D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

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In between rounds, Thyme clarified some of the rules just to make sure everyone was still on the same page, but they aligned with Kress\' assumptions so nothing turned out to be a surprise. The only one Kress was worried about, was a rule against swapping paddles, either during a round, or in between them, yet there was nothing. Kress was somewhat curious about that, and still doubted that you could just swap out damaged paddles whenever… but it would certainly be fine between rounds… right?

One interesting thing to note, was that even though Romilda wasn\'t allowed to float around on her metal, Thyme had raised the ground up on Romilda\'s side of the board so that she could reach properly. Kress wasn\'t sure what he thought about that change. Romilda\'s drastically reduced reach with her arms was still a problem. Kress wasn\'t complaining though. 

In addition to that, Kress\' desire to keep his final secret strategy ready seemed to be ridiculous as he watched Vanya and Romilda bat the ball back and forth. It was… somewhat sad after the rallies he\'d shared with Willow. They weren\'t even five minutes in and the score was already 3-3. Their skill just wasn\'t up to par. It was mostly in regards to their arm, regularly trying to hit edge shots like Willow and Kress had, but Romilda and Vanya were more likely to hit the ball off the edge. 

In fact, the only reason things had been going on for as long as they had, was because Vanya and Romilda would occasionally hit the ball back even when it looked like it was going over the edge, artificially extending the rally. Kress just rolled his eyes, and watched it all happen. A few minutes later they were up to 5 all, and there was still no tension. It would come down to who fucked up the least. 

Which, eventually, was revealed to be Romilda. She went for careful shots, continually hitting the ball back towards the middle of the table without trying for anything fancy. Vanya tried a bit harder… and to nobodies\' surprise, it blew up in her face. Romilda just happened to be one point up already, and as such won the game in that moment. Vanya pouted but didn\'t complain as she stepped back from the board. 

Bonas was giving a chance to try out the paddle a bit before the match started, just like the others, and Kress got an extra break. Bonas, apparently, didn\'t know how to control her strength quite as well as he did because already Kress could see the paddle breaking, and just a few hits later, it shattered. 

Bonas frowned down at the stick in her hand and picked up a new one, ready to try again with what time she had left. She… sort of succeeded? It seemed that when she wasn\'t using her full strength then her aim was poor and her reaction time was stilted. It was like mentally holding back her strength was holding back her everything. So Kress had a nasty idea. 

*I\'m trying to be a better person… so should I really be doing this?* Yes, Kress thought to himself as he took up his space opposite Bonas. It was a competition, and he wanted to win. Nicer he might be, but he saw nothing dishonourable about what he was about to do. 

The rally was a bit slow once Kress served. Back and forth, Kress wanted things to stay calm. He made no plans to do anything fancy, until Bonas made an attempt at a corner shot to get him moving. It failed. The ball was smacked just slightly too hard, a recurring theme with Bonas. Kress just had to step back and away from the ball and let it fall to the ground. 

The second rally started with Bonas\' serving, and continued much the same way until Kress changed his tactics up. Each time the ball came to his side, Kress would smack it slightly harder and send it flying for Bonas\' face. She just had to move back a tad and it would be fine, but the first time she was caught off-guard and barely managed to hit the ball back so Kress sent it to the corner with force, scoring his second point. 

Third rally, Kress serve. He didn\'t even try to disguise what he was doing. Kress sent the ball straight to Bonas\' face, increasing the power a bit every time she stepped back until Bonas\' a few paces away from the table. Kress, trying to be tricky, sliced the ball, killing its momentum. Perhaps, with some practice it would\'ve been a killer move, and another point to him… but instead it landed on his half the board and then spun off to the side. Point to Bonas. 

Which was the last point Bonas would get for two rounds. The first point Kress earned was after a decent rally, Bonas had tried to hit the ball low and it got caught in the net. The second point Kress earned was one he actually felt a bit bad for. He was back to hitting towards Bonas\' face exclusively, and in a moment of panic, the wolfgirl swiped at the ball and clipped it with the edge, sending it straight upwards into her nose. 

Kress had to wince at that one. *Sure I was trying to hit her in the face… but that\'s just unfortunate.* Even as the pair walked over to the side to take a gulp of water, Kress had to look away. Even if he knew that the reason for Bonas\' tears was almost certainly the strike to the nose, and not any true feelings of sadness, it still pained him a bit to see. *I really didn\'t want to hit anyone in the nose because this is what happens. Now I\'m one point away from winning and I feel almost like the bad guy. It was a good plan. It worked, it got me a point… but I\'m not sure I want to stick with it for the future rounds.*

Kress twirled the paddle in his hands as he contemplated what he wanted he wanted to do. *Right. Bonas is still drinking, and that\'s fine. Not going to push her after that, even if it might get me free points. How do I want to get it then? I\'d just be off my game if I felt bad because I kept aiming at her face. So the question is… what CAN I do? Just play well perhaps?*

Kress nodded to himself and walked back over to the table. It was a subtle pressure for Bonas to hurry up a bit, a slight edge, but one he could deny if pressed. Despite that, Bonas took one more gulp of water and walked over, ready for the what could be the final point. Bonas\' hands were shaking as she got ready for her serve, and Kress made the decision not to press her on it. 

They held position for one minute, two, and Bonas only seemed to get more on edge as the time passed. Kress didn\'t know what to do. *Do I force her to serve? She\'s only getting more agitated the longer we wait, but I don\'t want to make it look like I\'m pressuring her. Not only would that be a dick move, but Nixilei will give me hell for it, let alone the rest of the watchers. 

Actually, why the fuck am I the only guy in this contest? I didn\'t really think about it before now, but how did it shake out this way? It\'s not like we have an overwhelming number of women in this round. Why did I end up the odd one out? Why didn\'t I just play dodgeball? Then again… that might not have helped. 

Wait… is it more sexist to not want to fight women? It\'s not like they\'re strength is usually in question. I wouldn\'t want to fight March in a wrestling match… but these ones just… well only Willow seems like she could possibly have beaten me. Ergh… whatever let\'s stop psyching myself out.*

Eventually Bonas steeled her resolve… but apparently not enough. She smacked the ball straight into the net and Kress awkwardly scratched at his neck and looked over at Thyme. Thyme frowned down at the net. "Hmm… I hadn\'t exactly played for anyone to fail when starting off so I don\'t have a rule for it… I guess… Kress gets the point? Kress wins?" said Thyme, unsure of the result even as they said it. 

"I\'m willing to give her another shot?" said Kress. 

"No it\'s fine, I don\'t want any pity," said Bonas, shaking her head at the result. In her mind, it wasn\'t worth redoing. Kress was quite far ahead, and she was under no delusions that it would be easy to carve out a win. Better to save the stamina and hope for better luck in the next matches.

Kress just shrugged in response. Turning away from the table and heading back to the sidelines. *It wasn\'t necessarily pity… but if you don\'t want to take it, at least I feel less like the bad guy. I did offer after all.*