The Beach Epppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssooooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

      “You weren't kidding when you said beach, were you.” Said Emma as she started at the ocean in front of her.

      John Paul had teleported everyone in their group to the beach without warning after the Mormons went away. They had all appeared on a white sanded beach with the blue of the ocean touching their toes. Trees decorated the land behind him as James could see the curve of the island they were on. John Paul had teleported them to an island who knows where.

      He had explained to them that they were there to have fun until they needed to deal with Dommy, so they could relax or whatever. John Paul then went into the water and created a boat out of fire, which he laid on, enjoying the beating of the sun.

      “Bro, what we finna do?” Xerksize PhD asked the group as John Paul slowly drifted away on the waves into the sea of blue.

      “Honestly, I just kind of want to relax.” Emma said as she laid down in the sand. She closed her eyes as the warmth of the sand and the rays of the sun both hit her swimsuit.

      When they had all been teleported. John Paul had somehow changed them all into swimsuits. James was wearing his favorite pair of black destiny swim trunks, while Emma was apparently in a swimsuit that she had never even seen before, with both pieces having red and white stripes.

      Jimmy on the other hand was swimming in the water, ignoring everyone else. Despite how he looked, he was evidently pretty athletic, and swam with a powerful even stroke in his purple swim trunks. Like normal, he hadn't said a word, and had started swimming when he figured that no one actually had a plan on what to do.

      “What if yall did something simple. Back at the farm, we used to just play stuff like basketball in our pool. We don't need to overthink this.” Motifa siad, wearing what looked to be a pair of overalls over his yellow swim trunks.

      “Where are we going to find things like a basketba-” James went to say, but stopped as he saw a floating basketball and two floating hoops in the water next to him. “What the heck?” James walked over to where they were floating, certain that they hadn't been there before. They had seemingly appeared out of nowhere when Motifa asked for them.

      James looked over at Emma who also seemed troubled. Xerksize PhD was just vibing as he looked out into the ocean.

      James and Xerksize PhD were elected captains, mainly due to the fact that they were the two tallest out of everyone there. Jimmy had swum back to join them when he saw what they were doing and John Paul had suddenly teleported, offering to join the game. He had promised that he would limit himself to the abilities of a normal catholic to not make the game too boring.

      Xerksize PhD took John Paul immediately with his first pick. With the best option off the table, James took Emma as his first. Now just Motifa and Jimmy were left. Xerksize PhD didn’t choose immediately, weighing his options. After a few seconds, he chose Motifa, leaving James’s team with Jimmy.

       They lined up the baskets around one hundred freedom units from the shore, about eighty freedom units apart from each other, slightly shorter than a real court, but that was made up by the fact that they would be swimming instead of running on a wooden floor. Motifa used earth to secure the two floating baskets, each around three freedom units tall. Next, he created a barrier around them, representing the boundary of the court and the three point line. It was a thin line of dirt, not enough to hurt anyone no matter how hard you hit it, but big enough that it could be easily seen from anywhere.

      James and Xerksize PhD stood in the middle of the court. The ball was floating in the middle of them as they waited for the game to begin. After a count of three, John Paul sent the ball up with a squirt of water. James jumped up to grab it, but Xerksize PhD was faster. He jetted up, using his religious powers to get higher faster. Xerksize PhD and John Paul were the only ones here who could use water magic, putting James’s team at a disadvantage.

      They backed up as Xerksize PhD brought the ball up. He passed it to John Paul who had moved to the wing. He faked a pass back, making Emma back off to try to intercept it. He then shot. It curved through the air and landed right in the basket. It was a perfect shot.”

      “I thought you said you would be like a normal catholic!” Emma said to John Paul. She sounded like she was annoyed, but knew this was coming at the same time.

      “I am. We Catholics just happen to be great at basketball. Just look at the catholic super league, I mean the Big East. Not to mention Gonzaga. I'm not using any powers, just my innate skills.”

      Emma shoved the ball towards James as she passed it into him. Xerksize PhDs team had already retreated to their half of the court, waiting for James’ team to bring the ball up.

      James passed to Jimmy, who slipped into one of the shadows in the sea, appearing under the basket. As he went to shoot, the water level lowered, causing him to fall. He passed to Emma who was at the free throw line. She faked a pass, then threw it up in the air. It moved faster than Jams could see as it slammed into the basket. “You may have your catholic skills, but I have something even better. The ancient art of math.

      It looked like this was going to be a close game. Xerksize shot from about fifteen freedom units out and it wrung itself around the rim before falling out into Jimmy’s hand. He immediately disappeared into the shadow of the waves and appeared under the opposing basket. It was exactly what he was trying to do last time. Emma shot over to the basket using the power of math to help, but by the time she regained her footing in the water the ball was already in the hoop.

       They exchanged baskets over and over. John Paul and Emma traded shot for shot, with the other four putting in help from time to time. James played a supporting role, his powers not being formatted for the game. Passing the ball was about all he could do other than blocking. John Paul hadn’t had one shot blocked so far, but the other two were a different story. Xerksize PhD had come out shooting under the rim, but James had been there every time. After the fifth block in a row, Xerksize Phd had transitioned to more of a supporting role. He used his water magic to speed up his allies and get steals by splashing the ball until it went out.

       Whenever John Paul or Emma were too closely guarded, they passed to the other two. Jimmy was a sneaky scorer who was good at taking pressure away, or repelling it. He could appear practically anywhere on the court in a split second as long as there was a shadow caused by the waves and the sea was full of shadows. The only bad part is that once he was out of the shadow, he was just a normal human who happened to be above average athletically. That didn't do much against something like Motifa’s earth wall.

      He played like he was on land, creating platforms underwater to stand on. Motifa was not a great shot from anywhere on the floor. He compensated this by holding the ball in his hands and launching it in the air with a pillar of earth. He was just as bad wherever he used the more, making it better the farther away it was used. He also created barriers to extend his reach. They had agreed beforehand that no one could block the court using things like James’ wall of light of Motifa’s earth barrier. Blocking horizontally was not out of the question, allowing him to get almost as many blocks as James.

       Five minutes were left, and the teams were an even 69-69. John Paul had created a timer and scoreboard out of flames to the left side of the court and shot clocks above each basket. There wasn't much time left. Neither John paul or Emma had missed a three pointer. James had blocked a layup from John Paul and Emma had a wall of earth hit one of her long two pointers. Even the power of math apparently couldn't beat solid earth.

       Motifa dribbled the ball up as Xerksize PhD settled himself under the basket and John Paul to the wing. John Paul and Motifa moved around, passing the ball to each other when John Paul yelled out a command. He went over to the right wing while Motifa went somewhat next to him. Xerksize PhD moved slightly in their direction, saying in the vicinity of the basket.

      “Thank you Tex Winter.” John Paul muttered under his breath as he passed the ball back to Motifa, who immediately passed it to Xerksize PhD. He turned and made a layup right under the defence’s noses. The score was now 71-69 in John Paul’s favor. He smirked in James' direction, taunting him to do something about it. “That's what you call the triangle birkin- bir- bi- frick!”