Chapter 8: Soccer Scramble!
Godzilla stood at the center of the soccer field, and took a deep breath. The sun was out, the air was fresh. Yes, it was indeed a perfect day for being outside. Slapping his hands against his cheeks, Godzilla shook his head to get himself motivated. He then turned to his team.
"Alright everyone. The team from the clone club will be arriving soon. Let's go over our positions." Godzilla said as he looked over his team consisting of himself, Rodan, Anguirus, King Kong, Jet Jaguar, and Kamen Riders Ryuki, Kabuto, Kiva, Ex-Aid, Black RX.
"Uh, Godzillla?" Kong asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Aren't we one head short?"
"Hm?" Godzilla did a quick head count, and slapped himself when he realized they were one team member short! "Ah man! Where is he?!"
"Rejoice, peasants! For your king has arrived!" King Ghidorah declared as he landed next to the assembled team. Ichi's head was held high in a proud manner. "Follow my command, and we shall claim victory!"
"Ichi. You're not the leader. Godzilla is." Ni deadpanned before looking to Godzilla with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry in advance if we're a mess out there. We're of three minds about almost everything."
"Oh this is gonna be so much fun!" Kevin beamed as he took in the sight of the soccer field. "Oh! Do we get uniforms?!"
"No Kevin." Godzilla chuckled. "It's pretty easy to tell who's on what team."
"Speaking of teams, our opponents are coming." Anguirus gestured to the approaching Clone Club team.
The Clone Club's team consisted of Mechagodzilla, MG2, Kiryu, Mechanikong, Spacegodzilla, Kaiser Ghidorah, Ryuga, Dark Kabuto, Dark Kiva, and Shadow Moon.
"Wait. You guys are one short." Godzilla mentioned as Mechagodzilla's team met them on the field.
"Trust me." Mechagodzilla sighed. "You'll know when Genm shows up. He just as much of an attention seeker as Ghidorah."
"That's something I didn't want to picture." Godzilla groaned. He then noticed what looked like a purple warp pipe appear next to Ex-Aid. And to no one's surprise, Genm jumped out of it.
"EX-AIIIIIID!" Genm screamed as he landed in front of Ex-Aid! "I finally found a game to beat you at! This soccer match! At long last, I shall-HEY! Let me go!"
Genm struggled as he was hoisted up by one of Kaiser Ghidorah's heads. The dark version of Ex-Aid flailing his limbs as he attempted to rant about beating Ex-Aid in a game.
"Annoying antics from egomaniacs aside, let's play!" Godzilla grinned as he pumped his fist!
Both teams took to their sides of the field quickly, and stared each other down. Godzilla and Mechagodzilla were completely still, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. With just the shifting of one foot, the match was on! Godzilla and Mechagodzilla shot forward and were duking it out for possession of the ball! They seemed evenly matched, but Godzilla kicked the ball back towards his teammates! Kong was quick to intercept the shot, and dribbled the ball toward the other team's side! But Mechanikong was running full tilt at him! The robotic kong was locked onto his target and refused to let him out of his sight!
"Ex-Aid!" Kong cried out as he kicked the ball over to Ex-Aid!
"I got it!" Ex-Aid shouted as he dashed over to the ball and dribbled his way towards the Clone Club team's goal! "I'll clear this with no continues!"
"And now you're mine!" Genm screamed as he pursued Ex-Aid. It was short lived as he found himself out of breath a few seconds later and fell flat on his face. "This. . . isn't as easy as electronic soccer."
Ex-Aid weaved his way around any opposing players, and scored the first goal for his team! The ball shooting right into the top right corner of the net! However, this gave the Clone Club team the chance to strike back!
"Kaiser! Hang back as our goalie!" Mechagodzilla called out! "The rest of you form up on me! I'm going in!"
The Clone Club team charged forward united! As they advanced, the team spread out a bit should Mechagodzilla need to pass. And pass he did when Kong came running towards him! Quickly, Mechagodzilla passed the ball over to Kiryu! Kiryu intercepted the ball just in time, but his advance toward the goal was halted by King Ghidorah!
"Keep on him, brothers!" Ichi commanded! "We shall wrest the ball from him! Then we shall charge toward the enemy's goal!"
"Ichi!" Ni scolded! "We can't just hog the ball! That makes us the biggest target!"
"All this side-to-side motion is making me dizzy." Kevin groaned as their body kept strafing left and right in an effort to keep Kiryu at bay.
However, the in-fighting among the Ghidorah heads provided Kiryu an opening! Wasting no time, Kiryu kicked the ball into the air! Dark Kiva saw this, leaped into the air, and delivered a powerful kick that sent the ball hurtling towards the opposing team's goal! Anguirus steeled his gaze, stomped down one of his forelegs, and threw himself toward the ball! A crack rang through air as Anguirus caught the ball with his forelegs and kicked back onto the field! The ball was quickly intercepted by Rodan who passed it to Ryuki! Unfortunately for the dragon-based rider, his clone was hot on his trail and copying his movements once he was in Ryuki's path!
"Quit copying me!" Ryuki cried out as Ryuga mirrored his movements!
"Dude. I know all your moves." Ryuga chuckled. "Wouldn't be your dark twin if I didn't!"
"Yeah?" Ryuki growled! "How about this then!" Ryuki kicked the ball as high into the air as he could! "DO IT, KIVA!"
"I'm on it!" Kiva shouted as he leaped into the air and performed his Rider Kick on the ball! Sending it flying towards the Clone Club team's goal!
However, Kaiser Ghidorah was taking his position as goalie quite seriously. Right as the ball closed in on the goal, Kaiser's right head shot right toward the ball's path and intercepted it! Kaiser Ghidorah then kicked the ball back onto the field, and the clash for control resumed! Dark Kabuto had managed to get the soccer ball in his possession, but his counterpart from the Template team was right on his tail!
The two beetle-based riders were evenly matched. Or at least, they would've been if Genm and Ghidorah weren't charging right at them in an effort to steal the glory. The three-headed monster and the rider who considered himself a god collided with the two beetle-based riders! Both Kabuto and Dark Kabuto's eyes were swirls from the collision while Ghidorah and Genm bickered as they grappled over the ball!
"Unhand the ball, peasant!" Ichi hissed!
"You dare talk to a god that way?!" Genm screamed as he was in a tug-of-war over the ball with Ghidorah's two other heads!
The argument was swiftly ended when the whistle was blown by the referee, Gamera.
"King Ghidorah and Kamen Rider Genm. You two are removed from the game." Gamera declared. "For improper handling of the ball, and interfering with your teammates' efforts."
Both Ghidorah and Genm were ranting and raving about how they were immune to such a penalty, but nobody cared as their respective team leaders dragged them off the field.
"Hmm. Well, this doesn't bode well." Godzilla said after he slammed Ghidorah down onto the penalty bench! "For either of us."
"True." Mechagodzilla nodded. "We're both one player short now and we need eleven on the field. Our teams have a completely even score, so this would end in a tie."
"WHAT?!" Both King Ghidorah and Genm screamed! "UNACCEPTABLE!"
"Well, this is why we brought along Mothra as a reserve member." Godzilla breathed a sigh of relief as Mothra took to the field.
"Genm's antics are why we had Battra in reserive." Mechagodzilla nodded. "Good thing they can use their abdomen to kick the ball. Let's play!"
The game resumed with very little issue. Well, save for King Ghidorah and Genm bellyaching about being taken off the field. As time went on, both teams were quite evenly matched. Their scores were tied and it was getting down to the wire. One last goal would decide the winner!
"This is it." Godzilla muttered before breaking into a run! "Keep it moving guys!"
"Gotcha, Big G!" Rodan nodded as passed the ball to Kong!
"I'm open! I'm open!" Jet Jaguar waved as he managed to shake Kiryu loose! "To you, Kabuto!"
"Right." Kabuto nodded as he received the ball! Dark Kabuto was right on his tail the second he'd received the pass! "Hey, Kiva! Your turn!"
Kiva silently nodded as he prepared to receive the ball, but ended up duking it out with Dark Kiva for control of it! Seeing no other option, Kiva passed it to Ryuki! While the dragon-based rider succeeded in receiving the ball, Kaiser Ghidorah had unfortunately been relieved of the position of goalie by Shadow Moon. And Kaiser's sights were locked on Ryuki! The dragon rider panicking as he was set upon by the Ghidorah counterpart and his own dark clone was closing in as well!
"Ex-Aid! Heeeellp!" Ryuki cried out as he desperately passed the ball to his fellow Kamen Rider!
"I got it!" Ex-Aid shouted as he caught the ball and ran with it towards the goal! With all his might, Ex-Aid kicked the ball into the goal!
However, Shadow Moon quickly intercepted the ball and kicked it back onto the field! Black RX had managed to make it towards that side of the field, and wasted no time in kicking the ball back! Electricity sparked between Black RX and Shadow Moon as they kept countering one another, but the stalemate was brought to an end when Black RX kicked the ball with all his might and sent it flying right past Shadow Moon's head! Winning the match for RX's team!
Despite being on the winning team, Ghidorah growled as he saw Godzilla and the others celebrating.
"That should be me leading the revelry!" Ichi whined!
"Gee, Ichi. If you want to be in the spotlight so badly, why don't you form your own team?" Ni asked with a smirk. "And why not make it exclusively out of villains?"
"Uh, Ni?" Kevin asked nervously. "I don't think you should give Ichi any ideas. Like saying we should challenge Godzilla's team to a game of baseball." Realizing what he'd just said, Kevin gulped when he saw Ichi grin. "Uh-oh."
"Don't blame yourself, Kevin." Ni sighed. "I'm the one who opened his mouth anyway." And he groaned as Ichi cackled all the way home.