Chapter 3!
I was re-reading chapter 1 and found out that autocorrect had changed Amadeus into Carlos which I have no idea how as Amadeus and Carlos are no where similar but... This is autocorrect. So I've changed that just in case some of you were wondering who the heck Carlos was.
So to clarify the guy I was talking about was Amadeus, the Pro player from the Switzerland U-17 Team not Carlos.
Morning came fast. Many felt as if they had not slept a wink at all. This could be said true to Akaya who spent the night watching horror films with Niou and the self acclaimed genius Marui and becoming too frightened to go to sleep. Everyone else were either too excited after finding out they were going to Ravers or their roommate had kept them awake all night - Kintaro's room especially was filled with laughter and chatter all night long. Its a miracle how Sanada who was sharing the room managed to sleep at all.
8 o'clock came and one by one teams started piling in. The first to arrive were the champs Germany, first in the U-17 meant they had to be punctual too and tardiness was not an attribute of the champions was the law courtesy of Volk. By 8:15 most teams had arrive and only two teams were left - Japan and America.
"Where the heck are those two teams? The ship is going to leave soon. Keigo is in team Japan right Leon." A member from the England team said.
"Yeah..."
"Oi, guys. The head councillor is here!" A voice rang out which everyone quickly discovered to be the captain for the ship's voice.
The head councillor strolled into the harbour with the same two men clad in black suits that were with him the day before. As always the head councillor had his usual smug looking face on which one could say was on the same level as Ryoma's smug face. "Okay!" He called out addressing the teams of teenagers.
"Is everyone here?" He said. It was more of a statement than a question, as if he was expecting everyone to be there on time.
"No sir. The American and Japan teams have yet to arrive." The captain said.
"Is that so?" He said, a smile forming on his face.
Meanwhile somewhere in Australia the Japanese coaches were in panic. "Can't this bus go any faster? We need to be there in 10 minutes. Step on it." Coach Saito called out to the bus driver.
Coach Mifune and coach Kurobe sat still in their seats waiting patiently for the harbour to com in sight whilst Tsuge glared menacingly at he middle schoolers. "Anyone care to explain why we are late?" He growled out successfully scaring a few middle schoolers namely Oishi.
Everyone involuntarily turned to face Akaya who was cowering at the back of the bus."Bakaya left his bag in the hotel and we had to go back to retrieve it which took a long time 'caused we sort of got lost." Niou replied to the coach.
Tsuge just sighed before heading back to the front of the bus where the other coaches were. "Who's genius idea was it to invite middle schoolers to a high schooler camp?" He thought as he trodded back to the others.
"If it makes you guys feel better Tokugawa-kun over there overslept today" Irie said to the others whilst pointing to Kazuya.
Everyone else turned to look at Kazuya before quickly averting their gaze elsewhere as he turned to glare at them. It wasn't usual for him to oversleep but that very day Kazuya had not woken up when his alarm rang. You could not say it was due to extreme training as they had the afternoon off but even now Kazuya was feeling quite tired and restless. He did not know why though Kazuya did know it was due to him mysteriously waking up the night before. Yet it was not the only thing bothering him, Ryoma's pained expression still lingered in his mind which caused his uneasiness and most discomfort. One would say it was weird for him to worry over someone else whom he barely knew yet Tokugawa felt a sense of closeness and protective nature towards the boy as much as one would be towards their own younger brother. "I guess I've always wanted a younger brother." Tokugawa thought with a smile adorning his features.
At the thought of brother, the day before dream flashed through Kazuya's mind. Kazuya grasped his head and winced as a surge of pain and dizziness washed over his head. Irie, who was sitting next to him turned to look at him. "Hey, you OK?" He called out, voice not devoid of worry.
"Yeah... I'm fine. Just got a little headache that's all." Kazuya easily lied, trying to divert the attention away from him.
Before anyone could pester him with more questions, the bus skidded to a halt whilst the bus driver announced they had arrived at their destination. Everyone scrambled to get out of the bus whilst Coach Kurobe had gone to apologise to the head councillor for their tardiness.
"Are we the last to arrive?" Someone called out after they had all squeezed out the bus.
"No apparently we're still waiting for the American team. They haven't arrived yet." Kurobe said after returning from his chat with the councillor.
"I'm guessing the American team are witnessing first hand how much of a sleep devil our little prince is." Fuji bemusedly chuckled from within the crowd.
As if on cue the American team came rushing in five minutes prior to the set time. "Sorry we're late." Kiko called out through huffs.
Kiko was not the only one panting though, the rest of the team like him were all worn out. "The bus broke down halfway here, we had to run full speed the last 20 minutes. If it weren't for that we would have been here on time." Ralph explained before straightening up.
"Hmmm... So it wasn't your fault then, Echizen?" Fuji called out.
"Why do you always say that, just because we're late doesn't make it my fault Fuji-senpai." Ryoma retorted slightly annoyed yet also amused.
"Okay, okay. Save the chatter for later. Everyone board the ship already. Its going to leave you behind otherwise." The head councillor called out from the deck of the ship.
On hearing this both teams quickly scrambled to get their belongings and themselves boarded on the ship. One by one the teens started piling into the ship, Ryoma who was as usual lagging behind everyone felt the presence of someone watching them. He quickly did a full 360 and on finding no one he picked up his bag and walked straight in. "That's weird, I'm sure someone was watching us." He thought.
"Maybe I'm paranoid." Ryoma internally groaned. "Its all that stupid dream's fault."
Ryoma was very deep in thought, so much that he did not notice that he had gotten on the ship nor did he realize that it had set sail. He did not even know that Kintaro had begged him for an eternity to play him. He did not even notice that Ryoga had called him 6 times. However when he did finally decide to snap out of his stupor he was met with the full brunt of cold water splashing all over him. Coughing and gagging he cried out "What the hell was that for?" glaring daggers at Ryoga.
"I've been calling your name for ages." Ryoga snapped back.
"Sorry, wasn't concentrating." Ryoma shrugged before staring back at the waves.
Ryoga groaned before tossing Ryoma a towel and telling him to go inside as it was time for lunch. As Ryoma went inside he noticed that everyone had mysteriously not killed each other yet though he was aware of the dangerous aura emitting from the England and Australian teams respectively. The rest of the teens had actually used their brains and steered clear of the two teams in fear of them focussing their wrath on them.
The lunch that was served to them was a mixture of Western and Asian so most were content with it however a few were practically sulking in their seats after not receiving their home country foods. It was peaceful at first, the teams tended to avoid one another however things did not stay that way for long. The head councillor had decided to start the training now even before they arrived at the camp. He put everyone into pairs, no one would be in the same pair as a member of their country was the rule. The 700 teenagers give or take a few were all put into pairs where they would have to communicate with whatever English they had which was especially hard for Akaya and Kintaro to do as their dictionary was practically empty.
It is not known how hell descended on them but all one could say was that it was all the head councillor's fault. The genius had thought it would be fun to put Merry and Cecelia in the same pair, Leon from the England team had been partnered up with Dorgias from the Australian team. It seems the head councillor had intentionally put those on bad terms with one another. Ryoma had been partnered up with Medanoré from the Spanish team. It was of course a wild combination but neither had any complaints.
"That's weird, I'm sure I put Ryoma with that Frankensteiner guy from the German team not Medanoré. And also why the heck is Camus and Amadeus in the same pair, they're both Pros for God sake. Someone's tampered with my files. Oh, well." The head councillor quietly chuckled to himself his eyes scanning over the newly former pairs.
Each pair had to sit opposite each other on the tables and converse in conversation was what the councillor had demanded. This is where it all started.
"What the hell are you looking at?" Growled a very annoyed Dorgias.
"Nothing and stop staring at me and rolling your damn beady eyes every two seconds at me." Leon retorted back.
"Why you...!" Dorgais lunged forward and tried to grasp Leon by his collar but instead hit his tray of food and tipping its entire contents onto Leon.
"You jerk, look what you did." Leon roared grabbing two drinks from a nereby table and dumping it over Dorgias's head.
Dorgias stood stationary with a shocked look on his face before grabbing a pile of food and throwing it at Leon. The fight would have quickly been subdued if Leon had not ducked and taken it though he did duck and the food was sent flying into the direction of Atobe Keigo. The food hit its mark and everyone in the area quickly diminished their chatter and turned to face Atobe. Keigo just stared forward, his mouth hanging open and eyes emotionless. Leon stared at him first with shock and fear though that soon turned to amusement. At first it was a small giggle but it soon turned into full blown laughter. "Keigo... Oh God... " Leon cried out before more laughter escaped from his mouth.
After hearing Leon laugh Keigo finally snapped out of it and grabbed the nearest plate which undeniably belonged to Marui as it packed full with all kinds of cakes and sweets. That plate was also sent flying. Both Dorgias and Leon ducked leaving the plate to land on none other than Akutsu's face. And at this the full scale of the food fight erupted.
Almost everyone took part save the more reasonable ones and unbothered ones example Ryoma. The German had started to join after getting hit but were forced to stop after Volk threatened to triple practice if they displayed anymore undignified behaviour. They went out threw the back door along with some others.
The fight lasted a full 10 minutes before the head councillor entered and said this one sentence. "Stop this at once or none of you will ever play tennis again." It was said in a small and quiet voice yet miraculously everyone heard it, even those who did not understand English froze in their tracks.
"Please tidy all this up in the hour and return to the deck, we will be arriving soon." He continued, his voice quiet but dangerous.
Immediately everyone set to work, no one complained no one questioned. No one even spoke. Everyone knew that if they did not follow the head councillor's orders, tennis would become a distant memory for them. Those however who had chosen to ignore the fight and head up to the deck earlier had spent the rest of their time chilling on the deck engaging with whatever activities they wanted.
Meanwhile at the front of the ship four teenagers met up. "You put Ryoma and yourself as partners how is that fair." Merry sulked at Medanoré.
"Come on. You can't always get what you want." Medanoré replied back, faking a smile.
"Okay then, why are you two partnered up?" Merry said turning to face Amadeus and Camus.
"Don't look at us." They replied back simultaneously.
Merry glared back at Medanoré. "Well..?" She asked, her tone dropping a notch.
Medanoré gulped. "They were partnered up with weak people." He tried to reason.
"So what. Anyway why did you leave me partnered up with that German. She's trying to kill me plus not to mention weak like their previous partners." Merry said, gesturing to both Amadeus and Camus.
"Um... Forgot I guess..." He said meekly.
Both Amadeus and Camus slapped their foreheads. "He's Dead!" They both simultaneously thought.
Merry just stared at him before letting out a sigh. "Fine, just as long as you look after Ryoma." She said.
Medanoré smiled before saying "Don't worry I will."
Merry walked off and headed back inside whilst both Amadeus and Camus let out sigh. "You got off easy this time. Next time you won't get so lucky." Camus said before turning to leave as well.
Ryoma sat on the deck. It was a long day and already he was feeling exhausted. He just had another dream, this time of a man. The man wore a long white lab coat and had blonde short hair. He looked a bit like Byoudouin though he had green eyes. The man was no Japanese. The man was smiling and saying something though Ryoma couldn't hear. There was someone shouting in the background drowning the man's voice out. Just then Ryoma heard several gunshots. He turned to look at the man again and saw that he had several holes in his body where blood poured out from. He caught a glimpse at the man's face before it all turned black. The man was in pain yet he was smiling.
Ryoma stared in front of him his eyes showing confusion, pain and sadness. He didn't notice his partner come up to him. "Ah Ryoma. Are you okay?" Medanoré asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ryoma looked up at him.
"You're crying."
Shocked Ryoma touched his face. He was indeed crying, his face was all wet and warm from his tears. He quickly rubbed his eyes before standing, as he did though, the captain called out through the speakers. "We have arrived at Raver's Tennis Camp Re-established. Please gather your belongings and come on deck."
Ryoma turned to look at the island in front of him. It was a small island and you could see part of the camp building. It looked just like the camp he saw in his dream during the friendly match. A surge of pain waved through his head again and he lost his balance. He fell to his knees and he was sure he would make contact with the ground if not for a pair of hands that grabbed him halfway through his fall.
Ryoma looked up at Medanoré. His head began to clear as he slowly tried to make sense of what happened.
"Are you okay Ryoma?" Medanoré started.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired thats all." Ryoma replied embarrassed as he tried to hide his face under his cap.
Amused Medanoré said, "Its best if you get up now before anyone comes up deck. You don't want them to see you like this do you?"
"Shut it." Ryoma said before storming off leaving a chuckling Medanoré behind. Though his laughter soon turned grave as he too stared at the island infront of him.
"Ah... Back here again."
The moment the ship hit the shores the teenagers began piling off especially the sea-sick ones even before the coaches had told them to leave. Though many did not mind as many had had enough of dealing with the U-17 members.
"Honestly, they're like kids on a field trip." mumbled a coach.
"It seems we do forget that they are still kids. I mean there's a 12 year old here too you know." Someone else said.
Tokugawa exited the ship and looked forward at the building in which would become their home for a week. It gave off a strange vibe and Kazuya could not help but feel as if something bad would happen. Merry who was nearby was also looking at the building she glanced around to find Ryoma but whilst searching her eyes landed on something which shocked her to her very core. "What is he doing here? No... If Ryoma meets him... No he's on the Japanese team of course Ryoma's met him. I'm so stupid I should have realized. This will only trigger his memories even more." Merry glanced around and found her new target. She had to tell Medanoré.
"Those two should never meet whilst in this camp otherwise Ryoma will return to that state. Medanoré, you've got to keep them separate." She frantically cried in her mind.
She couldnt talk to Medanoré now due to everyone crowding round though she managed to tell him to meet her on the roof after practice with the others.
When everyone had gotten out of the ship, the head councillor stood in front and addressed the crowd. "Everyone is to follow me to the camp. Please do not get lost. The camp is only a four minute walk away and one more thing you have to walk in your pairs."
This erupted a lot of groans, though the head councillor turned around as if no one had complained. The many teens and coaches began their walk oblivious to a figure appearing from behind a tree. The figure grinned before leaving in the direction of the camp, the words for his parting engraved on the tree.
"Welcome to Hell!"
I think I have writers block hence this crap chapter. Expect slow updates. Though I'll try not to make it any longer than 2 weeks. And the holidays are over so I won't get much time.
Chapter 4 coming soon.