On the appointed day, close to the appointed time and at the appointed location.
The selected players were slowly coming into the gym.
The three coaches, minus Fujima, was sitting on a row of table set out before them, a few meters away from the entrance of the gym.
Shortly before the clock struck the appointed time, nine players already gathered.
"WHAT….! Rukawa is here too?" squeaked Sakuragi and Kiyota inwardly when they saw the sleepy rookie there.
Then they saw each other, which made their day worse, "Monkey -!" they yelled loudly, followed by some noisy exchange of insults and expletives.
Rukawa was standing there expressionless, thinking 'Do'aho times two', and tried to be oblivious to their presence.
"Hi, Fujima, long time no see." said a person with unusually golden tanned skin.
"Hi Maki," extended Fujima his hand and took Maki's, "Good to see you." His tall, glasses-wearing companion stood closely behind him, eyeing the Kainan's captain defensively.
Akagi was surprised to see two other than Rukawa of his team mates there, "Well, he was once an MVP, after all." He thought about one of them.
Mitsui was standing there by himself, with a hopeful smirk on his face.
Maki was now talking to his teammates, the best shooting guard in planet Slam Dunk, Jin Soichiro.
Now the clock struck the appointed time.
"Where the hell is that damn IDIOT?" fumed Coach Taoka silently, anger rushing to his face, but he had to keep his cool in front of the other coaches.
"OK, good morning everyone!" said Coach Takota loudly.
Everything stood still in their respective places, facing the coaches sitting in front of them.
Coach Anzai was motionless; he looked like the statue in front of Kentucky's Friend Chicken Fast Food chain, just sitting down.
Everyone's back straightened a little upon hearing the greeting to pay attention.
"It is our honour to have you here!" continued Coach Takota, "You have been selected to form the Slam Dunk Intergalactic All Star team, to compete in the - "
Then the door of the gym slid open, and a cheerful voice beamed in, "Good Morning!"
Hair upright, smiley face, it was Sendoh, coming late as usual.
Rukawa's eye sharpened a little when he saw his arch rival. He had wondered why the Ryonan's Ace was not selected, and realized that he indeed was selected, and was just coming late (as usual).
'Do'aho times three.' he mused silently.
Coach Taoka would have strangled his ace if the others would not have been there, and toss his lifeless body into the other half of the planet filled with water.
Coach Takota coughed, allowing a few seconds for Sendoh to settle in at the back of the crowd (hey, nine is a crowd), and continued, "You have been selected to form the Slam Dunk All Star team, to compete in the Inter-Galactic Basketball Tournament!"
A few eyes widened. Two were drooping close.
"For now, you will work with one another instead of against each other. Understood? No exceptions!"
Most of them nodded, Maki smirked, Sendoh grinned and shrugged like he did not care, Sakuragi and Kiyota eyed each other maliciously, and Rukawa was in the process of dozing off.
"So we will now announce your position in the team!"
Everyone was at that moment paying attention, except Rukawa who was already asleep, standing. A blob of snort came out of his nose, expanding and receding depending on his breathing.
Kiyota was grossed out. "Yak!" he thought.
"Captain and Point Guard," yelled Coach Taoka loudly, "Maki Sinichi!"
Maki nodded, though he never expected anything less than a Captain and a starter Point Guard position.
"Manager and second Point Guard – Fujima Kenji!"
Fujima nodded.
"Shooting Guard, Jin Sinichiro!"
"Second Shooting Guard, Mitsui Hisashi!"
Mitsui smirked.
"Center and Vice-Captain, Akagi Takenori!"
"Second Center, Hanagata Toru!"
Hanagato looked happily at Fujima, and received a warm smile back.
"Power Forward, Sendoh Akira!"
No change of expression in Sendoh's face.
"Second Power Forward, Sakuragi Hanamichi!"
'I am really a Tensai!' thought Sakuragi.
"Small Forward, Rukawa Kaede!"
Snore.
"Second Small Forward, Kiyota Nobunaga!"
Then Coach Taoka's noticed something unusual and his eyes narrowed, "Kiyota! Why did you bring your dog?"
"Urgh," Kiyota looked at the being held in his hand, "I thought if we were going to space, I would want Mickey to come with me."
Sakuragi and Mitsui were rolling on the floor laughing.
Coach Takota rolled his eyes, and continued,
"OK, now you know your position. Before we start training, however, there are Inter-Galactic Entrance Requirements, and by that I don't mean your skills. We all know you are more than capable in the basketball department…"
"So what kinds of requirements are there?" Maki, now the Captain (though he never thought of himself otherwise), asked.
Coach Taoka now stood up, "To ensure you can handle the journey into the Inter-Galactic."
Some eyes narrowed, Rukawa snored again.
"There are entrance examinations, to ensure you guys are fit mentally, psychologically and physically for the journey."
"The travel into space can be very demanding." accorded Coach Takota.
"And there is the motivational letter thing." Said Fujima from the crowd.
"WHAT-?"
"Ho ho ho," said Anzai-sensei now, "A one-page thing to state why you are good enough for the Inter-Galactic."
Before the whining could take off, interrupted Coach Takato, "Have everyone brought the things you need?"
All nodded, some raised their duffel bag as evident.
"OK, for the next three days, you guys will need to stay in the Examination Center for preparation, which is just above this gym."
Everyone except Rukawa looked up, yes, there was a facility above the gym alright.
As everyone took their duffel bags and headed for the Examination Facility, Akagi had to nudge Rukawa to wake him up. He was the only one towering over the Rookie in case he threw a punch.
The next dreadful thing was the room assignment.
Maki with Jin, Akagi and Mitsui, Fujima and Hanagata, it was originally planned that Rukawa will share a room with Sakuragi since they were both from the same school, but in order to avoid casualty they put Sendoh with Rukawa, and Sakuragi with Kiyota plus the dog.
Then they thought better of it, having Sakuragi with Kiyota meant no one would get any sleep for the next three days, so they switched again.
Maki with Akagi, Mitsui with Sakuragi, Fujima and Hanagata, Rukawa and Sendoh, Kiyota and Jin and the dog.
So now that was settled.
"So, in order to prepare you guys for the entrance, we had prepared some mock tests. The first of the mock test will start tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Don't be late! Ho ho ho." Said Anzai-Sensei and dismissed the team
The rest of the day went rather uneventfully.
Some were practicing on the basketball court, some slept (guess who), some went eyeing the goldfishes in the pond outside the gym, and realized he forgot his rod (you know who), and some others were bickering with each other (you know who as well)…