A/N my writing is so rusty. this chapter is choppy. I need to take writing lessons or something haha...my vocabulary and grammar is pretty limited right now....IM BACK YALL. I DIDNT DIE.
__________
"Guess who's joining us!" I raise my voice and present my cousin Lia in an elaborate manner.
"Such theatrics," she laughs it off.
"I call dibs on the first match," My cousin Nicco calls out.
"Damn it man, but I'll go against Lia when she wins then," Lorenzo smirks at Nicco.
"It's been way too damn long since we've sparred with you. I think it's time we had a new champion in this household." Nicco puffs his chest out .
To be honest, the fight could go either way. Robin, Enzo, Roman, Marco, and Celeste are all strong fighters in their specific areas of expertise. When it comes to our sparring, we become way too heated and competitive. Thus, it's hard to completely finish a fight before someone gets hurt.
Celeste has been traveling and away for a while, but I doubt Dante would allow her to forgo training. She's probably trained in some crazy martial art. I think she's more of an acrobatic, nimble fighter. The twins, on the other hand, love dirty fighting. They're very good at close-quarters combat fighting and prefer boxing. Thus, they tend to have an advantage in our sparring matches. The rest of us have similar training from our parents. Robin and I learned a bit of Elite Special Forces training and marine corp Martial Arts from our father. My mother learned similar martial arts that my uncles taught. In the end, we are all a mixture of several fighting styles though we have our own preferences in styles.
"Alright, batter batter up. Let's see who shall be the winner of this match." Robin cringingly announces. Rather than say anything to Rob, we all ignore his stupidity.
"Let's set some rules..." Robin looks directly at the twins. The two of them smile innocently back at us.
"First to get their opponent to draw blood or yield is the winner. Let's not go over thirty minutes or I may just disqualify both of y'all...may the best fighter win." He ducks quickly under our sparring box ropes.
"Fifty bucks for Lia." Lorenzo smirks. However, his joke falls flat because Lia and Nicco have both fallen into their concentration modes.
Nicco makes the first move. He closes the distance between them swiftly. He has a powerful flying knee and covers so much ground. Lia, however, blocks it efficiently. Nicco immediately follows with another lower cut to her gut. She grits her teeth. Sizing up Lia's lithe frame against Nicco's muscular frame, Nicco definitely has the power advantage but I think she's got it.
"Shit man," Marco gives a low whistle. "He's not leaving Lia any space to breathe."
"I know...but Lia doesn't look any worse for wear." Celeste comments on Lia's incredible dodging and blocking techniques. However, Nicco's punches are lighting fast and pack quite an impact. I know that each impact is still very heavy.
Nicco continues to look for a weak spot to her defense. He is focusing all his powers with his uppercuts. Lia's arms are going to get tired pretty soon if she tries to remain on the defensive for a while.Lia starts returning punches just as quickly. I cringe as some punches get through each side and the two of them back away.
They watch each other carefully, almost daring for the other to land the next blow. This time, Lia goes straight at him. She feints and aims for a spinning back gut kick. The action is so fast I almost miss it. As the match continues, we all grow silent as we intently watch. The two of them increase their speed that sometimes a punch or two disappears. Nicco is prepared for the kick but I can tell that he is not expecting he power behind it. He stumbles just a little, barely even an inch. Just as quickly, Lia lands a very clean punch straight to Nicco's jaw. It connects and knocks him off balance. Taking advantage of this moment, she powerfully does a spinning outward kick for his head.
"DAMMMMNNN!" Robin and Lorenzo holler out of disbelief as Nicco is slammed to the ground nastily. Lia jumps high in the air and slams her elbow straight to Nicco's gut once more.
All of us cringe for Nicco. I almost close my eyes, but I don't want to miss this.
She shows no mercy as she immediately puts him into an arm block.
"Yield." She commands as she holds his arm hostage.
"Bullshit." Nicco coughs and looks at her with fire in his eyes. Then, a trail of blood sneak out of his nostril.
"First blood," Lia grins at her prey. "My win. Better luck next time, little cuz." She lends out a hand.
"You're a sneaky one." He grunts as he gets up. "My gut is going to be black and blue for weeks. It almost feels broken."
"No, I think that's just your pride." Lia shrugs.
"AW SNAP." Lorenzo hollers. "That was incredible, Lia!" We all crowd over the two of them, half of us in worry and the other half through excitement.
"Lorenzo, you're next." Lia's cheeks are rosy from exercise and she's ready to go.
"Don't you need rest? I can go against Lorenzo. If he wins, then he can go against you Lia." Marco steps up.
"You against Lorenzo?" Robin scoffs. "You'd have better chance going against our maid."
"What the heck dude?" I punch Robin's shoulder.
"It was a joke. Gosh, you're so sensitive," Rob frowns. "I'm not being serious. You get me dude?" He nods toward Marco.
"Yeah, it's whatever." Marco moves on.
"Actually, let's get this shit dealt with. Y'all are old enough to talk things through the mature way. With all the shit that has happened, it's about time you guys grow up too."
"What do you mean?" Rob and Marco have blank faces.
"Y'all always compete and squabble with each other. We might as well settle this animosity. Y'all are funny. Let out some steam." I suggest.
"You don't even know what you're talking about. You're reading too much into it." Marco shrugs this off.
Everyone has always known that Marco and Rob would squabble since they always compete against each other. They might be close but they always add oil to fire at the same time. The two of them need to just talk it out or Mano o Mano. It was always because Sky and Rob shared a passion for computer shit. After Sky's passing, the relationship between the two has worsened.
"You know what, you do whatever you guys want." I sigh and don't want to baby the two of them. I ignore them and go to Lia.
"You good?" I scan her for any bad injuries.
"Just a bit of bruises. Nicco packs a hard punch, but it'll heal with time. Rob and Marco..." she searches for the right word, "well...time will heal them. You worry too much, kiddo. Everything will be fine."
"I'm just trying to help, but I understand." I'm not in the mood to spar anymore, but there is still a part of me that wants to let off some steam.
"Alright, Roman and Enzo against Celeste and me. Let's do this." I crack my knuckles and shake my limbs to get my blood flowing.
"Why the hell not. Let's go." Enzo grins deviously. He cracks his neck as if the action will make him seem more intimidating. Enzo's blond hair and tan makes him look like he is about to catch some waves and shred the gnar. He and Lia both look like my Aunt Marisa with their fair skin and blonde hair. Roman takes more after Uncle Leo.
"Losers do a naked lap around the house!" Rob snorts.
"Oh hell no, nobody wants to see that horrific sight." I scrunch my nose at the thought of seeing Lorenzo, Roman and Enzo naked. "You're a dork, Rob."
"Losers buys dinner?" Enzo suggests. The men in our family all have huge appetites. Actually, all our family eat enough for double their weight.
"That's an incredibly awful...but not a bad plan." Lia grins.
"Ding-ding-ding!!!" Lorenzo announces. "It's going to be a lovely feast tonight."
The four of us climb into the boxing ring. I nod towards Roman, as if telling him I'm going to kick his ass. I am going to though.
"And....LET'S GO!" Lorenzo and Rob shout together.
"AHA!" I do a flying kick and tackle Roman down. I'm not sure what Celeste does, but Roman and I tumble around. I get him into an arm lock, but he manages to maneuver himself and breaks free.
"Oomph," I grunt as Celeste is thrown on top of the two of us. I grapple at Roman and release multiple punches toward him. He manages to lift me up and body slams me against the ground.
That really hurts.
I roll away and distance myself away from Roman and Enzo. Celeste and Enzo are squaring off pretty well. Celeste does some flashy punches that breaks through Enzo's defenses. She clocks him straight in the nose.
"Oh shit," my eyes widen in surprise when I see blood squirt from his nose.
We rush towards Enzo, who lays stunned on the floor. Pretty sure his nose is broken.
"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to hit so hard." Celeste gets flustered and rushes toward Enzo. "Shit..."
"You got quite a punch," Enzo laughs weakly. "Damn, this hurts."
"Okay, hold him down." Lorenzo approaches Enzo grimly.
"Wait, what are you doing-" Enzo begins to protest as we hold him tightly. "Ah, Lorenzo don't you fucking-"
We visibly flinch as Lorenzo realigns Enzo's nose neatly with a crunch.
"We should, uh, probably get that looked at. Sparring is down for today..." Nicco clears his throat awkwardly. "Let's just make sure we get the story straight before we see the parents."
"Yeah, they're gonna be cranky." I sigh. They have so much to deal with and the last thing they want is their kids to approach them bloodied.
"It was quite a punch," I grin lightheartedly towards Celeste. She smiles weakly, a little embarrassed. "Next thing we know, you'll be better than all of us or something."
"Alright, time to get ready for the entire shebang..." Lia sighs.
Aw man. I forgot about what is about to go down.