My Goalkeeping System

After taking care of everything they had to take care of outside, the two roommates were making their way to the locker room now and while Dave had a somewhat clueless expression on his face, Mateo wasn't putting on his best of expressions, he seemed upset.

"Why does she always have to jump to conclusions like that." The winger muttered.

"She didn't mean it like that, you know your sister, she wouldn't do anything to intentionally upset you," Dave said.

"But I'm upset now, how do you explain that?" The winger asked but there was no response from the goalkeeper. "Oh, forget it, let's just go."

Dave allowed him to walk past him before he slowly turned toward him.

"You, know your attitude has been a bit off since that day, maybe she does have a point." The goalkeeper said.

Mateo's movements slowed down for a bit but he didn't stop and continued walking until he got to the locker room.

After watching him enter the room, Dave let out a deep sigh.

<It's funny how you people perceive the same thing in a lot of different ways>

'Yeah, but that's what makes us human.' Dave replied.

Back at the locker room, the players were all dressed up and ready to leave, and that included Dave too.

'Just show me my post-match rewards before I leave, I want to see what this hat trick point deduction is like.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously before slowly sitting down on his seat.

[Post-match rewards ]

[ Match status: lost ]

[ Twelve crucial saves: +120 exp ]

[ Goals conceded (4): 0exp ]

[ Conceded a hat trick: -100 exp ]

[ Match rating: 7.0 ]

'You have to be kidding me, I lost a hundred exp just because I conceded a hat trick?' The goalkeeper was quite baffled to see such an amount of exp go like that.

<I told you that you weren't going to like it>

'Why would I like losing exp, even if it was just one exp, I wouldn't be happy and now that I've struggled to make twelve crucial saves and get that amount of exp, it has been reduced to the reward of making just two crucial saves in a less busy match.'

<Whining won't bring your experience points back because it's never coming back, if you don't want to lose your hard-earned experience points like that again, then don't concede hat tricks>

'This is the first time I've conceded a hat trick since I got this system but I have a feeling that's going to be hard in the upcoming season, especially against Supreme United and that Roland Hills.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

<Are you serious? You were able to keep Manchester United at bay and stop Barcelona from banging a goal fest against you guys and now you're afraid of Supreme United, you faced them when you were still a low-class goalkeeper, remember>

'I never said I was afraid of them, I'm just saying that it's not going to be an easy match.'

<I don't know about that, with the way you guys are playing now, it might turn out to be a walk in the park, the only way what you're thinking can happen is if the chemistry and work rate of the team breaks down at the end of this pre-season tour>

'So, you're saying that we have what it takes to fight for the title this season, like battle it out with Supreme United and Dynamo FC.'

<Yeah, that's what I'm saying>

The goalkeeper didn't reply immediately as he slowly got up from his seat.

'Although you're not always right, you're right most of the time so if you say we can fight for the league title then we're going to fight for it.' He said subconsciously before folding his right hand into a fist.

The players were outside now with the bus waiting for them a little distance away, it was time to head back to the hotel but before that, Dave had to go bid his wife and her friend farewell, Mateo had to tag along because he needed to say something to his sister.

"I guess I'm going to head back to Bilbeth and leave you here again," Emma said.

"Yeah, but don't worry, we'll be back in a couple of days, it's almost over, we just have three matches left now." The goalkeeper.

After hearing him say that, she stepped closer to him and pulled him in for a hug.

"Just get it over with and come back quickly, the house is quite lonely without you around and…."

"And what?" Dave asked.

"It's nothing." She shook her head before turning her gaze to Mateo who was standing right beside Dave.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what I said back there." The winger started with his right hand on the back of his head. "I shouldn't have reacted that way."

"Hey, I think I should haven't jumped to conclusions like that, it's just that it's been a long while since I've seen you smile at someone like that," Emma said.

"It's okay." He said.

"Hug?" She said before opening her arms with a bright smile on her face.

Mateo stared at her for a while before opening his arms to accept her hug.

"Sure."

"You know I spoke to Sofia after you left and I know one conversation isn't enough to judge someone but she seems to be a pretty nice person and…."

"And what?" Mateo asked.

"Never mind, you wouldn't want to hear it anyway." She said.

'What's with her and that?' Dave thought.

"We have to go now and so do you guys." She said before she turned to Dave and kissed him.

"Don't forget to wash off that shampoo on your hair, Emilia it's really confusing for both of you to have the same color, that difference in hair color was the only distinctive feature you guys had and it should stay that way," Mateo said.

"Don't worry, Mateo, it will wash it in a few days," Emilia said with an awkward smile on her face.

The two watched them until they were out of sight before they turned and began to make their way to the bus.

_______ _______

About five minutes into his sleep, the goalkeeper found himself in the endless white space with Catherine standing right in front of him just like he expected.

"Hey, Cat."

"You see how important that reflex training was but still you weren't able to save a few of them." She said.

"Yeah, it was impossible to keep those balls out." The goalkeeper said.

"For your level, yes, three seconds is still your limit although you're starting to get the hang of it now." She said. "You'll have to master three seconds tonight and after that, we'll move to two seconds and one second and once you've mastered those two, keeping out balls like that won't be a problem to you anymore."

"You say it as if it's going to be a walk in the park."

"But you know that it's not going to be a walk in the park so prepare yourself and make sure you don't turn off your dream control until we're done with it."

****

New year mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.