Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Elements of Tennis ❯ Seigaku Jr. High ( Chapter 2 )

The Elements of Tennis
Chapter Two

 

Meanwhile, in a city not too far away, the B.E.T. Jr. High girl's tennis club met to go over their next opponents' data, of which their bench coach, Tsumi Mizu, had gathered.

"Kurai, get over here, would ya? This data is important. It could be the difference between us losing and winning!" Akari called to her doubles partner, who was still on the court practicing against the wall.

"Look at that, the ball's hitting the same place every time," Koorai commented.

"Kurai!" Chikyuuu called. "Get over here!"

"Why should I?" Kurai responded in her cold tone, her pattern unchanging.

"Because it's important to know what we're up against, damn it," Hikaji rolled her eyes. "Even you're not invincible."

"This data will help us discover Seigaku's weaknesses," Mizu agreed.

"Who cares?" Kurai asked, annoyed. "People aren't data, Mizu, by the end of our matches they'll have evolved past your data, so what's the point?"

A hand caught the ball before it had a chance to return to Kurai's racket. "Join the rest of the group or you will no longer be on the team," Captain Seeshin ordered.

Kurai sighed in defeat as she walked over to the group.

"Continue, Mizu," Seeshin nodded.

"Yes, Captain," Mizu nodded back as she turned on a projector system. "All right, Seigaku's team is not only made up of the eight players: Oishi Syuichiroh, Kaidoh Kaoru, Kawamura Takashi, Kikumaru Eiji, Fuji Syusuke, and Echizen Ryoma, but they have an outside player known as Inui Sadaharu, who gathers data on other players like myself."

"So we've got ourselves another nerd, so what?" Koorai teased.

"Koorai," Seeshin stated sternly.

"Sorry, Captain," Koorai apologized.

"Getting back to the facts at hand," Mizu commented as a picture of a boy with brown hair and a pair of glasses appeared from the projector. "This is the Captain of Seigaku, Tezuka Kunimitsu, a third year. He plays with his left hand and is really strong. Rumors have been circling that he injured his left elbow while using his special attack, and that rumor is in fact true, but that doesn't matter any more because his arm has fully healed and he's back on his game. He is now playing Singles One."

The picture moved on to a boy with spiky black hair.

"Please remember that these are our opponents, Chikyuu," Hikaji stated, glancing over at her starry-eyed teammate.

"This is Momoshiro Takeshi, a second year," Mizu started.

"See, he's too young for you, Chikyuu," Shinzoo laughed.

"Focus, our match is in a few days," Seeshin commented.

"Yes, ma'am," Shinzoo blushed.

"Momoshiro, or Momo-chan as he prefers to be called, plays with his right hand and is very determined. He does have one weakness though, and that's his right ankle. He sprained it earlier this year, and it has been healed for at least a month now but he still protects it, placing him at high risk of cramping up his left leg from over usage. However, his Dunk Smash is something to watch out for. Though he normally plays in one of the singles slots, sometimes he is placed in a doubles match with either Echizen Ryoma or Kaidoh Kaoru which results in very interesting game plays."

Next up was a picture of a boy with a crew cut for his black hair with two pieces hanging in his face.

" Oishi Syuichiroh, third year and half of the Golden Pair of Seigaku. He's a right handed player and is very patient. He and his partner are almost perfectly in sync with one another. His Moon Volley is a tricky one to face down. He and his partner, Kikumaru Eiji, are normally placed in the Doubles One slot and hardly ever lose."

"Wow, the Golden Pair," Shinzoo stated in awe.

"Yeah, they're gonna be fun to beat," Akari smiled.

"Don't get cocky," Seeshin ordered calmly.

"Don't worry, we'll beat them," Kurai stated, a determined look in her eyes.

The picture moved to a guy wearing a bandana with pieces of black hair sticking out.

"Kaidoh Kaoru, affectionately called Viper by Momoshiro, is a second year, right handed player. His attacks are the Snake and the newly formed and not fully perfected Boomerang Snake. Whether he has or will perfect this round the pole move by the time he faces off against us, I do not know, but it is something to watch out for just in case," Mizu explained. "He is normally a Singles player, but he is also called upon to play as a Double."

The photograph on the screen moved to a timid looking boy with light brown hair.

"This is Kawamura Takashi, an odd one for sure. He's the most timid person, so timid that you wouldn't think he'd even dare to join the tennis club, but once a tennis racket is placed in his hand a fire is lit within him so much that you can see it in his eyes. His specialty is his Burning Serve. He plays in the open Doubles slot with Syusuke Fuji when he's not playing as an extra," Mizu explains.

With a click of a button, she switched the picture to a redhead whose hair was sticking out to the sides slightly.

"Who's that?" Shinzoo asked, fighting the urge to laugh. "His hair looks funny."

" Kikumaru Eiji, the second half to the Golden Pair. He is also a third year, and very dangerous to our situation. He uses acrobatic plays, has very keen eye sight, and on top of that, he recovers from exhaustion rather quickly. Then there's his Kikumaru Beam…."

"We'll beat him," Kurai stated in a board expression.

"Wait a minute, who said you two were going to face them?" Hikaji commented angrily.

"Actually, Akari and Kurai may just be our only chance to beat this Golden Pair," Seeshin countered.

"So we do get to face them?" Akari asked with a huge grin on her face.

Seeshin nodded.

"Yay!" Akari threw her arms around Kurai and danced around happily. "Isn't this going to be fun, Kurai?"

"Get off of me," Kurai shrugged her partner off.

"Let's continue," Mizu sighed.

The next picture was of a boy with chin length light brown hair.

"This is third year Fuji Syusuke, known as the tennis prodigy. He's right handed and though he has a friendly appearance, he's deadly strong, and you don't really want to face him when he's serious. He's got a counter to almost every type of attack you can think of. He normally plays Doubles with Kawamura, but ever since Tezuka's arm heeled, Kawamura has been the extra while Fuji plays Singles.

"So that's why Momoshiro is stuck playing Doubles when he's normally a Singles player," Shinzoo commented.

Mizu nodded as she changed the picture to a boy in a white cap that has bluish-black hair sticking out of it.

"This is the only first year on the team, Echizen Ryoma, son of Echizen Nanjiroh. He's taken on his father's techniques and can play with both of his hands. He plays Singles, and I bet he could even give Kurai a run for her money with his Twist Serve, Drive A, and Drive B."

Kurai scoffed, "Yeah, right, I can't lose."

"So, who's the data freak?" Shinzoo asked. "Besides you, that is."

Akari and Shinzoo held in a laugh for a few seconds before releasing themselves and falling into a fit of giggles.

"Settle down so we can finish this and gets back to practice," Seeshin ordered.

Akari and Shinzoo settled down and caught their breath as the picture moved to a guy with flat black hair and square glasses.

"This is Inui Sadaharu, and as you already know he collects data. He's not on the team, but you might want to watch out for him, you don't want to give him accurate data that he can give to his team."

"What's it matter, we're not data," Kurai commented again. Besides, he's already come around here.

"That's all," Mizu stated as she turned off her projector.

"Now back to practice, forty laps around the courts!" Seeshin called behind her as she took off.

The group followed, Kurai easily pushing in front of everyone else.