To make it clear, Rikkai arrived just a little before Teiko. Meaning, Teiko only entered the corridor after Rikkai left.

THANK YOU READERS AND EVERYONE WHO HAS EITHER REVIEWED, FOLLOWED, FAVOURITED THIS STORY, OR DONE ALL OF THE ABOVE!

It makes me so happy to know that my work is being appreciated and enjoyed :')

Disclaimer: No POT, no KNB, no My Little Pony, and no Barbie dolls. I am one sad little girl.

Warnings: Language, OOCness (naturally), character bashing, and maybe some boyxboy hints.

Note: Set somewhere slightly before Nationals for the POT verse and somewhere during their 3rd year in Teiko for KnB verse.

"Look, I know this place is big…" - Aomine

"…but since this is the main entrance…" - Murasakibara

"…shouldn't this lead DIRECTLY to the MAIN LOBBY?!" – Kise

Instead, there were not one, but two long rows of identical looking doors (Why are there even doors on the CEILING?! – Kise) that seemed to laugh at the newcomers. It would have been normal had it been one of Akashi's special training sessions (that guy gives new meaning to the word 'special'), but they had signed up for etiquette lessons, not a trip to the amusement park haunted house.

Yes, they did training in the haunted house, but that's a story for another day.

The captain took a quick sweep around, before turning back to face them.

"Satsuki, check the door on the far right. Daiki, the one on the far left. Ryouta, check the one behind Satsuki. Shintarou, check the one above Daiki (… - Midorima). Atsushi, the one above Satsuki. I will check the one behind Daiki. And Tetsuya…"

Kuroko materialized behind Akashi.

"…close the door we came in by."

"Hai, Akashi-kun."

Current formation (rectangular corridor):

|-Akashi(left)-Kuroko(middle)-Kise(right)-|

Aomine(side)-Midorima(ceiling)-Murasakibara(ceiling)-Momoi(side)

|-Main Entrance-|

"Ready….open."

A whole flurry of activity happened when the each member opened their respective doors.

Aomine got bowled over by cannonballs horribly painted to look like basketballs.

Midorima had plenty of dolls (Is that Gemini and the other one Cancer?) fall onto his head and knock off his glasses.

Akashi just stood there while the cats yowled and quickly ran back into the room to cower in fear.

Kuroko was practically drowning in Pomeranians and Chihuahuas.

Murasakibara whimpered after one of the ping-pong balls broke his lollipop.

Kise wanted to cry at the sheer number of toy bugs (Why are there so many earthworms?!) that his room sent flying at him.

"Akashi-kun! I found the entrance!"

Momoi Satsuki happily announced, completely oblivious to the misfortune that had befallen the others. The redhead just smirked.

"As expected."

Aomine's head peeked out of the cannonball heap.

"Then say so earlier, Akasshi you bastard!"

"But where's the fun in that?"

Teiko would have voiced their protest, but they preferred to live, thank you very much. Those red and yellow eyes didn't leave much room for discussion after all.

RikkaiXTeiko

"Five doors…"

"You forgot the ones on the ceiling, Yukimura-buchou."

"Right, thanks Akaya. Five plus two makes seven doors. All of them have no indication as to whether any is the right way to the main lobby."

All heads turned to look at Yanagi. He coughed.

"There is an equal chance for any door to be our way out. Or in this case, the way in."

The bluenet captain sighed.

"Alright. Everyone, pick a door."

Current formation:

|-Yukimura(left)-Marui(middle)-Yagyuu(right)-|

Akaya(side)-Yanagi(ceiling)-Sanada(ceiling)-Niou(side)

Jackal

|-Main Entrance-|

"…Yanagi-senpai."

"Yes, Akaya?"

"Where did you and fukubuchou (vice-captain) get those ladders?"

"Oh. We found them beside the main entrance."

"Isn't that too convenient?!" – Akaya

It sounded like a good idea until the team found one Kuwahara Jackal in the depression corner because there were no more doors left for him. Yukimura sighed again.

"Jackal, you can guard the main entrance."

The defense player desperately wanted to tell his captain how there was absolutely no need to do that sort of thing…

"Ok, is everyone ready?"

…but no one was listening to him.

"…open!"

Akaya got bowled over by cannonballs horribly painted to look like tennis balls.

Yanagi had plenty of Barbie dolls tumble down from above.

Yukimura was assaulted by a few dozen fluffy yellow chicks.

Marui got knocked over by Doberman and Pitbull pups.

Sanada blinked after the last shuttlecock fell on his head, wondering if his cap was still fine.

Yagyuu shifted his glasses as he looked down to find that it was coloured cotton balls that his room had sent flying towards him, and that they seemed to like his shirt very much.

Jackal was suddenly glad he got the main entrance.

"Buchou, found the right one."

Niou was practically smirking as he took in the sight of his fellow team members in their various states of disarray. Yukimura was still trying to get the chicks off him – they kept running back. Sanada huffed as he replaced his cap on his head after a thorough inspection.

"Let's go."

*Cheep!*

"Yukimura…there's another one on your shoulder."

"Oh right…thanks."

*Cheep!*

"Seiichi…your left shoulder."

"Where do these things keep coming from?!"

RikkaiXTeiko

Yanagi wanted to cry. The "wailing to the world about how unfair it is" kind of cry. Just how was it possible for people to grow so TALL?

Rikkai stood around their side of the room while they watched the other team file in with equally curious looks on their faces. A flash of recognition passed Kise's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had come. There was complete silence aside from the slight shuffling until Yukimura stepped forward and smiled almost blindingly, holding out a hand.

Kise put on his sunglasses.

"Hello. I'm the captain of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku's tennis club, Yukimura Seiichi. It is nice to meet you."

Akashi decided to ignore those numerous yellow feathers and suspicious sounding chirps.

"I'm the vice-captain, Sanada Genichirou."

"Treasurer cum manager, Yanagi Renji."

"Ace, Kirihara Akaya."

"Doubles 2, Marui Bunta."

"Doubles 2, Kuwahara Jackal."

"Doubles 1, Yagyuu Hiroshi."

"Doubles 2, Niou Masaharu."

Teiko nodded as they lined up in a straight line. The only girl amongst them moved to stand beside the redhead. He stepped forward and grasped the other captain's hand in his own.

"I'm the captain and point guard of Teiko Chuu Gaku's basketball club, Akashi Seijuuro. Likewise, it is nice to make acquaintances with you, Yukimura-san."

"Vice-captain and shooting guard, Midorima Shintarou."

Yanagi was still trying to convince himself of the other team's sanity after seeing the hat their vice-captain was wearing. With all due respect, was it even proper for any male middle school student to wear a floral hat that looked like it belonged on a rich lady's head in an old British movie?

"Small forward, Kise Ryouta."

"Power forward, Aomine Daiki."

"Center, Murasakibara Atsushi."

"Manager, Momoi Satsuki."

Yagyuu slapped Niou for looking where he was not supposed to.

"Sixth player, Kuroko Tetsuya."

The disembodied voice sent Rikkai jumping up in fright until they realized it belonged to a teal-haired boy standing beside Teiko's voluptuous manager. Just how on Earth could they miss him?

"UWAH! Where did YOU come from?!" - Akaya

"I was here the whole time."

"…!"

Akashi sighed as he facepalmed while still looking completely badass.

"I apologise for Tetsuya. He tends to be…unnoticeable."

Unnoticeable?! It was as if he appeared out of thin air! – Rikkai

"Apology accepted. I apologise as well, Kuroko-san, for Akaya here who has been staring at you since just now."

Kise fought hard not to laugh at how much the image of Yukimura holding Akaya up by the shirt collar looked like a mother dog holding her puppy by the scruff of its neck. The younger boy glared at Marui as the senior sniggered.

"It's alright, Yukimura-san. I'm used to it."

No it's not alright. How can anyone get used to being ignored in plain sight? – Yukimura

"I'm glad. That being said, Akaya have you finished the worksheets Sanada and Yanagi gave to you?"

The junior sputtered.

"…yes…no, no actually…no."

Look, what else could he do? His captain was giving him that 'tell-the-truth-or-train-till-you-die' look, and his vice-captain was giving him the 'listen-to-yukimura-or-train-till-you-die' look. Not to mention, Yanagi-senpai was also giving him the 'I-spent-ages-making-those-worksheets-so-train-till-you-die' look.

What the heck was with the Sannin Bakemono and their obsession with training anyway?!

Teiko's redheaded captain just watched on amusedly and turned to his vice-captain.

"Shintarou, you should follow their example and tutor Daiki too."

Midorima adjusted his glasses.

"I'm afraid not. Our ace has just proven to us the existence of a new level of stupidity by failing even worse for midterms than he did for the start-of-years."

"It wasn't my fault they tested us on the Pythagoras Theorem and how sedimentary rocks were formed!"

"…Aomine-kun. Those were on last year's syllabus'."

"Eh? Seriously?!"

Kuroko and Midorima looked at each other with a 'I know how that feels bro' look whilst mentally sighing, and Akashi nodded at the seriousness of the situation.

"I see. This is definitely a big problem."

"Hah?"

"In that case…Shintarou, myself and Ryouta shall tutor you from now on."

"WHAT?!"

The redhead then shot him a 'pass-decently-or-train-till-you-die' look. The blue-haired boy could not help but whimper at the thought of the tort-he meant, revision, that he was in for if he were to even force out a D among his sea of Fs.

Poor, poor, power forward. Who said the Sannin Bakemono were the only ones obsessed with training?

Meanwhile, Niou sidled up to a currently-wearing-sunglasses blond.

"Puri."

"Oh my gosh!"

This time it was one Kise Ryouta that jumped backwards. He looked down to find one smirking silverett waving at him. He chuckled nervously.

"Ano…Niou Masaharu…right?"

"The one and only. You're Kise Ryouta?"

"Yep," Kise thought for a bit, "and your team is…'Absolute King Rikkai' isn't it?"

At this both groups turned silent and Kuroko became noticeable while he slurped on his vanilla milkshake (Ok seriously Tetsu, that is your what-th shake today? – Aomine) at the same time that Marui popped his green apple bubblegum. Even the Teiko's redheaded captain raised his eyebrows in interest.

"Correct. How did you know that?"

"Well during my time in the tennis club, the captain was kind of obsessed with defeating your team, so every practice we had to sit through a one hour presentation on you guys…"

Yukimura gave him the 'you poor, poor guy' look. Teiko's tennis club regulars weren't even on Yanagi's 'Teams we have to form a proper line-up for' list.

Momoi gave Rikkai a sense of déjà vu as she flipped through a hot pink notebook with a "I LOVE MY LITTLE PONY!" written on the front cover. Ok and to be clear, it was simply her action of flipping that caused the sense of déjà vu and not, NOT, the hot pink notebook with Rainbow Dash winking on the front. Really, it wasn't.

"Rikkai Dai Fuzoku's Boy's Tennis Club. Won the Nationals Championships for two consecutive years. Home to three of the best players on the circuit, nicknamed as the 'Sannin Bakemono' – Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichirou and Yanagi Renji…"

Rikkai looked at said three while Teiko nodded at the new piece of information.

"…as well as to five other players who are all Nationals level. Wow, guess you people are in the same boat as us!"

Said five players became depressed in a random corner because their names were not even mentioned.

Yanagi took this as his cue to show off his equally amazing Rikkai Dai third-year school exercise book with absolutely nothing but his name written on the front cover. Midorima looked on with a frown (no he wasn't jealous at all), wondering how their fellow sports team managed to get such a sane and practical manager.

"Teiko Chuu Gaku Boy's Basketball Club. Won every tournament in the middle school circuit since two years back. Home to five of the top players in the country, them being nicknamed 'The Generation of Miracles'…"

"…together with their phantom sixth player, Kurokocchi!" Kise helpfully supplied while hugging the life out of his poor teal-haired teammate who was actually beside him the whole time.

Yukimura cupped his chin and looked up thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah, I remember my school's basketball club captain mentioning something like that. His knees were practically jelly and he looked close to wetting his pants."

Akaya felt newfound admiration for his captain for being able to say that with a straight face. Akashi smiled like a cat who got the cream.

"Send my heartfelt condolences to him."

"I will."

It ended up being a battle of words and insanity after that, with Yukimura and Akashi chatting amiably –sadistically- over shogi (where did that come from?), Sanada arguing with Midorima over choice of headwear, Niou and Kise discussing about copying teachers' handwriting, Aomine and Kirihara somehow getting along with their lack of intelligence, Marui and Murasakibara finding best friends in each other over their favourite snacks, Yanagi managing to strike up a conversation with Kuroko, and Jackal sitting sadly again in the depression corner with a 'forever alone' face as there was no one for him to talk to.

Yagyuu and Momoi just stood side by side as they observed their teams.

"I…suddenly found a proper reason why my team should attend these lessons."

"…so have I, Momoi-san."

Yosh! Just in time for Christmas Eve, and one Echizen Ryoma's birthday^^

I believe I have officially corroded my own sanity writing all this, but it's worth it if I get more favs and reviews, riiiiiggggght? *shifty eyes at readers*

Posted: 24/12/12 (dd/mm/yyyy)

Merry Christmas everybody! Let us all celebrate a wonderful year! :D