Black Room
Miyabino sat on his bed. He had woken earlier than usual and just stared in straight forward in the darkness. The members of the Shinsei Inazuma Eleven were all talented players, everyone except him. He was only able to play because of Yato's motion sickness. The Teikoku keeper was having his doubts for being chosen on the team. The boy quickly took those thoughts away and slapped his face, "I'm not going to stop here!" He vowed.
"Let's have a good practice today!" Tenma cheered.
"Yeah!"
The team had won their second match yesterday and were extremely pumped up to win the next.
"No." Kuroiwa Kantoku surprisingly was present today. Everyone shot him a confused stare waiting for the Coach to continue. "Follow me..."
They were led towards the indoor stadium of the Odaiba Soccer Garden area. However, instead of walking into the field, Kuroiwa Kantoku stopped at the entrance counter.
The man pressed some buttons and the ground in front of him slowly opened up revealing a staircase going downwards.
"...whoa..." Taiyou gasped.
They then proceeded to walk down. After a short while, the team walked along a narrow path until they reached a very large empty room. The walls were rounded. The floor was cold and felt like glass. And the only 'furniture' was a strange machine placed against the center of the back wall.
"What is this...?"
Kuroiwa motioned Zack to explain.
"H-hai...!?" The boy ran up to the machine and started to input something it. Suddenly, the team found themselves inside a flat, green field. The sun shone down and there was no cloud in the sky. A pleasant breeze blew.
Tenma shook his head. How!? They were just underneath the ground in a plain room. How was it possible to see this scene before them!?
Zack cleared his throat, "This is the Black Room, a virtual reality training machine."
"...!? What!?"
"Well this machine sends signals to our brains giving us the feel of being in a different dimension." The boy continued, sighing as he noticed the confused looks on everyone's faces. "Let's try a training course first then..." Zack began typing things on the machine.
The area suddenly changed to a city-like scene. Tall buildings stretched all the way around the two lane roads the team stood on. A ball appeared before Tenma.
"Whoa!?"
Zack pointed down the road; a soccer goal was visible. "Just dribble and shoot the ball there."
Tenma frowned, but still kicked the ball to begin his specialty, dribbling.
Several steel pipes conjured above the Captain as he made his way down the road. The pipes began crashing down.
"Tenma! Watch out!" Taiyou yelled.
A large cloud of dust dispersed as the steel pipes crashed down onto the earth.
Everyone relaxed as they heard their captain's coughing and "I'm alright!"
"Well that's the Black Room..."
"Hey, hey!? What's with that!?" Jan gasped, "Captain could've gotten hurt!"
Zack laughed nervously, "Don't worry... These are all telegraphic images, you won't be hurt physically. But too long here may start injuring mentally, so max 5 hours a day."
"5 hours..." Jialong repeated.
"Morning practice, 8:00 - 12:00 will be done in here from now on. If you want, you may use this room an extra hour after regular practice schedule." Kuroiwa Kantoku added in the end and began to leave.
"And that's that!" Endou wrapped up.
"Let's begin today's practice." Fideo nodded.
Yato's head began to spin.
"Hey, hey... Don't faint on us again..." Rein chuckled.
"You may wait until you calm down to begin the practice..." Mizukawa suggested, however the African boy refused.
Jialong put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Don't push yourself."
Jan stared at the silent manager, deep in thought.
"It's creepy when you make a serious face, stop it." Rein stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"Ahaha... That's quite rude, you know?"
"Fully aware~"
"Wow... It kinda sounds fun..." Lutz grinned as he walked up to Zack, "How do you work this?"
"I'll teach everyone, so watch closely."
Lutz tried to keep his balance on a small board which rode down a river. The current was fast and constant. The sound made when a ball conjured, caused the boy to look up. Seeing the ball come toward him, the boy leaped into the air and kicked it into one of the targets standing within the bushes. After many trials and errors, Lutz was finally able to hit the targets, but...
Splash!
The boy had yet to be able to land on the board once again.
The ball would fly well above Lutz's head, so he had to jump to get it. The boy sighed as the sceneary returned to the empty room. Everyone was doing their individual training.
Lutz scratched his head, "Guess I'll try again..." He sighed as the area around him returned to the river.
Jan was taking a water break and started a conversation with Aoi and Zack. He tried speaking with Mizukawa, however, she only responded with a "yes." Or a "I don't think so."
Ever since he saw this... 'Girl' Jan felt something wasn't right. Like she had the appearance of a girl, but wasn't one at the same time.
"Is there something wrong?" Mizukawa asked.
Jan frowned, "Who are you?"
Mizukawa was caught off guard by the question, letting out a small gasp.
"What are you saying, Kisaragi-kun? She's one of the managers, Mizukawa Minori-san! Did you forget?" Aoi laughed.
"Yes." With Aoi's words, Mizukawa regained her former composure.
The blond boy smiled, "Oh, right~ silly me. Well, I'll head back to practice then."
Jan was definetly convinced there was some secret to Mizukawa. And he was going to find out, what.
The team concluded their long day of training and the sun was beginning to set.
Milo looked around, "Hey Lutz, have you seen Zafar?"
The brown haired boy scanned his surroundings, "n-no..."
"Zafar left about halfway during the practice." Zack answered.
"Halfway...? And why didn't you stop him!?"
"Say..." Taiyou frowned, "I noticed he doesn't fully participate in practices."
Tenma thought for a bit and nodded, "He's always leaving in between! I wonder why..." The captain then stood, "I'm going to find him!"
Milo and Lutz exchanged a quick glance, "We're coming too, Captain!"
The three then hurried out of the black room.
"Hmf, why do they even bother..." David whispered to himself.
"Ugh... Where could he be...!" Milo sighed. They literally looked everywhere, however, Zafar was nowhere.
"We checked all the fields, the dorms, cafeteria, baths... Even that shrine..." Lutz listed.
Tenma then realized they had missed the ocean side. The three quickly decided to head there.
"Miyabino-kun... You're still going to practice?" Zack asked the grey haired keeper who was entering his new training program.
"None of your business."
Zack sighed, "Only an hour, remember..." He turned and gasped as he saw Katelyn suddenly there.
The silver haired girl was holding a portable chess board which rattled with the pieces inside, "Let's play~"
"H-huh!? Now?"
"I'm gonna play until I defeat you! Ah, and don't think of letting me lose, I'll know immediately."
Zack let out a deep sigh. He wished he hadn't played her the first time. Who would've thought Katelyn was this competitive...
Zafar lay by the rocks, reading a book as he listened to the soft crashing of the waves. A white cat sat straight up next to him. This strange looking cat showed no signs of being afraid of the water.
"Z... Kokonose!" Milo screamed getting the boy's attention. "Argh... We looked all over for you...!"
"...yeah?" Zafar sat up as he closed his book. He noticed Lutz and Tenma follow close behind the green haired boy.
"You can't laze out on practice like...!?" Milo immediately noticed the cat and proceeded to hug it forgetting about continuing his sentence.
Lutz tried to remind him, "Satori... aren't you going to continue...?"
"Where did you come from?" Milo asked the cat in a high pitched voice.
"She was hiding in my room and followed me out here..." Zafar explained.
"What's her name?"
"Dunno."
"It's eyes are two different colours... Adorable~" Milo sighed. He then noticed that the cat had two tails.
Lutz grinned, "Hey Satori-kun~ Did you know in Japanese Myths, there are these white cat ghosts called Nekomata...?"
Milo frowned, "W-what are you getting at...?"
"Those have two tails... Could that kitty you are holding be...?"
"...!" Milo froze.
"Taiguchi... Stop teasing him." Tenma sighed. "And Kokonose, you have to keep attending practice."
"Why, Captain?" Zafar frowned.
Tenma didn't expect this answer, "T-to get stronger of course!"
Zafar clenched his teeth, "If that's the only reason you have for me, I'm sorry Captain, but I won't participate in the full practice. It's just a waste of time really." The brown haired boy started to walk off and the white cat freed itself from Milo's hold proceeding to follow Zafar.
"Ahh...!" Milo whimpered.
"Your mind is just full of cats isn't it?" Lutz lightly bonked his friend's head.
"Haha..."
Tenma sighed, "I wonder why he thinks practice is a waste..."
"Just lazy?" Lutz chuckled as an attempt to lighten the mood. It failed.
Right after the defensive Big Waves, the team's next opponents are Shamshir, a team known for their rough plays and style to attack their opponent's weakness. After all, the team is only as strong as their weakest link. Who will shine this match? Next Episode: Sandstream.
Question to everyone! The little white kitty Zafar found… what shall her (a female she is) name be? Please review your suggestion~~
And I also made a poll on which 5 characters you like best in this story thus far… It's a closed poll, so if you don't want to know the answers, please tell me~ I won't reveal them. This was made for my own curiosity~ I will make a new one further on in the story when more characters start being introduced… XD
That's all for today, hope you enjoyed this chapter~~~ and don't forget to check the fanpage, TrueEarthEleven now with most of the character's seiyuu and image song (character song) listed on their profiles~~ Thank-you for all your contributions to it~ Keeps me writing new chapters XD
