"You here to challenge us now?" grinned Kagami at him.
"As if any of you could beat me" huffed the animatronic and held the ball. "I am Daiki Aomine from the Generation of Miracles. I challenge one of you to a one-on-one"
"A one-on-one" grinned Kagami. "You're on!"
"Oi, Kagami!" barked the others.
"When you loose..." said Aomine and looked dangerously at them. "You are all finshed and done"
The Seirin team shivered but Kagami walked over to the door.
"I won't loose" grinned Kagami stepping out.
"Tsk" said Aomine and walked past him to the door right by the office. "Room 3, now"
Kagami growled at him but followed.
The Seirin team staggered after him but suddenly stopped.
"Hey..." said Izuki and looked around.
"What is it?" asked Kawahara.
"Where's Tetsuya?" asked Izuki confused.
"Yeah..." mumbled Hyuuga looking around. "He suddenly disappeared on us at the chase"
"Did he hide somewhere?" asked Furihata.
"Maybe" nodded Fukuda. "I would've done the same if I could"
"Or maybe he left" suggested Kiyoshi. "He did say that he might have to leave..."
"But aren't the doors locked?" asked Koganei.
Mitobe gave him a nod and looked confused around.
"Oi!" barked Kagami at them from the room. "You coming?!"
"Yeah, yeah, lower down will you!" yelled Hyuuga.
"I believe Tetsuya can take care of himself" said Riko but showed some concern.
"But I think our situation is at the worst now..." said Fukuda.
"Yeah" nodded Kawahara and Furihata.
"Kagami took on the one-on-one..." said Izuki.
"Come on!" grinned Kiyoshi. "Believe in him will you?"
"I know he's strong..." said Koganei but didn't hide his worry. "But can he beat the animatronic alone?"
"We wil just have to scold him until he does!" said Riko. "Come on!"
*****************************
Somewhere else in the building stood Tetsuya inside a dark room.
In the darkness, his body was visible.
He was glowing light blue and white while transpartent.
Tetsuya looked down at a stand infront of him with a golden colored basketball laying on it.
After staring at it for a while, he looked up and suddenly disappeared only leave a few small sparkles which would fade seconds later.
***************************
Back in room 3 were Seirin watching Kagami having his match against Aomine.
Aomine did another harsh slam dunk and Kagami panted with his hands on his knees.
"Is that all you can do?" huffed Aomine, the basketball flying back into his hand. "You're all a lost cause now. Just give up and we'll be over with it"
"Like hell I would do that!" barked Kagami.
"Kagami!" yelled Seirin.
"Come on!" yelled Koganei.
"You can do it!" yelled Izuki.
"Don't give up!" yelled the freshmen trio.
"You better win, stupid freshman!" snarled Hyuuga.
"Has your training lately been for nothing!" yelled Riko. "Get a move on!"
"I'm trying!" barked Kagami back at them.
Mitobe patted Koganei's shoulder making him turn.
Mitobe did some movements and Koganei nodded determind.
"Remember what he said to you before!" said Koganei making Kagami freeze and turn. "He may not be here right now, but remember what he said when he came to help us!"
"Yeah!" grinned Kiyoshi. "He believes in you Kagami!"
"You better not disappoint him after all the help he gave!" snarled Hyuuga.
"You better believe that the first thing I do after crab locking you is to find him if you loose!" yelled Riko. "He put on the right track, so you better keep youself on the right road!"
"I know that!" yelled Kagami but turned to Aomine with a grin. "I'm not loosing anytime soon. We still need to find him after we lost him back there because of you"
"Heh?" just said Aomine raising an eyebrow then groaned. "So it means I have another one I have to deal with..."
"You're not getting to him! Because I'm going to beat you!" yelled Kagami. "Here and now!"
"Tsk, just you try" grinned Aomine and threw the ball to him.
Kagami dribbled the ball and charged forward.
Aomine grinned and ran at him.
The two fiercely ran around eachother with Seirin cheering loudly.
*************************
Three other animatronics woke up on the stage.
"Huh?" said Kise as his eyes caught something to the right side of them.
"What is it Kise-chin?" asked Murasakibara.
"There, to your right" said Kise but kept still.
"What?" asked Midorima and they turned their heads.
There they saw a light blue glowing and transpartent figure looking up at the extra stage.
The animatronics froze still as they stared at it.
"N-no w-way..." stuttered Kise.
"It can't be..." mumbled Midorima with wide eyes.
"Kuro...-chin...?" slowly muttered Murasakibara.
The blue figure turned it's head towards them.
"Kuro-chin/Kuroko/Kurokocchi!" called the three and bolted towards it.
The figure gave them a small smile and disappeared as the sensor lights shut on.
"N-no..." said the three and stopped still.
Midorima was the first to recover and walked over to the extra stage.
He opened the curtains as the other two stumbled over.
The curtains opened revealing the still offline Kuroko animatronic looking down with closed eyes.
"He's still the same..." mumbled Murasakibara sad.
"B-But..." said Kise turning to them. "Wasn't t-that...?"
Midorima was silent and quietly closed the pale blue curtains again.
"It could've just been our imagination..." he muttered and turned around.
"But Kurokocchi-, no" said Kise shaking his head. "Tetsuyacchi..."
"Tetsu-chin..." muttered Murasakibara sad. "When will you come back to us...?"
"We still have to repay you, Tetsuya..." whispered Midorima slowly.
**********************************
"Yeah, go Kagami!" cheered Seirin as Kagami did another dunk.
Aomine and Kagami glared at eachother.
One could almost see static lights flickering from their eyes as they faced eachother.
"The scores 9 to 9!" said Izuki.
"The next score will be the winner..." said Hyuuga.
"Come on, Kagami!" yelled the rest.
Kagami growled through gritted teeth as Aomine glared at him.
"I can't loose! I won't loose!" barked Aomine furious. "I have a partner who I need to get back! We were supposed to play together again before that bastard destroyed everything!"
"What..." muttered Seirin between eachother.
"Is it the same person?" asked Koganei to the others who nodded.
"Must be" nodded Kiyoshi then eyed the animatronic. "But what he said..."
"Someone destroyed everything..." muttered Koganei.
"But who?" asked Fukuda.
"And what do they mean?" asked Kawahara.
"They're animatronics..." said Furihata. "Aren't they...?"
"I won't loose either!" yelled Kagami, eyes filled with determination. "I also got a partner who I won't disappoint. He helped me with my basketball and showed us pure teamwork! I won't loose, we won't loose!"
Aomine growled loudly and began to dribbled the ball, now more harsh then ever.
Kagami growled back and the two had a stare off.
"You bastard!" yelled Aomine furious and charged forward.
Kagami roared and charged at him.
The two ran around eachother so fast that Seirin had difficulty keeping a tag on what was happening.
"They're monster!" yelled Koganei.
"How is that even possible!" yelled Furihata.
"They're both determing" said Kiyoshi staring at the match.
"Both have different reasons to win" nodded Riko.
"Oh no!" yelled the others as Aomine jumped up by the hoop.
Kagami roared and jumped infront of him.
Aomine went to dunk, but Kagami got a hold on the ball.
Seirin stared with fearful expressions as time seemed to slow down as the two fought for the ball.
Suddenly a faint twinkle sound was heard by Kagami and Aomine making them widen their eyes.
Something pale blue was caught in the corner of their eyes.
They turned their eyes and saw a faint blue figure.
"You can do it" smiled the figure with a smile. "I believe in you"
"Tetsuya?" asked both of them.
Aomine was in pure shock, but Kagami got filled up with determination.
He gave out a roar and stole the ball from Aomine.
They landed on the ground and Kagami went to the dunk now himself.
Aomine recovered and jumped after him.
"No!" yelled Aomine grabbing the ball.
"It is-!" yelled Kagami and overpowered Aomine to dunk the ball into the hoop. "Over!"
"Kagami!" screamed Seirin in joy.
Kagami and Aomine landed on the floor again as the basketball bounced up from the dunk force.
The basketball bounced to the side but seemed to stop in mid air for a split second.
Everyone looked to the side and the basketball fell down again.
It bounced and rolled over to Seirin and Riko picked it up.
The door opened behind them and they turned to see Kise, Midorima and Murasakibara there.
"Aomine" said Midorima and Aomine closed his eyes and looked down.
"I know..." he said.
He walked over to them and they nodded to eachother.
They all turned to look at Seirin.
"We have one last memeber in the team" said Kise to them.
"Our captain" nodded Murasakibara.
"He is the strongest of us all" informed Midorima adjusting his glasses.
"You will need all the strength you can against him..." muttered Aomine looking between them, then lastly Kagami. "You better not loose now. Not to him. Do it for him"
"Huh" said Kagami to him but they turned around.
The animatronics walked down the hallway, leaving Seirin to themselves.
"What...?" asked Furihata.
"What is going on here?" asked Hyuuga turning to the others.
"There must be some story behind this..." muttered Koganei and Mitobe slowly nodded in agreement.
"For him?" asked Kawahara turning to Kagami.
"Who was he talking about?" asked Fukuda confused.
Kagami was just silent, staring at the door where the animatronics left.
"Maybe we get answers next night..." said Izuki.
"Maybe" nodded Kiyoshi slowly. "Maybe we can help them?"
"Who knows..." said Riko turning to them. "But we need to be prepared for tomorrow. From how it seems. Next night will be the most difficult one"
"Yeah" nodded the rest.
The alarm from the office went off and they walked out.
Riko handed Kagami the ball and they went to the stage in the gym.
The stage lights were on and the animatronics were at their places, turned off.
But for some reason, the atmosphere there was heavy and sad.
Seirin was quiet as Kagami placed the basketball on stage and looked up between them all.
A faint breeze suddenly came from the side.
They all turned to see the curtains from the extra stage had just finished swaying slightly.
"What was that?" asked Kagami and they walked over.
He slowly opened the curtains.
There they found the Kuroko animatronic offline standing in the shadows inside the small stage, the 'Out of Service' sign on clear display for them.
But there on the sign was a small note.
Riko picked it up and read it.
'I apologize, but I can't come to you again, Seirin.
I need to go back and look over the people who needs me.
Just know that I am happy to see your basketball is the same and not breakable.
You got all my support.
-Tetsuya K."
Seirin looked between eachother, all still silent.
They went to the exit, unlocked the doors and went out the gym.
**************************
Alright,
For some reason this chapter gave me the feels...
It could be because the song 'Dancing with you ghost' was playing in the background, but I have no idea.
Hope you enjoyed!