Chapter 2: Team Members

The selection day was brutal for Tenma. It was hard enough to keep the entire truth about the tournament from his teammates, but seeing the shock on their faces when only Tenma was chosen added to the pain. One by one, names were called out and in the end fourteen players were chosen. Each lined up at the front so the whole stadium of spectators could see the team which would represent their "country".

Tenma curiously peered at the other players who he'd be teammates with. They all came in a variety of appearances, and none of them looked familiar to him, except for one person. The blond foreigner he'd met several days ago.

Jan gave a short wave upon seeing Tenma, grinning at him.

The captain then realized that the other members of the team were not Japanese like he was. This truly was a team with players selected from the world.

After a brief speech was given to the crowd by the coach, Kuroiwa, the members of the "Inazuma Japan" were asked to head to the team room. Upon entering the room, Tenma received a small black gadget from the coach, and he stared at it curiously. He then headed over to Jan, wondering if the boy had gotten the same contraption.

"Jan~!" Tenma cheerfully greeted. The boy then noticed the little black gadget in his new teammate's ear. He tipped his head to the side, silently questioning Jan, and glancing back down at his own device.

"Hm, this?" Jan asked, "Well, it's kind of like this translator thing, apparently. Helps us communicate with one another since we all don't speak the same language. We're all from different countries, you know? Now hurry up and put it on." The blond haired boy pointed to Tenma's ear.

When doing so, Tenma noticed the other team members eyeing each other, mainly curious, but there was a hint of uneasiness accompanying their gazes.

It was then that a young boy, perhaps a year older than Tenma, stood up at front and called for everyone's attention. The boy was not wearing a soccer uniform and instead was dressed in a large green coat and a scarf. His hair was brown and flicked slightly at the bottom. "Ahem, hello everyone, I am Zack Nout, I will be one of the managers for this team." He smiled sweetly before continuing, "I assume that there are many unfamiliar faces around, but this is the final team for our tournament. Please get along with each other. Anyways, I will be handing uniforms to each of you, please introduce yourself when you are called."

The manager waited a moment before beginning to call the first name.

"Yato Ulpa."

A small dark skinned boy with dark green-blue hair raised his hand cheerfully when he heard his name, "Hai, Hai~" He then ran up to the front, turning to face his teammates, "I'm Yato from Cotal, Africa. Position is goalkeeper...and...uh...I hope we can be good friends."

Tenma was amazed that someone this small and thin was their goalkeeper. He remembered that he shouldn't judge by appearance.

"Milo Brook."

Yet another small boy pushed his way through the crowd of players, though he was a decent amount taller than Yato was. The teenager had green hair that curled upward at the tips, and his bangs framed his face. He glanced at Zack, then at his teammates, and smiled at them. "I'm Milo, and I'm from Wellington, New Zealand. My position is defender. I look forward to playing with you all," He said, a little less energetic and cheerful than Yato, but still friendly and bright. Zack then handed the boy his uniform and Milo walked back to his spot beside another team member.

"Rayne Sange."

The red haired boy walked up to the front, receiving his uniform. He faced the rest of his new teammates and introduced himself like the people before him had, "Rayne, position is forward and I am from Portugal." He made his introduction very quick and went back to his spot, careful not to draw any unnecessary attention.

"Next, Jan Schmidt."

Jan walked up to the front, grinning. He turned to face everyone and bowed politely. "Hello, I'm Jan Schmidt. I come from Germany, but I am actually Prussian. My position is libero on this team. Pleased to meet you all. Just so you all know, I'm single." He added as he winked.

"Mhmm, matchmaking while defending the Earth. Good job…" Zack sighed, before calling out the next name on the list, "Zafar Lazarev."

Standing up straight from his position against the wall, a light brown haired boy began to walk to the front to claim his uniform. His hair hung down to his shoulders. He stared at his new teammates coldly, only giving a quick introduction, "I am Zafar...from Uzbek, position, midfielder."

"Uzbek? Where's that?" Tenma asked immediately.

The boy glared momentarily at the captain before clarifying, "Uzbekistan. Denau, Uzbekistan. It's in the middle east." He then grabbed his uniform from Zack and quickly returned to his place against the wall, crossing his arms and huffing softly.

"Piju Natale," Zack called, not removing his gaze from the list of names on the paper he held in his hand.

Yet another male stepped forward, and he definitely looked a lot kinder than Zafar. He was of average height, and had dull purple hair that was tied into a short, high ponytail. He took his uniform from Zack, thanking him politely before turning his light green gaze on his new teammates. The boy proceeded to bow, just as Jan had, before beginning his introduction, "My name is Piju. I come from Valletta, Malta, a small country near Italy. My position is midfielder. I'm happy to meet your acquaintance." With that, he smiled at the rest of the team, and walked back to his place near the front of the group.

Zack gave a short nod and called the next name, "Jialong Rin."

A thin Asian with jet black hair stepped forward. He had long sideburns which reached past his shoulders, and kind looking blue eyes. With a small smile, he introduced himself like the rest of his teammates had, "I am Jialong. I come from China. I'm really good at dribbling and very confident with my speed, hence my midfielder position." Throughout his entire commencement the boy did not once stop smiling.

As soon as his first name was called, a tanned boy trotted up to the front confidently. He had dark red hair which was spiked up on the left side. A grin formed on his face as he stated, "Julio Rios is my name. I'm the ace striker of this team. I sure hope you can all keep up with me and not pull my leg. Cause without me, this team has no chance of winning this tournament. We are up against aliens."

The entire room went silent for a while. It wasn't because of Julio himself, but more specifically the last sentence he spoke. Aliens. Everyone knew the extraterrestrial creatures were what they would be facing, but no one dared mention it, besides the forward. To the team, their opponents were completely unknown to them. This team had no idea what to expect yet.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Julio frowned when asking, finally breaking the uneasy atmosphere as quickly as he had created it. "Come on, there's no point in being scared."

"You're wrong," Piju quickly retorted, looking at Julio, "we have no clue what we're up against, all we know is that these are aliens and that we have to beat them in order to prevent Earth's destruction. How is that not scary?"

"Being scared solves nothing, uhm…Pichu" Julio began, but had forgotten the purple haired boy's name.

"I'm not saying that it does, but we have the right to be a little afraid of the unknown, do we not? Also, my name is Piju, not Pichu."

Julio glared down at Piju, snorting. "I don't have to remember all your names."

"Then you have no manners, Julio. We're your teammates, we're all working together here to save Earth and we don't need your immaturity."

Julio snatched his uniform from Zack, who'd continued to shove it in his face, before storming back to his previous location, obviously irritated at Piju.

"David Alkaev, you're next."

Tenma flinched in surprise as a tall, pale-skinned male walked out from behind him. The captain hadn't noticed him at all. The boy had spiky white hair and silver eyes. He quietly went up, received his uniform and walked back to the back of the room without an introduction.

Zack sighed, "He's a forward in case you're wondering. From Russia."

"No wonder he's so tall," Milo and Yato said in unison, the two shorties looking even smaller with David nearby. The two exchanged glances before giggling.

"Randy Leifdóttir." Zack continued, obviously growing tired of this routine.

"Hell yeah!" Running up to the front excitedly, a tall, muscular girl grabbed her uniform. She examined it happily already putting it on over her shirt. She had dark, smokey brown hair which was tied up in a messy bun and sharp gray eyes.

Zack coughed, trying to get her attention. However, when it failed, the boy gave up and just called the next name on the list.

"Nikola Sarris."

Another tall teenager walked over to Zack, nodding slightly at the manager with a look of pity. He took his uniform, thanking Zack before glancing over his shoulder and smiling at his teammates.

"I'm Nikola, a forward from Greece. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance," he said simply, before trotting off to the side. Milo eyed the older boy for a few moments, tipping his head to the side. He seemed to recognize him, oddly enough.

"Lina Leroy," Zack said, pronouncing the last name wrong by mistake.

"My last name is pronounced 'Le Roy'," The girl corrected as she made her way to the front. She had blue hair which was tied in a neat pony, and was slightly shorter than average height. "I'm Lina Le Roy, I'm from Northern France and I play as a defender. I hope we can become friends." She continued to smile as sweetly as she could throughout the entire time up at the front.

"Maria Belle," Zack sighed. A green-haired female bounded up to Zack, her hair tied up in two buns, each on the side of her head. She took hold of her uniform, brightly grinning at the manager and twirling around to stare at the team.

"Hi there! I'm Maria, from the United States. The position I play as is defender, and I can't wait to get to know all of you!" With that said, the happy girl jogged over to stand beside Lina. Zack watched her, an eyebrow twitching with slight aggravation, before glancing back down at the list of names he held.

"And finally the team's captain, Matsukaze Tenma." Zack said, sounding relieved for it was almost the end of the long introductions.

Tenma went up to grab his uniform, he looked back at his new teammates, getting a good look at each of them. Indeed, they were a diverse group of people from various parts of the world, gender and personalities. Showing off his usual smile,Tenma stated his name and his home country.

"You'd all better get along, for Earth's sake," Zack said, eyes narrowing slightly."Teamwork is a virtue here. I don't care where you're from or how much you dislike working together with other people, you will all cooperate." His tone was intimidating and almost daring. Tenma gulped and looked at the rest of the team, praying for the best.

PLAYERS OF EARTH ELEVEN

#1. Yato Ulpa- Luna-Kagami

#2. Milo Brook- MizoreShun

#3. Maria Belle- SummerHeart17

#4. Lina Le Roy- veemon355

#5. Lin Jialong- Mizuhara Yukie

#6. Zafar Lazarev- AlsiusHaku

#7. Piju Natale- MizoreShun

#8. Matsukaze Tenma- Canon

#9. Nikola Sarris- KazukiPearl

#10. Julio Rios- AlsiusHaku

#11. David Alkaev- TransparentAnswer

#13. Rayne Sange- Sai Og Sus

#20. Randy Leifdottir- Al/Mi

MANAGERS

Mizukawa Minori- Canon

Zack Nout- AlsiusHaku

COACH-

Kuroiwa Ryusei- Canon

WE ARE DEAD

-AlMi Team