It took them four days.

When they got back, they told them all about what happened, including why and how they got an extra member. He introduced himself as Torb and said that he had lived in the dinosaur era all his life. Fei added in the explanation that he actually came from the future, but was caught in a failed time travel experiment.

The small boy had green hair and a skull-type accessory on his head... Or maybe it was a real skull. No one dared to ask.

They then told them all about Perfect Cascade and how insanely strong they apparently were. The only reason they were able to make it back was because the enemy team left in the middle of the second half for some reason. And they noted that the ones to gain a MixiMax were Fei and Torb, the former with a dinosaur child named Big while the latter with his Quetzalcoatlus father whom he calls 'Tochan'.

"Oh, right. And they both have keshins." Tsurugi mentioned as the two headed home. "Kinako awakened hers too."

She hummed as she nodded. "I mean for Fei, I figured as much since he seemed to know about Keshin Armed back before we ran into Shuu."

"True... It was really strong too. Not to mention he can use Keshin Armed while in his MixiMax form."

"Really?! And it didn't tire him out?!"

"Not by much apparently."

"That's amazing... What's its name?"

"Kousoku Toushi, Robin. It had a rabbit motif to it."

"That sure suits Fei's image." She nodded slowly. "What about Torb?"

"Taiko no Senshi, Jaggerwock. Jaguar."

"Huh... That kind of suits his image too. And Kinako?"

"Akatsuki no Miko, Amaterasu. A half human archer."

"Well, I don't know about image in her case, but... A fellow archer goddess, huh..."

"'Miko' only means 'high priestess'."

"'Amaterasu' is the Japanese sun goddess though..."

"Well... True." He muttered with a nod. "It did look like a cross between the completed Acheri no Megami and Taiyou Shin Apollo... just with the body of a qilin for its lower half."

She smiled slightly. "Maybe I'll ask her to show it to me tomorrow."

~~~~~

When they arrived at the club building the next day, they found a lot of the others practicing. Tsurugi went to join them while Kimiko sat with the managers. Throughout the game, she noticed Tenma looking a little off, but before she could ask, Wondeba called for a meeting as everyone had arrived.

"We now have eight out of eleven people who fit the conditions for strongest in history. But we're far from done! The enemy's power keeps strengthening. Therefore, let's decide on our next MixiMax target with strengthening our team as the goal!"

Daisuke floated up. "Then, our next targets for the strongest eleven in history! First up is power number nine! A fantastic libero with the ferocity of a beast and the wisdom of a sage. And power number ten! A king of midfielders who makes even the earth his friend with his absolute courage and unwavering ability to get things done. Our next targets, to the point, are... Master Dragon and King Arthur!"

"Master Dragon and..."

"King Arthur...?"

"What? Is there something wrong with that?"

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes!" The stone continued to press. "While I was hospitalized in Tongattor Republic, a boy in the next room had a story book with him. While I only meant to read it to him at first, I became completely absorbed in it myself at some point. It was so interesting that I ended up reading it all in one night. And that book was..."

"King Arthur and the Squire." Their club counselor said, holding said book up.

"I had Haruna look for it in the library."

She smiled. "This is a classic story that's popularly read throughout the world. The story begins with a young boy who admires King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and arrives at the forest near the castle with his servant at his side."

"Is that the squire?" Midori asked.

"He doesn't look all that dependable." Kurama muttered.

"Kurama-san, this is a children's story book..." Kimiko reminded.

The woman flipped to the next page.

"Who's this knight?" Shinsuke asked, pointing at a new character.

"He meets another boy in the village aiming to join the knights just like him." Daisuke continued.

"Hey, they're taking down a robber!" Nishiki pointed at the next page.

"They're surprisingly good fighters!" Hikaru said.

Then they turned to the next page...

"There's King Arthur!" Tenma said.

And the next...

"That's the initiation test for the Knights of the Round Table!" Kirino said.

"A battle between the knights! It makes my hero's blood boil!" Wondeba exclaimed.

And the next...

"Is that Master Dragon?" Aoi asked.

The black knight is putting a curse on it to control it." Kariya muttered.

"And the fight between King Arthur and the cursed Master Dragon begins." Tsurugi read.

"This is getting exciting!" Torb exclaimed.

And the next...

"The princess!" Aoi said worriedly, seeing the girl in the dragon's claws.

"I wish I was a princess!" Midori said, completely missing the point.

"You're not fit to be one." Nishiki muttered.

"What?!"

And the next...

"The fairy is so cute!" Akane grinned.

"It certainly is a book that even adults can get interested in!" Their teacher smiled.

"Yeah." The stone said. "The charismatic King Arthur who leads knights of brilliant technique. The wise and strong Master Dragon whose abilities surpass that of humans. Both are wonderful."

"But it's just a fictional story, isn't it?" Hikaru frowned.

"You chose members for the strongest eleven in history out of this fairytale?" Kariya asked.

"Yep, I did."

"Is that okay?" Ichino sweatdropped.

"Are we really able to get there even?" Hamano muttered.

"Making the impossible possible is what the strongest eleven in history are all about!"

"That's crazy talk." Kariya deadpanned.

"No, no, that might not be the case!"

"Professor Aruno!"

The space-time professor had appeared. "Nothing less from Master D! Your way of thinking is truly advanced! The parallel world is a possible world. It isn't strange for anything you can imagine to happen in it."

"What's he sayin' now?" Nishiki and Midori eyed him with confused looks.

"If you have an artifact that can make a path where one originally did not exist in history, then it just might create a new parallel world."

"So, even though it's a fictional world, if we have something that shapes together its history, we'll be able to time jump to that world?"

"As expected of you, Shindou! You learn fast!"

"So, in other words, the storybook will be recreated into a parallel world." Aoi summed.

"But we don't know if King Arthur really existed or not." Tsurugi stated. "Is there even an artifact for someone like him?"

"You have a point."

"There's no way it would exist."

"Yeah..."

Sangoku, Amagi, and Hiakru looked down in thought, when suddenly...

"It does!" Kinako suddenly spoke up. "I have a relative who's really rich. He collects antiques, and I remember him saying he has King Arthur's crown."

"EHHH?!"

"I'll go borrow it from him, so wait here!" They only had to wait a few minutes before her return with a rusty old crown.

"This is King Arthur's crown?" Tenma asked skeptically.

"That's right!"

"Is it really real?" Hayami asked.

"I bet it's fake." Kariya smirked.

"It's not like there's any way to prove it." Hamano said.

"It's the real thing!" Kinako said, rather insistently. "It was passed down through generations of King Arthur's lineage!"

"We won't get ahead by complaining." Wondeba cut in before an argument could break out. "We'll just have to believe Kinako's relative!"

"We're going to use that crown to time jump...?" Hayami's face turned pale.

"Isn't that the case?" Hamano said.

"Now then, I will announce the members." Daisuke the stone floated above them all. "Tenma, Fei, Tsurugi, Kurama, Shindou, Nishiki, Taiyou, Kirino, Kariya, Hikaru, Torb, Kinako, Shinsuke. That is all."

"Thirteen of us?" Shindou asked.

"The enemy is powering up as much as we are. We will need reserve members."

"But..."

"Don't worry, I made reforms to the Time Caravan." Professor Aruno suddenly appeared behind them.

"Reforms?"

"I added additional units to the time jump jet devices to make more seats."

With that, there was nothing more to talk about.

Just like four days before, Kimiko moved to help the other managers prepare.

And just like four days before, she was held back.

She turned to face the navy haired boy with a look. "Don't tell me..."

He didn't say anything. Only staring as he kept two of his fingers hooked on her hoodie.

"Kyou, I stayed last time just like you asked. Why can't I go this time?!"

"You should know the answer to that." He pointed at his eyes, the gesture telling her to check on hers.

"Wha...?"

"Here." Aoi took out a pocket mirror and handed it to her. As the blonde stared at her reflection, she continued with, "You have bags under your eyes. It's clear that you haven't been resting all that well."

"But I'm fine! I don't feel tired at all!" She won't have it. She was not getting left behind again. "Besides, Daisuke-san said―"

"It's true that the more back up we have, the better it'll be." The stone said.

"Then―"

"However, the state you're in right now, the reality is that you'll be putting yourself in danger."

"And we don't know how well this trip is going to work out." Kirino added.

"We've never tried this parallel world thing, so I say you'd be dodging a bullet." Kariya said.

"But I don't want to dodge it!" She snapped, earning wide eyes. "I want to be with you guys and help too somehow! I can't just stand by and do nothing while I know you guys are out there doing your best in whatever you're doing!"

"Kimiko..."

"Tenma!"

The brunette jumped.

"You'll let me, right? Please! I'll stay out of your way, just let me go with you all!"

"I..." His head lowered. "I'm sorry, Kimiko, but... Aoi and the others are right... It's not safe for you..."

... Safe? Since when was this about safety?

Just as the thought came, an answer came flying at her like a brick.

"... For me... or for you?"

Her tone surprised them.

"You're keeping me away because of my powers, aren't you?"

"What... K-Kimiko, that's not―"

"You're scared that I'll lose control."

"No, that's not it!"

"You're scared because if it happened twice, it'll definitely happen a third time."

"Just listen―"

"That's the only possible reason you wouldn't want me around anymore. It's not because I'm weak or hurt. It's because―"

There was a splash.

Her head was drenched.

Looking up, she found the mouth of a water bottle pointing straight down at her. It was in the hands of her best friend, who gave her a look.

"Just what are you getting so worked up about?" He said, clearly trying to hold back a sigh. "We're telling you to stay because we don't want anything happening to you, stupid. Stop overthinking. If any of us were scared of you, we wouldn't have tried to save you back in the forest."

She didn't respond. She only turned her gaze downwards.

He pointed his thumb to the door. "Go and take a walk or something to cool off. Talk to nii-san if you need to and get some sleep in. Get back to your 100% and we'll take you when looking for power number eleven."

With her head still hanging low, she headed in the direction he pointed at. As the automatic doors opened, she muttered a "Sorry" without facing them and left.

The team let out breaths they didn't realize they were holding in.

"Tsurugi..." The navy haired boy turned to his captain. His expression was clearly asking "Is this really fine?"

"Nii-san told me..." He gave a half smile. "Though, he didn't have to. It's pretty easy to tell that she's just worried." Then, he turned serious. "Which is exactly why we have to win the next one. No matter what."

Tenma nodded. "Alright. Let's go, everyone!"

"Right!"