Chapter 4: The new kid

Jason was shocked by what he was reading 'This is just like a video game? This feels so unreal.

Not only did I travel through time, now I have a cheat ability'. Jason thought about how he would grow depending on which build he chose.

'If I pick the Body option then the highest level I could reach would probably be a player like Shaq?'

Shaquille O'neal was a iconic player in the history of basketball. He overwhelmed his defender with his colossal physic. He was unstoppable in the paint.

Shaq's enormous frame was unstoppable when he posted up but in his early years he also possessed unbelievable agility and quickness for a man his size.

His only weakness was his inability to shoot a high percentage from the free throw line. This weakness lead to a strategy being named after him, the Hack-a-Shaq.

'But that's only the best possible result. A lower more realistic version would probably be Deandre Jordan.'

Deandre Jordan was an explosive athlete at the center position. He could jump incredibly high for a player his size as well as run the floor at an impressive speed.

During his prime in which he played for the Clippers he was a shot blocker and lob target. Although he could dunk with the best of the best he was a limited player.

He couldn't create his own shot unlike Shaq, so he was very reliant on his teammates to create scoring opportunities for him.

He also suffered from the same problem as Shaq, he was a poor free throw shooter. Opposing teams would take advantage of this close to the end of games and foul him purposely.

Jason didn't look to favorably on the Body build. In the history of basketball there were numerous players that depended on the advantages that their physical abilities provided.

Once they suffered a serious injury or their bodies declined from aging they became shells of themselves.

Derrick Rose was an incredible point guard, but the seasons that followed his knee injuries were sad compared to before.

Shaq was a monster in his prime but after he started aging the decline was fast. In his final years he could barely dunk and his huge body became a burden instead of a gift.

Jason was fascinated with the Mind build but that only lasted for a second. Players who didn't have particularly amazing physical abilities but were amazingly skilled were players like Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving or CJ McCollum.

Those type of players tended to be great offensive weapons but were either defensive liabilities or just a neutral factory on defense.

For someone like Jason who was only able to take pride in his defensive impact, he simply couldn't see himself becoming that type of player.

That only left the Heart build, a player with physical abilities that were matched by their skills.

To be honest, players of this mold were Jason's favorite players of all time. From Scottie Pippen and Kobe Bryant at the highest level.

To players like Jason Kidd or Rasheed Wallace at a lower level. These were basketball players who had a balanced game and could impact the court from a multitude of different areas.

During his prime, Kobe was feared as a lethal and clutch scorer. However his ability to defend the opposing teams best perimeter scorer is undeniable.

Scottie Pippen is often remembered as Jordan's sidekick. He would defend the toughest assignment on the opposing team so that Jordan could conserve more energy for the offensive side.

But Scottie was a decent scorer himself, and he was good play maker as well. Creating shots for his teammates.

After just a moment of thinking Jason chose the Heart build. As soon as he selected the Heart build a flood of information rushed into his mind. He learned all the functions of the system and how to access them.

'Skills' Jason called out in his mind. A screen filled with information appeared in his vision.

[Skills

Free throw: A (SS+)

Lay Up: A (SS+)

Dunking: F

Close Shot: A (SS+)

Mid Range Shooting: A (SS+)

Three Point Shooting: A (SS+)

Dribbling: A (SS+)

Passing: A (SS+)

Ball Handling: A (SS+)

Play Making: SS+

Post Scoring: C (A)

Rebounding: C (A)

Post Control: B (S+)

Perimeter Defense: A (SS+)

Post Defense: B (S+)

Steals: A (SS+)

Blocks: B (A+)

Athleticism: C ]

These were the current levels of his basketball skills. The System grades skills depending on the users current stage.

His dribbling might be rated SS+ which means it's at the highest level for a middle schooler, at the high school level it would be rated lower and even lower than that at the college level.

The rating in the parenthesis is the actually rating of the skill. The parenthesis mean that there are reasons preventing the full ability of the skill to be utilized. The rating outside of the parenthesis is the level of the skill currently usable.

Jason was in the process of absorbing all this newfound information when the bus came to a stop. "Watch your steps. Get off one at a time" said the bus driver.

Jason got his backpack ready and waited as the kids slowly made their way off the bus.

Jason took his first steps off the bus and looked at the school 'Jefferson Middle School...Now that I think about it, this is where everything started huh?'

There was a complicated swirl of emotions going through Jason as he looked at the school that meant of lot of different things to him.

Jason took a piece of paper out of his pocket. It was his class schedule. The first class on his list was History.

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Jason frowned after seeing that 'Civil History with Mr. Rivera. I forgot that I had him for homeroom my first year here'

Jason didn't have any good feelings about this old teacher of his. He was looking at his schedule so he didn't notice the person in front of him.

He bumped into someone "Yo, what are you-" He didn't finish his words. In front of him were a group of kids circled around 2 other kids.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" All the kids were shouting. As Jason peered through the crowd and got a better look at the 2 kids in the center he frowned after seeing a familiar face.

The 2 kids were tall for their age. One was around 5'8 while the other kid was easily at least 6'1.

They were both light skinned with short dreads but the taller kid had 2 gold braid rings on 2 of his locks.

One of the kids in the crowd yelled "Fuck him up Trell". Trell looked at the taller kid with a pissed look on his face.

"I told you to cut your hair Kyle!" Trell rained down a flurry of punches on Kyle. Kyle was tall but his presence was much weaker than Trell's. Despite his size advantage all Kyle did was put his hands up to cover his face from being hit.

Jason recognized Trell. He was the kid who made his middle school years miserable in his past life.

He felt like Kyle seemed familiar but he didn't have any clear memories of him. Even though Jason hated Trell and felt bad for Kyle Jason didn't get himself involved.

'You're lucky I don't want to get in trouble on my first day back in the past Trell. Or I would totally fuck you up!' As Jason was thinking in his head a message appeared in his vision.

[Mission: Your heart is burning with a sense of Justice! Stop the fight and rescue Kyle. Both conditions must be met or the mission will be considered a failure. Reward: 10 body configuration points. Penalty: Downgrade on 3 current skills.]

Jason was cursing in his mind after seeing the message 'You want me to stop the fight!? Are you blind?

Trell is a 13 year old with a grown man body! That kid has a fucking 6 pack and biceps that look a gym rat's.

I haven't started working out yet, what do you want me to stop with my noodle arms!?'

Jason was tall for a 12 year old, at this point he was about 5'4. But he had yet to get involved in sports or start working out so he was weak and out of shape.

Jason didn't want to but he had to get involved now. Having 3 of his skills drop in grade was too heavy of a penalty. He pushed his way through the crowd "Leave him alone!"

The crowd instantly became silent. Everyone was staring at Jason as walked his way towards Trell and Kyle.

Trell stared Jason down "Who the fuck are you?" Jason calmly answered back "I'm the new kid. I'm also the guy asking you to stop beating on him. He's not even fighting back"

As soon as Jason finished speaking the the kids circled around them erupted "The new kid wants to fight Trell!!!"

Some kids broke from the circle running to different areas yelling "Hey everybody! The new kid wants to fight Trell!!!"

Shortly after more kids appeared and joined the crowd with expectant looks on their faces. Jason hurriedly put his hands up in denial as he shook his head

"No! I'm not trying to fight anybody! Listen, Trell, I am sure that you don't want to start the day off with getting into trou-"

Jason never got to finish his words. A fist came flying straight towards his head. The punch landed right on the front of his face. Jason's head snapped back as blood started dripping from his nose.

Jason stumbled back 1 step but then managed to recover. He put his hands up and got into a fighting stance.

In his past life the coach for the college basketball team had everyone learn and practice MMA in order to improve body control and balance.

Trell seemed surprised to see Jason get into a stance but he quickly got over it and began attacking again.

Although Trell's had horrible form and technique, he compensated with his amazing physique.

Jason could do nothing but keep his guard up and try to mitigate the damage. Trell's hands were fast and heavy, every punch left Jason in pain.

The crowd was going nuts seeing Trell beat on Jason "Fuck him up Trell!" "Teach him a lesson!"

Trell seemed energized by the cheering of the crowd as he went 1 gear higher and started throwing out even more punches at a faster rate.

A few seconds later and the opportunity Jason was waiting for had arrived. Trell's punches started slowing down until he finally stopped to catch his breath. In that moment Jason sprang into action.

Jason threw a jab with his right which caused Trell to raise his hands to block. But the jab was a feint, Jason then dived down and performed a double leg take down.

The both of them crashed to the floor but Jason, who was anticipating this was much more prepared than Trell who was caught off guard.

Jason recovered faster than Trell. Jason was able to maneuver himself to mount on top of Trell. Jason had a fierce gaze in his eyes as he looked down on Trell "You fucking bitch!!" Jason then proceeded to hammer his fist down onto Trell's face.

As his hands pounded against Trell's unguarded face various memories swirled through his mind. All the times he had to make up excuses so that his parents wouldn't worry about him. All the bruises he had to cover.

The rhythm of the punching felt almost therapeutic as he could feel the bitterness disappearing from his heart with each punch.

If it were up to Jason he wouldn't mind having this moment last a few days. Unfortunately he was pulled away from this bliss.

Kyle was surprised by the turn of events. At first he felt happy that someone had decided to stand up for him.

But then he began to feel guilty, the first person to be nice to him would be beaten up in front of the school.

He wanted to say something. He wanted to stop the boy from getting involved in his problems.

But his legs were shaking and were rooted to the ground. He wanted to shout at Trell to leave the other boy alone but his voice was stuck in his throat, he couldn't force out any words.

At this point Kyle hated himself even more 'This is why you don't have any friends. Someone actually tried to stand up for you and you can't stop being a coward for even a second to help'

Trell started throwing a storm of punches. Surprisingly the small boy was able to survive by guarding against the punches.

Just as things were starting to look bad the situation reversed as the small kid got the upper hand.

The small kid managed to get Trell to the floor and he starting beating him up from above. Kyle was surprised, happy and worried all at once.

Just then one of the kids yelled "Teacher! There's a teacher coming!!" Hearing this the crowd chaotically dispersed as they began running in all different directions.

Kyle regained control of his body as he ran to Jason. He grabbed Jason's shoulder "Hey! We need to get out of here!" Jason didn't respond.

Seeing that something was going on with Jason, Kyle pulled him up and dragged him as he ran away from the scene.

Even with all the commotion of the kids running and yelling there was only one thing on Jason's mind. He was focused on the notification that had appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Mission Complete! Rewards: 10 body configuration points.]

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