Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Takeshi Konomi.

Summary: AU-ish. U-17 setting. The middle schoolers were invited to the U-17 selection camp. They met many challenges and many surprises as they struggling to crawled their way to the top. However, their biggest surprise might have come from meeting one 'Echizen Ryoma', and to found themselves drawn to this mysterious enigma.

Pairings: … later. I have yet to decide.

Warning: Unbeta'd (beware of grammar mistakes and spelling errors). Might be OOC. Will contain BL.

A/N: I recommend you to read or watch New Prince of Tennis first to further understand this fic of mine.

NOTE (IMPORTANT): This is in U-17 setting. It followed New Prince of Tennis plot, but absolutely won't be following too close to the canon. I might have tweaked it a bit too much, lol XD

1. Ryoma NEVER attends Seigaku. He NEVER meets any of the middle schooler beforehand.

2. Because there is no Ryoma in Seigaku, obviously Seigaku didn't exactly won the national, and so Tezuka won't go to pro here.

3. Ryoma's tennis skill is strong. As in really really strong.

The Prince's Regime

~Rikka~

~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~

Prologue

- Those which destiny had chosen -

~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~...~

A dark-haired teen was seen sitting on the edge of a cliff. His right hand lay above the ground, keeping his body's weight in balance. His left hand was holding a racket –a red colored one— firmly. His wrist was flicking up and down as a tennis ball was bouncing in rhythm every time it hit the racket's strings.

A white hat rest on top of his head, framing his hair steadily, kept it from going disarray against the sudden wind which was blowing from below the cliff. The wind caused the yellow ball to swayed abruptly in mid-air and was about to be blown away when the teen calmly extended his racket and caught the ball within the strings. He, then, swiftly knocked it back, letting his right hand to capture the ball.

A pair of golden eyes shone brightly as they stared at the view in front of him, unable to veil its excitement toward what was coming on his way.

"50 middle schoolers..!?"

"Here in the Japanese high school representatives' selection team…?"

"… Hey, you hear?"

"Yeah, what a pain. Do they really expect us to get along with them?"

"Well, yeah, there's that. But, I don't think it's that unusual though?"

"Right. Of course. We already have one exception here."

"So, this is the U-17 candidate selection camp."

"Is this okay… I mean calling middle schoolers like us to this kind of place."

"0%..."

"Before last year, there was not a single precedent of middle schooler representatives even being considered for the training camp."

"As it stands now, of the 270 to 280 U-17 selection candidates, only 50 of them are middle schoolers. The probability that there's a catch to this is… 100%."

"Even though all you high schoolers do not approve of this, I have heard of this recent year's middle school tennis level has risen quite high."

"We must work together to cultivate our talents. As such, let us aim higher as the Japanese U-17 representatives!"

"However, I have a message from the coach: '300 members seem a bit too big. Drop 250 balls and those who cannot obtain one must return home immediately'."

"Coach Kurobe, out of the 296 people, the 50 middle schoolers passed. And almost half of the players don't have a ball, and those are… all high schoolers."

"Doesn't matter. Have all the failed one leave."

'Interesting. All those middle schoolers weren't disappointing at all. Maybe you really won't get bored this time.

"Here in the U-17 selection camp, one by one, everyone is separated by their strengths from court 1 all the way to court 16. Incidentally, the lower the number of the court, the stronger the player."

"In this camp, every day before practice, the coach likes to post all the groups into 'shuffle matches'. If you plan to get ahead then you have to win in these matches."

"The rule here is to beat your opponent and get him demoted."

"I'm Irie Kanata from court 3."

"Court 5, Oni Juujiro."

"Tokugawa Kazuya, court 1."

"It would seem there are greater monsters here than we initially thought."

"There really are other middle schoolers here."

"You seem to have a lot of fun, irie."

"Isn't this interesting? I wonder if our little prince would be gleeful."

"I can't imagine him being gleeful at all."

"That was mean, Tokugawa. But, that really was the reason why they are here, right?"

"…"

"Everyone, please pair up into groups of two."

"You guys' done? Well then, let's start the single matches. Those who lose will be eliminated from the program."

"That's right. You will play against the partner you just teamed up with."

"Game won by Oshitari 7-0!"

"Shit, shit, you bastard Yuushi! Closing off your heart like that!

"Forgive me, Gakuto. This was too bad."

"Game won by Yagyuu, 8-6!"

"I don't believe it. Seems you're really quite the trickster yourself."

"That's harmful to my reputation. We're equal in this regard."

"Game! Won by Kikumaru, 7-4!"

"Oishi, leave your racquet behind. If I have it, then you definitely won't be left out of the U-17 selection."

"Take care of it, Eiji!"

"Of course!"

"A second fluke shot… You're that happy about winning by chance? Of course you would be, Kamio…"

"Shut up."

"Game won by Kamio, 7-5."

"Game won by Yukimura, 7-1!"

"Sana…"

"Game won by Fuji, 7-0."

"You've gotten stronger, Yuuta."

"Thank you for not holding back, aniki."

"Game won by Ohtori, 9-7!"

"Don't be too excited about winning, Choutarou! There are all sorts of guys waiting out there for you in this camp. However, have confidence in yourself since you're the man who defeated me! Farewell, Choutarou!"

"I will! Thank you very much, Shishido-san!"

"Game won by Tezuka, 7-0!"

"That was the best match I've played with you, Kaidoh."

"Yes, I will… definitely."

"I'm counting on you."

"Game won by Atobe, 47-45!"

"Go find your own Hyoutei chant."

"Yes!"

"Game won by Shiraishi, 7-3!"

"Sorry Kenya, the winner has to win."

"Even more than the speedster of Naniwa, bible tennis is higher than it is what you're basically saying."

"6-0, Yanagi!"

"Referee, I, Yanagi Renji, forfeit the match."

"Please tell me you are joking… please wait! What the hell is this!? I still haven't finished with you! I'm just getting started!"

"That's right. You're just getting started. You will be the one to remain in this camp. Go and climb even higher, Akaya."

"3-0, Sengoku!"

"Give it up already, Omoshiro-kun."

"Don't be kidding! I'm—"

"Well? Do you think you'll get any good data?"

"Oh, I think I'll manage. Well then, time to start analysis. I need to make sure they will at least become a decent playmate for the little prince."

"Aren't you going to watch the rest of the matches?"

"I'll watch from the monitor room. Kurobe's been yelling at me to report to him tomorrow. Besides, we need to have Kurobe calling our little one back, though I'm sure he'd done that already."

"Middle schoolers who have lost the singles matches, please return to the dorms to collect your belongings. Your bus home is waiting for you in the parking lot. This will be all. Good work."

"Hey, all of you! Are you really not regretting this!? shouldn't we all be fucking pissed about all of this!?"

"Stop whinning!"

"We lost to our partners fair and square."

"If you are regretting it, then go home and train until you're better."

"Where are we?"

"Coach Saitoh!"

"I have been waiting for you."

"From here on out, my real job begins."

"What are you talking about? Didn't we drop out already?"

"Yes, you did. However, if you do not wish to widen the gap between yourselves and the winners… why don't you try climbing this mountain?

"Are you saying we have a chance to return to the camp if we climb this mountain?"

"I wonder."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You guys were weaker than the winner. That's why you lost. And the winners have already begun training with a special regimen."

"The gap between you will only become larger. Whether you decide to try to close that gap or not, is up to you."

"Don't you want to become stronger?"

An eagle latched itself on the teen's shoulder, pecking his hat then taking it off of his head. Dark locks with emerald tinge were revealed underneath. The teen turned his head, settling his golden orbs on the eagle's equally golden ones.

"Oi, brat! What are you doing?" an old man shouted from behind. Whistling of water could be heard. It was coming from the wooden gourd he was carrying. "Come on! They are coming!"

The dark-haired teen pulled himself up. Placing the tennis ball inside his pocket, he moved the racket to his right hand then raised his left hand up, toward the predator bird. He tugged his hat back from the eagle, which was releasing it without any resistance. The bird which had lost his toy, flapped his wings and decided to fly ahead of the teen, letting him put his cap back to its supposed place; and walked after the old man.

Welcome to hell.

"To stop or to keep moving forward is for you to decide."

Obviously it will be much better if you read or watch New prince of tennis first. All the italic is scenes that happened in-between before and after the winner/loser selection. I only put tits and bits of those scenes here, because I'm not going to repeat everything here.

Also, if you had read the canon, then you will be able to recognize which part I'd changed a bit and which part I added in, that made this different from the original. The next chapter will already in the part where the loser team start their training.

I have a confession to make. I kinda naming the title... err... randomly? Honestly, it just sort of popped up in my mind suddenly and it absolutely has nothing to do with the plot itself. Was it bad? Any suggestion?

I'm really sorry for any grammar mistakes I might had made. I'm embarrassed already because of it. Maybe, you could please help me point out any of the mistakes?