Mario Tennis, Power Shots: Part I: Ace's Story
Chapter Seven: Junior Courts"If you can beat us then you may even be able to consider pursuing your dream."
"Ace, I'm not going to play with you until we hit the training courts!" Clay moaned as Ace paused.
They were outside of the restaurant now after completing a large breakfast, and Ace was looking down the walkway for the junior courts. She sighed, turned to look at Clay, and started batting her eyelashes.
"Oh Clay," Ace said, her voice as sweet as she could make it. "If you won't help me, I may get lost and have nowhere to go. We wouldn't want that, would we?"
"I'd rather have you lost then have you looking at me like that," Clay muttered flatly. Before Ace had a chance to blow up on him, he started walking. "Fine, we'll go. But of we lose even one match, I'm tossing you into the training courts headfirst and making sure you won't come out until you've gotten down all the lessons."
"Deal!" Ace cheered as she followed him. Clay paused outside of the junior courts and looked in. Ace frowned, wondering why he looked so intense. She followed his gaze and spotted the source. Two boys were sitting down on the benches next to the blue courts, laughing and talking.
"I so hate him," Clay said angrily. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I won't be able to beat him if I'm so upset."
"Is he your rival?" Ace asked, wondering which on he was talking about. Clay nodded.
"Yup, Kyle. He's the 1st in the junior rankings."
"The blue haired one?" Ace frowned. Clay shook his head.
"No, that's his tennis double, Chris. The blonde one is Kyle."
Ace could see him now. Half of his blonde 'do was covering his face, but the other half revealed thin lips and blood-colored eyes. Ace resisted a shudder.
"Clay!"
Both kids jumped as a redhead coach came up to them, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Mark!" Clay said, grinning. "Ace is here too!"
Mark looked at Ace, and thoughts of yesterday ran through her head. It seemed as if Mark could read her mind, but he smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you both again!"
"Again?" Ace said. She never had the chance to even introduce herself after Mark and the other coaches had caught her. What did he mean again?
"You've already forgotten me, haven't you?" Mark said, a grin on his face.
"Well," Ace said, shrugging. Mark laughed.
"Can't expect you to remember everything, I suppose." His mood turned mellow as he turned his back on them. "We met at the Welcome Workout."
"Oh…!" Ace said, trying to remember what had happened a few days back.
"Fortunately, I wasn't the one who worked you into the ground, but I would've done the same. School tradition, y'know."
"If you say so," Ace said, putting a hand on her hip.
"You should've thrown the towel in earlier," Mark said, turning back to look at them. "It's your tenacity that did you in."
Ace gaped at him. Clay, however, jumped in.
"What's wrong with being tenacious?" he asked, finally having something to put his anger on. "As far as I'm concerned that's a good thing!"
Mark nodded in agreement. "I'm serious, Clay. People thought that maybe you would quit after you…um…regained consciousness."
"So you're happy I stuck around?" Ace said, a confused look on her face. Mark smiled, but it vanished quickly.
"However, you won't be getting any special treatment. That isn't the way to improve."
Ace nodded, but sighed. Maybe she should've started at the training courts…
"I'm Coach Mark," he said formally. "Welcome to the academy, Ace. Glad to have you here."
Ace and Clay nodded. She glanced around, watching the players play tennis with each other, a worried expression on her face.
"Don't worry," Mark said. "Everyone here is looking to crawl their way up to the top, but you're champ material, you'll do fine. Now then, shall we get started?"
Ace nodded, hope rising in her chest. Clay cleared his throat. "Coach, Ace hasn't been on the simple courts yet."
Mark looked at them, wide-eyed. "She hasn't been trained by Harry or the other coaches?"
"Not even Kate," Clay sighed. "I was afraid she might embarrass herself, so…"
"I'm standing right here," Ace said, now angry. If Mark sent her to the training courts now, she may not even be able to get to senior before the Open. "And I don't need training."
"We'll see about that," Mark said. "First of all, what's an ace?"
"That's easy," she said. "Considering it's my name. It's a shot the opponent can't hit, there are two types: smash ace and service ace. Hey, sounds just like me; invincible and smooth." (Author's note: BTW, I got all these terms straight from the game glossary. It's useful at times :D)
"We'll see about that," Mark continued. "What's the difference between slice and topspin?"
"Can we stop with the pointless questions?" Ace said, angry. "I know what I'm doing!"
"It's standard procedure," Mark answered, flatly. "If you skip the training courts you'll have to be quizzed."
"The way this is going," Ace said, not bothering to hold back her temper tantrum. "I won't be able to make it to varsity in three weeks."
Mark was taken aback and Clay moaned. A few of the junior players stopped their games to look at her, some even snickered.
"Are you looking for a game?" came a voice from behind them. Ace spun around. There they were, the rank 4 members of the junior class.
"We're fourth in the standings," said the blonde one. She was unusually tall and maybe a year older then Ace. "Want to challenge us and try to earn our rank?"
"If you can beat us then you may even be able to consider pursuing your dream," said the other one, a blue-haired girl who may have been the same age as Ace.
"We'll beat you all right, Sophia and Meg," Clay snarled. "We'll take your rank too."
They both grinned. "Fine," said Meg, the blonde one. "But don't open your mouth if you don't know what's behind door number four."
"All four of you are going to play a ranking match then?" Mark asked. They nodded. "Great. Alright, clear court #2!"
The juniors on the court, ones that were obviously unranked, stopped their practice match and glared at Ace as they cleared it.
"OK, let's start the match," Mark said as they settled into place. "The lower-ranked team starts first. First to complete two sets wins."
The four of them nodded, then turned to face each other. Ace sighed and walked to the end of her court. Clay turned back to look at her and nodded good luck. Ace threw the tennis ball up in the air, and smacked it with her tennis racket.
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Next time on MT: PS-
"Nice play there, Clay," said a voice from behind them. Ace and Clay spun around, and Clay grunted. Kyle was standing there, Chris at his side. "Although, I think I should be acknowledging Ace instead."
"Why don't you take this advice," Clay said angrily. "Take your compliments and shove them up your-"
"Enough!" Mark said. "Clay, Kyle; either both of you stop it or-"
But Kyle was making signs at Clay from behind Mark's back. Without even thinking about it, Clay was tackling Kyle.