"Players, proceed to the court. I repeat, proceed to the court." Someone or something suddenly spoke.
It was a female voice, but Author's hologram was not present. They all heard the voice and looked at each other in confusion.
"Position, two teams at the center according to your assigned area."
Then they saw the clock timer light up at the height of each team's ring. The rings were a bit shorter, about 2.5 meters in height only. The female voice that spoke seemed to be the timer. Instead of real people announcing the game, here they had a talking machine.
"Rules and regulations are lifted. When defied, a certain castigation will be given."
The middle part of the court opened in a circle, the size of a ball's hole. The ball came out of there, and the floor closed again. So, that was the special ball Author was referring to, not the balls stacked at the corner.
"The game will start in 3, 2,"
Every player stared at each other seriously.
"1, *whistle*"
The ball jumped voluntarily upwards, and the two teams scattered to catch the ball.
Second wondered what the ball looked like. It appeared to have a dark blue water design in it, so it seemed to be moving.
"W-Wait, what's in there?" Aeith asked, standing up to get a good look at the ball being passed around.
"Isn't that…" Fourth held her mouth, and her eyes widened.
Because of their reaction, she squinted to see the ball clearly. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
What was inside the ball was an organ…
"A liver," she heard Tenth's voice. She stared at her for a moment.
The liver looked real, and it bounced when dribbled. As Author had mentioned earlier, the ball contained an organ. Was that what the liver was for?
Their team was the first to steal the ball, led by Seventh. He was good. Aeith and Tenth continued to cheer their team. She watched every player; they were confused, yet they tried to focus. Fifth and Ninth were great too. Third, on the other hand, tried to do his part. First didn't seem to mind.
Second didn't know how long and what the rules of basketball were on Earth, but here, it seemed weird. The playing time and rules were different.
Two minutes had passed, and still, no one was able to shoot. Every member was determined that no one had scored yet. Speaking of scores, there was no scoreboard here, just a clock timer. How were they going to keep track of the scores correctly?
*whistle*
She wondered why someone whistled.
"Player Fifzen, rule number 3, defied. Castigation will begin at any moment."
They were all puzzled when the game stopped abruptly, and the timer spoke. She glanced at the timer, and round 1 – 04:06 minutes was down. Round 1 was about to end.
"Awww!" They stood in shock when they heard Fifzen and saw him lying in the middle of the court holding his left leg. He was squinting and writhing in pain. They approached him.
"What happened to you?" Sevenzen supported him.
It took him a couple of breaths before he responded. "My leg is sprained. Ah!"
"Come on, let's lift him," Sevenzen ordered, and they helped Fifzen walk to the side near the bleachers.
"Does anyone have a towel?" Firstwen called everyone.
"Here," Sixth handed her a white towel that was on the edge of the bleachers.
Towels were used to wrap Fifzen's sprained leg. He was just lying down to rest.
"Now what? We're short on a player," Ninezen worried. He glanced at the timer. "The one-minute break is over."
"No idea. The game would probably pause," Thirtwen commented and grabbed a bottle of water.
Fifzen got up from lying down.
"Rest first. You can play after you've recovered," Sevenzen suggested to him, and he forced him to lie down first.
Insistently, Fifzen sat up and lifted his leg.
"Are you okay?" Aeith asked.
"I don't know, but I don't feel any pain anymore." He even stood up and jumped to prove that he was now okay.
"You all good? You looked like you had diarrhea in pain." Ninezen mixed his question with humor.
Fifzen ran to court and claimed, "I can run!"
"Round two will start in 10, 9," The timer machine started its countdown.
"Hey, it's the second round."
"Go back!"
"Get in here!"
The boys went ahead and ran to the middle for reposition.
"8, 7, 6, 5"
As the countdown progressed, she noticed the gold team muttering. Probably telling their members about their strategies.
"4, 3, 2, 1, *whistle*"
And round 2 had begun. She didn't know what difference this game had compared to a regular basketball game, other than the odd ball with an organ, so she didn't understand what rule Fifzen broke, so his name was called earlier by the timer.
"Here, here!"
"Go, Silver team! Go!"
"Here we go, gold team!"
A combination of squeaky noises from the boys' rubber shoes, random yells from both teams, the loud thud of their footsteps, and the cheer of the girls filled the whole basketball court.
Second noticed the ball. It changed in color this time. Now, it was silver, and its inside was… intestines?
"The gold team got it." Her gaze went back to the players when Aeith blurted.
Had anyone scored yet?
"Boys!" The gold team applauded each other. They had already scored.
"Ahhh!" someone shouted, and it was Seventh. What happened?
"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Ninezen frowned at his friend, Seventh.
Seventh sat on the court floor and lay down. He grabbed Ninezen's right foot. "H-Help. My stomach hurts, Ahhh!"
Other players came closer to Seventh.
"Leg sprain?" Third asked him.
"N-No…" Seventh sweated and was crying in pain. He wasn't aware of why it happened to him.
"Come on, let's help him," Forzen offered help to the team. The girls of the gold team supported him to the side and gave him water to drink if it would help, but he was still writhing in pain.
"Players, back to the game. You have already consumed one minute. I repeat, back to the game. Your aching teammate can go back to the game any moment after fully recovering." The machine stated. She glanced at the timer, and it was 2:10.
"How can we continue playing when one of the players is hurt?" Ninezen wondered.