On The Side Of The Pitch With You

A Lesson Well Taught

"This is a friendly between Inazuma Japan and Resistance Japan!" Funaki stated. "I will act as referee. Begin the kick-off!"

The second the whistle blew, Tsurugi passed the ball to Matatagi, who made a back pass to their captain. Hakuryuu, Minamisawa and Namikawa all went after him, but thinking fast, he was able to pass to Sakura before they could get it.

But immediately, Kishibe took the ball. "Is that all you've got?"

The pink haired girl glared at him. "Don't look down on me because I'm a girl!"

"Sakura, don't push yourself!" Tenma warned.

"I fix my own mistakes!"

But what she didn't realize was that there were four others following behind her. Kishibe didn't bat an eyelash as his pass blew her off her feet.

Hakuryuu received it. He waved his hand over the ball. A bright light and strong winds surrounded him as he jumped. The sky that was a clear blue mere seconds before turned dark and cloudy as a storm approached.

"Here he comes!" Shindou warned.

"White Hurricane!"

But it wasn't heading for the goal just yet.

Yukimura jumped up and slash-kicked the ball twice, dropping the temperature of the field even more. The storming ball was covered in ice, and a gray panther roared as he kicked it towards the goal. "Panther Blizzard!"

"A shoot chain?!"

"What incredible power!"

Manabe and Minaho were unable to do anything. Shindou jumped up to try and block it, but he was easily blown away. Ibuki had no time to call out a hissatsu and settled for his bare hands, but he was flung to the side of the pitch.

"Are you okay?" Tetsukado asked, running over to him.

He was not. His gloves had turned black from the burn. "That was completely different from what I've seen so far..."

"What?"

"Shindou and the others have been fighting against guys like that...?"

As they headed back to their positions for the next kick off, Hakuryuu had a proud smirk on his face. "Do you see? This is our difference in rank."

Tsurugi didn't say anything. This was reality after all. And after his talk with Tetsukado the night before, he supposed it was about time the rest of the team realized that too.

"From the looks of that shoot chain, they really do mean to destroy us." Shindou stated.

"It's a challenge we'll have to accept." Tenma replied, feeling the excitement. "Let's do our best to bring out even more of everyone's abilities during this game!"

"But be careful. That wasn't the full extent of their power."

He knew that. This game was not going to be easy.

Tsurugi passed to Matatagi once again, but when he tried to make a back pass like before, Kishibe and Minamisawa had already marked both Tenma and Sakura. So he tried to go forward. Before he could blink, Namikawa had the ball.

"Hey, track team!" He said. "What the hell was up with that dribbling? You looked like you were going in slow-mo!"

He passed to Minamisawa, who easily got through a frustrated Tetsukado. The ex-boxer felt a crack, and for a moment, a memory of his hand injury came back. He forcefully pushed the thought aside to focus on the game, but immediately he was greeted with the sight of all his teammates struggling.