A/N: And we are back! This is an old one from the old story, so feel free to skip! ^^
The locker room was bursting with anticipation as the eleven players' hearts hammered, sitting there preparing for the match. Their colours of white and blue mixed, with two soccer balls sitting in a corner, untouched. A few hours before they had been frantically training, getting used to the field and their nerves, but now nobody had the heart to touch it.
"Okay, guys." Their last player walked into the room. He was in his mid-twenties, with a white shirt, faded jeans, black hair and dark bags around his eyes. "Are we ready?"
Several people nodded. Nobody dared to open their mouth. One of them was gulping down chocolate like his life depended on it, and the other kept banging his PSP against the wall. A third was knocking his toys against the floor, showing possibly more emotion than he had ever in his lifetime.
"Yeah, we're ready!" Matsuda shot his hand into the air. "We're pumpin'! Don't worry, L, we'll definitely win!"
"We're up against Team Kira," L said seriously, "but it's no big deal. After all, Justice will prevail!"
"Yeah!" The rest of the team cheered.
Matt sneaked quietly over to where Mello was, gulping down chocolate like crazy. The blond suddenly choked, face turning from red to purple, and Matt had to thump him on the back twice. "You ready, Mel?" he asked, when he no longer seemed to be dying.
Mello shot him a confident look. "Heh! Duh, Matty! We'll beat those Kira idiots to a pulp and show 'em who's boss!"
Matt grinned, putting down his PSP for perhaps the first and last time in his life. "To Team Justice!"
The other smirked, snapping off a piece of chocolate.
"To Team Justice!"
-xox-
In the other locker room, the atmosphere was the opposite. Light lounged against the wall, eating a bag of potato chips and looking positively delighted with his life. Their cheerleader, Amane Misa, walked in and spotted him and immediately walked over. "Li-ghto!" she beamed, positively glomping him. "How are you feeling? Is everything okay? Do you need Misa to bring you a notebook?"
Light sneered at the evil thoughts running through his mind. "Everything is planned out, Misa. The referee, Ryuk, has been bribed. We have sabotaged Aiber so he cannot play, and instead his place is filled by an imbecile, Matsuda. Nothing can go wrong."
Misa beamed at him. "What about that guy who was on drugs before? Marsh? Michael? ...Caramel?"
"Mello," Light hissed. "And that stupid Near!" His eyes seemed to turn red for a moment. "Ah well, no problem. If we have Ryuk on our side, we have the game in our hands. Victory will be for Team Kira!"
"TEAM KIRAAAAAAAAA!" Mikami yelled over-enthusiastically.
"Yes," Light cackled. "Now where's Demegawa? We need to start!"
-xox-
The whistle was blown.
The game started.
Immediately, Near passed to Mello, who passed it to Matt, passing it back to Mello, passing it to Matt again, passing it to Matsuda, who let the ball slip away from him. Light dashed up and intercepted the ball, passing it swiftly to Mikami, who was a midfielder. He shot a pass over to Higuichi. Seeing this, L deftly spun the ball from his grasp, passing it to Near, who passed it to Mello.
And so the cycle went on, a full fifteen minutes where both sides were equal, each grasping for the ball and threatening to push forward past the defence lines and to take a shot at the goal. But at the start of the 16th minute, the first chance arrived for Team Justice.
Matt, imagining himself playing this game on his DS, lobbed the ball in Matsuda's direction. Both fullbacks came up to him at once and Matsuda, panicking, kicked the ball pathetically in any direction he could. One of the fullbacks got to it before Mello and shot a wide kick towards the other side of the field.
Mello's eyes widened in anger. "Matsuda, you IDIOT!" he screamed, reaching for his chocolate before he realized chocolate wasn't allowed on the field. "You have a clear chance! It was wide open! And you didn't even try to take the shot! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
"Calm down, Mello," Near said quietly. "Light's got the ball at our end now. Let's draw back."
Still fuming, they focused their attention to the other end of the pitch. Light had passed to Mikami, and then positioned himself. Mikami relayed the ball back and Light, aiming carefully, sent the ball spinning precariously past the goal-keeper's outstretched fingers and into the net.
"YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
A giant cheer for Team Kira deafened the stadium as Light circled the pitch twice, screaming in triumph. Somewhere within that noise, Misa's annoying voice could be heard above the racket, occasionally drowned out by Takada's hysterical cries. Then, when the hype had calmed down somewhat, they resumed the game.
Matt passed effortlessly to Mello, who evaded two of Kira's midfielders. There were only three more players blocking his path now, and one was coming up quickly. Near, who had made it past them, signalled furiously yet silently to show that he was clear. He saw Mello's eyes widen in understanding, anger, then stubbornness as he ignored Near and aimed a wide kick of the goal, which flew well clear of it.
Silently cursing, Near retreated and prepared to initiate their defensive tactics.
-xox-
The buzzer sounded for half-time.
Both the teams immediately ran to meet their coaches. Watari met his team disapprovingly. "One nil already, and you guys have barely shot at the goal," he reprimanded.
Mello immediately shot up. "It's not my fault!" he protested indignantly. "Matsuda had the perfect chance, but he didn't take it! That's why those Kira brats were able to score!"
"Mello," Near said quietly, pushing down his anger. "To play on a team, you need to cooperate. Back then, I was wide open. Why didn't you pass it?"
Mello mumbled something about not wanting others to steal his glory. Near rolled his eyes.
-xox-
Second half began badly for Team Justice. As L ran past him with the ball, Light inconspicuously stuck out his foot, both tripping L and claiming the ball for himself. The referee, Ryuk, turned a blind eye, despite the protesting fans. Light smirked. Bribing Ryuk sure was worth it.
Then, when L tried to pay Light back for that, by pushing him slightly when Light had control of the ball, Ryuk sounded the whistle and held up a red card. The fans screamed in protest, but Ryuk's judgement was final. Fuming, Mello accompanied L off the pitch.
"That was NOT fair!" Mello snapped, casting furious looks at Ryuk. "Stupid ref is biased!"
L sighed. "It's alright, Mello. I'll bet you Light bribed him. Get back on the pitch."
Mello did so, but reluctantly.
As they started again, Matt took control of the ball. Smirking as he evaded Team Kira, he tossed the ball to Mello. The blond easily manoeuvres around the last few fullbacks and, eyes screwed in concentration, aimed a kick at the goal.
The lucky goalkeeper blocked the shot, but the ball was sent rolling away from him. Seizing the chance, Near aimed and spun the ball neatly into the back of the net.
The cheer which went up was enormous. Every single Team Justice fan was on their feet and screaming encouragement. What with Matsuda's incredibly horrible skills and the bias of the referee, many fans considered this goal a great achievement.
But Team Justice weren't going to settle with a draw. They had to win.
There were five minutes left of the match and both sides were becoming increasingly desperate. Team Kira, who had such a huge lead for the entire match, were playing to their maximum potential. Team Justice, equally determined, removed all forms of defence and focused on attack. Even their goalkeeper, Alternate, came to help.
Matt and Mello were working together flawlessly. Mello twirled the ball past a player and passed to Matt, who held the ball long enough for Mello to get into position. Together they almost made to the other end of the pitch, but Light came towards them.
He quickly captured the ball from Mello's grasp and started back up the pitch. Seeing this, Near took the ball from under him. Both fullbacks came at him, and he passed to Matsuda.
"CRAP!" Mello yelled, sprinting towards Matsuda. "SHOOT, YOU IDIOT! SHOOT!"
Matsuda stared at him, looking around for a moment, and then randomly kicked.
Nobody moved. Nobody even dared to breathe. Every eye was on the ball as it soared past the goalkeeper's outstretched fingers and into the goal.
There was silence.
"!"
The noise would have made an atomic bomb sound insignificant. Every single person – including Team Kira's supporters – was cheering and clapping and blowing their noses and crying and screaming and jumping around and cheering and cheering and cheering and the whole crowd was ablaze with fire.
But Light still had hope. "DON'T BLOW THE WHISTLE!" he screamed at Ryuk, running over. "Ryuk, Ryuk," Light pleaded desperately. "If you don't blow the whistle, I'll pay you a thousand more dollars."
Ryuk took one look at the desperate face and shrugged. "Sorry, Light. No can do."
He blew the whistle.
A/N: I really love this. Would anyone find it weird if I didn't comment here after the story, or would you prefer no comments at all?