Chapter 22

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"I can't. I can't be the one who kicks it in."

Before Axel could ask Austin what he meant by that, Nasser already threw the ball to Zach who was already heading up towards Japan's goal.

"The situation's been reversed!" the commentator jeered, "Inazuma Japan's getting counter attacked this time!"

"I wonder what's going on Austin's head?" Celia asked, "He's amazing when it comes to practice but every time he gets closer to the goal, he hesitates."

"Maybe...the past is still haunting him." Alexi answered as her eye stayed fixated on the match.

"What do you mean Alexi?" Sylvia asked.

"Austin has a natural talent for soccer, no doubt about that..." Alexi answered, "Right now, he's still not showing his best plays... and I think it's because of what happened to him before. You see, Austin was their school's star player. He worked so hard and endured every training I made him go through and it rewarded him greatly as his skills improve. He'd been an all-arounder and would sometimes score most of their goals by himself. But because of that, his team mates weren't able to play much and they shunned him for that."

"They did?"

"Yeah... it made him so upset that he almost gave up on soccer. It took a lot of convincing, but my family and I managed to get him back into playing again. But since then, he always holds himself back during matches. Even if he trains so hard, he still keeps his real abilities locked up inside him. And as his sister, I know how horrible that must've felt."

Sylvia and the other managers looked down and stayed silent as they thought about how the two sibling must've felt because of that.

"But right now, I have full confidence that this team will help him out. I know they will."

Back in the game, Jude orders everyone to head back. Zach charges pass Darren who was planning to steal the ball and then passes the ball to Kaile. As he got nearer to the goal, Kaile made his Mirage shoot that went straight to Marc in a blinding zip of light. Marc got ready and used his Fist of Justice G3 just in time for him to stop it.

"Now then, we're at 2-1 stoppage time with Desert Lion earning a corner kick." The reporter said, filling the entire stadium with anxiety. "Inazuma Japan is close to victory, will they be able to pull through this situation?"

"Guys, keep the defence up." Marc said as he and the other defenders dutifully guarded the goal.

As the whistle blew, Kaile kicked the ball to a player near him, starting a surprise attack.

"Block his course!" Jude yelled out. But it was too late, the player makes a shoot which actually turned out to be a pass to Zach who made the goal with a heading.

"The ball ruthlessly hits the goal! Inazuma Japan was hit with a tie right near the end of the second half."

"I can't believe they caught up after all that happened." Xavier said. He then turned his head to Alexi who was looking at Coach as he read the notebook she wrote on. Afterwards, he closed it and a directed his attention back to the game.

"Inazuma Japan has been tied, will they be able to make their way in the remaining time?"

The kick-off started when Austin passed the ball back to Axel, they then charged up Desert Lion's goal with the team following behind. They were in an offensive stance but their movements were heavy, it was obvious they won't last long in extra time.

"They're all at their limits." Shawn said as he observed their rather sluggish movements, "I don't think they can go on any further."

"They can." Coach Travis said, "And they will."

At the field, Austin receives the ball and heads up towards the goal. But once again, he hesitated to make a shoot and passed it to Axel.

Either the heat got to him or Axel was already fed up; whatever the reason, it made Axel kick the ball towards Austin. The ball hit Austin's shoulder, knock him off balance and bounced off the pitch.

Caleb flinched and gritted his teeth in annoyance while Alexi looked away with her eyes closed.

"What was that for Axel?!" Austin said as he gripped his shoulder.

"What the heck is going on with your plays?" Axel demanded to know but Austin looked away gritting his teeth. "There's not much time left in the match. We need you to play your best Austin!"

"This is my best! People score when I make assist. That way, I can prove that not every person my sister trains turns into a monster like Zeus Junior High. That way, people will be happy and I won't be left avoided again."

"Don't give me that crap!" Axel yelled, clearly annoyed at how stubborn this kid was. But he sighed and looked at how Alexi avoided seeing what was happening on the field right now. "We saw you at the park yesterday. We saw you practice on your own and from that, I know you've been holding back on us –even on practices. I know you were hurt about what happened that day about your sister, but trust me, no one thinks that way about any of you."

Axel then motioned to their team, "The people here are the strongest Japan has to offer and we're up against the world. We're here to fight against the world and win, isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that what your sister would want for you? If you're worried about what the world thinks of your sister, prove them wrong. Show them the product of your training with her, don't hold back. And don't worry about us, just focus on scoring, alright?"

"That's right Austin," Marc said, "We all have to go towards the goal with everything we got. We're a team, aren't we?"

Austin's face softened as he looked at Alexi who was now looking at him with a few tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

'Go get 'em Tiger!'

Austin now realized that his mind-set was wrong and that Axel was right. He was part of the best soccer players Japan has to offer. He was playing with the idols he looked up to for so long and they're up against the world. Suddenly, his perspective broaden and he could understand more clearly now,

"You know Austin, we weren't chosen to be Japan's representatives for nothing." Jude said with a smirk, "So don't hold back. Play with everything you've got and we'll be able to handle your plays."

He took one last look at Alexi and nodded to her. He then stood up and smiled wildly at the others, "Is it really ok? Can I really go all out?"

Axel smirked, "Try to surprise us Austin."

"You bet!"

The whistle then blew to signal the continuation of the game.

"The game starts with Desert Lion's throw-in. Zach gets the ball and starts the attack on Inazuma Japan. Will Japan be able to change the flow of the game?"

Just then, Archer runs towards Zach who passes the ball to Kaile. Luckily Nathan was able to steal it and pass it to Jude for a counter attack. He then passes the ball to Austin who managed to receive the ball with ease.

Three bulky players from Desert Lion then teams up to block Austin but was unable to do so as he passed through them with effortlessly in a blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Coach Travis managed to smirk. Caleb marvelled at how Austin was playing and Alexi couldn't help but tear up as she watches her brother play so well. She knew the binds that bound him were no more, the sleeping tiger that slept inside him has finally woken up!

"There are only a few moments left in stoppage time. Will this kind of daring play lead to another goal?" the commentator said.

"You bet it will!" Austin said as he dodged a sliding tackle from one of Qatar's players.

"Players each have their own situation for them to play." Coach Travis remarked as his eyes focused in the game, "And each team have conditions they need to fulfill in order to win. It's impossible to maintain a winning streak unless the abilities of the players are brought out appropriately."

As Austin was nearing the goal, one of Desert Lion's defenders ran towards him making Austin pass the ball to Nathan who miraculously caught up to it. Once he did, he again passed it to Austin.

"Go Austin! Make the goal!" Axel yelled from behind him.

"This is the shot I've kept sealed up all this time!" Austin said as he got closer and closer to the goal.

"Bring it on, runt!" Nasser said as he anticipated Austin's shoot.

"Tiger Drive!" he kicked the ball straight into the goal with incredible speed. The shot was so powerful that it easily went through the keeper's Storm Rider.

The whistle then blows ending the match with Inazuma Japan as the winners, 3-2.

"T-that's Austin's true power?" Willy asked in disbelief.

Alexi smiled, "No, there's still so much more to him."

~~~~

Austin's POV~

I did it...

I really did it!

The cheer of the crowd resonated in the whole stadium. I looked around me and saw that my friends were gaping at me weirdly.

'Did I do something wrong?'

"You were amazing Austin!" Marc yelled as he and the others ran towards me.

Before I could say anything else, I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around me and the feint scent of lavender filler my nose.

"You were great Tiger! I knew you could do it!" Alexi said as she hugged me tightly with a few of her tears falling down her face.

I smiled at her and hugged her back, "Are you proud of me nee-chan?"

She pulled away and kissed me on the forehead. "Of course I am! I'm so, so, so proud of you!"

"Yeah, we both are Tiger." Caleb said as he gave me a smile and walked away just as the others arrived.

"Is that how you are when you get serious?" Axel asked as he came towards us. "You still need some time to catch up to us Austin."

I smirked at him, "But I haven't gotten serious yet, senpai."

Axel and the others looked a bit shocked which is really amusing, but then he turned to my sister and smiled, "Is it just me or is your brother getting cockier?"

I saw Alexi smile as she pulled me closer to her, "What are you talking about Axel? Austin's still the cute little tiger he is, see?" as if to prove her point, she began rubbing my ears making me involuntarily purr.

"A-Alexi! stop it!" I whined, "That's embarrassing."

When she stopped, I heard Axel chuckle a little, "I can see why you call him 'Tiger'."

Both of them laughed as if they shared a secret joke that I didn't know of. Then I noticed how Axel's face looked flush as he stared at my sister dreamily. I then remember the previous times Axel blushes whenever he sees her. I involuntarily held Alexi's hand tightly and subtly moved in front of her as if I'm shielding her from something.

"Is there something wrong Austin?" She asked and I froze.

"I-uh, I said we should win the next match too! We can't end this at the Asia Prelims, after all!"

"Yeah, you're right." Marc said.

That was a close one. I then heard Jack ask something along the lines of: "If he was this good, how come he didn't play in the Football Frontier?"

'Oh crap, I haven't told them yet, have I?'

I turned to them and sheepishly smiled, "That's because I couldn't"

"Huh? Why?" Marc asked.

"Well, I'm... still a sixth grader in elementary school."

"W-WHAT?! You're still in elementary school?!" they asked.

"Yes, that's right." Alexi said, holding my shoulders. "Austin's still an elementary student and the Football Frontier was explicitly for Junior High Schoolers. The FFI on the other hand, takes the different cultures of countries into consideration so anyone fifteen years old or younger can participate."

"I'll be turning 12 soon though!" I said and then smirked at Axel, "But if you take me lightly, I'll steal the Ace's seat before you know it! And my sister's gonna help me do it! I'll be even better than you someday, Axel, just you wait."

I was hoping for him to get angry again, but he only looked at me sister then smiled at me, "We'll see."

~~~~

The ride home was really quiet, mostly because everyone immediately fell asleep on the bus. Back at the training ground, the managers cleaned up the water bottles and fixed the equipment while the players took a well-earned shower. For everybody's information, playing soccer under a hot scorching sun is 10 times harder than you'd think.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, I spotted Alexi walking out the building and ran up to catch her.

"Where are you going nee-chan?" I asked.

"Oh, I was just about to take a walk." She answered, "It helps with clear my mind off things."

"But you shouldn't go walking all alone, it's almost night time. Remember, it's dangerous for you to, especially with Ray Dark on the lose."

I looked down and thought of what may happen if somehow Alexi would get in danger. I also thought about how unfair it was for her to keep this sort of thing from me. I mean, I'm partly responsible for this right? She joined Ray Dark because she thought it'll help me in the near future.

I looked back on all those times Alexi has put me first before anything else. She was an amazing sister, no doubt about that. She was patient, loving, gentle, firm, strong and selfless; she was always with me and she continues to help me out whenever she can.

I'm her brother.

I don't want her to be taken away from me, not by anyone. Not by Ray Dark, not by Xavier and especially not by Axel!

'What the? What am I talking about?'

"Austin? What's wrong?" Alexi asked me, waking me up from my thoughts.

"N-nothing's wrong!" I quickly answered, then smiled. "I was just wondering if I could come with you?"

"Of course you can!" Alexi's smile was like a thousand suns. It has this calm reassurance like an unspoken promise. She'll always be there. She'll never leave me. She'll always be my sister.

I smiled at her and hugged her. I could tell she was surprised by the gesture but she hugged me back nonetheless.

~~~~

We walked around and talked about random things that came into our minds. I walked closely beside her, never letting her out of my sight. The sun set about an our ago and we decided to head back to training camp before it gets late.

"Wanna stop by for ice cream first?" she asked me suddenly.

"Ice cream?" I imagined myself grinning like the kid I am. I absolutely LOVE ice cream, especially since me and Alexi have the same favourite flavour. "Sure! Let's go!"

I then grabbed her right hand since I knew her left still hurts, and pulled her towards our favourite ice cream parlour. Lucky for us, it was only a few blocks away!

It was about 7pm and the sky was already really dark. As strange as it sounds, there weren't much cabs driving around so me and Alexi had to walk back to the Training grounds. It was fine with us, it wasn't that far anyway –about a 20 minute walk I guess?

"Austin," Alexi said as we started to walk. "what do you think about the team?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Well, are you happy playing with them? Do you feel intimidated?"

I thought long and hard. Alexi hardly asks me about these kinds of questions; I mean, the only times she does is when she worries about me too much.

"I like the team." I said plainly.

"That makes me really glad."

I looked at her, saw her smiling and swore to the stars that I won't let anything bad happen to my sister. She's my world, just as much as I am hers. With our parents away, she's all that I have and I can't let anything stand between me and my sister.

I wanted to voice out my thoughts when Alexi suddenly stopped and held me closer to her. I then see her glaring at something from the distance, looking closely, I saw three buff looking guys following someone wearing a purple and black coloured hoodie.

"Well, if it isn't that hot dame I picked up yesterday." The guy in the hoodie said, "And would you look at that, Archer and that spiky-haired punk ain't here to save ya. Must be my lucky day then!"

"You're that Randy guy." Alexi said, her voice dangerously scary, "Stay away from me and my little brother!"

"Brother eh?" that Randy guy looked at me, "Why are you so protective all of a sudden? I ain't gonna hurt the kid... all I want is some time with ya. But if you decline, I'll be tempted to trash that pipsqueak and you can't do anything about it, doll face."

Alexi went in between me and Randy trying to intimidate him with one of the meanest glares I ever saw her make. The three guys behind Randy then pulled out something that looked like a crowbar, a piece of wood and an iron rod. Clearly these guys came in prepared.

"So what's it gonna be cutie?" Randy asked as they took a step closer to us, "Hang out with me and save your brother or... be stubborn and let your brother suffer the consequences. Either way, I'll make a way to get ya."

Alexi was clutching my hand tightly as she took a step back.

"When I say go, run." She whispered.

"'Ah-ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you" Randy said as she called in another pair of guys from behind us. Now we're trap and it looked like there's nothing we can do about it.

I was petrified. These guys were serious and they look like they're ready to hurt us if we did something they wouldn't want us to. I want us to escape, to run. But it looks like my choices are narrowed down just like my chances of fighting back.

"Come on princess, don't make this any harder for us than it will be for you."

"Trust me, it'll be way harder for you guys to walk once I'm done with you." a voice said.

As cliché as it sounds, we all turned our heads to the owner of the voice who stood just a few steps away from Randy. He was wearing a familiar looking dark blue hoodie with orange linings on the side and a pair of brown jeans. His face was hidden under his hood and on his hand was a soccer ball.

"What's this? Another soccer maniac, trying to ruin my fun?" Randy said, taking out a taser from his pocket. "You picked the wrong day to piss me off dude."

"Really now?" we managed to see that guy smirk even though his face was still covered by the shadow of his hoodie. "I could say the same for you. But seriously, let them go and I'll consider not beating the crap out of you."

That person's voice had a hint of authority in them, and I just can't shake off the fact that his voice was strangely familiar.

Randy did not look amused by what he said and snapped his orders before ordering his thugs to get the guy in the hoodie.

What happened next looked like a scene from an action movie.

The stranger who was helping us out kicked the soccer to the two guys behind us so hard, that they were immediately knocked out cold. Despite the hesitance of the other three thugs in front of us, they charged in with their hastily made weapons but were utterly defeated when the stranger landed an uppercut on one of them and then slammed the remaining two's heads together sending them to dream land.

Unfortunately, Randy had more than 5 thugs working for him. They all emerged from the shadows outnumbering us 5:1. The hooded stranger didn't hesitate, he lurched forward and grabbed my sister's hand and pulled her –along with me, while 15 thugs followed us in hot pursuit being led by Randy.

We made a sharp turn in an alley way near the training grounds, finally losing the mob.

"That was close." The guy said. Hearing his voice again made it sounds all the more familiar. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, we are. Thanks for helping us out." Alexi said as she struggled to catch her breath.

I eyed the guy closely, there was something about the way he stands and his voice that made him so familiar. I then noticed that he was still holding Alexi's hand. I quickly pulled on her arm and went in between them, this time, I'll protect Alexi for sure. "You never told us who you are. Why don't you take off your hoodie so we can see your face."

Even the guy's slight chuckle sounded familiar, it made me feel on the edge. "You have a point." The guys said as he took off his hoodie revealing his platinum-blonde hair, onyx eyes and signature smirk.

No wonder he was sounded so familiar! The guy who saved us was...

"Axel?!" Alexi said in disbelief.

"Close enough." He said. Now that I looked managed to take a better look at him, his hair is slightly different. Instead of being spiked upwards, some of his hair dangled down his forehead and it was somewhat longer than Axel's by a little.

"I'm his cousin, Syon. Syon Blaze."

~~~~

And that's all for Chapter 22.

Got you didn't I? ^^ I couldn't resist adding him to the story. I mean seriously, who wouldn't want a story with Syon Blaze (Gouenji Masato)? I hope you liked the little twist I made :3 please be patient with the updates, I'm seriously busy because of school and such but I promise I'll make it up to you guys :3

Anyway, thanks so much for being patient and supportive guys! I really appreciate it!

Please check out my other books like "So Many Possibilities" and "Wildest Dreams" and my newest book, "Love Letters: A fangirl's Tragic Tale"

Stay awesome :3

Watch out for the next chapter!

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