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The Furry Basketball Association is a collaborative project, and the creation of Buck Hopper.

Underwood College, PJ Zarr, and Josh Green are the creations of Christopherac.

Bruneau St Claire and Cassandra Cassiano are creations of Beau.

Valentine Prudhomme is the creation of ChainsCoyote.

Hiroyuki Matsuura is mine.

---

The buzzer sounded, and the crowd erupted in applause. Lights flashed, and the movement on the well-waxed hardwood floor came to a stop.

Hiro took a few deep, heavy breaths as everything slowed down around him. The towering shrike bent forward, placing his hands on his knees as his chest kept heaving. Once he had his breathing back under control, he turned to look at the scoreboard.

Even as he was reading the score off in his head, the announcer was calling it out for the stadium. "And with that, the first game of the first round of the 2014 FCAA Basketball Tournament is over! Underwood College 108, UNSM 83."

A fresh round of applause rose from the stands at this announcement. Hiro straightened back up to his full height, and gave a wave up to the spectators wearing the green and brown of Underwood. He kept his hand in the air as he glanced over to Cassie, standing not too far from him on the court. The sheep was grinning over at him from beneath her untidy, curly headfur, raising an eyebrow as though to say, 'See? Told you so.'

He shook his head, but he couldn't keep the smile from his face as he glanced over at his other teammates. Josh, a grey squirrel, had his head down, but his body was relaxed as he caught his breath. Bruneau stood back from the rest of them, the corgi actually laughing a bit as he waved up at those cheering in the stands. PJ, the team's youngest member, had his fist shoved up in the air, and was pumping it occasionally and letting out enthusiastic whoops. Of course, Hiro reflected. This was the hare's first time even playing in a game of this size, with this many people and this much pressure.

Hiro let his gaze wander over to the bench for a moment, and he gave the others there a grin. It was a bit of a show. Most of the players sitting on the bench hadn't even set foot on the court during the game. Connor, of course, had gotten a decent amount of playing time, helping to cover a lot of the breaks for the starting line. The lynx nodded to Hiro as the shrike looked at him, and Hiro nodded back. One or two of the other bench players had stepped on, but never for more than a couple minutes. All of them were expecting their big moments to come in future games. Hiro and the other starters didn't have the heart to tell them that those moments wouldn't come.

For now, they had their first win. Cassie was walking over to him. From this close, he could see how heavily she was breathing and sweating, too. She chuckled, and then said in her fast, softly accented voice, "One down. Five more to go."

Hiro chuckled to his captain. Just five more games against some of the best teams in the country. That was all.

The excitement in the bus had died down to a steady buzz of conversation by the time they pulled up to their hotel. As always after a game, they'd all been wired as they got off the court and onto the bus. By now, though, it was mostly the bench and reserve players that were talking. Normally Hiro and the other starters would've been joining in, but they were all exhausted. The five of them had put in a lot of minutes; far more than they were used to. Hiro was blinking sleep from his eyes as he glanced around the bus.

Cassie was still mostly awake, and she was laughing occasionally and talking with the others. The ewe was always good for a conversation. Unlike usual, though, it seemed like she was just letting the others lead the talking, and following along as best she could.

Up near the front of the bus, Hiro could just see Bruneau sitting on his own. The corgi's face was illuminated by the glow of his phone's screen. Normally after a win, Bruneau would've been one of the loudest ones on the bus. Not tonight, though. He had retreated into himself shortly after they got off the court.

Josh and PJ were in the seat across the aisle from Hiro. Hiro could just make out Josh on the far side; the squirrel was slumped forward in his seat, already dozing. PJ was leaning back, with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head so that his ears were tucked forward. Hiro could tell the hare was awake from the way he reacted to the bumps in the road, but the shrike left him alone.

He sighed as the bus came to a stop in front of the doors. He intended to just break off from the rest of the team and head to his and Bruneau's room, but was drawn up short at the sound of Coach Stein's voice.

"Everybody get a good night's rest. I want to see Cassie, Josh, Hiro, PJ, Bruneau, and Connor here in the lobby at 8 tomorrow morning."

The shrike sighed and kept walking. He didn't look back at the mare. He tried to ignore the odd looks passing between those members of the team whose names hadn't been called. Such 'private' meetings had been getting more and more common over the course of the year, and Hiro hated every one of them.

He'd been curious when the first such meeting had been called. It had been the first week of the fall semester, and he'd received a message asking him to meet Coach Stein in the college's gymnasium. It had been a surprise; in none of his previous three years at Underwood had Hiro been called for a team meeting before tryouts even started.

He'd arrived at the gymnasium, and hadn't been too surprised to see Cassie or Josh there. Bruneau and Connor, on the other hand, were less expected. Hiro hadn't expected to see Bruneau on the team at all after last year. As for Connor, while the lynx was quite a good player, he couldn't quite keep up with Cassie or Josh yet in the forward position.

Coach Stein had already been there waiting for them, as expected. She hadn't been alone, though. Accompanying the tall mare had been Dean Carothers. The racoon had been dressed impeccably well, as always. Hiro's suspicions had been aroused when Carothers greeted each of the five players by name; he'd never met her face to face before, and he'd doubted that she followed the basketball team closely enough to just know the names of a bunch of bench players from the year before.

Carothers and Stein had invited them to sit down and make themselves comfortable. Then, the dean had given The Speech. That was what Hiro and the others called it; whenever they talked about it afterward, it was just The Speech. Nobody had to ask which speech they meant.

At first, it had reminded Hiro of most of the speeches that the dean gave at official school events. Carothers had talked about Underwood's long, proud history of providing college-level education to feral and underprivileged furs. She'd gone on for a while talking about the standard of excellence that Underwood maintained, and the reputation it had gained in the States and around the world. Of course, none of this was lost on Hiro, or any of the others. Several of them, Hiro included, were attending Underwood specifically thanks to that charitable work.

Not long into the racoon's talk, though, she'd taken a turn that none of them expected. She'd begun telling them, specifically, the role the basketball program at Underwood played. The team had gained real recognition in the mid to late 2000s, when Marko Sly and Sanford Teeson had declared for the FBA's draft, and became major players for the Plymouth Taproots. The duo's success had generated a great deal of interest in Underwood's athletic program, and had helped catapult the college into being one of the consistently strongest basketball schools in the United States.

Hiro knew this. They all knew this. What they hadn't known was what had come next. According to Dean Carothers, after Sly and Teeson's success and the boom in interest that followed, Underwood had seen a massive influx of donations. With each year that followed, and each Underwood alumnus that went on to perform strongly in the FBA, the donations had increased. Hiro wasn't the only one whose eyes widened when he learned that, according to Underwood's finance department, over ten percent of the school's annual personal donations could be attributed to its basketball program. That wasn't counting sponsorship deals and corporate donations made in the team's behalf.

Carothers had let this sink in for a few moments before she'd gone on. She'd spoken about the previous year, when Underwood's basketball team had taken first place in the FCAA March Madness tournament. All five of the students had remembered that keenly. Though they hadn't been starters, all of them but Bruneau had been on the team during the tournament the year before; the year of the now infamous Underwood Five. Carothers explained that after the Underwood Five had won the tournament, there had been a spike in donations.

Then had come the FBA draft. Every member of the Underwood Five had declared. Hiro and the others remembered the draft night all too well. They'd watched the draft broadcast together, waiting for their teammates' names to be called. As time went on, though, and fewer and fewer draft slots remained, the festive atmosphere had grown quiet. The night had ended on a low note as none of Underwood's candidates were drafted.

What the dean told them next made that night seem all the worse. After Underwood's failure to have any of its candidates get drafted, the school's donations had taken a noticeable hit. A few of the team's corporate sponsors had even pulled out of their deals, and several others had threatened to do the same.

The rest of Carothers' speech had been short and simple. In its barest form: Underwood now relied on its basketball team to help cover a significant portion of the financial cost for its charitable work. If the team couldn't turn things around this year, then the school might have to start scaling back some of its programs.

That was when Stein had taken over. The shetland mare had outlined the team's strategy for the coming year. In the 2012-2013 season, Underwood had focused on teamwork and developing the skills of the team as a whole. In the 2013-2014 season, the focus would be on turning the team's starters into stars. While the bench players would still get play time, it would be nowhere near on par with what they had received in previous years. Cassie, Josh, Bruneau and Hiro would be getting as much playing time as possible in the hopes of showing them off for the FBA draft in the coming year. They would find another suitable guard to act as the team's fifth starter, and Connor would act as a sixth fur.

Hiro remembered how he'd felt walking out of the gymnasium. They'd all talked about that meeting many times in the months since. Of course Hiro wanted to help Underwood as much as possible. If it hadn't been for the school, he wouldn't have even been able to attend college, let alone get into a position where he could confidently declare for the FBA's draft. The shrike had every intention of doing everything he could to help Underwood out. Still, though...

Hiro and Cassie had started meeting for at least a few hours every week outside of practices, just to discuss the team's state. The added pressure was terrible for morale. While most people couldn't see the difference, but Hiro had spent a lot of time with his teammates, particularly Bruneau, Josh, and Cassie, in the past three years. He could tell when they weren't at their best.

More than that, though, Hiro had just been frustrated. It wasn't the first time that people had taken advantage of him for his skills. He understood that that was the way the world worked, and that the college's donations were important. It didn't make him feel any better about it, though.

The tall shrike tried to push it out of his mind for now. It wouldn't do to linger on it when he needed sleep. He opened the door to his room, and stepped in. He was surprised when, a moment later, Bruneau followed him through the door, the corgi's face still illuminated by his phone's screen. Hiro had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed Bruneau following him to their room. The shrike really did need sleep.

The two of them were too tired to talk, and so they got ready for bed in silence. The last thing that Hiro remembered seeing before he closed his eyes was Bruneau sitting up in the other bed, his face still lit up by his phone's screen.

"Our opponents for the next round will be the Predatorial Industrial Academy of New Orleans." Stein looked around at the six players, making sure she met each one's eye for a moment. Hiro had to give it to her; even if he disagreed with her change in focus, the mare's style was just as intimidating and convincing as last year. She was standing next to her computer, which she'd set up on a table in one of their hotel's conference rooms. Hiro and the others were still blinking sleep from their eyes, and a few of them were nursing cups of coffee. Coach Stein looked as sharp and alert as ever, though. "PIANO doesn't have much going for them. Most of their starting lineup would have trouble measuring up to our benchwarmers, and they have no depth to speak of.

"That said, they do have one secret weapon that we need to keep in mind." Stein reached down, and tapped a button on her computer. She turned it so that the six players could see the screen. It was a recording from a game. Hiro identified the black and white uniforms of PIANO; he and the rest of the Underwood team had played them during last year's tournament.

The footage was focusing on one player. He was a black fox by the look of him. As the player turned to look towards the camera, Hiro blinked. A few of the others sat back in their seats or made comments. The fox had a white skull dyed into the fur on his face, perfectly outlining his features.

"Valentine Prudhomme." Stein paused the playback on the fox's face, letting them get a good look at him. "He's almost single-handedly responsible for getting PIANO into the tournament, let alone through to the second round."

"You're joking, right?" Everybody was surprised to hear PJ talking. The hare, normally completely silent at these meetings, was leaning forward in his chair, staring at the screen. "He looks like the halftime show."

"He's also one of the fastest and most aggressive players in this tournament." Stein's voice was hard. She didn't take well to interruptions. "He carries PIANO's offence; aside from isolation plays focusing on him, they haven't got much going for them. Make no mistake; we won't have trouble scoring against them. It's going to be defending that will be the trouble. Valentine's fast and unpredictable. He doesn't move like a normal player." The mare's eyes settled on Josh, and the squirrel sat up straighter in his seat. "Josh, I want you to be on Valentine at all times. I want PIANO to not even want to pass to him. Understood?"

The squirrel nodded sharply. "You've got it, coach."

"Good." The mare paused. None of the six players moved. They could all tell when Stein had more to say. The mare let the silence draw on for a few seconds before she went on. "Last night, all of you played well. Very well. That said, you could have done better, and we all know it. UNSM has nothing on us. We could've won by twice as much."

Hiro blinked, and he felt his teammates tensing around the table. It was Bruneau who spoke first. The corgi's voice was incredulous, and as always he slurred his words around his Quebecois accent. "We won by over 20 points. It was a blowout."

"That doesn't matter." The mare's eyes were hard as she fixed her glare on all of them in turn. "I don't think I need to remind you how important this tournament is. We aren't here to be good sports. We're here to win. We're here to show that we can dominate. You held back last night. All of you. I don't want to see that again. Is that understood?" Six pairs of eyes stared at her, all of the players too stunned to speak for a moment. The mare's voice was sharper when she repeated, "Is that understood?"

They all gave half-mumbled replies of assent. The mare nodded, and went back to her computer. For the next half hour, she showed the six players footage from PIANO's games, always focusing on Valentine. The fox was definitely odd. His playing style was different from anything Hiro had ever seen. He never stopped moving. It didn't matter where he was or what he was doing, the fox never stopped. There was even some footage of him defending an opponent, and bouncing back and forth from foot to foot. Hiro almost felt sorry for the rest of the fox's team; there were more than a couple clips wherein somebody else would try a pass to the black fox, only to find that he'd suddenly changed directions.

Still, that constant motion was what set him apart on the offence. Players defending him would turn their eyes away from him for a moment, only to find him halfway to the net before they looked back. Sometimes he would throw a blind pass out to the side in the middle of a charge at the net. About half of the time it looked as though these plays resulted in an opponent intercepting the ball or one of his teammates being too surprised to actually catch it, but on every other occasion it left a PIANO player holding the ball completely undefended.

Hiro watched all of it carefully, and made a mental note to himself. He would have to be keeping an eye on everybody while he was on the defence. It looked like an attack could come from anywhere with Valentine on the court.

The shrike let his eyes wander over to Josh occasionally as Stein spoke and showed plays. The squirrel was resting his chin on his hand, and his eyes were narrowed on the screen. It was difficult to make out, but Hiro could just see the squirrel's chest rising and falling in steady, measured breaths. Otherwise, he didn't move at all. Hiro glanced over to Cassie, and saw that she was eying the squirrel too. They were having the same thought.

After the intensive session finished, Stein looked them over again, and said, "Remember what I said earlier. Don't play nice; play to win. I don't think I need to remind all of you just how important this is to the school. With Valentine playing at his best, we could probably still beat PIANO; one good player isn't enough to outdo the six of you. That isn't enough, though. We need to show that we can beat him, too. I'll see you all at practice."

With that, she packed up her computer and left the six of them sitting there. They didn't move at first. They were all thinking about all of the information Stein had just fed them. There was one detail that was standing out for all of them, though.

Again, it was Bruneau that broke the silence. "I put up 24 last night." The corgi shook his head, and added, "That is without assists. What the hell does she want?"

"She was right, though." This was PJ. The hare was leaning back in his chair, his forehead creased and his eyes narrowed. "We _were_holding back. UNSM barely made it into the tournament. We could've crushed them."

"I thought that we were supposed to be holding back." Bruneau's voice was rising, and he didn't sound like he'd heard the hare. "That is what she always tells us going into tournaments, right? Hold back on the first game so that we are not exhausted for the next one? If I had known that we were not supposed to, then I could have--"

"Enough." Cassie's voice was firm, but not hard as she interrupted the corgi. She was sitting up straight in her own chair, letting her easily tower above the others, aside from Hiro. She was looking squarely at Bruneau, holding his gaze with hers. "We all played well last night. All of us. Yes, we held back. Just think about how strong we're going to be against PIANO when we play them, though."

"But Coach Stein said--"

"Coach Stein said that we all played very well, yes?" The sheep didn't give the corgi a chance to reply. Her voice became more playful and took on a stronger hint of her Italian accent as she went on. "Then we have done well, and we should celebrate that. For now, let's focus on the next game, yes?"

There was a round of uneasy nodding, and the focus turned to basic strategy for the next game. Of course, they would be going over specific plays and drills with Stein that afternoon during practice, but the team liked coming up with their own basic plans before these.

The strategy was simple enough. They all agreed with Stein's decision to have Josh cover Valentine. While Josh wasn't quite as fast as PJ, he had the sharpest reactions on the team. If Valentine was as unpredictable as Stein said, it would be smart to have Josh there to cover him. If Valentine was wearing that skull dye and darting around the court like Stein said, then Hiro was glad that he wasn't the one that had to deal with him. That said...

Hiro ignored that nagging doubt in the back of his mind for the moment. They worked out the rest of their plan. With Josh, their small forward, covering Valentine, that left PJ, their shooting guard, to cover much of the attacking from the far to mid range. Hiro would anchor the rest of their defence, and Cassie would float between supporting the hare and the shrike. Bruneau would call the plays and fill in any holes. Whenever one of them switched out with Connor, they would readjust their lineup accordingly. After some deliberation, it was decided that Connor would also cover Valentine whenever Josh was off of the court. Though not quite the fleet-footed defender that Josh was, Connor could keep the pressure on.

Once they'd worked out their basic strategy, they decided to break. They still had a good chunk of the morning to relax and spend time with their other teammates before their practice that afternoon. As the others were getting up, though, Hiro and Cassie caught each other's eyes. He flicked his eyes over towards Josh, who was already walking out the door, and she nodded. Wordlessly, he got up and followed the squirrel out.

He waited until he and Josh had gotten a bit of distance from the others, and then he jogged a couple steps to catch up to him. "Hey, Josh."

The squirrel turned and raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Hiro?"

"Not much. Still trying to figure out how I feel about..." He searched for words, then made a vague, broad gesture with one wing. "All this."

"Yeah. Definitely not the same as last year. Almost makes me wish Vic was still yelling at us."

Hiro laughed at that, shaking his head. "Yeah. I'll take the Blue Meanie over showboating any day."

The two of them fell quiet for a long few moments, with Hiro thinking of Vic, Underwood's pelican captain of the previous year. The shrike pushed the thoughts away, though, and spoke.

"You seemed pretty quiet in there."

The squirrel shrugged. "Was just focused on Valentine. He's going to be..." He paused, thinking. "He's going to be a challenge."

"Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on all of us right now." Hiro hesitated. "I just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright."

Josh looked surprised for a moment, but then his eyes lit up. "Ah, gotcha. Hey, I was fine during the tournament last year, right?"

Hiro inclined his head. "Yeah, that's true. But last year you weren't starting or being told to go toe to toe with a... skeleton fox."

"Dude, we've got this."

"Alright." Hiro hesitated a moment, then added, "If you ever do need to talk or anything, just let me know. You've helped me out a lot over the years."

"Hiro, man, I'm fine." Josh grinned at him, and then said, "we've dealt with more intimidating players before. Maybe not quite as colourful, but still. I can handle this."

Hiro nodded very slowly. "So you're not intimidated? Stressed out at all?"

"Of course I am." Hiro blinked at that response. Josh went on, undaunted. "It's something I've learned over the past few years. It isn't about not feeling it. It's about controlling that feeling. You can't overcome something if you don't acknowledge it."

Hiro wasn't sure how to respond to that. Eventually, the shrike just cleared his throat, and then muttered, "I should've expected something Zen from you."

Josh grinned. "Always, man. Thanks for worrying about me. See you at practice?"

"Sure."

Hiro felt that familiar chill run down his spine as he stepped up to the centre line and the crowd fell silent. He didn't look up at them; he'd long since grown out of that habit since starting to play centre. Instead, he stared down PIANO's centre, the person he would be spending much of the game around. She was a tall, heavily built panther. The sleek blackness of her fur set off the black of her jersey. She was already crouched low, a hint of a snarl on her face. Hiro kept his eyes narrowed on hers.

For once, his focus was a bit distracted. He wanted to look away and stare at Valentine again. Hiro had noticed the fox the moment he'd stepped onto the court. How could he not? Sure, the fox's black fur stood out, especially with the sharp contrast of that white skull dyed over his face. That wasn't what made him stand out, though. No, the fox drew attention to himself with how he moved, or more specifically how he never stopped moving. He was constantly bouncing from foot to foot, looking around himself at all times. Watching Valentine made Hiro think that the fox might just explode if he stood still for too long.

Hiro had looked over at Josh after Valentine made his way onto the court, and the squirrel had been every bit as calm as he normally was leading into a match. Stein had done her best to get Josh ready for the match, making him run drill after drill that focused on his agility and reaction times. Hopefully it would be enough to prepare him, but the shrike knew how those drills could work. There was only so much that a drill or another player could do to try and prepare you for going up against somebody. Hiro had spent more than enough time running drills that were supposed to help him overcome other centres and power forwards, only to find that the real thing felt very, very different.

For now, though, Hiro returned his focus to the panther standing right in front of him. She was still glaring, doing her best to show off her fangs and flex some of that muscle. Hiro kept his eyes on her, not even glancing over as the ref approached with the ball.

Hiro was small for a centre. He knew that. Although he was abnormally tall for a songbird, he still couldn't measure up to most of the furs that played his position. So he was used to bigger furs trying to push him around, or just generally intimidate him with their size.

The ref held the ball out. Both Hiro and the panther crouched, preparing to jump.

The ball went up.

Hiro jumped, and snapped his wings down in a single, hard flap. He had to hold in a grin as the extra thrust lifted him higher than the surprised cat. He reached out and scooped the ball out of the air, throwing it back to where he knew Bruneau would be waiting.

With that, the unnatural quiet that had descended on the court was broken. The stands erupted with cheers as all of the players moved at once. PIANO backed up towards their net as Underwood rushed forward, both teams working like well-oiled machines. Hiro moved in near the key, and that panther came in close to guard him. Hiro watched the cat from the corner of his eye, but most of his focus was on Bruneau.

The corgi brought the ball down the court calmly, barely even looking at PIANO's point guard while weighing his options. Just as the opposing point guard, a wiry stoat, closed with him, Bruneau sidestepped, and leaned around to send the ball in a clean pass over to PJ. The hare held the ball for less than a second before it was in the air again, cutting over to Cassie. She backed up a step, forcing her defender back, and then turned and shot, getting her basket with little trouble.

As PIANO regrouped, Underwood retreated over to their end of the court. They exchanged nods to each other, all of them trying to give reassuring looks. Just like Stein had said, it didn't look like PIANO had much going for them in terms of defence. It could have just been an off start to the game, but that play had been all too easy. If that was any indication of PIANO's overall skill, then there wasn't really much to worry about for the rest of the game.

As PIANO started coming forward, though, the Underwood team had to face the one small fear in the back of all of their minds. PIANO's point guard kept the ball up until the moment he crossed the centre line, and then immediately passed it out to the side. The stoat jogged forward, and Valentine caught the ball.

Then things started moving fast.

The Underwood players paired off against PIANO, and PIANO immediately began drawing their respective defenders away from the basket. Valentine was already moving, the black fox keeping low as he charged at the basket. Josh moved in to cut him off. As soon as Valentine saw him, the fox turned sharply, and then zigged out to the side. Josh moved perfectly with him, and kept pace for several seconds as the fox dodged back and forth.

Then the fox turned and started running back towards his own end of the court.

Josh froze in place for a long moment, and just stared. By the time the squirrel managed to recover from his surprise, the fox had already doubled back, going wide. Josh tried to get out in front of him again, but the fox had opened up too much space. Before the squirrel could cut him off or any of Underwood's other players could readjust to block him, Valentine had gotten in close enough to the net to make a clean, unchallenged shot. It swished through the hoop, and PIANO began retreating back to their own end.

Hiro recovered the ball and passed it to Bruneau. As they started moving back towards PIANO's end of the court, Hiro glanced over at Josh, trying to shoot him a reassuring look. The squirrel wasn't looking at him; his eyes were fixed on Valentine on the far end of the court.

Underwood's possession went every bit as smoothly as the previous one, this time ending with PJ cutting past his defender and scoring from just inside the paint. PIANO came back fast, once again getting the ball over to Valentine as soon as they could before forcing the isolation play. Josh squared off with him again, and the two went back and forth as the fox tried to slip by.

Valentine cut to the left, and Josh went to follow him. He stumbled as the black fox seemed to just... drop the ball. It bounced once in position as the two furs stepped out to the side and away from it. Just as it was about to get out of reach, though, Valentine's tail swept out to the side and smacked against it, sending it in a weak bounce around Josh. The squirrel froze, unsure whether to go after the fox or the ball. That moment was all it took for Valentine to step around him and scoop the ball up. The fox drove forward and scored again.

Again, Josh was fixated on Valentine as Underwood made their way back over to PIANO's side of the court. He was so distracted that when Bruneau tried to pass over to him, the squirrel almost missed the pass. He turned awkwardly, and managed to send off a shot that Hiro almost thought he was going to have to try to rebound for. It managed to go in, though, much to the shrike's relief.

Hiro shot a look to Cassie as they moved back towards their end of the court. The sheep met his gaze, and gave a hopeless shrug. They'd only been playing for a few minutes, and Valentine was already getting under Josh's skin. Hiro wasn't concerned at all about their chances of wining the game. PIANO's defence was sloppy at best. Hiro was more worried about the effect that the game would have on Underwood's morale, and how Stein would react if it wasn't a complete rout.

As such, the shrike wasn't even looking at the panther he was supposed to be guarding when PIANO came back onto the offence. He was focused on Josh and Valentine as they squared off again. They started by cutting back and forth several times very quickly, much as they had the previous times. Valentine forced Josh back a few precious steps, then stopped dead in his tracks. Hiro was about to grimace, expecting Josh to keep moving and leave the fox clear. Much to Hiro's surprise, though, Josh stopped at almost the same moment as Valentine, with the fox already up onto the balls of his feet preparing to shoot. Josh raised an arm, and forced Valentine to lean out to the side awkwardly and realign his shot. He threw, and the ball bounced off of the backboard.

Hiro stepped hard to the side in the direction that the ball was rebounding, and the panther moved with him. The two jumped, but Hiro's flap managed to carry him further to grab the ball.

He passed it off to Bruneau, and both teams began rushing to the other end. As Hiro passed by Josh, he leaned over to the squirrel. "Nice one."

"That was an accident."

Hiro blinked. "What?"

Josh glanced over at Hiro. There was an oddly distant look on his face. "I didn't mean to stop there. I didn't know he was going to stop. I was stumbling, so I stopped myself."

Hiro hesitated, then said, "You still managed to stop him."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Josh sounded anything but convinced, but Hiro didn't have the time to keep talking to him. Bruneau was coming forward with the ball, and Hiro had to get into position.

The next eight or so minutes went much the same way. It was always a quick back and forth. Underwood would get the ball and reliably manage to score. PIANO would take the possession, send the ball to Valentine, and then he and Josh would have a short battle for possession. Much more often than not, Valentine would find some sort of way to slip by Josh, or sometimes even just pass the ball without warning to another member of PIANO. Occasionally Josh managed to give the fox just enough trouble to make him miss a shot or make a bad pass, but for the most part Valentine's erratic, bizarre movements managed to throw Josh off enough to give the fox clear shots.

PIANO's coach finally called Valentine over to the bench, and Stein followed suit soon after to give Josh a break. All of the players on the court knew that the fox and the squirrel were working many times harder than any of them.

Connor jogged out onto the court, and things ran much smoother for Underwood. Connor stayed out until the end of the quarter, just to give Josh as long of a break as possible. Stein even sent out a few of the other bench players to relieve the other starters.

In all truth, even with Underwood's bench players out, they were able to easily stretch out their lead. The PIANO team played like they were lost without Valentine to lead them. Watching them, Hiro guessed he could've measured up to any of the starters even during his freshman year. It was a good opportunity for Underwood's bench players to actually get some playing time, and also to boost their self esteems a bit.

When Hiro sat down for his short break, he glanced down the bench towards Josh. The squirrel was leaning forward in his seat, his chest still heaving from exertion. There was a water bottle clenched in his hand, seeming forgotten as he watched the play out on the court. Stein was crouched down next to him, and occasionally the two would trade a few words.

The quarter ended with Underwood ahead by five points. It was an impressive lead given that it was an FCAA tournament game, but Hiro knew that it wouldn't be enough for Stein.

Both teams put their full starting lines back in for the start of the next quarter, including Josh and Valentine. PIANO got to start with the ball, and they predictably passed it over to Valentine again.

If Josh and Stein had been discussing strategy or ideas, they weren't working. The squirrel couldn't keep up with the fox's erratic movements any better than he could before. The quarter wound on, and Hiro watched as Josh got more and more frustrated. He still managed to stop the occasional play, but they were the exception to the rule.

Five minutes into the quarter, Stein called Josh back to the bench. The squirrel headed over, shaking his head and panting hard. Connor came on to take his place again, but this time his eyes were very wide, and they kept flicking over to Valentine. Of course, Hiro realized. Connor hadn't had to face Valentine the last time he'd come out.

The lynx took up his position as Underwood went onto the offence. PJ managed to find a passing lane to Hiro in close to the key, and the shrike lunged in. He used his one flap to lift his torso high over his defender, and he tossed the ball easily into the hoop.

Underwood pulled back to their side, and PIANO came forward. Connor's posture was tense as Valentine came in closer. The fox's eyes focused on the lynx, and that dyed skull stretched into a wild, open mouthed smile. Even from where he was standing back near the key, Hiro saw Connor freeze up.

The black fox lunged forward, moving as though to step around the stunned lynx. Connor made a small movement, and then tried to follow, already moving too slowly to catch Valentine.

Then, just as quickly as the fox had started moving, he stopped. Connor reached out for the ball, and Valentine threw it out to the side.

It took Hiro a breath to process that. Valentine had passed the ball out to the side. Without looking. Blind.

Hiro's eyes flicked over to where Valentine had passed the ball. One of the PIANO players was scrambling to grab it up, but Bruneau was already on her. She tried to pass over to the panther, but with Bruneau staying in her face, the pass was awkward. It wasn't hard for Hiro to step around the panther and snatch the ball.

This put Underwood back on the attack. Hiro passed the ball to Bruneau, and the team went back forward. Seeing that PJ was setting up a pick and roll with the corgi, Hiro turned his attention over to Connor.

The lynx was visibly shaken after his brief exchange with Valentine. He was staring at the fox, his arms flexing as he clenched and unclenched his hands.

Hiro didn't have any other time to read the situation. Bruneau had managed to slip the ball to PJ, and the hare drove into the key for a dunk. The crowd let out a louder roar of applause as Underwood made their way back to their side.

This time, as Valentine came in, Connor kept low. The cougar's tail lashed once as the fox closed with him, and then he lunged out, trying to catch him. The fox stopped dead in his tracks, and Connor stumbled trying to kill his momentum. He had just managed to start turning, expecting Valentine to double back, when the fox came forward instead.

Connor let out a startled snarl, and then he was on the ground, his feet tangled up. Valentine stepped over him, making for the net.

It was PJ that stepped out in front of him. Valentine had no trouble slipping by the shorter hare, and made to shoot.

PJ's paw snapped out and grabbed Valentine's jersey, then yanked back. The whistle blew before the ball was even up in the air.

The next few seconds were filled with shouting as PJ gestured wildly and a few PIANO players yelled at him. Hiro looked to Cassie, and the sheep gave a quick tilt of her head towards Connor. He nodded back.

Once quiet had returned to the court, the ref gave PJ a personal foul, and Valentine was awarded two free throws. As the two teams got into position, Hiro went over to stand by Connor. He slouched a bit to be able to speak quietly with the lynx.

"You alright?"

"Not the best."

"Just take a few deep breaths. Try not to let PJ rub off on you." Hiro glanced over at the hare in question. PJ was standing on the other end of the key, and Cassie stood next to him. The sheep was speaking to him in much the same way that Hiro was speaking to Connor.

"PJ was right to do that." Hiro blinked, and Connor went on. "Didn't you see Valentine? He was playing with me. He was playing with Josh before that. It's infuriating. We can't guard him, he knows it, and he's playing with us."

Hiro sighed as Valentine got into position at the charity stripe. "Don't worry about it. Just do your best. He's fast, we understand."

"It's not that he's too fast, though!" Connor looked over at the fox as the first free throw went up and landed in the basket. "If he were just fast, then I might be able to still predict where he's going, or force him to only go one direction. But it's just... it's how he moves!"

"It's alright, Connor."

"No, you don't get it, I can't guard him!"

"Then don't!" Connor froze, surprised by Hiro's sharp tone. The shrike glared over at the lynx, then went on. "If you can't block him, then don't. Just don't make it easy for him. Even if he's going to get around you, make him work for it. Try to tire him out some so that Josh can block him when he comes back on the court, got it?"

Hiro held his glare as Valentine took his second free throw. As it landed, the shrike and the lynx turned away, and they both headed back down towards PIANO's end of the court. The shrike hoped that he hadn't channeled too much of Vic's Blue Meanie act, but Hiro knew well that aggression could be necessary. Vic and Stein had used it more than once to make him stop dragging his feet.

The game went on, with Connor stumbling to try and cover Valentine. Much as they had with Josh during the first quarter, the rest of the Underwood team tried to keep the pressure off of Connor during the offensive plays. It never helped much, though. Connor, for all that he was good, was primarily an offensive player. He was fast, but he didn't have Josh's reflexes.

Occasionally, Hiro shot a look over at Josh as the quarter went on. The squirrel was leaning forward as he sat on the bench, his eyes always locked on Valentine.

Hiro had met Josh not long after coming to Underwood. The squirrel had been in his second year, and had more than earned himself a spot on the team's starting line by that point. Hiro had been coming off of a year of not playing terribly much, and had barely managed to make the cut for the team's tryouts.

Watching Josh play had been... interesting, to say the least. From very early on that season, the squirrel had made it clear that he intended to declare for the FBA draft that year. The squirrel certainly had the skills. He was fast, and had some incredibly sharp reflexes. From the bench that year, Hiro had watched Josh lead play after play, and be the deciding factor in many of Underwood's games. Hiro probably would have respected the squirrel if it weren't for his attitude.

Hiro had never been much a one for gloating. It was partly because he'd never been confident enough in his own abilities to feel that he could brag, but also because he'd just been taught differently than that. He'd known players that would brag and act better than others, and being around them never sat well with him. To be frank, during that year, Josh had had an ego a mile long. He'd been among the strongest players on Underwood's team, and he'd easily been the most consistent. Josh had made sure that people knew it, too. The squirrel would celebrate his wins loudly, almost obnoxiously in Hiro's opinion. He didn't hide his trash talking to opponents, and sometimes even to his teammates when they weren't performing well.

Then, halfway through the year, Josh had just... vanished. They had been playing a home game, and Josh hadn't shown. No warning, no call, nothing. He just hadn't shown up. It had been a couple days later that Hiro had learned that Josh had withdrawn his name from draft consideration, and a few days after that that the squirrel had completely left Underwood College.

The squirrel had returned, every bit as mysteriously, the next year, a month or so into the season. He was rusty, but Coach Stein took him back onto the team without question. On the court, he still had quite a bit of that energy and bluster, but as soon as he stepped off the court he was a completely different person. There was a calmness about him, a quiet confidence that was different from the old Josh.

It had taken about a year for Hiro and Cassie to get an idea of what had happened. They never learned the full story, but apparently Josh had suffered some sort of a panic attack. At first Hiro hadn't believed it, but after starting to pay attention, he'd noticed some things. The shrike had assumed that Josh's new habit of meditation was just part of his new routine, but the squirrel seemed to do it far more often when he had a weak game, or when Underwood was having a string of losses. Josh was still able to buckle down during tight games, but he would sometimes be shaking by the end.

Hiro and Cassie knew that they could rely on Josh. He was a solid player, and now that he'd mellowed out, he could be a strong calming influence on their somewhat volatile team. Still, neither of them had forgotten his disappearance during their freshman year. It was games like these, when all the pressure was riding on Josh, that made Hiro nervous. They didn't necessarily need Josh to win this particular game for them. That said, they were going to need him if they intended to win the more difficult games down the road in the tournament. They couldn't afford for Josh's anxiety to rear its head again.

By halftime, their lead had widened by two points. In most situations, Hiro and the others would have seen it as a reason to celebrate. As it stood, though, none of the Underwood team was surprised to find Stein furious during her halftime talk. Hiro kept his back straight and never turned his gaze away from Stein's face as the mare went on. In the back of his head, he knew that they had nothing to be ashamed of. All of them were playing well. Stein had always been a highly critical coach, and Hiro knew that that was part of the reason why he had grown as skilled as he was. Right now, though, her expectations were just ridiculous.

When she finally finished dressing them down, the first person Hiro looked to was Connor. The lynx was slumping on his seat. It was from more than just exhaustion. The rest of the second quarter had not gone well for the lynx, and Stein had given him more than a little special attention in her criticism.

Cassie, PJ, and Bruneau were all much as Hiro expected. Cassie was chipper and passing around compliments to the others that had had playing time so far. If her voice sounded a bit more strained than usual, Hiro couldn't blame her. PJ and Bruneau each looked to be in varying states of frustration and exhaustion.

The only person that surprised Hiro was Josh. The squirrel was sitting with his head tilted back, his eyes shut. Anybody looking at him might have guessed that he was asleep from how little he moved. Hiro had long since learned to recognize that steady rise and fall of his chest, though. From where he was sitting, Hiro couldn't see whether or not Josh was shaking amidst his meditation. The shrike could only hope that the squirrel was holding it together.

PIANO started with the ball again in the third quarter. To nobody's surprise, their stoat point guard passed the ball over to Valentine, and the team spread out, pairing off with the Underwood players and forcing the isolation play.

Valentine made a direct charge for the hoop this time, and Josh cut him off. The two of them performed the quick series of slashes and turns that everybody was beginning to get used to. Hiro watched, trying to not let his tension show.

He let out a sigh as the squirrel stumbled, and the black fox began slipping by.

Then Josh was firm on his feet again, and he turned as Valentine tried to slip by him. The squirrel's tail swept out. It just caught against the ball in mid-dribble, slowing its momentum enough for it to bounce free from Valentine.

Before anybody could even process the movement, Josh had snatched up the ball, and was tearing across the court. By the time some of PIANO's players started trying to give chase, the squirrel had already stepped into their key. The squirrel took the last steps, leapt, and brought the ball around to dunk it through the net.

Cheers erupted from the stands as Josh landed. As he jogged back to Underwood's end of the court, he lowered his head and raised a fist into the air, eliciting another round of cheering from the Underwood fans in the audience.

Valentine passed by Josh as the two players returned to their sides of the court. The fox leaned over and said something to the squirrel. From where he stood, Hiro could just make out the grin on the fox's painted face. Whatever Valentine said, it made Josh bob his head on his way back.

Hiro didn't have time to talk to Josh. The two teams squared off again, and PIANO came forward. The stoat passed the ball over to Valentine, though this time the point guard looked less confident in his actions. PIANO began that by now predictable isolation play.

Josh surprised everybody by charging at Valentine, full-tilt. The fox blinked; normally Josh waited for Valentine to come to him. Just as the squirrel was about to make a snatch at the ball, Valentine turned and passed it out to the side, towards one of his teammates.

Everybody was surprised to find the focus turned to somebody other than Valentine and Josh. For a moment, the player that Josh had passed to just held onto the ball, staring at it. Then movement started again, and there was a flurry of activity as the other PIANO players tried to make a play. It eventually ended as their centre got the ball, and tried to rush to the hoop. Cassie came out in front of her, and the two of them jumped. PIANO's centre threw, and Cassie batted the ball out of the air. It hit the ground and bounced away, before being scooped up by PJ. The play moved back to PIANO's end.

The next few minutes of the quarter were fast and intense. PIANO kept trying those isolation plays, the team seeming to not have much else in their offensive repertoire. Every time, though, Josh would go heavily on the attack against Valentine. The squirrel ran full-tilt, almost out of control at the fox. Sometimes Valentine would be able to dodge around him and make a shot. More often than not, though, the black fox would have to either pass to one of his teammates, or chance an awkward shot. Whenever these happened, the rest of the two teams would get drawn into the play, resulting in hard scrambles and improvised offensive plays.

Throughout it all, Hiro kept his eye on Josh. He wasn't sure where the squirrel's sudden erratic movements and mad energy had come from, but it wasn't at all like his usual style of play. At first he'd thought that maybe Josh had lost it from the pressure, but the more he watched, the more he realized it was quite the opposite. Whenever he finished one of his mad rushes and bizarre bounding around with Valentine, Josh would have a mad grin on his face.

Even more strange was that Valentine was wearing a matching grin.

With the energetic and frantic style of play, Valentine and Josh soon had to switch out again to rest. Connor had calmed down now that he wasn't facing Valentine, and the plays were much smoother. By the end of the quarter, Underwood had managed to stretch their lead out another eight points.

The fourth and final quarter started with Underwood in possession of the ball. Their first play went by quickly, and then Underwood retreated to their side, expecting yet another isolation play.

Much to their surprise, though, PIANO's stoat didn't immediately pass over to the fox. He came on hesitantly, actually keeping the ball this time. Bruneau went forward to meet him, the corgi cautious about the change in strategy. Everybody paired off with their respective counterparts, waiting for the play.

The stoat dashed sideways, and managed to throw a pass out to the panther centre that Hiro was guarding. She caught the ball with her back to the net, and tried to force Hiro back. When turned to shoot, Hiro jumped, giving himself a small flap to make himself hover for half a moment. The panther panicked, and passed out to the side.

It looked like the ball was going out into empty space, but a moment later Valentine swooped in to grab it, with Josh hot on his heels. The fox got in close to the key, then shot, making the basket with ease.

The next few plays all went like this; far less formulaic. The PIANO team didn't try another isolation play, and instead switched things up on each play. It resulted in far more clumsy, but undeniably more energetic play. Hiro and the other Underwood players had to wake themselves up; they'd gotten used to letting Josh lead all of their defensive plays, and it was a bit difficult to get out of the habit.

Throughout it all, even with the rest of the two teams taking a more active role, Valentine and Josh were still the centres of attention. The two of them zipped around the court, keeping pace with each other all the while. Sometimes it seemed like the pair was trying to race rather than play basketball; they both missed more than one pass intended for them because they were moving too much, and too quickly. More often than not, though, one or the other of the pair would wind up touching the ball during PIANO's possessions.

When the buzzer finally rang at the end of the game, it took Hiro by surprise. He glanced over at the scoreboard to check the time more than the score. Underwood had won; of course they had. They hadn't trailed for the entire game. The final score put them 22 points ahead of PIANO. Hiro was sure that he and the others on the team would hear from Stein that that gap should've been wider. For now, though, he turned his attention over to more pressing matters.

Josh was not far off from centre court, bent over almost double and heaving for breath. The squirrel was not alone. Valentine was right next to him, in a similar state. Although both looked about ready to collapse, they were each grinning, and were speaking to each other whenever they had enough breath. For the most part, it just comprised of half laughs and pats on each other's back.

Hiro didn't realize that Cassie was beside him until she spoke. "Okay. I'll admit. That one was a bit more difficult than I expected."

"You could say that." The two of them turned and waved to the people in the audience as the announcer finally read out the final score, proclaiming Underwood the victors. There was another smattering of applause from those up in the stands wearing the forest green of Underwood, and Hiro and Cassie gave another wave. When they could finally hear each other again, Hiro muttered, "You know that didn't have to be as stressful as it was."

Cassie shot him a look. "It was good that we were heavy on Valentine."

"We didn't need to put that much pressure on Josh, though."

Cassie sighed. She and Hiro had already had many similar conversations that season. At length, she muttered, "Well, we're through. It's just four more games. Then Stein will be off our backs."

Hiro nodded, and Cassie wandered off to celebrate with the rest of the team, who were making their way onto the court. Hiro held back to watch Josh and Valentine. Eventually, the two parted, and Valentine headed over to his own team. Josh approached Hiro, still grinning.

"See? I told you it would be fine."

Hiro snorted. "I take back what I said earlier. That was anything but Zen."

Josh raised an eyebrow at that, and his grin widened. "You know, a major part of Zen is taking the world for what it is. I realized I couldn't beat him because I wasn't used to playing against somebody that moved like that. Then I realized that, hey, since he's the only person that moves like that, _he_probably has no idea how to counter those movements either." The squirrel shrugged. "From there, it was all about watching him, then trying to copy him."

Hiro eyed the squirrel. It made sense, in an odd, roundabout way. "Right. Well, regardless of who actually gets it, you deserve player of the game tonight. You earned it, man."

The squirrel chuckled. "Darn right I earned it."

Hiro grinned back. Still the same Josh from first year. "Good job."

The two nodded to each other, and Josh went to join the rest of the team. Hiro followed him a moment later, but hesitated as he watched the squirrel. The shrike couldn't be sure, but he thought he'd seen a hint of a shaking while Josh was talking to him. He watched the squirrel carefully as the two made their way over.

Maybe it had just been exhaustion. That was what Hiro told himself, at least. True, that had been a high stress game. They were only going to get harder, though. If Josh was showing cracks already...

Hiro shook his head. No, no time to think about that now. He had a victory to celebrate. He joined the rest of his team, smacking teammates on the back and sharing smiles and compliments. All the while, though, he was watching Josh from the corner of his eye.