(Flowstate vs East Drive → Dockyard Drifters vs Bay City Hustlers)
8:00 P.M. — UNDER THE BRIDGE
The air was thick enough to chew.
Fishball smoke, diesel, and rainwater misted under the concrete ribs of the bridge.
Bass rumbled from a busted speaker tied to a lamppost — the kind of beat that made your heartbeat sync without permission.
Floodlights flickered on.
Crowd pressed in.
Thea Cruz stood at the scorer's table, clipboard balanced on her arm, cool despite the chaos.
"First match," she said loud and clean, "Flowstate versus East Drive.
Race to eleven.
No timeouts.
No drama."
"Impossible," Riki muttered, tying his shoes.
Beside him, Bong Velasco grinned. "Drama's literally our brand."
Teo adjusted the rim, silent as always — the only one who treated the game like prayer.
The crowd tightened.
The bridge buzzed.
MATCH 1 — FLOWSTATE vs EAST DRIVE
Flowstate
PG — Riki Dela Peña
SG — Bong Velasco
C — Mateo "Teo" Alvarado
East Drive
PG — Enzo "Quick" Marasigan
SG — Paulo Dizon
C — Lyle "Bulldog" Mateo
Tip-Off
Whistle.
Enzo darted in, smooth and cold, floated one off glass. Swish. 1–0.
Riki caught the inbound, tapping the ball to rhythm.
"You move clean," he called, "but you sound bored."
He cut left, snaked through traffic, floated a layup. Tie. 1–1.
Next play — Teo screen.
Contact like metal meeting metal.
Riki slipped the bounce pass behind Bulldog's knee.
Teo caught it, rose slow, dunked hard. Boom. 2–1.
Bong laughed mid-run. "YOU SEE THAT? THAT'S GOSPEL!"
Riki: "Shut up and back-cut!"
East Drive moved in silence — systematic, surgical.
Paulo hit a three from the corner. 4–2.
The crowd murmured.
Thea pointed once from the sideline — spread.
Riki saw it, nodded.
Next possession: Riki dribbled wide, passed off to Bong, cut baseline.
Bong no-look dish back to him.
Layup. 4–3.
The Switch
Tempo changed.
Riki clapped once — that was the cue.
Teo rolled higher, Bong widened, spacing clean.
Drive. Kick. Swing.
Bong pump-fake, side-step jumper. Swish. 5–4.
Crowd started stomping.
East Drive pushed back — floater. 5–5.
Teo caught the next inbound, passed immediately to Riki, who didn't even dribble.
Step-back jumper from deep. Net. 7–5.
The beat picked up.
Bong felt it first — intercepted a lazy pass, sprinted downcourt, off-balance spin layup. 8–5.
Crowd screaming now.
Someone yelled, "BONG'S UNHINGED!"
He pointed mid-run. "FULLY HINGED, BABY!"
The Flow
East Drive's formation crumbled under Flowstate's rhythm.
Teo blocked Bulldog so clean the ball hit concrete like thunder.
Riki scooped it, fast-break, lobbed to Bong.
Alley-oop, one-hand finish. 10–5.
Thea just smiled faintly at the scorer's table.
"Finally in tempo," she said softly.
Last play — Riki at the top of the key.
Fake left, cross right.
Pulled up, midair, shot clean.
Swish.
Final: Flowstate 11 – East Drive 6.
Aftermath
The bridge exploded.
Cheers, bottles, smoke — organized chaos.
Riki bowed theatrically.
Bong raised both arms. "FLOWSTATE! NO PAYCHECKS, ALL HIGHLIGHTS!"
Teo just walked off, towel on his shoulders, expression unreadable.
At the scorer's table, Thea wrote the result down cleanly.
"Flowstate advances. Quarterfinal slot confirmed."
Riki leaned in. "How'd we look?"
Thea: "Like you finally stopped overthinking."
Bong: "We never think!"
Riki: "That's the problem."
Thea sighed. "Next."
MATCH 2 — DOCKYARD DRIFTERS vs BAY CITY HUSTLERS
The next team walked down the ramp, still smelling of salt and motor oil.
Renz "Air" Alonzo, Bornok Rivera, Mario "Fishball" Dela Cruz — the Dockyard Drifters.
No uniforms, no sponsors. Just muscle and rhythm.
Crowd whispers turned fast.
"Who are these guys?"
"They look like they just delivered the seafood."
Thea called it out clearly.
"Dockyard Drifters versus Bay City Hustlers!
Race to eleven.
No fouls unless someone's bleeding!"
The crowd howled.
The bass dropped.
Dockyard Drifters
PG — Mario "Fishball" Dela Cruz
SG — Renz "Air" Alonzo
PF — Bornok Rivera
Bay City Hustlers
PG — Dino "Quickstep" Ramos
SG — Jay Tuares
C — Lyle "Bulldog" Mateo
First Possession
Bay City came in hot — Jay's corner jumper. 1–0.
Renz caught the inbound.
Didn't look rushed.
Didn't look interested.
He just felt the beat, shoulders rolling, eyes half-lidded.
Cross.
Step.
One bounce.
Rise.
BOOM.
One-hand dunk that shook the rim loose.
Crowd went feral.
Bong nearly spit out his soda. "HE JUMPED FROM ANOTHER ZIP CODE!"
Bornok grinned mid-court. "Welcome to Manila, huh?"
Renz smirked. "Feels like home."
The Clash
Bay City played dirty — elbows, holds, trash talk.
Renz didn't flinch.
He just danced around it.
Spin. Reverse. Fadeaway. Bang. 3–2.
Mario snagged a steal, tossed an early lob.
Renz caught, windmilled. BOOM. 4–2.
Bulldog tried posting Bornok, failed twice.
Bornok's calves didn't move.
He grabbed the rebound and yelled, "TRY MUD NEXT TIME!"
Mario dropped a floater. 5–3.
Thea's pen hovered midair. "Raw," she murmured. "But real."
The Turn
Bay City clawed back — a deep three, a lucky roll. 7–7.
Tension hit thick.
Bornok wiped sweat from his forehead. "We doing this or what?"
Renz smiled faintly. "Wait for the drop."
Then it hit.
Bass deepened.
Beat got uglier, heavier.
Renz crossed once, twice.
Step-through.
Hang.
360 slam. 9–7.
Crowd detonated.
Even Riki was laughing from the sidelines. "He's a highlight reel with a pulse!"
Next play — Mario faked left, lobbed blind behind his head.
Renz caught it backwards, hammer dunk. 10–7.
Bay City forced a bad three.
Bornok snatched the rebound.
Lobbed.
Renz in stride.
Windmill.
BOOM.
Final: Dockyard Drifters 11 – Bay City Hustlers 7.
Aftermath
The bridge sounded like a riot and a concert at once.
Phones out, people screaming, rain starting to fall.
Somewhere in the chaos, two styles had collided — precision and instinct, rhythm and rage.
Riki clapped slow. "Not bad, fisherman."
Renz, breathing heavy, just grinned. "Not bad, city boy."
Thea logged the result, voice level.
"Dockyard Drifters advance."
Teo nodded from the bench. "They're strong."
Bong: "They're stupid strong."
Riki smirked. "Good. We'll see them later."
As the lights flickered and the river breeze rolled through, the bridge's pulse didn't fade — it only got faster.
Two storms now shared the same sky.
End of Chapter 5 — "Concrete Beats: Opening Night."
(Next: Chapter 6 — Quarterfinal Pressure.)