Chapter 1.

So it began

"Is this all you got? Pathetic!"

Yet another shot at the goal, and the last man standing, the goalkeeper trying his best to hold the ball fails once more. The ball hitting him in the face, knocking him over and into the net, sending him on a trip to nightmare land. One single man, one ball and some of the finest players int he world… Pulverized.

"Who… is this man… ?"

The representatives of the international associations and the team's entire staff stood in complete awe. Real Madrid, one of the legendary soccer teams of our world was razed to the ground basically.

"This is a joke! I hope you do understand that my patience is wearing thin!"

An entire team had to be taken to hospital once again, and all this done by a mysterious man in a hoodie of some sort.

"After the first six times, I was hoping for this being a warmup, but now it's starting to be annoying. Where are those so called legendary teams?!"

The Fifa president himself stepped forth quite ashamed and his voice was trembling.

"But these were all but the best teams we could…"

"YOUR WHAT?! "

The figure, no taller than 170 cms, wearing a black hoodie with white trimmings, his hands in his pocket, and now his eyes burning in fury now staring down at all these pretty big guns, and emmiting an aura that could easily intimidate anyone.

"Are you sure you're not mocking me?! I'm probably having hearing issues here!"

He looked around himself and just shook his head.

"I've had it… I'll…"

Suddenly a small communicator, which had a mic jacked in the hodied figure's ear went off, and a deep and threatening voice interfered:

"Zan! Make sure you hand over the list and get a move on!"

"But…"

"Just do it, and return to the ship!"

Zan, as the voice called him sighed and finally growled.

"Understood…"

Zan now moved forth to pull out a small item from his pocket and handed it over. As it opened up, it was like a small tablet of some sort, and had a list of names for an entire team of 23 people.

"If you want th ebest for yourselves, better make sure you seek out all these people! We'll get back to this topic in 6 months."

He was just about to leave, and everyone thought the worst was gonna be left out today, but…

"Oh, and before I forget…"

"Not again…"

Zan dropped the ball he was holding, only to stop it on his right foot, lifting it back up again, letting it hang int he air only for a brief moment, before kicking it with full force with his tiptoes basically, sending it spinning around in place, slowly turning into a ball of dark energy, and with a move, that looked like him slashing a sword, he unleashed its fury.

"Death Sword!"

The ball went straight through some ad boards, the walls in its way and straight inside. For a while only loud thumps were to be heard, before everyone within the walls started running out like mad. At first only a loud moaning noise came, before the entire stadium started collapsing like a castle of cards. After the dust and the screaming and all the noise settled again, the Santiago Bernabeu stadium was as good as in ruins, and not much remained behind.

"This… Is simply madness…"

"What were we even expecting? I mean… Well we asked for this…"

The presidents of both the FIFA and UEFA were in a state of shock, but this all started after the disappointment that Boca Juniors caused as the first victims. Their home stadium was demolished the same way. One single ball, and one single technique, a mysterious move that had amazing and extremely destructive force. Bayern Munich, FC Barcelone, Manchester United, PSG, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, and all the legendary teams who have put down some of the most significant results in soccer history before and now even the 10 times Champions League winners defeated single handedly.

"Just who is this man?"

"More like a kid… I doubt he's even an adult by the looks…"

Now the coach picked the list up and walked up to the two international leaders.

"So… What now?"

"We have a list… Maybe we should try it…"

And that was where it began basically.

About 2 weeks later, in a remote place all the people who were involved in any way int he scene above gathered together for the results of the search. A young woman of 20 years of age was walking down a hallway at a steady pace only to reach the door of Conference Room 1 and enter imediately. Inside everyone was already gathered and there was already a bit of conversation going on about the enigmatic Operation X, as they named it.

"Excuse me, for the delay!"

"It's alright, Liz! Come on in! You all know miss Elisabeth Ramsey, my personal assistant, right?"

Elisabeth Ramsey, or just Liz as basically everyone called her was quite young for a pesonal assistant to the FIFA president, but she was definetly the most reliable and most secretive of all people and put in charge of the operation itself to not attract any unneeded attention. She now sat her laptop down on the table and plugged it into the projector.

"I have news, and mostly good ones."

"That's basically why we're here."

Liz Nodded and now started the presentation she prepared for the occasion.

"I've had to use all my connections and have finally found the people on the list, 99% of probability."

"That's good, I'm guessing. So what are the results?"

Liz now went forth to view the presentation page by page.

"As you can see, most of these people are all but civilians. The majority of them are just average high school students or are already working. Some of them of them do have relation to sports, but only athletics."

"I understand… Anything else?"

"Well, there is one thing… Or rather three…"

Liz now cleared her throat and as of cue an elder man of basically 60 years of age entered the room, and that of japanese descent.

"Allow me to introduce Kawashima Katsurou-san, from Japan. He is the first and currently only one I could directly contact."

Katsurou-san half bowed to greet everyone in the room.

"But who exactly is he?"

"Katsurou-san used to be a first class soccer player in the past, and played for many great teams for almost 30 years, and now he's putting all the experience he gained to use as a coach of Junior team sin Japan."

Another bow to back those words up once more.

"I feel like my skills are best put to use in this case as a coach."

It was a clear case, as all the others on the list were all between 15 and 21 of age.

"And the other two?"

"The second one is actually a soccer player…"

"And the problem?"

"The fact stands, that the person in question is a Brazilian Beach soccer player, 18 years of age and female."

This was quite a surprise, buti t all started making sense.

"And the third one?"

"I think this is the clearest surprise. The third person in question is a 21 year old Railroad worker from Hungary."

Now everyone basically cracked u pin laughing. Liz was quite stunned and with a huge question mark on her face her question came:

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no…"

Finally the FIFA president spoke up after thel long laughter.

"Sorry Liz, it's not your fault, but rather the age you were born into."

"How come?"

"Well, if you were about a decade or two older, you'd know, that Hungary of all the countries of the world, used to be one of the greatest soccer nations in the old days…"

"Hell, they almost won a World cup, and won olympic games before…"

Liz didn't quite remember ever reading anything like this before, but didn't even bother asking, rather just felt dumb, for not knowing things as trivial as this.

"Alright, but to get rather serious, Liz, I'd like you to keep up your good work, by assisting Katsurou-san with whatever he needs."

"Does that mean… ?"

"Yes, you are technically ported over to a new position… Take it as a sort of managing position, if you wish."

Liz now understood: As the head of this operation, his job from now on out would be to supervise whatever was coming from this point on. As she and Katsurou-san walked out, everyone inside took a moment before speaking up again.

"So, what if this fails again?"

"They said, that our children would pay the price in our stead."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure hoping, it's not what I'm thinking it is…"

In the mean time Liz and Katsurou-san were walking away from the office building and they were already talking about the details.

"So, what's the plan, Ramsey-san?"

"Please, just call me Liz! All my… Er… Colleagues call me that."

Katsurou nodded and added slowly:

"You don't happen to have many friends, do you, Liz?"

"And how did you know that?"

"From the way you hesitated… But sure, let's skip the formalities! We will be working together from now on after all."

Liz nodded and she carried on with a much more collected expression.

"Alright, so we should move on to paying the people on the list a visit, right?"

"Agreed. I'll take care of this, if you don't mind!"

"Sure."

"We'll also need a secure place, where we can gather the team and lay down the basic training. From what I recollect, these people, with maybe one exception, have nothing to do with soccer."

"Exactly. I already have a place in Germany, ready to accept us in any day of the week."

Katsurou laughed at this and left Liz puzzled once more.

"With all due respect, Liz… I'm not really fond of german training camps… I'd rather take them to a place familiar to me. Some place, where I know everything and everyone basically."

"So… You mean like Japan?"

"Exactly. I hope that's not a big problem at least…"

Liz sighed and took her cellphone out.

"No, not really… Just a few hours of extra work basically… Changing the plane ticket bookings, calling off the training camp… You know, just… Daily grind kind of."

"I'm really sorry about that…"

"No need… I'll need to get used to this, I guess. No worries!"

Katsurou nodded slowly, and he now cleared his throat.

"So, I'd say we split up. You take care of the part of the work you're best at for now, and I'll try and seek everyone on the list out as possible."

"I think I'll agree to that."

And on that note they parted ways, only to meet again on the verge of entering the final country they were meant to visit: Hungary. Katsurou was quite down int he dumps however.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well… We could say that I wasn't nearly as lucky as I was hoping."

"Not everything went well, huh?"

"We can say that for sure… I did recieve some maybes, and a few have asked for some time to think, but… I'm not sure who will actually come."

Liz nodded with a disappointed grin.

"And this is the last one, right?"

"Yes… I'll need to say, I'm not convinced about anything anymore."

The journey to their final location was a boring and way too long one. All the time they spent on traveling from the capital to a small, barely known village somewhere int he countryside took them nearly a day, by train and any other means necessary.

"I swear I wish I'd stayed at home…"

Liz said that quite a few times but she held out, and in the end they finally reached their final destination.

"This has to be a bad joke!"

If one were to say that the village they arrived at was like millions of lightyears away from all civilisation, it would probably not too over the top. The small station they got off their train at was all but looking like it belonged to some populated area. Man sized grass, the crickets giving a firm background noise to the impossible silence. Only a few cars to be seen on the main road, small, one story buildings and majestic peace all over. A small village indeed.

"So, where do we start?"

"Surely asking around a bit wouldn't hurt, right?"

That seemed to be a wise idea, however the greatest problem seemed to be the language difficulties, as not many seemed to speak english, or even if they did understand a bit, it wasn't enough. Finally, some kids seemed to know where the person in question was.

"The local soccer field, eh?"

"It would seem so."

"But what on Earth would he be doing there?"

"I don't know… Watching a match maybe?"

Liz Cringed at this idead slightly.

"A Match? I don't see that much of a crowd around you know!"

And at that Katsurou even laughed at her.

"What?"

"It's just, that not all soccer matches are actually like a Champions league finale you know… Small villages only have small crowds, and not many would even visit such matches either."

"You sure know about stuff like that."

"Well, I did work at a small team in the landside for a few years, and it was the same there."

Katsurou's experiences were no doubt at no limit at topics like this. As they entered the fields, they saw just what they were looking for: A larger group of people, mostly kids and young adults playing on the grass field. As they came closer, Katsurou tapped Liz's shoulder.

"I think I see him!"

In one of the goals stood a young man of normal height, dark brown hair and slightly tan skin, and quite sturdy build. He was keeping a keen eye on the others and with his deep and slightly grouchy voice, he gave directions on his team mates to coordinate their movements. Some time he'd even rush out of his position to show an example, diving at steady pace to stop shots targeted at the goal and showing off some quite applaudible skills which a lot of supposed professional keepers could easily become jealous of.

"And where are they hiding talents like this?"

"I'm not sure…"

Liz was completely dazed by this unusual display of pure skill by this complete stranger and just kept staring at the field. At one moment a small boy, of around 12 years of age, resembling th ekeeper, recieved a ball and something was aleady off: Ono ne side, the air was almost bursting aflame, while on the other, the ground was shaking.

"Just… What's going on here?"

And there was a really strange aura surrounding both of them: the keeper by a slightly orange like, gold one, while the supposed striker by a burning red one.

"This looks serious…"

Liz nodded silently, and couldn't take her eyes off the whole scene.

"Take this, Bro!"

And at that, a shot was fired, that nearly turned into a fireball, as it made its way to the goal. The keeper just smirked and extended his hands, closing his grasp around the ball, and without seemingly no problem, held it.

"Now we're talking! Looks like you trained for this!"

There was something unsettling about this scene and there was no doubt, that Katsurou and Liz found the one they were looking for. They waited for a bit, before slowly walking over to just behind the goal and finally took the initiative.

"Excuse me… Can we talk?"

The keeper turned around and finally noticed them.

"Sure…"

No language difficulties here, which was a huge bit of luck.

"If possible, just the three of us…"

"Oh, okay!"

He now turned towards some of the kids sitting near the line.

"Tomi, take over, okay?"

And within just a minute, they went over to a more peaceful place, where they could talk without anyone outhearing them. Here, Katsurou and Liz told him all about the situation and even showed him the list and the video Liz took at the last attack.

"That's me alright, Széll Dániel… So… Why me of all?"

"The truth is, we recieved this list, and the leaders decided to go by this plan."

Liz finally came to words again as the young man was staring at the kids on the pitch.

"Say… Mind if I call you Danny?"

"Sure, go on!"

"Okay, so… I don't know what you'll answer, but please reconsider what we were told!"

Danny, as he was now called, thanks to Liz, was still staring at the pitch as he slowly mumbled instead of answering straight on.

"The kids… The shildren would pay for our failure…"

For a long pause Liz and Katsurou stared at each other, but finally Danny spoke up.

"No! I won't let that happen!"

He now turned to the other two, and his answer was:

"I'm in! You can cound on me!"

This was a huge surprise, but the reaction it brought was a huge sigh of relief.

"I don't know what this all means, but I'm sure as hell, I won't let anything happen to the kids!"

He pointed at the boy he faced off with before and continued:

"That's my brother right there. If anything were to happen to him…"

He clenched his fist with great fury seemingly.

"No! I don't even want to think of that right now!"

"The point is, you're in and that's all that matters, right?"

Danny nodded and that closed this case. As of this cue, Katsurou was set to go forth back to Japan and greet everyone who'd arrive at the training camp, and Liz remained behind to help Danny with everything before he'd set out to Japan himself.