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I’m playing the last level of the Quest mode, against Krog, the ultimate boss.
I’ve been trying to beat him several times, he’s tough! But this time I chose to play Duvna: with her fairy power, she can freeze her opponent, and I intend to use this to my advantage.

The computer just scored a goal. The ball is on my side, after the 3-seconds countdown it will be shot towards him, so I take a deep breath and consider my status.

The HUD shows that I only have 2 lives left out of my initial 10. Krog has got 5 left, but he started with 15 (damn boss!).
So overall I scored 10 times, and he only 8: if I keep up my pace I can make it, but I’m only allowed one more mistake!

Thankfully I have some powerful items left in my inventory: 2 Smashes, and the dreaded Armageddon! I can see them in my HUD, beneath my life counter.
I’ve had them for a while but I’ve been waiting for just the right moment. In the easier levels, shooting an Armageddon meant scoring a goal nearly every time, but now the computer’s tougher so I need something to combine it with.

Countdown’s over, the ball starts, and we exchange a few balls. I like the “chase” camera that follows me while I move (directional arrows or thumbstick on my gamepad), it’s immersive and gives me a good perspective on the game area, while keeping the focus on my character.
Some crates appear on the terrain, all power-downs: 2 Pygmies, and 1 “always run”, which is close to the computer’s side, on its right.
The ball is going in my direction, left side; I catch it on the right corner of my racket, so it crosses the terrain diagonally.
On its way it touches a Pygmy crates that get activated and sent towards me, but I don’t want it (the Pygmy would make me & my racket smaller!) so I avoid it.
I sent the ball just right, so it ends up in my opponent’s right corner: he catches it but sends it straight on the “always run” crate, that falls towards him. He doesn’t have time to avoid it, so it touches him: for about 20 seconds, he won’t be able to stop and can only zigzag like crazy to stay where he wants to be. The ball also hits the last Pygmy crate: he can’t avoid it while zigzaging.
He’s now tiny and out of control, almost too easy! I catch the ball, and score. Lucky stroke, but not enough.

2-4: new ball, countdown. Meanwhile, the crates get replaced, and hurray! big powerups: Ice & Super-Attack on my side, Multi-ball on his… this is the perfect storm I’ve been waiting for!
The ball starts towards me; Krog is still under the “always run” spell, panics, and shoots 2 walls (that partially block his side) to protect himself. But I can use this to my advantage: if I aim for the walls, the ball will stay on my side of the terrain, so I have plenty of time to collect the items I need: Ice… and Super-attack while I’m at it: who wouldn’t want a super-power!
The walls self-destruct, but so does the “always run” spell: Krog is in control again. Never mind, the ball is going towards him, it’s time to make my move: I select (Enter key / green A button) the Ice item in my inventory and shoot (CTRL key / right trigger), then bam, I select Armageddon and shoot.
Krog now has ice on his side, which makes his ground very slippery, plus the Armageddon, a big ray that’s sweeping the terrain from my side to his, blocking the ball.
He still manages to catch the ball once, twice, but then the ball touches the Multiball crate and splits in 3: there are now 3 balls, all safe behind my Armageddon. The computer is lost, doesn’t know which one to catch first, and anyway his movement is badly impaired by the ice. He tries to ice-skate towards a ball, misses, and by the time he’s managed to backpedal, the other 2 are also in: 3 goals at once, that’s what I’m talking about!

…2-1! If I play it just right, I’ll finally finish the Quest!
New ball, during the countdown (I noticed during our previous matches that Krog is like a sitting duck at that time), I shoot a super-attack (shit key or left trigger) that freezes him: I have about 5 seconds.
The ball starts towards me this time, I select the Smash and shoot: my racket is glowing red-hot, I catch the ball and bam, it bounces back twice as fast, and… score!
Of course since he was frozen that’s a bit of an overkill but that’s all the better, I like to kick when he’s down, serves him right for resisting me all that time.

I won. This is so cool. My character, Duvna, is doing the fairy dance, while Krog sobs like a baby. He should, I get his helmet as a trophy!
Plus I finally unlocked the last challenge: I can’t wait to try it, my friend Bob has been bragging for days about how he’s #1 in this challenge’s leaderboard… I’m sure I can take his place in no time!