One Nil to You (A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction)

Chapter 20

September 23, 2012

Ama Dablam — Khumbu, Nepal

Morning

The soaring ridges and steep faces of the Ama Dablam loomed in the distance. Juri and Artur made their way towards them as they had to make their last camp at their destination. Just as they were near, a chute of snow unhitched itself and went trundling down one of the mountains, sliding over the knotted edge and crashing down into the chasm below. The hush that followed was hair-raising despite this was one of the best months to climb the mountain that was often referred to as the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas".

The crowning point of the mountain nearly touched the heavens and was bathed in brilliant light. Prongs of thin light skewered the snow in a bridling, moving line. Artur and Juri had surmised that the heat had shifted the snow from the haunches of the time-sculpted mountain. All across their line of sight, the long ridges on each side were truly like the arms of a mother protecting her child and the hanging glacier was the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods that Sherpa women wore. That was what the mountain's name mean: Mother's Necklace. Draped around them were the rivieres of powdery snow. The air became boreal as they finally arrived in their destination.

After setting up camp, training immediately followed. But with the gelid weather that made either of them impossible to put on their sports apparel, Juri just took out her tennis racket and went outside where her father was. He stood underneath a cliff with a giant rock stationed at the very end of its tip that could fall on top of him if a bulldozer knocked it off.

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked.

Artur took out a tennis ball from his fur-lined hooded jacket and threw it at her. Juri caught it with her gloved hand.

"See that rock up there?" Artur asked, pointing above him.

Juri nodded with confusion. "Yeah. What about it?"

He said lucidly, "I want you to shove it all the way down here using only your racket and the tennis ball."

"W-Wait! What?" she stammered, baffled by the order.

"Come on, Juri, I know you heard me perfectly loud and clear."

"Yes, I did, but that is not the issue."

"Then what?"

"I've always trusted you, father, but what does manhandling a rock got to do with achieving the Pinnacle of Perfection. Nothing's impossible for the phoenix, I know that, but if you really want me to hustle that rock, I'll mostly likely need a real tennis ball."

"What the tennis ball is made out of or whatever of your techniques you'll use doesn't matter. Unless you remember it and open your heart, Juri, you can never open the final door."

Suddenly, a helicopter was coming towards them.

"You're heading back to Brussels?" she presumed.

He nodded. "I know you can handle yourself well and you can contact the Himalayan Heli Service once you're over to take you back down."

"Father, this was how you achieved the Pinnacle of Perfection, right?"

Artur shook his head nonchalantly. "No, not really."

Juri was seething. "Then what was the whole point dragging me all the way out here if this wasn't how you opened the last door of the Selfless State?"

"You said it before, Juri, you're you and I'm me. We're not the same, therefore, you can't achieve the final door the way I did."

"So, this was the way you could think for me to be able to reach the Pinnacle of Perfection?"