It is now the team Madtaks' second service out of three. Except for the team Bagsik, every member of the team Madtaks was looking extremely haggard. Mark had a sepak takraw ball 'mark' on his face while sweating like he was soaked in rain, Ferdy, on the other hand, had messy clothes, heavy dark combat shoes, and reddish eyes as if he was having sore eyes.
"Just look at the team Madtak's condition. It's hopeless."
"You are right. Erap hasn't even shown all of his best tricks yet."
"They still did well though scoring until now." The crowd commented on the team Madtak's player conditions.
"PRRRRT- GAME START!" the referee bellowed. Ferdy then proceeded to toss the ball for Chiko.
As the ball was about to reach Chiko, his mind was currently strategizing.
"I have now completely confirmed that their reaction speed is fast. But compared to Rino and that so vegeta-egg-head guy, they are actually slower. Guess, it's time to speed the game up."
Chiko closed his eyes while the ball was mid-air. He swiftly recalled positioning of team Bagsik and decided on the spot to aim. Like a bird's eye, his thoughts sweep thru the mental field.
"There!"
WHAAPAAANG!~
Chiko's spike serve was perfectly executed. The ball left behind a long yellow streak as it passed thru the net safely before reaching the other side in no time. The power behind this kick surprised the team Bagsik as they were beginning to get used to Chiko's easy spike serves.
"I can't reach it!" Glorio quickly shouted.
"Too far." Noynoy sweated buckets.
"I got this." the veteran player Erap was the only calm and collected one. Chiko's spike was aimed at the edge of the back line of Glorio. With a series of small but quick consecutive steps, Erap arrived at the edge of the border just in time to do a frontal toe kick - saving the ball while tossing it back towards the center.
"Dang he is quick!" Chiko and his team narrowed their eyes after realizing Erap's sudden burst of insane speed and reaction.
"Set!" Noynoy quickly followed Erap's save by tossing the ball near the net. Of course, Glorio took this opportunity and swiftly positioned himself for a killing spike.
"On it." as Ferdy was the closest to Glorio, he too quickly jumped high and raised his leg and his back facing the net in an effort to block Glorio's incoming spike.
But after getting sick of his attacks being blocked all the time, Glorio was smarter this time. His spike pose was actually fake. Instead, he shifted to a jumping header.
PHWANG~
With his higher vertical position compared to Ferdy's diagonal leg block, Glorio managed to successfully drop the ball and jumping over Ferdy's blocking leg.
"HAHAHA! Got you!" Glorio celebrated as he watched his fake spike fooling the reddish eyed Ferdy.
But to his surprise, Ferdy's body suddenly twisted mid-air. His incredibly flexible body swiftly caught up to the ball he missed by a quick transition to his other leg. Like a black cat, swiping a ball with the other hand after missing it with the first attempt.
"What!?" Glorio and his team were dumbfounded.
"How did he do that!?"
"That was impossible! I thought I was seeing a cat!" The crowd went wild as they witnessed Ferdy's abnormal reaction and flexibility.
"Nice one Ferdy!" Chiko was not surprised, he quickly followed Ferdy's save with knee kick to stabilize the ball. Then his eyes quickly glanced at the opposing team's position.
Seeing Chiko's eyes seemingly scanning their side, Glorio shouted,
"He's going for a sneak shot at the empty spots!"
Hearing him, Noynoy hurriedly adjusted his position to at least defend more area. They rushed to the empty backline against knowing Chiko's ability to accurately aim at the weak spots.
"No! Don't come here!" Erap noticed something was wrong.
Chiko was smiling and he quickly realized that his eye-scanning style was a trap to force their reaction. But it was too late, Chiko's kick was faster and smarter.
While the team Bagsik was running to defend the backline, Chiko's kick suddenly shifted in its direction.
Instead of the forward inside kick, he diverted his kick to his left side - it was a highball pass for Mark Gantes!
"Nice pass Chiko!" Mark applauded Chiko's mind-game move.
And now that the ball was perfectly tossed on his side and with the enemy far at the backline, Mark took the best head swing before performing a devastating heading strike.
"HUMBA DINAMITAAAAH!"
PHAANG!~
The ball landed near the centerline with success. The ground even shook for a while as if a solid steel ball landed.
Seeing this, the crowd went silent for a while before finally snapping out and applauded. Everyone was enjoying the match so far.
"My god. This game is getting exciting!"
"That was a very nice mind-game move by both teams."
"I love how that pale-looking newbie reacted against Glorio's sneak heading."
"A sneak attack against another sneak attack. Wonderful!"
"Erap's speed and control is just insane man. Look how he managed to save the ball at the backline with a toe kick. Too bad his other teammates were easily fooled."
"But that fake backline shot into a pass was the MVP for me. That big guy knows his thing with those devastating heading!"
"Man I want to see more!"
"Lucky bastard" Noynoy scorned at the victoriously smiling Mark.
But with a promise to be patient, the big fluffy guy simply shrugged and turned around to prepare for their third service. Ignoring Noynoy's piercing gaze.
"We are doing good. We can win this!" Chiko encouraged his team. Both Ferdy and Mark nodded in response.
"Score, 10 against 7. Game start!" the one-eyed referee shouted and Ferdy calmly tossed the ball for Chiko.
"We will win. No matter what, that 300 pesos should be back in my- I mean Mark's hands so he can pay his debt." Chiko mumbled to himself.
As usual, Chiko's big brown eyes scanned the opponent's position while the ball was in mid-air. Seeing this, Glorio and Noynoy started to falter, not sure what to do.
"Relax, we got everything covered. Those newbies are just acting tough, trying to intimidate us. Don't be fooled. Remember we are veterans." Erap reminded his team and they both nodded in agreement. Neverthless, they still moved backward in preparation of Chiko's spike serve.
Seeing them calming down despite his scanning gaze, Chiko smiled in return.
"That's it." Chiko whispered softly as he suddenly shifted his pose from a spike serve to a subtle inside kick. It was another sneak attack aimed at the center area near the centerline.
PANNG!~
"You can't fool me. Your team still have a truck-load of rice to eat to beat me!"
Erap's figure suddenly arrived near the centerline seemingly expecting Chiko's cheap shot.
"HAAH!"
PHWAANG!~
With a quick succession of Erap's inside kick and a follow-up heading, Erap managed to score back against team Madtaks single-handedly - setting the score 11 against 7.
"Nice one!"
"That's Erap for you!" the crowd went wild at Erap's incredible anticipation skills. Meanwhile, Chiko scratched his head in apology, both Ferdy and Mark just laughed at his good attempt.
"We almost got them again with a sneak shot, hahaha!" Mark laughed seemingly enjoying.
"That Erap guy is good. Maybe we can exploit the other two." Ferdy suggested.
"That's a good idea. We still have to defend the next three serves though." Chiko replied and the team proceeded to their respective defensive positions.
Seeing the team Madtaks still happily smiling despite their score gap, Erap was starting to be annoyed.
"You guys seem to be forgetting something." Erap's voice suddenly echoed. He was calling out to the team Madtaks who then turned to him in response.
"You shot us with those cheap shots for a stupid strategy just to get a single point. Do you think that will make you win this game?" Erap's voice and gaze was filled with despise. His head tilted high like a kick looking down to poor and helpless peasants.
"Let me show you the true disparity of our strength. Let me show you what's a real veteran is." Erap's aura suddenly surged. As if a beast finally letting lose, he let loose an intimidating striking pose.
Erap stood in the middle of the center circle with a wide stride. Like a magical monk preparing to let loose a powerful energy wave thru his hand.
Seeing Erap finally showing this pose, Glorio smiled wickedly and said,
"Game over."
And then the ball was tossed for Erap. From Chiko and his team's perspective, the world seemed to have blackened out for a moment before a loud spiking sound echoed.
WHAPAANG!~
"SCORE!" the referee's shout quickly followed.
The next moment team Madtaks realized is that the ball has already landed on their side. Shocking Chiko, Mark and Ferdy.
"What just happened?"
"I did not saw the spike."
"Wait, the serve was finished?"
Team Madtaks have never seen such a fast and powerful spike as before.
"It was a spike that can almost compare at Santi's power!" Ferdy sweated huge chunks as he realized just how incredible the latest spike serve was.
"This is bad."
And the next moments, before they realized, Erap had already sent over two more devastating spike serves without giving any chance for team Madtaks to fight back. Each of those strikes contained Erap's secret mysterious striking technique aimed at their weakspots.
The score lead has jumped again to 13-7 showing the real disparity of level between the two teams.