It took six races, but the defending Marble Rally champion had finally got back on top of the podium. After a bronze in the previous race capped off a disappointing first half, Superball had shown everyone they were still a force to be reckoned with.
Ghost Plasma, after starting on pole position, had jumped out to the early lead looking to do the impossible once more – a Grand Slam of race wins. Superball, however, had soon fought their way to the lead and barely looked back. Towelling the sand off their glass while they rolled towards the podium ceremony, Superball saw Reflektor approach with a friendly wave.
“Congratulations!” Reflektor exclaimed. “Frankly I’m a little bit glad I crashed out, since I got such a great view of your divebomb overtake!”
Superball laughed. “I figured out how to pull that off from watching the tapes from last week, actually. Crazy Cat’s Eye did the exact same thing, and going wide and picking up speed worked perfectly to jump over Ghost Plasma.”
“It really did!” Reflektor replied. “Although in all honesty, I thought Plasma would have been on you the whole way down after that.”
Superball sighed with relief. “I’ve got Grasshopper to thank for that. Just like that, BOOM! they’re right behind me. I have to give it to them, they were by far the most determined out there – and that’s with GP going for four in a row!”
“Oh, definitely. There’s something about being in a bad position in the standings that can really bring out the fire after a good start,” Reflektor replied. “Although I bet Grasshopper never having medalled before now had a lot to do with it.”
“That completely slipped my mind, actually! That’s a heck of an achievement, I’d better congratulate Grasshopper for that,” Superball responded. As the pair rolled past an onslaught of fans near the podium ceremony, they saw a familiar pair of sunglasses peeking out from the mob.
“Well, if it isn’t the mayor of Coolsville!” Reflektor joked as Cool Moody desperately pushed their way past the fans clamouring for an autograph to join the pair.
“Frankly, Swax can have that title,” Cool Moody said with a sigh of relief. “You know how everyone says if you’re going to talk the talk, you have to roll the roll? That’s me and the fans whenever I medal, it’s exhausting!”
“Tell me about it!” Superball laughed. “Hell of a job getting third, by the way. Plasma isn’t easy to beat at the moment.”
Cool Moody’s grin widened. “Ah, Plaz was no trouble.” Superball and Reflektor simultaneously raised an eyebrow. “Ah, who am I kidding, I got lucky.” The eyebrows rose higher.
Cool Moody sighed. “My coach was on my ass last week after I got fifteenth, calling me out for putting too little work into improving. So I listened and hit the training facility harder than ever before, and it worked.”
Reflektor smirked. “That’ll teach you not to spend so much time meeting with fans, appearing in films, and being a celebrity.”
“Hey, it was one time! And it’s not my fault Nemo got me to cameo in that documentary!” Cool Moody retorted as the trio rolled away laughing towards the podium.
Credits
- Writers: GhostDM, PeskyBird666
- Photographer: Jelle’s Marble Runs
- Reference: Marble Rally S6 – Race 6 | Jelle’s Marble Runs
- Release: 17/03/2023
Project Marblearth 