Psycher Chronicles

Chapter 19

Head Games

(Amoni Jacobs)

The game had started just as Amoni and her pack had expected. Well, her pack plus Michelle who was close to becoming part of the pack, but for whatever reason the virus hadn’t spread to her, yet. Michelle, well let’s just say she was a work in progress.

Still, the game began as most anyone would expect.

Amoni and the A-Team dominated the court. They were faster, stronger, and tougher than the team that came before them.

Even the new girl was nothing compared to her, at least at first. Despite her being taller, Amoni was able to barrel into and through the skinny girl.

This of course resulted in fouls being called by coach, but a few of these were needed to put her in her place. All it took was one or two good charges and most people would back down, would cower, not her though.

To Amoni’s surprise the new girl, number 7, as per her jersey, refused to acknowledge this girl by name. Right now, she was dirt, no she was less than dirt, as she was a pebble in her shoe that Amoni would grit her teeth and deal with.

Yet, that little pebble was persistent. With her long arms and size, she was able to make up for many of the advantages that her inner wolf gave her.

The girl had skills, begrudgingly Amoni had to agree to that. She wasn’t the fastest, that was J-Sweep, aka Jasmine Sweet, who was anything but sweet. The toughest of their pack was K-Bar, aka Kami Barrett. While the strongest would of course be Amoni, with Two-Tone being the final member of the pack. With the four of them, and Michelle they were easily able to overcome the giant obstacle that was the new girl before them.

At first, Amoni had taken to bringing up the ball, but the girl was always there, ready to pounce. Her long arms moving in ways that Amoni had never seen before.

Playing against number Seven, was almost like playing against an octopus, as her long rubbery arms would snake out low, tapping the ball and creating a steal.

Almost like she could read her mind as to where she was going. Amoni tried to look down court, but every time she did, the new girl would move. Then she was off, racing down the court at the far end.

The first few times it took Amoni a second to realize what had happened, as her mind instinctively waited for the ball to bounce back up into her hand. She waited, and waited again, but nothing. With a start she turned to see that the new girl was first chasing down the ball that was hurtling towards the far end of the court. Then she got it, tapping it once, then twice in motion, before gaining control over the ball and taking it in for a quick layup.

Swoosh.

The whole thing happened so quickly that Amoni only managed to take six steps towards the basket before the all too familiar sound of the ball gliding through a tight nylon net could be heard. Hearing that, Amoni just looked over in complete shock.

“Get your head out of your keister there Jacobs and get the ball.” Coach Green said, her fiery demeanor on full display as Amoni awoke from whatever the heck that was that just happened. Then she began running down the ball.

This time just like every time, the new girl set up her defense just inside the rebound area. This girl was going to test her inbound skills during a scrimmage. At first, Amoni was offended by such a gesture, but then begrudgingly accepted it.

K-Bar came up to get the inbound, but as Amoni threw it, the girl with her tentacle arms shot out and tipped the ball away.

There was a scramble for the ball, but it went out before the tall girl could get to it.

Whistle.

“Focus Jacobs, last warning!” Coach Green said.

Then with that, it was on. At least that is what Amoni thought.

This time Amoni managed to get the ball in via a bounce pass. With that Amoni thought the girl would cover K-Bar or at least go back on defense, but no the girl just stayed there keeping pace with her.

“You aren’t going to go after K-Bar? She not worthy of your time?” Amoni asked, trying to get her to be distracted for a moment.

“Not my assignment. I have to trust my teammates to cover her.” Number Seven said.

And like that the afternoon practice went.

Every time Amoni got the ball, or was near the ball, that freakishly long monster was there. Her arms flailing out to intercept the balls being passed to her, poking at the ball while she dribbled, harassing her while she was shooting.

Of course, the answer to over coming the new girl was simple, pass the ball and let the rest of the team take over. That was the great thing about team sports, it took everyone to win.

While the girl did manage a few points from steals, every time she passed the ball to her teammates the ball would be swiped away, or the other B-Team members would get trapped and cause a turnover.

Coach was over there on the side keeping score.

42 – 19

Seeing the score made Amoni feel somewhat accomplished. Even though she was out here sweating up a storm, the other girl seemed calm and composed. Yeah, she was sweating, but it wasn’t much, not in comparison to the way Amoni’s whole body felt like it was on fire. Even her wolf, the source of rage she had felt for so long and always been able to call upon for a second wind was gone, somehow cowed by this monster.

Honestly the girl was a monster, not that Amoni would ever admit it, but she felt it. Even now it felt like just being near the girl was causing her strength to be sucked away somehow. Though she would never quit, her mind would not allow it.

Instead, rather than focusing on her diminishing physical capabilities, Amoni tried to get into the mind of her opponent. That’s right, trash talking.

Even down by thirty, with all of the other B-Team members hunched over and looking defeated, number Seven was the only one who held herself upright with poise and precision. Seeing her standing defiantly, despite the effort everyone had put in, Amoni wanted to take her down a peg or three.

“How does it feel to put in so much effort, and still lose?” Amoni said, noting that aside from the an odd bucket from Izzy, the other points all came from number Seven.

“Pretty good.” Number Seven stated.

“Pretty good, you like losing?” Amoni pushed.

“No, but I’d rather contribute and lose than provide nothing but turnovers for my team that wins.” Number Seven said.

With that, the fire that Amoni had been searching for came back, but it was small. Her inner flame was weak, almost non-existent.

“What do you mean!” Amoni said, standing upright and getting right into the new girl’s face. At least she tried to, as the new girl just stood up from her crouch and towered over Amoni, who was easily a head shorter than the new goliath to the team.

“I mean, your teammates avoid you on offense. They get others to inbound the ball. When they pass, they avoid giving you a chance to get the ball because you don’t have the hustle to make a simple pass work.” The new girl said, speaking more in that one sentence than anyone had ever heard her say the whole day, not that Amoni knew.

Instead, all Amoni saw and felt was rage.

Grr.

The fire inside Amoni burned, as she balled up her fist and swung.

Thump.

Only for her fist to meet rock hard muscles and bones.

Amoni paused, as so much had happened in that one moment. Normally a strike from her was all powerful, able to strike down even Jerome, if she managed to blindside him with the strike, yet something was off. This time the strike came, but there was no force behind the blow.

It was almost like the fire that had been burning within her was quenched. No, not quenched, as it was still there, still burning brightly. In fact, it was probably brighter than it had ever been, but the size of the flame had been brought down.

WHISTLE!

“That’s it Jacobs, you are out of here! You are banned from practice for the week!” Coach Green shouted.

Rage.

Amoni felt rage, at least she tried to feel the rage bubbling up within her, but there was nothing to call on, as her inner wolf seemed to quit. The wolf that had been a part of her since birth was now missing entirely. She still felt strong, probably much stronger than any normal human, but compared to the monster before her, she realized there was a clear gap between the two of them.

Amoni paused, her fist still balled up, then she looked at the fist that now randomly throbbed in pain.

Suddenly it felt like the world that she had know had changed.

Looking from her hand, she looked up at the giant of a woman before her and saw that rather than rage, hatred, or anger, all she saw was nothingness in her glance.

That look more than anything hurt Amoni more than she realized, as it almost felt like she was nothing to her. This girl who had come in, challenged her for her position on the team, and her classes was just looking at her like she was nothing.

Seeing the girl, and no longer able to access the inner strength that often seemed boundless in its potential for violence, Amoni felt hollow.

Her world, her everything had ended.

Looking back the girl was right, her teammates had avoided her for the majority of the game, opting to do four on four. As the new girl’s defense was amazing, honestly having a chance to look at it, it was amazing.

Suddenly the striking out seemed more like the temper tantrum of a kid who didn’t get their way, versus the strike of someone trying to put a pack member in their place.

Shatter.

Something broke within Amoni at that moment, or maybe it had broken earlier and it was only now that Amoni finally noticed.

Staring there stupidly for so long, Amoni finally lowered her first, and then replied back the only way she could.

“Okay, coach.” Amoni said, then began to walk away.

“You okay?” Coach asked, not even looking at the person she was talking to was clear.

“Yes, coach.” The new girl said.

And like that, Amoni knew that her spot on the team had been lost for a week, and likely longer.

Honestly, Amoni would have been delighted to have been told that the team would be gaining a defender as talented as she was. Yet, not when it came at the cost of her spot on the team. Not when it meant that she had to concede what her inner wolf had seemingly already accepted, that they were woefully inadequate compared to the new girl.

At that moment, Amoni promised herself that she would get stronger, and that she would show the new girl and coach both that she was top dog in this team.

Mentally, Amoni began getting ready to ask K-Bar and the others what happened after she left. She would also use them to keep tabs on the new girl for the rest of the week in practice.

Yes, that is what she would do.

She would take this, and learn from it and be better. These were all things that she told herself as she made her way out of the locker room, not even opting to shower as there was something she had to do first.

First, before this got any further, now that she was away from everyone, she reached for her chest and tried to reach for her inner wolf, that indomitable source of power and strength that had always been there was gone. Well not gone entirely, but weakened. No weakened wasn’t the right word either, she felt stronger, as she always did after a good workout, but there was something off about her that was hard to understand.

This was something that she would need to fix, especially before she got back on the court with that monster.

***

(Misha)

“Tulley, great work out there today.” Coach Green said, clearly waiting for the hot-tempered Jacobs to leave and calm down.

“Thanks coach.” Misha replied.

With that Coach went on to speak to the rest of the team.

“If anyone wants to know what it takes to work your way off the bench in a game, look at Tulley here. She is a prime example of what to do, in order to get more minutes. On defense she was lights out, isn’t that right, Barret?”

“Yes coach.” The girl, K-Bar, answered.

“All right, I think we have done enough of a scrimmage today. This has given me enough to see what I am working with for this year. Now this next part isn’t a test, but a sign of how much you are ready to commit to your own improvement. We have access to the weight room for the next hour. I expect all of you to at least hit every core muscle group once.” Coach Green said.

Then like that the team of nine remaining players was dismissed.

Only once they were dismissed did Misha begin walking towards the weight room. As she moved, Michelle, the only non-pack starter for the team came towards her.

“Misha, that was so amazing. Just like you were in the league.” Michelle said, her voice all but squealing with delight.

“Yes.” Misha replied dryly.

“Wait, you two know each other?” J-Sweep asked.

“Yeah, she has been a member of my summer leagues for the past few years. At first, I played against her, but then finally was on her team, and we won. Since then, I have been requesting to be on her team ever since.” Michelle said, speaking of the summer league that the two had played during middle school and most of high school.

“Where’d you play before this?” K-Bar asked.

“The League.” Misha responded.

“You learned all those moves from that Summer League?” J-Sweep asked.

“No, they didn’t teach us anything. If it wasn’t for me going over to Misha’s place to practice, I likely wouldn’t have made the team this year. Even still, I barely made the team.” Michelle answered truthfully.

“You did fine.” Misha said, speaking of how the girl had pushed herself all game.

Whistle.

Coach let loose a whistle, then shouted, “everyone get off my court! It is time to let the others use it.”

Then like that, the girls all broke off to do different exercises or go to different equipment. As for Misha, she went to the only piece of equipment that could work entire body at one time, she went to the rowing machine and began to push her mind and body.

As she did, she felt a wave of excitement and euphoria fill her mind as her system activated.

Alternate-1 Reaper System Activated.

Conditions met, reset Tier 1 Warrior Amoni Jones to Tier 0. All Warrior Attributes were condensed to their base level to ensure optimal growth pattern initiated.

Remaining energy absorbed by Alternate-1 Reaper System.

Points remaining: 0.2.

After seeing the message, Misha’s understanding of the true purpose of her class became clear. Her class was not meant to truly kill off those that were part of the system, rather she was supposed to reset those that weren’t found worthy. This would cause the power levels to drop, apparently, but the idea was that they would be stronger once they went through the threshold again.

Seeing this, Misha realized just how the Bakshee became so powerful, as this system allowed all of their soldiers to achieve perfect evolutions each time.

With this revelation, Misha realized that the threat posed by the Bakshee was far greater than she had anticipated.

Still she had more to discover with the system, at least that was what she told herself as she was left with the 0.2 Attribute point increase.

Ultimately Misha decided to add one tenth of a point to her Agility and Dexterity.

Dexterity: 14.9 -> 15.0

Agility: 14.9 -> 15.0

Confirm selection.

With that Misha mentally accepted the change, and then nothing happened. Pausing, Misha wondered if she missed something with this new limit to her abilities. For years she had been stuck right here, and for years she wondered why she couldn’t make it past this seemingly insurmountable threshold.

Yet, after a moment she didn’t feel any changes.

With that all Misha did was continue to press herself, trying to see if that 0.1 of an Attribute would make any tangible difference in her current workout.

Unfortunately, nothing happened, at least not until she finally stopped.

Standing up, she felt calm at first, before she felt a system message take over her mind and all but force her to the ground.

System update commencing now that physical exertion period has ended.

System update beginning...

Then like that, the world went white, and Misha’s mind felt the fact that her body collapsed lifelessly to the floor, as the simple changes she had selected went into effect.

Recalibrating…

Messages whirred to life past her ever conscious psyche, as she focused and began memorizing the changes.

Then, finally, after a moment, it happened.

The changes went into effect, and Misha was told to make her first decision.

Mid-Tier Evolutionary point met.

Choose from the following…

Then from there Misha was met with no less than a dozen choices, each of which would have seemingly significant impact on how she grew and developed as an Alternate-1 template user. It was clear that the choices she made here and now would fill out the way her body and class would be able to evolve once she reached the first Tier of evolution’s threshold.

Seeing the choices before her, Misha’s mind grew wide with the possibilities before her, then she finally made her decision.