Duplicity

Neo had a little difficulty sleeping but he slept all the same.

He was very tired, and tomorrow was another day. He even had school tomorrow.

The third years were writing their final exams before they graduated from high school.

The exams were going to conclude this week, and the graduation party was the following week.

After that, the group stage of the soccer wars would commence.

As Neo walked towards his class in readiness of the day's exams, he felt a whole lot of eyes fixated on him.

This made Neo to wonder if anything was on his face.

As he walked further, he was blocked by a shirt girl who lowered her head meekly.

The girl passed her book to him while looking at her shoes.

Please…can I get your autograph?

Neo was one of those cold and unsmiling seniors so his juniors really feared him. Even though they hadn't spoken with him before, so they had no way to determine if he was friendly or not.

Neo was startled for a moment, he didn't even have an autograph so he was confused as what he was going to write.

After thinking for a moment, Neo grabbed the pen from the girl and scribbled something in a peculiar handwriting.

Thanks a lot. The girl said and walked away. As she walked a bit, she stopped and stared at Neo's autograph.

She smiled as she read what Neo wrote:

THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Immediately the girl walked away, everyone rushed Neo and started asking for autographs.

Neo patiently signed them all and soon, everyone had the term 'THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME' on their belongings.

Neo shoved his father's talks about the bank to one corner in his mind.

He trained continuously as he wrote his exams.

In two weeks, they were going to face the greatest team in the city.

The soccer wars was usually held every summer. Summer was almost here, and Neo's high school would officially be over in a week.

During the period of the final exams, Neo had brightened up considerably. Even though his father was still on his neck about the career thing.

Recently, Neo had noticed that his father seemed to no longer be on the matter of career prospect.

Maybe he has given up and let me follow my dreams.

Neo scoffed at this thought. He knew his father, The man was probably planning something big.

But Neo didn't care, he had decided to prove himself to his father by winning the annual soccer wars tournament and going for the soccer trials held in the United Kingdom.

Neo trained alone in the city's stadium.

Neo lined several balls in front of him, and he tried his floater shots.

Damn! Neo cussed as he kicked the last ball and it hit the woodwork just like the other balls.

What am I doing wrong!?

Neo asked himself in annoyance.

He was trying to control his shots, but it just wasn't working.

The floater shot doesn't spin, so it's very unsteady and it wavers constantly. Because of this, it doesn't have a trajectory and so it will suddenly drop heights or go higher and switch lane at any point.

This happens at random and it couldn't be controlled.

But just what if, it's uncertainty could be controlled?

Then the floater shot would be the most powerful weapon in the world of soccer.

Neo shook himself and got up again to continue his training.

He lined the balls in front of him again.

He really needed to learn it.

Neo was trying to control his floater shots, if he could control them to move to where he wished, then no keeper would ever be able to save his shots.

A shot that it's main strength was in it's unpredictability and it's uncertainty, if he could control it's uncertainty, then he would become the uncertainty.

So to be able to save the shots, you had to be him and know his what he was thinking sun addition to being a very good goalkeeper.

When Neo had trained his shots enough and there was still no signs of improvement, he decided to work on his skills.

Neo wasn't very good at skills, he could only use footwork to confuse his opponent or trick them, but actual skills were a bit too difficult to him to perform. And he was going to change that now.

Neo had always wanted to try this particular skill.

He started the creation of the skill when he was six years old, but soon, he had an accident and he gave up on soccer and totally forgot about the skill.

But now, he was back in the game and he could focus on creating his skill again.

Neo stood on a spot. He was about to practice the skill which he named duplicity.

The main key to this skill was speed.

Neo was a fan of speed based players, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't as fast as he wished he was. But that didn't mean he wasn't fast.

Neo's main speed lay in his accelerating power. Once Neo took off, he would have already reached his top speed and that was a big boon to his speed.

Once Neo stood on a spot with the ball in his possession, his opponent would heighten his concentration and focus on him.

Neo would suddenly move his hand in a particular direction at a very high speed. This would make his opponent to react and his brain would automatically expect Neo to move in that direction, his brain would create a Neo moving in that direction. But this Neo would only last a split second.

In that short time, Neo would fake a move in another direction at high speed.

This would create two Neo's for a moment.

His opponent would be shocked by what he saw and as a result, he would stand rooted to a spot for a while, Neo would then take the opportunity to sneak out.

Okay, here goes. Neo muttered as his hand suddenly moved at light speed. In the next instant, Neo faked a move in the opposite direction.

Then he suddenly ran in another direction, but just as soon as he took a step forward, Neo fell heavily to the floor.