13 Skill Check

As Zayd was walking back, he looked at his phone to check the time. He had all three things that they needed and got an overpriced protein shake for himself.

Suddenly, he bumped into somebody's shoulder. His drink spilt onto them, painting a white T-Shirt a chocolatey brown.

The street was quite crowded, and the people turned towards the commotion.

"What the?! Hey kid! Watch where you're going!" The man said as he shoved Zayd out of nowhere.

Having no time to react, Zayd fell over.

First things first, he tried to check on the things he bought and if they were damaged. Some egg's shells had shattered from the sudden impact. Most of the eggs were okay.

Luckily, the milk containers didn't break open.

As he checked, the guy he bumped into glared at him.

Standing back up, Zayd spoke to the guy. Before Zayd said anything, however, he saw the guy had tattoos on his forearms.

"Well, I am sorry that I splashed my drink on you, but some of my eggs broke. I think we are even."

"Even?! Do you know how much this T-shirt cost?! I'll tell you! More than your damn eggs! Do you think I give one about that?"

"I don't care about that. Do you not remember shoving me? It was 10 seconds ago! Now I am going to say sorry because that's what good people do. You go and wash that T-shirt, and guess what? It will be clean again. So, we are even. Unless that is not enough for you."

As Zayd spoke, he spoke loudly. Slowly, they'd built an audience.

'I can test what I've learned on this guy.' Zayd thought this the moment he saw the man clench his fists. That body language was something Zayd had seen very often. It meant the man was going to attack.

He did. A right hand swung widely towards Zayd. Zayd nearly laughed when he saw the guy doing so. Leaning back, Zayd dropped his bags that had unimportant items within.

'Great. Now I'm acting in perfectly legal self-defence.'

The crowd had surrounded them, forming a circle. Seeing people take their phones out, Zayd made sure his hood was up with extreme haste to hide his face.

The man punched out, but this time it was proper. Well, it was not as good a punch as a man that trained to fight.

'I can't say much. I was not as bad as this gangster but still untrained.' Zayd thought.

Suddenly, Zayd stepped forward and jabbed to find his range.

Throwing his left hand, Zayd hit the man cleanly.

*PA*

Zayd had fought bare-handed. He knew that to hit somebody bare-handed hurts the puncher as well.

Rapidly, Zayd's right hand hit the man powerfully. Zayd felt his exhaustion dissipate. Once more, the feeling he was all too familiar with came back in full throttle.

Zayd wanted to improve his defence.

Thus, he allowed the man to throw punches wildly. Zayd found out that blocking with his elbows was exceptional in this case. The solidness of his elbows was unmatched when against the man's weak seeming finger bones.

Finally, after he'd done enough blocking, Zayd retaliated once more.

In the audience's eyes, it was a one-sided beat down.

To the experienced fighters' eyes, that was not the case. Zayd may have been receiving hits. However, he was using something called the 'Cross Guard'. Without even knowing it, Zayd had used a boxing guard he'd never learned.

Anyway, as it went on, the man who kept punching damaged his hands more. Until finally.

The man's bottom two knuckles made contact with Zayd's elbow.

*CRICK*

Holding his hand with his other, the man screamed in pain.

"AAAAAHHHHH!! YOU FUCKER!"

Zayd merely shrugged his shoulders in response. His right hand smashed into the man's nose.

Zayd felt something break as blood suddenly covered his hand and the man's nose.

Luckily, it did not spurt out and stain his clothing.

Zayd was thinking all of a sudden back to the man named Hanzo. That last kick he did which Zayd mentally reenacted.

Before he knew it, Zayd threw a right hook that landed before his feet moved.

Zayd's leg whipped through the air and struck the man smoothly on the right side of his face.

The force would cause a slow-mo video to show his skin undulating as the force traversed along with the point of contact.

Everything was fluid. Zayd lifted his leg, turned his hips, and connected.

What shocked people was the speed. They wondered if their cameras caught that correctly.

Anyhow, the man fell to the ground after receiving the kick.

As he picked up his bags, Zayd's chest moved as he breathed heavily.

Once he headed towards the crowd, they parted as though respectful of Zayd after his performance, seeming like one from a movie.

'This better not go viral.' Zayd thought as he walked away.

---

'It went viral.' Zayd thought as his Aunt showed him the video of himself.

"That's you, right?" His Aunt Naomi said as she peered into his eyes to determine the truth.

"No," he replied as succinctly as possible.

"Show me your knuckles."

"Aunt Naomi, that's going to show nothing. I've been to the gym today. But here." Luckily, Zayd did not use his fists as much as he did. No signs of redness were visible also due to his slightly tanned skin.

"Show me your elbows." Aunt Naomi said.

'Oh no.' He thought.

Zayd obliged. That was the place the man struck the most, as the man had thrown a flurry of punches, and Zayd blocked them with his elbows.

"Okay, I thought it was you at first. Now I know it's you. I'm not mad at you. I was curious. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Well, I'm not that good. I've had one lesson so far for Boxing. There was a new club at school, so I went to it, and that's what happened."

Zayd felt his phone vibrating as it was on silent. He was getting called.