On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Madness

"Hey, you! The score is still 0-0! The match resumes with Ixal Fleet, Aegir's throw-in!"

Matatagi prepared himself from further back, and as soon as the ball was thrown, he rushed in and took it from under their nose. He ran up the pitch, only to be frozen by Ishigashi's glare, much to his frustrations.

From him, the ball went in Sakura's direction, though another Ixal member got to it faster than she could and brought it down precisely to Ozrock's feet. Minaho and Manabe moved to stop him, but he easily pushed through them. Tetsukado and Konoha's hissatsus too.

"Unbelievable! Ozrock's power is fearsome!"

"Ibuki!"

"Stop him, Ibuki!"

"Yeah!"

Ozrock kicked into the sky, the ball glowing in a bright blue light. It exploded in the dark sky, leaving traces of its particles shining. "Stargazer!" Ozrock appeared in the midst of it all, bringing his hand down as a signal for all the particles to fall like a million shooting stars.

"Rising Slash!"

Though, even with enough time to bring out his move, Ibuki was still forced into the goal, the ball right on his stomach.

"Goal! Ixal Fleet makes the first goal!"

For a second, they could only stare with their jaws wide open. Ozrock, with his smirk ever-present, walked past them and said, "This is Ixal Fleet's soccer." He let out a disdainful laugh. "For a long time, we have endured and conquered harsher environments than you will ever know. This fight is of no hardship to us."

As they all got back into position, Matatagi couldn't help but to send a glare in Ishigashi's direction. "That tour guide's shown his true colors."

"Ishigashi-san..."

He turned to their captain with a look. He hated to admit it, but, "He had incredible spirit."

"All of the opponents we'd face have played soccer with vigor in order to save their planet..." Tsurugi added in. "But Ixal Fleet goes even higher than that."

A smirk slipped out at that. "Bold words coming from someone who missed nearly half the tournament."

Amber eyes shot him a look. "Don't forget that the FFI Vision 2 were all aliens too. I was with you guys until Sandorias, so I think I'm more than qualified to make that comment still."

"Fair enough. You did also fight us as Faram's captain, so maybe you do understand the aliens' feelings more."

"Yeah... But not theirs." He muttered, casting a glance at their opponents.

"It's as if it's soccer, but not soccer." Shindou piped in suddenly. "That's how it feels like."

"Not soccer?" Tenma asked.

"Coach Kuroiwa called it madness. When we try to go in and steal the ball, we're close to being dragged into the darkness in their hearts."

Matatagi's eyes narrowed. "If we wanna smash through that and steal the ball, the soccer that we've played so far isn't going to work."

"... I'm going to play my soccer." The captain said. "I'll attack them straight on from the front."

"Captain's right. I think it's the best way."

"That's our soccer!"

"Okay! Let's take back that point!"

"Yeah!"

A small smirk came out. As the two forwards made their way back to their positions for kickoff, the navy haired one turned to him with a look.

"What are you thinking about?"