(AN: this is gonna be garbage pls no high expectations)
Atlas POV:
I have always wanted to go to the league, but that window of opportunity has already passed, a long time ago. To be honest, I never really had a chance to start with. I'm not the most athletic person, and I consider myself 'vertically challenged' at 5'7, at least on the basketball scale. But its no use dwelling on the past.
3rd person:
Atlas took a walk down the street to just get some air. He was stuffy from working all day and it was a beautiful sunny day. There was a park down the street, and he could walk around there for a few minutes. As he walked, he notices some people playing basketball. It pained him that he couldn't play, but he didn't know why. It just pained him that he couldn't bring himself to play.
As he was walking around, he spots a child in the street, chasing a ball. (I'm sorry its so cliche im just ay bad writing istg) Whoever he assumes is the mother is talking with someone a little bit farther than where he is from the child, and there's a truck coming down the road and whoever is in it clearly does not see the child.
There's only two ways this situation could turn out:
A: The child gets flattened like a pancake.
B: He dashes and throws the child out of the way of the truck, saving the child but killing himself.
He ran. He ran harder than he ever had before. He sprinted past other people, staring at him. As their eyes followed him, the closer he got to the road the more they realized the danger the child was in. He jumped, pushing the child out of the way as the truck rams into him. When he speeding truck came to a halt, he was already long dead.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Live the life you wished you could.]
[Go to heaven]
Two options appeared in the void in front of him. He was perplexed. He recalled what had just happened, he had been hit by a truck. He had also saved a child, but this story is about him. Like the information was beamed into his brain, he knew this was real and the conditions of both options. If he picked the former, he would become a NBA star (he would still go to heaven). If he picked the latter, he would just go straight to heaven. He decided to pick the first one. To him, that sounded just as good as heaven.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
His eyes dart open as he wakes up in his bed. But this wasn't his bed. It previously was his bed though. He stands up, and feels shorter then usual. He looks at his hands, and they look softer than usual. He runs to the bathroom. His legs feel shorter than usual. He stares at himself in the mirror, and he looks.. younger than usual.
He was twelve years old. Back in his old body, back in his old life. This can't be happe-
[S.A.M SYSTEM!]
ENABLE TUTORIAL?
[Y/N]
Before he could think he slammed his hand on the Y button, to press yes. His hand went straight through, hitting on the wall of the bathroom.
[SECTION ONE: CONTROLS]
You can just think about pressing buttons by the way.
[NEXT?]
He stared at the menu in disbelief, and thought about pressing the 'NEXT?' button. He would need to figure out what the hell was going on before he started doing anything.
[STATS!]
Here are your current stats. They are compared to your current age group for basketball. Right now you are in the 'Middle School' stats. You can always check where you are in relation to other age groups.
LAYUPS: F
DUNKS: F-
SHOOTING: F+
PASSING: B
DRIBBLING: F
DEFENSE: F
MISC SKILLS: F
Don't worry about your currently horrible, no good, worst in the school, skills right now! With the S.A.M system, your skills advance triple as fast!
[BODY]
We at S.A.M industries have given you a special gift! Most of your physical athleticism has been boosted to the MAX (see 'physical stats')! Your height is still staying the same, though. We think it builds character :P
MENTAL AGE: 45
PHYSICAL AGE: 12
HEIGHT: 4'6
MAX HEIGHT: 5'7
(physical stats;)
This is a subcategory, enjoy it because it is one of the only one of its kind. Physical stats are judged by age, similar to normal stats.
HEIGHT: F
SPEED: A+
STRENGTH: B+
VERTICAL: A+
STAMINA: A+
(this story is gonna be 98% ball so not very much plot outside of that, like mom and dad stuff.)
Atlas is absolutely, positively, unconditionally flabbergasted. First, he says his thanks in his head for his new athleticism. Second, he feels sad about his stats. Third, he is confused by the fact that they said being short builds character. Fourth, he decides to ignore the fact that he lost all his family and friends because the author doesn't want to write that. Fifth, his mother just called him downstairs for breakfast, and its a school day.
He is filled with excitement for this new lease on life as he runs down the stairs and says hello to his mother. He stares at her for a few seconds too long in her opinion as she says "What are you staring at young man? Its your first day of middle school if you haven't noticed." She wasn't dead or anything back in his original timeline, its just a wonder to see her so youthful looking.
He eats up his cereal and he walks to school. The route is still ingrained in his head. He see's some people he recognizes, and things go on normally. He dabbles with his new power, and figures out that he just needs to thing about S.A.M to activate the menu. The first half of the day goes normally, just the usual first day of school stuff. He does face some minor bullying for his height though.
Its lunch, and Atlas grabs the lunch his mom made him and starts eating. He's eating alone, but it doesn't bother him. He doesn't really need friends in order to get good at basketball. A bigger kid about 5'5 walks up to him, and Atlas recognized him as John, the kid who made his middle school years tough. It was okay though because he ended up being a drug addict later in life anyways.
John said to Atlas "Hey shorty, watcha doing?" sarcastically. Atlas responded "leave me alone, man. I'm just tryna eat." John and his goons laugh, and John says "We wanna sit here bro, leave.". "No." John, flabbergasted at what Atlas just said says "Do you want a fight?" "No.". His goons start to surround Atlas, and it scares him, and his previously brave persona falls apart, despite being a 45 year old man on the inside.
They start to close in, but putting his A+ speed to good use he books it out of there with his lunch and hides for the rest of lunch. The rest of the day also goes alright, without problem. He breezed through the academics because he had already learnt them before.
When he gets home from school he realizes something. This wasn't going to be as easy as he previously thought.