"Okay, everyone here?"

Akielah looked up towards the team as they saw in the bleachers. Gordon was sitting up front as usual, and Tony was sitting a few feet away from him. Helmut sat a few rows up, clearly annoyed at having to give her his attention. And Chris was all the way up at the top row, a stoic expression on his face.

As usual Rico was sitting in the middle, laying down with a magazine over his face. He hadn't quite fallen asleep yet, but he was well on his way.

The rest of the team was scattered about as well, but Akielah wanted to make sure they in particular were paying attention. She gave Chris a look, and he lowered one of his feet and nudged Rico. "You can sleep later. Pay attention so we can hurry up and get out of here," he said.

Rico groaned and then looked up with an annoyed expression. "Seriously? Why do we even have to go over any of this crap? We already know we're going to smoke any team we come across." He still didn't know why Gordon made him come to these things. As long as he showed up they'd win, so what did it matter?

"It's better safe than sorry. We need to be prepared no matter who we face. And though it's not certain, we in all likelihood will be facing off with the monster in the finals," Gordon said. There were a couple of other powerhouse schools that might surprise them, but he doubted his cousin would fall short.

"Exactly," Akielah said, nodding. "So, let's go over what we're up against, shall we? And pay attention, because I put some work into gathering all of this together."

She pointed to the tv she'd set up nearby and then hit the remote in her hand. "Let's get the obvious ones out of the way. These two are going to be our biggest problems," she said, showing a picture of Olivier and Beat.

Gordon narrowed his eyes at the image of his cousin. "Of course…"

"Olivier Agreste, the left side hitter and the top scorer on the team. Don't think I need to tell you guys that he's a handful. Highest jumper on the team, his technique is well polished, and he's incredibly well rounded. He might not be unmatched in anything, but he's still pretty amazing at everything."

Rico watched as they showed footage of Olivier jumping up for a spike. Three blockers on the other team jumped up to stop him, but he hit a cut shot so sharp it slipped right past. He landed and pumped his fist, and Rico chuckled. "Not bad. But he's got nothing on me," he said.

"Of course not," Akielah said, pushing her glasses up. "But he's still dangerous. We can't just go off of what we know about him now. We have to assure he'll have even more up his sleeve when and if we play him. I've known Olivier for years, and he's like a sponge. He sees something cool, and he'll want to learn how to do it himself. And trust me when I tell you he won't stop until he will. There's still plenty of time for him to pick up new tricks before nationals."

Gordon nodded. "We'll be going over footage of his most recent games before the match. I don't want him catching us off guard with any tricks." Rico rolled his eyes and just waved it off, while the others nodded.

"Next up we have the other big gun, Beat Brittle. The team's setter. The guy is intense, and wherever he can physically set the ball from he most definitely will." The footage showed him setting the ball to the rest of his team. Gordon hummed. He had to admit, he was impressive. "Skillwise he might be even better than you Gordon."

He looked towards Akielah with a glare, and she just smirked back deviously in response. "What? I'm only being honest. He's been playing since he was a kid, and from what I've seen the guy is just as intense as you when it comes to volleyball. It's not just his sets you have to look out for either. He can do just about anything else."

"He could have been playing since before he could walk. There's still no way he could outplay big bro," Helmut said, shaking his head.

"So these two are basically carrying the team is what you're saying," Chris said. "As long as we keep them in check we should be fine then."

Akielah shook her head. "Nope. They're definitely the biggest problem, but we can't just ignore the rest of the team. They're all pretty good." She moved to the next clip. "Ichiro Stern. The captain and their defensive specialist. He's not a stand out player, but he's probably the backbone of the team. He's going to be annoying to deal with since he seems to be good at picking up the slack for the others."

She moved on again. "Marcus Corduroy Jr. Middle blocker. Big, bad, and strong. Monster on both offense on defense. Not the quickest, but he does have some fairly good reflexes," she explained before moving on. "Mach Shortman. Right side hitter and pretty tricky to deal with. He's a clever one, and he holds his own on defense too. He's got a bad habit of scoring when someone least expects it. Which is usually when everyone has their eyes on Olivier."

The next clip showed Newton, who was blocking a spiker. "First of the freshmen, Newton Lasalle. The other middle blocker and the tallest on the team. The kid is smart. From what I've seen he's getting really good at reading the offense. He's probably going to be our biggest thorn in our side, defensive-wise."

Yonji appeared next, smiling as he dug a ball up from the back of the court. "Yonji Beatles. The Libero. Pretty new at the game so his technique still needs a lot of work. But his athleticism speaks for itself," she said.

Helmut smirked. "What a clumsy oaf."

Rico yawned. "Okay, we get it. There is a ragtag little group of misfits that might put up a little fight. Since we went over the starting team can we get going now. I have-"

"Hold on. There's one more person I want to go over," Akielah said, hitting the remote and moving to the next clip. "He's not a starter but he gets put into the rotation pretty regularly, so we should be on the lookout for him. Remus Dracula, middle blocker."

"Another freshman? Their seniors must suck if-"

"He's a senior."

Rico blinked. "What? Bullshit. No way. He's a shrimp."

"Is he one of those child geniuses?" Tony asked.

"Nope. He's seventeen. Just short."

Rico burst out in laughter. "Seriously? Hey Helmut! Guess you won't be the shortest guy on the court anymore huh?"

"Shut up!" Helmut said, pouting.

Akielah nodded, gesturing towards the TV. The clip showed Remus running up towards the net and jumping. Beat set him the ball at a demon-like speed and he spiked it down before the other team's blockers even had a chance to try and jump up to stop him. Most of the team looked rather surprised by it.

"He's a tricky one. Draws a lot of attention when he's on the court, and the moment you take your eyes off of him he scores on you," Akielah said. "He's going to be another pain to deal with."

Rico waved it off. "Whatever. Still got nothing on me."

"Well that's good and all, but Chris is the one who's gonna have to deal with him right?" Tony asked. "You gonna be able to keep him and Oliver in check?"

Chris looked towards him with narrowed eyes. "I just have to crush the both of them, right?" he asked. It was the same thing as always.

Gordon got up from his seat. "Yes, that's exactly it," he said, turning back around towards everyone else. "It goes without saying that this and every other match we'll play will likely have some measure of difficulty. But it also goes without saying that we're better than each and every team we're going to face."

The rest of the team seemed to perk up slightly as his words. Helmut smiled, while Tony just nodded. Chris let out a yawn, and Rico smirked. "We're going to prepare, and then we're going to pick apart every tactic, strategy, and play we come across. And if they actually do make it to the finals, we'll show them exactly why every story ends with the knights slaying the big bad monster," he said, looking back at the image of Remus.

Akielah smirked and pushed her glasses up. "Wow, super poetic of you, captain."


"Mark! Take it!"

Beat set the ball in the air, and Mark jumped up to slam it down. Remus smiled as he moved in the receive, but then suddenly felt a tingling in his nose. He took in a breath before letting out a sneeze. That was weird. He definitely wasn't sick or anything. Was someone talking about him?

"Remus! Head up!"

"AW!"

The young wolf fell over, grabbing his crotch as the ball rolled away from him. Mark landed and then winced. "Oh, sorry man. Are you okay?" he asked.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Beat, c'mon…"

"I'll get the ice pack."


A/N: Fic for onelastfic of the Knights going over the Monsters players.