After seeing my and Richard's reaction everyone was shocked ,it was just a myth Richard told me about in school .
Tommy asked " What is that?" .
Richard replied " It's was a myth I read somewhere but here it became a truth . Zone is a term referring to a player's state when they reach their maximum potential. It is a superlative of regular concentration and focus. The conditions to enter this state vary from each person."
This was more than enough to give a cold sensation down there spine .
Richard tried to bring everyone out of the shock and said " It doesn't matter if he enters zone or not we have give our all so that we can have at least second position ".
Jack said " Yeah , whoever he is we can try to take him down as a team ,can't we " .
Merinda said " But it will give an opening to other players if we focus on one player ".
I took a deep breath and said " Leave him to me for our match " .
Richard said in shock " It's impossible so don't push yourself ,you are our ace try to score when we became a hurdle for him " .
I replied " That could be problematic as the difference between physical abilities is huge all will be vain but with mine I can at least stand in his way as a mountain matching his physical abilities . From what I can see from here we have similar physical abilities " .
Richard said " Okay if you say so but don't push yourself."
After sometime we had our match against our opponent team ,we won it by 90-60 ,I didn't used my much energy as I was saving it for that player.
As the number of team was odd our team was given a wild card so it was quite refreshing.
As for the next match three teams matches that player team was given the wild card and we had the match against the team and we won at the last moment by a score of 91-90 .
We were given a rest of half an hour to rest .
Richard made a plan for us we were doing a single man on man defense . I was targeting that player I hadn't know the name.
After the rest we all went towards the court , both teams were standing opposite to eachother .
That player was opposite to me and said " I came here especially for you ,I get to know you are a big shot . Try to entertain me , I'm Broke by the way " .
I said " Don't worry ,it will be a match you never forget Broke ".
The match started we started putting pressure on eachother team .
The match was going furious most of the passes were given to me from my team and to Broke by his team . We were playing on whole field competing against eachother blocking eachother's attack and trying to pass through. The first half was over with a score of 0-0 .
None of the team was getting any lead , we all were giving all we could but nothing was fruitful.
Second half started I decided to get a bit serious and tried to ambush him as I passed the ball Jack and told him to pass me back I took a shot from the centre line and it went in , everyone was pumped up the players as well as audience . It was the first basket of this match against Broker's team made by me .
He looked at me with a serious look and I know what it meant " ZONE" ,as the match again resumed his speed and reaction got leveled up , I was able to catch his speed .
We both were going all around the field making shots blocking ambushing eachother , as the time passes the match got serious. The second round ended as 20-19 ,we in lead.
It was third round now , as the match started I followed Broke but he suddenly became faster and left me behind , another time I was in front of him when a blue light shined in his eyes and went past me . Not only me but everyone including his team players were shocked ,he was like wind no one was able to see his movements . I looked back as he made the basket like I was looking at a ghost ,it was first time for me to looking a person with that speed.
In the whole third round he clearly was dominating whole field,it looks like he didn't need his team as he was making baskets I was trying to keep up with him but I couldn't match his movements ,it was becoming impossible for me . I was in middle of the court in front of Broke trying to block him ,only one thing was going through my mind " How to stop this monster " .
Different thoughts started going through my mind " don't take her too normally she was planning all this for an year, you will loose for sure ,there are monsters better than you , everyone's face came to my mind I promised them that I will win , I'm the only one who could . Suddenly my blood started to boil ,I was feeling a different kind of energy in my body , everyone's face was in mind , only one thought was left in my mind " I will beat him down " as I turned into the real monster .
Broke was passing the me when all of this was going ,I moved at snatched the ball he was dribbling and ball went out .
Everyone was shocked to see this ,lens fell down from my eyes revealing my blood red eyes to everyone ,it was in past due to some experiment on me it turned red so I always use powerless lens to keep my normal eye colour without anyone knowing.
Everyone was shocked at both my movement which was unbelievable for everyone and my red coloured eyes , as I said in a loud voice to Broke " You want a monster I will show you a monster slayer " with a devilish looks on my face.
Ball was out of bounds and it was their ball now , it was passed to Broke and a battle between two aces started which was becoming more fiery every second I was matching his unmatchable speed and getting faster as I stopped his basket and took the ball and ran , I did a dunk from the starting of the D and it was going in but it Broke stopped me by coming from 90 degree angle ,it went towards his player whom he passed a signal to pass ahead. I followed him after ,we both were running towards the basket as I overtake him and stood up in front of him and he stopped at his place ,but this didn't stopped him completely as he jumped a but backward and tried to basket from there I also jumped but higher than him and blocked the ball . He fell down on his butt as I ran towards the ball and made a basket.
After a few moments we were in front of eachother again and Broke said " Entertain me more I won't hold back " as a battle between aces started again dribbling and dodging were the only things we were doing . As the third half was over the score was 81-91 , they were in lead of ten points .
We were taking a break of five minutes , Richard sat beside me and asked " You entered the zone?" . All of them had same question.
" No" I replied.
" Then how can you fight against him like that? " Jack asked .
I replied " Because I stopped holding back , I once promised someone I won't use my full abilities until it becomes necessary and it's necessary now ".
" So this is your true potential" Merinda said.
" Yeah it is " I replied.
" I don't want to see you in zone then ,it will be like you are a god " Tommy said trying to lighten the atmosphere.
" I thought same " I replied.
After the five minutes the games again started but something was different , Broke aura was heavier than before like now the real battle had started .
Broke got his hand on the ball and ran towards the basket I was running behind him as he jumped to put the ball I also jumped but in mid air he gripped the ball and made a basket by using his right hand from behind.
He was now using his true skill and trying to win , I didn't hold back as I shoot a three pointer back . The battle had just started and the atmosphere on the court was like a do or die battle between teams . All the player were drenched in the sweat , me and broke were bathed in it as we both were going wild on the whole court . This battle remains as he kept showing his unmatchable moves and skills ,even with the talent I posses this thing was getting hard because of his experience in this field.
The match was getting fiery as the time was coming in the end . Only twenty seconds were left ball was in our hands , I ambushed him by making a faint and ran towards the basket and dunked the ball but with his speed he was able to catch upto me as I was going to put the ball in the basket he jumped in front of me stopping the ball , we both were in air using the strength of only our one hand as we were trying to push eachother back. His strength was getting powerful as I was going back but only thought came to my mind " I can't be defeated,no matter whatever the situation is " . As I give the last push and used every single bit of energy left for today and made the basket . We were in the lead of one point. As I fell on my both knees . So does the broke.
Only five seconds were left but their team acted fast as they passed the ball both me and broke weren't able to move our legs as the ball was going towards our basket ,my team also ran after them . I know it was too late for me now I can't win even after giving my all I lost somehow.
The player of Broke's team made a dunk but that's when Richard jumped from his left side shouting " We can't let his hard work go to a waste just because we are not a match to you guys " and stopped the basket . As the ball touched the ground the buzzer sounded which means the game has ended . The referee declared our victory with 121-120 . I was lying on the court with facing the roof and breathing heavily .
Richard came to me to help me stand up and said " We did it after all " .
I said " yeah we won thanks to you " . As I took his help to walk .
Our teams mates ran towards us and jumped on us in excitement , we all were now lying on the court .
I said " I thought we lost for those five seconds" .
" So do I ,but I can't let your efforts go to a waste , so I tried everything I could " Richard said.
After five minutes we all stand up as we were again as the match ended .
My team was in lead as we have already won the five matches and the results of our test .
And tomorrow is the black room test ,the one I was waiting so eagerly.