Skylab Hurricane

For its special shot version, see Skylab Twin Shot.

Skylab Hurricane (スカイラブハリケーン, sukairabu harikēn) is the trademark technique of the Tachibana twins, developed during the Boys' Fight arc.

Description[]

The Skylab Hurricane, also known as the "catapult shot", is one of the many acrobatic techniques of the Tachibana brothers, later also by other players of Japan. A player kicks the ball at a high edge in front of the goal. Then one of the brothers throws his back on the lawn. The other jumps on his cleats and is catapulted high into the air - which is why this technique is also known as a "catapult shot" - to reach the ball. With a header the ball can then be sunk in the opponent's goal.

However, this technique is not as often feasible because the heavy burden on the legs is extremely high. Despite this, an advantage of the technique is that it can be performed in almost any position and height.

Users[]

Tachibana twins	Tachibana twins & Jito	Jun Misugi & Jito
Tsubasa Ozora & Jito	Tsubasa Ozora & Igawa	Espadas, Suarez & Zaragoza

Story[]

Boys' Fight arc
The brothers trained the Skylab Hurricane specially for the 16th National Middle School Tournament and revealed it during the second half-time against Nankatsu. With it, they were able to equalize 2 - 2. Two more attempts were thwarted by Tsubasa, who used the goal as jumping aid to reach the ball or pushed off the post. Another hurricane failed due to the overloading of the twins' legs.

J Boys' Challenge arc
During the International Jr. Youth Tournament, the brothers also involve Hiroshi Jito and develop with him new combinations of their special techniques, such as the Skylab Twin Shot.

Battle of World Youth arc
During the World Youth Tournament, the Tachibanas proved themselves again in the match against Mexico Youth. Their aerial soccer successfully countered that of the 5 Aztec Warriors; only with a deliberate foul did the Mexican player Garcia manage to stop them, crippling them and putting them out of the rest of the tournament.

Golden-23 arc
The Tachibanas were converted into a double volante by coach Kira. It is also revealed that the twins had by then realized that their grown up bodies couldn't take the enormous strain of their Skylab Hurricane technique anymore, as they verified in a J1 League match; therefore, they had sealed the technique. However, in the final match against U-22 Australia, they insisted on being the starting centerforwards, to use this very technique to score the first of the goals Japan desperately needed to qualify. After some struggling, Misaki reluctantly gave them the centering they needed, and they flawlessly scored, being incapacitated in the process.

The technique can be used offensively, the users are sure to jump higher than any defenders and goalkeeper trying to intercept a cross directed towards them. Jun Misugi used it as interception with the help of Hiroshi Jito.

Rising Sun arc
In the Madrid Olympics final tournament, the Mexican Combi together with Espadas playing as a forward were able to mimick the Tachibanas' air-play by doing the Skylab Hurricane to score against Spain. The difference was that only Espadas was the one sent high into the air and two players served as the "catapult".

Variants[]

Low Altitude Skylab Hurricane (Skylab Horizontal): Low-lying variant of the Skylab Hurricane. One of the brothers catapults the other not in the air, but horizontally towards the gate.
Skylab Twin Shot: A perfected special skill by using a giant player to sent two players at once to do a Twin Shot.
Skylab Triangle: A combination with the Triangle Shot substituting a Skylab Hurricane for a Triangle Jump off an opposing goalpost.