CHAPTER 252: CHAPTER 239: VORPAL VS HARBOR KINGS (6)

Scoreboard: Vorpal 57 – Harbor 49.

1:32 remaining in the second quarter.

The gym pulsed like a living thing, chants shaking the rafters.

Lucas slapped hands with Louie as they lined up for the inbound. Their breathing was ragged, their jerseys clung to their backs, but their eyes? Still blazing.

Louie nudged Lucas with his elbow.

"You’re shining, sunshine. Don’t blind me."

Lucas smirked.

"Then keep up. You dance, I’ll echo."

The ball came in. Evan dribbled past half court and swung it to Lucas. Clamps closed in immediately, his crouch still suffocating.

Lucas crossed once, then slipped the ball behind his back—not to attack, but to Louie on the wing.

Louie caught it, dipped his shoulder, and snapped into a wild streetball rhythm—two crossovers, a hesitation, then a fake step-back.

Slick lunged at the fake, but Louie didn’t shoot. Instead, he scooped the ball right back to Lucas, who mirrored Louie’s exact hesitation step, golden eyes glowing.

(His rhythm... I can feel it. Not just copy. Flow with it.)

Lucas drove hard baseline, but instead of forcing the layup, he flicked the ball back over his head straight into Louie’s pocket.

Louie grinned wide.

"Bang-bang!"

Pull-up three.

SWISH!

The Vorpal bench exploded, players nearly spilling onto the court. Ryan hammered the scorer’s table again, veins bulging in his arms.

Scoreboard: Vorpal 60 – Harbor 49.

Harbor pushed back fast. Slick tore across half court, jaw clenched.

"You think you can clown me with your bootleg streetball? Watch this!"

He hit Louie with a double-cross, then a shamgod dribble that nearly pulled him off balance. Louie stumbled but didn’t fold.

"Nah, not again. You fooled me once—never twice!" Louie barked, hips low, feet dancing.

Slick tried to rise for the floater, but Lucas slid across help-side mimicking Slick’s exact dribble tempo, shadowing him like a mirror.

"What—?!" Slick blurted, forced to kick out to Rhythm Banks.

Rhythm’s midrange jumper was smooth as silk swish but Vorpal’s defense had cut the bleeding.

Scoreboard: Vorpal 60 – Harbor 51.

0:58 left.

Lucas grabbed the inbound, adrenaline thundering. Louie drifted up beside him, their steps almost in rhythm.

Louie chuckled, wiping sweat from his brow.

"So what, we’re a duet now?"

Lucas’s grin was sharp, almost feral.

"No duet. One song. You lead, I echo. Let’s burn this clock."

The possession began like jazz—Louie freestyle dribbled high, his moves erratic, spinning into space. Lucas circled him, watching every twitch, every bounce.

Louie hit a wild behind-the-back crossover, then a fake spin. Without hesitation, Lucas mirrored the same sequence half a beat later, dragging Clamps into a spiral.

The crowd roared. "OOOOOH!"

Louie dropped a no-look shovel pass into the lane. Lucas, already in sync, darted right on time, catching and twisting in mid-air for a reverse layup.

"AND-ONE!!" the ref’s whistle blared as Wave’s arm hacked across Lucas’s.

The ball kissed the glass, dropped through.

Lucas roared, pumping his fist. Louie pounded his chest, shouting to the heavens.

"We synced up, baby! SUNSHINE x STREET! Can’t guard that!"

The gym was shaking, fans stomping bleachers in unison.

Scoreboard: Vorpal 62 – Harbor 51.

And Lucas still had a free throw to come.

0:36 left in the half.

Across the court, Sora Nakamura slammed her clipboard shut, eyes like steel.

"Clamp down! Don’t let them dance together!" she barked.

But even as she shouted, Harbor’s players exchanged quick, unsettled glances. For the first time, their confidence wavered.

And on Vorpal’s side, Ayumi whispered, eyes trembling as she scribbled furiously in her notes:

"Lucas isn’t just mimicking anymore... he’s fusing. With Louie’s rhythm, with his teammates’ flow. If this keeps evolving... Harbor might not have an answer."

Ethan’s smirk only widened on the bench, arms folded, his gaze locked on the chaos.

(Yes... let it burn brighter. Shine, Lucas. Shine until the whole court sees you can’t be stopped.)

The buzzer was less than a minute away—

But already, Vorpal’s fire felt unstoppable.

Lucas stepped toward the free throw line. He twirled the ball once in his hands, his lungs pulling in steady breaths. Around him, Harbor’s defenders tried to compose themselves—Clamps crouched low, Slick rubbed his temples, Diesel slapped his chest to psych himself up but the cracks were showing.

Sora Nakamura’s voice sliced across the gym.

"Focus! No more mistakes. Thirty-six seconds—we finish strong!"

Lucas glanced at her sidelong, the grin tugging his lips sharp.

(You want focus? Watch this.)

He bounced the ball twice. Spun it once. Exhaled.

The release was clean, effortless, his form almost unnervingly smooth.

SWISH!

Scoreboard: Vorpal 63 – Harbor 51.

The lead had stretched to twelve.

Harbor inbounded immediately. Slick Vasquez snatched the ball and sprinted, refusing to let Vorpal’s momentum crush them further. His dribble was vicious, ball-on-a-string as he snapped between his legs, weaving through half-court traffic.

Louie cut in front, arms out.

"Nah-uh! You ain’t shaking me, Cross King!"

Slick’s smirk curved sharp.

"You sure about that, street rat?"

Hesitation. Cobra Cross. The kind of move that had broken dozens of ankles on blacktops across the city. Louie staggered back half a step, his balance wavering.

But Lucas, eyes burning gold, mirrored the rhythm from help-side. His body bent the same way, feet sliding into perfect counter position.

(Got you. Your cross is mine now.)

Slick saw it too late. His lane closed like a trap.

Forced to improvise, he kicked the ball out to Rhythm Banks. Rhythm rose into his trademark pull-up, the two-dribble midrange jumper flowing as naturally as breathing.

SWISH.

The net snapped clean.

Scoreboard: Vorpal 63 – Harbor 53.

0:22 left.

Vorpal slowed the pace. Evan dribbled the ball high, signaling with his off-hand. The squad spread wide, milking the clock. Louie drifted into the corner, Lucas circled toward the wing, Ryan and Brandon anchored near the paint.

From the bench, Ayumi scribbled notes furiously. Her voice was a whisper drowned by the crowd.

"One shot left... if they hit here, Harbor walks into halftime down double digits. That changes the psychology completely."

Ethan leaned forward, elbows on knees, gaze locked.

(Don’t rush it. Lucas, Louie...this is your possession. Burn the time. Make it count.)

Ten seconds.

Evan handed off to Lucas at the wing. Clamps pressed up tight, his sweat dripping onto the hardwood.

"You’re not slipping by me again, sunshine."

Lucas only smiled.

"Then let’s dance."

Eight seconds.

Lucas dribbled twice, hard. A sharp cross, low to the ground. His feet tapped into Louie’s rhythm wild, unpredictable, erratic. Clamps mirrored, but Lucas already shifted, using the exact hesitation Slick had shown earlier.

Five seconds.

Louie shouted from the corner.

"Shine it up, sunshine! Cook him!"

Lucas drove left, planted, then fired a bullet bounce-pass behind Clamps’s leg. Louie had already cut baseline, catching it in stride. He leapt, defenders collapsing on him—then flung the ball back over his shoulder.

Lucas caught it at the arc, rising into the shot.

Two seconds.

The release was pure. Smooth. Confident.

The buzzer blared.

BUZZER-BEATER THREE—SWISH!!

The gym detonated.

Scoreboard: Vorpal 66 – Harbor 53.

Halftime.

The players scattered to their benches, the roar still echoing like thunder.

Vorpal’s squad was electric. Josh slapped Lucas’s back, laughing so hard his voice cracked.

"Golden boy’s frying them! Harbor don’t know what hit ’em!"

Ryan flexed, winking at Ayumi.

"Twelve-point lead, baby! And that’s before I even start heating up."

Brandon smacked Ryan on the back of the head, grinning.

"Sit down, playboy. Lucas and Louie carried that one."

Louie practically danced into the huddle, chest puffed out.

"Street x Sunshine, Coach! They ain’t guarding THAT. Write it down!"

Lucas sat, breathing heavy, sweat dripping down his temples. But his grin? Untouchable.

"They’re showing me everything. And I’m taking it all."

Across the court, Harbor’s huddle was nothing but fire and frustration.

Sora Nakamura’s voice was razor-sharp.

"What did I say? CLAMP DOWN! You let them dance together, and this is what happens!"

Clamps wiped his mouth with his jersey, fury twisting his features.

"I had him. But he’s, he’s stealing our moves, Coach. Every damn one of them."

Slick slammed his fist against the floor.

"He mirrored me. Me! I’m the Cross King. How the hell do you guard someone who copies your rhythm step-for-step?"

Diesel growled, shaking his head.

"Forget copies. Next half, we crush them with power. We break their bodies, then their flow dies."

Sora’s eyes cut through them all, cold and unyielding.

"Then break them. Adjust, adapt. Because right now...Vorpal believes they’re untouchable. Our job is to remind them they’re not."

Back on Vorpal’s side, Ayumi scribbled until her pen nearly snapped. Her words came out fast, almost breathless.

"He’s no longer just mimicking... Lucas is syncing. Louie gave him rhythm, Slick gave him hesitation, Clamps gave him pressure reads. It’s becoming a complete arsenal. If he keeps fusing... by the fourth quarter..."

Her hand trembled.

"...He might not be human anymore."

The halftime buzzer echoed again, signaling the players into the locker rooms.

Vorpal walked tall, a twelve-point lead glowing on the scoreboard. Harbor marched in silence, fury boiling in their steps.

And somewhere in between, the entire gym knew...

This wasn’t just a semifinal anymore.

It was the birth of something terrifying.

Lucas Graves had arrived.

And the second half promised war.

To be continue