Episode 27: Kudaan: Planet of the Skies

"Wah, Wah!"

Manabe screamed as he hung from the side of the island, only being barely held up by Minaho and Narukami.

"H-hurry! P-pull me u-up!" he pleaded.

"Stop m-moving!" Minaho groaned.

Narukami clenched his teeth, "Pull on three…"

One… Two… before they reached three, their grip loosened causing Manabe to tumble down.

"Shoot!" the two gasped and quickly went to look over the edge, but Manabe was no longer in sight.

"Oh no….!" Minaho trembled. "Manabe-kun's…. Manabe-kun's…"

"Are you part of Earth Eleven?"

Looking behind, Minaho and Narukami saw a strange falcon-like bird-human. He was holding a shocked, pale Manabe.

The alien gently placed the defender onto the ground. The creature's arms were liked wings with sharp claws on the end of each and his feet were like talons having no need for shoes.

"Thank-you!" Narukami bowed.

"Manabe-kun… are you alright?"

Manabe was catching his breath, "Alright? I almost died! Why didn't you pull me up sooner!?"

"S-sorry…" Minaho tried to apologize, but of course, his fellow defender wouldn't easily forgive him.

"Be careful, earthing." The Kudaan said, "There's no guarantee we'll be here to catch you everytime. I'm called Fezora, captain of the Kudaan Eleven.

"I'm Narukami Naoto and these two are…"

"Minaho Kazuto."

"M-Manabe Jinichiro… thank-you very much…"

"No worries."

"Those wings… I guess with those its not difficult to live up here on floating islands…" Minaho pointed out.

"Actually, these aren't meant for flying." Fezora laughed, "We just glide on the wind and have extremely high jumping abilities."

"Oh?"

"Well, please be careful from now on," the captain bowed and leaped into the air towards a nearby island, disappearing form their sight.

"It's a mystifying planet." Shindou stared in awe at the scenery before him.

"Haa? It's nothing that special." Han sneered hands behind his head casually. Suddenly he felt a small something bump into him.

"Ah! I'm sorry…" a small sparrow-like Kudaan child apologized.

Han knelt down, looking at the kid face to face. After glaring for a bit, he finally broke into a smile and patted the sparrow's head gently, "Don't worry about it."

"Y-you guys are the Earth Eleven people right?" the kid asked, surprisingly in a cheerful tone.

"Yup!"

"Is soccer fun? We never had a sport like that, so I am curious."

Shindou frowned, "Wait, don't your people play at all?"

The child shook his head, "Never heard of it until the game against you guys was announced. I'm so excited to watch it!"

Shindou bit his lip. If they won, it would man the opposing planet's destruction. This child was not aware of that fact.

"Good luck!" he smiled and ran off.

"Something doesn't seem right…" Han mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind."

"So Fezora, How'd you like the Earth Eleven team?" Liberta smiled as the Kudaan captain returned. He went around, scouting what the Earthling soccer team was like before the day of the game.

"I guess they're trust worthy… but…"

"But?"

Fezora slouched down, "I-I don't feel like we can win, or even give them a challenge."

Liberta laughed nervously, "If the captain's negative like that, you won't be able to play the game you can."

"I mean everyone, everyone, on that team has a soul!" the Kudaan captain argued, "We don't even have one!"

"Well, I can use one and not everyone is able to control their souls…"

"Is it really okay for a weak race like us to live?"

Liberta sighed, but before he could say anything, the fellow Kudaan Eleven players walked in. They had overheard the conversation.

"Captain!" a female swan-like Kudaan started, "Don't be so negative!"

An all-black, raven-like Kudaan nodded, "Fezora-san, we can do it!"

"Shimizu, Vecto, everyone…" the captain mumbled.

Liberta then put his arm around the captain's shoulder, "Let's do our best, huh?" he laughed.

"Thanks…"

Vecto lifted his arm into the air, "Well then, let's start practicing, right, Liberta-san?"

"Alright!" the boy smiled and leaving the captain behind, the rest of the team started to head to their training ground.

"Pull yourself together, Fezora…" the captain growled after everyone else left.

He started to make his way to the stadium as well, when someone suddenly touched him on the cheeks from behind. Turning quickly, he noticed a young human-like boy, about 9 or 10 years of age standing before him.

The boy smiled and twirled around cheerfully, "heh, heh, I got you~ hahaha!"

"Um… what are you doing here?" Fezora asked dumbfounded.

The boy sat on a nearby table, legs crossed and sneered at the captain, "You see, I have an interest in Earth Eleven… I really want to try playing against them."

"I-I'm sorry, but I think your too… young."

The boy cackled in response, "Don't worry Fezora. I've already got that covered."

Fezora gasped at the sudden sight in front of him, "W-what are you!?"

The boy smiled maliciously, "I am you… Fezora."

"The match between Earth Eleven and sudden participant, Kudaan Eleven is about to begin. The sun's shining brightly today and we hope for a great game between these two teams. Which team will prevail!? Don't miss it!"

This time, Komori, Konoha, Tetsukado, Han and Sakura were benched. And like usual, there was not further instruction from Coach Kuroiwa besides victory.

"Let's win everyone!" Tenma yelled.

"Yeah!"

Taking their positions, Tenma looked at the other team and saw Liberta standing along with the opposing team.

"L-Liberta-kun!?" Minaho gasped.

"Yo!" he smiled.

"What are you doing on their team?" Tenma gasped.

"Heh, heh," Liberta laughed, "I'm actually part of the Faram Obieus Shitenou! They kindly scouted me after the match against Sandorius. How could I refuse?"

"Hey Alsius, did you know about this?" Kusaka asked.

"Um… no?" Alsius said avoiding eye contact.

"You really suck at lying…" Matatagi sighed.

"Well, that's not important," Liberta smiled, "This team I trained up, will you be able to beat it?"

Matatagi started to dribble the ball up. The Kudaan captain, Fezora stood in the forward's way. Scooping the ball upwards, the Kudaan leaped into the air, taking the ball with him.

"What?"

The other Kudaan's then too, jumped. They passed the ball to one another while still airborne, not letting it come near the ground. The Earth Eleven players attempted to steal it or intercept the passes, however, due to the increased gravity of this planet, they were unable to jump high enough.

"Liberta-san!"

"Oozora Blade!" the ball rocketed straight down crashing down into the net.

"It worked!" The raven, Vecto, cheered, "We got a point, Liberta-san!"

"Keep it up, everyone!" Fezora nodded.

Liberta looked back at Tenma sneering at the captain. "C'mon it that all you got?"

"They're plays in the air, it's as if they're controlling a third dimension on the field…" Shindou mumbled, "This is not going to be easy to get past…"

Episode 28 preview

Though actually having no soccer experience, Kudaan Eleven have developed a unique play style being able to lead against the Earth Eleven. Will Shindou, the team's gamemaker be able to find a way to overcome this? And what was the true reason for Liberta joining the Faram Obieus Shitenou? Episode 28: Kudaan: The Third Dimension.