Chapter 7: Different Breed

As Jared activated his God's eye, he surveys everything, locking in to Ethan, scanning for movements, windows, weaknesses that he can exploit to level the playing field, Jared knows Ethan is in a whol different level.

Ethan senses Jared's urgency, evidence to his change of demeanor he saw Jared took a flexible and efficient defensive stance that can maximize his young body. With an eerily terrifying calmness, like a calm before a storm.

"That's more like it haha ... let's have some fun!" Ethan said to Jared in a playful tone.

Ethan started to move, with a blinding speed he dribbled left and right, trying to break down Jared, the speed in which he dribble would often leave ordinary defender clueless as to where it went.

After a 4 quick dribble in an attempt make Jared to lose track of the ball, Ethan made a big powerful crossover to the right, Jared is still unto him in tight defense, he performed a scissor step crossover to the left then back to the right, this broke Jared's balance which left a window for Ethan to Attack, Jared recovered with both hands raised, in quick sudden change of pace he went full stop, gentle bump, then Jumped backwards away from Jared and away from the hoop, in Jared's surprise, Ethan released the ball for an oddly angled one handed floater.

SWISH!

Ethan scored again 2-0

Jared noticed there is something about Ethan's dribbling this time, he's using way too many feints and unnecessary movements, at times he seems like he's dancing with the ball, handling it with extreme skill. All movements are formless, he's doing moves in the oddest angle, His shot doesn't even follow the standard form! It's as if he's throwing the ball up, but the way Ethan does it, there's a lingering sense of consistency to it.

"Streetball huh?" Jared thought to himself as when he saw the way Ethan dribbles the ball. Due to his familiarity with the Basketball on his previous life, Jared is no stranger to streetball, He saw streetballers like "the Professor" humiliating defenders, "Bone Collector" breaking ankles, "Hot sauce" dazzling the crowds with his moves and even NBA players who has streetball touch on their game, players like Jason "White chocolate" Williams, Kyrie Irving and Jamal Crawford among all others, Ethan is doing the same.

With this in mind, Jared gets back in a guarding position again ready for the next posession. Waiting patiently with poise and calmness.

"You gotta show me better than that if you wanna win you know!" Ethan said to Jared in a playful manner.

Ethan got the ball again, without preparatory movements Ethan drives to the left, Jared again caught up to Ethan but this time with suffocating defense, Jared raised his intensity even more, As Jared caught up, Ethan slowed down his drive then went for a double scissor step dribble then crossover to the right, This didn't faze Jared.

Knowing that he can't shake off Jared because of his defense, Ethan leveled up his ball handling, he went for a double crossover to the right, Jared was able to stop him by cutting him off on his way to the basket, to confuse Jared, Ethan, from his right hand, coming from the back, he dribbled the ball into between his legs, caught the ball and cradled it on the back of his left leg and did a spin to his right all in one swift motion, after his turn, he dropped the ball, caught it, then went for a straight drive to the hoop. This move shocked Jared completely, even with his God's eye, Ethan's erratic plays and spontaneous creativity in ball handling left Jared in the Dust.

Still can't make sense of what happened, Jared chased Ethan to the hoop, Ethan stopped, moving for a shot, eyes on the basket, both hands on the ball, with Jared's distance, Jared needs to jump in order to contest the shot, Jared jumped, Ethan is still in the ground.

"Ahh shit it's a fake!!" Jared thought to himself, realizing his error in judgement.

As Jared went down, Ethan wrapped the ball behind Jared's body and threw it upward ..."A layup from this angle?"Jared asked himself, he turned around to try to block it, as he turned, the ball is nowhere to be found, the turn of events left Jared wide eyed and shocked. "A shot fake then he wrapped the ball around me and threw it backwards?" Jared thought as he realized what Ethan did, he turn around again to see Ethan, he saw Ethan caught the ball midair then shot the ball again in a formless manner, doing a one handed push and banked it on the board for an easy 1 point.

SWISH!!

3-0

Meanwhile in Jared's mind "He's too erratic and extreme to predict, with my current knowledge and experience, I can't run a single simulation that can fit his playstyle, he's a fucking mess! In order for me to stop him I'm gonna need to dig deeper into my bag. Looks like it's gonna be a long game" Jared said to himself.

"Come on! I'm starting to get bored dude!" Ethan said to Jared in a confident tone.

"Haha just do your thing, I'm just getting warmed up" Jared replied trying to keep his cool.

"Okay! ... here I come" Ethan answered

In an explosive speed Ethan hit Jared with a deadly double crossover, then between the legs into a double behind the back dribble, and drives to the right, as he drive he immediately stopped for a pullback crossover hoping that it could Jared's balance, which he did for a bit, but Jared is still unto him, in return, Ethan euro-stepped to the left and shot the ball, Due to Jared's suffocating defense, Ethan's shot is a little off, making it miss,

Free ball, both battled for a rebound, Ethan uses his speed to get into position while Jared relied on his fundamentals to fight for the rebound, As Dad witnesses the two, he didn't saw two kids fighting for a ball. he saw two wild beasts fighting and clawing at each other to the death to catch and devour a falling prey, like wolves fighting over a falling cat, Dad haven't seen such intensity and physicality in a long time.

Due to the advantage of speed and agility, Ethan won the rebound battle, Jared is still on him trying to take away the ball, Using God's Eye, Jared looked for opening to steal, his hands are everywhere like an octopus, trying to reach for the ball, but Ethan's speed is keeping him at bay.

Trying to get away from Jared's pressure, Ethan dribble away from the basket, Now facing the opposite direction of the basket, Ethan jumped and he awkwardly threw the ball upward behind him.

Jared confused at what the hell Ethan just did, confused, he didn't know if he's gonna block it or not, "The fuck is this guy?!! his moves doesn't make sense!" Jared thought to himself.

Jared looked at the hoop, the ball bounced off the backboard before going in for a SWISH! Ethan scored another one for an easy 1 point.

4-0 Ethan leads.

"1 - 2 - 3 and 4! Will you show me something more?!" Ethan sang while playfully mocking Jared. Jared just smiled non chalantly and replied "You just wait haha" Jared said in a light and playful way and went back for defensive position.

This time Ethan started his posession by doing a triple threat stance, waiting for opening, he faked and feints hoping that Jared would fall for his setup, he pivots his right foot to his left, went back and as he went back, he immediately did a spin move to the right, then crossover to the left, using his speed, Ethan zooms past Jared, unsurprisingly Jared was able to catch up to him, Ethan went for a little bump, Jared already saw this happening with his God's Eye.

Before Ethan could even touch him, Jared leaned back enough that it disturbed Ethan's balance messing up his layup, as a result Ethan missed the layup, and the ball bounced off the ring, Jared easily rebounded the ball, ending Ethan's turn.

Dad saw everything that happened, He thought to himself. "He has a flexible brand of basketball that relies on creativity, showmanship and skill, His erratic behaviour in the game makes him unpredictable, partnered with an insane speed and agility, he's a dangerous player and he's just the same age as my son, from what I observed he doesn't have proper training yet, he relies solely on his natural instinct to play the game, It seems you're not the only genius here son, what are you gonna do now?" Dad said, while Katie beside her is just watching with a bored look on her face, though enjoying the popcorn.

"Let's see what you got!" Ethan taunts Jared. Jared just stood there in silence.

Jared started his posession by doing size up dribble, trying to get the feel of the ball, like a beast stretching and flexing its muscle to get ready for the kill. He's surveying everything, the number of steps to the hoop, the dribbles, the best shot to take, possible scenarios.

As soon as he got to a comfortable position to attack, he started his attack, the atmosphere suddenly changed, Ethan felt a cold breeze on his skin, he saw Jared looking at him with cold murderous eyes, "You're in trouble" is what he's feeling.

In a blink of an eye, Jared scissor stepped then crossover to the left with a clean flawless movement, he has a perfect form as he dribbles, clinical and sharp, he took a 1-2 step and he stopped, looked to the rim, moves for a shot, Ethan hesitated to block "Is he gonna shoot? ... what if it's a fake?" Ethan asked himself (It's a shot fake hesi) he followed his instinct, stayed on his feet but raised both his hands, Jared already saw this happening, as soon as he hesitated, which then broke his momentum leaving Ethan's defense open.

Jared zoomed to the right so fast that not even his shadow could catch up, Ethan struggled to catch up after his balance was exploited, he matched Jared's speed. As soon as Jared knew Ethan is about to catch up, Jared raised his right hand holding the ball moving for a layup, Ethan saw this and jumped thinking that Jared's window is enough for him to score, As soon as Ethan went up, Jared pivots his right foot to the left "It's a fake?!!" Ethan said to himself. Jared went up and did a double clutch layup, just to make sure Ethan can't challenge the ball.

SWISH

"4-1" Jared said in a monotonous and nonchalant way.

Dad saw what happened and thought to himself "His moves are much more refined than when we last played, so efficient, calculated, no wasted movements, it's so smooth that if he feints or fakes, it's almost a guarantee that the defender would take the bait, those fakes will be more dangerous as he worked on his game" Dad commented.

"Ohhh that was amazing!!" Katie yelled with excitement as she sits there and watch in awe, she blushed as she saw how cool Jared looked after doing so.

"Let's get this over with" Jared said to Ethan as he grabbed the ball, Jared looked dead serious and extremely focused.

This time Jared started his posession by doing a triple threat position, knowing that his fakes are effective against him with the right set up, Jared feints and fakes, he pivots his right foot to the left, then pivot to front, in one quick motion, with an explosive speed, Jared did a reverse between the legs fake (he caught the ball right before it hits the ground, making it appear as he's gonna do a between the legs) then drive to the right in quick succession, the move completely dazzled Ethan, his eyes couldn't catch up

Ethan with his speed tried to cutoff Jared by out running him to the hoop, Ethan successfully cut off Jared from the rim, but little did he know it was a trap, as Ethan appears to his front, Jared immediately snapped for a pullback cross, with the speed and momentum Ethan has, this propels him couple meters to Jared's front making Jared open for a shot, realizing this, Ethan immediately jumped to challenge the shot, But nope, another fake, it's a shot fake hesi, as soon as Ethan jumped, Jared dribbled to the left and went for a stepback, Ethan just landed with the distance now huge, Jared is now wide open, eyes on the hoop, feet aligned, perfect form and released a beautiful jumpshot.

SWISH!!!

4-2 Ethan leads.

After realizing what happened, Ethan thought to himself "A trap within a trap ... Interesting!"

Jared did not waste any time, he immediately grabbed the ball and started his posession, he went for triple threat stance again, in just a millisecond, almost in a blink of an eye, Jared motioned for a shot.

A "a shot already?!" Ethan thought to himself, but his instinct says it's a fake, he trusted his instinct and just raised his two hands.

Without giving Ethan a chance to respond, Jared immediately pivots his right foot to the left.

The rate at which Jared is moving right now partnered with his nigh perfect fakes, Ethan doesn't have the time to decide whether it's a fake or not, everytime Jared moves, he's guessing, like fighting in the dark, where one would only know they got attacked is when it hits.

Jared Immediately pivots back to his original position then shot the ball in quick succession, which left Ethan in shock.

SWISH!!

Easy 2 points

Current score 4-4 all tied.

"Scoring without taking a step huh?" Impressed with the way Jared scored, he acknowledged his last shot.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" Jared said in a playful tone, with the current situation and Jared's capabilities being shown, Ethan knew that this has a sinister undertone. He felt shivers run down his spine.

Ball in Jared's hands, he started to move, his eyes are everywhere watching his defender's actions. He performed a sizeup dribble to set up Ethan and in a quick combo he performed a wrap around dribble then a shammgod crossover to the left, as he continues to the left, Ethan is behind him hot on his trail, he went for a Eurostep, he took one step then jumped back ward for the second, which makes Ethan go fly the other way then performed a floater, Although it's an open shot the floater missed due to his extreme change of pace, that Euro step variance messed up his rythm for the shot. which Ethan rebounded after the miss.

Score still tied 4-4

"Oops haha" Jared said while laughing.

Ethan in his mind "He's playing with me?!" Ethan felt uneasiness as he heard him, but he just kept his focus and moved on. He grabbed the ball and started to move.

The first game went on for another couple of minutes, the game close as they go, posession after posession, trading haymaker of basketball moves and outplaying each other.

After a couple of posession, current score: 8-7 Ethan leads

Match point Ethan's posession...

Ethan wanted to finish it and finish it quickly so he can prepare for the next match. Ethan started to move, doing multiple dribbles to set up his attack.

Ethan found the right timing, he went for a powerful crossover to the left, he hit the ball so hard it made a loud noise, Ethan caught the ball on his left hand, as he caught it, Jared went for the ball, however, using his speed, agility and streetball skills, Ethan threw the ball right beside Jared's ear above the shoulder, like a speeding bullet it went straight behind his back.

In defending, given the right angle, timing and speed, there are windows where a defender can't catch it if the ball went through those windows, namely: above the head, beside the ear, near the armpits, beside the hips and between the legs, Ethan went for one of those windows.

But those windows are only being used for passing, unless...

As Ethan threw the ball, he disappeared from Jared's eyes completely, Ethan zooms past Jared with demonic speed and went for the ball, his bullet pass turned out to be pass to self in partnership with his superspeed to catch the ball.

As he caught it, he went for an up and under layup.

SWISH!!

9-7 Ethan won the first match

That superspeed pass to self left Jared off guard, he realized that he needs to deal with Ethan's speed to win the next game.

As the first game concluded they went for a quick break, they both approached Katie and Dad.

Dad handed out bottled water for each, Katie then offered what she's eating, the two politely declined, they sat down for a bit, trying to catch their breath, resting their muscles.

Meanwhile as they rest, Dad contemplates on what happened, still trying to wrap his head around the events, It's as if he's watching two monsters devour each other, Ethan who's basketball relies on freedom of movement, unlimited, adaptive and ever changing, partnered with his monstrous speed, he's a dangerous player to play against.

Meanwhile Jared relies on fundamentals with terrifying proficiency and precision, like an assassin tasked with killing a target using just one tool he can use it a hundred different ways and comes out with the same result. But what makes him scary is his perception, he can see things far ahead, things that no other ordinary players can see.

One is explosive and chaotic while the other is silent and calculated, Both terrifying

"Two monsters of a different breed" Dad said to himself as he looked at the two.

After a few moments the two went up to start the second match and thanked Dad for the refreshments.

Since Ethan went first on the first match, Jared will be the first posession this time around.

As Jared held the ball he said to Ethan "That will be the last time you will score" with a confident tone.

Which Ethan replied "Tss haha Dude!! you barely stopped my scoring! the hell are you talking about?!" Ethan laughed.

Then Jared replied. "Who said I'm stopping you? I'll even let you shoot!! but that's the last time you will ever score" Jared said with a sinister grin and a cold murderous stare.

Ethan felt shiverse down his spine, the feeling of uneasiness that he's been feeling throught the game is intensifying.

"Bring it on!!" Ethan said.