Due to the j.a.panese-American military team being the number one seed this year, the executives decided to host the national military basketball playoffs at the Ground Forces' base in j.a.pan. All of us got excited about this; we hadn't hosted one for an extremely long time. Being at home was undoubtedly a significant advantage for the team. All the teams that made it to the playoffs had to be there, some were happy, while others not so much. Still, they were forced to come, since they lost to our team. I was back at my place in j.a.pan; we had come back to j.a.pan after spending some time in London getting ready for the playoffs. 

Our base, chosen to host the playoffs, was well-decorated, and the hype was real as they had posters of our team everywhere. The officials had put up the schedule for the matches near the entrance. It was going to be our team, the U.S. Ground Force versus the U.S. Navy as the first bracket match. The next matchup was China versus Russia, and last but not least, j.a.pan U.S. Marines versus Australia. It seemed like the Golden Lions from London had gotten eliminated due to injured players. So Australia had sneaked in and filled the spot. There was a ma.s.sive party on the base as all the teams came together to party before the playoffs.

All the stars of different teams had met up in a VIP room. The bouncers tried to stop me, but then An came out and told the guards that I was a star out of stars. The guards let me through as I snickered at them, showing my displeasure, before entering. The party started growing loud as the DJ shouted me out. Somebody said, "Look who it is! It's the calamity which has kicked all our b.u.t.ts left-right and center this season. I never expected a rookie to be as good as you, Eazy!." An came up to me and shook my hand, welcoming me to the party. Some of the other guys were happy to see me too, especially Jeff, hmmm... I wonder why Jeff's here, wasn't his team eliminated. An could tell what I thought as he laughed and said, "Oh, Jeff is here just to watch the playoffs. Jeff just wanted to learn more. Watching the best of the best play."

I asked An if he knew what Jeff was doing behind the scenes. An shook his head as if he didn't know what kind of guy Jeff was. Jeff shook his head at me as if telling me not to say anything about what he does. I was surprised that he felt ashamed about it, maybe he's different from the rest of his team. I wonder what kind of position An has in this league; it seemed like he had everyone's respect. An was a smart guy, so it's no surprise that everybody wants to hang out with him. Even though I felt a little comfortable when I was around him, I also felt like I should watch out for him even though he kept it real with me. On top of that, he told me about a few things that he didn't need to say, which made me grateful to him.

Some girls came over with drinks. I wasn't feeling it, I just declined and moved on. One of the girls tried to come and sit on my lap. I quickly stopped her and told her that I already have enough women in my life. Hence, there's no need for her to come and keep me company, An seemed surprised at this. I wasn't going to entertain him, so I didn't say anything as the party continued. After an hour of just sitting there watching the other guys drink and party with the ladies, I decided to leave. An tried to stop me, but I insisted as I wasn't that cool with anybody there. I looked at Ron, the point guard extraordinaire of the Navy, and said, "I'll see you in a few days. I hope you bring your egg-laying brown dogs". 

Ever since Ron played me the first time, he has been having nightmares. It was about me shooting every bucket over him as he had no way of defending me. There were a couple more guys that were scared of me after a game. Jeff was entirely under my fingertips; I could see the fear in his eyes every time I looked at him; he looked away. I looked at each and everybody there and said, "You guys are all going to lose to this rookie this year, the throne you guys have been sitting on high for years will be coming to an end soon and the number one team, China, I'll make sure I leave my mark on them before I leave for the NBA."

An was getting a little excited while his other teammates also stood up with fire in their eyes as if they had accepted the challenge. China's team was exceptional. They had a good point guard, a great shooting guard, and a good Center. Even though the center was looking down at me, I still felt like I was looking down on him, which surprised everybody there, but I didn't care, I waved them goodbye and left.

When I left the room, they seemed to have relaxed a little bit as Jeff came out and said, "that guy is scary, and I'm sure everything he just said he's going to do." An refused to lose and said,"  it was our first time playing him; that was the only reason why we lost, now that we know his game we're going to put a stop to him once and for all." Jeff was still angry about the last encounter with Eazy. "I hope so I need somebody to put him in his place because I surely couldn't." An raised his eyebrow as if asking what happened. 

Jeff smiled embarra.s.sedly as he said I tried my infamous meet me at the gym one-on-one with him, and that's how my teammates and I could not make the playoffs. Everybody there was shocked because everybody knew that Jeff liked to play dirty once in a while, so seeing that one guy was able to defeat his whole crew surprised everybody there.