A/N: Here comes Chapter 2! Like stated in the preview, chapters will alternate in POV between Taiso and Taidana. Therefore, this chapter will have a small overlap from the last chapter (consider it a recap of shorts) just with Tai's view on how things went. Just a warning before reading,1)Tai can and WILL break the fourth wall from time to time whether to speed things up or any other reason and 2) might use stronger language than his friend Taiso, so just be prepared for that. With that out of the way, enjoy Chapter 2!

Tai: He forgot the disclaimer, so here:

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inazuma Eleven, GO, Chrono Stone, or Galaxy

Chapter 2: Enter Archeri

Tai's POV

So, previously on Path of Heroes, I was woken up from a dream I can't remember thanks to Taiso. After getting ready and sprinting as fast as possible just so I catch with him, we walked to prison also known as Hikari Jr. High. We met up with the rest of the team: nature man Shizen, short and cheery Shio, 'do you even lift bro' Tetsu, storms a brewing Arashi, copycat Yasashi, Hayai the hedgehog, dark and brooding Chryde, and lastly local smartass Kagaku. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate these guys, just call it friendly love or something. Anyway, after some bad news from Kagaku, good old Taiso decided to give us some speech to lift our spirits. For once, the desired effect took place. After several hours of napping through the classes known as school, I had to go to practice with our team before meeting the SEED and subject of who Taiso was bitching about all day. However, in his defense, I can relate to having a sibling who is always above you, making your life suck, but that's a story for another day.

So, now we get to where we are now:

"Hyōshōdai Archeri," was Taiso's 'dramatic' cliffhanger.

"What, I'm gone for a year, and no 'Welcome back, sis or anything? Well, I feel loved," was Archeri's sarcastic response. Archeri's hair was blonder than Tai's, she probably added some dye or something, and her hair was now shorter than before, reaching up to her shoulders now. She also decided to add a red flower to her hair. (How that didn't just fly off when she shot that ball at Shizen, I will never know). Instead of wearing the school uniform, since she just got back, she just wore an orange sweatshirt and jeans.

She looked over at me and smiled as she said, "Oh so Taidana's here too, huh. So we got 'So and 'Dana on the same team."

I cringed a bit at that comment. Back in the day, she joked how both our names started with 'Tai' and used it as a joke.

I waved it off, smiled and said back as I opened my eyes, "I see you haven't changed, 'Cheri"

She flinched, then smiled back and said "Neither have you, Tai."

However, she has changed a bit. I actually know her, unlike the rest of the team, excluding Tai of course. Since Tai and I have been friends, and neighbors, for years, I've ran into her while at his place whether it's to hang out, forced to study, or watch the Holy Road tournament in past years. All the times before, she's always been really cheery and happy. Sure, she'd tease the two of us, but that was her job as Taiso's older sister, and it was never in a manner that was meant to be truly insulting or something. Most of the time she was really nice, helpful, pretty…

Before you think anything, I'll answer your question. Yes. Yes, I do have a crush on my best friend's sister. It's a really awkward to be in a room with the two because I can't really choose a side seriously. No one knows about this because I haven't dared to try to ask her out or anything. I can't date my friend's arch nemesis, even if she is her sister. I don't have time to find a new best friend. I was lucky enough to have him, annoying as he can be. However, when Taiso wasn't around, I made a couple of jokes in an attempt to 'flirt' with her. Anyway, trying to date her would just be too much work.

That's beside the point right now. The Archeri I once knew is very different from the one I see right here. Her face seemed a lot more threatening than before, but it seemed like it was uncomfortable. Maybe she was really new at this being a SEED and her scary face needed work. I looked around at the team and sweatdropped at what I saw. It actually worked on them! Thankfully, Taiso was unaffected, but that's expected.

Archeri stepped forward and spoke up, "My name is Hyōshōdai Archeri and by Fifth Sector's order's I am here to take charge of this school's soccer club." Her delivery of this was rather rigid and shaky, almost as if she was reading cue cards.

"Wait a minute," Taiso stepped up from the group of scared chickens I'm proud to call my friends. "Since when were you a part of Fifth Sector? Before you left, you barely played soccer and were completely focused on your archery skills."

Archeri's face changed completely at that moment. "Apparently, I had a natural talent for it, and Fifth Sector realized it. In exchange for a year in another school that would help my skills in archery exponentially, I help them with their control of soccer and stuff." Her voice changed to one that was tougher and more demanding than before. So she did have a small grasp of how to be intimidating, nice. "However, if you want, you can challenge me to a small game where if you win you can keep things the way you want.

Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it…

"We'll take you on that challenge!" Taiso immediately called out. Damn it.

Archeri gave an (evil I guess?) smile and said, "All right, the challenge is simple. Five of you, including a goalkeeper have to keep me from scoring a goal for 5 minutes. Simple enough, Captain?" She put extra weight into the word 'Captain' to add pressure to Taiso. Effective tactic I must say.

So, Taiso took us into a huddle in the corner to decide who would represent us in this wacky competition to 'save' ourselves from her. Even if we won, couldn't she just take over with her authority as a SEED of Fifth Sector? Man, everyone in my friend's family makes it seem that winning a competition is necessary, even if you have an easier method.

"Alright, so we have to keep her from scoring, so besides Shizen as goalie and me as Captain, we'd do best with 3 defenders in this showdown," Taiso laid down the situation for us.

3 defenders. Crap. That means I probably have to be part of this fiasco. I sighed and waited for Taiso to call my name.

Taiso called out, "We'll go with Chryde, Shio, and…"

"Me." I finished. Why did I interject? There was a chance I would have to join in. I mean Tetsu or Yasashi could have been chosen.

Surprised, Taiso said, "Seriously Tai? I was gonna choose Tetsu, but if you want to, then ok I guess." Damn it. He continued seriously, by saying, "However, if you do nothing like you usually do, I'll never forgive you and I'll make sure everyone else helps in making you suffer.

I can't blame him for that. In any match that we ended up playing, friendly, tournament based, or otherwise, I would just stand there and do nothing. Even if the score order from Fifth Sector was for us to win or we had a free game, I still wouldn't do anything. I would just stand and let people past me. The first reason was that I was lazy, I won't lie about that. However, the second reason, I would never say to anyone, but it was that playing a game run by an outside party didn't seem like it was worth playing.

However, there was something different about this competition. I don't know what it was. For some unexplainable reason, I put myself out there for once. Without my opinion, my body moved on its own and volunteered itself into the battle. I should really get that checked. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to be possible. Is it some sort of disease I don't know of? I snapped out of my daydream to remember what was going on. Why was I doing this?

Apparently, Taiso was thinking the same thing, since he asked, "Tai, are you sure about this? This isn't really like you."

What was causing this? It sure as hell wasn't Archeri. I just explained why I tried to avoid choosing sides between these always warring siblings. 'Screw it,' I thought. I might as well go for it now that I'm stuck in this mess.

"Don't worry Taiso, I'm sure," was my final response. "Now what's the strategy?"

Taiso nodded and said, "Well Archeri isn't that much of an experienced player, so she can't be all that…"

"Did you not hear her, they said she had natural talent," Chryde interrupted.

"He's got a point," Shio continued, "She couldn't have become a SEED if she wasn't qualified for the position."

Taiso grinded his teeth before saying, "Fine. Go all out as if you're up against a professional player." I rolled my eyes and headed toward the field. He's acting as if he's facing off against a god instead of his own sister. She's only a year older than us, calm down.

She started off with the ball at the middle of the field. We got a random teacher to ref the match so it would be unbiased. Why? It's not even an actual game! No fouls could be called, there were no real bounds, and the test was if she could score, so why? I guess Taiso didn't want to take any chances. When both sides were ready, the whistle blew and the face-off began.

"I'm up against me first!" Taiso obviously rushed up at Archeri to have their 'sibling faceoff.'

"Whatever," Archeri said in a singsong voice. She ran up and spun around Taiso's charge. After easily dodging her brother she lifted the ball and shot it?! She shot the ball from halfway as if it was the kickoff of a game and she was aiming directly for the goal. The ball zoomed past the 3 of our heads and was headed straight for Shizen.

Taiso turned back, still amazed that he was avoided so easily and screamed, "Shizen! You got this!"

Shizen crossed his arms in an X-shape before pulling them to both sides. As he did so, Wolverine-like claws made of fire were released from his hands. As he continuously slashed the ball with these claws, he screamed the name of his hissatsu, Flaming Claws. It's kind of weird for a nature freak to have a hissatsu that bases on fire, but whatever gets the job done, right?

The last slash he did was enough to knock the ball back towards Chryde. Shizen gave a small fist pump in celebration. Chryde passed the ball to Taiso, knowing with the ball in our possession, all we had to do was stall.

However, Archeri intercepted his pass and ran back before setting up for her own hissatsu. She lifted the ball waist-high before kicking it several times as it turned blue. Wait a second, I've seen this move before.

"Divine Arrow!" Archeri screamed, delivering the final blow to the now speeding ball. Ha, truly a move befitting or an archer.

With the ball speeding towards the goal, Shio ran up in order to try and stop it. He raised his arms and a platform around him rose up as water rose to the level the ball was at.

"Tidal Break!" was the cry that came from our short defender. The water that came in like the change in tides was like a wall that slowed down that bullet of a ball. Unfortunately, it couldn't finish the job as the ball split the water in half like the Red Sea and continued to Shizen once again.

This time, Shizen crouched down and put his arms on the ground as eagle-like wings formed on his back. He soared up with his hands taking the properties of talons of a bird of prey.

"Sky Talons!" he screamed, slamming his hands/talons on the ball until it hit the ground slowing it down until it came to a stop. Now that's a move that fits him.

"Over here," was Taiso, who finally was free of his sister, called out. He passed the ball all the way to Taiso this time to try to avoid a quick interception.

We were doing pretty well. Although she had gotten 2 shots on us, we had managed to block both. Then why was I worried. As I saw Taiso easily lose the ball again, I realized what was wrong: she was going easy on us. She was practically toying with us. She charged up the field, this time easily avoiding Shio's Tidal Break by jumping over the rising water level. This point was farther proved when she jumped over a joint slide tackle from Chryde and me. Is this the power of a SEED?

Taiso once again screamed, "Shizen one more time!"

Shizen focused himself from the ever getting closer Archeri. When spitting distance from Shizen, she vanished from in front of him. I looked around until I saw her reappear at the middle of the field. A sly smile formed on her face as she lifted her hand before forming an 'L' and putting it eye level between her and Shizen. If you didn't know Archeri before this moment, you'd think she was using that 'L" as in loser, and the rest of the team thought that, screaming her to say to their faces and such.

"Guys, she's not calling you losers," Taiso called back at them. He turned to me and continued, "You know what that is right, Tai?"

"Yeah," was my slow response. She was aiming at a target. Like I said before, she had intensive experience in archery and it seemed that played a factor in her hissatsu. If she separated herself from her target before shooting, it only meant one thing, there's no stopping this one.

The goal became the apple, she was Robin Hood and as she shot, she screamed, "50 PACES!" signifying the quick retreat to the middle of the field was signifying 50 paces between her and the target. The ball was faster than ever and with no time to send out a hissatsu; both Shio and Chryde threw themselves at the shot and quickly being blown back by the force of the shot. I quickly ran back since I knew what was coming. Shizen unfortunately thought he'd have enough time to prepare for his strongest hissatsu and was sadly mistaken as the ball was a few feet from the goal in a couple more seconds. He abandoned the hissatsu and tried to stop it with his hands but it eventually blew him away.

Archeri turned back, closed her eyes, smiled and said, "We're done here." She looked up at Taiso and was confused when she saw him smile.

"You sure about that?" was Taiso's reply. "Look behind you."

Archeri looked behind her to see the ball fly back towards her. "WHAT, HOW?!"

She looked towards the goal to not only see Shizen on the floor, but also Yours Truly as well. After Shizen fell, I ran in front of the ball right before it passed the goal line, and caused it to bounce back. It was a real pain, not the ball but the fact that I had to run there. However, it was worth it, less than a minute was left on Archeri's challenge, so if we kept her from scoring for a while longer, we would win the challenge. That is, until she starting laughing.

"To think that my brother's team could push me this far," she said softly as a dark aura surrounded her. "However, this will finish you." She took the ball and formed her 'aiming' pose and the dark aura she had before suddenly skyrocketed as a dark purple fire erupted from her back. The purple flames continued to emerge until they reached about triple her size. It began to take a humanoid shape. Once the flames had fully formed into their shape, they flew away revealing what was underneath, a keshin.

The apparition was revealed to be a majestic goddess with long flowing blonde hair with flowers all over it. It wore a white dress like a white sheet with a sky blue sash in the middle. It had gold arm bands on arm with one hand holding a bow and another full of energy swirling around it. On its back, it held a quiver full of arrows. Finally, atop its head was a reef of olive branches and leaves as if a crown.

"Behold, my keshin Archeri no Megami Artemis (Goddess of Archery Artemis)!" Archeri yelled out.

'A keshin, not bad,' I thought to myself. I looked at my teammates who all had their mouths dropped and their faces looked like all hope was lost.

"Archeri is k-k-keshin user?" Taiso asked, for once not up to the challenge.

'She's a SEED. There was a high chance she could since the beginning,' I thought.

"I never thought I'd ever see one," Shio said. Chryde nodded his head.

"Guys, you see them in like every match of the Holy Road. There's no way you haven't seen them on TV," I started. "You guys keep talking about reaching the championship; did you think you'd never have to face one in your life?" Seriously, sometimes my teammates surprise me. However, it wasn't just them. Everyone on the sidelines, whether it be teammate, spectator, or teacher was wide-eyed and mouth-dropped. Wow, these guys are easily impressed.

That didn't mean the situation wasn't drastic. A keshin definitely was stronger than her previous hissatsu shoots. We almost didn't stop the last one. We just need to keep her from scoring for around 30 seconds. The question was simple: How do we do that?

'I have to do it,' I thought to myself. 'There's no other choice.' I didn't know whether I could accomplish it but I had to try since otherwise we have no choice. I closed my eyes and flashbacked to a couple years ago…

Flashback

Now this flashback takes place around 2 years ago when Archeri was a 1st year and Taiso and I were on our final year of elementary school.

"Hey Tai, I'm starting up soccer," Tai told me.

"Why, you already do so many things between your Olympic training, homework, and…" I started until I was cut off.

"You're joining me. I'm giving you something to do with your time, and I figured if it was something we did together, it would be easier to keep an eye on you," he finished.

I was going to argue, but I stopped myself. I looked at his face and saw a face that said, 'You're not getting out of this one, so don't try.' It also said something else, but I couldn't figure out what it was. The next week he invited me over his house to a game of Holy Road where I figured out the actual reason.

"S'up Tai? You here to watch the game with Taiso?" Archeri asked me that evening.

"Yeah, he's got me playing soccer, and he wants me to watch a game so I can learn," I said.

"Oh, you too! That means all 3 of us are playing soccer now! I now can actually talk to you guys about stuff!" she exclaimed smiling.

"Wait a second 'Cheri. When did you start up soccer? I was a couple weeks ago and you were 110% focused on your archery training," I asked her.

"Oh I started a little over a week ago. It sort of just happened and I decided to join the team. I'm actually got a knack for the sport," she answered.

So that's why he's got me playing soccer. Yet another thing he'll try and inevitably fail at being better than Archeri at. Great, now I have something new to hear him complain about. However…

'When we enter Jr. High next year, Taiso will undoubtedly make us join the team,' I thought, 'If I get pretty good at this, I can impress Archeri without being too showy in front of Taiso.'

So, I decided on doing a bit of training every day without Taiso's watchful eye over me. If he knows I'm doing some extra training: 1) he'll expect me to do more everyday tasks as well and 2) he could find out about my crush on Archeri and neither of those situations is good. I continued this until around the beginning of our 1st year. One day, towards the end of my secret training, I felt a large amount of power wanting to burst out of my body. So, with one great motion, I released this power and the purple flames of a keshin came out of me. Unfortunately, it never finished taking full form, but if I tried it again, I think it would work out. I was excited to show the team (especially Archeri) the next day. However, the next day I was not greeted by Archeri but rather a smiling Taiso.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked him.

"Archeri, she's going to be gone for an entire year!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" I was shocked. He proceeded to explain the scholarship she got that allowed her to study at a school that helped her with her archery skills for a year.

Disappointed, but not showing it, I chose not to reveal the fact that I was close to awakening my own keshin that day. I never did do so in the future because I knew if I ever showed it, Taiso would actually expect things from me during games and practice.

End Flashback

This was the only time that revealing my keshin would have a true impact. Also, facing off against another keshin is usually the best way for it to finally take full form. I took my place in the space between Shizen and Archeri, ready to shoot with her keshin shoot.

"Here it goes!" She yelled as she shot the ball and her keshin shot an arrow, causing the ball to have the power and speed of the arrow. It blew past Taiso, Shio and Chryde and I knew that if it passed me, Shizen wouldn't stand a chance.

"It's now or never," I said softly and I released any pent up power from within myself that I've kept stored for these past couple years and I felt the purple flames erupt from my back. They continued going and I kept at it in order for them to take shape. I added a small scream to this process which gave it the final push to finish shaping from a humanoid being in flames to the actual embodiment of my keshin.

"Here goes nothing," I shouted out, "Come on out, my keshin: Seishin Dejitaru X! (Digital Spirit X).

My keshin turned out to be giant ripped warrior with huge muscles and a six-pack. It was my keshin right? It seemed to have a cable belt before the flames that would return to me. Upon its shoulders was a golden scabbard with spikes on each shoulder. The forearms of the keshin turned out to be mechanical arm and hands with blue jewels at the hands several gauges along the arms. It the core of the keshin, there is a crevice where a blue jewel sits. The eyes of the spirit were covered by a Zorro-like mask. Besides that, the face was an almost identical to Yours Truly's. Even down to the messy bedhead, it was alike. Lastly, true to its name, there was a giant black 'X' on its back with blue tips that seemed to collect energy. So in short, the opposite of myself, but hey, I'm not complaining.

As everyone, including Archeri stood there shocked I threw myself at the spiraling ball and used all the power I summoned to send it flying into the air above Archeri's head. It heard the 3 tweets from the whistle given to our 'referee.' The 5 minutes were now up. We managed to keep her from scoring, so we won the showdown. As my keshin receded into my back, my team ran back to me question after question.

"How did you do that?" was from Shio hopping around like a bunny.

"You okay, dude? That was awesome!" Yasashi yelled from the back of the crowd.

Taiso walked up to me from the back and looked me in the eye.

"So, how long have you been hiding that from us?" he asked slowly.

Great, he knew. "Just about a year. Doesn't matter really," I panted, "It came through where it counts, right?"

Next up was Archeri. She walked up with a small frown from her defeat and looked at me. I looked up from my bent over position, (I was tired) I saw a smile form on her face. Not an evil smile either, rather a nice smile, one of the ones I remembered.

"So how come I've never seen you do that before?" she asked.

I smiled and got up to my feet, "Just way too much work," I replied.

She gave a small laugh, "You really haven't changed, Tai." She turned to Taiso now.

"Well, since I lost, I can't really take over this club immediately. However, as a member of this school, I still have a right to join, right," she demanded rather than asked. "I'll be taking the ace's seat.

Taiso grit his teeth and yelled to Kagaku, "Get the number 10, Archeri's our new ace."

"Hey, how come? I thought I would become the ace of the team?" he yelled back at him.

Archeri looked at him and said, "We could also have a striker contest on who is worthy of the ace's spot."

He blanched at that comment and said nothing else. He returned with the uniform with the number 10 on it, now in the hands of the SEED who joined the team.

And with that, Chapter 2 comes to a close. Archeri has joined the team! What will happen? How will Fifth Sector respond and how will the finale of the Holy Road change this team? Some of these questions and more, answered in Chapter 3! Next chapter is Taiso's POV! Thanks for reading and review!

P.S. Pics for both keshin will be uploaded to my Deviant Art! As always the link is in my bio/profile!