23
Tornado
"Kari, here, I almost forgot about this," TK holds out her whistle to her.
"My whistle!" Kari was about to take it back, but stops short.
"Kari?"
Kari closes TK's hand, she rubs her neck, "You should keep it, for good luck!"
"Whatever you say Kari," TK puts the whistle back into his pocket.
"Now it's our turn," Tai tilts his neck as he looks at his opponents.
Davis, Ken and Barbara. Those three will be the toughest to handle, the other two and their goalie shouldn't be a problem. Tai knows how good Davis and Ken are, it's Barbara that will prove to be the most difficult. Mostly because he doesn't really know how well she plays.
On his side is Kari, who has been with him all his life, even on the field, though not that good yet unless… and Takato, younger but still decent. Looks like this game will have to be all Tai.
"GAME ON!" Yolei screams out.
"And here we go!" Izzy added. "The second game of our tournament is underway between the Grand Knights and the Crimson Flare. This time it's- Mimi?"
"Hiya!" Mimi waved. "Mind if I join you?"
Yolei looked at Izzy, who only shrugged.
"Okay then," Mimi takes a seat and grabs a mic. "Well, it seems as though things are already heating up between the two teams."
"Indeed," Yolei replied. "Crimson's Tai already has the ball and is headed for the opposing net."
"But Barbara's catching up fast," Izzy observed. "Not to mention the other two defenders are closing in.
"Takato!" Tai passes the ball back to the younger boy.
Takato races for it, Davis takes it away.
"Now Davis has the ball!" Mimi yelled. "Oh my, I never knew how… ridiculous Davis looks on the field."
"What was that?" Davis stops to yell at Mimi.
"Davis!" Ken called out to him to get his focus back on the game.
"Oh right," Davis looks down, the ball is already gone. "Huh?"
"Thanks Davis!" Kari calls to him as she runs back to the goal.
"And Kari takes it!" Mimi sounds excited.
"That was Davis gets," Sora speaks to Matt.
"Kari sure is something else though, huh TK?" Matt looks to his brother.
"Yeah…" TK's face was melting.
*SMACK*
"You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking," Matt told him.
"What- NO!" TK defended himself.
Kari continues to race down the field, past one of the defenders and towards the net. Ken comes in to stop her. Kari spins the ball up to her head and headbutts it to Tai. Tai deflects it with a strong kick, too fast for the goalie to stop.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" Izzy screams as Tai's team returns to their half of the field.
"Good job Kari!" Tai high fives his sister. "When did you get so good?"
"When you weren't looking," Kari smiles.
Davis and Ken lead their team and the ball towards Tai's goal.
"It looks like Ken and Davis are tag teaming in order to even the game." Izzy observed.
"With Barbara there too this will be quite the challenge for Tai and his team." Yolei added.
"Do you think they can do it?" Matt asks Sora.
"Honestly," Sora starts. "I don't think so. Tai is a great player, I can tell you from experience, but Ken and Davis are catching up pretty fast. To my level at least, I don't know how close they are to Tai's. Barbara is a different story, an Olympic trainee with no soccer skills, that'll be hard to go against."
"Really?" Matt thought. "That would be a tough call. Though you know how Tai is when he's got his mind focused on something. There no stopping him when that happens."
Sora chuckles. "Yeah, there's nothing he loves more then soccer."
"I can think of a couple…"
"And Ken loses the ball to Takato!" Izzy tells everyone. "Now Takato is doing a lone dash to the goal, with Barbara in hot pursuit."
"Wow, she looks pretty good when she moves."
"Err… Mimi," Yolei looks at her commentating partner. "Did you just come here to comment on their fashion?"
"Nope, I came here because I thought it would be fun."
"Barbara kicks the ball away from Takato!" Izzy yells. "And now both teams are going after it."
"Davis gets it first and goes around Crimson's other defenders," Yolei added.
"Hang on, Kari is on her way to intercept Davis." Mimi watches.
Kari is keeping Davis at bay, she proved more agile then Davis thought, she's actually pushing him back.
"Davis!" Ken yells.
Davis kicks the ball away towards his teammate. Ken takes it and heads to the net. He notices Barbara at his side. Ken fakes a shot, the goalie falls for it as the ball flies towards Barbara. An open shot!
"GOOOOOAAAAAL!" Yolei yells.
"And the Grand Knights bring this game to a tie!" Izzy stated.
"WHOOHOO!" Barbara celebrated and high fives Ken and Davis.
Tai's team get themselves ready for the offensive.
"I guess this will be a hard battle for Tai's group," Mimi noted.
Izzy continues her train of thought. "Ken and Davis themselves are hard enough, add in Barbara's semi-Olympic ability and you've got one formidable team."
"Tai, Takato," Kari whispers to her teammates. "Let me take the shot."
"Huh?" Takato looks confused.
"I'm not about to argue," Tai tells him. "Ken and Davis seem determined to stop me. Not to mention Barbara. Kari, are you sure about this?"
"Just leave it to me!" Kari winks.
"Alright," Tai smiles.
"And there they go!" Yolei watches as the trio charges forward with Tai in the lead.
"My, it looks like they have something planned." Mimi notes.
"Plan?" Sora speaks aloud. "That's new, for Tai."
"You got that right," Matt chuckles.
"Takato!" Tai passes the ball behind him to Takato as he tries to lose Davis and Ken.
Takato takes the ball and continues his mad dash. He sees Barbara guarding Kari, Ken slowing down Tai and Davis headed straight for him. He kicks the ball past Davis and in the middle of the field between Tai and Ken and Kari and Barbara. All four of them including Davis make a mad dash towards it. Barbara was sure to get it until Tai kicks it away, back to Takato.
Takato gets the ball again. Panicking, Ken, Davis, Barbara and the two defenders rush towards him. Takato kicks the ball ahead, to Kari. She races it over the goal, passing it back to Tai. The opposing team is now ganging up on him. Tai sees an opening, Kari's going for it. Unbeknownst to them, so does the goalie. Tai kicks the ball into the air towards his sister.
The goalie decides to rush ahead to intercept it. Kari slips and trips the goalie, both collapse on the ground.
"GOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!"
"Huh? What?" Kari looks around, the soccer ball was inside the net some how. Not too far from her was a knocked out Takato, with a big red circle on his face.
Tai rushes over to him as Kari picks herself up.
"Hey Takato," Tai leans over the fallen boy. "Are you okay?"
"Uhh…" Takato shakes his head. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine."
"Sorry about that," Tai helps the boy up.
"I'm just glad my face didn't fly off."
"Heh." Both of them laughed as they prepared themselves defensively.
"I never thought Takato would actually use his head," Rika smiled.
"Is he alright?" Jeri looked concerned.
"I'm sure he's fine, see?" Kazu pointed as Takato and Tai readied themselves.
Tai's team defended themselves well for the last few minutes. The Grand Knights couldn't get a score in at all. And halftime has started.
"Phew," Tai drank some water and saw several digimon headed his way.
"That was great Kari!" Gatomon jumps onto her partner's arms.
"Gatomon!" Kari snuggles her digimon.
"Are you alright Takato?" Guilmon has a worried look on his face.
"I'm fine boy," Takato laughed.
"Hey Tai!" Agumon ran up to him.
"Hey Agumon!" Tai greeted him. "How'd I look?"
"Very cool!" Both of them laughed out loud.
Tai then walks over to where Takato and Kari is, "Takato! Kari! Get over here for a second, there's something I need to tell you two."
"Davis!" Veemon jumps on top of his partner, knocking him down. "What's the matter with you Davis? Why aren't you kicking their butt?"
"Will you get off of me?" Davis pushes off Veemon and gets up. The two of them start fooling around.
"Davis…" Ken sighed.
"Don't worry Ken," Wormmon comforted him. "I know you can win."
"That's right!" Lunamon jumped around Barbara. "Just think positive!"
"Uh huh!" Barbara jumps into the air. "We can do this!"
"Well," Matt smiles. "They certainly seem pumped up."
"I'll say," Sora giggles. "I've never seen Tai so invigorated in such a long time."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Sora smiles. "He does love soccer though, that might be it."
"And we're ready to begin the second half!" Izzy tells everyone. "All players are getting into position as we speak."
"It's been a good game so far," Yolei comments. "Any idea which team might win?"
"Currently the Crimson Flare is in the lead with two points," Izzy states. "However, they still have the numerical advantage in terms of skill."
"Huh?" Mimi looks over to Izzy.
"It's… complicated… so let's just focus on the game."
"And there they go!" Yolei yelled.
"It seems the Grand Knights have taken the ball!" Izzy added. "They're headed straight for the net!"
"Ohh, here come the Tai and the others!" Mimi exclaimed.
The two teams clashed in the middle of the field. Davis manages to break ahead and make a beeline to the net. Takato slid underneath him, kicking the ball off course. The goalie picks it up and tosses it to Tai.
Tai passes to Kari, who was ahead of him. Both Barbara and Ken move in to intercept her. Kari passes the ball back to Tai, Davis steals it midway and charges at the net full blast.
"TAKATO!" Tai yells at the younger boy.
Takato rushes in front of Davis and readies himself, but the older boy proved his superior experience in a matter of seconds, passing around the younger player.
Davis shoots the ball to Ken, who rebounds it into the net.
"GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!" Izzy yells out loud.
"The score is now 2-2!" Yolei explains. "The Grand Knights have tied the game! But can they really keep this up?"
"Only time will tell Yolei," Izzy tells her.
Time winds down quickly as both teams strengthen their defenses. Neither one of them letting the other through, no goals were scored. Now both teams are at their limit, the air is tense as the last couple minutes of the game is about to begin.
"This sure was an exciting game right Izzy? Huh?" Yolei notices Tai rush off the field quickly.
"Well," Izzy started. "It seems as though Tai is taking a short break to change shoes."
"Couldn't he have done that during halftime?" Yolei asks.
"I haven't heard any rules against it," Izzy tells her.
"Is that-?" Sora looks at Tai curiously.
"Is something wrong Sora?" Matt follows her gaze.
"Tai just switched shoes."
"Yeah, so?"
"He's serious."
"Huh?" Matt looks confused. "What does changing shoes have to do with weather he's serious or not?"
"Those shoes he's changing into," Sora points. "They're much lighter then the ones he just had on. I don't know how he does it or why, but now Tai's a lot faster and more agile."
"Now this is more like it," Tai taps his feet a couple times. "Let's go guys!"
"Alright!"
Tai takes the ball and leads the charge. "Takato! Kari! Time to turn the tides!"
"The Tornado…" Sora mutters.
"What?" Matt looks at her confused.
"A tricky team maneuver," Sora begins to explain. "It requires everyone's best, in speed, accuracy and timing. Only me and Tai were able to use it back then. We've never done it with a third person before."
"How do you know he's going to use it?"
"His signal, 'Time to turn the tides!'"
"That's a truly terrible tongue twister."
Tai rushes ahead with the ball. Davis, Ken and Barbara move in. Tai kicks the ball to his side, Takato takes it and runs across the field, Tai passes by behind him. The young boy passes Kari, leaving the ball to her. She runs across the field with Davis right behind her. She sees Tai losing Barbara and passes the ball. Tai quickly rebounds it to Takato, Takato passes it back to Tai, Tai kicks it forward to Kari, Kari shoots for the net, the goalie dives. Takato intercepts the ball and kicks it off side, away from the goalie, into the net.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAL!" Yolei screams out.
Tai, Takato and Kari high five each other and rush back. The last few seconds may be all they need. Barbara rushes forward with Ken and Davis right behind her. Tai motions for everyone to stay behind as he charges ahead. He takes the ball easily, the three opposing digidestined were forced to quickly double back. Tai runs around the two remaining defenders as Ken Davis and Barbara quickly close in. Tai bounces up the ball to his eyes while taking a huge step back. Tai kicks the ball as hard as he can, it whizzes by the goalie's face, into the net.
The crowd roars out loud as the last few seconds tick down. The bell rings and everyone yells.
"It should be ready by now," Mimi gets up.
"Where are you going Mimi?" Yolei asks.
"I'm just going to pick something up, be right back!" Mimi waves as she heads down a street.
Yolei looks at Izzy confused. He just shrugged.
"Well, now we'll give our teams an hour break before we continue on to our final round. The Crimson Flare vs the Wild Wolves! Which team will triumph over the other? It's time to find out, after this break."
Izzy turns off his mic and starts coughing.
"Are you okay Izzy?" Yolei goes over to him.
"I'm fine," Izzy tells her. "I just never had to scream so loud so many times."
"You did it Tai!" Kari rushes over to him.
"We did it, Kari, all of us." Tai smiles at his team. "But, the real battle, is just beginning." He looks over to meet Sora's gaze with his own. Their fierce spirits and fiery eyes connect. The field is ready, let the game begin.
