This is Part 2 of “The Highest Glory”.
Link to Part 1

Sunday, 16:30 BIT

Others keep telling Mallard, Captain of the Green Ducks, that they’ve worked as hard as they could in this Marble League. The athlete themself is unsure. They remember their medal-winning feats, like all those clean hits they took to grab the Funnel Endurance silver. Claiming the hurdles silver took even more skill. 

On the other hand, Mallard was gazing at the stadium’s other side. A line of Green Ducks fans was not waiting to meet any athlete, but to pose next to the Pond Duck below the Marble League flame.

Mallard’s heroics have led to no winning streak for their team, and the Green Ducks now need a miracle to auto-qualify at the League they hosted. The fans never stopped having fun, clearly – “they just moved on from their team to some other attractions,” thought the Green Ducks captain.

With that, Mallard took off their team uniform. They slipped into some casual wear and shuffled out for the day.

The sun was slinking below the horizon, and the rivers that swerved down from the north kept flowing. A few weeks ago, fans packed on the banks as the Water Race and Rafting events were held here. But these grounds were not empty, as one fan section was there making noise.

These Bumblebees fans waited for a raft with four athletes, alternating wearing yellow and black, coming into view. Their synchronized buzzing grew louder and louder, like a sustained high note, when they noticed someone else on the river bank’s other side.

“Hi, excuse me… aren’t you the Bumblebees?” said a marble dressed in green. “Yes, yes, yes!” chanted the fans together. “We are Bees! Up the Bees!”

“Oh, don’t mind them, our fans are easily excited,” said Bumble, the team Captain. As this green marble asked the Bumblebees what they were practicing, Bumble replied: “Well, this is less practice as it is an exhibition. Our superfan troupe worked hard this Marble League, so we’re treating them to a meet and greet.”

“And to let them judge if us former Hornets are carrying the team!” said Stinger, one athlete still in black.

The green visitor stole the Bumblebees’ attention with oddly specific questions.  “I’ve seen you all a year or two ago when you were rivals and had harsh words for each other. I wonder what made your team cohere so well now.”

“I can say this now, but at first, we Bumblebees felt pity for them,” said Honey, getting a playful jab from Hive next to them. “Then we started seeing how diligent they were as organizers or trainers. And then I noticed me and Hive here relate better on Marbula racing than anyone else on the team.”

“It’s like how you keep your enemies the closest, right?” said Stinger. “Your biggest rival in the events you know best ends up knowing those events just as well as you are. Then you start to connect.”

Eventually the green marble said they had to go, thanking them for the conversation. But as they started to roll away, they could see Bumblebee and Hornet fans rocking in joy. The daily papers on the Brace Isles wrote at length about these Buzznyan fans, representing a city of “Buzzkill sparking in excitement,” a region united for their team…

“Hold on, Bumble, I want to introduce you to some of my friends.” The green marble turned and dialed a number on their phone. “Billy? Ducky? There’s a team I’d like you to meet.”

On the river bank, the Bumblebees fans let out a big “OOOOH” and began to quack – more coordinated with the Green Ducks’ chant than the home fans themselves.

“Oh, you can’t be…” said Bumble. The team Captain jumped out of their raft seat and nearly tipped the whole thing over. Stinger and Hive held Bumble back, but not before a folded letter fell out of their uniform into the water.

Sunday, 20:00 BIT

The Pond at night is a land of contrasts. Outside of the Athletes’ Village, the fans mingle and party, stopping only for one nighttime event. For a few minutes, the complex is quiet as all fans stare at a centrally placed screen, broadcasting a marble sporting painted scales stopping a spinning wheel.

“I, ExcitingPresentation, summon the Random Picker’s final choice for this event…” The Random Picker game had become the biggest sideshow in marble sports, a fantasy event where players pick teams and hope they outperform the wheel’s random choices.

“And it is the Minty Maniacs.” the screen zoomed on the wedge showing this underperforming final pick. The fans below burst into cheering and excitement.

Inside the Athletes’ Village, there was no time for silly distractions. For most teams, this was the only time to talk to other teams in private. Athletes rolled under the gas lamps and bathed under warm light on a chilly evening. 

On one end of the Village, Alpine of the Gliding Glaciers knocked on the O’rangers’ team house, carrying tins of fine Glidavik herring. “We brought this gift to appreciate how you helped us last year,” Captain Alpine said.

On another end, Rezzy opened their door and saw Mallard standing outside. “What an honor to meet the host!” chuckled Rezzy. “I know our teams have not had the warmest ties since 2019,” said Mallard. “Let me start changing that. Do you want to train together tomorrow?”

Zipping all across the Village was someone else: Team Galactic’s Starry. Tired of running laps on their own, the Marble League champion started knocking on other doors. Mellow Yellow members declined because “it’s getting close to our bedtime.” Team Primary declined because they wanted to stop by a jam session at the Shining Swarm’s house.

Even Red Eye hesitated at Starry’s offer. “Take my advice seriously! Tiring yourself out won’t help in any way,” said the Marbula One Champion.

In their mind, Starry knew everyone else had a point. It remained hard to shake other intrusive thoughts, especially as they overheard the music out of the Swarm house’s windows. It was as if this Swarm team was so good that they were mocking others in their free time.

With that mental image, Starry rolled out of the Village. They were in pursuit of something faint – perhaps something in the direction of the crescent moon. Under the moonlight, they saw a team sporting light gray and yellow streaks. “Are you the ‘Wolfpack’ I’ve heard so much about?” called out Starry.

The marbles turned around. “Want to race?” asked the Galactic athlete.

Back in Team Galactic’s building, all the athletes and crew were asleep except for Coach Black Hole. There were notes and scribbles over their office table, as disorganized as what was in their head: jumbles of collision formations or overtakes on the Marbula track.

In their mind, Black Hole kept repeating: “I will not forgive myself if Galactic can’t even place on the podium.” If only they knew what to do.

Monday, December 12th, 10:00 BIT

Two fan camps had formed outside of the Pond Broadcasting Center, next to the main stadium. This was the morning of the penultimate Coaches’ conference when teams get to appeal referee calls or track defects. The fans did not come out for rulebooks, of course.

One camp was for the fans in maroon and yellow, waving the Speeders team flag and clanging on pots and pans they brought. On the other side was a core of Pinkies fans, but also a mix of other team supporters sporting streaks of pink paint on their uniforms. Fencing kept the two fan bases apart and formed a path coaches rolled through.

Finally, the main event was here to the sound of cheering from the crowd. Coaches Pinky Promise and Quickly rolled together inside. The Pinkies bandwagon screamed for their coach and launched pink confetti in the air, falling like Rosaka’s cherry blossoms. On the other side, the Speeders fan section was deafening, roaring in unison: “Here come the Speeders!”

“That was pretty crazy, huh? I still have to get used to receptions like that,” said Pinky Promise to the Speeders coach. Quickly laughed it off: “You’ll get tired of it, even.”

There were pleasantries shared all around during the conference, but the Pinkies and Speeders coaches mostly kept to each other. Coach Truffle of the Chocolatiers swore they overheard the two coaches arguing about something in Hurdles, but only exchanged a few words in person over this year’s Sand Rally track.

The only contentious point that morning was Coach Wyspy of the Midnight Wisps arguing about defects in the outdoors Triathlon course. Even after 15 minutes of arguments, Wyspy could not persuade a single coach to support their proposal for consolation points.

Wyspy did not say another sentence that morning and sat alone, except when the coaches were heading out. They tapped Pinky Promise on the side and whispered: “Good luck, our team believes in you.”

Those words did not escape Coach Quickly. “I keep asking you for a straight answer, Promise,” said the Speeders coach. “You must handle your athletes more than telling them ‘I believe in you.’“

“And I keep telling you… what else do you need?” exclaimed Pinky Promise. “I race side by side with them as I train them as the best coaches should. I jumped down into the water after Pinkydink got the bronze in their race. Don’t you have that moment where you look at your athlete after a career-best, and can feel the passion burning inside them?”

“Please, Promise, you know the Speeders don’t work that way,” said Quickly. “I have to think probabilistically with my team. I just need them to be consistent. For me, keeping my job is all about managing their emotions.”

Pinky Promise stopped rolling and grabbed Quickly before they went out the door.

“Just be honest with me, Quickly… You don’t believe that. Maybe you don’t think I’m a good coach, but I think you’re one of the greatest,” said Pinky Promise. “You matured as a coach just as your athletes matured next to you. Stop detaching yourself from your athletes and acting like they can’t be the greatest.

“If you cared about proving your team as much as we do,” said Pinky Promise. “Speedy would’ve beaten Pinky Panther in Hurdles! You would be in the lead.” Hearing those words, Quickly dashed away on their own.

The two coaches left the building with their backs turned against each other. Pinky Panther hollered and jumped in joy as they looked out to all their fans, and the confetti kept coming. On the other side, Quickly nodded along to the Speeder fans’ chants. What reverberated in their head was still the words the Pinkies coach said to them.

“I will step up to your level,” thought Quickly. “Here come the Speeders.”

To be concluded…

Credits

• Writers: Fouc
• Artist: Toffeeshop
• Photographer: Jelle’s Marble Runs
• Reference: Marble League 2022
• Release: 14/12/2022