?


    Kress Still


    --


    *Ok apparently it''s not that easy.* Kress'' brow was thick with sweat, his mind was racing and even though he hadn''t put in too much work yet, it felt like his legs were on fire as the rally continued. *That bitch was sandbagging, and I showed my hand too early.* Kress grit his teeth as the ball was batted back and forth. Kress and Willow were keeping the rally light in strength out of fear for the paddles, but the ball was still speeding up.


    But let''s back up just a bit. For the first point, Kress won the coin toss and managed a decent serve, then when Willow casually batted it back, Kress lunged forward and mmed the ball off to the side, just barely clipping the edge of the table before it bounced away, out of Willow''s reach. A good way to get a point up… but a bad y if Kress wanted to win.


    Willow served next, a soft, easy serve, and Kress had thought it would be an easy second point for him, mming the ball down in the exact same ce asst time. Willow was waiting for him, she was already at the corner, and simply dashed around, hitting the ball right back, aiming straight for Kress'' chest instead of the board.


    Kress regretted his next move as soon as it happened. He tried to block it by moving the paddle, but that put his arm at an awkward angle. So even though he caught the ball, he was once again caught out because it was an easy return for Willow who had stayed on the right side corner. Willow had mmed the ball back over the and off to the left, away from the hand holding the paddle.


    Kress served next, and he thought he was ready for things this time. He sent a strong, but not paddle breaking strong, serve at Willow. She''d hopped onto the table and mmed the ball out to the left side again, giving her the lead. Though, Thyme had something to say about it. "While I will give Willow the point because I didn''t specify against it… there will be no more sitting, standing, or kneeling on the tables. I''ll ept leaning, but if you fall over and put your full weight on the table, then that''s a point to your opponent,"


    Kress nodded, even as Willow pouted, but didn''t argue. Kress didn''t know what was going through Willow''s head in that moment. His best guess was that Willow did want the free point it would give her, but not enough to risk it as one of the final points, perhaps just in case it gave Kress the win.


    So now he was down one point and Willow was serving. This time, Willow mmed the ball down, angling it in such a way that once it hit the table it shot upwards. Kress grit his teeth as he walked backwards, carefully lining up the shot and returning it… only for Willow to step slightly to the side, letting the ball tter to the ground. *Dammit. Just off the edge.*


    Willow was up to three points now. Just two more and she''d win the first round. Kress couldn''t have that so he hit the ball over with as much strength as he could use without risking the paddle cracking, which was what led to the current rally. For Kress it seemed like it had been tens of minutes instead of perhaps two or three at most. The ball was pped back and forth seemingly endlessly from one end of the table to another.


    Kress and Willow batted back with little tricks thrown in here and there. Sometimes Willow would send the ball up, but Kress identally figured out that while the ball had to touch your enemies half of the board before the ground, hitting your own side was also eptable, though so far it had only been a single bounce. So Kress was still unsure of how eptable it was.


    On Kress'' side of things, he''d try to send the ball off the edges but Willow always seemed to be ready for them. Every time Kress sent it, left or right, front or back corner, Willow always seemed to be ready for it. This was of course, that Kress had a major tell. When he was gearing up for a shot to the edges, he held his paddle back against his stomach so that he could use that bit of extra mass to absorb the momentum and hit the ball more urately. It wasn''t a terrible strategy… but Kress moved with the paddle already in ce, giving the game away massively.


    Eventually the rally was broken, not by a trick, but by a small mistake. Both Willow and Kress had been fighting for a while at this point. Noticeable amounts of sweat had dripped off both of them, and the floor had been waxed… generously. For Kress, it was less of an issue. While he wasn''t as nimble as Willow, his heavy leather boots held their ground. Yet, as Willow slid to the side to catch a ball… she kept sliding. Her hands pinwheeled, as she reached out for the table and stability, but it was toote. The ball smacked into her shoulder as Willow fell into split, causing the ball to roll off onto the floor. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Willow was shocked, and… hollow, as the room was silent. Nobody had thought things would turn out this way, even as the ball bounces sounded like pounding drums to Willow''s ears. Willow gulped, thankful that the table was held securely in ce and her rash action of using it for support hadn''t sent it copsing on top of her, unaware that Thyme had fixed that very issue as she was falling, as Thyme had not really considered the need before that moment.


    "Two, Three to Willow, Willow will be serving, but do either of you want some water before you continue?" asked Thyme.


    Willow, perhaps in a fit of anger, declined the offered water with a huff. Pulling herself back to her feet. Kress'' lips twitched downwards at that, not liking the fact that Willow was giving him a clear advantage with this. Still, she was an opponent right now. As Kress was carefully drinking some of the supplied water, one of Willow''s teammates, March, looked like she wanted to say something but Thyme shook his head. ''No interference'' was the silent message.


    415


    Willow was clearly shaken after that, and despite the multi-minute rallies that followed, Kress thought was almostughably easy to get another two points, bringing him up to five. It could arguably have been easier if he''d pressed his advantage pulled out more tricks, simply tried to y a bit dirty… but Kress didn''t want to reignite that fire in Willow. Instead, one point away from victory, Willow was angrier with herself then every. She was falling apart under the pressure, and her teammates were clearly trying their best tofort her with gestures. Willow wasn''t looking.


    Kress took another sip of water as the time between rounds stretched out. It was Willows serve, and though Kress wasn''t trying to make things worse, Willow red at him angrily as he sipped. *Is this… is this what I''m normally like? Surely I was never so… easily goaded into things?*


    Even as he denied it in his thoughts, his heart betrayed him. He was ridiculously easily goaded into things. Perhaps whatever in that cloud powder was giving him perspective, perhaps it was just the casual calm and join he had experienced under the effects. Whatever it was, he was free of that anger, for now at the very least. Hopefully into the future too, if Kress had anything to say about it.


    So Willow grit her teeth. Her sweat covered the ground, she had felt the need to be overly careful with her footing to prevent slipping a second time, and perhaps that was necessary but it was slowing her down. The fact that she was denying the chance to drink wasn''t helping either. As if water was the true reason for her failure, and not that she needed grippier footwear for the surface.


    Kress mentally thanked his love of hisbat boots once again as Willow served and the rally began. Back and forth, the ball bounced without issue back and forth between them, until Willow sent the ball flying upwards once again and Kress could almost swear he heard the paddle in Willow''s hand creak a touch. Kress stepped backwards calmly, and ready for the ball. He hit it back lightly. It bounced once not on Kress'' side, but instead on the in the centre. Kress eyes went wide as he panicked internally… but it fell to Willow''s side and she wasn''t ready for it.


    Willow dived onto the table reflexively reaching for the ball, and seeding… but she was stuck on the table now, and the hit wasn''t strong so Kress bopped it back onto Willow, and Thyme called the match. "Match one, Kress. Five to three."


    Kress spun his paddle as he grinned. *A bit of luck, but I got it done.*