Poor Stamina

Now that his system had also offered to reward him if he managed to win the deal, the goalkeeper was keener to keep out Mateo's shots but the question was if he would be able to keep out three shots from someone who had scored eight goals from freekicks this season.

"Are you ready?" Mateo asked as he adjusted the ball on the spot he was meant to kick it from.

"Yeah," Dave said as he jumped up and touched the crossbar.

"Ok, here goes nothing," Mateo said slowly moving back.

He didn't move that far back before returning to send the ball off with his right foot.

Dave was glued to the floor as the ball flew towards the top right corner and slid into the goalpost.

"Mateo, there isn't even any wall and you're playing something like that," Dave said, throwing the ball to him.

"If you want to become a good goalkeeper you are gonna have to learn to deal with shots like that," Mateo said as he caught the ball and dropped it on the spot ready for the next kick.

<Watch his foot and learn to be a little more decisive> Christine said.

The goalkeeper took a deep breath as Mateo stepped back, closed up on the ball again, and sent it flying towards his goal post.

The ball was just elevated a little bit and was nowhere the height of the first shot but Dave had made a mistake by diving to his left while the ball was heading for the middle.

His mistake wasn't entirely a mistake as his leg was still in the middle, it was enough to deflect the ball which struck the left crossbar and rolled away.

"You got lucky in that one," Mateo said before walking to the piles of balls behind him and picking one. "You got really lucky." He said as he dropped the ball on the spot.

"Well, I'm planning to be two times lucky," Dave said as he adjusted his glove.

"We'll see about that," Mateo said as he raced towards the ball and released the shot towards Dave's weak side and this time it was elevated.

The goalkeeper caught the gist of where he was going to put the shot but he just wasn't fast enough as the ball slipped through his hands and he fell flat on his face.

"Wow," Mateo said. "You put up a really good amount of effort to save that one but sorry I made it a little too powerful."

The goalkeeper got up with more determination as he knew that if Mateo was to score the next one then he would have to buy him lunch and then lose the reward his system promised him.

"This is it, buddy," Mateo said slowly, stepping back. "If I score this one, then you'll have to buy me lunch."

The winger stopped moving back and this time instead of running to the ball he slowly approached it and once he got close enough to it he released a lobbed shot to the right-hand corner.

"No, no, no," Dave said as he dived toward the ball.

The only thing that was able to reach the ball was the tip of his gloves which pushed the ball further to hit the bar before rolling over the bar.

Mateo was in shock as he stared at the goalkeeper with his mouth wide open.

"I never believed you could do that," Mateo said.

"Neither did I," Dave said as he got up from the floor panting.

<I'm not sure you will be able to do something like that efficiently again, you'll be able to do it, but not with that much force>

'What?'

<Check your stamina gauge>

[ 60% stamina remaining ]

'You're saying that jump took…'

<Forty percent of your stamina, yes>

That explained quite a lot for the goalkeeper who wouldn't be able to jump that well again after doing a really high jump in an attempt to save a shot.

'How do I restore my stamina?' Dave asked.

<By resting of course and as a goalkeeper that's good for you because you'll get time to rest and recover a little bit of your lost stamina before the next attack against but you may not get that chance against really strong opponents>

This wasn't exactly the answer he was expecting but still, Catherine was right.

"Dave," Mateo called.

"Yeah," Dave replied, raising his head.

"Get in your post," Mateo said.

The goalkeeper looked around him to see that he was still standing outside his goal post, he had gotten carried away in his conversation with Catherine.

"Oh." The goalkeeper said as he quickly got in between the sticks.

'I just hope he doesn't play a high shot.' Dave thought as he adjusted his gloves and got ready for the shot. 'My chances of keeping this one are very low.'

<If he plays a low shot you'll be able to catch it if you're fast enough to catch it that is>

'I just feel like you're mocking me now.'

Mateo moved back a little and quickly closed up on the ball but just as he was about to kick the ball someone called his name from behind startling him and causing him to kick the ball directly to where Dave was standing.

It still had the shot in it but given that it was coming directly at the goalkeeper, it was an easy save for him.

"Ferran," Mateo called, sounding really annoyed. "You saw him coming and you didn't tell me." He said looking at Dave.

"No, I didn't. I was concentrating on the ball, looking for a way to stop your deadly shot." Dave said as he picked up the ball.

"Sorry man, I just wanted to ask you something," Ferran said.

[ Quest complete ]

[ You have successfully kept out more than two of Mateo's shots ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +100 exp received ]

[ +1 stat point added to Dexterity ]

[ Level up ]

[ Congratulations you are now level two ]

[ +3 stat points received ]

[ +1 skill point received ]

[ Level two skill unlocked ]

[ Double jump ]

The goalkeeper had gotten lost in his system while he was trying to take in everything that he didn't know when Mateo had appeared in front of him.

"Dave," Mateo called but there was no response from him.

"Dave!"

Adding a little exclamation was enough to knock the goalkeeper up from his trance.

"Oh, Mateo." He said. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Enough to know you've not been here for quite a while," Mateo said. "Is anything wrong?"

"No," Dave said, waving his head.

"Did anything happen to my sister?" Mateo asked.

"Come on Mateo you of all people should know, that I would never let anything happen to your sister," Dave said.

"I'm just saying, things happen you know," Mateo said, turning away from him. "Now come let's go have lunch."

_______ _______

Dave opened the door to find his living room in a dazzling condition, the tiled floor shining, the couch well arranged and when he turned to his kitchen he could tell the difference as it had never looked better.

He was still looking around when he began to hear footsteps coming down the stairs and as Emma had come into his view he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She was wearing a black silky gown which brought out her shape, her hair was straightened now instead of the curls and was let loose and for her foot, she was wearing red heels.

"I knew you were going to be back anytime soon now." She said as she came down from the last stair.

"Yeah," Dave said.

"How was the training?" Emma asked as she walked closer to him and placed her hands on his shoulder.

"It was nice," Dave said. "Is that coconut I smell on you?" He asked taking a sniff of her body.

"Yeah it's my new perfume, do you like it?" Emma asked with a smile.

"It's wonderful," Dave said leaning in for a kiss which Emma was quite expecting as the two had gotten locked in a passionate kiss right now.

"So what's the occasion?" Dave asked immediately after he had pulled out of the kiss.

"You were taking me out today, have you forgotten?" Emma asked.

She had fallen into his arms now and was staring directly into his eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Dave said with a smile that showed that he had forgotten.

"I should go get ready then," Dave said.

"Ok," Emma said as she removed her body from his to allow him to go get dressed.

"Be quick, I have a special place for us to go," Emma said.

"What special place?" Dave asked, stopping on the stairs.

"It's a surprise," Emma said with a smile.

"Surprise," Dave said. "Now I feel like you're the one taking me out."