Tokiwadai vs. Teiko, Part 3

[A/N: Okay, people, this chapter might be a little strange. I am trying to write two different scenes at the same time. The scenes I am trying to portray are both team's benches. So tell me if I was successful.]

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(Both team's benches)

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Shun: "Coach, I think I kind of know what Teiko will do in the third quarter."

Everybody looked at Shun.

Tokiwadai's Coach: "What do you mean?"

Shun breathed out and said,

Shun: "Teiko is going to put out Kuroko Tetsuya in the third quarter."

-*-*-*-

Akashi: "We are going to put in Kuroko-kun in the third quarter."

Shirogane (Teiko's Coach): "That wouldn't be wise, Kuroko-kun will be useless on the court with Kageyama Shun guarding him."

Akashi smiled faintly and said,

Akashi: "Exactly, Kageyama Shun is needed to stop Kuroko-kun."

-*-*-*-

Shun: "I need to be near Kuroko Tetsuya all-time when Teiko is in possession of the ball. I can't defend against him if I am not near him."

Ishida: "That put's you out of the defense permanently."

Shun nodded.

Otsubo: "Their offense would essentially become a four-on-four matchup."

Shun sighed and spoke once more,

Shun: "There is one more upside for them."

-*-*-*-

Akashi: "Kageyama Shun starts stealing passes in the second half, but with Kuroko-kun occupying him all the time, he won't be able to steal the passes."

Shirogane (Teiko's Coach): "Excellent thinking."

Nijimura: "But we also know that we won't be able to use this strategy for the rest of the game."

-*-*-*-

Shun: "Kuroko-kun won't be able to play in the fourth quarter."

Mibuchi: "Now that you mention it, you once told us that his invisibility runs out with time."

Shun: "Yes, I did say that once, but this time it won't be his invisibility that runs out he hasn't played enough to run out of his invisibility, but he will run out of stamina first."

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Akashi: "Kuroko-kun won't be able to play more than a quarter before his stamina runs out."

Shirogane (Teiko's Coach): "So, we need to make sure to score a lot in the third quarter, without Kageyama Shun, their defense takes a significant hit."

Akashi: "Yes, but the game turns into a four-on-four matchup in our offense, which means it will still be a little difficult to increase the point gap enough to make it an actual threat."

-*-*-*-

Shun: "So, they are going to put in Haizaki Shogo in the third quarter."

Ishida: "You mean."

Shun: "Haizaki Shogo will plummet our offensive ability by stealing our moves. I have a way to stop him from stealing from me, but it will not work for others."

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Akashi: "Kageyama Shun confidently made a bet with Haizaki-kun that he will not be affected by him. I don't know if he can actually do that, and even if he could do that, the rest of Tokiwadai will not be able to escape from Haizaki's ability.

Their rebounding will also be stolen by Haizaki and remain that way till the end of the game, resulting in more scoring from our side."

Haizaki listening to that spat out,

Haizaki: "That guy is bluffing. I will steal everything he owns on the court."

-*-*-*-

Shun: "We will be at an absolute disadvantage in this quarter, all we can do is to cut our losses. We can pass every ball to me in the third quarter, hoping that Teiko will pull Haizaki out in the fourth quarter.

If they don't, the rest of the team will have to play defense as hard as they can and leave the offense totally to me."

Coach stayed silent for a while, thought the situation thoroughly, and said,

Coach: "All the attacks will go through Kageyama-kun, rest of you defend with everything you got."

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Haizaki stepped on the court and went straight to Shun.

Haizaki: "Yo! Are you ready to get your ass whooped?"

Shun smiled and replied.

Shun: "Yo! Are you ready to have your mind blown?"

Haizaki was going to say more but was stopped by Akashi.

Akashi: "Haizaki, stop and return before the referee gives you a technical foul."

Haizaki walked back but still gave one last look to Shun. Shun smiled back a provoking grin.

Haizaki narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything.

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The game started with the ball in Tokiwadai's possession, and as they planned, the ball was directly passed to Shun.

Shun took a deep breath and dribbled the ball slowly towards the half-court line giving his team to take their position.

Shun's goal for the quarter was to dish out as many points as he could so that the point gap remained something that Tokiwadai could chase in the last quarter.

Shun saw Haizaki coming to defend him.

Shun: 'I need to get past him over quick, let's go over our options.'

Shun looked at Haizaki and thought for a moment.

Shun: 'Ok, let's go with that.'

Shun dribbled forward and waited for the right moment to strike. The moment Haizaki came to a stop in front of Shun, Shun increased his speed and moved right past him.

There was always a moment of delay during trying to move from a position of rest. Shun targeted that moment. The moment Haizaki stopped, Shun increased his speed, cutting right past him.

Haizaki: "What! Come back here, dammit."

Haizaki tried to catch up but wasn't successful.

Shun came right in front of Murasakibara. Shun had got past Murasakibara using floaters and reverse layups. So, when Shun came to a stop and extended his hands upwards, Murasakibara jumped hard.

Shun: 'That was a fake, and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker.'

Shun bought his hands down, sidestepped, and layed the ball in the basket, scoring easy points.

[A/N: The move is called up-and-under, the video link will be in the comments.]

The game continued with Teiko on the offense. Shun took his position as Kuroko's defender.

Shun: "Kuroko-kun, you have caused a huge problem for my team."

Kuroko replied without looking at Shun.

Kuroko: "I will do anything to help my team win. I am happy that they found a use for me on the court."

Shun looked back at the court to find that Haizaki had the ball. Haizaki received the ball, extended his hands upwards, causing Otsubo to jump, but that was a fake as Haizaki sidestepped and scored with a layup.

Haizaki: "Now, it's mine."

It was an exact copy of Shun's play against Murasakibara.

Kuroko looked at Shun's face to find him smiling widely.

The ball was again in Shun's possession. He dribbled straight to the paint.

Midorima, who was in front of him, saw Shun stop and extend his hands upwards.

Midorima was the type of person that believed what he saw for himself, and he had seen Haizaki's pillaging ability to work a countless number of times. So, he jumped, thinking Shun would mess up the timing, and that would allow him to stop Shun.

But, he was wrong. Shun faked him successfully, sidestepped properly, and layed the ball in easily.

As Shun returned to his side of the court, he passed Haizaki.

Shun: "That's how you do it, Watch and weep. I mean, watch and learn."

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Aomine bought the ball to the paint, passed it between Otsubo's legs, Murasakibara caught it and scored with a dunk.

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Aone dribbled the ball and passed it to Mibuchi. Mibuchi further relayed it to Shun.

Shun pulled a hook shot over Haizaki.

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Midorima passed the ball to Haizaki. Haizaki jumped up and scored with a hook shot against Aone.

Shun again pulled a score over Aomine with a hook shot.

-*-*-*-

Midorima smoothly moved away from his defender, got a pass from Akashi, and scored a three-pointer.

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Aone jumped up for a rebound and got to it faster than anybody. He passed the ball to Ishida, he dribbled forward and passed again to Shun. Shun took a shot from the three-point line and scored three points.

At the next opportunity for the rebound, Aone once again jumped for the rebound but was beaten by Haizaki, who got to it first.

Haizaki: "I will take that for you. So, you shouldn't bother trying again."

-*-*-*-

Next turn, Shun scored against Aomine with an Off-Foot Layup, surprising him enough to mess his timing for the block.

Usually, a player would jump with the left foot for a layup with the right hand, but Shun used his right foot for a right-handed layup, messing up Aomine's timing.

The high-paced up and down finally ended when Otsubo fouled Aomine to stop him from scoring, giving him two free throws.

Shun looked at Kuroko, to see him panting with his hands on his knees.

Shun: 'He is out for the fourth quarter, that is one less problem for the next quarter.'

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The crowd broke out of their stupor and let out a breath that they didn't think they were holding in.

Viewer: "What in the world is this game."

Viewer: "That Teiko guy is copying the Tokiwadai guy."

Viewer: "Why is there only one player attacking from Tokiwadai, but Teiko still can't stop him."

Viewer: "Even Tokiwadai's defense can't stop Teiko from scoring. Look at the points they racked in this quarter."

The game had everyone confused, even if they were immersed in it.

The balance between the team was extremely tilted in the game. On Teiko's side, everybody was scoring points with excellent teamwork, but on the other hand, Shun was the only one scoring from Tokiwadai, this caused the point gap to increase steadily.

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Shun was standing in the rebound-setup for the free throw. Haizaki stood next to Shun in the setup.

Haizaki growled at Shun.

Haizaki: "How are you still able to perform your moves."

Shun chuckled little and looked at Haizaki.

Shun: "You know I can copy moves, right? I just copied you performing my moves, and if you looked closely, you would notice that they were a little different from before. I was using the pillaged version of my moves."

Shun always wondered why Kise didn't use this method to stop Haizaki.

Haizaki was stunned for a second. He didn't think there was a way to escape his pillaging.

Shun decided to get in one more blow and seal the deal.

Shun: "And you see, this game will be the last game you will be able to copy me. Next year you won't be able to copy me at all, just like your teammates."

Haizaki: "What?!"

Shun: "You can't copy Aomine's natural ball handing or Midorima's perfect accuracy, or Akashi's pass accuracy, or Murasakibara's physical attributes. Next year, you won't be able to copy my skills at all. I would have moved far beyond reach."

Shun laughed mockingly while looking at Haizaki.

Shun: "I was right in making that bet your expression really is pleasurable to watch."

Aomine landed both the free throws and everybody went back to their positions.

Shun saw the shocked expression on Haizaki's face when he was leaving.

This was the first time Haizaki failed to pillage from a target he could copy.

Shun: 'Maybe I went too far. Well, not like I care. With this, he won't be participating in the fourth quarter. Strike Two.'

The third quarter continued with Teiko increasing the point gap and Shun trying to make sure that it stayed in a chasable range.

The third quarter ended with the score being 86-63, Teiko had scored forty-points in the third quarter, and shun scored twenty-six points on his own.

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(At Tokiwadai's bench)

Coach: "A twenty-three point gap, it will be tough to close that gap."

Shun: "It will be hard, but we can catch up. Haizaki will not be participating in the fourth quarter; he is too shaken up to participate."

Mibuchi: "So, we can return to offense again."

Shun: "Yes, and I will be returning to the defense. I will also start stealing the passes in the fourth quarter."

Ishida: "But, our defense will still be damaged in the fourth quarter."

Shun nodded his head and said.

Shun: "True, but a damaged defense is better than no defense, but the one-on-one defense is still on point, let's tighten that more and leave the post defense to me."

Coach: "Looks like you guys have it all figured out, go on out and return as victors."