Chapter 35:

"So, Ace, what is this about a Swimming Club I hear?", his grandmother's voice sounded through the speaker on his phone. Ace was preparing to begin his stream when he had gotten a call from Samantha, and now that he knew what it was about, he groaned at what was to come.

"Yeah, they have a spot missing and they wanted me to fill in, they sent me a message through my Noxia. Which I now have no doubts that you are tracking, something which I feel is most likely illegal and a full breach of the school's policy.", Ace attempted to goad her into a discussion away from the club, but she obviously knew better.

"Well, I am sure that all the smart ones know what I am doing so it is okay as long as I do not meddle too much in their affairs. Now, what chance is this I am hearing, they have a competition?"

"No, no, nothing as prestigious as that, it is simply a meet where a few races will happen. They most likely saw me swimming during P.E, and wanted me to join for one race. I do not think I will, you know what I am planning to prepare for Friday."

"Oh do not worry about that, there will be no conflict. I moved up the races to an earlier time so that you could compete, and already sent a permission slip to the school, saying that you would be more than happy to join. They asked me to send your best time, so I just sent the list of the ones recorded in the private pool, I am sure it will be good enough for them. Now, I must hang up, I have a meeting with one of the chief executives, a new opportunity came up.", and with that, she hung up on a distressed-looking Ace, that once again, had just gotten reassurance that regardless of his new body and enhanced brain, there were some people he could simply just not compete with.

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"Ok, so Ace, you are new, but do not worry, if you perform as well as your times indicate you will, then all will be okay. However, I will warn you, all the best racers will participate in your race. They know that they cannot beat us three, so they will instead try their luck at the new guy. This means that if you win, we win every race, all the pressure is on you, and I want you to know it. We already went through every member, so you should know just about how good they are. You will participate in the 50-metre sprint in the 50-metre pool. Your average times on this are about 24 seconds, which is about what most of these guys race, albeit a bit slower. You are going to need to hit a faster time if you want to win, but you should be able to - or at least that is what your grandmother said.

They headed into the indoor gymnasium connected to the pool where all teams were signing up. As they did, they were told that they would be swimming in lane 3. There were 6 schools, including theirs, and each had a varied assortment of swimmers. Ace was not the shortest there, but he was nowhere near one of the tallest. Luckily, this was only for 13-16-year-olds, so Ace still had a chance of winning. Any older, and even with his enhanced body, it would still be a severe struggle to win. Ace was wearing his swimsuit underneath, so when they announced for the first swimmers to head into their lanes, Ace took all of 30 seconds to take off his tracksuit and jogging bottoms, and make his way to the pool.

As he headed inside, a waft of chlorine and heat assaulted his senses. Ace looked around and saw that the swimming pool was as good as an Olympic one. They were 50-metre lengths, the 25-metre length events would not happen today, and the diving boards looked to be brand new. Ace also saw that the 15-metre line was also marked on the floor of the pool. When diving, they could only be underwater for 15 metres, so swimmers new to come up when nearing the line.

Ace put on his first swimming cap, his goggles and then another cap with the school colours. He made his way just behind the diving board, and began to take deep long breaths while shaking his muscles, preparing for the race.

[Swimmers, begin to make your way to the diving boards]

Ace climbed on top and looked around at his competitors. As the rest of the team guessed, he saw that the fastest times of each school had come to this race. Most were taller than him, but there was one boy that was about his height, but had a full sleeve tattoo on one of his arms. He had streamlined muscles, and to be honest, looked quite intimidating.

[Prepare to begin the race in 15 seconds]

As Ace saw the notice, he focused on his lane. He breathed deep, timing each one. When he heard the first beep that signalled to get ready, he took a deep breath, holding it for the second beep. When the third one sounded out, Ace expired while gathering all his explosive strength in his legs and diving into the pool.

The next seconds were all a cocktail of adrenaline and cheers. Ace stayed underwater until he saw the line and then came up. He powered through a perfect front crawl, gaining momentum, and eating up the length of the pool. He had no other focus but breathing and moving his arms.

He did not stop until he tapped the wall at the other end of the pool, and then, the world exploded.

As if awaking from a dream, Ace noticed that he was the only swimmer that had reached the other end, and as he took his first breath, attempting to calm his galloping heart, others finally tapped the wall. Those moments of waiting seemed a lifetime, but looking back at the tape of the race, he noticed that they had not even been half a second.

It took Ace about a full second after most of their swimmers tapped the end of the pool to notice that he had reached there first, and what it meant. The cheers resounding on his ears, he climbed out of the pool when informed he could do so. His whole body was shaking, the change in temperature and the burst of adrenaline causing his muscles to spasm. Ace came out of the pool to an awaiting hot towel, and a trainer that seemed more than pleased with him. He was smiling widely, slapping Ace's back, not noticing that the action just made Ace more uncomfortable.

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"Well, I suppose congratulations are in order boys, you managed to win every single race today, and even if we all knew it was going to happen", the coach stood at the front of the minivan, congratulating the tired swimmers that were sprawled on the seats. They each wore large smiles, happy with their achievements. They were now making their way back to school, where they would attend their last class, and then go home.

They could most likely not go to class if they wanted, they had won all they could, and claiming they were tired was not hard. The school would most likely allow them to have an extra hour of the weekend to enjoy and rest.

Nevertheless, while all the others were making their way to a bar to get some drinks, Ace refused the invitation, and made his way to class. Of course, news had already travelled that they had won all their races, so as Ace knocked on the door to his math class, all his classmates stared at him.

Both Amy and Sophie grinned at him, while some other members of his class smiled in congratulations or held their hands up in various signs of happiness. A few others, seemed sullen and most likely jealous. Ace was not naive enough to believe that him doing well would make others happy. As of now, news of his estimated large number of points had made their way around the school, and various Rank 1 hopefuls did not seem very happy with that. To them, all Ace had to say was to get Rank 2 and 3 first. While Sophie and Amy had nowhere near the points he did, they still got some of the best scores in tests and seemed to be successful in their own endeavours.

Ace took up his seat in the corner, happy it was empty, most likely, some student had sat on it at first, but had been warned that Ace would supposedly make his appearance in class. The warning was probably given by a friend, since others would most likely enjoy seeing another humiliated student. Ace took out his Noxia, and began to leaf through various downloaded streams and videos. He could not watch them live due to restrictions in the school, but was able to download them to watch later. He clicked on one of the 'pro' matches that seemed interesting. There was no pro circuit as of yet, teams were still building their rosters, but organisations that were already present in other games had begun to see the potential in Rainbow, which meant that now everyone and their mother were on the hunt to find good players. Ace would not be surprised if he got invitations at some point, but even as much as it hurt, he would have to deny them. He was unfortunately too young to join a team, and could not even play in most pro tournaments.

Ace relaxed in his chair, and began to think about how his stream would go in the afternoon, and speculating on various tactics he could use, both in-game and in real life.