//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Meeting Raimon // Story: Inazuma Eleven GO: The Ponyville Eleven!!! // by Tythen //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Meeting Raimon The next morning, Twilight was ready to greet Arion and his football team. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow and Derpy came along. "I can't believe that Rarity couldn't come." Rainbow sighed "Let her have some time with that certain foreign unicorn she was talking about." Fluttershy reasoned "Just wondering... Why did you have to come along Derpy?" Rainbow asked "I wanted to meet new friends!" "Don't you have to go to your mailing job?" Twilight asked "Hah! Today's my break day. I'm working fully on the day after tomorrow!" "But that's the occasional break day for all working ponies!" Fluttershy corrected "Looks like you've got your timetable swapped around again!" Pinkie joked "Hey! Don't make fun of me like that!" Derpy replied "Settle down girls! We're already here!" Twilight noted. The 5 ponies looked up at a 3-story tall building with a red-tile roof. "Are you sure it's here?" Rainbow asked. Twilight looked at the manor's name on the gate to clarify it. "Yep! It looks like we're here!" Twilight nodded "There's a bunch of cones and a hoofball here in the front yard." Pinkie noted "how could it NOT be this place?" "Aww look! There's a dog over here!" Fluttershy squeaked at the white and black-spotted dog sleeping in his dog house. "Well then," Twilight began as she approached the front door. "Here goes..." And knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door was opened by a female earth pony that had a blue coat with a dark blue mane and tail. "Hello, can I help you?" The mare asked "I'm looking for a Pegasus named Arion Sherwind. Is he around?" Twilight asked "Oh!!! So you must be Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria!" The mare gasped and bowed "it's an honour to meet you!" "It's nice to meet you too!" Twilight returned "Why don't you come on in?" The mare asked "everyone living in this manor is a part of the Raimon Eleven!!! I'm Aoi Sorano, Skie Blue in English. I'm one of the three primary colour managers of Raimon." "Primary Colours???" Rainbow asked "I understand what a manager is, but what's with the 'primary colour' title?" "My surname should give you hints." Skie giggled "... OH!!! Blue!" Rainbow realised after 3 seconds. "So that means the surnames of the other 2 managers are Green and Red?" "There's a few letter additions on their surnames." Skie answered "We can talk about introductions all day!" Pinkie butted in "but can we do it inside?" "Oh sorry." Skie apologised "come in." As the 5 ponies entered the room. Multiple voices went "Welcome!!!", shocking the 5 visitors as they saw many different ponies around them. "Welcome, Princess Twilight and her friends, to our humble abode." A beige unicorn with a pale-brown bushy-like mane bowed "Hey Rick! That's not how you're supposed to greet them!" A voice laughed " you need to do it more majestically!" "Oh be quiet!" The unicorn named Rick retorted "sorry about that. It's just everypony here decided to pull this surprise welcome since we heard that Arion just invited the Princess of Friendship here. And I said no, a surprise is not a good idea, but I was overruled." "It's ok, no need to be so formal all the time." Twilight blushed "besides, Pinkie over here likes surprises!" "I've seen better." Pinkie replied "Anyway, let me introduce myself, I am Riccardo Di Rigo. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am the captain of the Raimon Eleven." "Nice to meet you too!" Twilight returned the greetings "Hey!" Pinkie jumped "can you guys so pull off those special windy moves like Aria could here?" "Arion." Arion corrected "and to answer your question, the team has their own individual set of special skills and moves." "It's not just based on wind either." Riccardo continued "the special techniques of hoofball is based on the 4 elements. Wind, Earth, Fire and Wood." "Ooh! Ooh! Can we get a demonstration then?" Pinkie asked "Better yet, since there are 5 of you, why don't we play a 5-on-5 battle?" Arion asked "Alright!!!" Rainbow punched the air then thought awhile. "Wait... 5 ponies only? Isn't it normally 11?" "Come outside, we'll show you." Arion instructed The 5 ponies and team Raimon stationed themselves in front of the Manor where both sides took a simple battle formation. "A battle is a quick 15 minute game of where you need to complete an objective." Arion instructed "get the ball, keep the ball away from others, and score a goal." "But... We don't have our goalie." Twilight complained "I-I'll volunteer." Fluttershy raised her hoof "JP! Sam! Victor! You'll be with me and Arion for the battle." Riccardo commanded "Whatever." A purple earth pony with a very unique hairstyle replied and took the ball in the front yard and got into his position with the ball. "Your first objective" Victor instructed "get the ball from us." "Shouldn't be that hard!" Rainbow chuckled and with Skie blowing the whistle, Rainbow immediately charged forward for a slide kick. "Predictable." Victor taunted and jumped over the pegasus with the ball. He then kicked it over to a small yellow earth pony with a brown mane that looked like it had two pointy ears and the mane was held together with a headband. "Try getting it from me this time!" The pony called. Twilight immediately took that chance and blocked his advance. The small pony however, just moved the ball around her and continued dribbling the ball. "My turn!" Derpy cried and she headed towards Arion, but the small pony kicked the ball to Riccardo instead. "You're marking the wrong person!" Pinkie bellowed "Oops! Sorry!" Derpy apologised. In order to make up for Derpy's mistake, Pinkie stood like a wall in front of Riccardo. "You're not strong enough to block me." Riccardo taunted as he charged straight through Pinkie "Arion!" He signalled. "Right!" Arion replied as he recieved the ball. "We've only got 5 minutes left!" Twilight replied "I... I got it!" Fluttershy replied and with a swift jump, managed to slide kick the ball off Arion. The whistle blew to say that Twilight and friends managed to complete the objective and in conclusion, won the battle. "Yes!" Rainbow punched in the air "first battle win!" "You did it Fluttershy!" Twilight congratulated "Oh it was nothing..." Fluttershy blushed "Impressive." Riccardo nodded "but that was just the first battle. Let's see if you can hold the ball for 5 minutes." Twilight and co managed to keep the ball away from their opponents by passing it to each other away from Riccardo and co. "Their passing is sharp and swift." Sam analysed "it looks rather hard to break their formation." "Not for long." The small pony replied "It's time to bring out my special skill! Flapjack Defence!" And performed a backflip. With his hind legs landing on Arion's, the small pony was propelled through the air due to Arion's buck kick, heading for Twilight who has the ball. "What the..." Twilight tried to figure out why a small Earth pony was flying towards her until with a quick swoop, the pony flew past her with the ball on his forehead. "You can do that!?" Rainbow replied, the whistle blew to signify the end of the battle. "Oui!" The small pony replied as he dusted himself after his landing. "It's a block move called Flapjack Defence! I'm Jean-Pierre Lapin by the way, but everyone must call me JP!" "Nice to meet you JP. I'm Rainbow Dash!" "You held on pretty well, but not long enough." Riccardo started "Sorry." Twilight apologised "One more battle match." Riccardo continued "this time, you score a goal." With Rainbow starting with the ball, Skie blew the whistle to begin the final match. Like what they did in the previous battle, Twilight and co managed to hold on to the ball till they got close to the ball. "Now's your chance Rainbow!" Twilight called and kicked the ball towards her. "Hahh!!!" Rainbow yelled and with a strong kick, volleyed the ball towards the goal. "Good kick, but not good enough to get past me!" Sam noted "Combustion Catch!" He yelled and a flame erupted from one of his hooves via combustion. He jumped into the air, spinning four times in the clockwise direction before slamming his flaming hoof on the ball. As he caught the ball and brought it close to his chest, the flames on his hand die out in a steam. "Oh come on! How are we supposed to get past that?" Twilight moaned "this special skill thing is so annoying!" "In that case," Derpy piped up as she spotted Riccardo dribbling the ball, "let's try that move JP perfromed!" "Okay then!" Pinkie replied and as Derpy performed a backflip, Pinkie used her hind legs to propel Derpy. However, Derpy's legs slid off Pinkie's and the poor pegasus got kicked in the flank instead. "Oww..." Derpy moaned "You need lots of practice and trust between each other to pull off that move." JP explained "Let's finish this." Riccardo remarked and kicked the ball towards the goal. "Catch it Fluttershy!!!" Twilight called "Don't be scared! Face it like you faced that dragon!" Rainbow added "L-Like... The dragon?" Fluttershy remembered. As she stared at the approaching ball, it started to form into the large sleeping dragon before in her mind. Immediately, her eyes arched in anger and with one hoof, stopped the ball without being pushed back. "Woah!!!" Pinkie replied "you did it!" "Very good." Riccardo applauded "perhaps your secondary position could be a goalie?" "You blasted ball!" Fluttershy scolded "how dare you decide to fly toward me and my friend's goal!?" "Wait... What?" Victor blurted as he saw the kind pegasus chewing out the ball. "Looks like she took the ball dragon thing too seriously." Rainbow shrugged as Fluttershy continued yelling at the ball. "Why don't you go where you're supposed to? The other goal!" Fluttershy concluded and with one mighty kick, sent the ball flying towards Sam. "Woah! That's some kick!" Arion exclaimed. JP proceeded to block it with another defensive move on which he blocked the ball successfully. but as Fluttershy kicked the ball with a lot of spin, it also seemed to drag the earth pony's hooves along with it, causing him to lose his landing. Rainbow immediately took the chance and give one last all-out kick. "Hahhhhh!" Rainbow roared as she turned to give a buck kick straight towards the goal. "Ugh!" Sam at the time, thought that it wasn't necessary to use his special save skill again and decided to punch the ball away. However, the ball was too high for him to reach and as the ball soared pass him, it hit the back of the net. "Yes! It went in!" Rainbow cheered as she did a little forward somersault as a goal celebration. The whistle blew to end the battle. "That was something." Riccardo complimented "that previous battle took me by surprise. Especially with your save Fluttershy." "Thank you." Fluttershy giggled "Say, I think you've played very well in that match." Arion noted "why don't we help you go an extra mile?" "Sounds like a great deal!" Pinkie nodded excitedly in agreement. "Yeah!" Derpy nodded "I want to learn that Flapjack defence move too!" "Well" Twilight decided "how can we say no?" "It's settled!" Arion jumped "let's begin now!!!" "Everypony! Everypony! There's an announcement from Princess Celestia! Everypony must assemble in the town square!" A loud voice echoed out. "An announcement?" JP wondered "We should go too." Victor added "Oh!... Was THAT accepted that fast?" Twilight wondered The 5 ponies that visited Raimon managed to meet up with the other 7 with the Raimon ponies in tow. Everypony surrounded a life-size spectral image of Celestia standing in front of the town hall. "My fellow ponies." The princess started "there was incident in Ponyville yesterday that nearly brought the town to ruin." "Oh... That." Some ponies muttered "However..." The princess continued with another spectral form in the many other cities such as Manehattan, Appleloosa, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire and all the other cities. "This incident has passed with a great inspiration to the Princesses!..." "... Cadence honey" Shining asked "What is this all about?" "Didn't your sister tell you before you left Ponyville?" Cadence giggled "No..." "... And with all the Princesses in agreement" Celestia concluded "I declare that hoofball has now been recognised as an official sport!" All the cities in Equestria wondered what was this hoofball. Ponyville on the other hand, cheered their heads off. "Also..." Celestia added "there will be an upcoming tournament open to all hoofball teams! Further details will be announced later in the days ahead. That is all, continue on with your day." Celestia finished and with a bow, her spectral images around the towns and cities vanished. "W-Wait, you..." Riccardo started "agreed to make hoofball an official sport!?" "Not just that!" Pinkie added "she drafted this rule!" "I was there." Arion added "isn't this wonderful Captain?" "B-But... This was supposed to be a holiday..." Riccardo continued "Well it won't be anymore!!!" A sharp voice replied. "Coach Evans? You can't be serious!" Riccardo turned "don't tell me we're going to enter that tournament! Let Equestria have their own game!" "Of course not!" Evans chuckled "we'll be training them instead. This is what we agreed on, right Princess Twilight?" "Well yes, we did..." "However" Skie added "we can act as managers for your team!" "I'm afraid I'll be taking that spot darling." Rarity replied "And I'll be too." Flash approached "Princess Twilight's orders." "In that case..." Arion replied "let's train!" "Yeah!!!" Raimon, the Mane 6 and the Background 6 cheered. "But..." Riccardo interrupted "we don't have a place to train. The manor is pretty small compared to a pitch." "I've fixed that problem!!!" Spike piped up, everypony looked down to see the baby dragon. "And you are?" "I'm Twilight's assistant Spike! The Princess has decided to allow construction of any hoofball pitches at anypony's request! That is, if they fit the requirements." "And I've also built one last night in my castle!" Twilight added "it shall be called the Twilight Stadium!" "And why is it not Ponyville?" Applejack asked "because I requested a proper stadium built in Ponyville." The Mayor answered behind her. "It will be done in a few days." "Thank you Mayor." Twilight nodded "What are we waiting for?" Pinkie cried out "let's play hoofball!" Meanwhile, the ponies defeated by Twilight's hoofball team had been travelling away from Equestria feeling ashamed of their defeat and were starting to point names and curses at each other. "You fool!" "Hag!" "Why are you all so lame and weak!!!" "Silence! No one calls the Great and Powerful Trixie weak!" "Well well well..." A voice interrupted. The 11 turned towards a red mane earth pony. "Who are you?" Trixie started "Nice match from before." The pony replied "of course, your actions need to be suppressed." "Trixie has told you already! We don't care about the rules!" "What if following the rules... I mean OUR rules would make you greater than ever and have more power?" The entire team stayed silent "Think of me as just teaching all of you the meaning of hoofball, how to play it properly, and how to win." "... Will we get our revenge then?" Trixie asked "You'll get more than that, you'll get anything." "F-Fine. We accept." Trixie nodded "Excellent." The pony grinned "welcome to Fifth Sector."