"Nothing but the dark all around. How lovely." She sighed, continuing her wander.
It was easy to tell that she was dreaming. Lucid dreaming.
She wasn't able to see anything though, so she continued in a single direction. Or at least, she hoped she was.
Then, a person appeared. A very familiar person.
"Kyou? Is that..." She could only clearly see the differences when the figure turned around. "You're not Kyousuke."
The man before her seemed much older, and the outfit he wore made him look regal. The pointed ears were a clear giveaway that he was an alien.
"Who are you?"
He nodded curtly before a light surrounded him. When it was gone, a tiny, purple creature was there in his place.
"Piku?"
"... A pokemon?"
The creature floated to her eye level before going straight for her face.
Her eyes snapped open and she found herself on her bed again. She blinked a few times before getting up and looking around.
"Well then... That was... quite a dream."
She stood up and stretched before changing into her regular outfit. Just as she left her room, she could hear a commotion coming from the dining area... Which was weird, because, since her room was in the fourth dorm car, the dining area was two cars away.
"Wonder what they're being so noisy about..."
She needed breakfast anyway.
Her curiosity grew the closer she got, and when she opened the door, she was greeted by the group surrounding Tenma while laughing.
"Morning, everyone. What's going on?"
Her best friend was first to notice her, as usual. "Morning. Apparently, even in space, animals love Tenma."
"Animals?"
"Pixie, be careful!" The brunette clumsily took a few steps back before tripping over a chair. A yellow creature was jumping on his chest.
"That's..."
"Tenma said it came from his dream." Shinsuke explained.
"Well, it definitely doesn't look like any of the creatures we've seen on this planet..."
"It's pretty attached to him, so he's going to be taking care of it from now on." Aoi stated.
"I see..." Her attention went to the brunette when he got up. "Tenma, did it just manifest after you woke up, or...?"
"Mmhm... I had a dream about it and then it was suddenly in my room."
"Huh... That didn't happen to me..."
"To you?"
"I had a dream about a creature like that too. But it was purple." She held a finger out to poke the creature, but it jumped up on her hand instead. "Oh, whoa!" It then floated up to her head and started jumping around. "I don't know what you're thinking, but jumping on my brain isn't going to make who I assume is supposed to be your friend come out of my dream...!"
With that, it stopped and went back to Tenma, looking almost like it was pouting. With the mystery of the noisiness cleared, they finished breakfast and, after a bit more preparation, headed for the stadium.
~~~~~
Once they got there with Ishigashi guiding them again, they spotted two Sandorians by the entrance gate. One wore the captain's mark while the other seemed to be the goalkeeper.
"Kazelma!" Tenma called out, smiling.
It was the captain that returned it. "You're here. I swear on my pride as a Sandorian. We will fight this match fair and square."
"Of course!"
"Weak!" A voice called out from above them. On a rock pillar nearby stood a distinctly different looking alien with four Sandorians behind him. "You're as weak as the smell of flowers in the early afternoon, Kazelma!"
"Barga!"
"In a battle, you win or you lose!"
"He looks different from the other players." Tsurugi stated.
Shindou nodded. "Yeah. He doesn't look like he's from this planet."
"There is no rule in the tournament that says you cannot add inhabitants of other planets onto your team." Ishigashi stated. "If both members of different planets consent, then it is allowed."
"What?"
"So he's helping them."
The helper, apparently named Barga, jumped down to face them, and with that, they were able to get a better look at his features too. Yellow skin, reddish-orange hair, pointed ears, and a pair of horns.
"You guys are representing that nameless planet you call Earth, eh? Do you honestly expect the puniest planet from the galaxy border like yours can defeat us?"
"You won't know unless we try!" Tetsukado shouted back.
"Just shut up and let yourselves die. You've got strange tastes for coming all this way for a beating."
"What?!"
"If you wanna run away crying, now's your chance. Ahahahaha!"
"Why, you...!"
"Stop!" Tenma stepped in front of the ex-boxer before he could get any closer. Kazelma was doing the same to the bigger alien, though it didn't seem like he was the least bit bothered.
Kimiko let out a sigh, taking a step forward. "We'll win."
Barga stopped just as he turned to walk away. "What was that?"
"We'll win. We'll fight with everything we have, and we'll be the ones the Goddess of Victory smiles upon."
"The 'Goddess of Victory', you say? And just who is that supposed to be?"
She gave a small smile. "No one you'd know. But I have to say, you aren't exactly the most clever, are you?"
"What was that?"
"Kimiko!"
She took another step forward to avoid her friend's reach. "You thought you could make us forfeit by provoking us and making sure we made the first hit. You probably heard from some people in town about how easy it is to rile Tetsukado up and tried to use that against us. Am I right?"
He scoffed. "So the backwater planet's got some brains after all, huh?"
"Well, we must at least be better than whatever planet you came from. We're not the ones trying to cheat our way out of the fight." A twisted grin made its way to her face. "You must be from a planet full of cowards."
His head snapped at that. "How dare you disrespect Faram Orbius, you little―"
"So you're from Faram Orbius." Her regular smile appeared, catching everyone off guard. "Good to know. Good luck and let's have fun in today's match! Come on, everyone. Let's go!"
Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Tetsukado's arm and ran towards the stadium, leaving the rest to follow after.
"You didn't have to do that, you know." Aoi said once they reached the changing rooms.
She shrugged. "It's better than letting Tetsukado punch the guy and fall for his trap."
"Sorry."
"It's alright. Thanks to you, we got an opportunity to gather information."
"What? That he's from a planet called Faram Orbius?" Sakura asked.
"If you recall, that's the name of the planet that had already reached the finals. Or, even more memorably, they're the reason why Ozrock had to propose the Grand Celesta Galaxy in the first place."
Amber eyes widened. "The planet that wanted to go to war because of the black hole."
"Yup. So from that alone we can draw two conclusions." She held up her fingers as she spoke. "First, that helper of theirs must definitely be powerful. Second, that planet sees Earth as the biggest threat compared to all the other planets."
"What makes you think that?" Ibuki asked. "He kept calling us puny."
"If we really are that insignificant, why would they send someone to help our opposing planet?" Minaho was the one who spoke up next, catching up quickly with her train of thought. "Perhaps that's simply that person's opinion of us. But the ones ruling his planet may believe otherwise. After all, we did manage to win against five other planets when we just barely started soccer."
"Exactly." She nodded. "And from that, we can also be sure to expect that the next planets we face would have helpers too."
"How are you so sure we would win?" Matatagi asked the question none of them had dared to. "Of course, that's what we want more than anything, but..."
She gave a wry smile at that. "Because you will. I can't explain my reasons, but you will."
They exchanged unsure glances with each other, but Tsurugi let out a chuckle. "Well, that beats getting yelled at by Trainer Funaki every few minutes about how he doesn't believe in us."
None of them disagreed with that. And with their last minute preparations done, they followed their coach through the tunnel.
~~~~~
"Yeah! Welcome to the cosmic soccer world! Everybody! The glorious Grand Celesta Galaxy has now opened!" A strange, four-legged alien, which very much resembled an octopus, appeared in the commentator's booth. "I, the super commentator, Ducksgun Babyu, is here to bring you the commentary! The first match of glory will be fought by the representatives of this planet, the Sandorias Eleven! And, the opponent team will be the representatives of Earth, who has won Galaxy Region A-Block's prelims, Earth Eleven!"
"We're using three forwards today." Their coach said. "Matsukaze, join the forwards."
"But that will leave a space open midfield!" Shindou protested.
"Go."
They had no other choice on the matter.
"Yes, sir!"
Ichikawa and Shinsuke were on the bench, the starting eleven being their usual members.
"Hey, man! Here it unfolds, the melting pot of hope, despair, and excitement that involves the entire universe, Grand Celesta Galaxy! The soccer tournament of all time where the lives of planets and species are at risk!"
Wow, he really had to mention that, huh?
"Who will win its first game, Earth or Sandorias?!"
Technically, it's not really the first game of the tournament. It's the first game for our block.
"Check it out!"
The whistle resounded and the match began. Immediately, the gravity was messing up their usual plays.
Should've figured playing outside for a day or two wouldn't let them get used to it so easily.
The ball would travel further than intended with how light it was, and the sandy terrain meant that it wouldn't roll that well either. It was a tricky situation.
And then, there was also...
"You're not getting through! Rock Hammer!" Barga pulled out a giant hammer out of the ground and knocked Tenma back, stealing the ball. He passed the ball to a midfielder, who was able to move past Sakura easily.
Figures. He's a resident of this planet, so of course he'd be used to running on sand.
The next person it was passed too was also able to jump high to grab the ball before Konoha could.
Ozrock did say they've got better physical abilities than we do.
He then proceeded to kick sand Minaho's way, making him unable to see where he was headed. He did the same for Ibuki, but luckily, Ibuki was able to respond at the nick of time and saved it.
They tried going on the attack again, but Tenma was suddenly surrounded. Two of the defenders charged at him, sending him flying back. That was when Kazelma went up to barga and yelled at him. He then went to Tenma and had a short chat.
"Can you tell what they're saying, Kimiko?" Shinsuke asked.
She turned to him for a moment before giving a wry smile. "Yes and no... I have a rough idea by reading Tenma's mind, but I can't read aliens. I think it might be because the structure of our brains and thought patterns are that different."
"Huh?"
"Uh... Basically, what they're saying is that Kazelma said he won't let them play unfairly anymore."
"Oh, that's great then!"
"Yeah... But we still have that Barga guy to worry about." Well, at least it doesn't look like he'll be moving for a while.
The Sandorians continued to use their superior physical abilities to keep the ball from them. They were also using the space Tenma left behind as their opening to attack through. Ibuki managed to save another goal and tried to pass to Shindou, but with the gravity, the ball flew further than expected. Kusaka managed to get it, and he heed to Shindou's warning to pass to Sakura lightly. She then got it to Tenma, and passed to Tsurugi.
There was an empty space between his position at the center of the field to the goal.
"Bicycle Sword!"
"Sand Knock!" The keeper summoned a giant hand made of sand and punched the ball away.
"You nearly had it!" Her call was met with wide eyes, but it didn't last for long as his focus shifted back to the ball Kazelma took. She blinked. "What was that look for?"
"Kimiko, this is the first match where you became our manager after your return, isn't it?" Aoi said from beside her.
"Yeah?"
"Then, this is also the first match in months where he gets to hear you cheer for him this loud and clearly again."
It was her turn to have wide eyes. He... really missed me that much? Guilt pierced through her, but she quickly shook the thoughts away. Now was not the time to be thinking about any of it.
Manabe was able to take the ball back and tried to make a pass, but one of Sandorias' defenders had moved up and stole it before any of them could get it. He made a pass and a forward made a mid-air shot. Ibuki was able to block it once again.
The ball was stolen from Shindou next, who had lost his cool upon realizing he couldn't use Kami no Takuto with how tight the opponent's defense was. Kazelma passed to a forward, and he got past Konoha's Konoha Roll. Tenma fell back and kicked the ball out of bounds.
"Keep calm, everyone! Cover each other! Trust your teammates!"
All but Matatagi nodded, but Kimiko kept herself from commenting. He was going to out himself eventually, she was sure.
Tenma managed to steal the ball again later with Wonder Trap, but then Barga charged straight at him, sending him flying and stealing the ball. He passed to a midfielder while another jumped into the air along with him. Minaho expected a feint, not for the latter to dive down head-first like a missile. The ball got to another midfielder who had moved up and he got through Manabe with Dig Through, a hissatsu that involves them digging their way past underground.
With Ibuki caught off guard, Sandorias scored their first goal.