"Stronger...stronger...stronger..."
On his knees, after being passed easily by a girl with long legs that rippled with muscle and radiated power, Galahad looked down at the field below him. Dragging his hands through the field, he gulped back his saliva bitterly.
Managing to steady himself and stand back up once more, he looked at the captain of the Argentinian U15 National team, Wayra Farias Soledad...
Said to be the fastest striker in the U15 division in the entire galaxy, Wayra was a top talent known as the 'Storm Bringer' who brought chaotic winds to any game she played in. And while she was usually busy harassing...or in her words 'training with' the current members of the Pro League lineup, Galahad had finally managed to convince her to train with him for an hour today only to be completely stomped on over and over again.
Wayra brushed her light green bangs out of her face and looked at the blond defender from Raimon who was struggling to catch his breath. Dribbling the ball beneath her nonchalantly, she asked unamused,
"How many times do I gotta do this before ya learn your lesson? It's a waste to have you even breathing the same air as me...".
Then balancing the ball on her head, she gave Galahad one last look before walking away.
"Wait!" shouted Galahad, but it was in vain.
The image of the tall striker slowly got smaller in the distance as she left the stadium the U20 team used, in order to walk over to the neighbouring stadium used by the Pro Liverpool team.
"Damn it..." Galahad spat out with a heated tone.
He had already been training with the Liverpool FC team for two weeks now but still!
It seemed as if the gap between him and Wayra was only increasing and if he couldn't catch up to Wayra then there was no way he would be able to get his revenge on the members of Outei Tsukinomiya.
He had to get stronger quickly...
Closing his eyes, Galahad recalled the titan-like spirits the Outei Tsukinomiya team used that they called 'Dark Keshins'. Theorised to be the result of bridges between their world and other worlds, these 'spirits' granted the users significant boosts in power and unique hissatsus that gave them an advantage over players without them.
If he just could get a Keshin...
If he could gain access to that power...
Then Galahad was sure his soccer would be able to reach new heights...
However, this was more easily said than done and despite pushing himself to his limits in the past weeks he was no closer to figuring out how to summon a Keshin than before.
"Hey! Galahad! Heads up!" shouted a vigorous voice that shook him out of his thoughts with a start. Turning his head towards the source of the noise, he saw a blur of a ball, speedily heading towards him and he dug his feet into the ground to stop the ball with his chest.
"Saw you get your arse handed to you by Wayra, told ya you shouldn't have challenged her. Even I don't want to mess with her, she's just straight up barmy!"
"Yeah, yeah I got it, Margaret" mumbled Galahad, a disgruntled look lingering in his eyes, as he kicked the ball lightly back to the girl with chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes who had stormed over after Wayra left. The third member of the trio of U15 members invited to the Liverpool FC training grounds, Galahad had quickly gotten used to the lively presence of the captain of the Knights of Queen, Margaret Longchamp.
Though their first meeting had left Galahad with a faint sense of apprehension due to her insistence on challenging him to a one on one, after blocking her strongest hissatsu 'Sword of Purification' with 'Total Eclipse', the British captain had taken it, to Galahad's surprise,in stride and seemed to have some begrudging respect for him.
Noticing his face darken somberly, Margaret gave him a pitiful look and nudged him in the side with her elbow consolingly,
"Hey, I'll do you a solid and let you train with the greatest striker in England, so stop getting your knickers in a twist and let's play some football!"
Galahad, however, continued to look into the direction Wayra had left as the frustration continued to build up inside of him. He knew he was lacking...but where should he even begin? What was the difference between them? For some reason, the Argentinian striker somehow felt both within reach and painfully far away...
"Hey!"
Seeing Galahad lost in his thoughts with glazed eyes, Margaret put her hands on her hips while squeezing the ball underneath her foot.
"What? I'm not good enough for ya anymore now that you've blocked my shoot once? Ain't someone bloody arrogant these days Galahad Yozora!"
"Huh?" asked Galahad in a haze, but it was too late and as soon as he looked up he saw a flash of blue light.
Sword of Purification!
"Ugh..." groaned Galahad as he laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Forced to train with Margaret after being thrashed by Wayra on top of the gruelling practise with the U20 team, Galahad's body was at record soreness and the aching sensation continued to spread, rendering him unable to sleep. Stretching out his legs as far as he could, he heard his bones crack granting him some temporary relief.
Unfortunately, without the painful sensation from day's training to distract him, in the small dorm room by himself, Galahad realised he was now trapped with his thoughts and closing his eyes, the events of the past month washed over him.
The shrill tweeting from the last whistle of the Holy Road Championships rang in his head as clear as the day of their match. After exhausting all of their energy reserves, the Raimon members had crashed onto the field as the tension was released from their bodies seeing Mika's penalty kick make a loud 'clunk' against the crossbar.
Defeat hung in the air and he could see Serika and some of the other members letting out large tears that streaked messily down their cheeks but his gaze fell on the lonely number ten that had collapsed like a wet rag.
Mika always held herself highly, with a distant demeanour that made her seem impervious to the world around her but now...
Her eyes had glazed over as if an icy haze had spread over her amethyst eyes, strands of her pure black hair hung messily around her while her hands rested peacefully on the field and her head was tilted back, looking to the sky as if there were someone there who could answer her.
Seeing the forlorn figure sitting by herself he felt a pang in his heart and he began to walk over along with the other Raimon members but when he was finally standing beside her he had no idea what to say and he could only watch helplessly as Mika sat completely mute, as if only her body were there and her mind had departed to another world.
And so, he had stood pathetically by her until a group of men with enormous physiques and black suits arrived, led by a familiar face he recognised as Mika's bodyguard, and took her away.
Unsure what to do with himself, Galahad had wandered day by day as if stuck in a mist, until he had received the invitation to travel to England to train with Edgar Valtinas's team for the summer. Clinging to the opportunity like the only source of light in a dark forest, Galahad had agreed without hesitation, determined to get stronger at all costs.
As long as he could get a Keshin...
It would be okay.
He could make everything right again. .
Bang Bang
'Hey, Galahad! Get your arse downstairs and let's get moving already!' called out Margaret as she hurriedly moved onto the next room to collect some of the other U20 members she was friends with.
Not sure what was going on, Galahad looked down at his phone with blurry eyes and squinted at the screen.
Yup.
It was definitely Saturday, they didn't have any practice scheduled for the day and after a terrible night's sleep he was in no mood for more shenanigans this early in the morning. Tumbling out of bed, Galahad stuck his head out the door and ignored Margaret laughing at his unkempt hair as he asked groggily,
"What's going on?"
"The U15 National Cricket Championship is today, I got a bunch of tickets so get changed and meet us downstairs! If we're late because of you, I'll half kill you!"
"How would you half kill..."
"Do you want to find out?" Margaret asked with a warning look in her eyes to which Galahad shut his mouth and crept back into his room silently.
"Oh, the perrito pequeño is finally here! Slow as always haha!" laughed Wayra as she looked at Margaret, Galahad and the others sit down in the seats behind her.
Eyebrows narrowing at the sight of the 'Stormbringer' stuffing some nuts of some kind into her mouth and grinding them harshly with her canine teeth, Galahad asked warily,
"How did you get here? Did you take the bus before us?"
"Why would I take something so slow? I ran obviously." replied Wayra with a nonchalant shrug that created an awkward silence as Galahad tried to process how the striker had managed to run an almost marathon's distance in one morning.
Fortunately the match began quickly and he saw Margaret had already painted her face the colours of one of the teams as was now waving the school's flag passionately whilst screaming at the top of her lungs,
"Make 'em your b*tches Ollie! Wooooo!"
Alarmed by the vigorous flailing of arms and flag that was happening beside him, Galahad looked down at the current batter who waved brightly to Margaret before getting into his position.
Not very familiar with the sport or either team, he asked Margaret after she finally began to settle down in her seat, "Do you know him?"
Hearing his question, Margaret gave him a look of incredulity which quickly shifted into a look of pride and confirmed with her head high, "He's only the best cricket captain and all-rounder in all of England! I can't believe you don't know Ollie! I'll introduce you after they win."
Galahad's eyes returned to the orange-haired batter whose eyes narrowed as he stood in front of the wooden wickets opposite the other batsman who had been sent out. Hearing Margaret suck in her breath, Galahad subconsciously felt himself tense up as well and he felt his breath stolen from him when a shadow began to emerge from behind Ollie.
Keshin : Knight Commander, Lionheart!
[And with a powerful hit from Captain Oliver Watts, the ball is sent over the boundary giving six runs to Perse!]
Body frozen as he saw the others celebrating, the sounds of the crowd seemed to get fainter for a moment before returning, but when looking at the screen he realised that what he thought was only a short moment had instead been the entire match, concluding with the Perse team winning definitely over the opposing team.
Galahad watched then as Margaret excitedly ran down to the locker rooms to congratulate the team while she introduced the MVP, captain and Keshin user, Oliver, to the Liverpool members who had gathered outside the locker room door.
"These are my mates Ollie, they were begging to come so I thought I would do them a solid and let them meet you, if that's alright with you." explained Margaret while she gave him a quick hug.
" 'Course not Maggie." grinned the captain of the new championship cricket team as he waved affably to the football members who had crowded around him.
Waiting for his chance to speak to the cricket player, Galahad watched as the others finally began to move out of the way, giving him the chance to speak to Ollie.
"Erm. Hi, I'm Galahad, congrats on winning the championships..." Galahad started, not sure how to broach the subject but luckily Oliver caught on quickly and began speaking before Galahad could flounder any more.
"I heard about you from Maggie, you're the bloke from Japan right? Looks like you have something to ask me, so how can I help?"
Galahad let out a relieved smile and explained quickly, "I was wondering if you could tell me about that 'Keshin' you used today...I've been trying to find out more about them but I haven't had much luck yet so I thought you might be able to help me."
"Sorry, no can do, Galahad. And before you think I'm just being a knob, it's not that I don't want to but I already told Maggie when she asked me the same thing. I was just playing in a match a few weeks ago and it just suddenly appeared when I needed it. Ever since, I've been able to call it up when I feel like it, not really sure how to explain it sorry."
"Ah, no, that's fine! Thanks for explaining, that's more than I knew before." replied Galahad, trying to hide his disappointment and waving goodbye to Maggie and Oliver, he followed behind the other Liverpool members onto the bus back to the training facilities.
Resting his chin on his hand, Galahad looked at the reflection in the window as rain began to fall over the city. Quickly shifting into a downpour, the soft pitter-patter sound on the bus lulled him into a troubled slumber as the bus continued slowly back to The Academy.
Tweet Tweet Tweet
Finally.
After spending a long month in England, Galahad would be stepping onto the field for the first time as a player rather than a bench warmer. This would finally be a chance to see how much progress he had made during his time at The Academy, despite still being unable to summon a Keshin. And though he knew this would be a chance to test himself, he also knew it would be a chance for the JYSA to test him for whatever goals they had in mind. Edgar and Aphrodi had been suspiciously ambiguous when explaining his invitation to The Academy but Galahad suspected it would have something to do with Project Mars and Outei Tsukinomiya which meant all the more reason to try his hardest today.
Slapping his thighs quickly, Galahad jogged in place for a bit to warm himself up before running alongside Margaret who was positioned slightly ahead of him as a defensive midfielder, much to her dismay.
"Ugh. I can't believe Coach picked Wayra over me! Just you wait..." Margaret fumed while glaring at the sidelines and pacing around aggressively.
"Once he sees just how good I am today, he's gonna regret putting me here, you'll see..." swore Margaret confidently.
Galahad however gave her a look of doubt, wondering where this newfound confidence was coming from.
Up 'till now, Margaret had never been able to surpass Wayra in any metric whether it was speed, stamina, height, reaction speed, or any other important skill a coach would look at for the starting lineup. And while he knew Margaret would be considered a skilled forward almost anywhere, Wayra was in a class of her own and he knew even the U20 players on the Liverpool team weren't able to keep up with her top speeds. Eying her closely as the match began, Galahad settled further back while the referee signalled the kickoff causing Wayra to race forward with an explosive start.
Keshin : Unbound King Condor!
A pair of glorious, luminescent green wings stretched behind the long-legged forward, and beating slowly, each flap pulsated with potent energy as they lifted Wayra and the ball a few metres off the ground. Not slowing down in the slightest as the Arsenal U20 players approached her, Wayra weaved in and out of the field as if dancing in the sky and with easy dribbling began to spin as she advanced closer towards the goal.
Rising higher into the air as she continued to spin, a large cyclone began to form in front of the goal while pure white lightning began to crack through the sky. Picking up in speed, a howl-like laughter echoed across the field as harsh green winds began to twirl violently around the ball. Then racing back down, Wayra appeared behind the ball, to send it surging back to the earth with her heel leading to a wave of winds flattening the defenders and goalkeeper with their might.
Tempest Break!
Tch.
"Showing off as usual..." mumbled Margaret discontentedly as her hazel eyes rolled in their place seeing Wayra start off the scrimmage with a quick first point.
Galahad could understand the slight hint of jealousy in her voice. With Wayra on the field, it would be hard for any other forwards to show off their skills and it didn't look like anyone would be able to stop her anytime soon.
However, there was no time to relax as the Arsenal forwards swiftly approached them with the start of the next kickoff, wasting no time in attempting to even the score once more.
As expected from a U20 match, despite losing a point so quickly, the Arsenal Eleven had gotten into formation and were looking to tie the score immediately...
Surveying the field cautiously as a result, Galahad kept one eye on the ball while following the attacking midfielders hanging behind the forwards with his other.
With a heavy emphasis on their offence, the current Arsenal U20 were known for their almost limitless attacking opportunities so if they lost focus for even a single second...
Now!
Sensing an opening, one of the midfielders Galahad had been following dashed forward alongside a black-haired striker and the two unleashed a powerful hissatsu in perfect synchronisation.
Dragon Crash!
Shin Total Eclipse!
Sweating under the intense light from the incoming hissatsu, Galahad felt his armour rip to shreds under the force of the hissatsu and was about to be blown backwards when he felt a hand supporting him from behind which then pushed him out of the way.
"Move on over, this is my chance to shine!"
Noble Spirit, Saint George the Dragon Slayer!
Materialising a pristine golden bascinet over her face, Margaret lowered the visor which led to a wave of golden sparks encasing her body and solidifying into a full set of armour that shined like another sun. A perfect image of a knight, the royal blue painted onto the chest plate created a valiant image as she stood undaunted in the face of the magenta dragon that held the ball tightly in its jaws.
Ascalon!
Raising her right leg slowly, Margaret smashed it down into the ground stopping the ball in the air with her shin, but then giving a rough shout, her leg began to shine with golden energy and giving two slow kicks to the ball in the shape of a cross, the ball began to spin in the opposite direction and gathering speed, raced towards the other end of the field, not stopping until it finally hit the back of the net.
Heh
Letting out a chuckle of self-satisfaction, Margaret rubbed her nose contentedly and reached out a hand to Galahad who was watching stunned from the ground. Tilting her head as if she knew how impressive she was, she gave him a smirk while pushing her hair out her face with her other hand.
"Not too shabby, I'd say. So you just stand behind me and I'll block everything okay?"
Then, patting his shoulder a few times in confirmation, she ran in front of him to high five the other U20 members who had swarmed her after seeing her counter shoot 'Ascalon' for the first time.
Galahad however, could only watch the happy scene from afar as an invisible hand seemed to be wrapping itself around his throat.
Tweet Tweet Tweet
Running back to the bench after being called back by the coach, Galahad rested somberly with his head hanging down in dismay at how little he had accomplished today, especially when compared to his peers.
First Wayra...
Now even Margaret...
He needed to hurry or he would be left behind in the dust...
But where?
He knew he needed a Keshin to get to the next level, but without any idea of how to achieve one he felt as if he were running endlessly towards an unknown destination.
Ha...
Biting the inside of his cheek to hold back his disappointment in himself, he felt blood begin to pool in his mouth and the taste of iron permeated through his mouth leaving a bitter aftertaste.
"Keshin...keshin...keshin..." muttered Galahad obsessively to himself, while shaking his legs restlessly.
So engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't notice a shadow being cast over him until he heard a light cough and he looked up to where a pair of two-toned, blue and teal eyes greeted him.
Eye bulging out, Galahad blurted out in surprise at seeing the face of the ace striker of the professional Liverpool FC team standing before him.
"Edgar!"
Giving Galahad a small smile back, the blue-teal eyes of the striker shrunk into crescents as he brushed his hair out of his face elegantly.
"It's been a while, Galahad."