Welcome to Chronic Crossover

A contract signing, twelve hours, and a flight to the Bahamas later, Ky was sitting in the back of a sports bus filled with other young athletes. Unlike his peers, who were chatting, sharing stories, and introducing themselves to one another, Ky was fully engrossed in his handheld video game console. 

Alright Beaostra, you're going down!

"What game is that?" someone said in a thick German accent. It was the boy who sat beside Ky. His eyes were sunken with dark circles and his skin was so pale, that he looked as if he'd never seen the sun in his life; his blacker-than-black hair only exaggerated the colorlessness of his skin.

"Beast Slayer," Ky said plainly, pressing the buttons on his game console vigorously. 

"What do you do in that game?" his seat partner asked, looming over Ky's shoulder.

"Slay beasts..." Ky said with a touch of smartassery.

"What kind of beasts?" 

"Dragons. Big lizards. Giant monkeys. et cetra."

"Woah... do the dragons breathe fire?"

"Yup."

"Ice?"

"Yeah."

"Poison?"

"Yes, dude," Ky said, still energetically mashing buttons. His character was on the ropes, only having a sliver of health points, but not a single potion to revitalize him. Poised as he was on the court, Ky charged his hammer, double the size of his character's body, and nailed the beast in the forehead, obliterating it with one decisive strike! The victory theme chimed, Ky pumped his fist, then glanced over at the young man beside him; however, his smile faded and his brows slipped down his forehead upon seeing his seat buddy fast asleep.

The hell? He was just asking ten million questions two seconds ago. Weird kid.

Ky glanced past his sleeping companion, seeing the bus steadily approaching a sprawling, glass building. "Woah..." he muttered, gawking at the resort that looked like it came straight from a science fiction film. It was in the shape of a sphere; upon closer inspection, it resembled a basketball; the windowsills even resembled the lines present on one.

Once the bus reached the resort, Ky and the other athletes stood before it, their jaws nearly detaching and falling to the ground. Up close, the building was even more enormous. The boys could see the building's luxury interior just past the security gates at the entrance, feeling as if they were just a few steps away from the pearly gates of heaven.

"Welcome to Casa de Crossover. Please make your way to one of the four security checkpoints in single file lines," said a woman's voice through an intercom. Most of the boys hauled ass toward the checkpoint as if the immense utopia would run out of space; however, Ky walked patiently with his hands in his pockets and waited at the end of one of the lines.

By the time he reached the checkpoint, Ky was greeted by a female security agent with a vacant mug.

She's cute.

"Please put all of your belongings in the bag. Wallets, phones, earbuds, et cetra..." she mumbled unamusedly, sounding like she could drop dead at any moment.

As instructed, Ky placed his phone and wallet inside the bag before looking at the woman with a toothless grin. "The game system too," she said, extending her hand.

How did she even know!? How am I supposed to survive this place for two months without a single video game!?

Reluctantly, Ky gave up his portable gaming system and placed it in the bag, holding back his tears as if he'd just put his child up for adoption. The woman yanked the bag from his deadly grip and handed him a different bag with nothing a blank, white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. "Here's your uniform," she told him before handing over a keycard. "And here is the key to your room: Room 126."

"Thanks. Will I ever get my uh things back?" Ky asked.

"Please head west, go down the stairs, and go to the room indicated by the number on your uniform. Change into your uniform and wait for further instructions," she told him, disregarding his question entirely.

And so, Ky did as he was told and wandered around the resort in search of room 126. He roamed through the luxurious lobby and strode downstairs. Ky noticed the architecture had changed drastically. Admiring, or more accurately, worriedly glaring at the metallic walls and cold corridors that replaced glass and gold.

It's like a prison… There's room 1.

Ky walked past room number 1 and just ahead, he noticed an identical door with a 2 on it.

I guess it goes in order.

Though it felt like the corridors were never-ending, Ky eventually wound up at his designated room, room 126. Standing in front of it, Ky took a deep breath.

Here goes…

Ky started to push the metal door with both hands as he monologued internally.

My journey starts…

Ky's inner voice trailed off as he looked around the metallic room with concrete flooring, the only things inside being a few lockers and five other boys.

This is the dorm? But… there are no beds… no TV…

A construct of Ky's inner self had manifested inside his mind, falling to its knees and pulling its hair, bellowing hysterically as tears fell from its quivering eyes.

This is torture… No games? No TV? I'm gonna lose my mind in here. This is unconstitutional. This is cruel and unusual. I'm going to literally kill myself in here…

As Ky's consciousness hysterically blared in his mind, a kid with a young face and a bowl cut approached him with a bright smile. "Hiya! My name's Huey Harrison. Nice to meet you." Ky's expression on the outside was flat and emotionless, however, internally, his inner self winced.

Ugh, one of those friendly weirdos. Isn't this supposed to be a competition?

"Hi. I'm Ky," Ky spoke politely, yet plainly, trying his best to tell the kid to buzz off without actually saying it.

"Nice to meet you, Ky! I'm a senior from Mountain Valley High, it's a school in Ohio! How about you?" The subliminal message from Ky to Huey was not received and the kid kept yapping. Ky would soon feel a sense of relief once someone placed their disgusting, sweaty shorts over Hiroki's face, blinding him for just enough time so Ky could slip away.

"Hey!" Huey's arms blindly flailed as he attempted to remove the shorts, only to be pushed to the ground by the shorts' owner. With his bottom to the ground, Huey removed the shorts, only to find an absolute unit of a young man towering above him, his incredibly defined muscles bulging out as he clenched his fists.

"This is a competition, not a meet-and-greet. No one wants to hear your goody-two-shoes, squeaking ass introduce yourself every time someone walks into the room! I'm sick of it! And we're ALL high school seniors, so quit asking!" said the hulking young man. The hair on his head was short and bleached blonde.

Ky watched from afar, changing into his uniform as he analyzed the boys in the room. Standing against a wall with his eyes closed, was the guy he sat next to on the bus.

Is he... sleeping while standing?

The answer to that question is yes.

Inversely, in another corner, a boy with red hair was seen staring directly at Ky with broad, jerking eyes, sending a shiver down his spine. Ky couldn't tell if he was analyzing him, checking him out, or both. 

Another weirdo… Except this one gives me the creeps.

Without a care in the world, a boy with sports glasses was seen sitting his back against one of the walls, glaring forward at nothing before frowning at Ky briefly, darting back toward nothingness in almost the same instant.

At least that one seems normal.

At that very instance, a voice could be heard from a speaker in the ceiling and a projection appeared on one of the walls, showing the image of a man in a tuxedo. He concealed his identity behind a black mask, one with a white grin sloppily painted over it.

"Hello, gentlemen. Welcome to Chronic Crossover," he said, compelling some boys to cheer. "What exactly is Chronic Crossover? Some of you may be asking. Well, it is a Korean elimination competition-inspired show where all one thousand two hundred fifty of you will go at it until only five of you are left. You will be the starting five of a brand new ABA team, debuting this fall and you will be given the chance to play for the team of your home nation for this year's Olympics!"

The boys in room 126 started cheering once more; though those cheers came to a screeching halt once the man continued. "However... those who are eliminated can kiss their hopes of playing college ball goodbye since you all are now technically professional basketball players and will be ineligible. Good luck finding another way into the ABA. Maybe try playing ball overseas. I hear Lithuania is nice this time of year."

"What!" yelled the tall one. "That's bullshit!"

"That's bull!" the masked man mocked. "I assume at least one of you may have blurted out. No, not bullshit. Entertainment. Besides, the contracts that each and every one of you signed state this. Be thankful that you kids learned a valuable lesson about reading anything thoroughly before signing."

"What do you mean by entertainment!?" Huey asked, hoping the masked man would respond.

"You may be wondering why the high stakes. Well, if you weren't fighting as if your life depended on it, you wouldn't be taking this so seriously, would you? It's okay to be honest. I bet for many of you, the moment you heard what was truly at stake, you felt one thousand percent more motivated to win! Those watching at home would much rather see you fight to the death!"

"That's right. The boys in your room aren't your roommates. They are your enemies for the time being, at least, until you can weed out the weakest link and form a team of five. To do so, we will play a game similar to twenty-one. This game is called 'One', and as the name suggests, all you have to do is score a single point. Your goal is simple. Score. Score using any means necessary. The last one to score will be eliminated. Toodooloo!"

The feed changed, showing the names of all six competitors and their current scores.

Kyle Kaito - 0

Huey Harrison - 0

Shane Martinez- 0

Tommy Yarnham - 0

Adam Newman - 0

Klaus Meyer - 0

Every boy in the room jolted as metal clashed and a basketball hoop shot down from the ceiling, hanging at the regulated height. In the same instance, a basketball fell from a hatch in the ceiling. 

Before the ball could hit the ground, the sleeping boy's eyes shot open. "Huh! What was that!?" he yelled, seeing the ball falling from the ceiling.

"Oh! I got it!" He pounced in the air, grabbing the ball before it even came close to the ground, showcasing his incredible leaping ability before spinning one hundred and eighty degrees and slamming the ball through the basket with such force, that the glass nearly shattered. 

Kyle Kaito - 0

Huey Harrison - 0

Shane Martinez- 0

Tom Yarnham - 0

Adam Newman - 0

Klaus Meyer - 1

The score changed, showing that Klaus Meyer, the sleepy boy, had scored the first point.

Shit! There are already only four slots left!

Klaus's energetic eyes would almost immediately dim until they shut completely and he fell asleep standing on the baseline. Mouths gaping, the rest of the five looked on with dumbfounded looks.

What the hell? Is he narcoleptic or something?

As the ball stopped at the center of the room, all the boys glared at it with eyes that could only be described as dilated and murderous. All Ky could see was the ball shining as dark clouds surrounded everything else.

Like drag racers' tires, their sneakers scraped the wooden floors, nearly leaving smoke trails behind them as they all dashed forward toward the single ball with only one thing on their mind:

Score.