The fight

What if you fight something that can't fight you back... is that really a fight?

***

"...do you know what happened to the last guy who acted up against me?"

Lex frowned. The people on this planet were really rude and they talked too much. He doesn't have time for this, Bodie is waiting and he has no money.

Jaeshin charged at Lex with the metal pipe. Lex let him get close enough then raised his leg off the ground and dented the side of his abdomen with a crescent kick.

CRACK!

"Shit, I think I just heard something break."

The closest student to Jaeshin was Aaaqil he stood to his right. He watched clearly as Lex's trainers collided with the left side of Jaeshin's abdomen. It stretched thin, plunging in deeper than the bone usually allowed it to and then pulled out.

Jaeshin lolled to the side and fell on all fours, almost falling flat but using the pipe to hold himself up. He wheezed and blood flowed out of his mouth in spurts. His other hand grabbed the side the Lex hit, he was certain that some of his ribs had been fractured.

"I'm gonna ask again. I don't care if it was a mistake or you did it intentionally but I need to buy those things back. Now..."

Lex bent down to Jaeshin's level. He was careful enough not to let Jaeshin's blood touch him.

"Are you sure you don't have 49 Wuan?"

Jaeshin growled and signalled Asashi to attack Lex. Asashi had snuck behind Lex when he hunkered down to Jaeshin's level. He nodded and swung the metal rod with so much force that it bent when it came in contact with Lex's back.

Lex straightened and leaned forward to give Asashi a proper back kick. His leg landed precisely on his solar plexus. Asashi felt the air in his lungs force its way out of his nostrils violently while he was in midair.

He landed on the asphalt with a thud. He was out cold.

Bodie had told Lex that he wasn't allowed to kill so his kicks and blows barely landed with significant amounts of energy.

"So... won't it be better to just hand me 49 Wuan?"

"Ugh, who's this fucker...!"

With Asashi and Jaeshin down there were only three guys left. Boris, José and the boy who just swore, Aaaqil.

Aaaqil wasn't exactly the bravest but he hated getting best up without even fighting back. He dropped his bag and launched himself at Lex. He was a skilled grappler after getting into a bunch of street fights with local wrestlers.

"You're a gutsy bastard, aren't you?"

He wasn't surprised that Lex didn't move away in time. He was swift on his feet and one of the fastest grappling prodigies in the area gang.

"Huh?"

José's mouth fell open. Boris was tending to Jaeshin so he wasn't paying attention. It was after seeing Jose's mouth agape that he looked at Lex.

"Wha...???"

Aaaqil couldn't lift him. Lex wouldn't budge no matter how much he tried even though from Lex's lean figure one would assume them both to be part of the same weight class.

"Were you... trying to lift me?"

Lex was trying to figure out why Aaaqil had aimed for his knees and was squeezing them with all his might. Was this a way of fighting on this planet? To lift people and... perhaps throw them down?

So the winner is... the person who doesn't get thrown down? Lex nodded to himself. It made sense. It explained why Jaeshin didn't hit him after he fell on his hands.

Still, Lex didn't have time for any of this.

While Aaaqil tried to tackle him again, he landed a swift but flinty calf kick at him. He fell at once on his other knee because of the force and impact from the kick. The pain flooded in after a few seconds.

It was a clean break. His bones had snapped in half. Both the tibia and fibula bone.

He couldn't even yelp in pain. The pangs were excruciating.

"So do you prefer to hand me 49 Wuan or do I have to beat you up too and take it myself?"

Lex was talking to Boris and José this time. José was a snake. He didn't mind running off and abandoning his friends right here.

Why should he believe Lex anyway? Bullies still beat you up even though you give them what they want and they target you for no particular reason. So the real question here is...

Wasn't he the bully and Lex the loser...? No, wait. This was Seppi's fault, he said that the new kid could pack a punch not that he was experienced in martial arts.

While Boris tried to get Asashi to wake up, José handed Lex the money. Lex checked to see if his uniform had stains before walking back into the cafe to reorder.

This was how Lex narrated the story to Bodie...