Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

As the fighters went into their corners for a minute of rest, just to be fair to Cindy, Tatiana and I didn't go to Alexa's side but Tatiana threw her a thumbs up for her nice execution. The particular "trick" Alexa's been performing was simple and yet its simpleness was the thing that was making it so effective.

Granted it was a bit slower than a normal kick, but if she started to mix it up with normal ones—which she already did—it'd just be a toss-up between their reflexes and reaction time.

Then we heard Jeremy's voice:

"It's all in the knees, alright? That's the trick but it's up to your noggin' and a little bit of luck to go against it."

"You saying I'm dumb?!"

"Psh. You're smarter than me but you never use it, that's the problem. I dunno why you're asking for advice right now but the best way to go about it is just to experience it. Either that or just keep her locked out by making her guard."

I nodded approvingly, 'That's right… and learning Alexa's patterns gives you a higher chance of predicting what's to come…'

With that said, the minute was up and Cindy was definitely rarin' to go while Alexa looked like she'd still stick with cautiously observing the situation before acting upon it. However, right as they met at the center, Alexa threw a swift straight before following it with a sudden low kick.

Cindy easily saw through the simple switch-up and guarded against them but she got ticked off when Alexa was already a step away and aiming to guard against her counterattack.

"YOU— ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT OR WHAT?"

"I am though?"

"NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Hmph."

"ARGH! IT WAS JUST SO GOOD LAST TIME!"

"Nope."

Funnily enough, Alexa began replying to Cindy's taunts(?) and it was making the taunter taunted instead. It was forcing Cindy to expend more energy to close in on Alexa but right as she thought Alexa would plant her feet down so she could figure out whatever the fuck her "weird" kick was, she'd just run away again and talk shit until the bell rang.

What Alexa was doing was straight-up edging Cindy for a release and completely denying her the satisfaction of a good fight and it was super fucking effective.

On the third and final round, Cindy went all-out to force Alexa into a brawl but it was as unsatisfying as the conclusion of the match I had with Bartow.

Sure, it would've been nice to end the fight with a knockout but just seeing how slightly difficult Cindy was walking compared to Alexa, even Jeremy thought that his sister lost. And with that, we obviously gave the win to Alexa but Cindy was keen on getting some answers.

"Hey!"

Alexa turned to her, "Hmm?"

"Alright! I'll accept the loss but you have to tell me how you did that!"

"Umm… Why?"

"Because!"

Alexa smiled, "Our instructor and friend, Tatiana would teach you once we get home—"

"B-But I wanna know how it works now! Please!" then she turned to me, "I-I'll call our Staff Sergeant if you teach me now!"

Jeremy cut in, "I told you, it's all in the knees—"

"I'm not asking you, I'm asking him!"

I interjected, "He's right though."

"Ugh— I mean— Yes, it's all in the knees but how?! I-I need to see it!"

"Didn't you eat enough of them already?"

"N-Not on me, you ass! I want it done on someone else!"

"You want me to hit someone else for a demonstration?"

"You— Not for real, of course!"

I looked at everyone and discovered that a few from their group wanted to learn as well so I cleared my throat as I addressed everyone:

"Alright, since we're all here, why don't we have a small class in regards to this weird kick? I'm gonna need a partner though—"

Cindy cut in excitedly, "Jeremy will do it!"

Jeremy shook his head, "Sure… Anything for you…"

I chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll give you some painkillers later—"

"Wut?"

"Alrighty then, everyone look closely and see how I perform a normal low, mid, and high kick to Jeremy…"

"Oh boy…"

As Jeremy was already preparing himself for a beating, I just let out the tiniest bit of my domineering aura to make him and everyone else think I'm fucking serious before I performed the movements as slowly as possible and without any destructive force. This made him sigh in relief but Cindy was definitely annoyed that her brother wasn't hurt even by a bit.

But yeah, I did perform the weird kicks in the same manner and turned to everyone for a simple explanation.

"You see, with each of those three normal kicks, the starting point and the path it takes is apparent and obvious but if we're talking about this weird— fuck it, it's a Brazillian Kick, or any other term you can make for it, it has a starting point, the setup point, and the destination, unlike the normal kicks which simply goes from Point A to Point B."

Cindy raised her hands with a notebook she pulled from nowhere:

"U-Umm, so it starts with a fake-out?"

I nodded, "You can call it something like that since it copies the movements of a high kick—by bringing your knees up—but once you reach the setup point, the midpoint, or the beginning of the tri-path, that's where it could go the three ways: low, mid, and high, and confuse the opponent by twisting your knee or just suddenly extending it, hence it's all on the knees.
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Sure, it's a tad slower than a normal kick but it still got the job done—especially with what Alexa did by mixing it up. It's pretty simple really but that's what makes it so annoying."

"That's it?"

"That's it. You still gotta practice by a lot though to incorporate them in a real fight. And there's also guarding against them and the unlimited combinations anyone could throw at you. It's not like they'd just keep sending you those weird kicks, right?"

"Huh."

"Any more questions?"

Her eyes lit up, "Do you have more tricks like that you can teach me?!"

I chuckled, "Of course, in the two weeks that—"

"FUCK NO! I'M STAYING THERE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN! I'M LEARNING EVERYTHING! STAND UP, JEREMY! I'M PRACTICING WHAT I LEARN NOW!"

"Haah?! Find your own punching bag!"

"BUT—"

Tatiana then cut in with a gleam in her eye, "Hey, why don't you learn from me? He just knows how to do it but the weird kick you lost to was from me. How about it?"

"YES, MA'AM!"