Chapter 222 - Wasted (2/2)

”Is this really how you hit things?” She asked while making a face, almost like the words came out with her permission.

”Is there something you want to say to me?”

”Well, since you asked. Your form is sloppy, your attacks equally slow. You show little skill and instead rely enterally on strength without even the slightest hint of skill.”

”Oh, silly me. You want to give it a try?” Laz asked sarcastically.

”Fine. As long as it wipes that stupid grin off your face.”

Julia walked over and took a stance. Laz had noticed before, but her movements looked entirely natural. She didn't just walked, she sort of glided across the ground. And she she took her attack stance, Laz could tell that he muscles didn't had an ounce of strain on them. It was like she was keeping her entire body light, not tensed.

She then proceeded to start he own series of movement. It was only after hitting it once that she pulled back her hand and started shaking it.

”What the hell is this thing made out of? How is it so hard?” She spoke out loud.

”Ah. If I had a dollar for every time a girl said that to me...” Laz joked.

”You would probably owe them money,” Julia finished, causing Laz to flinch.

Without even bothering to check his reaction, Julia started back up again. And in doing so, Laz's eyes went wide in surprise.

Although no noise was being made, he could hear the almost silent thump that sounded every time she landed a blow. It was rhythmic, like the beating of a drum. It had it's own music. Laz soon lost count of the number of blows she made as her body transitioned from one to another as though she was nothing more than flowing water.

Laz's style could only be described as stiff next to her.

Of course Laz was going to have the last laugh.

”3”

”What the hell are you counting?”

”2”

”This is what you're resorting to?”

”1”

”Ok. Just shut your trap until I...” Julia never finished her sentence as Laz took a step to the left. Suddenly, the pillar erupted with energy, throwing it right at Julia who was unaware of what was happening. It hit her dead on and caused her to go flying even farther than Laz. She even cleared the table, coming to a rather graceful stop by ramming into the solid steel and wooden fence around the garden.

Laz was really grinning like an idiot now.

”What in the bloody hell was that shit?” Julia's voice seemed to change a bit at this moment and although Laz wasn't sure, it seemed to have suddenly gained an accent.

Laz, surprised, just looked at her somewhat sorry figure.

Seeing her get off the ground and start wiping the dirt and grass from her clothes and hair, Laz couldn't help but start laughing again. The pony tail had come loose and her brunette hair was flowing in the morning breeze.

”Oh? That was funny to you huh?” Julia knew that she had been set up and didn't even bother to hide her accent. She ran faster than Laz could imagine and jumped at him, aiming a kick for his manhood. Laz jumped back instinctively and reacted, throwing a punch of his own. Julia shot up an arm as though expecting this, brush off his punch and hit him in the c.h.e.s.t with a palm strike. Laz barely moved back a few steps before charging forward again.

He kept his strength in check not wanting to hurt her. But his chivalry was for naught as he couldn't land a blow on her no matter what he did. He only now apricated just how tough an opponent she was. It didn't matter how hard you punched if you couldn't hit anything.

He couldn't lock her down.

It didn't take long before Julia realized that Laz's body wasn't just for show. He could take her punch and barely lose a few steps. Seeing this, she changed up her tactics to knock him off balance.

”The thing you don't understand you yankee is that martial arts weren't developed to help the strong fight the weak. They were developed to help the weak fight the strong.”

With her final insult, she managed to lock Laz's leg and knock him off balance, sending him flying towards the post. He didn't manage to right himself until he hit it. The strength he had hit it with was just enough for it to repel back and send him flying once again, this time landing him face down a ways away from Julia.

”I swear. If strength could solve everything, we wouldn't have a need for skill.”

”WHOO.”

”YEAH. AWESOME!”

”Wow!”

Suddenly they both heard voices from the back porch. They had been so absorbed into their fight, they didn't notice that they had an audience. Madison, Steph, Angie, Eddy and Benny were all standing there watching them as they they were being given a show. Even thought they didn't know what was happening exactly, it was still cool to watch.

Seeing this, Julia actually looked a bit embarrassed as Laz got up from the ground and dusted himself off. He then took the opportunity to bow a few times in an exaggerated manner as though he was happy to have entertained them. He then leaned over and grabbed the slightly stiff Julia around her shoulders with his arm and dragged her down for a bow with him, causing the others to laugh and clap more.

”Oh god you smell... good... AH.” Before anyone could react, Julia pushed Laz away and ran inside, intent on getting cleaned up and burning her clothes.

Laz could only watch with an amused look.

'Turns out this may not be so bad after all.'