Yesterday we had the match against Kirkwood and we had won 3-2. So you would think that everyone was happy to go to the finals, then think again. It's true most of us were happy about it, but Mark was tensed because he still hasn't God Hand figured out. We tried to lift the mood, but he kept thinking about it.
Right now, Mark, Jude and Axel were sitting in the clubroom, while the others were outside stretching. I was on the field practising two new shoots that I still hadn't fully under control. One was alone and the other one was together with Kevin.
"Lily, let's try it again." Kevin said to me.
We stood in our start position and walked towards the goal. We both jumped in the air and kicked the ball.
"Ice Missiles!" We both said.
The ball formed missiles of ice and went straight into the goal.
"It worked!" Kevin said happily.
"We did it!" I said while giving him a high-five.
"That looked so good, guys." Jack said to us.
"It surely will have an advantage for our next match." Nathan then said.
"let's get the captain then you can show it to them too." Tod said while walking to the clubroom. While I stayed by the bench with the managers.
"Lily, you have to try your individual shot now too." Silvia said to me.
"Yeah, but I don't know why it won't work. I constantly do something wrong, but I don't know what it is." I replied.
"That's why you have to try again. I'm sure you will figure it out before the match." Celia assured me.
I went back to the field with a soccer ball and concentrated on my surroundings. I looked at the ball and then I kicked it in the air in front of me. I ran towards the goal while the ball was flying above me. When it came down I spun around and hit the ball.
"Moonlight Burst!" I said while a pure glow came around the ball making it look like a full moon.
The ball went straight to the goalpost, but it got hit by one of the sidebars which made the ball come back straight to me.
"Oh ow." I said and then the ball came in my face.
I fell on the ground while I felt a warm substance streaming down on my face. I initially knew that my nose was bleeding from the blow.
"Just great." I said while walking back to the bench.
"Here Lily. Keep this against it." Silvia said while giving me a tissue.
"Thank you."
"Except for the fact that the ball didn't go in the goal, I would say that it went pretty well."
"However it must've hurt really bad." Celia said a bit worried.
"Ow don't worry about it. It isn't the first time that something like this had happened to me. Trust me." I said a bit sheepishly.
"Say, Lily, you're pretty clumsy aren't you?" Nelly said out of nowhere.
"Hm, well you aren't the first one to ask or tell me that. So I guess I am a bit clumsy." I replied with a small smile which made the three of them sweatdrop.
"Right."
"What happened to you?" Mark asked me.
"I got a ball in my face. But hey you're finally out of the clubroom so that's good and Kevin and I have a new shoot. So don't worry so much about the upcoming match alright."
"I don't have any words for that, to be honest. I probably just could have guessed it. Anyway, let me try to stop the shoot. I'm really curious now. If you're alright with it of course."
"Alright."
Kevin and I did Ice Missiles while Mark tried to stop it. However, he couldn't and it went straight in the goal.
"Woah, that was amazing! I'm sure we will get a score with that one."
"Thanks." The both of us said in unison.
~I hope that he really is that excited about it and isn't losing his self-confidence.~ I thought to myself.
Three days ago, Axel, Jude and I helped Mark further with his training. However, we had to stop because he got hit by one of the tires pretty hard. After that, we went to coach Hillman's restaurant, where we found out from the detective that Ray Dark was somehow still part of this tournament. He was doing something named Project Z, but the only hint with that was something like the sky. Unfortunately, Axel also got to hear that Dark could be the reason for the accident from his sister.
Luckily we had a free day yesterday. We went to see Mark in the park together with Eric and to no surprise, he was still training like a fool. However, we didn't see the point in stopping him because we knew that he wouldn't listen.
We just trained since then and my Moonlight Blast goes better every time. Hopefully, I can use them in the match.
I arrived a bit later on the training field because I had forgotten my water bottle. So when I came back I saw a boy with long blonde hair talking to Mark. But it looked like he was making fun of him. Then he shot the soccer ball at him, he tried to stop it but he couldn't and flew back into the goal. Everyone went to him, but he said that he was fine and could take another hit. But the other boy just said that he looked more forward to the match than before and then he disappeared.
Mark said down and I walked over to them.
"Who was that?" Eric asked Jude.
"Byron Love. That whole team is filled with arrogant people like him."
"Seems like the finals are going to be some hell of a match." Axel said then.
We went over to Mark and landed him a hand.
"You know I felt like I got a grasp of my new technique against the ball." Mark said to us.
"So you think that you got it figured out now?" I asked him.
"I think so. I'm sure we can win." He replied with his usual smile.
"No." Coach Hillman said to us. "At your current level, winning will be impossible."
"So what do you suggest then?" I asked him.
"You will see."