As both teams vacate the Imperial Ballroom A at the Marriott Marquis, the VAs arrive to its neighboring room, the Imperial Ballroom B, ready to face off against their cross-parish rivals on a much grander stage than any of the in-state regular season tournaments.
Clearly both teams hated each other, and everyone in the Imperial Ballroom B could hear them yell at each other before the game even starts. And, for either of them, it would probably be their highest-profile match. Especially since the winner would advance to the Super 7 (some years, it's 6, and at others, it's 7).
"This is round twenty-six, the sixth playoff round at the 2040 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. This game features the playoff four card versus the playoff nine card. From Louisiana we have Hathaway and Venomous Agendas" the moderator starts the game. "Here's tossup one: This battle was waged in an attempt to break the blockade of Suncheon" Cindy buzzes in at this point.
"Chosin Reservoir" Cindy gets a little rash in answering.
"Neg five" the moderator rules before continuing to read the question.
Ciboire! Even I knew the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir didn't involve a blockade! Flo starts feeling that game is going to be a nightmare. Especially when Donalia buzzes in afterwards.
"Noryang Point!" Donalia answers, but one clue before the FTP.
"Ten"
The Hornets end up converting two of the three bonus parts they earn, but the VAs would still be on the lookout for the next tossup.
"Tossup two: In this book, a character named Mustapha Mond holds the position of Resident World Controller of Western Europe" the clue then fails to garner any buzzes, and the second one, dealing in Native American tribes, makes Arkady locked in a buzzer race that he wins over Monika and Eddie by a split-second.
"Nineteen eighty-four" Arkady answers.
"Neg five" the moderator rules while Monika immediately buzzes in, while trying to keep her latent nausea in check.
"Brave New World"
"Fifteen"
After two tossup cycles, it happens that the VAs only hold a five-point lead since they, too, convert two bonus questions. And it goes by quickly since the moderator reads questions quite a bit faster than a conversational speed, but not fast enough to amount to spreading as understood by debaters.
If I thought the valedictorian for the only full year I worked at Wattpad High was as good as Tania, Donalia and Eddie are even stronger. Yet, for some reason, Tania is the most memorable student for me during my time as VA's principal, even though others accomplished more, such as Trillian, Rod, and so on, probably because of how Tania set in motion a chain of events that led me to leave VA, Marianne observes her two star players take the brunt of the load against the VAs, while Arkady still tries to contribute some.
By half-time, however, the game is still wide open since, somehow, the VAs are still in the lead by a measly five points and twelve tossups having been heard. 180-175.
This harrowing cycle of tossups and bonuses continues for a good nine minutes but with only thirty seconds left to regulation time, this time around, Hathaway is in the lead, albeit by only twenty points. You can do this, guys, Flo prays that the VAs would end up bridging the 20-point gap between the two teams and win the game, or at least force overtime.
"Tossup twenty-four: Superlubricity occurs when this force is nearly negligible. The internal variety of this force occurs when an object is being deformed" the moderator reads while the tossup's power mark is fast approaching, and five points along with it.
Neither side knew a thing about a thing called superlubricity. The pressure is mounting on both sides to buzz in before it's too late. And, somehow, Flo feels like Monika is no longer alone to experience higher levels of nausea.
Yet, Monika is the VA player whose level of nausea worries Flo most. After the power mark is exhausted, and the players' levels of nausea keep rising:
"Its laws state that its magnitude is independent of sliding velocity" the moderator keeps reading, and Oleg then buzzes in, being the least nauseated on either team.
"Friction!"
"Ten. Montreal played an important role in jazz history. For ten points each, name this event that banned alcohol consumption during World War I"
"Prohibition" Cindy answers at the start of the five-second allotment.
Now that the game is tied, fingers crossed that they would be able to answer more bonuses, Flo keeps praying, not only for her players' nausea levels not to increase any further, but also that they could answer at least one of the two bonuses left. However, this game reminds me far too much of my own swan song as a quiz bowler against Wayzata.
But the second question leaves the team speechless, unable to answer for five seconds.
"Little Burgundy" the moderator reads the correct answer on the second bonus part. He then starts reading the third and final bonus question: "This famous jazz pianist was born in the Little Burgundy district"
When Monika's nausea level reaches a dangerously high level, she seems to lose control of herself. And not simply because the VAs went through this kind of phase several times today:
"Duke Ellington" a clearly uncomfortable Monika blurts the first jazz pianist that comes to her mind.
"Ten on the bonus, we're going in overtime! Please stand by while I get additional questions" the moderator sees Monika dashing for the bathroom with one hand on her mouth and the other hand against her stomach.
"At the end of the regulation time, the score is tied, three hundred fifty each" the other official in the game room announces to the crowd.
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"What happened for Monika to go vomiting again?" Cindy asks, while taking a deep breath to bring her nausea and stress down to healthier levels.
To this, her teammates draw a blank while the Hornets are also very nervous going into overtime. And also add to this a moderator who took longer than anticipated to get extra tossups, Monika, while not completely relieved, is still not as tense as she was just a minute or so before.
"Monika, you stress out far too much. You earned your slot on the A-team" Flo tries to reassure Monika, while this clash of the quiz bowl titans is about to restart.
"I feel like I need to prove that I can actually play on the A-team, having spent the rest of the season on the B-team until..." Monika returns to the stage before she could finish her sentence.
Until the guy I replace got injured at track-State, Monika sighs upon resumption of the quiz bowl game.
"Overtime tossup one: According to Kindleberger, the basic structure of this event can be divided into five phases" the moderator reads the question, while both sides know they can ill afford to answer incorrectly before the FTP clue has been read. "It has been theorized that excess liquidity was a key factor in their formation" Arkady then buzzes in.
"Economic bubble" Arkady then answers.
Oh crap, the Hornets just powered this question! We must play perfectly for the next two tossups or else! Cindy ruminates as she feels the pressure mount as the VAs are 15 points behind.
"Fifteen. Overtime tossup two: This book landed Flaubert on trial for outraging public decency at release. Its titular character got her assets seized after defaulting on her consumer debts at a luxury clothing shop near its ending"
I remember this book more for escapist tendencies than for its consequences, but this sounds like Madame Bovary, Cindy thinks while she is locked into a buzzer race with Donalia, and buzzes in before the Hornets do.
"Madame Bovary!" Cindy answers.
"Fifteen. Overtime tossup three: this substance was initially thought to have only one teratogenic enantiomer" the moderator reads.
We're back at square one, only with 15 extra points on each side. Keeping my nausea under control is imperative at this point, especially since it's my nausea that got us where we are in the first place, Monika ruminates as she hears the first clue. Everyone feels a little clueless, especially since no one on either team knew what an enantiomer is.
However, Flo's level of nausea is the one increasing fastest on either team, probably because Flo had the lowest nausea level of either coach going into overtime.
"As a medication, it's currently used for leprosy and multiple myeloma" the moderator keeps reading.
There's no room for error here; I failed on the previous tossup, I must redeem myself here, Donalia muses, while trying to think of what the answer could possibly be. Every player is shaking as the power mark is soon approaching. In fact, the crowd in the ballroom is also on the edge of their seats, wondering how this game will end.
"This substance was involved in a scandal involving a wave of birth defects in the late 1950s named after it" the moderator keeps reading to two teams struggling to answer it.
Come on, Hornets, you can do this! For as long as Hathaway was playing quiz bowl, VA always seemed to have the upper hand outside of State. Now is our chance to seal the deal! Marianne struggles to resist shouting in the direction of her players.
Here's my chance to redeem myself from the final bonus! I let the VAs down once this game, I won't do so again! A Monika whose nausea level is, once again, very high, gets her mind in overdrive. Yet, Monika, despite not having answered a single science tossup during the tournament, inexplicably buzzes in.
"Thalidomide!"
"Ten, and that's the game. Score?" the mod turns to the scorekeeper.
"Venomous Agendas three hundred seventy-five, Hathaway three hundred sixty-five" the scorekeeper announces the result.
"Hathaway finishes tied for eighth place!" the moderator then hands the Hornets their trophy, with everyone letting out a sigh of relief upon leaving the ballroom.
As soon as the Hornets pick up their trophy, Marianne starts yelling at her players, with disappointment turning into rage:
"Even when we improve on our best finish at the HSNCT, why is it that we can't get the upper hand against VA when it counts?" Marianne screams, while showing the bracket, still under the shock of this Pyrrhic loss.
"I'm afraid we might have created unrealistic expectations for quiz bowl in Hathaway; back-to-back top-fifteen HSNCT finishes? You would have no idea what kind of schools would kill to achieve this!" Donalia warns her coach.
"Yeah, we gave our all this year and last year; I mean, who else could finish fifteenth at the HSNCT in their inaugural quiz bowl season?" Eddie asks another question, before they retreat to their rooms.
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And yet, Flo could tell that her players are spent from playing a mentally draining game. So they go to the Imperial Ballroom A, a bit tired, to face their next opponent. Flo then catches her breath so that she can keep her own nausea level under control.
"No matter what happens next, we have at least equaled our best HSNCT finish as a school" Flo then turns to Monika. "Monika, you had the tournament of a lifetime"
That game, as with the previous one, is played tooth-and-nail against Stanford Online. And, for the fourth time of the day, the VAs are facing a situation where a game is decided on the final tossup-bonus cycle. Voronezh #12, then Kherson #34, Hathaway and now Stanford Online? Only this time the VAs are the ones defending the lead, Flo looks at the scoreboard, where, with one tossup to go, the VAs are in the lead, 330-315.
"Here's tossup number twenty-four..." the moderator reads while both teams roll their eyes as the early clues are being read. Neither team knew much about silent film, so the tossup goes all the way to the FTP clue.
I hope that, should we fail to answer it, this tossup goes dead since it means we can move forward and go to the semifinals, Flo makes one last prayer for her team as the FTP clue is read:
"For ten points, name this silent movie which nonetheless have a synchronized soundtrack" the moderator then counts to three seconds. By the end of these 3 seconds,
"City Lights" a Stanford Online player buzzes in.
"Ten" the moderator then reads the bonus Stanford Online has earned.
The VA players start feeling on edge, since their only hopes to advance lie on the opponent failing to answer any of the bonus questions. And Stanford Online fails to answer the first two parts, which causes everyone to cross their fingers for the outcome of that final bonus question.
"Wide area network!" another Stanford Online player answers the bonus.
"Ten on the bonus, and that's the game. Score?" the moderator asks the scorekeeper.
"Stanford Online three hundred thirty-five, Venomous Agendas three hundred thirty"
"Venomous Agendas finish tied for fifth place!" the moderator announces.
"Sure, this loss stings, but so many teams would envy our position" Flo then rushes to the pharmacy to buy packs of LED bulbs and motion sickness medications.
The LQBA posts, on their social media accounts, about VA and Hathaway finishing fifth and eighth respectively at the HSNCT, prompting the superintendent to organize a night where both teams are honored in front of the whole parish.
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And then comes the awards ceremony of the HSNCT, after dinner. Those who finish tied for thirty-third place, then those who finish tied for twenty-first, and thirteenth.
"These five teams finished tied for eighth place. Please recognize Detroit Country Day A, Early College at Guilford, Hathaway, Ladue A and Thomas Jefferson Science and Tech A" the NAQT president announces the teams having finished tied for eighth place, with a pause between each team, before moving on stage for the top 7 teams.
The NAQT president then names the players on a given team's roster before handing out the associated trophy to that team. When the VAs' turn come last, because teams are called up on stage in alphabetical order...
"Finishing tied for fifth place, from Jennings, Louisiana, Venomous Agendas High School! Congratulations to Monika Ballantyne, Cindy Ng, Oleg Nikitin and Joaquin Perez"
The VA players go up on stage under the boos of Bryansk #3, who finished tied for thirty-third, and Kherson #34, who finished tied for twenty-first. As they receive their trophy, they return to their seats in the Marquis ABC ballroom.