Chasing Stars

Raimon versus Gemini Storm

The thick tension on the Umbrella pitch could be cut with a knife. It settled between the three groups - Raimon, Umbrella, and the so-called 'Aliens' - like a heavy blanket, slowly suffocating anyone unlucky enough to get caught up in it. Still, the grim atmosphere turned out to be  a blessing in disguise, Jeanne supposed; If it weren't for the way it locked her into place, she might have done something inadvisable.

Like, say, go up to the Alien team and give 'Janus' a good thwack on the head, for example.

No, she'd save that for a more private conversation down the line. For now, she had to focus on the issue at hand. Like the fact that her school would go up in smoke, should Raimon lose the match.

On the one hand, she had full faith in the Raimon team. They hadn't won the Football Frontier by being terrible players. That said, she didn't know what their opponents were capable of, and they had already played a gruesome match against Zeus earlier that day, and they were missing a few key players. The odds were stacked against them.

While Jeanne was silently contemplating the situation, the 'Alien' captain turned towards their little group and, for the first time today, their eyes met. There was a moment where he simply stared. Stubbornly, she stared right back.

After what felt like hours, he broke eye contact. She counted that as a win.

"You," 'Janus' nodded towards her captain, who pointed to himself in confusion. "Yes, you. Bring us a ball."

Not willing to argue, Lou scrambled away from their group to do just that. The Raimon captain had no such qualms. "Why not use that?" He sounded genuinely curious, pointing towards the black soccer ball at the other captain's feet.

'Janus' scoffed. "Can't you see we're lowering ourselves to your standards?" he shot back.

Jeanne wouldn't have thought it possible, but the tension became even thicker while they waited for Lou to come back with a ball. It was mostly on the part of the Raimon team. As the seconds ticked by, they became more and more aggravated, and the perceived slight against their captain certainly hadn't helped matters.

In contrast, the 'Alien' team was the perfect picture of tranquility.

Mark was the first to step up, offering his hand. 'Janus' didn't shake it. "We're Raimon's soccer club. I'm the Captain, Mark Evans," he offered, unfazed by his opponent's attitude. "Who are you?"

For a moment, it seemed like 'Janus' would ignore the question entirely. Then, so silent Jeanne could barely make it out, he answered, "I already told you, we're Alius." His tone turned pensive. "I suppose you can call us Alius Academy. And I'm Janus, the captain of Gemini Storm."

"Janus, Gemini Storm..." Jeanne mouthed to herself, testing out both names. Neither really followed traditional naming conventions, but they weren't strange enough to be, for lack of a better word, completely alien to her.

It made her wonder if that was deliberate. Knowing Jor, it was likely - he always did like to play around with words. Janus is the name of a moon, so that fits the alien narrative, she figured. And Gemini is a constellation, I suppose...

Still, actual aliens wouldn't use either designation. Or speak a language understood on earth. Or play soccer - there was obviously something strange was afoot.

"Ah!" Mark exclaimed loudly. He smacked his fist into his open palm, then scanned the crowd - only the Umbrella team was still present, as any other student had long since done the smart thing and left the premises - for something. "We still need a referee," Raimon's captain said, giving their group a pleading smile. "Can one of you help us out?"