FIVE

Eli

— THREE YEARS LATER —

"C'mon El, get that last point!"

The crowd was exploding with cheers, but I could hear Noah's voice erupting from the game. I glanced at the airband on my wrists. The score is 6-6 with only a minute remaining in the game. The stats are displayed on the big screen board at the very top of the stadium for the audience to track the game scores, but since it's too high for us players to see, the airband on our wrists serves as our monitor. I heard the game announcer broadcasting on the airsystem.

—and the ring has now been passed on to Hale. Hale is blocked with two Vanguards from the Blue Ravens. Can she pass through and make the winning point for the Golden Crows?

I clutched the ring I caught from Nissa, one of our team's Vanguards. I could still hear the announcer saying things but my mind continued to think for strategies. The pole is now 13 meters away from the arena. If I could get past the two Vanguards above me, I could get a chance inside the shooting fence. But it's not gonna be easy.

The game we're playing right now is called Ringshooter. The mechanics of the game is pretty self-explanatory; we shoot rings to the opponents' pole to win. The first team to reach seven points wins. Whenever a point is made, the pole will light green and a bell will ring. The game will only run for an hour, and if the time runs out and no team reaches 7 points, then the team with the most points will win. There are three categories for the game— the Female Court, which will be played by all female players, the Male Court, played by all male players, and the All Out Brawl, which is a combination of both and is usually the final game of the season, which is what we are playing right now.

Each team has 5 players; two Vanguards for offensive play, two Rearguards for defense, and the Blocker who protects their team's pole and blocks anyone's attempt to shoot the rings into their pole. Any player can make the shoot, except for the Blockers. The Vanguards specialize in attacks and are usually the ones who make points for the team because they are the fastest, while the Rearguards block advancing opponents to their home base and specialize in sneaking from behind and stealing the ring. Although in the game, the roles can be switched vice versa, as long as the player gets to make or help score a point. All players are wearing airkicks, which is just a fancy name for flying shoes, if you ask me. Since the stadium is basically an open-air field, there's no limit to how high you can fly, since the aircams are fast enough to keep up with you. Aircams are like small, electronic bees with cameras that send footages to the air monitors, where the game is broadcast.

The heart of the play is the ring itself. It's a circular, color-changing metal the size of a big dinner plate that each team fights to get. It changes color to whoever team possesses it. Since I have the ring for now, it's currently turned to yellow, my team's color. If the opponent gets it, it will turn blue. Each player only gets 7 seconds maximum to hold the ring, and then they need to pass it to a teammate. Hold the ring for 8 seconds and it will turn red, signifying a violation strike— if you get three of those, you're out for the rest of the game.

Now, the arena is an oval field that is nearly 100 meters long and about 50 meters wide. At the bottom of the arena is an insanely large net that catches the players if ever they fall, sometimes because their airkicks messed up or they are accidentally knocked off by another player. The arena is surrounded by a thick bulletproof glass that acts as a barrier for both the players and the audience so nothing gets in nor out as the game plays on.

The two poles stand 50 feet tall outside of the arena ground, on both opposite ends. The actual arena ground is surrounded by an invisible forcefield that can detect if a player has gone out of bounds, which is considered a violation. The forcefield is also programmed to act as a cushion that will soften the player's landing impact if ever he or she is blasted sideways by another player or in any circumstances, thus protecting the player from potential injuries. Even though our bodies are covered with thick pads and a full suit armor, the impact can still result in pretty bad internal injuries, and the forcefield ensures no player goes home with a broken rib. At the same time, the forcefield only recognizes the ring and will not block it during shooting attempts.

At the start of the game, the pole is 7 meters away from the arena, and as each team scores a point, the pole will move 1 meter further from the arena. Since both teams scored each a 6, both poles are now 13 meters away. As the points get higher, it becomes more and more difficult to shoot the rings into the pole, which is why each team attempts to get as close as possible into a shooting fence. The shooting fences are at the opposing end of the arena, which is basically Blocker territory, but it gives you a high chance of successfully shooting the ring into the pole since it's the closest you'll ever get to the pole.

But you'll only get three seconds maximum inside the enemy's shooting fence, or you'll get a violation strike. You can attempt to shoot the ring from anywhere in the arena as long as you don't step outside of the field. But of course, the ring can be easily intercepted by an opponent mid-air, or be blocked or caught by the Blocker, who will then pass the ring to his or her teammates, which will then give them the advantage to score. And like any other game, not every shooting attempt is successful, as there are more times that the player will make a missed shot.

—Hale dodges the Vanguards and advances to the shooting fence—

I gripped the ring tighter as I raced upwards to level myself to the height of the pole, with two opponent Vanguards now on my tail. I need to get inside or at least close to the opponent team's shooting fence so I can get a good aim for the pole. I was blocked by one of the Rearguards who advanced towards me, so I instinctively stop. I saw Juniper out of the corner of my eyes, and she was the closest teammate to me.

—Hale makes a pass to McKeiry—

"June!" I yelled as I threw the ring to my right. She caught it but almost lost it as another opponent Rearguards who was nearby accidentally crashed into her in an attempt to catch the ring when I threw it in June's directions.

—who crashes with Stormwest from the Blue Ravens! They are down folks! They are both heading towards the net below!

They both spiralled downwards but June was quick enough to throw the ring to Noah, who was following behind her closely. I heard the crowds go 'ooohs' as June and the other team's Vanguard hit the net below from their 30-feet high fall.

—McKeiry saves and passes to Langston on standby. Langston is making a run for the shooting fence—

Noah immediately wasted no time and attempted to advance towards the shooting fence, and I raced towards him in order to give him support. He was blocked by an opponent Rearguard but Noah easily passed through him. A Vanguard tried to block him, so Noah had no choice but to pass the ring back to Nissa who was already positioned near the shooting fence, who was then faced with a two-man block by the Blocker and one of the Vanguards from the opponent team. Nissa was in the perfect position to shoot, so she aimed for the top of the pole while speeding upwards.

—Langston makes a pass to Griffin, who makes an attempt to shoot—

The ring almost passed through if not for the Blocker's quick overhand block. The ring hit the Blocker's elbow armor and bounced back towards us.

—and the Blocker makes an amazing overhand save! The ring is now on air and free for a steal—

Quick to their feet, all nearby players rushed in to catch the ring. June, who just recovered from her fall, suddenly dashed in front of me, which is probably because of the momentum she gained from the net below. I follow behind her closely, but there was no way we'd catch the ring before the opponent does. One of them is the closest to the ring, and was already extending her arm to catch it. 

June turned to look at me from behind her and yelled, "Trampoline!"

I immediately knew the strategy. She bent her knees and I clasped both of her hands while positioning myself inverted to her and bending my knees so we can align the soles of our shoes. Imitating a rocketship, I increased my airkicks power to the fullest and used it to boost June's speed as I kicked her off to launch her body towards the spinning ring.

—a rocketship launch from the Rearguards of the Golden Crows! McKiery makes a clean steal for the ring! The Golden Crown gets their chance for the championship again! It's 30 seconds left for the game folks—

While that doubled June's speed, it also sent me flying to the forcefield of the arena, which thankfully did its job and softened as I hit its walls. I saw June successfully stealing the ring in time, and she then headed towards the shooting fence. I heard the loud thud of my body armor clashing against each other before I found myself falling to the net below.

—Hale continues to crash out of control and is falling to the net below—

My weight bounced off the net and I was up into the air again, but my balance staggered as my left airkicks threatened to lose power. The stunt June and I pulled through earlier must have damaged the core engine inside my left airkicks.

—uh-oh! Looks like Hale is now out of airkicks! The Rearguard is in trouble and the Golden Crows are down one player!

I tried to regain my balance while in the air, which is really difficult considering only one of my airkicks is stable and the other pair is badly damaged. Still, I tried my best to get as close as possible to the action. I'm not about to sit out this one important game of my life.

—and she recovers! Hale makes a desperate race to the action with her remaining airkicks power—

My teammates are all guarded. June made a pass to Noah, but even him is struggling to make a good aim for the pole. I continued to race upwards above them so I can see the action better.

—10 seconds left and the Golden crows are all in bad position to make a shoot—

In a split second, I saw Noah evaded the Vanguard that was onto him but he was blocked again by a Rearguard. In a desperate attempt, Noah makes a shooting attempt after evading the two guards and the ring headed to the pole.

—5 seconds left and Langston makes the Golden Crows last shooting attempt!

The ring continued to fly straight to the pole. My heart raced in anticipation. Please score!

—and blocked! Blue Ravens saves the ring from their pole!

Three seconds left and the ring came back flying after the Blocker's save, but it came flying straight to my direction above the pole. I could make a grab for it, but even if I get the ring, there's no time left to advance to the enemy's shooting fence, much less evade the guards and aim.

—3 seconds!

Here goes nothing.

Without thinking it through, I grabbed my damaged airkicks and threw it at the ring flying towards me. The shoe hit the ring and sent it flying back to the pole. Without the other airkicks, I completely lost my balance and I was falling straight down to the net 60 ft below, but I glued my eyes to the ring who is now making its way back to the pole. The Blocker was caught off guard and missed the ring which flew past above him. It went straight to the pole.

—2 seconds! 1 second!

The ring went in the pole, and it lit up green. I heard the bell ringing that signified that we scored a point. I continued to crash down.

—and score! Hale takes the last winning point! What a great save for the Golden Crows, this year's Ringshooting Champions!

As soon as I hit the net, the crowds erupted into cheers.

I could hear my teammates scream of victory above me. I stayed very still as the net rocked my weight. My heart was still beating fast, and adrenaline is still surging inside me. I could feel myself still breathing hard. I closed my eyes and then it hit me.

We won.

I spread my arms and legs wide because exhaustion is now starting to hit me, but my lips couldn't help but smile. My team won.

"Eli!"

I heard Noah's voice from above me so I opened my eyes. He was flying towards me, with our other teammates from behind him. He reached me first and took off his helmet and then mine.

"You good?" I could hear him trying to catch his breath but his voice was latched with concerns.

"Yeah... Just, uhm..." I sounded breathless too. "Don't try falling from 60-ft above with only one airkicks. My stomach feels like a hurricane."

I heard Noah laugh and felt the net move. My teammates hovered us and gave me taps on my shoulder. They all helped me stand up, and that's when I heard the crowds chanting our house.

Golden Crows! Golden Crows! Golden Crows! Golden Crows!

The game staff disabled the forcefield and helped us get off the net. There were loud cheers from the rest of our team as the five of us were welcomed with victory chants and high fives. After a few minutes, the game announcer called both teams for the awarding ceremony, and we all lined up horizontally in front of the field facing the crowd.

One by one, all of the players who played inside the arena were called for honorary. They started with the opponent team. And then they declared us winners.

"And now, this year's defending champions, the Golden Crows! Starting with Noah Vonn Langston, team captain and Vanguard."

My eyes trailed the crowd on the bleachers until I saw who I was looking for. Nikola beamed when we made eye contact, and then he raised the Golden Crows banner he was holding even higher while yelling something I couldn't possibly hear. Although if I'm going to guess correctly based on what I have read on his lips, I think he said "That's my sister!" proudly.

"—Anissa Griffin, Vanguard!"

Nissa stepped forward to claim her medal. She's a graduating senior, and this year is her last Ringshooter season. I'm gonna miss her a lot. I hope we get new players next year who is as great and determined as she is. She's one of the best Ringshooters I know. Plus, she felt like a big sister to me. I miss Yula.

"—Juniper McKeiry, Rearguard!"

The crowd continued to roar wildly as each of our names was called. June made a clumsy royal curtsy as she received her medal, and I laughed. She reminds me so much of my little sisters, who are as much as troublemakers as I am. I miss everyone at home. I wonder if they miss me, too.

"—Giddeon Knight, Blocker!"

Gid made his way forward, and the girls' screams grew even louder. Figures. That's always the case with Gid. Tall, dark, handsome, and ridiculously blond. He's that typical campus crush who is also one of the best players in sports. Who wouldn't swoon for those? I mean, I don't, but I'm a lost cause when it comes to boy crushes so I don't count. Besides, Gid's blocking skill is as impressive as his dating history. In my whole three years in Ringshooting, I've only seen a few skilled players get past through his blocks, which include the Blue Ravens' Vanguards and his twin brother in another team, the Black Swans, who is, by the way, is as ridiculously handsome as Gid is.

"—and Elizabeth Hale, Rearguard and this year's MVP."

My thoughts were halted when I heard my name. I stepped forward and received my medal. Our team then bowed all together and we huddled. We're probably more excited for the victory dinner and the afterparty because it will be one hell of a blast. After the awarding, Noah gave a captain speech and we all then changed in the locker. I met Nikola on the way out and he was all smiles as he congratulated me. A student interrupted us saying the school councilor is looking for Nik, so he made a quick congratulatory speech for me, and then he followed the student.

It's still past 6 p.m. so I still have time to go back to my quarter before the victory dinner starts as 9 p.m. The room was dark and empty when I arrived, so my roommate is still probably out for her club activities. I took a quick shower and changed into a comfortable outfit before hitting the bed. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and saw that it was 7:30. I can still nap for an hour before I go to the victory dinner, but with all the adrenaline and excitement from the game earlier, it'll be probably hard to sleep.

I still did, anyway.

It was exactly 8 p.m. when I woke up. I got up and changed into an appropriate outfit for the victory party. And when I say appropriate, I meant my usual black dress and varsity jacket. I was ready to go out when I heard a loud crash. The female sculpted vase I brought from home is on the floor with all of its broken pieces.

It was the vase Yula made for me.