NOTE: Welcome back to more chaos from these meddling kids. Haven't been feeling good recently, but I wrote this out anyway.

Persona 3 Reload looks like it's going to be fun. Looking forward to playing it when it comes out. I wonder if I'll be done with Classic era by the time it does.

Enjoy and Review!

Log 31: The Basketball Which Tennysons Play


Cover Image: Ben and Gwen were dressed in green and white basketball uniforms with the numbers 10 and 11 on their backs. Yukiko blitzed around them with a camera, taking as many pictures as she could from every angle.


Yu bounced the basketball against the black concrete to get a good feel of how good it'll dribble. The teen was dressed in a white T-shirt and black shorts with white tennis shoes. "Are you guys ready to go?" Standing across from him was the rest of the group consisting of the Tennysons and his three team members.

Ben, who was dressed in his usual shirt with green shorts, folded his arms. "How come I can't pick my team?"

"Because, you're a doofus, duh." Gwen responded, earning a glare from him. She was dressed in a light pink T-shirt with blue shorts, her hair tied into a ponytail. "Who would you even put on your team?"

"Me, Kenny, and Yu. Who else would I pick?"

"Uh…one of us?" Rise motioned at herself and the other three girls. The idol was dressed in a white cross backless workout tank top with a pink sports bra underneath, and a pair of black yoga shorts. Her long hair had been tied up into pigtails. Yukiko was standing next to her happily, while Naoto looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Ben snorted, finding that hilarious. "Pfft! Yeah, right!"

"What? You think we girls aren't good enough?" Gwen frowned.

"Nope." Ben shook his head. "You know just as well as I do that Yukiko knows nothing about sports."

"I'm sure she's not that bad." Kenny tried to defend her.

"Yukiko, where's the 3-point line?" Gwen asked.

"There's a 3-point line?" Yukiko looked a bit lost, trying to figure out the answer to the question. The heiress was dressed in a dark red shoulder less top, showing the straps of her black sports bra underneath, and a white skirt that stopped above her knees.

"I stand corrected." Kenny sighed.

Rise used this chance to flex. "At least I know a bit more about sports than Yukiko-senpai does!"

"Why are you proud of that?" Gwen asked, giving her a flat look.

"And Naoto doesn't want to be here." Ben said. Everyone turned towards the detective, who was dressed mostly the same as she always was. Except she had the collar of her button up undone a bit with a pair of black bottoms.

"He is correct as rare as that is-"

"Hey!"

"I would rather be somewhere with air conditioning." Naoto turned her head to the Rustbucket.

"If you want air conditioning then the Rustbucket is the last place you would want to be." Kenny told her. "You'd be luckier to find Santa's workshop than the Rustbucket with a working air unit."

"Considering the fact that we have found Santa's workshop, he isn't wrong." Gwen added.

"Plus, Grandpa and Kenji-san are coming with ice cream and refreshments soon, so don't worry too much about the heat, Naoto-kun." Yukiko tried to reassure her.

"I'm surprised you're doing so good in the heat, Yukiko. Usually, you'd be melting right about now." Yu said, noticing that his girlfriend hadn't complained once about the weather.

"I am looking forward to sweets!"

"Makes about as much sense as anything else that comes out of her mouth." Gwen sighed.

Yu turned to Naoto. "In that case, Naoto, you can be our referee as we play."

"Sure." The detective pulled out a book, walked over to one of the benches next to the court, and sat down.

Yu and Kenny, the team leaders, stared at the four in front of them. "Who do you want?" Kenny asked.

Yu looked at the four, noticing how Rise was slightly pushing Yukiko out of his vision. The heiress wasn't going to take it lying down, and stomped down the idol's foot. Rise bit back her scream but gave Yukiko a death glare which was returned by Yukiko's own glare.

"Having those two on the same team would be detrimental…not like they already haven't been." Yu smiled softly at the two. "I'll take Ben and Yukiko."

"Sweet!" Ben shoved his hands into his pocket, walking over to the teen.

"Coming!" Yukiko couldn't resist the smug look she gave Rise.

The idol rolled her eyes, knowing she should've seen that coming. Glancing over at her team, which was Gwen and Kenny, she realized it wasn't all bad. "Alright, team! Let's win this thing!"

"You bounced back quickly." Gwen said.

"Of course, we're gonna be a well-oiled machine! Especially with you, Gwen-chan!" Rise wrapped the girl up in a hug, much to her dismay.

"Stop! It's too hot for this!"

"Have you ever played basketball with 3-person teams?" Kenny asked the idol.

"I've never played Basketball before!" Rise declared proudly, striking a cute pose.

"Why are you proud of that too!?" Gwen exclaimed.

Over with the other huddle, Yu and Ben were giving Yukiko another run down of the rules. They know she'll figure it all out when they actually start playing, but Yu wanted to be sure. "Did you get all that?" Yu asked.

"Yes! I'll do my best!" Yukiko declared, determined to not disappoint.

"I have no faith that we'll win." Ben said.

"Give your big sis some credit, Ben. Yukiko's one of the smartest people I know for a reason." Yu defended his girlfriend.

"I-I think I got it!" The boys turned back to see Yukiko dribbling the ball. She was pushing it down with both hands in an awkward position. "See, Yu-kun, Ben!"

"Well…she's getting there and that's what matters." Yu grinned. Ben still didn't feel too confident about it. Glancing down at the Omnitrix, an idea formed in his head on how this could help.

Naoto, who was upset at having to look away from her book, prepared to start the game. Yu and Kenny stood at the center of the court with Naoto holding the ball between them. "Are you all ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Game start." She tossed the ball into the air, prompting the boys to reach for it. Yu's longer arms won out in the end, the ball in his grasp. Kenny immediately attempted to guard him, but the Fool quickly spun past him. Coming to stop him was Gwen, who surprisingly was pretty decent at guarding. Though, her smaller frame was the disadvantage for her but Yu was a good guy so he did the only thing possible.

"Ben!" Passing the ball to the smaller boy, Ben caught the ball in his hands and raced for the hoop. His opposition was Rise, the idol waving her arms about in an attempt to guard him from moving past her. Smirking, Ben took everyone by surprise by tossing the ball high into the air. With everyone's attention on the ball, Ben activated the Omnitrix and slapped the dial.

FLASH!

A burst of flame caused the idol to fall onto her butt, gasping as she and the others watched Heatblast soar into the air with the ball in his grasp. Fire covered the ball with Heatblast launching himself downwards, his arms held over his head. "SLAM DUNK!" He roared, destroying the hoop in the process. The flaming ball rolled on the ground, stopping in front of Yukiko.

"Oh yeah! Score one for us!" Heatblast celebrated his score until he turned around. The others all gave him disappointed look. "What?"

"You couldn't go five minutes?" Gwen asked, exasperated.

"There wasn't a rule against using our powers." Heatblast responded.

"I feel like it was implied." Kenny said.

Yukiko sighed, ready to smack him in the head. "Guess, we'll have to wait for him to turn back before continuing."

"Nah, this'll be fine." Yu said.

"Really?" Rise wasn't sure about this. "I mean, we can't even touch the ball." She pointed down at the flaming ball on the ground.

"It'll be fine." Yu waved off the concern. "Ben, grab the ball."

"Yeah!" Heatblast picked the burning ball up off the ground, then he remembered he destroyed one of the hoops. "Uh…what should we do about that?"

"We should be fine just using one since there's only six of us." Kenny answered.

Naoto, who was annoyed at having to pause her reading again, looked at everyone. "Are you all ready?" Several nods were given to her in response. "Continue."

Heatblast was unsure of how he should play, since the ball was literally on fire, but that's when he saw Yu signaling for a pass. "If you're sure!" Heatblast tossed the ball his way. When Yu caught it perfectly in his hands, everyone stared at him in shock.

That's when Yukiko caught on to his plan. "That's right! Fire affinity!" Just like her, Yu must be using a Persona that has a strong resistance to fire.

"Wait a minute, that's not fair!" Rise exclaimed.

Yu winked at her. "All's fair in this game! Yukiko" He passed the ball to Yukiko, since she was the closest.

After managing to catch the ball, Yukiko took her time to properly aim it before thrusting the ball towards the hoop. It looked like she'd get a point until a pink tendril nabbed the ball right before it got in. Turning around, Yukiko saw that Gwen now held possession of the ball.

"You're gonna have to try harder~!" She smirked before dousing the flames, cooling the ball off. The idol slightly fumbled the ball before managing to catch it. She quickly dribbled the ball to the best of her ability, not used to the dual effort of dribbling and running. Rise would've made it to the hoop if a foot didn't trip her up, causing her to hit the ground comically as the ball flew through the air.

"What!? Who!?" Looking over the idol saw Yukiko whistling, averting her gaze. It didn't take a genius to realize who did it. "It was you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Yukiko lied.

Rise turned to their referee, who wasn't giving the game any attention. "Isn't that a foul or something, Naoto-kun!?"

Naoto looked up from her book, giving Rise a flat stare. "I didn't see anything."

"Why are both of you always against me!?"

Kenny jumped into the air to catch the ball, but once again, Yu had managed to nab it before him. The elder Tennyson glared at the ex-leader with a bit of irritation. "How are you so good at this?"

"Played some basketball back in Inaba." Yu answered.

"I thought you did soccer-"

"I was doing a bit of both." Yu interrupted Yukiko from finishing.

"Well, I played basketball in school last year too!" Kenny tried to make himself look just as impressive.

"But you weren't any good at it." Gwen shot him down.

"Shut up, Gwen!" Kenny hissed.

Heatblast came running past the two. "But you know what is impressive? Winning this game!" The Pyronite jumped right above the hoop, open for a pass. Yu complied and tossed the ball towards him. Heatblast would've caught the ball if a pink fan didn't smack him in the head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"What the heck!?" Heatblast yelled at Yukiko. "Why did you get in the way!? We're on the same team!"

"You would've destroyed public property again if you tried to make that goal!" Yukiko argued.

"Not the correct terminology, but she's not wrong." Gwen added.

"And you just would've let him!" Yukiko rounded on Yu, who couldn't meet her gaze. She was completely right that he was going to let Ben hit it full force again.

As those two were busy getting scolded by Yukiko, Kenny saw this as his chance. He grabbed the ball and dunked it into the hoop, gaining the other team's attention. "Alright! That's our point!"

Naoto stood up, walked over to Kenny, and raised his arm. "With that, Kenny's team wins." A beeping noise over took the cries of joy and shock.

FLASH!

"That's not true! I scored a whole point beforehand!" Ben argued.

The detective gave him a flat look. "Considering the fact that you used your powers, destroyed the other hoop, and descended this game into chaos then I have every right as the referee to not let that point count."

"Sounds fair." Yu and Yukiko nodded their heads, much to Ben's dismay.

"No, it doesn't!" Ben exclaimed.

Gwen shook her head. "Get over it, doofus."

"And considering that Kenny…and unfortunately Rise-"

"Why did you add 'unfortunately' to that?" Rise interrupted.

Naoto continued like she didn't hear her. "-Are the only ones who didn't use any special abilities during this match, their team gets the victory."

Rise hugged Kenny, making the boy blush. "See! I knew we'd win!"

"Y-y-y-y-y-yes! Totally!" Kenny stuttered. "A-and you did great too!"

"Really?" Rise asked, she didn't really do much.

"Yes, you looked amazing!"

"Oh, I looked amazing, huh?" Rise smiled slyly, making his face a deeper color of crimson.

Gwen patted her brother on the back. "Seems you pulled through in the end. But I guess you're much better at scuffed games rather than normal ones."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kenny didn't know how to take that compliment.

"Welp, better luck next time, right team?" Yu grinned at his teammates.

"This was a very fun game of basketball! Especially for my first time playing!" Yukiko was happy to have experienced the sport for herself.

"We still should've won." Ben frowned.

Yukiko ruffled his hair affectionately. "Don't worry too much about it, Ben. It's just a game."

Before he could say anything else, two familiar elderly men were coming towards them with bags and a cooler. "Hey, kids! We're back with the ice cream!" Max called out to them.

"Come get them while they're still cold!" Kenji added.

"And we get to have some ice cream too! Isn't that nice?" Yukiko said.

Ben shrugged, smiling as the soon to be eaten treats approached. "Yeah, I think some ice cream is good enough." The teens and kids hurried over to one of the picnic tables to get their own shares of ice cream.

Log End

NOTE: Hope you all enjoyed!