Oct. 19, 2083
Ellington’s eyes suddenly shot open. Upon looking around, he found himself still in his hospital room. Disappointment filled him as he wondered if what he had experienced was just a dream. He had felt so certain that it was real, but now he was starting to doubt himself. Had he just imagined it all?
You didn’t imagine it.
Jolting in surprise, he glanced around, trying to find the source of the lilting voice that rang throughout the room. However, no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find anyone in his white bare room.
“Oh s***. Is this the first step in losing my mind? Hearing voices?” Elli mused, unnaturally calm. “Well, it’s about time. I was wondering when they would break me.”
…. Are you okay?
Suddenly a fluffy grey and white cat appeared, floating slightly above him. It looked exactly like the plushie system the fox had given to him. It showed a concerned countenance on its face as it looked at him.
This concern deepened as Ellington stared blankly back at it, with his mouth agape. It took a couple of minutes before he could gather his wits. Now he knew what he had experienced couldn’t have been a dream.
However, if it wasn’t a fabrication dreamt up by a dying boy, why was he still in the hospital?
Suddenly, a thought struck him. He read enough novels to know things aren’t always how they appear. And seeing how the only pain he was feeling at the moment was coming from his leg, that must mean he wasn’t in his original body.
You are correct. I thought I got a malfunctioning human as a host. But It seems you’re smarter than you look.
The cat’s words didn’t even bother Ellington. Instead, it just filled him with excitement, knowing that he had been transported into a book with his own personal system. A gleeful smile spread across his face, knowing that he was finally free from the hell, that was his previous life.
No longer would he have to suffer through treatments or the crushing disappointment he always felt when they didn’t work. He was now freed from his restraint that was called cancer, he could now follow his dreams like any other normal boy. That reminds him, whose body did the fox put him in?
I thought you never ask. You’re in the body of Ellington Frost.
“Ellington Frost! Do you mean the cannon fodder who only appeared in three chapters?!” Suddenly his happy mood plummeted. “Is that fox trying to kill me?”
Zivot thought it would help you adjust if you were in the body of someone who shares the same name as you.
Ellington couldn’t help but scoff at that. “There had to be other characters with my name beside him. Doesn’t Zivot know that this character did a lot of bad things and is hated by all?”
In the original story that may be true, but in the changed story he is just an innocent bystander who fell victim to the protagonist’s schemes.
“Really??” he queried, slightly taken aback. “Can a ripple change things so much that even character personalities are completely different?”
Yes, it can.
“Can you tell me the new details of this world?”
Yes. In this new world, because of Aite’s tampering, instead of sending back the boy who wanted to bring back artistry to figure skating, it brought back someone greedy for fame. His name is Benoit Rey, and he was a tenth-tiered figure skater from the year 3045. Because of his weak body, he could only do 6 spins in a jump instead of the usual nine that were standard in the future.
“Nine revolutions in a single jump?! That’s unbelievable!” Elli exclaimed, dumbfounded. “They must have been taking some kind of drug to be doing all of that.”
Actually, human beings have evolved by then, causing their bodies to undergo changes such as increased strength and better agility.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
You could say that. But it took them ages before they could do so. Cats were able to do it in 2690.
Ellington was surprised by this. It made him wonder if his system was the product of their evolution. It could be possible after all, his system was a cat.
Anyway, back to the story. Once Benoit traveled back in time, he saw it as his chance to become the most groundbreaking skater of all time. Which would be easy to achieve since he had routines that hadn’t even been thought up yet memorized in his head. His skills became revolutionary, and he became a role model to every skater. He even became the first person to win the Olympics with a score of 650.
He couldn’t believe what he heard. The highest score in his world was only 335. To think that someone could double that was mind-blowing.
But, if there is a first, there will be another. It was as though Benoit lit a fire under the other skaters and in the nine years after his arrival, things changed. The skaters who used to focus more on performing than just jumps began following in his footsteps. Benoit didn’t mind other skaters copying him since no one was his equal, but when Ellington joined his team the Gallic Roosters, he became threatened.
“Was he really that good?”
He was. Ellington looked up to Benoit and trained hard to be just like him. However, his admiration was for naught. As soon as he could land six revolutions in a jump, Benoit had it out for him.
However, before he could ask if that’s how the original owner landed in the hospital, he heard a knock, followed by a large balding man entering his room. Elli side-eyed his system because he did not know who the man was and he certainly didn’t look like a doctor.
This is Ryan Bentley, the lead coach of France’s figure skating team. The one the original owner of your body joined.
Suddenly, a transparent window popped up in front of him. That had a picture of the coach, his name, age, his favorability rating, and some random information. Ellington stared at the screen with wide eyes, knowing that this would be useful to him in the future.
However, he couldn’t figure out why, if the original owner was so promising, his favorability rating of him was only 14. What was up with that?
It’s because he had been brainwashed into thinking that the original body owner perceived himself as someone who is better than the team.
“You can read my mind?” Elli inquired out of the blue.
You just figured that out? Maybe there is something wrong with you after all.
“Ellington! Are you listening to me?” the balding man asked, giving him a start. “The doctor said you would still be woozy from your medication, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
As someone who only conversed with his parents and his physicians, Elli almost didn’t know how to respond. However, after seeing the man’s shifty eyes, he just said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’m fine. What do you want?”
“What do I want… where is your respect, young man?” the coach asked, looking at him with disdain.
Although his parents had taught him to be respectful to adults, something about this person told him that he didn’t deserve it. “Just cut to the chase. I have a feeling you didn’t come to visit me just out of concern.”
“Alright then, I will get right to it. I want you to apologize to Benoit on social media, and let everyone know what happened was no one’s fault but your own.”
Elli stared at the coach, speechless. He couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy.
