Arriving at the Basketball court, John saw that half the court was currently occupied by 5 people who are probably of the same age as him, who are just shooting randomly.
John placed down his things on the bench before stepping inside at the other side and stood just outside the 3-point line and started stretching his body.
I think that's about enough' John thought as he stopped stretching before picking up the ball and performed a shooting stance.
This is amazing! John thought as he felt like something is correcting his body when performed a shooting form.
John took a deep breath, dribbled the ball as he prepares to shoot. John gaze at the basket as he lightly bent his knees and..jumped while releasing the ball.
John watched the ball with anticipation.
Tsuuk ~ 'It was a perfect 3-point shot.
Awesome! John made a fist while grinning widely and at the same time joyful because that was his very first real 3-point shot in this sport excluding the fact that he did have some lucky shots before all these.
John excitedly ran to pick up the ball before making multiple shots achieving a 7 out of 10 percentage behind the 3-point line.
Yes!! John made a fist and kick at the same time, "With these shooting percentage...hehe" John was thinking that he could probably become a starting line up with this shooting percentage but then bitterly laughed because he knows that shooting alone isn't enough to be qualified.
John ceased his thoughts and started dribbling with his two hands again. "Okay. Let's try attacking the basket".
John closed his eyes as he imagined an opponent and then he opened his eyes. John dribbled the ball switching it rapidly from one hand to the other. He makes a wide step to the left with a good head fake and in his mind he saw that the defender was deceived then rapidly switch his dribbling to the right, surpassing the defender making his way towards the basket and then he jumped on both feet with the ball on his right hand and then..BAM!
What the fuck!? I just did a Dunk! John screamed inside, surprise at what he just did while still hanging at the hoop.
"Eve, did you see all that? It feels like I'm playing these game for a long time" John got down and excitedly asked Eve.
"Anyone can do that, It's easy to execute those moves when you're all alone but it becomes an entirely different story when there's a real defender in front of you. Especially if that player is far more experienced than you are" Eve said like she wasn't impress at the least.
John was stunned hearing that. He felt like Eve just poured cold water over him but when he thought on what Eve said, John felt like Eve was right.
But while John was in deep thought. He didn't notice that a man walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"Hey man. What you did earlier was simply amazing!"
John was startled awake by that and when he turned around. He saw that it was one of the guys that he saw earlier occupying the other half court.
Wasn't he that guy who was repeatedly doing a slam dunk earlier? John thought when he saw the person behind him but then realized that he had been rudely staring at him. "Ahh, sorry. I was just startled that you suddenly appeared behind me" John warily smiled at him and kept a distance.
"Sorry if that startled you but when i saw what you did earlier. I just can't stop myself from approaching you" the man immediately said when he noticed John being cautious of him.
"Ohh i see, are you talking about the Dunk then? John relaxed when he heard that he just came over to talk but then embarrassingly realized at what he said because almost anyone could do that.
The man lightly laughed when he heard that "No bro, I'm talking about that ankle breaker you just did".
Ankle breaker? John was confused at first and tried recalling that crossover he just did. It can't be that right? It was just normal crossover. John ceased his thoughts and just decided to ask the guy just to be sure.
"Are you talking about the crossover i did? But that can't be, right? It was just another crossover that anyone can do"
The man loudly laugh this time as he went and picked up the ball while walking away from John. John just looks at him, curious at what's he's planning to do.
The guy stopped just outside the 3-point line and looks at John and started explaining while dribbling "Bro, in your eyes it might seem that it was just another normal crossover but in the eyes of an experienced player..." He didn't finished what he was gonna say and just shook his head and smiled then suddenly pass the ball to John.
John was stunned at first but still manage to caught it, then he shot an inquiring look at him.
The guy just smiled "Why don't you guard me while i show what you just did earlier so you'll believe me that what you did was really ankle breaker?"
"Sure" John immediately agreed as he passed the ball and stopped in front of him taking a defensive posture. John might looked calm outside but deep inside he's very nervous because he noticed from the way this guy carried himself that he's either a very knowledgeable or a well experienced player. That's the reason why he upped his focused up a notch to avoid embarrassing himself.
"All good?"
"Yep"
"Okay, make sure to keep up" he said then started dribbling, rapidly switching the ball from both hands.
John was observing his body movements while keeping an eye on the ball then the guy suddenly attacked at the left like John did, John immediately followed but the guy rapidly moved to the right before John's eyes.
Shit, even though I already anticipated these but my body can't keep up! John cursed inside and saw him successfully by passing him and what's worse is that he fell down on his butt because his body was confused from the sudden overlapping commands from the brain.
When John finally looked behind and he saw the dude dangling on the ring while looking at him. John gave a bitter laugh and smiled.
The dude got down and walked to him offering his hand "So, do you believe me now?"
"I think so but did I also moved that fast?" John started believing him but was shocked at the speed he witness.
"Well maybe, maybe not. After all replicating the same speed of another person is almost impossible" the guy smiled while he spread open his arms.
John gave a bitter laugh when he heard that.
"By the way, I'm Michael Myers but you can call me Mike" as he introduced himself and offered his hand again.
"Call me John, John Steve" John smiled as he shook Mike's hand and then he noticed that the rest of Mike's companions are heading towards them.
Huh? That person looks a lot like Mike. Ohh maybe siblings huh" John thought when he saw one of them with the same similarity like Mike.
"You really don't slow down huh Mikey?" said the person who looks like Mike with a short laugh and gave a good "HARD" tap on his shoulders.
"You know me, I always play seriously unlike you" said Mike seriously with narrowed eyes but then he chuckled a bit and tried to gave a seemingly light punch on his chest but the guy suddenly did a side step to dodge.
John was stunned when he saw Mike's seemingly light punch suddenly gained power behind it. Luckily the dude dodged fast.
John then noticed Mike's wide grin and it made his back shivered a bit and after a few seconds he stood there stunned watching what a seemingly like play between two people, one of them tried to repeatedly punch the other while the one on the receiving end just dodge with ease.
John planned to stop both of them but then notice that the other three guys are just watching them and even laughing a bit while shaking their heads from time to time, so John decided to just watch these little play.
A minute later, the guy who's probably Mike's brother caught his fist and yanked Mike towards him then made a sudden side step and then he tripped Mike and walked towards John and the others smiling with seemingly without care at what happened behind him.
John was looking at the grinning guy who's a head taller than him that's currently standing in front of him then turned at Mike who was scowling and had a hard time trying to suppress his laughter from remembering what happened to this guy earlier at which really got tripped and made a face plant on the ground which rewarded him a bleeding nose. Mike noticed him and shot him a glare at which John, gave a bitter smile.
"I'm Blake, that silly brat's big brother" Blake said pointing behind at Mike who was glaring at him and then he started introducing the other 3 guys.
John learned that the guy with a short afro like Mike is called Brian who's a bit taller than him around 2" and Calvin who's a head shorter than John and with a short flat top with buzzed sides as a hair style and there's Dixon with braided hair with the same height as John.
After all the introductions Blake suddenly asked John that made him excited and nervous at the same time.
"Hey John, one of ours can't come because some important matter that came up. How about a game before we go home 3 on 3, yeah?"
Auxiliary Task
Blake Myers have challenged you on a 3 on 3 match in Basketball. Defeat the opposing team to complete these task.
Rewards: 50 Starcoins and 5 Fame
Accept / Decline
"Sure! I'm in" John excitedly said to Blake which prompted him another notification.
Task Accepted
"Alright, It's game time! You and Mike along with Brian will be on the same then Calvin and Dixon will be with me. Let's do a coin toss to determine who's team is gonna hold the ball first. John, head or tails?" Blake brought out a coin and surprisingly asked John to choose first.
"Heads"
"Alright" Blake threw the coin upwards and caught it with one hand and covered it with his other. Blake lifted his hand and the coin was showing Heads.
"You guys go first then. First team to have 12 points wins" Blade and the others took their positions while John picked up the ball and stood just outside the court.
John stood there for a bit as he look at the rest. Blake to Mike, Dixon to Brian and John looks at Calvin who's also looking at him.
I guess your stuck with me. John thought and smiled then he passed the ball to Mike and finally John's first official game has begun.