Total Drama: Across the Multiverse

by StaticShock01

Chris returns for yet another season in what may be the most insane one yet. 69 contestants! 9 winners from the previous seasons! 28 network picks! 28 audience picks! Which contestant will come out of this madness!(52/98 initial contestants remaining, 119/165 overall) UPDATE: The teams join the Time Patrol in fixing history across the multiverse!

39. Ego Trip

A/N: Next chapter is here and it's a return to Japan to visit the stomping grounds of Isagi, Bachira and Kunigami's soccer training, Blue Lock, or as Deadpool would say, the world of "edgy soccer" lol.

Also, for time placement, this is when Ryoma has learned more skills/abilities, which means, the skills and abilities seen in the last challenge can be used in other challenges too and not just challenges like the last one or VR(minus the reflection). Don't have an exact episode or season placement but it's definitely before the latest season in the second anime. Slight spoiler but at some point in the show(a decent bit into season 1 I think), it went from Haikyuu to Beyblade/Kuroko levels of over the top pretty quick lol.

And as for the LWA crew, some of their spells come from the PS4 video game as well as the anime, with possible inspiration from the movies as well(the movies are a different timeline from the show).

Reviews:

G-Man 2.0: Don't have the full set of participants yet as its so far away, but Zora and Amanda will probably be my favorite characters to write about (unless someone else comes along and takes that title. Agon's cool, but Zora and Amanda are just more fun honestly). I'd love to see someone else write about them.

Ginrai12: As always, appreciate the review. And yeah, looks like you caught on to the multiple ships(outside of Kagami and Rei. That was too obvious lol). Although at the moment, there's only been a hint at one other one so far. I would say I've taken some notes from MemeKing among other forms of media in terms of how to write them, but Rei and Kagami are completely different animals to tame.

---

Teams:

Radical Rats:

Noah, Bennett, Emma, X, Zero & Axl, Albedo, Falcon, Rick & Morty, Sendo, Akko, Sucy, Lotte & Diana, Blaze, Puss, Rally, May & Becky F., Becky B., Yulaw, Rocky, Kurt, Tangle, Lanolin & Whisper, Rei, Dawn, Adrien, Priya, Hiruma, Sena/Eyeshield, Kurita, Monta & Mamori, Natsu, Lucy & Happy, Kagami, Kise, Zee, Cicini, Murasakibara

Storm Kings:

Jotaro, Todd and Riley, Huey F., Paul, Skipper, Sophie, Bren, Courtney, Rex and Bobo, Marinette, Reimu, Razer, Din Djarin, Zak S., Team RWBY+Penny, Ben and Rook, Octavia, Eliza, Huey D., Dewey and Louie, Heather and Alejandro, Luz, Aomine, Akashi, Sebastian, Isagi and Bachira, Sly, Mayuzumi, Maki, Ryoma Echizen

Wave Breakers:

Mr. Wolf, Dwayne, Urien, Ayame and Ryoma(Power Stone), Toxsa, Reagan, Blaineley, Jenny, Karin, Julie, Launch, Randy, Molly, Scratch and Libby, Team JET: Kaz, Fiona, Diego, Myron and Shiro, Hailey and Scott, Johnny, Haizaki, Zak M, Hanamiya, Hinata, Kageyama and Tsukishma, Eijun, Miyuki and Furuya, Kunigami, Dan, Nimona, Bakura, Bass, Ruby G., Shawn and Jasmine, Asta and Noelle

Eliminated:

165th- Dragonfly Jones(Radical Rats)-Martin Sitcom

164th- Richie and Virgil(Wave Breakers)- Static Shock

163rd- Cameron(Storm Kings)- Total Drama

162nd- Duncan(Wave Breakers)- Total Drama

161st- Chris P.(Wave Breakers)- Dan VS

160th- Mona(Storm Kings)- Mona the Vampire

159th- Owen(Radical Rats)-Total Drama

158th- Zoey(Wave Breakers)-Total Drama

157th - Tetsuya Kuroko(Radical Rats)- Kuroko's Basketball(Quit)

156th-Shintaro Midorima(Storm Kings)-Kuroko's Basketball

155th-MacArthur and Sanders(Radical Rats)- Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race

154th-Luz Noceda(Storm Kings)-The Owl House

Intern:

Heloise(Jimmy-Two Shoes)

Hired Gun:

Doyle Blackwell(Secret Saturdays)

---

"Last time on Total Drama Across the Multiverse! It was utter mayhem! Literally! The madman of war himself, Lord Shaxx returned to put several lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, contestants into the fires of the Crucible! Though this time, they would be going at in 6-on-6 matches. And this time, their full powers would be on display. And in some cases, even more so."

Footage of Lord Shaxx returning along with him introducing himself and explaining Mayhem was seen along with the return of the suits, this time, granted them near limitless access to abilities.

"The rules? Simple actually. In the words of Shaxx,"

"Put on these suits. And then…. DESTROY EACH OTHER FOR 7 MINUTES!"

"No seriously. It was literally that simple. Just dumb, combat based fun. And honestly, it was pretty entertaining. The first team to two wins would win the challenge. And it was a race to 200 points or having the most points before time ran out in each game."

Footage of each of the teams participating in each game was shown, with incredible battles like Natsu against Gorem being shown.

"Who came out on top? It was the Breakers, for their third victory in the row! Quite the turnaround I'd say. Though I'd say the other two teams got the message they sent to them loud and clear, and took it out on each other in the sudden death match. Winner would be safe from elimination. Loser would have to send someone home."

Footage of the battle was shown with elements like Sophie battling Lucy, Luz battling Akko, Eliza battling Yulaw and Ruby showing off her regained light powers again was shown.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention that Ruby and the others on her team got their guardian powers back for this challenge as well. Don't seem too overpowered, but it's still an extra utility to watch out for, especially when these abilities are capable of doing stuff like this….."

Footage of Aomine and Ruby combining their abilities to wipe out almost everyone on the Rats was seen with the Blade Barrage+Formless shot combo.

"Which probably would have won them the game. If not for one tiny detail. X stopped time before it happened. And because of that, the clock ran out and the game ended before that could happen. How? Well, as long as the ability comes from the competitor, it won't have any bearings on the clock. At least that's how Shaxx explained it. Though I'd imagine that might change if anyone ever gets the bright idea of stopping time for the entire match. Something that it doesn't look like X is capable of anyways. Long story short, he helped the Rats eek a victory through time out and avoid elimination."

Footage of X stopping time and him demonstrating this ability was shown.

"Which definitely saved Akko. Because with how some of her teammates reacted after what she did, trying to put the game away herself instead of waiting with her team, she was most likely going to get the boot if they lost. And, funny enough, it was her newfound magical friend and kindred spirit that got the boot on the Kings, Luz, the winner of the last Multiversal season. Simply because of the fact that she was a part of two games that her team lost. And for some, was viewed as a threat for being a winner and her magic powers. Well, guess if there's one good thing that came from it, she didn't seem too bummed about it."

Footage of Luz being eliminated in the ceremony was shown.

"Which brings us to today. With Luz being eliminated, a new king or queen of the multiverse, again, in terms of Total Drama anyways, is guaranteed. And after today, we'll be one step closer to figuring out who the winner is on this episode of Total… Drama….. Across the Multiverse!"

A/N: I'll only copy over this intro for one more episode. The max I'll do is three as it gets repetitive after a while. Hopefully that should be enough for you guys to get accustomed to how the intros are for those that like those.

*Total Drama Across the Multiverse Intro II Plays*

Cameras started to pop up on random parts of the island, with one of them sending Kurita flying, causing him to land on Blaineley who was posing for a picture in front of one of the cameras.

The cameras then go to the three planes as they were already in the air, catching a waving Launchpad who just that quickly lost control of the plane and had to regain control again, Mr. Bixby overreacting and almost crashing into a panicking Chef, who was the pilot of the third plane.

"Dear mom and dad I'm doing fine."

The camera, and by extension the planes enter the portal, as a shot from an alternate Earth can be seen, this Earth having several armored warriors called Guardians battling one another in arena. Another Guardian himself, Lord Shaxx, was revealed to have been watching from up above before putting both of his now Arc-energy infused fists together in front of the camera.

"You guys are on my mind."

The camera teleports to another Earth where Haizaki and Kise were battling on the dance floor which took place in a blast furnace, both copying one another's dance moves. Though it was Dewey that stole the show from both.

"You asked me what I wanted to be and now I think the answer is plain to see."

Though his few seconds of fame would be short-lived, to his agony as the camera changed, moving to Japan where Kunigami and Isagi were battling for a soccer ball on the soccer field only for Ben as XLR8 to take the ball with Albedo as Fasttrack behind him in pursuit. Jinpachi Ego was watching the whole thing overhead, pleased at what he saw with their competitive nature.

"I wanna be famous!"

Before Ben and Albedo run into the camera, it moves again to the famed Mario Kart track, Rainbow Road where Kurt was turning a corner on a Teku-themed Kart with Kaz right behind him, winking to the camera, only to get knocked out of the way by a green shell from Todd, who was on a bike.

"I wanna live close to the sun!"

Bringing things back to Canada, Fiona was seen on a stage, mic in hand singing only to have it snatched away by Rei, with Fiona trying to snatch it back, only for both to get in the other's face, angry and sending the mic into the air for Alejandro to catch it and start singing, showing off his white teeth at the end, only for Rei and Fiona to not care and try to tackle him for it, to his surprise and horror.

"Go pack your bags 'cause I've already won!"

The camera changes to Remnant where Team RWBY was seen combining their attacks to defeat Grimm with Penny, only for Natsu to come in and destroy everything including some of the surrounding trees. Natsu has his fists on his hips grinning for a job well done, and not noticing the burning trees behind him before everything was washed out by Aquarius, drenching all of them as Lucy could only shake her head at the damage caused.

"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day."

Changing things to Japan, Zak Monday and Saturday were battling in the forest until Rocky and May came in swinging on vines with dynamite and grenades respectively, causing both to have to run away .

"Cause I wanna be famous!"

Bren was seen in an arena, preparing to battle a just as eager Bennett as both of them threw out cores that clashed, the waves of energy creating bright light in front of the camera.

"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!"

On the island, Hailey and Scott were performing on stage only for Rocky to suddenly appear in front of them out of nowhere, playing a violin with Riley also jumping on stage to play a fiddle, battling against him.

"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!"

Miyuki and Hiruma were playing Shogi against each other only for Monta to come in, catching a volleyball from Hinata and crashing into the table that both were playing on, an unhappy Hiruma standing above him.

"I wanna be, I wanna be"

With Monta running as bullets were behind him, he ended up running past Lotte and Libby, stepping on both of their books and sending them flying with an unsuspecting Aomine hit by both books as he was trying to secretly write more of his autobiography again.

"I wanna be famous!"

Weiss snatches the dirty magazine covering the notebook from him, hands on her hips as she frowned at him, not pleased that he had those magazines again.

Though both looked and saw Sena, Tangle and Blaze speeding past them as black, green and red-orange blurs were seen,with both Weiss and Aomine seeing where they were going which was to the docks to the boats as Heloise, Chris and Chef were waiting.

Aomine ran past to try and catch up to them as well with Weiss, noticing he snatched the magazine from her, shook her head and secretly blushing as she did.

Many of the contestants whistled the TD tune as Rei and Kagami were getting closer to one another only for Sena to accidentally run into Kagami as he fell on the ground, face first. Rei and others could only look down in surprise at Kagami with Sena in regret over what happened, Rei trying to whistle with everyone else as if she wasn't trying to kiss Kagami, cheeks red in the process. Zee and Murasakibara, with the latter yawning as both had snacks and soda in hand, walked on the boat last as Hiruma shot a rocket in the air that revealed the words "Total Drama Across the Multiverse" in the form of fireworks.

*End Intro*

Today's Episode Inspirations:

Challenge Format as a whole: Blue Lock Second Selection Arc

Game 3: Blue Lock Chapter 156 Training Zones

Final Game of this challenge: Blue Lock Neo-Egoist League/Final Selection Arc, Total Drama Island Multiverse Edition Episode 1: Total Drama Kickoff!(T-3rd in challenge popularity poll), and the Inazuma Eleven Manga/Anime as a whole(A/N: Soccer matches in this series are pretty hectic. Probably more over the top with the abilities than Prince of Tennis, Kuroko, Blue Lock and Eyeshield 21 are)

Total Drama Island Multiverse Edition Showdown! Episode(T-4th in challenge popularity poll)

Game 1: Total Drama Island Multiverse Edition Challenge Impossible! Episode(No votes; Out of top 10)

Game 2: Total Drama Island Episode 11: Who Can You Trust?

Total Drama Island Multiverse Edition: A whole new ball game episode(No votes; Out of top 10)

Special Guests for Today's Episode:

Jinpachi Ego(Blue Lock)

Other notable cameos:

Barou Shoei, Gurimau Igarashi, Rin Itoshi, Nagi, Reo and Chigiri(Blue Lock)

Bus Drivers:

Launchpad(Ducktales 2017)

Mr. Bixby(Talented Mr. Bixby)

It was another day on the island. Two days after the chaotic Mayhem challenge from Shaxx, everyone, especially Kise was well rested from the event.

Several of the Rats were off to their own devices, with Hiruma, Lanolin, X and Rally electing to not have a training day to allow everyone to relax. Though, oddly enough, it was these four that didn't take the day off, performing their own versions of training.

Rally was doing target practice with Din again, X was sparring with Lanolin and Hiruma was doing some weightlifting with Sendo and Kagami.

As for Haizaki, he was sitting by himself under a tree, basketball in his hands as he had earbuds in. Though no music was playing in them. In reality, he was just doing this so he could be left along to think.

In his head, he was harkening back to the time that Kise entered the Zone along with him entering it himself.

"I've thought of everything I've possibly could to try to bring back that feeling again. But I can't. What am I missing? Is it genuine anger? Teammates? Frustration? What the hell is it!?" Haizaki thought, grimacing in frustration.

"Hey, Haizaki." Diego called out, trying to get his attention. Haizaki snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the Scan2Go racer's voice. But he continued to keep his eyes closed as if he didn't hear them.

The problem was Scratch. He went in close to Haizaki and didn't hear any music.

"Yep, he's faking it. Doesn't want to be bothered I think." Scratch said.

"Haizaki! We know you can hear us!" Scott called out as if he couldn't hear them.

"If he can hear us, you don't have to talk to him in that tone of voice." Molly said.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Unlike you nice guys, I'm not gonna beat around the bush." Beta said, hopping off Scott's head before jumping on Haizaki's to annoy him.

"You got some nerve doin' that." Haizaki said, trying to grab him only for him to jump off before he did and actually take the earphones out of his ears well.

"They're trying to get players to play some board games. And they want you to play."

"And why the hell would I do that?"

"Not like you do anything else around here. Besides, you get to play Monopoly and maybe some other games too. You get to do your favorite thing: Steal."

"When you say that, you make it sound like a bad thing." Diego said. "At least without context anyway."

"I mean, when people think of stealing, it usually is a bad thing to be fair." Molly reasoned.

"Fair."

"So, wanna play?" Molly asked.

"They got a bunch of other people here you could ask to play with and you bother me. Go ask them." Haizaki said.

"We did. Most of 'em are busy." Diego said. "Kaz is training. Shiro... actually I have no clue where Shiro is. Myron's doing some stuff with Reagan and Hailey. And Fiona's watching TV."

"There's more than just your team, dummy. I'm not stupid." Haizaki said.

"Pleeeease?" Molly pleaded. "I promise it'll be fun."

"The others are pretty busy too. Karin's practicing, Kageyama, Hinata and Tsukishima are practicing volleyball against some of the others on our team. Ruby and Jenny are listening to music with Nimona, and-" Scott started.

"Alright, alright! Damn! You're gonna talk my freakin' ears off. I'm only doin' this so you and that stupid bear can leave me alone. Let's get this crap over with. Don't go cryin' to me when I kick your a[censored]. No mercy."

"As long as you're a good sport, there's nothing wrong with playing to win." Molly said.

"Can I talk s[censored]?"

"I wouldn't use that strong of a word but, sure! Witty banter and comebacks are allowed. That always spices things up. But, please try to keep it family friendly."

"No promises on that one. It's a free country."

As Haizaki began to join them for board game fun, Zero and Whisper watched some of their Rats teammates train from a distance.

"Those four. They tell everyone else to relax. Then they don't take it easy on themselves." Zero commented, arms folded.

"I'm not surprised. Lanolin has always been a hard worker. It's nice to have people with her that are willing to work just as hard too." Whisper said.

"Guess you're calling yourself lazy." Zero joked.

Whisper laughed a little. "I mean leaders. But… since you want to joke around, you've only been in one challenge. Who's lazy again?"

"Least I didn't lose in the ones I was in."

"Now you've earned yourself a sparring match." Whisper said, taking out her variable wispon.

"And you just earned yourself another loss." Zero said, taking out his Z-sword, a slight confident smirk on his face.

"We'll see about that. And try not to cut me in the process like you did that sack." Whisper said, matching his smirk.

Meanwhile, another pair were off sparring. Though this pair was on the Kings. With the kindness of the Breakers, they were allowed to borrow a couple of the weapons that they won in the Chima challenge for the sparring practice. Though they had to be returned immediately, with Toxsa "volunteering" to watch. And by "volunteering and watching", it was moreso him playing a video game while occasionally looking up.

"Remember, control your footwork. A swordfight has a couple of differences compared to a regular street fight." Weiss said, blocking attacks from Aomine. Weiss would only attack with occasional pokes and lunges to check his attacks and his form to ensure that he wouldn't get sloppy.

Aomine moved his head to the side, avoiding a poke. "Let me find out this is just a secret plan to kill me over reading those magazines." He joked as he attacked back before getting poked in the side.

"Keep getting off focus with those dumb jokes of yours and that'll happen sooner or later." Weiss said.

"Come on you know you wanted to smile at that." Aomine said, putting his sword down.

"And you should know not to let your guard do-" Weiss started, attacking him before he used his quick reflexes to grab her arm. He then quickly got behind her and wrapped his arm around her neck. Though she countered by stepping on his foot. Hard. She then used that opening to move her head back and hit him in the nose and then tripped him up, pointing her sword at him as he was on the ground.

"And with that, the Unstoppable Ace of Aces was found to have actually been stoppable after all, breathing his last words before a sword was driven through his heart." Weiss said.

Aomine was helped up by her. "Whatever. I still got you though."

"Getting an advantage over your opponent means nothing if you can't keep it. Next time, try to actually have a plan in place instead of just disarming yourself and not even attempting to disarm your opponent." Weiss said before putting her sword down. "And by the way, your supposed joke was not funny. There is nothing funny about being perverted."

"I told you I'm not like that. Sounding like a broken record here." Aomine said, picking up his own sword.

"Then explain. If reading those magazines doesn't make you a pervert, then what does that make you?"

"A guy that appreciates a girl with a nice sized… yeah."

"So you exchange being a pervert to being someone that objectifies women. Quite the exchange." Weiss said sarcastically as the two handed Toxsa the swords.

"So because that's my preference that automatically means that's all I care about? And you're supposed to be smart." Aomine said before the two went to go and get water. Doyle proposed the idea of the teams at least having full access to water since he saw that many of them were training. Something that, to several people's surprise, Chris was okay with. Bottled water was now of access to everyone on the island.

"You haven't given much indication about anything else."

"Because you never asked."

"What? Because I never asked? Are you really going to pull that card on me?"

"I just did."

"Fine then. What else do you care about in a woman then?"

"Don't know." Aomine said, a neutral expression on his face.

Weiss was at a loss for words for Aomine's answer. And his face proved that he was being deadly serious.

"Look, I can't exactly describe it. To give you an example to show you I'm not lying, take a look at Satsuki." Aomine said before showing a picture of Momoi on his phone with Weiss noticing the breast size. "Now if that was all I cared about, don't you think I would have been fawning over her relentlessly?"

"I don't even know who this is."

"Momoi. Name dropped her a few times. Guess you weren't listening. We've been friends since we were kids since we lived close by each other. Went to festivals, played basketball together, stuff like that. Oh yeah, and she's my manager too on the basketball team. Been that way since middle school."

"This was who you mentioned before. When you said you yelled at her."

"Yep, that's her." Aomine said before putting the phone away. "Like I said, I didn't appreciate our friendship enough back then when I had changed to know she just wanted to help me even when I said I didn't want it. Or treated her in ways like that. Or Tetsu's. Now I do."

Weiss wasn't sure of what else to say. "I see."

"Now do you believe me?"

"I'll believe you when you stop reading stop reading those magazines."

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY MAGAZINES!?"

"I literally just told you!"

"AND I JUST TOLD YOU THAT READING THEM DOESN'T MAKE ME SOME OBJECTIFYING PERV!"

"This is ridiculous. I won't keep going back and forth in an endless battle." Weiss said, taking a bottle and walking out of the mansion.

"Yeah because you know you lost!" Aomine called out, sitting down in front of the door before drinking water out the bottle he had after opening it. A couple of minutes later, Lucy was seen running out of the mansion yelling, but tripping over Aomine, falling flat on her face.

"Hey, you good?" Aomine called out.

"I'd be better if you didn't sit in front of the door." Lucy said, getting up and picking up some of the papers she had dropped before turning around.

"Then maybe not come running out of it?"

"You wouldn't be making that statement if I walked out of it."

"Because I would have moved. But you didn't. You ran."

Lucy scoffed. "Whatever. And give me those!" Lucy said, walking up to him and swiping the papers he had in his hand from him.

"Sheesh. Was only trying to help."

"Thanks. I guess."

"You're welcome. I guess."

Lucy could only roll her eyes and walk away.

***Confessional***

Aomine(Storm Kings):

"Was gonna ask what all the yelling was for. Welp, that's not gonna happen now."

***End Confessional***

Lucy ran over to where Lotte was, surprising her as she, Kurita, Diego, Libby, Molly and Sena were playing Monopoly at a table. This caused her to roll the die on 4 and land on a space that sent her directly to jail.

"Ouch." Molly commented.

Lotte sighed in disappointment.

"Oh. Guess that means I did something bad. Sorry." Lucy said.

"It's okay. Is there something you need?" Lotte asked.

"You haven't have happened to see a page floating around have you? From my *clears throat*."

Lotte was confused before she realized what Lucy was getting at. "Oh! No, I haven't. Sorry."

"Alrighty then. Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome!"

"Hey Lotte, what was that about?" Molly asked.

"It's something for Lucy. Personal to her."

"Ah. Gotcha."

"Probably a diary or something." Scratch commented, watching the game as he ate a bag of chips, taken from Murasakibara's snack wagon.

"Scratch, did you take from Murasakibara again?"

"What? It's not like he can see me."

"It's still wrong."

"He shares with Zee."

"That's because Zee asked."

"Well, for me to ask, that would require me to actually be seen by him. Do I really have to do that? No, I don't. He's not even on our team."

"Stealing is still stealing Scratch."

"Fine. Since you won't leave me along about it, I won't steal anymore. Now where am I gonna get snacks?"

"You could ask Murasakibara."

"Nope!"

"Suit yourself. Diego, don't give him his snacks."

"Hey!"

"Gotta learn your lesson somehow Scratch. You stole, now you gotta pay the price."

"You know what they say, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime." Libby said.

"Uh…" Sena started.

Libby realized what she said.

"Oh. Bad timing. Sorry Lotte."

"Nice job kid. Crush her confidence even more and then crush her in the game!" Scratch said.

"Scratch!"

"What? You play to win the game right? It's strategy. It's just like here on this show."

"Speaking of show, I think it's time we take this show on the road for our next challenge." Chris said, arriving back on the island with Chef, Doyle and Heloise. "Literally! We're heading to the next location by bus people, so let's go!"

"Bus? It'll be like a school field trip!" Molly said.

"Can people from the other teams sit together?" Diego asked.

"Nope. That'd defeat the purpose of the classes. Which in your team's case Diego, you've got first class."

"First class? How would first class on a bus work?" Libby asked.

"Get on the bus and you'll find out." Chris said.

***Confessional***

Diego(Wave Breakers):

"This is the first time that we've had to go a place by bus I think. I wonder where we're going for us to not be able to fly or portal there. Heck, we had to take boats to the World Tournament Arena. So this'll be interesting."

***End Confessional***

The teams stood before each of the buses, the conditions of the buses each showing. Two looked like old school buses, one looked like a standard city bus, and another looked like a luxury bus.

"Well, at least we know which is which." Becky B. said.

"Yo, this'll be like a real field trip!" Zee said.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up. This is Chris we're talking about here." Rally said.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for? On the buses people!" Chris said.

As they were about to get on the bus, Todd all but yanked Louie, almost causing him to drop his phone.

"One of these days someone, not saying it'll be you, is gonna get knocked out for scaring people like that. *cough*Kuroko, Mayuzumi." Louie said, surprised that he would just yank him away that forcefully.

"Just get on the bus and sit next to me." Todd said.

"What? Why?"

"Would you rather that or hear Sophie, Weiss, my sister and the other nerds blabber on about gizmos and history and stuff?"

"Tell me you're lonely without saying you're lonely."

"Shut up and get on the bus."

Kings Bus 1(Economy)

"So like, is there a reason why we have two buses and the other teams don't?" Dewey asked, sitting next to Aomine. They were the third frontmost seat on the bus on the left.

"Probably because this one couldn't fit everyone." Riley started, sitting next to Courtney, on the second frontmost seat in front of them.

"And Chris' solution was to get another bus. Probably borrowed." Courtney said.

"Yeah, that's exactly it." Chris said, sitting at the front behind the driver, who in this case was Chef.

"Probably also the reason why you decided to have Doyle drive. To avoid having to pay for another driver." Courtney said.

"Well duh. If I already have the guy here and I'm paying him, why not?"

"And plus, if you guys get rowdy, I can always tell you guys to sit down like a real school bus driver. If I was driving their bus anyways. Forgot to turn off your mic by the way." He said, referring to Zak who was sitting next to Ben as the two were playing video games, with Rex being the third player and Ruby spectating, sitting behind them Ben and Zak, next to Yang.

"So, how's the training with Weiss so far?" Dewey asked.

"Pretty good so far. Some things I need to work on but it's been cool I guess." Aomine answered.

"Actually there are several things you need to work on." Weiss corrected, sitting behind him next to Sophie.

"Reflexes sure as heck ain't one of 'em huh?" Aomine asked.

"Even your reflexes could use some work. They're quick, but the second you think you've won it's like they're non-existent."

"Refusing to give me credit on anything. Of course."

"With the attitude you're having, it'll be a while before she heaps the amount of praise you're looking for." Sophie said.

"One of these days, I'll do something to make you change that tune." Aomine said.

"Outside of the occasional hotheaded attitude and stronger language, he has a lot of similarities to Lok it seems." Sophie commented to Weiss.

"A friend of yours I presume?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. In most cases, we go on our missions as Seekers together along with Dante and occasionally, to my chagrin at times, Zhalia.

"Safe to say that you don't exactly have a friendly relationship with Zhalia."

"Correct. Although with a lot less yelling, you could say my relationship with her is similar to Aomine and Kagami's."

"Again, that's without all of the yelling they do right?"

Sophie laughed a little. "Yes. Although trust issues were tied into it as well compared to Aomine and Kagami's rivalry and history with Kuroko."

"I know that was on purpose. What's it gonna take for you to smile or laugh when it's got something to do with me that doesn't involve messing with me?" Aomine said.

"An actual funny joke for one." Weiss said.

"I'll….. come back to you on that." Aomine said.

"Hey, I can give you a joke." Dewey whispered.

"Nah. Thanks for the offer though. If I come up with something, it's gotta be genuine. From me. Or it's not gonna have the same feeling."

"Hey, I respect it. Sometimes, we can be funny without even trying."

"Exactly. You want jokes or some witty quips, go talk to Yang or Adrien. Not me. And damn sure not Weiss."

"I heard that!" Weiss said, which caused Aomine to smile a little as he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Kings Bus 2(Economy Class)

Changing gears to the second bus, Louie was sitting with Todd as he was looking around.

"Okay, I need you to quit looking around like you stole something and actually tell me what's going on." Louie said.

"Keep your voice down!" Todd said, low.

"Dude, did you actually steal something?" Louie asked.

"No dummy! Listen! It's about the alliance."

"You should be the last person to call someone that. And what about the alliance? Don't tell me you wanna leave or betray the other two."

"And have all of you guys turn on me? Heck no. I may hate school but I'm not stupid."

"Fair point. Common sense seems to be underrated and overlooked nowadays."

"But back to what I was saying earlier. Call it a backup plan."

"Backup plan huh? Whatcha got?"

"There's always the slight chance our alliance gets exposed or we lose a challenge and our team decides to kick us to the curb. I mean think about it, we don't have any crazy powers or anything like that. They could always make us the scapegoat."

"Courtney, Heather and Alejandro don't have powers and no one talks about them."

"Yeah, but for Courtney, nerds flock together. They're gonna protect her. And Heather already won a season so they'll probably trust those two more than us. Which is why I came up with this backup plan." Todd said, pulling out his Fleemco phone.

"Your backup plan is to call someone on a flip phone. What year are you from?"

"Look does that really matter? Like I said, we could easily get kicked to the curb at any time. I mean just look at how Luz got eliminated. And all the other winners. That proves no one is safe. So, I got a backup plan in case that does happen." He then whispered even lower into Louie's ear his proposed plan.

"I'll use this to call Chris and get Chris replaced and tell the replacement to put us back in the game. But, I'll only do it when everyone in the alliance is eliminated." He then talked a little louder, but still lower than a normal voice. "Good plan, right?"

"I seriously refuse to believe it'll be that easy."

"As long as we stay in it won't matter. Besides, the others will probably just eliminate each other anyway. Look at how those basketball guys are eliminating each other even though they're friends."

"You can't just expect us to lay low do you?"

"'Course not! We're nowhere near as good as those other guys here, but if a guy like Owen can win, anything's possible. Besides, there's always my nerd of a sister and your brother to help too."

"You know, you're starting to really talk some good sense."

"Starting? I already was from the beginning."

"Agree to disagree."

***Confessional***

Louie Duck(Storm Kings):

"Don't have any clue if that'll work, but if it's a blanket in case something crazy does happen, I'll take it."

***End Confessional***

Breakers Bus(First Class)

"So, how does first class feel?" Ruby G. asked Jenny, sitting next to her.

Jenny leans back in the seat. "Great!"

"Took us 14 episodes to get it, but it was well deserved." Dwayne said, sitting across from them.

"Yep. I still wish it was the plane though. Or the boat. And we got food. I know this is going to sound ungrateful as hell but, this is a bit underwhelming for me." Reagan said, sitting next to him, working on the glove as they traveled.

"It's the lack of food isn't it?" Doyle guessed.

"You know what? You're right. It is the food. Look, I'm not discrediting us winning, honest. Three in a row is not an easy thing to do, and I think we're the first team to actually do it." Reagan said.

"We are." Miyuki remarked, sitting in front of them with Eijun.

"I can confirm that." Beta said, in Hailey's lap, with Hailey sitting in front of Ruby and Jenny with Myron.

"They say three times the charm. I can also confirm that." Myron said, actually keeping track of the team wins on his laptop with a graph and spreadsheet as well.

"I didn't expect you guys to actually keep track of that, but that's good to know." Reagan said.

"Myron even went through the effort of making a graph and spreadsheet too. That's some dedication. I can genuinely respect that." Hailey said.

"Of course! Data is just as powerful as any special ability." Myron said proudly.

"Yeah. Knowledge is power am I right?"

"Exactly."

"Oh yeah, by the way, thanks for suggesting the water. Least someone here on Chris' crew has a semblance of humanity. And uh, sorry for smashing you with a robot. That was definitely overkill." Reagan said to Doyle.

"No prob. Like I said, I've been there when it comes to having to deal with this. Well, maybe not this bad. No kitchen or anything? Couldn't be me. And yes, I did ask about snacks too. Wasn't budging on that though. And don't worry about the robot. I didn't take it too serious. I just chalked it up to pent up frustration from you getting blasted in the face by me several times."

"It wasn't that many times!"

When they got to a light, he played back clips from his video phone from the episode, specifically him taking out Reagan and her teammates.

"Okay, now play the clips where we took you out. I bet you don't have the balls to do that." Reagan said.

"Light's green. Sorry. Next red light, I promise." Doyle said, looking up from his phone and driving off.

Meanwhile, Asta finally got to ask Toxsa a question that has been on his mind since first seeing the form in action in the Mayhem challenge.

"So what exactly is a Tenkai Knight? Are there squads too like Magic Knights?"

"Nope, there's only one set of Tenkai Knights in those parts. Those parts being Quarton by the way. As for who we are, the Tenkai Knights are guys from that same planet, Quarton and were created to protect it from anyone that would be willing to threaten it. And I think you have a pretty good idea what happens next if you played most video games with origin stories and cutscenes like this."

"What's a video game?"

"Wha? Back up Jack. You mean you don't know what video games are?"

"No. Sorry."

"Soon as we get back, we're fixin' that. Mark my words. But anyways, the first guy that threatened Quarton wasn't some weird outside force like you'd probably think it is so that's one usual trope subverted. It was from the inside. You see, there were five knights. Bravenwolf, Tributon, Lydendor, Valorn and Vilius. All of them were equal in power. But then Vilius decided one day, 'Hm, you know what? I'm the best so you know how I'm gonna prove that? By winning a 1v4.' Wanna guess how that turned out? Come on. Guess."

"He lost?"

"Nope. The Guardians declared it as a draw."

"Is he really that good?"

"Nah, don't think so. Think they just did that so a win wouldn't get to any of their heads."

"But wait, if you're a Tenkai Knight, Valorn right, shouldn't you know for sure?"

"Well yeah, I am, but I'm not the original. The original knights are Quartonian. I was just given the brick to transform into him whenever I get portaled to Quarton. So everything I'm telling you is everything I've been told. Anyways, back to the story. So Vilius wasn't exactly a fan of the rule. I've bet you've heard of sore winners and losers. But what about sore tie-ers?"

"Don't think so."

"That's what I thought. He wasn't happy with the tie and walked out of the arena. The Guardians though? They weren't havin' that. So they decided to explain to him why the power had to be equal. Vilius wasn't exactly trying to hear that either. So he left and challenged the Knights again. Though this time, the dude came in with a plan. Instead of beating them with strength, he'd drain their Tenkai Energy. That was, after he realized he could do that, that is. 'Cording to the Guardians though, you can't do that either. And that was the last straw. He got stripped of his knighthood."

"I'm guessing that was the point that he started to feel bitter towards everyone else. So what did he do after that?"

"You know the saying power corrupts? Yeah, that was what happened to him. He went to absorb the Guardians' Tenkai energy. And when he did, he got one of their powers too. Now, he could use his own dark energy to corrupt others too. And that's when he gathered his own Corekai army called the Corrupted. He was going to prove he was better than the Tenkai Knights and the Guardians by destroying both and taking over the planet. And he almost succeeded. Until the four beat him with the one thing he didn't have, teamwork. They combined their attacks together and sent Vilius packing. But, you can call what happened next Tenkai Knights Episode IV: The Corrupted Strikes Back if you get my drift. He was able to revive a whole freakin' Tenkai dragon and go on a rampage. That was when Boreas decided enough was enough, we need a team of teenagers with… eh, not really attitude. And not really teens either, since I'm actually 12. But yeah, he basically needed someone to become the new Tenkai Knights. And that's when we came in. Chooki and I were first. Then Guren and Ceylan came in later."

"And what about Vilius? Is another person like him?"

"Oh that guy? Nah. He's still a Quartonian through and through. Although, that hasn't stopped him from trying to take over Earth too. Because that's what he's after now."

"And what about that Gen guy you talked about?"

"Oh yeah, him. He was once a bad guy on Vilius' side. Like I said, he's not exactly the most social person in the world, which is why I said he's still pretty mysterious, but he has been willing to open up a bit."

"Pretty incredible to learn about all of these different worlds. And most of them don't have any type of magic."

"Nope. But they all have one thing in common. Awesome guys like you. And me. And all the others."

Asta laughed. "You know, you're right."

"Still though. The fact that your world has no video games in it is absolutely ridiculous dude. If you don't have video games, what the heck do you guys even do there for fun?"

"Well, there's festivals and things like that. We've gone to the beach before too. I…. honestly never really thought about it that seriously."

Toxsa taps him on the shoulder. "Don't you worry buddy. All of that's gonna change. Even if it's only for the time we'll be here."

***Confessional***

Toxsa(Wave Breakers):

"Course I do more than just play video games. But, it's still my favorite pastime more than anything else. Pretty crazy there was a time before that was even a thing. Well, at least there was TV. And radio."

***End Confessional***

Rats Bus(Standard Class)

On the Rats' bus, Natsu was asleep thanks to Sucy giving him another sleeping potion.

"There needs to be a permanent solution to this. We can't just keep giving him potions like this." Lucy said, sitting next to him.

"Considering no one else has or wants to make a solution, this is the best we've got." Sucy commented, sitting in the seat across from the two, next to Blaze.

"Don't look at me. I had a solution. Those two thought they could do better." Rick said, looking at Bennett from a distance, who was sitting with Cicini.

"I don't remember having an idea to help with this." Cicni said.

"Yeah, because you didn't. No offense. He's talking about me. And the other me." Bennett said.

"Yeah. I am." Rick said. "Where is he anyway? Last time I checked, a genius like him shouldn't take this long to come up with something."

"He's not here." Bennett said.

"My point exactly. Can't come up with something so now he's just not gonna show his face."

"That's really rich coming from you." Noah said.

"Because me quitting equates to you leaving because you were too f[censored]ing lazy to even try."

"At least I don't act like a jerk to people and think I can do whatever the heck I want because I'm the 'smartest guy in the Universe.'"

"That's because I am. Let's face it, I've done more here than you have the whole 4 seasons you were here combined."

"Five seasons, actually." Noah said, now frowning at him.

"Doesn't matter. Only reason you haven't gotten booted yet is because you haven't even been in enough challenges yet."

"Because I did bad in the one challenge that I was in."

"Name me one thing you did in that challenge other than sing. Oh that's right, you can't because you were hiding behind Mamori most of the time."

"Alright, I think I've heard enough. I get it, Noah hasn't exactly had a good track record the first time he was here and on the last season that was like this. But, if you would have actually watched World Tour and Ridonculous Race, he actually did pretty decent. The same could be said for you Rick. I get it, he quit, but making that his biggest defining trait isn't fair to him, just like making Noah's refusal to do physical challenges in his first couple of seasons isn't fair to him either." Emma said.

"Don't care what's fair to him or not. He hasn't shown me anything so far to say he's different like you say he is."

"Just like you haven't shown anything different either." Falcon said to Rick.

"Other than not quitting what else do I need to change? If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"Yeah. In more ways than one." Bennett commented.

"What was that? You've got a solution? Go ahead, I'd love to hear it."

"No! I don't have a solution. But you don't exactly have one either." Bennett snapped.

"Correction. I did. But hey, you've got your older self right? He can fix this. He said he could."

"Well he's not here! Instead of arguing, the two of you could come together for a solution. It's clear both of you want to help Natsu. Why the heck are you letting ego get in the way of that?" Cicini spoke up.

"I'm not letting my ego get in the way of anything. He is! He's been like this for pretty much the entire time we've been here." Bennett said. "There is no way I'd ever consider working with him."

"Never asked for your help in the first place." Rick said.

"If you want a real solution, I can simply choose the Ectonurite form and possess him. At least for challenges that require his use of a vehicle." Albedo proposed.

"Ectonurite? What's that?" Bennett asked.

"It appears you need a demonstration. I will show you." Albedo said before transforming into said form, which was the negative version of Ghostfreak. The form was a ghost-like alien reddish-gray skin, red chains all over his front side, neck, waist and center. He also has spikes on his elbows. His eye was colored red. The Omnitrix symbol was located in the middle of his chains.

"Is he a…." Kagami started.

"No need to fear. Unlike some other people here, I won't use this form to try and intimidate you. If they theoretically had the form that is. Now, observe."

Albedo goes to possess Natsu, causing him to suddenly open his eyes.

"And now….." The now possessed Natsu suddenly had to grab his stomach as he still couldn't move. "What? This doesn't make any sense!"

"It's a Dragon Slayer thing, not something mental. I was hoping this would hope but it seems not."

Albedo exits from Natsu's body.

"I assume there are multiple?" Albedo asked.

"Yeah. It's a condition they all share. Like Wendy."

"Well then, I suppose we are going to have to come up with a different solution." Albedo said.

"I've got one. The old fart needs to give him whatever he needs to fix him." Hiruma said with again, surprisingly, no rifle in his hands, as he sat across from Rick, sitting next to Mamori.

"If I do it, it'll be on my own accord, not because you threatened me. You've got guns. I've got s[censored] that'll f[censored]ing atomize your a[censored]. Go ask Jack Horner what happened to him. Oh wait, you can't. I killed him." Rick said.

"You want to hear that other f[censored]ing scientist yell in your face again?"

"I already know what you're trying to pull. But still, you got a point." Rick pulls out a small dispenser capsule. "Here, give this to him." He tosses the capsule to Lucy.

"What's this?" Lucy asked.

"Medicine. And don't worry, it's not pills or anything like that. It's candy and sugar-free, just in case he's not into sugar like football Rambo here is." Rick said, thumbing to Hiruma. "Take this and it should temporarily subdue the effects of the motion-sickness."

"You mean you already had that the whole time?"

"Yeah, I did. But Mr. Time Projector said he could fix it, so I held off."

"So you held off on helping because of that? How selfish can you be?" Rei spoke up, hands on her hips, sitting next to Dawn.

"I gave him the candy. If I really was an a[censored]hole like that, I would have just not given it to him at all."

"Whatever. You only did it when you realized that you were the only guy that could do the job. That doesn't make it any better in my eyes."

"Regardless, he still was able to help him, that's the most important part in all of this. I think we can all agree that seeing Natsu like that every time we had to travel wasn't a good sight." Kise said. "How are you feeling?" He asked Natsu.

"I feel….. normal. Hey, this stuff worked! You're awesome dude! Thanks!"

"Of course it worked." Rick said.

Rei could only scoff and shake her head.

"I understand how you feel about him, but Rick really is a good person." Dawn said to her.

"Define your definition of good. He doesn't hurt people or acts like Urien or, when he was first here anyway, Haizaki. Big whoop. Your auras say one thing. But you should look at him with your eyes too."

"I guess that's what changed your thinking about Kagami right? And why you've…." Dawn lowered her voice. "Fallen for him?"

"Fallen for him? You're joking!" Rei said before laughing out loud, which caused several people to look at him.

"What's so funny? Can I join in?" Rocky asked, hopping over to their seat only for Rei to put her hand on his face and push him back, causing him to fall on an annoyed Yulaw.

"Your aura tells a different story. I've noticed that you're a lot more gentle around him than some of the others. And more willing to let your guard down around him as well. An example includes now you unwilling to admit it to even me. Don't worry though, Kagami's feelings about you has changed for the better as well."

"Well duh. I already knew that." Rei said, folding her arms confidently as her cheeks were red.

"Wait, this is where we're headed?" Adrien said, which caused Rei and Dawn to both look ahead to see exactly what Adrien was talking about. As they were headed up a mountain on a road, they were approaching a large blue and black building structure spanning the entirety of a large cliffside in the mountains, being as tall as a skyscraper. The building is shaped like a pentagon and is thus broken into five different sections. On one of the sections, two large words in blue "Blue Lock" could be clearly seen by all of them.

"I see you've noticed as well. I believe we are in for one difficult challenge, gato." Puss said, sitting next to him.

"You know this place?" Akko asked, sitting across from the two next to Lotte, who put her book down to see what everyone was looking at.

"Actually, we've never been there. But the guy that runs it did a challenge in the last season we were on. Let's just say his thinking is a bit….. different from most of ours when it comes to competition." Adrien said.

"You've got a point, but if you think about the context, I'd say he makes sense. It's the delivery that I think needs some work and takes people off guard." Falcon said.

"Fair point."

The bus suddenly stopped. But not because of traffic, but because they had arrived at their destination.

"Alright! We're here guys! You kids have fun!" Mr. Bixby said after stopping the bus and opening the doors. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some food to pick up. See y'all on the next challenge!" Mr. Bixby said.

"Thank you, but, you're not coming back?" Bennett asked.

"Nope! Chris said we don't have to come back. Now I gotta hurry before my food gets cold, later!" Mr. Bixby said before quickly backing up, but hitting the side of one of the economy buses, causing several parts of the side, including the right side mirror to fall off in the process, but seemingly not noticing as he sped off.

"Alright guys, welcome to-" Chris started as the other buses drove off only for horns to be heard blaring, which caused him and several others to turn around and look down the cliffside. The source being Mr. Bixby as he almost caused an accident.

"You shouldn't have been over here in the first place dummy!" Mr. Bixby called out.

"This is a one-way street you moron!" A man yelled out in Japanese.

"I don't understand a single word you're sayin' fool." He said, looking around. The sign couldn't be seen because he ran over it and it was under the bus.

"Tch. Some people do not deserve to be on this road I swear." The man muttered in Japanese as he drove away.

"That's right! Drive away quietly. You made the right choice."

"You know, I hate to say it, but I'm kinda glad he's not driving us back." Bennett said.

"Wait, he was you guys' driver?" Isagi asked.

"Yeah. Who was yours?"

"Chef."

"We got Launchpad." Bren said.

"Well, looks like we can say Launchpad's the better driver." Isagi said.

"That's not saying much honestly." Heloise said.

"Anyways, before that happened, I was about to explain where you guys are. Welcome to the Blue Lock facility, located in the cliffside of the mountains in Japan! Considering where this place was, this was why we decided to just drive by bus. This is the place that Isagi, Kunigami and Bachira train and hone their skills in soccer, with all of them hoping to evolve their skills to one day play in the world cup and represent their home country, which, fun fact, they have yet to actually win a World Cup." Chris explained.

"Hopefully though, when I leave, I want to be able to help change all of that." Isagi said.

"Don't forget about me!" Bachira said, raising a hand, a cheerful expression on his face.

"As if. You chumps can dream on. I'm going to be the one leading the team." Kunigami said.

"Come on, times a wastin', I'll check in and then we can head inside." Chris said as he walked to the entrance.

"Someone fill me in on what's going on with Rick. You're saying he's been like this the last season he was on?" Kurt asked Rally as they continued to walk towards the facility.

"Yeah. He was. I wasn't on the same team as him like now, but he definitely wasn't exactly a guy that had much of a filter. Not crazy like say Hiruma, but he didn't have much of a problem with saying whatever was on his mind." She answered.

"Don't think that's any different from some of the others on this team I'd say."

"True, but at least in their cases, they still want to help the team win first and foremost. Rick, I don't know. He's shown he can help. Then later on in the season, he does stuff like what he did with quitting, the stuff with the filming and just, for lack of a better term, acting more like a straight up a[censored]hole."

"Later on? Considering you almost made the merge, I'd say you got far enough to know what happened right?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah. I'd say it didn't start until the episode that Morty got eliminated. After that, I don't know what could have possibly made him change like that."

"You just said it. Morty." Kurt said, looking over at him as he talked to Lotte and Sena, explaining what he saw with the Blue Lock challenges from watching on the Aftermath set. "Probably the only person he genuinely cares about here. Everybody else, don't think he hates them. He's just being honest about how he feels. Guessing when he left, he didn't exactly have much else of a reason to care about trying to really win."

"And now that's what's going to tie him down. Mark my words." Heather said, now next to the two.

"We'll see about that." Rally said.

"Yeah. We will."

"The girl is right. To call him a paperweight like Lotte would be incorrect. I'd say he's dead weight." Urien commented.

"Anyone that decided to team up with each other as a group, don't care how big it is, is a fool. If you were that desperate for help that you needed to sign up together that way instead of individually, that shows weakness." Bass said.

"I understand having individual strength, but with that attitude, you're not going to last long here. Sooner or later, you're going to need to be able to work with others." Adrien said.

"I never said I'd completely reject teamwork. As long as they don't drag me down that is."

"And if someone says the same about you?"

"They haven't. Because I'm not weak enough for that happen."

Chris turned to the others as the doors opened. "Alright, we're good to go. Let's head in-"

"Actually, if you don't mind Mr. McLean, I'd like to talk to them myself. Personally." A man said as he walked up to the entrance. He was a tall, skinny, and pale man, with an unusually long neck and has black hair styled into a short bob cut with straight bangs with black framed eye glasses. He wore black jeans with a belt and a matching black dress shirt with a bolo tie on his neck.

"Mr. Ego. It has been a long time." Puss said.

"Ah, the fearless hero. That it has." He started before looking at the others. "My name is Jinpachi Ego. But you can Ego. Whether you want to be formal or not and add 'Mr.' or 'sir', doesn't matter much me to me." After finishing this, someone else arrived out of the building. She was a petite young woman with neck-length brown hair that had two braids tied to side with square bangs hanging on the left. She has brown eyes and wore a brown business blazer with a matching skirt and a blue dress shirt underneath. She also wore black heels as she had a clipboard in her hand.

"Apologies for the delay. Although it looks like that won't make much of a difference in this case. My name is Anri Teiri. I am a member of the Japan Football Union. And the person that personally handpicked Ego for the job of running the Blue Lock facility." Anri said.

"So you're the one that picked him? If I may ask, what made you want to pick him?" Adrien asked. As Anri answered, Weiss noticed exactly what Aomine was looking at and why he was seemingly so focused on the woman. She immediately pinched his cheek.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Aomine asked low.

"What is wrong with you? I know what you were looking at."

"Yeah? So what? It's hard not to notice. I mean look at 'em."

She pulled on his cheek harder. "I don't want to look! And you shouldn't either!"

"If you stop pulling on my cheek I won't look anymore." Aomine said, annoyed, which caused her to relent.

"Next time it'll be the ear."

"Next time I'll do the same to you. If you knew what I was looking at then you were looking too."

"But unlike you I didn't point that out because I'm not a pervert."

Their banter made them completely miss Anri's explanation.

"And now, your egos will be tested here in this challenge at Blue Lock. As some of you know from last time, I will not make things easy for you. Holding back will get you nowhere but back in your room watching the others compete. If you want to survive and win here today, then you'll need to use everything in your disposal to do so. Now then, let's get started. Follow me inside the facility please." Ego said before gesturing Chris and the contestants to follow him as both he and Anri entered the building.

"Splendid. I missed the entire explanation." Weiss said sarcastically.

"And who's fault is that?" Aomine asked.

"If you want the gist of it, basically Anri chose the guy because of how passionate he was about the sport of soccer. As a player himself, he understood exactly how it felt to play the game, and was interested in it not just for the money like the other members of the Union were. But because of how much he wanted to see his home country win a World Cup." Rex explained.

"In other words, if he can't do it himself on the field, he's gonna help others do it. I can respect it." Aomine said.

"Yes. I can see how prideful he is of his home country. And I can respect it. Although, as Falcon put it, I wish his delivery of his passion was better." Puss said.

"I'm gonna have to see it to believe it. Because right now, he's speakin' my language. Why the heck wouldn't I give it all I got?" Kagami reasoned.

Blue Lock Facility, Japan

When they entered, they headed straight for the training facility. There were several pieces of training equipment, from weights to treadmills, to even training bicycles. There were already multiple people working out in the room.

"So this is our challenge? Working out? What is with all of the sports places not doing well, sports?" Marinette remarked.

"Probably to make things less predictable. I guess it'd be pretty boring to go to a soccer place and know we were just going to do soccer, like football. American football anyways." Ryoma E. reasoned.

"Besides, the only other place we've been that actually involves sports has been around Deimon if I remember correctly." Ayame said.

"Oh yeah. Why do I feel like it's been more?" Marinette commented.

"And, I never even made any hint that this would even be your challenge." Ego said. "You'll be using this place to warm up and train. And then, you all will be allowed to eat afterwards. After that, I will explain the challenge to you. You'll have 2 hours to train and eat. Meaning 2 full hours to yourselves before the challenge can begin."

"So wait, when you say 'to ourselves', you mean we don't have to work out?" Toxsa asked.

"That is correct. Although I would highly recommend it. Or at the very least, stretch and eat. I would hate for you to burn out at the end because you pulled something. Or from a lack of energy. A friendly reminder that I expect you all to be performing at your best. And nothing less than that."

"Yeah, that's true. I'll eat. And stretch I guess."

"Now that, we'll leave you to yourselves. Get acquainted with the others around here if you'd like. Once those two hours pass we'll be back for the challenge. I hope you'll be prepared by then."

"This shouldn't have to be said, but please make sure to respect each other's use of the equipment, including the players already here." Anri said.

"And try not to break anything. It shouldn't happen but if it does, I have to pay for it. So please take care of the stuff. And if any of you are caught doing it on purpose I'm docking it out of your winnings if you do win. And yes, I will make sure to keep record until the season is over if it does happen, so don't think I won't. You guys have gotten away with breaking and destroying my stuff for an entire season, and for some of this one. This time, you do it on purpose, you're gonna pay for it." Chris said, pointing at the contestants. "Also, one more thing, Blue Lock usually does this thing where food is awarded based on your ranking here. At least that was what they did in the beginning. No idea what they do now. But the food you get will be decided based on the class you got. The better the class, the better quality food you'll have access to. Don't worry, all of the food's good. But it's even better if you're a higher class."

"He's not lying about that. I can't think of a single dish served here that wasn't good. Trust me on that." Isagi said.

"Can second that. The food really is nice." Falcon said.

"When we've been given crap like Chef's cooking half the time, I'll take your word for it." Sendo said.

"Also, one of the free rooms has been designated as a confessional for now. You got something you need to get off your chest, feel free to go there. Go down and look to your right and you should see it. It shouldn't be that hard to miss." Chris added.

"Sweet. I'm gonna get some food. But first, I'm gonna go get some trainin' in. Can't wait to try some out some of this equipment." Kagami said, grinning as he took off his hoodie, revealing that he only had on a black muscle shirt underneath.

"You took the words right outta my mouth."

"Yeah! Let's go! Let's make three into four! Who's with me!?" Kaz shouted.

"Yeah!" Eijun, Asta and Hinata all said.

"I can't hear you! Louder!" Kaz shouted, even louder.

"YEAHHHHHHHH!"

"Would you shut the hell up!?" One of the Blue Lock players said, annoyed. He was a tall young man with red eyes and long spiky black hair pointed upwards. Like Kagami, Kunigami, Asta and several other contestants, he also had a muscular build and was currently at the leg curl extension machine, working out his legs. This was Shoei Barou.

"Read my mind." Fiona said.

"Agreed." Noelle said.

"Look, we don't mind the passion. Really. But I think one guy yelling around here is enough. We don't need everyone doing it. Try not to make things too rowdy around here." A young man with a lean build and chin length purple hair with two asymmetrical locks framing his face said. He also had matching purple eyes and was using a medicine ball.

"I'm Reo. Guy that told you to shut up is Barou."

"YOU TALKIN' ABOUT ME WITH THAT LOUD COMMENT!? 'CAUSE IF YOU ARE SAY IT TO MY DAMN FACE!" A young man named Jingo Raichi, with flat pale blonde hair shouted, getting into the face of Reo. All of them were wearing the standard black and blue Blue Lock-issued body suits.

"Who else would he be talking idiot?" Hyoma Chigiri, who had reddish pink hair that went past his shoulders with one long bang sweeping to the right side of his face remarked. He also has deep pink eyes. He was currently doing pushups.

"Aw shut the hell up princess." Raichi said, going back to the treadmill he was on.

"As you can see, this is our humble abode. At least for soccer. Don't worry, they're pretty much always like this. We were all teammates at one point after all. And still are in some of our cases." Isagi said, trying not to laugh at how even with new visitors, none of the other players that they've met so far have changed one bit.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about telling them to act natural." Bachira joked. "Because they're all wild monsters after all. Just like the three of us."

"Yo Isagi, where's Luz?" Gurimu Igarashi, or as mot people called him, Igaguri, asked, jogging up to them. He has a short and slim build with short hair, thick eyebrows and wide open eyes, with his eyes being black.

"And a hello to you too Igaguri." Isagi said, jokingly sarcastic with the monk.

"Heh, sorry about that. Got too excited."

"If you're looking for Luz, she got eliminated in the last episode. Sorry."

"What!? Are you serious?" He asked, holding his hands on his face in disbelief.

"Yep. Most of the winners of the seasons have actually been getting the boot frequently lately." Isagi said.

"Man, that is a bummer. I really wanted to talk to her."

"Why? She your celeb crush?" Isagi joked.

This caused Igaguri to blush. "Come on man, no! Stop joking around like that. I'm just a fan."

"You mean you haven't been keeping up with the season?"

"Of course he hasn't dumba[censored]. He's been training like the rest of us." Barou said.

"Ohhh, right. Sorry. No clue how that slipped my mind." Isagi said, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

"Man, guess I'm gonna have to go with a new pick for the season." Igaguri said.

"So, who is it?"

"Uh…" He looks at all of the others working out or chatting. Some familiar faces, and some new ones. "I don't know. I'll come back to you on that."

"I'd love to hear it."

"Yeah. I'd love to hear it too. If I knew." Igaguri said before going to run on the treadmills himself as he looked around at all of the people in that particular training room working out.

The training for the Blue Lock players and the contestants continued(at least for those that chose to do so anyway). Some trained and ate afterwards or vice-versa. Some only ate. And others, like Toxsa decided to do little to no training at all.

(A/N: Think of this as a sort of a montage in a way)

Toxsa, and casually, Murasakibara, was watching Seishiro Nagi, who was very tall with short white hair that left a v-shaped fringe in between his eyes like Isagi along with gray eyes play a game on his phone as he was sitting on one of the blue mats.

"Alright. On to the next level." Nagi said casually.

"I'll be honest, this looks more like a console game." Toxsa said.

"That's 'cause it is. Dead Rising. Originally a console game. But it was ported to mobile at some point too. Kind of like some of the GTA games and whatnot."

"Dead Rising huh? Never heard of it." Toxsa said.

"Zombie survival. Capcom. Came out in like 2006 or somethin' like that? For the 360 and then it got ported to PS4, PC and XB One years later. You played MVC?"

"Nope. Never heard of that either."

"Must not be much of a Capcom guy then. Okay, easy one. How about Street Fighter?" He said as he sliced a zombie with an ax as Frank West.

"Oh yeah, you the games where you play as the dudes with the fireballs and the uppercuts?"

"That's pretty general but you got it." Nagi said. "Seein' you got some Mega Man rep here too. That's nice." He said casually.

"Mega Man?"

"Bass, X, Zero, and the lesser known Axl. Most people don't know the dude outside of X7 'cause most people stopped after 5 or 6. And even then most people just know 7 'cause of the memes."

"Obscure or bad games?"

"Bad. 5 is good. 6 and 7? Uh uh."

"Guessin' you played 'em."

"Me? Nah. Would have been too much work to try to sit through trying to play that crap. 6 is just extremely too hard. I mean unfair levels of hard. And 7 is just bad on several fronts. Didn't play 8 either but I heard it's actually good. Honestly the only game I really played was X Dive, so I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series by any means."

"Gotcha. Must have watched playthroughs or videos about it."

"Yep. Got curious so I decided to see some story behind some of the guys I played with."

"Game talk huh? Mind if I join in?" Adrien asked, sitting down and taking a breather after exercising.

"Sure. I don't care." Nagi said casually.

"How come you're not practicing Murasakibara?" Adrien asked.

"Don't have to, so I'm not gonna. I'm not too big on practice anyways. I mean I'll do if I have to but, way too much work and effort to be put into it. Once you start, you gotta actually try. And I just wasn't about to do that when I might not even play in this challenge anyways." Murasakibara explained.

"Welp, if you're not gonna play, mind if I have a snack or two? I won't be messy I promise." Nagi asked.

"Since you asked, why not man." Murasakibara said before offering him the two unopened bar packs. "Take your pick. One or the other." Nagi chose the one on the left.

"Thanks." Nagi said.

"Yep." Murasakibara said, matching Nagi's nonchalantness.

As Adrien, Toxsa and Nagi continued the game talk, Aomine was exercising his legs. Though his eyes seemed to have been fixed in one direction. Which was where Rally and Yang were exercising as they both had changed into looser outfits to get more comfortable. The rest of team RWBY, with the exception of Penny for obvious reasons, also had to change.

"You know, I never realized how good she looks." Falcon noted, referring to Rally.

"Yeah." Aomine agreed, not really putting much thought into it as he was so focused on their chests more than anything else.

But this would come to an end immediately as they were both pulled painfully by Weiss and Aomine respectively.

"What happened to 'just working out' Falcon?" Ayame asked.

"But I am!" He insisted.

"You know, I think we need to do some more training. Wouldn't you agree Aomine?" Weiss asked.

"Nah, I'm good here. Really hitting my-"

"I said, wouldn't you agree?"

"I just said no you idiot!"

"I'm sure my teammates, and Rally wouldn't take so kindly in knowing you're looking at them in a perverted manner. Imagine what Yang, Launch and the others would do to you if they were to find out."

"So I'll just outrun 'em. Most of these guys here don't have Blaze's speed. Or even Sena and Ruby's."

Instead of just giving in he was making this difficult, which started to annoy her greatly. "That's it!" Weiss decided to just drag him away by the back of his muscle shirt.

"What the hell is this? Let go!"

"Training time."

"You can't do this to me! I'm being taken against my will by this bossy, uptight, ice she-devil! HEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

"Stop yelling so loud you idiot. It's like taking care of a baby. And I am not bossy or uptight!"

"Yes you are!" Yang, Blake and Ruby called out.

"See?" Aomine said.

"Quiet you." Weiss said.

"Says the she-devil as she drags me against me will." He then had an idea. "Hey you know what, keep draggin' me Weiss. I get to have a real nice view back here."

"The nerve!" Weiss said, cheeks red out of anger and embarrassment that he'd even consider doing something like that to her before dropping him in order to slap him.

"Ha! I wasn't even looking." Aomine called back as he dashed away with his quick speed.

"I'm not going to entertain your stupid games!" Weiss called out, running behind him but not intending to chase him.

"Ha! He's basically saying you're ugly." Todd called out as they returned to the room.

"I am not!"

"Well, why didn't he choose to look then?" Haizaki reasoned.

"I don't need his perverted looks to have self-validation about my beauty." Weiss said performing a hair flip.

"You tell him!" Courtney said, doing sit-ups.

"Seconded." Rei added.

"Thirded." Lucy said.

"I may not know you very well, but I can respect the large amount of self-esteem you have. You have my support. Besides, I don't exactly have favorable opinions about perverted individuals myself." Noelle said, exercising with Fiona.

"Agreed." Diana said.

"Here! Here!" Ayame added.

"Add my name to the list as well. This disrespect ends now." Becky F. said.

"While you guys are having some sort of girl revolution, if that was the case, don't you think she would have led off with that if she really didn't care?" Aomine reasoned, now doing push-ups, competing with Dewey.

"That doesn't matter! Dewey, keep away from him." Weiss said, hands on her hips.

"What? He's not doing anything." Aomine said.

"I don't want your personality rubbing off on him."

"He's fine. Honest!" Dewey insisted.

"Aomine, what are you teaching my brother?" Huey D. asked, playing cards with Akashi and Igaguri.

"We're just having a friendly competition." Dewey said.

"And then the next thing you know, he'll teach you how to be just like him." Weiss said.

"Ambitious? Hard-working? To be the best person that you can be?" Aomine said. "Don't have to. The kid's already good on his own."

"You really think that?" Dewey asked.

"If I didn't, do you think I would have said it out loud?"

"I mean the negative parts about you." Weiss said.

"You just said I'm not defined by my flaws. So which is it?" Aomine asked.

"I'm not answering that." Weiss said.

"Why not?" Aomine said, seemingly taking joy in messing with her.

"Ugh, I'm wasting time talking here. I'm going back to exercising." Weiss said, huffing as she walked away.

Aomine added a wave at the end as well.

"Alright, what you got next?" Aomine asked Dewey.

"I'm pretty sure I can't beat you on the treadmill so… you play soccer?"

"Never played it a day in my life."

"Well that ends today dude."

"Yeah, alright. I guess."

***Confessional***

Aomine(Storm Kings):

"She teased me, so it's only fair that I get her back. And I gotta admit, it's pretty fun making a girl like her who thinks she's all that look frustrated and annoyed."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Weiss(Storm Kings):

"Ugh! One minute he gives a story that really does make me feel sorry for him and make me see him as a good person, the next he does something like this. Most of the people here are only mildly annoying. But Aomine? He's annoying because he's so frustrating to deal with sometimes."

***End Confessional***

"I can't believe you've got a guy like him on your team." Barou said, working out, volunteering to help Huey F. with whatever he needed.

"Can't believe it either. But, here we are. Besides, outside of what's going on with those two, he's not a bad guy. None of the others are either." Huey said.

"You haven't been wrong before, so I'll take your word for it."

As for the other mostly quiet members of the team, like Mayuzumi and Octavia, both were doing casual exercises.

"With how much you were talking about not having an interest in basketball before, I'm surprised you're putting in this much effort to exercise for this long." Ocatvia said.

"I still don't. However, if exercising is what I need to do to win another game, then I'll do it. Besides, I never said I had a problem with exercising. It's something anyone can and should do to stay healthy."

"I never said you did."

"I think it's better off that we end this conversation here." Mayuzumi said, sensing that conflict could start if they continued.

"Agreed."

As for the food, it was just as described by Isagi.

Or as Rei would say, "So good!" As she devoured the meat she was eating with fervor, while keeping her area clean and cutting pieces as she ate.

"Wow. She's gulping that food down." Isagi said in awe.

"And keeping herself and her area clean too." Becky F. said.

"Yeah. It's really impressive." Myron said.

"The eating appetite Kagami and Natsu with the gracefulness and neatness of someone like Weiss or Diana. It really is impressive when you think about it." Ayame said.

"Unlike those guys." Lucy remarked, giving a deadpan look to the other fiery competitors on the Rats and the Breakers at another table, and by extension, Aomine, Ben, Bobo, Rex and Zak, with Diana and Noelle looking on, appalled and in disgust with Lotte looking worried.

"Man, this stuff really is good!" Hinata said.

"Mm-hm!" Kurita nodded.

"Stop talking with food in your mouth or you'll-" Kageyama started before coughing and choking on the piece of ham he had in his mouth, causing him to have to hit his chest.

"Yo you good?" Kagami said, about to help him, before Puss, Hinata and Diana were the first to get to him.

"Don't worry about him, you need to worry about not losing to me." Aomine said, stuffing his face with more meatballs.

"Tch, bring it on ya blue ba[censored]d!" Kagami said.

"It's already on red-headed b[censored]h!"

"Maybe next time, take your own advice." Diana said to Kageyama.

"Don't you think I know that!?"

"Apparently not."

"How can they eat this much?" Lotte commented.

"No clue." Kise said. "I'm used to Kagamicchi and Aominecchi doing this, but all of these guys? This is new to me."

"Glad I'm not the only thinking this." Lucy said, sitting next to him, although gulping could be heard at their table. But not just from Rei. But from Akko.

"Akko, slow down. Please!" Lotte pleaded.

"No way! I've gotta keep up with all of them! If Rei can do it, so can I!" Akko said, stuffing her face with more bread.

"Except she's being clean about it. You are not." Albedo said as he put down his chili-fries and began to start eating them himself.

"Yes. I cannot believe they have these! They're incredible taste. And smell! It's just too irresistible! Why? WHY MUST I BE CURSED TO EATING SUCH A DELECTABLE DISH?" Albedo said, as he started to devour the fries before feeling several eyes on him.

"Are you okay?" Lanolin asked, very concerned.

"NO! HOW CAN I BE OKAY WHEN I AM CURSED WITH AN ADDICTION LIKE THIS?"

"You don't have to be afraid to express your personal interests. It's okay. I think people will respect you for being open about them. Although…..maybe a little cleaner." Dawn said.

"Yes. I suppose you're right. Thank you for the validation Dawn." Albedo said before stuffing his face with even more fried, smearing the onions and chili all over his face.

Lanolin decided to scoot over a bit to give Albedo more room to….. express himself.

"Express yourself? Please. This display is absolutely disgusting. No table manners or etiquette whatsoever." Noelle said. "As a matter of fact, it's made me lose my appetite."

"Hey Eijun, wanna work out some more?" Asta asked.

"YEAH!"

"I'm down for some more training." Hinata said.

"MAX TANK!" Monta shouted, holding his stomach with one hand and holding his hand upwards.

"YOU IDIOTS! LEARN TO TAKE A BREAK YOU'RE GOING TO END UP KILLING YOURSELVES!" Weiss, Rei, Fiona, Heather and Noelle shouted.

"Killing yourselves? What the hell are you talkin' about?" Sendo said.

"You haven't even been in a challenge yet except for one so how come you have so much energy?" Heather asked.

"Because I gotta stay prepared, that's how. I don't give a damn how many challenges I've beenin. I don't slack off. For the sake of my body for boxing and for these challenges. But I am gonna keep watch on what more I can do. I'm not stupid." Sendo said.

"Hey, Happy, you got the next bowl ready?" Natsu asked, fish halfway in his mouth.

"Aye!" Happy said, food halfway in his mouth.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T EAT THE FOOD WHILE CARRYING IT! THAT'S CHEATING!"

"There's no rules in an eating contest." Happy said.

"Actually there's the unspoken rule of not taking another person's food." Hinata said.

"No there isn't, you just made that up!" Kageyama said.

"Did not!"

"Then how come no one's ever done it then?"

"Because that's not something anyone does!"

"Then it's an unspoken rule then!"

"That is not what that means!"

"Then tell Haizaki to make sure he doesn't take any then." Falcon said.

"Hey, you don't gotta worry about me. When I can take all I want up there, why would I need to?" Haizaki said, shrugging.

"You know, he noticeably hasn't been doing that anymore. Am I the only one that noticed?" Hinata said.

"Yeah? So? You want a cookie?"

"Well, no but-"

"Okay then. I said I ain't gonna take anything, so you don't gotta worry about it."

"You don't have to be mean about it. He was just pointing something out." Kaz said.

"I'm not. I'm just annoyed that he's harpin' on it when I already said I'm not gonna take anything."

"Is that really an unspoken rule of morality? I do not really have an interest in competing, but I am morbidly curious." Rook asked the people in his table. Whisper, Blaze and Razer could only shrug.

"I see." Rook said.

Outside, Paul, Shiro and Din were off eating to themselves, with Din also feeding Grogu as well.

"Not much of a fan of the noise are you?" Blake asked, joining Shiro outside.

"No. Not really. I don't mind but, I'd rather not get annoyed while I eat." Shiro said.

"Makes sense. I get that. Probably the same reason why Din and Paul weren't there either."

"I guess." Shiro said, drinking the last of the water he had as he looked out ahead into the mountains.

"Don't worry. I didn't come to make small talk or bother you. I really just wanted to read more than anything else." Blake said.

"Seems to be a pretty common thing with the guys on your team." Shiro commented.

"Yeah. I noticed. I won't complain though. I'm a fan of the peace and quiet."

"Can't say the same for the Rats though."

Blake smiled. She couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or not but it did make her smile a little regardless. "Yeah. Lotte and Kuroko, at least when he was here must have been in a nightmare to try and find places to read."

She noticed him holding some sort of locket in the palm of his left hand, but didn't question him about it. He gets up, puts the locket away in his pocket and goes to throw his tray and cup away.

"Good luck." Shiro said, raising a hand to signal this to her as well.

Eventually, the two hours passed. And Chris, Ego and Anri all returned.

"All right. That's the two hours peeps. So, as promised, challenge time!" Chris said.

"You'll get about 15 minutes to get changed into whatever you need to to make yourselves comfortable for this challenge. Once those 15 minutes are up, you'll meet us back here." Ego said.

"Hey, Isagi." Barou said, which caused him to turn around.

"You better not lose. That goes for you two as well." He said, referring to Kunigami and Bachira.

"You don't have to worry about me." Bachira said smiling while Kunigami only grunted.

"Trust me. I don't plan on it." Isagi said to Barou.

***Confessional***

Barou:

"Yeah I know they're on different teams. But it doesn't matter to me. Those three have got what it takes to take on these guys and win. And so would I if I had been chosen to compete. Everybody here's got that belief in them that they're the best in some way, shape or form. Doesn't matter who they're up against. And if you don't have that, then you're not gonna last long here. Believe that. That's the essence of Blue Lock."

***End Confessional***

The 15 minutes passed, with everyone getting changed. Isagi, Bachira and Kunigami, not sure of whether to expect to play soccer or not, had changed into their Second Selection soccer uniforms, with Isagi wearing 15, Bachira wearing 16 and Kunigami wearing 50. Bachira and Isagi wore white jerseys while Kunigami's jersey was red.

"Now that you've changed and are comfortable, we can now begin the challenge. As I've already told you, this challenge will be a test of your egos, the very essence of Blue Lock. Everyone here, no matter who you are, has some level of it, regardless of what you think and what your personality is. I do as well. And today, you all will be putting that on display. The winner of this challenge will survive and move on. The losers of course, are at risk of being eliminated. So I expect you to put your best foot forward in this. Victory is all that matters in the end. Second won't be enough to save you either. If you don't make first place, you will be at risk of being eliminated. Mediocrity isn't something you should be satisfied with. That thinking is what made Japanese world soccer weak compared to some other countries in the world. The only satisfaction should come from seizing victory!"

"In other words, this challenge will be double elimination. So we expect you to put your best foot forward in this. Show us your burning passion. Your will to compete and to win. Win or lose, don't be afraid to give everything you have." Anri said.

"But yeah, you should definitely try to win. You don't, your team's gotta send someone home." Chris said.

"Now then. Whisper, Ayame and Sly. Follow me please." Anri said.

"Wonder if this is the first part of the challenge." Falcon commented.

Game 1

And that it was. All three were in separate rooms. Though each seemed to have holographic guards spread throughout. Several other objects were also seen throughout the rooms as well. Though these also seemed to have been holographic. The three were seen behind a wall as they were in some sort of office. They were also by a glass window as it was behind the both of them.

A screen suddenly appeared in all three rooms with Ego's face being on all of them.

"Welcome. I hope you like the accomodations. Because you'll need to get use to them a bit for this game. It will be an individual challenge. You will need to sneak your way through the end of the room and open the door undetected." Ego started to explain.

"And they're asking Ayame to do it? No offense but why?" Randy commented.

"Ayame is actually a ninja. She can handle herself pretty well even without her stone. That's one of the many facets of her." Falcon said.

"Oh. Didn't know that. Now it makes sense."

"Your rating will be calculated on the following factors: Time and number of takedowns. The more time you have left on the clock the more points you'll get. And the more enemies you take down the more points you'll get as well. However, this is all null and void if you're seen. So if you want to to earn anything, I suggest you don't make yourself seen. Though, ironically enough, that is the basis of one of the restrictions. Invisibility abilities of any sort are not allowed. It wouldn't be a challenge if you could just instantly breeze through that way now would it? You also cannot just teleport to the end either. Anything else is fair game." Ego said.

"Your challenge begins 3...2...1..."

The three first started by peeking around the corners of each side to try and get an idea of where the guards were. Although the office rooms were exactly identical, the locations of the guards were different.

(Par Time: 3 minutes)

The three first started by peeking around the corners of each side to try and get an idea of where the guards were. Although the office rooms were exactly identical, the locations of the guards were different.

Sly threw out a decoy of himself to get the attention of at least one of the guards, which worked. One of the guards ran towards it and was about to radio for the others to come in before he was suddenly shocked and fell to the ground, disappearing into bit particles. He was a hologram after all.

Ayame threw out a smoke bomb to cover her tracks before dragging away the guard to knock him unconscious. The problem was, that got the attention of two other guards as well. They would have seen her had she not quickly moved. By the time they surrounded who they thought was the perpetrator when the smoke cleared, only the unconscious guard remained, who also dematerialized.

Whisper was the slowest to get through the first set. Although she was more than capable of moving stealthily like the others were, she didn't have the stealth tools like they did to match either. So instead, she took the time to observe. This allowed her to see something that the other two didn't: The guards moved in a pattern. They pattern would change to make it feel as if it was natural and unpredictable, but in reality, it wasn't.

She used this to her advantage, taking out guards when necessary with the laser mode of her Wispon. Many of the shots bouncing off walls to avoid her from being detected and failing the game.

Sly went behind a guard and took him down with his cane. He then hid under a computer desk as another passed by, putting down a hat as a mine before it exploded. Just as he was about to peek out, he heard footsteps and quickly hid back in the cubicle area again. As soon as the footsteps drew near, he tapped his cane on the ground, creating gas as it confused the guard. He then proceeded to attack the other guards, which started to cause a chain reaction. After seeing the chaos that was about to ensue, with one of them announcing that a guard had gone rogue, he was content with staying hidden in the cubicle until the dust clear from the chaos.

Ayame, not having any of those tools, obviously had to take a different approach, taking down the guards herself, sometimes ingeniously using her Power Stone and its ability for her to call it back as bait. In some cases, she would make sure to throw it out in an area for a guard to clearly see before calling it back the minute she heard footsteps coming towards it. If she was in an isolated area, she would take down the guard immediately when he got into her range and out of the sight of the other guards.

Whisper continued to use the patterns to her advantage to either completely avoid or take down any of the guards that got in her path.

It didn't take long for all three to get to the door unseen afterwards, twisting on the knob and pulling it. But the minute they did, the room suddenly changed back to a generic gray room.

"What just happened? Did they fail?" Kagami asked.

"Congratulations. You have all passed the first game of the challenge." Ego announced.

"Alright. Was gettin' worried for a sec."

"Give yourselves a pat on the back for completing this challenge. You deserve it. But, there can only be one winner. As I said, victory is all that matters in the end. And now, here are the results for game 1:"

Sly: Time: 1:40;+80 pts. Takedowns: 19/19 +190pts. Total: 270 pts

Ayame: Time: 1:20;+100 pts. Takedowns: 16/19 +160pts. Total: 260 pts

Whisper: Time: 1:50; +70 pts. Takedowns: 17/19 +170pts. Total: 240 pts

"And with that, Sly wins the Game 1!" Chris announced.

"Those times aren't honestly too bad. Would have thought it would have taken me longer with the guards." Sly commented.

"I thought I got them all." Ayame said before folding her arms, knowing that it was a missed opportunity for her to win the first game if she had just gotten two more guards. "Well that's just peachy." She said sarcastically.

Whisper could only sigh.

The three returned to their teams.

"A master thief behind a whole 20 seconds? What happened?" Ayame asked jokingly.

"Don't look at me. I let the guards do the work for me." Sly said, shrugging.

"You know what they say, sometimes, if you want the job done right, you've gotta do it yourself."

"Fair enough."

"Guess that's another loss huh?" Whisper said halfheartedly joking to Zero.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You'll bounce back." Zero said.

Zero is right. You're too good to let something like this keep you down." Blaze said, giving her two friendly pats on the shoulder.

Her wisps also came to out try and comfort her as well.

"You're right. I'll get it eventually."

Scores:

1st: Kings: 1

2nd: Breakers: 0

3rd: Rats: 0

"Now Game Two begins. This will be a six player game. Two from each team. Now, Rei and Kagami, Weiss and Aomine, and Asta and Noelle, head to the cafeteria for the second game."

Weiss, Aomine, Rei, Kagami, Noelle and Asta all had different reactions to these pairs being revealed. Weiss, Rei, Kagami and Noelle were all alarmed, while Aomine was in disbelief. Asta was excited.

"Oh hell-" Aomine started before Asta cut him off with his yelling.

"YES! Noelle! Let's show them what members of the Black Bulls can do together yeah?" Asta said.

"R-right." Noelle said, before nodding as a bead of sweat was on the side of her face.

"Wait a sec." Rei started, snapping out of her nervousness from having to be paired with Kagami. "I just remembered something. I said I hoped to be in a challenge with you." She said to Noelle. "And now that that's true, I'm gonna crush you, you arrogant brat!" She said, pointing at her with fiery determination in her eyes.

Hearing this restored some clarity into Noelle. "As if I'd lose to you!"

"It's not a matter of if." Rei said before bringing out her crystal change rod to transform.

"Are you two just going to forget about me? As alarming as it is to have work with... Aomine." Weiss said.

"I'm not exactly a fan of this either." Aomine said with half-lidded eyes.

"Nobody forgot about you. Especially not me. We're gonna kick your a[censored]es too." Kagami said.

"Like hell you are." Aomine said.

"You're eager to begin. Good. As I said, before anything else, you'll need to head to the cafeteria." Ego said.

***Confessional***

Kagami(Radical Rats):

"Listen... I'm not gonna sit up and here and beat around the bush or deny it anymore alright? I do like Rei. And I mean, like like her. When I talked about the type of girl I liked, I didn't know how to describe it. I was just throwin' stuff out there. But Rei. She's got that passion and fire about things she really cares about. Just like me. She's not afraid to be honest with people. She has a job. And to top it off, she really is pretty." Kagami said, blushing in embarrassment at the fact that he said that out loud. "This is stuff I really do like about her. I'm not makin' this up. But, regardless, I have to put all of that to the side. My main purpose of coming here wasn't to get a girlfriend. It was to win! Doesn't matter who stands in the way of that. Aomine, Hanamiya, Asta. Doesn't matter. I'm gonna play hard and give it everything I have. And carry my team to victory!"

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Aomine(Storm Kings):

"I may not be a big fan of having to work with Weiss. But I'm even lesser of a fan of losing. Especially to Kagami. Say what you will about her, but she's got that prideful, competitive streak in her. I don't have to worry about her not trying to win. Because now, that's what it's all about."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Noelle(Wave Breakers):

"It doesn't matter what feelings I have for Asta. I refuse to lose either of them. We were brought here to get stronger and to win. And I'm going to make sure that that happens." Noelle said for pausing. "Did I... say that first part out loud?" Noelle's cheeks were red as she held on to them in embarrassment.

***End Confessional***

The six were now in the cafeteria.

"For the first part of this game, Rei, Weiss and Noelle must prepare meals for their respective partners to eat." Ego began to explain which caused all three girls to have surprised looks on their faces with Kagami, Aomine and Asta also having changed faces as well.

"Wow. So I guess it's a bit of a reversal of roles. Interesting!" Asta said.

"Interesting for you at least." Aomine commented.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I already know what's gonna happen on my end and I'm not looking forward to it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked, hands on her hips.

"Go ask my stomach from those noodles what that's supposed to mean?"

"At least try to be encouraging!"

"So are we going to be judging these?" Kagami asked.

"Nope. All you gotta do is eat 'em. That's it." Chris said. "Gals, make sure you put your best foot forward. I'm sure you won't forget the best ingredient of all, as Spongebob would say."

"But we don't even know what we're going to make yet." Weiss said.

"This ingredient can go in anything, so you don't have to worry about it." Chris said.

"Salt?"

"It's not salt you idiot, he means water. Water is in most foods." Noelle said.

"Actually, it's not either of those." Chris said.

"Ha." Rei said.

"Then what is it genius?" Noelle asked.

"Um..." Rei started, sweating nervously.

"It's love. I would have thought at least one of you would have gotten it." Chris said.

"Oh." All three said simultaneously.

"Considering their personalities, it makes sense they wouldn't." Heloise said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss, Rei and Noelle all said simultaneously again.

"Oh no. I'm not saying you can't show love. It's just... you three have got weird ways of showing it."

"I do not!" All three said simultaneously again.

"Yeah, you do." Aomine commented which caused all three to surround him in anger.

"I was talking about Weiss. Not you two."

"Comments like that make me wonder if I should try to make a good meal for you or not." Weiss said.

"Couldn't hurt. Not like you've done it before."

This caused Weiss to groan and grimace in annoyance.

"I'm kidding. Look, I'm sure you can do it. I hope."

"Are you trying to be encouraging or discouraging?"

"Encouraging. And honest."

"Yeah. I got faith in you too. Not that I gotta tell you to give it your all." Kagami said to Rei confidently.

"Of course I'm going to try. But don't expect a miracle or anything fancy." Rei said.

"Noelle, do you know what you're going to cook?" Asta asked.

"I….. don't know." Noelle admitted before quickly adding, "Yet."

"Well, you better get thinking, because the clock is ticking. You've got 2 hours. Get to it ladies!" Chris said. "Also, I'm going to need you three to step out until the challenge is over. Don't care what you guys do, you just can't be in here, or interact with the three in any way."

"What? Why?" Kagami asked.

"Because I said so. Now if you'd like to object, feel free to do so. And make your team lost out on an opportunity to earn a point."

"Whatever." Kagami said, being the first to leave.

"Good lu-" Asta started before Chris cut him off.

"Nope! No talking to them. Like at all. First and last warning." Chris said.

"Sorry."

Both Asta and Aomine, the latter having no objections to the rule, left in silence.

The three were in the kitchen, attempting to plan their meals. All of them were provided with sufficient ingredients to make almost anything they wanted.

Noelle put a finger on her chin and tapped it as she looked around at the ingredients in thought. All three were sectioned off in their own areas to avoid interference with one another. "Let's see. There's a lot of ingredients here. So the possibilities of what I can make for Asta are endless. Should I do something simple and quick to make sure I get it right? After all, I don't have much experience in cooking. Or should I do something a lot more unique? It might take longer, but….. hmm." She looked over at Rei and Weiss to see how they were faring.

Rei was quickly gathering ingredients, while Weiss was using her scroll for research.

"They're already gathering ingredients!? Rei can't even cook and she already knows what she's going to do." Noelle thought, trying to hide her disbelief, and nervousness. "And Weiss. She must be reading up on what to make. I have to match them! It'll take longer but the effort will be worth it in the end! Maybe… I can impress Asta with it. A-and beat Rei too! There's no way I'll just lie down and die."

Noelle started to gather ingredients.

"Any of you know if Noelle can cook?" Mr. Wolf asked the rest of his teammates who all shrugged. "Figures."

"They say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If I can make something good enough..." Rei thought, looking at the ingredients she had gathered before shaking her head to snap out of it as her mind was about to wander off again after Kagami was mentioned. "Focus Rei! This is no time to be indecisive!"

"Let's do this!" Rei said aloud.

Weiss continued to browse through her scroll.

"There's so many recipes to choose from. And all of them look decent. Which should I choose? I heard Kagami say Aomine likes burgers but... I know I can do something better than a simple burger. And... since he's training, a healthier choice might be viable to make." Weiss thought. "But I don't want to give him something he might not be willing to eat."

"Let's see. I should probably get something nutritious, right?" Noelle said aloud. "Asta trains a lot with Eijun and Kaz around here, so I'm sure he'd like something to really get him going again, like the Blue Lock food." She picks up a small packaging. that had beef stew on it.

"I can use this! An impressive amount of vegetables and meat. Even if I can't cook, anyone with any semblance of a brain can follow instructions. That's just common sense. I'll need more though. This is too little."

***Confessional***

Noelle(Wave Breakers):

"I was aware that there were cans for easier meals around to make them instantly, but I refused to use them. Yes, it's easier. But it's also dishonest. I could never look myself in the eyes again if I served Asta those and told him I made it. If I'm going to make something, I'm going to put in the effort to do it myself."

***End Confessional***

The three, with Weiss being the last to do so, had started to prep their respective meals. A little more than 90 minutes remained.

"Still a decent amount of time. Things look promising so far. Emphasis on look." Chris commentated.

"We already know Weiss and Rei aren't exactly chefs so this isn't going to be easy for them. Depending on how skilled Noelle is, this game could be another easy win for her by a landslide. And with how she's looking right now, that looks to be the case." Isagi thought as Noelle seemed the most confident out of the three in the meal she was preparing.

Rei was trying to make something easy like soup, but even that seemed to be an issue for her. She tried to add vegetables, meat and noodles, and cut them as she had seen from Makoto and all of the cooking shows she's watched with her friends. But for whatever reason, she didn't like the taste of it and started over. This was because she cut the vegetables too many times. And because of that, they ended up being overcooked.

Weiss decided to try her hand at spaghetti again. Though when she did finish, she actually followed Aomine's advice and actually tasted a spoonful. And just like last time, it was bland. Or at least too bland to her liking. So she tried to add several spices to try and add flavor to it as well. Now there were too many conflicting flavors. You couldn't even really enjoy the taste of the tomato sauce because of it.

Noelle looked at the pot and was satisfied with her work so far. The boiling water was starting to turn brown from the mix poured in and the vegetables were cut decently enough to look reasonable inside the water. Though, for someone reason, the meat that she added looked... odd sticking outward like it was. She had cut the steak and added it into the water directly from the packaging(washing her hands afterwards of course), and watched it as it turned darker. Though, for whatever reason, what she was looking at wasn't even close to what she saw on the packaging. She picked up one of the packets and looked at it and the food that was in the pot, squinting at both briefly, a perplexed look on her face.

"I understand it's just a picture, so it won't look a hundred percent the same, but what is going on with the meat? It still looks unfinished. And it's been the time that was described." Noelle thought. "Maybe it's fine. I'm probably overthinking things. I should probably take it off. I don't want to burn it."

She quickly takes the pot off the stovetop.

Once it simmers down, the soup looks watered down and the vegetables all look bigger than what was seen in the picture as well.

"Something's still not right. What am I doing wrong? I'll just start over. I have enough time. I want to make sure I get this right."

She dumps out the soup, emptying the pot completely and starts over.

30 minutes remained and the pressure was starting to mount on all three of them. None of them were even close to being done after they all chose to start over again.

"Not to be the bearer of bad news but you've got 30 minutes left. No pressure or anything. Other than the fact that this is still a double elimination challenge." Chris announced over the intercom to them. Hearing this horrified all three.

"Come on you stupid oven work faster!" Rei said in frustration. "At this rate, I'm not going to make it! I've gotta speed this up somehow." Rei said before pulling out her crystal change rod. "MARS CRYSTAL POWER! MAKE UP!"

She was about to use her abilities of fire manipulation to add fire and cook the food faster, but then thought of something.

"What am I doing? That'll burn the food." Rei said before shaking her head.

"I've been thinking about nothing but Kagami this entire time, trying to make something decent to impress him. But at what cost? Burning the food like a moron?"

Rei sighed before de-transforming and completely discarding the food she was trying to make.

"Is she crazy!?" Sendo shouted, a look of disbelief on his face.

"She's getting rid of everything again!?" Natsu said.

"Impressed or not, I can't be something that I'm not. So I'll do something that I know I can do." Rei thought.

She put her hands on her hips before laughing confidently and pointing upward. "Here we go!"

"I think the heat's getting to her. There's like 20 minutes left and she's laughing like that?" Tangle said.

"Sometimes, in the face of adversity, or situations you know you can't win, that's really the only thing you can do. Other than cry. On the inside or outside. Or both." Reagan said.

"Speaking from experience?" Doyle asked.

"No... Maybe."

Weiss, meanwhile, was clearly frustrated. She wanted to make sure the dish that she served was of high quality.

So when the spaghetti didn't work out she tried to salvage things by using some of the tomato sauce for pizza, which turned into an absolute mess in the kitchen with the dough. She also considered doing breakfast with burritos, trying to salvage the dough, but that ended up turning into an abomination as the poor excuse for a burrito looked absolutely terrible.

And have several complimentary sides with them as well. But none of that was working out. The bread was burnt the first time with the second time having the bread be too hard. And when she tried to slice the apples she ended up cutting herself.

Weiss was about to throw away the spaghetti she had tried to remake but paused mid-decision, deciding to stop herself and bring the pots back.

"It was overconfidence like this that got me in trouble last time. It's not perfect. But, maybe it doesn't have to be." Weiss thought.

Noelle, meanwhile, oddly wasn't heating anything in what she was trying to make. The only thing she seemed to have been using was a knife. When she was done, she breathed a sigh of relief and went to pour a drink in a cup as well.

About ten additional minutes passed before time was up.

"Alright! That's time! Aomine! Kagami and Asta! You guys can come on back." Doyle said, going outside as the three were sitting around talking. "But first, you're going to need to put on these before you go in." He said, three blindfolds in his hands.

"The hell's going on?" Aomine commented, raising an eyebrow at the random requirement to have to put on a blindfold.

With the help of Doyle, the three were brought to their respective chairs, each of their partner's foods in front of them.

"Your job is to eat the food put in front of you. If you can last the longest without needing a drink, or having to get up and leave for any reason, then you earn a point for your team." Chris said. "And do not take off the blindfold until I tell you to! I already told your partners that they're not allowed to tell you what the food is either so don't ask. And I asked everyone else to leave the room, so don't try to use them for a hint either. You take off the blindfold, then you automatically fail the game, got it?"

"Let's do this." Kagami said confidently.

"Please tell me you didn't make something that'd kill me." Aomine said.

"Yes, I did." Weiss said.

"See? Ice she-devil."

"Can you not pick up sarcasm?"

"You always sound like that, so no."

"Strange. I don't smell anything in front of me. Other than a strong scent of mustard. Noelle, you did make something, right?" Asta asked.

"Of course I did! Just because you can't smell it or feel the heat doesn't mean I didn't make anything." Noelle said.

"Ready?" Chris started.

...

...

"Go!"

The three started to eat their respective foods. Kagami was eating out of a bowl, picking up the food with his hands, but causing some of it to fall on the table in the process while Aomine and Noelle did the same thing before Aomine tried reaching around for a utensil. The taste of the food and the feeling that he had on his hand from picking up the food already telling him what it was.

Asta was far from being as messy as Kagami was at the moment. But to be fair, because of what it was, it was no fault of his own. Eventually, all three finish. Aomine was the one that looked as if he wanted to get and leave the most, but he toughed it out and stayed with Asta being second as he was surprised at all of the different tastes, which made him want to gag. But after that first initial scare, he seemed to have bene okay.

"All right. That's it. You can take off the blindfolds now." Chris said.

"What the heck was taking so long?" Aomine asked as he took his off.

"Was waiting for Kagami to get done. Or at least close to it." Chris said.

"Of course it was you that was last." Aomine said.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Kagami shot back, quickly whipping his head in his direction.

"It means you eat too slow."

"Look, I was eating as fast I can! You try eating blindfolded!"

"I was eating blindfolded you idiot!"

Kagami was about to say something else before noticing the other things Aomine's and Asta's food was on.

"What the heck?"

"Don't try to change the subject!"

"I'm not you moron, look!" Kagami said, pointing at Asta's plate.

"Huh? What's wrong with it?" Asta asked, confused.

"Why the heck is your plate so small!?"

"It's called a saucer, dimwit." Rei said.

"I know what it's called!"

"Then what's the problem?" Noelle asked.

"My problem is the fact that you cheated! How is that fair?"

"I didn't cheat. I actually made the food. The size of what it's served on doesn't matter."

"Then if that was the case why the heck couldn't you give me a smaller portion of this?" Aomine asked Weiss.

"We weren't told how much food we were supposed to cook. We just prepared something. And if anything, I have to question the specificity of these rules. Not just because of that. But because of Noelle."

"I did not do anything wrong!" Noelle snapped.

"You were told to cook a dish! Making a sandwich is not cooking!"

"Well I tried that! I had to think of something!"

"I thought something tasted familiar. Is that what you made for me?" Asta asked.

Noelle realized she made a mistake as that was revealed aloud. "W-well-"

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. As a matter of fact, you making that sandwich is what allowed your team to triumph in this second game." Ego said.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Aomine and Kagami shouted.

"How is that fair? I had to sit through waiting on food to warm and she can just make a sandwich and call it a day!?" Rei said, in disbelief, with that disbelief quickly turning into anger.

"I demand an explanation! We were told to cook meals!" Weiss said, arms folded.

"Actually, that is nothing further from the truth. You were told to prepare meals. No one told you they had to be cooked. That was something you assumed, and decided to do on your own." Ego said.

Weiss could only shake her head in frustration.

"If you can't do anything else, at least explain why Asta and Noelle won. I don't see anything Kagami, Aomine or Asta did to deserve to win first. None of them left or threw up. They all followed the rules." Rei said.

"Yeah, that is true. But Asta finished first. That was the deciding factor in all of this. And so, it only made since to give Asta this win. The other option was watching you guys suffer for an additional couple of hours trying to make something else. And while that would have been funny, we don't have time for that." Chris explained.

"I guess that makes sense." Rei said.

"So... what did you think?" Noelle asked Asta.

"Of what?" Asta asked.

"Of the sandwich I made for you."

"Oh, that. Well, the taste definitely caught me off guard at first. But, it was good."

"That's it? No criticisms? No details? What can I improve on? What did I do good?"

"Uh... well, I guess you did too much mustard? And ketchup?"

"Oh. O-Okay. I'll make sure not to add so much next time."

"Hey, Noelle."

"Yes?"

"He must have thought of something else. I guess it was that bad. Which makes sense. He looked like he couldn't hold it down initially."

"What made you want to do a sandwich instead of cook something?"

"Because it was the best and easiest thing to make obviously. Why ask such a dumb question?"

"How is that a stupid question? Last time I checked, Asta's not a mind reader." Rei asked.

"This doesn't concern you. Besides, shouldn't you be apologizing to your teammates for losing this game?"

Rei sighed. "Yeah. That's true."

"Of course it is."

"You just made one of the worst sandwiches I've ever seen. So I wouldn't act like you just won the lottery if I were you." Murasakibara remarked before taking a sip out of the soda can he had from Zee. "Seriously, how the hell do you mess up a damn sandwich?"

Considering this was coming from a person whose dream job was to be a chef, Noelle didn't exactly have any way to counter that.

"If you're silent like that then it's gotta be true. What the hell did you do?" Aomine said.

"It's none of any of your business! It's not like any of you, other than Murasakibara have any right to criticize me. None of you can cook. Other than Kagami." Noelle snapped.

"What does being unable to cook have to do with anything? Aomine isn't exactly the best cook but his criticisms are still just as valid and deserve to be heard." Weiss said.

"Enough of this. Chris, just get to the next game!"

"Don't mind if I do. Follow Anri to the next game please." Chris said.

As they walked, Johnny zipped towards Anri. "Businesswoman huh? Classy. Very classy. So what made ya like soccer? Played it as a kid?"

"Not really. I do like watching it though. My passion and pride for my country and soccer was what made me want to get a job as a member of the JFA. Although, I was the assistant coach in our game against the Japan U-20 team."

"JFA? Justice Friends Association?"

In many cases, Johnny would be called an idiot for making a guess like that. But not in Anri's. She actually laughed a little. Sure, it wasn't close. But the guess that he made actually got a bit of a kick out of her. "No silly. The Japanese Football Association."

"Oh. Well, 'least I made ya laugh."

"Glass half full type of guy huh? I like it. Nothing wrong with a bit of positivity." Anri said.

"Then if that's the case. Wanna be a part of my nucleus?" Johnny said, flexing.

Rally could only shake her head while Rei and Lucy could only roll their eyes. May actually laughed.

"Come on May, that wasn't a good line." Becky F. said.

"Even if it wasn't good. At least the creativity's there."

"You know what? As bad as that was, I'll give him points for that." Haizaki said.

"Thanks for the offer, but no. Right now, my focus is on helping Japan win their first World Cup in any way I can. And that includes helping oversee what goes on at Blue Lock." Anri said, politely turning Johnny down.

"All business huh? Well, what about when you're done?" Johnny asked.

"Maybe. But that 'when' is a good while away. Sorry, but I can't afford any distractions. Especially not now at a critical stage in the Blue Lock training."

"You know what? I'll take it." Johnny said to the audience.

Rei turned to Kagami. "Sorry. This is on me."

"Nah. I did eat pretty slow. When I realized what it was I should have started to-"

"Stop. I don't care what you have to say, I won't let you pin the blame on yourself. It's not just what I made. It's everything before that. I tried to cook something good for you to eat. In other words, I lied to you. I said I wasn't going to try to make anything fancy. And while the ideas I had weren't exactly cuisines, they were way too much for someone like me to handle. I tried to be something that I'm not and it ended up hurting the team." Rei explained.

"But you made it, right? It's pretty good."

"No. I didn't make that either. That was instant curry."

Kagami was a little surprised to hear this.

"I..." Rei looked down, unable to look at him in the eyes.

"You what? What is it?"

"I let my pride cloud my judgement. And in an attempt to impress you..." Rei started before quickly adding, "A-and everyone else, I ended up hurting the team. And wasting a lot of food in the process too. I know it's empty words now since we already lost but, I'm really sorry." Rei said, holding her arm as she had her eyes closed.

"I can't speak for everyone else. But this didn't impress me. Or the fact that you tried to do this." Kagami said.

"Yeah. Makes sense."

"Because I already was impressed."

Rei looked up. "What?"

Kagami puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. I get it. You can't cook. But what I was, and still am impressed with, is you."

"Me? Why?"

"Yeah. Listen. Not everybody's good at everything. You could have let that pride continue to make you try and force it and make things worse. Compared to the instant curry I might have not been able to eat whatever it was you were going to do."

"Is this supposed to be making me feel better? Because it doesn't seem like it!" Rei said, annoyed again.

"What? What did I say?"

"You basically just told her that she was going to make something horrible regardless. How do you not know what you yourself said?" Noelle said to Kagami.

"But I was just-"

"Well luckily for you I'm not easily shaken. I can see exactly why you made Momoi cry." Rei said.

"He WHAT!?" Aomine said, steamed after hearing this.

"No! You don't get it! I didn't mean to do that!" Kagami insisted.

"What's there not to get?" Aomine said.

"Tch. That's real rich coming from you after what you did."

Aomine grabbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, you're right. But at least I tried to make up for it. What about you?"

"I said I was sorry, alright?" Kagami looked back at Rei. "Look, I'm getting off topic. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was being hurtful. But, what I'm trying to say is, you thought about helping the team win instead of trying to prop yourself up at the cost of us potentially getting the point. We didn't get the point, but I can respect the effort. Not everybody's willin' to be that selfless. That's why I respect Kuroko so much. And that's why I like you so much too." Kagami concluded.

"Really?" Rei asked as they continued to look into each other's eyes.

"Absolutely." Kagami said, smiling.

"You know, to tell you the truth, I... also did the curry because... I didn't want to risk making something you didn't like since I don't know your favorite food. I know I sound like a broken record but, sorry again. Guess you were right."

"Don't worry about it." Kagami said before quickly letting his arm off her shoulder, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing with Rei pushing back a strand of hair, smiling and blushing as well.

Shawn and Jasmine could only look at each other and smile with Kise and Priya doing the same thing. Noah looked surprised and Emma was smiling as well. A grin also extended on both Hanamiya's and Bakura's faces. Though those two's smiles were completely different than the rest's.

***Confessional***

Kagami(Radical Rats):

"Yeah, I kinda realized what I said. But I'm not gonna take it back. Because it's the truth. And I ain't scared to admit that it extends beyond respect anymore. Now it's just a case of when I'm gonna tell that to her. I still came here to win. Besides, how the heck am I supposed to do that anyway? Tell her 'I like you, wanna go out' or somethin' like that? How lame does that sound? And no, I've never been on a date before alright? Nor have I ever had a girlfriend. I don't know what to do when it comes to this type of stuff."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Lucy(Radical Rats):

"Oh. So I guess Kagami does know a thing or two about romance. You know, those two would look cute together. A strong guy with a just as strong gal. I approve!" Lucy gave a thumbs up at the end.

***Confessional***

Rei(Radical Rats):

"I have to do it. Sooner or later I have to tell him how I really feel about him. He respects me. And I do too. But... it's more than respect for me. It's things like this that really do solidify why I like him in the first place. I can't speak on the rest of the details because I don't know myself. Right now, I should focus on helping this team win in any way I can. We're already off to a bad start as it is."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Yami Bakura(Wave Breakers):

"Well this is an interesting turn of events. A turn of events that can be used in our favor if they're ever paired up together again."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Jasmine(Wave Breakers):

"I understand not everyone is a fan of their eccentric personalities. But, I'm rooting for them. At the end of the day, there is no animosity towards one another as you'd probably expect when strong personalities like that butt heads. Instead, they use that to show that they care for one another and help the team. Obviously, I still want to beat them and win again but, they'd certainly make an interesting pair of opponents."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Heather(Storm Kings):

"You know, the fact that those two are in love with each other would be so sweet. If it was anywhere else but here. Don't worry, once this challenge is over, you'll have time to be all over each other. At home."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Priya(Radical Rats):

"Oh yeah. They're totally in love. And I'm all for it! Now all we have to do is win and they might get the courage to tell each other how they feel. I know. Kinda crazy to say about those two out of all people huh?"

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Reimu(Storm Kings):

"I guess I'm happy for Rei. But at the same time, that just puts both of them at risk of getting booted now. Everyone can see they like each other now, so they'll probably try to protect the other from harm. Even I'd target them."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Rick(Radical Rats):

"Get a room you two for goodness sakes. No seriously. They should have did this crap in private. Now everyone here knows about it. I don't have to tell you what might happen."

***End Confessional***

Scores:

1st: Breakers: 1

1st: Kings: 1

3rd: Rats: 0

The three arrived to the area where their next game would take place.

"Alright, now it's time for game 3! Just as a heads up Rats, this is do or die for you. If you don't win this game, you're guaranteed last place and will have to send someone home tonight. So you might want to get your game faces on. Especially you two." Chris said.

"Darn it! If I wasn't so lost in my feelings for Kagami this wouldn't have ever happened. Now, we might lose because of it. And I'll be the one that'll pay for it." Rei thought before closing her eyes, mad at herself.

"Hey! Rei!" Priya started, which got the attention of the shrine maiden/sailor guardian. "I know what you're thinking. And I won't say it out loud but, it's not anything good that's for sure! Pull yourself together and get back in this! We can still win! Come on, let's see that strong-willed shrine maiden again!"

Rei nodded. "You're right. Who am I kidding? I can't let this setback stop me from reaching my dreams. No one keeps me down! Let's go!"

"This next game will be a 3-player challenge. Meaning that 3 players from each team will be chosen to compete. As you may have already explored in Deimon Field Day with Shinryuji, this will be a skills challenge. To win, you must simply score the most points. That's it." Ego explained. "For the first few zones, points are scored based on progress. The team in first gets 3 points, second gets 2, and third gets only 1."

"Haizaki, Dwayne and Shawn for the Breakers. Kise, Puss and Priya for the Rats. And Ryoma Echizen, Skipper and Heather for the Rats. You will be the three for each of your respective teams that will compete. Now, show me what you can do and dominate! Hold nothing back!" Ego said, hands out with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Verminator or not, I'm not scared of you." Skipper said.

"That's because you haven't gone up against me to know why I'm called that. You're gonna find out soon enough pal." Dwayne said.

"And you all will see once more why I am called the fearless hero." Puss said confidently.

"I'm not scared of you, cat! And you're gonna find out why when we put this game away! Your nine lives ain't gonna save you from this." Skipper said.

"I may be down to my last life, but I refuse to let this be my last game. Whatever it takes. We will defeat you."

"We'll see about that." Dwayne said.

"I couldn't agree more Puss. Let's give it everything we've got." Kise said.

"Right!" Priya said.

"I'm takin' you Ryota. This may not be the basketball court, but it don't matter. This time, unlike the singing, we do this for real." Haizaki said.

"My thoughts exactly." Kise said.

"Hey Shawn." Haizaki said, turning to him.

"Yeah?" Shawn asked, not knowing what to expect from him, given his history.

"You're about to be in one hell of a ride. But I don't need ya to strap in. I need ya to keep up."

"I'll try man. No promises." Shawn said, nodding and giving him a thumbs up.

***Confessional***

Shawn(Wave Breakers):

"You know, I get the sneaking suspicion that that was him saying he believes in me and needs my help to win. Maybe it's just me making stuff up to try and boost my confidence. But if there's one thing survival has taught me, you've got to learn to take what you can get. I don't know if I can keep up with all these guys with these crazy powers. But if Haizaki needs me, I've gotta at least try."

***End Confessional***

"Shawn! Catch!" Reagan said, tossing the glove at Shawn, but accidentally hitting him the face with it. And because of the material, the hit wasn't exactly like getting hit by a circle.

"Verminator! Time to verminate!" Nimona said, tossing him one of the weapons that they won, which was a sword.

All of them were put at a starting line as a seemingly clear straightaway was seen.

"So we're all going to be doing this together?" Kise asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah. I'm just as surprised as you. I thought we would have been doing tag like the last skills challenge we did. Seems like a trend in a lot of these races lately." Dwayne said.

"I said it would be similar. I never said it would be the same." Ego said.

"Yeah, yeah, assumptions again. So what's the catch?" Heather asked.

"I gotta agree with Heather here. This looks way too easy. No traps? No near-death experiences? No Doyle or Heloise?" Shawn asked.

"If I were to reveal all of that. That would make things way too easy for you to anticipate. And then, it wouldn't be a challenge now, would it?" Ego said.

"That is a good point. Although to be fair, some challenges have done this." Puss said.

"What's the matter? The 'fearless hero' afraid of a little bit of what I'd like to call, the 'element of surprise'?" Skipper taunted.

"I am not afraid of anything, Pingüino."

"Talk is cheap, cat. Let's go specs!" Skipper said, pointing at Ego.

"Prepare yourselves. The game begins in 3...2...1..." Ego started before a buzzer was heard indicating for them to start running.

This game had five zones. The first zone was just as advertised, surprisingly. It was a simple sprint.

Haizaki was leading with Priya being second and Heather being close behind at third. Kise, for someone that has shown to be capable of matching(or in his case, copying) the speed of a speedster like Aomine, was surprisingly at fourth, with the others not too far behind him.

Skipper and Puss were battling with each other, with Dwayne deciding to keep his distance.

"What's the matter Verminator? Afraid of getting owned?" Skipper taunted as he threw shuriken at Puss, who deflected all of them with his sword.

"Course not! I would say I'm afraid for your safety but..." Dwayne said before Puss and Skipper were suddenly hit in the back by Shawn via the glove's automatic rifle function. "I wouldn't be an exterminator if I started worrying about that!"

He turns to Shawn as they continued to run to try to keep pace with the others. "Nice one!"

"Thanks!"

"Kise look out!" Kagami called out.

Both Shawn and Dwayne tried to deal with Ryoma E. and Kise.

"No powers here to help you now." Dwayne said to Ryoma.

"Who says I need 'em? Besides, I wouldn't consider what I do pow-" Echizen started before suddenly being tripped up by Dwayne with the sword he had in his hand.

"As Skipper would say, talk is cheap."

***Confessional***

Dwayne(Wave Breakers):

"Skill or not, no one's invincible. Two of the Miracles getting eliminated, despite all their hype and gossip in this show proves this. And in Ryoma's case, well, the tennis one, it's not that he talks too much. Because he doesn't seem that way to me, he's way too full of himself at the wrong times."

***End Confessional***

"First round's done and Haizaki's given his team the early lead!" Chris said.

Breakers: 3

Rats: 2

Kings: 1

They made their way towards the second zone, which was the-

"Climbing dash." Isagi said.

"You've done this stuff before, right? What exactly should they expect?" Alejandro asked.

"The cooking or sneaking stuff? Never done any of that. But that? Yeah. It's five zones. This one's going to be a steep climb upwards. I don't think was intentional, but if Kise was holding back, this might work to his advantage. You're going to need a lot of speed for this. Nothing crazy like say Blaze or Sena, but some speed is definitely needed." Isagi said.

This climbing dash stage wasn't literally climbing. They would just be on an elevated part of the ramp that would elevate more and more, requiring a bit of constant increasing speed.

Shawn and Dwayne attempted to double team and attack Kise but he suddenly stopped, which caught the two off guard.

Both looked at each other confused before Dwayne simply shrugged.

With how things were going right now, no one was going to catch Haizaki. No one except Priya.

"So that whole thing against Shin was legit." Haizaki said before she suddenly started attacking him. The two got into hand-to-hand combat, with Haizaki being able to dodge or block her attacks and Priya, oddly enough, being nimble enough to be able to dodge hers.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. But I'm no slowpoke that's for sure!" Priya said.

***Confessional***

Priya(Radical Rats):

"Is my training good? Yeah. But I won't go as far as that. Guys like Shin and Sena are absolutely insane. And Blaze is even more insane when it comes to speed."

***End Confessional***

"Haizaki and Priya are a lot more evenly matched than I thought it seems." Marinette said.

"Makes sense. When he wasn't in the arcades skipping practice, he got in a lot of fights. Probably the best thing about him other than his basketball skills. Fighting. It's no boxing or martial arts but it gets the job done." Aomine said.

"Even so, the tide will have to turn eventually. It's only natural. Someone is going to make a mistake." Akashi said.

"Who do you think it's going to be?" Weiss asked.

"At this point in time, I don't know."

On cue, Heather was willing to actually pick up her shoe and throw it at one of them, already taking it off. But before she could do that, she was taken off guard by something speeding past her as a streak of blue energy streaked behind it. Haizaki was suddenly hit in the tush by a sword.

"The hell did you come from!?" Haizaki said, actually having to grab back there because of the pain, compounded even more because of how fast he was going. The object in question being Puss

"Let's just say he got an assist from me." Kise said, suddenly creeping up to where the others were and dodging Heather's attempts to try and trip him up, slowing down and then speeding up at different and unpredictable rates, quickly dodging attack attempts.

"Now it's on!" Kise said, eyes glowing yellow, a sign that he was in his Perfect Copy state.

"Looks like Kise's in his bag again." Isagi commented. "Ignite Pass Kai and Aomine's speed again."

"I know Aomine's quick, but that start and stop is incredible." Lanolin commented.

"That's another signature of mine's that he pretty much stole from me. The change of pace. Starting and stopping really quick. Takes some serious good footwork to be able to do that consistently though with tripping over yourself." Aomine said.

"Isn't stealing Haizaki's thing though?" Scott asked.

"Technically, they do the same thing. One just disrupts, the other just enhances." Hailey said.

"Creation and destruction. In a way, it's kind of like our Miraculouses." Adrien pointed.

And that incredible footwork was shown when they all had to get to the ladder run, the third zone with the Rats taking first in the zone thanks to Kise boosting Puss forward.

Rats: 5

Breakers: 5

Kings: 2

The ladder run zone required them to run in the fitness ladders on the ground without tripping on them.

Puss and Priya seemed to have an easier time at navigating this than Kise did, while this change of pace allowed Echizen and Skipper to makeup ground as well. They were nowhere close to catching up to the others yet, but it was decent progress.

"You alright?" Dwayne asked Haizaki, who now lost enough time to allow the others to catch up.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing with how long you guys were taking." Haizaki responded.

"We're good man. Tired, but good." Shawn said.

"At this rate..." Haizaki said before looking at the others ahead of him. "If I can't keep up with my own footwork, I'll just take someone else's." And his target was the one that seemed to have the best footwork out of all of them: Puss.

Though, Kise had the same thought, replicating Puss' incredible footwork as well. So far, the cat hasn't stumbled even once.

"You've really got some great footwork!" Priya said to Puss.

"Of course I do! And it seems you do as well!"

Heather groaned in frustration. At the rate she was going, there was no way she was going to keep up with Puss or the others ahead of her, especially Haizaki and Kise. Thankfully for her, Ryoma and E. and Skipper had made up enough ground with their great footwork as well to catch up.

"I hate to say it but... I can't keep up with Haizaki or Kise. You two need to figure out a way to catch up to them." Heather said.

"Affirmative. Commence plan Jothrow!" Skipper called out.

"He wants you to throw him." Ryoma said to Skipper.

"Exactly. His throws are plain awful! He can hit a tennis ball great. But he can't throw accurately to save his life!" Skipper said.

"Little hard to do that on a ladder."

"No excuses! Heather throw me! Now!" Skipper jumped to allow her to catch him before she promptly throws him forward.

"Dude! We're fallin' behind!" Shawn said, unable to get a shot in because of the ladders. It was hard for him to aim and not risk falling over.

"I know!" Dwayne said. "Not much I can think of to do honestly. Just keep going. This isn't going to last forever."

Skipper being thrown allowed him to catch up to Puss and the others. But it wasn't enough to get first, allowing the Rats to take the lead in the game.

Rats: 8

Breakers: 6

Kings: 5

Zone 4 was step jumps. There were several platforms in the air for the contestants to jump on. But because of their size, it was only enough for one person to fit on each. Thankfully though, there were a lot of them. All of them led back to solid ground where the fifth and final zone was.

"One false move and it's gonna be a long way down! So they better be careful with this one." Chris said.

"I'm gonna need to watch my jumps here. So speed isn't the biggest thing I need. It's patience. I think it should be safe for me to revert for now. I don't want to use any more time if I don't have to. I'm going to need all of it for that last zone." Kise thought before his eyes were no longer glowing, indicating that he exited his Perfect Copy state.

"We should all take different routes just to make sure we don't run into each other!" Priya called out.

"Good idea!" Kise said. "Although, I probably might have been able to throw you ahead Puss!"

"No worries my friend! I am fully capable of handling myself." Puss said as he continued to jump on platforms.

Heather had an idea. She decided to throw her shoe at Kise, waiting for him to jump before doing so, which hit him directly in the head, causing him to almost fall. He grabbed onto one of the platforms, desperately trying to hang on.

Haizaki looked back and saw Kise trying to hang on, as the two were initially neck and neck before that had happened.

"Kise!" Kagami called out.

"I'll come back and help you!" Priya said.

"No! Just go ahead! We have to win!" Kise said, trying to hang on.

Priya was about to go ahead until she had second thoughts. She went back to help up Kise.

"I told you I was okay."

"No teammate gets left behind on my watch! Now let's show 'em what we're made of!" Priya said.

The problem was, Heather's interference caused them to lose time.

"Yeah." Kise said before nodding as Priya went back ahead. "I've got no choice. If we're going to win, I'm going to have to risk it!"

Kise reactivated Perfect Copy again. Using Aomine's speed, he tried to navigate his way through the platforms quicker. Though the risks of this definitely reared its ugly head as he had almost fell a couple of times.

As for Heather, she tried the same thing with Puss, but he used his sword to stop it, impaling the shoe with it.

"It'll take more than-" Puss started before being kicked off the platform by Skipper, who saluted to Heather.

Thankfully for him, Blaze was there to catch him before he had a painful landing.

"Thank you." Puss said.

Blaze nodded, acknowledging his thanks.

Heather would get her karma in the form of getting shot by Shawn, the rifle he had set to stun mode with Reimu having to catch Heather.

"Karma's a b[censored] isn't it?" Rick said.

"And that was why I added in the stun mode." Reagan said.

"Wait, you designed that thing?" Doyle asked.

"Yep."

"Okay one: That's awesome. Two: Make one for me. And three: I'm gonna have to contradict those last two with a quick criticism: Stun mode should be it's only mode."

"One: Thanks. Two: No. And three: Yeah. I think I can see why you said that."

"Yeah. We don't need anyone dying here. Watched an alternate universe season on Interdimensional cable earlier today, and someone got killed in one of the challenges."

"That's kind of a staple at this point in this show. How many times have we almost died on this show?" Courtney said.

"Far too many to count." Noah said.

"I get what you're saying, but those moments weren't intentional. You have to actually watch the season to know what I'm talking about. One of the contestants got murdered. Spoiler alert. I guess."

"Shouldn't you have lead with that?" Heloise asked.

"Yeah, probably."

"So what? I killed Jack Horner. No one had a problem with it." Rick said.

"One: That wasn't bloody, you basically just pulled an Argost in a way. Two: You could at least say he got what he had coming to him. The person that got murdered. She didn't deserve that. That's all I'm gonna say."

"What season was this? You actually get to murder people in the season?" Nimona asked.

"No! You don't! Actually, I don't know. Just go watch it yourselves. Total Drama Multiversal Madness. In the GoodGuyGary-verse."

"GoodGuyGary-verse. That sounds like you just made that up." Tsukishima said.

"If I really made that up, how come you guys believe in the Meme-verse? Dragon Rick? Meme-verse."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"That's different. We actually saw that. Or heard about it." Falcon said.

"Question. Is Chris still hosting?" Huey F. asked.

"Yeah." Doyle said.

"Makes sense then."

"I just want to make it clear that intentional murder of any sort is not allowed. I don't condone it. You kill someone intentionally, you're out of here. I refuse to get sued and/or arrested again. Only exception I'll make is Jack Horner. And that's only because of what he did." Chris said. "That is all. Now then, back to the challenge where the Kings take first for this zone!"

"You're just saying that because I brought that u-"

"Cut back to the challenge!" Chris quickly said.

Rats: 9

Kings: 8

Breakers: 8

"This is it! The final zone! Take victory! For yourself, and for your team! However, I suggest you be careful. Each time you step outside of the running zone you'll be docked by ten points at the end." Ego announced on a monitor in front of them as they ran.

"Now you tell us this." Dwayne said, already stepping out of the zone a couple of times.

The final zone was a dribble and shoot zone. In this zone, the players would run down their own zig-zag running areas, trying their best to avoid hitting the poles or stepping outside the running area as Ego explained.

"The others are already down a player. Our victory is assured." Urien said confidently.

"Don't get too cocky pal. Anything can happen." Rex said.

"Yeah. It ain't over 'til it's over." Sendo said.

"We'll see." Shiro said low, arms folded as he silently observed the match.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT WE WILL!" Kagami shouted, which only annoyed Shiro.

"You're not winning this game Ryota!" Haizaki shouted.

"You still haven't learned haven't you?" Kise said, which made Haizaki's eyes widen in confusion.

"I'm not playing this game to win. I'm playing this game... to help my team win!" Kise said, pushing the limits of his speed to a new level as his eyes suddenly had electricity in them. He was in the Zone.

"So are we mr. copycat. So are we!" Skipper said, unable to match the speed of Kise, but able to navigate the zig-zagged course just as well as the targets were near.

Dwayne, using it as a javelin, threw the sword in Skipper's target.

"Stick a sword in it, you're done!" Dwayne declared.

"AM I!?" Skipper shouted as the camera zoomed in to his face for some weird reason.

"Yes! Yes you are! There's a sword in your target!" Dwayne said as they were getting closer and closer to the shot zone where each ball was lined up.

"With this shot, WE'LL WIN!" Kise shouted as he was speeding closer and closer to the target. Though, there was a feeling that sent a chill down Kise's spine that was visible on his face, causing him to mistarget his shot and score 50/100.

"That's where you're wrong Kise. I have learned. A lot. Now I understand." Haizaki said as his eyes now also had grey lightning coming out of them, indicating that he was in the Zone as well.

"I already told you. YOU'RE NOT WINNING THIS GAME!" Haizaki said, doing some copying of his own, in his case, using Kasamatsu's agility to get around the zig-zags quickly. "GO TO HELL!"

Haizaki kicks the ball at his target. He also scored a 50/100.

Skipper gets to his ball first but oddly, his startup to kick it was slow which allowed Dwayne to catch up and kick his own ball. Skipper, however, shut down any hopes of him scoring points as he used his ball to knock Dwayne's out of the way.

"Now who's done?" Skipper said to Dwayne, who wasn't exactly happy.

Haizaki turned to Shawn while Kise turned to Priya.

"Go! Make the shot and win this!" Both said simultaneously.

"Focus Priya. You've got this."

"SHOW 'EM THE HEART OF A CHAMPION!" Sendo shouted.

"You're just as much of a champ as she is! Let's go!" Haizaki shouted.

"Haizaki's right! We believe in you!" Jasmine shouted.

"Come on! Just... one... kick!" Shawn thought as he kicked the ball with his eyes closed.

Echizen was the last to approach the shot zone.

"Focus on the target. And then... fire!" Echizen said in his head as he boomed the ball forward.

Everyone looked in shocked as the final three balls rolled to the ground.

"The results have been tallied." Ego said.

"The winner of this game is..."

...

...

...

...

...

"The Breakers."

The Breakers all cheered with Priya closing her eyes in defeat. Kise, exhausted slammed the soccer ball he had down in frustration.

"He got a zero!?" Weiss and Courtney said in disbelief. The scores were shown overhead. Echizen score a zero. Reasoning: He missed the target completely. Hitting the wall instead.

"Whoops." Ryoma Echizen said.

"HOLY MOSES! WHAT WAS THAT!? WHAT IN BLAZES WAS THAT!?" Skipper yelled out.

"WOOHOOOOOOOOO!" Shawn yelled out.

Final Scores:

Breakers: 158(Shawn scored 100)

Rats: 134(Priya scored 100)

Kings: 8

"Wow. 8. That is sad. Really sad." Chris said.

Isagi and Din only shake their heads.

The remaining members returned.

"I can understand not being good at something, but to be that confident and miss? Yikes." Louie said.

Akko pointed to Ryoma before saying, "Mada mada dane." Akko said to Ryoma before sticking her tongue out at him.

"Akko, calm yourself and stop acting so childish." Diana said.

"Yeah. Considering you guys are last overall, I wouldn't be making insults like that. Besides, aren't you the same buffoon that almost singlehandedly lost your team the game the last challenge?" Beta said.

"And last time I checked, teddy bears are supposed to be cute and friendly! Not insulting and mean! What kind of a bear are you anyway?" Akko said.

"A yoked bear, that's also the most technologically advanced AI from the future to help Hailey Banks."

"And me too!" Scott said.

"Nope, not you. Just Hailey."

"You sure? I'm pretty sure I'm with Hailey too."

"A hundred percent positive."

"Whatever. We'll get you next game!" Akko said.

"Keep making dumb decisions like before and there won't be a next game for you." Beta said, which got Akko steamed.

"You're lucky I don't have my magic! I'd show you what a real scary bear looks like!"

"Do you even know how to transform into a bear?" Sucy asked.

"Of course I do!"

"Haven't seen you do it once."

"I CAN DO IT OKAY?"

"What-ifs or not, you guys still lost when you needed to win. So you're guaranteed last. The Kings, luckily for them, get another crack at it." Chris said.

"What do you mean they get another shot? We won!" Haizaki said in disbelief.

"Yes. You did win. But the challenge isn't over yet. In this challenge, the top 2 teams would be competing for first after the 3-team segment." Ego said.

"What? Why didn't you tell us this earlier!?" Reagan asked.

"If we would have said something about this before you probably would have phoned some of these games in." Chris said.

"Correct. We wanted to see you at your best. Having you all in this situation would put you on edge and keep you there." Anri said.

"I asked for your best. And I got it. Even if it meant resorting to methods like this. And I'd say it was a success. Kise and Haizaki were both pushed to give it everything to win, bringing out their Zones. Something that noticeably was absent in every other game outside of ones where technological assistance was given to draw it out of them." Ego said.

"How'd you know that?" Haizaki asked suspiciously.

"Instead of asking questions about that, you should be worried about ensuring you survive this next game. For this one will truly be the end. One final game to settle it! A five-on-five game of soccer! First to three! Win and you survive. Lose and for one of you, the game ends here."

"Guessin' we're gonna have access to everything except for a few stuff like last time, right?" Huey F. asked.

"Last time? What are you talking about?" Huey D. asked.

"There was a challenge in Multiverse Edition regarding sports. However, in that challenge, most abilities were allowed. However, a select number of rules from the games themself still had to be followed. And his guess is correct. This time will be no different. After all, it would be hypocritical of me to want your best and restrict you from doing just that." Ego said. "However, I will add a couple of rules to the game. I am sure Isagi, Bachira and Kunigami are all familiar with the first to three rule as it is present in the final selection league tournament we are doing. And they will also be familiar with this next one as well. You will also be allowed an infinite number of substitutions between team members. But, these next couple of rules are ones exclusively to this game. There will only be five minutes of time. One quarter only. If a winner hasn't been decided within those five minutes, sudden death will commence with penalty kicks." Ego began to explain.

"You will be allowed to use your abilities to their fullest extent, which means, certain rules of normal soccer may either be relaxed or forgone completely. However, certain rules must still be followed, so listen carefully. Outside of throw-ins, you cannot touch the ball with your hands for any reason. Any hand contact, intentional or not, is an automatic turnover and the opposing team will inbound the ball back into play. Only the goalie is allowed to touch the ball with his or her hands. And finally, while the abilities themselves are allowed, teleportation or digging underground to the goal is not. That would make things to easy now, would it?"

"What about tackling or harming other players? If our abilities can be used, I'd imagine they'd still do a number on some of the opposing players, intentional or not." Isagi asked.

"As long as you are going for the ball or it's involved in the current play, it's fine. Attacking players to make a play on the ball or to defend it, as long as it is deemed to be around the play, is allowed. You will know if you're in violation as you'll see it on screen." Ego said.

"So no refs?" Aomine asked.

"The technology we have here to monitor the matches will take care of that for us so it's nothing to be concerned about. Now, head to the soccer field for your final game."

The teams headed to the second floor.

As they did, Kagami went to check up on Kise. "Hey, you good?"

"Good? We lost you idiot." Kise said, giving him a pouty face before smiling. "But seriously, I'm fine. Disappointed, but it's not the end of the world. We really should be checking up on Priya. She looked pretty bummed out."

"I'm fine guys. Thanks for asking though. That means a lot." Priya said.

"Look, I know you're disappointed in yourself. But don't be. You got a perfect score. What else could you have done? Get a 150? Not everyone would handle failure like you have and would have given up a long time ago. Not you. I'd say you've got a pretty strong will yourself." Rei said to her.

"She's right you know. Give yourself a pat on the back for sticking through all of this and still managing to get a perfect 100." Rally said, giving her a smile and thumbs up.

"For them to have lost, it sure doesn't feel like they did." Karin commented. "Commendable, but still, a loss is a loss. That still doesn't change they'll have to send someone home."

"I could care less. Their pathetic attempts at comradery does not impress me." Urien said.

"For a guy that talks a lot of s[censored], you haven't exactly done anything either." Haizaki said.

"Mind your tongue, delinquent punk."

"I ain't mindin' jack. I'm just statin' facts here old man."

"And the fact is, you've lost of us more games than win them!"

"Hey! That's enough!" Hanamiya called out. "We've got a game to win."

"He's right. Whatever you two have got going on, put it aside for one more game please." Reagan said.

***Confessional***

Kagami(Radical Rats):

"Maybe it's just me, but I saw what Kise did. That don't look like a guy that's nonchalant about losin' like that."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Haizaki(Wave Breakers):

"I don't mind s[censored] talk. 'Cause I do it myself. That's what makes these games fun. But guys that haven't done much don't exactly deserve to be doin' it, if you know what I'm sayin'."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Hanamiya(Wave Breakers):

"Just peachy. Now those ba[censored]s have hope again. No worries. We'll just have to step on that hope again. Harder this time."

***End Confessional***

Now on the second floor, they were in an indoors soccer field.

"Because you already know the rules, the soccer match can begin now. Breakers will get an advantage of a free kick to start the message since they won the most games here." Ego said. "The starting five for the teams will be the following: Bren, Isagi, Bachira, Ryoma Echizen and Mayuzumi against Myron, Kunigami, Dwayne, Ryoma and Hanamiya."

"Now, head onto the field and begin! While I suppose jerseys would have been fine to make, due to the substitutions, and the constant use of abilities, in this case, there'd be no need."

"You guys can choose where you want to start the free kick. As long as it's not the penalty kick are. And you'll also need a goalie." Chris said.

"Goalie duty!" Bren quickly declared.

"I'll take goalie duty." Dwayne said.

"Are you sure? I can-" Ryoma started before Dwayne stopped him.

"I'm probably the least important guy out of this starting five. If we're gonna make this four in a row, we need to throw everything at 'em. The kitchen sink, and the tub."

"I see. If that's the case, then let's go!" Ryoma said, pulling out his sword.

"Isagi." Kunigami started, which got the fellow Blue Lock player and former Team Z and now Bastard München teammate's attention. "I'm digging your grave. Today."

"Then I'll make sure to kick your a[censored] in it when you're done." Isagi shot back.

***Confessional***

Kunigami(Wave Breakers):

"Teammates or not. I'm not showing any mercy to him. I'm sending him and Bachira to hell!"

***End Confessional***

Hanamiya declared that he'd kick things off with the free kick, choosing to start more on their side of the field surprisingly.

While Bren prepared to spin out all three of his Monsuno, Myron raised his Scan Card in the air.

"Let's finish this Slazor! Scan One!" Slazor's power stone lit up to blue, indicating that one turbo boost was available for it.

"Neo-Quickforce! Longfang! Shellshot! Launch!"

All three were launched at Bren's own goal. At the goalposts in particular.

***Confessional***

Bren(Storm Kings):

"Ha! You really thought this was me trying to be lazy? Nope! There was some strategy behind this. I stay back and defend the goal, and my Monsuno get in on the action as additional players, even if it's just to attack the other players. Genius, right?"

***End Confessional***

Hanamiya looked around to observe the field and where the others were standing before electing to kick the ball. It sailed in the air before landing on the ground, with the ball being fought for by Isagi and Kunigami only for Myron's Slazor to take it away from both.

"Here!" Ryoma called out before Slazor spun to pass him the ball. Though that pass was cut off by Bachira.

"Sorry, can't let you have it that easy now, can I?" Bachira said. "And ruin the fun so quick?"

"Hey! Libby! Sub in for me?" Hanamiya called out.

"You sure?" Libby. asked, surprised to hear this. This early into the match as well.

"Yeah. Everyone should get a chance to play. You can stay in for the first minute or two, then, if you don't want to play, you can sub out."

"If it's the first minute, I'm fine with it. Just do your best." Mr. Wolf said to her.

"Okay. I'll try."

***Confessional***

Hanamiya(Wave Breakers):

"I didn't do what I did out of the kindness of my heart or anything like that. The fact of the matter is, I don't expect to be able to win every single game. I'm not delusional. So this is a contingency plan. As long as you play, you're almost guaranteed to be up for elimination if you lose. And Libby and Molly are two of the most useless team members here. We don't need some 'positivity cheerleader' or some girl that does nothing but read and likes turtles. Libby outlived her usefulness after the cooking challenge. And Molly, you were never useful in the first place. Trust and believe that no one will miss them when they're gone, I don't care what kind of lies the others make up to spare them of their feelings. I sure won't."

***End Confessional***

"The hell? This early? Why?" Isagi thought before Neo-Quickforce and Ryoma Echizen were both airborne.

Bachira, tongue out was about to pass to one of them but feigned it, catching Ryoma in the air as he attempted to stop the passes, actually passing to Isagi instead.

Though it was Libby that was about to cut off the pass.

"Next time don't telegraph your passes, idiots." Hanamiya thought, anticipating Libby stealing it, only for Mayuzumi to suddenly step in and kick the ball to Shellshot, who hit the ball forward with his horns. Dwayne barely stopped the ball from going in.

"I was sure that was going to Isagi. Maybe he just saw Libby was about to cut him off and stepped in." Dwayne thought, watching from a distance.

"Nice one. We'll get it next time." Isagi said as they ran back for the inbound but Mayuzumi said nothing at all to this and simply continued to run back. "Tough crowd."

Ding Ding

"A musical in a soccer match. This'll be interesting. And maybe a little annoying too." Isagi said.

"Annoying? This might be pretty fun. It'll be just like Karaoke, remember?" Bachira asked.

"Nope. Didn't happen." Isagi said quickly.

"Oh. The Egoist's embarrassed of his singing?" Ruby G. teased as they were about to inbound the ball.

"No. It really didn't happen. We were going to go but-" Isagi was cut off by the instrumental of the song.

Judgement by Ash Da Hero plays

Bachira:Erabe judgement!
Isagi: Erabe judgement!

*Short Instrumental Period plays*

As this happens, Ryoma Echizen, who had the ball passed to him, had it taken by Kunigami not too long afterwards with Alejandro subbing in for him not too long afterwards.

Judgement by Ash Da Hero plays

Bachira:Erabe judgement! (Choose Judgement!)
Isagi: Erabe judgement! (Choose Judgement!)

*Short Instrumental Period plays*

As this happens, Ryoma Echizen, who had the ball passed to him, had it taken by Kunigami not too long afterwards with Alejandro subbing in for him not too long afterwards.

Isagi: Isagiyoku chigireru wazuka na Possibility (It gets torn off cleanly, Small Possibility)
(Adlibbed)(You're already dead)
Kunigami(as he attempts to shoot, seeing an opening): Hey come on, pull the trigger
Bren(Stopping the shot): Oh yeah, yeah feels so good

Kunigami: Hibana chirashite ubae Myself (Spark a fire and scatter, Snatch Myself)
Isagi: Nagitaose zetsubou nante (Push off the despair)
Kamikoroshita Egoism appudeeto (Stifling Egoism Update)
Bren: Narase kakusei no fanfare (Ring a fanfare of awakening)

Ryoma:I should face the truth
Isagi:Find my way out
Kunigami(Upset with Libby for not passing him the ball and missing): If you drag me down
I will take you in

Alejandro: I should face the truth
Myron:Find my way out
Kunigami:If you drag me down
I will take you in

Everyone: Lets roll!
(On cue, Ben subs in for Mayuzumi as Cannonbolt with Urien substituting in for Ryoma)

Kunigami: Erabe Judgement! Judgement‼ (Choose Judgement! Judgement!)
Dwayne: Take me away
Isagi:Mou kudaranai risou ron (Even if you scream)
Wamekichirashitemo (A stupid ideology)
Urien: Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (There's only one or the other in this world)
Isagi: Naraku no soko kara haiagare (Crawl out from hell)

Neo-Quickforce fires beams at Urien, only for him to reflect both of them back with his Aegis reflector, clearing a path for him to score. But it was Kunigami that decided to take it himself again, with Alejandro and Isagi covering him again.

Bachira(Acrobatically kicking the ball away and denying the shot):Judgement! Judgement‼
Alejandro: Give it away
Isagi: Mou tsumannai doseiron (A stupid righteousness)
Kunigami(refusing to sub out): Nurikaete ikou (Paint it over)
Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (There's only one or the other in this world)
Haizaki(subbing in for Libby): Naraku no soko de wa (In hell)
Dwayne: Yakudatanai puraido (Pride has no use)

Bachira: "Jibun rashisa" sura kowashite saigo ni waraitai nara (If you want to laugh in the end)
Bachira, Isagi, and Kunigami: Erabe Judgement‼ (Choose Judgement!)

*Very short instrumental break*

"You dumba[censored] they're covering you! Pass the damn ball!" Haizaki said to Kunigami said.

"If I got the shot, I'm taking it!" Kunigami shouted back.

"Tch." This statement only pissed Haizaki off, seconds later, he entered the Zone yet again.

Haizaki:Atarisawari nai fureezu (Innocuous phrase)
Bachira: Hibiiteru no wa ichibu de (Only a part is resonating)
Ben(still as Cannonbolt, combining his strength with Quickforce's to bullrush the ball and the Breakers' defenses, only for Storm Slazor to send both of them back with Splash Lancer): I no naka de wa saikyou men? (Acting like you're invincible in your limited world?)
Isagi and Bachira: Hoero wo yama no taishou Damn‼ (Scream, a king of the jungle, Damn!)
Haizaki(stealing Bachira's footwork to get around Isagi and Bachira):Kiseki ya guuzen kamidanomi wa iranee (Miracle or coincidence)
Urien(Denying Longfang an attack on Haizaki with a Chariot Tackle shoulder charge): Kizanda kiseki aru no wa hitsuzen nomi (I don't need to pray God
The path I walked on, what I have is inevitable)

Bren: Mata itteru sainou yara, kankyou iiwake ni shite (They're saying again, talent, environment, use them as excuses)
Isagi: Haibokusha wa maido umai koto (Losers justify themselves very well every time)

Myron:Jibun wo seitouka shite yaranai yatsu wa sakebu (People who don't take action)

Haizaki(receiving a pass from Slazor and then stealing Isagi's gifted passing ability to pass to Kunigami):Itsumo fukanou da tte (Always yell out "it's impossible")

Kunigami(taking the ball from Haizaki):Kataranai yatsu wa koudou de shimesu kanousei (People who don't talk show the possibility by their action)

"TAKE THIS!" Kunigami yelled, using his strength to hold off Alejandro enough to shoot the ball with his right instead of his left now, booming the ball sideways and into the goal, scoring first blood.

Breakers: 1

Kings: 0

Kunigami and Haizaki(Pretty much roaring it in Alejandro's face): Erabe Judgement! Judgement‼ (Choose Judgement! Judgement!)
Bren(Being subbed out for Jotaro): Take me away
Isagi: Mou aokusai kanjouron (Even if you yell out)
Haizaki:Wamekichirashitemo (Immature emotional theory)
Urien: Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (There's only one or the other in this world)
Isagi and Kunigami(fighting for the ball again):Naraku no soko kara haiagare (Crawl out from the hell)

Akashi(Being subbed in for a timed out Ben):Judgement! Judgement‼
Isagi(suddenly having a burst of energy along with the rest of his team, with the exception of Jotaro):Give it away
Haizaki: Dareka no tame ni jibun yudanete mitemo (Even if you sacrifice yourself for someone)
Alejandro:Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (There's only one or the other in this world)
Bachira: Saigo ni warau tame (To laugh in the end)
Erabu Judgement‼ (I'll choose Judgement!)

*Long Instrumental Break starts*

"Slazor!" The car, while being able to dodge most of the attacks from Bren's Monsuno at first, was finally hit. And the one hit it did receive sent it into a wall, causing a hole to be put into it.

"I got it." Murasakibara said, using his height to get the car for him.

"Thanks. No damages, but, I think I'm done now. Someone sub for me."

"I'll sub." Diego volunteered.

Isagi had absolutely dropped Haizaki by crossing him with his dribbling skills, and causing him to exist the Zone.

"Remember how you told Kise to go to hell? Guess what? I'm sending you there with him!" Isagi shouted.

He passed to Bachira, who had made a shot only someone as acrobatic as him can make. Up in the air, he flipped forward and kicked the ball down to the ground, causing it to bounce in a way to not allow Dwayne to catch it and tie the game.

"YES!" Isagi cheered, pumping his fist.

"What the hell!? There's no way you should-" Haizaki said aloud.

Isagi stared down at Haizaki, who was still on the ground. "Yes way. As for you, consider yourself done. I already know how to stop your stealing now." He said. "And without it, you're all but useless."

"No the hell you don't! I'll show you who's useless!" Haizaki said, re-entering the Zone.

Breakers: 1

Rats: 1

Isagi: Erabe Judgement!

Haizaki runs with the ball, trying to perform the same dribbling move Isagi did earlier to get around him, which didn't work as Alejandro timed his sliding tackle perfectly, causing him to fall to the ground.

Alejandro: Erabe Judgement!

All on the field: Erabe Judgement! Judgement‼ (Choose Judgement! Judgement!)
Take me away
Mou kudaranai risou ron (Even if you scream)
Wamekichirashitemo (A stupid ideology)
Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (There's only one or the other in this world)
Naraku no soko kara haiagare (Crawl out from hell)

Bren, on the sidelines, called out for his Monsuno to go after the ball, with Urien and Rock Giamoth combing some of their signature attacks to stop them, Urien's Aegis Reflectors stopping them from advancing and Giamoth's rather surprising, but incredible strength, knocking them down.

All again: Judgement! Judgement
Give it away
Mou atomodori nante (You can't go back anymore)
Deki ya shinai daro (There's only one or the other in this world)
Kono yo wa futatsu ni hitotsu (In hell)
Naraku no soko de wa yakudatanai (Love, dreams, and tears have no use)
Ai mo yume mo namida mo kuraitsukushite (Swallow them all)
Saigo ni waraitainara (If you want to laugh in the end)
Mada oware ya shinai nara (If you can't end it yet)
Subete wo tsukamitoru tame (To grab everything)
Erabu Judgement‼ (I'll choose Judgement!)

*Song Ends*

"ISAGIIIIII!" Kunigami roared, running after him. Using his speed, he was able to catch up to him and kick his pass away out of bounds.

Less than a minute remained now. It was a battle for positioning as the teams continued to play. Even with the overall boost given to them by Akashi and his team Zone, Urien and the others were not making this easy for them. Though each of the teams decided to make substitutions to bring in fresh players before the inbounds.

Ben and Mayuzumi were subbed back in for Bachira and Akashi, the latter being a suggestion from Isagi himself, with the former being a volunteering substitution to give Bachira a breather, having an idea.

"Whatever you do, if he steals from you, look away from Haizaki. That's how he disrupts you." Isagi said low to his teammates.

"Got it. Though with what I'm about to try, it won't matter anyway."

"Haizaki, sub out." Hanamiya said.

"I'm not comin' out of this game!" Haizaki said, breathing hard, exhausted from using his Zone multiple times in such a short span, his legs feeling heavy as well.

"You're tired. And the ball needs to be inbounded. We can't keep stalling. Sub out." Kageyama said.

"I'm not tired! Go sub someone else out!" Haizaki shouted.

"Haizaki please. I get it. You want to win. So if that's the case, do you think you're better off here or subbing for someone else?" Asta reasoned.

"Hey, you guys might wanna hurry it up!" Doyle called out.

"Fine! Sub me out then! But only for 30 seconds! After that, I'm coming back in." Haizaki said.

"I'll sub in." Kaz and Asta said simultaneously.

"Rock paper scissors for it!" Kaz said.

"You morons! Out of the way!" Fiona said, before going in only to pushed out of the way by Noelle.

"If Myron couldn't hang in, what makes you think you can?" Noelle asked, before about to go in herself.

"We don't have time to be casting stupid incantations!"

"My spells are more effective than anything your toys can do!"

"You haven't even seen me compete! So how would you know!?"

"Which is why we can't risk it!"

"Move!"

"No, you move! I am royalty! I have precedence!"

"SCREW YOUR STUPID ROYALTY!"

"Guys! Please! Break it up! You're supposed to be teammates!" P.E.L. said.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID ROBOT!" Both yelled, their yelling blowing it away.

Both were holding on to each other's faces trying to push the other down to get into the field.

"Wolver! Full Power! BLIZZARD STORM!"

With all of their fighting, Shiro, taking matters into his own hands, had already gone in with the game already resuming.

Wolver blew a strong gust of wind forward, winds so strong that it caused everyone in the field, including Ego, Chris and the others to have shield themselves from the wind.

"So….. cold." Marinette said, having to put her arms together as the temperature of the wind quickly decreased.

"Neo-Quickforce! Shellshot! Longfang! Hang in there! You've gotta stop Shiro!" Bren called out.

All three Monsuno attempted to try to attack with projectiles but were frozen solid.

"YOU MORON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Kunigami yelled out, getting cold himself before being frozen along with Isagi. Hanamiya, who completely had Isagi read, was about to steal the ball from him but was frozen as well.

Jotaro used Star Platinum to try and suck in the wind. As he did, Ben, as Ghostfreak, was beside him, intangible and invisible.

"Hey! Jojo! Over here!" Ben said, who was on the left of him. "How long can you keep stopping that wind?"

"If you're gonna do something, you don't need my permission. Just do it." Jotaro said.

"HARDER!" Shiro called out.

"Shiro stop! If you keep going like this, you'll freeze everyone!" Diego called out, trying to resist the cold along with Rock Giamoth himself.

"Diego! Virgo!" Shiro looked downwards along with stepping on said ground.

"Huh? Oh! I got it! Ready to get down and dirty Giamoth?"

Similar to an elephant's legs, its retractable sides on the front of it elevated and began to start digging into the ground like claws. It was nowhere near effective as Slazor's digging capabilities, but it was able to still be effective enough to make a dent in the ground.

Though suddenly, the wind stopped blowing.

"Shiro?" Diego said, wondering what was going on as his car suddenly turned towards Diego and the rest of his teammates.

"Blizzard Storm!" Shiro called out again, about to blow wind towards Diego and Dwayne.

"Shiro! What are you doing?"

But it seemed as if the car was sitting still forever, unsure of whether to unleash or not.

Shiro was suddenly holding his head.

"Hit…. Me!"

"What? Shiro I'm not gonna-"

"Do it! Get…. Out of my head!"

"I don't know what's going on, but alright then! Giamoth!"

Giamoth goes to Wolver and rams it, sending the car flying.

During all of the commotion, Jotaro was able to break Isagi free. And Mayuzumi and Alejandro.

30 seconds remained. And Isagi had the ball with Shiro back to normal, trying to cover Alejandro.

"Uh oh. Not good." Diego said. "I've gotta do something! Giamoth! Rock Hurricane!"

Retracting it's tusk, it created an orange tornado that increased in size as more energy was added into the attack.

"GO!"

The tornado was unleashed, sending it's opponents flying, but not before Isagi tried to pass the ball, eyes glowing blue, indicating that his Metavision was active.

Though the ball went to where no one expected it too. Mayuzumi had the ball and was about to kick it.

"I'm not gonna make it! It's up to you Dwayne!" Diego said, trying to run along with Giamoth. Despite its turbo boost, it was not going to be able to stop the ball in time.

"I got it!" Dwayne declared, leaping forward, about to stop the ball, only for him to be stopped in-between.

Everyone looked in disbelief at what happened.

Before a buzzer was heard indicating a goal.

Kings: 2

Breakers: 1

"YEAHHHHH!" Isagi roared out, fist pumping as well.

"Dwayne! What happened?" Shiro asked.

"I…. I don't know. It's like I wasn't in control of my movements." Dwayne said.

"Whatever controlled you, was trying to control me as well." Shiro said.

"The Ectonurite form. Very clever Tennyson." Albedo thought. "Still though, how was Shiro able to resist him?"

Ben revealed himself before turning back to normal.

"My work here is done." Ben said. "Anyone wanna sub?"

"Return!" Bren called out. His Monsuno weren't defeated from battle damage. Rather, their time limit had been reached.

"I am more than happy to sub in for you." Eliza said.

"Alright, thanks. Good luck."

***Confessional***

Ben(Storm Kings):

"I can easily stay in, even without my aliens. I'm absolutely awesome at soccer. But considering the other guys on my team, it kinda wouldn't make sense if I don't have my aliens."

***End Confessional***

"No. I'll sub in." Paul said. "Don't celebrate too early. There's 15 seconds left."

"He's right. Which means, they're probably going to get desperate. Just focus everything on blocking the goal." Courtney said. "Use your Pokemon to help block the goal."

"Duh."

"Don't 'duh' me! I was just trying to be helpful!"

"If I want your 'advice', I'll ask for it."

"If that's the case, someone sub for me as well." Alejandro said.

"Allow me. My titans will help strengthen our defenses." Sophie said.

The Breakers decided to sub in Kaz, Fiona and Asta, subbing out Hanamiya, Shiro and Dwayne.

"Sub me in!" Haizaki said.

"We need something quick and powerful here. You've already expended-" Kageyama started before Haizaki grabbed him.

"I'm not gonna just sit here and watch us lose! I was already told I'd be going in after 30 seconds! Now put me in!" Haizaki said.

"Take my spot." Diego said.

"Diego are you crazy?" Fiona asked.

"Haizaki wants to help. And I'm not going to take that away from him. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have even gotten that first goal. Kicking him to the side after all that he's done just feels wrong!" Diego said.

"You're right. If that's what you want, he can sub in." Reagan concluded.

"Thanks." Haizaki said to them both. "Time to tie this game up." He said, re-entering the Zone again.

"I've never seen Haizaki like this before. But I have seen the feeling he's got. The will to fight for your team." Kise thought.

The Breakers were down to one last play.

Bass began to fire at Jotaro to force him to block while Kaz and Fiona, between themselves and their machines, pass the ball around.

"Here!" Haizaki called out. Isagi and the others tried to take the ball from him but couldn't.

"I ain't forget what you said Isagi. It ain't over til' it's over! You hear me!" Haizaki said, relying on pure instinct, something that Kagami and Aomine quickly noticed.

"He unlocked animal instinct too?" Kagami said in disbelief.

"In his case, fittingly enough, it's the instincts of a Hyena."

"Magmortar! Electivire and Torterra! Block the goal!" Paul declared.

Thanks to Paul, there was almost no way, they were going to get the ball through on the ground.

"I don't give a damn what Pokemon you got, you're not blocking this goal!" Haizaki said before passing to Fiona, allowing him to jump in the air as seven seconds remained. With those instincts, he could sense another presence in front of the goal, that presence being Jotaro's stand. He couldn't see it, but thanks to his increased sense, he could definitely tell something was there. He needed to thread the needle just right.

"Pass it here!" Haizaki called out, stealing Bachira's acrobatic move, preparing to flip mid-air.

Fiona sends him the ball. "GO! TIE THIS!"

6…..

The ball was mid-air. There was no way Isagi or Alejandro were going to reach the ball in time before it got to him.

5…..

As he was looking at goal, he saw Kunigami below him and Falgor beside him in the air.

4…

He kicked the ball.

3…..

But it didn't go to the goal, rather, to Galaxy Falgor.

"FEEL OUR BURNING PASSION! GALAXY MAGNUM!"

"Kaz! Here!" Asta called out, Grimoire open as he had two swords in hand.

2…..

Falgor changed into a beam of golden energy with Asta redirecting it back with his swords, showing his training as the power of the ability forced him to have to use both swords.

1….

"PUNCH IT IN! FALGOR!" Kaz and Asta shouted simultaneously as Falgor and the ball simultaneously shot at Jotaro like a rocket with him using his Stand to catch it, Paul's Pokemon and Sophie's Titans attempting to stop the ball as wall as a golden glow was seen from Falgor and the ball.

"HAAAAAAAA!" Jotaro roared out, still attempting to hold back the car and ball with Asta actually joining in with his swords, Fiona joining in as well, with Isagi, Kunigami and Haizaki, still being in the Zone being the last ones.

"HAAAAAAAA!" Everyone else, including Paul's pokemon roared out, with the exception of Paul himself.

Star Platinum collided with Falgor's Falcon spirit, as its hands were seen clashing with its beak, trying to hold the bird back.

Sparks of fire, electricity, and energy was seen before an explosion was seen, blowing several of the spectators away.

When the dust was cleared, several people were on the ground and that end of the room was heavily damaged. The goal itself was destroyed. And most of the wall was on the ground. All of Paul's pokemon were down, unable to battle while Jotaro, Isagi,Kunigami and Haizaki were on the ground as well. Asta and Kaz were both in a mixture of exhaustion and shock. Leopatra was on its side. Intact. But it wasn't moving at all.

Falgor flew back, intact as its wings returned back to normal.

"What happened? Who won?" Diego asked.

Ego had to put on his glasses.

"Considering the ball went through the wall, we had to have scored, right?" Noelle asked.

"Wow. Uh, yeah we're gonna have to check the replay. That's all I can really give ya." Chris said.

The teams had to go to another part of the facility. Anri pulled up the replay. The tape had shown everything up to explosion, which is when the feed died.

They looked up to where the clock was, and the timer went to zero. Moving back to where the action was, Jotaro and the others were still pushing back against the ball for about 6 seconds before within a split second, after being slowed down, all of them were shown to have been overwhelmed as Falgor and the ball shot through the goal at an incredible speed, so fast, the cameras almost couldn't pick it up. But, it turned out the ball actually hit the side of the goal.

"Well, I think that settles it. Ego, you do the honors please." Anri said.

"Thank you. From this replay, the result has been decided. The Kings win 2-1. Although the shot is legal after the clock expired, the Kings were able to redirect the shot. Rendering it as a miss."

***Confessional***

Jotaro(Storm King):

"After the first few seconds, I knew we weren't going to have the strength to stop them. So the only chance we had was to change the direction to have it miss. And even then, that was only barely. Those Scan2Go machines are definitely stronger than I thought."

***End Confessional***

Most of the Breakers could only release a breath of disappointment. Everyone except for Haizaki.

"HOW IS THAT FAIR!? WE SCORED!"

Kunigami grabbed Haizaki by his shirt.

"YOU F[CENSORED]ING DUMBA[CENSORED]! I WAS OPEN! YOU SHOULD HAVE PASSED IT TO ME!" Kunigam

"Haizaki was stupid to pass it in the first place. He should have tried to score it himself." Bass said.

"Agreed. You were open! What the hell were you thinking you imbecile?" Urien asked.

"You're questioning me when your a[censored]es weren't even volunteering to help! So shut your damn mouths! And you, you always got somethin' to say but don't do jacks[censored] yourself." Haizaki snapped. "Nobody else got the balls to say this s[censored] to you but I'm tired of your a[censored]!" He said before actually trying to punch him, only for Urien to dodge the punch and cause him pain.

"That's enough!" Asta called out.

"It won't be enough until he learns respect." Urien said, fully intent on actually cracking the bones in his hand.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Libby called out.

"Alright, that's enough." Doyle said, attempting to get in between the two. "Elimination game's about to start Don't think it'd be fair for him to have a broken hand."

"Elimination game? Is this for both teams?" Kurt asked.

"No. You've got a regular elimination tonight. The Breakers are gonna have a different way to settle things." Chris said.

"I need the following to follow me. Haizaki, Libby, Urien, Kunigami, Ryoma, Dwayne, Ayame, Hanamiya, Kaz, Shiro, Myron, Diego, Fiona and Asta." Ego said.

The three followed him, with all of them being in an empty room.

"I don't get it. The entire team lost. Why just them in particular?" Bakura asked.

"Greetings. I'm sure you all are wondering why you're here. You were chosen because you were all part of games that your team suffered losses in. Which means, all of you are accountable for your loss today, regardless of how well you did. 'Doing well' isn't good enough if you don't bring results. You can claim to have carried your team, and have done all you can. But if your carrying isn't enough to help your team win, what does any of that matter? Your actions come with consequences. Most of you will have a chance to atone for those consequences. One of you won't. Though in this case, you'll at least have more control over your fate compared to voting." Ego explained as a ball dropped down from above the ceiling as it opened before closing back.

"I'm sure you all have played tag before right? If by some chance you haven't, the rules are simple. Don't be it. Your job is tag each other with the ball. As long as you're not it, you survive. But, be the last person to have touched the ball when times out, and you will be automatically be eliminated from the season."

This got the attention of everyone in the room.

"Friends, prior or newfound. Enemies. How will you handle an environment where it's suddenly every man for himself I wonder? Will you persevere and find a way to survive? Or will you crumble under the pressure?"

"If we're already a part of a team and a member is eliminated, what happens?" Diego asked.

"Simple. For this particular case, since this isn't a traditional style of elimination, only that person will leave. Though I hope you're prepared to play without them should that be the case and not fall apart immediately. Now then, if there are no other questions…." Ego said before trailing off. None were given.

"You have 90 seconds. Also, don't use your hands please. You'll still be it if you do."

The first to be it was Kunigami as his Blue Lock portrait along with his name was seen on screen.

Kunigami silently went over to the ball as the clock started to tick.

"This is wrong on so many levels. Turning us against each other like this?" Fiona said. "Regular eliminations make sense but this?"

"Good to know I'm not the only one that's against this." Ayame said.

"I don't like this either, but it's not like we have any room to negotia-" Ryoma started before being hit by the ball.

80 seconds remained.

"Why you! What a dirty play!" Ryoma said, angered.

"It's your fault for not looking dumba[censored]." Haizaki said with Ryoma booming a kick his way. But he ducked, causing the ball to come flying back in Urien's direction, with him using his Aegis Reflector to stop the ball from touching him.

"Hmph." Urien said before seeing that he was it on the screen with 64 seconds left.

"WHAT!?" Urien said in disbelief.

"It's still your ability, so I'd imagine it still counts as you-" Myron began to explain before being hit by the ball.

"Pay attention Myron! Now hurry up and pass the ball!" Fiona said.

"Then you take it!" Myron said, rolling it to her.

"I didn't say pass it to me!" Fiona said.

"Well no one else is taking it! Just hurry and kick it to someone else!"

"No! What if I miss?"

"Then maybe you should have thought of that before saying something!" Myron said, chasing after her with the ball.

"Get away from me!"

"Just pass it here!" Diego called out.

"Okay, here goes!" Myron said before passing the ball to him before Haizaki suddenly stepped in and took the ball with 38 seconds left.

"Haizaki?" Diego said in surprise.

"Sorry big guy, but I'm gonna have to take this."

"You realize you're it now, right?" Kaz asked.

"Keep talking and I'll pass it to you."

Kaz got scared from this realization and started to desperately run away from the ball.

Haizaki kicked the ball towards Urien, who dodged the ball.

"Damn." Haizaki said. He got the ball and tried again.

There was less than 25 seconds left. He tried to kick it to Kunigami, who only kicked it at Ayame.

"Pass it here again!" Haizaki said.

"Why do you want the ball so bad? Are you trying to get yourself eliminated?" Ayame asked.

"Are you!? Just shut the hell up and pass it here!" Haizaki said.

Ayame thought about it before kicking it to Asta instead.

"No fair!" Asta shouted.

"I told you to pass it here!" Haizaki said.

"Can't say I exactly trust you." Ayame said.

14 seconds remained.

"Oh man! Oh man! Oh man!" Asta said before kicking the ball to Kaz.

"Why'd you kick the ball to me!?"

"I don't know I panicked okay!?"

10 seconds remained.

Kaz closed his eyes, desperately trying to kick the ball to someone. That someone being Hanamiya, who wasn't expecting the pass, who was horrified and tried to push Libby, who was next to him in the way. But she stumbled and fell and it still hit him anyway.

"Sh*t!"

8 seconds remained, and everyone was trying to stay far away. Though Libby was still on the ground. Hanamiya, a blank look on his face, but a sinister look inside, immediately went to tag her.

"THAT D[CENSORED]! HOW IS THAT FAIR!?" Kagami shouted.

"It's sh*t like this p*sses me off about him!" Aomine thought.

"So long." Hanamiya thought.

5 seconds remained. Libby was officially it.

"Libby get up!" Molly called out. Libby quickly got up and realized that she was it as 3 seconds left. No one was near as she was horrified, desperately trying to look for someone else to pass it too. But that chance wouldn't come. All zeroes were seen on the clock as a buzzer was heard.

Kagami could only ball his fists in anger with him actually punching the wall with so much force, a small dent was put into it, while Aomine could only close his eyes and shake his head, Kise sharing those sentiments with Aomine. Lotte could only cover her face with her hands, knowing that her newfound friend was gone. And the worst part being that she basically had no say in it.

"Wait a second." Hinata started, which caused everyone to look back up.

"Well done. It looks like your fates have been set. Shogo Haizaki! You were the last person it! Which means, your days of Total Drama are over!" Ego announced.

Haizaki was seen, foot touching the ball as a look of shock was on his face, electricity in his eyes, indicating that he was in the Zone.

"Haizaki? What did you-" Libby started.

Hanamiya was in disbelief as well along with several others.

"Why?" Morty commented, in just as much disbelief.

"Do you really not see it Morty?" Rick asked.

"What?"

"Dear God, there's no way you're this f[censored]ing dense. Figure it out yourself."

Aomine's eyes were wide open after seeing this with Huey F. looking on with a look of respect.

"Why did you do that?" Kaz asked.

"Don't know. What I do know, is that I'm tired. I just….. wanna go home." Haizaki said, a neutral expression on his face, his Zone expired, as he had beads of sweat on his face.

"You'll get that chance, after the elimination. Which, I think we'll do right now." Chris said.

"What? We don't even get a chance to really take in what happened and you're asking us to do an elimination?" Lucy asked in absolute disbelief.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one that's thinking this. There's so much wrong with this." Rei said.

"It'd be more fitting to send both home at the same time. Come on, let's hurry up and get back. Considering what just happened here, I'm pretty sure they want to start cleaning up." Chris said. "Now, let's go. Chop, chop."

They all begrudgingly went into the portal.

TD Elimination theme plays

It was the middle of the day, the two losing teams were in attendance for this elimination.

"Alright, I think I'll steal something out of Ego's playbook. Only the guys that contributed in a loss are up for elimination tonight. Doesn't matter what you did today. If you didn't play, you're safe. Now then, go vote!" Chris said.

***Confessional***

Ben(Storm Kings):

"I still don't know what's going on inside Shiro's head. When I tried to possess him, it felt... cold. Not as in death. But freezing cold. Like, an endless blizzard."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Lucy(Radical Rats):

"I don't care what Chris says. I don't agree with this. We don't even get to confer with one another about who to vote for."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Rei(Radical Rats):

*No vote*

"Please don't make me regret this decision. As much as I don't want to see Kagami go, I don't want to see the others go either just because of my feelings for him. How selfish is that?"

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Kise(Radical Rats):

*Stamps Priya*

"There were a lot of ways I envisioned Haizaki leaving here. This certainly wasn't one of them. I just hate the fact that someone has to go because of me. Yeah, it'd be easy for me to quit. But, I don't want things to end for me that way. With what I know I can bring to the table, it's not fair to them for me to take the easy way out like that. I just hope to get another chance."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Priya(Radical Rats):

*Stamps Kise*

"I know it's pretty weird to try and vote off the guy I just saved and believed in me. But, in hindsight, if he gets to the merge, he could be a major problem. Even if it's limited, he he has the abilities of all the other Miracles including Kuroko. And on top of that, he can sing, he has a great personality, he's handsome, he's a model, he's great at sports, and he can copy some other skills too. I don't know about you, but that sounds like winner potential. And the guy that can counter him, Haizaki, who can steal the moves he copies, is officially gone. Obviously he's not perfect, but you won't have too many opportunities to get rid of someone like that. So, better take it now. Sorry Kise."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Kagami(Radical Rats):

*Stamps Priya*

"Haizaki. Gotta admit I didn't expect that from him. But, he's certainly earned some respect points from me for what he did. That was a hundred percent intentional."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Puss:

*Stamps Priya*

"This was a tough decision to make. But I feel that Priya knows that we still all respect her, regardless of the results. As for Haizaki, he has earned my respect as well for such a selfless act."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Doyle:

"I know I'm not supposed to be here, wasting time, but Haizaki, you've definitely proven you've changed. I think him being away from the Miracles was a good thing. This team helped him a lot."

***End Confessional***

***Confessional***

Zee(Radical Rats):

"I know this is random, but is anyone else wondering how some of them just suddenly know Japanese in the musicals? Am I the only one noticing this stuff? The songs are cool, but it's still kinda weird."

***End Confessional***

"Alright! Whisper! Priya! Kise! Rei! Kagami and Puss! You're up for elimination! When I call your name, you're safe! Didn't have time to come up with anything today, so good ol' marshmallows will do." Chris said.

"Whisper! Despite your shortcomings today, you were the least of your team's issues. You're safe!"

"Puss! You probably did the best out of all of them in today's challenge, so you're also safe!"

"Kagami! I think it's safe to say no one blames what happened in that cooking/eating game on you, so you're good."

Kagami breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rei! Kise and Priya! You're the final three!"

"Rei! Despite you getting off to a horrible start with cooking, you toughed it out and still gave your team a chance to snag victory. I think that's something that everyone on your team that's not named Kagami respects. And because of that, you received no votes! You're safe!"

"Yes!" Kagami said to himself, pumping his fist, which caused everyone to look at him. "Oh. My bad. I'm interrupting."

"Why are you so happy? Were you going to miss me?" Rei teased.

"Uh... n-no." Kagami said, looking away.

"Wait. Was he... lying?"

"Kise! You're on the chopping block because had you scored higher, your team would have potentially staved off elimination today completely. And, that copying, while not the strongest thing in the world, could still be a problem."

"Yeah. I get that. But, I still hope to have another chance to help." Kise said.

"Priya! This is one of several challenges you've been apart of that your team hasn't been able to win, lost because of you, or won in spite of you. Though in some cases, it's no fault of your own. Though, you are a winner. There's nothing saying you can't get out of the slump and start dominating again."

"That's true. As frustrating as this loss is, I'm really glad to know the others are willing to help me through this."

"Too bad they can't help both of you stave off elimination. The final marshmallow goes to..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Kise!"

"Priya! Drone time!" Chris said.

"Yo Priya." Kagami started. "I better not see you feelin' sorry for yourself. 'Cause from what I saw, you got nothin' to feel sorry for. You played a good game. And honestly, I could say more, but then I'd just be sayin' the same stuff Rei said to ya. She couldn't have said it better."

"Perseverance is another way of being fearless. You have my utmost respect." Puss said.

"That means a lot coming from guys like you."

"Yes. I suppose it does. I must admit I was quite surprised that you were so persistent. I would have thought you would have conceded defeat a long time ago." Albedo said. "I suppose I was wrong."

"A personality like yours, I don't understand how you could have so few friends. I'd love to have someone like you by my side. Like now." Kise said.

"Come on you guys, stop it. It wasn't that much. I didn't even win." Priya said, trying not to blush from all the praise she was given.

"So what? Winning isn't everything." Rally said.

"True. It's the friends you made along the way right?" Priya guessed.

"Uh, not what I was thinking, but alright."

"Yeah. That crap's played out. Only so many times you can tropes like that before it gets annoying." Rick said.

"The gun freak's telling you to look at the things you did win. Like our respect." Hiruma said.

"Well, look on the bright side. I might be on the aftermath for the first time. That might be fun." Priya said.

"See? There you go." Rally said.

"Well, I don't wanna overstay my welcome here. I'll get going." Priya said.

"Overstay your welcome? Don't kid yourself. Take all the time you need." Becky F. said.

"Actually, she's got the right idea. Let's go." Chris said.

Priya got her bags and was with Haizaki.

"Hey. Haizaki." Kise said before walking up to him. "You beat me fair and square. But I'll be sure to get you back."

"Yeah." Haizaki said before extending his hand for a handshak which surprised Kise. "Let's do this again. This time, on the court. I won, but I'm still not satisfied. I wanna get even with you on the court. Once I kick your a[censored] there, then I'll be truly satisfied."

Akashi walked up to him as well.

"What you did today is very commendable. I just despise the fact that things had to end in a way such as this." Akashi said.

"Whatever. Spare me with that. Even this complement feels contrived and half-a[censored]ed."

This caused Akashi to look at him in surprise.

"I'm outta here. Ready to chill, watch some TV and play some games." He said, about to get on the boat before Libby suddenly hugged him, which caused him to look down in surprise.

"Thank you. So much."

"Would you get off me already? Jeez." Haizaki said, pushing her away. "It's your fault I've gotta go in the first place. Had you not been on the ground, lookin' like a damn deer in headlights, things might have been different. Hope you learned somethin' today from all this. 'Cause I sure did." He then got on the boat. "Now let's go!" He called out to Chef.

Both Priya and Haizaki were sent off.

"The rest of you are safe. For now." Chris said.

"It's just not fair." Asta said.

"What's not fair?" Noelle asked.

"Haizaki tried so hard. Even when he was so exhausted. He wanted to keep playing. And he continued to give. And give. And give. He chose to change. And be better. And this is how he gets rewarded? The minute he shows kindness, he gets tossed aside like trash! We don't even get to see the fruits of his labor. A smile on his face from being around people that truly do care about him. And we were robbed of that. How is this fair!? It's one thing to lose. But to lose like that. I... I can't accept it! I just. I don't like seeing people like get fates they don't deserve. And the worst part is... I was there. I could have helped win and keep him here. But I wasn't strong enough! I was blessed with amazing friends. And amazing teammates like the Black Bulls. And this team. Why can't the same be given to Haizaki? Please, someone tell me!" Asta said, closing his eyes.

Noelle wasn't sure what to say to him before deciding to finally let out her thoughts. "I know it sounds rich coming from me but. Sometimes, you can only do the best with the hand your dealt. I understand how you feel about Haizaki. And admittedly, I wasn't exactly someone that liked him. But he really did try his best with the hand he was dealt. And continued to do so. In a way, he's similar to you. Despite what people said about him and his past, he continued to play through it. And find strength that many didn't expect for him to ever have. Just like you. I know it doesn't seem fair to you. And I know you're upset. But you just have to keep pushing through and do your best. That's all anyone could ever ask for."

"I tried my best! And it still wasn't enough! What else am I supposed to do!?" Asta said, on the verge of crying out of frustration.

"Then push past your limits then."

Asta opened his eyes.

"Just because we're away from the Black Bulls doesn't mean their teachings go away. If your best isn't enough, then go past your best by continuing to train."

"Too bad that didn't help here." Asta grumbled.

"Well I know the answer to that. It's obvious."

"What? What is it?"

"You haven't had my super special sandwich." Noelle said.

"Wait, that's your signature sandwich that I ate? Why didn't you tell me that earlier!?"

"Because, you didn't ask." Noelle said, deciding to pull a page out of Kuroko's playbook, even though she was basically pulling all of this out of her you-know-what.

"Well if that's the case, then sign me up for another one! Let's go!" Asta said, running inside the mansion.

"Asta wait! You forgot we don't have a- kitchen." Noelle said before sighing.

"You liar." Rei said, walking up beside her, hands on her hips.

"Were you listening the whole time?"

"Yeah. This isn't exactly the best place to be trying to keep secrets."

"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret!"

"Secret or not you still lied to him. Why would you do that knowing full well all of that about that sandwich wasn't true?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you! Shouldn't you be talking to your boyfriend and not eavesdropping in business that has nothing to do with you?"

"Kagami is not my boyfriend! Well, not yet at least. At least I hope. And anyways, what is up with that unwarranted attack on my love life? What's yours? Since you want to talk about mine."

"Nothing for you to be concerned about." Noelle huffed.

"Then if it's nothing you wouldn't be making a comment like that. Not so successful huh?"

"At least I can talk to Asta without tripping over my words!"

"And at least I'm not willing to lie to Kaga- wait a second." Rei said before a smug grin appeared on her face. "Oh. You like Asta don't you? So you see him as more than just a teammate?"

"N-No!"

"You already let it slip. Intentional or not. Too late to try to lie your way out of it now. But, I can definitely see why. As strong as he is, that doesn't stop him from wanting to work hard and help people. Not sure what a Wizard King is, but that sounds pretty ambitious. Those are the same reasons I like Kagami to be honest."

"You know, I never realized how similar they are. Aomine too. If he's similar to Kagami in some ways, then I'd imagine he'd be like Asta too."

"Makes sense. I saw him training with Weiss, so he's not exactly some lazy guy like Murasakibara." Rei said before a thought came to her. "I wonder though. Nah." Rei thought before waving it off.

"Now that I think about it. I think all of these challenges were themed around us ensuring we give our best no matter what it is. The individual game involved something those three are really good at. The second game involved something we're not that good at and providing it to people we care about. The third challenge involved testing our skills overall against one another. And the last game involved working together to win."

"Huh. I never noticed that. Then that really does make wonder now..."

The Kings' pair of cook and eater, Weiss and Aomine, had just finished up training again.

"Gotta admit though, he proved me wrong. Can't speak on if things will be mended, but I definitely look at him a lot different." Aomine said.

"I have to agree. I didn't expect that out of him."

"Speaking of expect, didn't think you'd make spaghetti again."

"To tell you the truth, I wanted something that would help with your training more. Fruits, vegetables and other healthier options. But, I couldn't make it without potentially making things worse. I even considered making a burger."

"A burger? How'd you-"

"With how much you talk about and like eating, it's hard not to notice."

"You didn't have to do the fruits and stuff. It was just for a game."

"I didn't have to try to add flavor to the spaghetti either. But I did. Would a she-devil do that, despite all you've done to me?"

"Don't act like I hurt or bullied you. You teased me before. Only fair I get to throw a few punches back."

"Except they're not based on making perverted jokes about my body!"

"Jokes? Yeah, I was tryna be funny but I'm not making fun of your body. It's fine. Not that I ever really paid too much attention to it."

"Says this as you look at women's chests. Did you look at mine when you first saw me?"

"Probably? I don't know."

"If you looked at Yang's and Rally's then I'm sure that's a yes for me too."

"Look, let's not make this weird."

"That's rich coming from you."

"I'm not the one who asked about if I looked at her chest or not like you wanted me to."

"I didn't!"

"Then why ask that question?"

"You know what? I think we really should drop this."

"Ya think?"

"And with that, another champ is gone! Along with Haizaki. Who will go next? Find out next time on Total... Drama... Across the Multiverse!"

---

A/N: Sorry about taking so long to post this one. And with this, the poll for favorite character is now closed. Next poll is song popularity at this point in the season. The purpose of this poll will be revealed at a later time in the season.

As for Haizaki, the Animal Instinct ability for him isn't something in canon. I made it to try to further differentiate him from Kise. As I saw one person discuss when it came to comparing the two, Kise developed his Perfect Copy because he looked up to and wanted to be like the rest of the Miracles. Haizaki never had to be like them because he truly was just as good as they were, hence why I imagined he would have developed something else instead of even trying to copy them like Kise did.

Also, yeah, Scan2Go was that crazy lol. Just think of it as Beyblade but if it was with racing instead lol. Too bad it didn't get the same amount of attention as Beyblade and other anime at the time on CN. Even Tenkai Knights is lesser known as well.

Next chapter is the aftermath and the return of Multiverse Edition's unanimously top-voted challenge: The Talent Show! As Ayame would say, "show us your special talents!"

Also, feel free to ask questions to eliminated contestants, or to any current contestant in the game. Up to three will be asked. Almost no question is off the table!

See you all on the next chapter!