During their briefing before the match, Professor Aruno suddenly appeared, informing Fei that he had finished creating a machine to transform a Chrono Stone back to the person it once was. Fei revealed to them that he had taken Endou's stone back from the SSC before he went to their surprise party. After a short comical interlude of Midori kicking the machine to get it to work, an explosion occurred, knocking them all back.
When the electricity in the room was rebooted, they found that the stone was gone.
In its place was...
"Hey, everyone!"
A familiar grin on a very familiar face.
"Coach Endou..."
When it all sunk in, they ran to him. "Coach!"
"Coach Endou, welcome back!"
"I'm sorry for the trouble guys."
"Coach..." Tenma wiped the tears out of his eyes before cheering loudly. "Alright! Coach Endou is back!"
As they laughed and cheered and caught up, Kimiko overheard Aoi and Daisuke's little talk. It appeared the orange stone had taken a liking to his new form.
"That's Endou Mamoru..." Zanark muttered from beside her.
"Guys, you've done well to make it this far." Their coach said.
"That voice..." His eyes widened. "Oh! So it was Endou Mamoru's voice I heard back then!"
"Back then?" Tenma repeated questioningly.
"Yeah, when I MixiMaxed with Clara Jane. You told me, 'You can get much stronger. Not just in body, but in spirit too!'"
"I believed that you would do it." Endou smiled. "Show me how much better you've become."
"Heh. Look forward to it."
Kimiko crossed her arms with a pout. "Then, that would mean Endou-san is indirectly responsible for making me crash into a cliff."
"You what?!"
Kidou placed a hand on his blonde friend's shoulder. "You're late, Gouenji. As always."
"It's almost time for us to head to the stadium! So without further ado, the great Clark Wonderbot, as coach for team Chrono Storm, will―"
"Coach Endou! Please be our coach for this game!" Tenma continued on without realizing Wondeba exploding to pieces behind him. "I want it to be you who leads us in our last game!"
"You guys..."
"Why not?" Kidou smiled.
"At this point, it's a battle of spirits." Gouenji added. "The team with the strongest desire to win will succeed."
"It's in your hands, Endou."
"Kidou... Gouenji..."
"Please!" Shindou was first to bow, and all the rest followed suit. "Please!"
That familiar grin returned. "Alright then! It's been a while since I fought with you guys! Let's play soccer!"
"Yeah!"
~~~~~
"It's the final round in Ragnarok, with each side having one win, one loss, and one draw! Feida's strongest team, The Lagoon, led by Saru! And El Dorado's new and improved team, Chrono Storm! Will it be Feida or El Dorado to win the right for world sovereignty in this last game? The fate of the world rests on this match!"
"This day has come at last, Tenma." Shindou said.
"Yes!"
"I still can't believe we ended up having to fight for the fate of mankind." Kirino had a smile on his face as he said so.
"Yeah, but now that we're here, we can't afford to lose." So did Tsurugi.
Shinsuke pumped his fist. "Let's show them the power of the strongest eleven in history!"
"Yeah!" Taiyou nodded. "We definitely won't lose!"
"I'm all fired up!" Nishiki said.
"I'm getting all whoa whoa like a volcano!" Torb exclaimed.
"Let's fight with everything we've got!" Kinako cheered.
Zanark had his hands on his hips, his usual smug look present. "As long as you've got me, we've already won this."
Fei smiled at them all.
"Listen up, guys." Endou called. "This is the last match. Go have fun out there!"
Tenma ran up to him. "Coach, we'll win for sure! We'll win and have Saru and the others see how wonderful soccer is!"
"Yeah! That's the spirit!"
Their captain then turned to the rest of the team. "Alright! Let's go, everyone!"
"Yeah!"
When both teams got into position, they found that Meia and Giris from Team Gil had joined The Lagoon. It was likely that they didn't take their loss well. But right before the match started, the stadium began to shake.
The sky seemed to be getting closer and closer.
"Oh no! The stadium is rising into the air!"
"Yes, thank you for that obvious statement, Yashima-san." Kimiko couldn't bite back her tongue, earning sweatdrops from the others on the bench.
Suddenly, Saru pulled out a gun and aimed it straight upwards. Pulling the trigger, a purple light shot up, stopping at a close distance before expanding large enough to swallow the stadium whole. Not just the sky, but all that stretched around them was a dark purple void.
"We're inside a wormhole." Wondeba stated.
"Wormhole?"
"Saru used his ampule gun to create a wormhole, and pull us and the entire stadium inside it!" Fei said.
"He can actually do that...?" Tsurugi muttered, glancing at his friend.
She smiled stiffly. "Haha... These powers really are something..."
"Too bad for you, mister." Saru said. "If you lost this game, you planned to put us to sleep with sleeping gas and inject us with a vaccine, right?"
...What?
"That's why I've decided that we hold this final match where no one can interfere."
"Those guys were actually planning that?"
"I get that the fate of the world is at stake, but that's just cowardly."
"Well, now they've got no choice but to place their faith in us."
And focus returned to both teams.
"Let's go, everyone! MixiMax!"
On Tenma's cue, they all activated their earned auras.
Saru laughed. "As you should be. This is interesting. I'll play with you."
"I thought you'd say that." Zanark replied cockily. "I'll crush you flat, so you'd better be ready."
He wasn't the least bit fazed. "Come now, the match has begun. The curtains rise for the final match that decides man's destiny!"
And the whistle was blown.
And immediately, they got through Zanark first. Their passes quickly connected up to the front, with their shooter running past Fei. From there, it was clear that speed was their strongest point. Kirino outmaneuvered him to steal the ball back, and the game turned into a back and forth chase with it.
But it all changed once it was in Saru's possession. After his pass to their other striker, not a single one of them could take the ball back. It went around the field, before going back to Saru's feet, who was already in front of their goal. Using Shellbit Burst, he scored the first point of the match.
It continued the same way for their next rounds of scuffling.
"Are these guys really human..." Tsurugi muttered.
"They're human!" Tenma said. "They're just like us! That's why we can win!"
And by the way, I'm right here.
He shot her a look before turning back to the pitch. You're different.
Because I don't intentionally hurt people or am trying to take over the world?
In a word, yes. Now, get out of my head!
She chuckled slightly, but it quickly dropped to a frown when Meia and Giris used Dead Future to score the next goal. Even Shinsuke's MixiMax hissatsu wasn't able to stop it.
"Now, it's clear." Saru said. "Our difference in power is obvious. Feida is the new shape of mankind. The adults in El Dorado who treat us like monsters are the dying race. The dying race needs to be wiped out to make way for the new. I will bring about a new world order. We will make our own world! So we're not showing any mercy in this match. We're doing it to win our future!"
"Of all the selfish..."
Kimiko wasn't sure who said that, but it made her frown. Considering we're also trying to strip them of the powers they naturally have to save our own future, I think we're even on the selfish scale.
"None of this would've happened if they just listened to one another..."
"Kimiko?"
She turned to her cousin with a look. "I was lucky. I was lucky that mom, dad, Masato-nii, and you all were so understanding of me, and were willing to help me when we found out I had powers. But everyone in Feida had been mistreated... They've been called monsters or freaks, and had any other bad things done to them..." Her gaze went down. "They're all children, just like me. But because people were so consumed by their own fear, they forgot that they haven't actually done anything. In the end, the reason they became so obsessed with ruling over the world... is because the people never gave them a chance to live normally in the first place."
"This is their last hope of getting accepted for who they are... Is that what you're saying?"
She nodded before turning back to the field. Zanark was moving up the field with Fei's support. "El Dorado gave me and Fei a chance because they didn't know we were SSC before all this. Zanark pushed his way in and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer... But even with the rough start, we got to know each other, and came to understand and even trust one another..."
"...It'll be nice if Feida and El Dorado as a whole could do the same."
"I hope this match will teach them all that much." She managed a small smile. "That's what Endou-san's hoping for too, isn't it?"
The brunette didn't turn around. Either he didn't hear her or was only pretending not to, but he was smiling at the pitch.
Zanark got them their first goal.
That was when each of The Lagoon's members glowed a golden color. In the next round, they started moving even faster.
"They used ampules!" Fei warned. "Ampules are what they use to store their aura. By taking it again, they can raise their abilities!"
They all went on defense, marking all the other strikers and midfielders that moved up so the last one would have to deal with their three defenders alone, but the sound of heavy footsteps came from far back.
One of The Lagoon's defenders was moving up. The striker passed him the ball and he made a shot with Spring Arrow, getting through Shinsuke's Keshin Armed and increasing the score gap once again.
"We'll be done for at this rate! Don't give up, Tenma! Everyone!" Hayami's yell suddenly came from the stands. And it roused up cheers from the others of Raimon.
"Right! Don't lose to them, Shinsuke!"
"Shindou! This is just a warm up!"
"Put more back into it!"
"You guys can do it!"
"We're not done yet!"
"Don't lose!"
Tenma's hands balled into fists. "We can't lose no matter what! This match doesn't involve just us! All of us will grab victory for it, together!"
It was a rather inspirational rally call, but she also knew why their coach and his two best friends were frowning.
They tried to use Zanark and Fei as the starting point of their attacks, but no matter what they tried, The Lagoon would always outmaneuver them with their speed.
Saru had the ball as he came face to face with Fei. "You don't look as if you regret your decision."
"Saru, I swear we will win. And then, we'll save you!"
"Save us? What are you even talking about?" The white haired boy glowed in a bright orange aura. "It's your fate that's in our hands..."
His form changed. His whole body got twice as large as he gained more muscle all over. His skin also turned darker and his hair turned somewhat mane-like. His looks resembled that of an ape.
With a new power activated, he charged through the team easily. Once in front of the goal, he summoned his keshin, Chou Majin Evarth, that looked just like his current form, and armed himself with it. Using Shellbit Burst once again, he scored The Lagoon's fourth goal.
The first half ended there.
"Now do you understand the power we have?" Saru walked back to them, having detransformed. "This special power that only Second Stage Children possess... No matter how hard the old human race fights, there is no way you can win against we who are united by this special power. All of you in this stadium see that, don't you? As I thought, a weak and useless existence such as yourselves must be wiped out."
~~~~~
"Damn that Saru, saying whatever he wants!" Nishiki grumbled, side-eying their opponents.
"I feel like bubbling hot water!" Torb exclaimed.
Kirino looked down. "In any case, I didn't expect their power to be this unbeatable..."
"No, there must be a way out." Shindou said. "There has to be!"
"Yeah, maybe, but..." Shinsuke trailed off, shaking. The frustration of not being able to block a single goal was getting to him. "If this keeps up..."
Tsurugi frowned. "Tenma, what do we do?"
Their captain's hands balled into fists. "We have to win this match no matter what..."
"Is that your soccer?"
The team turned to find the three adults with them frowning. Suddenly, Endou gave his usual grin, the two behind him following suit.
"You're too obsessed with winning."
"Caoch Endou..."
"What is soccer to you guys?"
They all looked down in thought.
Shindou was first to speak up. "A light that has guided me."
"It's proof that I'm being true to myself." Tsurugi said.
"It makes me feel warm inside, as if it were like the sun!" Shinsuke added.
"For me..." Kinako turned to her future son. "It's a large hope!"
"What about you, Tenma?"
"... Soccer is a friend who is always there for me." He said, finally smiling.
"I see." Endou gave them all a nod. "We must win this match, of course. But... By being too concerned about that, aren't you forgetting something that's more important?"
"More important..."
"Show me the soccer you guys have always done!"