Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 95: Change Of Plans

It was getting colder out. Although the snow hadn't started falling yet, it was only a matter of time. Considering the warmth Laz felt when he first got up, he felt rather chilled now. Sitting down, Laz leaned back and closed his eyes, not really thinking of anything. Vivi had climbed up and was sprawled out on his ap. They stayed this way until Laz's phone rang. It was his Grandpa Chu.

"Good morning Laz, did you have a fun night?"

"Uhh..." Laz was somewhat hesitant as to whether he should answer this question.

"Oh ho ho. No need to be shy. Your grandpa called and was complaining to me and Bill about loud noises all night and wanted to know if he could stay at one of our places. When we asked him what he meant, he held the phone up to the ceiling."

"I, uh... oh damn..."

"HAHAHA. Boy, you're something else. Unless our old ears were mistaken, there were definitely several voices making noise..."

"Grandpa Chu... did you have another reason to call?"

After he had stopped laughing, Grandpa Chu explained the reason for his call. He had gotten a hold of his old friend who worked at the dojo and wanted to know if Laz wanted to go now.

"Now? Like right now?"

"Yes. Today in fact."

"But I still have school." Since it was only the beginning of November, Laz wouldn't be on break until the end of November at the earliest.

"School? Come to think of it, shouldn't you be there right now?"

"Uh... I'm just a bit out of it today..."

"That must have been one hell of a wild night eh? Anyway, let me ask you a question. What do they call doctor's who got C's in class?"

"I don't see how this has anything to do with me being in or not being in school.."

"They call them doctors boy. It doesn't matter how much class you miss or how bad your grades are in the process. Long as you pass, that's what matters the most."

"Oh."

"So pack up some clothes and whatever else you need for a few weeks. I will send the address to your phone. All you have to do is get there and they will find you a place to live while your there. Also, since it's getting cold, take your grandpa's truck. No sense in riding a bike in the snow. Bill will come to pick up the Harley. Let me know when you get there." With that, his Grandpa Chu hung up.

"Uhh... now this? Seems I won't be getting a break anytime soon," Laz lamented out loud. Vivi, who was sitting in his ap, just looked up at him.

"Well than, would you like to come with me?" Laz asked the little pup. Vivi just shook her head and jumped down, making her way to the bedroom to get comfortable on the bed.

"Heh... Guess I'm flying solo," Laz said to no one in particular..

Although he didn't know what this whole thing would entail, Laz didn't waste time. He got himself packed up quickly and went downstairs to get the keys from his grandpa.

Grandpa Crowe was waiting for him when he knocked and told him to come in. Apparently, he had just gotten back not long ago.

"Heading out to the dojo?" His grandpa asked with a knowing smile. Laz turned a little red after thinking about the conversation he had with his Grandpa Chu and just mumbled a yes.

"It's good to be young. No matter what, enjoy it while it lasts. Regrets should only become a part of life when you get older. Until then, live fast and free!" The old man advised him. After chatting with his grandpa a bit longer, Laz grabbed the keys and handed his grandpa the keys to the Harley before heading out. He had already gotten the location so he knew it was going to be about an hour drive to get there.

Laz felt some different emotions about this whole event. He was nervous about heading off to a new place where he didn't know anyone, but also kind of excited to be doing something like this. Even though he was still a bit down about the departure of Kennedy and Malene, he now had something else to occupy his thoughts so the down feeling didn't stay for long.

Getting into the old pickup, Laz started it up and got on the road. The drive was mostly uneventful. Using the gps on his phone, he was able to quickly figure out where the dojo was. As he pulled into the parking area, he noticed the building wasn't new, but it was run down either. It looked well maintained. The big brick building was a rather simple, county affair. It looked like it had been a store at one time with the front of the building being lined with windows, but now the front was covered with various glass clings showing the name of the dojo along with contact information.

Laz hadn't really looked around much before while driving, but he noticed the area was rather quiet and out of the way. There were only trees on one side of the building while there was some sort of recycling center on the other side. Over all, it looked like someone had cleared the land for development, but not much interest had been placed there. The town itself was much bigger than Basin Falls, maybe just a few streets longer. The main center of business was that main street with shops, restaurants and gas stations lining the left and right side of the road. Once you go into town, it would just take a few minutes to drive out the other side of it. He was basically on the other side of it. Past the tree area, there was nothing more than a few houses further on down and then farmland again. Although Laz liked this kind of town, he had seen way to many carbon copies of it ever since his parents had moved him out here years ago. Living in a city had its downsides, but at least it was far more lively.

The place seemed to have been built for retail purposes, but due to lack of business or whatever, there was no retail interested in going in there, hence why it was available for use as a dojo. As Laz parked in the rather large parking lot, he took a look at the sign that hung over the glass windows,

"The Open Palm, well... ok." Laz didn't really have a comment on this. As he was thinking about it Laz realized that he hadn't had much of a chance to practice his Dragon Fist. He had figured out the first stance and the second stance, albeit accidentally. But there was still a third stance. The third stance was the one that would really cause his energy to explode out. 'Maybe I will have a chance to practice it now,' Laz thought.

Laz grabbed his bag and walked to the front door. Pulling the door open, Laz got a comfortable blast of warm air that hit him the moment he went inside. Taking a moment to adjust, he felt like the lights were a bit dimmer inside and the mood more peaceful. He had always taken martial arts to be more of a high impact, fast pace sort of thing so walking into the comfortable atmosphere was an unexpected experience.

The inside was decorated somewhat sparsely, but the real point that stood out was that everything was basically made of wood. Even the floor and ceiling had wooden boards running the lengths of each. Based on the stone bricks from outside, Laz could only assume that the wood was something added by the dojo and not what the inside of the building originally looked like. There were several plants at various spots as well and some stone pieces that had what he recognized as characters carved into them. Over all, it gave a real feel to the whole place.

Looking around, Laz noticed a desk behind which sat a young man who was absentmindedly staring out the window while twirling a pen. Even Laz could recognized an amazing bored person when he say them. Not wanting to disturb him, Laz stood there quietly for a few moments before he figured out that the young man wasn't go to notice him anytime soon. In response to that, Laz just cleared his throat once. Getting no response, he tried again, this time a bit longer.

The same scene repeated itself several times with each time Laz got louder. Finally, after the 6th time Laz lost his cool.

"HEY?"

"Oh, hello." The young man turned around to face him, showing off his curly golden hair and brown eyes. Before Laz had a chance to say anything else, the young man who seemed to be only a few years old than him suddenly said,

"You know. You should probably go see a doctor. Sounds like you might be coming down with something." And with those words, the youth turned around and looked back out the window as though Laz didn't even exist.

"What the hell?" Laz could not help but ask under his breath. He decided to stop paying attention to the young man and start making his way to look around. As he made his way around a rather large, wooden covered support pillar, he notice a very attractive women in karate gi standing in front of a rope wrapped pillar of wood. Interested, Laz moved around a bit to get a closer look.

The woman looked to be in her late twenties with flowing brown hair, firm and full breasts and a rather well rounded butt. Although the gi hid the curves somewhat, it was impossible for it to conceal everything. As he stood watching, she suddenly took up her stance and began releasing a series of kicks and punches against the pillar. Starting at the top, she ran through a several hits with her fists before working downward on the pillar and ending with an assortment of kicks that targeted the pillar up high, mid way and then the lower portion. Overall, her movements were fluid and well practiced. Laz could see that she knew very well what she was doing. Seeing the pillar vibrate with every hit, he couldn't help but wonder it he would even be able to take that series of hits. Despite his rather sturdy body, he felt like she could break him in half easily. He got a far more dangerous feeling from her that that MMA fighter from the party.

Just when she had finished her set of exercises, Laz ended up letting out a small 'wow' sound which grabbed her attention.

"What the hell are you doing in here kid?"