Mark had no choice. He knew what happens when Chiko goes full serious mode due to money motivation. The latter becomes a different person, and his skills suddenly become miracles just like he scored against the legendary Santi one time.
That's right. Chiko is emitting that same cold and determined aura at the moment. Thus Mark had to give up and trade with his shoes. in exchange of Chiko's smelly and heavy combat shoes.
Chiko and Mark managed to swap shoes with a quick time out to the grumpy referee while the opposing team watched with a flippant attitude.
"This Teletubies think they can defeat us just by swapping shoes? Haha!" Glorio mocked while most of the surrounding watchers laughed with him.
"Hurry up and just play without shoes! You can't win anyway!"
"Stupid college brats. Delaying the game to have a rest? You think you can fool us?"
"Hey fatty! I can see your fluffy butt from here. It looks just like boobs but with wrinkles! Hahahaha!"
The mere sound of their mockery in the background was enough to force bulging veins to pop out of Mark's face due to anger. Fortunately, he resisted his normal reaction.
"Lucky bastards. Normally I would have already taken out all their teeth for laughing at me-"
Mark mumbled to himself as he finished tightening the smelly shoe on him.
Meanwhile, Chiko completely ignored the people's mockery in the background. His eyes were focused on tying his shoes while his mind wandered about the potential business loss if he failed to recover the money Mark ought to pay him.
"Must...recover...sales..." Mark chanted to himself while the determined fire in his eyes continued to burn. And with the tying now finished, Chiko stood with a blazing aura surrounding him.
Ferdy and Mark looked at him and they both knew that the real Chiko is back. They both nodded to each other and smiled confidently.
"Let's play it safe and focus on our defense team. Come." Chiko told the crew and both Mark and Yang nodded in agreement. They came together and put their hands after each others' and proceeded with their cheering shout.
"One, two, three! Madtaks let's go!" Chiko shouted to refresh the energy and encourage the team.
"Ahoo!"
"Ahoo!"
It was their agreed chanting cheer during the match and the people even continued to mock them.
It is now team Madtaks' turn to serve. The score is down to 7 against 2 in favor of team Bagsik. But this time, Chiko stood at the middle circle as the Tekong instead of Ferdy.
"Ooh? They switched? Perhaps their previous positions don't work."
"No matter their strategy, winning against the veteran street player Glorios will be nothing but a sort of miracle."
"I feel pretty bad for those newbies though. I believe Glorio has just started."
The spectators at the side commented while some shook their heads in helplessness. Calmly, Ferdy tossed the ball while Chiko on the other hand was standing in an inside kick position.
"I see you guys wanted to take it slow huh..." Glorio said as he watched Chiko received the ball with a casual inside kick. Thanks to their months of training, he is now able to play sepak takraw normally without being ignorant of the rules and the movements.
From the outside, Chiko looked like he was calmly playing the ball, little did they know the incredible process currently going on in his mind. The ball was still in mid-air while Chiko's eyes scanned the opponent's field like an eagle sniping for its prey.
"There..." he decided to check the reaction of the other two players beside Glorio by sending the ball into their side.
PHANG!~
The ball was sent over in a high arching trail in the direction of Noynoy. Seeing the ball coming on his way, he nonchalantly asked Glorio,
"Should I?"
"Go for it."
"Huh... This is too easy." Glorio commented as he received the ball without difficulty. He stopped the arcing ball with a neutralizing kick and tossed it high towards the net for Glorios to finish with a killing kick.
"This one is for you farmer Teletubbies!" Glorio called loudly before jumping high and performing a powerful bicycle kick.
WHAPAANG!~
THUD!~
"What!?" Glorio was shocked when he realized that the ball he just sent overcame back right away. He was still in mid-air when turned his head and realized that Chiko was already in front of the net with his left leg raised. He was the one responsible for the sudden block.
"Don't worry we got this." a hurried voice suddenly came out from Noynoy as he swiftly moved and saved the falling ball with a quick foot stomp.
"Nice one. Let's do it again! I don't believe these Teletubbies can actually block my spikes. They must be just super lucky." Glorio assured himself as he prepared to leap for a second spike.
"Oooh. Nice block."
"The newbies seem to be getting serious now."
The spectators commented with a hint of excitement in their eyes.
Noynoy nodded as he tossed the ball back high for Glorios.
"Take this!" Glorios proceeded with another bicycle kick only when he was a little higher and the kick stronger than before.
WHAPAAANG!~
THUD!~
It was another sound of the ball being successfully blocked. Glorio's eyes glowed red like a madman as he turned back only to see the same Chiko raising his leg, only this time, he also jumped higher and managed to time his blocking leg perfectly.
"Sh*t I can't make it!~" Noynoy rattled as he failed to save the ball this time due to a different height it came from.
"Wow! That kid is crazy! He actually managed to anticipate Glorio's move!"
"He even managed to block his killing spike twice! Even I can hardly do that."
"You need to have a fast reflex and quick anticipating mind and strong legs just to get execute that. That farmboy kid is indeed not half bad."
"Could that be the effect of their shoe swap?"
"Maybe the other big shoes were just too heavy. No wonder why they took their time just to swap shoes."
"So he is some kind of their secret weapon? lol"
The people nearby are starting to show signs of entertainment. Their focus is currently on Chiko's whose performance suddenly skyrocketed.
"Damn it! Do your job properly!" Glorio shouted at his fellow teammate.
"I know! I am sorry so calm down! It's not like we will lose anyway." Noynoy talked back.
"You guys seem to be struggling? Need my help? I can end this game real quick you know." Their third member who has been idle all this time mockingly said. It was Erap, their team's striker who had been okay with watching the whole time.
"You can just relax Erap. I got this. These bastards are just getting lucky." Glorios refused the offer as he stood back to his position. Meanwhile, the team Madtaks are back to their usual cheering gimmick.
"Nice one Chiko! Woohoo," Ferdy shouted happily.
"Double block. That was insane! I can do that too you know." Mark added while trying to imitate the blocking jump pose.
"Thanks, guys. Hahaha!" Chiko laughed as their team proceeded with their usual celebratory cheer...
"One, two, three! Madtaks let's go!"
"Ahoo! Ahoo!" the three of them shouted at the same time, like cavemen celebrating their dominance.
Meanwhile, Glorio's gaze was as irritated as ever. Every time he sees the team Madtaks playing happily and enjoying the game despite their terrible gap in the score, his blood just starts to boil in envy.
"Hahaha!" You only had 3 points so far and already celebrating? You haven't even seen the real game yet." Not wanting to let them celebrate, Glorio reminded them of their poor score.
"It's fine. We came for the experience, not the score." Ferdy replied with an even wider smile.
"Actually we are here to win too. We must gain back our money or this fluffy guy won't be able to pay me his debt." Chiko added while stretching Mark's fluffy tummy with a pinch. His expression switching from joyful to dead serious at that moment.
The score is now 7-3 still in favor of Glorio's team.
"Tch, whatever. Celebrate all you want, you will still lose no matter what, Teletubies!" Glorio mockingly shouted.
"We will see about that," Chiko replied confidently. He slowly nodded at Ferdy who is currently holding the ball. Before receiving the ball, Chiko recalled the moments when he faced the legendary Santi. He recalled the feeling of wanting to fight back. He recalled the feeling of never backing down. Chiko unknowingly released an indescribable aura while Ferdy and Mark were quick to notice it.
"This presence... It's Chiko?"
"Why do I suddenly feel cold chills?" Mark said as he watched Chiko opened his eyes.
It took some time for Ferdy to finally calm down. Outside the court, normal people would not be able to notice the changes in Chiko but for someone who had been with him for some time now, they knew that the current Chiko was not the normal one.
"Let's start" Chiko's low but serious voice came out.
Ferdy nodded and calmly tossed the ball at the same arching line as before. Chiko smiled confidently and performed another inside kick serve.
PANG!~
It was another easy service for the eyes of normal people but Glorio was not as smiling as before. For some reason, he could feel some kind of burden and pressure from Chiko's presence alone. Little did he knew, it was the start of his misery.
PHANG!~
The ball went out of bounds after Glorio missed the ball.
"What!? How did I miss that? This is impossible!"
"Are you okay? You look distracted dud. Calm down." Noynoy told him.
"I am fine. There was just a bug in my eyes and it got me off guard. I will get the next one for sure."
PAANG!~
Chiko's final serve came with the same high arching inside kick. Meanwhile, Glorio was watching Chiko all this time with an indescribably feeling of heaviness. It was as if his sharp senses have dulled and there was a feeling of intimidation. It's like how mice instinctively back down in a face of a massive tiger.
Toktok tok...
The ball landed and before he knew it, Glorio has just realized that he failed to kick the incoming ball.
Without too much effort, team Madtaks is now up by 5 points. Slowly catching up with team Bagsik's early advantage.
"What's going on with me? Am I really feeling pressured by that Teletubies?" Glorio could not believe it.