On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Cretaceous Era... or not

Kurama sweatdropped. "The strongest eleven aren't human?"

"Well, they seem pretty strong, so I guess it's okay?" Hamano asked, leaning back on his seat.

Hayami frowned. "Are you sure you should be giving in that easily?"

"MixiMax with a dinosaur! That's so cool!" Shinsuke ran up to the stone. "What dinosaur do you have in mind?! Spinosaurus? Iguanodon? Pteranodon would be nice too!"

Aoi chuckled slightly. "Shinsuke's getting excited."

"Boys sure love dinosaurs."

Shinsuke turned to glare at his redheaded senior. "They're dinosaurs! They're hands-down awesome!"

"R-Really...?"

"Fine then! I'll explain to you just how incredible dinosaurs are!" He cleared his throat and began. "Dinosaurs first appeared on this planet 230 million years ago. This is during the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. Through much evolution, they grew able to inhabit land, sea, and sky. And they're said to have ruled the Earth for as close as 160 million years, but at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs suddenly vanished. Some say it was due to a comet or volcanic eruption. There are a lot of theories, but many mysteries about them remain uncovered."

"You sure know a lot about them, Shinsuke!"

"Isn't the most popular theory the one about a large meteor crashing, causing a global-scale shockwave that wiped half of them out and causing natural disasters to wipe the rest of them out?" Kimiko pointed out. "I think it's the same space rock that ended up becoming our moon too, but I could be wrong about that."

"That's what most movies show, but no one really knows for sure." The little goalkeeper replied. "It did happen long before humans came around after all."

"That's true."

"But if it's dinosaur auras you want, Fei already has Tyrannosaurus." Tenma said.

"It's not enough. The enemy's power is already beyond Fei's ability." Daisuke said, making the green haired boy look down. He knew he was right. "I want an aura that's even more ferocious and powerful than T-Rex's."

"Is there a dinosaur like that?" Shinsuke asked.

"Well... I don't know!"

"EHHH?!"

"That's so irresponsible!" Hayami scolded.

"No, it's not!" The stone shot back. "There are many dinosaurs that we have yet to know! There most definitely is a dinosaur that is stronger than a T-Rex out there!"

"Then, maybe I'll get to MixiMax this time!" Kinako exclaimed happily.

"But it's a dinosaur." Aoi reminded.

"You might grow fangs." Akane warned.

Kinako hummed as she closed her eyes to imagine it. Then she smiled. "I'm okay with that!"

"O-Oh, really..."

Daisuke then floated to another table, and only then did they notice that it had a large bone sitting on top of it. "Our artifact for this trip is a dinosaur fossil! Now, I will announce the members. Shindou, Kirino, Shinsuke, Taiyou, Nishiki, Tsurugi, Tenma, Nanobana, Fei, Kariya, Hayami. That is all."

"Eh? You aren't taking Shinsuke out?" Hayami suddenly whined. "Before when I said I was a Three Kingdoms fan, you took me off because going there as a fanboy was a bad thing."

"Shinsuke's knowledge of dinosaurs might come in handy, so he's good."

"And he does have his MixiMax with Liu Bei." Kimiko added.

"Eh..."

"Then, let's all prepare for the trip." Aoi called, earning nods from the other managers.

But just before Kimiko could head for the door, the collar of her hoodie was tugged back. Looking back, she found Tsurugi giving her a look. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Huh? To help prepare, of course."

"And what makes you think you're coming this time?"

Her eyes widened. "You're gonna leave me behind?!"

"That was the deal. Didn't you read the group chat?"

"What?!"

Midori chuckled slightly. "Sorry, Kimiko. But this is for your own good."

"That's right. You still need to rest after everything that happened." Aoi added.

"B-But I'm fine now! I can move my everything like normal! Nothing hurts anymore!"

Suddenly, she felt a slap on her back. "Ow!" Her friend caught her before she could fall, but she glared up at him anyway.

He rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, you're an awful liar. If something like that is enough to get you to your knees, then I can't see you surviving in a dinosaur world."

"And in those times, there wouldn't be a proper place to rest." Aoi added. "We don't know how long we could take, and if you have to sleep on the rough ground for several days in a row, it might make your condition worsen."

She grumbled curses under her breath before eventually giving in, staring up at her friend. "Fine... But I'm telling Yuuichi-san on you."

"Go right ahead." He smirked. "He's the one who wanted you to stay back and rest in the first place."

"I'll tell him you slapped me."

"A small price to pay for the greater good."

"Ugh...!"

~~~~~

After they watched their friends take off in the flying caravan, the seniors that stayed behind asked if she wanted to watch them practice. With little else to do, she agreed.

"Naminori Piero! Kurama!"

"No you don't! Dash Train!"

"Alright! I got through! Sidewinder! Kageyama, make a shoot chain!"

"Right! Extend Zone!"

"I won't let you! Atlantis Wall!"

"Oh no!"

"Close one!"

Sangoku walked over to the bench with a smile as he watched them. "Raimon's in capable hands next year."

Kimiko nodded. "Yeah. But the third-years are also working really hard. I'm just sorry Daisuke-san never asked you guys to come with us to time travel and such..."

Unexpectedly, he gave a thumbs up. "No worries, we have our own job here."

"Job?"

"Actually, Daisuke-san wanted me to focus on mastering a new hissatsu. Those who stayed behind are always helping me to get closer and closer to achieving that."

"Oh, I see. What hissatsu is it?"

He smiled.