Smashball (sport)

''"It started as a game... Then it became more popular... Then it became a sport... Fast, hard, dangerous. Smashball is probably the most dangerous sport on the surface of the planets. Eventually, we even organized a tournament... Are you good enough to beat my guardians and win the Betelgeuse Cup from me?" IanNova's dialogue, regarding Smashball''

Smashball as a sport both IanNova and Darcyan like to play. It involves rapidly bouncing a small, half-solid metal ball back and forth, and the last player standing wins. It is illegal to play on several planets.

Rules and locations
Smashball is mostly played in teams of three or solo, and the players try to hit their opponents with the ball. Once a player cannot smash the ball back anymore, the player gets a Knocked Out status, meaning they cannot play anymore. Last man/team standing wins. Smashball is also played in Free-For-Alls and Battle Royales.

Alternative version: Death Match
Death Match is a variant of Smashball, essentially the same thing, but Death Match means: The last man/team alive wins.

Both Smashball and Death Match are commonly played on the streets, generally in alleys. There are some arenas for the Cups, though, and those are also used.

The League and the Cup Champions
The League is the collective name for the Champions and their five guardian. The League confer once per three years about the next Cup, and the ranking is: Guardians are the lowers, Champions are the middle and Eternal Champions are high, with the Galactic Champion being the highest.

The Champion is a title earned by beating the five guardians and the Champion of a planet or star system. Each Champion has a total of five protectors to filter out the weaker challengers. Eternal Champions are Champions that have gone undefeated for seven years or more. Champions against each other do not count, and you can only be a Champion of one planet or star system until you become the next Galactic Champion. A Galactic Champion is the Smashball Champion that has beaten all other Champions, a Champion of Champions, if you will.

The currently known champions are:

IanNova: Eternal Champion of the Betelgeuse star system, ruthless and fast, known for his Reverse Rebound Kick technique, which involves repeated kicking with enough force to make the ball bounce back, and repeat. His notable guardians include: Terna: A lot more friendly, Terna uses her speed to tire the opponent out, then she finishes the match with a single solid hit.

Darcyan: Eternal Champion of Earth, powerful and merciless, known for the Meteor Crasher technique, which involves kicking the ball up, the kicking the opponent up a bit, jumping up to the ball, and hitting the ball into the opponent with back-breaking power. His notable guardians include: Frost: Skilled and quick. Frost uses her Freezing Core Smasher technique to trip their opponents, then ram the ball down trice with massive amounts of force.

Both Champions are well-known for being in relationships with their guardians. However, when confronted with the fact that it is illegal to be in a relationship with a guardian, due to the 'abuse of power of their position', their answer is: "We did not use our position to get into a relationship with our guardian, we were in a relationship BEFORE we became Champions. If anything, we used our RELATIONSHIP to give ourselves a reason to make our mates our guardians."

The Cup, formally called the Smashball Championship or The League Cup, is a tournament for the best Smashballers of their respective regions, and they pair up in one-on-one, team-to-team, Battle Royale, or free-for-all matches until only five remain. The remaining five need to beat up the guardians of their respective planets or star systems, and in they succeed, they may challenge the Champion in a team-on-one match, and the team is formed by the players from the same planet/star system as their Champion. If they win, they enter a final Battle Royale to decide who is going to become the next Champion.