Knowledge was never a fan of the mandatory gym class. She enjoyed being active outside of her usual academic responsibilities on her own time, but being stuck inside a stuffy gymnasium building with a hundred or so strangers for several hours straight was something she could never understand nor get behind. And she had to actually exercise, something a majority of the occupants shared the same grievance for.
Her two roommates were of this majority as well. The ginger’s beanie kept falling off during exercises, so she had to take it off entirely. The other’s vintage dress kept getting in the way and even got caught on a piece of equipment, so that was done away with too—although, the question of whether to take the squid mask off was met with screams of protest. Both had an angry look on their faces.
All three misfits sat in the corner of the room, with Knowledge spotting Splats on sit-ups. The redhead groaned louder each time she came up.
“This suuucks,” Splats complained. “Shouldn’t it be your turn already?”
“I think you still have three more, if I’m counting right,” Knowledge assured.
Splats groaned even louder. “And why isn’t Carrie doing anything? She’s been sitting there with that stupid stopwatch this whole time! It’s not fair!”
The masked roommate, now in her drab gym attire, responded without looking up. “You’re getting slower, Deprived One. A full twenty seconds longer than the last set.”
“This isn’t even supposed to be timed!” Splats shot up, beads of sweat from fatigue rolling down her forehead. “Why don’t you try to beat it then, if you’re gonna act like you can do so much better?”
“Two left,” Knowledge added quietly.
At that moment the doors swung open with a loud bang. Most of the students turned to look, though a few with headphones remained unphased, in the middle of whatever lifting or running session they were doing. A muscular dark-skinned man marched inside the gym, holding a megaphone.
Everyone and their mother knew Frank B. Roeman. He was the loudest, hardest, and most jacked coach the students had laid eyes on. Sporting an astonishing height of six-foot eight, a militaristic buzzcut of graying hair, and nauseatingly bright neon gym clothes, he was by far the most prominent and popular gym teacher of the academy. Rumor had it he turned down being the original mascot for the Old Spice commercials because he thought it was “too weak” for him. Still, despite his brash attitude and demanding personality, he was popular among the gym regulars, especially among the boys, earning the nickname ‘Broman’ over the years.
The man held up his megaphone and shouted into it, guaranteeing the absolute attention of everyone in the expanse of the gym.
“AFTERNOON, MAGGOTS!”
His voice echoed throughout the gym, rattling the students to the core. A handful shouted a greeting back.
“Listen up, all of you, I’m only going to say this once!” Broman continued to needlessly shout into the megaphone as he began to pace around the gym. “I hope you all are ready for some dodgeball, because we’ve got our first top-of-the-class game starting exactly twenty-four hours from now!”
As Broman paced the room like a drill sergeant, Carrie and Knowledge turned to each other with mild concern, or at least it’s what Knowledge assumed was concern under the rubber mask. Of all sports, why a children’s game?
“Dodgeball!” Splats quickly cheered to Knowledge, her curiosity quickly turning to excitement. “Can you believe it?”
“But why dodgeball?” Knowledge quietly questioned back to Splats.
Frank’s next announcement seemed to answer her question. “Let me be clear: dodgeball was not my first choice either! If I wanted to see that many balls on my court, I would’ve dragged you all outside and sprayed you with a cold fire hose until each and every one of you grew another set of them!”
A few giggles could be heard from a group of students before Frank blew on his whistle and continued his speech.
“…BUT! If the administrators wanted me to test you maggots through dodgeball, I’ll give it to them my way! That said, you will be playing on my rules! Any questions?”
Several hands shot up.
“Good!” He ignored all of them, “I would suggest you start practicing with your voodoo thingimijigs, because if I don’t see any fire balls or death lasers comin’ from your fingertips, you’d best count yourself out of passing my class with a one-hundred-and-fifty percent score as a reward for winning first place!”
A burst of whispers amongst peers rang throughout the room, though none went above their library toned voice in fear of Frank yelling at them for interrupting him. Despite not having an Electi ability himself, his class was particularly adamant about the frequent use of the abilities, for whatever reason. Frank also seemed to act nicer towards students who used their powers. He didn’t wait for the room to quiet down before his conclusion.
“I want to see you pebbles on your A game tomorrow! It’s gonna be rough, it’s gonna be unforgiving, and it’s most likely gonna feel like you went through hell and back! But the way I see it, I don’t have a doubt in my mind it won’t be anything you can’t handle! ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS, BACK TO WORK!”
Frank loudly blew on the whistle around his neck as the students turned back to their exercises, feeling more pumped than ever. Knowledge could feel the palpable excitement in the air, assuming this was probably the reason why everyone liked the guy so much.
“Aren’t you excited?” Splats called out to Knowledge. Her mood seemed to have improved from the announcement, as she was practically bouncing around.
“You should not look forward to such childish games, Deprived One,” Carrie could be heard chirping in on Splats. Her voice was much more dull. “Partaking in such Pagan activities would upset the Great Old Ones, it is time I am wasting on this, and not dedicating myself to the lord. Besides, were you not complaining about exercise just moments before, or has the sweat clogged your mind?”
“Okay, but we’re doing a dodgeball game, Carrie!” Splats turned towards the considerably less sweaty of the trio in retaliation. “With powers! Don’t be boring, you’ll love it! Awwww man, I’m a master at dodgeball! Have you seen my throws? I can-“
Splats’s voice melted into the background as Knowledge grew distracted; she couldn’t help but look around the gym, observing the other students she would possibly compete against.
She spotted her friend Saki working out with a few other guys. He was trying to lift small weights as a much buffer man with crimson hair was mocking him, lifting weights twice the size, as well as his presumed dorm mate. Knowledge never actually saw him in this class too often—actually, she never saw him much at all. His name was Xavier or something for all she knew—but his form troubled her more than his name, the guy was a hulking beast compared to Saki. It would be tough beating him if he were to show up. As a matter of fact, it would be tough to beat anyone really, even Saki with his shadows.
As she turned back into Splats’s ramblings on how to throw a dodgeball and Carrie’s eerie silence on the matter, she wished they would rather argue about sit-ups again.
Chatter that evening was tense. Throughout the main hall, everyone had the dodgeball game on their mind, and Broman’s 150 instant pass mark was something everyone needed for a tough grader like him. There were talks about alliances, strategies, Electi power training, and claims of success and superiority over a game of rubber balls.
Knowledge felt the exact same as she did when she left the gym. Perhaps even worse. The words of Frank’s announcement swirled through her mind like a thick stew of fears and concerns. She grew nauseated at the thought of getting steamrolled by the dozens of stronger, more powerful Electi in the game. She even thought of calling in sick at one point.
She was only spurred on to participate by Splats. Of the three inhabitants of Dorm 1 when they went to bed that night, she was the most excited about the upcoming match. It got to the point where Carrie had to tape a pillow over her mouth to shut her up, and even then the redhead’s muffled giggles kept the other two up for most of the night.
Although, it wasn’t as if Knowledge could sleep anyways. She could swear she was never the competitive type, so getting this stressed over a game was unusual to her. Was it just the stress, or was the massive extra credit reward really something that motivated her to compete? Or, was she secretly just this competitive somewhere deep down in her heart? She couldn’t figure out why. All she knew was that she did not want to lose. No matter what happened the next day.
And that day came sooner than she expected. Before she had even realized it, the cloaked student was already outside again, Splats dragging her by the hand.
“Wait, how did we…” a disoriented Knowledge began.
“C’mon Knolly! It’s just dodgeball! It can’t be that bad, you’ll have plenty of fun, trust me!” Splats called out as the two went through the main hallways.
Knowledge could barely even process what was happening. She was just in her bed, and now she was here. Did the twenty-four hours really go by that quickly? It couldn’t be. She hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet. Or maybe she did, but she wouldn’t be able to answer that if someone were to ask her to recall that day. She needed more time to prepare, more time to practice her ability and not be the first one out with a broken tooth or another eyepatch on her face, more time to-
Splats suddenly bumped into a tired-looking Saki as the gym building came into sight, jolting the girl she was dragging out of her apprehensive daze.
“S-Saki, watch where you’re going! Can’t you see we’re in a hurry?” Splats yelled.
The boy rubbed his eyes, barely phased by the bump. “Speak for yourself. I spent all night with Xander for this game. I’m not gonna lose to anyone, especially not to you.”
Splats puffed. But speaking of his roommates… “Hey, Brown’s showing up, right?”
“Huh? Why do you care all of a sudden?”
“Is he coming or not, I wanna beat his ass too!”
Saki yawned. “He’s still out from the other day. Something about the crazy doctor’s newest invention, totally ruined my date with Pearl too. Done nothing but snore for the past couple of days. So, no, he’s not coming.”
Splats folded her arms and puffed again. “Fine. That just means I’ll target you twice as much.” As he stayed back and waited for Xander to appear, the girls brushed past their competitor and made their way to the gym.
From the outside, the gym looked smaller than it actually was on the inside. Some people would mistake it for only a fitness center, but inside there was much more. Typically, there are three main sections: the conventional gym with all the treadmills and weights, the multipurpose court for anything ball-related, and an outside field section that sometimes doubled as a soccer court. For special events, things would get moved around so that there could be more room for one section or another, but those were few and far between.
Today was one of those special events. To make space for all the participants, the court opened up and the boundaries painted on the floor were extended with white masking tape, leaving a huge court space available with a raised spectator space, creating almost an arena. Everyone got pumped the moment they walked in and soaked in the arena.
“I should have known you would be late,” Carrie said from behind, making both the girls jump. She was wearing the same athletic clothes as yesterday, most likely not washed.
“Carrie?” Knowledge said. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming.”
“Yeah,” Splats added in a snarky tone, “wasn’t this a Pagan activity?” She waved her fingers around like a stage magician in a mocking manner, not even knowing what the word “Pagan” meant.
Back in her cold tone of voice, Carrie replied, “Did you expect me to sit idly by and pass up an opportunity to claim victory for the Great Old Ones? Honestly, for even someone as low as you, I took you to know me better than that.”
The redhead rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Miss ‘I’m going back on what I said yesterday because I like winning more than my dignity.’ Really setting an example for your old guys, huh?”
“If you knew what was best for you, Deprived One, you would hold your tongue,” the masked woman hissed.
“Both of you, please!” Knowledge held out either hand to stop both of them. “You’re never gonna have a chance to win this if you’re gonna spend all the time fighting amongst yourselves. Can’t we just set this thing aside for one game?”
The opposing parties glared at each other for another moment, then backed away. “Fine,” they both said.
A whistle blew out, and everyone turned to Broman.
“EVERYBODY, LINE UP!”
It took less than half a minute for everyone to line their backs against the wall. Broman took out a clipboard and, as he began his march across the line, made a headcount of every able-bodied contender for the game. Unbeknownst to the students, he marked detention for anyone that showed up yesterday who flaked today, and a no-prize penalty for the students who only came to class today and had no idea what was going on. In total, he counted exactly one hundred players for dodgeball.
“Alright, maggots! This game will now be referred to as POWERBALL, and anyone who dares break the rules of Powerball will be eliminated and disqualified!
“RULES OF ROUND ONE. Besides your uncanny superpowers, we will be playing a standard match, so there will be two teams! You must get everyone on the other team out to win! No going over the halfcourt line! There is no jail, if you’re hit, you’re out for good! Headshots ARE allowed, but catching a ball is NOT! The last team standing will make it to Round Two!” He looked around at the line of students with a serious look on his face. “Also, NO BLOWING UP MY GYM. I won’t be paying for my roof falling down! And NO KILLING PEOPLE!”
Broman walked down the line of students assigning some to head to the other side. Knowledge watched in suspense as the class of 100 was split in two. She ended up on the same team as Splats, Saki, Xander, and a lot of other students she didn’t recognize. She saw the other team had Saki’s other workout friend and other familiar faces around campus, composed of a mix of human and anthros. Knowledge also couldn’t help but notice some security guards on the sidelines of the gymnasium along with a group of people that looked like teachers, and a small crowd of students not even in the course. She assumed they were here to spectate. Broman never missed the chance to make some sporting event a big thing at the school.
Broman then wheeled out a shoddy cart kept in the corner full of multicolored dodgeballs, dumping them all over the middle. This was it—the moment everyone prepared for all day. Their coach began to count.
“Ten… Nine… Eight…”
Knowledge’s breathing tensed.
“Seven… Six… Five…”
The room grew dead silent.
“Four-three-two-one GO!” Broman quickly called out and blew his whistle. A flurry of students rushed towards the center to grab a ball, with a few powers being shot from students outright. Entire volleys of balls were flung across the court at once. The sounds of rubber impacts, people shouting and shoes skidding the floor filled the gym. It was pure chaos. Before anyone could even fetch a ball, they were at risk of Electi powers being directed at them left and right.
Knowledge cowered towards the back of the court as she watched the team ahead of her. She caught a glimpse of Splats spraying a dodgeball in graffiti, then darting it across the gym. Did she always have graffiti equipment on hand? Knowledge couldn’t think on it long, because a moment after a ball came whizzing by, barely missing her arm by a centimeter.
Some students were more successful than others with their electi powers. She noticed a blond student struggling to do anything as he focused and stared at a ball as another brown haired boy managed to summon a body double of himself to assist in throwing. Knowledge dodged another ball as the orange sphere of rubber hit the wall above her head, quickly being grabbed by another student.
Knowledge continued to awkwardly dodge as she attempted to get a ball. Not a minute had passed and she could already see students walking off the court. A deck of playing cards was flying around her, and she could see a student with slick black hair mumbling and singing as physical forms of music notes surrounded him, floating around. It was absolute mayhem. She saw a cyan ball roll towards her and made a dive to pick it up as another ball whizzed by her. She instinctively deflected it with her Telekinetic powers, directing the ball to a hard swerve towards the ceiling. A student beside Knowledge transformed into a lion, which greatly intimidated the enemy team for a second, but lacking the ability to throw she was immediately pelted with dodgeballs.
Knowledge spotted Carrie shouting a bizarre language she couldn’t recognize as the mad woman aggressively threw dodgeballs.
Saki and his buddies could also be seen. The former was using Eros to help him in throwing, Xander igniting the dodgeballs he was throwing. Despite being aflame—as well as being affected by other electi—the dodgeballs seemed undamaged, and surprisingly difficult to control with any of their abilities. Maybe they were made of some special Electi-resistant material? Was that even a thing?
Again, no time to think. A wolf, or at least it looked like a wolf, that was right next to her reeled backwards from being pelted in the snout with a ball. That could’ve been her. On his way to the side of the court, he was hit in the abdomen on accident, emitting a cough of soap bubbles from his maw. In the time she was distracted watching this, three more kids around her were pelted.
She got up and noticed Splats again, chucking and spraying dodgeballs that came her way.
“Splats, do you have any idea what—”
“Shhshhshhut up!” Splats said, shaking her graffiti can. “You’re throwing off my focus!”
She sprayed an adhesive white material on the ball, which Knowledge recognized soon enough as the same substance as the masking tape on the floor. She coated only one half of the ball twice over, ducking and weaving the opposing players’ attempts to get her out as she did this. Satisfied with her work, she threw the ball as hard as she could, the torque of the ball spinning horizontally to the painted side. During the ball’s trajectory, it was clear that halfway through the air the ball changed course just slightly, as a frisbee would when skillfully thrown at an angle. It whizzed around a boy right in front of Splats, and struck the girl that stood directly behind him. The white coating immediately shedded off on impact.
Knowledge would’ve never thought of weighting the ball so that it would’ve been easier to hit people that way. Gazing at other people’s throwing techniques, it seemed they put a lot of effort into their strategies. She also realized she didn’t know most other students’ powers and had no idea how to counter them.
Still holding the cyan ball, Knowledge attempted to focus as well, using her powers as she chucked the ball towards a short boy on the opposite side, sharply twisting its trajectory mid throw, missing him by a long shot. She caught a quick glimpse of Pearl, attempting to shoot small arcs of electricity through the dodgeballs mid air, shocking another girl.
Hugo could be seen in front of Pearl struggling to catch a ball with his strings and getting hit in the crotch, curling to the floor in anguish. Dodgeballs continued to fly, Knowledge spotted an explosion of butterflies across the court, distracting a group of students only for them to be pelted shortly after.
Knowledge caught another ball with her telekinesis and lobbed it at a black-haired girl, but she managed to turn the dodgeball into liquid for a brief second, causing it to lose it’s momentum and splash to the floor.
Carrie could be seen removing the top of her mask as her third eye began to glow. Knowledge began to worry the whole gym was about to be blinded, but before she could think about doing anything about it, a soaking wet dodgeball striked her straight in the face, almost knocking off her eyepatch.
The ball hit so hard she stumbled to the floor as another dodgeball hit her back. Hardly having a second to recover, she was scrambling to keep her secret bejeweled eye under wraps. She couldn’t hear the whistle blow her out, but she knew she wouldn’t have made it through the round anyways. She was lucky she was still relatively unharmed.
Knowledge went to sit on the sideline benches with the rest of her team, her back still hurting from the direct hit. She watched her team as the few remaining students played. Splats was still tagging dodgeballs towards students as the enemy team’s numbers waned. Knowledge counted thirteen students on her team and four on the other team, all people she was unfamiliar with, including an ecstatic neon red-haired guy.
Knowledge found him and Xander’s power to be vaguely similar; both controlled fire, but neither of them used it similarly to one another. The red-haired man seemed to have a grudge on the other fire user, as he targeted him the most. It didn’t take long, however, for Xander and Saki to defeat him with their usual combo. Pearl and Hugo were out seconds later by a bombardment of inescapable dodgeball attacks.
The moment the ball made contact with the final student, Frank could be heard blowing his whistle.
“GAAAAME!”
The remaining students on the court reluctantly dropped their dodgeballs and directed their attention to the teacher.
“Well well well, looks like we have a WINNING TEAM!” He then turned towards the rest of the winning team waiting on the benches, pointing towards all of them. “I want to see the rest of you mushbars on the court!” He then turned towards the losing team. “And you maggot munchers! You all are E-LIM-AH-NATED! You all are to attend class in lecture hall C tomorrow for a written athletics test! Now, the winners! You are all to be reported to this very same gym exactly two hours from now for ROUND TWO! That is all, DISMISSED!”
Students could tell Broman was in a good mood from the game, but not all the students shared that feeling. Grumbles and curses could be heard as the crowd left the gymnasium, but nothing beyond verbal jabs happened under Broman’s watchful eye, as well as the remaining guards and teachers who chattered about.
Splats could be seen running about in the crowd, mocking Saki, then high-fiving Carrie’s mask, then running away from the screaming Carrie, and eventually meeting up to chat with an unfamiliar pink-haired incredibly tall girl on skates. Knowledge went to go meet up with the group.
Splats spoke before Knowledge could mutter a word. “KNOWLEDGE! What happened, dude? You started doing a twirl and totally got beaned in the back! Did you see me out there? I was like SCBOOM, ZIING!” Splats mimicked throwing a dodgeball towards a random student, who flipped her off in return.
The pink-haired girl gave Splats two thumbs up.
“Uh, thats nice and all Splats, but, like, weren’t you a bit worried?” Knowledge asked quietly.
“Worried? Why would I, hell no! It’s just dodgeball! I’ve had to run from things MUCH WORSE then rubber balls,” she laughed a bit.
“I dunno, seeing how competitive everyone got, the powers of some students, it—”
Splats cut off Knowledge. “It was great! C’mon Knolly, it’s just a game. Now if you don’t mind, I gotta go get ready for round two!” She went to walk off, doing a corny flex with each step before turning the corner.
Knowledge worried it would turn into something much worse.
A good hour and forty-five minutes passed and Knowledge was ready to join the group of students returning to the gym for the second round. The gym had surprisingly been cleaned already, and all traces of ability usage were gone—the gym looked spotless. From the corner of the gym Broman was talking to the teachers while various spectators lurked about. Word must have gotten out about the dodgeball game seeing more students not from the class had come to watch. Knowledge used her off-time to destress, snack on something, and work on her focus. She would not let her worries distract her.
A familiar whistle blew, followed by a booming voice from a megaphone.
“Listen up, slugbrains! Round Two begins in three minutes! Winning team, line up at the middle of the court! And don’t you losers try anything suspicious! Same rules as last round!”
The class quickly lined up on the court again, and Broman got his clipboard out again as he split the students into another set of two. A 25–25.
Splats, Knowledge, and Carrie thankfully got paired on the same team again, but Saki and Xander were on the opposing team this time. It dawned on her that some of the students she was allied with last round would now be against her. Broman wheeled out the same cart of dodgeballs from last time, with noticeably less balls. The coach, padding out time before the countdown, acted dramatically about the whole preparation, flexing and posing in the middle of the gym without a care. Soon enough—after a few cheers from the boys—the clock struck the designated time, and Broman began the count.
“Ten… Nine…”
Broman stood silent for a long moment, remaining almost motionless. Some confused students began to silently whisper amongst their friends.
“GO!”
The gym teacher jumped into motion and blew his whistle, catching most of the students off guard, causing them to scatter towards the middle. Knowledge managed to nab a pretty green ball and shuffled to the back of the court. The start of the second round was slightly slower then the first one, the students were being more careful about how they played. A student from the opposite side of the gym could be seen making small portals and throwing dodgeballs through them as another one beside her turned paper thin to dodge it, and a teammate in front of her began to concoax colored clouds of gas from his body.
Splats must have mixed in glue during her break time, because her spray paint coated the ball in a yellow slime which seemed to stick to anything it touched, creating a temporary distraction until the glue dissolved away. She continued to ace her shots.
Students cheered from the sidelines with each elimination. The game had created quite the hype around it as students cheered and booed louder and louder for their favorite players. The pressure was on.
Electi use this round was more apparent as well. One of Knowledge’s teammates formed an ice wall for cover, a few students hid behind it as well. Another student covered a large area of the court in what looked like marbles, causing people to slip all over. She noted to watch her step.
As Knowledge ducked and weaved through the court with her ball in hand, she got a closer look at how Saki and Xander played. Sure, the added throwing power of Eros and the intimidating danger of the fire was a great tactic, but the real strength laid in the communication. Saki was usually the one scouting the area for dodgeballs, relaying their next targets to Xander, who helped throw with Eros. Almost none of their victims made it out from their wrath the first time around. She wished they were still on her side. Without time to react a flaming ball shot towards their team’s ice wall, shattering it into dust and briefly igniting a student behind it.
Carrie, on the other hand, played significantly more chaotically. Shouting nothing but obscenities and directly charging at an opponent at every opportunity she had with a ball, her erratic behavior on the court was nothing less of a major distraction to both teammates and enemies. For any that posed a threat to the cultist, all she had to do was reveal her third eye, and they would be blinded long enough for them to be an easy target.
The center of the court had the floorboards peel as one student began growing a large plant from the ground. A ball streaked just above Knowledge’s hair. Ducking just in time, Knowledge returned a throw, using her ability to whizz the ball straight at the boy’s head and back to her hand. She smiled, finally getting the hang of this.
A dodgeball covered in slime slid across the floor, and the paper thin student from before folded into a paper airplane, dodging the ball with superior air control. More dodges and near misses passed, and her team was leading again. Maybe I can actually survive this round, Knowledge thought in the back of her head.
“Look! There’s Knowledge!” A familiar male voice growled.
POW! POW! Two dodgeballs struck Knowledge out. One square in the stomach, the other between her chest. She landed on the floor again.
Shouldn’t have spoken too soon…
Just when she was just getting up to leave for the bleachers, she was forced to duck as another goat-like student jumped over her and tried her hand at the menacing boys.
“Same plan as usual, Xan!”
“Hey, Beanie! Ready for another ass kicking?”
“Not if I get you out first!” Splats shouted, tagging her ball with paint and aiming for the muscle head’s jacket.
A blinding burst of fire, and another POW! Where did they even get a third ball? Knowledge didn’t care to know. It was already too late.
Both girls sat next to each other on the bleachers. They watched the fight continue, along with the guards, teachers, and students.
“Hey, Splats,” Knowledge started, “why’d you go after Xander? You didn’t seem like you were prepared before you threw that ball.”
The redhead groaned. “I was trying to avenge you, dummy! I thought they ran out of balls to throw, and now I’m out! This is stupid. That crazy bitch Carrie better not lose.”
“Yeah…” Knowledge anxiously played with the drawstrings on her sweatpants. “I hope we don’t lose either. And, um, thanks for trying to avenge me. I would’ve done the same.”
“It was just a spur of the moment.” Splats looked at her dark-skinned friend with a glint in her eye. “If you really care about winning, don’t expect someone to save you next round.”
Knowledge said nothing back, but she mulled those words over in her head. All she did in response was nod.
The game was down to the wire. Shockingly, both teams were even in numbers. It was just Saki, Xander, and a couple others versus Carrie and her lasting teammates. Much more of the multicolored balls were on Carrie’s side of the court; the other team waited for her next move. Suddenly, Carrie charged, wielding two dodgeballs and striking a poor reptilian kid out. Xander and Eros attempted to flank, but she was too fast. Another flash of light, and then it was just Saki and Xander left.
The boys counterattacked. Saki ran across the court, narrowly dodging an attack close to him. He withdrew Eros and summoned Chel, swiftly getting the attacker out on his return trip to Xander and taking Eros out again. Together they rushed the last of the students next to Carrie, leaving her as the last member of the team.
There was no time to face off. The crowd screamed for the side they were rooting for. Even Broman was invested this round. He barely even used his whistle because he was too focused on the game.
Saki and Xander pincer-rushed Carrie. She shrieked, planning to get both her opponents out at the same time. Using her third eye one last time, she blinded both boys, Eros instinctively withdrawing because of the light. Carrie threw two balls in both directions.
Both teams fired simultaneously. A ball to Saki, a ball on fire to Carrie, a ball to Xander, and another ball to Carrie. One was aimed for the mask. Both her dodgeballs struck their targets dead center. But at the same time, she became the target as well. She ducked the more important ball, but tripped over the one ablaze and aimed below her heels, falling right on it and singeing her sweatpants.
Everyone cheered. Despite it being the longest round so far, nobody complained after seeing the game play out. Broman finally pulled out his whistle and blew.
“THAT’S GAME! We have a TIE!”
The three competitors stood up.
“The hell, Broman?” Xander said. “We got her out!”
“Do not listen to them, Mister B. Roeman!” Carrie defended. “It was I who struck them both down first!”
“I know what I saw!” Frank yelled. “You three got each other out! But I know exactly what broke this tie!”
He pointed to Saki, still holding a ball. “You caught that ball, didn’t you slugbrain?”
Saki stiffened. “Uh, sir, I-”
“Catching a ball is against my rules, MAGGOT! If you remembered that, you would’ve won the round, but you didn’t! You just earned your team a penalty. The win goes to your enemy team, do I make myself clear?”
The boys complained under their breaths, but said yes to their coach anyway. The two losers exited the court in a huff, Xander picking on his faulty teammate all the way to the bleachers.
Broman faced Carrie, leaning close to her mask. “That means you’re still in the game, Calamari!”
But Carrie only stood there, her head slightly lowered. “You believe my sweeping victory will be guaranteed by a mere tie breaker? That my rule over these cretins would be assured by a twist of rules? I’d rather quit right now. Get me out of this Pagan game, Roeman.”
Broman stared the girl down for a long moment, then blew his whistle. “Then you’re disqualified by forfeit! I hope you made your mama proud, WIMP! Any last words?”
“Not many. Just know the Great Old Ones will have their revenge.” With that, Carrie walked off the court, her pride still barely intact.
Broman spoke over the crowd once more. “LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS! That was some fine dodgeball out there! If I was a scrawny underweight college teenager with no life like you, I couldn’t have played any better than that myself! However, there could only be one winner! Losing team, same punishment as Round One! Winning team, report back here in another two hours exact! DISMISSED!”
Both Knowledge and Splats got off the bleachers to check on their dormmate, but she was nowhere to be found. Carrie never even came back to watch the game for the rest of that day.
Knowledge came back to the gym for the third time with more vigor than she thought she had in her. Maybe it was the caffeine from all the energy drinks she got, on account of how long and tiring this game was, but now she was pumped and raring to go.
The gym was cleaned again and the sidelines packed, moreso now than before. The tape markings on the floor were removed, and the seats pushed in towards the court, giving more spectator space as well as decreasing the court space.
The rest of the school seemed just as pumped too. Word of mouth got out about the game, and now the talk was all over the academy. People flooded the bleachers, some even sitting on the floor or looking through a window just to spectate. Knowledge saw Splats making bets with other students on the game, exchanging various pieces of paper and multicolored sweets. She tried to approach Splats to talk, but she was quickly flicked away.
Knowledge stepped back. She assumed what Splats said about this round was true. Splats was deliberately distancing herself from her friend, just to build a sense of competition. Well, that’s what Knowledge took from that exchange. There would be no help from her friends anymore. Still, she felt ready for it now. She was ready now.
A whistle blew, silencing the crowd. Broman brought out his megaphone.
“LISTEN UP, TWINKIES! We are in the final round, which will be a Free for All! The last student standing will win the game, the losers with the rest! Once the whistle blows, you all get ssssixty seconds to scatter before the dodgeballs fly!”
A large flipping sound could be heard as the gym’s large scoreboard turned on, revealing the numbers 1:00. Knowledge never even knew that thing was there, let alone used. Frank blew the whistle and the timer began its countdown.
0:57.
She only counted twenty-two students left, meaning three poor souls had gone AWOL between breaks. That probably spells detention.
0:46.
She saw Splats from the corner of her eye tagging marks and streaks across the floor with her spray can. There would be no “team” this time. She made it a point to stay as far away from that paint as possible.
0:31.
One of the bigger players kept shooting death glares at students, making them trip over themselves trying to scurry away. Knowledge noticed one of them stepping on Splats’s paint, trapping their shoe to it. They spent the rest of the countdown desperately untying the knot.
0:18.
Knowledge found a good spot in the midst of the court. She took a deep breath. She recognized most of their faces now, trying to connect them to their Electi abilities from memory. She hoped most of them would take out each other, but knew for sure a certain someone would be out to target her.
0:05.
This is it, Kay. You’re not going down without a fight. Time to show ‘em what you’re made of.
The timer struck zero as an ear-splitting buzzer erupted from the board. Broman flung 3 balls onto the court as students began to move. Some began to combat each other with powers directly, making their clothing’s fabric tie the wearer immobile or creating light beams and thrusting kids into the court walls, to name a couple. Before she could notice, she was struck with some substance that exploded into dust by some yellow-haired girl. She felt extremely sluggish. No! She couldn’t be exposed like this already. She put all of her energy to overcome the effect just in time as one ball flew across the gym, hitting no one and sending 4 students rushing to get it first. The rest kept a keen eye on the ball and either stood still or were fighting other students.
Another throw as a ball ended up hitting an unknown boy in the leg, causing him to curse and erupt in a deck of playing cards as he floated off court. That made 21. More throws as magic havoc ensued. Knowledge used her kinesis to trip a student charging towards her as another mocked her from the distance. Another whistle blow, and someone else got hit.
Just then, a group of four students directed their attention to her, one with a ball in their hands. Apparently, Broman never made a “no teaming” rule. Nonetheless, Knowledge couldn’t be standing around like a sitting duck. She wouldn’t sit around waiting to be saved like last time.
She turned and faced them as well, and without second thought, dashed across the gym. A ball flew over her head before she quickly kinetically swung it to the floor, where it bounced forwards for her to catch.
More whistle blows shrieked in the background as players were eliminated. She chucked the ball towards the group, curving it with her ability, hitting one of them straight in the chest. The power in her throw caught even Broman by surprise. They were quick to respond, throwing the ball Knowledge threw and another they had on hand, but barely missing her. The third ball, covered in spray paint, flew centimeters in front of her face, hitting someone in the corner of the court.
Ability use was everywhere by this point. A cloud of fog hazed over a considerable part of the arena and the floor was covered in various substances. Knowledge was starting to feel fatigued herself from her extensive magic usage, and the strategy throughout the gym shifted to defensive stances. There were still around 15 students left. Knowledge rapidly looked around. Teachers across the bleachers were taking notes. Security guards talked into their earpieces. The crowd by this point was immense, cheering on the remaining students. Knowledge trembled for a bit and paid the price for it, getting hit by a forceful gust of wind and glitter by another student, causing her to trip.
Is this it? She could hear an unfamiliar voice call to her, as students got ready to take aim. She braced for the incoming impact.
No! No waiting for another save by Splats, it won’t happen this time! Knowledge swiftly rolled as a paint-covered dodgeball splattered where she just was. She grasped the ball with her power as she got up to stand. She chucked another ball at a random student, missing.
Knowledge’s head was pounding. Her heart even more so. Sweat dripped from her whole body like a leaky faucet, thinning the paint on the floor. She was completely in the game. The crowd roared, whistles blew.
Knowledge tried to grab another brightly colored ball before noticing there were now only two in play, as well as less than a dozen students remaining. She locked eyes with Splats, who returned a cold, smug grin.
Another ball sent the students in a flurry as it seemingly bounced off the walls on the ends of the court with no loss in velocity. In fact, it almost seemed to speed up. Knowledge had to duck with all the force in her body as the ball crashed just a meter next to her, splintering the floor. She dove to pick it up, another student doing the same.
She came face to face with the student who was about to grab the ball first, and without thinking rolled him away with all the effort she had, sliding him as far back as a normal push would. Luckily, it was just far enough for her to pick up the ball and hit him before he could get up. Another whistle blew.
Knowledge instinctively ducked as the second ball flew away from her. The same gust of wind hit her again as she saw the boy student from before, cursing her out from the sidelines. The crowd continued to roar as slowly more and more students got eliminated.
More time passed. The game was about 15 minutes in. There were 5 students left, including Splats, and all of them looked exhausted. There was only one remaining dodgeball near the corner of the court. The five students all stood motionless. Finally, a girl sprinted towards the ball, causing the others to do the same. Knowledge was last to make a move as Splats ran closest, throwing an empty spray can at one of the remaining students, causing him to trip and fall after it landed in front of him. She mercilessly pelted him with the spray painted dodgeball. The whistle blew.
Splats ran towards the corner as the two unfamiliar students duked it out with each other. Before Knowledge could react, a dodgeball shot towards the first student and nailed him, bouncing off a wall and coming immediately towards her. Despite her splitting headache, she used even more of her energy to spin the ball away and then towards the second student, hitting her as well. Both cursed at each other as two whistle blows striked them out.
It was just Splats and Knowledge, at both ends of the court. The remaining red dodgeball rolled towards the middle of the court. The entire crowd grew silent as the two roommates stared each other down.
How did it end up like this? Knowledge could barely think. A wave of fatigue hit her with all her strenuous activity and power use, as it did with Splats. Beads of sweat ran down her face from across the gym. Knowledge almost dropped to her knees. The entire crowd eyed the two friends turned rivals. Splats called out.
“It isn’t too late to tap out, Knolly!” Her smug grin faded as her near victory rushed straight to her head. “Sure you got this far, but you knew you were never gonna win. Look at you, you can barely stand up anymore! I told you myself, this was my game! I’m the dodgeball master; The master of BALLS! And you aren’t gonna take this away from me!”
Knowledge tried to respond, but her voice cracked. It was more than just about the points now.
Splats darted towards the ball. Knowledge tried to use her Kinesis to push Splats away, but it was too much for her to handle. Splats threw the ball towards Knowledge, who fell to the side to dodge it. It bounced off the wall as Splats went to grab it again. She managed to strike her shoe with telekinesis, causing her to fall as well. Knowledge and Splats both got up, racing for the ball. Knowledge used Splats shoe again to hit the ball, rolling it away as both the girls chased it. Splats slipped on a layer of ice as Knowledge soon after fell from a slime puddle. Splats was making a full charge towards Knowledge now. Her vision blurring, Knowledge summoned every bit of her remaining strength to move the ball towards her, she reached out, Splats approaching, just a little bit more…
Got it!
Splats collapsed in front of the girl.
The audience could barely contain their hype. Some screamed to finish it. Others held their breath.
“Splats, you know what you said about winning in the bleachers last round?” Knowledge said, struggling to catch her breath.
Splats looked at Knowledge with woeful eyes. “What about it?”
“I’ve made up my mind. I don’t need saving anymore.” Knowledge began to stand up as the audience roars grew louder.
Before Splats could reply, Knowledge winded back her arm in preparation to throw a hard shot, focusing her powers.
She loomed over Splats, who closed their eyes in preparation.
She then gently let the ball land on Splats lap.
Dead silence.
A whistle blew. The crowd roared. Knowledge had done it.
She won Powerball.
The school was buzzing the day after. Talk was all around with the events of the game, bringing a bit of fame to Knowledge as some students cheered or congratulated her. Splats was absent from these occurrences. The craze died out after a few more days, though, with students moving on to other things or being caught up with actual school again. Eventually, everything went back to normal.
Knowledge thought to herself as she headed back to her dorm, Maybe gym class isn’t the worst. Her extra credit had been recorded in the system, ensuring her acing the class. But there was still one thing she needed to take care of.
She opened the door to her room. Splats was there. She sat with her back turned on her bed, scrolling through her phone. Knowledge stepped forward.
“It was just a game, Splats,” she said. “You were gonna pass the gym class anyways.”
“You know it wasn’t about the stupid points,” the redhead quietly moped, laying down.
Knowledge took a seat next to her, taking off her eyepatch. “Yeah. I know. You wanted to win that game more than anything. I can’t blame you for that.”
“Leave me alone,” she muffled through her pillow.
Knowledge paused, and took a deep breath. “I never expected to win. Honestly, I thought we would’ve been out by Round One. The thought of being pelted by a hundred of your classmates scared the crap out of me. But you taught me to stand up for myself out there. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but you really made me think about things a bit differently. I just wanted to say thanks for that.”
The redhead lifted herself, her eyes red and mildly puffy. “Wait, you’re not here to gloat?”
Knowledge giggled. “Why would I do that? What kinda friend would I be to gloat?”
The two girls stood still for a moment, and made up their friendship with an embrace. Splats was the first to pull back.
“Y’know what? You did cool out there! I liked how you used that kinetic power of yours.”
“It’s telekinesis, but thanks. You were way too creative with that paint, though, almost got me out a few times!”
“I’m totally getting you out next time, though,” she said with a smug grin.
“In your dreams,” Knowledge teased. “Next time, I won’t hold back the first two rounds!”