Laz woke up early. He had noticed that at so point, he had stopped sleeping in. Maybe it was simply his internal clock wouldn't let him. Or maybe he just had too many things to worry about. As soon as things got in his head he found it difficult to let go. Opening his eyes, Laz noticed it was still dark. On top of that Abraham was still sleeping like a baby.
Lucky guy.
Getting out of bed first proved to be a blessing in many ways as Laz would co to discover. He never had to share a shower before and at least now, he knew he would have the hot water to himself.
After showering, Laz grabbed a quick snack out of his pouch and walked outside to the back garden. It was really nice having such a large open area when the entire block was nothing but pavent and housing. Although being in a city had a certain flair to it, Laz couldn't help but miss the open spaces he lived in before.
He knew it would take a while to get used to it.
Of course the bigger problem was his inability to work out like he used to. Going to a gym was a big no no so instead, he needed to do sothing else. And this was sothing he had planned for.
As it turned out, as long as no long term damage was done to the house or garden, the residents could do whatever they wanted provided the cleaned it up before they left. Long as a coat of paint fixed it, you were good. As such, Laz had the perfect thing to use for his... exercise.
Given that the sword, the pouch and a few other things that seed normal were actually special, Laz had adopted a pack rat ntality. As long as sothing seed useful he would snatch it. Or, more accurately, as long as it was sothing that gave off a bit of energy. Due to his new found obsession, the last ti Laz was in the woods with Sarah, he decided to pick up a few random things. It wasn't much, a berry plant here, a small flower there. He even took so sticks and a large broken log that seed as hard as steel to the touch. Had soone seen him do it, they would think he was crazy. But the truth was that these things were giving out an abnormal amount of energy for normal bits of nature. At one point Laz had wanted to catch a small animal, but given the nature of the entire realm's residents being animals, Laz scraped that idea. He didn't think much of it after words since the feds were coming in and he had totally forgotten about it up until he ended up in a city while missing mother nature.
Now he was going to put that log to work.
After checking out the area and determining that there was no one around, Laz sent his spiritual sense into the pouch and located the grey log, just kind of sitting in the pile of various things. The Everything looked ok as Laz had pulled soil up with the living things, but he wasn't sure how long they could live inside this tiny pocket world. Still, since he had no choice, he could only wait and find out.
After drawing out the log, Laz set it down on the ground. He hadn't noticed at the ti since he had moved it straight from the ground into the pouch, but the thing was pretty heavy. It was about three ters high and as thick around as a person yet for dead wood, it weighed almost a ton. As he set it on the ground, it started to form a small dent in the ground. Neither side was flat but one side had been cut apart by what looked like claw marks while the other side ended in a busted point, as though it was broken off by sothing hitting it. This was actually what Laz needed.
With a massive effort, Laz lifted the log over his head and with the sharp side pointed down, he jamd it into the ground, doing in about half a ter until it stopped. Pushing with all his strength, he was only able to get it to go down a hair more before it was thoroughly stuck. It felt like it had hit sothing underneath the garden.
'No matter. This is in there tight." With that, Laz took out a long length of leather and began wrapping it around the log. After that, Laz took so thick rope and did the sa thing. In the end, he had made his own striking dummy.
'That's about right.' Laz took a swing and hit it, his knuckles almost cracking from the force. Not only did the post absorb the impact, but it also didn't make a noise.
Laz on the other hand started curse screaming in his head.
'COCK SUCKING CUM DUMPSTER MOTHER FUCKING MOM'S SUPER SIZED DILDO."
Laz wasn't the best at string cursing. He hadn't thought the thing would be so hard so he just let loose with a tight fist. If that 'teacher' could see him now, she would beat his ass.
'Enough of that. Ti to get to work.'
Even though the post was pretty solid in the ground, Laz used his mory of runes to draw a simple Isa Rune on the ground around it. Although Isa as a rune was more indicating sothing like freezing water, it's general aning of standstill was what Laz desired. Get the ground to not move and the pillar would remain intact. The black flas quickly faded producing a rune that was invisible to the naked eye.
'Let's do this,' Laz thought to himself and he took his stance. Laz started going through the series of hit, plams, punches, knees and kicking that he had been taught. It was only a beginning set, but as he always heard, basics can't be beat.
The wood actually had another use that Laz didn't notice right away. Every ti he hit it, it would drain off a bit of his energy and rebound it back at him. The reason he was in the dark was because he didn't use his energy at first and simply practiced hitting the hard surface to toughen up his skin. But when it did finally rebound at him, it sent him flying across the garden. He only just managed to stabilize himself before hitting the glass table that was near where everyone had been talking yesterday..
'Interesting.'
Laz beca excited. Nothing could compare to fighting a real person, but hitting sothing that could hit back added quite an elent to it.
Laz kept going until he was covered in sweat. He hated that he had to wear as much clothing as he did, but it couldn't be helped. An hour had passed by before he knew it and he could just barely see the sun light start covering the sky. It was only now dawn.
Just as Laz was going to start up again, he heard a door open and close. Just by the distance and the sound, he could hear it was soone from the girls side.
Laz didn't bother to even check who it was. He knew they would find their way to him soon enough.
His though soon proved right.
A girl in a tank top with boxer shorts soon ca into view but that only made Laz wish he had vanished earlier.
It was Julia.
"So it's you."
"Good morning, sleep well?"
"Quite. Does that bother you?"
"Why would it?" Laz wondered if she always sounded hostile or if he was just special.
"What the hell are you doing?" She asked, noticing him beating up a log like a beast. Despite her repulsion of him after knowing what he was, she couldn't help but appreciate the hard muscles that made up his body. His black tank top and black gym shorts couldn't hide the well developed lines and chiseled abs at all. She could tell he worked out a lot.
"Oh. Gardening is my hobby. But this weed is being an asshole so what can you do but beat it." Laz didn't like this young woman. Although they were both infected, it was obvious that she was repulsed by him. Not that he cared, or at least he wouldn't if she didn't bother him.
She stared at the ground as though her eyes were attracted to sothing and Laz might had been mistaken, but it seed like they went wide for a mont.
'Did she notice the runes?' Laz asked himself while looking down at his own handy work.
'Ah well.'
Even if he had an audience, Laz wasn't going to stop for her. He quickly went back to his routine while this out of place woman looked at him with interest. Soon though, he face turned sour again.
"Is this really how you hit things?" She asked while making a face, almost like the words ca out with her permission.
"Is there sothing you want to say to ?"
"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 . 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 movents 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 movent. 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 ti a girl said that to ..." 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 ti 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 seed to change a bit at this mont and although Laz wasn't sure, it seed to have suddenly gained an accent.
Laz, surprised, just looked at her sowhat 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 co 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 chest 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 ti 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. AWESO!"
"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 tis 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 sll... 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.'
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