A/N: *grins* don't kill me… I know I've been lazy….. I'm sooooo sorry…. well then, read on, and to all those who've been supporting this story…… thanks a LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Chapter 17-Teamwork
'Hanagata, doesn't Fujima give pep talks?' Mitsui demanded when they were in the court, waiting for the whistle.
'Err… usually, with us, he does…' Hanagata muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose.
'Tip off!' the referee shouted, and blew the whistle, at the same time throwing the ball up in the air. Sendo, acting as the jumper, tapped the ball lightly, and it fell right to Aya. She dashed forward, stopped at the three-point line, feinted a shot, which Liz fell for, and passed it to Fujima. He immediately shot it, earning them all two points.
Five minutes passed, and they were leading 16-4. While all the girls from NZ were panting, the Japanese didn't exactly look serious yet.
'Charge time-out, NZ!' Both teams went back to their side of the court.
'Okay, girls, we did underestimate them, but so what? We now know their power, and so lets do the heavy attack. All of you have your strategies? Okay then, let's attack!' Liz encouraged the girls, who didn't look as if they needed any encouragement. Their bloated pride, apparently had not suffered much, since they thought that they could do better.
Over at the Japan's side…
'Those girls are pretty tough, and they haven't shown their proper power yet,' Aya muttered indifferently.
'Yup, but we haven't either,' Fujima pointed out, and that was the end of their talk concerning the game. They ended up talking about ways to avoid Sendo from being beaten up, something which, apparently all of them except Sendo doubted would happen, by his mom if he failed his end-term.
The whistle blew, indicating the end of the time-out. Fujima, followed by the rest, took their place in the court, welcomed with the mad cheering of the spectators.
They've changed strategies, Aya told herself when she realized that the two former play-makers, Vulpt and Liz were scoring more than they created chances.
They're playing in a faster pace, competing ours.
She jumped, trying to block Liz's shot. Liz passed the ball to Vulpt on the spur of the moment, who in turn, passed it to Ric. Ric got them three points immediately.
'You can't compete with us, especially not in passing,' Vulpt said to Fujima, who chose to ignore her, and yet, at the same time, without her knowledge, he made eye-contact with Aya, who understood completely what he wanted.
* * * * * * * *
We're leading, don't you think you should do something?' Canby asked Rukawa, smirking widely.
'Do'aho,' he muttered, letting his eyes pass over the score board. 40-51, in favor of NZ, with 1 minute to half time.
'What are they trying to do?' Mitsui asked angrily.
'Sendo, try closing the gap a little before half time!' Koshino shouted to his teammate. Sendo looked blankly back at Koshino, who sighed tiredly. Jin, standing beside Sendo, smiled, looked over to Fujima, then nodded at Koshino.
* * * * * * * *
Fujima dribbled the ball with deliberate slowness. Then, suddenly, he broke forward. Vulpt was ready and waiting. As she tried to steal the ball however, he jumped and passed it to Aya, who passed it to Rukawa without even dribbling it. Rukawa jumped, shot, not giving Canby a chance to block, closing the gap to only nine points. The gym was silent for half a minute, and then, it erupted in cheers. Everyone was shock, and everyone included the Japan's subs, at the speed of Japan's team, especially the tall one with black hair.
'They scored in less then 20 seconds,' one of them whispered.
'Now, girls, it's our offense, let's get our points back!' Liz shouted to her surprised teammates. They nodded. At the end of 30 seconds, just before the whistle blew, Liz shot. 42-53, with 15 seconds left.
Fujima dribbled the ball, a small smile playing on his lips. He broke forward, passing Vulpt. Ric, who was guarding Jin, jumped, trying to block him. Again a small smile passed his lips, as he passed the ball the Jin, who was free. Jin shot a three-pointer. Liz jumped to block, made him lose his balance, and yet, the ball sailed perfectly into the net. At that exact moment, the whistle blew, detonating that it was half-time. The score, 45-53.
Australia's locker room…
'Girls, we're still leading them by eight points! We'll lead them be at least twenty four by the time the final whistle blows, alright?' Lizzie asked her whole team, and she went on encouraging the girls who were a little shocked at their opponents sudden burst of energy at the near end of the first half.
Japan's locker room…
'That's their ability,' Aya said softly. Sendo nodded indifferently, gulping down his energy drink.
'Yup, that's as good as they can get. Better than lots of teams back in Japan, but that's that,' Fujima said.
'Sendo! Don't drink so much, you'll get a terrible case of tummy ache!' Jin said after watching Sendo gulp down his third can. Mitsui, having losing his patience started shouting.
'How can you take it so easily! For goodness sakes! They're leading you guys if you have forgotten, and you can say that's that?'
'Calm down sempai, we're not done yet,' Jin said calmly.
'Not done?' Hanagata questioned.
'We can do more,' Rukawa answered simply. Hasegawa stared at them with obvious disbelieve.
Do more? Those girls are real strong, and even now, Fujima and Aya are doing practically better than Maki ever did, faster too. Rukawa's already shooting the ball in the short time he possesses it. Sendo and Jin are doing extremely well too… could they actually do more? Ryota asked himself, wondering what exactly did Rukawa mean.
Fujima looked over to Aya, who nodded.
'We'll concentrate a little more on defense. Sendo, now the Nez girl is the playmaker…' he went on, discussing their new strategy.
* * * * * * * *
'Second-half. Tip off,' the referee said. Again, Sendo managed to hit the ball. Jin caught it, and passed it to Aya immediately… or at least he seemed to do so. However, to everyone's surprise, Fujima intercepted the pass, brought the ball forward, leaving a ver confused Vulpt behind. Fujima shot, bring the gap to only six points. The five of them, including Rukawa, were smiling. All around them, everyone was stunned into silence. It was a little while before the court finally erupted into cheers.
'That wasn't in their strategy,' Hasegawa whispered.
'Shit! How'd they do that? They are willing to take the risk in getting confuse?' Liz breathe out. She looked at all of them, and knew, deep down, that they were not taking any risks at all.
Lizzie picked the ball up.
'Now girls, it's our turn!' she shouted to her teammates. Without pausing to see their reaction, she dashed forward, dribbling the ball smoothly, and came face to face with Aya. She feinted a shot. Aya jumped to block it, acting exactly as Lizzie thought she would. She passed the ball to Nez, smiling faintly… but her smile soon disappeared as she saw Aya's slap the ball in the midair. It fell to Sendo, who passed it to Fujima. However, it was intercepted by… Rukawa. He ran forward, and placed the ball smoothly into the net.
'Shit! Not again!' Lizzie said, this time out loud.
'That's what they meant by we can do more! Rukawa didn't mean ability, he meant teamwork, and understanding,' Ryota cried out jubilantly. Jin looked over to him, smiling. Ryota, unfortunately, missed that smile.
They understand each other too well… it's scary… Ryota clasped his hands together, thin lines, also known as wrinkles, crossing his forehead.
Things continued on this way till the end. Thirty seconds left, and the score was 95-60, on favor of Japan. Everyone was stunned at the sudden offense of the Japanese high school kids. The game was supposed to be a matched one, but they turned it into a one-sided game so easily…
*Sound of whistle*
'It's over! We've won!' Ryota shouted, jumping up and down with joy. The five players merely smiled, panting a little.
'Shit!' Lizzie said. This was the first time they ever lost… and she felt the last of her pride sinking…
Now they're going to smirk at us. They'll make it so hard for us to take it… like we did to the rest. Her mind was churning with these kinds of thoughts, but to her surprise, that Aya girl came over to her, smiling genuinely. Not smirking, smiling.
'Good game, you guys… err…girls are real good,' she said, holding her hand out. After a moment, Lizzie took it, wondering what the hell was wrong with the girls in front of her. It was not normal to actually smile and say that… at least not where she came from.
Both teams were facing each other. Yet, out of all the five hands the Japanese players held out, Lizzie realized that she was the only one who took it.
What's with these five people…
A/N: So, how's it? plspls review-ne, minna-san? Thanks a lot!!!
