FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

---

It was only three days now until Dante was going to play his next soccer game with his new team. It was training today for the game but that wasn't till later in the afternoon. He decided to go straight to have breakfast where he met the stares of only the new recruits which had arrived.

"Oh, fresh meat for the grinder," he said to himself in his head. He walked over to the queue and was quickly met by the beefy bear that he finally befriended.

"Ah! My best customer. So what will it be today?" he asked.

"Hi Gary. I think I'll have some of those...and...I think I'll have a treat and have some bacon," Dante said, pointing to the eggs and bacon that was laid out, not so neatly.

"I don't know why you bother to think about what to have for breakfast. You always have the same thing everyday. So, what ya' doing today then?" Gary asked him, expecting the usual.

"Well, I'm not usually permitted to tell you but, today can't hurt."

"Really! What?" Gary asked very intrigued.

"Soccer practice," the 'roo smiled innocently.

"Oh! Haha! You could run your own sideshow," he said now very disappointed.

"Oh well. Better luck next time." Dante smirked. He was sure some of Josh's sarcasm was rubbing off on him now.

"What will you be doing until then?" He said, ladling a mound of beans onto one of the new recruit's plates as he brandished his tray. The recruits gaze darted between the two as he saw them both in casual conversation.

"Well, today...I think I'm gonna go to the gym and tone up a bit more. What about you?"

"Well, I'm going to be rescuing damsels in distress before I get back here to serve lunch," the big bear chided.

"Now who's being the smartass?" Dante smirked. The bear chuckled, flipping a few eggs onto the recruit's plate.

"See ya' around buddy."

"Yeah, see ya'!" Dante laughed, walking over to an empty table where he quickly ate his food. Cat and the gang weren't there because they had been given a new training regime, so he was lonely for a while.

John had gone to a meeting to do a presentation of some kind and would be back today, maybe just in time for practice.

After he had finished his breakfast, he got up and made his way over to the gym which was moderately occupied.

"Hey Dante!" a voice called out. Dante looked to his right where Tom, the drill sergeant was greeting him with a friendly wave.

"Hi Tom!" Dante made his way over to Tom, who was lifting a hefty load of weights to one side.

"Got some new equipment here today, the other stuff was pretty old." he said, shaking his head towards the other side of the room.

"Ah cool! I gotta admit; we needed them. The other ones kept falling off the bar all the time. You've got a possible new group of recruits today as well."

"Oh...great! Another bunch of slack-jawed smart-asses to add to the growing collection. I had to put up with an idiot that I'm sure is following in your friend's footsteps. Josh is it?"

"Yeah? What the guy do?" he asked as they made their way across the room.

"Oh, he was just messing about in general and so I made him do thirty laps of the assault course."

"Oh, that must have made him feel the burn," he laughed.

"Yes, it did. I don't think it's taught him the lesson though. I always have a feeling about hooligans like him and that Josh. So far, I haven't been wrong."

"Well, good luck with your intuition. I think I'm gonna try these weights out. It's the only thing I want to do today. I'm bored; everyone's away or under a new training schedule and I've got a bit of leave for the day. They feel I could use a break after all the hard work I've apparently done," Dante sighed, relieved yet a little disheartened.

"Ah...You haven't got a clue what to do with yourself, hmm?" Tom chuckled a little, striding with Dante over to the new equipment.

"Yeah...bored as hell. So I'm gonna kill some time here instead," he yawned a little, stretching his arms out in front of him.

"You alright on your own now?" he asked, hiding a smirk as he lifted up a few more weights.

"Hey come on, give me a break. I've been doing this for over a month now. I think I can handle them now. I've even been helping others when you were helping other guys."

"OK, but still...Be careful!" He smiled.

"Yeah, I know." Dante said waving a paw dismissively; having already started putting weights onto a bar.

"You need any help, just give me a shout," Tom told him.

"Yeah, sure," Dante said dismissively once more.

He had finished setting the weights up and began to stretch a little first. Being very supple, he was almost like a piece of string, being able to stretch and bend in to very painful looking forms.

Once he had finished stretching, he gripped the bar and braced himself.

What happened next; surprised Dante like he had never been before. He tugged on the bar, as hard as he could and brought the bar way above his head. Amazingly, the tug he had administered was much too hard, causing the equipment to collide with the ceiling above.

As it hit the ceiling, there was a loud crack as the plaster was crushed, creating a large hole in it. The weights then came falling back down, barely missing his head as he stumbled backwards; the weights landing with thud, that rung out with a dull permanence.

Dante looked dumbfounded; shifting his gaze from the weights on the floor, to the ceiling and back again. He could barely lift that setting a week ago. The room became another flurry of amazed and curious gazing, Tom yelling out to the 'roo as Dante shuffled back onto his feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked him very frustrated.

"I...I-I don't know. I threw the damn thing in the air!" Dante said, his face showing his total bewilderment and amazement.

"That's impossible, you aren't strong enough to do that..." he said, but Dante pointed to the hole in the ceiling.

"Hwah?" Tom became just as bewildered as Dante.

"I don't know. I just picked it up but I tugged too hard and I threw them up into the ceiling!" he argued.

"But...But how? I mean look at you. A ham sandwich's got more meat than you. You were still having trouble with less than that a week ago. Pick it up to make sure."

"OK." Dante shrugged his shoulders, walking over to the weights. And to Tom's amazement, as well as everyone else's, Dante effortlessly picked the weights up with one hand.

"See! I told you. I don't know how, so don't go asking me!" he added quickly, seeing Tom's mouth begin to utter words.

"But, how the hell can you become that stronger within a week? You haven't been in here with the other trainers here have you?" Tom asked him, still amazed as Dante was tossing the weights back and forth from one hand to the next.

"No. Hey, let's see how much I can lift! This seems too easy now. I could throw this across the room it feels so light."

"Uh, I should report this. The Major said to do so if I found any new changes in behaviour or...abilities..." Tom trailed off, his voice giving off a very weary tone.

"Oh, come on. That can wait. Besides, I've had enough of this stupid status report stuff, not to mention the damn tests they've been giving me regular to see if they've changed. Come on, or I'll be stuck there all day and miss soccer training."

Tom looked a little edgy at first thinking about informing the Major but Dante had made a clear point to him really.

"Fine...but once we're done-"

"Yeah-yeah...I know..." Dante sighed, putting the weights down carefully.

*******

It was unbelievable. Dante could lift twice as much as Tom could. The only thing stopping him from lifting the rest, and more, was that the bar that they attached the weights to was too full, bending under the weight a little.

"Holy crap! How the hell this has happened, I do not know?" Tom said in utter amazement and disbelief.

"Ha! This is awesome! Maybe it rubbed off from you? Now I can get even with John in training. He's always been stronger than me. Now it's payback time. Ho, this is gonna be sweet!" Dante bubbled with enthusiasm.

"Well you've had your fun; have to report this...and no! I have to or I'll get in big trouble otherwise!" Tom hissed, as Dante made a whining noise to signify that he was going to regret Tom telling them.

"You aren't going anywhere...I'll kick your ass!" Dante threatened him, now taking his stance.

"I'll get back shortly, Dante." Tom said, without even worrying about Dante who was making silly noises and kept his gaze on Tom as he walked passed him. All the while Dante was making playful taunts as if he was going to attack but, Tom knew he wouldn't.

Dante wasn't like that, he'd never hurt any of his friends. Tom finally made his way out of the gym, and he disappeared as he turned a corner.

"Oh man! Now I'm gonna be stuck there all day," he sighed heavily.

*******

He was called upon when Tom got back from reporting.

The Major had everything up and running already as Dante had got there. But, he didn't stay there for long. He got to leave not long after they'd called him there.

They just did one quick test and it was over with. They just asked him to pull a cord that was attached to some sort of device.

The only problem he had was that he accidentally pulled too hard and ended up tearing off the cord which earned him a worthy amount of gasps from the analysts.

"Uh...that will be all Dante..." was all the Major could say as he was handed the cord.

"Sorry..." he grimaced slightly.

*******

"Well, that was weird. Didn't last that long. Did you ask him to give me a break?" Dante asked Tom as they walked to the showers. They had been in the gym for a few hours and Tom had been working out while Dante had been his spot.

"No...honestly. I just gave him the report and he told me to tell you to go straight to him."

"I thought he would have made a bigger deal. Ah well, catch you later. I'm going to go straight to the cafeteria now...starving."

"You can't stop eating, can you?" Tom laughed.

"Hey, when my stomach calls, it's all that matters. Hey...maybe it's how I'm growing up big and strong?" he snickered. Tom laughed heartily along with him.

"Ha, see ya'!"

"Yeah! Bye!"

They both parted at a junction of corridors and went their separate ways. Dante was so psyched up about his new found strength and couldn't wait to surprise John. He was going to have a real shock when Dante unleashed his strength.

As he finally made his way through to the cafeteria, Dante paused for a second to spot that John was back but also that Cat and the gang were there chatting away in the line. He couldn't wait to surprise them all.

"Hello!" Dante said to John, very enthusiastic that he'd finally arrived back.

"Hi. Where've you been?" John asked.

"I've been at the gym for a few hours with Tom. So when d'ya get back?"

"Well, not too long ago. I just decided to get something to eat because I didn't eat much due to the long journey. You seem to be in a very happy mood considering you've spent most of the morning at the one place you usually despise..." John queried, his ears perking curiously.

"Well, Tom just made it more interesting..." he lied. He'd savour the news for when it was just right.

"Well, that presentation was boring as hell. I was falling asleep during my own presentation even..." John sighed heavily.

"Well, not sure about the other guys' days, and how it's been for them. Probably hell really for them because they had to get up even earlier and train longer. It was the day after you gave the...presentation!" Dante just realised.

"Ha! I called back after the presentation and said that it weren't looking good. Because of our poor results they must be working them harder. Ha! Man they're going to be mad!" John said, very amused at the thought.

"Um, better not tell them. They might be angry."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they do get angry." They were finally making their way over to the table where the two 'roos was sat. They all looked tired but were still managing to chat away.

"Hey guys! How was your day?" Dante said, now looking at John who was badly trying to suppress a laugh.

"Ugh! Bullshit!" Josh mumbled, dropping into his seat with a tired sigh.

"We have to train harder to bring the standards of this training facility up, otherwise, they'll close it down," Cat murmured. She looked as if she was going to collapse into her food tray and use the vegetables as a pillow.

"It's your fault John! We wouldn't have to be doing this everyday now if you hadn't reported back!" Mary whined. John was desperately trying to keep a straight face. He was getting very red until he burst out laughing; Dante joined in.

"I'm sorry guys. It's not like I had a choice. I just had to evaluate and present it truthfully. I could put my position on the line for being as deceitful as that!" he said, now trying to suppress more laughter.

"They would have broken the ice anyways because they were going to contact the Major to check and to improve our standards of training. The Major has only just been assigned to this place and he was put here as well as me to help raise the bar," John explained.

"Yeah, we guessed that much. We found out the hard way. Who are they to judge, we aren't the ones who set that low standard anyway." Cat complained.

"Yeah, you may have been pulling your weight, but you weren't exactly working to standards they'd like?" Dante intervened.

John looked like he was having trouble trying to cope with everyone being annoyed at him.

"Y...Yeah, what he said," John agreed, pointing to his smaller counter-part.

"Who asked you?!" Cat hissed.

"Hey, I've been suffering too. I've been bored stiff because you guys have been training harder. I like someone to talk to once in a while you see. But, I forgive him, and you should too. Besides, he was only doing what he was being told to do."

They all just looked annoyed and crossed their arms in unison.

He knew they were angry with him now, because he had argued back and they couldn't do the same anymore. They would forgive them both though, soon enough; it would be like it never happened.

*******

Dante and John weren't feeling up to much during the training for soccer. They were just messing about, passing the ball back and forth; passing to another team member as he signalled to them to join in.

They were too busy talking to each other; even ignoring what the coach was saying for them to stop talking and focus on the training. It was also that Dante didn't want to reveal his new found strength, not until they were playing the actual match.

He didn't want much pressure on himself if they put him up front and destroy the team's chance to win. He never knew if he would crack under the pressure. He just didn't want to risk it. But, after finally talking too much, the coach threatened both of them.

"Hey! You two! I've had enough! You're not going anywhere until you score a goal...each!" he yelled. Dante's heart sank. He was a mid-fielder; feeding the ball through to other players so they could continue down field.

He'd never been a striker, in body or in spirit. John was one of the strikers so he had a better chance. The best chance in fact being as he was probably the top goal scorer for the team.

"Oh come on coach, you know I can't score," Dante whined.

"I don't care. Now you either try, or you're going to be here all night. Including your team mates! You shouldn't have been yapping so much...I don't know what you're laughing at John! You have to score as well, in fact two now that you find this matter so amusing!" he yelled. John was still smiling. He couldn't care less because he could score easily.

The only reason why was because the other team had their second best goalie. Dante didn't want to spoil the well laid out surprise he had set up but, it was going to be the only way he was going to score. Plus he couldn't take leaving a secret like this kept to himself.

As soon as they kicked off, Dante had passed the ball down to one of the other strikers. He was a panther called Nick; the one John was talking to before when Dante was a new recruit himself.

He was blocked by one of the opposing defence, before quickly passing it to John. John dummied his shot and made the keeper dive, before neatly putting it back into the net. It wasn't long before John had scored the second goal and had made the score even between the teams.

It was all down to Dante now to finish off the coaches instructions. He hadn't even been moved to striker position so it was considerably harder for him.

He'd had enough staring for one day personally, but he didn't have the heart to allow the teams to suffer. His secret wasn't worth that.

They kicked off and Dante received the ball. He hadn't run very far until one player was directly running at him. He dropped down and slid along the ground and tried to slide tackle Dante.

Dante was too fast to even bother noticing it and jumped over him while taking the ball over him. He was back to running down the field again, everyone calling to pass to them but, something had clicked in Dante because of the pressure and was making him focus on one thing...the goals.

As another player rushed in, he tried to tackle Dante but he just side stepped him while neatly planting the ball between his legs and rushing around him to continue. He was almost home free and he would get a good shot.

Then, two of the three defenders rushed out to stop him proceeding.

Dante managed to weave past them both, keeping the ball rolling steadily in front of him as the two defenders scrabbled about trying to catch him up. This only made Dante panic as he was about to get sandwiched by all three.

He panicked too much as he saw the defender in front of him hurtle towards him. He shot at the goals as hard as he could. The ball went flying towards the goal posts, soaring right past the defender as he jumped and twirled in the air to block the shot.

It curled hard and fast, the goalie unable to react as the pace of the ball was too fast to handle. It caught him clean in the face, ricocheting upwards, bouncing off the crossbar and backwards into the goals.

The goalie just flopped to the floor, stunned. His limbs staggered around clumsily as he fumbled for his head, clearly too dazed and confused to stand up. But no-one went to help him; they were too busy staring in awe and amazement at Dante who was now regretting the moment they kicked off.

Even the coach was stunned; his whistle blowing weakly in his maw as he struggled to keep it pursed in his lips. He shook himself out of his stupor after a short period and blew the whistle firmly, signalling the end of the training match.

"OK, hit the showers! Dante, I want to speak to you and John right now. And someone help Jimmy...I don't think he'll remember who he is after that..."

As everyone except Dante and John made their way to the showers, they made their way to the coach as two of the players also rushed over to Jimmy, picking him up and resting an arm each over their shoulders'.

"Right, from now on, I want you two to start focusing more on the game, and less on your damn social life. You have plenty of time to do that before and after." They both looked at each other before turning around and began walking away.

"Hold it! I still haven't finished yet! Except John, you go on ahead." John looked back at Dante, sensing clearly that it has to be about his shot. Dante stopped on the spot and made his way back to the coach.

"Now, I've seen shots like yours before but, never like that. Why didn't you tell me about this before? You even out-classed and out ran every player that came at you. That was professional striking from start to finish. And damn...what a strike that was..."

Clearly impressed, the coach eyed up Dante as if he could already see him putting goal after goal into the back of the net.

"Uh, I kind of only somehow had the strength today. It just suddenly came to me overnight. And I've been able to run fast and use those skills before. I just didn't want more pressure. I've only just gotten used to the staring around the facility. Pressure isn't my forte..." Dante felt ashamed now that he'd admitted to hiding all this from everyone; he felt quite selfish.

"But...I just...I felt something click inside me when we kicked off. I suppose I got my game face on..." he sighed, trying to analyse his situation.

"Well, I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on you if you don't want it. But, the way you played today, I think you should. It would be a damn shame! Like you said, that pressure made something click in you and you did everything instinctively. That's true skill for you." He smiled sincerely.

He made Dante just stand there, looking down at his shoes from all his flattery; his ears had lit up a bright red.

"So, what's it going to be? You play the original position, or Striker? It's entirely up to you."

"What about John and the other Strikers. If I do, who's going to be taken off?" Dante said. He didn't want to seem selfish again by becoming Striker and letting one of the other guys get thrown onto the subs' bench.

"Well, I was thinking about Jack. He's not as accurate and can't kick as hard as the others for a start. He's much better at feeding the ball through and tackling. An excellent play-maker, I like to say." He muttered, almost to himself. Thinking it over in his head, he stared up at the starry sky before fixing his gaze on Dante.

"You on the other hand, could probably play almost any position. For a little kid, you play like a damn pro! Besides, he's been asking to for a while to see if he could become a mid-fielder instead anyway."

Dante just stood there for a minute, thinking it over.

"OK, but as long as he doesn't mind. I'm not going to be responsible for him being mad at the changes being made."

"Ha, then it's a deal. Don't worry, I'll tell him when I get in to the locker room. I'm sure he'd be very happy because he's been struggling to keep up with John and Nick. See you on the big day...oh and good luck for it too."

"Yeah thanks. Well, if you think I'm so good, I don't think I'll need any luck!" he called out as he ran off to the showers. The coach just laughed to himself as he grabbed the large kit bag with coloured vests in, which gave off a rather pungent smell.

*******

Everyone in the shower room was giving Dante pats on the back and asking him how he had pulled off such an impressive shot. He told everyone the same thing he told the coach and a few of them laughed.

"So, it was today that you discovered your new found strength?" John asked.

"Yeah, I was hoping to keep it hidden from everyone until the match because I didn't want the pressure. But, I had so much pressure put onto me when we played for the last kick off, I just did everything instinctively."

"Well, let's hope your instincts kick-in during the match. Don't want you to breakdown," Jack said.

"Oh, that reminds me, Jack come here a sec," Dante called to him. Jack plodded his way over.

"What is it, buddy?" he asked.

"The coach said that he wants me and you to swap positions because you were telling him that you'd prefer to go mid-field, and that you hate striker position. Don't hate me for that," Dante said very awkwardly. Jack just looked blankly at him.

"What, you expect me to go mad on you when I told the coach? I wanted to change positions because I hated the current one. Of course I won't." Jack looked at Dante a little unbelievably.

"I'm glad! Puts us both in the positions we were meant to play. I can't wait. Gimmie-five!" Jack said, raising his paw to Dante. Dante slapped it with a bit of force, almost knocking Jack to the floor and making his paw sting.

"Uh, whoops...I'm gonna have to be more careful. Sorry Jack."

Jack just waved his paw in the air, shaking his head to signify "don't worry". It just helped him disguise his pain as his paw throbbed. All the other guys laughed as they seen Jack wincing in pain.

Dante was definitely going to have to get used to this.

*******

The next day Dante was back into training again with John. They had already been sparing and Dante was dodging and countering everything John was throwing at him.

His strength and speed gave him an excessively easy advantage over John now. He was learning techniques very quickly and had surpassed John in everything within the three months of training. It was hard to believe that Dante could learn everything he had in such a small amount of time. John just couldn't keep up anymore.

He didn't see much of the gang anymore because of the regime they had to abide by. Although, when he did they were very enthusiastic about hearing of his supposedly amazing strength.

They were asking him to throw a table across the cafeteria; Dante was going to as well. John stopped him though and talked him to his senses when he realised that it was a little over the top.

Everyone though was waiting in anticipation for the next day. Soccer was what this training facility was known for, other than its bad training standards. They may not have been the best but would compete extremely well.

They had got only as close to the semi-final but lost against the best team. It was even worse because it was a home game and they had drawn. But, in the event of a draw, the away team would win.

But all that was hopefully going to change, everyone was relying on Dante. This put a hefty amount of pressure on him; his nervous disposition was already apparent without the extra stress.

It was the final and was against the same team. And they were also playing home again so they had to aim for staying ahead; not neck and neck or losing. This really topped it for Dante because it was the final.

If they won, it would be the first time this facility had ever won the cup. But if they lost, it was going to be another defeat for the records, but an even worse one for losing so close to winning the cup.

*******

The day had finally come, the team raring to go. Everyone was cheering them all on as they made their way to the changing rooms; especially when Dante made his way past. The new recruit Tom had been talking about who was supposedly following in Josh's footsteps had popped out from the crowd in the corridors and grabbed him by the legs and lifted Dante onto his shoulders.

"Out of the way, star player coming through. Hey get back, get back!" he playfully yelled to everyone as the rest of the crowd playfully stalked them both. Dante looked down at them all, making him feel very queasy because he even heard himself that everyone was going to be counting on him to win it for them.

He felt sick. He never liked this kind of attention and never wanted or asked for it. He would have also preferred if he was on the ground, being as he didn't fancy having to dodge multiple lights that were dangling from the ceiling.

He was finally let down by the lion and had his hand shook.

"Hey, score one for us will ya? By the way, the name's Leon."

"Uh...yeah. I'll try," Dante said, very embarrassed. He was sure he felt his paw shuddering in Leon's as the pressure began to mount up even more.

"What do you mean you'll try?" Leon gasped, trying to encourage Dante.

"Uh, I mean I will!"

"That's better. Hey you're gonna need a signature taunt. You have to. Do it often enough and the crowd will go wild!" he beckoned to Dante.

"Uh...how about...this?"

Dante outstretched his index finger and pinkie while tucking the rest of his digits into his palm and lifted both his hands with the same gesture into the air.

"Yeah! Awesome!"

"If I score...uh I mean when I score; I'll do this to say that was for you and your gang. Where are you going to be sitting?" Dante asked.

"Oh cool! Thanks! We'll be sitting just above where the coach and the subs are gonna be sitting," Leon awed. The coach had popped his head out of the door.

"Hey! Dante! Get in here now and stop chattering! We've got a game to win!" he yelled.

"See ya! Good luck." Leon beckoned, smirking as he jogged off to his seat.

"Yeah, thanks." Dante weakly smiled back to Leon before turning and heading inside the changing rooms.

As all the players were getting changed into their kit, the coach was explaining their tactics. He always explained the same tactics over and over again for each match but, now was a little more important because Dante and Jack were in new positions.

Dante didn't need explaining twice, he remembered them easily; exactly as the coach had put. It wasn't long after the coach had finished that the team was making their way onto the pitch.

As soon as the team had started pouring onto the field, the crowd was cheering wildly, whistles rang out and flags with the team's logo on were being waved. There was also a few of the recruits that had painted a letter onto each of their stomachs' and backs' that read out "Dante Rules".

Dante had a glance at this and put his head down in embarrassment. John walked quickly up to the side of Dante and gave him a quick nudge in the ribs.

"Hey, come on. Don't be embarrassed, they're rooting for ya. You should enjoy this."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard for me to enjoy. Attention isn't something I can strive off of. Bet you would though; you'd be lapping this up if it were you. Why don't you accept it for me? Seems such a waste," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I think I might just do that," John replied almost as sarcastically as Dante. They both smirked at each other and jogged calmly to their positions.

*******

The game had started off well. They had gotten two goals within the first ten minutes, one thanks to Dante and the other from John. Dante had even tried doing his hand gesture which sent the crowd for their team wild.

He could see where Leon and his gang were sitting and they went absolutely crazy as he made the gesture, Leon going as far as lifting the coach up like he did to the little 'roo earlier. The coach seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.

The other team was messing with them, passing it back and forth from player to player. The problem was that the other team had very skilled mid-fielders and defenders. Their mid-fielders intercepted their own quite regularly and when they managed to put the ball through, the defenders were there to steal it back.

As frustrating as it was, Dante could really commend them for their efforts. They really adapted to his team's style of play.

It was about another ten minutes into the game before one of their defenders was injured. He was their best defender Dante's team had and was clearly fouled by the centre striker.

They were given a free kick and the striker who had fouled the defender was given a yellow card. Dante thought that it should have been a red card for how obvious the foul had been. The defender had been replaced but was nowhere near as good as the original.

The crowd booed and jeered the other team as hard as they could while the visitor's crowd did the same but booed the referee's decision for different reasons.

Dante could see the coach screaming at the ref from the sidelines, a vein almost popping in his head and his face was turning red. He'd never seen the coach this frustrated.

Everyone was ready and the ref blew his whistle to start the match again. Josh kicked off and sent the ball hurtling towards one of their open mid-fielders. He received it without trouble and managed to dodge the oncoming centre player. He travelled a few yards with the ball before lobbing the winger and sent the ball soaring over to Dante.

The next few seconds seemed to go in slow motion.

The ball came arcing down to Dante, floating straight to him. One of the defenders in front of Dante hurtled towards him. Just as the ball came to within reach of Dante, the defender had jumped in front of him and tried to receive the ball by using his knee.

As he jumped, the defender's knee made contact with Dante's head. Dante felt the most unbearable pain he had ever felt. His head felt as though it had been hit by a train. He fell backwards with the force of the blow and landed with a thud to the floor.

He couldn't focus, his vision was blurred. He was so disorientated, he couldn't use his limbs with full control and seemed to be staring into space as his team-mates made their way over to him and surveyed his condition.

The first-aider for their team had now made his way over to the crowd that was gathering as the entire crowd was roaring and booing excessively. John was up in the defenders face. The defender was just standing his ground looking smug as if he'd done nothing wrong.

The medic was checking Dante, flashing a light in his eyes but Dante wasn't responding to anything he was doing or asking. Dante was clean out, a glazed expression on his now swollen forehead.

The first-aider had a stretcher ready and had another team member help him off the pitch. The crowd was booing as hard as ever as they took Dante off the pitch.

The ref was speaking to John and the defender who had been arguing and almost fighting but the teams had split them up. John's teammates had never seen him so angry before; it scared them thoroughly.

Once the referee had finished speaking to them both, he had given John a warning but had given the defender a red card. The crowd roared and jeered the player as he strutted off the pitch.

It wasn't looking good for John and the others. They had a very cocky player put on instead of Dante who really did think that the world revolved around him, and that it would implode if he weren't there to keep the order.

Despite what everyone told him, he thought he was the best at everything. Worst of all was the team's morale. Losing Dante made their morale hit the floor.

*******

It was looking very bleak for the team now. They were trailing, six goals to two. They hadn't scored a single goal since Dante had been taken off.

Dante was still being attended to. They had put an ice pack on his head and were trying to wake him. It wasn't much good because he had taken a clear shot to the head.

Because his head was much more fragile to his injuries, it was like scrambling his brain about in a jar. Cat and Mary were by his side, making sure that he was alright while also trying to cheer on the team to give them inspiration.

It wasn't working. They were trying but were too disheartened. They were given one or two opportunities to score but were ruined because of the cocky striker who always tried to take on every defender at once.

It was a relief when the whistle blew for half-time, each team making their way to their separate changing room. John broke off from the team and made his way over to the side-lines where Dante was left to regain consciousness besides Cat and Mary.

"How's he doing?"

"Still out. Man, he took a real bad blow to the..." Cat replied, but was interrupted by John.

"Hey! Look!" he gasped. Dante started twitching into life. First his eyes flickered open very slowly. His arms then moving and began to block the sunlight glaring at him as he began to groan in pain.

"Oh man. Somebody get the number of that bus?" he gasped slowly, his head racked with pain. He was extremely disorientated.

"How d'you feel?" Mary asked.

"Bad," he said very bluntly.

"What's the score? What's happened? Is it over?" he struggled.

"Were dragging behind, six - two. It's half-time. I don't know why we don't end it now. We've been put down too much, bad luck at every corner once we lost you," John sighed deeply. Dante looked away from everyone. He felt that this was his fault, even though it was actually the guy who kneed him in the face.

Even worse was that he couldn't play because he was still too unsteady to play. Dante pushed the thought away, sat up then stood up.

"Hey, what are you doing? You can't play and not even supposed to walk for now!" Cat said.

"I don't care. They need me. I want to help but, I can't help, just laying there and holding my head. I've got to try..." Dante said, and took one step before collapsing into John's grip. He was still very shaken up and had barely recovered.

"Hey, calm down. You can't play in the state you're in right now," John said, as he sat Dante back down. Dante just looked as if he was pouting but his expression was mixed with a look of confusion and shame. He wanted to play really badly, but he wasn't in any shape to.

As the four of them sat there feeling miserable, the coach had wandered out to find John who had been missing from the half-time tactics talk.

"Hey! John, get in-Dante you're awake!" the coach said, surprised. Their eyes were all fixed on the coach who was now making his way over.

"How ya' feeling?" he asked.

"Like crap...I won't be able to play. I'm too messed up. I wish I could but..."

"It's OK. We've been working something out. We've just been talking through some tactics in the changing room, which John is also supposed to be attending!" he said, raising his voice as he talked about John.

John dropped his head a little in embarrassment. Dante just sighed and felt very deprived now that he wasn't going to be able to play.

They all just sat there in an awkward silence which no-one dared to break.

"Come on John. We need to think of something to win this game. That cocky idiot, Mitch, just keeps screwing every chance with his god-damn ego. I need someone who can do something with the ball..." the coach said, now leading John to the changing room.

John forced a smile and gave Dante a weak thumbs-up as he trailed behind the coach towards the changing room, leaving Dante and the others to wallow in their feelings of hopelessness.