The Referee Problem

Chapter 10

Vinícius cast a fierce glance to the guards before they closed the door on them. He'd been shoved in by them and didn't like how forceful they were, for no reason. But Vinícius sighed, deciding to move on from it. He looked at what was actually going on, Haaland and Gianno's conversation.

"What's the point of even coming? You can't just let a little VAR choice slide?" Ginanno seemed to tease them a bit. Vinícius was going to say something, until Mbappé beat him to it. "That 'little VAR choice' might cost someone their best goal of their career!" Mbappé raised his voice a bit.

Is Mbappe actually thinking about others? Oh my, this is a miracle! That selfish, money feasting- Vinicius pushed the thoughts out of his head.

Gianno sighed, "They can have many more chances after that goal to make an even better one." Was this guy being serious? I mean...has he ever been serious? All of his choices and words sound like a joke. "Yeah, but what if those chances never come? The best goal of your career is really something." Vinícius said.

"Then the goal happened either way, it just wasn't enough for it to become a real one." Gianno's tone seemed a bit impatient. Jeez, this guy becomes even more clueless by the second. "But how would the goal matter if it didn't do anything for your team?" Haaland asked.

Of course he knows about goals, maybe he should just do all the talking. He's the goal scorer anyways... Vinícius thought.

"Alright, alright, let's just move on. Staying on this topic has become boring. So, you guys really thought you'd convince us about our referee's so easily?" Gianno grinned. "I guess?" Mbappé shrugged. "Yeah, I mean we didn't really expect much from you. At least from what I thought." Vinicius added.

Gianno didn't seem so amused by their answers. "Well, you guys will have to work for us to even consider what you guys are saying. So, off you go." Gianno waved. Vinicius was confused, real confused. And it seemed like the others were too, judging on how they were acting. "Uh, what do you mean by—"

Haaland was cut off as, once again, the floor fell and all of them fell with it. They landed inside this white pod with three seats on each side. Vinicius landed on one of them, he shook his head and opened his eyes to see Haaland and Mbappe sitting on the other two.

Can FIFA really not think of anything other than dropping floors? Vinicius thought, looking around.

The pod was moving fast, like really fast. Faster than himself and Mbappe combined. But inside, it didn't feel like it. For a matter of fact, it didn't even feel like they were moving in the first place, just in place.

"Where are we heading?" Haaland asked, breaking the silence between the three. "You expect us to know?" Mbappe crossed his arms. "Maybe they're bringing us back to where our teams are?" Haaland suggested. "Oh, of course we are!" Vinicius said sarcastically. Haaland sighed and they fell under silence again.

Vinicius decided to look around more, try to get an idea on where they were even going. But he couldn't look around for any time longer before the pod suddenly stopped and Vinicius was the only one who was thrown to the other side, hitting against the glass wall, but not breaking it. He could hear Mbappe chuckling as he hit against the glass, but he didn't comment on it, just shaking his head as he got up.

He got up to see that Haaland was already out of the pod, Mbappe came out, then himself. Vinicius looked around, it was like they just got out of the Metro. But they were outside, and Vinicius took advantage of it, going over to where the light was and looked around.

Mbappe was at his side, and he seemed to notice something, guessing on his slight gasp. Vinicius looked at him with a bit of confusion, "Did you see something?" He asked. Mbappe still looked in front of them, not making eye contact with Vinicius at all. "I know where we're at. We're in Paris. Just, far out of Paris." Mbappe told them.

Haaland came over and came just in time to hear what Mbappe was saying. "Oh, cool. So what do we do now? Just go over to PSG or something like that?" There was no reply, since no one knew what to do at all. "Sure, but how will I even get there? Your guy's building is probably thousands of miles away." Vinicius looked at Mbappe.

Mbappe nodded, "Yeah, it's right in Paris. We're in the outskirts of Paris. But I know a way to get over to the main city, just follow me." Mbappe started to walk forward. Vinicius and Haaland shared a glance before looking back and following Mbappe.

He led them onto a sidewalk and underground, to a Metro system. They waited in one of the tunnels, waiting for a metro to come in.

"So, how does the Underground work here?" Haaland asked. Vinicius looked to Haaland with confusion. "Underground? What's that?" Haaland then looked to Vinicius with confusion. They stared at each other with confusion.

"Snap out of it, both of you. We all just call it different..." Mbappe said, his voice sounding impatient. The usual tone. "I say metro and I guess that it is Underground in England?" Vinicius asked. Haaland nodded.

At last, the metro came and the three of them went inside. Thankfully, no one else came inside of the car that they were in, so it was just the three of them. Vinicius started to lie down on the car's seats. He was tired today, and just wanted to take a little nap.

"Mbappe, how long until we get over to Paris?" He asked. "In about...half an hour." Mbappe answered. Perfect, just the amount of time Vinicius needed for his nap. "Alright, alright..." Vinicius closed his eyes and started to doze off.

•••

"Vinicius, Vinicius!" He could hear Haaland repeating his name, shaking him around. Vinicius slowly opened his eyes to see Haaland towering over him. "Are we already here..?" Vinicius asked, yawning. Haaland nodded and offered Vinicius a hand. Vinicius took his hand and he got up, stretched a bit, then walked out of the car. Paris was probably its last stop since the doors were wide open and it hadn't seemed to have moved in a while.

Vinicius looked around to see...just a flight of stairs. He and the other two walked up the stairs and Vinicius saw how Paris was. It looked really nice, tan buildings everywhere, and a lot of people that had good fashion.

Pfft...I'm pretty sure my fashion beats everyone here! Or it will someday. Vinicius thought, as he still looked around.

"Mbappe, you're the main guy now. Tell us, what're we going to do?" Haaland turned to Mbappe. Vinicius also snapped out of his thoughts and looked to Mbappe. Haaland was right, now that they were in Paris, Mbappe was in charge. He was the one who knew the place the most, out of the three of them.

Mbappe sighed, "I don't know...but I'll find out what..."