A few weeks later, a red Silverado pulled into the parking lot of a High School. Since there were so many cars already, it was forced to park far away from the entrance.
"Dude, I know that you don't have a car. But did you have to drag me 3 hours away to Dallas?" The familiar whine of Steve broke the silence.
Ken picked his ear, as if uninterested in the complaints. "You might want to check your engine before we leave today, I can hear a high pitched and annoying whine."
Steve blinked a few times before letting out a sigh. "I still don't know why we needed to attend this showcase. There would have been one closer to home in a couple of months."
Ken shrugged, "I've got nothing better to do this weekend. Plus, we just finished our training plan. I want to see how much you and I have improved."
"Mmm, I guess you're right…" Steve replied, his eyes growing distant. Just remembering the torture he'd had to endure for the past 3 months was enough to make him feel weak. But he couldn't deny that it had worked.
"Once I understand our improvements, I can come up with a more difficult training plan for our Senior year." Ken added, a small smile creeping onto his face.
Steve froze, "M—More difficult…?"
"Well the only way to improve is to keep pushing forward." He said, matter-of-factly.
"R—Right… Well we should probably go in." Steve quickly changed the subject, choosing to ignore the future of pain and suffering that was in store for him.
With that, the two alighted from the truck.
"You head in, I just want to send a message." Ken stated, shooing his friend away.
After Steve left, Ken looked around for a moment before opening up his system window.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 5 (64,880/1,000,000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 18
TALENT ASSESSMENT: SSS+
POTENTIAL: EX-
MAJOR POINTS: 64,880
USER MENU:
-STATS
-MISSIONS
-SYSTEM SHOP
-LOTTERY (Locked)
-IMAGE TRAINING
-IDENTIFY
-TRAINING PLAN
-MENTOR
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: SSS+
>Pitching: SSS+
>Fielding: A+
>Game Intelligence: S+
>Mental: EX-
>Skills: 21
>Traits: 2
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. SSS+)
Balance and Coordination: SSS+
Agility: SSS
Strength: SSS
Stamina: EX-
Seeing the huge increases brought on by the Physical Elixir he'd taken just a few days ago filled Ken with a sense of satisfaction. Although it had been the most painful one he'd consumed by far, it was clear that it was worth it.
'Now that my physical grades are all above SSS, I wonder how I'll do in this showcase?' Ken thought, clenching his hand into a fist.
This was the highest physical peak he'd reached, yet his body was still only 18. Compared to his emaciated figure in his previous life, the difference was like night and day.
"Hmm Ken? Is that you?" A voice called out, grabbing his attention.
Ken moved his head, only to see a large man with his gut hanging out under his shirt. The guy was wearing a cowboy hat, and didn't seem familiar.
"Yes, I am Ken… Can I help you?" Ken asked, trying to sound polite.
"A—Ah, sorry where are my manners." The man said, rubbing his right hand on his jeans which seemed rather dirty.
"The name's Tex, I work with your father at the University of Texas." He said, holding out his hand.
Ken's eyes widened slightly and he lowered his guard a little, "Nice to meet you. Are you in the administration?"
"Hehe goodness no. I'm one of their scouts." Tex stated, looking rather proud.
However, upon hearing this, Ken's face turned grave. "Mr. Tex… Do you know the repercussions for making contact with an amateur athlete before the appointed time?" His tone was frosty, filled with both annoyance and anger.
'Ah crap!'
Tex quickly took back his hand, his face turning into one of panic. "M—My bad."
He knew that if they were caught not only would University of Texas possibly be sanctioned, but Ken would also suffer if word got out.
Tex quickly looked around and turned on his heel, "Please forget this meeting ever happened Ken…" With that he scampered off, looking rather comical with his large belly sticking out.
But Ken was not amused. Perhaps it may have been an innocent mistake, but to Ken it involved his future as a professional player. This was not something that could be taken lightly.
"Thankfully no one was around to see it…" Ken mumbled, his eyes darting around the parking lot. But just as he thought this, he saw a person walking their dog along the path.
'C—Crap… Did they see?' He thought in panic.
However, after seeing the harness of the dog, and the thick black glasses of its owner, Ken let out a sigh of relief. 'It's just a blind person…'
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ken quickly made his way into the school, looking for Steve. Thankfully it didn't take long for him to see the guy, since he was not far from the entrance.
"What took you so long?" Steve quipped. He was fidgeting quite a lot, likely from nervousness.
"Long story." Ken stated, making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it. "What are you lining up for?"
"We need to check in apparently."
"Fair enough."
After around 5 minutes, it was finally their turn as they headed up to the makeshift counter.
"Names."
"Ken Takagi and Stephen Adams." Ken replied politely.
The woman scoured the sheets in front of her before ticking off their names. She then grabbed a red shirt from the ground beside her and handed it to Ken.
"You're in team 1, head over to where they're warming up. Try and be quick, we'll be taking photo's shortly."
At the mention of photo's, Ken's face turned up in a frown. But he couldn't complain, especially since he didn't even have a profile photo on the Perfect Game website.
"Stephen Adams, you're in team 4." She said, handing him a yellow shirt.