Klay Thompson was awakened by a hushed discussion outside his bedroom door.
“Not so fast, Steph.” That voice sounded like Steve Kerr’s. There was an inaudible response.
“Steph, please listen to me. You have to let me take it, you have to let me destroy it. Its power is too great.”
“I’m taking the amulet and you’re not stopping me.” Now the voice was clearly identifiable as Stephen, and as soon as the meaning of those words was recognized in Klay’s brain, he immediately became fully alert. Stephen had been planning to take the amulet from him as he slept, a brazen attempt undertaken by a fool driven mad by envy. Klay slipped the three-point shooting amulet under his mattress just as Stephen and Steve, locked in a tussle, tumbled through the bedroom door.
“Don’t you see, Steve? If I have the amulet, the Warriors are unstoppable! You should want that more than anything!” Stephen snarled as he tried to drag the older man to the ground.
Klay stood up from his bed. “Neither one of you is getting the amulet. It’s not even in here – it’s in a safe deposit box at the bank.” Stephen’s mouth dropped open in shock, but Steve looked nonplussed. “Anyway, I’ve come to enjoy how well I shoot threes after wearing it. I think I’ll keep it for now – maybe forever.”
Stephen let go of Steve’s waist and picked himself up off the floor. “You can’t do that, man! We were going to share it! If we both could both benefit from it, the team would never lose another game!”
“The team means nothing to me. Only the self is real,” Klay responded coldly.
Walking up to Klay, Stephen grabbed him by the shoulders and shook. “How can you say that? What’s wrong with you!?” Klay did not react to being treated in this way; his expression remained filled with blank anger as his head rocked back and forth.
“That’s what I was trying to say, Steph,” Steve said. “Only the one who has true mastery of his mind can hope to resist the amulet’s negative effects! It almost killed me before I learned how to control it!”
“Negative effects? Ha!” Klay scoffed. “With the amulet, my shooting skills have been augmented to be superhuman. I am the darling of the NBA. The old Klay is gone, and nobody misses him.”
“I miss him!” Stephen wailed. “I miss the old Klay! I want my friend back!”
“Oh, little baby misses his friend?” Klay sneered. “Don’t lie. You just want the amulet for yourself. No more, no less. The second you put it on, I would be the forgotten one again, just like I have been ever since I was drafted by the Warriors.”
“Forgotten? How could you say th-,” Stephen began. “Wait. Where’s Steve?”
Klay heard the sound of a car door slamming and of tires squealing. In a panic, he looked to where he had hidden the amulet, only to see that it was gone.
“He’s got the amulet!” Klay shouted. “We have to stop him!”
Stephen turned to his teammate in anger. “What do you mean, he’s got the amulet? I thought you said it was in a vault at the bank!”
“That was a lie,” Klay replied testily. “It was under my mattress the whole time. But that doesn’t matter. Where do you think he’s going!?”
“He said something about…” he started, before his eyes grew wide. “HE’S GOING TO DESTROY THE AMULET! Come on, we have to get to my car.” The two Warriors sprinted down to where Stephen’s car was parked on the street.
Climbing into the passenger seat, Klay asked again, “Where’s Steve going? Where would he go to destroy the amulet?”
Stephen slammed the car into drive and sped down the street, throwing Klay back into his seat. “Oracle Arena.”
The early-morning streets were empty as Stephen ignored every stop sign and traffic light in his path. They reached Oracle Arena just as Steve was getting out of his own car. They watched as he ran to the main entrance, gleaming gold amulet in hand, and entered one of the doors. When the door shut behind him, he turned around and locked it.
“Locked out! Damn!” Klay swore, looking around for another way in. “He’s probably got the whole place on lockdown.”
“Not quite,” Stephen said, grinning. “Hold on to your butt, Klay. This is about to go aggro.”
“Aggro? What are you talking abou-AAAAAAHHHHHH!” Klay screamed as Stephen drove the car as fast as he could towards the glass doors. There was a violent explosion of glass and metal as the expensive car ramped off the stairs and into the lobby of the arena.
“Unnnhhh,” Klay groaned as he sat, stunned, in the passenger seat. His face and arms had been showered with glass shards, and something heavy had hit his head. He momentarily forgot about the amulet as his head spun.
Stephen, meanwhile, seemed unharmed. “Stop moaning and come on, you idiot! We have to stop him!”
Those words jolted Klay back to reality. He forced open the passenger-side door and ran after his teammate, who had already gotten a head start towards the court. When they got there, Steve stood at center-court, staring at them as if he had been awaiting their arrival.
Part II: http://youtu.be/F3yYgoyYekc