Chapter 8: Weekend Warriors
The next morning approaches, with everyone within the cul-de-sac waking up at around 9 AM, with the Eds being more excited than normal for this day. After finishing their morning routines, Ed, Edd and Eddy grouped up together at 11:30 AM to head to Chris's house, which luckily for them, he was already awake in his room, practicing some kicks, punches, stances, and general exercise as a whole. They are welcomed in by Zoltan, and they go upstairs to Chris's room, in which he welcomes them in, and they take a seat on Chris's couch.
"So, I presume we're ready for today boys?" asked Chris.
"Oh boy oh boy! I can't wait to see the cool fights like in the movies!" responded Ed.
Chris laughs a bit at that response, after which he tells Ed, "I can't promise that we will be able to replicate the movies you watch Ed, but we can try!"
"Pardon my intrusion, but Ed, most of those fights are usually accompanied by special effects known as computer generated imagery, especially projectile attacks." said Double D toward Ed.
"Real or not, who cares!" said Eddy. "Chris, you think you got this in the bag man?"
Chris, still practicing moves, tells Eddy, "We'll see. Can't really make predictions, considering that matches like these aren't common between me and Kenji. We've maybe sparred like that, if I'm to be honest, and I don't exactly know his moves completely, but I know some. Then again, this is also the case for him knowing some of mine."
"Well, it seems you two have adopted the pacifist attitude towards one another, color me impressed." stated Double D.
"While that's true," said Chris, pausing for a brief moment. "Just like me, if something is up like, someone's harassing another person, Kenji will not hesitate to intervene and go to the extreme. Of course, easier said than done, but it's true my friends."
"Now that I think about it, how is Kenji getting here? He doesn't live nearby us." asked Double D.
Chris grabs a drink off of his desk, takes a sip of it, before then sitting down on the couch for a quick break. He responds to Double D's question, saying, "His father will drive him. Trust me, you'll recognize his car when you see it."
As soon as Chris finishes his sentence, a car was heard pulling up near his house, which he presumed was Kenji arriving. The four lads head on downstairs to check if they are correct, and sure enough, correct they are, as Kenji was getting out of his dad's black 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, with custom white rims in a star formation. The driver, from what the lads could see, had a normal appearance; black hair that was on the messy side, dark brown eyes, white jacket that was open, with a black shirt below it, dark blue jeans, and white shoes. As he was getting out, with a bag in his hand, he tells his dad, "Thank you father."
"No worries Kenji." responds Kenji's father, before he notices Chris and the Eds at the door. "Oh hey, Chris! Good to see ya!"
"Hello Han, nice to see you." greeted Chris.
Eddy walks on over to the car, and observes the machine for himself, while saying, "This is a cool ride! How'd you get this beast?"
"Well, saving up helps out, haha." responds Han while nodding. "But this thing was discounted, as the guy who I bought it from gave me a good discount for trading my other car for this one, brought it down to around 9,000."
Eddy stared at Han with an expression of surprise, before saying, "Ah, I see. Well, take care of this thing... umm-"
"Han. Nice to meet you." said Han, offering his hand to Eddy, in which he shakes in return. The other two Eds join in the conversation soon after.
"Greetings Han, my name is Eddward, or better known as Double D." said Double D, before pointing over to Ed and Eddy, and saying, "These are my friends, Ed and Eddy."
"So, it would be something like, Ed, Edd, and Eddy?" asks Han, in which he laughs a bit. "That's pretty funny, maybe you could get a show going about you three. Pleased to meet you, I'm just here to drop Kenji at his friend's house, which I see you're also friends with."
"Indeed, will you be joining us though Han?" asked Chris.
"Nah, sorry." responds Han. "I'm dropping Kenji off here, not just because he told me you planned to hangout for the first time in a while, but also, me and Zoltan actually have something planned between the two of us. It's just some job we've agreed to do together today."
Once Han says that, Zoltan comes out and waves over to the former's direction, saying, "Han! It's time my friend!! Been a while since we've got together for something like this!"
"That's so true, haha." responded Han.
"Boys, I know you have a hangout planned, so be sure you don't cause any trouble while we're gone!" said Zoltan. "Han, we'll get absolutely wasted- I mean, invested in our work! You ready my friend?"
"Absolutely. I'll catch you guys later. Kenji, take care my son." said Han, in which Kenji gives a small bow. Afterwards, Zoltan enters Han's car, and sits on the passenger seat, and then Han drives off to wherever they plan to go.
"I wonder what they're planning together..." stated Kenji.
"I bet they're not even gonna work, just mess around." said Chris. "But hey, everyone needs a break once in a while. Anyways, guys! We ready to setup the backyard?"
"Course! Double D! Let's go get the mattress from your place!" said Eddy.
"Alright then, but Ed will have to be in charge of bringing the mattresses on over to the backyard, as I do not have the sufficient amount of physical strength for such a task." responded Double D.
"Carry it, I shall! No problems, I shall have!" said Ed in a soldier-like voice, after which he makes his way on over to Double D's garage.
"Have you guys notified the other kids here about this?" asked Chris.
"Ah shoot, here, Double D and Ed! You two get those mattresses to fill up the backyard! Me and the two Kung Fu brothers will get everyone's attention to this, is that cool?" stated Eddy.
Double D nods in approval, as he joins Ed on the trek to the former's garage. With that, the other three boys decide to head out to tell the others, with Kenji leaving his bag inside the living room of Chris's house for safety reasons. While on the way to Kevin's house for starters, Eddy mentions to the martial artists about how the Kankers will be joining them aswell, in which the two have no issue with.
During their adventures to everyone's house, Kenji had to introduce himself to the cul-de-sac residents, as they had not met him before, but was welcomed and the residents themselves were excited to see a match between two martial artists would go down. Either way, everyone in the cul-de-sac agrees, with the exception of Sarah and Jimmy, having not being asked thanks to a suggestion by Eddy, who cited their likely lack of interest in the entire thing.
Meanwhile, with Double D and Ed, the two of them have managed to gather enough mattresses to fill up the backyard the size similar to that of a basketball court, with the latter doing most of the heavy lifting. Thanks to unbelievable amount of strength, Ed's best feature, he was able to carry all of the mattresses in one go. However, to avoid hitting anything inside, Ed went around and threw the mattresses over the fence, which resulted in Double D being accidentally hit by one of them. Once they finish up aligning the mattresses to the correct positions, conveniently afterwards they are joined by the Kanker sisters, which the two Ed boys welcomed.
Currently, it's now 12 PM, 30 minutes shy of the originally planned time. Everyone gathered around, awaiting the sparring match; Ed and May sat near the top left corner, with Double D and Marie nearby. Lee and Eddy also took their spot near the couple, while Kevin and Nazz sat somewhat close to the couple. Over on top of the fence, Rolf, Jonny and Plank sat there, as to get a better view of the area.
"Rolf wishes to witness the bone-breaking maneuvers of Chris-boy and his Kenji friend, this he must see!" stated Rolf.
"Trust me, this is gonna be good to watch!" said Kevin, anticipating this match.
"I know Plank, this is gonna be a hoot!" said Jonny towards Plank.
"So, where the heck are the two Kung Fu twins?" asked Marie.
"They're merely reassuring their preparations, such as their choice of clothing for instance!" responds Double D. "Among other things, I believe the better question is where might Hilde and Skylar be located, seeing as how there isn't much time before they begin."
"Someone mention us?" said Skylar and Hilde, as they walked through the door leading outside.
"Hang on, who's the chick with the white hair? Never seen her before..." said Nazz.
"Oh, right. Ahem, well, my name is Hilde, and to keep it brief for you all, I've been a friend of Chris for years." stated Hilde, chuckling a bit whilst doing so.
The two girls sit next to Double D and Marie, with Skylar telling everyone, "To all curious, the two boys are readying themselves up. Shouldn't take long at all."
"How did you two get here?" asked Marie towards the two girls.
"Skylar asked me when we were going home yesterday if I was willing to carpool with her to here. I agreed, and here we are, just now arriving. Easy, right?" explained Hilde.
Marie nods her head, before resting it on Double D's shoulder, making the latter laugh a bit.
Meanwhile, the two martial artists have completed their preparations for the sparring, putting on the last robe the received before the program was brought to a hiatus by their sensei. Kenji had brought his robe inside his bag, and put it on in the guest restroom. The two robes were identical in appearance; the right side of the robe was tucked inside the left, with blue belts for both of the boys, representing their respective martial art knowledge. On the belt themselves, they were accompanied by a dragon design, that looped around the entire thing, as was the case for the edges of the robe that brought it together on the inside. As a bonus with their robes, they put on compression socks, although with or without made little difference to the pair. The only noticeable difference amongst the two robes were the colors; black for Chris, while Kenji had chosen a grey robe.
Once they were finished, the two of them met up in the living room, giving a bow to one another.
"Ready brother?" asked Chris.
"Always. Let us proceed." responded Kenji.
The two head on outside, and everyone witnesses the pair in their robes, appearing rather surprised and curious. Eddy is the first one to speak, saying, "Holy cow! I like these cool costumes fellas!"
"The correct term is actually robe, but thank you nonetheless." stated Kenji.
"Gotcha. So, are we doing best 2 out of 3? I'm announcing the rounds!" responded Eddy.
The martial artists nodded their heads in approval, as Eddy gets up, and brings the two boys within 6 feet of one another. He then moves back to give them space to get into their stances; Chris placing his left foot forwards, with his right foot pointing towards his right side, along with leaning his upper body back, placing his right hand just above his right hip, and his left hand in an outwards manner. With Kenji, he positions his feet similar to Chris, however he keeps his body at a neutral position, while keeping his right arm extended and close to his chest, and his left arm near his left hip.
The two of them take a deep breath, while Eddy tells the lads, "Alright, listen up! Whoever stays on the mattress surface or whatever for 3 seconds loses the round! Also, make sure you two animals don't hurt each other a lot, just saying."
"I think we can agree to that. By the way, trust me, we will apply the etiquette we always enforced amongst ourselves in the dojo here aswell." responded Chris.
"Alright then!" said Eddy.
Eddy then clears his voice before saying, "Round 1... FIGHT!"
Kenji is the first to attack, delivering an upwards kick. As a counter, Chris steps back slightly, before punching back towards the chest area, in which Kenji manages to block. Responding back, Kenji manages to grab Chris, and deliver a series of punches to the face, before then kicking him away, but not enough to knock him down. As to fire back, Chris reacts back with a flying kick, which Kenji blocks, but not without losing some balance due to the impact of the kick. This gives Chris an opportunity to get a punch in the stomach area, along with using his flat palm to deliver a more emphasized attack.
Kenji takes a quick breath, but stops just in time to block Chris's left-hook punch, in which he retaliates by grabbing the fist, and landing a kick to the jaw. This almost knocks Chris down, but it does cause rather notable impact. To continue his pressure, Kenji runs toward Chris and deliver a mix of punches and kicks. As expected, the latter blocks all of this in succession, however it also gives him an idea. He takes note of the first punch the Kenji usually delivers, so he waits for an opportunity to "counter" it. Sure enough, being patient, he takes the chance to counterattack, and it pays off, throwing Kenji off, and giving him the advantage, managing to land a kick to the face, and a harder kick to the chest.
The two take the quick chance to readjust themselves, and this time, Chris is the first one to attack, attempting to deliver a jab to the face with his hand shaped like a sharp object in an upward manner, then changing his attack by sweeping Kenji. The latter sees the sweep, and jumps up to avoid it, while also kicking Chris directly in the face. Everyone is rather impressed by that counterattack, while Chris is rather surprised. Wasting no time, he attempts to regain the advantage; delivering a flurry of kicks and punches, however Kenji blocks all of these. In order to break his extraordinary large amount of attacks, Kenji manages to duck below a kick, and does a backflip, managing to land two kicks of his own.
Feelings slightly concerned, Chris takes a quick seconds to recompose himself, and readjusts his stance. Kenji takes this chance to deliver a flying kick of his own, but Chris steps towards his left, and grabs Kenji's leg, and throws him back, earning a look of surprise from their audience. The throw lands Kenji on his back, but he gets up in less than 1 second, using his feet to jump back up. Once he gets back up, he then attempts to jump at Chris to deliver a punch directly to the jaw area, but the punch misses, as Chris takes a light step back, and in retaliation, delivers three quick punches to the chest, before then giving a much more forceful punch to send him back a few feet.
The two boys take light steps towards one another, before then delivering their series of punches and kicks, with the two of them blocking each other. At this rate, they anticipate a stalemate, but Chris, in order to switch his pattern of attack, attempts to sweep Kenji again, however it results in Kenji jumping up once more. This time however, Chris rolls to his left to avoid his kicks, and succeeding in doing so. Kenji attempts to run at him with a punch, but Chris throws him to the opposite side.
However, sensing an opportunity, Kenji uses his lower back to slide into Chris's position. Unfortunately, the latter reacts too late to this, due to the speed of which the former slid in. Kenji then puts his left leg on the back of Chris's knees, and traps his feet with his right leg, before then twisting his hips to make him to fall back and forth, and ultimately making his body stay flat on the ground. Chris attempts to get out of this, but sadly it's to no avail.
"3! 2! 1! Kenji wins!" yells out Eddy, which results in clapping from the audience, and Kenji let's go of Chris to allow him to get back up, offering him a hand in return.
"Good one there, couldn't say I expected that move." said Chris, nodding his head in approval.
The two boys reset, and get back into their original position. Eddy, with a subtle smirk, says, "Alright then! Ready guys?"
"Yep!" responded the two lads.
"Okay then. Round 2! Fight!" yelled out Eddy.
Chris decided to begin the round by sliding in and landing a kick to the jaw, and managing to launch him up into the air slightly. Not having many options to follow up the attack, he then goes in for a successful flying kick directly to the lower chest, sending Kenji back a few feet. As expected, Kenji runs in, and delivers a couple of punches, but Chris manages to block them; using a gap inbetween said punches to deliver a rapid punch of his own. Kenji felt a slight pushback, but ultimately steps back to make Chris miss a more emphasized punch; resulting in the former delivering an uppercut to the chin. To take further advantage of this, Kenji performs another backflip; making his feet directly kick Chris in the chin once more.
Luckily, Chris doesn't fall down, but he does feel impact from said attacks, however he doesn't have any time to worry about that. He notices Kenji running towards him, attempting to deliver a upward kick, but he ducks under said kick, and manages to deliver a strong hit; using his flat palm, pushing him back. To follow it up, he then runs, then performs the bicycle kick, landing 10 kicks in rapid succession amongst each other. The last kick ends up knocking Kenji down, but he immediately gets back on his feet, using his hands to jump up and try to kick Chris in the chest. Unfortunately, the attack misses completely; the latter stepping back to avoid said kick, but the former manages to keep his balance and stance in shape.
The two martial artists run at one another, attempting to deliver a quick jab or punch, but as expected, both of them blocked each other's strikes effortlessly. Kenji however, amplifies his force for one of his punches, throwing Chris slightly off-balance, but it is insufficient to land any significant hits. Although it appears once again they are in a stalemate, in an unpredictable manner, Chris decides to spread to his kick attacks; switching between back kicks, side kicks, before then throwing Kenji completely off by using his knee to hit him in the stomach area. Having the advantage, he then grabs him by the shoulder area, and brings him down, pinning him in the process.
Anticipating this maneuver, Kenji uses his left foot to kick Chris in the back of the head, removing said advantage. While the latter had underestimated Kenji's ability to escape the situation, that doesn't mean he had been completely taken off course. Chris rolls back to avoid anymore possible attacks, sacrificing the advantage, but he acknowledges it was lost the moment Kenji landed the kick. The two boys are left at yet another standstill, but Kenji, once more, runs at Chris, and this time attempts to deliver a flying kick.
This ends up being the wrong move to do, as Chris manages to grab Kenji's leg, surprising the latter, and the former dropping to the ground with force. Once again, Kenji tries to kick Chris off, but unfortunately the latter has adapted to this quickly, and holds down his legs with his knees, using just enough force to stop them from moving. As a last resort, Kenji attempted to use his elbows to land a hit, but these are blocked as expected, which seals the outcome of round 2.
"Three! Two! One! Chris wins! One to one!" yelled out Eddy.
Chris then gets off Kenji, offering him a hand, which the latter accepts. The two chuckle slightly, sharing a fist bump, while the audience claps and cheers.
"My word, I've never seen such ability to predict certain attacks or movements of your opponent!" commented Double D.
"It's all in the reflexes my friend, haha." responded Chris.
"A fair point, that is." said Kenji. "Speaking of which, since we've clearly come across a scenario where it's a tie, shall we do an extra round to clear up the realm of wonder amongst our wondrous guests?"
"A bonus round!? Alright!" states Eddy, "To make this interesting, how's this my friends? The two of you will have 30 seconds to knock one of you to the ground, I'll set the timer on my phone. If no ones down, it's a tie! Winner takes all, all right?"
The two boys bow in agreement, and get into positions, preparing themselves for their final round.
Meanwhile, over in the crowd, Skylar tells Hilde, "Those two lads are crazy, I don't think anyone could match them but... them."
"I getcha, but not to worry!" said Hilde, elbowing Skylar in the shoulder playfully. "Those two are basically brothers to one another, nothing to worry about."
"Hope so. I'm impressed though." said Skylar, earning a small laugh from Hilde and Marie, who heard her speak her mind out loud. She ignores them, and focuses on the round.
The two martial artists have already gotten themselves ready, and Eddy gets his timer ready, setting it for 30 seconds. Once it's set, he leaves it out on display, so that everyone can keep track.
"Final round... FIGHT!!!" yelled out Eddy, notably loudly.
Wasting no time, the two boys run at each other, attempting to land something on one another, seeing as the 30 second limit was rather restricting. The audience could tell that the boys were attacking much faster and harder thanks to said time limit. However, Kenji accidentally missed one of his punches due to Chris stepping to his right, and attempting to bring him down. Luckily, Kenji manages to land a hit with his palm on Chris's right shoulder, allowing an opportunity to get up safely.
20 seconds remain on the clock, and to resume the fight quickly, Chris runs in and attempts a couple of kicks, but Kenji manages to get a hold of his leg, and uses the loss of balance to make Chris fall himself. In an unexpected move, Chris fixes his balance by using his right hand, and using both of his legs to kick Kenji away. This does not make Kenji lose balance, but it results in him losing his advantage in the situation. In an effort to turn the tables, the two of them run at each other once more, and yet again are stuck in a standstill.
Now, 10 seconds remain, and the lads are running out of options to take the other one down. However, managing to block an elbow from Chris, Kenji attempts to lift him up and drop him to the ground, but the former uses right foot's heel to hit the latter's right knee. Managing to separate from each other, the two of them simultaneously attempt to hit each other in the chin, resulting in the both of them hitting one another.
"Time's up!" yelled out Eddy, turning off the alarm, and noticing that neither of the two boys are down. "Wow. A tie it is! That was great you two, totally worth the time and effort!"
"That was even better than in the movies!" said Ed out loud, with a silly wide smile.
"Are you two okay? That was absolutely bloody ridiculous how you two ended that last round." asked Skylar, somewhat concerned, which draws slight laughter from Chris.
"I'm fine man, relax, that was nothing." responds Chris, "Besides, you think that hit was bad, oh, you have no idea, haha!"
"While I might be inclined to personally state that those injured were nothing to be afraid of, Skylar does have justification for concern, does she not?" stated Kenji.
"Ah, suppose your right." said Chris, laughing slightly, while giving a up to an annoyed Skylar.
"Rolf wishes to congratulate the two martial artists with the savages reward for such warriors!" said Rolf, joining the conversation, and serving two notably large beets to the two boys. The two accept the beets, while chuckling slightly at the gesture, but appreciate it nonetheless.
"I gotta say, I've never seen that kind of fighting in my life, but that was dope!" stated Kevin, fist bumping the boys.
Double D runs on over, and look at the lads with slight concern, then saying, "Gentlemen, how are you feeling? Not too beaten up by the rather extreme maneuvers used?"
"We're fine, the two of us are going to change back into our normal clothes, so give us a minute will ya?" responded Chris, as he and Kenji left to go change themselves.
Meanwhile, over with Marie, she walks on over to Double D, and tells him, "Me and my sisters are going back to prepare early okay? Tell your boys to get ready themselves. Oh yeah, that was really cool to see, tell those two we said thanks for the show."
"I shall do so Marie, not to worry. Just as a reminder to confirm, 7 PM?" responded Double D.
Marie nods her head to say yes, and the two of them share a quick kiss, after which she signals Skylar to join her. Before she joins them however, she runs on over to Eddy and tells him, "Make sure you boys don't forget about the quadruple date tonight, alright?"
"Don't worry, I'll even remind your best friend about it, so that he doesn't forget! See ya!" responded Eddy, after which Skylar runs on over to join the Kankers, and all four of them leave to the trailer to do early preparations.
Over with the remaining set of people, Hilde informs everyone, "Well, nice meeting you all, and I shall leave as soon as the two boys comeback."
"Why must Hilde depart now?" asked a curious Ed.
"Ah, well Ed, Hilde has things that can't wait to get done, that's why. Don't worry, I still enjoy hanging out with you guys, I just need sometime to do things, okay?" explained Hilde, chuckling a slight bit.
Once Hilde said that, Chris and Kenji return, wearing their usual attire respective to one another.
"So Hilde, you need to go?" asked Chris.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll call my mom, she'll pick me up." explains Hilde, "But make sure you two don't cause any more damage to one another, because goodness, wasn't going to be long until you two spilled blood I felt like."
"Please Hilde, you know we are always aware of the natural dangerous nature within martial arts, so you needn't be concerned." responded Kenji.
"Hope so. See you all later!" said Hilde, receiving several waves from everyone in the crowd.
Kevin and Nazz join up together, and tells the remaining crowd, "We've got stuff to do aswell, so see ya!"
"Rolf must also return to his life of taking care of the chickens, Victor, Wilfred, and the others! Farewell to you all!" said Rolf, running to his house."
"Gotta say, me and Plank were shocked at those moves! Great job guys! We got to go too, but thanks for inviting us!" stated Jonny, before then departing with Plank.
With that, the remaining people in the backyard are only the Eds plus Chris and Kenji. The five boys ultimately decide to clean up and reorganize the mattresses used for this event, and return them back to Double D's garage, where they belong. Once that's wrapped up, the five of them join up in the living room, with Kenji stating, "Since you four have a rather large sum amount of time until you've got to depart, how about I treat you all to a special drink I used to share mainly with Chris?"
"What's the drink?" asked Eddy.
"Think of it as apple juice, but with more of the substance known as carbon dioxide, giving it the punch of burping that is rather addicting." said Kenji, pulling it out of the bag he brought his robe in. "This is a rather weak brew, but it should still do the trick."
"Alright then, let's drink and while we're at it, watch a fighting movie, because why not?" said Chris, going to the kitchen to retrieve glasses for all five of them.