Chapter 2 Up!

Drawn...(Your name wont show) Thanks for your tip. I've taken it into consideration and tried to apply it into this chapter as much as possible.

Anyways, here's the continuation. Hope you enjoy it.

The crowd fell silent as the young American player took her stance to hit the final serve. It was match point. The girl let the ball drop from her left hand, the one which donned a black and white full length arm warmer and with a swift flick of her right hand wrist, she sent the ball spiralling over to the other half of the court with an underarm serve. The German tried to catch up to the serve but her attempts were futile. The ball was hit using the upper gut of the racquet and had a perfect straight course. On crossing the net, the ball would ultimately dissapear in front of the player only to reappear behind them as of the ball had phased right through them. The ball would then hit the line of the court before rebounding out signalling the end of the game.

The moment the game had ended the arena filled with groans and whines with only a few cheers and praise. At the score of 5 games to 7, one would say the German player had done well and the goddess of victory could have favoured either of them, but to a tennis player, things were seen in a different light. The German player was clearly toyed with throughout the game. This was clearly shown by the amount of sweat pouring from the German's head. Merry on the other hand did not display any sign of exhaustion or fatigue. She still held the same blank face she wore before the match started. This revelation was not just known by the young tennis players, the German team also noticed this making their defeat more bitter than it already was. The German player's eyes reflected disappointment which was quickly removed when rage filled her eyes. She then swiftly marched off towards the American bench and grabbed her previous opponent by her jersey which she had just donned after winning her match.

"You jerk!" Cecilia spat out, voice quivering and hands shaking with resentment for the teen.

"You mocked me! How dare you? A being of your kind. Someone like you. You're just a stupid murderer and yet you... You humiliated me! You toyed with me!" Screamed the player in her mother's tongue.

The outburst had drawn all eyes and ears to the two players. Many did not understand the German's outburst but most could tell the women was enraged at the teen. Despite the unsportsmanlike behaviour, the crowd still cheered on the German. The only ones against the outburst were the American team, the U-17 Participants, a few regular sports-crazed fans and even some of the German team who thought their teammate's behaviour was disrespectful and an embarrassment to tennis.

Though Merry did not understand a word being said she could tell the player was annoyed at her. Merry had not meant for the player to regard her play as a mockery. She had only played the way she saw fit.

"I am sorry if you saw my play as a means of mocking you. I was only playing as I saw fit. I was not by any means disrespecting you. I must apologise for any inconvenience I have caused you." Merry replied to the German in fluent English.

The German player eyes softened for a moment before it regained its former glare after Merry had spoken. " Then why?" She cried out in an hysterical voice.

"Why did you use your right hand when you're a southpaw and why the hell did you only use underarm serves?" Cecelia said in her broken English, her voice lowering and her grip on Merry loosening a little.

"She's a southpaw?" Someone called out.

"You can tell by her stance and the way she grips her racquet. It's only a slight difference but its notticible to a keen eye." QP replied to some teammates questioning him about the girl.

A flash of guilt and sadness flashed through Merry's eyes before she lowered her gaze to the ground and spoke softly, "because..."

"Because why?" The German women screamed out.

Merry shifted her gaze from the ground to her opponent's face where she looked her in the eye. "Because I have my reasons" she said, her eyes not faltering for a second. She watched as Cecelia's face was contorted from shock to pure, undescribable rage. She watched as the women raised her arm high in readiness to hit her.

The crowd who were watching all quietened down as they saw the outcome of the players' conversation. Although the crowd hated Merry, the were not delighted by the fact that the girl would get punched by the German who was probably a decade older than her. The players from the German and American team along with a few officials rushed in to try and stop the player. Cecelia brought her arm down hard aiming at Merry's face. Everyone watched silently as Cecelia's fist came into contact with which they thought would be Merry's face only to hit the open palm of a tall man wearing formal attire.

"Who the hell are you?" Cecelia screeched, clearly annoyed at the man in front her who ruined her chances of redeaming some pride after her humiliating defeat.

The crowd watched with anticipating eyes as two other men dressed in black subdued the writhing women. Merry stood still with the same blank face on as if she weren't just about to be punched in the face. After the two men had successfully subdued the German after much screaming and futile resistance on her part, the crowd shifted their gaze to the man who had just stopped a brawl from erupting.

"...Head Councillor..? What are you doing here?.." A shocked umpire called out.

Ryoma along with the rest of the U-17 watched silently as the events followed out on the court. Many were wondering who the man was who just stopped a fight from taking place on their precious courts. The Japanese teenagers all turned to face their data players, faces demanding a biography on the man who just entered the court. Before the interrogation began though, their eyes were diverted back to the man.

The man stood in the middle of the stadium after grabbing the mic from the umpire. He held the mic to his mouth and called out towards the audience.

"Good Eve, ladies and gentlemen. I am the head councillor of the Tennis Association. In other words I run the world's tennis. I am the organiser of the U-17 World Cup taking place. Prior to this friendly, I requested that all participating teams attend this match. I had one intention in mind, to show you all good sportsmanship. However, as you have all seen, this has totally contradicted my plans for all these youngsters. Even before the World Cup there has been many cases of unsportsmanlike behaviour." His eyes shifted towards the Australian and England teams.

He let out a sigh before continuing. "Due to all this, I have decided that the World Cup should be postponed to a week from now on, where all teams with no exceptions should attend a tennis camp on an island not far from here in order to learn how to become true tennis players worthy of standing on the court. Futhermore there will be no complaints or the complainers will be automatically kicked off their team never to play in any tennis tournaments ever again as I will make sure of that."

As soon as the head had finished the arena was filled with shouts and complaints. The councillor then turned to the German and American teams.

"As for you lot, this kind of behaviour is uncalled for. I would have all of you thrown off the team never to play in a match ever again but I've found a more fitting punishment for all of you." A smirk came to his face as he said it.

"Listen up!" He called, turning to face the audience yet again.

"For this despicable display of tennis shown today, I have also decided that the Women's National German Team and the Women's National American Team will also be attending this camp as participants and coaches of the juniors. More information will be sent to your teams' coaches as to where you'll be heading and camp details. That is all."

He turned on his heels and walked off with his two men clad in black, leaving a shocked and speechless audience in his wake. The moment the Head dissapeared off into the rooms the crowd erupted into a flurry of shouts and shocked voices.

"Is he nuts?" Someone screamed.

"Ne ne, what did he say Yanagi senpai...?" Akaya asked, not understanding a word the man had said as he was totally helpless when it came to English.

Poor Renji was left with Akaya whilst everyone else quickly slipped off somewhere, away from Akaya to avoid the screaming and whining that was soon to come. Tokugawa cracked a smile as the news was given out. He was actually looking forward to it in hopes of seeing other teams in action.

"This might be fun." Kazuya monotonously said, speaking to no one in particular.

Oni who was nearby only smiled at the younger boy's opinion on the matter whilst praising him for being practically the only sane person who saw the camp as a new means of training and becoming number 1.

"What..? Did you just hear that? Can he even do that?" Kiko cried out turning to face the rest of his team.

"He rules the Tennis World, Kiko. Something like this can be done as easy as predicting the weather in the Antarctic." Ralph replied.

All around them everyone was getting up to leave. Ralph along with some other players stood up to leave also. "Man this is insane, right Ryoma?" Dodo called out towards Ryoma.

After a brief moment of no reply, Dodo called out Ryoma's name a little louder. This time Ryoma responded. "Yes, you were saying..?"

"Man, Ryoma. At least listen when people talk." Dodo sighed.

"Sorry, there's too much noise." Ryoma retorted.

"Chibisuke, Dodo. Hurry up! We're gonna leave you behind otherwise." Ryoga called from the top of the stairs.

Both Ryoma and Dodo hurried out of their seats and briskly walked/ran towards the exit. If they said they were going to leave you behind, they probably would knowing some of the team's, especially Ryoga's impatience.

Before leaving via the exit, Ryoma took one last glance at the silver haired teen who was lagging behind the rest of her team whilst they exited the arena. Confused of many things, Ryoma looked at the girl wondering whether she knew something if anything at all. She looked so familiar yet at the same time she felt so distant. Surveying the arena one more time before leaving, he caught three teens looking down at the arena. Their focus was also Merry. Quickly turning on his heel, Ryoma stalked off towards the rest of the team.

Meanwhile the Japanese team had also started to return to their hotel in anticipation for more news regarding the camp. Tokugawa had walked by the American team as they were leaving. He had taken a look towards Echizen Ryoma and saw his face overwhelmed by a variety of emotions. Most he could tell was a look of confusion but Kazuya could not figure out why the boy looked like he was about to tear up any moment from then. However, after a team player started to converse with him, his face contorted back to it's usual cocky self. Although the boy displayed no signs of his previous distress, Kazuya could not help but feel concerned for the boy.

Kazuya, who on the way out glanced repeatedly at the young boy's retreating form was very absorbed in his worry for the kid, so much that he did not notice another pair of eyes staring at him every now and then.

The moment Kazuya stepped out of the arena he was confronted by a very abnoxious and serious looking Byoudouin. "Stop worrying over the kid, he's not your's nor anyone else's problem now."

Byoudouin brushed past Tokugawa before walking off. Before Byoudouin could go far, Tokugawa said quietly "You saw his face."

"Yes, I did and I also saw your face this morning. Both looked exactly the same. Its not my problem whatever happens to you or the kid." Byoudouin retorted back with a look that said dare answer me back and you'll experience a world of pain.

Tokugawa just stared after Byoudouin after his mini outburst. "My face..? What was wrong with my face in the morning?" Tokugawa thought before heading off in the direction of the bus still thinking about Ryoma and the pained face he held.

Back at the American hotel everyone gathered round whilst Ralph started reading out some information he got on the camp. "Hey Ralph!" Kiko called out.

"What's this camp called anyway?"

All eyes turned to face the blonde captain. Reinhardt took a breath before continuing. " I'm sure some of you have heard of this camp before a it was on the news a couple of years back. The name is Raver's Tennis Camp Re-established."

"Raver's" Kiko practically screamed. "As in the Raver's Tennis Camp! The best tennis camp in the whole world."

"It couldn't be Kiko. Raver's was destroyed almost 3 years ago after the explosion. They shut down." A voice called out from within the crowd.

"Actually.." Ralph spoke up. "This is the same tennis camp. They managed to re-build the whole thing from the remains. It's still got some of the old undamaged buildings there too. They apparently built it with such precision that it is completely identical to the previous Raver's."

"Hey chibisuke! Looking forward to it." Ryoga called out turning to face his younger brother. Ryoga's eyes immediately went from joyfulness to worry. Ryoma was crouching down and clutching his head with both his hands.

"Chibisuke!" Ryoga cried out, running towards Ryoma after successfully gotten everyone's attention to the pre-teen. Soon everyone was either running towards Ryoma or making room for Ryoga to pass.

Dodo who was closest to Ryoma reached him first placed his hand on his back and started asking if he was okay. Ryoma, embarrassed by the situation of allowing himself to look weak in front of everyone, briskly stood up, startling Dodo.

"Chibisuke, you okay. What happened?" Ryoga questioned, eyes full of worry.

"I'm fine. I never got much sleep yesterday that's all. Now I got a headache. I'm going to go rest now to catch up on my sleep. I think I'm still jet-lagged." Ryoma quickly said before heading off towards his room.

"Not enough sleep..." Kiko mused.

"Maybe he had a nighmare. Ryoga? Are you doing your job? There's a reason why you two are together in the same room." Kiko said, glaring openly at Ryoga.

Meanwhile at the Japan team hotel, coach Kurobe was also reading out the camp's information. "Okay, according to this new and obligatory training session we must all pack a weeks worth essentials for tommorow morning at 8 where we will take a ship from the west port to the island. The ship will deport at exactly half past 8 so make sure you are ready by then. The voyage will take approximately 6 hrs so you will be arriving there at around 2:30pm. That is all. You may have today off to pack your things." Kurobe ended with a sigh yet again.

The moment Kurobe had finished his talk the crowd of whining and eager children dispersed and proceded to chatter amongst themselves.

Night came fast. Ryoma lay awake in his bed. He had taken a nap after retiring to his room a couple of hours back only to be awoken when ryoga barged into the room to pack his things. Ryoma had reluctantly gotten out of his warm bed to help with the packing, now done the two Echizens retired to their beds And ryoga was soon sound asleep, Ryoma on the other hand could not sleep. Still replaying today's events in his head, Ryoma was naïve to say that the incidents that unfolded were all just coincidences. After countless minutes of tossing and turning in the bed, sleep soon enveloped the small boy.

Midnight struck the city and four silhouettes of teens gathered at a local park. Their conversation were as followed:

"He doesn't remember a thing."

"Should we tell him?"

"No! No one is to breathe a word of that incident to him no matter what. Got it?"

"Why not? It'll only make it worse when he does eventually remember."

"But even so, that day is in 5 days from now. If his memories hold on for 5 more days he won't go through that trauma again."

"But we're going to that place. The place of that trauma. The place where you know.. That place is hell remember."

"I know, there's no way I can forget that hell, who can, but even though going there may only makes things worse for him, its a gamble we must take for him... For Fuyu and Shou too... so please, just this once let's keep this secret from him. After all we're family."

"Fine... Just this once though."

"You guys, shush. Someone's coming."

The teens immediately quietened down before deeming it was safe to continue talking. "Let's go! See you tommorow then."

The four teens all went their separate ways their eyes filled with fear, anger and sadness. Unbeknownst to them, a fifth silhouette appeared from behind a tree this time of a man. The silhouette whispered parting words before disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Let's go back home shall we, my darlings!"

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

It was a hassle to write though, kept on getting interrupted. Tiring too. Took me a full 5 hours with a lot of interruptions 'cause I have an extremely slow and laggy tablet.

Chapter 3 coming soon.