Solo

Time passed by very quickly. It was particulaly very fast for Neo who trained every single day an almost every single hour of the past week.

Whenever he wasn't in the field training, he was standing on his toes or he tied very heavy metalic objects to his leg. He went as far as even training while sleeping.

The days passed by and soon, it was time for the group stage of the soccer wars.

Neo stood facig Sam, they were in the field.

Sam smiled at him. Now show me what you've learnt in the last week..

Show you what I've got...? Neo's voice was slowly rising. You only taught me for a day!

Sam chuckled. I laid the foundation for you, the rest was up to you. Do you mean to tell me that you didn't learn anything?

Neo shrugged as he rolled his eyes. That's not what I said.

Sam spread out his hands. Okay, what do I expect now?

Neo sighed angrily. What do you want to see first?

Show me flashs steps.

Neo steadied himself. He had not yet learnt to move at that blistering speed that Sam moved at, but he could certainly achieve a certain level of speed that was at least a bit slower than that of Alex. But he couldn't do it repeatedly, he lacked the infinite stamina needed to do so.

Neo suddenly moved at a very high speed and he was suddenly reappearing a small distance away from Sam. Even though it was Sam who created this skill, he couldn't still help but marvel at the sudden outburst that the skill offered. Sweat had gathered in thick beads on Neo's head and Neo was already panting.

That's good. Sam said. But you nee to do better, this is barely okay. Right now, this will never aid you in your journey to become the greatest of all time.

Neo raised a brow. Excuse me?

Sam stretched his hands. Do it again.

Neo was a bit annoyed by this request, he was already very tired after doing it once and this old man was not even in any way satisfied, and he was even asking him to do it again!

Neo took a deep breath and steadied his legs, he made sure his breathing and his heart beat were in sync.

Just as every thing seemed slow in Neo's vision as he burst forward, he suddenly caught wind of something that moved much faster than him.

The figure zoomed past him and stopped in front of him, the figure materialized into Sam. Neo was stunned and in an instant, he collided into Sam.

But the tall old man didn't fall of even stagger, rather it was Neo who fell backwards with half the speed he used to come.

Arghh!

Neo groaned as his head was thrown backwards and his body followed suit.

Sam who towered over him pointed at him. The flash steps takes a lot of stamina, so you better be prepared and becareful how you use it.

Train yourself, perfect the flash steps. The longer you can use it, the better for you.

Neo nodded his head, he was taking in everything the oldman said, no matter how weird it sounded.

Now show me your floater shot.Sam said this as he pulled the sixteen years old Neo from the floor.

Neo nodded his head. He had learned to control his floater shots, but it was definitely not going to work most of the time. Despite knowing this, Neo hoped that today and right now would be one of the few times that his shot worked as he wanted.

Neo stared at Sam. If can learn these skills, what more do I have to do?

Sam shrugged. Nothing, you just have to keep on practicing them and make sure you perfect it. You must be very constistent with the shot, in other words, You have to become the floater.

Neo laughed as he thought inwardly. I am, The Floater.

I want you to be able to useflash steps for a period of ninety minutes.

Neo was caught off guard by that last question, the reality of someone being able to do that seemed very surreal to him.

Can you even do that?

Sam shook his head. No, I can't. Sadly, I can only run on flash steps for a duration of eighty two mins.

Neo was stunned. Hell!? The man was able to run at that speed for a duration of eighty two mins!? He had barely used it for two seconds and he was already sweating this much.

Sam laughed. To round it up, we're gonna have a kind of small solo match, You will do the attack while I defend against you.

Neo nodded, it sounded good. Moreover, he wanted to see how he could fare against such an opponent.

They used a tire as Sam's post, Sam defended while Neo attacked.

Sam passed the ball to him. Since you're the attacker, then I guess I have no need for the ball.

Neo smiled as he controlled the ball, with that, the solo match had officially begun.