The next day, Kurita decided to continue the training with Ed, improving his blocking skills. "You put your hands here," he explained as he placed Ed's hands near his armpits, "And shove!" Kurita bore down on his shorter fellow player, only to be flipped over the younger boy's shoulder and onto his back. Kurita stared at the blue sky for a moment before sitting up and facing an expectant Ed who stood with his hands on his hips. Hiruma looked up at the sound of the thump and turned his attention towards the two powerhouses.
Ed asked, "How was that?"
"Well," Kurita answered with uncertainty, "Usually you push so the player is forced to go the other way."
"Oh. Let's try that, then." Kurita pushed him over in seconds. "Darn, his height gets me every time," Ed muttered to himself.
"Hey blondie!" Hiruma yelled from where he was running Sena through some drills while Mamori was occupied. "Try doing what you did the first time, only this time, go for the ribs instead of the armpits." Ed did, and flipped Kurita over his shoulder again. He looked down at his hands. The flips had been a lot easier when he'd put his hand lower of Kurita.
He looked at Kurita, who was once again lying on the ground. "Do you think we could try that again?" Kurita jumped up. Hiruma went back to his practice with Shorty.
After about an hour of working out the kinks for what Hiruma would name the Devil Bat Throw, They worked on pushing the conventional way, although it wasn't exactly even. Kurita couldn't get enough leverage on Ed since he had to reach down to get a grip on the boy's torso, and Ed's grip was too low to 'blue sky' someone, although he could push Kurita back a few feet when the giant wasn't using his full strength.
Ed loved every minute of it, except for the times he ended up ground into the dirt.
Kurita decided to teach Edward how to block someone coming in from the side when he thought the blond had a good grasp of the frontal blocking tactics. "You reach out, hook them on the shoulder, and throw them behind you, or just keep them away with one arm. Yours are too short for that, so we'll work on the other one." He demonstrated the hooking tackle and the alchemist soon tasted grass.
He jumped back to his feet and grabbed the much larger boy by his ribs. "Like this?" He pulled and Kurita staggered to the right a few feet before catching himself.
He smiled at the grinning blond. "Yes! Usually you want to get them off their feet so they can't come after you."
Ed's grin widened. "With someone else, maybe. Let's try it again." And both of them threw themselves back into practice.
Once he had the basics of that move down, they worked on the jumping tackle. You propelled yourself through the air after a player, grabbed them, and took them down with you when you landed. Ed's flexibility and leg strength soon made it his favorite move, although he resisted the urge to throw a flip or two into the mix. The others called them in to change back into regular clothes before either of them knew it.
At almost the tail end of practice, when they were all walking back to the clubhouse, Ed asked the biggest or his teammates, "What about a tackle from behind?"
Kurita opened his mouth to reply but Hiruma answered, "Grab them anywhere. Legs, waist, it doesn't matter." His tone made Sena shiver.
But Ed wasn't finished. "Oh yeah, like what?" In answer, HIruma pulled out a video tape from last year and shoved it into the TV.
He found the spot, grabbed Ed's head, and forced him to look at the screen. "Watch number 40." Ed watched the play unfold. Kurita tossed the ball back through his legs to Hiruma, who ran around the side, dodging the larger group of players in the middle. He had the ball tucked into one arm and used the other to push one of the team's defenders behind him. Come on! Ed shouted internally as he saw Hiruma make it past two more players, with no one standing between him and the end zone.
Then an arm shot out and grabbed Hiruma's side. The arm whipped him around and slammed him into the earth below, halting the play. The camera panned from Hiruma's helmet, up muscled legs and over the number 40 plastered on the other player's jersey, until it finally came to his face.
Ed didn't want to believe it. How did Mustang get here? The black eyes, black hair, stern look, it was his superior in a football helmet. But no, it wasn't him, Ed decided after another look. The face was too narrow, the eyes not calculating enough, the smirk missing entirely. But the determination to overcome was still there.
It was the same no matter what Deimon tried. 40 just kept tackling. His frontal and side tackles knocked players, usually Hiruma, to the ground, but after a tackle from the back, Ed saw the on-screen quarterback clutch his side where the other player had grabbed him. Number 40 reminded him of Scar for a minute, deconstructing every play and player with his hands. This guy was good.
Hiruma hid his surprise at the excitement on the younger boy's face. "What team does he play for," the boy asked, golden eyes swimming in fire.
The devilish quarterback grinned. "Ojo White Knights."
"Will he try to stop Eyeshield?"
"Yep. It'll be your job to stop him." Hiruma looked over at the blond and wanted to cackle at the look on his face. This kid was raring for a fight.
"What's his name?"
"Seijuro Shin. He's famous for his spear tackle."
Ed looked back at the TV, paused at the moment Shin brought Hiruma to the ground for the last time during the game. "Sounds like fun."
After Sena, Ed, and the others left, Kurita looked over at his friend and saw a maniacal grin bearing his fangs. "That kid's got more fight that most would give him credit for. I can't wait to see the look on Shin's face when he gets tackled by the blondie."
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