Chapter 37: Change Of Plan

It is time for Glorio and his team to do the next three services. Although the score is currently in favor of their side, the face of Glorio doesn't seem to say it otherwise.

"Hey Erap," he called out to their team's feeder who was just about to toss the ball.

"What?"

"Give me the best toss of yours, we are going to do that," Glorio said with a confident smirk.

"Sure, no problem," Erap replied who then quickly readjusted his hold of the ball before tossing it up high towards Glorio.

"That's how I like it!"

Glorio is currently in a sideways position, a sign of another incoming spike serve and the confident face of Glorio tells them it is something special.

On the other side, Chiko and the rest are on their guards with the three of them forming a defending line. Their knees and bodies are bent forward to keep their center of gravity low. Their eyes are locked at the ball like an eagle glaring at its prey. Finally, the feeder tossed the ball and everyone pressed on their feet preparing to move.

"Here it comes," Chiko warned. Ferdy and Gantes are both prepared. They all quickly stepped a little backward to give them more time to react on the anticipated spike serve.

The ball was still in mid-air when

Glorio's form suddenly shifted from a spike serve to a simple inside kick position. Everyone including players of team Madtaks had a surprised face.

"Got you!"

At the last minute before the impact, Glorio performed a weird-looking inside kick. The moment the ball touched his shoe, it spun rapidly like a spinning top while arching high towards the side of the team Madtaks.

WHAPHIIING!~

However, the direction it went was not according to their expectation. Instead, the ball made a diving boomerang curve towards the centerline. Like a snake homing to a fleeing mouse below.

"It's a fake spike serve!" Ferdy who was able to recognize the style quickly moved. But before he realized it, Chiko was already running towards the center line faster than him.

"You think you can fool us this easily?" Chiko confidently said as his body moved at a rapid pace. His right foot quickly reached out to counter the diving ball.

"Fool..." Glorio smiled victoriously as he watched Chiko who rushed to save the ball.

"What!?" Unfortunately for Chiko, he failed to save the ball as it bounced towards the left side causing him to miss his follow-up kick. Chiko was dumbfounded while Ferdy and Mark frowned at the situation.

"Wow, did you guys saw that?!"

"That's Glorio's signature spinning boomerang serve for you."

"As usual, it's really nice to witness a beautiful move that not only fools the opposing team but also gives them a false hope."

"Judging at the opponent's reaction, it seems like this really is the first time they saw such a move. In that case, this game is basically already ended."

The crowd made various awed comments while others are mocking team Madtaks for failing to defend against such a tricky sneak attack.

"Score! 5-2 in favor of team Bagsik!" the referee declared, confirming the success of Glorio's sneak attack.

"It's okay, let's make an adjustment next time and just watch out for his sneaky gimmicks," Chiko said to the team and the rest nodded. They went back to their position with their head held high. The sun was still glaring towards their direction, adding to the difficulty of their situation.

Glorio's next move is coming up. This time, he is still doing the pre-spike serve position so Chiko and the rest are wary of his style now.

With everything in the set, Glorio nodded at the feeder and the latter smiled. He tossed the ball high but without the spinning twist this time.

While the ball was in mid-air, Glorio quickly shifted his position to that of an inside kick just like before. Seeing this, Chiko and the rest responded without hesitation by rushing close to the net.

"Haha, three idiots!" Glorio shouted mockingly as he faked the switch and proceeded with a spike-serve at the last minute. Unfortunately for Chiko and the rest, their momentum was already built towards the center.

WHAPAANG!~

The spike serve was smashed with enough force to send it to the tip of the backline. Chiko and the rest are too close at the net, and turning back to chase the ball is already impossible - unless they are a gifted genius like Santi who can defy reality.

"Hahaha! Easy fools." Glorio celebrated as he watched the ball about to land at the borderline at the end.

Whooosh!~

Suddenly, Chiko's figure came rushing back towards the backline. Unlike Ferdy and Mark, he was the only one with the fastest reaction and has the most agile body. He tried to catch the ball and managed to reach over it, but unfortunately, his positioning was off-balance, and still lost the ball along the way.

"That guy is a persistent one huh.."

"Wow! Not bad! Unfortunately, it's too late! Glorior is obviously not going easy to these noobies."

The crowd was amazed by Chiko's amazing undaunted performance. Little did they know that their team's struggle was due to their position with the sun basically blinding them all the time.

"Sh*t! Another sneaky attack. If only not for the stupid sun glare, I should have made it as well..." Mark who was running back and forth gasped for air.

"He is just playing with our mind to make those scores. This Glorio guy is a veteran indeed." Ferdy commented.

"Sorry I didn't make it." Chiko came back to his position and kicked the ball back to the other side of the court with enough strength to reach the feeder of team Bagsik.

"It's fine. I didn't expect to see you catching up despite that gap though. What an awesome speed and reaction you have indeed." Ferdy complimented.

"I will try to do better next time." Chiko smiled and the team went back to their defensive position preparing for the next turn.

"It is the first time for me to see actually somebody was able to catch that sneaky spike of yours Glorio." Noynoy, who had been standing relaxed all this time at his center circle finally spoke. With Glorio doing all his job, he was just basically standing there to complete their lineup. Unless necessary, Noynoy does not make any moves yet.

"Yeah, I never expected for him to react that fast though."

"Maybe you can try sending the ball over to the fatty's side? The more I see it, the more I realized that Chiko guy has a really fast reaction and game sense." Erap, the team's feeder suggested.

"You guys are worrying about something pretty easy. Don't worry I got these. These three Teletubbies are nothing but easy snack money for today. Just leave them to me cause I will show whats a real street takraw player is." Glorio irritably waved over to Erap as a sign to start the next throw.

"Is it another spike serve? Or an inside kick? Now I am not sure." Ferdy said his doubts not really sure about what's going to happen.

"That Glorio guy is a veteran indeed. The way he can dictate the pace of the game while easily fooling with us speaks volumes about his game experience." Chiko added while bending his knees for a quick stretch.

"Damn, all this thinking is making me hungry. And I still want to punch him though." Mark cracked his fist.

The third serve of Glorio is incoming and the score is down 6-2 in favor of Glorio and his team. At the moment, Chiko and his team were having problems dealing with Glorio's sneaky serves.

"I got a plan. Come quick." Chiko suddenly spoke and told both Ferdy and Mark what's on his mind. They both nodded in approval and quickly went back to their position.

"Game!" the referee finally called and Erap calmly tossed the ball towards Glorio, the latter looked in the direction of Chiko and his team.

"So you finally adjusted huh, Teletubies..."

While the ball was in mid-air, Chiko and the rest of the team moved from their original defending spot. Instead of a straight diagonal line, they shifted to a triangle position with Mark at the center front while Chiko and Ferdy defended the back ends on the opposite side.

"Is that your best defense? Too easy, Teletubies!" Glorio shouted as he suddenly shifted from an inside kick position to a spiking execution.

"Since you made it so obvious with that defense formation, then don't blame me to take advantage of your obvious weak spot!" He mumbled to himself excitedly.

WHAPAANG!~

The ball came rushing towards the other side at a blurring speed. Seeing the new defensive formation was not enough to deter Glorio and mocking style.

With their triangle formation, the obvious weak spot was the center back line with no one defending. The moment Glorio aimed for that spot, Chiko and Ferdy both chased towards the ball but hesitated to kick when they are about to hit each other.

"It's coming-mine!-no!"

"It's mine!-no yours!"

PHAK!~

Unfortunately, this next shot was another score on Glorio's side. Chiko and the team realized that even their triangle formation was not enough to deter Glorio's sneaky play style.

With sweat pouring like rain on their faces, Chiko and Ferdy both shook their heads.

"This guy is actually tougher than he looks," Ferdy commented while tightening up his shoelaces.

"Yeah, he sees through our plan and quickly takes advantage of our weaknesses. He obviously knows we are new to this game so he is taking all the chances to play with us." Chiko calmly explained his observation.

"It's tough indeed. At this rate, we will obviously lose. Guess I have to prepare and kiss goodbye my three hundred pesos." Mark grumbled, hearing him Chiko asked,

"By the way, you haven't paid me for that Yakult you drank you know. When do you plan to pay?"

As if realizing something, Mark quickly smiled innocently and scratched his head,

"Ooops. I forgot. Maybe next week? I already used the money I supposed to pay you for the bet."

And as if a clap of thunder struck him, Chiko's face darkened.

"Are you saying that you actually used my money to use as a bet?"

"Well... you can consider it that way. haha. Burp*" Mark replied with a guilty face.

Realizing the true risk in the game, Chiko's aura changed and his gaze started to burn with determined fire.

"Then this is a game we must win no matter what."

Chiko's real strength has started to reveal itself. Suddenly, Chiko took off his heavy - and smelly combat shoes which were painted to look like converse shoes since he can't afford one or refuse to buy one; then quickly passed it to Mark.

"If you want to win back your 300 pesos and pay your debt with me, let's switch shoes." urged Chiko while handling over his oversized, smelly and ugly combat shoes.