Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 19: Warrior Training

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

"Watch out!" A voice yelled.

Within an instant, Ja'lia ducked and swung her right leg sweeping the perpetrator off their feet.

Lo'ak lay on the ground as he groaned in pain from his fall. He had been the one who Ja'lia was fighting with for the first round of fighting.

"Damn, Lia," He grumbled as he tried to get his bearings back from the shock of his fall.

The boy thought that he was going to win the fight because the entire time, he had the upper advantage due to him being taller than her and stronger than her. However, he grew cocky, and as the fight continued, Lo'ak wore himself out.

It slipped his mind that Ja'lia had the endurance and speed to easily knock him on his ass before his mind could even register what was happening.

Everyone who had been with the older Sully children and Ja'lia tried to stifle their laughter as they didn't want to get yelled at by the Chief, but ultimately, they failed horribly.

"Haha," Lo'ak said, shooting them a glare, "Why don't you try to win a fight against her?" He challenged, and the laughter quickly died down as the Metkayina teens rubbed the back of their necks.

None of them wanted to fight against Ja'lia. She was more skilled than they were, and if Lo'ak, the boy who trained by her side, couldn't beat her, how in the world would they even come close to winning? The boys didn't wish to fall straight on their asses within the first five seconds of the fight, so they all looked down at their feet or anywhere else to avoid being picked next.

Except for Ao'nung.

Ao'nung was the best warrior in his age group, and he was also the Chief's son, so if he were to act nervous or scared of Ja'lia then he was afraid that his father might be disappointed in him.

"Alright, who's next?" The Chief asked.

"I'll go," Two voices said at the same time.

Ja'lia looked up from her fingernails that she had been staring at in boredom, and her eyes widened. Both Neteyam and Ao'nung had volunteered to be her next challenger.

Shit. The girl thought to herself.

It's not that she was afraid of fighting them. No, she couldn't be afraid to fight them, as that was almost anyone's worst weakness on the battlefield. It was more of the fact that she had never fought Neteyam as she had with Lo'ak. She'd only observed his fights.

And he was good, like extremely good. Back home, he was undefeated, and that's why he always had a target on his back when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Jake had taught him every play in the book, which meant he would have the upper advantage. From what Ja'lia had observed when she watched him fight a million times, he never got tired, he was exceedingly fast and perceptive, and the boy always knew the person's next move before they did.

However, that didn't mean she wanted to fight Ao'nung either. She had never seen him fight before, and they were in his home where he had been training since he was allowed to.

Plus, they were on the sand, and Ja'lia didn't want to make a fool out of herself by slipping and falling on her face.

"Who would you prefer, Ja'lia?" Tonowari questioned, asking the girl if she had a preference.

She, of course, didn't as it was a lose-lose situation either way.

So, Ja'lia said something that would make her appear more confident than she was feeling at that moment.