La Brujita: Or The Near Redemption Of White Chocolate

La Brujita

Or:

  The Near Redemption of White Chocolate

           In a fabled land south of the Equator where the sweetest of milk is eaten, there lived a Witch, La Bruja from Silver.  He was a skilled witch, loyal, loving, technically sound, and equally able with both feet.  La Bruja worked hard for many years in his homeland and became famous for his success. 

Though never the fastest, strongest, or loudest, La Bruja always possessed a wisdom beyond his years and a temperament that kept him calm in the roughest of situations.  For this, he was considered one of his country’s great witches. 

           After many years he traveled to far off places, helping others in their quest for victory and glory.  As the Witch got older though, he grew weary and lonely.  After three years away from his home, the Witch came back. 

Now back home, the Witch met a beautiful woman and married her.  After retiring from his work the couple began a new life and spent many happy years together.  One day La Brujita was born: all bald, with a mustache and goatee, smiling, and just as gifted as his father.  The couple knew that one day La Brujita would make an even better witch than his father. 

Of course, La Brujita would have to work hard as well, harder possibly than even La Bruja, but La Bruja knew that the time would come for his son to take up his calling and become...White Chocolate. 

La Brujita led a happy childhood: learning to witch, eating alfajores, singing, playing music, and constantly soaking up the life lessons taught to him by his parents.  Wherever he went, La Brujita could be found practicing.  He often dreamt of witching for a Wednesday team in the Cold-Damp Land like his uncle, but he remained focused on his training and development; never letting rumors or silly talk go to his head. 

While the other young witches were watching the idiot box, sneaking into movies, or listening to music, La Brujita could be found practicing, sometimes with his father, but more often alone.  La Brujita was born with a gift, but even the gifted have to work hard.  La Brujita started off competing with all of the other young witches, but his talent was quickly recognized by his father’s most loyal employers, the Students.  Intimately familiar with his father’s abilities, and having heard of the dedication of this young witch, the Students decided to take on La Brujita and give him a trial. 

La Brujita always worked in the middle.  Even before he ripped his first attempt on target with the Young Student’s team, La Brujita’s first touch and magical brain glowed for all to see.  From the beginning, his father instilled in him the secret of two feet, but it was his brain that really set him apart from all the other witches. 

Much like his father, La Brujita was blessed with incredible intelligence beyond his years.  His commitment to his trade, his foresight, and a little bit of luck was what would push La Brujita to new heights of greatness rarely seen in witches today.

Oh the times they change, and bring with it all kinds of new gadgetry.  In far off places, there were needles and liquids that were making people faster, stronger, and angrier.  Very soon in the Federal Capital, many witches were taking these short cuts.  Even the legendary “El Pibe de Oro” was rumored to have been taking the artificial substances. 

At the World Witch Cup of 1994, El Pibe de Oro, as usual, worked his magical left foot, destroying nearly every other witch on the pitch, but it became clear after a stunning strike that he was cheating.  El Pibe de Oro ran up to the camera yelling and making furious faces taunting his opponents at which point, the International Witch Committee knew that he was not right. 

El Pibe de Oro was subsequently banned from the tournament for cheating and was never truly the same witch.  Despite his substance use, El Pibe de Oro would go on to be considered the greatest witch ever, but that’s another story. 

After his 17^th year, La Brujita was quickly shepherded into the professional squad of witches for his sparkling talent in the middle of the pitch.  Over the long sea known as Atlantis witches were being paid crazy amounts of money to perform, though la Brujita kept his focus on his witching career with the Students.  Though tempted by the substances, La Brujita resisted because he had strong family support and an incorrigible work ethic that saw him practicing for hours on end, even staying on the pitch 2-3 hours after the other witches had gone.  

All around the town of Silver and in the Federal Capitol people began talking about the little bald witch who was smooth as chocolate, but creamier than dark or milk chocolate.  Rumors of an ultra-talented little witch were heard throughout his country and even overseas, where he was being recognized as an up and coming talent.  By 19 teams over the Atlantis Sea were scouting him. 

There were teams in the Roman Land, in the Olive Grove Lisp-Land, in the Strong Blonde Land, and in the Cold-Damp Land that all had their eyes on our little witch.  Rumor had it that there were teams willing to pay La Brujita millions to compete for them, but La Brujita kept his head, he kept on working, winning many personal accolades, and trophies for the Students. 

It was at 21 that La Brujita was called up to country's national team of witches, the Light Blue Witches, as they were called, to represent them in an intercontinental friendly match.  The friendly match was La Brujita’s first real chance to show off his skills to the teams overseas. 

Entering the pitch with 25 minutes left in the match, La Brujita, as usual, oozed grace and quality, and was subsequently on the cusp of becoming an international superstar.  Loyal as he was to the Students, the team knew, just as well as he, that he was destined for bigger things, for better teams of witches, and to fulfill his destiny in becoming...White Chocolate.  So La Brujita signed for the Junior Mouths, his country’s most historic team and even got to play alongside his idol, El Pibe de Oro for one season.    

La Brujita was known for his vision, his focus, his two-footedness, his accuracy, and his control.  He was not the fastest, nor the strongest, but he was always the sharpest.  La Brujita knew where other witches would be on the pitch even before they knew.  He knew how to strike as well as any other witch in the world, and he was always determined to make other witches better. 

In his first major competition the World Witch Cup of 1998, La Brujita impressed, playing most of the completion and with the help of the Tractor, The Mouse, Batigol, the Doll, The Little Donkey, Cholo, and Little Valdano, brought the Light Blue Witches to the quarterfinals, before defeat by the Young Orange.  Despite their defeat, the Light Blue Witches could go back to that strange land with their heads held high because they had performed admirably and because the Young Orange were valiant opponents. 

That next year was the highlight of La Brujita’s career.  He finally moved over the Atlantis Sea to a great team in the Roman Land.  With his first team Sampova, he showed the world what he was, a smooth as silk, two-footed playmaker, with a brilliant mind, and masterful technique.  With his second team there, Parm-Regs, he won a national cup, and made it to the final of one of the greatest club tournaments.  His abilities had developed to their highest possible levels, his mentality and focus had gotten him there, and it was time for La Brujita to truly accept his new moniker.

By this time La Brujita had officially become White Chocolate.  Now in the prime of his career, every time our young witch took to the pitch he was unstoppable, making every member of his team better, using both feet with unsurpassed class, leaving a trail of sweet white chocolate wherever he went.   By 2000 he was absolutely unstoppable having driven his third team in the Roman Land, Lazze, to an unprecedented league title, league cup, and Super Cup. 

Though incredibly pleased with his performances, La Brujita knew that his time in witching competitions was only temporary and tried to appreciate every moment,.  That same year, though, Lazze experienced financial problems and could no longer afford to keep its best witches.  Everyone knows that a team is not made up of one person (even in the case of El Pibe de Oro), and La Brujita’s ethereal talents were so famous that there were other teams who wanted, and could pay for his confectionery abilities on the pitch, teams in the Cold-Damp Land. 

At 25, in the height of his career, he went to the Diabolic Colorados, one of the world’s most historic and respected team of witches from the Cold-Damp Land.  In the Cold-Damp Land it is their custom to give witches less space on the pitch, to pressure them more, and to engage with more physicality.  In his first few months there, La Brujita uncharacteristically struggled.  He was so used to it coming naturally and easily to him, that this new form of witching confused la Brujita.  But our Brujita persisted because quitting was not in his blood.  Behind all of his learned techniques, behind his natural talent, there always lay a hunger, an endless source of effort and earnest devotion to the beauty of the trade. 

He could not speak their language, he did not understand their (seemingly backwards) customs, and he was not used to having such minuscule spaces to work with, but he persisted.  La Brujita eventually adapted and generated some fantastic displays.  The problem was that in the middle of the pitch the Diabolic Colorado’s already had their own version of La Brujita, the Ginger Prince, one of the finest witches of his generation who was preferred.  Though La Brujita was being paid millions, and though his talent was evident, he was relegated to the bench because he did not fit in with the Diabolic Colorados.  Even the bench, however, could not keep him from practicing and honing in on his skills. 

At the end of his second season with the Diabolic’s, it became clear that la Brujita was too talented to waste away on the bench so he was sold to the Blews, an up and coming team in the Cold-Damp Land.  At the Blews, he again started off well, but the new owner of the Blews, Bigski Bossman, wanted a team of machines, and La Brujita was not a machine.  Like all of us, he made mistakes, sometimes dire-ones, and sometimes match-losing mistakes.  In his last year with the Diabolics, there was another World Witchcup.  Despite his slow start with the Diabolics, the Light Blue Witches knew that they needed La Brujita if they wanted to challenge for international glory. 

La Brujita was not universally loved, even in his own land.  The problem with even the best witches is that they are not meant to last.  Even at 27, the prime of most witches’ careers, la Brujita was not the same witch that he was at 23, nor at 24.  He performed admirably, but not to his standards in the first few matches of the 2002 World Witch Cup.  The best witches perform when it matters most, but at some point all witches fail, and fail la Brujita did. 

In the last game of the first stage, against the Cold-Damp Witches, the “Three Leo’s,” as they are called, la Brujita fell as hard as any witch had ever fallen.  Time after time, la Brujita gave away possession, made the wrong decision, misplayed his fellow witches, and generally did everything wrong.  When it was over, everyone pointed the finger at La Brujita and accused him of sabotaging the team.  Of course he had struggled before, made plenty of mistakes, but rarely at such important and career-defining moments. 

Why did this befall our valiant witch?  Why?  Why Brujita?  Why now?  You want to know why? –Because this is not a fairy tale, and because failure happens to the BEST of witches.  He had a bad day, like many of us do from time to time.  He was only a witch after all, and all witches make mistakes.  But La Brujita took it extremely hard.  Professional witches are always taught to ignore the witch media, to ignore blame, to not get distracted, and to play within their abilities.  Despite being blessed with the mental toughness of his father, and despite the fact that witching is a team competition, La Brujita felt ashamed and responsible for his team’s loss. 

He had always had the name of his father to live up to.  He had always taken the hard road because he wanted to prove himself-moving to foreign lands unlike most witches of his country, playing in the toughest area of the pitch, and always trying to maintain the brilliance of his youth.  Unfortunately, when it mattered most, on what could have been his brightest day, La Brujita tried to do too much. 

Shockingly, the ultra-talented Light Blue Witches were eliminated from the World Witch Cup in the first round and La Brujita was devastated.  Yes he had been carrying a few knocks and was not quite right physically, but la Brujita still had to shoulder most of the blame for his country’s loss, and losing was not something his country did well. 

A proud country of witches that had won the World Witch Cup twice (fourth most among of all active teams), the Light Blue Witches always carried the hope, pride, and belief of a passionate nation who expected to win and proceed at every challenge.  After the Cup, La Brujita left witching for a little while.  While recovering from knee injuries, La Brujita was inconsolable.  Most days he could be found alone in his bedroom replaying in his head what he had done wrong against the Three Leos, or out on the pitch practicing alone; talking to himself, and mulling over what he could do to find his old form again. 

La Brujita had effectively shut the world out.  He was not answering his father’s phone calls nor was he speaking to friends, teammates, and least of all the media.  Many of us experience such times in our lives when our passion for what we love most is questioned and severely put to the test, and this was such a time for la Brujita.  Down and out, knocked over, crumpled up, spat at, and shunned, La Brujita resolved to carry on and find the peace and redemption that had haunted his dreams since that fatal loss. 

Sadly, after that Witchcup, la Brujita was not the same.  It was a true turning point in his life and he never again had the same pep in his step, the same level of confectionery delight, the same tireless work-rate, but there was no denying that he was still La Brujita, that he still possessed the White Chocolate potential in him.  He plowed on for another year in the Cold-Damp league with the Blews, sadly wasting away on the bench.  When he learned that the Blews and the Bigski Bossman no longer wanted him, la Brujita was loaned out to another team in Roman Lands, the Internals. 

At the age of 30, la Brujita was now a veteran.  He had been witching professionally for 13 solid years now.  It had started to take a real toll on his body and mind.  In the mornings after a competition, la Brujita could barely creak himself out of bed.  Just as he had realized at 25, his time in this profession was temporary.  He needed something more tangible and permanent in his life and it was at this time, in his second stint in the Roman lands that he met his wife.

All he wanted was to find someone, a companion, who could understand him, someone who could appreciate him as a being, not just as a professional witch.  Everywhere he went there were female witches professing to love him, but most of them just wanted his millions or to bask in his fame. 

Sometimes though when you meet someone who understands you, and who you understand, you just know that there’s no need to keep searching.  La Brujita had found her, and she had found him.  Having found the love of his life, La Brujita was able to come to terms with his 2002 failure.  La Brujita also knew, as his father and grandfather had known that witching blood ran strong in his family, that it was only right to give that blood back to the world, to renew the genius, to allow a future witch of the family to step onto the pitch and shine.  But la Brujita’s time on the pitch was not done my friends.  I should warn you though that like life itself, this story does not have an ideal ending. 

With the support of his wife, La Brujita’s esteemed career had led him full circle after a relatively benign last season in the Roman lands.  To repay the kindness and faith that they had initially invested in him, La Brujita returned to his homeland, to finish his witching career with the Students. 

You might be asking yourself at this point, just as I am, “why did La Brujita leave the glorious lands over the Atlantis Sea?”  “Why did his career start winding down at the age of 32, a time when most non-witching careers are only beginning?”  The answer my friends is twofold. La Brujita’s body was breaking down, his magical legs, the base of his confectionery recipe were crumbling.  He knew that if he was lucky, he could witch professionally for another 3-4 years maximum, but not at the same pace of the past 5-7 years.  He also wanted to raise a family in his homeland.  La Brujita had other offers to witch professionally, to make more money, to re-live some of his past glories, but when it came down to it, he just wanted to go home. 

It was around this time when other legendary witches began to rise up from La Brujita’s fabled land.  “El Diez,” “The Great Flea” and others began staking their claims to represent the Light Blue Witches at the 2006 World Witch Cup.  To make the Light Blue Witches however, each witch had to demonstrate that they deserved a place on the squad.  La Brujita wanted nothing more than to make it to the 2006 team and redeem himself for his 2002 failure.  With the support of his wife, he continued to work hard for the Students, vying for a spot on the Light Blue Witches, but it was not to be.  We cannot always get along with our superiors, and that was exactly what happened between La Brujita and the Light Blue coach.  Despite his successive White Chocolate displays for both the Light Blue Witches in their qualifying campaign and for the Students, he and the team’s coach did not see eye-to-eye and “El Diez” was eventually preferred to La Brujita. 

Sad that he would not be able to redeem himself, and even sadder to not be with the Light Blue in their quest for world glory, La Brujita was forced to watch the competition from the sidelines with his wife.  I am not going to say that La Brujita, at 31 years old, could have been the savior, but he would have added tremendous depth and security because he was less selfish than el Diez.  Instead of forcing teammates to play through him, la Brujita made the team more dangerous by opening up the pitch, always spotting open teammates before the other team did.  Nevertheless, the Light Blue Witches played with some great style and panache in that tournament before eventually bowing out to the Strong Blonde Team. 

Big changes were now sweeping through professional witching in that fabled land.  El Diez’s time with the Light Blues had begun to end and the Great Flea was putting in performances with Forba in the Olive Grove Lisp Land that rivaled the great El Pibe del Oro.  Now 34, la Brujita considered retiring.  However, he was given one more chance to shine. 

In his final season for the Students, the great El Pibe de Oro was appointed coach of the Light Blue Witches.  A volatile figure, and not one to be overly tactical in his approach, people were unsure of El Pibe de Oro as a manager.  La Brujita’s final glory came with the Students.  In a brilliant South Continental Witch Cup club team final, La Brujita showed them all that he still had it, that he could still plod around the pitch linking up with any witch, winning possession when required, lacing efforts on the portal, and oozing the Chocolaty class of his youth.  El Pibe de Oro had no choice but to select la Brujita for the Light Blue Witches. 

El Diez and El Pibe de Oro, like la Brujita and the Light Blue Witch’s former coach, could not get along.  It’s a shame really because just like in 2006, their team lost a great talent to a disagreement between coach and witch.  Confused by El Pibe’s tactics (or lack thereof) and his controversial treatment of the Great Flea, the Light Blue Witches struggled through their qualification.  After scratching through a rough qualification phase, where it once looked like the Light Blue Witches might not make it to the World Witch Cup of 2010, El Pibe de Oro, a man of great passion, and pride told his doubters “to suck it.”  He told them to “suck it, and keep on sucking it,” because they had doubted him, because they doubted his team, his tactics, and his intelligence.  Though it might have been excessive, his rant against them was deserved.  El Pibe de Oro proved that you didn’t have to win with book-honed tactics, nor with years of study; and just like he had in his brilliant witching career, he did it his way and managed to get them into the Cup.

The time had now come.  This was our protagonist’s last chance for personal redemption, to help the Light Blue Witches to glory, and to show the world what they had been missing since his 2006 exclusion, and what they would miss after he retired.  Though people in that fabled land respected La Brujita and knew that he was a great witch, they always expected an unreasonable amount out of their witches.  They said that he was too old now, that he couldn’t sustain 90 minutes of witching, and sadly, they were not wrong. 

La Brujita started the competition off well against the Super Eagles, whipping cauldrons all around the pitch with the ferocity and skill of someone ten years younger.  His expertly taken corner led to the only mark of the match, and to the First Light Blue victory of the tournament.  It was clear though, that after 60 minutes the old La Brujita could not last and needed to be taken off.  After the first match, la Brujita fell victim to the dreaded dead-leg syndrome whereby witches lose their potency and movement ability.  Sure he played in the second to last match in the group stage of the tournament, sure he came on as a substitute witch in their first knockout match, but at the age of 35, La Brujita had officially lost his powers. 

Perhaps he was too old to recover, ‘he could not compete in back to back competitions,’ they said.  Perhaps he had lost his intensity and focus.  Perhaps he was not the right fit for the current Light Blue Witches, or perhaps he just wasn’t White Chocolate anymore.  Maybe he had lost it, but he was still a witch, a witch with a family; and no one in the world could tell him that he had not always given it his all. 

It was a tale of nearly for the Light Blue Witches as they were scrubbed out yet again by the Strong Blondes.  La Brujita was never able to redeem himself by exorcising his demons of 2002, he never won ourE land’s greatest witch club tournament, he was never considered the greatest witch in the world, but he remains one of the great talents of our time. 

The end of this tale should not come as a sad closure, but as a testament to the greatness and career of one particular witch, La Brujita.  We cannot always make up for our mistakes, but like La Brujita, we can always try.  I hope that one day we can see his witching bloodline renewed and that a “Brujitita” takes off where his father and grandfather left off. 

Until then...Viva la Brujita!  Viva la Albiceleste!  Viva Argentina!