball flew to Kris, who set it.
Susie jumped in and spiked again. The ball ripped right through the water, but the creatures' bodies stretched to follow the ball. The water gripped the volleyball and rocketed it back at Susie's face.
Jockington jumped in and caught the ball, bouncing it off his body. Kris set again, and Susie followed up with another spike. It played out the same as before, but the water creatures launched the ball towards Susie's corner.
"Nooooo!" she shouted.
Flick!
Ralsei lashed out with his towel and flicked the volleyball up at an awkward angel, Susie sprinted after the ball, dove, and bumped it back towards Kris and Jockington.
"I got it Kris!" Jockington called, using his coils as a spring to launch himself high and slap the ball. He aimed for it to curl over the net and fall just in front of the defender. They easily slipped it back over the next with their formless hands. Kris ran and dove but was too late. They got a mouthful of sand, and the Sinister Fountain scored the first point.
"Arrgg! Sorry guys," Susie apologized, jogging back.
The water monsters took the point and serve, lobbing the volleyball perfectly between the four players, scoring a second point against the Fun Gang.
"Come on guys, we need to work on our communication," Jockington reprimanded.
"Hey Ralsei!" the coastmaids called out. "Remember, we're here to comfort you when you lose!"
"CUT THAT OUT!" Susie shouted.
Kris kept their eye on the water monsters. There was something very wrong about those masks. They focused and read their opponents, finding a way to deal with them. And that was when they discovered those masks were actually shackles!
They hurriedly signed to the others to get the ball to them.
"Remember Kris, you're supposed to help catch and set the ball for Sooz!" Jockinton reminded them.
Kris shook their head. They had an idea for turning around this entire match. Susie shouted at the snake jock to just follow Kris' lead. Just in time too, because the Sinister Fountain had already served the ball. It came hard and fast. Susie moved up to intercept and set the ball. She bumped it too high. It soared and stayed in the air for a while. The crowd began murmuring, wondering what kind of a beast they had on the sand.
Kris deafened their ears to the complaining and second guessing. They shielded their eyes and waited for the ball to come down. It sped back like a meteor. Taking a step back, Kris tripped on a bulge in the sand. Falling, they couldn't use their hands and instead kicked the ball. It hurt, but the ball drilled right underneath the net and smashed one of the masks, shattering it.
CRACK!
The water monster suddenly contracted and became a slime-like blob with two cute eyes and blushing purple with embarrassment. "Oh my! Thank you so much for saving me from that! I hate how pollution can just make me so cranky. I really prefer to just have fun in the sun with everyone! And I hate sports! So, goodbye! Thanks!"
"Wait! You can't leave!" Jiggles-a-lot complained as the water blob inched off the sand, becoming muddy in the process.
"I'm not going to follow you guys anymore! You suck! Who wants to be 'cool' when I could just be me?"
"Dang, that was cool!" the crowd oohed, much to the cool kids displeasures.
The referee blasted their whistle and declared another point for Sinister Fountain, but the Fun Gang was hugging and celebrating.
Susie hugged Kris close to her chest. "That was awesome! You finally figured out a way to beat them! One down, three to go!"
Jockington ruffled Kris' hair with his tail. "Far out, Kris my man! So that's what you were planning!"
"It just like how we always do things," Ralsei said happily. "We just have to help people out and make friends with them! Then there's no way we can't win!"
However, it wasn't that easy. Despite losing one of their teammates, the Sinister Fountain was still a formidable team. They immediately adapted to Kris, preventing them from kicking or drilling the next ball into any of their masks. They scored two more points before Susie rushed the net and spiked the ball beautifully into a second monster's mask, shattering it and breaking the entire monster apart. It took five minutes for the second water blob to recollect herself. Nevertheless, she thanked Susie for coming to her senses and putting herself back together.
"Couldn't have done it without you!" blob number 2 said.
"Uh, yeah… You're welcome," Susie said, scratching the back of her neck.
"Point to the fun gang," the ref called out, since the ball went right through the monster and hit within the Sinister Fountain's side of the court. The crowd cheered and the cool kids groaned.
Jockington scored their second point with a brilliant flick of his tail, curling the ball over the net before the others reminded him that they needed to break the mask-shackles holding back the other two monsters.
"Sorry guys!" he apologized, making up for it by pulling off the same trick as Kris. When he went up to spike with his tail, he let the ball drop and smacked it so hard with his face that it rocketed into a third mask.
Jockington's trick worked, but it did knock him silly. Susie had to drag him to the back line. The Sinister Fountain was now just a one-man team, which would disqualify them, but at a nod from the cool kids, the ref called for the game to resume. The final player would go by himself.
"That's not fair!" Ralsei complained.
"Read 'em and weep, shaggy kid!" Lather Up jeered.
Ralsei did no such thing. Incensed by the blatant rule breaking, the Dark Prince called for the others to get the ball to him. Once again, when the powerful serve came from Sinister Fountain, Susie caught the ball and bumped it high. Kris intercepted and easily set it. Ralsei spun on the spot, letting his towel-scarf lash out from underneath the net as he lightly bumped the ball over the net. The Darkner on the other side surged for it, but the towel smashed into its mask and snapped it.
Blop!
The fourth and final water blob contracted into a little, cute ball and rolled off the court, thanking Ralsei.
"The Fun Gang wins by default!" the ref called after a shrill tweet from his whistle.
The crowd erupted with excitement. Only one more match before the Fun Gang challenged the cool kids!
"Alright! Enough is enough!" Sir Stretch-n-Sweat spat, spraying Kris and the others. "Bring out the big guns!"
"Ph, those are some big guns," Jockington said, looking over his sunglasses. Even Kris had a hard time not ogling.
Their next opponents were no mere coastmaids. They were coastwomen. They were fully formed, curvaceous ladies of sand and seaweed that put the whole crowd in an uproar. They were also taller than even Susie and very athletic. Glancing at her teammates, Susie knew that they would be mesmerized by those incredible bods running around and sweating on the sand.
Angrily, she shoved ahead, an idea coming to her.
Picking up Ralsei and she held him like a prize fish. "Hey, ladies! I have a very special guy right here! Look at him, he's so cute, fluffy, and snuggly! Mmmm!" She rubbed her muzzle into Ralsei's side.
The Dark Prince blushed pink and shouted, "Hey, Susie! What are you doing?"
"Everyone wants a piece of him. Even those coastmaids over there." Susie nodded to the crowd that had abducted Ralsei earlier.
"Pfft! Girls," the coastwomen laughed. "They like the cute things. We're after the more rugged and sexy!"
"Cute is sexy," Susie said defensively, but she quickly switched tactics. "Besides, he's also a healer. You know what the means. He can just keep boosting and healing, boosting and healing all night long."
"S-S-Susie! What are you thinking?" Ralsei yelped, suddenly catching on.
The coastwomen paused. They quickly conferred with each other before saying, "You make a point, lumpy lizard girl. Alright, we'll take him as a prize after we beat you four into the sand!"
"Why wait?" Susie asked, throwing Ralsei over the net and into their arms.
"Noooo! Please! Wait!" Ralsei shouted as he went over the net.
"Dude, Susie! He wasn't that bad of a player," Jockington said, shocked. Kris kept quiet, too amused and scaroused to trust themselves to speak.
Susie turned to the coastmaids in the crowd and shouted, "Hey! Sluts! These coastwomen are taking your man! Are you going to let that happen?"
Suddenly screeching like banshees, the once-exiled coastmaids streamed across the sand and tackled the coastwomen. A vicious brawl broke out between them with Ralsei caught in the middle popping up like a tossed stuffed animal, flailing his arms and legs before getting caught and pulled right back into the cat fight. As the dust rose and the sounds of punches, scratches, and screams echoed around the court, Susie covered Kris' eyes. The rest of the crowd, including Jockington cheered and howled, encouraging the fight.
The cool kids tried to call for order, encouraging the ref to get involved. But no one else wanted to get involved. This was not their fight, but it certainly was their entertainment. Sir Sweats-n-Stuff seethed, growling at the fact that their plan was falling apart. Two teams had been beaten. One fair and square, another liberated and fled the sands. And now these morons were beating themselves to a pulp over a good goat boy. That meant the Fun Gang was going to play them next, barely bloodied and mostly fresh. And they hadn't learned enough of their playing style or team coordination to undermine them.
Susie glared up at them, her snout slowly crinkling and curling into a vicious smile. She knew, and this stupid, bulky, uncool kid was besting them!
When the dust finally settled, Ralsei was shaken, but otherwise unharmed. The coastmaids and coastwomen were beaten nearly unconscious and needed to be dragged off the court. But even though he had been the object of their fierce fight, Ralsei still gave them a small healing blessing. Sadly, he had accumulated almost no TP despite all that action.
Stupid curse.
"Alright, the final match begins!" the ref called.
The cool kids grumbled and complained, but they eventually came down from their high towers, descending onto the sands. Susie watched them closely, glowering at her enemies. Ralsei was bust getting over feeling violated. Jockington was excited to prove himself and get some payback. Kris watched them pensively, trying to read how to best deal with them. Despite being friends with Noelle for years and being associated with Hometown's own cool kids thanks to being Asriel's sibling, Kris was not necessarily an expert on cool.
As their crimson eyes bored into the four Darkners as they took their positions on the court, Kris had to admit that they didn't have a clue how to deal with them beyond beating them as volleyball. However, this was a game that they used as the tournament to maintain power over the Oasis Kingdom. There was no way they were going down easy.
Jockington did the coin toss with Busty Belle. The cool kids won.
"Don't worry! We'll play this simply! I'll act as libro against them, Kris or Ralsei sets, Susie spikes, and then we score! Nice and simple. Sooz can blast they guys out of the water! Er, I mean sand, and this will be over quick."
"Sounds like a great plan!" Ralsei cheered. "Thanks for including me this time."
"Sure thing! You proved yourself, dude!"
Susie and Kris shared a look. There was nothing much to back up this bravado.
Jiggles-a-lot made a big deal of jumping with the ball, getting ready to serve, using her body to try and mesmerize the Fun Gang. The crowd was certainly getting into it. Busty Belle dipped so low, she was practically flashing Kris and Jockington. Sir Stretch-n-Sweats and Lather Up flexed and posed, winking and nodding at Susie. She groaned, rolled her eyes, and focused on the voluptuous server.
She finally leaped, making the most of her jiggle physics, and smashed the ball right at Susie's face. The teen warrior yelped and leaped back, accidentally bumping the ball off her chest. It flew right at Kris' face. Jockington intercepted it, setting the ball. Kris wasn't strong enough to spike the ball, but Ralsei leaped into action.
Snapping his towel-cape, he flicked the ball just over the net. Sir Stretch-n-Sweats dived and knocked the ball back to Lather-up to set it.
"Ugh! Can you not make everything slick with sweat!" he shouted, perfectly setting the ball.
Busty Belle charged and spiked. The ball zipped like a bullet towards the center of the Fun Gang's messy field. Susie was no longer reeling backwards, but she dove and managed to get a fist under the ball. It wasn't much, but Kris responded by getting under the ball and lightly bumping it up. Jockington tried to tip the ball over the next, but Sir Stretch-n-Sweats and Lather Up leaped and made a wall, blocking the move.
Ralsei came once more to the rescue, scooping the ball with his armor and flipping it in the air. Susie didn't wait for a set. She pushed up from the sand, roared, and spiked the ball. Busty Bell caught and bounced it up easily. Jiggles-a-lot set the ball. Sir Stretch-n-Sweats spiked it.
Susie and Jockington tried to block the ball, but the sweaty surface slicked right past them and fell towards the sand. Kris dived to catch it, but the ball slipped right off their hands and landed pathetically in the sand.
"Yeah! Take my sweat!" the cool kid shouted, splaying out his arms and sending out a shower of his own sweat.
Susie made a gagging noise.
Jiggles-a-lot retrieved a fresh ball and once more took her time to serve it. Ralsei intercepted it this time, knocking it right to Kris. They perfectly set the ball. Jockington feigned a spike and fell just before Susie blasted the ball for the corner of the other team's court. It was a fabulous shot, but Busty Belle managed to dig into the dirt and save the point, bounding it back to Lather Up. He set the ball for Sir Sweat-n-Stuff. The last Darkner spiked a weird, sweaty curveball right at Susie.
Ralsie came in clutch once again, using his towel to flick it back. Jockington lashed out like a viper and tried to sneak the ball over the net; The dudes made a wall and batted it down. It was Kris's turn to dig and eat dirt, knocking the ball back to Ralsei. The Dark Prince set the ball and Susie charged with a ferocious hit. It blasted off the fingertip of the dudes and went flying for the crowd.
Jiggles-a-lot ran after the ball. Everything went in sexy slow motion, drawing all eyes to her. She jumped into the crowd and knocked the ball back to Lather Up. She crowd surfed back to the court. Lather Up tipped the ball over the net. Jockington easily caught it, Kris set it once more, and Susie attacked, aiming for Busty Bell. The ball got lodged in her boobs. She couldn't pop it out in time and stumbled, causing the ref to blow his whistle.
"Point for the Fun Gang! It's a tied game!"
The match played out that way for several more serves. Both teams played hard for each point. The cool kids were good athletes and had decent teamwork. The Fun Gang was scrappy and daring. However, something needed to break.
When the cool kids won another point and laughed in their faces, Susie snapped. She had had enough.
Turning to the crowd she roared, "Are we seriously playing these games for Jockington's life? For the right to cleanse ourselves of curse? And against these douchebags?"
"You agreed to it," Jiggles-a-lot purred, getting ready to serve.
"Yes, we did. But against a bunch of kids who aren't even cool? And who bully everyone here to make themselves feel better and to look cooler by comparison? Give me a freaking break!"
The four Darkners froze where they stood.
"Did you just say we weren't cool?" Sir Sweat-n-Stuff asked in a dangerous tone of voice.
"That's exactly right," Susie snarled. "Bullying and judging people doesn't make you cool. It makes you shallow and insecure! And really, I don't think anyone who is cool is trying to be cool. Cool is what you are when you act yourself, when you set the trend because people want to be like you and be with you because you're genuinely great!"
"But that could be anyone!" Lather Up sputtered.
Susie gazed at Kris and smiled. "Exactly. Even hopeless nerds can be cool sometimes."
"And bullies can become cool if they stop beating up on people and start acting nice," Jockington added. "Just like our Susie here!"
She nodded in agreement. "Even fluffy and naïve can be cool!" She pulled Ralsei into a side hug.
The Dark Prince gasped, "Being a real hero is cool! And these guys are all heroes!"
"You are too, ya know," Susie grumbled.
Kris began pointing at the people they had helped along the way to the Oasis Kingdom, letting them know that they were cool too. Everyone was cool in their own right. Only posers trying to be something they weren't could never be cool. People who belittled others were never cool. And sometimes, even the cool kids were not cool.
The crowd cheered their agreement, causing a stir among the cool kids.
"Well, we still have a game to play!" Sir Sweat-n-Stuff jeered. "Jiggles, serve!"
But Jiggles-a-lot was shaken by Susie's outburst and the crowd's reaction. She spiked the ball into the dirt, shocked. The ball went over to the Fun Gang. With Jiggles-a-lot falling into a coma of existential crisis, a crucial element of the team was missing. Busty Belle was also worried about the crowd's turn and didn't react in time to catch the ball. Susie scored on a serve.
The guys started getting angry. Sir Sweat-n-Stuff tried to shake Jiggles-a-lot back to the present, but only succeeded in soaking her. Busty Belle and Lather Up began arguing, drawing boos from the crowd. And Susie kept serving.
"No, no, no, noooooooo! This can't be happening! We are the cool kids!" Lather Up protested.
"Sorry, but you never were," Jockington said smugly.
From there, it all fell apart. The Fun Gang overwhelmed the cool kids and won the tournament. Jockington was freed and the re led Susie, Kris, and Ralsei to a pool, explaining, "Dip yourselves in here and the curse will be lifted."
"Wait, we could have jumped in here the whole time?" Susie said, stunned. "I feel like such an idiot."
The heroes leaped in and cleansed themselves of the TP curse. Brought back to 100%, they were ready to rejoin everyone and bring the battle right to The Dude! The cool kids went their separate ways and disappeared into the oasis.
"So, how do we get back?" Susie finally asked. "It's a long walk back. Berdly and Noelle might have succeeded in storming the castle by the time we get back!"
A popsicle stick spoke up, "We can send you by paper airplane! It's the best way to travel anywhere!"
Susie shivered. She imagined herself falling through a paper airplane, but said, "What the hell. You only live once, right Kris? Hey, where's Ralsei?"
Kris thumbed over their shoulder to a sports shed. Ralsei was loading on TP with the coastmaids and coastwomen.
"Well, I guess we couldn't be the only ones," Susie groused.
"The only what?" Jockington asked.
"Heeeeeelp meeeeee!" Ralsei shouted.
