"Levi, are you seeing this?"
"I'm not blind, and I'm definitely not so old that I'll start seeing things. This is real."
Wide-eyed and in disbelief, Levi and Mike stood from their seats, staring at the moment that was occurring right before their very eyes.
Erwin himself was fully alert, despite the calm demeanour he seemingly portrayed.
"This is real, isn't it?" Thomas exclaimed. The boy just couldn't understand what it meant. It was baffling to say in the least, that Finn could achieve the Mock Zone.
But it wasn't just him. Hanji, Petra, Isabel, and the players on the bench, were equally just as astonished. On the court, however, it was a different matter.
"Ryder, you..."
The lazy smirk never left the boy's face. Slowly, he placed his index finger on his mouth and cocked his head slightly to the right.
"Shhhh, there's no time to speak. It'll be all over soon."
Those were the last words Oluo heard before feeling a cool wind pass him by.
"What the hell!"
"What in the world?!!"
"Oh my God!"
The ball wasn't in Oluo's hand anymore. Faster than the eye can see, as if time stopped, the next thing they all saw, was Finn doing a layup and the ball smoothly entering into the net.
Isabel fell to her seat on the bench as she witnessed this extraordinary play. "This, this can't be happening."
There was nothing to be doubt about what had just happened. The painful reality creeped into their skin, making their blood crawl with a fearful emotion.
Eld, however, chose not to stand for this. As Finn walked back to his side of the court, he grabbed the ball and threw it at the back of Oluo's head.
"Ouch! What the hell?!"
"Stop spacing out. And that goes to the rest of you!"
Eld's voice brought his teammates all to their senses. Oluo, Gunther, Moblit, and Farlan, brought their attention to their captain with serious looks on their faces.
"It's a scary thought, I know. This is what we wanted, for them to achieve this level of skill. But that's not why you're concerned, is it?"
They nodded their heads in the affirmative.
"I know what we're all thinking; Ryder was holding back on us. From the look of things, he's not new to the Mock Zone. In fact, he's mocking us for thinking it was something special. This is no longer just a game, it's come to be a battle of our pride. That's the real problem here, am I right?"
"Yeah, you are. It doesn't sit well with me that he knew all along and was playing us for fools. That's... a very villainous action."
They all agreed with Gunther.
"Alright men," Eld said. "Let's show these youngsters what their seniors are truly capable of."
"Yeah!!!"
...
"Those guys are really revving themselves up, huh. Plus we only have less than five minutes."
Eren turned to the two-shaded-haired male by his side, not at all amused by the current situation.
"Of course they are. But I don't even know what is going on anymore. This was supposed to be a practice game, but he turned it into something worse."
"You mean Finn, right?" Jean asked.
"Yeah." Eren replied.
Heaving a sigh, Jean took a glance at the male in question who had his back turned to them.
Ryder, just what in the world are you trying to prove?
...
"The ball, Eld!!"
He threw the ball far into the net and Gunther caught it in the air. Coming down, he went face to face with Reinee who spread out his arms like a wall before him.
Here goes nothing!
He turned around, crossing over to his left hand from between his legs, took a step back, followed it immediately with a fake to the right, crossed the ball to his right hand, and broke past Reiner.
Reiner was quick on his feet and immediately maneuvered around, stretching his fingers to tap the ball out of Gunther's possession.
It was close, but another hand reached out besides Reiner's.
What the hell?!!
In a flash, the ball had left Gunther's possession. Reiner was dazed. What in the world just happened?!
Both he and Gunther turned back, and there the ball was, in Finn's hands.
Moblit came up to stop him from moving, but the boy was way quicker than him, even with the Mock Zone.
"Move aside, extra."
One, two, three. In less than three seconds, Finn had gotten past Moblit, leaving the older man sitting on his butt on the floor.
The deal was real. All reservations and defences were dropped, and the senior team went on full offence. No regard was given to the other members of Trost. Stopping Finn Ryder became their first and foremost goal.
Farlan tried to intercept him, but as fast as lightning he did a crossover to his left hand from behind and back between his legs to his right. The speed and momentum caught Farlan offguard and he too was left dazed at the ridiculous power of the play.
The final stand, was a double-team. Oluo and Eld ganged up on him, in an attempt to stop him from reaching the net.
His eyes shone with flashes of black lightning, already striking fear and uncertainty into their hearts.
"Useless."
Finn stopped abruptly, gracing them with a lazy smile, before blitzing through them like a lightning bolt. The force was already powerful enough, but to add to the humiliation, he stopped midway, took a glance at both of them on the floor, and continued on his way.
He was fast, so fast no brake could be pulled. He leapt into the air, and with his right hand, dunked the ball so hard into the net the rim shattered.
The buzzer rang.
Game set and done.
"Damn. Can't believe time's up." A grimace worked itself on his lips as he held up the rim in his right hand. His left eye twitched slightly as he gripped the rim tightly.
Bullshit!
He looked behind him and he was met with the sight of everyone looking at him... with eyes that reminded him of the past.
"He's... He's a monster!
There's no way we can win against you! This is ridiculous!
No person should be this strong! It's unfair! It's so unfair! We're human too, why should only he have it all?!!"
With his bangs over his eyes and veins popping out of his neck, he clenched his teeth in anger, gritting it frustratingly.
Don't look at me like that. G*ddamit! I thought this was over! No, nevermind, I'm going to bed.
He dropped the rim to the ground, and with his jersey still on, he walked straight out of the court without uttering a word.
Everyone in the court was left dumbfounded. The game was over. Trost had lost by exactly 2 points. And yet, the bone of contention had just walked out without as much as a word to say to anybody.
"What the hell's up with that bastard?" Jean said, angry at Finn's unnatural behaviour.
Isabel and Petra were both shocked and amazed. Their thoughts were mixed up and they couldn't make heads nor tails of what had just happened.
The lead coaches on the other hand, were far more worried at Finn's mental state than his skill. Sure, he was extremely good... Better than they imagined. But his mind was not at rest. Inasmuch as being in perfect physical condition is necessary, mental strength is also required to keep up with the pace... Something that Finn lacked severely.
"Erwin..."
"I know, Levi." He replied.
"Is there anything that can be done?" Mike asked him.
"Yes there is, but we'll have to act fast."
Their conversation was interrupted by Eren suddenly running out of the court in his jersey, and Armin following him closely behind while shouting for him to stop.
Oh boy, Levi sighed, looks like I'll have to hire some bastards to clean the blood of the floor. G*ddamit, those little sons of b*tches!
...
"Eren, where are you going?" Armin shouted, running after the hot-blooded boy.
"To give the cocky shit a piece of my mind!" The brown-haired boy replied, not slowing down at all.
Taking angry strides, he finally spotted the black-haired male sitting on the floor with his back to the wall.
"You!"
Eren grabbed him by his vest and hoisted him up to his level, his face red with visible anger.
Finn did not respond. His hair shielded his eyes and his body was limp... almost lifeless even.
Armin tried to stop him, but to no avail.
"Answer me, you son of a b*tch!"
"Eren that's enough! People are staring."
True enough, students and staff alike were beginning to stare in their direction, confused as to what was going on.
"I'm sorry. Please let me go."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Never before since they knew Finn, had they heard him beg or apologize. It was stunning, baffling to say in the least. It caught them totally off-guard.
"I'm begging you, please stop. I don't wanna do this anymore." Whispered Finn again, lifting his head and revealing pained eyes.
"And just where do you get off saying 'sorry' after pulling arrogant stunts all this time?! Are we supposed to sympathize with you or something? Don't give that crap! I won't accept it!"
"Arrogant... stunts...?"
In an instant, Eren received a fist to his stomach, followed up by a knee to his face, and was sent flying back. If there was confusion before, then a bloody commotion was in place at the moment.
"Eren!"
Armin to his friend's side in an attempt to help him up. Eren slapped his hand away, blood trickling down his mouth, and his gaze still fixed on Finn's.
"You call me arrogant?" Finn spoke, looking down on Eren. "Where the hell were you when I was alone in the boonies?! Where the hell were you when I was alone in open space?! Where were you when I got my ass handed to me in basketball on multiple occasions?! Where were you when I practiced under the sun 15 hours a day to hone my abilities? Huh?!! Tell me, where the hell were you!!!"
His outburst shocked the both of them. It was unreal.
"Don't talk to me like you know anything about me! I gave it my all, I gave it my best, but yet... The reward I get for being diligent is this. I'm looked at like a freak of nature, like an abominable existence. I trained, you know. I went through what everyone else passed through. I lost numerous times, I won a few times. So tell me why?! What did I do wrong?!"
"What did you do wrong?!" Eren lifted himself off the ground. "Acting like you're the only ones with problems that's what!"
With a hardened left fist, Eren punched him in his midsection.
"We all have problems! Stop thinking like you're the only one!"
He clenched his right hand and swung it at Finn's face. The blow connected, causing Finn to move back just two steps.
A dark chuckle came out from the black-haired male. Raising his head, he gazed at Eren with crooked toothy grin.
"Was that supposed to hurt?"
It happened so fast it was like a blur to Armin. Finn retailiated with a blow of his own to Eren's face, which made the brunette stagger like a drunkard. Eren was strong, that much Armin knew, but Finn was just way beyond Eren in terms of physical strength. Heck, he might even be on par with Mikasa and Levi! He didn't want this to escalate even further. Just what would Mikasa say if she found Eren all bruised and injured?
In the midst of Eren staggering from the blow, Finn grabbed him by the shirt and threw him to the floor, punching him repeatedly over and over again, without a second's break.
Blood splattered all around them as Finn continued to beat up Eren. Armin tried frantically to restrain him by placing his arms around his back and trying to pull him up from on top Eren, but the boy wouldn't let up. In fact, Atmin was dragged along like a ragdoll as Finn continued to assault the brunette under him.
"What the hell is going on here!?"
Armin thanked his maker for their timely intervention. Reiner and Jean immediately took over from Armin and pulled Finn up, while Marco, Connie, and Thomas dragged Eren from Finn, helping him sit up properly on the floor.
"Oh my God," Marco exclaimed, seeing Eren's bloodied face. "Bertholdt, please get Miss Hanji over here."
The tall shaggy-haired male nodded and immediately went to fetch Hanji from the basketball court.
"Leave me alone, I can still keep going. Let me at him." Eren said, wiping off blood from his nose and mouth.
"Shut up, Eren!"
Armin's sudden shout of his name startled them all. Hearing Armin shout was something that was imaginable. It had never crossed their minds before that the blond was capable of such ferocious emotions. Only Eren, presently, knew exactly what was going through Armin's head. For Armin to exclaim like that, it meant he had messed up, and he messed up badly.
"Just stop it! Stop it already! Don't you think we know how you feel?! Violence is not the way to solve this. Nothing good is going to come out of hurting ourselves. This is the basketball team not the boxing team! So stop being such a pain and causing everyone to worry. Don't you think you're being arrogant too? Believing you're the only one who can put Finn straight. That's not your job. Your job is to be an understanding teammate, and that goes to all of us. If one of us is down, then we'll help to bring him up. That's what teamwork is all about!"
Eren hung his head in shame. He was a fool, a big one. Armin was right, this was not the way to do this. He had been blinded by his rage and missed the entire purpose of what he was supposed to do. She had come to him for help, to help save Finn from himself, and he was going to do it, but not through violence anymore. He will beat him with skill, and talent alone.
Reiner and Jean still held up Finn who was limp with exhaustion and a sense of defeat.
"Sorry, you guys. But could you let me go now? I need to get to sleep."
Jean was apprehensive but he and Reiner complied nonetheless. They let him go and he gathered himself on his feet.
Gazing down on Eren, the young man said,
"Sorry, Eren. I guess some things never change."
He walked away from them slowly, just as Bertholdt came running towards them with Hanji and Petra by her side.
/../
Another chapter done ✅. Thank you all for reading and for being with me this far. Your endurance and patience is never with gratitude. Thank you 🙇🏽. I don't really have much to say in this chapter, so I'll just end it here. As usual, comments and reviews are highly appreciated so feel free to do so at your own leisure. That's all for now, so stay safe, strong and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye 👋!