Elemental Volleyball. It was the game that William suggested that they played. It didn't seem like anyone but William and Ms. Clark knew how to play, so it would be new for all the members of the Training Club and Charles.
William began to explain the rules for them. Essentially it would be two teams of three, one on each side of a net.
"However, since there are seven of you, we can switch you out for each game. Unless of course, one of you wants to sit out a round. We can make it work," William added.
The goal of the game is to hit the ball, the one William brought out, on the other side. If you manage to hit the ball to the floor, or the enemy team ends up missing the ball, then your team scores a point. You also do not want to hit the ball into the net.
The only issue is, when the ball is on your side, each person may only hit the ball once.
"Since you can only hit the ball once, you will want to make your hits count! Work with your team to 'set' the ball up, and you can have someone in the end make a good hit on the other side!," William elaborated, tossing the ball up and down with his hand.
"Okay, but where does the 'elemental' part of the game name come into play?," Rose asked, curious.
"Ah, I am glad you asked!," William finally caught the ball and let it rest once again. "The thing is, you are allowed to use your magic in this game. However, you can only target the ball! You are not allowed to target anything but the ball! That includes players!"
"Wouldn't air mages like Al and Steph have an advantage then?," Cecily asked, wondering how she could use her own magic to help her and her team out.
"Ah, that would make sense why you and others may think that," William said, also thinking to himself. "You see, in the end, your element type truly does not matter. It really falls down to is how you use your magic, and how you use your mana effectively"
"Use your mana effectively? Like what Allen does?," Thomas asked.
"Yes, very much so. This will also be something we go over in our training later when we reach sunset!," William smiled.
"Alright, and how do we win?," Allen asked.
"For simplicity's sake, we will go until a team reaches a score of three points. This means, if the other team fails to hit the ball and lands on their side of the net three times, your team wins!"
"I'm assuming it's only three points so that way we can end games quicker, since there are a total of seven of us?," Stephen asked.
"Correct! Although you may find a game can last longer than you think, if no one manages to drop the ball on their side!," William added. "Well, are all of you ready? Who will be participating in round one?"
"I think I will sit this out," Charles shrugged as he walked off on his own.
"You can participate if you want Charles," William reminded him. "We won't exclude you"
"Maybe later," he waved him off as he kept walking.
"Alright, then. Out of the six of you, how will we do the teams?," William asked.
"I can only be on the same team as Allen!," Sarah exclaimed, grabbing Allen by the arm again.
"Wai-"
"Looks like I will have to be on the same team as Allen as well," Rose stated, glaring at Sarah.
"Is that so?," Sarah did a little laugh, a competitive look in her eyes.
"Well, it looks like the other team will be Stephen, Thomas and Cecily. Is this good?,"
"Sure, I am good with that. Tom? Lily?," Stephen asked.
"Anytime!"
"Sure"
"Alright then, the teams are decided. Now each team just needs a team captain. The team captain will be the one directing the team and serving the ball," William explained.
"I vote Allen as our team captain! He is also the Training Club's President!," Sarah suggested.
"Wait, but-"
"I don't mind having Allen as our team captain," Rose shrugged. "I could use a break from being the one in charge all the time"
"But I haven't even-"
"Alright, team one's captain is Allen. What about team two?," William looked over at the other three.
"What about Tom?," Stephen suggested.
"Nonono, I'm sure you would be better as our team captain, Steph!," Thomas grinned.
"That cursed nickname…," Stephen mumbled. "Lily, what do you think?"
"Out of the three of us, Stephen would be the best to lead," Cecily explained.
"Aw Lily, you don't think I could be a great team captain?"
"You were the one who said Stephen would be better," Cecily rolled her eyes.
"Right…," Thomas awkwardly responded.
"Alright then. team two's captain is Stephen! It's time to get the game set up!"
Both teams were put on each side of the net. The team's captains were in the back, furthest away from the net while the other two were in front, closest to the net. The person in the back, or the captain, would be the one to serve the ball if it was their team's turn to serve the ball.
At first, they did a small practice round so everyone could get the hang of the game. No points were scored, and no team would win. It was for the sole purpose to get everyone up to speed on how the game works, and so they will be ready for the first game. William was the coach, so he directed both teams when necessary. Ms. Clark watched from the sidelines, and Charles wandered around the beach, occasionally looking over to see what they were doing.
"Alright, is everyone ready for the real game now?," William asked them.
"My team is ready!," Stephen announced, Thomas and Cecily both ready.
"My team is… probably ready!," Allen announced, while looking over at Rose and Sarah glaring at each other down a little.
"Well, that should be good enough. Team one to serve first. Once Allen serves, Game one will officially start!"
Both of the teams got into position, ready for their first official game. Team one: Allen, Rose, and Sarah. Team two: Stephen, Thomas and Cecily.
"Are both teams ready?," William asked.
"Ready!," Allen announced, the ball in his hand. Their team would be serving first.
"We're ready too!," Stephen announced.
"Alright then. You may-"
"We're going to beat you Allen!," Thomas yelled. Cecily nodded her head in agreement.
"Not if we beat you first!," Allen yelled back.
"Our team is the only team that can win!," Sarah proudly proclaimed.
"Uh huh," Rose rolled her eyes.
"As I was saying," William raised his voice. "The game is ready to commence!"
And just like that, the game was finally in session. Allen began to prepare himself to serve the ball. Unfortunately he was not the best at serving the ball, but he did his best. Luckily it went over the net, instead of hitting the net like in the practice round.
"I got it!," Cecily said as she hit the ball up.
"And let me finish it!, Thomas yelled as he jumped to hit the ball. He had hardened his arms using magic, to allow him to hit the ball harder.
"Shoot!," Rose yelled as she went to hit the ball.
"Yes!," Thomas cheered as Rose failed to hit the ball in the air, resulting in the ball hitting the sand floor of the beach.
"One point to Team two!," William announced. "Team two is now to serve!"
"Yes!," Thomas and Stephen cheered.
"Wow, missing the ball. Wish I could miss it that badly," Sarah teased Rose.
"Like you were any better in the practice round," Rose rolled her eyes.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Sarah stuck her tongue out at her.
How long will I have to suffer from this, Allen thought to himself.
The game continued, with team two in the lead, and team one struggling to get points. Mostly it was due to team one's cooperation, as Sarah and Rose kept butting heads.
"And take this!," Thomas yelled as he hit the ball hard, and Rose once again failed to save the ball.
"One point to team two! Team two wins with three points, and team one loses with one point!," William announced. It was now game over.
"We won!," Thomas yelled, as their team cheered.
"Well, looks like we lost," Allen shrugged, trying to look disappointed. In reality, he was kind of glad he now didn't have to deal with Rose and Sarah butting heads.
They only managed to score one point because Rose managed to hit it and Cecily failed to hit it before it hit the ground.
"Alright, what about a second round? Are we switching the teams up?, William asked the two teams.
"Wait!," Sarah yelled. "Alice wants to play!"
She quickly grabbed her glasses from her stuff laying outside of the area, and quickly put them on.
"Ready," Alice said as she quickly took position.
"So, no team changes?" William asked. "Also Alice, will you need some time to practice?"
"No need. Saw the game through Sarah," Alice said, with a determined look in her eyes.
"Yeah, I think we'll be okay not changing teams quite yet," Stephen said.
"I'm ready to beat Allen's team again!," Thomas grinned as he bumped his fists together.
"We'll see about that," Alice mumbled, a slight smile on her face.
"Alright, if everyone is ready, we will begin round two"
"We're ready!," Stephen said, getting his magic ready.
"We're ready too," Allen said, but with a little uncertainty in his voice. He may no longer have to deal with Rose and Sarah, but with Alice on their team will it make much of a difference?
"Alright, I am going to serve the ball," Stephen announced, about to serve the ball.
He used his magic to make the ball go faster, and he had a better idea of where it would go. It flew over the net, heading towards Alice. Will she hit it in time?
"Alice the ball!," Rose yelled, trying to move over to help her.
"The ball?," Alice asked, looking at Rose.
"Yes the ball-"
But right as the ball was right by Alice, she easily hit the ball up.
"Hit it," Alice commanded.
"Umm, okay?," Rose was caught off guard, but she did as she was told. She hit the ball, heading towards Cecily.
"Thomas, get ready!," Cecily announced as she hit the ball up for him.
"Already on it!," he grinned as he hit the ball hard.
The ball began to soar fast towards the ground near Allen.
"I got it!," Allen yelled, using his mana to allow him to move faster. He managed to hit the ball up near Alice.
"I got it," she nodded her head. She then jumped in the air, and managed to hit the ball so hard not even Stephen could see where it went until it hit the sandy floor.
"One point to team one! Team one now to serve!"
"What- how!," Thomas yelled in frustration.
"Just how did she do that?!," Stephen exclaimed, wondering how she hit it so hard and quick.
"Alice, great job!," Rose complimented her.
"Alice you did great!," Allen gave her a thumbs up.
Despite being generally expressionless, she seemed to be proud of what she did. Unlike Sarah who could not hit the ball even if it depended on her life.
Now it was once again Allen's turn to serve the ball. Alice turned around to look at him, almost communicating with him without saying anything. Allen got the idea of what she wanted to do, and nodded his head in recognition.
Allen served the ball, but instead of going over the net, it went over to Alice.
"Wait-" Thomas yelled, realizing what they were doing.
"Here you go!," she gave a small smile as she hit the ball.
"No!," Thomas yelled as he tried to get the ball, but to no avail.
"Team one scores one point again! One more point until team one wins!"
"Well, this will be harder than I thought…," Thomas admitted.
"You think?," Cecily remarked.
"Damn, got to admit Alice is really good at this game," Stephen sighed.
"Language Stephen"
"Yeah, yeah father"
The game continued, but not for long. As they thought, Alice once again scored for them, resulting in a 3-0 game. Stephen's team completely lost, and Allen's team was practically Alice on her own.
"We lost!," Thomas yelled as he fell on the floor.
"Damn, and we didn't even score once," Stephen sighed.
"Stephen, what did I say about language," William glared at him.
"Okay I'll watch my language!," Stephen yelled, not wanting to suffer what William did like when he was punished earlier.
"Alright, change of teams now. How should we split it up?," William said as he began thinking about how best to split them.
Charles had just come back after wandering around the beach area.
"Great, Charles you're back! Why don't you try playing!"
"Hm, fine. But only if I can face my rival by being on the opposite team!"
"Great…," Allen sighed.
"Done," Alice stated as she began to walk off.
"Not playing anymore Alice?," Rose asked.
"Tired," she simply stated as she walked off and took a seat to rest.
"Alright then, how should we sort the teams this time?," William thought out loud.
"I want to be on Allen's team this time!," Stephen said as he was already walking over to Allen's team.
"Hmph, I am not going to be on the same team as the both of them," Rose looked away from them as she went to the other side.
"Why, what's wrong, Rose?," Stephen grinned.
"Oh, you know exactly what's wrong," she glared at him.
"Alright then, Thomas and Cecily. Who will be on which team?," William asked.
"I'll join Allen and Stephen's team," Cecily said as she walked over.
"Then I will be on Charles and Rose's team?" Thomas said and asked at the same time, not sure if he's liking how the teams are being set up.
"Okay, and who will be the new team captains?" William looked at both teams.
"I'll be team captain for our team," Rose declared.
"No objections here"
"Hmph, that's fine"
"Alright, what about Team one?"
"Allen"
"Stephen"
The two of them once again voted for the other.
"Someone just be the leader already," Cecily sighed.
"Well since you voted me for Club President, I think you should be the team captain," Allen argued.
"But since you are already Club President, wouldn't it make sense if you were team captain?," Stephen argued back.
The two of them went back at it for several minutes, resulting in another coin toss (luckily Ms. Clark had one on hand). This time however, Stephen lost and became team captain.
"Alright, team one's captain is Stephen, while team two's captain is Rose," William announced.
"I do not like the sound of that," Rose sighed.
"What? Don't like it if we end up facing each other as team captains?," Stephen said, smirking.
"You moron," she said as she began to ignore him and get into position.
Everyone got into position, with the team captains in the back to serve. The other four were in the front, near the net.
"Lily, I'll go easy on you if you go easy on me," Thomas smiled at her.
"You're dead Tom," she glared at him.
"Wait Lily, we're friends, aren't we?"
"Maybe," she smiled at him, but you could tell she was ready to play competitively against him.
"Get ready my rival, because I will beat you!," Charles declared at Allen.
"Uh huh, we'll see about that," he shrugged him off.
"Your team has to work together in order to win," William reminded them.
Team one was to serve first. Stephen served the ball, heading straight for Charles. Allen could tell what was going to probably happen.
"Take this my rival!," Charles yelled, jumping up for the ball.
"Take what?"
Charles ended up missing the ball, landing right next to his feet.
"I- I meant to do that"
"Sure you did," Allen said, laughing a little.
"Team one gains one point!. Although, does Charles need a practice round?"
"No! I will beat my rival regardless! Real rivalry needs no practice!"
"Sure…," Allen sighed.
The game continued, with Thomas and Rose scrambling to try to work together with Charles. Stephen's team wasn't having any issues working together, with Cecily and Allen working together in the front to score points.
"Wait Cecily nooooo!," Thomas screamed as Cecily sent the ball towards his face.
It just barely missed his face, hitting the ground next to him.
"Team one scores one point; Team one wins with three points!," William declared.
"Looks like we lost," Rose shrugged, but she expected this outcome.
` "Hmph… I'll just beat you next time, rival!," Charles yelled as he once again walked away.
"I'll be waiting for it!," Allen waved at him.
"Cecily, why did you have to do that to me?," Thomas exclaimed as he fell to the floor.
"You lost Tom cause you suck at the game," she grinned.
"Lily, why?," he pleaded with her.
The game ended with three points to Stephen's team, and one point to Rose's team. Rose's team ended up scoring only one point because Rose had managed to hit a good serve that the other team didn't end up hitting back.
And with their last game done, it was finally reaching sunset.
"Alright everyone, sunset is drawing near! You know what that means!," William smiled as he began to put the stuff away.
"Training time," everyone unenthusiastically said all at once. Normally almost everyone would be excited, but they were tired from playing elemental volleyball. Hopefully whatever William had in store for them wasn't that bad, right?
"Don't worry, it's nothing too major. We will just be going over how to use your mana better!," William assured them.
Everyone cheered. They loved the thought of just sitting down and training their mana. Who knew what William would've had them do if they trained for real.
After William had everyone gather around (and also found Charles and brought him over), training time could finally commence.
William had them all sit around in a circle and concentrate on their mana. His goal was for them to be able to detect their mana inside of them, as mages normally didn't do this.
Usually you knew if you were out of mana if you started to get a headache, or some other sign that your mind was telling you that you were running out of mana. The idea of detecting the mana inside of you was not commonly known or used.
Luckily however, Allen has had extensive training with William, so it wasn't difficult for him to train while everyone else was struggling to find theirs.
Even so, he still has a long way to go if he ever wishes to reach William's level.
"Let our mana training begin!," William announced.