Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Samantha and Kyle followed an excited Jason as he made his way to the booth with a basketball game set up.

There was a worker manning the booth. As soon as he saw Jason making his way toward him followed by Kyle and Samantha he smiled.

"Step right up, step right up folks. Strong, weak, old, and young with shooting hoops everyone has fun.

If you can make three shots in a row you earn 1 point. A single point can be exchanged for a small prize, three points can be exchanged for a medium sized prize, and nine points can be exchanged for a large prize!"

Samantha looked at the prizes on the shelves and squealed in excitement "Oh my god! Look at that humongous hamster plushy! It looks so squishy and soft." 

Kyle was drooling over one of the prizes as well but it was a different one "Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

Or is that an actual life sized replica of Yusenji's katana from Melody of the Blind Swordsmen?"

The booth worker smiled after hearing Kyle's question "Ah I see that we have a man of culture among us.

Yes, that is indeed a one hundred percent accurate life sized replica of Yusenji's katana. This is a hard to come by collectible that is an official licensed product from the animation studio.

If you can earn a large prize you also earn an opportunity to challenge hell mode. In hell mode the hoop will move left to right and up and down.

In order to win our mega prize, the replica of Yusenji's katana, you must make ten shots in a row on hell mode.

But do be careful. If you decide to challenge hell mode and lose then you will also lose your large prize as well."

Jason asked "So what are the specific rules?" The booth worker pushed back his slicked over hair "I'm glad you asked my friend.

It's one dollar per attempt. After you pay your dollar you step into the red box that has been drawn on the floor.

After you're in the box you can go ahead and start shooting the ball. The rules are pretty simple once you start shooting.

Just stay inside the box and keep shooting until you miss. You can collect as many points as you want to and you can decide to cash out at any time as well.

So what do you think? Does anyone of you young kids want to give it a shot?" Jason was about to raise his hand when Kyle beat him to it "I wan to!"

Jason laughed after seeing Kyle excitedly make his way into the red box after handing the booth worker a dollar.

The booth had two hoops set up so technically Jason could have just joined Kyle and shot along side him but he decided to sit back and watch first.

Jason took a careful look. The hoop looked to be around ten feet away so it was a little shorter than a standard free throw.

Jason also noticed that the hoop was slightly smaller as well. A normal basketball rim would be large enough for two basketballs to fall through at the same time.

The rim on these hoops looked to be half a ball smaller than usual making it even harder to make the shot.

Kyle set his crutches to the side before hopping over to the red box. Although his injury was still keeping him out of games he had recovered to the point where doing something like this was manageable.

He carefully set his feet before squaring up and locking on to the hoop. He took a deep breathe before taking the shot.

Compared to where he was at the beginning of the season Kyle's shooting form looked a lot more fluid and natural although there was still a minor hitch once the ball got to the top.

As soon as the ball was a little over his forehead Kyle flicked his wrist and shot the ball out. The ball had a low arc as it flew toward the hoop.

The ball ended up bouncing a few times before falling through the net. Kyle punched out into the empty air in excitement "Yes!"

With some careful aim and by taking his time Kyle was able to make three shots in a row. But right after he had earned his first point he missed the next shot.

Kyle was bummed out but he was glad that he had at least earned one point. He went over to get his crutches and then walked over to the booth worker.

"I guess I'll use my point for a small prize. Can I get the black cat stuffed toy please?" The booth worker shook his head.

"Sorry kid but you didn't cash out. If you decide to keep shooting and you miss then you lose all of the points that you earned to that point."

Kyle's head dropped in disappointment "No way. That's such a bummer. I should have cashed out as soon as I got the point."

Jason walked over to Kyle and patted him on the back "That was some pretty nice shooting Kyle. You should be proud with how much you've improved this year."

Kyle smiled as he raised his head "You're right Jaya. I probably wouldn't have been able to make three shots in a row if you asked me to at the beginning of the year."

Jason was about to walk up and give the booth worker his dollar so that he could give the game a try.

But then another voice shouted out "Is that a basketball hoop! Yo auntie let's go over there and take a look."

A kid made his way over while pulling on his aunt's hand. He was about 5'7 (1.7m) with a thin frame.

He had a complexion that was slightly darker than Kyle and Trell but was far from being dark skinned like Udonis.

He had short twists on the top but his sides were cut short starting with fade that went from skin to about a one higher up.

The booth worker smiled after seeing that his booth had attracted another potential customer.

He explained the rules to the newly arrived child. After hearing the explanation the first thing that the kid did was to examine prizes that were sitting on the shelves.

He exclaimed "Wow! Is that a replica of Yusenji's katana?"The booth worker then explained to the child hell mode and how it worked.

After hearing the booth worker's explanation on hell mode he turned toward his aunt with his hand out.

"Auntie Julia please let me borrow a dollar please! I need to win that katana! It would look so good as part of my collection."

The aunt sighed before reaching out for her purse "I swear Rudy. We were only supposed to come here to look at the lights.

I told your mom that you would be okay staying at the hotel with all of your friends in L.A. but she just had to ask me to take care of you."

Despite all of her complaining and grumbling she still ended up pulling a dollar bill out of her purse and handing it to Rudy.

Rudy then walked over to the booth worker and handed him the dollar that his aunt had just given him.

The booth worker smiled as he took the dollar bill from Rudy. He then chuckled before looking over at Jason.

"Looks like we have one challenger over here. How about it kid? Do you want to step up and go head to head against him?

The rules are all still the same and you wouldn't really be competing against him. Both of you guys could end up winning a prize.

You guys would just be shooting at the same time. It would mostly be to add some competitive flare."

Jason thought about it for a second. He didn't see any reason to say no and he did want to give the game a try.

He took a dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to the booth worker "Sure. I'm always up for a little friendly competition."