Thank you for reviewing: JazzGirl123, Shining Sunrise, Jackie Chan Adventures fan 16, AquosBrawlerStar, RunoandAkizafan, AlicexShunMEGAFan17, MarshmellowsSleeping, katzike123, Starksymd, SilverSea1499, and shadowwing1994.
Reply to Starksymd (anonymous): Most likely but I added a lot in the beginning, so I'm trying to focus more on other pairings right now like RenxFabia and JoexChan-Lee. There've been hints about JoexChan-Lee before, but I'm planning on something bigger for them. I said earlier there would be hints on JuliexBilly and AcexMira so there's not much about them, but there are hints throughout the entire story. Ace and Mira haven't appeared yet but will soon…
Enjoy.
Friday, during lunch…
"Whew!" exclaimed Dan, plopping down at their usual table. "That was a close game." The Brawlers had had their second semi-final game on Thursday against Team Sellon.
"Why, what happened?" asked Marucho.
"Did you lose?" asked Julie.
"What was the score?" asked Jake.
"We won...by two points!" answered Dan. "Score was 42 to 40."
"Sweet," said Jake, grinning.
"Hey, do you guys wanna go practice at the park later this weekend?" asked Joe.
"Why can't we do it at your house like last time?" asked Dan.
"My sister's band is coming over and using the basement for practice. If you haven't noticed, my basketball court is parked right in front of the garage. They play pretty loud and that might disrupt our practice." Yeah, I made the sister part up…
"You have a sister?" asked Alice. "What's her name?"
"Her name's Jennifer, but everyone calls her Jen."
"HAHA, Joe and Jen! I get it!" laughed Billy as Joe merely rolled his eyes yet smiled in amusement at the same time.
"Does she go to our school?" asked Jake.
"You would want to know, Jake," teased Dan.
Joe cleared his throat. "No, she got accepted into a school named Anubias."
"Wow, that's a really tough school to get into!" said Marucho in awe.
"Why?" asked Runo.
"You need to take a test to get in," explained Marucho. "They don't base it off on how high you score on the test. They compare your results to the other tests and if you're in the top, you're accepted. She must be really smart."
"Well, she was sort of on the borderline of passing and failing," said Joe. "She barely made it in. Jen didn't really want to go to Anubias in the first place because she heard the school was stressful and she just wanted to relax. But now she's glad she did because if she didn't, she would have ever met her new friends and her members of her band. She's graduating this year."
"You never told us you had a sister before," said Shun.
"Chan knows."
"Only 'cause she's your girlfriend," said Julie, smirking.
"Ehem, so are we practicing at the park or not?" asked Chan, changing the subject to avoid embarrassment.
"Sure, I'm free," said Fabia as everyone – except for Julie, Marucho, and Jake- nodded their heads.
"We have our own weekend practices to attend to," explained Julie, "or studying, in Marucho's case."
"That's all right, you need your practice too," said Joe. "So Brawlers, park tomorrow, three o' clock?"
"YEAH!" cried the Brawlers.
Satuday, the park, at three…
"Over here, Dan!" cried Billy as Dan ran around the court.
Dan was about to pass the ball, until Runo appeared out of nowhere and blocked him.
"Dan! OVER HERE!" exclaimed Billy.
"Just…just give me a minute!" exclaimed Dan as he tried to shake off Runo. But Runo was best at defense and she was aggressive and competitive. No way would she let the ball out of her sight.
Runo reached for the ball but Dan moved towards the opposite direction out of her reach. Unfortunately, his foot caught hers and both were on the floor in a blink of an eye.
The couple laughed at their situation and before long, Dan stood up and helped up Runo.
Shun smiled at the two. He wished he could be lucky as Dan to find someone. Of course, he wished that "someone" was Alice. Speaking of Alice, she was the only member that hadn't arrived. She said she would be a bit late since she had to help her grandfather with something in the laboratory.
"Oy, Mister Hot-Shot!" called Dan as he tossed the ball towards Shun. "Your turn!"
"Quit calling me that," replied Shun as he caught the ball.
"Mr. Hot-Shot? Really? Huh, wasn't so hot during our last game, was he?" asked a voice followed by a high-shrilled laughter.
The Brawlers whirled around to find none other than their rivals, the Gundalians.
"Hello to you too," said Shun, narrowing his eyes.
"What do you want?" demanded Dan.
"What do you think, pipsqueak?" asked Sid.
"Cool it, we're not here to cause trouble," warned Ren. Fabia's stomach lurched when she saw him.
"You still didn't answer him," said Runo.
"To practice, duh," answered Zenet.
Jesse nodded. "We should always rehearse before the big play."
The Brawlers stared.
"Yeah…you'll have to excuse him," said Ren, turning back around to whisper menacingly to Jesse. "I told you to stop talking like that!"
"Well, if you're here to practice, you might as well find some other place," said Billy. "We were here first."
"Yes, but this has always been our practice place," said a blue-haired girl as she adjusted her glasses.
"Lena's right," said another girl, the one with the high shrill laugh. "And we're not giving it up to you losers."
"Hey!" exclaimed Dan. "No one calls my friends-"
"What's your name?" interrupted Ren.
"Wait, what?" asked Dan.
"What's…your…name…" repeated Ren, talking slowly as if Dan were a two-year old.
"Dan Kuso, captain of the Basketball Brawlers!"
Ren was not impressed. "What about everyone else on the team?"
"Wouldn't you want to know?"
"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!"
"Shun, Billy, Runo, Joe, Chan-Lee, and Fabia."
Fabia…thought Ren to himself. So that's her name. She was the real reason why he had asked Dan to introduce his teammates.
"Hey, I remember you!" exclaimed a boy with jet-black hair, pointing to Joe. "You were on the team last year!"
"Yeah…I remember you too, Mason," replied Joe, folding his arms.
"You know their names?" asked Chan.
"Sure," answered Joe. "Well…you already know Ren…but the rest are Kazarina, the girl with that laugh from earlier, Sid, Zenet, Jesse, Lena, Mason, Stoica, Gill, and Airzel. A/N: Nurzak is the only Gundalian who isn't here, with the exception of Barodius since he's the coach. But I'll have a role for Nurzak later on.
"Where's that girl with the orange hair?" asked Ren. Fabia's face fell. Alice was always the beautiful one, the one all the guys wanted.
"Why are you so interested?" asked Shun, getting defensive as he clutched his fists.
"What, you got a soft spot for her, Mr. Hot-Shot?" asked Ren, mocking Dan's nickname for Shun. "Don't worry; she's not my type anyway." Fabia lightened up a little.
"Hey, guys!" exclaimed a voice from behind the Gundalians.
Everyone turned around to see Alice waving her hand and running towards them.
"Found her," smirked Sid.
"Wha…what's going on?" asked Alice when she saw the Gundalians.
"Just introducing ourselves," said Dan as Alice walked over to the Brawlers' side.
"…Really?" asked Alice when she saw Dan's look of hatred.
"You're wasting our time," said Ren. "We need to practice."
"Well, like Billy said, we were here first!" shouted Dan.
"And like Lena said, this has always been our court!" Ren yelled back.
"I don't see your name written on it!"
The Brawlers and the Gundalians looked back and forth between the captains as they continued to argue with each other.
Finally, Joe stepped in. "ENOUGH!" he cried, pushing the two away from each other.
Ren and Dan glared at each other until Ren recomposed himself and stood up straight. "Gundalians, let's go." Ren turned around and started walking away from the Brawlers.
"Eh?" asked Zenet as Ren walked past her. "But what about-"
"I know another park to practice at," interrupted Ren. "It's a bit further, but it's better than wasting time with these punks."
Zenet hesitated then, before following her team, she turned around to the Brawlers and said, "I doubt you'll win the semi-finals, but if you ever make it to the finals, although that's very unlikely, don't except to win."
The Brawlers watched as she ran to catch up with her team and disappeared from the park.
"Well…let's continue practice," said Joe as he took the ball from Shun's hands and made a jump-shot.
"You okay, Fabia?" asked Dan. "You haven't said a thing."
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Fabia. "Let's practice."
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