Me: And we're back again! Today's chapter was pushed forward because this is the day that this story started!

Handa: Last time, Wataru and Gemini Storm appeared, and the match against them had started. The score is 2-0 with Gemini Storm in the lead as of the end of the last chapter.

Shourin: Can the Pokédex Holders retaliate?

Kurimatsu: Let's find out!

Megane: But before that…

Kageno: Falneou17 does not own Pokémon or Inazuma Eleven—

Kidou: Nor does he, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that he does.

The first thing that Red was fully aware of was that he was lying on something soft. He wasn't feeling or seeing anything else, and that was what worried him the most.

He then remembered the ball that was fired straight at him and jumped up screaming.

"Good, you're awake," a familiar voice came from Red's left, causing the boy to turn his face to see Black sitting on a chair by the side of his bed. Marking the page that he was on, Black returned his book in his bag before turning back to Red with a serious look on his face, "I was starting to get worried… you're the last one to regain consciousness after our match with Gemini Storm."

"Wait, what about—?" Red exclaimed in shock but was silenced when Black gently but firmly pushed him back down on his bed.

"Relax, Red-san, everybody is fine," Black smiled as he pulled out his phone and showed Red what was displayed on the screen, "Yellow-san made sure to tell me that everybody is fine. Well, as fine as possible after that match. If it makes you feel any better, nobody was hurt worse than you were, Red-san."

"That's… good…" Red heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this news. He was sure that he looked a lot worse than how he actually felt but was comforted by Black's words nonetheless. It was then that another thought resurfaced, "What about Gemini Storm?"

"You don't remember?" Black asked as he eyed the older male in mild shock. Red remained silent, but the change in his expression was enough of an answer for Black, "How much do you remember?"

"I remember using The Phoenix with Silver and Gold, but everything beyond that…" Red trailed off as he gritted his teeth, "What happened?"

"I'll try and get you up to speed, then…" Black sighed, closing his eyes to bring back those painful memories of the previous day. Taking a deep breath, the brunet began, "Let's start from when the three of you shot that shot…"

"Have a taste of this!" Sapphire exclaimed excitedly, knowing full well what was about to happen.

The orb of fire had changed its shape to resemble that of a humongous six-winged phoenix and was flying right behind the ball, waiting to soar in. Silver, Red, and Gold all jumped up above the ball and, one by one stomped down on it with the sole of their feet.

"The Phoenix!"

As Silver, Red and Gold all landed on the ground again, the rest of the team watched the ball head straight for Gemini Storm's goal with high hopes…

Until they saw Gorireo, Gemini Storm's keeper, stop the ball without batting an eye.

"What?!" Pearl exclaimed in shock as the others stared in horror after seeing the attack blocked so easily.

"Even with that…" Black gritted his teeth in annoyance, before realizing something important. As Gorireo threw the ball forward in an arc, the brunet turned around and hastily shouted, "Here it comes! Defense!"

"Right!" Diamond responded while he moved towards the center, with Pearl following his example on the other side of the field. Platinum and Blue nodded as they got ready for the incoming attack as well.

"Yellow-san! Mark number eleven! Hurry!" Black shouted before sprinting back as well. He saw the ball move, and knew where it was heading, "You're not getting it!"

"Oh?" Wataru muttered in an almost bored voice as he saw Black step in front of him. At this point, the ball was only two meters above Wataru's head, and Black smirked as he was sure that his plan was working.

"Don't get cocky, human!"

Black's eyes widened in shock right after the voice reached his ears before he actually registered the pain in his abdomen. As the brunet felt his feet leave the ground, he could see the ball bounce back up into the air a little.

"Black!" Gold shouted as the brown-haired boy fell on the ground. The amber-eyed boy rushed over in Black's direction but stopped when Black pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Forget about me!" Black responded before pointing at the ball that was still in the air, "The ball! Get it! Hurry!"

"Wataru-sama!" the purple haired female midfielder of Gemini Storm called out as she passed the ball to her leader.

"Nice work, Pandora," Wataru smiled before taking his leisurely time to turn around, "Finish it!"

Wataru kicked the ball forward in the direction of Diam and, in anticipation of this, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum had moved up to block his path. This strategy worked in shutting Diam off, but it cost them too many players.

This left the other striker of Gemini Storm unmarked and free to move as she pleased.

Much to Raimon's horror, the ball did indeed curve away from Diam and into the pink-haired striker, and with Red still on the front lines, this only left Blue to defend the goal against her incoming shot.

"Mizudeppō!" Blue shouted as she formed some blue aura in a small ball with her hands before it got absorbed into her body. A fraction of a second later, she then blew out a water forced barrier in a shape of an arrow straight at the ball.

Unfortunately for Blue, the force of the kick was not only strong enough to break through Blue's technique but also send her smashing into the net behind her as well. As the ball bounced back outside the goal line, Blue collapsed on the ground with a loud thud and a rise of a small cloud of dust.

"Blue!"

"Blue-san!"

"Nee-san!"

The other team members were quick to gather around the goal as Blue was struggling to get back on her feet again.

"Are you alright?" Silver asked Blue as he looked for any injuries while Yellow and Platinum were both supporting the brunette from either side. While she seemed amused at the worried look on his face, Blue shrugged off Silver's question.

"I'm… fine, really," Blue panted after taking a few seconds to regain herself, "Sorry that I couldn't block it. I should've—"

"No!" Red interjected, interrupting and stopping Blue from finishing her sentence. In a gentler tone, he added, "It was my fault for leaving the goal unprotected that you got hurt."

"But what are we supposed to do?" Diamond asked, a slight undertone of panic in his voice as he turned to the others, "None of our Hissatsu Techniques work against them, and even The Phoenix got blocked as if it was nothing! Our attacks don't do anything and we can't defend against their attacks, either!"

"Anyone can see that you humans are severely outclassed here," a sneering voice came from behind the group and, as everybody turned to the direction of the voice, Wataru was standing with a smug grin on his face, "If you admit defeat, we will end this match here."

"What do you mean? 'Admit defeat'? 'end this match here'?" Black muttered before turning to look at Red, who nodded confidently in response as he realized what Black was doing. Unable to keep the smirk off his face, Black turned back to Wataru, "We'll continue this match. And we'll find a way to defeat you!"

"Pathetic…" Wataru sighed while shaking his head slowly in disapproval. Turning his back to his opponents, he addressed the rest of his team, "Finish them off!"

The next few minutes was a hailstorm of shots as the Raimon Eleven fell one by one by the overwhelming power of Gemini Storm. None of the aliens were playing with the intent to win anymore…

They were playing with the intent to hurt.

"And then they just left…" Black trailed off bitterly as he looked away, finishing the story while letting the silence linger in the air and to allow Red to fully process what had happened in his lapse of memory. With a deep breath, Black added, "It's a miracle that none of us were hospitalized after they turned their shots towards us rather than the goal."

"Unforgivable…" Red muttered through gritted teeth, and Black looked up in both surprise and curiosity, "To think that they are that strong but use soccer like this…"

"That's just like you to say something like that, Red-san," Black smiled before he stood up and took out his phone, "If you don't mind, I'm going to tell the others that you're alright. Blue-san also said something about old man Okido wanting to talk to all of us once we were all back on our feet, so expect a message from him soon as well."

"Don't let Green hear you call his grandfather that," Red smirked as Black chuckled at hearing this. As Red watched Black type away on his phone, he couldn't help but ask the younger boy, "You think we can beat them?"

"Gemini Storm?" Black asked, and Red nodded grimly. Black visibly took his time to think of an answer and ended up sitting back down again for quite a while before finally coming up with an answer, "It's going to be difficult, but I'm sure we will. They're soccer players, just like us, and that means that they have a weakness somewhere."

"That's great!" Red grinned as he got out of bed, much to Black's shock, "That just means that we have to train hard until we can defeat them! We train, train and train some more until we can beat them!"

"Yes, we can do that, but take it easy," Black responded as he tried to gently push Red back in bed again. Unfortunately for the brunet, Red didn't budge no matter how hard Black pushed him. Admitting defeat, Black added with a sigh, "Should we go and check what Green-san's grandfather wanted to tell us?"

"Are we able to see him now?" Red asked Black, who nodded in response before showing him the screen of his phone, "Alright, let's go!"

"Before that…" Black trailed off as he took something out of his bag and threw it at Red, the older boy fumbling with it slightly before he held the clothes firmly in his hands. With a small smirk, Black finished his sentence, "You might want to change into that before going out, Red-san."

Two hours later, Red and Black had reached Professor Okido's home and, much to their surprise, found that they weren't the first ones to arrive.

"Red! Great to see that you're up again!" Gold grinned as he exchanged greetings with Red, who gladly returned them, "I knew that this lost wouldn't keep you down!"

"I wouldn't be so cheerful if I were you…" a cold voice came from the corner, startling both Gold and Red as Silver walked into view with his hands in his pockets, "Think about it: they effortlessly overpowered us while holding back. We have a tough fight ahead of us. It's a wonder that everybody is still alright after yesterday's fight."

"About that…" Black trailed off as he turned to the blonde girl laying on the sofa, prompting everybody else to follow his gaze, "Yellow-san, are you alright? How is your arm?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course, I am," Yellow said hurriedly as soon as she realized that she was being addressed. Upon seeing the disbelieving looks of her friends, she quickly added, "I mean, my arm isn't stuck in a cast this time around, right?"

"What happened to her?" Red muttered in Gold's ear as Black continued his conversation with Yellow, "Why would Yellow's arm be hurt?"

"Well, right after you lost conscious, that Diam guy shot a ball straight at you," Gold began after offering Red a drink, "Yellow managed to get you out of the way in time but got slammed into the post herself. I think Black is just making sure that we're all in working order for our upcoming matches against Gemini Storm."

"We're going to need everybody to be in perfect shape…" Red mused in agreement before scanning everybody in the room almost as if to make sure that they were doing fine.

"Alright, everybody!" a loud yet familiar voice came from the direction of the door. As all teens in the room turned their head in that direction as one, they saw Professor Okido standing in the door opening. With a sad smile on his face, he addressed the teens in front of him, "First of all, I am glad that all of you came out of that match against Gemini Storm relatively unharmed. That's good."

"What do you mean?" Sapphire, being the first to respond to this ominous statement of the professor, asked. Like her peers, she looked even more worried than she was before.

"I just got word from a friend of mine…" Okido trailed off as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists in pain. Exhaling briefly, the old man continued, "Gemini Storm attacked his orphanage as well, with the local team trying to fight them off."

"And they ended up far worse than we did," Green finished as he stepped into the room from behind his grandfather, "While some of them got away from it with just a few bruises, not all of them were so lucky. Their captain, Ryuuji, ended up in the worse state of them all. He is undergoing surgery as we speak after having both his legs shattered in the battle. We don't know when he will be able to play again."

"No…" Platinum breathed out as she dropped on the chair behind her in both shock and anguish. The other teenagers were all looking on in a similar fashion as the weight of the battles to come finally settled in.

"The next question would be what to do next," Green continued as he eyed his grandfather, "So, gramps, what are we going to do next?"

"We have two choices: we go after Gemini Storm to take them down, or we take this loss and get the people to safety," Okido replied in a grim voice as he eyed everybody in the room for a second before moving to the next pair of eyes, "No one will fault you if you leave."

"So either we fight them again or we run away?" Red asked while looking at Okido for confirmation. As the old man nodded in response, Red took a moment to look at his friends before turning back to the old man, "It should be obvious what I'm going to do. Those aliens challenged us, so it's only right for us to stand up to them!"

"That's right," Blue added as she stepped up, the other teenagers, one by one, joining Red in his stance in front of Okido, "If we run away now then that means that Gemini Storm receives all the freedom they need to run rampage. Not just here but all around the world."

"The greatest defense is a strong offense…" Gold added with a smirk plastered on his face, being the last to join the standing group, "The best way to protect everybody is to take down the source. Count me in!"

"There you have it, now you heard it from them yourself," Green said as he walked to stand beside Red. Seeing the confused looks that he was getting, Green added, "Truth is, gramps asked me how I thought all of you would answer that question a few hours ago."

"And what did you say?" Silver asked as he eyed the taller brunet carefully.

"I told him that there was absolutely no way that any of you, especially Red, would run away from the aliens," Green answered casually, ignoring the reactions that he was getting before turning back to his grandfather, "What is the plan? We obviously can't just rush in and expect to even stand a chance against them."

"No, you cannot," Okido muttered as he frowned in thought while the others were waiting in tense anticipation to hear what he was planning. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to some of them, Okido looked up again, "You're going to have to gather information first. Tomorrow, you're all heading out to my friend's place to gather information about their match with Gemini Storm today."

"Not to sound disrespectful," Platinum began, catching the attention of everybody around her before she continued, "But should training ourselves not be our first and foremost priority?"

"Let's say you spend the next few days training endlessly… then what?" Okido asked in return rather than answering the girl's question. Upon hearing the tone in which Okido was talking in, Platinum shrunk back visibly, "As you should all know better than I do, those aliens crushed you. They annihilated other teams in the area. What's worse, they were likely holding back considerably in their matches, so we don't even know how powerful those aliens actually are."

"That's…" Platinum muttered as she took a step back. She couldn't say anything else, however, as Okido spoke again.

"You're not wrong; it's true that all of you need to train yourselves considerably to have a chance against the aliens," Okido continued while addressing everybody in the room. Taking a deep breath, in part to allow his words to sink in, he finished in a gentler tone, "But what we need now is to know just how powerful our enemy really is. And for that, I need you guys to go to my friend's place and ask them yourselves."

"And that just about wraps it all up," a certain spiky haired male muttered as he looked away from the tender gaze of his bedridden sister.

"So that means that you're leaving soon, right?" Nanami asked with a sad look on her face before turning her gaze towards her lap. It was difficult; she had just woken up from her coma of nearly a year, and now her brother was going away for an unknown period of time.

"Yeah, we're leaving in a few hours," Green responded as he stood up from his chair and stretched, "Those aliens aren't just threatening us anymore. They are threatening everybody. And we have to stop them!"

"I'm sure you'll succeed, humans are strongest when they fight to protect those that are dear to them," Nanami smiled as she looked up to gaze into her brother's namesake eyes. She knew that glint in them all too well, "Just promise me that you'll be careful…"

"I will… nee-san," Green smiled as he reassured her before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, "I'm off."

"Go get them!" Nanami cheered as Green held the handle of the door in his hand. With a smile and a wave, he opened the door and left the room.

It was quiet in the hospital's corridor, and Green took this opportunity to regain his composure. He tried his hardest to keep it hidden from his sister, but he had a feeling that she could tell.

He was terrified.

After the small display of the terror that is Gemini Storm, Green knew that they had one hell of a fight ahead of them. What's worse, he knew that it wasn't anywhere near the true extent of their power as they had been toying with them all along.

"You are Okido Green, correct?" a mysterious voice said, breaking Green away from his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. Looking in the direction in which he heard the voice come from, Green found himself looking at a trio who, despite looking almost identical to one another, he did not recognize.

"And what if I am?" Green asked in return as he took a careful step back, unconsciously eyeing Nanami's door to make sure that it was properly closed. Much to the brunet's relief, it was.

"We like to have a word with you. It is in your best interest to come with us, also for your sister's case," the middle of the three said, and Green visibly flinched when he heard that they were talking about Nanami, "Come with us and we can talk further."

"So, what do you think?" Blue asked the boy as she took out a midnight blue colored jacket and held it in front of her. The two of them were making their way through the surprisingly quiet clothes store until Blue saw this beauty laying on one of the racks.

"Before I answer your question, I have two questions of my own. May I?" Silver asked as he finally caught up with his sister. The brunette, albeit looking slightly shocked, nodded regardless, "Why are you looking for clothes at a time like this and why bring me along?"

"Because my old jacket is worn out and I thought that it was about time to replace it," Blue responded nonchalantly as she took another look at the jacket in her hands, "Besides, you may not admit it but I know that you got a good sense of fashion. You chose this outfit for me as well, after all."

"But that's—" Silver exclaimed, but stopped as he realized that she wasn't wrong. With a sigh, and seeing that Blue did have a point, Silver instead said, "It looks good on you."

"Thank you," Blue smiled as she tucked the jacket under her arm and walked towards the counter with the redhead trailing behind, "Besides, is it a bad thing for me to spending a bit of time with you?"

"That's not the thing at all!" Silver responded quite harshly, to which he immediately apologized before adding in a softer tone, "It's just… I know that everybody has been spending their last day before the trip with their families… don't you want to—?"

"Is that what has been bothering you all this time?" Blue asked in both surprise and amusement, having stopped walking and, instead, turning her full and undivided attention at Silver, "I can understand why you think that, Silver… but you're family, too."

"They're still not back, are they?" Silver deadpanned as he stared the older girl in the eyes. Blue, despite chuckling, did not seem to be fazed by his accusation at all.

"You got me there, Silver," Blue smiled as she paid for the jacket before putting it on. After taking a moment to enjoy the new look, Blue turned back to Silver, "But don't worry, I called them last night and I had my family time with them already. Now it's time for us to get going and do what we have to do."

"That's right," Silver nodded as he looked at the screen of his phone, "It's time. Let's go, nee-san!"

Natsumi: And that wraps up today's chapter.

Domon: We hope you enjoyed it!

Haruna: Please leave a review on your way out, and until next time!

Kabeyama: "Mizudeppō" is the Japanese name of the Pokémon move "Water Gun"

Aki: This chapter's quote of the day is…

Yuuka: Humans are strongest when they fight to protect those that are dear to them!

All: That's all!