(TPOR) Chapter 188: Flow

It was bright and sunny the next morning when Zed knocked on the door.

The door was old and shaky, weak at the hinges. Since the motel had not been chosen for its defensive properties, the Berserker in Zed didn’t fret over it too much. Still, sleeping in a room with a door that could be ripped off its hinges so easily was a problem.

But I’m sure we could rip the hinges off a normal door, though, Zed thought, trying to imagine how the door would look if it had not suffered under the test of time and weather.

The clicking sound of a turned lock drew his attention and the door opened to the sight of Kid standing in a black vest and pants.

“When last did you have a change of clothes?” Zed asked before he could stop himself.

He strolled into the room without being permitted only to stop himself with one leg in the room.

Kid’s brows narrowed at him. “What are you doing?”

“Haven’t been invited in,” Zed said, slightly confused by his own response.

When did I develop manners?

“What are you? A vampire?” Kid opened the door wider. “Get your ass in before I close the damned door back.”

Zed walked in. “Grumpy much?”

When he entered the room all the Olympians present focused their attention on him. Kid turned the lock, locking Zed in the room.

“That’s ominous,” Zed muttered. “Should I be worried?”

“I don’t know,” Ronda teased. “Should you?”

Zed looked around dramatically. “I don’t know. Depends on who wants to jump me first.”

Daniel sat on the bed, a hulking figure in his dominance. Jennifer stood at the window looking as if she’d been doing a quick recon through it up until the moment Zed had stepped in. Ronda sat on the ground with a knee raised. She rested an arm on it somehow managing to strike a pose that said she was both a gentle girl and yet a person not to be messed with.

Personally, Zed thought they were messing with him. So why not? There was no harm messing right back.

“If it’s you,” he pointed at Ronda. “Then I’ve got no problems. I know what you’re capable of and I know I can take you.”

Ronda cocked her head to the side in either surprise or confusion. Zed continued, regardless.

“If you come first, I’m good. I figure I can put you down in a second or five. You have the way you tweak your ankle when you’re about to fight. It’s your tell. Depending on which way it goes, I know where not to go. Once I’m done with you, I’ll have to do a quick tussle with Cabuella over there.”

Kid paused. “Why me?”

“Because you always come running when Ronda’s in trouble,” Zed replied easily. “I don’t have my axe with me but I’m sure you’re weak to gravity spells. One well placed rune will put you down before you can say Jerry Springer.”

Kid folded his arm, taking the challenge. “And if it doesn’t?”

Zed pointed at Kid’s right knee.

“I don’t know what you’ve got going with that,” he said. “But all I have to do is give you a well placed kick there. If it’s too hard, then we tussle a bit. I can take you in a wrestling match any day. I know, you think it’s about skills. And it is. Trust me, you don’t want to get involved with me in a tussle. I’ll pin you in three seconds. Flat.”

He turned and made eye contact with Jennifer. She gave him an easily smile, a friendly one.

“What about your wife?” she asked.

“Well…” Zed dragged out the word for dramatic effect. “I’ve got a lot of pent up grudges from your constant cheating and disregard for the safety of our daughter’s sex life so I’ll probably go full on savage on you. It’s going to be all…”

His words trailed off as he watched her. He stopped, suddenly feeling wrong. His eyes watched her, picked out the challenge, suddenly serious about it. The realization dawned on him almost immediately.

Standing there at the window, looking at him, Zed was suddenly hit with the realization that he couldn’t take her in a one on one. She’d wipe the floor with him.

And she knows it.

“One pain rune. Two force. One sharp,” he corrected immediately.

The smile dropped from Jennifer’s lips.

“That’s harsh,” she said. “What did I do?”

Zed shrugged, trying to scatter the seriousness he’d suddenly been plunged into.

“Once you’re down for the count,” he said. “Then I go mano e mano with big guy over here. The final boss of the scenario. I beat him, I get a whopping five hundred and sixty experience points.”

“Five hundred and sixty?” Daniel cocked a curious brow.

Zed made a shaky gesture with his hand. “Give or take.”

Daniel adjusted on the bed. “And how will you take me?”

“It’s simple.”

“Really?”

“Yea.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

Zed grinned. “I’ll cheat.”

He looked Daniel dead in the eye as he said it. He wasn’t joking, though. If he was going to try and fight Daniel, there was no way he could win without going all out. He just couldn’t picture it happening.

Why the hell am I taking this seriously? This is supposed to be a joke.

Even as the thought danced in his mind, he turned to reevaluate Ronda and Kid. Could he really take them? The answer was yes. He actually couldn’t see himself losing a fight to them.

But what would it cost him?

“That’s an astute evaluation,” Daniel said, breaking a tension Zed hadn’t even realized had fallen over the room.

Now that it was broken, he realized everyone in the room had been revving to go at it. His analysis and easy dismissal of them had been a challenge.

Ronda got up from the ground. She took a boxing stance and threw a short combo of punches.

“What do you think?” she asked Kid.

Kid shook his head. “I didn’t see it.”

She threw another combo. This time she added a kick to it. It was a simple high kick with no flair. Practical and precise.

Kid shook his head again. “Nothing.”

Ronda turned contemplative and looked at Zed. “You’re full of shit.”

While there was a touch of accusation in her tone, it also carried a touch of realization, as if she just remembered that he wasn’t someone to be taken seriously.

“Actually, you’re right.” He walked up to her. “Your ankle doesn’t do any twitch when you strike.”

Kid groaned. “That’s not cool, dude.”

A chorus of groans went around the room and Zed watched it go through everyone.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “I was just messing with you guys. What did you expect? I walked in here and you were all looking at me like some mouse that scrambled into the wrong alley.”

“You were the one that started off with the ominous talk,” Jennifer pointed out. “And I still have no idea why you’d hit me with so many runes.”

“Because you’re special,” Zed answered easily, then he turned to Ronda. “But there is something I noticed.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“That combo you three.” He squared up in front of her. “Is it a trained combo? Like a routine practice or were you just throwing out random shots?”

“Random shots.”

“Alright.” Zed nodded. He cocked his head to both sides, cracked his neck. “Hit me.”

Ronda punched him in the nose.

Zed turned away in pain, grabbing his nose. He let out a muffled sound of pain as he checked his nose.

It was wet, but it wasn’t broken. When he looked at his hand, there was snot. He played around with the nose a bit while Kid patted him on the back.

“You good?”

Zed waved him away. “Yeah. Just thought she was going to square up first or something.”

Ronda chuckled. “I’m really sorry but I’ve always wanted to do that.”

Zed nodded as he turned back to her. He checked his nose one more time.

“Yea,” he muttered. “You and everyone I’ve met so far.”

He squared up again. “Alright, hit me.”

Again, with lightning speed, Ronda threw a punch. Zed ducked to the side avoiding it. Without preamble, she followed up with three more jabs, a right hook, and a kick to the thigh.

Zed dodged all of them and stopped the kick with a raised knee.

“How the hell did you do that?” Ronda asked, rubbing her leg where it hit Zed’s knee.

“Was that a practiced combo or was it variations?” Zed asked, ignoring the question. He didn’t think she was ready to hear how he had a madman in his head that was an amazing fighter.

Though, he didn’t think the Berserker had anything to do with what had just happened.

Ronda glanced at Daniel and the large Olympian nodded.

“Practiced combo,” she answered.

“Want to try a variation?”

Ronda said nothing for a moment. Then she nodded.

The squared off again, a deeper seriousness in her eyes. The next combination she threw was a little more complicated, and Zed had a harder time with it. Still, he evaded each one, catching the last punch that would’ve struck him in the eye.

“You weren’t this good when you fought your friend on the ship,” Daniel pointed out casually.

“Yes,” Zed said. “I wasn’t. But now I am.”

“So how’d you do it?” Jennifer asked. She had a look in her eyes that told Zed she wanted to have a go at him.

Zed shook his head at her. “I know what you’re thinking but it won’t work with you. At least I don’t know if it will.”

“Why not?”

“You look funny.”

Jennifer’s brows furrowed, and Kid burst into laughter.

“Dude said you look funny.”

Jennifer shot him a dark look and he shut up.

“The point is,” Zed said. “When Ronda did her combo just now, she had a flow.”

Ronda frowned. “Then how did you miss the first punch.”

“There’s this amazing fighting technique you displayed in that first punch. A lot of people try it but it’s not so easy to get. God knows I never get it right. I was actually stunned that you were able to pull it off because it needs perfect timing from you and me.”

Ronda’s face drew a blank. “What’s that?”

“Surprise,” Kid said. “You took him by surprise.”

Zed turned to him. “You stole my thunder.”

“Wasn’t so hard. Who says stunned when surprise is right there?”

“Fair point. Anyway,” Zed turned back to Ronda. “You’ve got flow. Each time you threw a combo, there was a flow. The first punch was harder to predict, but the rest weren’t. Why? Because of your flow.”

“Fighters are meant to have flow,” Jennifer argued.

“Yes. But the variety is where it matters. You need to have a large variety of punches and kicks so that you have a lot of flows. Then you should also be able to break your own flow in a fight. Have you ever fought a boxer with not actual fighting training? I mean a guy who just throws hands. That’s it.”

Jennifer looked thoughtful.

“Arnold,” Daniel said with a frown.

All the others made a collective sound of rememberance.

“Arnold was an ass on the mat,” Kid said. “Dude almost broke my arm three times on two different occasions.”

“Kid always refused to learn how to fight from the instructors,” Daniel said. “But he always came on the mat and messed people up.”

“Wasn’t a surprise he ended up being grooed for Renegade.” Jennifer shook her head. “Lucky bastard.”

“Dude was a brawler for real.” Kid let out a nostalgic sigh.

Zed nodded. “Those guys are harder to fight because while they have combat biases, it’s difficult to establish their flow.”

“You sure you can’t try it with me?” Jennifer asked.

“Certain.” Even now, Zed couldn’t see a scenario where he beat her in a fight. It was odd since he hadn’t seen her fight. “Haven’t seen you throw a punch before.”

“I could drop a combo right now if you like.”

“Won’t work.” Zed shook his head. “You’re aware of it now so your flow will be off from the beginning to the end. Anyway, I just thought I’d offer that little bit of help for wasting your time.”

Ronda thanked him for it. He could hear the genuity in her voice, but he could also hear the slight self-disappointment. He had a feeling he’d done a number on her confidence with that one.

After a thoughtful moment Daniel spoke.

“Who taught you how to fight?” he asked. “Was it Heimdall?”

Zed shook his head.

“I’m in the brawler category,” he answered. “I also do a bit of mimicry.”

“So you don’t have a flow.”

Zed cocked a brow at Daniel. “You’ve seen me fight. What do you think?”

“Everyone has a flow,” Ronda answered before Daniel could. “You’ve just got to find it.”

“The look in your eye says you think you can find mine.”

“I’m sure of it.”

Zed looked straight at Kid. He didn’t bother with Jennifer or Daniel. The answer he was looking for would be on their faces, but Kid’s would be the most accurate.

“What are you looking at me for?”

“Checking your confidence level,” Zed answered. “And I’ll be honest with you. It’s kind of shakey. Which means you really believe she’ll be able to find my flow, but certain events have led you to doubting her.”

Jennifer chuckled. “You sure you’re the same guy that saw a dog with a snake tail and called it a snog?”

“I swear on my left inside shorts that that’s it’s name,” Zed protested. “I didn’t make it up.”

“Sure, we believe you.” Ronda raised defensive hands in front of her. “But let’s check your flow and see what happens, alright. You showed me an error I can fix to get better, it would be rude of me if I didn’t return the favor.”

Zed didn’t like the look in her eyes. It was the same one Kid had. The only difference was that she looked as if she was trying to verify something. It looked like she was testing herself and him at the same time.

“Alright.”

Zed took a fighting stance.

“Ready when you are,” Ronda told him.

Zed nodded. “Ready.”

He threw a feint, then a straight and hard right. She stuttered at the feint, slapped the straight right, then he brushed her legs out from under her with a vicious kick.

Ronda hit the ground hard.

Zed stood there with a sheepish expression on his face. He’d intended to go hard, but not that hard.

Actually, you just really wanted to get her back for the surprise punch, didn’t you?

Zed couldn’t argue that, but he could’ve sworn he didn’t put that much effort into the leg sweep. If he could even call it a sweep. It looked more like he’d run a battering ram into her legs.

Ronda didn’t leave the ground for a while. She held on to her leg, gripping it in pain. Zed stood there awkwardly while Kid laughed a bit too hard for a friend and Jennifer went to help Ronda.

Daniel remained a stoic man on the motel room’s bed.

It took almost two minutes before the silent chaos came to a conclusion. Ronda was back to her feet, even if she was hopping a little, and Kid’s laughter had reduced to a chuckle here and a snort there.

“Alright, then,” Daniel said when the sounds died out. “So, I don’t believe you came here just to beat Ronda up. Why are you here Zed?”

Zed’s expression turned serious. He faced Daniel. When he spoke, it was in the most serious voice he had.

“We need to talk.”