The story is meant to be somewhat of a side story to the Prince of Tennis as it depicts what happens as girls' tennis teams fight for the national title. I do not own the Prince of Tennis or any of the PoT characters that appear in this story. This is my first fanfiction, so if you have time, I would be grateful if you could review it. Thank you!

The day before the start of their third year, Haruko, Ayano, and Yui made sure to meet at the local public tennis courts in order to practice and plan the tennis club policies for the upcoming year.

"I think we should tell the first years that we are aiming for the national title as soon as they say they're interested in the club," said Haruko after they had greeted each other and asked how the brief vacation had been going.

"You might scare them away if you do that captain," replied Yui as she delicately placed her racquet bag near one of the public court's benches. "We're already short on members, so we could use as much fresh blood as possible."

"I think that they'll be scared away anyway," interjected vice-captain Ayano, who had already taken out her racquet and began doing her warm-up routine. "Thanks to the past captains, the girls' tennis club has a reputation for being extremely physically demanding." She laughed and then added, "tough we'll probably get a few of those crazy girls, like us, who think they can handle the pressure, and there are always the girls who want to play a sport where they get to run around looking pretty in a skirt."

Haruko and Yui both had to laugh at this as both Yui and Ayano had chosen to wear skirts for this outing, although Ayano did have her signature compression shorts on under her skirt.

"Anyway," continued Haruko after she caught her breath, "I don't want to lie, and we are a rigorous club, and I am going to expect the best from everyone who joins, so shouldn't I just say that straight out?"

"That is your style," giggled Ayano. "Just don't regret it when no freshmen decide to join after you tell them you are going to make them do shuttle runs until their feet start bleeding!"

"You know that I like working on technique more than strength, Mrs. Vice-Captain," said Haruko, continuing the banter and pulling out her own racquet, "but I did learn some new stamina and strength building exercises at the Jr. Selection Camp that I think could spice up our routine."

"Whatever you want," said Yui, "you're the captain. Just checking, we are going to do both morning and afternoon practices right?"

"Yes," answered the captain as she took a tennis ball out of the bag's pocket. "I think we can do strength and stamina in the mornings and have more of a focus on technique in the afterschool sessions, and then on Saturdays, we can do both or do practice matches. Hopefully that will build a well balanced team. But right now, I want to play for a bit; it's been lonely practicing all by myself."

"Now I see," said Ayano as she stepped towards the court closest to the trio, "you chose this out of the way place so that no one will watch us, and you can play at your full power. Tricky, very tricky, but I saw it coming, and today is the day that I will beat the you playing at your best. I'll even let you serve first, Kimura would you be ref?"

"Fine, fine" said Yui somewhat reluctantly as she walked to where she would have a good view of both sides of the court. She had been hoping to get to play a bit as well, but had guessed earlier that Ayano would challenge Haruko, especially since there would be no audience. Shaking her head as Haruko and Ayano prepared to begin, she hoped, for the sake of the Shinsuji girls' tennis club that Haruko would get over her stage fright before the first official tournament.

Haruko began the match with a strong first serve, but nothing un-returnable for Ayano, who hit it back almost effortlessly. As if she had been hoping for that, the freakishly tall Haruko then used her long arms as a fulcrum to generate the power for a ripping winner that was even able to counter the spin Ayano had been able to put on the ball, and so the two played, wearing each other down slowly.

After about an hour, Haruko had the upper hand, though, and the sun began to set behind the nearby buildings, making the ball became harder to see. Yui eventually decided to call the match 4-2 for Haruko, even though the set wasn't completed so that the three could go home before their parents got worried.

As the soon to be eighth graders parted ways until school the next day, they renewed the promise they had made to last year's captain as they tearfully wished her luck in high school.

"We will win nationals this year," they had chorused then as they did now.

"We'll get our revenge," said Ayano. "We'll show the country that Shinsuji isn't just some loser school that keeps getting kicked out in the first round after making it all the way to nationals. We'll beat them all, don't worry."

"Hyotei will lose," replied Haruko with a small smile at how she had turned last year's national champion, Hyotei's popular chant around.

"Shinsuji will win," countered Yui who knew the effect Haruko was trying to achieve, so the three parted hope-filled and happily focused on the future to lay out their crisp school uniforms for the following morning.