Chapter 101 - Worries (1/2)

When they finally made it back to the dojo, neither of them had any energy left. Laz took off for his room while Kat made for her room. Laying down on the bed, Laz felt every last bit of energy drain from his body. Interestingly enough, he didn't feel mentally tired.

Looking about the room, Laz couldn't help but sigh to himself.

'Unfamiliar ceiling,” was all he could think.

Despite Jon acting rather pleasant with him and Kat's crazy hot and cold attitude, Laz felt ill at ease. Maybe it was because it wasn't his place. Maybe because he was out of his comfort zone. His formerly empty brain tried to make some sense of it, but the answer just kind of alluded him until finally something clicked.

'It's someplace new. Damn, how long did it take me to get used to the shack. Bill, Grandpa and Grandpa Chu spent a lot of time with me back then, almost every day in fact. We would go eat somewhere, or just hand out at Bill's and do a BBQ and some fireworks. Those days were fun...' Thinking back on it, he never had enough time to feel bad since he was almost never alone.

But now? Now, he was doing this thing by himself.

Although he wasn't a far way away from home and he could reasonable drive himself back if he wanted to, he felt like that would be stupid. He's got a place to stay here and he has training to do.

'Besides which, it's not like they are waiting for me there.' Although Laz didn't want to think about it, he could help himself. Pulling out his phone, he noticed he had one new message.

'Oh yeah?'

'Your bill date is fast approaching, please make a payment soon.'

'You son of a bitch!' Laz threw his phone towards the pillow and laid back. It wasn't that he was expecting a lot, but he didn't get anything back from them. He had initially texted them both twice each. One to say have a safe trip and once to say what he was up to. So far, he had gotten nothing back. It wasn't that he was worried, but after everything that happened, he couldn't help but think about them. He could only help himself feel better by assuming they were busy and didn't have time.

Knock, Knock.

”Oh, Laz. You going to sleep? Want some dinner?” Laz heard Jon's voice outside his door. Thinking about it, Laz didn't really feel up to it.

”No. That's ok. I'm just tired and want to get some sleep,” Laz finally responded back.

”Ok. Get some sleep boy. Make sure you're up by 6 for breakfast,” came the deep voice from the other side of the door.

”Sure thing. Thanks!”

”Ha ha, not a problem. We're going to take good care of you son. Just let me know if you need something. Sleep tight!” Listening closely, Laz heard the large man start to walk away. He couldn't help but sigh.

Picking himself up, he made his way to the bathroom to take a shower before laying back down for the night. Although he wasn't sure when, at some point he drifted off to sleep.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

”GET YER ASS UP, TIME TO EAT!” Kat's voice came screaming from the other side of the door. Laz, still feeling groggy, finally opened his eyes. He was a bit disoriented at first, but soon the situation came to him and he remembered where he was. After throwing on a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt, he went over and opened the door.

Kat was standing there in a tank top and short shorts, obviously having just gotten up herself. Laz didn't say much but just grunted at her.

”Not a morning person huh?” She asked while looking him over.

”Not when I don't have to be,” Laz responded a bit shortly.

”Oh, that's right. You're still in school eh? Hmm... well, whatever. Follow me.” Kat led the way for Laz who obviously hadn't been shown around the previous day. Kat gave him a general layout of the place and took him upstairs to where the father and daughter pair lived.

The place resembled a normal, two bedroom American apartment. Considering the way the dojo looked, Laz was expecting something a bit more... ornate? But this place wasn't it.

As he sat down in the seat that Kat pointed him to, he noticed the breakfast was pretty normal as well. Bacon, eggs, toast and the like. Even though he said it was normal, what he meant was that it was normal for other people. It had been a while since he had gotten up and had breakfast waiting for him. He couldn't help but enjoy it.

”Alright. I'm not sure what you two idiots did yesterday, but no more of that, a'ight? You can both go for your run in the morning, but that's it. Otherwise, Laz needs to actually learn more than just how to get his ass handed to him. Questions?” Jon looked back and forth between his spirited daughter and his new live in student.

”Ok, feel free to go for the run after breakfast. I'll clean up.” Laz didn't understand why Jon seemed rather happy at the moment, but he did't think too much of it.

The run today was very different than yesterday. Laz and Kat ran together as Kat took the time to explain some basic things to Laz.

”Remember, the key to any sort of exercise is breathing. You need to control those breaths. And try to reduce your movement down to a bare minimum when your doing endurance training. The less energy you use for every moment, the more energy you will have for the needed movement.”

”Training is like rebuilding a car. You can't just throw a new engine in it and expect its going to be ready to win races. You need to start with the frame and work your way up.”

Kat kept spouting off metaphors and Laz kept listening intently. This was the first time that he had this kind of advice. It was very different than just reading it somewhere. Instead, he was able to take what she was saying as she was someone with experience.