179 Ace vs. Emperor, Part-Two

Akashi and Aomine stood at the top of the key, both ready to start the scrimmage.

Akashi passed the ball to Aomine with a bounce-pass and spoke.

Akashi: "Daiki, you should go first. I will give you a chance to put up a fruitless effort."

Aomine received the ball and smirked haughtily at Akashi.

Aomine: "Then I won't hold back. I will score one, and pull away from you right from the start."

Between the hustle-bustle of the gym, both of the participants got into position, Aomine was on offense, and Akashi was on defense.

Aomine lifted his legs one at a time and gave them a good shake to loosen them up, and with a lazy grin on his face, got into the triple-threat stance.

Aomine started by swinging the ball like a pendulum as it rested in both of his hands. Akashi got into a defensive stance and concentrated on Aomine and the ball in his grasp.

For a moment, none of the two moved. The first one to move was Aomine, and he moved suddenly and quickly.

His legs, which were beside each other, suddenly moved. He directed his toes to the right, slid his right to the front, and pushed his body towards the right. He held the ball in his right hand and exploded to the right.

In that exact moment, Akashi's eyes came to life, and the Emperor-Eyes were activated. His left hand twitched into action and moved towards the ball.

Everyone in the gym held their breath to see if Aomine would cross Akashi, or Akashi would cease Aomine's offense.

The exchange was short. At that moment, Aomine saw Akashi's hand moving towards the ball.

Aomine: 'His ability sure is a pain in the butt, but this isn't enough to stop me.'

Aomine put more strength into his legs to move faster and pushed the ball towards the ground with a hard-dribble. Aomine at a whole become faster, and Akashi, who had moved his hand towards the ball, missed it completely.

The second later, Aomine was moving towards the basket, leaving behind a surprised Akashi.

Aomine Daiki had broken Akashi's triple-threat penetration.

-*-*-*-

The crowd erupted in cheers as Aomine passed Akashi.

Member A: "Wow! He is so fast! Did you see how he moved from his rest position? It was so quick.

It was like, Baam-Baam, whoosh."

Member B: "Waoh, how can he move so fast. Does he eat something special?

Like, how can a person be so nimble!"

The people around the gym were amazed by Aomine's speed and agility. The speed which was fast enough to get around the fabled Emperor-Eyes.

Aomine Daiki's true potential shined.

The person who in an Alternate Universe had stopped practicing altogether still managed to be one of the strongest players in the whole of Japan, now practiced regularly.

Only the person himself knew his limits.

Aomine finished the first exchange with a mighty dunk to the basket.

He got to the ground and turned his head to look at Akashi with a smirk plastered on his face.

Akashi met the mocking smirk with cold indifference.

-*-*-*-

On the sidelines, the inner circle of the first-string watched the exchange with wide-eyes.

Unlike the other people who were watching and swooning over Aomine's speed, they clearly understood the quality of speed required to brute force through the threat of Akashi's Emperor-Eyes.

Even Kise, who played against Aomine every day, was in shock. He put up a self-decrementing smile.

Kise: "To think he was holding back so much."

The speed Aomine used was greater than he used against Kise when they played one-on-one every day.

Muarasakibara and Midorima also watched Aomine with wide-eyes. They weren't expecting Aomine to break through Akashi in the first exchange.

Midorima took in a deep breath and sighed with amazement.

Midorima: "The speed that surpassed Akashi's Emperor-Eyes."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine walked to the top of the key with the ball in his hand. He stopped in front of Akashi and passed him the ball.

Aomine: "One point for me, Akashi. Let's see what you got."

Akashi caught the ball and didn't say anything. He just got into an attack position, and Aomine replied by getting into a defensive position.

Akashi dribbled forwards towards the left.

The rings of Emperor-Eyes slowly became visible in Akashi's eyes. The eyes translated all the bodily information into future predictions, and the mind of Akashi Seijuro was left to use that prediction to his advantage.

Akashi's ball-handling came to play. He picked up a dribble and moved the ball between his legs from his left hand to the right hand, followed by a back-change back to the left hand, and leaned to the left for a drive.

Aomine shifted his weight to the left, ready to block Akashi, but the next moment, Akashi once again performed a back-change and threw Aomine off-balance with his ankle-break dribble.

Aomine tumbled down to the left, while Akashi took a shot to the basket. After releasing the ball, he looked down at Aomine and spoke.

Akashi: "Lower your head."

Aomine narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ball swishing into the net. He clicked his tongue as he got up from the floor.

The feeling of caught in an ankle-break was never pleasant.

-*-*-*-

Satsuki sighed as she watched Akashi breaking Aomine's ankles.

Kise turned to the team's manager and asked with an inquisitive tone in his voice.

Kise: "What is it, Momo-cchi?"

Satsuki paused before replying to Kise's question.

Satsuki: "I was just thinking about Akashi-kun's ankle-break dribble."

Kuroko, who was standing with them, nodded and chimed in.

Kuroko: "Yes, it is a spectacular weapon to have in your arsenal."

Midorima, who was listening to the conversation, saw Satsuki's expression and inquired.

Midorima: "But, there is to more to it than that, isn't there, Momoi?"

Satsuki nodded and explained, while the other four, including Murasakibara, listened.

Satsuki: "The purpose of a crossover dribble is to fake out the defender to make space between the two players.

After you make sufficient space, you can either move forward closer to the basket, or stay at the point, and shoot the ball. What you choose depends on the situation."

She gazed ahead towards Akashi and continued.

Satsuki: "Throwing someone off their balance to the point that they fall to the floor, or what we call ankle-break is never the objective, it is just a side-benefit of an excellent dribble sequence.

But, Akashi-kun's ankle-break dribble is different; his main objective is to make his defender fall to the ground.

He doesn't want to make space or fake out the defender; he just wants them on the ground.

The technique, which is just an occasional side-benefit, Akashi-kun can do it any time he wants.

It just shows how much of a danger is his Emperor-Eyes. Plus, he can do it with amazing versatility."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Away from the chatter of the spectator, the two players were concentrating on each other.

Aomine dribbled the ball as he and Akashi walked along the three-point arc.

Both had their eyes fixed on each other, not willing to miss a single of this exchange.

Aomine tried to fool with Akashi with subtle fakes, but the Emperor-Eye wielding Akashi didn't fall for the fake. Akashi didn't try to go in for a steal, as Emperor-Eyes on defense were all about counter-attacks, he needed Aomine to make a move so that he could read it and counter.

Akashi peered at Aomine, waiting for the forward to make a move.

Akashi: 'What will you do, Daiki...'

The move from Aomine came abruptly and quickly. Aomine, who was walking side by side to Akashi, wasn't facing him, but the moment Aomine decided to attack, he immediately squared up to Akashi.

Akashi's eyes came to life, and the future became clear in his eyes. By studying the eventuality, he perceived.

Akashi: '... A V-dribble between hands?'

Just as Akashi predicted, Aomine dribbled the ball in a V-dribble from his right to the left hand.

Akashi immediately speared his hand towards the ball, but Aomine smiled and spoke.

Aomine: "You are slow, Akashi."

The first V-dribble was from the chest level, the second dribble was from the hip level, the third dribbled started from the knee level. By the time Akashi reached the place where the first dribble-started, Aomine was already at the start of the third dribble.

Aomine followed by an irregular move; Akashi was leaning ahead because of the tip-attempt, so Aomine took the ball from the low, ankle level to the shoulder level and dropped it over Akashi's shoulder. Aomine ran behind Akashi, caught up to the ball, and once again slammed the ball with a one-handed dunk.

-*-*-*-

The next possession Akashi had the ball, and from the left side of the court, he charged at the basket, with Aomine in front of him moving with him.

Akashi kept an eye on the Aomine, and suddenly came to a stop and passed the ball between his legs.

Aomine had the best control over his speed in the Generation Of Miracles, so when Akashi stopped, he too stopped on the dime to keep Akashi in range. But, Akashi was anticipating this.

Akashi: 'Daiki's dexterity is over the charts, which means he shows no delay when stopping or starting from rest.'

Akashi smiled, and the moment Aomine stopped, and his weight shifted, Akashi cut across Aomine and made him fall.

Akashi: 'Because he is so good at, it makes pin-pointing his vulnerable point so much easier.'

Aomine tumbled forward with both his hands in the ground, Akashi once again stopped and took a mid-range shot. It traveled the arc and dropped into the net.

He looked down at Aomine and spoke.

Akashi: "You fall down too easy, Daiki."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The one-on-one continued, while both players excelled in offense, but they weren't able to stop the other player from scoring.

Akashi would be left stunned on the spot when he would see the future, but his body was too slow to keep up with Aomine's speed. While Aomine would be made to tumble every other exchange and couldn't get up in time to contest Akashi's shoot or layup.

None of the players were able to gain a lead; both stayed in stalemate till both of them had ten-point, which was when Coach Sanada came to break them up.

He knew about the one-on-one between the two players, but because they weren't fighting, he didn't interfere. He even allowed the whole club to spectate.

But then the game went for too long. And, because he had allowed the members to spectate, all of them stayed there looking at the two, not doing the regular club activities.

He entered the first string gym and stepped forward to address Akashi and Aomine.

Sanada: "Akashi-kun, Aomine-kun, stop now. You have played enough, now break it up and return to practice."

Both of them turned their heads to Sanada, and for a moment, he felt his heart freeze. He saw a fierce gleam in both of their eyes, screaming at him that they weren't pleased with him for disturbing them.

Sanada almost took a step back, but he was able to hold his ground and looked at the two with a stoic face.

Akashi removed his eye from the coach and used the shirt to wipe some sweat from his forehead. He calmed himself and returned his expression to his regular one.

Aomine put both his hands on his hips and closed to calm himself down. When he opened his eyes, he was back to his normal uninterested expression.

The two looked at each other for a second before turning away and walking in different directions.

Aomine expression turned frustrated when he turned. He was not happy with being made to tumble so many times.

He was also mad at himself for not being able to stop Akashi even once. His lips twitched, and he cursed in a whisper.

Aomine: "Shit."

Akashi, on the other hand, had a freezing cold expression on his face. He had failed to stop Aomine. He wasn't thrilled to see that Aomine could break his Emperor-Eyes with his speed.

Akashi knew that from this day, he had lost all leverage and authority he had on Aomine, and he didn't like it one bit.

Akashi: 'I can't lose any more control.'

Akashi Seijuro wasn't happy to be on the back foot.

The other miracles looked at Aomine and Akashi with their own plans in their eyes. No one but them knew what they were thinking.

The rivalry and competition burned high in Teiko Middle School Basketball Club.