Story:Scott and Halley: New Year, New Rivalry
Scott and Halley: New Year, New Rivalry
Written by Cherry and Coyzn
Google Doc (for better formatting)
January 1st, 2026, Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Before the game…
Ever since the break for the holidays came to an end, Scott Hayes and his fellow Swashbucklers have been on a string of losses. Despite the long and exhausting team practices, both mentally and physically, their hard-fought efforts have just been unable to be converted into wins for the team whose record was among the worst in the league. Coming from an academy whose mantra was winning, this stark change in environment, coupled with it being on the biggest stage in the basketball world, has taken its toll on Scott's mental state. The heckling fans in the opposing arenas and on social media sure don't help either.
Nevertheless, he hasn't given up, striving to turn the tides each night and net a win for his team again. And tonight, he's looking to do just that in Winnipeg, playing against fellow rookie and past rival Halley Leonards.
Halley steps out of the Voyageurs’ locker room wearing the team’s jacket with a little stride of confidence, having a good feeling about the game he is going to play in due to the home court advantage that he and his team have. He’s had some ups and downs almost halfway through the season, but the media are talking about him being a potential rookie of the year contender, and the team are finally reattaining a sense of relevancy.
However, Halley was a bit weary about facing the Swashbucklers. Even though the team hasn't won for a while, there was a certain player on their roster who might prove to be a problem for him: Scott Hayes, the timber wolf who embarrassed him during his academy days.
It isn't long until the game now, and Scottie is taking the time in the Swashbucklers’ locker room to psych himself up for the coming match. Seated on a bench donning his uniform with his own team’s jacket draped over top, his leg bounces restlessly as his playlist of choice blasts through the headphones in his ears. He stares down at his paws and rubs slowly and mindlessly over the raw scars on his hand with a thumb, mind running amok.
Ever since the season began, and even long before that, he's been returning to one thought in particular: "what am I without all this?"
“Hm, nah, screw that,” with a resolute growl, Scott rises to his feet and slicks back his mane, his chest puffing out with a deep, mind-clearing sigh. He does his best to think positive and reassuring thoughts despite himself, then heads for the door leading out to the arena’s tunnels. Time to bring it home.
Halley, on the other hand, casually walks the tunnels whilst doing some stretches to limber up, a habit he picked up ever since arriving in Winnipeg, whose team’s fans have been actually quite supportive of him and his game.
"Ahhh... time to make this city proud tonight," he smiles with the hopes that they will be a contending team in the coming future. The rabbit is still inexperienced and raw, but has potential to be a great player if he learns from his mistakes and how to be consistent.
Before they both can head out to the court and arena full of howling fans, Scott spots Halley a ways away. Normally, he keeps to himself before a game, wanting to stay in the dog-eat-dog mentality to really give his all on the hardwood. But, having a history with the bunny, Scott decides to go greet him.
The wolf pops the earbuds out of his ears and stuffs them into his pocket before waving over to Halley, sparing an enlarged grin his way, "hey!"
Just as he was about to head out, Halley heard a familiar voice coming from behind him, "hmm?" he said as he turned around to see the timber wolf walking up to him, "oh, heya, Scott!"
Scott stops before Halley and stuffs his paws into his jacket’s pockets, beaming down at the bunny, "been a bit, bun bun," the wolf chuckles lightly, tail swishing calmly behind him, "just came to say, might've lost against you last time, but, ah... I'm thinking tonight's gonna be different."
The rabbit looks up at Scott, due to him being a little taller, "oh? Why's that?" he asks in a light-hearted tone.
“New year, new me, right?” Scott smirks at Halley, giving a coy shrug of his shoulders, “that means kicking it off with a win, even if I am in your neck of the woods in the middle of nowhere Canada,” the wolf remarks teasingly, ribbing the bunny a little to maybe throw him off his game.
"Well, is that so? Wanna bet, then?" Halley glares at Scott with a competitive fire in his eyes, challenging the wolf with a beckoning glare.
The proposition intrigues Scott, who raises an inquisitive brow, “sports betting? You want us to get in trouble or something?”
Halley quickly waves his hands dismissively, "No, no, no! Not with money! I mean, like, we could put something else on the line! Maybe… a jersey swap?”
“A jersey swap?” he questions curiously, thinking it over for a moment. Scott had never really done one of those, especially not in the big leagues where it’d be incredibly public.
“Hm… well, how about this: if my team wins tonight, and we will,” he hums smugly, “we can do a swap. But, I also get to post anything I’d like on your socials, and vice versa. Anything,” the wolf states as his terms, the thought of embarrassing Halley again, this time online, piquing his devilish interest further.
"Hmm..." Halley hesitates for a moment.
"Deal! May the best team win, which is definitely us, obviously," he raises his hand out for a fist bump with a sly little smirk on his face. Being on a two game winning streak, he felt confident that he could make it three tonight.
The wolf laughs out loud at that, but reciprocates the fist bump anyway, now feeling a competitive fire of his own stirring in his gut, "we'll see about that on the court, bun bun…"
Tip off…
It’s game time, and the starters take to the hardwood, including Scott and Halley. Riverside Stadium is erupting with fanfare as the players take their respective positions at midcourt. Scott is hunched over with his paws on his knees, his intense gaze glued to the ball as one of the officials brings it out and positions himself between the centers for both teams. The wolf steals a glance over at Halley, who is doing some final stretches and limbering up before the tip, which is about to commence…
Now.
The referee finally blows their whistle and tosses the ball high into the air, and both bigfurs leap for it when it reaches its apex…
And Winnipeg wins it.
Halley at point catches the ball in his arms once it’s tipped towards him. Feeling a rush of energy after the favorable start to the game, he grins confidently as he dribbles the ball up the court. Not looking to complicate things, especially not with a bet on the line, he signals to his team to run a play that’ll allow him to get open for a quick and easy three ball.
Screens are set, picks are rolled, and with the shot clock winding down, finally, Halley, thanks to masterful and swift off-ball movement, loses his defender to get wide open. Scott spots Halley setting up in the corner out of the corner of his eye all alone, so he makes a desperate dash to try to get a contest off after the bunny is tossed the rock.
But, it’s in vain, as Halley snatches the ball once it’s passed, locks onto the rim, hops, then releases...
Swish.
The arena lights up with cheers and flash photography after the bucket, and a cash register sound effect plays from the loudspeakers overhead. Scott gruffly huffs in slight irritation as his team makes haste to get back on offense, and he jogs down the court beside Halley, a twitch in his eye.
“Not looking good already, Scott!” Halley then taunts, jogging backwards and outstretching his arms with a smug confidence about him.
“Yeah, yeah. Lotta game left, bun bun. Don’t get too cocky…”
Scott shakes his head with a low, heated growl and comes to a stop next to the opposing two guard, the itch to close this game out with a win as soon as possible already beginning to gnaw at him.
He watches as the ball is brought up the court, biding his time, waiting for his moment as the play plays out. Until finally, after a hard screen knocks his defender off balance, he cuts through the defense down an open lane and calls for the ball.
With a direct dime threading the needle between two defenders from his teammate, Scott catches the ball, then leaps off of one foot, cocks the rock back in his palm, and slams it home.
He lands down hard on one leg as the crowd roars with that powerful finish, before then giving a downward flex of his arms and howling out, “there we go!”
Halley just rolls his eyes, feigning unimpression. Yet, he still flashed back to not so pleasant memories of when he met Scott for the first time on the court during his time at Kirkwood and the wolf was doing the exact same thing: lighting up crowds with his high-flying dunks.
“How’s that for not looking good, huh?!” Scott can’t help but taunt in return as he runs up beside the bunny, flashing his sharp fangs in a smug grin as his tail wags about behind him pridefully.
The rabbit huffs, shooting a pouty look at the wolf before muttering in a low and annoyed tone, “like you said, lotta game left…”
How true that would become…
As the match went on, things would only take a turn for the worse, but not just for only one of them. Despite the promising start to the game for both the wolf and rabbit, soon, the tense atmosphere surrounding their competition with one another would only put a damper on their performances.
Scott would only make one other field goal that game out of seven attempts, one of those even being an awful three attempt he’d chuck up and airball after getting locked down and forced to take a bad shot at the buzzer. Six of the ten points he’d go on to score would come from the line, and though they were points at the end of the day, he wasn’t exactly proud of them.
Over time, the heat and frustration would bubble over, the wolf taking it out on himself whenever he’d turn over a possession or miss an easy lay by clenching his hands into fists and digging hard into his own palms with his claws.
“Do better… the hell are you doing out there…”
While Scott was at war with himself, Halley on the other hand was warring with anyone but himself. He’d take twice the amount of shot attempts as Scott did, but only sunk four of them. Eventually, he’d just start tossing them up, one after the other, desperate to heat up, only to grow colder and colder.
This frustrated him to no end, taking his own anger out on the officials by cussing them out and even his opponents by playing dirty defense, causing him to just about foul out of the game, off by just one.
“That’s bull, ref, you know it is!”
Despite all that hardship for both Scott and Halley, when push came to shove, it was the Swashbucklers who would go on to win the game by five. It was hard fought, and a real frustrating fight at that for them, but nevertheless, they won, starting off the new year with a W.
On the sidelines now, heated and gassed, Scottie deliberately wraps his roughed up hands with sports tape as he sits slumped on the bench, taking deep, yet shaky breaths. They won, so... why wasn't he excited?
Even winning the bet he’d made with Halley before their game had slipped his mind, in favor of intrusive thoughts that made his vision blur and tunnel…
"Hey! Hey!”
Hearing the familiar call, snapping him out of his down-and-out stupor, Scott’s ears perk up and he looks in the direction it came from. He spots Halley approaching him on the bench, then feigns a weak smile as the memory of the bet finally returns to him.
“Ah, hey. You, ah, should’ve just slinked off while you could, bun bun. Free rein to your socials is a very dangerous thing to give someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart, y’know,” the wolf hums in amusement as he finishes up his mending and stands back up to face down at Halley.
“Well, a bet is a bet. You won fair and square…” the rabbit looks at him with a defeated smile, he may have lost and had a horrible game tonight, but he is fair and can take the punishment that the wolf gave him.
"You still want my jersey, Scott? ‘Cause I can see the reporters about to leave,” he nodded to the media box where camerapeople were stowing their equipment away.
Rough game aside, Scott and his team did finally break their losing streak. Even if it is bittersweet for the wolf. Despite that, he nods in agreement and breathes out the pent up emotion in a deep sigh, “suppose we better hurry then, huh? In the meantime, I’ll be thinking up something reeeal colourful to put on your page, something… fine worthy,” Scottie threatens playfully, bumping into the bunny with a sly chuckle as he hurriedly slips out of his jersey.
Not even wanting to think about what that’ll entail, Halley calls out and waves to the people in the media box as he pulls his own jersey off in tandem, "hey! Mind snapping a pic of a jersey swap?" he then asks one of them kindly before they could finish packing up.
The reporters shrug to themselves, but agree to the proposition anyway. They whip out their cameras once more, and Scott and Halley quickly exchange their jerseys before holding them up and striking a pose side by side, sporting big smiles for the picture.
“Cheese!”
Snap!