Good heavens, I took so long writing this chapter! And thank goodness I haven't had any setback this time as it had been happening lately. Well, it's all the same…
Welcome to the second chapter of this adventure in pursuit of acquiring new abilities! Shinichi welcomes you all once more to "The roar of the beast". I have decided to approach the story in a slightly more humoristic way this time (I'm the curtest person you'll ever meet so it'll be hard to notice), but without losing the sight of the final objective. I think I have waffled excessively —like always cough cough—, but ideas come to me as I write and I end up regretting it if I don't write them down.
Also, let me add that, even if I have re-written this chapter in Spanish, I decided to translate the original version instead of the new one, so you can take a look at how it first looked. I wouldn't want to show the better (yet not good) version of it in English before it is released in Spanish! I'm sorry; Miga-senpai is a total nerd.
Anyway: in this chapter you'll see how Handa is dragged to Teikoku to practice, with the consistent appearance of some of my favorite characters. Have I ever mentioned I love Fudou? He's a potential troll, what I look forward to being someday (LOL)
Finally, let me thank my friend Yvonne for checking this creepy (or should I say 'crappy' instead?) thing out and making sure everything sounds as good as possible. There's no much she can do when the raw material's this bad, but at least it's a nicely presented rotten dish.
With nothing else to tell (because I'm out of strength) I refer you to the chapter. Enjoy it!
He whistled and, at once, a squad made up of five violet penguins emerged from the ground, which followed and surrounded the trio as it rose in the air. They created a dimensional space that held the ball inside of it and injected potency to it; a clear influence of Teikoku's game and its Death Zone. They all spun around the soccer ball to, eventually, hit it by a heel kick at the cry of 'Koutei Penguin San Gou, G3'. The penguins took care of correcting the trajectory of the shot, sending it towards the goalpost.
The goalkeeper gathered energy in his fist, the same way he had gathered it around his heart so many times in the past. He propelled himself upwards, and the hair-rising figure of a demon appeared behind him, ready to help him hammer on the ball with wrath from above as he exclaimed 'Ikari no Tetsui, V2'.
It was a fierce battle but, finally, the ultimate penguins beat the improvement of Daisuke Endou's master technique. The keeper, even though he was beaten, was panting happily.
"Guys, that was amazing! You become stronger and stronger each day!"
Jirou Sakuma, forward for Inazuma Japan, celebrated the goal enthusiastically.
Yuuto Kidou, midfielder and strategist, smirked a faint smile.
Akio Fudou, joker player, limited himself to folding his arms and clicking his tongue, giving to understand that what his captain had just said was not news at all.
It wouldn't matter how many times he saw it: the strength of the shot would always impress young Shinichi Handa, midfielder for Raimon who, unfortunately, hadn't been selected to play the FFI.
"So what, Shin-shin? Does this environment inspire you?" Mamoru Endou asked the newcomer.
"You obviously are in another league, capt'n…" Handa answered, still amazed.
"The world was a tough rival," Kidou added, also a former teammate of the guest. "By the way, what was that you needed from me, Handa?"
"Ah, yeah, right, I almost forgot…!"
Shinichi had gone to Inazuma Japan's training session for a very clear reason. Forced… or by Endou's 'suggestion', he had 'decided' to go and ask Kidou for help to develop his new hissatsu.
"Do you think we could talk about it in private…? It's not like I don't want you to find out, capt'n, I just wanna talk about it alone, calmly and…"
"Don't worry, I understand!" The goalkeeper answered cheerfully. "See you later, guys!"
Kidou and Handa headed to the changing rooms.
"Summon, huh…" Kidou asked, confused and curious at the same time. "Is it because of your new hissatsu, Handa?"
The boy just nodded, somehow ashamed of having to ask for help. Yuuto patted his shoulder lightly a few times.
"It's only natural to not know, don't worry. I wouldn't know either if it wasn't thanks to…"
The boy of the goggles went quiet all of a sudden, provoking a tense silence to appear between the two of them, which Handa tried to break.
"Ah, yeah… S-so, will you help me, Kidou-kun…?"
"Yeah… I mean, yes, of course," he answered, still disconcerted and feeling the black shadow of Kageyama over his shoulders once again. For a while, he couldn't take the memory of such a dark time out of his head.
"What… what are we doing here…?" Handa queried.
Around him some Raimon players were gathered: on his left were Kidou, Megane and Miyasaka; the last one had joined the team by Kazemaru and Endou's request when Shishido injured himself and only fourteen players remained in the team. On his right Endou and Shadow lined up: the first one was very excited because of the environment, and the second one was as cold as always.
"The Teikoku Gakuen is the best place to practice what you need right now, Handa", Kidou answered.
"But, what's this all about, Kidou-kun…?"
Handa was, by all means, clueless. The only ones who knew something about the subject were Kidou, Endou and Shadow, but none of them was really up for opening the mouth by then. Suddenly, he noticed that Endou's face lit up, while Kidou looked away a little. He looked at the front and he found out the reason of both reactions.
"Yu-san!" Mamoru greeted. Before Handa was the adult version of Yuuto Kidou, who no one but Endou had met yet. The young Kidou, ashamed and somehow confused, looked away, apprehensive, when he found out that person who was in front of him was himself.
Certainly, they all were surprised. Even Kageto seemed to show signs of humanity when he saw the Kidou from ten years in the future. Their captain had talked at great length about it all to all of them, but it was strange to see it with their very own eyes.
"Hello, boys. …Hello, Yuuto," Teikoku's current coach greeted.
"He… hello, Kidou… san," Raimon's strategist replied, clearly nervous and even ill at ease. "Is… everything ready?"
"Yes, you have it all set. Handa, Megane, Miyasaka."
"Y-yeah!" the three above-mentioned replied in unison, equally surprised. By simple reflex action, they all grew very tense and bolted upright; it almost looked like a military scene.
"You will come with me and Miyabino, my Teikoku's goalkeeper. Handa," the coach said, looking straight at the preceding, "I hope this training will help you develop that new hissatsu you were talking about. This is all I can do for you."
"D-don't worry, Kidou-san…! I should be the one thanking you for helping me without asking for anything in exchange…!"
"Well, this is a training for Miyabino as well," the adult answered, patting softly Teikoku's frightened new Cerberus' head, who was hiding behind his coach's back. "Raimon is a strength to bear in mind; it will come in handy for him to face you boys, even if verily he'll be fighting against one of our techniques."
Handa's group looked at the announcer before they looked at each other. They still couldn't understand exactly what all that mess was about.
"What? Have you not told them anything, Endou-kun, Yuuto?" The coach asked, looking black.
"Ah, I had forgotten it!" Raimon's captain remarked, playing the subject down. "Guys, we've brought you here so you can practice the Koutei Penguin!"
"Koutei Penguin Ni Gou? Don't mind me saying, but, isn't it sort of useless for us to practice that hissatsu? Kidou-kun, Someoka-kun and Gouenji-kun have mastered it already!" Megane inquired, adjusting his glasses.
It's curious how Handa ended up bringing with himself such a mixed bunch as Megane and Miyasaka. When Kidou and Endou told him that they would organize a custom practice to help him, they asked him to look for two mates who would want to train with him. To start with, no one answered his request; everyone knew perfectly how dangerous it could be to be one in the captain's "special trainings". Everyone except the newcomer, of course. Miyasaka, without listening to neither any reasons nor his mates' advice not to do it, rushed headlong to help his new teammate, thrilled before the simple idea of being able to perform more of those unbelievable techniques they all used. On his part, Megane couldn't resist the idea of the limelight he would gain if thanks to him they could score "the goal of the victory" in a match, so, plucking up all of his courage, he overcame his fears and decided to give Shinichi a helping hand.
"You're right, Megane. We already count on a Koutei Penguin Ni Gou in the team," the young Yuuto affirmed. "Even though, there's 'another' Koutei Penguin that Raimon doesn't know how to put into effect… yet."
Jirou Sakuma and Akio Fudou attended in that moment.
"Tsk, what a drag. I don't know why we've to help these useless guys master a hissatsu they'll later on be able to use against us. What are we, dorks?"
"Don't be so nasty, Fudou. It's just a favor for Handa."
"As if that'd change anything, Sakuma. Can't you see the FF's about to start and the Koutei Penguin that 'WE' created is almost impossible to stop for Genda?"
"It's a matter of civism and friendship. Don't you want to help an old friend, you knucklehead?"
The rest of the present let the two stars of Teikoku continue their stupid discussion and they went into more important subjects.
"Are you telling me that I… u-us… will have to…?" Handa stuttered.
"That's correct. The idea is you to master the Koutei Penguin San Gou."
"B-but wouldn't it be better if you leaded the hissatsu, Kidou-kun…? After all it's yours, and it'd probably be stronger that way…"
The Kidou he knew better shook his head.
"It's not a matter of strength, Handa. The plan is you to master the hissatsu so that you learn how to summon, that's all. And if the level of the team can improve as well, so much the better."
Miyasaka was so greatly excited even if he only understood half of it all. Megane was both frightened and impatient to start scoring goals. Handa, on his part… you could say he was trembling more than a leaf trapped in a hot draught.
The Teikoku Gakuen split in three groups. The first one, leaded by coach Kidou, would take care of Handa. The second one, who counted with Sakuma-kantoku in front, would train regularly with both present time's and future time's players. But, what about the last group?
"Start warming up, Genda! We'll soon make you face a challenge abreast of you!" Endou exclaimed, firing with enthusiasm.
"You'd better. If I am bored, you'll pay the consequences," Genda said with a defiant smile on his face.
"Are you ready, Shadow? It's time for us to coordinate!"
"Yes, captain. But we must wait until she arrives."
"Don't worry! Look, there she is!"
Mamoru pointed at the entrance of the stadium. The silhouette of Hitomiko Kira, who during the war against the Aliea Gakuen was Raimon's coach, could be easily glimpsed.
"Hitomiko-kantoku!" Endou greeted effusively.
"Hello, boys. Long time no see. Hello, Genda."
"Good morning, Hitomiko-kantoku!" Genda said with a reverence. The coarseness with which Kira always earn respect was patent, and she basically had tamed even Neo Japan. Kidou and Shadow greeted her as well in the same way, but in a much demurred way.
"So what you want is to practice Death Zone 2, right?"
They all nodded. Endou and Kidou already knew how to use it together, and even if Shadow knew the theory and had performed the technique before, he had never done so with Raimon; it's a must to bear in mind that, after all, he was still pretty new in the team.
"Okay, boys. Get ready," Hitomiko ordered.
To say that Handa didn't know where to start from is underestimating it a lot. He was literally frozen.
"Err, Kidou-ku- uh?"
It had been long since the young Yuuto had gone with Hitomiko's group, but Shinichi was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't even realized.
"You halfwit, be more attentive!" Fudou sprang on him drily.
"Just shut up, you mama's boy!" Sakuma shouted at him, irritated because of Fudou's bad attitude towards Handa.
"Mind your own business!"
Sakuma and Fudou came to blows. Kidou-kantoku limited himself to let the pair do as they pleased; he knew better than anyone that arguments between them were constant and unavoidable.
"Alright, boys. Koutei Penguin San Gou is a technique which combines another two: Death Zone and Koutei Penguin Ni Gou. But seeing as we do not have time to work on the base, we will aim straight for the final result. I know at first hand that you have the ability that is needed to master it, so do not worry."
Handa, Miyasaka and Megane nodded. Kidou clicked his fingers and, at once, Sakuma and Fudou stopped fighting in order to get together with him. An opportunely nearby ball did it for the trio to perform a perfect ultimate Koutei Penguin, much stronger than anyone they had ever seen before due to the adult Kidou's participation, whose strength was stirring.
Shinichi, Ryou and Kakeru were mesmerized. What power! What proficiency! What… horribly difficult to perform that technique was!
"Will we really be able to do that ourselves…?" Handa asked, distrustful. Fudou and Sakuma didn't take long to start walloping each other again.
"I am certain. If you work hard enough, at least."
The three of them concurred, though some of them with a bigger enthusiasm than others, let's make clear.
"Alright, Handa. Try to call the penguin with a whistle; that's the lure we always use."
Handa put two fingers inside of his mouth. He placed his tongue over them. He blew.
The only sound he produced was a mixture between a raspberry and a snort.
Kidou frowned as he massaged the space between his eyebrows lightly.
…It is going to be a really long day.
"Death Zone… 2!" Shadow, Kidou and Endou shouted in unison as they kicked. The shot looked correct, but Genda could easily clear it with his Full Power Shield.
"Uhm. I'm sorry, captain."
"Curse it."
"We were almost there!"
What might have failed?
"But what kind of disastrous coordination was that?" Coach Hitomiko shouted. What in anyone's eyes could have seemed like a perfect shot was not perfect at all for her, since she owned a superlative vision of the field and the movements. Her adeptness to analyze in a flash a foe team's 'modus operandi', along with her pinpoint analysis of the movement of each and every of the players, made an extraordinary coach out of her. "Shadow, you've turned round almost half a revolution more than your teammates, you haven't even started spinning at the same time! Dear God, how green you are."
The three of them lowered their heads, disappointed.
"What are you doing, standing around? Quick, one more time! Prepare yourself, Genda! And you guys, if I see you making such a rumpus again I'll send you to clean the whole Ohisama-En, see If you buck up and get some team spirit!"
'Death Zone 2…!'
"Let's see… Place the index finger and thumb together, between the front teeth. Press with your tongue, that is right. Wrinkle your lips, but oh dear, do not close the whole mouth, Handa!"
Shinichi was getting more and more nervous. His partners had made a circle around him, practically hampering him from breathing while Yu-san gave him indications about how to whistle. They had been there for more than an hour already.
"No, no, no, you must open more of your mouth."
"What'd you say? The secret's in the tongue!"
"What if you try moving your fingers?"
Each one was giving his opinion, and none seemed to be the key to success despite the inhuman efforts Handa was doing to produce a sound that wouldn't sound like a flatulence.
"Tsk. What a useless guy, he can't even whistle and pretends to summon! For failures I've enough with this bunch of idiots I call 'team'. Oh, but of course, they ALREADY KNOW how to do this. I think we've found in Handa a new level of ineptitude never seen before. Congrats."
Akio's sarcastic and wounding comment keenly irritated the midfielder, who relaxed his mouth unconsciously and snorted. Miraculously, he produced a sound that, although wasn't exactly a whistle, was certainly a very good start. The whole group was surprised, since most of them already thought he would never manage to do it.
"Wonderful, Handa-kun! You almost have it!" Megane cheered.
"Han-Da, Han-Da!" Miyasaka acclaimed.
Nevertheless, it was Miyabino, who still haven't said a single word, the first one who realized about Shinichi's biggest progress.
"Hey, guys, check this out…"
"Full Power Shield, V2!"
Genda's efforts were, finally, inefficient; the shoot supertechnique that Endou, Shadow and Kidou were practicing finally broke through the defense the goalkeeper had built.
"Good job, guys!" Genda exclaimed. "That was way better already!"
"Good job? It's not even half as strong as it could be!" The coach complained. "Shadow, being a forward as he is, gives you a lot more power than the one Domon used to give you; I won't let you move away from here until you don't reach the level you should have! Genda, go and call two teammates; we won't go anywhere until they don't break through Mugen no Kabe!"
The four players started having daytime nightmares about the soreness that would be waiting for them the day after.
Wow… It's even worse than I remembered X'D Let's abbreviate! Handa asks Kidou for help so he teaches him how to summon, since he's an expert in the subject thanks to his Koutei Penguin. In order to help him, he takes him and a select group of Raimon players to the Teikoku Gakuen, since it's the best place where to learn about that kind of stuff. While Handa, Miyasaka and Megane focus on mastering Koutei Penguin San Gou, Endou, Kidou and Shadow try to get back the Death Zone 2 they lost when Domon went to America. This second group has almost reached its goal, but Handa's still quite stuck in the place.
Nonetheless, what's that "progress" Miyabino talks about? Will Handa be able to master Teikoku's flag-hissatsu? And what do Megane and Miyasaka have to do in all this? All of this, in the following chapters!