Author's Note: Hello there! Here is my first fanfiction that is longer than a One-Shot. Please Review! Suggestions are welcomed. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy...
Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
Note: the first Prince of Tennis character (Ryoma) will appear in Chapter 3.
Prologue
Arman
Gazing at his school iPad screen, Arman scrolled through the "One Piece" manga he was reading. When he reached a certain panel, his eyebrows lifted. In it, "Red-Haired" Shanks was again battling Doflamingo to the death, but that did not surprise him. What did make him intrigued was the rectangular Gmail notification that popped down. It did not give the sender's email address and had no subject, nor did it show any body text. Curious, Arman tapped the notification with his index finger and scanned the email. Just like the notification, no sender or subject. But, there was an image-like thing on the email that looked a little blurry. The image had only two words on it: Click Here. There was also a second connecting email with the same words.
Arman reached out⦠and pulled his finger back. It was probably a spam email or a link that would give his iPad a virus. Now that he thought about it, though, his friend Noel was always trying to get him to read or watch the anime "The Prince of Tennis" and constantly sent him links that read "Click Here". If anything, this was probably one of her schemes, to trick him into getting into the manga series. No way was he going to fall into her trap. But, he admitted to himself, Noel had shed light on his now favorite anime, "Kenja no Mago". She had also endured much torture in the countless times when he accused her of bullying him. Arman sighed. He owed Noel.
The least he could do was click it. Reluctantly, he reached out and touched the image. The iPad screen loaded onto a website and displayed the thirty-fourth chapter of "The Prince of Tennis". So Noel had sent the email. Thirty-fourth chapter, though? Must have been a major mistake on her part. Or some sort of a joke. The chapter itself showed a black and white manga, but Arman could tell that it was well drawn. If it was not about tennis and had some fantasy in it, he figured he might enjoy it. Unfortunately, it was the tennis manga that Noel had been nagging him to read. But why did it have no sender? Arman wondered.
Well, at least he had clicked on the picture and could claim to Noel that he 'read' it. Now it was time to finish his nightly "One Piece" reading. He did not need to click the second email, which was probably another anime link. With only a slight moment's hesitation, Arman exited the tab and resumed the Japanese comic. Thirty minutes later, he went to sleep. Little did he know, his school iPad, which rested on his desk, had turned back on. On its own, the screen opened the Gmail app and the website that the image had led to. Finally, the screen changed into a blank white. It stayed like that for a few seconds, then something appeared on the white. It read:
π»ππππππ ππππππππππππππ...
π·%
Kloe
Kloe was not having the best morning. The night before had been pretty good; someone had sent her email the link to the thirty-fourth chapter of a Japanese manga called "The Prince of Tennis", and she spent two hours reading the first twenty-four chapters. (Unfortunately, she did not quite make it to the thirty-fourth chapter.) Of course, she was going to read the first chapter before reading the thirty-fourth. Why would she not? The email was weird sending her the thirty-fourth chapter to a manga she had never heard of, so she figured it was just a mess up. The second link Kloe had not gotten around to click because she used up her time reading the manga, but when she got home that day, she would look at it. It was probably Arman who had sent it, she guessed. After all, he was the anime dude at Shasta Glen School. Ask him to tell you what the first thing Naruto said in episode thirty-two, and he would tell you. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but that was the gist of it.
Anyway, the reason Kloe's morning had been so horrible was that she had woken up late to school and rushed to the bus stop and⦠she had forgotten her backpack. Her BACKPACK. How could you forget something as big as that? Did she not feel like something was missing? Something that probably weighed about ten pounds? A friend had paid for her bus fee, but once Kloe got to school, she went straight to the office and called her mom, who said she would bring it at break. Now Kloe had to wait for almost two hours before she could get her school stuff. She was going to have a great day. That was sarcasm, by the way, if no one noticed.
Finally, during break, she ran to the gatehouse and accepted her backpack from her mom. Thank goodness. Ms. Saepharn, her science teacher, had sent everyone in the class a google form to complete during class, but of course, Kloe did not have her iPad. So the first thing Kloe did was to open it so she could fill out the form. For a moment, she thought she saw a white background with "π»ππππππ ππππππππππππππβ¦ πΎπΊ%" written on it, but when she blinked, the screen was back to normal and she wondered if she had imagined it all.
Shaking her head to clear it, Kloe opened the form to fill it out when her iPad screen turned black and showed the Apple logo. In her haste to sleep, (she had stayed up reading "The Prince of Tennis"), Kloe had forgotten to charge her school electronic. Great. Just⦠great. Time to find someone who had a charger. Groaning, she slipped her iPad back into her backpack and zipped it shut. Yep, Kloe was having the best morning ever. That was sarcasm, by the way, if no one noticed.
Noel
Who was it that had sent her the link to "The Prince of Tennis" manga and the link to its twenty-first episode? Noel had to find out. She just had to. For the whole of her life before, she had always known that she was the only person besides her brother in Shasta Glen School that knew what the "Prince of Tennis" was and followed the series. Now, she learned that someone else did too, because the person had sent the link to her school email address, and she had never entered her email into a website related to Japanese manga or anime. That meant that the person who sent it knew her school email, meaning that they were at her school, so Noel could not wait to learn who it was. The only trouble that would hinder her findings was that for some reason, the email showed no sender email address.
The first link she had been curious of. When it had brought her to the comic, with growing excitement, she had gone back to the email and clicked on the second one. That had gone to episode twenty one. Someone must have known that she was a fan of "The Prince of Tennis", or they would not have sent her the link to both the anime and manga in the middle of the series. Coincidentally or not, both links brought her to the same time in the plot line. And again, no sender email address. How mysterious.
That would make it hard to locate the person, but Noel was determined to find a way and nothing would stop her dedication to "The Prince of Tennis". And maybe, once she found the sender, she would be able to gush to them about all her love for different characters and tennis moves. They could also hang out and watch some episodes, and maybe⦠Well, Noel would not think about now. She did not want to get ahead of herself, because what if she could not find the person? That would be horrible. She tried not to think about it.
Right now, Noel needed to focus on what she was doing; finishing her Civil Rights History project. She was in history class, and the project was due in thirty minutes. Thirty. Minutes. Reality struck Noel, and it was as if a tornado had been set off. Immediately at the awareness, Noel snapped into action. Her fingers scurried around the keyboard and paragraphs upon paragraphs of writing appeared on her google document. Seeming to blur, Noel became a whirlwind of work. Thoughts of the mysterious email faded as panic and adrenaline rushed through her veins. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Finally, half an hour later, Noel had finished her twenty-page essay, having added an additional thirteen pages to her once meek seven. Done.
Noel leaned back with a sigh of relief. Everything had been finished at last. She turned in the document online but decided that she would pick up a hard copy at the library during lunch. Clicking a button, she sent the document to a printer in the library and closed her iPad. Blue seat slid back as she stood to pack up her belongings. It took a few minutes because Noel had to maneuver her items in the backpack; she had brought her tennis racquet and hat that day so she could play at lunch. She was dressed accordingly in her dry-fit clothes and tennis shoes, also having packed a hat in her backpack with a hair band on her wrist.
Once Noel had finished stuffing the last of her history supplies in her purple pack, it was time to take the trip to the library. Maybe when she was there, she could look at some books, possibly "The Prince of Tennis". The email had reminded her of how long it had been since she read the beginning chapters of the graphic novel, and she decided that now was a good time to start again. After all, it could not hurt. "The Prince of Tennis" was Noel's number one fictional universe, and if it meant she could go there, she would cut off her arm. Actually⦠no. Maybe a hand. Or a finger. Okay, Noel admitted to herself, probably not that. What about a few nail clippings? Gross, never mind.
A small tan building with white pillars met her view; Noel had reached the library. She grasped the metal door handle and pushed the door open. The first stop she made was to the manga shelf, where she picked up "The Prince of Tennis" volume one. Noel ended up sitting against the shelf and reading her book. She was at the start second chapter when she remembered her main purpose for being at the library. Her Civil Rights history project. A bookmark was placed in the pages and Noel stood once again.
Zigzagging around the tables in the library, she made her way to the printer and spotted two other seventh graders waiting in front of it. One was a boy with short black hair and a grey jacket. Hands on his hips, he seemed a little impatient. Meanwhile, the other person was a skinny girl whose light brown hair waved loosely at her shoulders. She had her iPad out in one hand and looked between it and the printer. There was a cord with a portable charging battery attached to her iPad as well.
"Hi, Kloe. Hi, Arman," Noel greeted the pair and they said "hey"s back to her. She stopped next to the pair and took a quick glance at the printer. "What're you guys printing? After all, its lunch."
"I have to print out a paper for English," Kloe began, turning off her iPad, "and I didn't know it was lunch yet. I guess my class already got out so I'll have to give it to Ms. Lehman in person."
Noel made a sympathetic face. "Yeesh. What about you, Arman?"
"Gotta print something before math. You know, it's after lunch."
This statement was not just for Noel. She, Arman, and Kloe were in the same Algebra class that took place during the next block. Because what Arman was printing was for math, Noel figured that it was most likely notes for the open notes test that would occur that day. Then, feeling the backpack on her shoulders, she remembered what she had planned during lunch. Kloe and Arman usually ate in the lunch group up at the field's picnic benches, which was right next to the tennis courts.
"Hey, are you guys eating up at the field today?"
Both nodded.
"Cool, I'm playing tennis up there. I'll see you guys there, then." At the word 'tennis', Arman spotted the Japanese manga under Noel's arm. She continued, "I heard Melinda's playing badmintonβ"
"Wait, let me see that," Arman interrupted, reaching out and grabbed the comic. He flipped it open to Noel's bookmarked page and crowed, "Aha! I knew you sent that email!"
"Huh?" Noel looked genuinely confused. "What email?"
"What email?!" Arman pointed an accusing finger at her. "The Prince of Tennis one! But it had no sender address."
Noel opened her mouth to argue that she was not the one who sent the email and that she had received an email like that as well when Kloe cut in. "Oh! You got one too?"
"So did I!" Noel said, a little too loudly.
Others in the library turned in frustration at the trio who was disturbing their last-minute work during lunch. They all shushed them. Arman rolled his eyes at Noel as one of the librarians, a petite woman with silky black hair, made her way over to them to request silence. It did not matter to Noel anymore that she was being loud, because she just had to get her point across. She was a stubborn girl, she admitted to herself, and she would not lose an argument if she could help it. After thirty more seconds, the bickering evolved into nonsense.
"Right now, if I was to hook you up to a lie detector, I would find that you are fibbing about not sending those emails! After all, how could you 'just happen' to meet with Kloe and I the day after we got them?" Arman yelled. Kloe, whose iPad was open again, tapped his shoulder.
"Umβ¦" she began.
"Not now, Kloe!" he whispered back sharply.
"Well, have you ever heard of something as a coincidence?" Noel retorted to his previous claim. "I just came to pick up my Civil Rights Project!" Now Kloe tapped her red dry-fit T-shirt.
"Noel, I need to tell you something," she muttered, this time more insistent than with Arman.
The Asian girl waved her off and resumed her debate with Arman, who was seething, "Just admit that you sent the email! I'm not mad about you sending it. I'm mad that you're denying it."
"Arman! Noel!" Kloe shouted. "Why is it so quiet?"
Both mouths went shut. Kloe rarely raised her voice, even if she was angry. Between Noel and Arman, she was the quiet but funny girl. So yelling, especially in the library, came as quite a surprise. The two then thought of the same thing. Kloe was rightβ it had been at least a minute that they had been arguing, and the librarian had not reprimanded them yet. Why had she not?
Simultaneously turning, Noel and Arman looked towards where she had been, which was where she still was. Annoyed, Kloe muttered something about no one ever noticing things as they all stared, Noel and Arman open-mouthed, around the library. Now they realized why no one had been shushing them. Students still sat at the tables, some with open laptops and clothing items strewn about the wooden surface. Others had books out to read, some library and some textbooks. Some were at the library computers, presumably working on a digital project of some sort.
At first glance, everything seemed normal. After a few seconds, though, anyone would realize: none of the people in the room were moving. Not the librarian, who still had a stern expression on her round face, and not any of the high schoolers browsing the shelves. Weirdest of all, the printer that Noel, Kloe, and Arman were using had stopped inking mid-page. It was as if time itself had stopped. And it might very well have. Noel and Arman were speechless until Kloe spoke up.
"Uh, guys? That's not the worst of it."
"What do you mean?" Noel asked, sounding nervous.
"I thought I saw this before, and⦠well, see for yourself."
With shaking hands, Kloe brought up her iPad, which seemed to be glowing with a bright white light. It wobbled as she slowly turned it around. Facing them was a white screen. If it was for a class, and their teacher had shown it to them, the three would have thought it boring. But, now, it looked quite sinister as the text on it read:
π»ππππππ ππππππππππππππ...
πΏπΏ%
Furthermore, Kloe gasped and pointed at Noel's then Arman's backpack. Noel turned to see that it too was glowing with the white light. Pulling it open, she reached a hand in and pulled out her iPad. Arman had done the same but slower, and now both opened their glowing device's keyboard cases and gawked at their own screens, for they both displayed the same message as Kloe's. For the first time, Noel was impressed and curious at the same time.
"Wha?" Arman blabbed, still not functioning fully.
"Well, it seems like some sort of transportation is on its way, and it's going to take us somewhere," Noel concluded reasonably, rotating her iPad to inspect it. "I can't wait to find out where. Whoever engineered this is simply genius."
Just then, all three screens changed, to show something that made Noel raise an apprehensive brow, making sure her backpack and tennis racquet were still with her, Kloe's eyes widen as she wondered what would happen next, and Arman gurgle, still trying to speak.
"Oh no," Kloe said, then, "Loophole?"
For the words now were:
π»ππππππ π²πππππππ. ππππππππππππππ πππππππ.
πΏππππππ πππ ππππππππ.
Finally, Arman regained his voice. "What the heβ!"
Suddenly, what looked like a supernova exploded from all three iPads, and the white expanded until it was all that the seventh graders could see. For a few moments, the three fought what seemed like empty space, not knowing what had just occurred. Then everything went black, and they all fell into nothingness.