Chapter 36: When Teletubbies Fought Back

Glorio's third serve is about to come. The guy has been mocking them as Teletubies since the start and it doesn't seem to stop anytime soon. The bystanders who hear him would laugh with him from time to time. As for the referee? He is was still plastered by the same arrogant face that doesn't even stop from smirking. Like a one-eyed pirate captain overseeing the whole area.

Meanwhile, the team Madtaks were still warming up. Since the game started too soon and they were not even given the proper time to warm up, Chiko and the others would take each idle chance to stretch and quick-jog their feet to start heating up their muscles.

"Teletubbies! Catch this!" It was Glorio's mocking shout as he locked up at the sun and proceeded with a very high inside kick serve.

PONG!~

"Leave it to me, this is easy," Mark called out as he moved to reposition himself at the landing spot.

The ball flew high up in a long arching line towards their side of the court. Unlike the first and second serve, this time it is much easier to receive - or so they thought.

Before Mark could even receive the ball, he realized that the height angle the ball was coming from was actually the same angle as the bright sun above. As he was too focused on the ball, the sun's bright glare caught him off guard and distracted him from receiving the ball properly.

"Damn! My eye!" Mark painfully cried out as he missed the ball that landed just before him.

"Ahahahaha! What an idiot!" Glorio, his team, and the other spectators laughed out loud at Mark's pathetic reaction. The big fluffy guy was dumbfounded at the realization that it was actually part of the opponent's plan.

PRRRRT!~

"Score! 3-0 in favor of the team Bagsik!" The referee announced.

Right now, Chiko and the others finally understood why the referee was adamant to give the west side of the court to the players of the team Bagsik. It turns out, as the sun goes down to the west, its bright glare would be a powerful distraction against the players who are standing on the east side since they will be looking at the sun's bright glare.

No wonder they felt like something was amiss with this kind of court setup.

"Are you okay Mark?" Chiko and Ferdy came forward to check on their big fluffy friend.

"It's fine. I can get used to this." Mark replied while trying to relax his eyes.

"What are we gonna do Chiko? They have the angle advantage and even I am unable to play properly because of the sun's brightness." Ferdy complained.

"I don't really know. I guess we have to do our best with squinting our eyes when he strikes from that angle?"

"I think that's the best we can do for now. Complaining won't work anyway since this has been already part of their plan to give advantage to their local players." Ferdy analyzed based on everyone's gloating reactions.

"Cheeky bastards. I so wanted to give all of them a good solid punch right now. Lucky for them, I am bound by an oath for peace." Mark grumbled while gritting his teeth.

As the team was trying to devise a plan to counter their sun's glare strategy, Glorio finally came together with the referee,

"Are you Teletubbies still playing? Or should we call a medic to aid your big pig's eye problem?"

Hearing his mocking remarks, Mark was about to react violently when Chiko and Ferdy grabbed his solid fist and calmed him down. Chiko then turned at Glorio and spoke,

"You have been mocking us non-stop all this time. Why can't you shut your filthy mouth and just play?"

"Wow. Brave words Farm-Teletubby-boy."

"You have ten seconds to return to your positions or I will call this game done." The one-eyed referee warned them.

"What? I have never heard such absurd rules in sepak takraw!" Ferdy who happens to know more about sepak takraw quickly complained.

"Our stage, our rules. Or else, do you want to settle this with fist-talks?" the referee came close to Ferdy and showed off his solid muscles and domineering height.

Seeing this, Mark was about to move again when Ferdy calmly raised his palm to stop him and replied to the arrogant referee,

"It's the fine referee. We will move to our positions now. We can continue."

And so they did. Chiko and his team went back to their individual ring position. Their mind was full of thoughts about their first experience playing outside.

"So this is how rough street sepak takraw is..." Chiko mumbled.

Ferdy who happens to have a sensitive hearing was quick to reply,

"Actually Chiko, not all of the street players are like this. Most of the time, I saw really good players with good referees and good rules. We just happened to land a jackpot on a messy brained-referee and opponent."

"Whatever, I still want to knock them all later when this game is done. I still want my 300 pesos back."

The next three sets of service will be on team Madtaks' turn. Chiko is currently holding the ball and prepared to toss it for Ferdy who is standing as the Tekong for their team. With everything ready, Ferdy nodded at Chiko to start. Chiko nodded back and calmly tossed the ball on Ferdy's preferred spot.

Everyone watched carefully as Ferdy skillfully brandished his leg's prowess and sent the ball over with an over-head spike serve.

WHAPAANG!~

-PSZZZZZT!!!~

Unfortunately, his kick was not successful as the ball failed to cross the net over.

"Damn it." Ferdy cursed as he realized that the sun was still distracting his eyes.

"Hahahaa!" Glorio and the rest laughed at his mistake. The referee called out the fault and gave a point to the team Bagsik.

"It's cool Ferdy. Just adjust your aim. We can do this." Chiko simply cheered the tekong player.

"Yeah... I will try to hit higher."

The second throw was coming up. Ferdy readjusted his focus and tried his best to avoid the sun's glare. He nodded to Chiko as a sign to start. Chiko followed suit with a calm toss.

WHAPAANG!~

The whooping sound of Ferdy's spike-serve echoed across the court while the ball flew over the net successfully this time. The crowd nodded at his beautiful yet flexible form as he executed the serve.

"Yes!" Ferdy celebrated his success.

"Nice serve!" Chiko complimented.

The ball was coming towards Glorio's direction and the latter quickly repositioned himself and received the ball with a quick inside kick,

"Is that the best you got?" He called out as he successfully checked the ball back up high. With his fluid movements and confident remarks, Chiko and the rest knew that Glorio is someone who had vast experience when it comes to playing sepak takraw. If only a newbie player received the service, they would have pissed on the spot.

"I got it. Get ready." the feeder on Glorio's side swiftly move and tossed the ball up towards the net.

"Alraaaayty!~" Glorio, who happens to be a round-role player, suddenly turned his back to the net and quickly chased after the ball with a flashy strike of his foot. It was a bicycle kick with a powerful force smashing down on the ball towards the centerline.

THUD!~

Fortunately, Ferdy was also quick to respond with a block using his left leg. The ball was sent back towards Glorio's side and his teammates tried to chase after the ball only to fail.

"Yes!" Ferdy exclaimed happily.

"A score finally! We are not going home with zerooo!~" Chiko laughed excitedly.

"I still want to punch them through." while Mark has a different motive.

Seeing the team Madtak's happy dance despite their first score quickly irritated Glorio. Most of the neutral crowd also clapped their hands at the challenger's first point. For some reason, he finds it annoying.

Glorio happens to be a spoiled only child of his family and he is used to having everyone's attention every time. He learned that mocking people with obvious insults and backing it up with fearless guts was a good way to cement his authority when meeting new people. He loves to dominate and enjoyed the attention he gets every time. Feeding his ego was basically his favorite pastime.

"Lucky bastards..." he mumbled to himself as he went back to his position,

"Stop dancing like real monkies and get back to the game, stupid Teletubies!" he beckoned irritably.

Chiko and the rest happily complied.

It is their third service and Chiko proceeded with the same throw angle as before. Ferdy squinted his eyes to block some of the sunlight and scanned the other side's area.

"There..." Ferdy thought to himself as he found a weak spot that seems to be a little more open than the rest. He aimed for it and smashed the ball with another forceful spike serve.

WHAPAANG!~

The ball echoed and went straight in the direction of the team Bagsik's spiker. Ferdy's aim was the left side of the spiker to test how the latter can adjust and see how he reacts.

"Sh*t" the spiker cursed as he watched the ball coming towards his spot at a blurring speed. Ferdy's spike serve was actually not that strong but the angle it was aiming was harder to counter. The spiker quickly adjusted his position to get a better receiving kick.

PONG!~

Fortunately, he made it in time. After all, he was not a beginner just like Chiko's team. They had been playing street sepak takraw for a long time and he is used to facing really good players. Although his real motivation for playing was the quick money he can get with the help of their very own bias referee.

After receiving the ball, the spiker tossed the ball high and left it for Glorio to finish with another devastating bicycle kick.

"Take this Teletubies!" Glorio shouted as he smashed the ball with his back facing the net.

THUUD!~

Unfortunately for Glorio, just like before, his spike did not go throw as Chiko's leg caught his timing and managed to block the ball on time.

"F*****ck!~" He cursed madly.

"Yeah! Ahaha!"

"Nice block Chiko boy!"

"It would have been better if you proceeded on to kicked his head though.." as usual, Mark has his habits.

Chiko, Gantes, and Ferdy proceeded with their awkward cheer dance. Irritating the proud Glorio and his team.

"It's okay.. It's okay..." Glorio told himself while trying to calm his swelling breath. He just hates it when someone enjoys the game with pure happiness. He hated the fact that he can't have such close bonds and friendships as the team Madtaks. His ego doesn't like it.

"Let's see who's going to monkey dance at the end..."