56.) Galaxy Ballin' Climax!

The final round was heating up as both teams had scored a goal, and only a minute and a half had passed. The ball was being set back in the center of the field yet again, and both teams went back in their formations. The Eternal Ashes were in alpha formation yet again. The Floral Knights reformed and got into an attack formation that had their striker, Deamonte, at the lead. The two guards, Montif and Monique, lie out in the front with him but slightly behind to look onward and stop plays. Kitiro sits at the center between the leading three and their goalie, Regiie. The buzzer sang yet again, *BWUERRRRR*, and the teams were off. 

Miamori dashes ahead and performs yet another power strike kick and meets Deamonte head-on. They clash yet again, and the ball squishies in form and shape yet again. Deamonte switches it up and shifts his force to the right side and kicks to the left. The ball slides from between them, Deamonte goes dashing for it while Miamori lays shocked from the play. 

Demetri: "Yo, Miamori! Get on top of the ball, everyone else just keep in formation!" 

Tak: "Right! I'll move up on the field and assist her to get the ball back. Everyone advances but stays back to watch for a breakthrough." 

Eternal Ashes: "RIGHT!!!" 

The Eternal Ashes dash through the line and follow behind Miamori as Deamonte enters a quick one on one situation with her. He bounces the ball on his left knee as he prepares to overtake her with some swift footwork. "Ah, I've got it!" Deamonte says as he lets the ball hit the ground, and then he does a quick back and forth dribble with his feet while slowly backing up. Miamori slowly steps forward in a  widened stance, waiting for the breakthrough attempt to be made and then… 

Kitiro: (Oh, the mahn's about to do er badly now. Go forth, Deamonte!) 

Deamonte puts the ball in between his feet and uses them to twist the ball and flick it up and over him from behind. The ball goes over Miamori as well, and Deamonte advances forward, which causes Miamori to react and step back. Deamonte reaches out his hand and flicks the ball downward back to his right leg. He then kicks the ball between her legs as she stumbles to follow the ball back. The ball breaks through, and Deamonte circles around Miamori's right, pivoting on his left foot. In that moment, Miamori's scramble to follow Deamonte's strange movements and her slight confusion. Caused a large blow to her balance, and she began to fall backward, her avatar going "timber" on the field.

Demetri: "Did he just…"

Tak & Yolmi: "Get past Miamori?!" 

Y'Mere: "Not only that, he also did it in style..." 

Kitiro: "Push forwahd and follow Deamonte! Montif! *BEWCH* *He uses Mental Zenchi to get a feel of their situation* Flank to his right and be ready." 

Tak: (I won't let you!) 

Tak does the same and commands Demetri to wait for a certain moment while Yolmi and Miamori push forward. "Won't see me slipping today!" Miamori yells as she rebounds and stops herself from falling. She immediately gives chase to Deamonte with great haste. Deamonte gets a hint of hesitation in his stride forward as he thinks he's being boxed in. 

"Over here, gwamboy!"he hears a voice yell from his far right. It was Montif who had caught up just in time as Miamori began sliding for the ball from behind Deamonte. *TOINK* He releases the ball with a quick axe kick from his left leg. 

Miamori: "Tch! I just missed 'em!" *Step* * Step * * Step * 

Tak: (Miamori, turn back now!)

Miamori: "What?! Tch, alright, sir!" 

Miamori dashes towards the opposing team's goal as their four players breach the Ashes' side of the field. In that moment, the ball got to exactly, just within mid range of every player on the field and… he struck! *FWIP* 

"Hmm?" , a sense of heightened essence levels reached Kitiro. *BEWCH* He activated his Mental Zenchi once more to view what came next. "DEMETRI!"he yelled as he dashed off at full speed. Not even 2 milliseconds had gone by at this moment. When the two gave their great strides a go and launched into motion, a shock besieged the field, and another millisecond had gone by. 

*FFFFFEEEEEEEWWWWP* "Physical Zenchi!"Both Demetri and Kitiro let out these words, and black with a hue of purple showed itself upon Demetri's right leg. Black with a hue of forest green came onto Kitiro's left leg and the two clashed… *piTOOOOOOOOF* Everyone on the field was thrown aback, even Miamori was pushed forward a few light years as she strides for the goal on her avatar. 

Announcer: "Iiiitt's a… MASSIVE EX...PLOSIOOON! Boooth… players won't! Budge an… "IIINNCH!"

The announcer and even the crowd could feel the force from their clash as it breached through dimensional walls! Within the dimension, however, the ball had been forced into a near singularity from the force and influence of their pulsating bursts of essence. The ball repelled out and back to its normal shape, causing both Demetri and Kitiro to be forced back as it flew high above the two. 

Kitiro: "You won't be able to leap before me, mahn. Just give up." 

Demetri: "Whaaaat? Naw, nope, nadda mhm mh. Why don't you give up?" 

Kitiro: "What?! *Fwoosh* Huh?" 

Kitiro looks above Demetri to see Yolmi high in the sky. Monique meets her with grace and is already in motion of launching the ball to Montif with a heavy roundhouse kick from her left leg. Noticing this, Yolmi continued to ascend, and then she timed her strike just right… *POOOOOHF* "WHAT!?" Monique gasped at what she witnessed. Yolmi timed her right punch at just the right moment, stopping the ball completely as she masterfully matched Monique's force. 

Yolmi: "Sorry, ol' rasta queen, but I'm going to have to apprehend this." 

Yolmi takes her right leg and lifts it high in the sky. She brings it down and smashes the ball as the force from their clash gets canceled out. 

"Gah!" Monique let out a quick yell as she's blown back from the force. The ball was sent at high speeds, straight to… 

Kitiro: "Ah… no way, mahn!" 

Montif: "You've got to be…" 

Monique: "Kidding me!" 

Miamori: "Good pass, Yolmiii! Let's make it…" 

Miamori let the ball get beside her and used her right hand to palm the edge of the ball and cause a rapid spin. Her left hand followed suit and made the ball rotate fast enough to hold its own position. She was using the martial arts of the Phoenix Empire, Rising Phoenix Fist. It incorporated spins and used them as counters and lead strikes for the perfect balance of offense and defense. She used this style as she danced like a phoenix that flowed gracefully through the air. One spin and a quick left kick speed up the ball. Another spin and an even quicker kick is delivered to the ball. During that spin, her back is shown to the ball. She throws a back fist with her right hand for a final added spin. 

Kitiro: (Montif! See if you can stahp dat final strike, mahn.) 

Montif: "Mhm. (Yes, sir.) 

Montif nods his head and dashes at Miamori at full speed. Miamori stops her spinning and stomps her right foot on the floor, a little ahead of her left foot. She cocks her left arm back and summons flames as she slowly leaned forward. Montif approaches from close behind and with that very next millisecond…. She strikes with a flash of petty on her face as she watches Montif clench his hand in frustration. 

"Sorry baby boy, but this is goal number two." 

Regiie: "Don't count out the Regiiee!!!" 

Miamori: "Hmh!?" 

"Let's wind and grind it all down now!" Regiie said as he slowly cocked back his right fist. The ball cut through the cosmos as it curved into the range of the goal. Regiie was completely prepared and ready to intercept the ball. 

Regiie: "It only be a simple task to reduce this blast ball. Force Wall! *BOOM* 

Announcer: "He stopped the ball on its tracks with that PUNCHH!!!!" 

The crowd went ballistic as they watched Regiie at work. 

"Now… I wasn't expecting that." Miamori said as she watched the flames faint and fade into the cosmos. The ball's rotation and spin came to a complete end as the influence of inertia was applied to it. Regiie began to build up a bit more essence as he forced it down to the field for a single bounce up. 

Regiie: "Let me show you my velocity plus acceleration strike! You be ready, Kitiro ya boa!?" 

Kirito: "Go!" 

Regiie: "Haha! Say less gwamboy!..." 

Miamori was heavily distraught as she watched their counter play begin. 

"Launch that flare strike once more Mori!"said Yolmi as she approached from behind. 

Miamori: "What are you-

(Tak: "Follow her lead and do it.") 

Miamori: "Alright, I will do it! Let's go, Yolmi!" 

Yolmi continues her stride down the stretch as Kitiro and the others realize the situation. Miamori begins her spin once more and stomps her foot down yet again. The flames built up at a much higher pace and were far more ferocious than before. Yolmi jumped right over her arm with her legs tucked in and facing Miamori's palm. 

Regiie: "Too late, mahn! Strong FORCE Influence!" 

Yolmi: "Inertia!" 

"What!?"yelled Regiie as he watched Yolmi blitz his bubble almost instantly after being launched forward by Miamori. 

Yolmi: "Force is such a common element to have, ain't it." 

Regiie: "U-Uh… uh." 

Regiie was stuck in awe as the force built up around the ball had been canceled along with the essence. Her control of inertia had triumphed over his use of strong force. She cocked back her left arm once more and used weak force as a way of breaching through at high speeds. Regiie tries to block the shot but is too late in his approach, and the ball is made into the goal. *BWEEEEEEEEUH* The buzzer sounds, and the crowd goes wild. 

Announcer: "And it's another GOAAAAAAAAL!!! For the Eternal Ashes!, they now lead 2-1 in this grand final round." 

Amiyama: "Amazing play from the Ashes. Tak is focusing more on seeing openings and the key parts of the Knights' plays. Limiting his field of view like that also sharpens his focus in those precise moments." 

Amiyahss: "It allows for great counter plays at the end of the day. The Knights will have to tone it down a bit." 

Aiyama: "Indeed. Or this will be a short game." 

The teams line back up in their choice of formation, and the ball had been reset. The clock began ticking once more. The whistle blows, and the final round resumes. As they continued to play, the kingdom buzzed of joy as they watched their team take the lead once more in this exhibition match. There were multiple miniature festivals going on in each region of the Empire as they all celebrated their queen's big day. Food venues and restaurants alike were all giving out great deals for meals as everyone continued their commute to the Capitol universe. Within one restaurant were the two shadows that infiltrated the Empire in hopes of finding the key they possessed. 

Slith: "Finally a meal for my growling stomach. It's been far too long since I've eaten." 

Jabreeze: "You should've just consumed some of the cosmos here as we are in a hurry, you clown. We don't have time for this!" 

Slith: "Keh! Calm down there, Jabreeze. We'll make it out just fine." 

Jabreeze: "Hey man, we fail? That's on you. Now hurry your ass up." 

Slith: "Kukuku! Fine, fine, I'll speed my meal up. Let me just…" *CRACK* *SNAP*

Slith began to reform his head, neck, and organ system into that of a serpent for a quick chow down meal. One swallow would be all he needed… pause. 

… *GULP* A single bite and the entire meal were gone. Slith reforms back to normal and dabs his mouth with a dib as jabreeze pays their tab. Both men begin heading for the door, but Slith pans his head to his left to see the Galaxy Ball game heating up. 

"Seems the game got tied up again. They're 3 up as of right now."says Slith as they exit the restaurant and continue their commute. 

Behind them were more than 10 guards who had been searching for a supposed "lost guard." The lead guard of the group, the general, had noticed the two of them and began questioning his broker and right-hand man. 

General: "Who might those two over there be?" 

Broker: "I've no clue, sir. I can't sense much essence from them, meaning they masked their presence. And if they can do that, they're warriors of the sort, and we know of all the warriors in the empire." 

General: "Hmm…" meaning they're foriegn to out lands."

Broker: "Yes… no doubt, but they seem to be missing the insignia of essence marked with our Phoenix type essence. Are they… invaders?" 

General: "I don't know, but we're about to find out! *Step* * Step * * Step * HEY!" 

The general began walking towards Slith and Jabreeze, who were leisuring, strolling forward. Both seemed to ignore the general as he called out to them. "HEY! The both of you need to stop!"he yells as he picks up his pace. Both still have yet to even acknowledge the general as he screams for their halt. 

"I'll just have to -" Slith is interrupted by Jabreeze as he sets his hand on Slith's shoulder. "No… their flames are now mine, and you are my guest." Jabreeze says in a calming and low voice while flaring up his essence with the same kind of fire the Phoenix gods possess. 

Broker: "Sir, wait!" 

General: "What!?" 

The general takes a pause in his advancement and looks back at his Broker, who tells him that he can feel the presence and essence of the man with navy blue hair. "And?"the general asks as he hesitates to keep pushing towards the two. 

"It would seem he's of Phoenofian descent, sir. He's one of us!"The broker yelled and informed the general of what he learned. 

General: "Hmm. Well then, if you say so. But I'll at least ask this: Do either of you know anything or have seen anything regarding a missing guard? Our buddy's been missing, and we need to find out what happened." 

Jabreeze: "Mhm… sorry to say man, but we've. I have not seen a thing since we began our commute. I'm truly sorry." 

General: "You're all good, sir. You have a fantastic day, you and your guest." 

Slith: "We'll make sure of that sssirr. *Bweooh* You and yoursss have a godly day now." 

Slith and Jabreeze turn back around and continue their steady commute. Within that moment, the general was invaded by the dominance from Slith's study. This was done so they could get in the know intel while casually waltzing along. He made careful moves and took caution so as not to try and take control immediately. He instead manipulated the consciousness and inserted an avatar of himself in the very back of the mind. There, he waddles and searches for clues to the key as he has done to every Phoenix God he has come in contact with. 

The general is unaware of this as he walks back towards his crew and companions. They all go about their days, and the Galaxy Ball match is nearing a roaring end. Kitiro and Demetri were going head to head to score the final goal and win for their team. Both sides were going full throttle, and neither gave an inch in their pursuit to take the upper hand. 

Announcer: "Neither team seems to be giving an inch while their aces duke it out. This is what Galaxy Ball IS ALLLLL ABOUT!!!" 

The crowd goes ballistic as they both hope for the best for their teams. The royals stand in high hopes to see an exciting grand end to this extravaganza of a game. Miamori took to Demetri's right flank and passed the ball between themselves as they approached Montif and Monique. 

Montif sprints ahead as Miamori and Demetri cross the boundary and delve into Floral Knights territory. He signals monique for a double team on Miamori. It seemed that Kitiro had Demetri occupied after catching back up. Miamori notices her situation and flashes forward with the ball, lightly kicking it as she approaches Montif, who had already begun his slide into the ball. "One little bounce up and…" , "she swiftly uses the tip of her left foot to knock the ball upward and over the sliding Montif, who flew right by. 

Montif: "Heh, gotcha gwamgirl!" 

Miamori: "What!?" *WOOSH* 

Miamori turns around to see Monique right in her face with her fist in the ball. "You think you can handle things here, Y'Mere?" Tak asked as he readied himself to go assist his team. "Go." , simple words of a man who can be trusted to stop ANYTHING coming through. With that being said… *FwiTINGGG* a flash of Mental Zenchi and he knew exactly where the ball would be after Monique strikes. 

"Imperial… HAMMER!!!" Monique yelled, and so forth came a hammer made of grand oak with cosmic essence wrapped around it. The ball was sent flying straight past Miamori, but right there, a mere 10 galaxies after being hit. You could see a wall of force that stopped the ball and a hand of fire right behind it as Tak makes it just in time. 

Announcer: "Is… is that, MONTIF!? Montif's right on Tak's ass y'all!!"

Tak: "Mhmm…" 

Montif: "Sorry mahn, but that ball be mine!" *Swish* 

A swift jab was thrown by Montif but was quickly matched by Tak's hand simply being placed on the ball. "You won't be getting the ball back that easy. Plus… you guys let Yolmi pass by again." Tak says as he lowers his hand and adds a but more force to repel the both of them away from the ball, and the ball itself to fly high above the field and straight to a sprinting Yolmi who was about a quarter of the way there from reaching the goal. 

Montif: "God dammit, mahn!" 

Demetri: "Tch! Time to go!" 

Kitiro: "As if I'd let you hot-boa!" 

Demetri: "Pfft!" *FWEEEUR* 

Demetri flares up in flames as he fakes a juke move from his left and then to his right. Kiriro, who was far too eager in the moment, tries to follow, and the trap is set. Demetri takes two hard steps forward, and Kitiro backs pedals to follow his lead. Demetri turns to flames as he flows in between Kitiro's legs, Kirito attempts to follow again but loses his balance. Demetri flashes forward and rematerialised, dashing forward all the more while Kitiro falls flat on his butt. So caught up in trying to stop Demetri. He himself never even realised he was falling until the deed was done. 

Demetri: "Yolmi! Let's go, pass it here!" 

Yolmi: "Right!" 

They do a grand sprint with the ball as they approach the goal. Yolmi performs three soft kicks to get the ball spinning. One more kick keeps the ball ahead of her just long enough to perform a triple spin that charges a mighty right kick. "Phoenix Talon!"Yolmi yelled as she summoned flames around her foot and sent the ball hurling towards Demetri, who had slapped the edge of the ball just hard enough to speed the rotation. And with just enough force to stop the ball's advancement, keeping it in place as the rotation gained speed.

"Ha! Phoenix Dance: Swan's Axe." Demetri called out as his three spin charge up was coming to an end. His left leg came out, and a huge ton of force and flames burst forth and made it as if the ball had disappeared. Thus was its speed. *FWIP* A shadow dashed by in an instant. 

Demetri: "No.. Damn way!" 

Yolmi: "Che!" 

Announcer: "Well, I'll be, it's… KITIRO!!!" 

Crowd: "YEAAAAAAAH!!!" 

Kitiro appears before his goalkeeper and uses his full strength to kick, stop, and launch the ball above himself and behind to Regiie. "Show us something, Regiie-boy." *FWIP* Kitiro speaks and dashes ahead with their team on offense. Regiie focuses hard and notices the perfect target. "Deomonte!!!" Regiie yelled loudly while using his control of the strong force and sending the ball to the other side of the field in an instant.

Montif: "Got it!" 

Montif knocks the ball right above himself and waits for it to reach eye level and strikes with a hard right-handed slap to twist it further. Then, immediately pass it to Deamonte with a massive left hook to the ball. Deamonte receives the ball with ease, kicks it up into the air, and jumps for a crashing left kick to score the final goal. 

Y'Mere: "I told you guys, didn't I? *TOINK* Nothing… will get through!" 

Deamonte: "What!?" 

Montif: "But how?" 

Y'Mere stops the ball with a quick nudge of his hand as he flicks it into the air. (What a second! This is perfect!!!) , a grand thought swept across Demetri's mind as he yelled out something known as Formation Phantom. The team all understands immediately, and their coach agrees with great haste. 

Franklin: "Stop this next PLAY!!!" 

Knights: "It will NOT PASS!" 

Demetri, who was guarding Kitiro, invoked his Birthright once more and swapped with Y'Mere and then again with Miamori. The ball at that exact moment had reached eye level, and Miamori did. Not. Hesitate! She cocked her fist back and gave it to her all and she herself finally made the ball vanish with the force behind her strike. It reappears in front of Y'Mere, who had a very confident Kitiro guarding him. 

Y'Mere: "This is over Kitiro. You're not even watching the ball." 

Kitiro: "What!? (When did I begin looking this way? Why did I look this way!?)" 

Y'Mere knocks the ball with such force that it flashes straight into the line of the goal. Regiie was taken aback as he, nor anyone else, was expecting Y'Mere to have the Birthright of redirection. 

"Hah, now then!" *PEW* Demetri dashes off at full speed to hurry before the ball can reach Regiie's range. "REGIIE!" Kitiro yelled to get Regiie's attention, but it was all too late. Demetri was before the ball and nudged it just enough to force a reflex out of Regiie. 

Regiie: "Tuh!" *Fwip* 

Demetri: "Gotcha! Switch." 

Yolmi appears before Regiie and the ball as a result of Demetri switching their locations. "INERTIA!!!" , both of the force users yelled as they stopped the ball completely. Yolmi looks at Regiie and smiles as she yells once more, "INTERIA!" , and the ball eas forced into the ground with such power, it bounces back up almost immediately. Yolmi is swapped out once more for Demetri. 

Kiriro: "No way, mahn!" 

Franklin: (Damn, damn damn!) 

Regiie: "I can't move… (I'm stuck under the influence of her inertia! Im… Suffering from collateral of her attack earlier! Damn!!!)" 

Demetri: "And that's all she wrote!" *BOOM* 

Demetri delivers a mighty blow to the ball and scores the final goal. The buzzer goes off once more, and the crowd goes completely nuts. They were ecstatic to see their team win this glorious game of Galaxy ball. 

Demetri: "YEAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" 

Miamori: "Whew… I'm pooped." 

Tak: "Who you tellin'. Mhhmmm!" 

Back further into the Empire… 

Slith: "It would seem… They won." 

Jabreeze: "Indeed. But.. So have we, now we know what and where the key is. So let's get our prize." 

Slith: "Yesss indeed." 

The Eternal Ashes claim their victory over the Floral Knights, thus concluding the Galaxy Ball game. Now, in the midst of the empire, Slith and Jabreeze have finally found their lead. A dark cloud is beginning to form about this fair Empire.  

Next Chapter: Advance!