Chapter 7: Nice to meet you!

I opened the door to my house after unlocking it using my house key copy. It was quiet. I guess grandpa slept early to go to church tomorrow.

On the top of the table was my dinner, covered with a plastic food cover.

I walked over, sat down, ate the meal then went upstairs to my room, change my clothes and take a break from the exhausting day.

(Hoo... What a day...)

I pretended that I wasn't hurt infront of Emma earlier, but to be honest, my entire body hurts from the fight...

(Whatever, this is nothing! Right?...)

As I was busy trying to ignore the pain, I suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah..."

I walk to the slingbag that was placed on the desk, then I opened it and took out what I was looking for.

It was the Card that blonde dude gave me.

"Pheonix gym huh..."

It had a very tacky looking drawing of a flaming bird in the background. And the gym's name infront of it was written in a weird font.

The gym's address and other information were present at the back of the card.

Then, I noticed something strange about the information. Or rather, the lack of. There wasn't a number.

(Huh? Does the owner not have a phone or something?)

"Well anyways, I guess I'll go there tomorrow. Maybe I'll meet the blonde guy and thank him for saving my butt earlier."

I put the card on my desk.

"Okay, let's get down to business..."

A short while later, I went outside to our small backyard.

There used to be alot flowers here, but after mom died, there's nothing left here but a wooden fence and grass that grandpa usually cuts from time to time.

"Alright, let's do this..."

[Quest: Learn How to do a dropkick]

[Do as many dropkick attempts you can in 30 minutes]

[Rewards: Attack Skill: Dropkick]

[Note: the quality of the skill will be proportional to the total quality of all dropkick attempts combined, be it failed or successful]

30 minutes later.

[Player: Andrei Mendoza has Completed the quest!]

[Player Andrei Mendoza will receive the following reward: Attack Skill: [Okay Dropkick]

"Alright, I'm done with that. Let's try it out."

I tried the skill, and as it's name suggests, it was okay. It's not good, but it's not bad either. It was okay.

It doesn't travel as smooth or fast as my other attacks, but it still can do alot of damage if I can hit someone with it...

*Yawn*

"I need to go to sleep..."

I went back inside my house, went up the stairs, and collapsed into bed, instantly falling asleep.

....

I woke up pretty early. Early enough to see grandpa getting ready to go to church.

"Oh! Andrei, you're up early!"

"Yeah, good morning grandpa."

"Breakfast is at the table. If you're planning on going somewhere, make sure to lock the door properly."

"Yeah, I will."

He turns to look at his watch.

"Well, I better get going now. Bye!"

"Yeah, bye grandpa."

He opened the door then walked out while I turned to walk towards the kitchen.

I ate my food shortly after and got ready.

For clothes, I wasn't really feeling like I wanted to look good, so I just wore an old looking tracksuit.

I look at the mirror and I've gotta admit, this doesn't suit me at all. Well to be fair, they are hand-me downs from my brother who had a terrible fashion sense and basically just wore whatever's comfortable, so there's gonna be hits and misses sometimes.

...Well, it's not like I'm any different from him though.

I let out a small sigh and shortly after left my house but not before locking the door.

I went around the corner and see Emma happily humming and smiling while watering the flowers outside her house.

(Ah, such a nice sight early in the morning...)

She glanced to her side and we made eye contact.

She quickly put her watering can down and cheerfully waved at me.

"Good morning Andrei!"

"Yeah, morning Emma!"

I waved back at her while she quickly walked up to me.

"You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, not that far. I'm planning on thanking someone. Well, if I meet him..."

"If?"

"Well, we didn't really make any plans, but he helped me yesterday."

"Oh, that's a nce thing to do. But it's pretty strange to go somewhere when you don't know when they'll go there or where they are..."

"Ah well, I'll just ask someone in the gym to tell him I was there."

"Yeah, good idea. Anyways, I won't waste any more of your time. See you!"

"Yeah, see you!"

I walk away, but after only a few meters....

"Oh! And be safe!"

She said to me while waving gently and smiling warmly.

(Guh!)

I think I'm gonna die from cuteness again.

"Yeah thanks!"

We both wave at each other as I walk past her house.

Once I was far enough, she happily returned to watering her flowers.

For some reason, seeing her smiling face made me feel like it's gonna be a good day.

(She likes flowers huh? Maybe I should ask her for some advice in growing flowers. Our backyard needs a little prettying up...)

I keep walking to the station and got inside once the light rail arrived. It was a quick ride, only 12 minutes long.

It was at the same stop as the mall Emma and I went to yesterday.

I walk out of the station and called a taxi over to me.

5 minutes later, and I was there...

....Or was I?....

"Huh?"

I stood there for a while until realizing that I can't find the place I'm looking for.

"Wait, what? Did I get the address wrong?"

(Lemme check... There isn't a specific address. Only the city name and street name...)

After verifying where I was, I found out that I was indeed at the right place."

"Okay, so I'm not wrong... Maybe the card's wrong?"

I continued searching around for a building with "Pheonix Gym" written on it or atleast a building that remotely looks like a gym. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find it anywhere...

"Where the heck is this place? Maybe I should go ask someone..."

As I was busy looking for the gym, I suddenly hear someone calling out to me.

"Oi!"

I turned around looking confused and saw a guy wearing a black hoodie, and black pants. His his nose had a bandaid on it and his voice sounded a little young. Like a boy who hasn't gotten his Adam's apple yet.

His height isn't impressive either. I'd go so far as to say he's even shorter than Emma. Because of this, I assumed he was in middle school.

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah, you!"

"Um, what is it?"

"That card you're holding, where'd you get that?"

He pointed at my hand. Well, not my hand. More like he's pointing at the card I'm holding.

"Oh! Some guy gave this to me."

The boy raised his eyebrow at me.

"Wait, who?"

"Oh um, I didn't really catch his name. He was blonde, and was wearing a gi. Do you know him by any chance?"

After I said that, the boy's eyes widened almost as if he was struck by lightning.

"WHAT!?"

His sudden outburst left me surprised.

"Whoa!"

"Seriously?! HE gave you a card?!"

(Why is he so surprised that I have a card? I mean, it's just regular gym membership card right?)

"How did you get it!? No, what did you do to get it?!"

"Oh! Um... Let me think..."

The boy looked at me intensely as I tried to think back to yesterday...

"I bought the blonde guy some Ice Cream?"

"What....?"

The boy's eyes lost all light. As if everything he believed in was destroyed and mumble under his breath...

"It took me so long to get acknowledged, but this idiot got it because of ice cream...?"

I didn't hear it, but for some reason it sounded rude.

After a short while, he raised his head.

"Oi, you're not worthy of that card!"

I looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Give that back!"

That was a pretty unreasonable thing to say. I've only met this person today, anr I don't even know his name!

"Huh?! No way, this was given to me fair and squa-"

*Whoosh*

He threw a high kick at me, but I barely dodge it, then landed on my butt, flat on the ground.

"Wha?! Hey, let's calm down for a sec!!"

[Sudden Quest: Fight the boy for as long as you can.]

[Rewards: Receive quest to learn the skills that have been tried or inflicted on you.]

[Note: The quest will end once you suffer damage.]

(HUUUUUHHH?!?!?)

As I was busy panicking, I saw him raising his left leg, ready to hit me again with another kick.

I rolled away then jumped off the ground and stood up.

*BAM*

(Whoa! Why is this guy trying to beat me up?! We were having a conversation!!)

"You sure know how to dodge! But that's not enough!"

(Ugh, to hell with this!! I need to fight back!)

He tried to hit me with a roundhouse kick to the liver...

[High Powered Jump]

I jumped to dodge it.

In an instant, I was above the height if his head.

"Huh?!"

(I learned this trick last night kid! Prepare to get served!!)

[Attack Skill]...

[Okay Dropkick]!!!

He jumped and rolled away just on time.

"Tch!"

*BAM*

As I landed from my jump, I realized the boy was behind me now.

I looked behind me to see him already chambering his fist.

(S**t!)

I quickly turned my entire body around as quickly as I could in response.

We both threw our fists at each other.

(Karate, Straight Punch!)

[Perfect Jab]!

*BOOM*

(Huh?!)

Our fists surely did hit something... But neither of us was hit...

And that's when we saw someone holding our fists in between us...

"Who the hell-!"

(Whoa!)

*Whoosh*

*Thud* *Thud*

In an instant, both of us were thrown to the ground.

"Ouch!"

"Hey, the hell's wrong with y- Wha?!"

When the two of us looked up, we saw the face of the guy who threw us. It's the blonde guy from yesterday!

"U-um, sorry senior!!"

(It's him!)

"Yeah, you should be! This guy's a friend of mine!"

"A friend?!"

Both of them turned to look at me. The blonde guy having a friendly looking smile, while the other guy, not so much...

"So you came!"

"Uh, yeah! Um, thank you for the card mister..."

(Crap, I never got his name!!)

"Hehe, you can just call me Gabriel!"

"Oh yes, um... Thanks Mister Gabriel!"

"Dude, just Gabriel."

"Oh! Uh... Thanks Gabriel...?"

"Mhm! And the guy over there's name is Nate!"

"Y-yo..."

I raised my hand at him, but he rudely and purposely ignored me.

"Hmph!"

(Whatever dude...)

"Uh... Oh yeah, my name's Andrei by the way..."

"Oh! Nice to meet you Andrei!

"S-same here..."

"Alright, now that introductions are done..."

His face suddenly transitioned from a friendly one, to a stern one.

"Why the hell we're you two fighting...?"

That sudden change of tone brought a chill to my spine... And apparently, not just mine. Nate was also sh***ing bricks now...

"Ah! W-well!!"

"So what happened was-"

Both of us desperately tried to explain the situation to Gabriel.

Nate was being biased, as to not get in alot of trouble, but I explained everything truthfully. I'm the one in the right after all!

After a while, Gabriel got the gist of the situation. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and began to talk.

"Ah, I see..."

"Yeah! You get it right, senior Gabriel?!"

"Yeah, I get it alright..."

"Then-!"

"You were completely in the wrong, Nate!"

"H-huuuuh?!?"

"Picking a fight with someone I gave a card to?! And on top of that, without any good reason? That's the same as betraying a friend in our gym! Your training is gonna be hell today kid!!"

"I-I'm so sorry!!!"

"I don't wanna hear it! Now, get on with it! You don't have all day!!"

"Ah... Y-yes sir..."

He walked away slouching. I looked at him almost feeling bad... ALMOST.

"Hey, kid! I only saw snippets of that fight, but I've gotta say, you exceeded my expectations!"

"E-eh?"

"Yeah! Nate, that kid, he's actually a talented Karate athlete!"

"Huh?! Really?!"

"Yeah, he even competes in ameateur tournaments!"

(Whoa! I can't believe I tried to mess with an athlete! I'm glad the fight got stopped...)

I let out a light sigh and Gabriel looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"What's with the long face?"

"Huh? O-oh! I was just thinking about how lucky I was that the fight ended early. I probably would've been knocked out sooner or later if it went on haha!"

I laughed nervously.

"You're stronger than you think you are you know!"

"Huh?"

My eyes went wide from surprise.

"Sure, it's obvious that Nate was way stronger than you, and there's no doubt you would've lost."

"Yeah..."

I hung my head and felt bad about myself...

"But you put up a great fight!"

I raised my head too look at Gabriel.

"Take it from a guy who's faught a ton of people already! You're strong! Have more confidence and you'll get stronger! I don't give cards to weak guys."

Hearing that lifted my spirits and made me smile. I wanted to express my gratitude for his kind words...

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Thanks man..."

"Haha, no problem!"

He gave a thumbs up while smiling smugly. Then he suddenly looked like something popped up in his mind.

"Oh yeah! I wanted to ask you something!"

I looked at him.

"What is it?"

"Well, we've been standing here for a while. I was wondering why we aren't going inside?"

(Inside? Oh! The gym!)

"W-well, I don't really know where it is..."

"Oh yeah, I should've told you... It's just behind that place."

He pointed towards a small family diner.

"Eh?"

"I know, cool right? We sometimes even get free food!"

"But, that doesn't look like a gym?"

"You're right haha! Anyways, follow me! I'll let you meet the other guys!"

"W-wait! I only came to thank you-"

He forcefully pulled me with him.

"Ah c'mon! Don't be shy! They're all good people, I swear!"

"Hey! Waaaiiit!!!"

Alright, into Pheonix Gym we go!

Chapter 7 end....