The girls seemed to squabble a little bit about the team makeup. Gwyn wasn’t sure what it mattered, given there was nothing serious about to happen, but he let them do their thing while chewing on another of his pills. Given the sport, he would have to put it down, settling for next to Mem on the sheet as the best place. The Needaimus made a passing comment about something, but the earthling didn’t pay much attention before walking back over to the eager players. In the time it took him, they had settled team debates, and soon, he and Fiona were standing opposed to Haliegh and Mina.

  Their opponents had the ball first, and the elf girl clumsily hit it into the sky with an ‘augh’ for extra sound effects. Any tourists watching stared solely at Mina even as the ball flew over the other side of the court. Gwyn shook his head and used his good hand to punch the soft sphere back into the air. It looked lazy, or maybe just unprofessional, but he couldn’t move his other arm in any other effective way.

  Haliegh stared with furrowed brows at the Nonpareil after his return but managed to lock back into the game with enough time to bump it back. Fiona jumped into the air, and the ball passed just above her fingertips.

  “Ah, I was planning to zap the rest of the height!”

  “No Needaimus, that would be cheating,” Gwyn returned as he clenched the ball with an outstretched hand.

  “So?” the blue princess returned. He knew he shouldn’t have expected any better from her.

  “Woohoo!” Haliegh cheered. She high-fived a confused Mina. The elf girl stared blankly at her palm for a moment before grinning. Her long ears wiggled, and she unnecessarily puffed out her chest.

  “How do you like that?” the elf hollered, “you think you can still beat us?”

  Gwyn mumbled as he approached Fiona, “It’s only one measly point.”

  Fiona, to his surprise, snapped her head at him and glared with firey purple eyes.

  “One point is nothing to scoff at; don’t you forget that!” She grabbed the ball and nodded seriously in a way that Gwyn only thought people in anime did.

  The blue princess tucked the ball under her arm like a football player and pointed to the others. “Don’t think this is the end. We are just getting started!”

  Mina, perhaps surprised by the Aqueenian girl’s sudden energy, got quiet and pulled her small swimsuit up some. Haliegh wasn’t going to take the challenge lying down.

  “Go ahead and make your pathetic throw, princess. We’ll show you what true Netzian skill looks like! Oh ho ho.”

  Gwyn felt energy from both the girls as if they were suddenly on fire. Mina looked back and forth between the two, then flashed Gwyn a look that said, ‘What is going on?’ He only shrugged in reply as Fiona slapped the ball skyward.

  “Mina, can you do a lift?” Haliegh asked while sprinting to her teammate.

  “I, uh,” was all Mina got out before locking fingers and thrusting the leaping green-haired girl unbelievably high into the air. The crowd oohed and aahed as Haliegh gracefully spun in the air and spiked the ball back down to the sand below.

  “We can do that too?” Fiona yelped as she ran to intercept the ball, returning it to the sky not with her arms but with a kick. From the strike, she made a spin and cupped her hands near the ground. “Come one, Gwyn!”

  “Hell no!” The ball landed next to the blue princess as Mina ran in circles to catch the plummeting Haliegh.

  “That’s two points!” Mina shouted while holding Haliegh like a princess, “Once we get the third one, you lose!” Despite her faux confident tone, she made putting her teammate down look so ungraceful that it seemed to get to her.

  “When was there a rule like that?” Gwyn shouted back.

  “That’s how it was in the book Ms. Kako wrote!” the elf, trying her best to add force to her tone, shouted back.

  Kako, from the sidelines, chimed in, “That book was a fictional work, my dear, but I would stick to those rules since you two seem to be getting thrashed.”

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  Fiona slid her foot on the sand much like a baseball player might and looked with ferocity at the other team.

  “Don’t go counting us out yet; Gwyn always managed to pull through when it counts!” she looked back to the Nonpareil and flashed a quick thumbs-up paired with a grin before locking back in on the game. He wasn’t sure where she ever got that idea; he was more likely to mess up when it finally counted, but kept his mouth shut and watched as Fiona readied the ball to send it over. She held her hand back a moment while glancing back and forth between the two opponents. Neither seemed to be distracted and waited for the game to proceed. The blue princess chose Haliegh as her target, sending the ball into the corner just past the green-haired girl. Haliegh leapt and managed to knock the ball airborne again for an elf girl running in circles to strike higher in the air than necessary.

  “Sorry!” Mina stammered. Gwyn wondered just how strong her thin arms actually were. Was Kako the type to write overpowered characters? Could she snap him like a twig despite being half his size?

  “Gwyn!” Fiona chirped. She grinned while bursting his way.

  “Let’s show them we have good teamwork too! I’ll go high!” Gwyn put his hand up in a mostly defensive measure as the blue girl jumped over his head. Blue feet bounced off his thrusting flat palm with less resistance than he expected. The Nonpareil had forgotten just how light she was compared to a human.

  “Two can play at that game!” Haliegh shot back. Mina once again thrust her into the air, and the two knocked the ball back and forth to one another while descending back down.

  Gwyn focused everything on trying to catch Fiona. He should have never gone along with the plan. Doing his best to center his good arm at her core, he tried to support with the weaker one, only to find himself off balance and slamming to his knees to keep both of them from cracking their heads open. The ball landed unceremoniously in front of them.

  “Well, drat,” Fiona whined, “And we were so close to beating them too.”

  “In what world do you live?” Gwyn shot back. The blue girl only chuckled as she let him help her to her feet before assisting in pulling him up. His knees stung. No skin broke open, and the sand seemed to have been a good enough cushion, so he could be sure there was little risk of infection or some other issue, but they still hurt. The earthling tried to remind himself that it wasn’t the worst pain he had ever experienced, but he didn’t really want to go down that line of thinking.

  Fiona marched to the net and met the other two nearby.

  “Well played, we’ll get you next game.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that, but maybe we should switch teams up?” Haliegh replied.

  “Um, look at all these people; I think others might want to play,” Mina added. She either was unaware or ignored that most were ogling her. Gwyn shook his head and realized he had a grin from ear to ear. He massaged his face until the expression was gone. Couldn’t have them seeing, after all. The others were still debating team lineups when he approached.

  “Just draw straws or something,” Gwyn said. “Or rock paper scissors.”

  Haliegh and Fiona spoke in unison, “What”?”

  After a quick explanation of rock paper scissors, Fiona cried out in dismay at her loss. Gwyn swapped with Mina on the court, and the next game began.

  By the time the sun was setting, the players had decided it was time to rest. Every team with the Nonpareil ended up losing, but no one bothered to bring that up, and he hoped no one ever would. Gwyn watched in awe as Odell and Cecilia, somewhat assisted by Hal’s younger sisters, slowly smoothed out the top of a glorious sandcastle large enough to house the whole gang inside. Fiona, eager to check it out once they gave approval, was the first to disappear behind the tall walls.

  “Should we go see?” Haliegh asked Gwyn.

  “You go on ahead; my legs are oddly sore after that last game,” he replied. There was no lie, but he was overexaggerating on purpose. She slid some green hair behind her ear before replying.

  “Sure, don’t take too long!”

  The Nonpareil was left alone with Mina and Kako and didn’t waste any time.

  “Are you really here for some statue?”

  “Why, of course, dear, what else would I have come to the beach for? Writers don’t like going outside, you know.”

  “And we just happened to meet? Again?”

  “Perhaps we are fated by Crenussal to cross paths. Such events are a common trope in stories, are they not?” The writer made a soft smile and folded hands over one another. Mina looked like she wanted to comment, but after glancing at Kako, settled to stare at her feet.

  “But this isn’t a story. It would be fun if it were.”

  “To writers, everything is a story, dear,” she leaned close to speak in an unneeded whisper, “and it's all fun if you know where to look.” Kako winked and pointed to the sand castle. Suggesting that he should join the others. Gwyn didn’t reply but looked beyond the writer and elf to an approaching lizard girl. Both Harlan and Rosemary had arms full of food items.

  “How long was that line?”

  “Oh, we didn’t wait, ah.” Rosemary stopped talking as Harlan’s tail whipped her ankle.

  “Very long,” the green girl replied. She clearly had hidden somewhere until later to avoid socializing. When he got a chance, Gwyn would have to get with her to learn her methods. He looked at the castle and wondered if it would be the case where it ended up bigger on the inside than outside. Ridiculous as the thought was, in a world of weird powers, he couldn’t discount any stupid idea.

  Dragging his feet across the sand, the earthling approached and poked his head inside. It was normal; he was more relieved than he realized he would be. Odell was giving a grand tour to the others while Cecilia swooned by his side of a square area no larger than Gwyn’s old apartment bedroom. The top remained open, proving the decoration was solely on the outside, but the place was still impressive nonetheless. The Nonpareil wondered where they got the energy to spend all day on the project.

  With the small tour made, a shout from Rheba, who peaked over the top like some sort of menacing titan, called them all to dinner. They funneled out and headed to several tables with umbrellas popped up.