My Goalkeeping System

<You had a hell lot of problems Dave but you've successfully corrected most of them so far but I'm going to go ahead and say the ones that are still there. Firstly, lack of decisiveness, you showed that once again in your last match of the season when you had to wait for me to tell you to activate the attribute before you did, if you had activated it before Okafor fired that shot, there would have never been a second goal>

'But you were the one that told me not to activate it.'

<That's the whole point of being decisive, you go ahead and do it without getting told and without minding the consequences as long as it helps the team and that also comes with the fighting spirit which you have very little, I was happy when you went to try your luck when you guys won the corner kick in injury time, that was really decisive but then you cut off the praise I wanted to give you by asking me for help when it was already clear that you were supposed to play it into the box from the top>

'So my problem is indecisiveness.'

<Yeah>

'You just listed the errors of everybody.'

<These are just the basic errors that are supposed to be easy for them to correct, there's more>

'Really?' Dave replied with an awkward expression on his face.

The goalkeeper didn't say anything else to her as he continued going through his phone.

He was currently on Facebook, he had been on the app since he entered the plane and now it was time to switch to another app, Instagram.

The first post he saw when he entered the app was a post from Bilbeth Premier League listing all the individual awards that had been won yesterday.

The first award was the one for the best player and obviously, it was given to Roland Hills, the second award was the one for the top goal scorer and it was given to Roland Hills, he scored a total of thirty-four goals in thirty-seven appearances.

The third award was the one for the player with the most assist and that one was given to Ferran with fifteen assists, the award for the best young player was given to Mateo and the award for the best goalkeeper was given to Supreme United's goalkeeper Perez Zoe.

<It's funny how all these awards were won by only Supreme United and Unique FC players yet Supreme United ended the season on top of the table and Unique FC ended in eighth place>

'What are you trying to say?'

<Isn't it obvious? The team has what it takes to be at the top, implementation and management is the problem>

'I guess you're right.' Dave replied before letting out a sigh.

Dave continued scrolling through posts on his phone until he found a video that had a title that caught his attention.

"I heard someone say that Unique FC can fight for the title next season and as unbelievable as that may sound, I think he's right, we all know Unique FC isn't that much of a great team but after that humiliating seven goals to one loss to Supreme United this season, something seemed to have sparked up in them.

"Dave who was arguably the worst goalkeeper in the league instantly picked up and shocked everyone by becoming a force to be reckoned with in between the sticks, I don't know how he did it but as a Unique FC fan, I am so glad he did. He wasn't the only one who picked up, the whole team did, Mateo started playing at a level I've never seen him play at before and I am so glad the coach snapped out from his slumber and began to start Roland Ryle ahead of Jonas Blue, that kid is an absolute genius."

After watching the video, Dave slid his phone into his pocket and began to stare off with a specific thought running through his mind.

'Catherine.' He called.

<Yeah>

'Now that my daily quests are gone and the season won't be kicking off until the next two months which is October, how am I supposed to get exp and level up?'

<You'll keep getting quests, some of them will even shock you>

'Shock me, how?'

<Can't say but you'll see>

'Again with the vague answers.'

________ ________

After about one hour in the air, the plane finally landed at Lospeno's local airport and now it was time for everybody to start making their way down the plane.

Dave was one of the first to make their way down the aircraft as he didn't have any luggage with him and right now he was looking around the area trying to spot Clark who said he would be waiting for him at the airport.

He wasn't able to spot Clark so he stuck his hand into his pocket and brought out his phone, he was about to click his contact when he saw someone pop up in front of him.

"Hey, I know you, you're Dave Richards." A feminine voice said. "Unique FC's goalkeeper."

Dave slowly raised his gaze to see a blonde-haired girl around the age bracket of eleven to thirteen standing in front of him.

She was elated to see him judging by the look on her face.

"Yeah, that's me," Dave said.

<The first stranger to recognize you today>

"I can't believe I'm looking at a professional football player face to face and one of the best goalkeepers in Bilbeth Premier League to say." She said.

"One of the best?"

<I think she's being delusional>

"Yeah, I don't watch football matches because it's quite boring, I prefer the highlights, but a lot of people have been talking about you recently so I decided to see for myself, I watched the match yesterday, Unique FC versus Lesica United and you were awesome, that dying minute assist from you blew me away." She said enthusiastically and her hand gestures were on point.

<She has a lot of energy>

"I see you're a big football fan," Dave said.

"Are you kidding me? My dream is to be a professional football player, a goalkeeper specifically." She said.

"I see," Dave said. "You're in an academy I guess."

"Yeah, it's a small female academy here in Lospeno." She said.

"You're from Lospeno?"

"Yeah." She replied with a nod.

"What were you doing at Unique City then?" Dave asked.

"I went to see my aunt, she lives there."

"Alone?"

"No, I'm with my mom actually." She replied.

"Oh, okay."

"Um.... do you mind signing my gloves for me?" She requested as she slowly began to bring her backpack down from her back.

Dave stared at her for a little while before replying.

"Sure."

"Yes." She muttered under her breath as she quickly brought down her bag and brought out her gloves. "Here."

As soon as Dave took the glove from her and set his eyes on it, a memory flashed in his mind.

The glove was purple and had the Adidas logo on them, the logo was orange.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Dave?" She asked after realizing that Dave was staring at the gloves in a strange way and wasn't even looking at the pen she was giving to him.

"No," Dave said, shaking his head to snap out of his daze. "It's just that these gloves are just like my first gloves, the pair mom bought for me when I was just eleven years old.

"What? My mom bought those gloves for me on my eleventh birthday." Serene said with a stunned look on her face.

<What a wonderful coincidence>

"I guess we have something in common." She said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Dave said before taking the pen from her.

He quickly signed both gloves for her and just before giving them back to her, he decided to ask her a question.

"How old are you?" He asked as he handed her the gloves.

"I'm twelve." She replied, taking the gloves from him.

"Okay, so you got these gloves a year ago."

"Yeah." She said with a nod.

"Serene!" A voice yelled from the side.

"That's my mom, I have to go, bye Mr. Dave." She said before quickly making her way to her mom. "I'm coming, mom!"

Dave had a smile on her face as he turned to watch her make her way to her mother.

Suddenly his phone began to vibrate in his hand and when he brought it up, he could see the name Clark displayed on it.

*****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.