A/n- So this story is based on one of my old unfinished multichapter fics 'Tactics & Teamwork'. It was basically a Modern High School AU of Lyn's story where most of the main cast are on a basketball team together. I never got around to finishing it for reasons so it's pretty much abandoned. But this is one of the ways it could have ended if I got around to it. Enjoy!
The Commission Files- File #659 Tactics & Teamwork: The Big Game
Characters: Mark, Lyn, Lyndis' Legion, Jaffar
Based on: a commission by VidalRalph on Twitter
"Where is he? It's not like Mark to be this late for anything." Lyn wondered to herself as she took another sip of tea out of a coffee mug since it was the only thing she could grab before she left her hotel room. She was sitting on the edge of a fountain in the city center of Bern wearing her old Sacae Nomads basketball jersey waiting for her coach, and more importantly boyfriend, Mark to meet her there. A few moments later she saw the familiar flash of green and yellow from his outfit and waved him over.
"Sorry, I had to make sure I wasn't being followed or watched." Mark explained as he sat next to Lyn near the fountain and took his backpack off. "And then I ran into some old classmates from school and I figured it would be suspicious if I just walked right by, so I stopped to talk to them for a bit."
"I'm just glad you made it here, everything considered." Lyn assured him. And what was everything you might ask? Well, long story short, Mark and Lyn's school basketball team was in the final round of Elibe's national tournament against Bern. But what most people didn't know was that there was trickery and cheating going on behind the scenes. Lyn's granduncle Lundgren was in league with the Black Fang crime syndicate who had ties to Bern's school faculty as well. As strange as it may sound, their plans involved the dissolution of Caelin's sports teams because if they couldn't sell tickets they couldn't make money to keep running the school and if that happened the Black Fang could swoop in and buy the land up for cheap and turn it into another one of their criminal fronts. Caelin's basketball team was the last one standing for two reasons. Firstly, they kept winning against all odds, having them gain support from the community and even from other cities like Pherae and Ostia. And second, Lyn's grandfather was slowly building up a legal case against his brother, but it was taking time. He was almost ready to press charges, but his failing health kept holding him back. If Caelin could just win this last game though, everything should be able to fall into place. But that was a bit if.
"Yeah, you're telling me." Mark commented as he shuffled around his backpack to pull out his whiteboard and markers. "If you would have told me when I took this coaching position I was going to have to be gameplaning with everyone separately in what is pretty much 'enemy territory' I would have thought you were crazy."
"Well, I'm sure everyone appreciates your hard work Mark, I know I do." Lyn assured him. And the reason why Mark and the team had to go through all these measures? Well it turns out that the Black Fang syndicate helped Bern bug the Caelin locker rooms after they lost the first game of the series in a nail biter. Caelin got demolished on their home court for Game 2 and that's when Matthew, the sneaky guy he was, found the devices that were being used. But they couldn't just go to the athletic board and tell them since the Black Fang had their tentacles in there as well and wouldn't have done anything about it. So now Mark had to visit each member of the team about 2 hours before the game started to give them the gameplan for tonight.
"I know you do, and I appreciate it." Mark replied with a smile. "Whew, when this is all over I'm gonna enjoy our summer break."
"You aren't worried about what university you're going to?" Lyn wondered.
"I have the grades to go wherever I want." Mark said confidently. "And this whole coaching thing makes me look like a go-getter and leader as well, so I figure I'll end up going to whoever gives you a scholarship."
"That's what I thought you were going to say." Lyn replied smiling back. "Okay, enough playing around, you don't have much time. How am I going to get the best of that Jaffar guy, he was killing us out there last game."
"Seriously, he's like that Volke guy from the Tellius national team, stone cold assassin." Mark agreed. "But that gave me some ideas, so I actually watched tape from their playoff run last year against Magvel."
"And, what did you see?" Lyn wondered.
"Something we could use." Mark noted. "So the plan is going to beat him up on defense as much as we can so that when he has the ball he'll be slow enough for you to actually defend and tired enough that he won't drain every shot even if he does get open."
"Makes sense, but I think it's going to take more than a screen or two to slow him down." Lyn noted.
"That's why we're doing it every time we have the ball when he's on the court." Mark explained as he started to draw on his whiteboard. "Obviously Kent and Sain are going to be the key to the plan, but you're going to have him run into them as much as possible."
"I see where you are going with this, but won't that be a bit hard on me if I have the ball most of the time?" Lyn wondered.
"It would be, but the idea is that you aren't going to have the ball that much, at least not at the start of the game." Mark continued. "Everyone and their dog knows that you are our best player and Bern is going to be so overconfident that they are only going to focus on you, probably double team you the entire night. So for this game you are the distraction while Matthew is going to control the pace of the offense. I'm not saying you're not going to get your fair share of shots, but we're going to make it so when you do shoot you have the best chance to make them."
"Mark, you don't have to convince me of how good you are at planning games." Lyn assured him. "I have 100% faith in you and anything you come up with. And when have I ever cared about having the ball all the time?"
"Really Lyn?" Mark asked, raising his eyebrow.
"What? I've never-" Lyn started, but Mark cut her off.
"Hector." Was all he had to say and it stopped Lyn in her tracks for a moment.
"Well, that's different, he called me out and I just had to prove that I could take him one-on-one!" Lyn protested.
"And did we win that game?" Mark teased.
"No." Lyn answered a bit disappointed.
"And did we win the next game against him where we all played as a team and shared the ball?" Mark continued.
"Yes." Lyn confirmed. "Okay, point made, I get over competitive from time to time. But this is important, I know the stakes and what we're playing for."
"Just making sure." Mark noted. "So, after you've worn Jaffar down once you get your screens from Kent and Sain that should give you that half step you need to do your stepback shot, hopefully from 3, but you shouldn't hesitate to make sure you're behind the line. If you do he's going to get in your face."
"Got it." Lyn replied as she nodded her head. After that they went over a few more plays and Mark packed up to go find the other members of the team. Lyn made her way back to the hotel that the team was staying in and did her usual meditation routine she did before games. About an hour and a half later everyone was on the bus heading to Bern High to try and make history.
"All right kiddos, listen up!" Mr. Wallace, a teacher in Caelin and also the school's radio broadcasters, said as the bus parked. "The big game is ahead of you! I haven't been this excited since the time I was in high school in the same position you kids were. We didn't end up winning the title that year, but this year is different! You've got wonderful chemistry together, you've got a swift offense and a rock solid defense, you've even got the smartest darn coach I've ever seen this team have in years! But what's most important is that you all have heart and a reason to go out there and win this game! Go out there and punch those Bern kids in the mouth and show them the pride of Caelin!" Everyone cheered loudly as they exited the bus and were even more ready to play and show everyone what they were made of. Mark was the last one to get off, so he stopped to talk to Mr. Wallace.
"Thank you for the pep talk, we're going to need all the energy we need tonight." Mark thanked him.
"Hey, don't mention it." Mr. Wallace noted. "But remember this Mark, don't go out there thinking you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Coach fast as loose like you always do. Yeah, this game is important for a number of reasons, but it isn't quite the end of the world if you lose. So go out there and have the team have fun, that's how you're gonna get this done, I'm confident in it."
"I'll keep that in mind. You just be ready to yell your head off when we win." Mark joked and Mr. Wallace let out a hearty and booming laugh as the two of them exited the bus and made their way to the court. A few minutes later the team was in the visitor's locker room. It was a bit quiet since no one wanted to give away what their gameplan was since it was very likely this locker room was bugged as well.
"So Mark, what odds do you give us to win?" Matthew finally spoke up about five minutes before they had to go out onto the court to warm up.
"Honestly, at this point, I'd say it's a coinflip." Mark admitted. "We have the best player that's going to be on the court tonight as we usually do, but pretty much everywhere else they outclass us in some way or another. We were able to win here last week so we know the crowd won't be an issue, but they know what our gameplan was for that game and we barely one that one as it is. We've made sure that they don't know our new gameplan, but by saying that aloud they know we'll be playing differently and they will be able to adjust eventually. It's too hard to tell at this point."
"B-But you think we can win right?" Florina wondered, a little nervous about the whole situation.
"Yes, we can win this game." Mark confirmed. "But we can't take anything for granted. Lyn, you need to be on point all game. Kent, Sain, you can't give the other team an inch or else they'll take the whole lane. Matthew, you need to protect the ball at all costs. Wil, Rath, make sure you take the shots you know you can make and trust the others to make the right play if the shot looks bad. Florina, Lucius, Erk, when you are on the floor you need to take advantage of your specific skills, but don't do anything to wild. Make the safe play and don't give them the ball if you get cornered. If we can do that we can pull out this win. And I have all the confidence in all of you that you can do just that. I may have only known you all for a few months, but you guys are the best team and the best friends a guy could ask for. Even if we lose, we'll have each other for what could happen in the days and weeks to come."
"I think I speak for everyone when I say we feel the same way about you Mark." Lyn noted as she stood up. "This year you've helped us through so many issues on and off the court, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't even know what was going on with everything. So thank you for being such a good friend, even if you didn't have to." Everyone nodded or murmured their agreement as they stood up and all huddled around each other.
"Then let's show them what we're made of!" Mark said getting hype. "Now, who are we?"
"THE CAELIN KNIGHTS!
"And what are we?!"
"SMALL BUT BRAVE!"
"Exactly! Now go out there and hit them in the mouth like Mr. Wallace said! But not literally of course!" Mark exclaimed and the team rushed out of the locker room and onto the court. Mark made his way to the sideline and Bern's coach, Mr. Desmond, was waiting for him.
"So, you all decided to show up tonight, I guess I should applaud your resolve." He commented a bit bitterly. "But I don't see why this won't be any different than last game."
"Well, when you don't have an imagination I can see why you think that." Mark quipped back.
"You've got quite the mouth for an underdog, you sure you can cash that check it's writing?" Desmond noted.
"Guess we'll find out." Mark noted before the teams were announced and everything started. The opening tip was thrown and Sain tipped it to Matthew as he did more times than not. Sain was the tallest person on the court, and while that was usually for the best, this series did make it known that size wasn't everything.
"Time to see if this works." Lyn muttered to herself as she saw Jaffar begin to defend her as he had the last two games. He was standing between her and where Matthew was dribbling the ball, just like Mark had told her he would, so she went into the plan. She gave a look to Kent and he got into position before she dashed forward as quickly as she could. Jaffar followed her every move as he had before, until he ran head first into Kent's screen. Matthew quickly skipped the ball over to her and she made the first shot of the game as she was wide open.
"Yes!" Mark said as he pumped his fist in excitement. His plan was working for now. And for the first couple times it worked pretty much the same, Jaffar would run right into Kent or Sain and they would stand their ground as Lyn got an open look or shifted the defense so someone else could. But Jaffar wasn't going to give up that easily. Eventually he started learning where Kent and Sain were standing and he would run around them so quickly that Lyn was cut off from the ball and Matthew would have to either take it himself or pass the ball to someone else. Mark knew that this would happen and when it did he made the signal to move to phase 2 of his strategy.
"You're pretty tenacious, but I think I'm starting to get the idea when it comes to beating you." Lyn commented confidently to Jaffar one time down the court. Jaffar just stayed silent as he usually did. Lyn started to run the play again and as he did the last couple times he ran past the screen. This time though Lyn kept running across the court, having Jaffar follow her in such a way that he got in the way of Kent's defender and Matthew could shoot a pass his way so he could make a move with the distraction to get deep into the paint for an easy shot.
"Too easy!" Sain cheered as the basket went in. But on the other side of the ball Jaffar was the assassin he had been the whole series, barely missing any shot he took, even if Lyn was all over defending him. By the end of the first half though he was starting to slow down. He wasn't running as fast as he was before and his dribbling was a bit sloppy as well.
"I think I could try to steal the ball off of him." Lyn commented during one of the team's timeouts.
"Wait until the very end of the half, you're probably only going to get one shot at it before it ends, so make it count." Mark told her and she nodded. Her chance came with about 15 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. Jaffar was dribbling the ball up the court slowly since Bern could take the last shot if they ran the clock low enough. Lyn could see that he was breathing heavily and sweating way more than he had in either of their other two games she had faced him, so Mark's gameplan was working.
"You're starting to get predictable, you know that?" Lyn teased him, hoping that would throw him off just enough to let her in. Usually it wouldn't, but Jaffar was so tired that he actually had to think about what Lyn had to say for a split second, and in that split second he wasn't protecting the ball and Lyn tipped it away from him. But as soon as he lost the ball he came to his senses and started running after it. Lyn had the headstart but he was gaining ground and would catch up quickly. Lyn could see that so she dove for the ball and right before she slid out of bounds she tossed it back in play. Luckily Sain, who loved to cherry-pick baskets just like this, was right there and he picked the ball up off it's bounce, took one dribble, and then leaped in the air and did a windmill motion as he slammed the ball into the basket right before the buzzer for the half ending went off. The Caelin fans who were in the stands cheered as loudly as they could for the play and for the fact that they were only down 5 points to end the half.
"Everyone, to the parking lot!" Mark said to the team as they filed out of the gym. He figured that if they stood out in the middle of the parking lot they could gameplan just a bit before anyone would see what was going on.
"Guys! Did you see that dunk! I think that might have been my best one of the year!" Sain said excitedly as the team crowded around Mark.
"It was very flashy, but let's leave it at that for now, if you get another breakaway like that just put it down like normal okay?" Mark instructed and Sain nodded. "As for the rest of you, you're all executing the gameplan I came up with to perfection. I'm actually surprised we're only down 5 points at this point in the game, I figured we'd have to mount a big comeback or something."
"Speaking of that though Mark, I know the plan is to tire Jaffar out, but I'm starting to get a bit winded as well." Lyn commented.
"Yeah, I kind of figured that would be the case, but for this next half I don't think you're going to have to do a lot of running around." Mark noted. "That is because for the second half, I want Matthew to defend Jaffar the whole time."
"You really think I can handle him?" Matthew wondered. "He's so much faster than me.
"Not any more he isn't." Mark explained. "You all saw that play at the end of the half, Lyn was just about as tired as he is and she was able to steal the ball off him pretty easily. You're quick enough and fresh enough that if you just stay active you'll be able to shut him down effectively. And that means that Lyn won't have to exert herself as much on defense and we can start scoring more. Honestly, I don't think they are going to take Jaffar out of the game, he's the bulk of their scoring and they've needed all they can get. They are going to run him into the ground and that's when we strike."
"You can do it Matthew, we all have faith in you." Wil said confidently.
"Yeah, you're our best defensive player when it comes to smaller guys, you can handle him." Sain added.
"I mean, unless you're chicken." A voice from a bit away stated. "I could take him on if you don't think you can." It was Leila, Matthew's girlfriend, who had filled in for him when he was in the hospital earlier this year.
"Is that a challenge?" Matthew teased her back. "Because if it is then I'm going to take it."
"Good, because you should." Leila said coming over and kissing him on the cheek. "And if you win there will be more where that came from." Honestly that was all the motivation Matthew needed and he was ready to go. "You guys should get back in there, the game is about to start again." Leila noted.
"Okay, thank you for letting us know." Mark thanked her. "Alright, you Knights of Caelin, move out!" So the team filed back into the gym and play resumed for the second half. The fresh air of outside did the team some good as well and they started out really well, quickly tying the game up after only a few possessions. But after that it was a back and forth, grind it out kind of game. With Jaffar so tired and slow he wasn't able to score as many points as he had been and since he had the ball most of the time the other players on the team weren't as warmed up as they could be. But with Lyn almost as tired and how well Bern played defense, neither team could really break away from each other. But that was probably for the best, if Bern broke too far away the team would be demoralized and start to give up, but if they got to far ahead they would start taking it easy and would probably lose the lead, leading to a downward losing spiral.
"Timeout!" Mark called to the ref when Sain grabbed a rebound off a miss with 15 seconds to go in the game. Caelin was down 2 points and this was their last timeout. Bern didn't have any left either and they were in the penalty bonus so they couldn't foul without giving Caelin two free throws for it.
"Alright Mark, do or die time, what's the plan?" Kent asked as the team huddled around him on the bench.
"Okay, I've been holding onto this one for this situation specifically." Mark stated as he pulled out his whiteboard and marker. "So, we've been having Matthew bring the ball up all night and that's not going to change, but our action of his ballhandling is. What we'll do it this, when Matthew gets to right above the three point line Lyn will run behind him and he'll hand the ball off to her. Sain, Jaffar is still going to be coming right behind her, so Lyn is going to dribble around you so you can screen him. Lyn you are going to dribble right to this spot, pump fake to make the defenders close in on you, and then pass it to Wil in the corner. Wil you are going to take the shot, we're going to try and win this here and now."
"You want me to take the final shot?" Wil asked a bit nervous.
"Yes, you are our best shooter, they haven't been guarding you tightly all night, and we can't take this into overtime. Lyn is too tired, Sain has too many fouls, and they are starting to catch onto our gameplan." Mark confirmed. "We have to end this now."
"What if I don't have an open shot?" Will asked.
"You probably won't have time to pass it unless we run the play quickly, but I guess Matthew can run over to the wing and set up there in case something goes wrong since Lyn and Sain will have sucked the rest of the defenders inside." Mark noted. "But that's only for if you have a really bad shot. Trust me Wil, you're probably going to be wide open out there. They probably think we're going for a tie and that Lyn, our best player, is going to take the shot. That's why the fake is going to work so well. Just pretend you're just shooting around with Rebecca in your backyard and everything will be just fine."
"Okay, I can do this, I can do this." Wil said, mainly for himself. A few seconds later they were ready to inbound the ball and decide the game. Kent bounced it to Matthew and he took the ball up the court one last time. He didn't need to rush since they had time, but he looked up at the clock just to make sure.
"10 seconds." He noted. He nodded to Lyn and the play began. Matthew dribbled left to give Lyn just a bit more extra space before he passed the ball behind his back to her. Lyn grabbed the ball and as soon as she had control of it she dribbled hard to right, just lightly brushing past Sain as she did so. Jaffar was stonewalled, unable to get around Sain with how tired he was and Lyn was free to drive into lane. She eyed up the center and the forward before stopping her dribble and acting as if she was going to take a jump shot from about 15 feet away. As Mark predicted they both bit on the fake and Lyn pulled the ball down and skipped it under the forward's leap, right into Wil's hands. There were 3 seconds left on the clock and he was wide open. But he hadn't caught the ball cleanly so he had to take a dribble to steady himself, and that was just enough time for Jaffar to realize what was up and start running to close out the shot. Wil's eyes shot wide as he saw Jaffar barreling towards him, but there was only a second and a half left, so he had to take the shot. He didn't even have enough time to take a breath before he leaped off the ground and launched the ball out of his hands with the silky smooth touch everyone had come to know him for.
"He got it off in time!" Serra, one of Caelin's cheerleaders, commented to Mark as it seemed like everything was going in slow motion. Once the ball left Wil's hands it arced almost perfectly up and down, but Wil couldn't see it since Jaffar knocked him to the ground with his momentum. But everyone else could see it and it was going to be close. Tenths of a second felt like minutes to the whole crowd as the ball descended towards the basket, and it was looking like it might be a bit short. And in fact it was, it bounced on the side of the rim once, twice, before finally deciding to go in right before the buzzer sounded to end the game.
"We did it! We did it! We won the game!" Mark cheered as all the Caelin fans rushed the court and helped Wil off the ground before raising him up in their arms and carrying him around. Mark ran straight for Lyn and the two of them embraced and kissed right in front of everyone. They didn't care that everyone could see or that they were all hot and sweaty from all the action, they had just pulled off the impossible and it seemed like they were going to get the happy ending for this story of their life.
"Mark, I can't believe it, we actually did it!" Lyn said as she picked Mark up and swung him around."
"I know, it's amazing! But I had all the faith in you guys, you did all the hard work." Mark said humbly.
"Maybe, but if it wasn't for you then we wouldn't have gotten here in the first place." Lyn noted. "Gods, I'm just so happy now. I could scream at the top of a mountain or into the endless plains with how happy and relieved I am."
"Well, we can party tonight, but this isn't quite the end." Mark replied. "But this is a good start all things considered.
"Yeah, my grandfather is going to be so relieved and hopefully all this legal stuff can go smoothly." Lyn commented. "But that's something Future Mark and Future Lyn can deal with. Right now, I do want to party and celebrate. And I know just how I want to spend my night and who I want to spend it with."
"And who would that be?" Mark teased even though he knew.
"You know him pretty well." Lyn teased back. "Just tell him to meet me in my hotel room tonight, particularly in the shower."
"I'll let him know."
