Football: Reborn as KAKA

It was May 2020 in an upscale neighborhood of a big city. John was playing an old soccer video game, feeling nostalgic, when his phone buzzed with a message from his friend. 

"Hey bro, what you up to? Wanna play some PUBG?"

"Nah, just replaying this classic soccer game for old times' sake," John replied, one hand still on the keyboard while the other typed.

"Seriously? That game gets worse every year though."

"Yeah, but I'm playing for the memories."

His friend sent a voice message. "What random lineup you got this time? The villains team? The bald guys? The French guys? The Scandinavians?" 

Instead of replying, John took a screenshot of his team roster and sent it over.

"Batistuta, Baio, Inzaghi, Kaka, Reus, Beckham, Alonso, Iniesta, Maldini, Cannavaro...what the hell kind of team is that? Trying to blind the other team with handsomeness?"

John grinned. "That's the whole idea."

"It's 2020 and even the youngest guy Reus is almost 31 already. Damn nostalgic for sure," his friend remarked, analyzing the lineup. "Three center-backs? Won't you get exposed on the wings?"

With one hand dribbling Maldini around a striker in his penalty box, John held down the voice message button with the other. "It's team Handsome FC, bro. Looking good is all that matters."

"I'd swap Inzaghi for Torres then. Maldini can shift to right-back when needed, and Torres can drop deeper," his friend suggested, knowing John was a Torres fan. He added a winking emoji. "After all, he's the best left-back ever, right?"

"Could do that." 

"And for your Handsome FC lineup, where's Diego Costa at?"

"That guy belongs on the Godly Handsome squad for sure...Damn, gotta go!"

In the game, Thierry Henry had nicked the ball off Maldini and was rushing towards Casillas' goal. John had picked the handsome keeper for his talent too, but doubted even Casillas could stop Henry one-on-one like this.

John tossed his phone aside carelessly, but it struck a cup of water, spilling it all over his expensive mechanical keyboard. An inexplicable electric shock and body transference occurred.

Note to self: always handle phones gently from now on.

...

At St. Paul's International Hospital, John looked at his new face in the mirror, unsure whether to laugh or cry. The reflection was so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. 

Because it was Kaka's face. He had become the one and only Kaka himself.

Two months earlier, the real Kaka had accumulated too many yellow cards playing for São Paulo's youth team and received a suspension. He went to visit his grandparents in Brasilia during this time off, and the whole family gathered at a water park for fun. While goofing around on the water slides, Kaka had misjudged the depth and dove headfirst into the shallow end of the pool.

The impact didn't kill him, but it did cause a serious injury. At first, Kaka didn't think much of it - he just got a few stitches at the hospital before heading back to São Paulo to resume training the very next day. Little did he know, the excruciating neck pain would set in soon after. 

Kaka had to be hospitalized again for treatment, but his condition only worsened as the pain intensified until he eventually slipped into a coma. And when he finally woke up from it, his consciousness was inhabiting John's body instead.

As a huge Kaka fan, John had watched countless documentaries about his idol, leaving him very familiar with this freak injury incident. If Kaka truly was the 'Son of God' as his nickname proclaimed, then the heavens must have chosen him on that fateful day at the water park.

Before the injury, Kaka was just a reserve player in São Paulo's youth setup. Though enormously talented and mildly famous in Brazil, no one could have predicted this lanky, mild-mannered teenager would amount to much - the country simply had too many other prodigious kids at the time.

But after recovering from that bizarre accident, it was like a cheat code had been activated for Kaka's career trajectory, which became shockingly meteoric from that point on:

Youth team reserve - First team sub - Scoring crucial late winners - Regular starter - Key player - Best young player award - National team call-up - World Cup winner - Transferring to an elite European club - Supersub again - Starter once more - Talisman - Global superstar - Near single-handedly delivering the Champions League crown - Crowned World Player of the Year...

Step-by-step, it was almost a perfect fairytale scripted for the making of a professional soccer legend. While exaggerating to call it defying gods and buddhas, it was certainly a remarkably seamless rise from humble beginnings all the way to the absolute pinnacle. 

No one is born a superstar, but some special individuals are just destined for greatness from birth - and this young Brazilian was undoubtedly one of those chosen ones. His talent was unmistakable, his backstory storybook-esque, parts of his journey reading like a protagonist from a novel.

He was a once-in-a-generation prodigy on the pitch, truly the center of admiration and an almost flawless specimen at his athletic peak.

More importantly for the new John-as-Kaka, it was still the year 2000. Zinedine Zidane was at the very top of his powers, Ronaldo was in his unstoppable prime, Thierry Henry had just emerged as a star at Arsenal, Andriy Shevchenko was being hailed as the world's best at AC Milan, Sir Alex Ferguson had just received his knighthood, the Galacticos project was about to be launched at Real Madrid, Roman Abramovich hadn't bought Chelsea yet, Cristiano Ronaldo was still three years away from joining Manchester United, Lionel Messi was four years away from making his La Liga debut, and the original Ronaldo himself was three years away from joining Real Madrid.

And Kaka was only eighteen years old. No worldwide fame yet, no Ballon d'Ors, no controversies, no rifts, no scars, no scandals or weariness. Not necessarily the greatest version of Kaka, but certainly the purest and most pristine one before he witnessed life's grandeurs and challenges. Still a bold, dashing and idealistic youth. With everything in its most ideal, untainted state.

Of course, the young Kaka himself didn't realize any of this back then. During his hospital treatment after the accident, inspired by the Ten Commandments from the Bible, he made ten humble wishes that would seem almost naively childish in hindsight. These ten wishes were what some fans later referred to as Kaka's Ten Commandments:

1. Return to playing football again

2. Earn promotion to São Paulo's first team

3. Be included in São Paulo's official 25-man squad for all competitions 

4. Make the 18-man matchday squad on a regular basis

5. Become a regular starter 

6. Participate in the U20 World Cup

7. Earn his first call-up to Brazil's full national team

8. Make his full international debut for Brazil 

9. Represent Brazil at a senior World Cup

10. Eventually transfer to a major Italian or Spanish club

From Kaka's perspective back then, each of these ten wishes was an ambitious dream and the absolute peak he could conceivably achieve. But from a reincarnator's perspective, John looking at this list of Kaka's stated goals, they were practically laughable. This kid, who would someday glide effortlessly past elite players like wind itself, only wished to be able to resume playing football again. This future transfer record-breaker merely dreamed of making São Paulo's first team. The soon-to-be talisman of Brazil's national team for years to come simply yearned for a single senior cap... 

Life is but a dream on this grand stage we call Earth, and you never know if what lies ahead will shock you or delight you. "Promotion to the first team...inclusion in the 25-man squad...bro, how much did you underestimate your own talent and future?" John mused to himself, rubbing his new face and addressing the naïve Kaka of the past.

(end of chapter)