I was in a dark place for the majority of the past few months. The funeral and its proceedings took about a week, and everything he had done for me, people seemed to overlook, because he was gone. I wished for him to return last birthday, knowing it wasn't possible. Out of my mother's pushing, I rejoined the Sutton Seagulls and went to practice every Saturday and Sunday. The weird system thing? I put it down to whatever anaesthetics they gave me at the hospital; nothing of the sort had resurfaced. This Saturday will be my first day back in training.
Mum took the day off and drove me down, my duffel full with boots, a kit, shin pads and the works. She sat in the stands and watched me, she's the closest thing to him I have. Sometimes, when I lay my head on her lap at night when I can't sleep, I can smell him on her. I pulled on the kit, wore the shin pads and socks, pulled my boots on and walked out shuffling nervously.
Coach Dean walked out, and the dozen other kids and I sat down. I looked around a lot, and didn't spot Larry, then I realised that I hadn't seen him since my accident. Which probably meant he got into an academy somewhere. I hung my head, happy for him, but disheartened all the same.
Mr Dean had us doing drills, and was cautious of doing ball training just yet. he told me that after accidents and a long time of not playing football, it doesn't feel the same when you kick a ball. It scared me, but he had to eventually bring out the balls.
We all trudged forwards to get the balls, I was pushed and shoved, and ended up standing alone in front of the ball bag, picking up the last ball inside, I turned to walk away and see if I could still kick the ball, but my knees went weak, arms heavy, I thought i'd vomit up Mum's spaghetti. I fainted.
For what felt like forever, I drifted in darkness, and I swam around this dark pitch black, gooey liquid around me. Every few seconds, there would be a blue shimmer, washing over my body, and I had no conception of the time or where my body was right now. Am I dead? My whole body filled with dread at the thought until a sharp voice rang out from the infinite darkness, "Host Distress Detected, Scanning Complete."
I felt the water around me gurgling and starting to spiral around me; it was going down, and I was in some sort of tank. Eventually, the water drained out completely, and I stared at the glass walls around me. I couldn't see past them, perhaps the vague outlines of other such cubes, and other such people inside, but I ignored them as the voice rang out again.
"HOST TEMPLATE RECOGNISED AS RONALDO 2008."
It was when the voice talked about the template that I realised that this had to be the thing that happened to me when I was in hospital, I mean, that was the exact template I chose.
"HOST SCAN COMPLETE, PHYSICALLY STABLE, EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED (WOULD ADVICE COUNSEL)."
Wow, even this stupid system thing, I'm depressed.
"What are you?"
"I AM A SYSTEM, GRANTED TO 1 OUT OF A HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE IN TIMES OF DISTRESS OR NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES."
"So there just happens to be a football system?"
"NEGATIVE, A SYSTEM TAKES THE AMBITION OF THE HOST AND MOULDING AROUND IT. THEREFORE, I HAVE BECOME A FOOTBALL SYSTEM."
"I can't see you..."
"WOULD THE HOST PREFER A PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE?"
"Yes..."
The glass walls shone with blue light, and the shape of some form of humanoid formed in front of me, and when it was done bouncing light around the box we were in, the blurring went away, and I saw a woman, long black hair, and if my ten year old self thought so, quite good looking.
"HOST WILL BE THE ONLY ENTITY THAT CAN SEE ME."
"I see..."
"HOST, ARE YOU STILL INTERESTED IN ACCEPTING THE SYSTEM?"
I looked down at my hands and then at my legs. I felt burdened. I knew I needed to turn my life around. "Yes, I'm ready to accept."
There was a massive surge of light, and the woman disappeared, and after a few seconds, her voice appeared in my head,
I willed her back into my mind, and suddenly, just like in the hospital, those tabs opened in my field of vision, those tabs that only I could see.
___________________________________World's Game____________________________________________
USER STATUS: Energised (warmed up), muscle tension low, emotional status is conflicted.
USER: 10 years + 6 Months (Allesandro Jones-Williams).
STAT SYSTEMS:
Body: Phy (0) Pac (0) Acc (0) Jum (0) Fit (0) Sta (0)
Technique: Sprint (0) Defence (0) Pass (0) Shot (0) Head (0) Dribbling (0)
TRAINING REGIME:
Body: Endurance Circuit (50x sit-ups, 10 minutes punching bag, 30 pull-ups, 21-mile run, 15 burst sprints) - Repeat x2 per day (Reps and Exercises will change as host progresses).
Technique: 50x laps around the pitch, an Hour of lifting (change body region each day), use ball machine to practice blocking shots, Passing drills (System will provide drill partner), Header Practice (System will provide partner), Shooting drills, finesse, power and low driven shots (System will provide keeper), Dribbling courses (System will provide the augmented course) Repeat at least 3x per day.
STAT POINTS: (0) TO INCREASE, DO DAILY WORKOUTS AND PLAY IN MATCHES.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I stared in disbelief, the drills were ridiculous, there was no way I could finish the body and techniques regimes in one day, let alone repeat them. It was as if the system could read my mind, which it probably could, "A single rep of these regimes will grant the host five stat points, to do more, is in your incentive to grow."
The system was telling me to stop being scared.
_______________________________________World's Game____________________________________________
DUE TO HOST'S PRE-ACCIDENT PROWESS, SYSTEM HAS GRANTED STAT POINT GIFT, SYSTEM GRANTS HOST, 100 STAT POINTS...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
As the voice finished, the excitement got the better of me, and I opened the stats tab in the system and spent the points on what I thought would matter the most.
_______________________________________World's Game____________________________________________
STAT SYSTEMS:
Body: Phy (5) Pac (12) Acc (10) Jum (1) fit (10) Sta (10) SPENT: 12+10+10+10+5+1= 48
Technique: Sprint (12) Defence (2) Pass (10) Shot (15) Head (3) Dribbling (10) SPENT: 15+12+10+10+3+2= 52
STAT POINTS: (0)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I smiled at the tab and spoke out loud, my voice full of clarity, "Take me back, system..."
And the world went dark for the hundredth time.