Playing To Win

The sound of the ball crashing against the net didn't sound too significantly, but it echoed in Jack's ear. He had se four footballs in front of him and shot each and every single one of them into the net.

A teardrop escaped his eyes but he used his hands to clean out the corner of his eyes. He couldn't cry because of them, they weren't worth his tears, his emotions, his feelings.

He remembered it all. He was just a boy from the ghetto. A boy from the ghetto that had no right to dream or make any aspirations at all. Merseyside saved him from that, Giovanni saved him from that. They made him have dreams and hopes, they made him think that he could become someone; they made him think that he would become a world class player.

Sshhh! The ball hit the back of the net once more.

The same way that they made him dream, they took away his dreams, they took away everything from him. All his people that he thought were his friends left him when he needed their support, the coaches that used to dote upon him once upon a time thought him a failed talent and made sure to let him know their thoughts every time they had the opportunity. Only one man believed in him, and he lost his job because of it.

Jack sighed and looked at the football placed in front of him. This was the same park where he first signed for Merseyside. And the goal post that he had been shooting into was the same goal post he had been ordered to shoot into when he was seven.

Back then, he thought that he was going to retire at Merseyside as a tribute to them, he thought that he would become a club legend and win the English League for them, he thought that he was going to win the European League. Now he wasn't even sure whether he'd ever get to win any of these competitions in his career.

Ssshhh!

"Fuck!" Jack screamed. He shot the football and watched it sail over the bar instead of going into the goalpost. "It sailed over the bar, just like my career did". He laughed dryly.

He felt wronged that everything that he had dreamt of was considered over because of some dumb injury. He felt wronged that he was pronounced a failure by some club because of an injury. It was all very stupid.

Over the years, he had found that he had forgiven the person who injured him in the first place. He realized that he had nothing against the person. According to the doctor, everything was supposed to get better with time, precisely what Merseyside weren't willing to invest in him. They sent him away, not because they didn't believe he was a good talent, but because they didn't have the time to wait for him to bloom.

Other clubs didn't have that time either, except for Teesside. And even though he wouldn't become as good as he was supposed to initially, he would still become a very good player. He was confident about that.

He thought of the match that was going to happen the next day and smiled. He was going to come back to Kirkby and beat Merseyside, he would beat the same team that told him that he didn't have any talent, that he didn't have any potential.

That was why he played football! Not just to play, but to win against those that thought that he couldn't.

While Jack was making all these promises to himself, he didn't notice a middle aged man standing quite some distance from him. The middle aged man had blonde hair which was neatly combed to the back. There was a trim patch of hair growing around his lips to form a beard.

The middle aged man was wearing a jumpsuit that had Teesside F.C written boldly across the upper half.

"That's it" Jurg said while staring at Jack. "That's the kind of energy I need, that's the attitude I want". There was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he was talking. He used his hands to rake his hair and a smirk was perched across his lips. "I've found… my captain!"

--

Omari sat cross legged on his bed. He was thinking about the match against Liverpool. It was no doubt going to be one of the biggest matches that he would play in his youth career and even though Merseyside were currently consumed by an injury crisis, they were still a quality side. Jack was right, he shouldn't underestimate the enemy.

The fact that Jack, one of their best, if not their best player, was just one of their rejects made him anxious thinking about the match. If Jack wasn't good enough to play for Merseyside, then how good did one have to be to play for Merseyside?

|Ding! Host has been given a mission|

While Omari was thinking about everything, the system's notification rung out.

|Mission: Help Jack seek redemption by beating Merseyside in Kirkby|

|Reward: +2 random stat increase|

|Repercussion of failure: None|

|Time limit: 1 day|

Omari smiled when he saw the system's notification. According to what he was seeing, the system was basically telling him that he was going to be rewarded with a win against Merseyside, and nothing was going to happen if they lost. Not that it mattered though, Omari would've still been obsessed with winning the game if he didn't receive the mission. The only difference was that now he was going to get rewarded for it.

The fact that there weren't any repercussions for failure didn't make Omari relaxed in the slightest. He still wanted to win the match; it only made him feel slightly less tensed about the mission, knowing that nothing grave was going to happen.

"System, I accept the mission" Omari said knowing fully well that the system didn't grant him the right to accept or decline missions. "I'm going to win this match. I'm going to do it for Jack!"

A/N:

Fifty power stones for a extra chapter guys. Let's fucking goooo