Chapter 9: The Basketball Which Team DARN Plays

"And so, it all came down to this..." Drew monologued out loud. "Every moment in my life has led up to this moment. Every battle I fought, every enemy I faced, every friend made... If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be able to face the enemy standing before me today... If I even can face this enemy. I grip my final piece of ammo, focusing every last bit of energy into my hand. I begin focusing on the target, preparing to-"

"Oh. My. GOD. Just throw the damn ball already!" Arin cried out in frustration.

Drew's delusions aside, the scene team DARN was in was on the streets of Vale. The streets were black with people, hustling and bustling about excitedly as they wandered from stall to stall. And who wouldn't be excited? It was the first day of the Vytal Festival! A day anticipated for by students, teachers and normal citizens alike. And DARN were enjoying it as much as anyone, though Drew had slowed down their rhythm by dragging them into one of the stall games where he has to through a baseball at a pyramid of cans. He missed horribly with his first two shots, and now he was down to his final ball. "Okay... I can't mess around on this anymore. So..." Drew breathed in concentration. He then turned around to his waiting friends and held out the ball. "Richard, you do it."

"Yes, sir." Richard obediently picked up the ball and took Drew's place in front of the stall.

"Hey now, that's just cheating..." Arin sighed.

"I think it's good that they're using teamwork to reach their goal!" Nina chirped.

"That isn't teamwork... Drew's just abusing his power."

"Alright Richard, fire!" Drew barked, pointing at the pyramid.

Richard simply threw the ball at the cans, knocking them all without showing any effort. "It is done sir."

"Haha! And yet another enemy falls to team DARN!" Drew laughed triumphantly.

"Okay..." The man managing the stall searched through the various prizes tied up as a display. "Here's your prize." He held out a small yo-yo, wrapped in a clear plastic container.

"And all that for a toy you could buy from the $2 store..." Arin chuckled as Drew jumped up and down for joy as he accepted his prize.

"Sir..." Richard interrupted Drew's celebration, his tone now becoming more strict. "I believe it is time that you stepped back and let some other people have their chance." He gestured to the 5-year-olds who were making a line behind Drew, staring at him in wide-eyed confusion.

"Mommy, why is that man acting that way?" One of the children asked their mother.

"Just ignore them, Sweety..." she hushed her child.

"I... I guess so..." Drew rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.


The team continued their way through the crowds, visiting stall after stall, watching street performers, and stopping to witness the parades go by, eating various delicacies and food. Even though the big event that everyone wanted to see, the Vytal Tournament, wasn't going to happen until later on in the week, but the city's excitement was uncontainable nonetheless. And that excitement was especially prominent in team DARN. Everyone was having a good time, Drew, Nina, even Arin had been cracking several smiles at their endeavors. Well, everyone except Richard.

"Okay, what should we do next?" Drew asked his team, after they had stopped to appreciate a fire juggler on the side of the street.

"I need a lie down..." Arin sighed with a smile.

"Ooh! I want ice cream!" Nina perked up.

"Y'know what? We'll do both!" Drew concluded. "You guys go find a bench, or whatever, to sit down at. I'll get whatever you guys want, my treat!"

"Okay! I want a vanilla! And a strawberry for Moonmoon!" Nina cried out in happiness.

"Uh... I'll take a triple scooped one... in a fancy cone... with all the toppings..." Arin gave his answer, keeping a poker face on throughout it. He wasn't particularly hungry or anything, he just wanted to drain Drew's wallet of every penny it had, simply out of spite.

"O... kay... Richard, what about you?" Drew asked his oddly quiet teammate.

"I have no need for such a petty thing as ice cream!" he scowled back, his arms crossed in a huff.

"Jeez, what's got you in a fit?" Arin raised an eyebrow at the outburst.

"Everything..." Richard groaned. "This festival is a complete waste of my time, you are all being so childish, and I'm suddenly reminded of how poor a decision it was to make Drew the leader of this team!"

"Oh, so you're mad 'cause we aren't doing what you wanna do?" Nina asked.

"What? No! How could you possibly get that from what I said?!" Richard ranted back.

"Right, so we just have to find something in this festival that Richard would like... Easier said than done." Arin pondered.

"Don't ignore me! I'm standing right here, you ignorant fool!" Richard cried out.

"Yeah, that's true..." Drew responded to Arin's comment, resting his chin between his index finger and thumb. "Richard said that he appreciated the organisation of the festival, but he hasn't really said he likes anything else..."

"Right. Here. In front of you." Richard glared at the ignorant leader.

"Come to think about it... does any of us really know what Richard likes?" Nina tilted her head to the side.

"He does say how everyone and everything has to follow the rules, but-" Arin began before being cut off.

"OF COURSE THEY DO! Even the thought of the rules being ignored is detestable!"

"... but you don't really show much happiness about it." Arin continued, holding back his anger.

"Hmph! Happiness is not necessary for a school environment! As long as the rules and order are protected, nothing else matters."

"Jeez, talk about a stereotypical broody character..." Drew sighed. "Leaving behind any trace of personality and human emotion just to look cool..."

"You kind of try to act cool a lot yourself..." Arin jabbed.

"I suppose. But Richy here's going overboard. Heck, the only thing I can think of that he even could like is..." Just then, a gust of wind flew down the street. Everyone flinched from the cold breeze. But a piece of paper flew down the path and managed to fly directly into Drew's face. "Oh, son of a..." Drew grunted as he pulled the sheet off his face. However, his eyes widened when he glanced at what was written on the sheet. "Guys, I think we've found our answer." Drew turned the sheet to reveal it to be a flier with the words 'BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ON TUESDAY! ENTER IN TEAMS OF FOUR!' written on it, with several clip art images of athletes and basketballs.

"A basketball tournament?" Arin raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah! Richy uses a basketball as his weapon!" Nina beamed in excitement. "So this must be right up your-"

"It's not happening." Richard sternly disapproved.

"What? Oh, come on!" Drew moaned. "I thought we had something here... I mean, why else would you use a basketball unless you like the sport?"

"If you must know, I'm indifferent to the sport, and I only use a basketball as a weapon because it is useful. However... the idea of us competitively competing in something other than combat is out of the question! We're students who train to fight Grimm, not to become athletes!"

"But it says right here that this is a friendly tournament specifically designed for the Hunters and Huntresses in training..." Drew read aloud from the flier, disproving Richard's point.

"Well... ugh... Even if we did enter, it would just be a waste of time!" Richard huffed in defiance. "I already said, I care not for basketball! Never have, never will!"

"Excuse me!" Everyone's conversation was interrupted by a shrill voice calling out from down the street. They turned to see a girl with short, brown hair running and dressed in a blue jacket and skirt down the street towards them with a stack of papers between her arms. "I'm sorry! That's mine." she apologised as she retrieved the flier from Drew's hand. "Wait. What am I talking about? I need give out as many of these as possible! Here, take them!" she cried as she handed several back to Drew.

"A-Ah! Thanks. Actually, you seem like the one in charge of this thing. I wanna ask you about entering this tournament thingy." Drew inquired.

"LIKE I SAID, NO ONE IS ENTERING ANYTHING!" Richard bellowed as he abruptly ended their conversation.

Drew and Richard began bickering back and forth, but the girl stared at Richard with confusion written on her face. "You're... it can't be..."

Richard felt the gaze being directed at him. "What is it?" he asked.

A smile widened on the girl's face. "Oh my God, Richy it's you!" she beamed. "It's been so long!"

"I'm sorry! I'm afraid I do not recognise you!" Richard formally yelled.

"R-Richard... It's me, Chi." she smiled nervously. "You remember? From way back when?"

Richard's eyes widened as he started putting the pieces together. "Oh. I see."

"I-Is that all you have to say?..." she sighed.

"Who is this chick, Richard?" Drew inquired. "She seems like some childhood friend character."

"I suppose that's one way of putting it. If I remember correctly, she's an acquaintance of mine from the town where I grew up."

"Aww, don't act that way. We were friends!" she laughed as she patted Richard's back. He didn't laugh back. "W-Well, uh, we were friends at the very least." Chi nervously laughed.

"Ohhh..." Arin grinned menacingly. "I sense some juicy history here..."

"W-W-W-What?!" Chi cried, blushing furiously at the implication. "T-That's ridiculous! We co-"

"Such an idea is out of he question!" Richard yelled ferociously at Drew. Though he didn't seem embarrassed about it.

"Jeez, I'm just messing with ya." Arin chuckled. "But Real Talk, Chi was it? You part of organising this basketball tournament?"

"Ah, yes! You can sign up for free over at the local stadium." she explained, still a little flustered. "Please sign up! There aren't many teams entering this year..."

"Like I said, we aren't competing in it!" Richard scolded.

"O-Oh... you aren't?" Chi whimpered in disappointment. "You mean you aren't going back to..." Richard shot an angry glare at her. "... I see. Well, I had better be off." The busy girl hastely ended the conversation and scampered down the street, disappearing into the crowd.

"Richard, what did she mean by 'Going back to' something?" Nina innocently inquired.

"It's nothing. Let's go." Richard abruptly ended and begun to walk down the street, continuing to the next stall.

"Nu-uh. We're entering that tournament." Drew calmly declared.

Richard stopped and turned to Drew. "Leader. I respect your position of authority, but I must protest."

"Don't worry Richy, I have an idea that'll make it more interesting for us. A bet." Drew smirked.

Richard raised an eyebrow. "A bet? Interesting. Continue."

"It's nothing complicated: we enter the tournament, it doesn't matter if we win the whole thing, or if we lose in the first round, but we try our best at it nonetheless. And at the end, if you can say with a clear conscious that you didn't enjoy it, we'll drop the subject forever."

"Drew, that seems like a highly manipulative bet." Arin sighed.

"Yeah... Richard could just lie and say that he doesn't like it." Nina pondered.

"Hehe, Richy wouldn't lie. He's too much of a goody-goody for that." Drew smirked again. "So what do you say?"

"I refuse." Richard angrily glared. "Regardless of any bet we make, I refuse to partake in this ridiculous game!" Richard turned and began to walk off.

'Dammit Richard, you ass!' Drew flinched at the blunt rejection. 'I didn't think I'd have to resort to it, but... Looks like I'll use my Trump Card!' Drew straightened his posture to one of confidence. "Fine then... How about one more condition to the bet?"

Richard stopped in his tracks and sighed. "What is it?" he droned, wanting Drew's pleas to end.

"You get to be the team captain."

A cold breeze blew by as silence fell. Richard turned his head slightly to respond. "R... Really?" he asked, his voice wavering in anticipation and childish giddiness.


"Alright team!" Richard yelled at his panting teammates. "The first lesson is learning how to shoot the ball!"

"Calm... down... there... Satan..." Drew panted between breaths with his hands on his knees. Nina lay on her back with her arms and legs spread out as she panted for air. Arin was crawling slowly towards the exit in hopes of escape, not even having the energy to stand.

After Richard had agreed to the bet, DARN made their way to the small sports stadium. Signing up was quick easy, and they were kind enough to let them use one of their small courts for a little practice. And so, what was intended to be a small practice session to familiarise students with the sport, was turned into a full-on training session by Richard. He even made everyone change into sleeveless white tops and shorts. And now, after a thirty lap warm-up, they were now moving onto technique.

"Honestly! You need more stamina than that! Are we not Hunters and Huntresses in training?!" Richard scolded, waiting for his teammates to catch their breath. And dragging a sobbing Arin back to the group.

"Okay... whoo... we're all ears now." Drew gave the go-ahead.

"Alright." Richard took the basketball they were given from storage and stood on the three point line. "I already explained the rules to you all, now all you need to do is learn how to make a proper shoot. Like this!" Richard balanced the ball with his right hand and threw it with his other, making the ball fly straight to the board. It bounced off the aim square and bounced back down to Richard, missing the ring entirely.

Everyone blinked a few times before grasping what just unfolded before them. "Uhh... Have a false start there, buddy?" Arin asked.

"Y-Yes! I must have!" Richard shook himself awake from the daze. He picked up the ball and aimed again, this time being more careful. He shot the ball, but it gave the same result, bouncing off the backboard and missing the ring. "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG?!" he cried out in frustration.

"Aww, don't feel disheartened!" Nina supported, patting Richard on his shoulder. "All you need to do is practice. And me and Moonmoon'll be here to support ya!"

"I NEED NOT YOUR SUPPORT!"

"Really? Then show us your amazing shoot again." Arin joined in.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Drew looked on at the banter they were all having and grinned to himself. 'Good. Now I can do what I really want...' Under the cover of the bickering, Drew snuck out the door.


"Umm, please take this!" Chi cried as she held out a flier to people passing by. They didn't seem to notice her and walked on by. "Uhh, h-hello, please look at this!" she said to someone else, but received the same response. Chi sighed in defeat. "It no use..."

"Hey! Childhood Friend!" Chi heard a voice cry out from down the street. Following the voice, she saw a boy running towards her. He finally stopped when he got beside her and panted for air. "Hey Chi... remember me?"

"Yeah... You're Richard's friend, aren't you? Uhh, what's with the get up?" Chi noted Drew's top and shorts.

"Yeah. Turns out we're part of the tournament!"

"Oh! Really?" Chi's eyes sparkled in happiness. "But Richard said you weren't entering.."

"Me and him struck up a deal. But that's not important here." Drew turned serious. "Chi, tell me: what was Richard like in the past?"

"The past? What do you mean?"

"Like when he was just a kid. You two were childhood friends, weren't you? In particular, tell me about anything relating to basketball."

"Basketball? Hehe, that's certainly a big part of his childhood.." Chi chuckled.

"I knew it! Tell me everything!" Drew grinned.

"Well... you know how I'm helping out in this tournament? That's actually because my Dad's a professional basketball coach, he's the one who organised this. When I was young, he always took me to work in the stadium. But when I was there, there was always another boy who was always sitting in the seats watching the players. That was Richard. Me and him became good friends. He was really kind and cheerful, and he'd always go on and on about how much he loved basketball. He was so childish about it too, he was just adorable!" Chi giggled.

"Are we talking about the same Richard here?" Drew interrupted. Chi's smile then dropped from her face.

"Yeah... Well, things changed. We always hung out and played basketball together, but when we were 7, Richard just disappeared. He no longer showed up at the court, he wasn't in school, I couldn't find him anywhere. When I asked the teachers I found out that his Dad made him go to some military school until the end of Summer. I spent the whole Summer waiting for him, but when he got home..." Chi hesitated slightly. "He was different. He was now stern and angry and... His eyes seemed dead. He stopped coming to play basketball with me and we stopped talking. We entered different middle schools and we never saw each other again. That is... until today."

"Oh..." was all Drew could say. "So... Whatever happened at that military school changed Richard into... Bossy Richard."

"I suppose. Whatever happened, he must've changed his mind about basketball. He no longer cares about it..." Chi looked down to the ground in sadness.

"No, that's wrong." Drew firmly stated, making Chi look up to him in surprise. "The truth is, Richard uses a basketball as a weapon. He keeps saying that it's because it's an effective weapon, but now I know... whether it's because he's covering it up, or his mind was changed at that military school... deep down, Richard still loves basketball!"

Chi blinked a few times at Drew. "Do... do I really sound that weird when I say 'loves basketball'?"

Drew flinched at the unexpected response. "I thought you'd be more excited about this..."

"Well... I'm not so sure that Richard will change that easily..."

"Perhaps. But I'm gonna try and bring it outta him in this tournament." Drew explained. "I'm not sure if it'll work, but I'll have to do something. I just thought you should know."

Drew then began to run back down the street back to the stadium. Chi watched him sprint and noted how poor his form was. He was wasting too much energy and would probably run out of breath in a few seconds. 'Oh dear... They don't have a chance in the tournament if he runs like that.' Chi chuckled. She started running in the direction Drew zoomed off to. "Hey Drew! Wait up!"


"Try using your other hand..." Nina suggested as she petted Moonmoon on the bench.

"THAT WOULD NEVER WORK!" Richard yelled back.

"Wait, I got an idea." Arin raised his hand, a deadpan expression on his face.

"What is it?..." Richard grumbled.

"Y'know the way the ball isn't going through the ring? Try doing the opposite of that."

"DAMN YOU ARIN HEARTLY, THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR SUCH POINTLESS THINGS AS SARCASM!" Richard ranted at his laid back subordinate.

Suddenly, the door to the court swung open. In the doorway stood the silhouette of a confident figure, their head held high and their hands on their hips. "Alright. I heard that some team was entering our basketball tournament. And what a bunch of whimps you are!" she shouted.

"WHO DARES INTERRUPT MY TEAM'S PRACTICE?!" Richard bellowed back as he marched towards the figure.

The figure also walked forward, revealing herself to be Chi. "Until this tournament's over, you'll be calling me your Coach!" she grinned back to Richard.

"Hey guys, I got help." Drew echoed from outside the doors.


AN: So I encountered a bit of worry when writing this chapter. I planned ahead and wanted to have this arc take place before the Vytal tournament, as I assumed that's what Volume 2 of RWBY will be about, so I can still have the canon characters be in here but it wouldn't contradict any canon story points.

And then the Volume 2 trailer came out. Don't get wrong, I'm hyped as all hell for it, but as someone pointed out to me (you know who you are), I'd say that a lot of the story stuff takes place before the tournament. This means that everything I'll making the canon characters do in this arc will probably contradict Volume 2's story. But fortunately, I made use of the 'Just Fuck it' adjustment. I decided to just fuck it and make everything from here on out non-canon.

Also Richard's arc has started, yay...

Sorry that there wasn't any action in this chapter, but in the next chapter, we'll have DARN's first match in this basketball tournament. So expect more action next time! Along with Richard learning how to shoot. And Drew making Kuroko no Basuke related jokes and references. And the chapter titles, they're references too.