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(𝐒𝟏) 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟑𝟎

Chapter may be unintentionally long

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𝟏ˢᵗ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖.

𝐈𝐭𝐬 been a month now and the whole group was over at Ashlyn's house to learn how to defend themselves with Ashlyn's parents.

So far, Tyler was practicing with Ashlyn's dad. Her dad kicked Tyler under his foot which caused Tyler to crash on the ground. I slightly cringe at that. By now, Tyler was pretty bruised up.

"Make sure to keep your legs in check." I heard Ashlyn's dad tell Tyler as he offer his hand to Tyler which he takes and gets up from the ground.

"Alright Logan, you're up next." Her dad tells Logan. Logan sighs as i see him slowly get up from his position, nervously and heads towards the direction Ashlyn's dad was in.

Tyler comes up to me and Ashlyn. "Your dad's brutal." He says as he put his hand on his head. "No one in the world would take it easy on us, so he isn't going to either." Ashlyn tells him.

We then heard a thud. I freeze as i pale as i turn to see Ashlyn's mom with Ben on the floor. "Actually.. i might be more scared of your mom.." Tyler says as he slightly sweatdrops as he looked over to her training. I nod my head in agreement.

"Did you see how i did that Taylor?" Her mom asks Taylor. Taylor nods, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. Aiden was clapping and seemed excited. Her mom then turns to me with a smile. "Come on (Your name). It's your turn you haven't gone for a while."

I feel myself pale when she calls me up. "Dang, i pray for you." Tyler says with a chuckle.

I start to slowly move towards her mom as i see Aiden and Taylor check up on Ben to make sure he was fine.

I look at her and give her a nervous grin. "I'm guessing you're not gonna go easy..?" She only grins in response. I mentally cry.

I then see her get into position i also get into position. One of my fist being near my jaw while the other in front of my face. I could see her then throw a punch. I dodge and move to the side. "Come on, i don't want to be the only one doing the punching and kicking." Her mom tells me with a grin.

I look at her and i sweatdrop as i nod. I aim to punch her shoulder, which she grabs my fist and pushes me slightly. I stumble back a bit before i regain my footing. I could tell the rest of the group were looking in our direction.

Ashlyn's mom then tries to grab my arm which i kick her slightly just so i wouldn't hurt her. She grins and runs at me. I slightly yelp and throw a punch out of reflex. She gets slightly hit and grins as she stops in her tracks, i look at her confused.

Unexpectedly she then grabs me and put me into headlock. I slightly yelp as she does and i use my left leg to hold onto her leg and i use force and push her over me and onto the ground. We both then fall down to the ground as a result.

I sigh as i lay on the ground for a moment. Her mom stands up and i could hear cheers from my friends. She offers her hand to help me up and i take it. "Great job. Just add more force to your stuff, yeah?" She tells me. I nervously smile at her and nod.

"Okay, now, how about we stop for today?" She tells us as she stretches her arms. I also stretch my arms as well as my legs until i heard a satisfying 'pop' noise.

Logan looked relieved as she said we would stop for today. Ashlyn's dad then comes from behind Logan and puts him in a chokehold. Logan seems to be taken by surprise as he made a hilarious face.

I stifle my laughter at his face.

"Don't let your guard down." He tells Logan in a stern voice. He then smiles and let's go of Logan and ruffles his hair. "You kids want to come in and play some board games? I'll make sandwiches." Ashlyn's mom tells us.

We all sweatdrop as Taylor speaks up. "We can't.. we have to study for midterms.."

"Ah.. sorry to hear that. We'll just uh-.. bring the sandwiches to you then." Ashlyn's mom tells us.

Both Ashlyn's parents start to head inside. Her dad then turn to look at us. "Study hard." He tells us smiling. As they both go inside.

Aiden and Taylor turn to look at me. "Man, that was cool." Aiden tells me as he grins. I smile back at him as i rub my neck in embarrassment.

"Did you learn that move in kickboxing?" Taylor asked. She looked like she had stars in her eyes.

I smile and nod. "Yeah, i did." Ashlyn then comes up to us. "I'm surprised you lasted that long against my mom. Great job." She tells me, looking proud. I smile back at her, appreciating the compliment from her. "Thank you."

"Also, that was a good joke about the midterms." Aiden says laughing. "It wasn't a joke you idiot- they're next week." Tyler tells Aiden with an annoyed expression.

As they start to bicker i see that Ashlyn seems to hear something. I look at her a bit confused. She then stands up. "Ashlyn?" I ask her confused she seems to still be focused on whatever she got distracted by.

She then takes a sharp turn and looks around the area. We all follow behind her. "What's up? Did ya hear something again?" Aiden asks her.

"..I thought i did- it's just a bird though." Ashlyn says a bit puzzled. "You got worked up over a bird?" Tyler asks a bit annoyed.

"It didn't sound like a bird. It sounded like footsteps." She tells him. I look at her a bit confused before i slightly look around the area as well. "Maybe you just got it mixed up with your parents walking away?" Taylor asks her.

"That would be the case if they weren't already inside for a few minutes now." I tell Taylor as i narrow my eyes and look around.

I then slightly chuckle as i come up with a theory. "Imagine we're being spied on."

Ashlyn sighs and shakes her head. "I'm going to ignore that and let's just finish setting up the traps." She tells us and starts to walk away.

I look around that area one last time and hum as i find nothing. I sigh and walk away with the rest of the group.

𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍.

All of us sit on top of the walls as we finished placing all the lights that arrived around a week ago. Which came with suits Aiden also brought for all of us, which would explain why he asked for our size of clothing the other day.

I take a look around and see that all the phantoms seem to be avoiding the light but still far enough for us to see them.

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Word count; 1133
April 22ⁿᵈ, 2024
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EDIT;
Word count; 1223
June 18ᵗʰ, 2024

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