Stardust Soccer Academy
Dante could never forget that day. He could still feel the vibrations from all the cheers coming from the audience.
It was during the Middle School Soccer Cup final match. A prestigious tournament in which almost every middle school from the entire nation would participate but only the top 16 would be chosen for playoffs.
Dante's school had made it to playoffs that year with him being their ace sticker, scoring a total of 37 goals before even making it to the playoffs.
He was labeled a young prodigy and along with his team, was expected to go all the way this year and win the whole tournament.
During the tournament, he showed impressive techniques and clever tactics to outplay and maneuver around his opponents, scoring tons of goals and making it all the way to the finals.
Only one game stood before Dante and the glory.
However, that was when disaster struck. The opposing team was back to back to back champions playing to defend their title and continue their win streak for another year to come.
The tension in the stadium was high and nobody could predict the outcome of that match.
After a long and exhausting match, Dante was only able to score a singular goal with the opposing team having scored 2.
He was exhausted from carrying the entire team on his back for the entire match by attacking and also defending as his team had become dependent on only him to carry them through and weren't able to match the opposing team themselves.
With only a couple of minutes left in the second half, Dante became more and more desperate.
Desperate to live up to the expectations of everyone, Desperate to not let his family and friends down after coming so far, Desperate to... WIN.
A spark ignited from within Dante's body as he put his legs into overdrive. He became faster than before, sharper than before, he had become a completely different person, a monster on the field.
[Phantom Tackle]
He skillfully tackled the midfielder using one of his techniques before he could make the pass and stole the ball. Sprinting full speed ahead toward the opposing goal with only one thing on his mind... WIN!
Everything became a blur for Dante as all he could focus on was the ball. He dribbled it closer and closer to the goal and was ready to shoot when all of a sudden 2 defenders appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground.
"AHHHHH!" Dante screamed in extreme pain and agony as he held his leg while rolling on the ground.
The referee called the game to pause and the medics quickly arrived to take a look but with one look they could tell that Dante had broken his leg.
Dante was pulled from the game and the defender that had broken his leg was given a red card; however, it didn't matter at that point, as Dante's team lost the match 1-3.
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It took Dante 6 months to fully heal his leg and almost a year before he was able to play again.
However, during his recovery, not once did any of his teammates come to see him and all the love and support that he used to receive from his school disappeared after he had humiliated them by losing the final match.
Everyone had put the blame on him even though he was the one who worked the hardest and suffered the most and this eventually broke Dante.
After returning back to his school, Dante swore never to play soccer again and would rather focus on his studies and pursue a normal career.
With that Dante's love for soccer and the spark that had been ignited within his body died down and laid dormant as he finished middle school and was finally starting high school.
However, as fate would have it, Dante's life was about to be turned back around and nobody could have imagined the series of events that took place after the return of the young prodigy, Dante Rossi.
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