Four: Journey Of The True Heroes

Chapter 1.1: Leon

The score was twenty-one to nineteen with our team taking the first set. This game would determine who won the first intramural highschool volleyball tournament in the prefecture and as captain of Fort Hill's volleyball team, I will not fail this group of friends and teammates. The serve was our's and our prime server, someone who we nicknamed Shadow for the way he just glides around the court as if he's attached to every player. But time was winding down for the serve to start our rally and I, Leon Rose with my pointed and hot pink hair, eyes the brighter pink and light skin was determined to slide on this court as hard and as far as I needed to to keep that ball up for this team. Shadow served, tossing the ball high up then pausing for a moment and then swinging as it fell to meet the palm of his open hand to send it flying into the other half of the court clean over the net. Canyon High school's number ten receives, their number one sets and I bend my knees with another blocker on my right ready to aidteamsle paused, them jump and stretch our arms outward to try and block the ball but Canyon's number three jumped an a couple centimeters higher than our wall and the ball pushed itself off my index finger and onto our court. Our libero, Max squats down low to drive the ball up with a dig and bumps it to our setter Ash. I ran back as Max hit it up and was ready for a synchronized attack. As if we were the same person, me, Erick and Auron ran at the same time along with Rain up front setting. The ball is pushed off of his hands and soars past Erick on the left and as he falsely swings and I do the same trusting Auron to crash the ball down onto the court onto our opponents court and he does. With no one left to defend with a block, Auron's hand meets the ball and careens it down with a straight spike down onto the opposite court earning us another point. Twenty two to nineteen in our favor, game is inching closer to match point. Shadow made sure this serve was turning into a service ace and that it was. Tossing the ball up over his right shoulder, Shadow ran up and swung to send the ball soaring down towards the very last edge of the court where everyone on their team thought it was out but it wasn't as it just hit the line. Twenty three to nineteen and Shadow took his spot behind the line. Once more a service ace but this one was simply too intense to receive as their number nine's arms jerked to the side as the ball fell outside the court. Twenty four to nineteen and this point could end it for them and crown us champions. No timeout is called and Shadow gives it all of whatever he's got left in this serve. Me in front, waiting for the time to strike while in an instant a quick is sent up after the serve and I immediately jump and have it go right past me into Rain's platform to receive. Its passed to Rain while I call to send the ball straight up front as I run to the back of the court to run up to end this. The rest of my team eagerly waited and as if for a second, time had slowed to a crawl and I felt the pressure of ending this game collapse onto my shoulders. If I did this right the game is over and my team can celebrate their hard work and effort. If I mess up or we get sloppy then this set goes on and we lose our momentum so I knew every ounce of strength had to go into this spike. As the thoughts of success or failure racked my brain I felt everything that I had been ignoring. The large beads of sweat pouring down to hit the hardwood floor of the court like hail, the ridiculous ache in my legs from running and jumping and most of all the crowd staring me down like hawk's. Time sped up to it's norm everything became a rush fueled by adrenaline that surged through my body to give me one last burst of strength. I made a mad sprint towards the net and front of the court with silence pushing my focus to a new end. The crowd on the edge of their seats, my team anxious for the referee's whistle to blow to signal the end and no one was making a noise. My arms swung back as I crouched low but in an instant my instinct kicked in as I shifted my feet forty-five degrees to the right and jumped diagonally in the same direction as the ball left Rain's sweaty hands. The two blockers ran to the right to readjust for the awkward spike and lifted their arms into the air and bounced up in front but that wasn't stopping me and neither was their slight height advantage. Soaring the air I felt it all, the heft of the ball and it's soft texture crashing into my hand as I swung and swung with everything I had to finish this game. These last moments I will never forget as the ball crashed into the left most blockers right hand and ran off his fingers as all three back row members ran after it and dived but there was the sound that shook my heart and made it skip a beat. Bounce, bounce, bounce is what I heard with nothing coming over the net as my hand trembled with pain from the spike and the the entire opposing team stood up and looked at me with faces curled in anger but also a face that made it seem like they were impressed with me. The referee blew his whistle once to signal the point then blew it again in another long, drawn out screech came from the whistle to signal the end of the match. The crowd erupted in hollers and cheers with shouts and screams to match it all.

"Fort Hill! Fort Hill!" from one side and "Leon! Leon!" from a group of girls I turned to smile at along with a mixture of yells and shouts from everyone on my team as I was hoisted into the air and waved around to celebrate. We were champions and everyone knew it now and they couldn't say a damn thing to dispute it. The cheers and shouts continued for ten long minutes before our manager ordered us to line up and shake hands with the enemy team for sportsmanship but for me it was more. It shows that I had respect for everyone on my opposition's team for fighting till the end and never slowing down. I was at the end of the line of 11 players on the left side of the court while Rain was at the other end giving me a thumbs up and gave a grin to show his approval of me. The handshakes rolled in one after another as players who I got to know through an intense game of volleyball nodded their heads at each and every one of us. Their last player that shook my hand was their captain and gave me a firm handshake and looked me up and down then let out a breath of relief. "Good shit Rose, leading your team from underdogs to champion isn't easy but you sure as hell did it even you were only matched up against top teams in the prefecture. I look forward to playing again against your team". Those words had reminded me of something the first day I had walked into the gym at Fort Hill. Everyone in the gym was bored and sore and glared at me as I walked in after a practice match against another team that was fourth in the prefecture. Rain had walked up to me and said "Look kid, if your here to play volleyball then leave now cause this team is horrible in every way and were just a target for teams to improve their records on even though its not an accomplishment. So leave and turn around cause our captain just quit and our managers calling us hopeless". Despite those words and the more than underdog record of this school I wasn't keen on leaving at all till I stood on the court with the best of the best. I talked to our manager named Kai and became captain and convinced him that I could take this team to championship status at the next regionals but no one believed me. At first, the team was honestly just garbage simply due to the fact that no one knew how to do anything for simple receiving to setting but that didn't deter me at all. I was determined to bring us to the regionals and become champion and I was damned if I was gonna let a crappy team stop me. After five long hard months of constant research and training and losing, the team was finally shaping to be a competitor among the teams but we weren't anything near the top teams. Our first official tournament game in and everyone glared at me as I was a new face and had bright ass hair but I kept a stern face and positive attitude and despite everyone's skepticism and clearly judgemental eyes. We were underdogs and weren't expected to go anywhere and people only attributed our success to dumb luck and cheating. Eventually their perspectives all changed as we won the next three tournaments against some more well known teams in the prefecture. Fast forward to now and this championship, this reward was a result of everything we had worked for and was the beautiful fruit of labor we had harvested. I snapped into reality, still being hoisted about by my team and cheers rang on again in my ears as my eyes teared up. The medals were to be handed out tomorrow at the next practice but for right now it was time to party.

"Come on Leon let's go out to a big team dinner to celebrate this momentous occasion" Shouted Rain in a more than celebratory voice. I chuckled and squirmed my way down and flicked him on the shoulder. "I'm gotta see Aluka's game though ya idiot and we should all go support her." These words came as some type of shock to these numbskulls for some reason. They all knew Aluka was a girl I harbored the most secret feelings for and no one knew but the team, god forbid anyone else that knew her find out. A shiver ran down my body as I darted off after waving everyone off to say goodbye. I wasn't going to miss her game, I had missed her already more than I did before and I planned to shock everyone after the game.