Fly High

Eren's group backed into position, as did Cindy's as the two teams stared each other down briefly. Since the ball was already on Eren's side, they began to serve first. Eren handed the ball to Liz, and despite her nervousness, she took a deep breath and backed up to prepare herself to serve.

Once she was ready, Liz struck the ball using the underhanded method, sending it to the other side of the court. Immediately, there was a friendly competitive tension in the air as the ball soared directly toward Gwen. Using her forearms, she bumped the ball in the air toward Lily who then used her palms to set the ball, passing it toward Cindy who was already in the air.

Eren and Flash were quick to get into position, standing in front of Cindy on the other side of the net as the two readied themselves to block. "Ready?" Eren asked, getting a quick response from Flash. "Hell yeah, I am!" Flash responded before Eren began signaling when to jump with his voice.

"Set.... go!" as those words left Eren's lips, he and Flash jumped in the air. Due to Flash's natural athleticism and Eren's superhuman agility, the two lept high in the air, matching Cindy's altitude as she slapped the ball.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Cindy smacked the ball using great strength, though she held back due to the agreement she and the other superpowered group members made. If they were going to play with their other friends, they'd need to play as if they were still human, so they agreed to adjust their strength to be nothing more than what a human of their physique should be capable of when going against friends so they didn't hurt them.

The ball hit Flash's fingers, causing it to shoot toward the back of the court. Liz froze upon seeing the ball going straight for her, though Felicia was able to notice her hesitation and swiftly jumped in front of her. Using her forearms, Felicia bumped the ball toward Eren who then set it to Flash Thompson.

Flash puffed his cheeks, leaping in the air before using all of his strength to spike the ball toward the other side of the court.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

At the same time, Cindy and Harry lept in the air to prepare to block the ball, however, Flash was able to sneak the ball right in between Harry's arms, sending it directly at Gwen who failed to receive it due to how powerful the spike was.

"Let's fucking goooooo!" Flash celebrated, holding up his fist victoriously before slapping Eren on the back. "Good fucking pass, Parker!" Eren smiled back at him, hitting him on the back to return the favor. "Good spike, Flash."

On the other side of the court, Gwen looked disappointed in herself, however, Cindy was quick to show her good sportsmanship. "Head up, Gwen. It's okay it's only one point, we got this!" Hearing this, Gwen nodded before picking up the ball and throwing it to the other side. Since Eren's team scored, they were allowed to serve once again.

Holding the ball in her hands, Liz served once more, aiming it directly at Gwen who was able to receive it this time. "Nice receive, Gwen!" Harry told her as the ball went toward Lily. Lily and Harry made eye contact briefly, signaling to each other that the next play was theirs. However, it then appeared that Lily was looking to pass it to Cindy who was running straight toward the net as if she were ready to tear it down.

Still looking, at Cindy, Lily set the ball. Despite her eyes looking at Cindy, the ball went in the opposite direction toward Harry who was already in mid-air before spiking the ball toward the sand between Eren and Felicia.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Like a missile, the ball struck the sand, creating a small divot that the ball rested in before Cindy's team erupted in victory as if they had just won the entire match. "Nice one, Babe!" Lily said to Harry. "Couldn't have done it without you." Harry told her, pointing finger guns at her.

"I can't believe you actually fell for that." Cindy told Eren from behind the net with a cocky, devilish grin as she stood with her arms crossed.

"Yeah? I'll admit it, you got me. It won't happen again, trust me." Eren meant this, he'd even use what little bit of Godspeed he could next time if it meant winning. Despite being unable to speed up his body with the ability, he could still speed up his brain to process his surroundings faster.

"We'll see about that." Cindy said as she backed away from the net.

Underhanded, Gwen served the ball, which went directly toward Liz who was able to receive it due to how slow it was coming. "Good job, Liz!" Eren told her before both he and Flash began sprinting toward the net from opposite directions.

Standing in the middle, Felicia waited for the ball to reach her, scanning her eyes between Eren and Flash as both of them were being defended by either Harry or Cindy. Before she could make a choice, Eren shouted at her. "Give it to me!"

As Eren lept, Felicia passed the ball to him. Eren and Cindy made eye contact in the air as the ball was coming toward both of them. Cindy could see in Eren's eyes that he was not going to hold back this time. Part of their agreement was that if there was a one-on-one scenario in the air, between two superpowered individuals, they could go all out.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Eren used so much force, the ball visibly caved in on itself before being shot like a missile at Cindy's fingertips. Without Godspeed, Silk was faster but Spider-Man was far stronger, therefore he was easily able to overpower her at this very moment, causing her arms to swing backward as she fell toward the ground.

As soon as Cindy's behind hit the sand, Eren started to laugh hysterically at her, holding his abdomen as he did so. "I can't believe you 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 from that." Eren told her, referencing her previous comment. As those words left his lips, Eren could see the fire in his lover's eyes, it was as if she wanted to kill him on the spot.

Cindy got back up on her feet, looking at Eren dead in the eyes before announcing her next move to everyone on the court. "Pass the ball to me, I'm scoring on his head."

"Oooooh." Nearly everyone murmured upon hearing her public challenge, though Eren wasn't phased in the slightest. "Try it, see what happens." Eren challenged her, though he received a quick response from his girlfriend. "Oh, you'll see. You will see, Parker." she told him with a venomous voice. She was taking this very seriously.

"I think she's mad." Liz whispered, though Felicia was ready to put more fuel into the fire by parroting Liz's statement even louder.

"I think she's pissed!" Felicia shouted, getting back up from Flash. "She's super pissed, watch out, Parker!"

"Yeah, yeah." Eren said, taking the ball from Lily before tossing it back to Liz so she could serve.

Liz served the ball, sending it straight to Harry who received it and passed it to Lily. As soon as the ball made contact with Harry's arm, Cindy took off, using her incredible speed to dash from one side of the field to the other like a track star.

"Holy shit..." Flash muttered. "Parker, you're fucked." Flash was in disbelief at Cindy's speed. It was the fastest he'd ever seen anyone move, even the running backs he'd played football with didn't even come close.

Eren did not let her display of speed bother him as he quickly followed her every movement from the other side of the net, however, her next move was something he wasn't prepared for. As Cindy ran alongside the net, she stopped on a dime and turned in the opposite direction in what felt like an instant.

Before Eren could even turn back around, she was already running toward the other end of the court before leaping into the air as Lily set the ball to her. With perfect form, Cindy spiked the ball with incredible force, sending the ball so deep into the sand that it completely disappeared. She forgot to hold back a little bit.

Everyone was dead silent, they didn't think she could move that fast, not even Harry, Eren, or Felicia who knew about her other half thought she could move like that. The two spiders didn't take notice until later on in the match, but a group of onlookers was beginning to surround the court, wanting to see more of these awesome displays up close.

Once again, Gwen served the ball, this time sending it straight to her boyfriend, Flash Thompson. Flash received it with ease, bumping it over to Felicia who had her knees bent and her hands above her head, taking the perfect form to set the ball.

Behind her, Eren was running straight for the net, ready to decimate the ball once she passes it to him. However, both Harry and Cindy were ready to block it, ready to try and stop the cannonball that would soon be fired from Spider-Man's arms.

To their surprise, Felicia lept into the air and used a single hand to lightly tap the ball over the net, a technique known as a dump in the volleyball world. Lily, who was at the center of the field, tried to dive for it but she was far too late as the ball delicately hit the sand on Team Cindy's side of the court.

Felicia said nothing, only letting out a sly chuckle from her lips before turning back to face her team. "Good shit, Felicia." Flash said in astonishment.

"Yeah, nice one." Eren told her.

"Amazing..." Liz whispered as she was absolutely astounded. Everyone there seemed so athletic. She was sort of quick, which was why she was able to be Screwball once upon a time, but everyone there seemed so far ahead of her.

The match went on for a while, though the score was ramping up fairly quickly as the game ended up being tied at twenty a piece. They were playing to twenty-one, but in volleyball, a team must win by two if both teams make it to twenty. The crowd around the field had grown to the point where it was impossible for them not to be noticed, however, this did not bother any of the players besides Liz, who was already shy in the first place.

Despite the crowd scaring her, Liz was ready as she was up to serve for her team. Just like before, she sent an underhanded serve to the other end of the court, aiming it directly at Gwen. Gwen received it, sending it straight to Cindy as Lily and Harry sprinted toward the net from opposite sides.

Everyone was expecting her to pass it to Harry since he had scored the second-most amount of points. However, Lily scored a few points herself so she was not one to be underestimated. Flash ran up to the net, jumping in front of Lily as Eren did the same in front of Harry. Felicia was ready, standing at the center of the field in case Cindy would try to go for a dump attack.

However, none of them were prepared for Gwen to appear from behind everyone as Cindy passed the ball to her. Gwen lept into the air and reeled her arm back, looking at the open field in front of her. She could see the perfect opening to score.

Eren and Flash were in the air, unable to shift their weight, and Felicia was in no position to block this attack as she was too focused on stopping an attack from Cindy. The only one who could stop it was Liz, however, she was at the opposite corner of the court. Gwen was certain that this was her chance to finally score for her team.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Gwen spiked the ball, putting everything she had into this attack, sending the bullet toward the open sand. However, Liz wasn't going to let her score so easily.

As Liz promised, she was quick on her feet, allowing her to dash across the sand and dive for the ball, barely sliding her hand beneath it before rolling uncontrollably as her body was shrouded in grains of sand.

The ball flew upward, gaining everyone's attention as it began flying far out of bounds and toward the crowd surrounding the court. Without any hesitation, Eren ran after the ball using his natural speed at a faster rate than he'd ever done in his life. "Move!" he shouted as the crowd broke apart, leaving an open path for him to run through.

He eventually caught up to the ball, which was just above his head height. Eren hopped in the air, facing his body toward the net before setting it toward Flash Thompson. Flash was ready, he knew that Eren was going to be able to receive it and he knew that he would be his target. However, Flash wasn't the only one who knew this, as Harry, Cindy, and Lily were all standing right in front of him, forming a wall as they all bent their knees behind the net.

"Ready... go!" Cindy shouted, prompting her friends to crouch and jump in unison to block Flash's strike. Flash, who was already in the air, reeled his arm back and shot his arm forward, creating a whiffing sound as if cut through the air.

However, his arm completely missed the ball, and a smile formed on his face as they all completely fell for his fake attack. Beside him, Felicia lept in the air and spiked the ball, sending it straight into the sand and scoring her team another point.

Everyone on Cindy's team felt as if they had just got shot, as their fighter's spirit was beginning to diminish. As Eren and his team celebrated, Cindy's team stood in place, not saying a word to each other.

They couldn't believe it, their entire plan was executed perfectly, yet they were the ones who were outsmarted in the end. Before their spirits could get too low, Harry picked everyone up with his voice. "It's not over yet! We came back from worse! Heads up!" Harry saying this inspired Gwen to speak as well. "Yeah, they got lucky! We can win!" she shouted, lifting up Cindy's and Lily's spirits.

"Good luck with that!" Flash said from the other side of the net. "Just pass the ball already."

Gwen grabbed the ball from the sand and approached the net. For a few seconds, she just glared at Flash before throwing the ball at his face and smacking his cheek with it. "Wh- Hey!" Flash muttered as the ball rolled toward the back of the court and Gwen walked away.

Gwen, Lily, Cindy, and Harry laughed amongst each other until Liz picked up the ball and walked to the back of the court to serve. The score was twenty-one to twenty, all she needed to do was get the ball over the net and her team would be on their way to victory.

Once again, Liz served underhanded and sent the ball to the other side of the court. Cindy received it, passing it to Liz before she quickly set it to Harry.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Harry spiked the ball, though Eren was right there to get in his way and force Harry to spike it directly toward Felicia who was able to receive it. The ball shot upwards, going toward the back of the field as Liz chased after it and hit it toward Flash. Flash was unable to get into a good position to score, so he hit it over the net and aimed it at Gwen.

The rally continued as Gwen hit the ball with her forearms, sending it directly toward Cindy in a similar setup to when Gwen attempted to score during the last rally. Eren's team hesitated, wondering if they were going for the exact same play or if they were going to change it up.

It was all one giant mind game. It wouldn't be too smart to do the same play twice, however, it would be too obvious to change it up. As Lily, Harry, and Gwen all ran toward the net, Eren and Flash stood on the other side of it on opposite ends, prepared to block if necessary. Felicia took a step back, gambling on the idea that they were trying the same thing again, ready to receive Gwen's next attack.

However, just as Felicia did earlier, Cindy went for a dump attack, jumping in the air while using a single hand to gently tap the ball to the other side of the net. Felicia wasn't prepared for this, all she could do was watch as the ball fell down toward the sand, though she did still try to go for it.

Before Felicia could take a step forward, Eren slid across the sand and hit the ball upward with his forearms, saving it from hitting the sand while also passing it to Flash. Seeing an opportunity, Flash lept into the air and spiked the ball with all of his strength. Despite the remarkable power of Flash's strike, Harry was able to easily bump the ball upward, giving everyone time to breathe as the rally continued.

"Give me the ball, Lily." Cindy whispered before taking off toward the net. Harry overheard this, so he passed the ball to Lily as Cindy continued to run at her full speed like a maniac on the court, kicking up sand with each quick, yet thunderous step.

Eren tracked her movements on the other side of the court, knowing he'd have to predict her rather than try and keep up with her. All it would take was one quick shift in her movement and Eren would be left in her dust. And so, he relied on using Godspeed in his brain, waiting for the slightest tell on where she was going.

As Eren shuffled side to side, Cindy moved from right to left in slow motion. Eren kept his eyes locked on her hips, though he could still see her eyes and legs in his prereferral vision. Cindy stutter-stepped, though Eren saw right through it and continued shuffling in her direction. This time, however, Cindy turned her waist and began sprinting in the opposite direction as she did when she first juked Eren out.

Eren was ready this time and began chasing her using his full speed, though she was outrunning him. Lily then set the ball to Cindy as she lept in the air, still carrying her momentum toward the side of the field. Cindy reeled her arm backward, staring right at a part of the field that was completely open.

Everything was perfect.

The height of her jump.

The arc of the ball.

The gap for her to score.

She was prepared to tie the game and steal that momentum back for her own team.

"Hah!" Cindy shouted as she slapped the ball, denting it as it hit her hand, forgetting to hold back her strength at that moment to ensure her victory.

𝙎𝙈𝘼𝘾𝙆!

Cindy's eyes widened upon seeing Eren's outstretched hand blocking her strike.

Slowly, the ball fell from between their hands and made its way toward the sand on Cindy's side of the court. Cindy's team tried to run over to it, all three of them diving for the ball, but they weren't fast enough.

The ball hit the ground, barely making a dent in the sand as Eren and Cindy both landed at the same time. Cindy was still confused, thinking there was no way that Eren could have caught up to her without using Godspeed. She then looked over at his launch point, seeing a massive dent in the sand from where he took off.

"LETS GOOOOOO!" Eren shouted, clenching both fists as Flash came up from behind him and wrapped his arm around Eren's neck to celebrate. "PARKEEEER! GOOD SHIT!" Flash yelled, shaking Eren side to side as Liz and Felicia watched with smiles on their faces.

Liz let out a sigh of relief as this entire match was far too stimulating for her. Being an introvert, this was enough human interaction for the next week and a half for her. Felicia turned around, still smiling, and commended Liz. "You did well. We couldn't have won without your save earlier."

"Oh- yeah! You did good too!" Liz told her, putting her fists up to her chest.

Eren and Flash gloated together as if they were the best of friends as the other team wallowed in their own defeat, though not for long. For the rest of the trip, the eight of them enjoyed the sun, the ocean, and each other's company as they continuously replayed the many amazing plays in their mind and amongst each other.

Felicia was also finally feeling a little less as if she didn't belong. She didn't really have friends, as she was more of a loner herself, but she was glad that she decided to come in the end.

Before leaving the beach, all eight of them lined up to take a picture together. Harry, setting the timer on his phone, sprinted back to the group before wrapping his arm around Lily at the end of the line. At the center, Eren had his arms wrapped around Cindy's waist and his other around Flash's shoulder with a huge smile on his face.

Everyone else smiled as well and Harry's phone flashed, signaling that this moment between friends and lovers was cemented in this timeline's history.