Episode 17: Melfelse: Land of the Shadows

"Where am I…?" Matatagi slowly opened his eyes. Tenma, who was the only one left waiting for his teammate's arise.

"Matatagi! How do you feel?" Tenma smiled, relieved.

"Captain?" Matatagi held his head and slowly tried to lift himself up. "What happened? I remember playing the game, but…"

Tenma frowned, "Matatagi, you transformed into a bird! You achieved your 'soul' though it did go berserk…"

"'Soul'?" Matatagi asked. "I don't know what you mean?"

"I figured much." Liberta suddenly walked up from behind Tenma. "I don't think he'll be able to use his 'soul' anytime soon."

"…! You're the guy who became that giant bird!" Matatagi gasped.

"Well, at least you remembered that. BTW's you transformed to one too, ya know?" Liberta sighed.

Tenma go up and headed out the door, "I'll go tell everyone that you woke up, Matatagi!" He left and left Matatagi and Liberta alone in the room.

"…sheesh, I hate people like that…" Matatagi mumbled maliciously.

Liberta ignored his new teammate's evil comment. At least for the moment…

Until Matatagi regained consciousness, Earth Eleven was unable to leave for the next planet. Warping was very unsafe for especially unconscious people. Kuroiwa Coach let each player this time freely.

Konoha found some adorable stray animals and was feeding them leftovers from lunch, "You guys are so cute…" She smiled as she petted the closest one, it let out a happy cry.

"Those are interesting creatures…" Konoha was started when Minaho suddenly started talking behind her. "Even in a different planet, animals seem to like you."

"W-why are you here…" Konoha mumbled

Minaho put his hand under his chin. "About the 'soul'. How'd you feel when it was about to be released? Just you, Matatgi and I used it so far, or were close to it. I was wondering what your perspective on it was."

Konoha seemed troubled from the sudden question. "Um…well…" she never really talked to Minaho or even most Earth Eleven before, and didn't how to respond.

Luckily, she was saved by Ibuki. He suddenly came running along the wall panicking.

"Hmm, I didn't think I would see you like this, Ibuki-kun." Minaho grinned as Ibuki was catching his breath.

"Hole…" he huffed. "There's a hole in this wall!"

"Huh?"

Ibuki led the two teammates to where he came from. Sure enough, there was not a small, but rather large hole in the tall wall which protected them from the tenebrae, monsters.

"W-w-we should tell Alsius and them…" Konoha whimpered slowly backing away from the wall.

Minaho nodded, but before he could say or do anything. Something hit him on the head and everything blacked out.

Tenma gathered most of the members of Earth Eleven. Kuroiwa Coach informed that they were to leave immediately. However some were still missing.

"I don't see Minaho-kun anywhere…" Manabe reported.

"Or Morimura."Kusaka added.

"I wonder where they are…" Tenma mumbled, "Could they be together?"

"Weren't those two the ones to almost unleash their souls?" Liberta asked, "Could be some motive…"

Suddenly LunA came running in, "Xion, there's trouble!" she was breathing heavily as if she ran for a long distance. "There's an opening in the wall!"

Xion's eyes widened, but he kept his calm stature. Nodding he gave his orders, "No. 6 Lovers, go inform No. 4 the Emperor and No. 13 Death about this and start repairs immediately, eliminating any tenebrae which invaded.

LunA stood upright and saluted by purring her right hand over her left chest, "Yes sir!" and ran back out. A shot albino boy closely followed her; her Feyra.

"H-hey, Xion, could Kazuto and Konoha be…" Han whispered.

"I don't want to think of the worst scenario, but it's possible that they were attacked and…" Xion frowned, "No. 8 Justice, could you enter the wall and search the area?"

"Yes!" Alsius and Liberta saluted and headed out themselves.

"I'm pretty sure No. 18 the Moon is returning soon from a mission." Xion mumbled to himself as he took out a cellphone-like object and put it to his ear.

"Let's go look a bit longer," Tenma tried to lift the mood, "They still could be on this side of the wall. Come one!"

Everyone nodded and headed out to search for Minaho and Konoha.

The room was quickly emptied except for Komori who had her arms crossed, deep in thought. "Um… why isn't anyone noticing that their keeper's also missing…" she cocked her head.

"Uh…" Minaho groaned holding his head. Slowly his vision went into focus and he noticed his surroundings were very different form before.

"Where is this place?" Ibuki gasped. They were surrounded by multiple giant rock hills. Not a single sign of life of vegetation was visible.

Konoha whimpered softly to herself.

Minaho was trying to remember what had happened. They were attacked by someone, something, and brought here. Judging from the fact they were all taken, at least 2 no, 3 people were involved in this abduction. The landscape was strangely familiar, however.

"Maybe…!" Minaho realized and took out the scouter he received from Alsius during her tour. Just as he thought, they were outside of the protective wall.

Several wolf-like creatures with body builds like that of a grizzly were roaming the area. Peering around, Minaho noticed that there were motionless bodies of smaller creatures piled around them." …a food supply?"

"What's the matter, Minaho?" Ibuki frowned.

"U-use the scouter, Ibuki-kun. The one you got from Alsius."

Ibuki shook his head, "I checked, but it looks like mine's broken."

"I-I-I never got o-one…" Konoha whimpered.

"3 people and only one scouter…" Minaho sighed, "You should look through these first," he handed the scouter to Ibuki who passed it to Konoha after looking through them and understanding their current situation.

"W-what should we do…" Konoha cried.

Minaho got his scouter back and put it back onto his ear. "I've noticed that those beasts have a particular pattern they follow; movements similar to wolves on earth. If I can predict their actions, then getting out isn't difficult. However…"

"We don't know what to do after that…" Ibuki finished.

Konoha gulped, "We have to do what we can…"

Minaho and Ibuki exchanged glances; they didn't expect Konoha to say such positive things, but still nodded in agreement.

"If we creep around in that direction it should lead us through unnoticed." Minaho explained, "Follow my lead and move only when I tell you to."

Slowly making their way, hiding behind rocks, Minaho led the group through the wolf-like beasts' lair. The tenebrae seemed to have a very bad sense of smell and hearing which worked in the earthlings' favour. However, when they were almost outside, something Minaho didn't predict happened. Like wolves, these tenebrae work in packs; the hunters have just returned. Seeing that their prey was escaping they quickly dropped their current prey and lunged to stop Minaho, Ibuki and Konoha from escaping.

"Everyone back away!" Minaho jumped backwards to avoid the beasts giant claws. Ibuki, though unable to see the tenebrae, instinctively pulled Minaho behind him and got scratched on the arm instead.

Though the scars weren't visible, the pain was real. Ibuki cried in pain holding his arm.

"Ibuki-kun!" Minaho yelled. Through the scouter lense, Ibuki's injured arm was completely visible.

"Ibuki-kun…?" Konoha stammered obviously not knowing what happened to cause the goalkeeper from crying out suddenly. Minaho then realized that even the damage inflicted by the tenebrae can't be seen with the naked eye.

"Back away, Morimura-san!" Minaho yelled, "Stay behind me!" It was my mistake which put us in this situation. "If it's an error, all you have to do is fix it" right, Manabe-kun? I'm the only one who can see these guys and we have no means of defending ourselves. Is there really a way out…?

"A 'soul' refers to the beast power which resides in your DNA's. Well, normally an ability only Earthlings have." Kuroiwa Coach's words rang in Minaho's head. "…you all have beasts waiting to awaken within you."

Soul, our beasts powers could help us defend ourselves. Remembering that felling during the game. Minaho felt power surging within him. An orange light enveloped the defender and from the light an orange owl appeared.

"M-Minaho-kun b-b-became an owl!?" Konoha gasped.

Ibuki stared in amazement, "'Soul'… Minaho, you did it?"

"B-but didn't Matatagi-kun go berserk…? "

The owl spread out his large wings, "Don't worry Ibuki-kun, Morimura-san, I'm fully in control of this new form. Seems I can see the tenebrae without a scouter too."

Minaho let out a high-pitched screech and flew towards the tenebrae. He stretched out his talons and raked at the beasts flakes. "I never felt like this before!" Minaho exclaimed. He flew up high to avoid the monsters' claws and dove down to place his own attacks.

However, Minaho was completely outnumbered. It was also difficult to fight while protecting Konoha and Ibuki. The beasts got passed Minaho and charged towards the defenseless Konoha and Ibuki.

"Shoot!" Minaho cried. Konoha couldn't see the beasts at the moment.

Konoha somehow felt danger nearing her and her body automatically gathered green energy, enveloping her. "haaah!" a green fox emerged from the light tackling the larger beast away.

"E-even Morimura!?" Ibuki gasped.

"M-me!? Is this really me!?" she seemed conscious as well. She turned to look at Ibuki and let out a yelp. His wounds on his arm looked awful.

There was not a single drop of blood making the size of the wound completely visible. An eerie black aura surrounded it instead.

"Morimura?" Ibuki had no idea what made Konoha so shocked. He was the only one unable to see the beasts and his own scar.

"Morimura-san!" Minaho's yell startled Konoha. "We have to create a path so se can safely escape from here. Help me out!"

Konoha shook her head furiously, "I-I-I can't," she crouched down and hid her muzzle underneath her small paws.

"Uh… I predicted as much…" Minaho sighed. "But Morimura-san, it's the only way to…"

From behind Minaho a tenebrae prepared to swipe down on him. Minaho didn't have time avoid. "Kh…" he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the blow, but it never came.

When he opened his eyes, Minaho saw the wolf-bear before him, fall over, arrow in its thick pelt. Beyond it, atop a pile of rocks was an girl with long pointy ears and long golden braided hair; bow in her hand.

She pulled back on the string without loading an arrow. Light gathered in it materializing into one, "Duck, owl-thing!"

"M-me!?" Minaho gasped, he was offened but still obeyed and ducked. He could hear the arrow whistle over him followed by the grunts and shrieks of the beasts.

"Epona!" the elven girl called. A midnight horse with a mane of fire galloped out from behind her. It lifted Ibuki, Konoha and Minaho onto its back. It ran through the pack of tenebrae bringing them to safety.

"H-horsie?" Konoha whispered happily.

"Okay, let's get going!" the girl also jumped onto her horse.

The horse let out a painful grunt, "Artemis, overload! It's way too heavy!"

"Just get going… you'll be allright." The elf smiled.

"Phew…" Minaho let out a big sigh. He had already returned to his human form. "Finally from danger…" He looked up at the elf girl who saved them.

She took out a cellphone-like device. After pressing some buttons, she put it to her ear. "Xion, Yeah, I found them. Hmm… one of them's got a scratch, but I can't heal him. Uh huh… okay, we'll stay put." She closed the device and turned her attention back to Ibuki, "Don't worry, help will be here soon."

"Why are you reassuring me?" Ibuki frowned.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself yet. No. 18, the Moon, Artemis Fairleaf."

"…and her Feyra, Epona!" a young pale girl with long black hair introduced herself. The girl had a long braid which ran down along with the rest of her hair. She had one scarlet eye and one white one. She was the midnight horse.

"Y-you were that horsie?" Konoha gasped.

"So you too are a Feyra?" Minaho asked.

"Uh huh! I'm 7 years old." The girl smiled sweetly.

"Huh, that young?" Minaho frowned.

"The Arcania doesn't care about the age, right?" Artemis started rubbing Epona on the head.

"Yup!" she chirped.

"…huh…" Minaho sighed.

After a while of waiting, Alsius and Liberta found them.

"Are you alright?" Alsius asked, "Minaho, you got scratched by a tenebrae?"

"Huh? Why are you assuming that I was injured?" Minaho frowned.

"If Artemis can't heal you, which means a guy got injured. The only possibility would be yo…" Alsius cut herself off when she realized Ibuki was there. "Huh… ah… nevermind…"

"He looks like Naoto, so I didn't notice he was missing. Hahaha!" Liberta laughed casually.

"Haah!?" Ibuki growled.

"Anyways, let me fix your arm. Does it hurt?"

Ibuki nodded.

"Good… at least you can feel pain." Liberta took out a dagger and slit the end of his thumb. He then let the blood drip down onto Ibuki's injured arm. Ibuki instinctively tried to pull away, but Liberta held his arm to keep it in place. After a few drops, Liberta took out a roll of bandage and wrapped the injured arm.

"It will be completely healed in a week. Since I'll be part of Earth Eleven, I'll be able to change your bandages every day for you." Liberta nodded.

"Uh… thanks?" Ibuki said with a disgusted look on his face. But he realized that the pain from before was gone.

Minaho cocked his head, "how does that heal it?"

"The Arcana are for against tenebrae. Their blood has the power to repel its curses." Alsius explained. "And only works if the infected's the same gender as the Arcana member."

Artemis clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, "Let's get going, I've had enough time here."

The three earth players collapsed when they finally got back within the walls. They were exhausted. Everyone else of Earth Eleen awaited by the gateway for the missing members' return. They gave warm hugs and words of relief to them.

"Now that everyone's here, we'll leave for the next planet." Kuroiwa Coach announced breaking the celebration.

Tenma nodded, "Our opponents have been announced?"

Kuroiwa Coach answered, "Sandorius, Planet of the Sand, Sandorius."

Episode 18 preview

The next opponents for the Grand Celesta Galaxy tournament have been revealed to be Sandorius. The Earth Eleven members were given free time to explore the new planet, but they also realize the true burdens, the commitments of being representative of Earth. Episode 18: Sandorius: Planet of Sand.