The next day, CJ was at his apartment flipping the channels. Despite what happened last night, he and Lisa still had a great time. After all, it was just as much fun to beat the crap out of a bunch of guys as it was to sit by the pier watching the nice view. CJ did, however, think about what Lisa said and figured that he could improve on his fighting skills a bit.

So after twenty minutes of television time, he decided to go over to Lisa's house to take some fighting lessons from her. Despite her cute appearance, Lisa could pack a powerful punch. She always did a lot of training when it came to fighting. She knew that street-fighting wouldn't cut it for her and wanted to try her hand in kickboxing instead. She was rather good at it as she practice for years since the age of seven. Lisa always told herself that when a lady grows up in the hood, she needs to learn how to defend herself.

So CJ decided that he should take some kickboxing lessons from Lisa. He headed out of the door and hopped inside his vehicle. As he started the engine and rode on, he looked around San Fierro. It was steady and nice outside. The cars were moving around steadily, and the trolley was rolling quickly, but smoothly. CJ even passed the Art of Automobiles shop to see that a lot of people were lined up to get their vehicles modified. It was great for him to see that his business empire was doing well. CJ drove Downtown and finally made his way to Lisa's house.

He hopped out of his vehicle and walked over to the door. After knocking for a good eight times, he waited until the door opened. After twenty minutes of waiting, the door swung open, and CJ saw Lisa standing right up front.

"Greetings, Carl," she said.

CJ was rather stunned with what she was wearing. She had on a blue sports bra over tight black knee-length yoga pants that hugged her wide hips and black ankle socks. Her curly hair was tied in a bun. She wasn't wearing her earrings or hairband. CJ's jaw dropped by her appearance, and he just couldn't say anything regarding it.

"What?" Lisa asked.

CJ shook his head and quickly shut his mouth. He didn't wanted to start drooling for Lisa. "Nothing," he uttered. "So we gonna start kickboxing?"

"Sure, Carl," Lisa answered. "Just take off your shoes and I'll take you to the room upstairs."

CJ complied to Lisa's demands and set his sneakers right next to the door.

"Now follow me," Lisa demanded, guiding CJ through the hallway.

CJ felt his lower region getting stiff as he took a stare at Lisa's shapely, round behind through her tight pants as she walked. He couldn't take his eyes off. It especially didn't help when he followed Lisa up the stairs. He kept his mouth shut, not wanting Lisa to call him out on his perverted tendencies.

Lisa finally made it inside the room, in which it had a punching bag, some fighting gear, towels, a water bottle case, and some jump rope. Lisa then turned around to face CJ, who quickly moved his eyes to her face.

"So this is where I usually work out in," Lisa told CJ. "I don't like wasting my hard-earned cash on some gym. So I prefer to just stay here and work out. It's much cheaper."

"I feel you," CJ said. "Gotta save that paper."

Lisa bent over to pick up the fighting gear, with CJ taking another hard stare at her behind. He kept his legs together, trying to prevent an erection. Lisa then turned around and handed CJ a head gear, some wrist tape, a mouthguard, and some boxing gloves.

"Put these on," Lisa told CJ. "You might want to prepare yourself when we go sparring."

So CJ complied to Lisa's demands and wrapped the wrist tape around his hands and wrists. He put the mouthguard in his mouth and adjusted the head gear onto his head. He then placed the boxing gloves in his hands and faced Lisa, who was also dressed for sparring.

"Okay, Carl," Lisa demanded, "show me how you do a boxing stance."

CJ demonstrated by holding his fists in front of his face and spreading his feet apart, making sure he's balanced.

"Perfect!" Lisa said. "Now are you ready?"

"Yeah, sure," CJ replied, his heart thumping hard.

"Okay then," Lisa told him. "On the count of three, you show me how well you can hang with me. 1...2...3!"

So CJ and Lisa began sparring. While CJ was able to connect a few hits, he was mostly getting dominated by Lisa's moves. He took a hard blow to the stomach and a kick to the left arm. After a minute of sparring, CJ panted to catch his breath. Lisa had dominated him in the spar, and he felt some pain around his gut and arms.

Damn, he thought. It's gonna take me a while to catch up to this girl. She's quick.

"Honestly, Carl," Lisa told him, "you could use a lot of work on your defense. You can throw some pretty good punches, but your defense is weak as hell. That's the problem with most of you street-fighters. Y'all don't properly defend yourselves. Y'all just rely on throwing punches. That's why it's called self-DEFENSE! In order to defend yourself, you need to have good defense to back it up. That means trying to avoid any punches connecting to any part of your body by ducking, blocking, countering, those kinds of moves. You get me, Carl?"

CJ stared back at the young woman for five seconds, thinking about what she said. "Yeah," he finally replied. "I hear ya. I don't want to be exposed to any furious fists comin' my way."

"Great," Lisa replied. "I'm not saying you can't learn to take a punch, mind you. But if you take too many punches, you'll just get fucked up so badly you'll barely be able to stand. You need to stay healthy if you want to survive in hand-to-hand combat, which means you have to be a good fighter on both ends. So would you like me to teach you some more moves?"

CJ nodded in agreement. "Sure," he replied breathlessly. "Just give me some time to catch my breath."

So after CJ's small break, Lisa taught him some basic footwork, blocking, parrying, countering attacks, rolling the shoulders, and slipping. It took a while for CJ to get used to those defense techniques, but he soon got the hang of it and gradually began to improve.

"You seem to be getting the hang of this, Carl," Lisa told him.

"Yeah, I'm ice cold!" CJ bragged.

"Okay, playa!" Lisa joked. "Let's see how 'ice cold' you really are. Show me everything I taught you while we sparring."

And so CJ did. As Lisa threw some punches and kicks towards CJ during the sparring, CJ used the defense techniques he was taught and blocked and countered most of Lisa's attacks. He still took a few hits to the stomach and face, but he was able to hang much longer than he had before. The sparring lasted for one minute right before CJ decided to take a break.

He removed the fighting gear and took a water bottle for a sip. Lisa walked over to his side. "I gotta hand it to you, Carl," Lisa told him. "You did pretty well. You still need to work more on your defense, but you put up a good fight."

"I hear you, Lees," CJ replied. "I still gotta work on my technique. I'm getting there though. I'm close."

"I know," Lisa answered.

"I might someday be able to take you down," CJ joked.

"Don't push your luck, fool," Lisa replied, scoffing. "'Cause you'll still get pummeled trying to take on me."

"Oh yeah?" CJ asked. "We'll see about that."

So CJ turned around to walk away, only to turn around slowly to see that Lisa had her back turned towards him. So he rapidly shifted back and attempted to pounce on Lisa. But Lisa was too quick for him, and right when CJ grabbed her as quickly as he could, Lisa struck back, and the two wrestled with each other on the floor.

It ended with Lisa holding CJ in a tight headlock, similar to how Ryder had him before. CJ got a tiny whiff of the evanescent strawberry scent while his face was pressed against Lisa's arm.

Damn, I wasn't quick enough, CJ thought.

"I see you still ain't learned, have you, fool?" Lisa asked CJ.

"You got lucky that time," CJ muttered, struggling to extricate himself out of Lisa's tenacious headlock.

"Did I?" Lisa asked back. "You know you ain't no match against me, boy."

Lisa then threw CJ to the ground, sat on his chest, and started playfully punching him while wearing one of her gloves. CJ was secretly enjoying this.

"You better take back what you said, boy," Lisa demanded. "Take it back, fool."

"Screw you, Lees," CJ told her.

"Take it back, or I'm just gonna keep on punching you," Lisa told him.

"Okay," CJ protested. "Okay, I'll take it back."

Lisa then stopped and took off her glove. CJ looked up to catch a view of Lisa's firm bust from above him as Lisa stared down at him.

"That's what I thought you said," Lisa replied, bringing her face closer to CJ's. "I still got the upper hand on you."

"Yeah yeah," CJ admitted reluctantly, smiling a bit. "You got the advantage against me, Lees."

Lisa chuckled smugly. "You got that right, Carl. Need a hand, fool?"

Lisa stood on her feet and held out her hand to offer CJ up. CJ took Lisa's hand and hopped onto his feet as well.

That's when CJ had an idea. "Yo, Lisa," he told Lisa. "I was thinking, since you trained me to learn kickboxing, I decide it's my turn to train you."

"Train me?" Lisa asked. "To do what?"

"Use guns," CJ answered.

"Why would you want to do that?" Lisa asked.

"You know," CJ told her. "To protect yourself. You don't know how many maniacs be walking out here in the streets with weapons. You need a weapon to defend yourself from them."

"Okay, sure," Lisa replied caustically. "And while I'm at it, the first target I'll start with would be my fucking brain; that way, I won't get robbed of my train of thought!"

"Look, Lisa," CJ protested, "I understand you ain't down with violence, but you gonna have to learn how to use a weapon someday. It's vital to keep you alive."

"Nah-ah!" Lisa protested. "I don't use weapons to kill people!"

"You ain't killing people," CJ said. "You just protecting yourself from homicidal maniacs. You were the one who told me I should learn to defend myself. So the same should apply to weapons as well."

"That's different," Lisa claimed. "Anybody can learn how to fight. Weapons are for gangsters and soldiers, and I'm neither of the two."

"Come on, Lisa," CJ pleaded. "Just think about all the houses that's been robbed. Think about who might break into your house to hunt for you. I've even heard that children back in Los Santos are getting blasted in the street. Think about what happened to your leg last year."

Lisa thought for a moment. While it would be nice to have some sort of protection, she wasn't comfortable with using guns or any type of weapon to bring down a certain individual. After a few seconds of thinking and staring down at her ugly scar on her leg, Lisa finally capitulated.

"Okay," she muttered. "I guess I could use a few lessons...but only for protection! Just wait outside. I have to change."

She guided CJ out of the room and closed the door. CJ walked back downstairs and headed outside to wait for Lisa. He went inside his car and pulled out a water gun.

After a minute of waiting, Lisa finally stepped outside of the house wearing her casual attire, except this time, she kept her earrings off, and her hair was tied to a ponytail down her back.

"Here," CJ said, handing Lisa the toy gun.

"Where did you get this from?" Lisa asked.

"My man Zero been inventing toy weapons that resemble real guns, but really shoot out water," CJ replied. "Now pretend this is a pistol. Now show me how you hold it."

Lisa pointed the pistol and held it with both hands.

"Almost," CJ said. "Try to hold it this way."

CJ demonstrated by lowering Lisa's right hand off the weapon and holding her left hand on it to point straight ahead. Lisa was left-handed, so CJ knew he had to teach her to use her dominant hand in order to keep the gun steady. He slowly let go, and Lisa kept the position.

"Like this?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah," CJ answered. "You got it. Now show me how to use it."

Lisa used her left index finger to pull the trigger. Out came a few squirts of water.

"That's good, girl," CJ said. "Now you see that potted plant over there?" He pointed to a plant that was sitting on the side of a garden on the side. "Let me see your aim. Just try to aim at the base of that pot."

Lisa's hand trembled as she aimed for the pot.

"Careful now, Lees," CJ warned. "You don't want the bullet to hit the wrong target."

"Right," Lisa replied nervously. So she shook her whole body out of her trepidation and confidently aimed for the potted plant. She pulled the trigger and out came a few squirts of water, which hit the pot.

"See, you got it!" CJ cheered. "One thing you gotta learn is that you need steady hands to improve the accuracy."

"I got you, Carl," Lisa replied. She practiced using the water pistol a few more times. It wasn't long until CJ pulled out a water gun that resembled an SMG and taught Lisa how to use it. There were also other toy guns that resembled the actual weapons that shot water, and CJ taught Lisa to use them all. After several minutes of training, Lisa finally got the hang of using the weapons. CJ even taught her how to be more stealthy and how to duck and cover to avoid flying bullets coming her way.

Later, the two were back in Lisa's house inside her bedroom, where the toy guns were on her bed.

"Nice!" CJ said. "Looks like you got the hang of using weapons now."

"Let's not push our luck now, Carl," Lisa told him. "I only know how to use toy guns made by your weird, electronic-obsessed friend. Real guns would be different."

"I know," CJ claimed. "But it's to get you prepared whenever you're ready to handle them real guns. You ain't ready to go into the Ammu-nation yet, y'know. Kind of like practicing with a test dummy on kickboxing before you even have a chance to go against an actual person."

"I guess you have a point," Lisa agreed. "After all, I do have to learn A LOT before I get a chance to handle the real thing."

"Exactly, girl," CJ replied. "So about you getting shot last year, what happened?"

"Okay," Lisa told CJ, taking a seat on the bed. "Here's what happened. It was about a day after the Ballas ambushed Tony's funeral after they shot him. I had invited Sean over to have dinner at my house - I moved to East Beach during the time by the way - and I heard some sounds outside. As soon as I answered that door, before I knew it, I took a bullet to the leg. There were a gang of Vagos that tried to shoot up my place!"

"For real?!" a shocked CJ asked.

"Yep," Lisa replied. "Luckily for me, Sean came out just in time to blast on all them assholes, but unfortunately, I was still in a lot of pain. Blood was gushing out of my calf like crazy. Carl, you have no idea what a gunshot wound feels like. It felt like a fucking piranha chewing through my flesh."

"Ooohh damn!" CJ cried out, cringing.

"Yup," Lisa said. "So Big Smoke and Lance came around and wrapped a towel to my leg right before they drove me to the hospital. I had to get surgery on my leg in order to remove the bullet drilled inside. I was crippled for three weeks, Carl. Three fucking weeks on crutches!"

"Oh God," CJ said, sounding worried. "I'm sorry this happened to you, girl. You truly didn't deserve any of that shit."

"It's all good," Lisa told him. "So I'd figured 'fuck that hood shit'! It's time for me to move out. So I packed all my things and Sean and Lance drove me to the airport to fly over to Pineland."

"I see," CJ said. "I'm glad you were able to make it out alive though, girl. Because I lost both my little brother and moms from that shit."

"I know, Carl," Lisa said. "The hood has really fucked us all up. People are losing their lives because of the hood."

"Yeah," CJ replied. "That's why I think it's about time for me to throw that ghetto mentality bullshit out the window."

That's when CJ had something to say. "Hey Lisa," he answered.

"Yeah Carl?" Lisa asked.

"Can I ask you a question?" CJ told her.

"Sure," Lisa replied. "Go on ahead."

"You know how you told me that Kendl been telling you how Sweet and Ryder were always giving me a hard time about leaving off to Liberty City after I let my little brother die, right?" CJ asked.

"Yeah," Lisa said.

"Well," CJ started to say, hesitant on what Lisa's answer to his imminent question would be, "I just want to know, how did you feel when I left to Liberty City? I wanna know your thoughts."

"Whoa," Lisa responded. "That's...pretty tough for me to answer. Well, you already know I ain't down with that gangbanging bullshit. But in spite of all of that, I still loved you all like family. I guess I could say that when you left Liberty City, I was a little concerned for your safety since you left at such a young age and wasn't sure you would make it out of there alive. So I guess I sort of thought you were now a goner, and since I had a lot of shit to go through after I moved out of the hood, I just didn't think about you until Kendl mentioned you on the phone when she told me about your mother's murder the day after."

"So you're basically telling me you thought I was dead, huh?" CJ asked.

"Well...pretty much," Lisa answered hesitantly. "I mean you were so young when you ran away from home, and considering that Liberty City is such a big, dangerous place, as well as you not calling in after all these years, it just had me come to that conclusion. I apologize if I sound callous saying this. I honestly was concerned for you, Carl. I really was. It's just that I was dealing with so much stress that I didn't have time for any of that."

When CJ saw tears falling out Lisa's eyes, he quickly grabbed her and gave her a hug, not wanted to hear her sob. Lisa's curly hair brushed against the right side of his face.

"It's fine, girl," CJ told her, trying to keep her strong. "Don't feel guilty for me. I understand why you would feel that way. Believe me, I didn't even believe I would live long out in the East Coast to tell you the truth. Besides, I fucked everything up. I let my little brother get killed. I didn't call in when my family and homies really needed me. My moms got killed because of me. None of that is your fault. I brought all of it on myself. That ain't nothing for you to be ashamed of."

Lisa wipes her tears off her face. "You're right, Carl," she muttered. "I just miss you after all these years."

She reached over and hugged CJ, causing the latter to blush, but this time, more out of heartwarming. CJ felt a chill through his body as he returned the gesture. He was satisfied to learn that Lisa was one of the few people he grew up around to forgive him for leaving to Liberty City. After all, Lisa, in spite of being somewhat irritated and hot-tempered when provoked, was still mostly a nice, open-minded person to those who didn't annoy her.

"I miss you too, Lisa," CJ replied. "I'm glad to see you again after all these years as well. Okay, now listen, I had a great time hanging out with you, I would love to spend more time together, but I still have a whole lot of shit to take care of. I still have to bail my brother out of jail and I have to do some jobs for the person who can help me."

"No worries, Carl," Lisa told him. "I can wait. I understand you're on a serious mission. So I won't resent you for handling your responsibilities."

"Thanks for understanding," CJ sighed. "Meanwhile, you stay safe, and try not to stress yourself out on your new job here in San Fierro. If you need any help, you can always see everyone back at the garage."

"No problem, Carl," Lisa replied. "I'll keep that in mind. See ya later."

"You too," CJ said, waving back to her as he left the bedroom. He darted down the stairs and headed out the front door. It was becoming a real breeze for him at the moment.