Slytherin v Gryffindor 3rd Game Finished

Penalty laps were not very fun. Sure, racing around the Quidditch Pitch for practice was quite enjoyable, but in a game where all she could do was watch when she should have been helping her team, it sucked.

Neither team let their foot off the gas--the game was still as brutal as ever. Both sides attempted to blatch again this round, the second-string Gryffindor Chaser luckily missing Dan and Koko and Alexx flying at the opposing Seeker. The shocking thing? Alexx missed. It could happen to anyone, she supposed, but after the 3rd year's consistent success in ramming other players off their brooms, it wasn't the outcome the brunette would've expected.

Roman, on Nico's broom, sent a bludger smashing into the second-string Beater she'd tried to blatch. At least he finished the job. Yet again, Gryffindor tossed the Quaffle through their abandoned hoops. Bridget let out a groan. Sure, Quaffle scores would mean nothing if Dan caught the Snitch, but since they were technically currently losing to the team who hadn't won yet this season, it was bothersome.

Finally, her lap was complete. It was time to make up for the loss of a round.

Action | Doing as strategized

Wren was disappointed. 

She had attempted to send the bludger towards Roman and Nico, to send them both tumbling to the ground but as she had gone to hit them, she had barely miscalculated the hit and had missed it. She was disappointed in herself to say the least. Though she did not want her disappointment to have an effect on any of her other teammates, so she pasted a smile on her face and went on in the game. Only the next thing she knew the bludger knocked her from her broom faster than she could evade it. The last thing she saw before blacking out was seeing Roman’s face and knowing that he had done this. She swore to get her revenge one way or another then hit the grown and everything went black.

Action: Knocked out on the Ground

After trying her best to save the Beater Rookie, Nico had to stay focused. Things moved quickly in Quidditch and there was no time to lose. Especially not after Gryffindor scored, again. How did they score so easily? Oh... Right. Koko is flying around with Dan. There was no one to cover the hoops in her stead. Crap.

Before too long, one of the Gryffindor Beaters tried to aim at her and Roman. Nico squinted her eyes and held tighter onto her broom. 'Incoming!' After Roman would slap it back, the dhampir would make sure they stayed out of harms way. Only barely, she managed to dive down, dodging the Bludger that Wren had smacked their way, saving herself and her passanger alot of pain. 'T-that was way too close...' She chuckled. Not because it was funny... But more because... they just barely managed to stay unharmed. 'Good job, Roman. You got some real Beater blood in you.'

Action: Doing as Strategised

It seemed her nerves had been on high alert for good reason. The moment she hit the air, the rest of the game faded from her attention. She was aware, of course, of the other players zooming and criss-crossing in organized chaos, but the luxury to study their movements was one she no longer had. She had one job: find the snitch, and do so quickly. She had sky-rocketed herself up to a height to hover over the rest of the game.

Or tried to.

No sooner had she passed through the rest than an announcement heralded that Slytherin was at it again. Perhaps it was simply coincidence, but the words had driven a healthy dose of fear into her core, images of players in crimson and gold being rammed to fall to their earthly bed below. Flattening herself against her broom, she urged it forward as quickly as the rickety school broom would allow. Of course, that could hardly be sufficient to outpace the newer brooms of the snakes. She twisted, allowing her weight to carry off center, the broom spinning as she barreled.

Just in time. For a brief moment, the sky vanished behind the silhouette of something - someone - whose path had crossed where Evelynn's form had been only half a breath earlier. Righting herself, the cub's gaze darted after the blatching player to identify them. Fire erupted in her belly at the immediate recognition. Alexx Severin. Her boss. So it was going to be like that, was it?

"Tch."

She was used to being under-estimated. D'Spacito had made that mistake once, and promptly received a bludger to the shoulder. Sure, she was small. She was young. She was new to the world of magic, and the world of Quidditch.

But she knew how to fly.

Admittedly, it was usually with a saddle beneath her as she and her mare soared over creeks and bars and stacked logs. Even still, the principles were the same. She'd just have to keep her head and her cool, and her eye on the goal. Gray eyes pulled away from blonde as she sped off for her penalty lap and returned to seek for that hint of a golden gleam.

Action: Doing as Strategized

~ * ~

Ruby had contemplated going for the Quaffle again. It was what she had wanted to do, especially with the lingering excitement she still had from scoring that first goal. However, it was deemed more important that she would save anyone who fell, specifically Dan. If he was out, they wouldn't be able to win. In the event that they had to switch Seekers, it would likely be too time-consuming and distracting, and by then the Gryffindor Seeker would probably have found the Snitch.

She winced as Gryffindor scored another goal, teeth clenching as she was hopeless to do anything. Koko was away helping Dan, and the hoops were unguarded. It was an easy shot. Alexx was taking another penalty lap and had… failed at blatching? A shame, really, their aggressive Chaser had succeeded every other time, but her successes made up for her loss. Nico had their Beater and together, they had managed to knock a Gryffindor off of her broom. Great job, guys. It wasn't looking too bad for Slytherin. Maybe they still had a chance to win.

A familiar streak of red went whizzing by, aiming for Koko and Dan. Marla. She had heard that Marla was back on the team, but this was their first match playing against one another. Her best friend was almost taking out another close friend and Slytherin's captain and Seeker. That would've been bad, but fortunately she missed. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief at that and glanced around a final time. She wanted to go for the Quaffle again, but it was possible that things would not turn out that way. However it went, she just hoped that Slytherin could win this.

Doing as strategized

~ * ~

Action: Doing as strategised

Alexx missed. She never misses a blatch. And that means Evelynn was still in her broom. Plus the Lions were 10 points ahead. This was not in the plans for the young Slytherin girl when she dreamt about her first game. At least copious amounts of figurative (and potentially some literal) blood had been spilled tonight, hiding amongst the red of the other teams uniforms.

Dan needed to find the snitch, and fast. If he didn't, the game would be all down to quaffle goals. Tyranni assumed that Evelynn would also not have luck in finding this games very elusive snitch. There was not much time left for the Slytherin team.

Action: Benched

She failed. Putting aside her morals in pursuit of a victory, all for nothing. Dan had jumped out of the way. She wanted to scream, to cry, anything but be on that field. Did Ruby see? She frowned, the words penalty lap ringing in her ears as she began to take her punishment, gripping her broom with rage.

Action: Penalty lap

Both teams were out for blood. At least what was remaining from both sides of the field. Despite being shorted two crucial players, Gryffindor remained on the offense, though it was undoubtedly not as strong as before when the match had commenced. Nevertheless, they were still doing what they needed to and put up another ten points. They really needed to take the dynamic duo out, but they continued to bob and weave through every attack thrown against them without any effort. The two might have even been better together rather than apart. Dan was doing a pretty good job of keeping his grip firm, but neon red target on them only continued to grow as the game progressed. Another round of fire was bound to be unleashed.

A perfect record had been broken; Alexx. Everything came with a price. For some of the blatchers, their prize was watching as a rival fell to the ground rather unpleasantly, maybe even snapping a few bones. It was a custom in both chasers, Rafael and Alexx. The fouling move had definitely become one of their close friends. It was something to fall back on when times got rough, or in this case, dangerous, yet they were merely adding on to the infamy that Quidditch and its players carried. Groans and cheers spun around the field as the blonde missed her attack, the first time in the game. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Call it dignity or arrogance, the Gryffindor captain (who was flying with one glove?) still kept his head up and continued to push on even if the wall protecting his sanity was cracking like a windshield window. Though the stress continued to push him down, the only thing that seemed to be getting to him was... none other than Plott himself. 

Watching the black piece of fabric fly in his direction absentmindedly, he looked up at the player and chuckled to himself, observing as the stress of the game chased him around as he did to the quaffle. Players often got mad at the officials, it was common to argue or cause harm to them where he came from back in the States. Now it was his turn. "You've dropped something, mate." He didn't go to retrieve it, or even look in its direction; that was his responsibility, not some middle-aged man.

With the quaffle loose and another ten points on the board, things were beginning to look up for the Lions. All they had to do was take down the red, or green, target and secure their win. Their first win. There was a lot on the line. Doing that was easier said than done, however. Whether it was pure luck, skill, or even something else, they hadn't run out of it. Slytherin was not going to let that happen. They couldn't. 

─── ★ Chasers ★ ─── 

─────────── Results ───────────

This time it was Ruby that sped away with the quaffle. The goals were in her sights, with no one guarding them, much like the last round mirrored in Slytherin's favor. It wasn't a solid grab to say the least, but it was surely better than her teammates' as well as Charlie, who had the honor of tying up game. As he tried again, pushing his broom to the limits, quaffle points mattered more than ever. Proving his worth to the team by the second, he beamed as his captain gave him his words of gratitude and appreciation. 

Marla and Alexx were busy finishing of their damned lap, both for blatching. Listening to mixed emotions that darted throughout the stadium. While neither were targetted, it was still a punishment to be missing out on all of the action knowing there was nothing to do but watch.

"Cazares has the quaffle- Another 10 points to Slytherin!" Skidding passed the boy, the chaser made her way to the hoops, her purpose and objective clear. Flicking his wand in the direction, the serpents' score doubled and they were back in control with all seven slots filled with competent athletes. It was something the crowd couldn't get over with. 

Next up was the close friend of blatching, none other than the Gryffindor captain himself. He wasn't playing it safe and going for the Quaffle, though that might have secured the game, no. It was no surprise he was on the attack once again, going after his enemy for the day. All that anger had to be released somewhere, and there was no better way than blatching a rival. It was legal-er than punching Dan in the face and risking a detention anyway.  Plott hadn't even gotten a preview of what he was capable of. 

His eyes blazing with fire, he dropped down and launched his attack. Before contact could be made Dan and Koko, however, they nimbly evaded the attack once again without breaking a sweat. The crowd was on its feet, from both sides of the party. Noisy was simply an understatement to describe the volume of the Pitch. Lazarus had not missed the opportunity to get up to his feet and pump his fist in the air. The cheers were more than enough to drown groans and even yells. Who wouldn't be excited? They were watching a live-action rewriting of history. What would Oliver Wood have to say about this? 

"Another penalty lap, D'Spacito!" He called out with excitement in his voice. Beginning to wonder if there was a foul for calling out the umpire, Lazarus began pacing around the sidelines, almost annoyed at the boy for saying such things to him especially with his tone. Unfornuately, this wasn't basketball and he couldn't give out a technical foul. Something had gone wrong across the ocean. 

Bridget Collins is on lifeguard duty

Hugh Lowe abandoned his post and is on lifeguard duty

─── ★ Seekers ★ ─── 

───────────── Results ─────────────

This round had it's ups, downs, and faults, but it seemed as if a wave of bad luck had swept over the players, affecting all of their moves. Despite Koko and Dan's perfect evade, everything seemed to go downhill, but it could always be worse and the teams could have lost a player.

These two had an important job, ever since the start of the game, but their value was dying down as the game continued to progress. Professional matches were played to the end, the capture of the snitch, but the students were no pros and the game wouldn't be lasting long much to Plott's surprise. He frankly enjoyed watching such young students tear each other apart for a cup made of silver, though the sight of falling bodies was hard to withstand. Despite showing off their amazing evasive skills, Dan's locating skills simply didn't match up. His blatch early on in the game still had the crowd shook down to the core. 

Then a little glint a gold sparkled in the sunlight, and Plott covered his mouth immediately and grinned from his palms. There was no way he'd spotted the snitch before the students. He still continued to bounce up and down with excitement however. He could picture himself on a(n expensive) broom of his own hunting down those rapid little wings. Soaring... flying... and eventually reaching it and winning the game. All of this would have been exciting if it truly was the snitch, but it wasn't. The object was merely a hair clip blinding other spectators as she [NPC] moved around excitedly with every action.

With the score mimicking each other, it was truly anyones game. There was no clear winner. 

──────── Scoreboard ────────

Gryffindor 20

Slytherin 20