// Breaking Rhythm
The special ball was a bullet. A tight spiral, chest-high, full body torque, it looked like it would tear a hole right through Remi; however, before it could reach Remi, fate intervened. By sheer chance, Eastly’s precise throw collided mid-air with the returning shot from Mortsen. The two balls struck like cymbals.
[REPLAY FEED]
MID-COURT COLLISION
Chest-high intersection, left of centre.
AI: Textbook physics.
This is ball armour at its finest!
The crowd gasped.
Eastly’s ball veered off-course at a brutal angle, spinning wildly across the court, past the scorer’s table, past the boundary, and into the stands where it struck the scoreboard with a thunk, lodged perfectly behind it, wedged in tight.
Remi watched as Mortsen’s ball rolled back towards him, down the near-right lane.
It was a bit deflated, and wobbled as it made its way, but it was still viable. Remi stopped it with his foot. Now he was the only one with balls. His turn.
He surged towards Mortsen, closing the distance to the line in a matter of seconds. Just before he reached the barrier, he hurled the ball, overhanded, body torque snapping like a cricket pitcher. It was a near-perfect throw. It curves just enough to dodge Mortsen’s raised hand and aims directly for his chest. Mortsen tries to twist sideways, but he’s still recovering from the fake-then-real combo. The ball nails him dead centre in the ribs with a loud smack.
[REPLAY FEED]
IMPACT ZONE - MORTSEN
Slow motion overlay
AI: Here comes the boom!
The moment the rubber cracked into his chest, Mortsen froze. A thin red outline flickered around his body, followed by a VWEEEP! sound and as the force spun him around, he dissipated in a puff of smoke. The careening ball also clipped Drax on its bounce. He was not out, but the impact had winded him.
“Nel sends her regards!” It was snarky, but the memory from earlier was still too real.
[SYSTEM RULING: VALID HIT]
A live ball has struck Mortsen.
Status: OUT
Removal: Immediate. No appeals.
“In an excellent counter-attack, Remi has eliminated Principal Mortsen.” There’s surprise in his voice, but a hint of pleasure as well. “There are still five pals remaining. The ball is bouncing centre left.”
Remi pressed his advantage, pivoting off his back foot, centre-court left. He sent a lashing out across the centre line, targeting Eastly’s chest. It connected with a satisfying click. He ran back to the damaged ball; it was almost flat now, but it held enough air that this should work. Then slid low, just in case there was a ball coming back his way, and placed his hand on it as he slid past. Remi connected the other end of the lash to the ball and snapped it off, retracting the lash and sending the ball hurtling towards Eastly.
The half-deflated ball flew like a rubber bullet, its wobble disguised by the speed of the lash-snapped arc. It struck Eastly square in the chest, followed instantly by the VWEEEP! of Crucible elimination. He didn’t even have time to throw.
[FIELD UPDATE]
Team Admin: 4 Remaining
Principal Eastly: Eliminated
Drax scrambled to recover his footing. He raced for the ball that had struck him, retrieved it, and hurled it back at Remi, driven by reflex more than strategy. The ball flew wide. Remi didn’t even need to dodge.
This Admin rows merged, the back row slid forward as Drax moved back. Klatch was now in the centre in a move to re-anchor the team’s formation. Remi can’t hear what he says, but Grieves pulls a band of glowing tape from his pocket. What the hell is that? While the others reposition, Grieves lays out the tape in a line on the floor.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Narrative Bouncefield Created (Trap Type)
Effect: Ricochet Zone created behind midline centre.
[REPLAY FEED]
FIELD DEPLOYMENT
Two paces behind mindline
AI: Man Admin love their little boxes.
Will Remi be able to adapt?
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Ohhh. It looks like the Admin team has put down a temporary bounce field. All projectiles that hit this will change their angle.
A shimmering, boxy field flickers to life just behind centre court. It’s likely meant to amplify or redirect throws. Grieves, having retrieved a ball, charged forward and released. His ball banked intentionally off the new Bouncefield. The projectile entered the field at one angle and then left at a different one. It was like a bounce shot when playing air hockey. It was the type of shot that always scored when Remi played, and this one had similar success. The ball clipped Remi’s shoulder, the impact spinning him half a step sideways; it was not a full hit, but enough to have his health drop by ten.
[GRAZED]
The ball was back near Remi’s centre court, but the Bouncefield was still active on their side, and Klatch was pushing towards centre. Remi figured if they could use items, then so could he. He reached into the Murse of Pedagogical Dread with both hands. One hand wrapped around the familiar shape of the Juice Box, and the other for the emergency item. He came out with both. He had an emergency item he’d packed but forgotten.
He came out with both. Juice in one hand, and a piece of chalk in the other. Remi didn't have time to read the note yet, instead pivoted, and bent like he intended to drink the juice. His mana was low. But it was a feint. His opponents, thinking they had a second, were repositioning, but as they lined up behind the Bounce field, Remi did as he always intended. He launched the juice box directly at the clumping team.
The Admin team barely registers the throw before it's too late. The box hits the Bouncefield. And instead of stopping, or passing through, it explodes. Sticky orange-pink fluid bursts into the air like a miniature detonation.
[REPLAY FEED]
SUNNY D - GOIN’ DT!
Jackson Pollock’d all over center court
AI: Orange you going to follow the rules!
No fluids in the GYM!
For a heartbeat, everything smelled like sugar and Florida.
Remi froze, breath catching as adrenaline crashed into memory.
He didn’t know why the chalk in his hand suddenly felt tacky, yet it heightened his focus. The Bouncefield flashed once, then shorted out in a snap of dissolving code and doused the three Admins lined up behind it. Klatch stepped in a puddle and slipped.
He took the moment of confusion to look at the chalk’s instructions. It simply said, “Last lesson before the fire drill.” Remi remembered that day in a flash. It was Room 204. He'd been explaining metaphor to a half-asleep 10th-grade class. Someone had written “YOLO” on his board with this in bubble letters. He knew this was the same chalk because it was red, and Remi was a snob and only used white chalk in class. The student had brought it in as a joke. A metaphor, ironically, that Remi should be open to change. And then, the alarm had gone off, a fire drill that wasn’t planned.”
He didn’t have time to really unpack the memory, but he knew it was here for a reason, so again he simply trusted. He scanned the chaos until Hill’s crimson tie caught his eye.
[REPLAY FEED]
TARGET LOCKED
Hiding like a gopher.
AI: Time to fire the fire-drill zealot!
Of all his principals, he'd been the most strident with fire drills. He'd been in charge of the school on Red Chalk Day. The staff had been unprepared, and it had resulted in their being yelled at during an after school stand up meeting. Remi zeroed in on him, and then, sidearm, threw the chalk directly at him.
It soared across the gym and struck Hill’s collarbone. Hill blinked and touched the mark on his neck. It was as if he remembered something he’d forgotten. He turned and started screaming at the other three principals. Hill’s face bloomed with rage. He looked like a tomato just before it bursts in a saucepan. Like a man whose emergency plan had failed, he started berating his team. “You were supposed to pivot right! I told you to pivot right! That was the drill! You—Drax! You didn’t even move!”
The other Admins flinched. One even took a step back. Remi didn’t know exactly what had broken in Hill just now, but he knew he didn’t have to fight him anymore.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ADMIN THREAD DESYNCED]
Narrative cohesion is lost.
Target: Hill (Admin Tier)
Anchor Object: “Chalk Fragment – Room 204 Edition”
There was not a clean VWEEP! of an elimination. Hill glitched and screamed himself out of existence.
There were two balls still in play, one just off to Remi’s right side, and the other in Drax’s hand. Remi didn't retrieve his ball yet; he waited for Drax. It didn't take long for the ball to come racing back towards Remi, but he knew the rules; a catch works as an out too. He sent a lash to the ball and then yanked it into his hands cleanly. Drax vanished with a soft “Easy out.”
[FIELD UPDATE]
Team Admin: 2 Remaining
Principal Drax: Eliminated
“Did you see that, everyone? Remi has yet again used his lash.” Archie was providing colour commentary. He continued in a syrupy tone: “But I think that is unfair, so for the rest of this game…” He paused for a second, savouring it, “…he may not use it again.”
[REPLAY FEED]
PUBLIC DE-LASHING
Some crappy Reffing!
AI: I’d red-card myself, but this shit is hilarious.
Remi whipped his head up. “How is that fair!”
“It isn’t, but it’s entertaining.”
The mana lash icon dimmed in Remi’s HUD. It was satisfying to hear the crowd boo and yell words like rigged and let him lash! It didn’t help, but at least his indignation was supported.
Remi bent down and picked up the ball near his feet. And then without ceremony he kicked the other across the centre line. It wasn’t graceful; he was not a soccer player by any stretch of the imagination, but he could angle the ball so that it crossed the barrier just before the sideline. It was in enemy territory and angled towards the edge of the playing field.
It was Klatch that took the bait. He was always a bit too eager. He raced for the ball; he could easily reach it before it crossed out of bounds. Klatch could see that, and Remi knew he would. That was the hope. The tall admin lunged, eyes locked on the ball, breath heavy, one foot sliding to brake his momentum. He was going to get there in time, but just as Klatch bent to scoop it up, Remi seized his opportunity. Remi also lunged forward, but he cast Mana Pulse. The spell triggered with a crisp VFFFWOOM! like a rubber band snapping through the air. The shockwave rippled out from Remi’s palm, across the floor, through the air, and hit Klatch just as he paused, right in front of the boundary line. It struck him with enough force to tip him back on his heels, and then over the line. His foot crossed the boundary.
[OUT OF PLAY: SELF-ELIMINATION DETECTED]
Admin Klatch has exited legal zone during live play.
Status: ELIMINATED.
He blinked once, looked down at his shoes, then vanished.
“Alright, buddy,” Remi said, “just you and me.”
“Isn’t this exciting? No one, least of all me, would have expected this. That Remi Page, would be just one administrator away from triumph. From zero to—.”
“Shut up, Archie!” Remi snapped.
There was a pause. Then Archie lowered his voice, just a little.
“Oh… someone's feeling a bit of pressure.” He turned, playing to the audience. “Let’s see if you stick the landing.”
“You’ve got it.” Remi’s reply was crisp. Crossing the faded mid-line hash, he grounded the ball and closed the distance in measured steps.
“You can’t cross the line, Mr. Page.” The voice came from Grieves, somewhere near the far back corner, frightened, but still technically in the game.
As he walked, Remi reached into his murse, past the scrivener set, and remaining juice box and pulled out the metre stick. The one that had been with him since the beginning. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I wasn’t planning to.” Without further commentary, he double overhanded it across the court, straight through Grieves’s chest. The administrator barely had time to flinch as the stick passed through him, and Grieves flickered, then vanished.
[ADMIN GRIEVES ELIMINATED]
Admin Grieves hit with a live stick.
Status: ELIMINATED.
Weapon: Metre Stick (Final Throw)
Remi’s Mana Lash icon blinked back to life for a single moment.
He reached out and snapped the stick back to his hand with a clean, reverse-tether pull. The weapon spun once and slapped into his palm, blade-like. He smiled. “I told you I’d stick it in the end.”
What came next was unexpected. There was not a ding. No music, crowd cheer, or HUD message declaring victory. Instead—.
The gym lights flickered and then stayed dim. It was wrong, like a power brownout in a place that wasn’t supposed to lose power. The scoreboard on the far wall, still jammed with Eastly’s lost ball, reset to zeros. The Crucible’s centre line disappeared.
Remi looked around. Everyone was frozen in quiet shock. Even Archie appeared to be taken aback. Then Remi saw her for sure. Nel had stood up; she too looked visibly shaken.
And then, Archie finally spoke, but his voice wasn’t smug, and it wasn’t performative. It was small. “That’s… not me.” He paused. This time it was not for dramatic effect; it was because he was processing. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
