SC Spades...SC Spades...SC Spades...SC Spades...SC Spades...SC Spades...

"Hey Ace, can you stop mumbling about spades and finish your dinner." Ace's mom asked him as she finished her dish.

"Oh I'm sorry mom but at school today, I played Football today with Sam and this guy came by and he was so strong! He beat me in a 1v1 and then told me he plays in a 5v5 league on a team called SC Spades. I wanna go try out for that team! You know hard I've been looking for a chance to play." Ace said as he finished his food.

"That's amazing honey, let me know where I need to take you and we can go tomorrow." Ace's mom smiled, she was very supportive of his dream to win the World Cup.

"Where to take me...I FORGOT TO FIND OUT WHERE TO GO TRY OUT!" Ace's face contorted in pain.

"Oh honey...you need to use your head more." Ace's mom giggled. Just then, a knock came at the door and Ace got up to answer. Fletcher appeared, sweating profusely and trying to catch his breath. 

"What the hell...did you run all the way to my house?"

"Y-Yes...come to this field." Fletcher handed Ace a piece of paper with an address written on it and a time. 

"Are there others like you? Who play at such a high level?" Ace asked.

"Of course, I would say I'm the best striker on our team but our winger is a good dribbler and has great pace, our defender can stop me some times, he's really good and our goalie is the best goalie is our league. The other teams also have players at our level. Last year's top goaler played for Grand United, they have lots of funding from sponsors so they have high level facilities." Fletcher explained.

"How many goals did he score?"

"27."

"That's not that many."

"We play 9 matches a season. He averaged a hat trick a game last season. Plus 2nd place had 15 goals."

"Wow...what's his name?"

"Ashton Prince."

Ace felt a fire light inside him. He saw Ashton Prince as a bar from him to pass, someone he could take down.

"I'll be there tomorrow. You can count on it." Ace held out his hand for a fist bump. They said Goodnight and Fletcher headed home. Ace headed start to bed and closed his, imagining all of the cool Football he'd be playing tomorrow. He wondered if he could bring Sam along and show them all of their combo moves. He hoped he would get a rematch with Fletcher and manage to defeat him. Night had finally past and Ace had awoken, feeling energized and ready to play. He got out of bed and ran downstairs.

"Mom, Mom, can we go to the field?" Ace jumped up and down.

"Of course honey, let's go." Ace's mom got in the car and drove them to the field. Ace got out of the car and ran onto the field. He saw Fletcher and 2 other boys juggling Footballs.

"Hey! Fletcher! I made it." Ace ran over to the group. One boy was a bit shorter than him, while the other was almost as tall as Fletcher.

"Hey Ace, these are my friends and teammates. The tall and lanky one is Jean Black and the short one is Asta Ghepardo."

"I'm not short, you're just freaks of nature." Asta spoke with a strong Italian accent.

"Whoa, where are you from?" Ace was amazed by someone not from America.

"Italy, I moved to America when I was young but my parents had a strong accent so I developed it too. I play Winger/Forward for FC Spades, nice to meet you." Asta shook hands with Ace.

"Hey Coach! This is the kid I told you about." A man walked out from the building the pitch was located at and eyed up Ace.

"Eh? You're Ace Keegan huh?" The coach stroked his beard as he examined the boy.

"I'm Coach Treinador. It's nice to meet you. Can I see you play?" The coach smirked at the boy.

"Yes! I'd love to try out for FC Spades." Ace walked onto the field. They would be doing a 2v2 with Ace playing with Fletcher and Asta playing with Jean. Fletcher took the ball in his hand and brought it to their side of the field.

"Let's go Ace, you need to play fast to keep up with these two. Just try and compliment my play and work with me." Fletcher passed Ace the ball and the 2v2 begun. Ace begin pushing through the left while Fletcher went through the middle, drawing Jean away from Ace to give him a 1v1. Ace did two stepovers and burst past Asta, finding himself open on goal. He felt a strange feeling in his brain before his leg kicked the ball towards the right. He was confused on what happened until he noticed the defender had been right in front of him and he subconsciously passed to Fletcher for an easy goal.

"Ace! Great vision!" Fletcher cheered on his teammate while Coach Treinador smirked.

'That kid...he's got good instincts that help him on the pitch. He wasn't even looking towards Fletcher.' Coach liked what he saw so far but knew Ace was still a diamond in the rough. The 2v2 picked back up with Jean pushing through the middle. Ace was marking Asta but he found himself one step behind. Asta received the ball and shifted the momentum of the pass to the right, dashing up the field. He cocked his leg back and his eyes burned bright.

'Damn he's gonna shoot!' Ace slide forward but Asta's aura disappeared instantly and he flicked it over his leg and ran forwards.

"Jean!" Asta chipped the ball towards the goal and Jean, using his body to keep Fletcher away, headed it into the goal. The game had been tied and excitement brewed inside Ace.

'These guys are so good! I need a goal. How can I score? I have an idea..." Ace begin to dribble up the field. He took on Asta and blew past him. Asta was on his tail however, a fast runner. Ace felt the hairs on his neck stand up and faked a pass to the middle, giving him a second of separation from the incoming Jean, and he used it to get past and line up a shot.

"You're not getting it that easy!" Asta slide forward, on a collision course to block the shot.

'Damn...' Ace changed where his foot hit so the ball curved more away from the goal and Asta's foot, right towards Fletcher, who tapped the ball in.

"Nice pass!" Fletcher called out.

'That was a good play from Ace. He's definitely a good player but he has much to improve on.' Coach Treinador felt like he had almost seen enough.

Asta took the ball and sighed.

"Ace, Fletcher, Jean; I'm scoring a goal." Asta's aura flared as he began to run. He felt at peace when he ran, like he was in heaven. He faked moving to the left and flicked his right, pulling of a beautiful elastico to beat Fletcher and found himself 1v1 against Ace. He kept trying to find an opening but Ace guarded him well. Asta pushed to the left and Ace bit too hard. He watched in amazement as Asta rolled the ball up his left leg and into the air before flicking it over Ace and catching it with his right.

'A Rainbow Flick...' Ace couldn't help but be impressed as Asta placed it bottom right in the net.

"Ok boys, next goal wins." Coach smirked as he saw the 4 begin to burn brighter than before. They stared each other down as Ace took the ball.

'I need this goal! I'm the only one who hasn't scored.' Ace passed to Fletcher and they began heading up the field. Ace tried to make good runs but Asta was covering him expertly. Fletcher was 1-on-1 with Jean and finding difficultly getting past. He kicked it towards Ace and Asta intercepted.

'Brace, Brace, Brace.' Asta begin speeding towards the other goal.

"You're not scoring that easy." Ace ran with him stride for stride, trying to get the ball. Asta and Ace clashed, pushing against each other. Ace extended his leg and Asta tripped, rolling on the ground and the ball went out of play.

"Penalty!" Coach Treinador called out.

"We don't have a goalie Coach!" Fletcher sighed as Ace helped Asta up.

"Good tackle dude!" Asta smiled at Ace and he sighed.

"I gave up a penalty but it's better than a goal." Ace groaned.

"I can be the goalie." A new face came from the building. He was a bulky dude, around 5'10 and had blue eyes and blond hair.

"Torman!" Fletcher was super happy, considering Torman was a great goalie.

"Don't worry Asta, I won't wear gloves." Torman got in the goal and took his stance, watching intensely as Asta took his shot. It went top right and Torman blocked it, sending it towards Fletcher.

"Go get that goal Ace." Torman cheered on his potential new teammate. The counter began as Fletcher ran down the field, followed by Jean. He found himself in shot range and took a kick.

"Not so fast!" Asta slide in and the ball hit the crossbar, soaring into the air. Jean got in box, hoping to win a header. Ace also ran into the box, ready to head the ball.

"You little shit..." Fletcher muttered to Asta and he started screaming.

"I'm not little you asshole!" They started kicking each other, losing focus on the game.

'I can't beat him in a header, I have to go with this...' Ace jumped early.

'What is he doing?' Everyone paying attention to the game thought as Ace jumped, his body facing away from the goal. Jean's eyes widened.

'Damn it! This kid's gonna try and bicycle kick it!' Ace leaned back his leg coming up right as the ball fell. He was just above Jean's head as it connect, sending the ball hurtling into the net and winning his team the game. He fell towards the ground, landing on his back. His chest went up and down slowly, his breathing heavy. He couldn't feel anything, he was filled with adrenaline from his risky move.

"I SCORED A BICYCLE KICK!" His voice roared as he celebrated his miraculous goal. Fletcher ran over and lifted Ace up.

"We did it!" Ace laughed as Asta shook his head.

"That's so lucky. A bicycle kick? That was risky but it worked." Asta smirked.

"I can't believe you had the balls to go for that. I applaud you Ace Keegan." Jean smiled.

"ACE!" Torman ran over and tackled him.

"Nice goal dude!" Torman gave him a fistbump.

"Ace." Coach Treinador spoke up and everyone else quieted down to listen to him.

"We've actually lost our midfielder to Grand United. We don't have a substitute either. I think you would make a great Attacking Midfielder for SC Spades." Coach gave him a look that inspired confidence in the young teen.

"I'm gonna score more than 27 goals and assist everyone. I'll surpass Ashton Prince." Ace felt at home with the team.

"So...who wants burgers?" Coach said and they all cheered. Ace's mom pulled into the field's parking lot.

"Ace, honey, it's time to go." His mom called for him and he groaned.

"Mom, can I go eat burgers with the rest of the team?" Ace begged and his mom sighed and shook her head.

"I just made dinner..." Ace frowned as he heard this.

"Hey! You must be Ace's mom. I'm the coach. I'm buying the team burgers after practice, can we bring Ace along? I'll be you a burger too." Coach offered and Ace's mom thought about it before she agreed and they walked across the street to a burger joint. Coach ordered everyone' food and they sat at a table.

"Ace! That was a such a fun game, we need to play soccer more." Asta said as he devoured his meal. Ace laughed at how he was still able to talk despite shoveling food in his mouth.

"Hey, look, I think that's your old team Damian." A boy snickered towards SC Spades. 3 boys walk over to the table and the middle one waves at the Coach.

"Hey coach, it's nice to see you." The boy, who's name is Damian West, said.

"Damian...what are you doing here?" Torman interjected. 

"He was showing us this burger place. Pretty shitty joint." Another boy laughed. His name was Justine Hunter and he played Right Back for Grand United. Fletcher grit his teeth, pissed off at the boys.

"Hey, who are you? You're not on SC Spades." The final boy pointed towards Ace, twirling his short blonde hair. Ace stood up and walked up to him.

"You're him, aren't you? Ashton Prince." Ace looked him in the eyes.

"Yeah, I'm Ashton Prince. Striker for Grand United." Ashton smirked, hoping his infamy would scare the boy.

"It's nice to meet you Ash. I'm Ace. I can't wait to play you." Ace smiled at him, throwing Ashton off.

"Ash? Whatever...nice to meet you Ace." They shook hands and Ace pulled him in.

"By the way, on the pitch, I'm gonna kill you." Ace smiled even wider.

"If you were good enough to beat me, you'd be on Grand United." Ashton accepted his challenge and they looked at each other. Their eyes had a crazy look in them as their auras began to build.

"Your name is Ace right? Remember today, when Grand United crush your pathetic club." Ashton's facial expression changed from a smile to anger.

"Ok Ash, remember today, when SC Spades is holding the Playoffs Trophy and I've scored more goals than you." Ace laughed as Grand United left the restaurant. 

The stage had been set for an intense meeting between the two clubs and Ace was excited to meet Ashton on the pitch.