Chapter Text
It has been two years since the Galaxy Eleven stopped aliens from destroying Earth and other planets. After that, a real World Cup was announced to be held in four years in Morroco and Algieria. Japan, with the influence of many sponsors and idea-givers, has decided to prepare to the fullest. That is why they put equal focus on the Football Frontier tournament and the Inazuma J League, which is the country's club league. It was not popular, but now it sudenly had immense interest. Players who failed to get accepted into the teams for the Football Frontier tournament came to find coaches. The rules were simple: the Football Frontier tournament works in a ladder tournament just like the Holy Road. Everything is allowed - special moves, tactics, avatars and armourfy, though no one was seen ever performing the last one. Meanwhile the Inazuma J League was going back to basics - just special moves and tactics. It operated like any other league system - a table where everyone plays each other once and based on total points, goals and everything else the winner comes on top. However, there were no clubs. That's when not just famous coaches like Mark Evans or Jude Sharp had a role, but also the Earth part of the Galaxy Eleven, such as Arion Sherwind or Victor Blade, also became team creators. Each team had a sponsor, with the richest one giving their team powerful squads. The Inazuma J League wanted 20 teams, so when they had 19, they searched far and wide. Thankfully, a player known as Sonny Wright together with his wife, Sandra Fisher, decided to find a bunch of local talents on their home island. With a small travel agency supporting them, the Island Eleven was created. During the first tryouts, the first 10 players were signed up. Before the second recrutation period started, the Island Eleven coaches introduced the first 10 players, most of whom at least knew each other. The local crowd gathered around a stage made of wood. On it first came the two coaches and club owners - the marriage of Sonny Wright and Sandra Fisher. Both were wearing club shirts home shirts - blue and brown colour, with a design deptcting the island on the front and back of it. The away shirt was simmilar, but with dark blue and light brown instead.
"We're so happy you came" Sandra said to the curious crowd of mostly families and other interested potential footballers.
"We'll let our ten players introduce themselves in order from the top to the goal in our soon-to-be 3-4-3 formation" Sonny added.
Then the coaches stepped to the back of the stage, letting the first person come on in. The first recognisable thing about this man was the captain's armband on his right arm. He had purple hair, a focused gaze and sun-touched skin. He stepped to the front of the stage.
"Celen Avio. From Japan. Captain and main striker" he introduced himself and then took a step back.
The next person came to the stage. Dark skin, shot dark hair, a smile and a pose that completely mimicked the one that Celen made when he stepped in.
"Xenon Le Copie. French. Left winger" he said before perfectly copying his captain's moves off to the side of the stage.
Then the next person came on. The man was still in his kimono rather than the team shirt. He bowed to the crowd as his usual tall, brown-haired, light-skinned self.
"Persival Kicks. From our honorable land of Japan. Right winger" he introduced himself before joining the other forwards at the back of the stage.
"Time for our incomplete midfield" Sonny informed.
We're still looking for the perfect left midfielder" Sandra added.
A couple of young players loked at each other. Some left, resigned because they preferred to play striker. However, a boy in a red hoodie depicting 2 wolves smiled and looked at the stage. The first midfielder came out. It was a kind-looking woman who couldn't take her eyes of Celen. She had light skin and long, blonde hair.
"Starla Leap. From Japan. Left defensive midfielder" she introduced herself quickly before rushing to Celen. "This is going to be so amazing, captain!" she commented happily.
Celen smiled and nodded. Then the next person entered the stage. It was a man with red hair, dark skin and an attidude like no other.
"Crispin Burns. Right defensive midfielder from Japan. Bury that name in mind, fools" he introduced himself and stepped aside.
"Don't mind his temper, please. He was just rejected from the Blazing Blitz school. Unfairly, might I add. So now, he plays with us" Celen spoke with the team owners and coaches nodding along.
Right after that, the last of the midfielders came onto the stage. He was a black man with long dark hair.
"Raid Zyal from Morroco. Right offensive midfielder" he introduced himself and joined the rest of his team.
"Now for the backline" Sonny announced.
Then, a beautiful woman stepped onto the stage, her long black hair moving in the wind.
"I bet you all know me. But in case you don't, I'm Mona Pose here from the island. I'm a local Japanese dancer and model. My legs are perfectly trained to play this whole football thing. I'll be playing as the team's left-back" she said, the crowd cheering her arrival.
She then stood on the side of the stage, posing for all the cute guys and other superfans of hers. During that time, a buff man with blue hair came up on the stage, visibly bigger than the other players.
"Isac Blizzard. From Japan. Centre-back" he said shortly and joined his team.
But not before dragging Mona to them as well. After that, a yellow-haired man stepped onto the stage. From under his glasses, he observed the crowd.
"Elrond Zapp. Right-back from Japan, originally promoted from Tokyo Thunders' youth academy, but I found my way here in the end" he spoke and joined the other team members.
The crowd looked at each other. Tokyo Thunders were the favourites to win the league this season. The short chaos ended when Sonny and Sandra stepped before their team.
"Lastly, it's our goalkeeper. My own desciple" Sandra spoke.
Then, a short-haired, blue-haired woman stepped onto the stage.
"Wanda Teardrop, from Japan" she introduced herself and joined he rest of her team.
"Thanks for participatiing! That would be all for this presentation. If any players willing to join are ready, please remain here. Your test will be playing against this team in one final trial" Sonny explained.
The crowd left, and with them many interested players, as they feared the challenge of getting trained by an already-bonded team. 3 players remained and stepped forward.
"Ahaha, I am ready for this challenge!" a red-haired man spoke with flair.
"Same here. This will be most interesting" a smaller, slimer, nerdier girl spoke, her long blonde hair moving in the island wind.
"I'm with you" a cheerful brown-haired man, the one with the red hoodie with wolves, added.
"Great. Tell us more about you first before we go to the stadium" Sandra pleaded.
"Let me start" the confident red-hair spoke. "I'm Spencer Rojo, from Spain. I usually play as a forward - winger or striker" he introduced himself.
"I believe I am next. My name is Calca Late. I'm from Japan and I play on defence" the nerdy girl spoke next.
"And you, red blouse?" Celen asked.
"I'm Milo Lup. I'm from Japan. I'm good with pace and running as I was um... doing some running" the man explained. "But um... I never properly played, even though it was a dream of mine. But I'll certainly do my best!" he added.
That instantly worried or even enraged the Island Eleven and the other candidates.
"No experience? That's bold" Isac commented.
"I'm ready for the challenge" Milo answered with a wide smile.
"We accept all the candidates. Everything will be solved on our new stadium" Sonny explained.
The team agreed, but some, especially Isac and Celen, were not happy with Milo. Either way, the team made their way to their stadium together with the 3 potential recruits. On the way, the 10 talked silently to each other.
"Why did he allow all 3? I'm curious" Xenon whispered.
"Well... For me, the tests aren't needed. We only need 1 player really" Mona added.
"Then we show him that he chose wrong" Elrond spoke.
"That's... bullying..." Starla whispered with sadness.
"It is... if we all do it" Celen somewhat agreed. "That's why I'll do it" he added.
"Captain..." Starla whispered in shock.
"It's my role, Starla. Assess. Give us a shot to win it all. We have no special moves, no tactics and coach Sonny is being as cryptic as he is inspired" Celen answered and explained.
"I agree" Isac decided.
"I guess we can do it then..." Raid spoke.
"I'll still play my part. I can't fail miss Sandra" Wanda said.
"Hmph. If he somehow gets past captain, I'll finish him off" Crispin warned.
Soon after, the team reached their destination. The stadium itself was overlooking the shore of a lovely beach and the ocean. It was on a little hill, but it was a full-sized, professional ground. The 'home' part of the stadium as well as the banners were full of the island theme - drawings of beaches, the water, gulls and more. The logo of the Island Hop Travel Agency is one of the most commonly displayed one on the billboards. The chairs around the stadium were in blue and yellow, representing the sea and the beach. They were also simmilar to the home kits for the team. The main team set themselves up in their usual 3-4-3, but without the 4th midfielder.
"Spencer, you're first" Sonny announed while tossing him a football. "Just go as far as you can past the team and show off what you can do" he added.
Spencer immediately started dribbling with the ball. First he came up close to Celen. After some dribling with flair, he passed the captain and the running Xenon, which let him to a 1v1 with Raid. The Morroccan was fast, but Spencer had the dribble, so soon he was at the defence. He instantly changed sides, sliding past Starla. However, most team didn't even bother to move, as if they wanted Spencer to win. He eventually scored, but unlike the rest, Wanda was up to the task. As spencer confidently tried dribbling past her as well, but she effortlessly dove for the ball, grabbing it with her hands.
"Aww man, I almost had it. But I truly showed how to shine with Spanish flair" Spencer commented.
"Well, you're not getting past me anytime" she warned.
"Then I am not getting past for sure. But I would like to challenge that low probability" said Calca before stepping to the ball.
Celen and Persival nodded to each other. The latter charged at the ball, but Calca seemed to mumble some calculations and then she effortlessly passed him. Crispin was next, but his raging rush was stopped as Calca just lobbed the ball above him and caught it near Mona. She made a ballerina-like leap to steal the ball, but Calca was faster. However, Elrond was there and surprised her.
"Think outside the logical box sometimes" he adviced.
"Hmm. Interesting" Calca noted.
"Alright. Good job to you too" Sonny commented. "Time for Milo" he added.
Suddenly, the entire team nodded to each other. Milo received the ball and could barely hold it under his foot.
"Whoa! This is cool!" he said.
But then the captain of the team took the ball away and shot it right at Milo.
"Quit playing around, Milo!" Celen ordered.
instantly realised what's going on, Calca and Spencer smiled.
"Ruthless. Interesting" Calca commented.
"They want the loser out" Spencer laughed.
They kept watch as Milo tried to dribble. Badly. Celen took the ball with a forceful slide, pushing Milo back. Soon after, he unleashed another powerful shot directed at Milo. He took it with his full body, sliding away in pain.
"I am one of the strongest strikers in the league, born and raised here! I will NOT let my team down" Celen shouted.
His team was stunned. Starla clutched her own hands.
"Captain..." she whispered.
"I'll keep fighting" Milo said and tried running with the ball. Badly once more.
He had the pace and endurance, but the skills were nonexistent. He tried moving with the ball only to be stopped again and again. With each stop, Celen shot at Milo harder. But Lup kept standing up.
"Good force, captain. If you shoot like this, we'll win every game!" Milo said while standing up after another of Celen's shots.
The ball rolled under the team captain's feet. He clutched his fists in rage.
"WE?!" he asked in rage. "I'm making sure we win when we're predicted to come last! You would only accelerate the inevitable, fool!" he added before making his trademark shot.
He hit the ball with all his force.
"T-this move breaks past special moves..." Starla said with shock.
The ball flew towards Milo.
"MOVE! QUIT!" Celen warned.
It could be seen that Celen was just desperate not to fail his team. But Milo didn't move. He took the whole force of the shot. He stopped it, but got lunged back as the ball went to the air. Milo stood back up with some difficulty and put his foot on the ball.
"Good one. It's not getting stopped by any keeper" he said with a smile.
"What the...?" Isac asked in shock.
"Why you?!" The captain asked with confusion and rage.
"Milo, pass me the ball" Sonny said suddenly.
Lup looked at him. Wright was on the line, far away from him, ready to receive the ball.
"Alright!" Milo answered and kicked the ball to the coach.
Somehow, he kicked it perfectly. It landed directly under Sonny's feet. The team's coach dribbled with it towards Milo. Then he turned to Celen.
"Is that what the Island Eleven is?" Sonny asked.
"Coach, you know how important it is for me and us to win! We represent the poorest team and poorest region of the Inazuma J League! We have private reasons to prove ourselves. Half of us started weeks ago, but at least someone like Persival or Mona had previous experience with training with their legs. Milo didn't even reveal who he is or what he does!" Celen spoke with desperation.
Sonny listened, but didn't answer.
"I just... we just... We need to learn special moves, tactics and actually have a skilled and bonded team. And we need it now! The league starts in days!" Celen added.
Sonny kicked the ball up. Then he jumped after it and performed a volley.
"Golden Gull!" he said.
The move (looks the same as the Ares anime) flew at Celen, bouncing off of him, then the rest of the team. Wanda tried catching it, but the shot pushed her to the goal. Everyone barely stood up.
"I know you all. I selected you for a reason. Now, I agree to let all three of the interested players join us. Now they will come with me while Sandra monitors the rest of you during training. And think about the identity of the team" Sonny said before steeping to his wife. "You know what to do, honey" he said with a smile.
"Of course" she said aloud before dropping her voice to a whisper. "I still don't know how you can connect your positive self with Mister Yi's non-direct coaching style" she whispered.
Then the married couple laughed. Sonny took Calca, Spencer and Milo with him.
"Sorry, coach... Can you do my documents first? I need to go somewhere..." Milo spoke.
"Sure" Sonny agreed.
Spencer and Calca looked at each other with confusion, but didn't say anything. Milo entered inside first with Sonny. The coach prepared some documents.
"Alright, Milo. Tell me some information about you, any medical history and other things" Sonny pleaded.
Milo gave him his basic info. Milo Lup, 22, male, born in Okinawa, but his mother was from this very island. Then he stopped for a minute.
"As for medical history..." he started.
Meanwhile, the 10 already playing were split into two groups by Sandra. No one was talking. It was defence vs offence, so on one side was Wanda, Isac, Mona, Elrond, Crispin while the other side was Starla, Raid, Xenon, Persival and Celen. The offence rushed with the ball at the defence. Celen was guiding it, but quickly passed back to Starla. She saw Crispin heading towards her with Elrond following. There was no way forward or to pass to Xenon or Persival. So, she then saw Celen on a good position past the defence, but not offside. She jumped up. Somehow she went higher than ever before.
"Captain!" she shouted and passed the ball to him through the air. It flew perfectly to his foot.
"What?" everyone asked in surprise.
Even Starla herself was confused.
"Great pass, Starla. Now it's my turn!" Celen complimented and said.
Starla blushed and smile while Celen was dribbling towards the goal. However, that's when Isac stepped forward. However, that left Persival open. Celen passed through the ground, but Persival just missed the shot with a karate-like kick.
"Darn it. Too slow..." he said.
Mona gathered the ball and kicked it far away. It was intercepted in the air by Raid, who rushed past her and lobbed the ball to Xenon. However, Elrond headed it away. Only for Celen to get it and rush at the goal.
"I won't let you!" Isac said with a stomp that suddenly let out blue light that swept the ball from Celen's feet.
"What was that?" Mona asked in surprise.
"Not bad, icy" Xenon laughed.
"Good work for today, people" Sandra said. "You've changed since before. Good. That's also why soon your special moves may develop alongside yur team identity" she commented.
That's when Sonny came back with Spencer and Calca. He had a srious expression due to something Milo said.
"Milo had to leave, but all three of the recruits are part of the team. Tomorrow I'll announce the first squad for our first game and give you shirts with the numbers you have chosen" he explained. "Now... before I go. During our first match I'll ask you the same question I did today. What is the identity of this team?" he added. "Now go to your homes or trainings" he finished and left with his wife.
The team split. Some remained on the pitch. This group consisted of Celen, Elrond, Isac, Wanda, Crispin, Calca, Spencer, Xenon, Raid and Starla. The captain tried constantly to remake his coach's Golden Gull move, but to no avail.
"This shot will let us win everything..." he mumbled.
"Captain... I'll keep passing the ball to you until you score with this move" Starla promised.
Celen nodded and tried for many more minutes. In the middle of it, Isac had to go. He moved to a small store in the main town of the island where he worked. The owner wa an elderly woman who kept taking care of him when he was young. Now he takes care of her. As luck would have it, he arrived when a small-time criminal tried stealing some lottery tickets.
"Oh no you don't!" Isac shouted and stomped on the ground.
Blue light happened again, but this time it had a sharp form that knocked the criminal out. The elderly lady, Rosa, smiled at him.
"Now I see why you chased defending in football" she admitted.
"I... I won't fail you there either, Rosa. But I'll keep working here whenever I can" Isac promissed.
"Hahaha... I know you will" The elder chuckled.
What the two didn't know is that a guy with a red blouse saw it all and smiled before leaving. His next destination was a dance theatre. There, Mona was just performing. He noticed a plastic ball and threw it to the stage, directly to Mona's legs. She used a dance move to fling it to the air, dance around it and take it to the ground. The crowd cheered. Mona looked to the audience in shock, but the red-bloused man was already gone. He went to the stadium, where only Starla and Celen remained. The former was jumping higher and higher, passing the ball through the air to her beloved captain while he shot harder and harder. The red-bloused man smiled.
"Good. If they will show what they , they will be really good" he said and left.
However, on the way he saw Persival training kicks outside with his sparring partner, Maylene, who he was clearly into. The duo practiced kicks from the air with a ball.
"Not bad, Persival. I see that you're better from air than from the ground" Maylene said.
"Yeah. I am..." he admitted. "I should try this in our first match" he added.
"Good luck" Maylene said, smiled and left.
Persival kept training on his own while the red-bloused man moved on. The next day, the entire team gathered on the stadium's middle lines. Sonny and Sandra were waiting with the team jerseys and soon, the 13-person team changed shirts and looked at their numbers. Wanda with #1, Isac with #5, Mona with #3, Elrond with #2, Crispin with #8, Starla with #10, Raid with #17, Milo with #15, Xenon with #11, Persival with #7, Celen with #9, Calca with #25 and Spencer with #13. Sonny and Sandra smiled when they looked at their team.
"Now we'll announce the squad" Sandra said.
"The main 10 from the first recruitment will play. As for our left midfielder... It's going to be Milo Lup. That's all" Sonny announced.
Milo instantly bowed in his direction.
"I'll do my best, coach!" he promised.
"Tch. Him?" Crispin asked in rage.
"Now. Practice together. Eleven of you versus Sandra and I" Sonny announced.
Then he shot directly at the goal. Wanda barely had time to react and grab it. In the meantime, Sandra got to her own goal.
"Alright. You're on, coach!" Celen said. "Wanda, play from the back. No mistakes, people!" he instructed.
Wanda passed to Isac. Sonny rushed at him, so without much choice he passed to Mona. She passed forward through the pitch to Raid with a dance-like long kick. Raid took the ball and seeing Sonny's run towards him passed back to Starla. Sonny suddenly appeared in front of him.
"You're mine now!" he warned.
"Not so fast, coach!" Starla said and jumped higher than before in a yellow flash of light. She had many options to pass to. Milo, Raid, Crispin, Xenon, Persival and Celen. Obviously, she passed to the captain. He shot from the position Sonny made to do Shining Bird, but out of it came only a miss.
"The only one copying in this team is Xenon from what I know" Crispin mocked.
Sandra tossed the ball far to Sonny, but Elrond intercepted. He instantly passed to Crispin who passed to Xenon.
"Calca, Spencer. You're joining us" Sandra asked.
And so, it was four against eleven in a surprisingly tied game. Mostly due to the fact that while Milo was running and trying to intercept the ball, no one was passing to him, so it was really ten players. Once both sides were tired, Sonny lauched and overhead kick from half the pitch. Wanda was ready to flick it to the side, but Milo stood in the shot's way first, blocking it with his body.
"Nice shot!" he complimented his coach.
"Tch. Bootlicker..." Crispin commented.
"That's enough for today. We'll keep training tomorrow. The opening ceremony and first match will happen soon, and we need to be ready" Sonny said.
"Yes, coach!" The team agreed.
And so, they kept training all week long. During shared trainings, Milo didn't receive the ball even once. But during evenings, he trained dribbling and passing on an empty stadium. With each day, it was slightly better, but without professional help of his teammates, he didn't develop the way he would with guidance. Meanwhile, during the evening before the opening ceremony of the Inazuma J League, Celen and Starla were coming back together from the park where they trained. Celen looked at the predictions table on his phone. He then showed it to Starla with a sad expression.
Pre-season predicitons table:
1. Tokyo Thunders
2. Magical Mayhem
3. Genius Gamers
4. Rhytmical Routers
5. Knock-outs
6. Dark blades
7. Speed of Sound
8. Cosmaliens
9. Gamers Galore
10. Pandefenders
11. Neo Shuriken
12. Tiny Trophies
13. Rangers Range
14. Vehicle Victory
15. Female Flora
16. Dancing Dreads
17. Blazing Blitz
18. Wave Crashers
19. Frozen Emperors
20. Island Eleven
Starla sighed and gently hugged Celen.
"We can prove them wrong" she said.
"Not with coach choosing someone with no skill or experience" Celen sighed. "I don't envy Milo. He seems... fine. As a person. But we need wins. We need them... all of us want to prove something. You know that I... I want to meet the one that brought me here" he added.
"And I want to be by your side ever since you inspired me" Starla said, embracing him tighter. "We'll find a way, even... even if we'll have to not pass to the nice guy" she added, even though she wasn't as against Milo as the rest of the team. "But I'll keep passing balls to you during our games!" she promised.
"To me and others. But thank you" Celen said.
Then everyone returned home. The next day, they met on the stadium grounds in the island, where the bus was already waiting. Everyone sat in pairs other than Milo. The bus moved towards Tokyo to the national team's stadium, where the Inazuma J League opening will be held.
"After the ceremony, we'll get the schedule and the information about our first match" Sonny explained.
"Let's do our best!" Everyone said.
Then the bus made it to the stadium for the inauguration to begin.