Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Amarion walked over to Mr. Green as he faced the crowd getting them ready for the next game of five on five basketball.

"That was some good basketball that we just got to watch. Young Buckets really put on a hell of a show tonight.

I hope y'all are ready cause we got even more pla-" He stopped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. To his surprise it was Amarion.

Amarion smiled at Mr. Green "Ay Mr. Green, sorry to cut in while you doin your thang but I actually had somethin I wanted to run by you."

Amarion then leaned a little bit closer as he whispered something to Mr. Green. After he was done Mr. Green had a bright smile on his face "Sounds like a good time to me haha."

Mr. Green then pulled the mic back up and held it close to his mouth "Change of plans folks. Instead of the five on five we gon have a classic one on one."

The crowd immediately started to boo and curse at Mr. Green while some of them even began to get up from their seats.

It was clear that nobody was happy to hear that the five on five game was being cancelled. Even the players who had been standing to the side were showing signs of being upset.

Mr. Green waved his arm in the air "Woah chill y'all. Damn, didn't even give me a sec to finish. We cancellin the five on five cause Amarion wanna play Young Buckets."

As soon as he said that the crowd went back to cheering. The ones who had gotten up from their seats went back and sat down.

Mr. Green let go a sigh of relief "Yeah that's what I thought. Amarion and Young Buckets going head to head. Losers ball, first to 11 wins. Y'all ready?"

The crowd regained their energy and fervor as they once again started to cheer and celebrate. Mr. Green smiled "Then let's get this game started. DJ crank that shit up!"

As soon as he said that the speakers started blasting as they played 'Got It On Me' by the New York legend Pop Smoke.

Amarion took off his windbreaker as he carried a basketball to Jason who was standing at the free top of the three point line.

He shoved the ball toward Jason "Shoot for it." Jason calmly took the ball, took a step back, and got into his shooting motion.

With a flick of his wrist the ball launched into the air with a high arc toward the basket. Jason held his right hand up for the follow through.

As the ball flew through the air the music from the speakers continued to blast out the instrumentals and lyrics from Pop Smoke's song.

"Yeah, I don't cry no mo'

I don't look to the sky no mo'

'Cause I got it on me

I got it on me

I got it on me

You can run up if you want"

Just as the last line of lyrics played on the speakers the ball sank straight through the net. Jason turned to Amarion "You want to shoot?"

Amarion shook his head "Nah that's cool. You can have first ball. You can think of it as me givin you a handicap bruh. That way you can't say that I was bullyin you haha."

Jason had a small smile on his face as he shook his head "Bro you gonna regret that. Should have at least given yourself a chance."

As they trashed talked each other and exchanged words Jason activated Heart's Eye and took a look at Amarion's skills.

Amarion's skills:

[Skills

Free throw: A

Lay Up: S-

Dunking: D+

Close Shot: A+

Mid Range Shooting: A

Three Point Shooting: A-

Dribbling: S-

Passing: B+

Ball Handling: S-

Play Making: A-

Post Scoring: B

Rebounding: C+

Post Control: B-

Perimeter Defense: B-

Post Defense: D-

Steals: C+

Blocks: D-

Athleticism: B+ ]

Other thank looking at Amarion's skills Jason also checked to see if he had any badges.

Amarion's badges:

Ankle Breaker (Gold): Increases the effectiveness of your dribble moves in breaking down your defender.

If you manage to make your defender fall or stumble you will get a momentary boost to your shot making.

Tight Handles (Gold): Increases your ability to dribble through traffic without losing the ball. Decreases your chances of having the ball stripped away while dribbling.

Dimer (Bronze): Slightly increases your ability to throw accurate passes. Gives a slight boost to your teammates scoring ability if they attempt to score right after receiving a pass from you.

Pick and Roll Ball Handler (Bronze): Increases your ability to pass to the roll man during a pick and roll.

Also slightly increases your scoring ability momentarily after coming off a screen after performing a pick and roll.

[Tough Shot Maker (Silver): Decreases the effect that defense will have against your shot by a small margin and increases the speed of your release when defense is close by.

Human Highlight Reel (Silver): Performing highlight plays will temporarily give you a slight boost to your abilities.

Keep performing highlight plays to keep the boost active. But if you make a mistake or if a highlight is performed against you the boost disappears.

Strong finisher (Gold): Increases your chance of making shots despite contact from a defender/s.]

King Of New York (Obsidian): Your name and renown is well known throughout your city. People with even the smallest interest in basketball know your name and even some people who don't care about the sport know who you are.

Your city and it's people have come to embrace you as one of the iconic things that represent them. Whenever you play in your city and in front of it's people you get a boost to all of your abilities.]

Jason was impressed by Amarion's skills 'As you would expect from a star player for a program like Central Park.

His skills are all elite. The only weakside to his game seems to be his defense.' Jason then read through all of Amarion's badges.

He was surprised by the sheer amount of badges that Amarion possessed. In terms of number of badges Amarion was second only to Jason.

Jason had never met another player that even came close to having the same amount of badges as him. Amarion was the only one who came close.

As soon as Jason saw Amarion's last badge his eyes almost popped out of his head 'What the hell! This guy has a Obsidian ranked badge!?'

Even with all the talented players that Jason had met he had never seen anyone with an Obsidian ranked badge besides himself. 

'That King of New York badge is crazy! He gets a boost to all of his skills just from playing in his city? Looks like things are gonna be a little harder than I thought.'

With the ball in his hands Jason took a look into the crowd. Everyone had a smile on their face as they all anticipated the start of the game.

Jason couldn't help but smile 'But I guess that's what makes things fun. Shit gets boring when everything is easy.'