Whoa…two chappies in one day. I really need to get a life, lol. Anyway, I'm back with some more of the goods! (Or bads, depending on what you think of my writing.)
To my reviewers:
Anime-ruthless: Thanks for the compliments about the fic, and best of luck to your Eagles. (Even though I LOVE MY N.O. SAINTS!!!) Glad you got the little joke about A.I., even though it sucked.
Egyptian Rose: Thanks for your continued support. I do try to give the characters a certain "kick" to them, but also try for the most part to keep them in character.
WARNING! Shameless self-promotion ahead! Reader discretion advised!
I'll be updating both my Street Fighter and Teen Titan fics sometime in the next two weeks, so if you're down with that, be on the lookout for an update. As always, reviews are much appreciated! Back to the story!
Chapter Three: Finding A Team: Part II
Nathan woke up early the next morning and went through his usual routine of reading the newspaper. On this day, it was the sports section that caught his attention.
The Domino News: Sports
Special Edition! Metro-8 Conference Basketball Preview!
Domino City University Saints
2004-2005 Men's Basketball Schedule
Coach: Nathan Colby
Oct. 2 Duke7:00
Oct. 9 Louisville6:45
Oct. 14 Kentucky 4:00
Oct. 31 Louisiana State7:00
Nov. 5William & Mary9:00
Nov. 9Navy3:00
Nov. 18Arkansas5:00
Nov. 28Harvard7:00
Dec. 5 Montana 5:00
Dec. 12Christmas Classic vs. Army 6:00
Dec. 29 Mount Union6:00
Jan 3Grambling State3:00
Jan. 7 GonzagaTBA
Metro-8 Conference Schedule
Jan. 10 Lazarus Polytech8:00
Jan. 19 Vermillion State9:00
Jan. 26Gotham Catholic4:00
Feb. 8Viridian College7:00
Feb. 16Mt. Pilgrim College8:00
Feb. 19 Saffron State7:00
Feb. 28Jump City University8:00
March 5-7 Metro-8 Conference Tournament TBA
Conference Preview:
By: Alex Jaworski
Well, Ladies and Gents! It's that time of year again! College Basketball is back in Domino City, and here's my preview of the Metro-8 Conference!
Viridian College: The Stallions are loaded with height and experience, but will be missing their top scorer from a year ago, Donovan Haslett. Grade: B
Lazarus Polytech: The Engineers are gearing for a run at the Metro-8 title with sophomore sensation Eric Bass leading the way. Grade: B
Gotham Catholic: The Crusaders have a lot of question marks, including depth at the center position. Grade: C-
Saffron State: Keep an eye out on senior Carey Ashe; he could be a force in the conference as the Trojans attempt to regain the Metro-8 crown from the Jump City Titans. Grade: A-
Vermillion State: Same ole tune for the hard-luck Lakers… They probably need freshmen Ash Morgan and Gary Oak to step up in a big hurry. Grade: D –
Mt. Pilgrim: Here's Mt. Pilgrim's first three games of the season: Georgia Tech, Kansas, Syracuse. That doesn't bode well for the Warhorses, who barely finished seventh in league play last season. Grade: D
Jump City University: The Titans return all five starters from last year's Metro-8 Championship squad, including juniors Garfield Logan, Richard Grayson and 7'4'' senior center Victor Sagat. Bad news for everyone else…really bad. Grade: A
Domino City: This team has a lot of problems: lack of depth, an inexperienced coach, no strong presence in the middle (no, Seto Kaiba doesn't count) and lack of leadership. Should be another long season for the Saints, who were dead last in the league last year, despite having All-Conference First Team honoree Yami Mutou returning. Grade: D-
After reading this, Nathan crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the trash. Then he had a thought…he picked the newspaper article out of the trash and cut out the part about his team.
The press is good for two things, motivation and…um…well, at least they're good for SOMETHING.
He took the article and slid it underneath some papers on his clipboard.
Later that morning…
Domino City University
Stafford Hall: Office of the Board of Directors
"Our little plan is working out quite well, Mr. Pegasus. But we need to make sure that this Nathan doesn't ruin our plans." Weevil Underwood sat down on the far end of the meeting room, his gold-plated glasses shimmering in the light.
"Don't worry yourself Weevil. This plan of ours is foolproof. We're sure to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Marik…does Ishizu suspect anything?
The room turned to a blonde-haired man who was holding a cane with a head vaguely resembling the millennium eye. "Of course not, She's about as incompetent as can be."
He chuckled evilly. "Hiding the account books from her helps."
Ishizu listened in on the conversation through the giant doors of the office. Ever since she had become Pegasus's Assistant Athletic Director, she had suspicions about what he was doing with the school's money.
Whatever's going on…my brother Marik is involved, like I thought from the beginning. Is that how we were able to afford to bring Malik here?
"Enough bullshit already, when do we get our cuts?" Another blonde spoke up, this one wearing his trademark sunglasses. He chose to forego his usually American flag bandanna.
"You'll get them when the season's finished and not a second sooner, so shut your trap Keith!" Pegasus hissed. "That is…after we shut the program down."
"Shut it down? Are you sure that's a good idea? We've made a lot of money off of those boys, Pegasus." They turned to a large man, nearly 7 feet tall, with grey eyes and long black hair.
"Don't worry, Panik. We have enough money to fund new ventures now…there's no need for this pathetic basketball program to exist…poor little Nathan…it looks like he will be out of a job in record time!"
The entire room burst out into boisterous laughter. Pegasus had told them all earlier about his little encounter and the Board of Directors was very amused by it. They needed someone to take the fall…after all.
So that's their plan…they've been stealing money from the Athletic Department and now they're going to shut down the school's primary sport! But…none of it makes any sense! How have they been stealing all of this money from under my nose the whole time? And why do they want to shut down the program that's bringing in the most cash anyway? I can't worry about that now, I've got to see the Chancellor about this!
Ishizu suddenly felt someone behind her…she was petrified. Suddenly she found herself pinned against the wall. The man had grabbed her wrists and pinned them onto her chest.
"Miss Ishtar…you should know better than to eavesdrop! Shame on you."
Isis was stunned. She would have never thought that the Chancellor of the school himself was involved.
It appears the Chancellor came to see me first…this isn't good…
The boys had begun to assemble in their gym, ready to meet their new coach and begin work.
"Hey Yugi, have ya seen our schedule? We play Duke first!" Joey said with a great deal of enthusiasm.
"Duke…the ACC champions from last year…they're still pretty talented, aren't they Yugi?" Yami questioned. He may have been a better player than Yugi, but conceded that Yugi knew far more about the game than he could imagine.
"Yeah…Cameron Indoor Stadium is a tough place to play, at least's that's what I've heard."
"We can handle it." The two turned to see a young man with jet-black hair and piercing green eyes. He had a small scar on the right side of his face.
"And what makes ya so certain of dat, Duke?"
"Because I'm here now, and there's no way in hell we'll lose with me on the floor." Duke posed cockily in front of Yugi and Joey, which drew laughter from both of them. Duke was a grade behind them in high school, and was well known for his basketball skill and his many, many girlfriends.
"Humph! Don't think so highly of yourself, Devlin. You probably won't play a minute all season!" They turned to see another newcomer, this one with sandy-blonde hair.
"You must be Bakura. I'm Yugi, welcome to the Saints." Yugi extended his hand to his new teammate for a handshake.
"Welcome to hell is more like it." Bakura turned away from Yugi without shaking his hand. "When do we start this crap anyway?"
"Arrrrgh! How it be, landlubbers?" Mako addressed his new teammates. "The name's Mako, and I'm glad to be on board."
"Joey Wheeler here, nice to meet ya!" Joey and Mako shook hands, earning a roll of the eyes from Bakura. "Why did I leave London for this sausage-party anyway? I should have went to Oxford." He mumbled under his breath absent-mindedly.
"Then why did you come here…Bakura?" Bakura grunted again, recognizing the voice almost instantly. "Go to hell, Malik."
Malik slapped his friend on the back good-naturedly. "Nice to see you again, too."
Yugi took count of the people who had arrived, but found that someone was prominently missing. Where's Kaiba, even HE didn't miss the first practice last year! Where could he be?
The rest of the freshmen arrived before the appointed practice time, and they all began to practice their shooting without Kaiba. A few minutes later, Tristan and Nathan arrived. The team stopped as soon as they heard them enter, and when beckoned sat down on the team bench nearby.
"As I'm sure you've heard, I'm your new coach. My name's Nathan Colby, but that's not important right now. I want to read to you a little something. It's the grade that some ass in The Domino News wrote about us, Grade: D- Let me ask you all something, do any of you believe that we are a D- ball club?"
The group shook their heads in a no. "Good. That's the first step in finding our team, believing in ourselves. I'm glad to see that you all have some degree of confidence. A lot of people say we can't do it. Oh, he's too young to be a coach. They don't have any talent! Their schedule's too hard, the whole nine yards! I'm telling you, about 99.9 of the people in this town don't believe we can win. I say, TO HELL WITH EM! As long as you and I are in that 0.1, as long as we believe in our system, in our way of doing things, in our teammates, in accountability, then we can achieve anything. Now…we're gonna work now…lets scrimmage!"
With that, Nathan's first practice as a head coach began. Unfortunately…it began without one of his star players.
Next Time: Our talk about "practice" continues…with some interesting results. Seto, struggling with his newfound emotions, finally shows up. And what about Ishizu? Will she be able to escape from her captor? And who exactly is the Chancellor?
Until Next time….
BIGLOS….OUT!