Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on the Hornets, a team that made their debut in Marble League Showdown 2019 and went inactive in the spring of 2021. Read on to see how this team stung the competition!

The Hornets made their first bid for the Marble League championship during the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers. That said, the team is deeply rooted in other marble sports competitions, to the point where it has a fierce rivalry with another team: the Bumblebees. Their rivalry originated in the Bug Circuit, a regional tournament that began in 2011. The Hornets’ history as a team is slightly older: the team formed in 2010 in Buzzkill when Stinger brought its members together to race. Stinger and Wasp had known each other since they were young and came to know Vespa, Hive, and Yellowjacket through individual races. The team acquired its coach, Swarm, through Vespa’s parent, as they were a former athlete.

Each of the Hornets was such an important part of the whole of the team that without even one of them, the team would not have been successful in reaching the Marble League. Vespa, who was also chosen to compete in the first season of Marbula One, is known as the “Speed Queen” inside the Bug Marble community for their experience racing. As mentioned, Wasp had known Stinger for years before competing together, and as a result, was very loyal to them and the entire team. Their attitude may be aggressive at times, but it stemmed from their passion for marble sports and drive to never lose. Hive is an athlete that foiled Wasp perfectly: they were outgoing, funny, and friendly with other teams. They did not let poor results get to them, and they guided the team forward towards better results. Yellowjacket, the team’s only reserve, was the youngest member of the Hornets but never showed it through their energy and excellence competing with older marbles.

“I’m really lucky to be on such a hard-working team. We all push ourselves to be the best we can possibly be,” Stinger remarked.

Stinger was the glue that held the team together as its captain, but they also set an example for all marble athletes to follow. Apart from being one of the most decorated marble athletes, their self-control in times of pressure inspired Stinger’s teammates to remain hopeful and follow in their footsteps.

“We could not ask for a better captain,” declared Swarm. “In all honesty, I’m more of a mentor for the team. Stinger works so hard, and the team’s potential is so vast. I’m not afraid to push them to take it to the next level because I know they will do it. I have the best job in the world.”

The rivalry between the Bumblebees and Hornets blossomed in 2011 when the Bumblebees hosted the Bug Circuit that year. The Hornets narrowly edged a victory over the hosts and clinched their first championship, with the Bumblebees in second and the Ladybugs in third. The next year, the Hornets finished third in the 2012 Bug Circuit hosted by the Centipedes, where the Ladybugs rose above them to win the tournament and the Scorpions followed in a comfortable margin. The latter team retired after that year, with pressure mounting from the Hornets. This pressure resulted in the Hornets finishing second the next year in the 2013 Bug Circuit, beating out the Moths (that year’s hosts) in third but falling to the Dragonflies in first.

The Bumblebees had not answered the Hornets’ call to a rivalry for three years, but 2014 was a different story. It was the first year ever that the Hornets did not make the podium, which allowed other teams to take the spotlight. The Bumblebees battled against the Cockroaches and the Grasshoppers in a snow-themed circuit, hosted by the Snails, to claim their first Bug Circuit title since the Hornets joined. As the Bumblebees rumbled with joy, the Hornets were abuzz with what next year would bring, for the team had been selected to host.

The Hornets brought the sting back to the Bumblebees and other Bug Circuit teams, dominating over the Ants and Tarantulas to win their own 2015 Bug Circuit—something they prevented the Bumblebees from doing in their own tournament. During one of the races, the Hornets’ famous “BZZZ” chant materialized when Stinger was doing poorly in the final third. Stinger managed to snatch the win, and the crowd, buzzing about Stinger’s impeccable comeback, created the chant we now recognize.

The Bumblebees answered the Hornets’ win by finishing third in the 2016 Bug Circuit, while the Hornets missed the podium for the second time in three years. The team redeemed itself in the 2017 Bug Circuit, winning its third championship in seven years. There seemed to be no question as to who was winning the rivalry.

“No hard feelings towards the Bumblebees. I’m friends with Bea and Bumble,” said Hive. “Our rivalry is fun. It’s especially fun when you win most of the time.”

The Hornets, however, would not face off against the Bumblebees again in the Bug Circuit. In mid-2018, the Bumblebees announced that they were transferring to the 2018 Hubelino Tournament to replace Team Phoenix, who was retiring. The team was not the only team that had left the Bug Circuit: the Grasshoppers also left that season to train Grasshopper for the 2018 Sand Marble Rally, and the Tarantulas were in fact returning from helping Tarantula in the 2016 and 2017 Sand Marble Rallies. The Hornets remained in the 2018 Bug Circuit without someone to really compete against, and still finished in second overall—but felt something was missing.

“They were so distracted,” Swarm stated. “They did great, but not their best in 2018. They should have won so easily…and that’s when I realized that they could do so much more.”

“I have a lot of respect for the Bumblebees, and I knew they were going to excel in the Hubelino Tournament,” pledged Stinger. “They aren’t the best in speed events, but they play well to strategy. Their strategy to get into the Marble League from the Hubelino Tournament, for example, was ingenious.”

Upon learning that the 2019 Marble League Showdown would host a fan vote to determine the final two spots of the tournament, the Hornets applied. The team drew from their experiences in the Bug Circuit and their rivalry with the Bumblebees to rally support from the marblebase, and this, combined with a dominant social media presence, was more than enough to do so. The Hornets carried both rounds of the fan contest by two-thousand votes and were admitted as the eleventh spot in the Showdown.

The team’s social media presence continued in the coming months, as the Hornets decided not to attend the 2019 Marble League itself and focus on training for the Showdown. The team trained with the Bumblebees for the first time ever, thanks to Hive’s networking and continued relations with the team, and also trained with other Showdown teams as the tournament drew closer. The Hornets arrived at the Seven Seas Stadium six weeks before the beginning of the Showdown and continued to train, right up until the night before the first event, the Sand Rally.

Vespa remained in the top four throughout the entire race, facing a challenge from Bea for second place until they briefly got stuck in the final quarter of the race. Bea was able to finish sixth and recover well, but Vespa kept steady, netting a silver medal and fifteen points towards advancing to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.

The team earned another silver medal in Collision to rise to the top of the Showdown standings, five points ahead of the Rojo Rollers. The third event, Funnel Spinning, was the only event in which the Hornets did not make the podium and the only event where the Bumblebees placed higher than them—in fourth place to the Hornets in sixth. Nevertheless, the latter team already had enough points to advance to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.

The Hornets finished the 2019 Marble League Showdown on the third step of the podium, with a bronze medal in Balancing. They ended in second place overall, with forty-eight points to their name. The Bumblebees also advanced to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers in seventh place.

When asked about the Bumblebees’ advancement, Vespa shrugged. “I think they deserved to make it in. They’re a good team, but they need a lot of work to prove themselves in a few months. As for us, we’re prepared to #BringTheSting in 2020, and we’re really looking forward to it!” Yellowjacket buzzed with excitement beside them.

As they prepared for the upcoming Qualifiers, the Hornets received an official letter from the JMRC inviting them to compete in the first season of Marbula One, an honor considering that the team has yet to compete in its first Marble League main tournament. The team accepted the invitation and would be represented by Vespa, “The Queen”, and Hive, “The Foil”, during the tournament.

Buzzing Off

an addendum by EduGJ23 and Vector

Participating in a main JMR tournament for the first time ever, the Hornets wanted to consolidate themselves as the rookies to watch out for.

The team selected Vespa for their debut at the Savage Speedway, where they didn’t impress with a thirteenth place finish. A week later at the O’raceway, Hive had a solid performance with a result of ninth, scoring two points. Vespa couldn’t keep the momentum going in the third round, and missed the point zone by 0.02 seconds after starting from last.

Hive, who collected two points in their first outing, wanted to achieve more at home, the Hivedrive circuit. Their qualifying lap of 28 seconds flat was enough for thirteenth, which didn’t indicate an improvement over previous races.

Things weren’t looking good after the start, either, as Hive fell down to last after a couple of hits in the first two turns. They did recover the lost ground after two laps, taking advantage of the distinctive feature of the track to stabilize near the tenth position for most of the race. But in the penultimate lap, the marble affectionately known as “The Foil” found an opportunity to gain more spots, which they swiftly acted upon, using the hive once again to finish in seventh. After the race, the home competitor said: “I’m happy to do such a solid race in front of our fans, this is a great incentive looking forward. And before anybody asks about it, no, that section of the track is not named after me.”

Unfortunately, the team would fail to earn another result in the top ten, earning no points during the rest of the season.

That said, the team as a whole was not deterred, and despite a close call in the Qualifiers, set their sights on a potentially prosperous 2020 Marble League. But how close was it? After a poor performance in Block Pushing, placing nineteenth, the pressure was all on Wasp into the fourth and final event, the 5 Meter Sprint. They ran in Heat 2, coming out in second after a photo finish against Indie, a difference of just four-thousandths of a second! The time of 5.292 secured an eighth overall position, and this slight edge allowed the Hornets to barely advance to the main tournament with 36 points, escaping the four-way tie for the two last spots by a single point. Without this margin, they would have missed out by medal countback.

According to Coach Swarm, the group considered the favorable retrospect in Marble League competition over their local rivals, the Bumblebees, as extra motivation into their first full league.

But it was not to be. During the first half of the 2020 Marble League, the squad collected subpar finishes, with the best results after seven events being two finishes in seventh in the Halfpipe and Hurdles, respectively. Despite a difficult debut so far, they worked to find a turning point, and hopefully, it would come with the captain, Stinger, who was set to race in the triathlon.

In the first heat of the event, Stinger won without threats, already positioning themselves as a candidate for the surprise of the day. The semifinal, against the previous champions, arrived, and the Hornets’ captain didn’t feel intimidated by theoretically stronger competition, as a bold move over Rapidly in the transition from the race track to the water put them in the second transfer spot to the final. Facing a big opportunity to raise up the podium, the underdog had a great start, leading on the sand and the circuit-style track, but this time, the water wasn’t their strong suit unlike during the stages before. Orangin, Momo, and Foggy passed by, and the final results were the inverse of each racer’s positions before entering the pool.

“Sad to lose such a clear chance to get a medal, but looking at the positives, we hope to grow from here and keep proving we can compete against anybody at a high level,” said the exhausted captain at the media area. About their final run of 33.07 seconds, their slowest of the day, they added: “I gave my all today, and I didn’t stop despite running out of energy before crossing the finish line. We need to take risks to become serious contenders.”

Despite their high hopes and efforts, the team didn’t earn anything better in the second half, with only two top-eight results.

The Hornets not only failed to pick up a medal during the competition but also finished in dead last, despite only a late-season comeback from Mellow Yellow in the final event dropping them into the basement.

“Well, we tried, and that’s what matters, right?” began a bittersweet Vespa. “I just know we can come back stronger.”

Little did they know at the time, but this would be the penultimate event that the Hornets would ever compete in.

After the teams selected to take part in the second season of Marbula One were confirmed, the public relations department issued the following press release: “We can’t say we are surprised by today’s news, because we didn’t perform well enough to secure another invitation for M1. We are sorry for disappointing our fans in the latest tournaments, but now, we look forward to the future and focus on the work to come back better and stronger in the 2022 season.”

However, Stynth visited the team in the offseason.

“When I arrived at their given address, I was quite confused: they had given me directions to a landfill, and there I was, gagging at the putrid stench of piles of trash. My first instinct was to call Coach Swarm.

            “Oh…you accidentally went to 11 Hive Drive. The directions for our Hivedrive are 11 Hive Street.”

            I checked my maps. Hive Street and Hive Drive intersected one another, bordering the landfill. I scrolled down. “Did you mean 11 Hive Avenue? That’s within the city center…it looks like there’s a stadium there—”

The phone line went dead.

I was on the verge of giving up, but I knew that wouldn’t be fair. I called an Uberry driver and headed into Buzzkill, getting off at 11 Hive Avenue. Though the streetlamps were dim, I could just make out a Gravitrax structure behind one of the buildings. The word “Hivedrive” adorned the side of the arena.

            “You still came?” a voice asked behind me.

I turned around. Stinger, the captain of the Hornets, rolled across the street holding an umbrella. It wasn’t raining.

            “The team…we…we’re pretty ashamed of how we’ve done over the past year,” Stinger admitted, looking with melancholy over the brim of their umbrella. “They didn’t want to show today.”

It made sense. I was disappointed—not even the Limers had turned me away in their most desperate hour. Nevertheless, I was there at that moment, and I heard Stinger out.“As their captain, I’m going to speak for them, even if they don’t want me to. We’re going to come back from this.””

from Stynth’s “Offseason Moments – ML2020 Part 1”

The following months brought further issues for the team both competitively and non-competitively. They weren’t considered to participate in the new Marble League Winter Special, debts were beginning to mount, and motivation was lacking. All that could be done at that point was to sell the Hornets brand and licensing off and hope that the new owners would be willing to allow them to still compete.

One team member decided to leave the sinking ship that was the Hornets entirely.

“I was against this whole ‘selling the team rights’ thing from day one,” said an unusually aggravated Hive. “That’s partly why I quit; I’ve also always wanted a firsthand experience of the bright lights of show business. I’m a comedian now. It’s just small gigs to start with, yeah, but I’ll work my way up soon enough.”

Meanwhile, the remaining members of the team had little success looking for new owners. Vespa elaborated on the team’s search.

“We were already feeling hopeless, but what made it worse was that nobody wanted us. There was some buzz about this cosmetics company buying us out, and they did approach us, but their demands were way too much. No matter what happens, we’ll always be the Hornets, not the Hornets Brought To You By L’Oróll.”

With nobody willing to buy them out, the Hornets turned to the one offer they initially refused to even consider.

The Bumblebees.

“Look, say what you will about the Hornets, they’re still marbles with lives and feelings. It’s tough to fall on hard times, heck, I started a youth marble training league that went bankrupt after half a year. I spoke to Queen, who also owns a small company designed to help us stay afloat, and they said they had actually thought about it themselves! That practically settled it,” finished Bumble. 

“And we at BNT Sports can exclusively confirm a surprising outcome to the Hornets’ ownership woes. Beesports Ltd., a company set up by Bumblebees coach Queen, was created initially with the sole intention of owning the Bees themselves. But now, in a possible effort to expand the company, they have officially bought the Hornets out. They are to be absolved from all of their debts, however, the Hornets members will all be retiring before the 2021 Qualifiers, and will begin working for the Bumblebees as staff members and trainers. And now onto the latest Bug Circuit news, where the Moths have officially…”

-A news broadcast from Buzznya News Today, a relatively large news channel, was the first to receive news of the Hornets acquisition.

It was official: the Hornets, as we knew them, were no more. They were now working as trainers for the Bumblebees. Many people saw this as an exciting new chapter for the Bees, but not all fans were happy. A particularly vocal marble, who goes by the name of Thorax, a passionate fan who already worked for the team as the spokesmarble and social media manager, fundamental for marketing the Marble League entry bid campaign, was bitter after the Bumblebees’ takeover cost them a major opportunity. It’s not hard to understand that they always were against the idea of merging with their rivals.

“I was meant to be the manager of the Hornets,” Thorax lamented. “but of course because of the Bumblebees I only got to do the Sand Race. The Bumblebees ought to apologize for costing me my big chance.

Thorax would get a personal apology from team captain Bumble, plus a job offer as a member of the Bees’ backroom staff (which they promptly rejected). But with that minor incident out of the way, it was finally time to wrap up the Hornets’ story once and for all.

Writing for the Felynia Times,  journalist Crimson Eye said “The Hornets were never a team worthy of glory; they squandered every chance they had, they never made amends and they failed to even recognize their precise shortcomings. Yet, even though they made all the wrong decisions, and even though I should be laughing at this utterly unprepared team finally getting their comeuppance, I can’t help but feel bad for them. The Hornets, terrible as they were, gave it their all. You can tell by their performances that they really cared about marble racing. They had history, and frankly, I don’t blame them for trying to make it to the Marble League, but at the end of the day, it could be argued that the Hornets are a cautionary tale. Not every team with a long history in marble sports goes on to succeed in the Marble League and likewise, you can have no experience at all and win the whole thing.”

Despite all the buzz, there was one remaining event on the calendar. The team’s usual choice for sand rallies, Vespa, offered themselves to roll down in the 2021 Practice Race and send off the Hornets brand. In the end, their unimpressive result of twenty-fifth really didn’t matter, as we could observe Vespa having a friendly chat with Bumble after the race.

Later that day, Nectar and Beeline, the managers of the Bumblebees, were questioned about the implications of this acquisition to their group. They responded: “We have been following the reaction of the press and the fans regarding this news, and we honestly believe that some reporters were too harsh about the time of the Hornets’ members in JMR tournaments. Looking forward to the next seasons, we are sure they will be great assets for our organization and will help us to evolve.”

The remaining teammates quickly found their roles within the new structure. Thanks to their leadership skills, Stinger landed a spot in the management, preparing meetings and special events, and helping with all communications; Vespa mentors the Bees during training for racing events; Wasp is responsible for the fitness of the competitors, ensuring they’re always ready for each event; Yellowjacket and Swarm regularly follow youth leagues in the region, advising and scouting those who dream to become world-class athletes in the future.

In RetRollSpective, the Hornets are a cautionary tale in the world of marble sports. After a very long reign as one of the Bug Circuit’s “Big Two”, they suddenly began to take a shortcut to success, coasting off of their social media presence to gather a following. After their initial success in the Showdown, they lost the plot, even more, scraping by the qualifiers and going on to end up dead last in the 2020 Marble League, both of which they barely trained for. The team began to become more humble, and look for ways to improve, but at the end of the day, it was too little too late. Best of luck to the Hornets in the future, keep on rolling!

Thank you to Spark11A for creating both the Hornets and the lore surrounding the team!

Credits

• Writers: Edu G.J., Stynth, Vector
• Additional Writing: Spark11A
• Editors: Fouc, Smacg13
• Artists: Betawolfs, B.J.V. Dimafelix, Jack Ironhide
• Graphic Designers: Spark11, Spex, Tim Ritz
• Photographers: Jelle’s Marble Runs, Phoenix, Vector
• Release: 17/12/2021

Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on Mellow Yellow, the champions of Marble League 2021. Read on to find out how this team has kept the competition mellow!

Perhaps it comes as no surprise, given their name, but the team members of Mellow Yellow all met while working for The Non-Descript Soda Company in Amalanta. Yellow, Yellah, Yelley, and Yellup had all been working at the company for about ten years each, and they were taste-testing their Non-Descript Yellow Soda when they first met each other. After a long night of meetings and a lot of empty cans of soda, the four realized that they were miserable at their corporate jobs, and decided to quit. 

The four left the city and headed out west, where taxes were much cheaper. They moved into an apartment in Marblopolis, a city renowned for individual marble racing, and tried to find new jobs. They struggled to make ends meet for months.

“To say that we were worried is an understatement,” Yellow recalled. “We all kept trying to convince ourselves that we had made the right decision. I guess we were, excuse the pun, trying to keep it mellow. We truly didn’t have any idea what was going on.”

  “We always enjoyed seeing the racers come through for the Marblopolis 500, though,” said Yellup. “There was always so much excitement in the town. They made us feel like everything was going to get better, at least at the moment.”

“It was maybe eight months after we moved in. We were already starting to conserve electricity because we had to cut down the bills,” explained Yelley. “We got a knock on our door. The marble introduced themselves as Greg Woods, and they said that they heard that we enjoyed racing. We said, “Well, yeah, of course, we do.” And they asked us if we wanted to join the Fruit Circuit.”

The Fruit Circuit is a now-defunct series of untelevised marble races that was run by Greg Woods and held until 2016 when the Marble League first began. It featured fruit-related teams from around the world, including the O’rangers, Raspberry Racers, and the Limers. The four marbles caught Woods’ attention due to their experience working for The Non-Descript Soda Company, which Woods found similar enough to fruit.

“It was a tough situation. We needed more teams to get more funding, and thus, more racing. If those four marbles had declined us, I don’t think we would’ve been able to continue the Fruit Circuit,” Woods mused. “And with no explicit alternative, these marble athletes would’ve been stranded in their careers.” “But if you think that we had any experience in marble sports…” Yellah chuckled. “I used to play dodge-marble. That was an extreme sport. Then they changed it to prison-marble in middle school and it got boring.”

The Fruit Circuit deal involved minimal training for the four marbles, who donned the team name “Mellow Yellow” to avoid copyright-related issues while staying true to their origin story. After training was completed, the team entered the fray in the Fruit Circuit. Races were once per week and had a cumulative score throughout multiple seasons.

“Yeah, we didn’t do well during the first few months,” Yellup said. “We couldn’t break the top twenty, let alone the top 25. The Yarble Yellers and the Strawberry Strudels had it in for us. But with every race we did, the stronger we got. It wasn’t long before we got past the Grape Nuts and started staring down the O’rangers.”

As the years passed, Mellow Yellow became a consistent force in the top ten, usually placing in the top five. When the Fruit Circuit shut down for good in 2016, due to a sufficient lack of funding, Mellow Yellow ended the competition in second place overall. With that came a new beginning for the team.

Mellow Yellow prequalified for the 2016 Marble League due to their second-place finish in the Fruit Circuit, joining the tournament with the Limers, O’rangers, and Greg Woods in tow to commentate. The team immediately started the season strong with a silver medal in Balancing and earned their first gold medal in the Sand Rally. They rose to the top of the standings, tied with Rojo Rollers in both points and medals.

Yellow finished third in the Water Race, netting their team a bronze medal, their third medal of the season, and the entire team earned a gold medal in the Quartet Diving event, putting the team in a three-way tie for second place, with just one event to go.

“We never expected to get as far as we did,” Yelley said. “Both in marble sports and the Marble League. We were just, excuse the pun, keeping it mellow, and going as far as we could to the finish line.”

Mellow Yellow was a second away from winning the final event, not even half a length behind the Savage Speeders in the grand final of Hurdles. Had they won the event, they would have won the entirety of the 2016 Marble League.

The team still secured an impressive second place with 41 points and a prequalification for the 2017 Marble League, but even the team was surprised at how close they were, between their finish in the final event and the fact that they were tied with the Thunderbolts in points. They were in a daze.

“I realized halfway down the course that I could do it. If I just pushed a little further and rolled quicker than I thought I could, I would win it all. I sped down the track, neck-and-neck with Speedy,” Yellup recounted. They shrugged. “I guess Speedy had a little more in them.”

The 2017 Marble League came up quickly for the team, but Mellow Yellow still earned a gold medal after a third of the events were complete, in the 5 Meter Sprint. This, combined with a fourth and fifth-place finish, put the team at the top of the standings. 

Mellow Yellow slipped in the standings until the eighth event, when Yellah earned a gold medal in the High Jump and set a new Marble League Record, reaching a height of 38 cm. The team rose into second place overall when they earned a silver medal in the next event, Steeplechase, but the team ultimately lost its focus, picking up just six points over the last three events. Thankfully for Mellow Yellow, their one-point lead over the Midnight Wisps in fourth place allowed the team to finish the 2017 Marble League in third place, and prequalify a second time for the next season.

The team acquired Yellim in time for the 2018 Marble League Friendly Round, which saw the four prequalified teams compete in an exhibition tournament before the 2018 Marble League championship. Mellow Yellow placed second in all three events and finished second overall. Things were looking good for the team in yellow.

The Mellow Yellow we saw in the 2018 Marble League was so jarring that it almost looked like a different team competing. The team earned no medals throughout the entire tournament, and the closest they came was in the final event when Yellow placed fourth in the Sand Mogul Race. The team began their season in ninth place and jumped up briefly to eighth after a sixth-place by Yellah in the Ski Jump before falling to ninth, then twelfth, then fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth. 

Yes, Mellow Yellow was in sixteenth place at the end of the eighth event, having placed last in the Snowboard Cross as well as in Speed Skating three events earlier. The team began battling with the Minty Maniacs and the Pinkies to “stay out of the basement” of the standings, for at this point, the team had nary a path to victory. Luckily for Mellow Yellow, they secured double-digits in three of the four final events and finished the 2018 Marble League in fifteenth place, well above the Pinkies, and tied with the Limers in points, but behind them in medal count.

“A lot of fans attribute our bad performance to the ‘third place curse’, where the team that places third at the end of a Marble League tanks in the following season,” Yellah pondered. “It’s an interesting concept, and so far, there’s no evidence against it…other than the fact that there is no logic or physical evidence for it, either. Besides that, it’s not fair to the hard work that we athletes put in every year. You can’t always win.”

Mellow Yellow had an extremely busy offseason, and much of it was spent rebuilding the team. The team returned home not to Marbopolis, but to Amalanta, where they visited their families and began working on a stadium and training facility in coordination with their new coach, Mellow.

“It was a change we needed,” Yellow confessed. “We finally had the money to return home, and we were welcomed not only by our families but by our fans. I’ve never seen a more yellow city in my life, and it made me so excuse the pun, mellow.”

The team was not entirely sure whether it could afford the time off from training to go to the two offseason practice events, but their coach insisted that they show their faces. Yellup finished fifteenth in the 100 Meter Water Race, an unfortunately familiar position for the team, but, a better finish, considering it was out of twenty-seven competitors. Mellow Yellow did not advance from their initial heat of the Amazing Maze Marble Race and returned home to Amalanta on the next flight out of Knikkegen. Additionally, the team had submitted a hosting bid for the next season, but its bid was denied in favor of the Oceanics’ Seven Seas Stadium.

Coach Mellow worked hard on restoring their team’s confidence, despite any bleak outlooks. This mindset was key in the 2019 Marble League Qualifiers, when Yellup placed dead last in the first event, Funnel Spinning. The team rose from their performance, earning eight points in Block Pushing and twenty points in the Relay Race with a second-place finish. Yellah maintained the team’s standing in eleventh place by placing tenth in the Underwater Race, and Mellow Yellow qualified for the 2019 Marble League in a decisive transfer position, with 38 points to their name. They would live to see another day after all.

The Mellow Yellow we saw from the beginning of 2019 was beginning to return to form, itching to reclaim relevance in a tournament that was looking to newer competitors to win. Mellow Yellow had one goal, and it was not to win: it was to earn the fans’ respect. Yellow, now the captain of the team, began the season by placing eleventh in the Underwater Race, but in each event the team improved, ticking further and further up the standings until it was Yellow’s turn again: this time in the 5 Meter Sprint.

Yellow earned the team’s first Marble League medal in over a year, and it was a gold medal. The team rose to sixth in the standings and remained there during the next two events, including at the end of Block Pushing, when the team’s finish of 65.1 centimeters earned them a bronze medal. Mellow Yellow rose to fourth place in the standings after the Summer Biathlon, where Yelley placed seventh. They jumped ahead of the Savage Speeders for the first time in two years and, of the original Marble League teams competing, was only tracking Team Galactic in third. For the first time since the 2017 Marble League, Mellow Yellow was competing.

The Savage Speeders were admittedly more interested in tracking down the newer teams, such as the Raspberry Racers and the Green Ducks, but they, too, wanted to be the best of the 2016 crew. While the Savage Speeders medaled in the Hubelino Maze and barely placed fourth in the Dirt Race, Mellow Yellow began to fall behind, not finishing in the Dirt Race and placing fifteenth, and falling apart in Rafting by earning two penalty points for two teammates lost, placing fourteenth. With a quarter of the 2019 Marble League remaining, Mellow Yellow was doing enough to stay in the top eight—but it wasn’t doing enough for what they wanted out of the season.

“They earned their fans’ support back…but they had yet to earn their respect back,” Mellow noted. “And they knew that.”

“I don’t know what it felt like to be on Mellow Yellow two years ago,” Yellim stated. “I only know what it felt like last year. It felt terrible, and I didn’t want to be there,” they admitted. “I want to be here now, and maybe we won’t win, but I want to be the best we possibly can. At least then, I’ll be able to respect myself as an athlete.”

Mellow Yellow began to rise in the standings again, coincidentally the same time as the Savage Speeders began to fall. The team’s most notable finishes were a fifth-place finish by Yelley in Surfing and another bronze medal by way of the third-place match in Collision, which put the team back in fourth place above the Savage Speeders. Every team but the top three—the Raspberry Racers, Green Ducks, and Hazers—were locked out of a podium finish, but Mellow Yellow, with a good enough finish in the final event, could remain where they were.

As it turned out, even with a fifth-place to Mellow Yellow’s ninth-place finish in the Sand Rally, the Savage Speeders were not going to surpass them. Mellow Yellow held on with 146 points and kept their fourth place after the 2019 Marble League. For the first time in the team’s history, after four long years, they had finally beaten the Savage Speeders by more than half a length, capping off one of the most impressive redemption seasons in Marble League history.

“Deep down, we knew we could always do it,” Yelley said. “Ever since I watched Yellup rush down the hurdles, and get so close…” They trailed off, beaming. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for four years. It’s just…so liberating.”

“We returned home and our logo was on graffiti, our favorite pizzeria had posters of us, we even had a headline in the Amalanta Press,” Yellah reminisced. “Years ago, we were miserable marbles, working jobs we never wanted, thinking that we’d never get anywhere in life. Now, we’re mellow as can be, we have the best jobs in the world, and we’re back home, but we love our lives. We’ve made it.”

Although the team’s hosting bid for the 2020 Marble League was turned down, Mellow Yellow was invited to compete in the first season of Marbula One in early 2020. The team accepted the invitation, and on 25 November 2019, they were confirmed as the eleventh team. On the same day, they announced that Yellow, “The Big Cheese”, and Yellup, “The Golden One”, would represent Mellow Yellow in the tournament.

“Yellow is one of the most accomplished athletes in Marble League history,” Coach Mellow explained, “and has earned all of their medals in racing events. Yellup has also done well in racing events: especially the Hurdles event in 2016.”

Yellow debuted as a Marbula One racer in the Savage Speedway GP Qualifiers on 15 February 2020, where they set a time of 28.70 seconds and qualified in fourth. Yellow fell back during the race, still earning two points but finishing in ninth.

Yellup debuted as a Marbula One racer in the O’raceway GP Qualifiers on 22 February 2020, where they set a time of 32.07 seconds and qualified in eighth. During the race, Yellup was able to stay ahead of Orangin behind them but could not break into contention for the lead. Yellup finished in seventh, gaining six points.

Mellow Yellow did enough to stay in the top half during the first season of Marbula One. Yellup did well in the Hivedrive, qualifying in third and finishing in fifth after holding the lead for four laps. Yellup returned to race in the next Grand Prix at Greenstone, and after getting pole position, they earned a bronze medal in the race. Yellow held their own during the Short Circuit, qualifying in third and placing fifth in the race. Yellow had difficulty following through, however. Their penultimate finish at the Momotorway and tenth place at the Razzway brought down the team. At the end of the seventh race, Mellow Yellow was eliminated from championship contention.

This is not to say that Yellup could not have done more—Yellup certainly could have won any of the races they qualified strongly in. Regardless, Mellow Yellow still did well enough during their first season, even if they struggled with following through. The team finished in tenth overall after the Midnight Bay GP, where Yellup qualified in ninth and finished the race in a disheartening thirteenth place.

Not So Mellow

an addendum by ElrQ and Vector

After Marbula One concluded and Mellow Yellow got a decent tenth place, the team fully felt that their 2018 drudgery was behind them. 

“I think 2020 is going to be our year,” Yellup hoped, the day before the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. “Our name may say we’re mellow, but we’ll be the opposite in the Marble League from now on.” 

The Qualifiers proved to be another relatively decent performance, with a fifth-place overall finish and 46 points to boot. After the final event, Yellim was ecstatic. “I think we could pull it off this year, y’know. This is the Mellow Yellow I joined! I feel like we’re finally coming into our own.” 

Sadly, Yellim’s and Yellup’s enthusiasm was wildly misplaced. The team finished last in the first event of the 2020 Marble League and then amassed only six points after four events. Luckily, things looked like picking up after Yelley got bronze in the Long Jump, moving the team off the bottom spot, but things fell apart again in the next three events, pushing Mellow Yellow down to the basement again at the halfway point.

“In hindsight, maybe we should’ve seen this coming,” Yellow said, regarding the league after it had finished. “We had been burnt out after M1, we had barely any training and we were overconfident. We can’t seem to find that sweet spot between overworking and underworking anymore.” 

As the second half rolled on, Mellow Yellow consistently fluctuated in and out of last place, dueling with teams like the Hornets and the Green Ducks to stay out of the basement. A bronze in High Jump was impressive, and with a decent eighth in Collision, the team may not have been able to get anywhere near the podium but were still capable of climbing off 16th place. 

The Marble League would draw to a close with the final event, the Marathon, and Mellow Yellow was still in the basement. Tensions were high, and every team was going to go full steam ahead.

“Alright folks, listen up! I know times have been tough, and we find ourselves at the bottom. But we cannot let this dampen our spirit!!! Yellup, I believe in you! Now go out there, and LET’S GET ROLLING!!!”

– Coach Mellow’s team talk, minutes before the start of Event 16.

Mellow’s pep talk paid off. Coming in fourth in the qualifying round and then getting a season-high of second in the overall Marathon, that one silver medal from Yellup moved the team over the Hornets and Balls of Chaos into fourteenth place. Mellow Yellow had escaped from the bottom spot once again. 

“I was ecstatic, to say the least. 2020 was one of our worst years yet and being able to get the silver to keep us out of the basement lit a small fire in my heart of darkness.” Mellow Yellow fan Kozakk said when asked about the Marathon result.

The second season of Marbula One was upon us, and Mellow Yellow was not surprised to receive an invitation for the series.

When asked why they decided to accept despite their recent bad form, Yellow said “We had to go, otherwise we would’ve just slipped away into obscurity. We need to prove ourselves. We aren’t just a yo-yo team.”

The first race was to be hosted by the Minty Maniacs; Mellow Yellow had applied, and was selected, but was unable to get their track ready in time, and had to withdraw from hosting. Regardless, they still finished the race in a respectable seventh position, amassing eight points. Unfortunately, Mellow Yellow’s season would go downhill from there, with a tenth at the O’raceway and failure to pick up points at the Honeydome which led to the team dropping down to tenth place overall. But, unfortunately for the team’s fans, the worst was yet to come.

“Oh, what happened there? Yellup is gone!”

-Greg Woods’ now infamous lines, after Yellup’s incident at the Aquamaring.

Yellup was lined up to race at the Aquamaring, but, unexpectedly, the athlete gained such air on the ramp, that they jumped off the track entirely. 

“I still don’t know what happened. One minute I was riding high, the next everything was spinning, I was dizzy, in pain and I thought I had shattered. I’m lucky to still be able to race in the Arctic Circuit.

“I was shocked, sad, and angry. The fall due to a track defect cost us potential points and our dignity. It wasn’t only Yellup’s fault that it happened yet he’s still getting smack talk regarding it. I’m just glad the circuits have improved on making sure the teams are safe. I don’t wish to see any racer suffer the fate Yellup did ever again.” Kozakk said, speaking of course of the Aquamaring incident. 

However, at the race, Mellow made sure Yellup’s injury did not go ignored.

“Well, I wanted to do something for Yellup, they’ve done so much for the team, so I passed around a get well soon card, and all of the racers from this week pitched in to buy ‘em a new car.”

“I appreciate the card,” Yellup said. “And especially the Rollvo, but what I want to do is get back to racing.”

Yellow appeared for the Tumult Turnpike race but was once again unable to qualify. This, being the second time in a row Mellow Yellow failed to qualify, meant that the team was stuck in a desolate eighteenth place, having not scored a point for the last three races. The final race of the first half was at the Arctic Circuit, and Yellup, who was racing for the first time since their injury, was determined to end their scoring drought. 

“I’m furious with our recent results. I mean, we’re below the Limers, for goodness sake! I’m back to full physical fitness though, and I’m sure I can pick up points this time. I don’t want a repeat of this year’s Marble League.”

Unfortunately, it was another mediocre outing, with Yellup only scoring two points in the race, and the team remained in eighteenth.

The first half of Marbula One was over, with Mellow Yellow third from bottom in the standings. But this did not mean there were no more JMR competitions to come during the break, as a special five-event invite-only Marble League Winter Special was commissioned.

“I mean, we are relatively confident that we’ll be selected. Sure, we haven’t been performing the best recently, but we’re a legacy team, in a way. We’ve been in every full-on Marble League, so why not this one?” Yelley said of the team’s chances. 

However, it came as a shock to the team when they were not included in the invitations list. 

“The deciding factor for us not including Mellow Yellow was their poor performance in the last Winter Marble League, and their recent bad results overall,” prominent JMRC member Mesp explained. “We were going to include the Limers and Mellow Yellow, but we decided to swap them out with the Chocolatiers and Balls of Chaos for various reasons.”

Yellup shed some light on the team’s mentality after not being selected.

“We were devastated, it was a huge wake-up call for us. That was when we realized that constant near misses with the basement just isn’t good enough. We needed to step up, and fast.”

The Limers were another team that had finished poorly in recent tournaments and were also not invited to the competition. However, the team had already been making plans of a different type. 

“We were a bit upset after we didn’t receive an invitation to the Marble League Winter Special, but it also got us thinking,” said Goolime of the Limers. “We had not seen our pals from the Fruit Circuit in years. We had an idea, and we started working with fellow alumni, the Garden Peas, to set up a special one-off Fruit Circuit reunion series.”

The Limers had won the Circuit in 2004, 2010, and the final edition in 2015, and were commonly considered one of the best teams in it, leading to many comparisons later on when they began having extremely bad performances in the Marble League.

“We wanted to do something nice for the team. They’ve had a rough year, and they’re really good sports.” Keylime explained. “And besides, I owe Yellup. I come from Marblopolis myself and, well, if it weren’t for an incident involving a collision between a few Marblopolis 500 racers, myself included, and a couple of Fruit Circuit teams back in ‘07, then I’d never have met Yellup, and if it weren’t for them I’d never have been introduced to the Fruit Circuit, and if it weren’t for the Fruit Circuit… well, you get the picture.”

Mellow Yellow was ready for the Fruit Circuit Reunion. This would be a five-event racing competition featuring sixteen teams, each of them Fruit Circuit alumni, all competing at different racetracks hosted by different competitors. Whilst at the event, Yellow discussed their experience.

“I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t the greatest event of my life. So many old teams in one area! I know that I’m the captain and I’m supposed to be carrying the team’s pride on my shoulders or whatever, but I’m a bit of a Fruit Circuit nerd. You see, the Circuit was never televised but they always showed the highlights on the sports section of the news, and I was instantly drawn to it. All of these flashy teams racing against each other in the white knuckle, untamed courses designed to separate the wheat from the chaff. I had to keep my cool when we got invited, and I barely spoke to anybody there because I was so nervous. Seriously, how did the Limers of all teams manage to put this together? Look, over there, that’s the Watermelon Wanderers, they haven’t competed in the Fruit Circuit since its first season! And there, those guys are the Jalapeños and the Cayenne Calvary. They’re like the Limers-Racers rivalry turned up to eleven! Oh my goodness, this is a dream come true!”

Initially, it seemed as if Mellow Yellow would have yet another middle-of-the-road performance. They started up with a decent fourth on an overcast Tuesday afternoon in the twisting tunnels of the Cloudberry Colliders’ Cloud Caverns. But this was followed up with two decisively middle-of-the-road finishes, a seventh at the Seedway and an eighth at the Undergrowth, respectively. At this point in the league, they had managed to remain at a steady fourth place. However, it wasn’t over for them yet. After pulling off a shock gold medal performance at the Jalapeños’ Chilli Pepper Cross, Mellow Yellow was suddenly fired into second, exactly equal with the legendary Grape Nuts.

“Gosh, it felt good to get back to our best,” an exasperated Yellow said minutes after the conclusion of the race. “Maybe we can even go all the way!”

Everything rested on the final race.

It was to be held at the beautiful Rambutan Run, a marathon course taking the competitors across the Silver Lychees’ hometown of Lycinder, finishing at the town hall. Historically, there were never any stadiums in the small town, and thus the Lychees never once before hosted a Fruit Circuit season. Instead, they used a route made up of abandoned roads and streets, providing a racing experience like no other. Yellup would be the chosen marble for this race, giving them a golden opportunity to redeem themselves after their Aquamaring injury. They would, however, start the race in second-to-last, as per Circuit rules.

The lights were on. The fans were cheering. The marbles were ready. And off they went.

Sugar of the Jawbreakers, guest commentator at the Rambutan Run, interjected colorfully throughout the race:

“And here we go! Immediately, it’s the Banana Splits into the lead, with Banana Bread holding off Boysen at the top, and further down, Yellup doing very well for themselves so far, taking over Multeberry.”

Yellup started in good speed, immediately dropping Pistachio from the Grape Nuts, and pushing past the Cloudberry Colliders’ Multeberry before they had even reached Turn 1. The first sector of the track was made up of permanent road, a surface Yellup was more used to than most other marbles in the race. It was in this section where Yellup would make their way past the Strawberry Strudels and Zoomchinis before they entered the next section comprised of dirt roads—Yellup would closely follow the Watermelon Wanderers through here, but couldn’t get past. However, as the marbles were approaching the end of the lap and moving back onto the permanent asphalt section, Yellup had the chance to get Golden Delicious of the Apple Turnovers, who had been passed by the Watermelon Wanderers. It was at this point that the broadcast, which had been focusing on the race lead, moved their attention to the title fight, particularly on Yellup.

“Here’s Yellup of Mellow Yellow, looking to pass Golden Delicious, following closely through these turns but not- OH, a huge block laid down by Golden Delicious, Yellup loses loads of momentum and is sent backward!”

Yellup felt themselves slowly rolling backward, before getting passed by Shortcake of the Strawberry Strudels and getting hit by Courgette of the Zoomchinis. As Yellup started to get rolling again, trying to get to the ramp to start the next lap, they saw the purple marble of Pistachio passing them. But the ramp gave a few seconds for Yellup to think. Yellup had moved so quickly on the first lap, but one incident had led to them losing the positions they had gained. Doing that multiple times would not suffice, so Yellup would decide to be more patient.

“Now this is interesting… Yellup is now directly behind Pistachio! They’re following their every move!”

Rather than attempting to pass Pistachio, Yellup would attempt a strategy popularized by Boysen of the Boysenberry Ballers, which is to follow the line of another fast marble as they make their way through the field. It was not a strategy many marbles could pull off, but Yellup did brilliantly, following Pistachio up the order. With three laps to go, Pistachio and Yellup were in fourth and fifth. 

“Yellup has sat behind Pistachio for quite a few laps now, looks like the move might come into this corner-yes it will! Yellup past Pistachio but Pistachio might come back at him, no Yellup blocks and receives a good push, and they might use this momentum to get past the Garden Peas by the end of the straight, yes they will, Yellup into third place.”

As they came off the belt to start the penultimate lap, Yellup would make a pass on the Jalapeños, now in second. They could have let off and brought it home there, already maintaining a points lead over the Grape Nuts, but they wanted the win.

“We’re heading into the final section now, but look at Yellup! They speed past Honeydew, and it looks like it will be Yellup, with the win and the title!”

Yellup charged down Honeydew of the Watermelon Wanderers and made a move into the same turn where they had the incident on the first lap, claiming first place in the race and championship.

In a post-race interview, Yellup would remark, “I thought of everything I had been through – my miserable tenure at a corporate job, months of struggling to make ends meet, and years where I’d been so close to winning, even when I’d fallen so short…and I realized that the act of winning isn’t what matters, but the journey to get there does. And I’m not making the most of that journey if I’m not fighting for it, even if the result ends up not so mellow.”

Once the midseason break had finished, Yellup, fresh off their victory, was chosen to represent Mellow Yellow at the Raceforest. Yellup would qualify thirteenth again, but they would get a great start and finish a respectable sixth place after fighting in the top half the whole race.

Then came the Momotorway. Yellow ended up on pole after doing a great job defending from Yellow Eye in Q3. Yellow led many laps, but it wasn’t exactly a simple task to keep the previous year’s winner at this track, Clutter, and one of the best marbles in Marbula One, Yellow Eye, behind them, and they would slip down to third. 

After the race, coach Mellow would speak, saying, “This is good, this is exactly what I wanted to happen. The Fruit Circuit Reunion was where we would get a chance to enjoy ourselves and get back to our roots, but a good result for us would put us in good spirits heading into the second half of Marbula One and maybe carry some momentum. I think that’s exactly what happened today, and I hope we can carry this momentum the rest of the season, maybe even into the Marble League. But of course, marble sports don’t always work like that.”

Mellow Yellow’s good run would continue at Palette Park, where Yellup would score pole position making Mellow Yellow the first team to earn back-to-back poles in Marbula One. However, their luck would run out in the race, with Yellup finishing eleventh. 

The final three races would result in below-average finishes, with tenth at the chaotic Misty Mountain, twelfth at Savage Speedway, and twelfth at Midnight Bay. In the end, they finished fifteenth overall, with Yellow finishing 22nd and Yellup in 33rd in the individual standings.

After the disappointing finish, rather than returning home, Mellow Yellow would make their way to the outskirts of Knikkegen, where Marble Rally events usually take place. 

“I proposed the idea of practicing sand racing at Marble Rally tracks to coach because of the number of sand events that the Marble League will have, and as a way to prepare for the practice race that I will compete in”, commented Yelley. “Besides, sand racing is real fun, and there’s also no point in going back home when the practice race is in two weeks.”

At the start of the Practice Race, held to the south in the outskirts of Felynia, Yelley jumped out to the lead, and led for the first part of the race, as they were challenged by Indie of the Indigo Stars. However, Yelley took the low line through converging paths, and Yelley held a somewhat comfortable lead. 

“I was feeling pretty good at this point in the race,” noted Yelley. “This race was just a friendly, so I wasn’t pressured to do perfectly, and I found myself in the lead, so I was running fast but not completely focused, and that would end up costing me.”

Rather than hitting the outside wall and going straight over the bridge, Yelley went past the wall and straight off the bridge, losing spots quickly in the racing order. They kept going through the slower section, but the speed lost from going off cost them, as they got stuck. Eventually, they were hit by Rapidly and able to continue, but in the end, they finished 26th above Pinky Rosa and Bolt, setting low but not insurmountable expectations for Qualifiers.

In RetRollSpective, Mellow Yellow is not only a staple of the Marble League but one of its most decorated teams. The team placed in the top four of three of the five Marble Leagues leading up to 2021, earning fourteen medals overall. Of the teams that have suffered from the “third-place curse”, Mellow Yellow has had the most successful rebound from its “cursed” season, has earned the respect of not only its fans but of all Marble League fans—and “kept it mellow” through it all. Best of luck to Mellow Yellow in the near future, keep on rolling!

Credits

• Writers: ElrQ, Stynth, Vector 
• Editors: Edu G. J., Efmo, Fouc, Smacg13
• Artist: Jack Ironhide
• Graphic Designers: Fouc, Jelle’s Marble Runs, Novawolf, Orbitball, Tim Ritz, Vector
• Photographers: Jelle’s Marble Runs, NordiqueWhaler
• Release: 14/12/2021

Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on Team Momo, a team that originated in 2016. Read on to find out how this team has persevered through the competition!

Team Momo has never been a boring group of marbles. The team hails from the villages around Om, one of the oldest cities in the world. The four original members of the team first met in Temple of Om, one of the most popular restaurants in the city, where they talked about their passion for marble sports as they ordered plate after plate of dumplings. The four ordered so many dumplings that the restaurant ran out of them. When the four met early in the night, they were strangers, but when they left Temple of Om a few hours later, they seemed as if they were inseparable. A few days later, when they decided that they wanted to make their dreams of being in marble sports a reality, they named themselves “Team Momo” after the dumplings they had ordered the night they became friends.

Mo, Momo, Momomo, and Momomomo accumulated great interest in their early days not just because of their memorable names, but because of their talent in marble sports and optimistic charisma. Team Momo began training in 2011, and in early 2012, they began competing in the Ramen Bowl, a prestigious marble sports competition held in downtown Om. Within a year, they had risen to the Ramen Bowl’s championship league, and in late 2013, they won their first Golden Noodle. They won a Bronze Noodle at the end of 2014 and earned their second Golden Noodle at the end of 2015. As a result of their repeated successes in the Ramen Bowl, Team Momo was invited to participate in the first season of the Marble League and accepted without hesitation.   

The team’s unique names, coupled with a strong showing in the 2016 Marble League events, quickly made Team Momo one of the most popular in the competition. It seemed very hard to dislike a team that was quirky, yet charming at the same time. Team Momo had the honor of earning the first bronze medal in Marble League history in Balancing and went on to earn two more bronze medals in the Long Jump and the High Jump. 

All four members of the team celebrated their first gold medal together in the Precision Slalom, which proved the team’s chemistry to be beneficial in competition. The team sat in fourth place leading into the final event, Hurdles, in which Momo reached the final race against the top three teams: Mellow Yellow, the Savage Speeders, and the Thunderbolts. Despite missing the podium, Momo maintained a marblous fourth place overall for the team, automatically qualifying them for the 2017 Marble League and securing their place as a team known and loved by fans across the marblebase.

“I kept surprising myself over and over again in the final event,” Momo recalled. “I kept thinking that I didn’t have the endurance to keep going, and then I got to the semifinals, and then I realized that if I went too fast, I might run off the track like Pinky Toe. When it came down to it, I just didn’t have the energy to get myself rolling in the final. But it was still a really good run for me, and most importantly, for the whole team.”

However, where 2016 was perhaps one of the best years Team Momo could have hoped for, the 2017 Marble League brought one of the most difficult years that Team Momo could have imagined. The now infamous Fidget Spinner Collision event, which was inspired by the oversaturated trend of fidget spinners that year, completely changed Team Momo and the Marble League as we know it. As Team Momo faced against the Midnight Wisps, racing toward the battlefield, all Team Momo and the Midnight Wisps wanted to do was their own personal best, regardless of how many marbles were left on the arena or how much they fought against the fidget spinners. The two teams raced onto the battlefield, collided, spun out into the fidget spinners, collided again, and a shriek of shattered glass erupted from the center. Momomomo, unable to control themselves from the rapidly rotating blades of the fidget spinner, was knocked into Wispy so hard that a chunk of their glass broke away from them.

Momomomo later said, “It felt like my life, everything I had worked for, it was all flashing before my eyes while I could only look back at the piece of me left in the arena…everything that was happening at the present felt like it was in slo-momo.”

The event continued past the injury, but not for Team Momo, which had to withdraw immediately from the event as they cared for Momomomo. In the next event, Greg Woods announced that Momomomo would not be able to compete for the rest of the 2017 Marble League, and would be substituted with Mimo, the first alternate ever for a Marble League team. Mimo was one of the best athletes competing in the individual division of the Ramen Bowl, and their recruiting on Team Momo ultimately gave the team the momo-motivation they needed to continue pushing forward. 

In the Relay Run, Mimo’s first event in the Marble League, Team Momo obtained their first silver medal in the Marble League. Momomomo reappeared in the stands to watch Team Momo get another silver in Block Pushing, and came down to the arena with crutches to congratulate their teammates on their bronze medal in the High Jump. Sadly, Team Momo’s mid-Marble League push proved futile to keep Team Momo in the top five, though the team remained in ninth place at the 2017 Marble League’s end.

The following offseason was, apart from training for 2018 Qualifiers, a time of deep concern and reflection for the team. Thankfully, with healthy donations from across the marblebase, including the Midnight Wisps, Momomomo was able to afford the medical care they needed to recover from their injury, which had seemed fatal at the time it happened. While Momomomo recovered, the team regularly checked on them while training Mimo as an official new member of the team. 

Mo has said of Mimo, “Just because they have an ‘I’ in their name doesn’t mean they aren’t for the team. Mimo has been a truly fresh addition to Team Momo and always inspires Momo, Momomo, and myself to be the best we can be. We have no intention of benching them, nor will they ever replace Momomomo: Mimo’s not only a great team member, but they’ve also strengthened the bond of our family.”

Team Momo also received several complaints that their logo looked like a smelly green trash bag over the offseason. When asked about it after the 2018 season, Mo declined to comment.

Team Momo appeared in Group B of the qualifying events with Momomomo fully recovered, which the fans were overjoyed to hear after a nearly silent off-season from the team. They scored twenty points, just enough to qualify and get the marbles rolling for their appearance in the 2018 Marble League.

However, this season proved trying for Team Momo as well. The team placed thirteenth in the first two events and was dead last overall after the second event. Team Momo got ninth place in the third event, rising to fifteenth overall, but got twelfth in the fourth event and faced yet another series of injuries. Momomo was replaced with Mimo in the retry after Team Momo got stuck on the bobsled track due to altitude sickness, and Momomomo knocked into a corner while on the bobsled the second time, incapacitated for the rest of the ride. Doctors quickly assisted the two team members, concluding that they would be okay, but not fit to compete in the rest of the 2018 Marble League.

When Team Momo was notified of this, they quickly reached out to several marble teams, even the Green Gang from the Hubelino Tournament. Ultimately, the team merged with their close friends, Team Primary, for the rest of the season, forming Team Momary. This caused controversy in the marblebase (especially among Balls of Chaos fans) because Team Primary did not qualify for the 2018 Marble League, but the IMC approved the merger and allowed Momary to compete. The full team, featuring Mo, Momo, Prim, and Mary, competed in Team Pursuit, getting eighth place, proving that the team was viable and had the potential to grow as the season continued, even as it sat in ninth place in the standings.

Team Momary got its first gold medal in the Snow Rally, as Momo narrowly defeated the Savage Speeders in two races. This rallied the marblebase around the team in hope that they would be able to rebound from their difficult start. Although Team Momary got a silver medal in Curling, the team struggled in the remaining events, landing in twelfth place overall at the 2018 Marble League conclusion.

After Team Momo and Team Primary amicably split up, Team Momo was expecting to have another quiet offseason. On the contrary, the team appeared in both of the practice events with other Marble League teams, with Momomo and Momomomo back to compete. During the 100 Meter Water Race, the team placed in the top ten, and they reached the semifinals in the Amazing Maze Marble Race, proving that the team had recovered from its injuries.

Unfortunately, Team Momo was unable to qualify for the 2019 Marble League. After a successful first event, where Momomomo placed eighth in Funnel Spinning, the team was unable to keep its mo-momentum going and finished the Qualifiers eleven points away from securing a spot. When asked about how the team felt, Momomomo seemed hopeful:

“Being part of Team Momo has made me realize something: that I can’t quit when things don’t go my way. So we didn’t qualify this year. That’s not how I wanted things to go, but it’s not going to stop me. And it won’t stop our team from mo-moving forward.”

The team began their extended offseason by taking a vacation around the world, something they had not been able to do since 2015. They were visiting Prim and Mary in Van Gotterdam when news about the Marble League Showdown broke. The team returned to Om the next day to start training again.

Fan opinion of Team Momo was mixed going into the Showdown. Most expected that Team Momo would not win the Showdown, an expectation that the team itself shared. It was the fans that predicted that Team Momo would get injured—yet again—that bothered the team.

“The fans don’t need to tell us that we keep getting injured. We know,” Momomo said, disheartened. “Every day that something gets in the way of the five of us competing together, it hurts us too, e-mo-motionally. Momomomo and I have done a lot of rehab in the past year and a half to ensure that we’re best prepared for the conditions of the Marble League. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Team Momo started the Showdown off strong with Momomomo’s fourth place in the Sand Rally, but experienced a downturn in Collision, placing seventh, and a further downturn in Funnel Spinning, placing eleventh. With one event to go, Team Momo sat in ninth place, barely in the bottom four spots. The last event, Balancing, was the first Marble League event they had ever participated in, and as such, their experience proved to be fruitful. Team Momo placed fourth with a score of 346, earning nine points and jumping up to sixth place. The Kobalts, their fellow veteran team from 2016, placed fifth with a score of 345, just one unit under. As a result, Team Momo qualified for the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.

Coach Momomomomo revealed to the team over dinner at Temple of Om that they had received an official letter from the JMRC, which invited the team to compete in the first season of Marbula One. Team Momo accepted without hesitation and agreed for Momo, “Winning Dumpling”, and Mimo, “The First Reserve”, to represent them in the tournament. The team’s poster depicts the two athletes in one of the restaurant’s signature baskets of “racing dumplings”. Team Momo was also selected to host the third Grand Prix of the season at the team’s Momotorway on 29 February and 01 March 2020.

Mo-moving Forward

an addendum by Ramen Powder and Stynth

Momo and Mimo exchanged glances as they traveled to the Savage Speedway, where the inaugural Grand Prix would take place. They both knew that the team had a statement to make here: that they were worthy to compete with the best of the best in marble sports. Having not qualified for the Marble League in 2019 and tainted by injuries in the previous two leagues that they did participate in, this was a fresh start for Team Momo: a start that could drive their ascent back to their glory days.

Momo participated in the opening Grand Prix of the season, qualifying in P3–very respectable. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep pace with Clementin and Starry upfront and fell back after the ramp on the first lap. Momo couldn’t catch up at any point during the rest of the race and finished the first Grand Prix in twelfth, not scoring any points.

“This race showed me how much the level of competition has increased; after the first lap, I was left in the dust and never recovered!” Momo commented after the race.

Mimo would race in the next GP: the O’raceway. After qualifying in P11, they hoped to climb positions early, because they knew that this was a more technical course with an off-road element too. Sure enough, Mimo rose to as high as fifth in the first lap, before falling to seventh in the next few turns. The next lap was not as kind though; after hitting the second attenuator in the sand section, numerous marbles passed and Mimo found themselves in the bottom four. Then, they were put into the same situation Momo was in at the Speedway; a back position with little room to make up ground. After finishing the race in a measly eleventh place, Team Momo was one of two teams that had no points yet, much to the dismay of their fans.

The next race was a different ball game though; it would be held at the Momotorway. Momo would be racing once again, this time on their home course, and aspired to net a strong finish to kick-start their points haul in Marbula One. Qualifying didn’t go as planned, as it resulted in Momo starting from P13, but they were undeterred. They made up some ground in the first lap, only to lose it right away on the turns, and the next few laps saw nothing but disappointment as Momo continued to fall. By Lap 5, they were trailing in last. While Greg Woods commented on how close the photo finish was for the lead, Momo finished the race almost a second behind the rest of the field. It was devastating seeing Team Momo, with their best marbles, fail to perform competitively in marble sports. The team was the only one remaining with 0 points; symbolic of their status performance-wise at that moment.

With Mimo qualifying in dead last at the Hivedrive GP, it seemed that all was lost. There were no expectations for Team Momo to gain any points once again, but Mimo remained calm. Gaining several positions in Sector 1, Mimo finished the race in ninth. It wasn’t much, but it was a placement high enough to kick-start their pursuit of points and to reinstate hope. Momo qualified at the Greenstone GP in P4 and stayed in the top four for quite a bit, but a late pit-lane entrance cost them. Still, it resulted in a sixth-place finish– the best Team Momo had seen. Mimo also qualified in P4 at the next GP, the Short Circuit, and translated it to a seventh-place finish, even racing in second at one point. The previous two GPs got the team out of the bottom spot, and while Team Momo wasn’t in championship contention, they had directed their momentum forward; something they valued much more.

Three days before the Razzway GP, Coach Momomomomo called Momo and Mimo in for a meeting. Neither of the racers knew what was in store for them, but the coach seemed firm about this.

“Mimo, let’s have you race again at Razzway. The course design is one that I feel suits you better, while Momo excels at the elements of the final course, at Midnight Bay.”

Mimo and Momo were unsure about the proposition at first, but Coach Momomomomo insisted that they trust them. When the day of qualifying rolled around, Mimo got ready to qualify for the Razzway GP. Their target was a time of 29.80 seconds, set by Vespa of the Hornets. As this was the only qualifying lap set before Mimo’s turn, there was no knowing what sort of time would spell well for the team.

Mimo began their descent through the opening chicanes of the Razzway’s first sector, going high on the first curb but avoiding the second. Despite missing the speed boost going into Turn 6, their first sector time was eight-hundredths clear of Vespa’s. They kept it smooth in the hairpin, maintaining control before the attenuator, and drew left, to prevent any unwanted contact and slowing. This maneuver set them up perfectly for Turns 9 and 10 – losing minimal speed throughout. Mimo transitioned into the third sector, their margin ballooning to 1.62 seconds. The fans were getting audibly on edge, and once Mimo crossed the line, the tension became cheers of exuberance. Mimo set a time of 28.72 seconds – 1.08 seconds clear of Vespa’s time – and had the provisional pole position.

The Raspberry Racers, with Razzy, were the next to set a qualifying time and faced a notably difficult challenge in the second sector: the attenuator. Trying to steer clear of it, they hung left just a little bit, but that led to their downfall – riding the split for an onerous distance. They could not recover from there and qualified under Mimo. Similar challenges faced the Balls of Chaos, Team Primary, Thunderbolts, Snowballs, and Team Galactic. With every misstep from another team, Mimo’s second sector looked all the more impressive, and Coach Momomomomo was grinning because of it.

Smoggy gave the team a momentary scare, setting a qualifying time just seven hundredths slower than Mimo’s. While their speed proved to be fierce, they couldn’t match the clinical precision that Mimo had; a skill that was crucial to master the second sector. Rapidly would go on to set their qualifying time as the final marble of the day, for the championship-leading Savage Speeders. After being in the green following the first sector, and avoiding the attenuator in the second, things looked good for the Speeders and worrisome for Team Momo. However, they fell just short, fourteen hundredths down, and Team Momo earned pole position for the first time in Marbula One.

The fans, once dormant after Momo finished last at home, were roaring. But, more importantly to Mimo, the coach, accompanied by the rest of the crew, was beaming. Coach Momomomomo could not have been more right that Mimo would take well to the technical course design, and they all knew it. Marbles were in awe at their performance, many saying that their second sector should be shown in schools. In a press conference, Mimo was asked how they felt about reaching this point after the past struggles the team faced in Marbula One, to which they replied:

“Of course, I feel great. I’m tremendously grateful for Momomomomo, for believing in me and my abilities, and I feel that all of us athletes on the team have a lot to learn from them. Pushing through adversity isn’t easy, but it’s familiar to us. This was the first step, the next is to maintain a good performance in the race tomorrow.”

Mimo would go on to rest up adequately for the following day, as the Coach made sure of it. Many marbles, fellow competitors and fans alike, wished to have a word with the pole sitter. They were all met with a stern Momomomomo, telling them to “save it for after the race”. Meanwhile, Momo was studying Mimo’s qualifying lap and training on their own to prepare for the final GP of the season.

Race day at the Razzway rolled around, and Mimo was more than ready. Looking behind them when positioned in the starting grid, and seeing big-shots in Smoggy, Rapidly and Orangin, Mimo gulped but focused their determination upfront.

“And we’re rolling!” Mimo sprung out of the gate, but immediately got overtaken by Smoggy, who lunged past them. Smoggy going high on the first curb allowed Mimo to whiz right by, and the first reserve found themselves with the lead once more. Hearing that most of the field was stuck between Turns 4 and 5, Mimo didn’t pay attention, and instead, ensured that they would not lose the lead once more.

Taking a glimpse behind, however, they could see that Smoggy was closing in once again, having just overtaken Limelime to retake second place. A bump from Limelime sent Smoggy right on Mimo’s tail, which allowed the Hazer to get the best of them following a swift move past the Turn 8 attenuator, now infamous after qualifying. Smoggy, Mimo, and Limelime were a few lengths apart going into the final turns of Lap 1, alarmed by the news that the safety marble couldn’t get the rest of the field dislodged. Ascending the belt and catching up to the stragglers, Mimo found themselves amid something that no marble had seen before.

“As they snake around, heavy impacts here. Oh, this is all going wrong. Nearly everybody is stopped and we’ve got a red flag. A disaster here at the Razzway.”

To the news that the race would be restarted, Mimo made their way back to the starting gate, where they would start on pole once again. They gasped as they rolled past Smoggy, hearing a grumble given that their effort to get the lead had been for nothing. Through radio, Coach Momomomomo alerted Mimo not to let this opportunity go to waste; to hold on to their good position.

Following a fan getting loose from the stands and onto the track and conveyor, Mimo grew more nervous by the second, awaiting the resumption of normality within the stadium. It didn’t help that Greg Woods had wondered out loud whether the marbles up front had depleted their energy. The lights were on, and they were rolling once again. Mimo, yet again, couldn’t seize the moment and lost the lead instantly to Smoggy. This time, another challenger had got past as well: Rapidly of the Savage Speeders. Mimo, frustrated, picked themselves up and utilized the speed boost to perfection, shooting past Rapidly and Smoggy. This lunge was eventually to little avail, however, as Mimo faced the infamous Turn 8 attenuator. What was once a beast that Mimo tamed elegantly, now was not as kind, and Smoggy retook the lead.

Feeling some pressure from Orangin for second place, Mimo fended them off, now only a few lengths behind Smoggy at the end of Lap 1. A poor exit off the conveyor, though, and Orangin swiftly took second place. Mimo responded well by displaying their overtaking skill in sector 2 once more, shutting the door on Orangin mid-way through the hairpin. The attenuator caused them to lose speed, but it was not enough for the O’ranger to get by. In the next three laps, Mimo and Orangin were locked in a back-and-forth duel for second place, with Wispy, Anarchy, and Shock momentarily joining the fray. This battle for the bottom two podium spots allowed Smoggy to pull ahead, but Mimo, having successfully held off Orangin after Lap 5, set their sights on the leader.

Mimo missed the speed boost on Lap 6, which allowed Smoggy to maintain a decent gap upfront. However, when Smoggy approached the infamous attenuator, nearly covering the entirety of the first part of the split, disaster struck. Rolling directly over it was egregious for them, as Mimo soon gracefully maneuvered past. Smoggy nearly made an overtake in the third sector but was faced with a block: Mimo had seen it coming. Unfortunately for them, Smoggy had planned their next move and executed it perfectly on the hairpin of Lap 7 – a near-identical overtake to what Mimo pulled on Orangin earlier in the race.

Mimo stayed in second for most of the next two laps, experiencing a brief back-and-forth with Orangin once again on Lap 9. Going into the final lap, however, Mimo was too eager to take the lead from Smoggy, as they were side-by-side for an instant on the straightaway between Turns 5 and 6. Smoggy was aggressive in the turn afterward, laying down the block to ensure that Mimo wouldn’t get by. Orangin took advantage of their loss of momentum, and Mimo could not catch up. It would end up being a bronze medal for Team Momo across the line.

“That ranks up there with some of the most challenging races I’ve ever competed in…” said Mimo, gulping down a bottle of water before continuing. “I’m happy to say that it was one of the most rewarding races too, and I’m exhilarated that I even had the opportunity to do so.”

“Our team is taking the right steps to finish this season strong,” affirmed Coach Momomomomo. “And I trust that they’ll do the best they possibly can at Midnight Bay.”

Momo remained to compete in their final of four races for Team Momo, and after a series of intense training sessions in between the events of the Razzway GP, they traveled to Helarve a few days earlier than the rest of their team. “There were a few landmarks that I wanted to revisit before all of the tourists came swarming in,” they noted in a pre-race interview, referencing their 2019 trip to the town to see the Wisps. “The clock tower is a marvel on its own, but it’s even cooler when the Willow Wisps gather around it closer to midnight. Legend says that if your eyes meet with a Willow Wisp, good fortune is coming your way.”

The racer declined to mention whether they had locked eyes with one of the spirits, but their qualifying performance would have validated it. Momo set provisional pole position with a time of 24.97 seconds. Their record stood until Speedy’s lap, where they rolled off the belt during Clementin’s run and finished with a time of 24.54 seconds. The next day, Momo took their P2 starting position to the left of Speedy, whose eyes were closed as they took deep breaths in and out.

“I’ve known Speedy for years, and I know when they’re in a race—let alone a tournament—to win it. At that moment, before the light signals lit up, I knew they would do everything in their power to achieve that.”

Sure enough, the starting gate lifted, and Speedy lurched forward with grace, handling the turns of the course with ferocity and accelerating ahead of the rest of the racers. Momo, trailing in second with Prim at their back, attempted to nudge ahead of Speedy coming out of the tunnel. But they would only push Speedy forward, creating a larger gap between them heading towards the glass bridge. 

From then on, Momo continued to battle for the podium and a position in the top half—but they recall feeling gassed to take on the lead. “Prim was able to wrestle the lead away for a few laps…but there was no beating Speedy. They weren’t looking back.”

Team Momo watched from their pit lane corral as the O’rangers, Hazers, and Savage Speeders took the team championship podium. With 39 points overall, Team Momo finished in eleventh overall, a satisfying improvement from being in last four races earlier…but still with much to be desired.

“Our second half was stronger, no question,” commented the coach. “Consistency is becoming one of our tougher challenges to overcome as a team, but our potential is here. We just need to develop it into the outcomes we want, and maintain them.”

After the crew from Marbula One headed back to the villages around Om, they were met with raucous cheers from the crowd. Marbles all around the city were delighted to see the team once again, notably Mimo after their breakout performance at the Razzway. Coach Momomomomo, however, was unsatisfied.

“We improved in the back half of Marbula One, yes. But it was still only good enough for eleventh. We can’t guarantee that we’re good enough to qualify for the League yet, so we need to focus on training.”

The team would have a break in the following week before resuming their intense training for the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. Momo and Mimo stayed at Om, as did the Coach, and they planned to explore the lesser-visited outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, Momomomo went rock climbing at the Himarblelayas, after mentioning that they wanted to start preparing for tougher events again, and Mo and Momomo explored areas near the city to engage in little, fun ‘mini-sprints’, that would help them get into the competitive mindset they needed but also allowed them to let off some steam.

The following week, Mimo found a letter addressed to them that appeared different from the regular fan mail they received and was surprised to see that it was from Dragon’s Egg, a marble now participating in the Marble Rally. Mimo and Dragon’s Egg had known each other before Mimo’s debut in the Marble League, of course, in the Individual Division of the Ramen Bowl. They eagerly opened up the letter, to which it read:

“Dear Mimo,

How are you? I heard about your bronze medal at Razzway in Marbula One– congratulations! You’ve grown so much as an athlete since we met a few years back in the Ramen Bowl.

Speaking of the Ramen Bowl, I’m writing to you to ask if you, and the rest of Team Momo, would be interested in overseeing the 2020 Ramen Bowl in place of me on the advisory board. I’m still on the board, but it’s taking place in a little over four months, which clashes with the Marble Rally season, but the Marble League should be over by then. If only a number of you are available, that’s fine too.

Good luck in the Marble League Qualifiers! You have my full support.

Dragon’s Egg.”

Mimo was excited to hear from their old friend, quickly contacting Coach Momomomomo about the offer. The Coach smiled upon the opportunity but reminded that Marbula One may resume around the time too, covertly alluding to the idea that they planned to reinstate Mimo as a racer again if they were to be invited. As a result, Momomomomo said that those not participating in Marbula One could be free to oversee the Ramen Bowl. The rest of the team were happy to do so as well, once they received the news.

Coach Momomomomo, however, made sure that the team remained focused. They were training harder than ever, but also getting adequate rest, as they needed it.

“How many laps more, Coach? It’s too much!” Mo spluttered, exhausted after a rigorous set of laps.

“With every lap, we get closer to getting enough points in the Qualifiers. We’re always on the edge, this could be what pushes us through.”

A few months later, the team entered the Andromedome to present, yet muted fanfare. Fans were happy to see that Team Momo had a chance to qualify, but they weren’t expecting very much from an organization that hadn’t medaled in the Showdown and had a subpar showing in Marbula One. One sour Limers fan remarked as Stynth descended the grandstands,

“So what if the Limers didn’t get a chance to qualify? I know we’ll see Team Momo throw away their chance. I bet you a box of Choco’rangers.”

Stynth politely declined the rash offer, joining the rest of the JMRC to watch the teams enter the arena and oversee the Qualifiers. Following an abysmal performance in Balancing, where Team Momo placed nineteenth with a score of 240, Mo spun around the funnels with confidence, placing first with a time of 2:34.51.

Team Momo startled fans when they had difficulty with the starting gate in Block Pushing—with the green flag crashing back down on Mo as they prepared to roll down the course. Mo declined to report an injury at that moment but stated during the main tournament that they were “surprised and shaken up” by the accident. In a redo of their heat, the team had only pushed 54.8 centimeters, placing last overall. Despite winning a qualifying event, they sat in the relegation zone with one event to go.

That left their chances of qualification up to Momomo in the 5 Meter Sprint. They were facing Red Eye, Wasp, and Indie of the Crazy Cat’s Eyes, Hornets, and Indigo Stars respectively. The rest of the team could only watch and hope it would be enough. With Momomo falling back and finishing last in the heat, the Momo fan section was in silence.

“It’s over, isn’t it?” Mo asked their captain, beside them.

Momomomo didn’t respond. Instead, a tear rolled down their eye.

The remaining heats took place, with every marble seemingly at the top of their game in the final qualifying event. Tension was in the air throughout the Andromedome, especially for Team Momo. Momomo’s run clocked in at the eleventh-best time, which gave the team 35 qualifying points. Due to their funnel gold, Team Momo had qualified, in a historic, four-way tiebreaker. Momomo sprinted to their teammates after the revelation, as they were ecstatic. 

“We’ve done it! We’re back in the Marble League!” Momo bellowed as they hugged the rest of their teammates.

Momomomo, however, quickly rolled to the section nearby, towards Team Primary’s section of the grandstands. While Team Momo was celebrating, their fellow team’s spirits had hit rock bottom. To be on the losing end of the 35-point tiebreaker was agonizing for the fans. However, it was Mary, their captain, who was affected the worst of all, pinning the blame on themselves for underperforming in the funnel endurance event.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Don’t let this performance define who you are as an athlete. Not when you’re capable of so much more.”

Mary sniffled, remembering their winning performance in the very same event three years earlier. 

“We’ve been in this position before, last year actually, when we dropped out of the qualification zone in the final event. It was demoralizing, but we’ve taken the steps to rebuild. I have faith in you, it’ll get better.” Momomomo said softly.

“Thank you,” Mary replied.

With a quick turnaround to the main tournament, Team Momo appeared in the opening ceremony, gleaming as if they hadn’t ever left. The fans were thrilled to finally see the full team, as this was the first time all five members were competing together in an official Marble League. Momo fans, however, were anxious about what was to come, remembering the dismal performance the team had in Balancing in the Qualifiers.

The team, however, put all concerns to rest. With two finishers, they finished sixth in the event, a pleasant surprise for the Team Momo fan section. Double-digit points in their first Marble League event in over two years was very respectable, and it continued in the Halfpipe, with their time being good enough for sixth-place again.

Unfortunately, Mo proceeded to place last in the Funnel Endurance event during the main tournament. They couldn’t replicate their strategy of stealing momentum to be the last to drop into the green funnels, getting swarmed by the rest of the field and struggling to apply the technique in the black hole-style funnels. They didn’t comment on their performance afterward, as they exasperatedly stormed off the field. The coach watched them disapprovingly.

After earning two consecutive sixth-place finishes in Balancing and Halfpipe and seeming comfortable in that position, they fell to tenth. Heading into Newton’s Cradle, Coach Momomomomo opted to put in Momo and Momomo, who had begun training together as a duo early on during the 2019 offseason. Despite their promising results off the field, the two only mustered a 96.5-centimeter push through the cradle, finishing eleventh and dropping to twelfth in the standings.

“This isn’t quite where we’d like to be, but it’s still early enough in the season,” remarked the coach. “We have a lot of opportunities left to capitalize on.”

Mimo and Momomomo couldn’t quite do so in the Long Jump and Hurdles, placing eighth and twelfth respectively. But it was when Team Momo came back together as a group that they were able to shine.

“As I rolled down the ramp towards the block, I could hear The MarBeats’ “Carry That Block” in my head. ‘Mo, you’re gonna carry that block…carry that block past the red line…’ We didn’t get past the red line, but we got the closest we could,” said Mo.

The team earned a silver medal in Block Pushing 2017 by keeping Mo and Momo close to the front and Momomo and Mimo behind in a slightly more separated formation, replicating that strategy for Block Pushing 2020. Although Greg Woods described the team’s form as “disjointed”, it was clear that Mimo’s “momomentum” was enough to give Team Momo a final push, which put them five-hundredths above the O’rangers to win silver once again.

“As cool as it would be to medal in an individual event of my own one day…there’s no feeling like standing on the podium as a team. I missed that,” reflected Momomo, beaming as they rolled down from the second step.

Momo lined up at the starting gate for the Triathlon with renewed excitement and came through their heat in first by over two seconds. They went on to advance through the semifinal in an extremely tight photo finish over Pulsar of Team Galactic.

“Photo finish necessary, oh, they got it! I think they did! By one-hundredth of a second! Team Momo advances!” exclaimed Greg from the commentary box.

The final would go on to be one of the most exhilarating mo-moments in Momo’s entire career. Despite a rough transition onto the Marbula section, they held third going into the water, and a great lunge forward had them in the lead briefly. Foggy caught up to everyone in what was one of the most legendary comebacks in Marble League history, but Momo would hold on for the silver. They finished just behind Foggy and just ahead of Orangin in the final to earn a second silver for their team.

“We aren’t the fastest athletes,” acknowledged Momo in a post-event interview, “but we make up for our speed with our strength, and that gives us a significant advantage when we’re overtaking. It took us the entire season to realize that, but everything finally started to make more sense when Mimo was overtaken at the Razzway.”

Momo played back the footage, and we watched as Orangin took advantage of Mimo’s arrested momentum at the attenuator, overtaking them for a brief period in the penultimate lap. 

“That was a critical mo-moment, if I do say so myself,” Momo jested, smirking. “In all seriousness, that’s the exact tactic I’ve been training for all season, and it finally came through in the underwater sector of the semifinal. It almost came through in the final.”

At the end of the first half of the 2020 Marble League, Team Momo was back where they started – sixth place. They would earn two more sixth-place finishes in the Sand Mogul Race, featuring a strong racing performance by Mo, and the Relay, where they barely lost a photo-finish to the Savage Speeders. But besides a fourth-place finish in Team Aquathlon, the rest of Team Momo’s season didn’t see them place above seventh in any event.

“We felt good about the Aquathlon, but the way the bracket system worked out, we got put against two of the best teams in the league. Honestly, I didn’t feel confident enough heading into those match-ups. And it showed pretty quickly,” Momomomo admitted.

They finished eighth overall at the end of the season, earning 135 points and two medals to end their first Marble League in the top half since 2016.

“Overall, I’m satisfied enough with how things ended. There’s more that we could have done, and we’re going to learn from that and mo-move forward,” promised Momomomo.

The team returned to Om on a scenic train route, which took them through Herbotamia and the Himarblelayas. As they passed through Himarbleaya, the team decided to stay briefly and go on a retreat to the village of Momili to hike, ski, and drink hot chocolate.

After returning to Om, the team reconnected with Temple of Om and their manager, Memo, who was Mimo’s oldest sibling. They asked Memo if they were interested in managing the team, a proposition that Memo could not refuse.

Stynth visited the team in the days that followed to report on their offseason, as well as Memo’s new managerial position:

“If I could describe Om in three words, I would say “aromatic, bustling, vibrant”. The city, stretched over hills and plains, was perched in a dense mountain valley with newer construction outlining the city as it reached towards the higher mountain peaks. As my tram traveled closer to the city center, the surrounding architecture got older but never lost its luster, with neon lights and other modern attachments dressing up the thousands of historic buildings.

Mimo joined me on the tram on the outskirts of the city center, instantly recognizing me despite my smug disguise in Shining Swarm gear. “Not that smug,” Mimo commented, looking over my notepad. “But an A for effort!”

Mimo and I talked for the next hour as we approached Temple of Om, where Team Momo would be making a surprise celebrity appearance in the kitchen to learn how to make dumplings. I learned of Mimo’s eleven siblings, all of which were interested in different things, such as the arts, journalism, technology, and more! We were about to meet Mimo’s oldest sibling, Memo, at Temple of Om: after running the restaurant for a decade, they would be announcing their retirement from the business to join Team Momo as their manager.

I made sure that we entered through the back door this time, and we met up with the team, already suited up in their personalized chef jackets and hats. Momomomo handed me my jacket, which was embroidered with the label “Stynth – Our Mo-most Dedicated Fan!”I don’t think I stopped smiling that night, both from the delicious dumplings we made and the laughs we shared. Thank you, Team Momo, for an experience I will always treasure!”

from “Offseason Moments – ML2020 Part 2”, by Stynth

The next day, Memo joined Team Momo for the first time at the Momotorway to discuss plans for the franchise. Many developments from that meeting helped broaden Team Momo’s influence around the world: it was here that the Momo’s Dumplings brand was developed in collaboration with Temple of Om. The team also began discussing future athletic opportunities, including captaincy changes and the possibility of adopting a minor league. To remain fully transparent with their fans, the team live-streamed their meetings online at Mooz conferences.

A few days later, a familiar JMRC-signed letter was sent to the team, to which they eagerly opened together, anticipating an invitation to come back for Season 2 of Marbula One. Sure enough, they were given the opportunity, and upon discussing race performance in Season 1 and event results in the Marble League, the team unanimously agreed that Momo and Mimo should remain as Marbula racers. This also meant that Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo would be heading to downtown Om for the 2020 Ramen Bowl, as they were delighted to reunite with some of their old competitors. Later in the week, the team was ready to part ways for the moment. Mo, Momo, and Momomomo were staying in a hotel in the heart of the city, while Momo, Mimo, Coach, and Memo would get ready to depart to Herbotamia for the inaugural Marbula One race.

Momomomo, the oldest and wisest of the team members, took care of the trio on their journey. Mo was especially excited to meet the teams in the Ramen Bowl, some of which they were sure to recognize from before, while others would be new faces to them. Momomo wondered about the types of events, and how they evolved and differed from standard Marble League events that they were used to.

“Over here!” exclaimed a familiar, deep, voice. It was a dark green and orange marble, soon revealed to be the famed 2017 Marble Rally champion.

Dragon’s Egg smiled as the Momo marbles rolled towards them, and was accompanied by numerous marbles that were recognized as past Ramen Bowl competitors. Teams such as the Ramen Runners, Efficient Eggs, Pho Flyers, and many more were present.

“Welcome home, Team Momo!” they called out in unison.

Momomomo paid particular attention to Shoyu and Mell, two marbles from the Ramen Runners. The Ramen Runners were the oldest team of the tournament, hosting the inaugural Ramen Bowl in 2006. They were a very proficient bunch of marbles, having won three Golden Noodles and two Silver Noodles. Of course, with the rise of Team Momo, the teams had a friendly rivalry when they competed.

Mo and Momomo were talking to the Boil twins, Hard-Boil and Soft-Boil from the Efficient Eggs, as well as Stew, the captain of the Brothballers. These were also marbles that competed with Team Momo back in the day.

Some of the other organizers and advisory board members ushered the crowd to the stadium, hosted once again by the Ramen Runners for the fifteenth edition of the Ramen Bowl team division. The opening event, Race to the [Ramen] Bowl, was traditionally the first event held in both divisions of the tournament and was being set up for the next day. After being briefed on administrative matters on the advisory board, the Momo marbles rested up at the hotel.

The next day marked the first event day of the Ramen Bowl, with the Race to the Bowl being the first of ten events. Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo, watching from the VIP stands, expected the Ramen Runners to win the event. However, Scallion of the Spring Onions, a new team in the Ramen Bowl, set an incredibly fast time to claim gold, to the awe of the crowd.

In the following few events, the Spring Onions continued to dominate in their debut year, against all odds. The Ramen Runners, Efficient Eggs, and Brothballers, teams expected to be at the top of the standings, were placing well, but could not keep pace with the championship leaders. Every time the Onions seemed to downturn, they would follow it up with a medal. 

“It’s a different feeling, seeing new teams steamroll through competitions with such huge legacies,” Momomo remarked. “How do they make it look so easy?”

“They make it look easy here, but no doubt it’s been tough to get to this point for them. The hardest battles are the ones we don’t get to see,” Momomomo said.

The final event was a circuit race, partly inspired by the breakout Marbula season. The Momo marbles had played a part in making this run as smoothly as possible, as the Ramen Bowl looked better than ever. Championship-wise, though, it had already been decided, as the Spring Onions had an astounding 34 point lead over the Ramen Runners. They had clinched the Golden Noodle.

Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo watched eagerly, wondering who would win the final event of the tournament. The Spring Onions, with Leek, had already made their way to the front– but they weren’t in first just yet. Tonkotsu, from the Ramen Runners, grew their lead with every lap, determined to close out on a high in the 2020 Ramen Bowl. On the penultimate lap, however, they stumbled. The crowd gasped as Scramble, the captain of the Efficient Eggs, whizzed by and claimed the final gold medal. The Ramen Runners would finish second and the Spring Onions third– and those three teams would turn out to be the overall top three.

“I think we have a lot to learn from this,” Momomomo said, as they observed the Spring Onions basking in their glory. “There’ll always be veterans that do well from experience, but some talent is unnoticed. You can never tell when a team might have a breakout season and win tons of medals, leaving everyone in the dust. That’s something we’ll have to learn to deal with.”

“Yeah, we kinda saw it with the Minty Maniacs in the Marble League,” replied Mo. “It’s amazing how the most unlikely of teams can pull that off.”

The team would bid farewell to their friends in the Ramen Bowl, congratulating the victors once more and thanking Dragon’s Egg, who found time to make a quick appearance the day after the closing ceremony. Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo made their way back to the Temple of Om, where they had a soothing dumpling dinner.

Meanwhile, the Team Momo Marbula Crew had arrived in Herbotamia, ready for the inaugural race at Minty Mania. Momo would once again be the team’s opening racer, hoping that this time, they would qualify well and keep it. The course had a feature that was new to Season 2: a banked curve, which made up a significant portion of the third sector. Momo studied the curve intricately, trying to figure out what the best way to traverse through it would be.

In qualifying, Momo set a time in the latter half of the field, and despite their attempts to master the banked turn, they had a sharp angle coming out of it, which lost them a bit of time. Their time was only good enough for 11th, which made the field but wasn’t good enough for the two-lap shootout in Q2. They watched the follow-on rounds for qualifying and saw as Smoggy took pole, followed by Yellow Eye, Mallard, and Speedy. Three of those four were celebrated Marbula racers from Season 1 already, and Momo knew what they had to do: gain as many positions as possible to join the fray.

The following day, Coach Momomomomo alerted Momo to focus especially on the first turn. P11 had one advantage– it gave Momo the inside line. The lights were on, and off they went, and Momo would pull off an incredible move: gaining seven spots from the first turn alone. They were now positioned behind Yellow Eye, Smoggy and Speedy as they descended in the second sector of the first lap. The plan had worked beautifully.

Momo’s effort to master the banked turn had finally paid off – they were exceptional in the banking, weaving inwards and outwards to gain positions and to find the perfect line. Before Lap 5, they were in second place, right on the tail of Yellow Eye. However, disaster struck at the end of Lap 5, with Speedy being jammed in the guide of the conveyor. The race had to be stopped, and despite Momo getting by Yellow Eye briefly, it was all for nothing as the overtake was made after the yellow flag.

The rest of the race had Momo fans on edge, but it was all for naught, as Momo stayed in second for nearly the entirety of the remainder of the race. Momo set a couple of fast laps when trying to catch up to Yellow Eye, and picked up the fastest lap point in the process. The Coach was incredibly proud, congratulating Momo heartily after the podium celebration.

“The plan has worked, big-time! Last season, we took four races to get any points, and look at where we are now!” exclaimed Momomomomo.

Momo smiled faintly, but something was bothering them. They kept it to themselves, however, to not damper the lively mood that their fellow crew members were in.

Later that evening, though, Mimo noticed something was up. It was rather unusual of Momo to be sullen after a good performance, let alone winning a medal. They asked their teammate what the issue was, to which they replied:

“Everyone’s saying that Yellow Eye led every single lap and that this was an incredibly dominant victory for them, the most dominant in history. And officially, it’s true, they did lead every lap recorded. But no one seems to remember that I made the move for the lead, only that it was after the red flag. It was a wasted opportunity on my part.”

“Look, Momo, the incident shook everyone up when it happened. You and I, we’re no strangers to this kind of thing. But everyone else, they haven’t experienced being out on the field, performing, when there’s a report of something like what happened to Speedy today. It was only natural that you’d handle it well.”

Momo saw reason in what Mimo said, but still looked glum, thinking about what could’ve been.

“Don’t dwell on it. The important thing is that everyone’s okay. Hey, next week, I’ll do my best to make sure that no one forgets our moves for the lead again.”

The next week rolled around, and indeed, Mimo would be racing at Orlango, returning to a slightly modified O’raceway course. Mimo had watched the footage of Minty Mania several times, watching their teammate’s brilliant overtakes in the opening turn, as well as Yellow Eye’s masterful maintaining of the lead. They planned on encompassing both elements in the upcoming race.

Mimo had a sub-par qualifying run, though, as their time of 24.717 seconds was only good enough for P14. The silver lining was that, once again, they had the inside line, but how effective would that be if Mimo was at the back? It turned out that it would be paramount to Mimo’s first move in the race.

The lights were on, and they were rolling for the second time in Season 2. Mimo, replicating Momo’s huge early overtake perfectly, made full use of the inside line to get into fifth. A strategic move high up on the curb, followed by a very fast line in the sand section, got Mimo up to second place, just behind Cerulean of the Kobalts. Mimo drew closer to Cerulean on the front stretch, managing to slot themselves onto the same level of the conveyor belt in the run-up to Lap 2. Then, a very clean exit off the belt, and Mimo darted into the lead. The Momo fan section was roaring out of exhilaration.

Now that Mimo had done the part of replicating Momo’s genius overtaking strategy, they had to replicate Yellow Eye’s skill in maintaining their lead. Lap by lap, they continued to time their conveyor exits precisely, to widen the gap to second place. It also helped that second place was a hotly contested position throughout the next few laps, and Mimo, strong on the sand section, left everyone in the dust. Tumult, Wispy, Billy, and Snowstorm were dueling for the bottom two podium positions, and Coach Momomomomo advised Mimo to pay no attention and to focus on what was in front.

Mimo’s lead was a massive 4.29 seconds with three laps to go, and while it looked like it was an easy gold medal for the First Reserve, Mimo caught a glimpse of Red Eye behind them. The Crimson Cat was approaching, trying to make up some ground, and they did an exceptional job of it on Lap 17. The lead had shrunk to less than a second after just one lap. Mimo, though, was undeterred; channeling their energy forward and making no mistakes, and they crossed the line to win the O’raceway Grand Prix. The fan section was in jubilation, chanting: “Mi-MO! Mi-MO! Mi-MO!” louder than any other team.

Momo and Mimo sprinted towards each other after the race and podium celebration. “I told you! I told you, no one is forgetting about us now! Team Momo, at the top of the table!”

Indeed, Mimo was right. Team Momo and the Crazy Cat’s Eyes had both won a gold and silver medal in the first two races, but the fastest lap point that Momo won at Minty Mania put them in first overall. It was the first time that Team Momo, competing with Marble League teams, had reached the top of the standings.

Coach Momomomomo was crying tears of joy. They could not have been more proud of what the team had achieved; how far they’d come since being in the Marble League Showdown the previous year. In a team meeting held the next day, the racers, Coach, and Manager Memo discussed what their strategy should be going into the next few races.

“Of course, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. But we do need to keep in mind that in almost every season, we get all of our podiums, or good finishes, in one consecutive band of events. 2016 is the exception – you guys did a great job of consistently winning medals, and that’s how you were so close to glory up until the end. We need to return to that style of competing.”

The team decided to send Momo to the next Grand Prix, the Honeydome, to rest Mimo up, and as Mimo also expressed interest to race at the Aquamaring, the fourth GP. The Oceanics-hosted course had some similarities to the O’raceway, in the sense that there were long straightaways where Mimo hoped to reenact what they pulled off in Orlango.

At Buzzpig, home of the Bumblebees, Momo was ready to set a qualifying time. They would have to adapt to the unfamiliar sections of the course – being the Bee Dance section and the Hive. Momo set a time of 31.959 seconds. Like Mimo, this was on the cusp of elimination, but having placed eighth out of twelve racers, they had guaranteed a position on the grid. Momo gulped, however, when they saw the remaining qualifying hot laps; as every marble that set a time afterward did better than them. This meant a start from the back of the field in P16, but with Team Momo now being known for making huge gains in the race, Momo had their work cut out for them.

In the race, Momo would go on to make the large gain they envisioned, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the podium just yet. Speedy and Bumble were dueling at the front with them, and while Momo held the lead briefly, a masterful move in the first sector allowed Speedy to get by. Momo held the podium spots for a few more laps but fell into the clutches of Starry, and to their dismay, Yellow Eye. By the end of it, Momo finished in fifth – a solid result, but felt bittersweet. Yellow Eye, meanwhile, got the bronze and the fastest lap. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes made the podium for the third time, overtaking Team Momo in the championship.

“We’re still only four points off the leaders, and well ahead of third place. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes are on the top of their game, no doubt, but we can easily take it back in Dunduei,” affirmed the Coach in an interview.

Mimo was competing at the Aquamaring, with Red Eye being their main target to beat. Those two had secured the top two positions at the O’raceway, and with four points separating the two in the team standings, they were the ones to watch out for here. Mimo qualified in P8 – good enough for Q2 and the team’s best qualifying performance to date. Unfortunately for them, Red Eye set the second-fastest time in Q1. Mimo couldn’t make up any ground in Q2, but Red Eye fell back to sixth, so the Crazy Cat’s Eyes would start right in front of Team Momo for the race.

Despite Coach Momomomomo being optimistic, the race went in the complete opposite direction to what Team Momo needed. Mimo fell to the back of the field, while Red Eye shot up to the lead right from the first lap. Despite a hard-fought battle with Bolt, Red Eye emerged victorious by nearly three seconds with the fastest lap, while Mimo finished in fifteenth place, outside the points. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes’ lead ballooned to 30 points, and Team Momo was now left in between a rock and a hard place moving forward.

Momo, however, was more determined than ever to make up for the deficit. They made it to the third qualifying round at the Tumult Turnpike GP – another first for the team. Starting in P3, through some wonderful moves in the banked turn, Momo set their sights on the lead in the race. Unfortunately, they fell back a little bit, and by the end of the race, Team Momo had gained just two points on the championship leaders.

In the final race before the winter break, Mimo qualified in P7, unable to make up ground in Q2 once more. Red Eye qualified in second, so the Coach made it clear that getting to the front of the field was crucial. Sadly, Mimo once again was unable to follow through with the intended plan, finding trouble traversing through the sharp turns and the ice bridge at the Arctic Circuit GP. While Red Eye finished mid-pack, Team Momo finished a Marbula One race in dead last for the first time in Season 2.

Mimo was heartbroken after the race. Their blowout victory seemed like nothing but a fever dream at this point, with their two misfortunes being the rough patches that separated their team from the Crazy Cat’s Eyes. Coach, observing them closely, sympathized with the reserve member’s struggle but was desperately looking for a solution to get Team Momo back on track.

Out of the blue, Memo notified Coach Momomomomo and the team members that they were invited to a five-event Marble League Winter Special, hosted by the Minty Maniacs. The remaining members of Team Momo had joined the Marbula crew as they had finished up at the 2020 Ramen Bowl, and they were eager to participate. Momo also expressed their interest. Mimo, however, felt that circuit training would be a better use of their time, given their poor form. They agreed that Mimo would participate in the final event, Ice Hockey, as this required all five marbles but would be training for Marbula One before that.

“The Himarbleayas may seem fierce, but being aware of your surroundings makes it easy to tame this beast. Hopefully, we’ll be able to push through in this short series,” said Momomomo, telling their teammates about their experience going rock climbing.

In a meeting before the opening event, the Ice Dash, the team had to decide who would represent them in the individual events, as this was still unclear. The individual events, Ice Dash, Snowboard Cross, and Speed Skating, were held in Marble League 2018, but Team Momary placed poorly in all three events back then. Coach Momomomomo was set on sending out Momomo, Mo, and Momomomo in that order, giving their Marbula racers time to train and rest. Momo, however, openly expressed their interest to participate in an event, saying that they needed to remain competitively active during the break. Momomo wasn’t confident with being the first representative either, so it was decided that Momo would replace Momomo in the Ice Dash.

Momo would be racing against the Raspberry Racers, Pinkies, and Balls of Chaos in Heat 2. They watched as Blue Eye reset the record in the first heat, leaving the stadium in awe as the Crazy Cat’s Eyes had the spotlight. Fueled by their desire to overcome them, Momo advanced to the semi-finals, just two-hundredths of a second off Rezzy from the Raspberry Racers. 

In the semi-final, they were pitted against the Snowballs, Team Galactic, and the Cat’s Eyes, being side-by-side with Blue Eye. Momo kept true to the middle, dashing as fast as they could, and reset the record once more. They grinned momentarily – before facing a hard collision with Starry of Team Galactic at the line. Taking a medical check before the final, Momo was a little shaken up, and could only get bronze as the Crazy Cat’s Eyes won gold in the first event again. Momo, though, was thrilled to be back on the podium, with the team continuing to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

In the next couple of events, Mo finished in the bottom half in the Snowboard Cross, while the team captain set a time in Speed Skating good enough for fifth place. To the Coach’s dismay, however, the preparation for Bobsled did not go as planned. Momomo was reported to have altitude sickness, and the team was obligated to let them rest. This meant that Mimo had to substitute in, which turned out okay, as they placed in the top half. Momomomomo was worried that Mimo was losing valuable Marbula practice, and rightfully so.

Going into the final event, Team Momo had an outside shot at the title from sixth, but the Oceanics were easily the favorites to take the Winter Special. The Coach targeted a podium, which required them to clear the first two teams at the very least. Alas, this did not happen, as they were no match for Team Galactic in the Round of 16. Placing fourteenth in the event, Team Momo fell to ninth overall, in a similar fashion to Marble League 2017. They watched longingly as the Oceanics, O’rangers, and Hazers made up the overall podium.

“We struggle so much in collision-style events,” lamented Mo. “We were in a good position, but maybe we’re doomed to mediocrity after all.”

“It’s good that we’re participating in these off-season events. We know where to improve, and we’ll make the effort to do so,” replied the Coach.

The entire team was ready to head to Lewara together, which had a very different, more tropical climate to that of the Himarbleayas. Momo was set to race at the Raceforest GP, hosted by the Jungle Jumpers. They were antsy in the starting blocks after the Winter Special, especially since this would be the first time they were competing with the individual championship leader, Red Eye. Whether the Crazy Cat’s Eyes would slow down in the second half was not in Momo’s control, but whether Team Momo would bridge that gap was.

Momo was to set a time in the penultimate pair of marbles, right after Bolt. They weren’t used to the slower pace that this course required, and unable to make up ground, they could only place sixteenth out of eighteen marbles. If both Billy and Red Eye did worse, Momo would still make the field, but that was an incredibly tall order. Billy did not, as they made it to seventh, but it was Red Eye’s performance, the best of all Q1 times, that deepened the sinking feeling in Momo’s stomach. The team had failed to achieve a grid position for the first time all season, and now as already behind the Green Ducks as well, they were only going to lose more ground on the championship lead.

“Coach was right,” sighed Momo dejectedly to Mimo later that day. “Taking part in the Ice Dash in the Winter Special felt great in the mo-moment, but I could’ve spent that time training. Here we are, paying the price.”

Mimo didn’t say anything in response. They wanted to console their fellow racer, but they knew that making it up on the track the next week would be a thousand times better than any words at that moment.

The eighth race on the calendar was to be held back at home for Team Momo, as the Momotorway Grand Prix would return for the second season of Marbula One. The track, while being an all too familiar one to the team, was also one where Momo had placed sixteenth on in Season 1. Mimo needed to turn things around completely. Surely, their attempt to fulfill their championship aspirations couldn’t get any worse here, right? Or so, Mimo thought.

Mimo would go on to set a fairly slow time in Q1 and was barely in the DNQ zone before the final pair of racers set their times. With Shock riding the split before Sector 2 very egregiously, they set the worst time of the day, allowing Mimo to qualify for the GP. They did have some of their first-half magic in them, as Mimo climbed several spots throughout the race, but it was only good enough for seventh. Meanwhile, Yellow Eye claimed gold at Om, eliminating half of all teams from championship contention then and there.

After a few weeks of waiting, Momo lined up for the Palette Park GP. They managed to qualify this time in P11 and hoped to gain several positions again in the race. Red Eye qualified in P15, a season-low for them, but Momo didn’t pay attention. Instead, they were more focused on the teams that were right on Team Momo’s radar: the Thunderbolts and the Green Ducks. Bolt only qualified in P14, Billy; a DNQ. The race was a great opportunity to make up some ground on those two teams, but every time Momo could make an overtake, they’d get their place taken from them by another marble. Despite being in sixth for a decent part of the mid-race, Momo finished in tenth. A bit of a missed opportunity, considering Bolt and Red Eye didn’t do much better. Team Momo was now the lowest team, in fourth, that was still in championship contention, but given that it was near impossible to usurp the Cat’s Eyes, their eyes lay on second place for now.

Race 10, the Misty Mountain GP, would take place a couple of weeks later again, having been delayed due to navigation issues around Mount Huaze. The track was quite literally clouded in mist, bearing an aura of mystery and foreboding, similar to an aura that the Hazers carried themselves. Mimo, though, took well to the course in qualifiers – making it to Q2 and just missing out on Q3 by qualifying in P5. The race, however, was an entirely different story. Mimo climbed all the way to first, in a close battle with Cerulean and Bumble. They heard that Clutter had been stuck in the safety marble lane, but Mimo, while concerned, made sure to focus on the race. On Lap 9, Bumble had gotten stuck on Turn 6, but they were still in race conditions as Cerulean and Mimo stretched their margin to third incredibly. Four laps later, a red flag was called, and the four-second margin evaporated with a race restart.

Mimo got swarmed up by the field in the first lap of the restart, falling to eleventh at one point. They tried their hardest to make up for time lost, and gained a few spots, but finished in eighth at the end of it. It was such a letdown that Mimo’s hard work in most of the race had gone to waste. Momo watched them from the sidelines, remembering how their overtake at Minty Mania for the lead had been in vain. This was far, far worse. In an interview, Mimo tried to be optimistic. “I did my best,” is all that they had the heart to say.

In the penultimate GP, at the Savage Speedway, Momo qualified in P13 and made up no spots during the race. However, the attention was all on Red Eye, winning the race from pole and setting the fastest lap for the first-ever 27-point haul in a race, in nearly seven minutes of pure racing domination. Both the individual and team titles were now unassailable, but Coach Momomomomo wished for the team to close out on a high. At Helarve, for the final GP of the season, Mimo qualified in P8 making it to Q2. Previously, starting in the mid-pack spelled trouble for the first reserve, but not this time. 

Despite being in last after the first lap, they made overtakes in nearly every lap to get closer to the front. Dueling with Cerulean, Razzy and Rapidly, Mimo finished the final race in fourth, the team’s best performance since their win at the O’raceway. It was enough to put Team Momo back in the top five overall, and both racers in the top twelve individually. 

“This was not an easy season,” remarked Coach Momomomomo. “We struggled in the mid-season after a great start, team morale was low, and our hard work was in vain at times. But in the end, we pulled through, and improved massively from Season 1.”

A few days later, Momo and Mimo were waiting for their flight back to Om. They thought about the team’s place in marble sports, now in the presence of unmatched, perfect performance. In a way, the Spring Onions topping the Ramen Bowl opened up the possibility of such domination, and the Crazy Cat’s Eyes in Marbula One allowed Team Momo to experience it firsthand.

“You know, looking back, it feels silly that we considered the Cat’s Eyes our rivals. They’re masters of the sport, but if we could maintain our early good form throughout, we may be able to put up a fight,” said Momo.

Team Momo remained yet to have a tournament where they didn’t win all of their medals in three consecutive events following 2016. With the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers coming up, they hoped to achieve this in the tournament but had to train hard to ensure qualification. In the meantime, they enjoyed the rest of their offseason cooking and eating dumplings, as well as watching the Marble Rally and cheering on Dragon’s Egg.

Manager Memo received a memo about a practice sand rally taking place in the Cat’s Dunes near Felynia Coliseum, where the 2021 Marble League would be held. Momomomo was the team’s most proficient rally marble, and appropriately, was chosen to represent Team Momo in the race. They finished in third to earn a bronze medal behind Indie and Rojo Uno from the Indigo Stars and Rojo Rollers – a very fine performance considering all 28 teams had taken part.

“If this is how we’re going to do in the qualifiers, I have a very good feeling about the Marble League this year,” commented the Coach.

In RetRollSpective, Team Momo has seen a rollercoaster of events occur over their history, but the team is still very well regarded by other marble athletes and the fans for its fun, its traditions, and its achievements in competition, including Momo’s individual championship in Marbula One Season 4. With hope, the team will continue to charm its fans through its talent and its passion. Best of luck to Team Momo in the near future, keep on rolling!

Credits

• Writers: Ramen Powder, Stynth
• Editors: Edu G. J., Fouc, Smacg13
• Artists: Betawolfs, Jack Ironhide
• Graphic Designers: Ramen Powder, Spex, Tim Ritz
• Photographers: Jelle’s Marble Runs, Ramen Powder
• Release: 10/12/2021

Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to leap over to the Jungle Jumpers, a team that debuted in Marble League 2017. Read on to find out how this team has jumped through the competition!

The Jungle Jumpers originate from Lewara, a village hidden beyond a dense rainforest, bordered by a river with a lush basin. Hop, Skip, Jump, and Leap grew up admiring the beautiful flora and fauna that lived in the rainforest and relished exploring it daily. One of their favorite pastimes was to scale the treetops and jump to the ground using a wingsuit. Their skills in BASE jumping were praised by the village of Lewara, and the village made sure to include a short segment of their talents in an Atlas Marbura featurette about the village. The segment trended on MarBook upon the release of the featurette, and days later, the BASE jumpers were contacted by agents from the Surculo, asking them to compete in an exhibition race in the city of Numerun.

The four, who adopted the “Jungle Jumpers” moniker to compete in the race, traveled outside of the village for the first time in their lives. Upon arriving in Numerun, they attended a dinner with the other competitors as part of the fundraiser for Colina Umerun. They explored the city late into the night and, as a result, nearly overslept the next morning.

“If the fans weren’t blasting ‘Roll and Shout’ outside the hotel, we would have skipped the race,” recalled Skip. “That would have been disappointing, considering how we did.”

The race allowed four members from each team to compete, with a points-based system that rewarded the marbles with points depending on what order they crossed the line in. The Jungle Jumpers won the tournament to everyone’s surprise, as this was their first time competing in professional marble sports. According to Hop, the team’s experiences in BASE jumping had prepared them well for the exhibition:

“The strategies needed to coordinate our progress down Colina Umerun are similar to the strategies we use in BASE jumping. It all comes down to speed, timing, and precision.”

In celebration of their victory, the Jungle Jumpers were permitted by Numerun officials to go BASE jumping in the modern part of the city. Later that week, they returned home to Lewara, promising fans that they would return.

The next year, the Jungle Jumpers entered the main tournament of the Surculo in the entry league, retiring from BASE jumping. They were joined by the Jawbreakers, Rojo Rollers, Quicksilvers, and Chocolatiers in the coming years, and all five of the teams rose through the ranks to the elite league. In 2015, the Jawbreakers, who considered the Jumpers a formidable rival, won the overall tournament. The Jungle Jumpers placed fourth, and when offered a spot in the 2016 Marble League, they declined in favor of one more shot at the championship.

“We always knew that we had it in us,” said Jump, the team’s captain. “We had to get there, and we did.”

Despite a rough start to the season, where the team missed the first event due to a power outage resetting their alarm clocks the night before, the Jungle Jumpers came back, winning the 2016 Surculo Championship over the Quicksilvers. Their strength in the second half of the tournament was unprecedented in Surculo history, as they won several medals in a row. Both teams were asked to participate in the 2017 Marble League Qualifiers the next year, and both teams accepted.

The Jungle Jumpers struggled in the first two events of Qualifiers but shone in Block Pushing, leading the event with a score of 73.3 centimeters. The Jumpers catapulted into fifth place overall, and despite falling to ninth after Funnel Spinning, had what they needed to qualify for their first Marble League.

Perhaps the Jungle Jumpers had the points they needed to qualify, but for most of the 2017 Marble League season, it did not seem like they had the training. Prior to their gold medal in Archery, the team’s highest placement in the first nine events of the season was tenth—a ranking they had only achieved twice. The only team that was as disappointing as the Jungle Jumpers was the Quicksilvers, and even then, they had finished in seventh.

They were the last team to compete in Archery, but the Jungle Jumpers—again, to everyone’s surprise—excelled. Their training in precision and accuracy helped them to stay in the center of the targets, with Hop, Leap, and Skip earning 9.5 and Jump earning 10, cleanly knocking over the bullseye. 

Longtime fans of the Jungle Jumpers knew that they wouldn’t stop with just one medal—and they were right. The rest of Marblearth, however, was completely surprised to see Hop advance to the Underwater Race final and make the podium.

“I wouldn’t root for them again,” a fan named Billy admitted after the closing ceremony. “But it was fun to see them come out of nowhere and get some recognition. Any fan would love to be in their roll-steps.”

Fans from across Marblearth hoped that the Jungle Jumpers would do well in the final event, but unfortunately, this was not the case. After going out to dinner after the Underwater Race, the Jungle Jumpers overslept and missed the official transportation for the final event of the 2017 Marble League. The team finished their season in fifteenth with 68 points overall, only above the Quicksilvers in last.

“Overall, 2017 wasn’t the season we wanted to have,” Hop conceded. “Part of the reason we went out that night was to celebrate, and the other part of the reason was that we didn’t see ourselves doing much better. There was a sense that our story had already been written,” they said as the other Jumpers nodded in agreement.

“If we were the best of the Surculo, we weren’t showing it,” admitted Leap. “We really weren’t handling it well on a personal scale either.”

The team recruited their fifth reserve member, Bounce, from Greshen, a small city known for its studies in ecology and for having the freshest air in the world. The Jumpers trained there in the months leading up to the 2018 Winter Marble League; in the mornings, they would exercise in the rainforest near the city, working on their speed and endurance. In the evenings, they would go out.

Judgment came for the Jungle Jumpers during Qualifiers, where they placed seventh despite Hop’s third place in the Snow Rally. Of the four rookie teams from 2017, the Midnight Wisps were the only team to qualify for the 2018 Winter Marble League. The Jumpers attended the main tournament and sat alongside the Rojo Rollers, their fellow Surculo competitors who had not competed in the Marble League since 2016. It was then that they realized that they needed to make a change.

“We realized as soon as the opening ceremony began that we were not satisfied where we were in the stands,” Jump said. “I didn’t think that we deserved to compete in 2018, but there was no excuse for us to feel that pitiful. We needed to do better.”

Jump got in contact with sports professionals from Numerun, who agreed that the team had potential, but needed an overhaul in training. Tarzan joined the team midway through the 2018 season and agreed to coach them starting after the closing ceremony in 2018. They quickly got to work in preparation for the 2018 Marble League Consolation Race, the first of three offseason events organized specifically for Marble League teams.

Their decision to hire Tarzan saved the Jungle Jumpers’ fate, and they began to shift from a team seen as a burnout to one that could return to the Marble League. After starting in the middle of the pack, Hop fought to the front and finished third overall in the Consolation Race. Skip similarly started in the middle of the 100 Meter Water Race, but vaulted into second place upon Whizzy’s slowdown, and took the lead from Pinky Winky in the second third of the race. In the final quarter of the race, Skip traded the lead back and forth with Sublime, crossing the finish line two-tenths of a second ahead of Sublime after one final handoff. The Amazing Maze Marble Race also delivered a close finish for the Jumpers in the semifinals, as they missed out on advancing to the finals by just two points.

Even after doing well in the offseason, the Jungle Jumpers were fully aware of what they had to prove, and it was more than just their ability to compete. “We made a conscious choice in 2018 to stop partying, and it wasn’t as easy as quitting cold turkey. It took real effort,” explained Skip. “But it was so worth it.”

The team entered the 2019 Marble League Qualifiers with Skip’s ninth-place finish in Funnel Endurance and rose to third overall with the team’s 109.5-centimeter score in Block Pushing. Unlike the previous year, where the Jumpers fell out of contention midway through Qualifiers, the team continued to finish in the top half of the standings, earning double-digits in points, and qualified for the 2019 Marble League, their second, in fifth overall.

“I had doubts about joining the team in 2018,” Bounce admitted. “Jump and the others seemed like a great team, but they weren’t there yet. No doubts were heading into 2019. We felt on top of our game.”

It was surprising, then, when Skip finished fifteenth in the first event, the Underwater Race, and last in Balancing. There was potential to get on the podium in Funnel Endurance, with Leap leading the finals twice, but a few well-timed bumps against Razzy and the others sent them spiraling down to eighth place. The team sat in fourteenth place heading into the Gravitrax Slalom, where they reached the final and finished in third, earning their first medal in two years. The Jumpers rose to eleventh overall.

From then on, the Jungle Jumpers began posting better, if still inconsistent, results. Their strength in team events continued to fluctuate from sixth in the Relay Run to fourteenth in Block Pushing, where they had excelled in Qualifiers. Hop took the reins for the Summer Biathlon, an event unique to 2019, and beat Bonbon of the Chocolatiers in one of the closest photo finishes of the season, at three-thousandths of a second. At the midpoint of the season, the Jumpers rose to ninth overall.

They continued to battle with consistency during the latter half of the season, with lower finishes in fourteenth, fifteenth, and twelfth keeping the Jungle Jumpers from reaching the top five. That said, the team had enough strong finishes to warrant a finish in the top half of the standings, with fifth in the Dirt Race and the Elimination Race proving that their training in speed and endurance was working. Even then, the Jumpers were not in the top half of the standings heading into the fourteenth event, Surfing. They already couldn’t win the 2019 Marble League, but, true to their previous history in the tournament, they were not finished yet.

Skip was chosen collectively by the team to compete in Surfing, as their expertise in skipping across the Lewara River to and from the rainforest suited the balance needed to surf and endurance needed to finish the race. In the second heat, Skip’s surfing distance was far stronger than Wopsy’s, 33 centimeters to 23 centimeters, and their time bonus of 20.48 seconds led to a score of 53.48. Skip took the provisional lead in the round and the lead overall, earning the team’s second gold medal of the season.

The Jungle Jumpers finally skipped into the top half of the standings, and remained there, finishing seventh overall after dropping one spot to the O’rangers in sixth.

“We did everything that we needed to do last season, and I am so proud of how far the Jungle Jumpers have come,” Tarzan said, applauding their team’s success in the 2019 Marble League. “They proved that they deserved to be there, and when they came off their podium in Surfing, they looked happier than I have ever seen them—happier than any night out has made them.”

Leap of Faith

an addendum by Fouc and Orbitball

Two days before the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers began, in a village nestled in a river valley and hidden from above by the rainforest canopy, there was finally a screen set up in Lewara’s town square. It was daytime for the Lewarans when the Qualifiers started, as almost every villager rolled out to pack around the screen, so confident they were in the hopes of their hometown team – the Jungle Jumpers.

From above, the village was no longer hidden; you could see the screen’s fluorescent glow and a crowd of two thousand dark green marbles. “There is no doubt that our team will do better than last year, zero,” said one attendee.

The story of the Jumpers’ 2020 season started with what happened next. Team member Leap fell off of the Funnel Endurance course, a moment that could have shifted the team’s trajectory forever.

Over that season, the Lewarans would carry the same bundle of emotions as what first fell onto them that day. What started as screaming at Leap’s fall ended in stunned silence, punctured by bits of sobbing. But when media interviewed them again, the Lewarans comforted themselves by repeating the same line: a bit of bad luck would not be enough to shake the Jumpers’ fans’ unwavering faith.

Going into the Qualifiers, the Jungle Jumpers were well prepared for the task ahead. Knowing there would be fierce competition such as the Savage Speeders and O’rangers this year, as well as several teams entering from the 2019 Showdown, the team described their strategic thinking early on.

“My great-grandmarble was an experienced Funnel Spinner many years ago,” Leap told the press in an exclusive team interview before the 2020 Qualifiers, “They taught me everything I know.”

“What, how to spin in a circle?” Hop butted in, teasing Leap. The crowd laughed as the two exchanged banter back and forth, resulting in one of the most shared Jungle Jumpers interviews online.

Ahead of the Qualifiers’ Funnel Endurance heat, the team tried to open up a lead in the starting Balancing run. Captain Jump seemed to dictate the formation at first, but a collision between them and Leap wiped both out halfway through. Only Hop made it to the end, netting the team a provisional 15th place out of 20.

Leap recalled, as they went up the Funnel Endurance tower into the starting gate: “Balancing wasn’t the greatest, but I told myself I had a plan. I had 20 minutes of practice time to myself and got a feel for how to spin around the funnels.”

Testing the tower on your own must not be the same as fighting for your spot among nine other athletes. Leap was pushed quickly through the orange funnels and we saw them almost pushed down immediately by the Chocolatiers’ Cocoa. Leap fended off two marbles who dropped through the first green funnel, but then their pace slowed to a crawl.

The Jungle Jumper tipped into the funnel hole and onto the railing, and then – “Leap from the Jungle Jumpers has fallen off the track!” shouted Greg Woods.

At such a prestigious event as the Marble League, you would think track defects were things of the past. After Team Momo’s injury led to the 2017 ban of fidget spinners, the Marble League was well respected for their course safety standards, which were released for public review and approved by experts.

As a testament to this, the grass below the funnel tower was designed to cushion any marble falling onto it. Despite the leap off the course, Leap had only some scratches that were tended to right away by the medic marbles.

“I wish I remembered more of it,” said Leap. “It felt like I was dizzy and losing track of where I was after that first green funnel and next thing I remember the medics were carrying me indoors. I have to think the medics did a good job,” said Leap.

Coach Tarzan and Captain Jump went off the field for other reasons. “The truth is… I ran up to the JMRC and was too busy arguing with them to see Leap get carried off,” said the Coach. “All of it was so crazy at the moment and a bit silly afterward. I was staring at the replay and just yelling to them: ‘The rail was wobbly! You can tell it was wobbling!’ “

In the end, Jelle and Mellacus of the Committee announced a standard two-point consolation would be given to the Jungle Jumpers due to the probable existence of a track defect. The team’s response at the time was cold: “In truth, I think restarting the funnel run was the fairest thing to do,” said Captain Jump after the event.

“Before Block Pushing, there were a few captains who came up to me and talked,” recalled Jump. “I appreciate them doing it, and they kept saying ‘it’ll be fine, we know the Committee made the fairest decision.’ But I still would say to them, ‘You don’t know for sure if they thought this through.’ “

Despite an eighth-place finish in Block Pushing, the Jumpers were third to last overall going into the final 5 Meter Sprint. The team’s fate rested on Skip, the team’s Surfing gold medalist in Marble League 2019. “I was fired up at the moment because I knew I was doing this for Leap and Lewara,” recalled the athlete. “One of the Speeders was next to me, but didn’t I beat them in Surfing? I wasn’t scared.”

Neck and neck with the competition in their heat, Skip raced past the finish line in a blur, so fast that they almost crashed out of the finish zone. At the last instant, Skip pressed down on the wall and found their footing on a peg. The other contestants were still panting when Skip turned around to see they scored a 5.242, fourth overall in the event.

Finally, the Jumpers and Lewara jumped for joy. So convinced they were that their time did come that few noticed the overall standings at first. There was a four-way tie for the last two spots, and the Jumpers were eliminated off of position countback. They could have qualified for 2020 if Skip bested the Oceanics’ Sea in the Sprint, who was to Skip’s left in the same heat and was at most two lengths quicker.

Between the 2020 Qualifiers and the 2020 Marble League Showdown, most Lewaran fans returned home with the Jumpers and the team fell from the public eye. Few public figures were vouching for the team, but one pundit was particularly prominent: Tonio, the host of the series “Power Ranking Power Hour.”

When we interviewed them in July, Tonio’s stage presence had not changed, with each sentence of theirs enunciated and booming across the room. “Jungle Jumpers fans were so robbed,” they exclaimed. “The Jungle Jumpers should host next year because everyone is pitying them.”

That would be news to the team itself, who retreated home and found a way to let out their frustration. In Lewara, the Jumpers were still given a hero’s welcome when they drove back. The village chief gave a roaring speech about how the Jumpers will be the fastest, most agile team in the Marble League.

All the villagers pitched together to throw great parties for the team, with each athlete treating themselves to numerous meals and drinks over a week. The one day with a break from all this partying was when Stynth, Editor-in-Chief of the Rollout, visited the team’s training grounds:

“My train ride into Greshen brought me from a dense city setting to the outer rim of a large, dense rainforest, with flora and fauna that Team Primary could only dream of painting. Jump, who welcomed me at the airport, brought me on a hiking trail that rolled us up to a viewpoint overlooking the entire city—and the treetops that the Jungle Jumpers leaped off of in the background. The entire team was waiting at the top for our arrival.

            “We’re working on ourselves as a team,” Hop noted. “We’re working to center our focus and trust ourselves…”

The team offered me a jumpsuit to dive off the cliff with. I respectfully declined.”

~from “Offseason Moments – ML2020 Showdown”, by Stynth

“Looking back, we really could have trained more those few weeks,” said Hop. “A lot of us just said we needed to decompress, though among us Leap didn’t go out as we all did. I asked them one night what’s going on because out of any marble they needed that positivity.””Something about that moment didn’t feel right,” said Leap. “I love our fans, but they were celebrating us like we won the whole Marble League. We didn’t, we failed to qualify. We need to deliver to make all their support worth it.”

In Lewara, Stynth jotted down a new manager for the team, a wealthy marble from the city of Koroc called Joy. The team going back to Polaria’s Andromedome was a group of seven – and they would touch down in a much larger jet than our Editor-in-Chief remembered them having.

The 2020 Showdown’s first event, the Relay Run, saw a renewed Jumpers team in full force. Placing second to the Snowballs in their qualifier heat, the Jumpers still made it to the final as the fastest non-leading wild card team. What seemed like another fourth-place finish was flipped upside down at the anchor leg, as Leap sent Jump flying forward. As Greg Woods announced, “The Jungle Jumpers, the wild card, ends up beating the top three!”

That was one of three podium placements the team earned that Showdown, followed by a silver in the Halfpipe and a bronze in the Sand Moguls. Jump and Leap would lose their footing around the Black Hole Funnel, sinking into last there. But Lewaran fans’ drums banged right after to the sight of Hop winning their Moguls heat.

Not only would the Jungle Jumpers contest 2021’s Marble League Qualifiers, but they did so as runners-up in the Marble League Showdown – their highest placement ever in a tournament.

After the podium ceremony, reporters filled up the Jungle Jumpers’ press conference in a way they have not since 2019. What they noticed, however, is that Tarzan or most of the athletes kept to themselves throughout. Instead, the conference mostly consisted of a speech from a hefty black marble, the Jumpers’ new manager.

“It is my dearest and greatest pleasure to celebrate this moment with you all… Marblearth has seen the true power the Jungle Jumpers possess!” said Manager Joy. “Today is not just a time to celebrate the Showdown podium, but also to present a team going back to their roots for a new future!”

Clicking to show a new slide on a projector screen, Joy could see the reporters scramble forward and start taking photos. On the screen was the schematic for their new plan for a world-class training facility for the Jumpers. “Lewara and my holding company agreed to a three-year investment in the new Lewara Sports Parc, starting with the Raceforest Circuit this winter and seven facilities in preparation of hosting Marble League 2022!”

Change was very much in the air when we visited the Jumpers during the offseason. The way to Lewara used to be a narrow road treading through the dense forest but was now a six-lane highway. Foliage no longer blocked our view into the town, where we could see heavy construction afoot.

A fleet of excavators was digging into the ground as we met the team and Lewara’s leaders around the site of Raceforest Circuit. The team made news once again as the JMRC approved their hosting bid for a Marbula One Grand Prix, thereby qualifying them for Marbula One Season 2. Coach Tarzan narrated a racer reveal trailer that was viewed millions of times across Marblearth: Hop, “Sky High”, and Skip, “Super Skipper,” jumped out of a plane above the ocean to thumping electronic beats.

“We are so proud of our Jumpers for what they did and what they will do,” said Lewara’s Chief Marble to us. “The Raceforest Circuit and the new athletics stadium have also given our town thousands of well-paying jobs. The better the team performs, the quicker Lewara grows to be a great and beautiful city.”

Once again, what should have been an interview around the team felt more like publicity for Lewara’s rapid development. We were able to ask the racers, Hop and Skip, what they felt about having all these expectations on their backs.

The Super Skipper sounded over the moon: “We used to have to travel to Greshen and Koroc to live it up, and now Lewara could be just as exciting! I’m just pumped thinking about it.”

Hop, a multiple Marble League medallist, was more reserved. “Things are changing very quickly for sure, and not everything is under our control. My part is using this Marbula One season to show our team’s worth.”

Hop, Skip, and Tarzan touched down in Herbotamia on Manager Joy’s jumbo jet, to the sight of reporters all around them. It would be Hop the veteran who started in the team’s inaugural Marbula One race at the Minty Mania Grand Prix.

Seventeenth of twenty to run their qualifying lap, Hop felt at ease zigzagging through the course’s opening chicanes. But they were still swerving coming out of the ramp, turning what should have been a straight sprint into the marble pinballing off the track walls. They sped across the finish line and clocked 17.18 for their lap – at best an overall seventeenth against the competition. 

“Guess that was my moment of fame,” reflected Hop. “I heard Coach Tarzan apologize to me on the radio, then the stewards carried me off the track. The one time Greg Woods mentioned my name was to say I’m ‘definitely out.’ “

The post-race presser for the Jumpers was still well attended, though the press only wondered about how wrong the Grand Prix felt for Hop. Halfway through, Skip quipped: “It could just be that Hop feels too much pressure. I’ll probably do better than them next week, so they should take a lesson from me!” Hop acted as if they did not hear it.

The week after, Skip qualified for the O’raceway in thirteenth but never placed above eighth the whole race. Finishing with one point in twelfth, Skip was asked for a comment. They replied: “I was better than Hop the other day, so I was sort of right.”

Lack of endurance and lack of control: just one of those two would shut a team out of Marbula One Championship contention, but the Jungle Jumpers had a gift for both. They would barely follow racing lines on their qualifying laps and would fail to make the race track for three out of the first six Grands Prix. If they made it, they might squeeze up a few spots in the opening lap before going wide out of turns and letting racers overtake them.

“Every race they qualified in, the Jungle Jumpers were always in a position to score points, but they fell apart every time,” reported Tonio. “I was hoping that the Jungle Jumpers would be championship contenders. Now they may be worse than the Hornets.”

Failing to qualify for the Arctic Circuit Grand Prix, Skip scored a total of one point after three race weekends. It was one point better than Hop, who sat with zero.

The team’s press conference after Arctic Circuit was attended by one reporter. “Cocha from the Koroc News,” they said, “with the team not invited to the Winter Special, are there any plans for the team ahead of the Raceforest Grand Prix?

Skip was about to answer when Joy grabbed the microphone from them. “Nothing to worry about,” said the manager. “You’ll see the team very soon as they attend the grand opening of the Lewara Aquaparc, with one of Marblearth’s tallest surfing ramps.”

Exhaust blew out of the train of trucks going in and out of the Lewara Highway. At the Raceforest Circuit, the stands still needed seats installed mere days from the qualifiers. Above the dust and the noise, we interviewed the Jungle Jumpers in a skybox suite overlooking the whole track.

“It seems like training and publicity are taking so much of our time,” responded Leap, “so of course I’m happy to spend a few days hiking with Skip and Hop again…”

Leap trailed off before jumping out of their seat and rolling next to the window, breathing heavily. “Look down the Highway,” they shouted. “The forest is on fire!”

Apart from calling emergency services, both the team and our reporters could only watch the fire in the distance and the smoke blowing closer to the circuit grounds. We agreed to continue the interview only in the evening after firefighting marbles poured water out of a plane to put out the fire.

Outside the skybox, the smoke refracted the sunset into a sickly yellow sky. The smoke hovered over all of Lewara and made the highway and the town center look like mirages in the distance. Under the circumstances, we felt obligated to ask: has this ever happened in Lewara before?

“No, never,” whispered Jump. “This is our home. None of us want to hurt our home like this.”

The smoke did clear up a week later when fans across Marblearth drove down Lewara Highway to attend the Raceforest qualifiers. Coach Tarzan and Manager Joy were free to roll down the track and talk up the way shards of the rainforest canopy still drooped over the tracks. Reporters marveled at the sight, convinced the track design was beautiful and integrated with the environment.

To finance the circuit, most seats were sold to visitors with just one set of stands for the home fans. Squeezed in but not silenced, the Lewaran fans’ drums beat as loudly as usual when Skip came out first on the track.

The drums stopped only a few laps after because it was obvious Skip couldn’t keep to any racing line in their 30-second-plus lap and performed poorly. Their lap time of 30.588 seconds placed them in nineteenth – again failing to qualify for the main race.

A third of the Jumpers fan stands stayed empty for the main race. The fans who showed up were as loud as ever, their drums now banging to the beat of Red Eye and Speedy’s overtakes. After the race, it was these fans Skip rolled next to chat with. But when reporters asked them about their performance on their course, they simply yelled: “Shut up!”

Manager Joy gifted some more tickets so Lewarans can attend the Momotorway GP a week after. The cheers and drumming broke out early in Om, as this time Hop was able to make it to the Q2 race-off and start in eighth. With the starting grid descending into chaos through the Momotorway’s initial chicanes, Hop was squeezing past others even with a speed disadvantage.

Suddenly, a great belt exit and a misfire from Mellow Yellow’s Yellow let Hop overtake four marbles at once. Greg Woods’s voice goes one pitch higher: “Hop comes out of nowhere! And believe it or not, the Jungle Jumpers are in the lead!”

A train of marbles grew behind Hop as Hazy, Clutter, Mallard, and others wanted to push the Jumper aside. For one lap in Lap 3, Hop was weaving back and forth and defending the lead at all costs. But heartbreak took only two laps to set in, with Hop getting pushed around the second they ceded the lead back to Yellow. Hop collapsed to eleventh by Lap 5 and would end in fourteenth.

According to a Jumpers fan that day who went by Angus: “I’m at every race because there was one small string of hope I had that we would get a good finish. I was extremely pumped after Hop took the lead but around Lap 5 or 6, I was too upset… that tease made me roll out of the stands.”

“I couldn’t talk to Skip after I let us down like that,” recalled Hop. “I had a quick call with Leap. Then, I went to Tarzan one-on-one and just told them, ‘you need to bring everyone down here with that manager too. We can’t go on like this.’ “

Ahead of the Palette Park Grand Prix, the whole team gathered into a hotel suite in Van Gotterdam and stayed the whole night there. They were not “getting back to partying,” as one outlet speculated. Instead, they were questioning their plan to expand Lewara into a Marble League host city, the source of all their discontent.

After Marbula One Season 2 concluded, we were able to interview Manager Joy one-on-one for the first time and ask them hard questions on their decisions. What we heard was not at all what we expected.

“The whole team was venting to me that night, and I understand,” said Joy. “But here’s the whole story. The first time I met them, I heard from Tarzan, Jump, and Leap that they want to be spoken in the same breath as the Speeders and O’rangers. Ten months later, they said they feel Lewara has changed too much and they were overexerted.

“They get to tell their story, so now I get to tell mine. I grew up in a village just like theirs but in the mountains to their west. One day, the trucks started coming and we found out that they would start mining next to our village and we would all get good jobs. That’s when I made my first fortune, by starting from the bottom to managing the mine.

“But you know what? Twenty years later I would drive back home and the lakes and forests I played in as a kid was gone. My strip mine ripped all of it out of the ground. I may be rich now, but that giant hole in the mountain is my real legacy. And I’m hurt thinking about it too.

“I said all this to them in Van Gotterdam. I said: I did my best to keep building with a low carbon footprint. But do you know how massive the Speeders’ facilities are, or how many marbles the O’rangers’ arenas can hold? If your team wants to be in the big leagues, Lewara will have to change forever. I just help with the business side. You, as a team, need to decide what’s worth more.”

Would the Jungle Jumpers still bid to host the 2022 Marble League? With such a decision weighing on their minds, it may be surprising that the Jumpers racers performed better than expected in the next two Grands Prix. Skip borrowed Hop’s strategy and climbed to as high as fifth at the start of Palette Park, though they would still finish out of points in 14th. Hop caught back to the midfield after the red flag restart at Misty Mountain, finishing in seventh and climbing up seven spots from the qualifiers.

“One point, five points, those didn’t matter compared to the choice we faced,” said Hop. “I think that made us overthink the races less and just do what we could do.”

While Tarzan, Hop, and Skip wrapped up their Marbula One season, the rest of the team knew they could not decide alone. Manager Joy agreed to put a pause on construction while the team sought advice from friends and family.

Some were in favor of the bid, like hardcore fan Angus: “The Raceforest venue was something I have dreamed to see. I would love to see a whole tournament taking place in this venue!” Some were opposed, like former Quicksilvers captain Argent: “I told the Jumpers they were forced into a position I knew they didn’t want. Marble League performances come and go, but staying true to yourselves is forever.”

Occasionally, the team would turn on the television and hear what the outside world is speculating. One night they flipped on Tonio’s program after a guest yelled about how the Jumpers should have been the Marble League 2021 hosts. Tonio played the straight marble: “As much as I want them to host, I don’t think the Jungle Jumpers should host until they qualify for a Marble League…”

The night Leap, Jump and Reserve Bounce heard that Skip failed to qualify in the Savage Speedway, there were open arguments over the phone. From one side of the ocean to another, the team traded barbs of “None of our plan was worth it!” or “The fans don’t think that way!”

That was when they also heard back from those whose advice they sought the most.

“We were late getting back to Leap and the Jumpers, but it wasn’t a problem!” Recalled the Rojo Rollers’ Rojo Uno. “They said they wanted to see Numerun, so of course they were welcome.”

When the Jumpers made their first trip to Numerun, it was the Rojo Rollers who welcomed them and showed them the city’s sights. “They were really into visiting all these stadiums around town and then the clubs,” said Rojo Dos. “They said they wanted fun and adventure, so we tried our best.”

The Jumpers’ were not visiting this time as tourists, and Rojo Uno and Rojo Dos welcomed unexpected guests along with Leap and Jump: Choc and Bonbon of the Chocolatiers. The day was spent with the two Jumper athletes and their friends rolling down Numerun’s wide boulevards, Leap and Jump full of questions.

To the Rojo Rollers, the Jumpers asked about growing up in the city and how it felt to successfully host the Surculo. “What I said to them was… even if we enjoy life here, there are plenty of marbles lost in the city who don’t,” said Rojo Uno. “What we love about the big city is the variety of marbles here, and what we love about the Surculo is meeting friends from across Marblearth. It’s that simple.”

To the Chocolatiers, the Jumpers asked about their confectionary business and how to manage growth. “Well, I told them we manage growth by not growing very much!” said Choc, the team captain. “We found the right size for ourselves, where we work just enough to enjoy the business. Once you take the time to think about the right goals to aim for, it’s a lot clearer how you get there.”

Six athletes across three teams: they rolled out of the city center and went up the Colina Umerun, an ancient mound built for marble racing. It was a smoggy day in Numerun, so visibility was poor even at the hill’s peak. The Rojo Rollers and the Jungle Jumpers felt the humid air, listened to the din of traffic, and looked at the city’s towers and buildings, rising from asphalt then fading into the smog.

Choc laughed and said: “This view wasn’t worth the hike, isn’t it?” The next thing they knew, Leap leaned right up against them and was crying.

“It was at that moment we all knew,” said Leap. “We weren’t ready to be hosts.”

At the Midnight Bay Circuit in Helarve, Hop’s respectable P7 on the starting grid ended with a 13th finish, barely out of points. The team would end the season in last place, earning 9 points out of 12 Grands Prix. The Jungle Jumpers scored fewer points than the Hornets on a per-race basis, so Tonio’s fear did come true.

What cheered up Hop, Skip, and Tarzan was something far from Marbula One. They heard from Leap and Jump about their visit to Numerun, and the way forward became obvious to them too.

“Marbula One is not where we need to be at this moment,” said Hop at a final press conference. “What we need is some time to ourselves and to return home. It was the rainforest that trained us to be athletes, so it will be the rainforest that helps us prepare for Marble League 2021.”

The Lewaran Highway is here to stay, but the Jungle Jumpers’ expansion plans were considerably scaled back. The Raceforest Circuit is now a free public track for all Lewarans, while all facilities except the Aquaparc and a new Funnel Tower were scrapped.

“This is a decision we all agreed to,” said Captain Jump. “Hosting and growing our brand would mean giving up our village, and for what – a month of strangers trampling around? Hosting is not out of the question, but for now, we use the facilities we have to train the next generation.”

On most days, the Jumpers indeed retreat into the rainforest to practice their agility. “I realize I’ve been working them too hard recently,” Tarzan admitted when asked about the training routine, “But they’re up for it. They’ve taken every single thing I’ve thrown at them in stride, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

During our last visit to the town of Lewara, the Jumpers were preparing a reunion spanning athletes across the world, planning a group skydiving event, swimming in Lewara River, and having a traditional feast. Jump was also returning from the 2021 Marble League Practice Race, placing 12th out of 28 there. On the same flight with them from Felynia back to Lewara were Rojo Uno, Bonbon, and Candy – all Surculo veterans.

That night, fireworks went off in the air while food and drinks were plentiful at the feast. The hustle-bustle paused for a second as the drums banged and the whole Jumpers team took the stage.

“We’re so honored to have all of our friends and supporters tonight,” said Coach Tarzan, first to the mic. “Our team has tried a lot this year and faced our fears, but what we learned is that we don’t succeed just on our own. I hope this week you can explore Lewara with us, learn from each other, and work to qualify this year.”

Out of nowhere, another Jumper snatched the microphone away. “I’m sorry if I’m not the most articulate right now,” said Leap, now front and center. “But I am so excited to see you all here because if you loved tonight you better come back! For the bigger party after we sweep through this year’s Marble League! … “

In RetRollSpective, the Jungle Jumpers are the comeback kids of the Marble League. Their career has not been a simple one as they needed to bounce back after season after season of adversity. Overall, though, they are a team on the rise: they commanded respect from Marblearth after 2019, and they decided to concentrate on what they need to succeed in 2021.

“When the Jungle Jumpers finished second in the 2020 Marble Showdown, that showed that this team is too talented to toil around there!” declared Tonio recently on their show. “Crazily enough, I think their strongest event is Funnel Endurance… I do believe that the Jungle Jumpers will be strong in Funnel Endurance going forward.”

“The Jumpers were by our side when we qualified in 2017 and 2019. Then we were by their side when we both stepped on the Showdown podium,” said Bonbon of the Chocolatiers. “You don’t mess with a team that takes leaps of faith like them. Our Marble League rematch in 2021 will be legendary!”

A surprise guest at the Jumpers’ Lewara party offers parting thoughts. “It’s been four years since we first cheered for them and were inspired by them. That’s still true, you know. Our team crossed the ocean to introduce ourselves,” said Mallard, the Green Ducks captain. 

Best of luck to the Jungle Jumpers in the near future, keep on rolling!

Credits

• Writers: Fouc, Orbitball, Stynth
• Editors: Edu G. J., Smacg13
• Artist: Jack Ironhide
• Graphic Designers: Fouc, Spex, Tim Ritz
• Photographers: The Emperor, Jelle’s Marble Runs, Vector
• Release: 07/12/2021

Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re focusing on the Midnight Wisps, the champions of Marble League 2018. Read on to see how this team strikes the competition!

“It may seem like we came out of nowhere,” Wispy, the team captain, remarked. “That’s funny. Harva isn’t nowhere. It’s somewhere special: a place we are proud to call our home.”

The Midnight Wisps hail from the taiga east of Helarve. The five met on a bus tour to Harva National Park and got into a deep conversation about the upcoming 2016 Marble League. Midway through the walking portion of the tour, they decided to abandon their group, opting to race through the forest instead. To their misfortune, the five were caught trespassing and got banned and fined from the park.

“Yeah…that wasn’t the smartest decision we made, at least in the legal sense,” Wospy chuckled. “But I wouldn’t take that day back, otherwise, I wouldn’t have met my friends. I guess it was a blessing in disguise.”

Upon paying off their fine, Wispy, Wespy, Wospy, and Wuspy decided to form a team to train for the following year’s Marble League, which, according to rumors, was taking applicants from around the world. The team’s name was inspired by the renowned Helarve Clock Tower and by the region’s legendary “Willow Wisps”: 

“I hadn’t yet hit the age requirement to join the Marble League, so I helped the four of them out with training,” Waspy, the Wisps’ reserve member, stated. “We found a valley in a forest to train in, equidistant to where we were all from. One night, Wuspy thought they saw blue lights in the trees, just like those wisps. Wespy thought they were crazy. Wispy ignored them and felt inspired, so they suggested that we name ourselves the Midnight Wisps.”

The team’s application was accepted in early 2017, much to their surprise. They trained so frequently and so vigorously leading up to their arrival in Knikkegen that summer that they didn’t even know which four teams had prequalified and which new teams would be joining them in an attempt to qualify for the first time.

Admittedly, the Wisps did not perform strongly in the Qualifiers, placing last in the Relay to start and only placing as high as eighth by the third event, leaving them in second-to-last with one event to go. It was only with Wospy’s first-place finish in Funnel Spinning that the team was able to qualify in seventh out of the sixteen teams, but they had done enough. The Midnight Wisps were in the Marble League.

The Midnight Wisps debuted poorly in the main tournament’s version of Funnel Spinning as well, placing thirteenth, but earned a silver medal with Wespy’s performance in the Long Jump. A sixth-place finish in the Fidget Spinner Collision event brought the Wisps to fifth place overall, but their performance during the event caused more conflict than celebration.

“I had no idea what happened until the replay showed. I was already off the arena at that point, but I could hear the screaming.” Wuspy shuddered. “It’s one of the most painful things I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t ever wish that on anyone.”

“Everyone thought that I hit them on purpose. I don’t think the fans understand, not even the fan who infiltrated the arena. None of us were prepared for the fidget spinners—they threw us out of control, ricocheting across the arena like pinballs. I don’t know how the rules committee at the time approved of that. And, despite all of that, I could not feel more guilty for what happened to Momomomo. It’s something I will carry with me for the rest of my career,” Wispy added.

After the event ended, the Wisps tried to reach Team Momo, but the doctors forbade fans and marble athletes from visiting. The team donated money and other resources to Momomomo and the rest of the team for the remainder of the season.

The Midnight Wisps continued to place in the middle of the standings until the ninth event, Steeplechase, where they earned a bronze medal. In the Underwater Race, they pulled an upset over the O’rangers, who had set a new Marble League record in the event, to win the event and their first gold medal.

Although the Midnight Wisps rose five spots in the standings to fourth place overall, they did not have enough points to challenge the O’rangers and Savage Speeders for the championship. In the final event, Sand Rally, the Midnight Wisps finished in seventh, accumulating nine points and remaining in fourth place overall at the end of the 2017 Marble League. Had they gained two more points, the team would have ended in third place overall and prequalified for the 2018 Marble League.

Though the marblebase may not remember how close the team was to get on the podium—in their rookie year—the Wisps remembered, especially when they found themselves in a similar situation after the Ice Hockey event in 2018. They made sure to rectify what needed to be improved, and, overall, hoped for the best. 

Midnight Miracle

a feature by Jaiden

This feature incorporates the script from Marble Sports Films’s “Midnight Miracle” in nearly its original form, with minor edits. Feel free to watch the original videos here:

It was announced that the Marble League for 2018 would be a brand new Winter Edition, the first of its kind. This gave the Wisps an advantage. They trained in the cold and would roll in the cold. The Wisps had just missed auto-qualification by one spot, but this didn’t distract them. They were willing to work hard to prove that the phrase “Will of the Wisps” wasn’t just a saying for the team. They were picked to be in Group B, and their qualifiers were pretty successful and consistent, very much unlike their 2017 Qualifiers. 

The first event of the Qualifiers was Curling, without a doubt the longest in history. It would take lots of endurance for a long period, and the Wisps were ready for that. It didn’t look like it early on, however, as their first two marbles didn’t play out too well. They had zero points and needed the others to step up. Both would end up doing so as they both got on the board and the Gliding Glaciers, meanwhile, put themselves off the board, giving the Wisps an easy win. In the next round, they would have a very low-scoring battle with the Jungle Jumpers. Only one marble managed to score points, luckily, it was a Wisp, and they advanced once again. 

In the final, they faced the Oceanics, and it was pretty close. The Oceanics were leading by one, and the Wisps needed to get closer to the center to win, but Wuspy wasn’t able to get there. They did tie it up, but the Oceanics won by a distance. They did get second place though, and the rest of the Qualifiers was filled with consistency, but maybe not in the right places: only getting fourth or fifth for the next three events.

They hung around second for the first three events, but their spot was in jeopardy after the third event, especially when they only got fifth in the final event of the Qualifiers. That allowed another team to pass them, and the Kobalts came just one point away from besting the Wisps, who qualified by one point, the slimmest margin possible. 

The first event of Marble League 2018, the 5 Meter Ice Dash, wasn’t that bad. Wespy did get past the first round. but they were way more unsuccessful in the second. Pinky Rosa of the Pinkies just edged them and Wespy finished in eighth. Of course, this was the beginning of the competition and anything could change with just one medal. Wospy themselves was confident, saying: “We’ll get it together, you’ll see.” 

The next event begged to differ, however. It was the Ski Jump. They were expected to do well in the Ski Jump just based on the fact that they were able to get a silver in the previous year’s Long Jump. To be fair, it was a different marble that jumped and clearly, that difference was a pretty big one. Wispy was the one to jump and they were only able to muster up fourteenth. This was very disappointing for Wispy, and it would end up being their worst individual performance of the year, not to mention it dropped them to eleventh. With only two events down, they had only scored ten points and were down by 30, but luckily it only went uphill from here, and that 30 points would start to shrink.

The next event was the Halfpipe. Back in the Qualifiers, the Halfpipe almost cost them qualification, so there was an improvement to be made. Their competition would be rather tough. They faced none other than the Savage Speeders, a former champion. Wispy talked about the pressure to be in their presence, saying; “It’s very nerve-racking. They’ve been around since the beginning and before that. But we’ll keep our cool like we always do. We promise this won’t get to us.”

They indeed kept their promise and would win the heat against the Speeders. Halfway through the competition, their time held them at second. One more heat was to go, and they were paired with the Balls of Chaos, who made the best time so far. The Wisps weren’t able to win their heat, and—even worse—their time was significantly worse than their last. Luckily their first heat time was so good that they were still able to podium, but unluckily they were beaten by the Speeders. Bronze was still better than what they had before, and they were finally able to gain spots as they now sat at sixth.

The next event was Bobsled. It was another that was solely on time rather than placement, and now they would be the only ones racing. They had a solid performance, but a lost marble at the end possibly cost them a gold medal. The Wisps were slotted into third, and that’s where they stayed. This was the first time they had gotten consecutive podiums and their new spot was now in fifth, just 22 points out of first place. But their next two events didn’t go too well. 

Every comeback starts with doubt, and these two events were that doubt for the Midnight Wisps. First up was Speed Skating. Their first two individual events did not go well, just ten points in two events, and that would continue here. Wospy was placed with the eventual gold medal winner Misty from the Hazers, and they were just not able to keep up with the rookies. A tenth place finish dropped them one spot to sixth, but they were still within a gold medal of first overall. They just needed to do better in the next event. Luckily for them, it was a team event and their two bronze medals were from team events. 

Wespy explained their lucky position in the standings, saying: “We’ve had some bottom half finishes. But we’re still in sixth. The whole field is very close right now. And we have to take advantage of that. Let’s continue that great team performance we’ve had so far in this Marble League.” 

Sadly though, that would not happen: this performance would be one of the worst in their career. The only time they were in frame for the race was during the turns, and the Limers (Yes, the Limers) dominated the Wisps. The Wisps themselves would finish in last, over a second behind the Balls of Chaos in fifteenth. The Wisps were not happy with this performance, dropping them to eleventh. After six events, the top ten were all just a gold medal away from first in 2018. Nobody was dominating; everyone battled with inconsistency. It would only be a matter of time before a team took advantage of the field, and that team would be the Midnight Wisps.

The Snow Rally was the next event, which meant the Wisps had to participate in another individual event. With the three other athletes failing to achieve anything higher than eighth, management decided to throw in Wuspy. This was an opportunity to gain some much-needed momentum, especially after their two previous slumps. The Snow Rally had a very interesting scoring. They would race twice and give Snow Rally points for each race. They would add the total from both races and use average times as tiebreakers. 

Race 1 started great for the Wisps, as they were in the top three with Tangerin from the O’rangers and Whizzy from the Savage Speeders. It’s hard to tell what happened to the team, as the Speeders got a big lead and were the only ones on camera. Wuspy was third at one point, but they would end up dropping two more spots to finish the first race in fifth, earning 12 Snow Rally points. Race 2 was much better. Wuspy jumped out to the lead and held it for almost the entire race. As they were approaching the line, Wuspy took a big bump that looked beneficial at first, but it would end up harming the marble. As Wuspy gained so much speed, they were unable to see the bumps that could stop them, and one bump did stop them. The bump was so bad, that Wuspy fell to third and nearly to fourth. 

Luckily, their total Snow Rally points were 26, they got bronze. They lost out by one point to the Speeders for silver. The Wisps were now down on the leaderboard by 21.

Next up would be the Snowboard Cross, another individual event they looked to keep the momentum going from the last event, and they did that. Wespy was the one to go and they didn’t do too bad—another top-half finish in sixth. The only bad news was the team on top, this time the Speeders, finished ahead of them. They were now 23 points out of first, still within a gold medal. 

Wespy gave some thoughts on their performance, saying: “I thought I did very well to keep the momentum going. I finished close enough so that we were still just one medal away. We got another team event coming, we must improve from our last [outing].” They would indeed improve from their sixteenth place, but not by much.

The Midnight Wisps would face off against the Hazers in the first round of Curling. They did great to start with a 3-0 lead. After the Hazers got close and made it 3-2, Wospy came in clutch and made it 5-2. When the final Hazer came up, the Wisps led by three. It seemed like there was virtually no way they could blow it, but they did. Misty was the final Hazer, and they came in clutch for this team, making the final score 5-4 for the Hazers. The Midnight Wisps finished in tenth, but surprisingly, didn’t lose any points on the leaders. That’s how inconsistent every single team was. 

A bottom-half finish didn’t change anything for the Midnight Wisps, which was pretty crazy sitting at ninth, still just 23 points away from the leaders. It was now time for the Wisps we know now to show up. The Miracle was coming.

The final three events of the Marble League were the Biathlon, Ice Hockey, and the Sand Mogul Race, and it was time for things to get crazy. The Wisps were the third team to go, and their time was very good. Even though they didn’t get the best placement on the board, it carried them into first after that time, but three others would pass the Wisps: the Crazy Cat’s Eyes, who broke the record, the Thunderbolts, and the O’rangers. 

The bad news was that the Bolts and O’rangers were ahead of the Wisps, meaning they would be moving up along with the Wisps. Both would end up moving into the top five while the Wisps moved down a spot rather than up. They were now tenth, but they still managed to gain a point on the leaders. It was now a 22 point deficit between their team and the Oceanics. There were thirteen teams still in it to win. There were a lot of possibilities that could happen, but we all know which team was favored.

Event 11 was Ice Hockey. Wispy talked about how this was the main event they’ve been preparing for, saying: “Our Collision performance was pretty average last year.”

“So, we did everything we could to train for that event,” added Waspy. “We flew home for a week after the Biathlon and skated across the river in our valley, getting the best control we could get on the ice. We huddled around each other as if we were the ball bearings.”

“We’ve been preparing for this one the most, as we knew it would be important down the stretch,” continued Wispy. “Now, it’s time for us to strike.”

The Wisps were in Group A, and the first matchup with the Pinkies showed promise. It seemed like they had a very good defense that would lead the way. Their next match with the Snowballs would prove that theory, as they shut them out while only scoring one goal. Their final matchup was with the Savage Speeders, a team that was in the top three. This match would end up being their only loss of the whole event. 

In the elimination rounds, they would first face Team Momary. It was a callback to their matchup last year with Team Momo which ended fatally. The Wisps once again showed off their defense and they shut out their opponents while only scoring once themselves. They focused heavily on their defense and only allowed two goals once so far. In the semifinals, they once again scored once, but Team Galactic scored on them too, meaning a rematch would commence. The Wisps eventually defeated Galactic, and in the final, they shut out the Minty Maniacs to win gold. 

“Their training was magnificent. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Coach Wyspy mused. “I could tell they wanted that gold so, so badly. When the Minty Maniacs advanced to the finals, I saw a new team rise against them and claim the gold medal. From then on, I knew the Midnight Wisps would win the 2018 Marble League.”

The gold medal brought the team to fourth, and now they were just six points away from being the champions. It was going to be a tough battle, and Wispy would be the one going in the Sand Mogul Race. 

Ten teams had the chance to win the championship, the largest number at the time heading into the final event. In the first heat, Kinnowin of the O’rangers and Snow from the Snowballs were racing. Both were still in championship contention, but after the heats, they would not be. The O’rangers were knocked out by not advancing and the Snowballs were knocked out because of later teams advancing. That left only eight contenders for the championship. 

The second heat saw three championship contenders race; the Hazers (Smoggy), Oceanics (Ocean), and the Crazy Cat’s Eyes (Yellow Eye). By the end, only one of them would be eliminated. A clutch move by Smoggy helped them and Ocean move on, with the Crazy Cat’s Eyes eliminated as the only ones out of the heat. Six other contenders were left beside the Wisps. 

Two championship contenders were in the third heat; the Savage Speeders (Whizzy) and the Balls of Chaos (Tumult), and both of them would advance, but because of the other teams advancing, the Balls of Chaos were removed from contention. 

Now in the final heat, the Wisps (Wispy) contended against the Raspberry Racers (with Rizzy) and Thunderbolts (with Bolty). In the race, the Wisps would triumph over the rest and win the heat. The Thunderbolts were out once they were eliminated, but the Raspberry Racers were also out of contention too. By this point, six teams were eliminated from contention.

Four remained for the semi-finals. Semifinal A only saw one of those four, the Oceanics, but they were eliminated themselves. They were still in contention. however, if a few things went right. Spoiler alert: they did not. Semifinal B had the other three contenders. One was guaranteed to move on, but two would end up moving on, the Savage Speeders and the Midnight Wisps which eliminated the Hazers. They were the only ones left.

“Savage Speeders out to an early lead,” commentated Greg Woods. “Midnight Wisps up into second, they fend off a challenge. Can they get up there? Midnight Wisps take the win and they will advance. They could’ve stayed there; they didn’t have to make that last-second lunge to get up into first place, you will still advance into the finals since it’s the top two…”

If the Wisps wanted to win, they needed to beat the Speeders. Wispy, a marble that had never podiumed had the opportunity of a lifetime, and they executed on that chance.

“Midnight Wisps out to a big lead right off the bat, can anybody fight back? Savage Speeders are going to try it but it’s not going to work. The Midnight Wisps have done it!” exclaimed Greg Woods.

With two gold medals in the final two events, the Midnight Wisps had completed one of the most incredible championships wins ever. They beat the Speeders by one point, the closest margin possible. After an outstanding rookie season, they showed that they were willing to better themselves, that they were willing to take their best opportunity when it presented itself. There was never a moment when they gave up. They fought hard knowing that there was still a chance. 

It’s an incredible year that will never be forgotten, and it will always be remembered as The Midnight Miracle.

Thank you to Jaiden for providing the script of Marble Sports Films’ “Midnight Miracle” as a feature for this RetRollSpective.

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True to Greg Woods’ commentary, the Midnight Wisps and their fans partied until the break of dawn that night and throughout the next week. Their victory tour around the world started and ended in Harva due to popular demand from fans, with a surprise appearance by Willow Wisps themselves gathering around the Helarve Clock Tower to celebrate their homecoming. Two months passed before the Midnight Wisps were able to reclaim their private life and begin training for the 2019 Marble League.

The Wisps surprised fans during the 100 Meter Water Race when Wespy got caught early on in the race, unable to complete the race. In the Amazing Maze Marble Race, the team was eliminated during the first heat in Group E, even though they got second place in the heat. Their score was not enough to compete against the O’rangers and Savage Speeders, two second-place teams that did move on to the semi-finals, and then, the finals.

The Friendly Round for the 2019 Marble League, which featured the four auto-qualified teams, fared better for the team. The team got second place in all events except for the Underwater Race, where they finished third. The team finished in third place overall, in a comfortable five-point margin above the Savage Speeders and two points behind the O’rangers in second.

The Midnight Wisps entered the main tournament as the team to beat but began the season disappointingly as they placed in the middle of the pack during the first four events. The Savage Speeders dominated in contrast, holding a steady lead at the top of the standings until the fifth event, where they placed dead last in the 5 Meter Sprint. The Wisps placed second-to-last, earning just one point, and in the next event, the Midnight Wisps’ disqualification for pushing the relay block in the other lane denied them from scoring any points. They fell to thirteenth place overall.

“The stakes were high for the next few events, and I made that known to them,” Coach Wyspy disclosed. “It’s one thing for our team to make comebacks as we did in 2018. Comebacks like those are dependent on a series of early victories that give the team the spark it needs. That spark will eventually ignite a flame that grows into a serious force to be reckoned with. We didn’t have that spark yet.”

The team finally earned their first gold medal in the Block Pushing event, an event in which they had performed mediocrely in the 2017 Marble League. The team breathed a huge sigh of relief and followed swiftly in the next event by placing second to last in the Summer Biathlon.

Thankfully, their low finish was offset by two consolation points, which were granted to the team due to an equipment failure on the starting gate. Wuspy came back as strongly as they could in the next event, Hurdles, and earned the Wisps a second gold medal with a time of 8.744 seconds. Could the Wisps mount another comeback in the second half of a season?

The answer was a resounding “no”. The Wisps tied for fifteenth in the Hubelino Maze, earning just one point alongside Team Galactic, and continued to place in the bottom half of most of the remaining events. The team’s only saving grace was their silver medal in Rafting, which raised them to fifth in the standings, their highest point of the 2019 Marble League. In the end, the Midnight Wisps finished in tenth place with 128 points, a place which they had been able to rise out of in previous games. This time, it was simply not to be.

Though the team as a whole was too distraught to speak up, Coach Wypsy addressed their disqualification in the postseason coaches’ conference, expressing: “I still don’t understand why my team was disqualified in the Relay. The block that was knocked over was not in the path of any passing athlete, and would not have changed their results.”

What would have been a request to revoke the disqualification was ultimately lost in the heat of the moment, as Coach Quickly expressed their dissent distastefully. Following the conference’s adjournment, however, the two coaches were seen approaching members of the Committee in solidarity. That moment would be critical in founding a unique relationship between the Speeders and Wisps going forward – even if the disqualification still stands to this day.

The Will of the Wisps

an addendum by Ghostly, NordiqueWhaler, and The Emperor

Following their disappointing tenth place finish, the Midnight Wisps returned to their home in Helarve. The team was dejected, for the first time not being in the top half. The disappointing scene was a stark contrast to the air of celebration from the prior year.

The team was in a state of shock, surprised at themselves for performing so poorly, hung up on their failures. They would simply roll around their training facilities without any drive behind their practice.

Coach Wyspy noticed as much, stating to the Helarve Daily, “The team is disappointed in themselves. It’s currently clouding our focus on what we want to be as a team. We need to boost our morale, and quickly. As far as that goes, I may have an idea or two…”

The Wisps rolled on a bus, unaware of what their Coach had planned for them. Throughout the long ride, the athletes were confused. No matter how much they asked, Wyspy’s lips were sealed. After over an hour of riding, the bus rolled to a stop, and the marbles rolled off the vehicle, then stopped in amazement.

“Is this… Harva National Park?” Wuspy stammered. “But… aren’t we permanently banned?”

“Let’s just say, we pulled some strings and had the park change ‘permanently’ to ‘temporarily’,” Wyspy joked, enjoying the Wisps’ reactions. “Not only are you guys allowed in, but you can also race along the main path. We have the whole place to ourselves.”

The athletes quickly thanked their coach, eager to race through the park where they first met. As they dashed through the park, memories rushed through their heads. As Wospy and Wispy pulled ahead of the other athletes, they recalled the inspiration they had felt upon forming the team. 

Remembering the hope and inspiration the athletes had at the beginning of their formation helped the team regain the motivation to give their all to training. But that wasn’t all that was accomplished that night. Unbeknownst to the athletes, Wyspy was paying close attention to the race between the members. The coach had recently received news of Marbula One and decided to test which athletes would be the best for such a competition. Because Wispy and Wospy were the fastest on the team, they were selected to represent the Midnight Wisps in Marbula One, as “Threat Level Wisp” and “Ghost Driver” respectively.

“What a surprise that was!” Wispy exclaimed to the Helarve Daily. “Not only did we get a surprise trip to the place where we first met, but Wospy and I were selected for Marbula One. Needless to say, the both of us are more ready than ever to give our everything to our training!”

The Wisps practiced on their track in Helarve. The track, Midnight Bay, offered perfect views of the shore and incorporated the famous Helarve Clock Tower in the middle of the track, as well as a floodlit tunnel and an invisible bridge. Wispy and Wospy would run practice laps leading up to the first race at the Savage Speedway. It allowed the Wisps to prepare for what was to come, as the rumor had it that it was one of the hardest tracks in all of Marblearth.

Wospy remarked about preparing for Marbula One before the first race: “To prepare for this tournament was a lot different than the previous three Marble Leagues we were in. This is only one type of event compared to many different, unique ones. We will have to be consistently good from the start to be up with the other teams. 

Train as they might, it proved to be insufficient at the Savage Speedway, where Wispy got tenth place. The racers’ confidence took a massive hit, after expecting great results from themselves. That finish was only the beginning of the Wisps’ struggles. After starting at the O’raceway on pole position, on the third lap, Wospy fell off the conveyor belt, becoming stranded at the bottom!

“It was horrific,” Rojo Dos said when interviewed after the race. “I couldn’t do anything but watch as they plummeted towards me. I’d like to think I slowed their momentum at least a little when Wospy hit me, but it was still a nasty fall.”

Wospy rolled towards the pit lane, dizzy from the fall, and stopped. They sat there, tears in their eyes as they saw their pole position from the beginning of the race slip away from their grasp. The world was spinning as fans screamed and other racers kept up the race, most unaware that anything had even happened.

As the racers approached the final turn, they were shocked to see the stunned Wospy, sitting just outside of the pitlane. As marbles roared past, Rapidly noticed Wospy, slowed their speed, and changed direction, bumping Wospy into motion again. Wospy was surprised to find themselves rolling, but they recovered as quickly as they could, pushing through the shock and pain of the fall to finish the race.

Wospy slowly rolled over to their team, dejected and hurt. “I’m sorry, Coach. I… all that training… wasted. You should just bring out someone else, I’m only a hindrance to the team.”

“No, you aren’t!” a new voice cried out. The Wisps athlete turned around to see Rapidly rolling up to them, their silver medal shining bright. “You are not a hindrance, Wospy.”

Wospy ignored the Speeders’ athlete’s words, asking instead, “Rapidly, why did you get me rolling again? You could’ve won the race if you hadn’t slowed down for me.”

“I did that because there’s more to this sport than just winning,” Rapidly replied. “I believe that no marble should be left behind, not when I can do something about it. You are more than this one fall, and I know you can push past this. You managed as much back in 2018, remember?”

Rapidly’s words resonated with Wospy. The marble recalled 2018, where the team had pushed past their tenth place overall in the tenth event and won the full league. If Wospy had pushed past their flaws then, what’s to say they couldn’t do the same now?

Wospy glanced up with a newfound determination in their eyes. “Thank you, Rapidly,” Wospy earnestly says. Though still uncertain of themself, Wospy once more found the motivation to go on. 

The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Wispy in the next race at the Momotorway. Wispy qualified fourteenth and finished twelfth. Soon after came Wospy’s turn to show off that determination at the Hivedrive, qualifying in fourth. Come the race, Wospy would get third, getting the Wisps their first Marbula One medal!

Changing up the pattern, Coach Wyspy selected Wospy to race at the Greenstone, who got a respectable sixth in qualifiers and seventh in the race. Up came Wispy at the Short Circuit, who qualified tenth and finished a disappointing thirteenth. Wispy would make up for the prior race at the Razzway, where they qualified fifth and finished fourth.

Now, it was finally time for the Wisps to perform at their home track: the Midnight Bay Circuit. It was Wospy’s turn to race one final time. What better way to end the season than with a strong performance on their home GP? Wospy qualified in seventh… and finished in eleventh. This left the Wisps in twelfth in the final standings, with only 34 points.

The Wisps had received another poor finish, and yet something was different this time. Instead of feeling down and mournful, the team was more motivated than ever! Rapidly’s words had meant a lot to not only Wospy but the team as a whole.

A few months later, the Wisps focused on getting back in shape for Marble League 2020. After winning it all two years prior, the team couldn’t stay consistent enough in 2019 and finished in tenth. Wuspy knew the Wisps were better than that and aimed to get back into contention. 

“Last season, we had some trouble maintaining success. We had a bad start to the season in thirteenth and got caught in a cycle of medaling and finishing poorly in consecutive events…until we just stopped medaling. Knowing how well we have done in our other seasons, we believe a better start could not only keep us in contention but keep us motivated,” noted Wuspy at a conference before the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.

Getting there suddenly became a question, as after a subpar showing in the Balancing and a dismal showing in Funnels, the Midnight Wisps were projected to be in the relegation zone. Fortunately, Block Pushing was still on the schedule, and as in 2019, the Wisps excelled and won the event, getting a much-needed 25 points that put them in an excellent position to qualify. Even with Waspy, the reserve, subbed in for the Sprint, the Wisps were able to afford a near-last place finish in the Sprint to finish ninth overall and qualify for the 2020 Marble League.

“I’ll admit, I was nervous for a bit, but still had confidence knowing our comfort with Block Pushing,” Wospy commented after Qualifiers.

Wuspy’s belief that the Wisps needed “a strong start” was evident in their team’s Balancing performance: 353, just two centimeters shy of the Raspberry Racers ahead of them in second. Still, it meant a podium to start things off. The next event also proved that the Wisps could be returning to form as they finished fourth in the Halfpipe, just 0.09 seconds away from having two straight podiums to start. However, two eleventh-place finishes in Funnel Endurance and the Long Jump sent the team to sixth, even after placing fifth in Newton’s Cradle. This was the lowest that the Midnight Wisps would rank the entire season.

With Hurdles and Block Pushing coming up, the Wisps had a prime opportunity to lure in medals and points. In Hurdles, Wuspy went in the fourth heat and was surprised to see that Razzy had shattered their record. That motivated Wuspy to try to get it back, and although they did not break the record, Wuspy still won their heat and advanced in a heat featuring both Swifty and Smoggy, two of the fastest marbles running that day. The semi-final was different, as Wuspy would still advance but Yellow Eye broke their record. The final allowed one last rematch with Yellow Eye, but not a battle with Razzy as they would leave with an injury. The Racers sent Ruzzy in, and to the surprise of the other competitors, the reserve won the gold medal. Wuspy got a silver out of that and shared the moment with the Raspberry Racers reserve without any hard feelings.

“After the race, Swifty and I came up to Ruzzy and congratulated them on making history. I had never seen a marble come in for another in the middle of an event. To step in a captain’s shoes especially after Razzy had two record-breaking runs, and still won proved why they are the defending champions. Ruzzy may have some potential,” remarked Wuspy after the event.

The twenty points from their Hurdles silver sent the Midnight Wisps back in the top five before the event they had been waiting for: Block Pushing. After winning the event last season and having the best score in the qualifiers, the Wisps came in very confident. Coach Wyspy went all out and instructed the Wisps to perform the “Iron Willow” in the first run. It was an all-in formation and was a high-risk, high reward. The move paid off, because not only did the Wisps get the best score, they obliterated the record the O’rangers had from 2017 with a whopping 85.8 centimeters! That score was more than enough for a gold medal. 

“We call this tactic the Iron Willow. It’s so risky, but if executed perfectly, strong and gracefully, it’s worth the payoff,” explained Wispy. “We come apart after pushing the block up, nearly off the track, so that we maintain our momentum, and then come back together for one final push. If you watch the replay footage, you’ll see how we accomplished that in the first heat. It takes so much out of us that we were winded during the second heat, but it was worth it.”

~from “Podium Moments – ML2020 Event 7”, by Stynth

After Wospy got a decent performance in the Triathlon, finishing sixth, the Midnight Wisps were in second place at the halfway point. Even though they did not podium, Wospy enjoyed the Triathlon and hoped they could see it again for future Marble Leagues. 

The Sand Moguls followed and strangely it was Wespy who competed instead of Wispy, who won this event to win the League back in 2018. They only placed tenth, and Wispy followed them with an eleventh in the Sprint. The two united to work together in the Black Hole Funnel. Their first run clocked in at 47.53 seconds, the best in their group and fourth at the time. The second run they had was 48.03 seconds, which was the best score of any team’s second run. That gave the Wisps a sum of 95.56 seconds and a silver medal.

“Wispy and I knew what we needed to do to get on the podium, and that was to keep on rolling,” stated Wespy. “In recording both of our runs above 45 seconds, I believe we did just that, and maybe even a little bit more.”

After slipping off of the podium, they got back on because of this medal, though they fell off again after an eleventh in the Relay Race and twelfth in the High Jump. The next event was the Team Aquathlon, which featured an underwater section after a sprint section above-ground. The first round had the Wisps squaring off against the Thunderbolts, whom they obliterated. The Wisps faced the Oceanics in the quarterfinal, holding off a late run from the team that had just beaten the O’rangers in a water event to advance to the semifinal. 

“If there was any team we had to lose to…even after what happened in 2018, we’re happy it was the Wisps,” admitted Sea. “They proved that they deserved it.”

In a battle with the Hazers, a team who had shown their comeback skills in the water a few events earlier, in the Triathlon, the two teams were neck-and-neck the entire race, which ended with the Midnight Wisps winning by 0.08 seconds to set up a showdown with none other than the Savage Speeders. Just two seasons ago, the Wisps beat the Speeders by one point and hadn’t had a major clash since then. That all changed in the final: the Wisps started with an early lead before the Speeders rallied to force a photo finish. By 0.01 seconds, the Midnight Wisps held off the Savage Speeders in one of the closest finishes in Marble League history, earning their fifth medal and second gold, tying their medal total from 2018.

“It was almost fitting that the final was like this against the Speeders,” Wispy said after the event. “They are a hot team right now, so getting a win against them could be enough to take a shot at a second title. Two events remain for us to hold our form, and we are moving on to Collision.”

The two teams congratulated each other after the event as they both inched closer to the O’rangers. However, when the groups were drawn for Collision, Wespy noticed something interesting. They were paired with Team Momo, and this would be the first time Momomomo would partake in this event in the main tournament since that fateful day. 

“The memory of the event still haunts me to this date, even after winning a championship.” Wispy recalled the event. “To see Momomomo like that is something I have to live with forever. Hopefully, they have gotten over that.”

Collision would see a door open unlike any other with the O’rangers finishing dead last in their group. The Midnight Wisps had some close calls starting with a draw against Crazy Cat’s Eyes. Then two calls went their way. During the highly anticipated rematch with Team Momo, one of the Momo marbles left the arena and bounced back in. The ruling was it would not count toward their total, as they had left the arena, and the Wisps won that round. Another ruling in the round against Mellow Yellow had Yelley teetering over the edge, but since they were mostly off of the arena, they too would not count to their team’s score, and the Wisps also got this win. They would advance out of the group with seven points…but would run out of luck when the Hazers bested them in the quarterfinal. 

The Wisps failed to fully capitalize on the O’rangers’ dead last finish, but a team that answered that call was the Savage Speeders, who won the event and took the lead in the standings. With just the Marathon to go, the Wisps were in third place, sixteen points behind the Speeders and ten points ahead of the Minty Maniacs, who had just snagged a bronze in Collision; their sixth medal of the season.

Wyspy sent Wospy for the finale, as it was a Marbula One style event, and Wospy had proven successful in Marbula One before, with a bronze at the Hivedrive. Not many reporters gave the Wisps a shot in this event, as the Speeders sent Speedy; the reigning Racer’s Champion of Marbula One claimed P2 after the placement race, making a Speeders victory seem inevitable from the start. However, early on Speedy faded, and Wospy charged up to second place during Lap 5, only behind Yellup from the last-placed team, Mellow Yellow. If the race was called after Laps 5-10, the Midnight Wisps would have stolen the Marble League out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, the Marathon was a 33-lap race, much longer than the Grands Prix from Marbula One. This was bad news for Wospy, who after grabbing the lead in Lap 10, lost it on the following lap and started to run out of energy for the later stages of the race. Even worse news, Minty Fresh, who started behind Wospy in P16, jumped all the way to second and went on to battle with Yellup for the lead. Minty Fresh would go on to win the race. A combination of that, with Wospy falling to eighth place, led to the Wisps not only losing the title to the Savage Speeders but losing out on the podium altogether.

Although the fourth-place finish was just as good as their debut season, and they ended up becoming the second team to not score a Lead Cube point, it still devastated the Wisps. The team declined to speak to the media after the race, and Wospy was seen dejected in the hallway outside the Wisps locker room. Minty Fresh and Rapidly tried to comfort Wospy, to no avail.

“I had it.” Wospy cried to themselves. “I could have won this for the team; instead I’m an embarrassment. Surely this won’t come back to bite us… right?” 

There was only one word Wispy did say when they finally spoke to a reporter. “Pain.”

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Wisps though, as when they got back to Helarve they were escorted to Harva National Park. When they got there, a crowd of marbles came to greet them, including Stynth. Willow, the manager of the Wisps, was with the Mayor of Helarve, and they announced that Harva was now going to be named “Midnight Hollow National Park”, dedicated to the Midnight Wisps. 

            “We wouldn’t have trespassed through the forest all those years ago if we didn’t appreciate the beauty of the hollow. We owe our entire career as athletes and our entire friendships as marbles to this very place.” 

Wispy paused for a moment, listening to the forest around them. One by one, Willow Wisps started appearing in an arch over the stage. Wispy smiled.

Shortly after that, the Wisps took some more time off to explore nature. They went on a retreat and met up with the Savage Speeders just outside of Thorston. The two teams shared a hike in the forest while reminiscing on the past few Marble Leagues; namely the most recent one. 

“They are not the villains some fans think,” said Wospy. “Not just Rapidly, but the whole team was there for us after that experience at the O’raceway. We’re still upset after losing that auto-qualified position, and overall podium, so it’s nice to talk to a team that is always there for us.”

During the hike, Rapidly mentioned, “For a team that had zero tournament experience before joining, [the Wisps have] been constantly up there with the best of the best.” That sparked an epiphany in Wispy. The Harva region did not have any marble tournaments, though there was a junior hockey league nearby that Wispy had competed in as a member of the Werewolves. 

“You know…it might be interesting to have a friendly tournament with some of the other local teams in the area…maybe at Midnight Hollow,” Wispy proposed to their teammates. The team would come up with an appropriate name for the tournament, too: Midnight Melee. 

While preparing to host the tournament, Wyspy received an invitation for Marbula One Season 2. While it wouldn’t be for another few weeks, the Wisps believed that their Midnight Melee would give them a nice warm-up before the season begins. 

October would be the perfect time to host the tournament, with preparations for Halloween festivities occurring. The Wisps sent out fifteen invitations to the hockey teams, new local teams, and some teams that hailed from other tournaments, as well. A notable entry, Team Plasma, accepted the invitation after they had participated in the Herbotamia Tournament Reunion. The Blood Moons also came from another tournament, hoping to bounce back from their sixth-place finish in the Stardust Classic Reunion. A bunch of new local teams was invited, as well, including the Demon Eyes, Vampires, Zomballs, and Ghost Riders, who were coached by none other than the Ghost Marble from the Marble Rally. 

The Candycorns of the Surculo tournament were also invited and quickly formed a rivalry against the Pumpkin Patch, the former Fruit Circuit team. The Skeletal Strikers were invited as well after a letter of recommendation from Mallard of the Green Ducks. The Wisps had invited the Banana Splits, but only two of their marbles (plus coach) signed on. Fortunately, the former Hubelino team, Team Phoenix, had heard about their conundrum and offered to fill their remaining spots to form a merger, aptly named the Burning Bananas. 

Wispy was excited to find out that some members from the Helarve Werewolves, the local hockey team that they used to compete for, had accepted their invitation for the tournament. A few more teams from the league joined, including the Rubow Charging Rhinos, the Wandering Stars (a merger of the Polaria Stars and Sotsevsa Wanderers), the Sliding Serpents (Las Veglass Sliders and Marblopolis Serpents), and the Dragon Roses featuring a merger from Zuro (Dragons) & Lewara (Roses). 

Due to the limited number of spots in the tournament, a few other teams didn’t get to participate and joined the stands to cheer on the others. This included the Vellis Chasers, Draklin Defenders, and the Werewolves’ rival; the Thorston Storm. Wispy initially had thought they would be lucky to get eight teams at most to accept the invitation. Instead, they got a full slate of sixteen and even more watching in attendance. 

The Wisps also announced that to help balance the tournament, the scoring system would be a bit different. Instead of the traditional Marble League scoring, it was going to be 20, 17, 14, 12, 11, and so on, similar to the Marble Rally scoring system.

The opening ceremony would take place inside the Clock Coliseum; Helarve’s new stadium that had been built a year ago in a bid to host the previous Marble League. While not as big of a fanfare as a typical Marble League would have held, it attracted fans from all across the globe and was live-streamed on Cable Marble Media as well. 

“We’re ready to roll!” Wespy exclaimed as the first event was ready to get underway. 

Funnel Endurance would face the competitors first, and atop the tower of funnels sat eight of the marbles, including Wospy, who advanced out of their first heat alongside Brains, Pyro, and Butternut. The final had those athletes along with Cranium, Gloomo, Sandy, and Scale. Unfortunately, Wospy was the first to fall, starting off the tournament with an eighth-place finish for the Wisps. The winner of the event was Brains from the Zomballs, who bested Cranium of the Skeletal Strikers, and Gloomo from Team Plasma to round out the podium. 

Event 2, Hurdles, led to another shockingly mediocre finish for the Wisps, due to Wuspy not making it out of their heat even though their time was faster than other heats’ competitors. They were placed in what turned out to be the fastest heat of the event, being beaten by both Cranberry and Lunar. It was even more surprising that two reserves finished on the podium this event, including Slither from the Sliding Serpents and the aforementioned Cranberry from the Zomballs. Slither took home the gold, while Cranberry won bronze, with Haunt from the Ghost Riders winning the silver. After the end of the first night of the tournament, the Zomballs were leading just ahead of the Sliding Serpents, with the Ghost Riders and Team Plasma tied for third. 

“We need to push ourselves even harder, and earn a medal soon if we want to compete for the crown,” Coach Wyspy stated.

On the second night of the tournament, the Wisps elected to host the events at Midnight Hollow, so that they could incorporate the park that had led them to compete in Marble Sports into their tournament. The first of the outdoor events were Balancing, where an old tree trunk was being used as a balance beam. The format of the event was still the same, and the Wisps turned in a superb showing with a score of 362. Amazingly, three other teams topped that score, including a whopping 441 from the Dragon Roses, which would have been a Marble League record. It was impressive enough that their saying, #UpTheRoses, was trending all over. They beat out the Blood Moons and Demon Eyes for the other podium spots, and the Wisps’ fourth was enough to get them into seventh place. 

“There’s still plenty of the tournament to go,” Waspy said. “Plus…the next event is Block Pushing.” All it took for the Wisps was the first push to prove why they were the record holders in this event. They pushed the log as if it was nothing, and got 89.3 centimeters on the first push, a new record! Their next best push was 84.1, and the Wisps dominated the event, winning it by nearly 30 centimeters more than the next closest team; the Candycorns, and 35 centimeters more than the third-place Werewolves. The gold was all the Wisps needed to launch themselves to the lead in the standings at the halfway point.

Night 3 began a bit earlier, right before sunset back at the Midnight Hollow for a special event; the Nature Run. This featured sixteen marbles going down a long trail in the middle of the forest—not only to compete for points but to take advantage of the scenery for an event. A special guest came by to test the track, being none other than the current Marble Rally leader; Ghost Plasma! They raced alongside the Ghost Marble to preview the scenic run that awaited the competitors (Ghost Plasma dominated). The athletes themselves struggled, with some flying off the trail entirely and getting lost. In the end, Wespy placed fifth in the madness of a tightly contested race between the top eight. Trick from the Candycorns won the race in a photo finish over Rose of the Dragon Roses and Split of the Burning Bananas. While the Wisps did lose the lead to the Dragon Roses, they were confident about the next three events. 

Later that night, the teams returned to the city for the dreaded Midnight Tower; a multi-storied and frankly massive track with its start at the legendary Helarve Clock Tower, followed by a Hubelino track circling the tower and descending into the Midnight Bay Circuit, which had been modified to include a new Gravitrax section where the invisible bridge once stood. This was ultimately followed by a sand mogul dune that led to a final splash down into the Midnight Bay for the final leg of the race. 

Waspy was chosen to race for the Wisps, dominating their heat; in the final, they would fall behind on the circuit but gain some ground in the Gravitrax and get close in the final plunge. While Mess from the Sliding Serpents and Vlad from the Vampires finished on the top steps of the podium, Waspy stole the bronze away from Gibbous of the Blood Moons, making this the first individual medal they had earned in their career! The team celebrated their breakthrough after the event, and thanks to a fourteenth-place finish from the Dragon Roses, the Wisps were back in the lead by seven points.

Night 4 had only one long and exhausting event: Ice Hockey at Helarve’s Super Rink, a giant arena with eight rinks in one building. This amenity would allow multiple games to be on at the same time. To the surprise of the other teams, the Wisps had managed to get Greg Woods, the Marble League Commentator, to announce the scores and highlights live during the event! Ghost was also hired for the last two events to keep track of the stats. 

In the first round, all the teams that hailed from the hockey league won their matches. Wispy, using their gold medal-winning experience from the 2018 Hockey event as well as their time with the Werewolves, got a hat trick in their first-round match, defeating the Demon Eyes 5-1. In the second round, the Wisps had no trouble against the Sliding Serpents, winning 4-2. The semi-finals brought a reunion match between Wispy and their former team, the Werewolves. The match went to overtime, and Wispy scored the winning goal, advancing the Wisps to the final. After the match, Wispy met up with the Werewolves and proudly thanked them for participating in the tournament, as well as getting their career started before forming the Midnight Wisps. The Werewolves would get the bronze medal over the Pumpkin Patch 3-1, while the Wisps moved on to face the Charging Rhinos in the final. 

The three-time Cannon Cup-winning Rhinos took down the Wisps 4-3 and earned their first medal in the tournament. The silver all but locked up the Midnight Melee to the Wisps, as they now had a seventeen-point lead over the Dragon Roses, and a nineteen-point lead over the Sliding Serpents, clinching a final podium. Both of those teams would need a miracle to de-throne the Wisps, but the podium race was much, much tighter, with ten other teams still battling for the final spots.

On the final night, a full house arrived at the stadium for the Midnight Bay Grand Prix: a perfect way to end the Midnight Melee on the shore of Midnight Bay, just like in Marbula One. The track was returned to its racing form but would be slightly shorter, with twelve laps instead of the sixteen from the prior Marbula One season. The grid would be in reverse standing order, with Eyeball of the Demon Eyes starting in the pole and Wispy in the back.

Wispy climbed the grid early during the race, while Salazar and Thorn of the Serpents and Roses respectfully, never threatened and were at the back of the pack for most of the race. The fight for the title appeared to be over. But, a back-and-forth battle between Ecto of Team Plasma, Zucca of the Pumpkin Patch, Daydreamer of the Wandering Stars, and Count of the Vampires kept the podium battle hot. 

In the end, it was Daydreamer who won the race over Crescent from the Blood Moons, but neither would finish on the overall podium. A bronze medal from the Pumpkin Patch’s captain earned them enough points to give them the final podium spot, even with just one bronze medal. Wispy finished in fourth, more than enough to secure the Midnight Melee title. Count and Treat finished fifth and sixth but were too far behind in the standings, and Ecto gave Team Plasma the other podium spot with a solid seventh-place finish. 

The closing ceremony took place on the track, with the non-podium finishers racing by the grandstand. Atop the podium, the Midnight Wisps stood triumphant over Team Plasma and the Pumpkin Patch, winning the league by 25 points. There was no trophy given out, but rather, a sense of pride and accomplishment. It was not a Marble League championship, but it still felt good for the Wisps, who knew the biggest success of the tournament was not winning it outright. 

“Overall, this tournament was a huge success,” Wuspy said after the tournament. “Every team was able to leave here with a medal, we got to stay in shape to prepare for the upcoming M1 season, and we had big fan support for all the teams here. Thank you all for coming out and watching our tournament.” 

Zucca of the Pumpkin Patch talked about the tournament in a press conference after the ceremony. “The Wisps were gracious hosts throughout the tournament and we hope to come back another time. They allowed our team to grow and we ended up finishing on the podium. Who knows, maybe one day we could join the Marble League.” Zucca also called out the Candycorns for being a phony Halloween team saying they were “sus”.

All the proceeds from the event went to food banks around the Helarve region. The Werewolves sent a letter to the Wisps, thanking the team for an amazing tournament, and asking if it would become an annual tradition. The Wisps did not comment at the time.

After the tournament, it was time to head back to the track for the second season of Marbula One. Wospy got the first start at Minty Mania, having asked Wyspy to not race at the upcoming O’raceway due to last season’s incident. With the new form of qualifying, four teams would not make it to the race this season, and Wospy qualified, just barely, in sixteenth. Unfortunately, the race did not go any better for them. After watching Speedy get stuck in the conveyor belt on the fifth lap, Wospy had a flashback to their incident just a season ago and did not recover for the rest of the race, finishing in fifteenth with a time five seconds behind Starry.

“To see our friend and fellow racer Speedy fall gave me nightmares,” Wospy said after the race. “It was a horrible flashback to last season. But knowing that I got a medal when I came back, and given Speedy’s elite status as one of the best racers of all time, I know they will bounce back.” 

Wispy was selected to race at the O’raceway and stormed on the track with vengeance, holding off Billy for pole position. It was the second straight season a Midnight Wisp grabbed pole position at the O’raceway. However, they didn’t lead any lap of the race, as Wispy was stuck in the midpack, and finished there in eighth place. Things got worse for the Wisps at the Honeydome, as Wospy failed to qualify—marking the first time the Midnight Wisps had failed to qualify for anything. Wispy had a decent race at the Aquamaring, finishing in fifth, but Wospy continued to spiral downward following a third consecutive race with no points, placing fifteenth at the Tumult Turnpike Grand Prix. Frustrated fans started to call for not only Wospy to be replaced in Marbula One, but to be removed from the Wisps altogether. In the last race before the break at Arctic Circuit, Wispy missed out on the final round of qualifying and finished the race in sixth place. At the halfway point, the Midnight Wisps sat in twelfth overall with 29 points, all of them coming from Wispy. 

“We need a break. We’ll re-group and be back in the second half more ready than ever,” a disheartened Wyspy stated to the press. 

Fortunately for the Wisps, a morale boost would be on the way shortly, as they were able to watch a private viewing of the “Midnight Miracle” documentary before it was released to the public. The documentary by Marble Sports Films highlighted the 2018 Marble League championship season, and how the Wisps came out of nowhere to steal one of the most stunning championships in marble history.

“We knew a movie was going to come out shortly after we won the Marble League, we just didn’t know how well it would look. Marble Sports Films put on a masterpiece of describing the 2018 season way better than any of us would have.” Wispy exclaimed.

With the announcement of the Marble League Winter Special, the Midnight Wisps looked forward to competing on snow and ice for the first time since their championship three years prior. The entire team traveled to the Himarblelaya Mountains on a quest to win a winter league again, establishing themselves as the rulers of the cold. 

Wospy volunteered to lead the team in the Ice Dash but got stuck in a hard group that featured Swifty and Starry, placing twelfth. Wespy was chosen for the Snowboard Cross and looked good for a majority of their run before a late surge from Razzy stole advancement from them, meaning they would end up in ninth. Wuspy turned in a better showing in Speed Skating with a sixth-place finish, and with two events left, the Midnight Wisps were in tenth, just like in 2018 before their double gold medal-winning run. 

The next two events were Bobsled and Hockey, events that the Wisps medaled in. Unfortunately for the team, that success was not to be duplicated as they finished twelfth in Bobsled and fell to the Minty Maniacs during the first round of Hockey, a bout that was a rematch from 2018. The previous champions of winter finished the Special in twelfth overall, with no medals to their name.

“Yeah, this tournament was a complete dud,” Wispy said after the closing ceremony. “We all thought that since we won in 2018, it would be similar and that we would be able to contend again. We did not, and we need to reevaluate ourselves as a team before the second half of Marbula One resumes.”

To start that second half, Wospy finally earned points at the Raceforest, albeit only two, with an eleventh place finish. Wispy put up another midpack performance at the Momotorway, finishing in sixth. At Palette Park, Wospy once again qualified in sixteenth…but suddenly climbed the table late in the race, and got to second place behind Speedy. 

On Lap 16, Speedy was overtaken after a poor belt exit. Greg Woods chuckled: “Wospy, into the lead – and that was from dead last!” Speedy accelerated past Wospy the next lap and built up a bigger lead, but the two were neck and neck again at the penultimate lap.

Wospy tried to exorcise their demons and took advantage of a massive opportunity when Speedy blew the split turn in the penultimate lap, moments after Wospy had set the fastest lap. Wospy was in the lead with just one lap to go. Although a Tank Bowl between Limelime and Ruzzy just ahead of them enacted a Blue Flag, Speedy’s final go before the end of the race was not enough. The two marbles nearly crossed the line together, but by nine-hundredths of a second, the clock had struck midnight at Palette Park. Wospy had turned it all around and won a Marbula One race for the first time! Speedy congratulated Wospy on the win after the race, stating it was ‘one of the best races of my life.’

In their “The Edge of Glory” addendum by Fouc, Rapidly recalled that what happened in private was much different. “Speedy was being diplomatic in public. Losing two close finishes like that made them heartbroken. They told me we can’t train together anymore, because Speedy needed to focus on themselves. And the best thing I did that season was knowing I’m on my own, but not isolating myself.”

Rapidly smiled warmly, picking out a letter from Wospy sent after Palette Park. “Dear Rapidly – I wouldn’t have won that Marbula gold without you,” they read, “… At my lowest point, you kept me going on the track and showed me one failure didn’t mean I should be left behind… The world of marble racing needs you to contend like you always had.”

When interviewed about their letter to Rapidly, Wospy also smiled. “I knew they were having a rough season too. After I won, I thought that if there was anything I could say to lift them up, I now knew exactly what I could say. Rapidly gave me the motivation to go on, and I knew they would be able to push past this.”

The Wisps and Speeders’ friendly rivalry added another epic chapter with this race. After a short scheduling delay, Wispy appeared to compete for the Wisps at Misty Mountain and made it to the final round of qualifying, but had to settle for P4 to start the race. The race turned out to be controversial, with three marbles getting stuck and a late red flag. A bit shook from the commotion, Wispy would fall to sixth and finish the race in that spot. On the way down the racing order, they were passed by Rapidly, who finished third and earned their first Marbula One medal in over a year.

The Wisps, already knocked out of championship contention, could still settle for a podium, pending a double gold medal. The Wisps did get a double something to end the season, but unfortunately for them, it was a double DNQ, as both Wospy and Wispy failed to qualify in their final races, the latter happening at their home track, the Midnight Bay Grand Prix, where Rapidly won the race the following day, completing a redemption arc that was seemingly spurred by the will of the Wisps.

The Wisps finished the season in ninth with one gold to their credit. Wispy would finish the individual championship in eleventh, compared to Wospy’s twenty-third.

As the season winded to a close, the team returned to Midnight Hollow again to enjoy the full midnight moon, listen to the sounds of the clock tower, and bask in the scenery of the night sky from one of the overlooks just outside the forest. 

“Who knows what the future will bring after an up and down year like this one,” Wespy told their teammates at the park. “No matter what, we will have each other, a title, and the moments we have and it all started right here.” 

“These past four years have been an emotional ride, here’s to many more together.” Wispy added. The team toasted to that with Non-Descript Yellow Soda as the night carried on. 

To kick off their preparations for the 2021 Marble League, Wispy got a head start in Felynia after being invited to the official Practice Race. Things looked good early on, but taking the upper path at the first split sent Wispy down the table and into twenty-first at the end of the race. Regardless, this was a good opportunity to test the climate in the hosting area, with the Qualifiers coming up soon. Their work would be cut out when they were drawn in Group A, alongside six other top-tier teams from 2020, four Showdown teams, including the runners-up Jungle Jumpers, and the newly reformed Gliding Glaciers. 

“The Qualifiers are different this time, so we only need to worry about half the teams. All we need to do is finish in the top half and we should be good…especially since Block Pushing is here again,” Wispy said. To the distress of the Wisps, Block Pushing was pulled from Qualifiers at the last second and replaced by the Wave. Regardless, they hoped to maintain their status as one of the elite teams, and qualify for their fifth Marble League.

In RetRollSpective, the Midnight Wisps are the dark horses of Jelle’s Marble Runs—they have finished in the top ten of every Marble League they have competed in, proving themselves as staples of the competition, especially with their “Midnight Miracle” in 2018. If their performance is anything like what we witnessed that year, we should never count them out. Best of luck to the Midnight Wisps in the future, keep on rolling!

Credits

• Writers: The Emperor, Ghostly, Jaiden, NordiqueWhaler, Stynth
• Editors: Edu G.J., Smacg13
• Artists: Fouc, Jack Ironhide, Piney, Toffeeshop
• Graphic Designers: Laurent Rollon, Marble Sports Films, Novawolf, Spex, Tim Ritz
• Photographers: The Emperor, Jelle’s Marble Runs, NordiqueWhaler
• Release: 23/11/2021