It was 4 pm and Leo could be seen in a street basketball court. He was panting heavily as he bent slightly and supported his hands on his knees. Sweat was dripping down his body like water. His silky black hair was extremely wet and ran down his face, covering his ears and almost covering his eyes. He caught his breath for a few more minutes before setting all the barriers for himself again and picking up the ball.

Leo was training his maneuverability without using his superpowers. He thought that if he could improve as a human, he would exponentially improve with his superpowers too. To do this, he borrowed some traffic cones and barriers from the police station nearby and his school before starting his training. His aunt promised to pick him up when he felt he was done.

He arranged the cones in different places and he would do is bounce the ball and go past all those cones and barriers to dunk the ball without touching any of them.

Where did he get that idea? It was Mrs. Hale. She said his maneuverability was superb, but he was still lacking in that aspect compared to Oscar. After Leo made his decision to keep playing for the school, Mrs. Hale decided to help him as much as possible. She’d even go as far as supervising his training regimen personally. He agreed to it and was joyful about it, however, Mrs. Hale wasn’t supervising him today and instead, she was busy with something else, so she gave him something else to work on and gave him an aim. Leo expected it to be simple, but he never expected it to be this hard. Without his powers, this was an almost impossible feat. However, he had been practicing for over three hours and he had made little progress.

He bounced the ball repeatedly. Drops of sweat dropped from his chin with every bounce. His eyes were so focused and he already began making plans of how he was to move. With his eyes locked on his target like a predator about to devour its prey, Leo moved swiftly and kept bouncing. He went past a traffic cone easily, but there was already another one waiting for him on his right and front. This was likened to bypassing an opponent but would end up being double-teamed again. Also, he had to do this fast without touching or hitting the cones with either his body part or the ball.

He also wasn’t allowed to jump over the cones, due to his happening to work on his dribbling skills. The other aim of the whole exercise was to improve his balance. He moved his feet through the little space by his side and bounced the ball in a clear and comfortable place before moving forward. He kept moving around the barriers and he did hit a few of them. After dunking the ball, he counted the number of barriers he hit, and out of seventeen cones and three barriers, he touched five cones only. This was a little bit of improvement, as when he began, he hit ten cones. He rearranged the barriers and traffic cones and made a lot more attempts.

It was already six thirty in the evening and Leo was so tired that he sat on the ground. He didn’t want to give up, but his body disagreed with him.


“Damn it!” He cursed under his breath. His score was hovering around 75 percent and 63 percent. Everything was already dark, and the only thing that lit up the court was a street lamp. He slowly stood up and was thinking of going again one last time but he suddenly sensed a presence. One that was a bit intimidating and frightening.

“Hmmm.” He squinted his eyes and looked to the side, as the presence he felt was behind him. The feeling was familiar to him and he could tell who it was. His panting reduced and he suddenly turned and threw the ball hard at the person who he had already known was behind him.

With a single hand, Mr. Zack caught the ball and smirked. “What a strong throw.” He commented before looking at the ball in his hand and back at Leo, “That’s not a good way to welcome the coach of a rival school.” He joked and threw the ball back at Leo, who caught it with both hands. Leo frowned and kept his eyes fixated on every move Mr. Zack made. Given the kind of vibe the teacher gave him, he could not let down his guard.

The experienced coach noticed the tenseness in his muscles and smiled. “You don’t need to be so tense with me. I’m not gonna hurt you, you know.” He laughed.

“What do you want?” He inquired without smiling at all. The coach saw Leo’s seriousness and he walked around him.

“Hmm. I don’t want anything… Nothing at all.” He said with his hands behind his back as he paced around Leo, “I’m just curious. I’m curious as to how a normal kid like you can play basketball very well. You play so well that it could be considered as something else.” He continued and glanced suspiciously at Leo. Leo’s eyes displayed shock for a split second but went back to normal in an instant.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He denied it without hesitation. Suddenly, he felt someone’s hand on his shoulders and he shuddered.

“Don’t play dumb with me… Leonardo Anderson. You might be able to fool Emily and everyone else but you can’t fool me.” The man said with a voice so deep and intimidating that Leo’s heart skipped a beat. He heard Mr. Zack’s voice near his ears and was shocked at that moment because he sensed the man far behind him a second ago, but suddenly, the man was able to close that distance in an instant. The most astonishing part was that Leo didn’t sense this man move. ‘What the fuck is this man?’ He complained inside but kept his composure and acted like he wasn’t frightened at all. However, Mr. Zack could actually tell that this boy was scared.

“If you already know what you’re curious about, why come here to confront me, Mr. Zack?” Leo returned with a fierce tone. The man smirked and walked to his front.

“I didn’t know. I just suspected.” He claimed. Leo sighed and started packing all the barriers in one place.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And if I were you, I’d be worried about the upcoming game.” Leo advised without sparing him a glance as he continued packing. Mr. Zack frowned. He was really worried about his team. If Brighton Academy’s players can’t even beat Elian Comprehensive players without Leo in it, that would be bad. Putting Oscar on the field will mostly be canceled out by Leo’s interference if not surpassed. So yes, Leo was right, he should be worried. However, he wasn’t too worried, as Oscar too isn’t taking things easy and that guy is willing to go extreme if Leo proves too strong.

Just thinking about him gave Mr. Zack a headache. He didn’t want to think about that now, but instead, wished to see what Leo was capable of. He grabbed the ball from the floor and held it in his hand.

“Why don’t we have a game? A one-on-one match.” The coach suggested. Leo paused for a few seconds before going back to what he was doing.

“Sorry sir, not interested,” he replied nonchalantly. Mr. Zack frowned and shot him a piercing glance. Leo sensed killing intent and he felt something dangerous come at him. With a sharp move, Leo caught the fast incoming ball.

The impact it made on his hands made his bones shake and he felt a little bit of pain. The noise it made was like a gunshot.

“I insist!” The coach demanded with a smile on his face which Leo found to be creepy. Leo squinted his eyes and gazed at him. ‘I don’t want to get involved with this man. However, I also need to do reconnaissance of my own and since Mr. Zack isn’t letting me off the hook, I might as well play along.’ He thought and held the ball fiercely.

Mr. Zack took a stance and braced himself for the start of the game.

BOOM!

What Leo did next shocked him so much that he was completely speechless.