Hey nerds! In this chapter, we'll meet someone new. Not saying anything else. At all. Really. See y'all later!
Student: Would you ever punish me for something I didn't do?
Teacher: Of course not!
Student: Good, because I didn't do my homework.
- Maelstrom_MVF
I feel so bad for the dragons, especially Sam in this chapter. I know I would ALWAYS get hit in the head with some kind of sports ball, but in Sam's case, I'd rather be in my position. This chapter, the dragons finally get to fight back, in their own way, against their previous American bully. He's kinda like the Haizaki of the Crimson Dragons, but different in some ways. Hope you enjoy! – Aloysius
HAHAHAHAHA! Last year, when we were doing a basketball unit in gym class, Aloysius got hit in the head with a ball about 5 times in an hour! XD - Maelstrom_MVF
(-_-) -Aloysius
Ch 14
After Hyuga's story about Kiyoshi, the four first years were pumped for their game against Kirisaki Daiichi. Akira and Sam separated from the group on their way home and were left to think about their game tomorrow. Akira turned to Sam with a serious look.
"Tomorrow's the day Kiyoshi and the other second years get their revenge," she said. Sam nodded in response. "We're going to have to make sure they succeed." Sam nodded once more before arriving at her home, leaving Akira with her thoughts. She really hoped nothing would go wrong.
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The next day, Akira, Mel, and Tyler arrived at the stadium the Seirin vs. Kirisaki Daiichi game was being held. Akira headed over to the rest of the team to warm up, while Mel headed over to the bleachers to find a good seat. Tyler walked over to Riko to help her out.
Just walking into the stadium was Robert and the rest of Touou. They had to put Aomine in a sack and drag him to the place to get him to come. Needless to say, he was ticked. Robert was quite amused. He and the bluenette moved to look over at the court and found that the Kirisaki Daiichi team was giving off very hostile vibes.
Down at the court, Akira and Sam were warming up by playing an extreme game of HORSE. They could feel the tension between the two teams. It was so thick; it could be cut with a knife. Akira turned to see a ball from the Kirisaki Daiichi side of the court roll over to Kiyoshi. She scowled at Hanamiya when he spoke with her teammate. He was claiming that Kiyoshi got hurt himself and that he had nothing to do with it. It made Akira want to show him who's boss. She smirked when Kuroko and Kagami stepped up to help. Those two were something else. It made her proud to have such amazing friends.
The other first years weren't just standing by, either. They happily volunteered to tape up Kiyoshi's knee. It was quite funny how his entire leg was wrapped, and Akira couldn't help but burst out laughing at their over enthusiasm. Riko ended up redoing it. Everyone gathered up in a group huddle.
"I know we can do this, guys," Akira said. "Let's win this thing!"
"Hey! That's my line!" Hyuga complained. Never the less, he was smiling.
The starters headed onto the court while the others sat down on the bench. From the bench, Akira, Sam, and Tyler saw a terrible sight. Standing on the Kirisaki Daiichi side was none other than Dante Jones, the exile of the Crimson Dragons. His spiky blonde hair could be seen from the top row of the bleachers and his towering height rivaled Kagami's. Up in the audience seats, Robert and Mel, who had met up with the ball thief, were staring at him in horror.
"What is he doing here?" Robert asked with pure anger. His teammates seemed to notice his change of attitude and Wakamatsu decided to ask about it.
"What are you talking about?" he asked loudly. Mel was the next to speak.
"Dante Jones, or here, he would be Jones Dante. He used to be on our basketball team in America, but he was expelled from the school for…" she paused before continuing. "He was expelled for repeatedly fighting with the team. By fighting, I mean physically."
Robert lifted his shirt up a bit and showed a small patch of mangled skin. "Never let him hit you when he's wearing jewelry." Sakurai and Momoi gasped while the others sneered. Mel just nodded.
"He gave each of us an unforgettably injury at some point."
"Just being near him lowers your IQ by 50," continued someone behind the group. They turned to find Henry with a rare frown on his face. It quickly turned to a smile. "I can't wait to watch him get destroyed by Akira and Sam."
Down at Seirin's bench, Akira and Tyler had their fists clenched. Sam would have done so, too, but her hands were wrapped tightly around Akira's wrists to stop her from running up to Dante and ripping his heart out.
The teams got into position on the court and the ref threw the ball up for the tip off. Kiyoshi jumped to get it and hit it to Izuki. He passed it to his right, where, to everyone' surprise Kuroko caught it. He was going for his "vanishing drive". He successfully passed his guard and shot the ball to Kiyoshi, who made a dunk. Everyone cheered.
"Go, Kuroko!" Akira shouted happily, her anger at Dante forgotten.
Now it was Kirisaki Daiichi's turn. They took the ball down the court and one of the players distracted Hyuga. He was then roughly screened. The attackers shot and missed. Kagami got ready for the rebound, but one of the Kirisaki Daiichi players got in front of him and got the ball. He swung the ball back and nearly hit Kagami in the face, but the redhead dodged just in time. They ended up scoring. Over at the bench, Akira and Sam were shaking with anger.
According to the data they had, every team that faced off against Kirisaki Daiichi had suffered an injury. It had only started after Hanamiya joined, and got worse since Dante came.
"This is unforgivable," Akira said lowly. Tyler and Sam nodded, not trusting themselves to speak. They watched as Kirisaki Daiichi continued to play harshly, and Hyuga was nearly elbowed in the face by one of their players until Kiyoshi jumped in and blocked the blow.
"We're on the court," he said. "If you want to fight us, do it fairly with basketball." Akira was furious with the other team's answer:
"We are."
Hanamiya took the ball and scored, then spoke with Kiyoshi. It just ticked Akira off even more. She wanted to go in beat the stuffing out of the other team, but Sam still had her restrained. She just had to settle with watching for now.
Kirisaki Daiichi continued to rough Seirin up. They stepped on their feet quite a bit, and when it didn't work on Kagami, they elbowed his stomach.
Akira started thrashing around in her seat, trying to get Sam to let her go, but the quiet girl didn't budge.
Kagami brought his arm back and looked like he was going to punch the other team, but Kuroko pulled his ankles, making him fall face first into the ground. Kagami was angry at the bluenette, but Kuroko managed to talk some sense into the redhead. Kagami apologized, and then got punched by Riko for acting rashly.
"I don't blame you, Kagami," Akira said, surprising many of her teammates. Kiyoshi was the next to surprise everyone.
"Kagami, you don't have to be inside for defense. You don't have to get the rebounds, either," he said. "Inside is fine with me alone."
Everyone started freaking out, and Kiyoshi put on a face that was pure seriousness. He said that if they took him out of the game, he would curse them for the rest of his life. When Akira and Sam heard Kiyoshi, they felt their anger skyrocket. How dare he! they thought.
When the team went back on the court, Kiyoshi was the only one guarding the inside. He was doing amazing with the conditions he had. The other team was putting tones of pressure on the lone boy and their attacks were brutal. It was then Akira and Sam noticed something very important. Dante hadn't done anything the whole game. They turned to the blonde and found that he was staring right back.
Dante smirked sadistically. He made a 'come get me' gesture, then went back to staring at the two teams go at it. When Akira and Sam turned to see what he was looking at, they found Kiyoshi on the floor getting his face smashed in by one of the Kirisaki Daiichi member's elbow.
"Kiyoshi!" the Mizutani siblings shouted. Sam was too shocked to say anything. Hanamiya said that it was an accident. No one believed him. Kiyoshi slowly stood back up. His forehead was covered in blood. He saw that he would protect everyone.
It was finally the end of the second quarter and the teams had a ten minute break. Akira finally broke out of Sam's grip and ran up to Riko.
"Please put me in!" she shouted. When she saw Kiyoshi's bruises, she couldn't sit back any longer. The look on Kuroko's face said the same thing.
Sam stood next to Akira. "Please put us in," she said dead calmly.
Over with Mel and the male dragons, Robert had to hold Mel back. She was in a similar state as Akira. She wanted to get at the Kirisaki Daiichi team. While they were doing that, Henry was sitting next to Imayoshi.
"Why hasn't he done anything yet?" the white-haired boy asked himself. He, as well as Mel and Robert, had noticed that Dante had done absolutely nothing for the first two quarters. It looked as if he was waiting for something, or more precisely, someone. He was waiting for one of the dragons to come out and play.
The ten minute break ended quickly and the teams were called back to the court. Riko had agreed to let one of the girls on the court, but not both. They had to decide who was going it. Akira looked at Sam.
"I really want to go, but… I think you should go first. I'll come in later."
Sam nodded with a grateful smile. She then gave Akira a thumb up. "Don't worry. I fell asleep when you weren't looking." She stood from the bench and headed onto the court. Sam nodded to her teammates, then turned to face Dante. His evil smirk grew at the sight of her.
"I see you've finally come out of hiding," he said darkly. "Ya sure you can keep up? I know that over in Florida you couldn't last ten minutes before passing out." He looked around. "Where are the amnesic and the runt? They with you? Or that white-haired freak. What about the little puppy that follows you everywhere; he's always with you."
Sam stared into his eyes with pure hatred. She could feel Akira's radiating from the bench, too. "I can keep up, can you? I heard that you lost your touch when you go caught fighting against Captain last year. We wouldn't want you giving up too soon now would we?" Dante sneered at her reply and Sam turned her back to talk to her teammates. They were shocked at her talk with Dante.
"I'm going to need you guys to listen carefully," she said. "That boy other there is Dante. He was expelled from the Crimson Dragons for fighting with the players last year. He's no joke. Don't let him touch you." The boys didn't know how to respond, so they just nodded.
"Good. The next think I need you guys to do is be ready. I see a lot of basketballs hitting my head in the future, and I need you guys to get them when they bounce back. Got it?" They nodded once again. Sam nodded, then broke from the group and closed her eyes. She had to make her time on the court count. She took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes, you could see a green lightning-like light come from her pupils. Seirin wasn't quite sure what it was, but they could feel the heavy aura coming from her direction. In the stands, the basketball players watching could feel it, too. It felt like there was a dragon in the building.
Aomine's eyes went wide. She's in the zone! he thought. Then he realized he never noticed Seirin had gotten a new member. He turned to Robert and found that the boy was staring seriously at Seirin's player.
Mel gave a small smile. "Please, Sam. You can do it. Beat him to a pulp."
Before the game resumed, Sam used her zone to, instead of focus in the game, help her not focus on the blood that always seemed to come with facing Dante. She knew her playing wouldn't improve, but she knew it was the right choice. She absolutely hated the sight of blood.
The whistle was blown and Seirin started with the ball. It was passed to Kuroko, who did his vanishing drive despite Kirisaki Daiichi's attempts to stop him. He passed it to Sam, who was coming up behind him. Sam was met with none other than Dante. The boy towered over her and his eyes showed no mercy. He reached for the ball, but it vanished; it was already in Sam's other hand. She crossed it over a few times and shot right pass the blonde. Dante was quick to recover and spun to smack the ball out of Sam's hand, but the girl saw it coming and had already shot the ball. It went in without so much as brushing against the rim. All of the Crimson Dragons had absolutely sold fundamentals to back up their strengths, so the shot wasn't all that surprising to the dragons, but to the crowd, it was amazing.
Despite losing that one-on-one, Dante smirked. "I see you can shoot now. Glad you did something before I crush you."
Sam smirked back. It was full of all of the dragons' hate. "Wouldn't want to disappoint you. You were so desperate for one of us to come out; you spent half the game waiting. Did you really want to lose so badly?"
By now, everyone who had met Sam before, not including the Crimson Dragons, was looking at Sam like she had just grown another head. If it wasn't such a serious moment, Akira, Mel, and Henry would be laughing about how they thought Kasamatsu would react if he saw Sam at that moment. Dante's eyes went wide in fury.
Kirisaki Daiichi had possession of the ball. Dante took the ball and looked to his teammate, who was positioned behind Sam. "Hanamiya!" he shouted as he chucked the ball with all his power in the other sadistic player's direction. At the course it was going, it would slam into Sam's head. It did just that.
Sam was jerked sideways, making her fall hard. Thankfully, Kuroko had listened to her advice and took the ball as it bounce off and passed it Kagami. The redhead scored, then went back to Sam to see if she was okay. Sam carefully got up from her position on the ground and whipped off the bit of blood that started dripping from the side of her head. Everyone was surprised that the side with blood was not the side she fell on, but the side the ball collided with.
Akira flinched when the ball made contact with Sam's head. She clutched Tyler's arm and started shaking. Ever since her plane crash, she was terrified of collisions.
The brunette whipped the blood on her shorts. "I think I forgot to mention something," she said to the team. "His ability is his amazing strength." She turned to Kiyoshi. "Don't let him hit you."
The guys looked like they wanted to say something, but they were interrupted by the game. Sam continued to get hit with the ball, occasionally dodging the ball or redirecting it, but the power behind each shot seemed to grow. Still, Sam didn't let Dante win. She kept the ball from him with her sleight of hand and scored several points herself. She had also prevented Dante from scoring on several occasions. This made the blonde very angry.
"This is impossible. You couldn't have gotten this good since the day I left!" Dante shouted. He launched the ball with all his might combined with his immense anger, aiming it for Sam's face. The girl saw it coming and knew she wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it. She closed her eyes and the ball made contact with her face. She fell backwards onto the floor. Sam could barely hear the shouts coming from her teammates around her. Within seconds, she was out cold.
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Akira shot up from the bench screaming. When Sam went down and didn't come back up, her mind went blank. Dante had never been that strong back in Florida. Now, she wasn't sure what to do. She stayed there with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She would admit, she was very much like Kiyoshi. She hated seeing her friends hurt.
There was a short intermission and Sam was carried over to the bench by Kagami. She was set down on a mat that was laid out, and Riko proceeded to tend to her wounds. Akira sat next to her.
Mel, Henry, and Robert sprinted down to the court and somehow got permission to be at the Seirin bench. Henry had a serious look, Mel look distressed, and Robert looked ten times worse. Tears pricked his eyes and his hands were shaking.
Robert carefully moved to sit next to Sam and took her hand. Mel and Henry took a seat next to Akira on the floor.
Akira turned to Riko with fire in her eyes. "Put me in," she said seriously. To everyone's surprise, Riko said no. Akira tried to argue, but the couch stopped her.
"It's too dangerous," she said. "You and Sam and girls, and look what happened to her! I can't put you out there knowing that same thing is going to happen to you, too!" Riko look conflicted, but held her ground.
Akira took a deep breath. "Fine, but if they're in trouble out there, I'm going in." Riko just nodded. The team was getting ready to get back on the court when Akira grabbed Kuroko's hand, getting his attention.
"Please be careful," she said sadly. Kuroko nodded back.
When Akira looked back on the court, one of Kirisaki Daiichi's players was subbed out. She wasn't sure what they were planning, but she knew it wasn't good. The game went on and Seirin wasn't playing the same. They continuously had the ball stolen and they were losing points fast. Akira overheard one of the players talking about a spider's web and couldn't help but wonder what he meant. She turned to Henry to ask him, but the white-haired boy already saw it coming.
"Seirin is stuck in Hanamiya's trap. While they go for the most strategic moves, Hanamiya easily predicts the team's actions and interferes." Henry tapped his chin. "They make it quite easy for him you know. That guy has an IQ of 160."
The people on the bench couldn't believe their ears. An IQ of 160 was absolutely amazing! Akira thought about what Henry said. If he was right, then the more they struggled, the worse they'd be. If only they had Sam. Her IQ was just as high.
By the end of the third quarter, Seirin was at 47 while Kirisaki Daiichi had a score of 58. Akira stood up and walked over to the rest of the guys. She sat next to Kuroko. They were all mad about the last quarter. Suddenly, both Akira and Kuroko had an idea.
"Maybe we can break free if I stop the team play," said Kuroko. "You three play as you have been and I'll play independently." Akira agreed. Everyone looked at the two of them like they were crazy. Henry just nodded.
"I think that's best," he said simply.
Akira faced Riko. "I'd also like to play."
Riko showed her disapproval. "Akira…"
The first year girl stood up. "Riko, please! I need to go out there and help!"
"I already told you: it's too dangerous!"
"But Riko-!"
"Ahhhhh~ you two, please quite arguing. Riko, just let her go! You're so loud and you're making my headache worse than it already is!"
Everyone turned wide-eyed to the girl lying on the mat. Sam still had her eyes closed, but her hand was on her face rubbing her temples. Everyone, especially Robert, looked relieved and visibly relaxed. The boy rubbed circles on the back of Sam's other hand with his thumb and wiped his eyes.
Riko turned to Akira with a conflicting expression on her face. After a second to contemplate, she nodded. "Okay, you can go, but if you end up getting hurt, I'm pulling you back out."
Akira smiled and gave Riko a quick hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
With the team back on the court, Akira could see the smirk on the other team's faces. I just made her smirk, too. Her smirk became devilish when she made eye contact with Dante.
"I'm going to make you pay for hurting my friend," she said darkly. Dante just smirked.
"You talk big for an amnesic. I'll make sure you drown in defeat."
The game started with Izuki taking the ball out. He passed it toward Hyuga and Hanamiya was ready to intercept. He had already anticipated it. What he didn't anticipate was Kuroko diving in and changing the direction of the pass. The ball flew into an unsuspecting Kagami's hands and he made a two-pointer. Akira gave Kuroko a high-five. His plan had worked. Now it was her turn.
Dante had possession of the ball and Akira was guarding him. The boy tried to fake a pass, but Akira saw right through it. She pretended to follow with the pass, but when he moved to drive past, she shifted back and quickly swiped the ball. She ran down the court full speed and shot the ball. Dante ran up behind to swat it out of the air, but it was already in. The redhead turned to her former bully and swiped her thumb across her neck before getting ready on her side of the court. Needless to say, Dante was ticked.
Akira and Dante kept going at it, but to the blonde's dismay, Akira was just too fast for him. He was quickly losing his energy trying to stop her. Lucky for him, while Seirin was closing the gap, they were still too far behind. They were also shutting down Kiyoshi.
Riko called for a timeout and everyone returned to their bench. To Kiyoshi's surprise, Riko was pulling him out.
"Wait a sec! We're almost there! And if you pull me out now…"
"No," she said sternly. There were tears threatening to spill. "If the same thing as last year is going to happen… then I'd rather you curse me."
Sam nodded. "I agree."
""I don't have a big brother, but… when you said you'll protect us, I thought you were like a big brother," Kuroko said. "And… It made me happy. So I want you to keep protecting us in the future, and I don't want you to overexert yourself anymore in this match." There was a short pause before Hyuga started shouting.
"ARGHHHH! So annoying!"
"You tell 'em, captain," Sam said lazily while punching the sky. Only Robert, Mel, Henry, and Mitobe heard her.
"We're telling you to leave the rest to us!" Hyuga continued. "Just withdraw obediently! Do you think we'll break our promise!?" Kiyoshi slowly smiled and conceded. "Now, be a good boy and wait here. We'll come back with a ticket to the winter cup."
While the team was back on the court, Kiyoshi apologized to Riko about what he said before. Mel scoffed and bonked Kiyoshi on the head.
"You'd better be sorry! What kinda guy says that to a lady!?" Mel turned to Robert. "I know that if anyone said that to Sam, Robert would go ballistic on them." Robert nodded in agreement.
Back on the court, Akira smirked when Hyuga got into shooting position. His form was perfect and the shot went in without a problem. Kuroko continued stealing the ball and Seirin continued scoring. Akira even got a few more chances to humiliate Dante.
Hanamiya was furious. Seirin was now ahead by one point and Kuroko was guarding him. He made a move to elbow the bluenette in the face, but Kuroko dodged just in time. Hanamiya then made a quick drive past the shadow and made a floater shot. The uncrowned king spoke with venom about friendship and it made Akira and Kuroko furious. Kuroko punched the ball past Hanamiya who stood there with wide eyes, and to everyone's surprise, Akira was the one who caught it and dunked it. Everyone cheered but Seirin kept serious to finish the match. In the end, they won, 76 to 70.
The Seirin bench burst into cheers and everyone jumped up with joy. The only ones who didn't move from their spots were Sam and the other dragons not on the team.
Robert and Mel helped Sam sit up from her spot on the floor when Akira hopped over. The girls hugged and smiled at their victory. They had finally beaten their longtime foe. When they let go, they noticed Hanamiya talking with Kiyoshi. His head was down and he seemed to be apologizing. The girls were stunned. Then Hanamiya showed his real colors and announced that he would crush the iron heart the next time they face each other. The Dragons' anger flared, but they knew Kiyoshi could handle it and left it to him.
Suddenly, the Dragons felt someone coming toward them and found a ticked off Dante. His fists were clenched at his sides and a fire of hatred burned in his eyes. He stopped a foot away from the group.
"I won't accept this. You twerps couldn't have gotten so strong in the few months after I left!"
Akira stood up and answered him with a serious face. "We did, in fact, get stronger once you left. The day after, without all of your bullying to set up back, we began to quickly improve. You really are a potential killer, aren't you?"
Dante grew angrier by the second, and before anyone could say anything else, Dante pulled his arm back to throw a punch at Akira. The girl was ready to dodge, but the fist stopped in mid swing. Dante turned to find a very scary looking Tyler gripping his wrist.
"Don't you dare lay a finger on them ever again," he said in a low and murderous tone. Everyone around flinched at shook from fear. Eventually, Tyler let go of the boy's arm, leaving behind a red hand mark. Dante then left quietly without so much as turning to look back.
Tyler visibly relaxed once Dante left. He turned to the Dragons and smiled. "I've wanted to do that for a long time."
Robert turned to Akira. "Remind me never to get on your brother's bad side." The others nodded in agreement.
Riko walked up to the group and looked to Sam. "We have to get your injury looked at now. Can you stand?"
Sam moved to stand, but a wave of dizziness hit her and she fell into Akira's arms. Robert moved to pick her up and the group followed Riko to the infirmary. They were met with an old man in a doctor's coat. Sam was set down in a seat and the doctor proceeded to examine her head. After about 20 minute, Sam was released and was told to get lots of rest; she would be fine by tomorrow. Sam then promptly fell asleep on Robert's back while the others followed Riko back to the rest of the team. They ended up separating from her on the way and just decided to wait for them outside. There, they found Kuroko and Kagami.
Mel nudged Akira's shoulder and smirked. "This year's winter cup is going to be an all out war against the 'Generation of Miracles'. Have anything to say about that?"
Akira smirked. "Yeah. It'll be an all out war alright, and with five Dragons mixed in, I'm sure it'll be fun!"
Just then, the rest of Seirin made it outside and Hyuga kicked Kagami for massing around. They all headed home, thinking of one thing: defeating the 'Generation of Miracles' and becoming number one in Japan. Henry and Robert, who were forgotten about and were still following Seirin, sighed.
"They do know that we're still here, right?" Robert asked his white-haired friend.
Henry smiled. "I don't think so." He started chuckling. "It's funny to know they're saying they're going to win with members of the opposing teams present." Robert only nodded in agreement.
To anyone who happens to have the name Dante or the full name Dante Jones, we apologize. When we were picking his name, we picked randomly in a random list of names. He is not based off of anyone in real life. Anyway, in this story, I decided that the OCs can use the zone to focus on things other than playing basketball to their full extent. I thought I'd be interesting. I really hope you guys liked this chapter; it was kinda on and off with the ideas. The next chapter will be fun! It won't follow the story line, but be more like a filler or special chapter. Hope you enjoy! – Aloysius
For any of you beautiful and dedicated followers who just can't live without a hint for the next chapter, here's the only one you get: MEOW! - Maelstrom_MVF