This isn't exactly my first time writing but it's definitely my first time publishing. I'd like to see comments and critics if possible! If you're wondering, this is set in the 3 months period that was given in between the end of Inazuma Eleven GO and the start of Inazuma Eleven GO 2: Chrono Stone. I've had this story in my folders for too long, it should be about time I share it.

Phantom

Chapter 1

It Felt So Real

Matsukaze Tenma ran. He ran as fast as he could, in the same time making sure the ball was in his possession. Bruises decorated his body, his arms, his legs – but he ignored the pain. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

"You've gotten slower, Tenma." A cold voice whispered into his ears. Tenma gasped and hurriedly turned around. He was still keeping the ball – thank god.

The young teen's eyes narrowed in confusion. Kirino and Kariya stood in front of him. Both of them were wearing ripped black robes. Tenma gritted his teeth. The two defenders were smirking.

"Seriously, Tenma, you're too slow." Kirino took a step forward – followed by Kariya.

"Kirino-senpai… Kariya…" Tenma felt his insides twisting inside of him. He didn't want to waste anymore time so he turned around and started to dribble again. It was useless trying to talk to them. Ignorance was his best option.

He didn't know where he was going. All around him, he could only see trees. That wouldn't be a surprise, since he was in a forest and stuff. But he didn't know this path. He had never travelled this part of the forest.

Up ahead, he saw a building. An ancient building that didn't come from his time. He smiled. "This is it,"

A sudden pain came from his abdomen. Tenma coughed and dropped to the ground. The ball he was dribbling rolled a few feet away. Tenma looked up – his blue eyes in search of the person who had kicked another ball towards him.

He wasn't surprised to see Hayami and Hamano.

"Hayami-senpai… Hamano-senpai…"

"What's wrong, Tenma? Too tired to go on?" Hamano mocked his junior with a sinister smirk. He and Hayami were both wearing the same ripped black robes Kirino and Kariya were wearing. A soccer ball was seen in Hayami's hand. Tenma averted his gaze. He didn't dare to look at their faces.

The brunet stood up with much effort and he dribbled again with the ball from earlier. He tried his best to ignore their sinister smirks and their cold eyes. Though, instead of feeling confused, a new feeling came from inside of him. He smirked to himself – suddenly filled with pride. He ran into the ancient building, still dribbling the ball.

Just as he had expected, the place was deserted. Rubble and ruins were everywhere. In the far edge of the vast and vacant building, he saw a rusted and old goal post. Tenma gripped his Raimon soccer uniform. Determination came into him and the smirk he was wearing disappeared.

He dribbled towards the goal.

Just as he was halfway to the goal, a dark but small figure appeared in front of him – almost as fast as lightning. The figure was wearing an eye mask, the same black and ripped robe and under the robe was his Raimon soccer team uniform.

Tenma stopped dribbling and placed his foot on the ball. His fists tightened.

"Shinsuke…"

The said defender took a step forward. Tenma stepped back a little.

"This is as far as you go, Tenma…" the small defender said and raised his hand. Tenma flinched. He quickly jumped into the sky. The goal was still a little further away but he knew he could do it. Just as he was about to kick the ball, another dark figure appeared in front of him. Both of them were floating in the sky.

Tenma's eyes widened and he quickly kept the ball in his possession by turning to the other side. Another dark figure – different than the first one – blocked him. The same thing happened over and over again until the brunet landed on his feet again. Tenma dropped to one knee. Fatigue was making its way into his system. His breathing was rapid and unsteady. But he wasn't going to give up. Things will work out. Everything will work out.

He struggled to stand up. His foot was still on the ball. He looked around. Damn it, he was surrounded.

All of them were wearing the same Raimon uniform, the same black robe and the same eye mask. There were eleven people in total. And all of them were his teammates; or more accurately, his ex-teammates.

One of them stepped forward. Tenma recognized him immediately. He gripped his right shoulder and winced in pain. He closed one of his eyes to get a better look since his vision was suddenly getting blurry.

"You…" Tenma uttered.

The navy blue haired teenager walked towards Tenma without saying a word. Tenma stared at Tsurugi's blank face. There was no expression. There was no smile, no smirk – just a face of a robot.

Tenma noticed something. He looked up a little bit more and saw an indoor balcony. He gasped when he saw Shindou, Kirino and Sangoku on it. Shindou – besides Tenma – was the only one that wasn't wearing a black robe. Shindou was also the only one not wearing an eye mask. Because of this though, Tenma could see how cold his eyes were. How they were so filled with hate.

The brunet saw the captain of Raimon talk into a walkie-talkie. He was too far away to hear what Shindou said. But he didn't need to wait long as Tsurugi had the other end of the communication.

"Kill him, if all else fails."

"Understood," Tsurugi replied.

Tenma gasped again as a dark blue coloured aura surrounded Tsurugi like a tornado. The tornado-like aura swallowed Tsurugi but disappeared as soon as it appeared. Tenma was sure that was a hissatsu technique. He didn't know who or what said it but he could hear the name of the hissatsu in the distance.

Phantoms' Pact

Sweat rolled down Tenma's chin. His vision was getting worse and he was losing his balance. He dropped to his knees again. He tried to keep his gaze on Tsurugi's face. But something caught his eye; something on Tsurugi's hand.

Tsurugi was wearing a two-finger claw studded with jewels.

They weren't joking when they wanted to kill him.

Tenma clutched the Raimon symbol on his uniform. His eyes slowly watered as his face slowly met the ground.

Tsurugi… Everyone…

"ACK!" Tenma shouted in shock and sat up. He looked around. He was in his room. So… So all of that was just a dream? No, no, a nightmare; a crazy but awful nightmare. He noticed that his palms were sweating. The brunet rubbed his hands against his blanket. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself since his breathing was unstable.

It was just a nightmare, Tenma. It was just a nightmare that felt so real…

His eyes shot open. That's right, everything was too real. It was almost as if it really happened. But Tenma knew it never did. Or maybe it did and he died…? Okay, that was nonsense. He was still in his room and – glancing at the clock – he was going to be late for morning practice.

Wait, morning practice.

Oh, dang it!

Tenma jumped out of his bed and panicked. "AKI-NEE, WHERE DID I PUT MY UNIFORM?!"

"Tenma! You're late!" Shinsuke said with a small pout. Tenma scratched the back of his head. He already changed into his jersey. "Sorry…" he apologized.

Shinsuke grinned and went behind Tenma. "Alright, let's practice!" he started to push Tenma towards the field. But as soon as he pushed the brunet, Tenma suddenly jumped into the air and did a back flip; though he landed on his butt since his flip wasn't all that perfect. Shinsuke blinked as he stared at Tenma's terrified face. What confused him even more was that Tenma was trembling – as if he was afraid.

"Ten… ma…?

The brunet snapped out of his daze and looked at Shinsuke. He then looked at his hands and the position he was in. "Um… did I just… did a flip?"

Shinsuke sweat dropped. "You didn't even realize it…?"

Tenma quickly shook his head. He laughed and stood up. Shinsuke joined his laughing feat.

The bell rang, signalling recess. Kariya stood up from his seat. Man, he was totally famished. He walked from his desk to Tenma's desk and tapped the brunet's shoulder. "Ne, Tenma-kun, are you-"

But he was cut off when Tenma suddenly turned around and grabbed his wrist. Kariya's eyes widened. He stared at Tenma's eyes and noticed that they were distant – as if Tenma was in another world and he wasn't conscious of what he was doing. Moreover, Tenma's hand that was holding Kariya's was shaking.

"Tenma-kun…?" Kariya tried again. He shook his hand free from Tenma's grasp and rubbed his wrist.

That was a tight hold…

"E-Eh? Kariya?" Tenma held his head. He shook it a little. Kariya's eyes narrowed at Tenma's weird antics. "Tenma-kun, are you alright?"

Tenma's eyes shot open. "A-Ah," he smiled. "I'm fine. I'm just, fine." He said and hurriedly walked out of the classroom.

Kariya turned his head to Aoi, who was watching. Aoi shook her head, signalling that she didn't know what was wrong with Tenma. Kariya turned his head to the door again – still rubbing his sore wrist.

"Today Coach Endou won't be here with us for evening practice," Haruna announced in the clubroom. Everybody gasped at this. Shindou – who was still in his school uniform – walked towards Haruna. "Why? Did something happen?"

Haruna giggled. "Coach Endou is with Kidou and Gouenji-san right now. They decided to meet up in a restaurant for lunch,"

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. That certainly shocked them. Of course, they thought something bad had happened. But it turns out their coach was just hanging out with the former Holy Emperor, Gouenji Shuuya and Teikoku Academy's commander, Kidou Yuuto.

As everyone finished changing, Kariya sneaked up on Kirino – who was sitting on one of the sofas with Shindou. "Kirino-senpai~" he whispered.

Kirino turned his head around and almost jumped at Kariya's sudden appearance. But he kept his composure. Shindou turned to look at Kariya too.

"W-What's wrong, Kariya?"

"It's about Tenma-kun," Kariya whispered. Kirino turned his head to Shindou. Both of them had their eyebrows raised.

"What about Tenma?" Shindou asked, stealing a glance at the brunet who was happily having a conversation with Hikaru.

"He's been acting weird all day," Kariya explained. Both of his seniors looked at him and gave him weird looks. "I'm telling the truth!" he pouted.

"Kariya's right!" Shinsuke appeared out of nowhere on Kariya's head, resulting into a number of gasps. The light-blue haired defender almost toppled backwards if he hadn't grabbed the sofa that was in front of him.

Shindou turned his gaze on Shinsuke. A wave of worry washed him. "What did he do?"

"Well, for starters, he came late this morning for practice… and then when I was pushing him towards the field, he suddenly did a back flip!" Shinsuke said. Kirino's eyebrows furrowed together. "A back flip…?"

"Yeah! And he didn't even realize it!"

The two seniors' eyes widened.

"And during lunch earlier…" Kariya started as he stood up. Shinsuke jumped off of him so that he could speak. "He grabbed my wrist when I was about to ask him if he'd like to have lunch with me. Here, look," Kariya said and revealed his wrist. There were red finger marks on it. "His grip was so tight." His eyes narrowed.

"Not only that! He spaced out in class numerous of times too!" Aoi appeared form behind Kariya and shook her finger. Kariya, who wasn't expecting another surprise, tripped over his own feet from shock. "Oi! Cut it out!" he said, clearly agitated. "But now that you mention it, he was rubbing his temples countless of times too, like he was having a headache or something…"

Kirino and Shindou narrowed their eyes. Something was definitely wrong with Tenma. Just as Shindou was about to say something, all five of them heard a loud crash. Their heads snapped to the source of the interruption.

Tenma's back was against the lockers and his body was visibly trembling. He was staring at Kurumada's raised hand – it was clear he was trying to give Tenma another hit on the back like how Midori always did. The senior blinked in confusion at Tenma's sudden movement of defence. "Tenma? Did I do something wrong?"

"A-Ah, no! You didn't do anything wrong at all, Kurumada-senpai!" Tenma said as he regained his composure. The brunet bowed in apology.

Shindou stared at his junior. He took note of Tenma's still trembling hand. Something smelt fishy.

"See?" Kariya whispered and jabbed a thumb towards the still-bowing Tenma. "His reactions. Would he really jump to the locker?"

Kirino turned his head to his best friend. Worry decorated his face. "Shindou…"

"We just have to keep an eye on him. There must be a reason to his actions," Shindou said and stood up. "We'll find out more during practice," he looked at the other four who were involved in the conversation with confidence. They all nodded back at him.

"Hamano-kun! Pass!" Hayami called. Hamano nodded his head and sent the ball to Hayami.

Since the coach wasn't here today, everybody was practicing on their own. Haruna and the managers observed from the benches as the team concentrated on improving their teamwork.

"Shindou!" Hayami called out and passed the ball to the captain.

Shindou was about to receive the ball, when Tsurugi intercepted it. The first year student started to dribble towards the other goal – where Shinsuke was at. Shindou smiled at this. From the benches, he could hear Midori complimenting Tsurugi's cut. He gave chase and tried to steal the ball from the forward.

"That's it Shindou! Fight back!" Midori shouted with a huge grin on her face.

Tsurugi dribbled, trying to avoid Shindou's tackles. He spotted Nishiki out of the corner of his eye and passed the ball to him. Shindou gasped as Nishiki perfectly caught the ball.

"Nice, Nishiki!" there goes Midori again.

The samurai of the team dribbled towards the goal. Kariya stepped into his path. "You're not getting past me! Hunter's N-" but before he could finish, Nishiki smirked and quickly kicked the ball to the left. Kariya gasped and didn't continue with his hissatsu. Hikaru quickly caught the ball with his foot and dribbled to the goal. Nishiki had been a decoy; Hikaru was the one who was going to shoot.

"Extend Zone!" Hikaru shouted and kicked the ball with all of his power.

Shinsuke called out his keshin, "Goseishin Titanias!" and he easily caught the ball. He grinned with satisfaction. Hikaru grinned back.

"Nice catch, Shinsuke!"

"Your shoot was incredible too, Hikaru!"

Shindou smiled at everyone's enthusiasm. But then something occurred to him. He didn't see Tenma. The strategist glanced around the field. He found Tenma near Sangoku's goal post – but still a good distance away from the mentioned goalkeeper. The brunet was alone, kicking the ball up and down again – not really doing any sort of practice. Shindou felt the worry and confusion from earlier come back to him.

"What do you think we should do, Shindou?" Kirino said as the defender walked and stop next to him. Shindou turned his head to the side. Kirino was watching Tenma too. The strategist turned his head to the midfielder again.

"I don't know, Kirino… I don't know…"

Just as soon as those words left his mouth, Tenma suddenly dropped to the ground with his hands on his head. Both Kirino and Shindou gasped. "TENMA!" they ran towards their junior. Their shouts had attracted the attention of the others, who quickly followed suit.

Sangoku was already beside Tenma by the time Shindou arrived.

"Oi, Tenma! Keep it together!" Sangoku said, trying to reassure the brunet who shook his head in response. The goalkeeper tried to hold Tenma but the midfielder slapped his hand away and screamed, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Sangoku gasped and retrieved his hand. Tenma was still shaking his head. Everybody from Raimon was behind Sangoku. Some of them were afraid of going closer to Tenma while some were just unsure of what to do.

"TENMA!" Aoi squeezed herself out of the group and kneeled next to Tenma. Haruna followed behind her. "Tenma-kun, are you okay?!" the club's advisor shouted in worry.

Tenma forced an eye open and he looked at Aoi. His eyes were filling up with tears. Aoi gasped in shock.

"No… No… NO!" Tenma closed his eyes again and screamed. He rolled onto his back – as if in pain. Shindou couldn't take it anymore. He ran forward. Kirino followed him. Each of them grabbed Tenma's arms.

"Tenma! Tenma! Hold it together!" Shindou shouted. He tried to calm the brunet down but he failed.

Tenma opened his eyes again. When he saw his two seniors' faces, he started to scream louder. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he kicked and struggled. He wriggled himself out of Shindou and Kirino's grasp and landed right in front of Aoi. His childhood friend held his shoulders. She shook him a little, panicking.

"TENMA…!"

"Aoi…" Tenma's hand found its way on her shoulder. "Save me, Aoi…" he whispered as he looked up and stared at Aoi in the eye. A tear drop ran down his cheek. "Please, don't let them kill me…" and he fell into her arms unconscious.

Aoi was dumbfounded as her eyes widened. Kill him…? Who? Who would want to kill Tenma? "Tenma…! Tenma!" she shook him again, trying to wake him up. But her efforts were in vain.

"Akane-san! Call the ambulance!" Haruna ordered and the girl quickly fumbled with her mobile phone.

Everyone stared at Tenma as Tsurugi and Shindou helped carry his unconscious body to the benches. Aoi held her chin, thinking about Tenma's words. Her eyes were glistening in confusion and pure worry.

"I'm not sure what happened either… Yes, yes… I'm really sorry, Aki-san…" Haruna hung up and walked back to the team. Inside, she was getting that strange feeling of déjà vu when Shindou had been injured. Just as she reached the team, the doctor came out. Aoi and Shinsuke were the first to run to him. Haruna quickened her steps. Aki would be here soon, along with Endou, Kidou and Gouenji.

"How is he, doctor?! It's nothing serious, right?!" Aoi panicked.

Haruna placed a hand on Aoi's shoulder. "Everything will be fine," she said to Aoi as the girl turned her head to face the soccer club's advisor.

The doctor smiled. "There's nothing to worry about. He's fine now," the doctor reassured everybody. All of them sighed with relief. "But I don't think he'll be able to receive any visitors for the time being… I can only allow close relatives to visit him," the doctor continued.

Everybody in the team gasped. Shindou walked closer to the doctor. "Why?"

"He may be physically fine, but his emotions aren't. Currently, he seems to have some sort of emotional instability. I can't do anything about it. Only time will cure him," the doctor said regretfully and walked away.

Shinsuke look down. One could see the shock on his face. "No way…"

"What's this about Tenma…?" a voice not far from them said and all heads turned around to see Endou, Kidou and Gouenji jogging towards all of them. Shindou, as the captain, was the first to explain everything to their coach and the other two adults. Haruna stood beside Shindou, supporting every word he said.

"So I see…" Endou rubbed his chin. "I guess only Aki can visit him then…" he exclaimed. Gouenji was seen talking to Tsurugi and Kidou was talking to Haruna. Endou suddenly felt somebody pulling his jacket from behind and turned around. He saw Aoi looking at him with teary but determined eyes. "C-Coach Endou, can we talk a-alone…?" she asked. Endou pursed his lips in confusion and nodded. Both of them walked further away from everybody else.

"What is it, Aoi?"

"Tenma… he… he told me to save him…" the girl said in a quiet voice. Endou gasped at this but narrowed his eyes. Something didn't feel right.

"Save him from what?"

"I don't know… He just told me to save him… And he said something about people wanting to kill him…" her voice cracked. She covered her mouth with a hand.

Endou was taken aback at this. Kill him? His fists tightened. Somehow, all of this seemed really familiar to him. He smiled, trying to reassure the manager. He placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned.

"It's fine. Everything will work out, right?"