There are races where nothing happens,
And there are turns where a season happens.

Twenty racers will roll onto Felynia’s Mirage Meowntain circuit this weekend in the most competitive Marbula One season ever. It’s big enough news that the race will decide the season-long struggle between the Crazy Cat’s Eyes and the O’rangers. Even more unprecedented is that six racers can still win the individual championship, staking a claim to one of the greatest racing marbles of all time.

But what determines greatness when so many are in top physical form, have podiums or race wins under their belt, and have years of racing experience?

As reporters, our job is not to tell you what the answers are. But we can show you how the Marbula One championship contenders are preparing for their moment of truth. These are the days before our greatest athletes climb to the top of the Meowntain.

“The Scheme”

Scientists by training, lovers of reason, the Kobalts still beat themselves up over “why they didn’t start Marbula racing five years earlier.” But by now they finished their debut season as the second-best rookie team, their Marbula circuit was topped off and the whole team threw themselves into racing analytics.

Stopping in Zuro before flying to Felynia, Royal – an original 2016 team member and the Kobalts’ close-out racer – opened their eyes wide at the dozen books stacked before them.

“We’ve developed the most advanced racing analytics for you to read through,” said Captain Azure. “Those two books analyze how you can go pole-to-win and become Racer Champion. The book to your right explains the lower-risk strategy of staying in the top five and blocking Clutter–”

“This is great work and I appreciate you all,” said Royal. “But I won’t have time to read this today. I invited some friends from the track this Season for a visit.”

Shock, horror, a bolt from the blue: these words barely describe the rest of the Kobalts as they raced to stop Royal from opening the doors to the team headquarters. “This is not a joke, Royal!” warned team manager Dodger. “You should know the amount of top secret research here that other teams could steal!”

“You all should relax and just watch me handle this,” said Royal, who blocked Azure’s last lunge toward the door handles. In came a gaggle of racers, as colorful as a rainbow, who have run all six of their season’s races: Mimo of Team Momo, Iceberg of the Gliding Glaciers, the Turtle Sliders’ Dash bringing their whole posse, and more.

The Kobalts only showed the guests a few rooms without any trade secrets, but that was enough to make them marvel. “This is a mo-momentous building,” said Mimo. “I’m embarrassed to have not known Zuro was so high-tech!”

“Truth be told, I’ll say that you guys are one of the best additions to Marbula One,” said Thunder of the Thunderbolts. “The Electron Expressway is so well designed. Every part of this building was built with care. Now I see how you race so well on any type of circuit because you think things through.”

The day peaked when Royal treated everyone to lunch, passing desserts around a giant bowl of fried rice and peas. With some good food, even the rest of the Kobalts joined in on joking with the guests: they vented over the few track features no racer enjoyed or talked about all the gossip they overheard from the top teams’ garages.

With a full heart and a full belly, the Kobalts waved their guests farewell. “It was a great plan of yours in the end,” said Coach Sapphire. “We really did need that time off from work.”

“Who says that wasn’t work?” smirked Royal as they pulled out their phone. “The whole meal I was recording everything shared about training habits. We heard Mimo talk about keeping the lead… Mocha on hard contact racing… Dash leaking many of the Cat’s Eyes’ training routines when the Sliders visited them…”

The rest of the team broke into laughter. “This is amazing,” said Cerulean. “You really are the smartest of us all!”

“The Rivals”

Clutter, as always, went to practice at the next track alone. The one marble who calls themselves a “Red Hot Mess” with pride, the Balls of Chaos star always felt like training at the strangest hours. The one time they agreed to Coach Harmony’s exercise routine was in the build-up to the Momotorway GP, admitting some professionalism could help them overtake Red Eye in the title battle.

Clutter finished eleventh at the Momotorway, plus had to suffer through Team Primary’s Prim taking pole there the day before. “Never again!” said Clutter in an interview. “Rules are meant to be broken, and I am my own marble. I do not live by the schedule, I live in the now.”

The sun had only risen for a while, long enough for some BoC diehards to sneak onto the stands, banging pans or blowing into any trombone or rolled newspaper they could find. For a few minutes, Clutter hopped off the track to greet those ragtag noisemakers.

Face to face with the racer, the fans were screaming about how Clutter was the team’s best athlete. Then the fans got a taste of Clutter’s wit: “Well, don’t get your hopes up. I might not feel like racing Sunday morning.”

The fans went quiet until someone asked: “That’s a joke, right? You’re going to be the champion, this is what we’ve waited six years for!”

“And I waited longer than that to encounter a true adversary!” said Clutter. “Find me a rival that’s at my level and you guys will get the show you want.”

Like Coach Harmony and the BoC athletes before them, the fans came out of that conversation with Clutter thoroughly confused. But for now, they’ll go back to their cheer: “Never sputter when we have Clutter!”

Aryp went to practice at the next track alone, something they’re now resigned to. Yellup from Mellow Yellow offered them a ride to the circuit grounds, which they were happy to accept.

Memories raced through Aryp’s mind whenever they were by themselves. For a few seconds, it was their brilliant last lap overtakes and a bronze medal at Tumult Turnpike. Then it was their first trip through the fog on the way to Misty Mountain; some late night talks about nothing with Coach Secondary; and the mornings when only Aryp came into the team office, passing by a painting of a cube crossed out in red.

Then something more solid formed in their mind: a Balls of Chaos marble Aryp faced three times and had not yet beaten; a racer who loves to race hard and make sneaky overtakes; a racer who, when Prim and Rima first trained Aryp for Marbula One, made sure to mention: “you keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Study their style well.”

Clutter, Marbula One’s firecracker; Clutter, who has evaded Primary’s attempts to overtake them for two seasons straight. And even if Prim thinks about sculpture now more than about courses, even if Rima prefers now to paint landscapes more than race in front of them, Aryp felt nearly rejuvenated at the thought of catching Clutter once and for all.

“Hey, Aryp, are you okay? You haven’t said a thing in five minutes,” said Yellup. “Watch out too, you don’t want to lean too far out the window.”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” said Aryp. “It’s just when I can feel the wind around me, it reminds me of racing… It makes me feel alive.”

Aryp would get ready for their Mirage Meowntain session right as Clutter’s time was up. The chaotic racer caught a glimpse of Aryp’s tricolored streaks, and shouted right away: “You finally dare to challenge me, Prim!”

“Wrong marble,” said Aryp back. “Curses, it’s Aryp,” said Clutter. “Why not relay to your teammate that it’s the height of cowardice to avoid me!”

Then Clutter noticed Aryp stayed silent. On the other end of the stadium, Team Primary’s racer, glittering in the sun, stared at their rival. The audience started to cheer and holler at them both, noises the racers blocked out of their minds.

As they stared each other down, they knew why the other was there – and why this week the other will get their just desserts.

“The Surprise”

Team Galactic, holders of Polarian technology, always find a way to travel a day faster than any other team. Among all the advanced machinery next to their paddock, one stands out: the machines that assemble all kinds of turns, curbs, and splits together.

The Galactic marbles’ high-speed racing has always been tempered by the way they lose control out of turns, so the team’s routine is to have the two racers practice turn entry back to back. Starry practices for ten minutes, followed by equal time for Cosmo.

Cosmo, the team’s Marble League captain but Marbula One rookie, was not eager at the first switch: “Coach, Starry, there’s nothing for me to do today. Only Starry needs practice because they’re the ones who can still win.” But, Starry insisted, we have to follow the routine. And Cosmo went through the turn and heard Starry in the background: “Eyes on that split, we can’t repeat what happened on the O’raceway. Try going into it with some backspin.”

Cosmo switched to Starry and stayed silent while watching them work through a chicane. Starry switched to Cosmo and Starry made notes: “Stay on the outside line there. You wouldn’t want to be caught in a marble train on the inside.”

Six switches later, as the desert sun above spared no one, Cosmo stopped in their tracks. “I’m sorry, Starry, what is the point of this? It doesn’t help either of us to show off that you’re a racer and I’m not.”

“That’s just preposterous. This is our routine and we work together, it’s not like you’re just my mechanic or my servant,” said Starry.

“Maybe I should be for this week!” said Cosmo. “I wasn’t good enough to be your teammate. I failed at Midnight Bay. I heard you talking alone to Coach Black Hole this morning. You guys have a game plan without me.”

Apart from last year’s outburst at the Honeydome stewards, Starry is not known for their emotions. But right now those emotions were on full display: “This is nonsense, Cosmo. It was me who wasn’t good enough for you. It was the rest of our team who didn’t prepare you enough and convert your talent on the track.”

“Besides, you pushed much harder on Midnight Bay than I did two years ago,” said Starry. “Now that is nonsense,” said Cosmo. “I studied your races from Season 1 carefully…”

Raw moments like these are why Starry and the team follow their routine: every athlete knows they have the right, if not the expectation, to criticize and suggest improvements to each other. The routine also keeps Starry mentally aware and committed to not repeating any racing mistake that they’ve seen before.

As for the conversation with Black Hole, Starry asked: “Don’t tell me you thought Coach Black Hole was going to replace you or something silly?”

Cosmo bit their mouth and let Starry explain: “Coach heard a rumor that Royal Stardust is sending us some sort of message, so they were going out to double-check.”

Just then Coach Black Hole returned to the garage, and indeed with four royal emissaries in tow. They set down a Polarian projector, and in an instant the Galactic racers were immersed in a hologram, hovering in the air and looking down at Polaria’s ruler.

“My best regards to you, Cosmo and Starry…” mumbled Stardust as they flipped through note cards. “With a podium in both Marbula One championships in sight, the citizens of Polaria told me they wanted to display their gratitude…

“Every point you two won was hard-fought, against Marblearth’s best. Every risk you took was what a championship-winning team must do.” Now Stardust was speaking off the cuff and belting out their words: “This week, our faith in you is absolute. Look down on Polaria, and fight for us all!”

That was when Starry and Cosmo saw beside Royal Stardust thousands of marbles standing in formation, and a select few taking on purple uniforms. The purple marbles formed not just the Galactic logo, but a message: “GAL FOREVER.”

The two Galactic racers teared up. “I’m right here for you, Starry,” said Cosmo. “Last week we lost the battle, but this week we’ll win the war.”

“The Legacy”

No crowds were forming for the reigning Racer’s Champion, the marble with the most Marbula One wins, an athlete known by every parent and child in Felynia. For, apart from race weekend appearances at the last two GPs, Red Eye has gone missing.

Statistics say that Red Eye should not fret: up to each season’s penultimate race, they earned more points this season than the last one. The first half of Red Eye’s season also featured their finest racing ever, ending in three-for-three podium finishes. But faced with uncertainty, and the threat of a credible challenger, athletes fall apart.

Never had Red Eye lost their cool more than at the start of the Stardust Accelerator. What seemed like a pole-to-win race for the Cat’s Eye was derailed by Mocha pushing them off the starting racing line. Red Eye beached onto the first sector attenuator, watched 15 marbles overtake them, and screamed over the team radio: “Cleocatra’s Curse!!”

The garage had no response.

Red Eye would finish in P8 at the Accelerator, but then would crash again early at the Short Circuit helices, mired in the midpack to finish in P12. Their famed acceleration seemed so blunted on the new tracks, as the analysts flocked instead to study the steady position climbing from the O’rangers to Team Galactic.

The last thing Red Eye said at the Short Circuit was from their last public interview this season, maybe for good reason. The Racer’s Champion cut off another racer at a press conference to say: “The truth is I have my doubts about this season’s race management. I certainly think the team management is not fighting enough for me.”

The day after, Coach White Eye would read out Red Eye’s last public statement so far: “I am deeply sorry for the comments I made… It does not reflect the marble I strive to be, and shows character flaws I must eliminate.”

A moment like that also reminds us of Coach White Eye’s trial by fire, the coach who had the most successful Marbula One season ever. Now, they have to defend their racers against race control while also rebuffing Felynia press calling to ax Yellow Eye next Marbula One season. With both their racers retreating from view, only White Eye spoke on behalf of the team at press conferences.

What we also know is that White Eye has been seen out late with other coaches of top teams, such as the Green Ducks’ Coach Bombay or the Savage Speeders’ Coach Quickly. And it was Speedy of the Savage Speeders, in an interview, who may see the situation most clearly:

“Of course the Crazy Cat’s Eyes are changing their attitude. I will say that Coach Quickly and I met them in private recently, and they are as kind and as entertaining as ever. But, as defending champions, there will always be too many pairs of judging eyes wanting them to fail. You wield your outbursts like your personal sword and silence your best shield. 

“Red Eye might be seeing what I saw. If you think you’re the greatest of all time, every race you’ll run until you retire is the most important race of your life. The moment you mess up on one, others will question you and others will challenge you.

“It’s not an easy life. Red Eye should take as much alone time as they need to decide how much they want it.”

Two days after White Eye’s team returned to Felynia, the coach finally answered a question on Red Eye’s location. “I apologize for the secrecy, which we decided upon to protect Red Eye,” said the coach. “For the last three weeks and until the qualifying day, Red Eye is spending as much time as possible training in the Cat’s Dunes. They wish to be undisturbed there.”

The Cat’s Dunes, where the Cat’s Eyes athletes trained in 2019 and came out in 2020 as a top-tier team; the Cat’s Dunes, into which Felyni urban legend says Red Eye ventured and was taken in by the rally racer Crazy Cat’s Eye. Yellow Eye, who reappeared at the press conference that day, dismissed the craziest theories spreading among the press.

“I promised Red Eye that I’ll visit them there before the race,” said Yellow Eye. “There I’ll tell them they’re my mentor… that they brought marble sports to our city… and that there’s always hope.”

“One Day”

These are happy days for Marblearth’s Orange Army. The O’rangers’ gambit to undercut the Crazy Cat’s Eyes ahead of the final race worked: Orangin dominated Yellow Eye at Midnight Bay and finished the GP in a ripping sixth. But the day after just began for the young racer.

Our first glimpse of Orangin was when they left the Helarve hotel around Midnight Bay at 4 in the morning, flying with the team back to Orlango for two nights. Just the walk to the plane gate was enough time for hundreds of O’rangers fans to cheer at them, chest-bump them, or get all philosophical. 

Talk to an O’rangers fan right now, and many will assure you they knew all along that Orangin would be the greatest. “Orangin’s performance at the Electron Expressway was a tour de force… a testament to how much they put into training in the off-season,” opined one supporter. A younger fan yelled out more bluntly: “WE’RE GOING TO WIN THE LEAGUE! THE O’S ARE SEALED TO WIN NOW!!! THE O’S WILL WIN THE LEAGUE!”

Orangin’s mediocre Season 2 was its own strange blessing because it meant they were spared from endless autograph signings, the encounters with strangers who act like they’re lifelong friends. If every fan told the truth, they would have received letters of support – not anonymous hate mail – the day they were revealed as the team’s second racer in Season 1.

These fans weren’t always there, Orangin thought. They were now at Orlango, the guest of honor at the team’s Mandaring, looking at 20,000 orange marbles cheering for them. 

Mandarin was to Orangin’s side, roaring like a commander. “We started from nothing, O’rangers nation! For the fans who were with us all the past five years, you have waited for this,” said Mandarin. “For the fans who just joined, get ready for the party of your lives. We will win Marbula One, we will once again be world champions. And Orangin’s efforts will be known forever!”

“OOOOOO,” went the crowd, jumping up and down their seats. There was Orangin, such a legend that it felt like the ground shook for them at that moment.

Once the fans left and the grounds were covered in orange confetti, Mandarin was about to talk to Orangin one on one when they saw the racer drive out in the O’Marbles bus. “Oh, good grief!” said Mandarin. “That kid needs to lay down, they’re on three hours of sleep!”

The O’raceway was closed for visitors today, not that fans would visit when there’s partying to be had in downtown Orlango. Clementin was practicing laps on their own. “If my times get less cursed on our home track,” they thought, “that’s a good start.”

“Hey Clem, what’s going on?” The older O’ranger stopped dead in the sand to see Orangin come out of a bus parked below. “I ought to drive you back right now,” barked Clementin, “because you need to get rest.”

“Yeah, I can rest… next week. I thought you’d like the company!”

“It’s fine, Orangin. Coach Rango and I need to focus.”

“Well, your issue is focusing too much and losing awareness of your surroundings! You need someone to train with and press on you, Clem. Come on, help me get on the conveyor.”

“If you want to goof off, Orangin, you can do that next week too.”

“It’s not about goofing off! If you’re getting this mad now, imagine how flustered you’ll be this week racing! I keep telling you, once I was less angry at myself for opening lap setbacks I was climbing the midfield better–”

“And I’m about to get angry at you for distracting me.”

“… Maybe I want to distract you for a while, Clem. I’ve been distracted this whole week, you know, by people who don’t know me and people who didn’t believe in me. You believed in me from the start, you know. And I believe in you.”

Orangin was swerving through the turns now, past the first attenuator, enjoying how their words echoed around them. “If you think you can win it for us,” they said. “Go ahead and catch me first!”

It was now dusk, and every turn of the O’raceway shone under the floodlights. Clementin saw Orangin about to turn into the sandy straight.

Clementin rolled off the edge and onto the track. “Alright, let’s roll.”

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POSTSCRIPT: “Coach”

On a winter day this year, over some chili and with one of the few opposing coaches they can open up to, Coach Rango asked Coach Mellow: “So what’s it like to win?”

“Hah, why ask me? You have more wins under your belt than me…” It took Mellow a moment to realize Rango referred to Mellow Yellow’s Marble League Championship.

“And I want to be clear, it’s not so different from winning events or races… The big difference is that for four or five minutes, you can get as wild as you like,” said Mellow. “Us coaches are supposed to be cool under fire, to keep calm for our athletes. But for five minutes after you win the season, nobody cares!”

Coach Mellow remembered how they leaped for joy in Felynia, locked in an embrace with Yellup and the team, while thousands of marbles in the stands joined them in applause. That race weekend, those memories could not escape Rango’s mind either.

“Never celebrate early,” repeated Rango to themselves on race day. On the flight out of Polaria and Marble League 2020, the coach insisted to Mandarin that they jinxed the team with one interview. “I told the press we’d win because underwater racing was our strength and collision was a strength. I was too proud.”

Mandarin nodded but reminded the coach not to get wrapped up in superstitions. Nonetheless, from that season onwards Coach Rango followed an array of rituals.

They insisted on always being the last one leaving work at the training facilities every night, so Rango could feel like they were on Coach Quickly’s level. Not only would Rango have regular one-on-ones with the O’ranger athletes, but they insist on training side by side with them to have a better feel for the athleticism. Those sessions usually ended with the athletes winning and Rango out of breath.

But, ahead of Season 3 of Marbula One, even Rango improved their fitness to the point where they could do sprints with Clementin and Orangin. When they prepared racers for Marbula training, Rango focused on blocking maneuvers, hard racing, and testing how their racers would react if challenged down a straight. “Never hesitate, believe in yourself,” Rango would say. “The role of training is to prepare for every scenario.”

That Rango rushed back into view as soon as the lights were off at Mirage Meowntain, the marbles sprung out the gate and the coach saw Glimmer beat Clementin to the punch. “Scenario 7, Clem!” yelled Rango into the team radio. “You know what to do!”

The moments right after Felynia’s Grand Prix will always remain an orange blur. In that final sector, Clementin and Rango thought solely about blocking Bumble off. They didn’t notice Mandarin, in the garage along with the whole team, laughing over comms. “Royal finished first, it’s over! We did it!”

Moments like an orange blur of pit crew leaping into the air, embracing each other, embracing Rango. Like an orange wave of team fans shrouding the track grounds in the “OOOOOO” chant, first booming, then hoarse. Like an orange tsunami the team could see on TV in Orlango, as the fans in a fully packed Mandaring started doing the wave.

Moments like a flash of orange in front of Rango’s eyes, when they stepped out of the garage and Clementin hugged them right away. “You did it, Coach,” said Clementin. “Without you, nothing would be possible.” Then Orangin came up too, and Mandarin and Kinnowin and a crew of dozens all in an orange oval.

But before the O’rangers would lift that trophy of gold, before they’d party the night away under orange lights, Rango would remember their moment. The athletes were off to shake and congratulate each other, and usually, the coaches would too. Not today for Rango.

Today, Rango was free to roll over to the O’rangers fan section, who were now spilling onto the race ground. Rango was free to scale up a palm in the Iris Oasis next to the track, surrounded by fans, and scream:

“WE MADE IT! WE’RE WORLD CHAMPIONS!

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO–”

Until you couldn’t tell Rango chanting apart from the fans following their lead.

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POST-POSTSCRIPT: “The Journey”

Red Eye couldn’t stand looking at the statue any longer. The racer had just sprinted out of Felynia Coliseum, whose walls blotted out the stars for any marble under their shadow. The statue was a gift from Team Primary, depicting the three Crazy Cat’s Eyes’ Marbula One victory last season. A marble-sculptured Red Eye was hoisted by their teammate and their coach, waving last season’s team trophy high.

Those fantastic depictions of Red Eye scared them. Logically, Red Eye knew everyone still felt they were Marblearth’s best racer. But there they were late at night, holding an empty sheet of paper, their mind wandering. They rolled further south and back to Mirage Meowntain, back to the Iris Oasis at the track’s heart, with only the moon high above to keep them company.

“My goodness,” cried out a voice nearby. “You are the most pensive marble sports champion I’ve seen.” Red Eye turned to see a marble rolling out of the shadows, a racer dressed in streaks of white and maroon.

“How did you find me… Speedy?”

Two marble racing greats used that night to speak heart to heart. Speedy is the winner of two Marble Leagues and one Marbula One Racer Champion. Red Eye is a back-to-back Marbula One Racer Champion, the second title defender in major league marble sports.

With other marbles Speedy had surprised, it would be the Speeder who had everything to share. Not so that night. Right after Red Eye started with a “maybe only you would know,” they would reminisce about all of their Grands Prix, plus all they learned about their fellow competitors.

Speedy either nodded in agreement or gave short retorts on why Red Eye should change their mind. As Red Eye said they “were reaching a bit” by deflecting off of Orangin to seize the lead in Mellow Meadows, Speedy replied: “You only feel bad because you overtook Clutter. Would you feel bad if it meant beating me?”

Later, Red Eye chuckled: “There must be some racing secrets you haven’t shared, right?”

“What is there for me to say?” said Speedy. “There’s nothing I can teach you.” Prodded again and again by Red Eye, Speedy relented:

“I can teach you one thing. Take this off-season to see the world. Very soon, you will be too important in Felynia to have time off for yourself. Appreciate Marblearth’s beauty. Meet the amateurs who view you as a hero and who want to race against you one day.”

“Have you visited Zuro on your own?” Speedy asked Red Eye. The Crimson Cat said they haven’t because training always came first. “Make it your first destination,” said Speedy. “Rent a boat and spend a day piloting it into the rainforest. Invite Royal with you.”

Red Eye had to leave, they said, because a speech for their victory parade tomorrow still needed writing. Parting with a light bump up on each other, the two racers went separate ways.

The Cat’s Eye thought they would take the rest of the night to figure out what to say because earlier that day they had spent hours just scribbling one sentence:

I’m sorry I still haven’t won for us on Felyni soil.

And yet, after meeting Speedy, Red Eye crossed out that sentence. Starting over, the whole speech flowed out of Red Eye’s mind like the rivers on Felynia’s shore:

I am so happy to see the city here to celebrate our season. It was a season of ups and downs, but with your support, I raced harder than I ever have…

I want to announce that over the next month, I will venture out of Felynia to the rest of Marblearth… To visit continents I have not yet seen, to tell everyone I meet about Felynia and of our culture… I will arrive in Bermenghank a wiser athlete and a faster feline.

We will win the 2022 Marble League together!

As for Speedy, they first watched Red Eye roll out and then stayed next to the water until the sun rose. What did Speedy do for that hour by themselves: reflecting on their own fall in performance, or thinking about the next Marble League?

Close your eyes at Iris Oasis, and the quacks from ducks splashing in the lagoon sound like early morning off the coast of Accellaise. Maybe all this great marble did for that time was remember Accellaise – home.

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Credits

• Writer: Fouc
• Editors: Smacg13, Stynth
• Artists: Fouc, Jack Ironhide, Thinkdoodler
• Graphic Designer: Fouc, Glitternova, Jøsh994
• Photographer: Jelle’s Marble Runs
• Reference: Marbula One Season 3 | Jelle’s Marble Runs
• Release: 28/07/2022