Dust now fogged over, like a light gale storm while footsteps that made it trot in the sand, forming a yellow hazy smoke around their feet. This wasn't a random incident, as these footsteps kept circling one point in the middle. These were the young men that had just agreed amongst themselves to attack Jerry at the same time without creating any loophole for him to use.
The incredibly disproportional duo that had attacked him first stood quietly in the back, not interfering while the rest of the young men surrounded Jerry, ready to attack at once. The horse play finally ended when one boy leaned in at a fast speed with his right fist strung back, ready to be released when Jerry suddenly leaned to the other side and slapped away his arm, twice. Just as the young man was about to strike again with his free arm after the first slap, he found his arm slapped again and it caught his off-guard, letting him hesitate for a while until Jerry did a jump punch towards the weakest point on his face, his nose. That sudden punch made the boy involuntary step back and the rest of the group had already arrived with their attacks. Some threw kicks, others punches, some even tried to tackle him in the stomach. It was strange how their fights seemed like something out of a martial arts movie yet they were clearly untrained but he paid it no heed, at least it helped his in this fight where Judo moves and mindless punching was dangerous for him. He did what he thought was best in this situation, he spun. As he spun out the tacklers' way, he began to parry everyone's attacks. Either by using instincts to parry as soon as they were close range or dodging when they were mid range. When they got close, he would parry them either by hitting the side of his palm against their inner arms or kick their hinges as they tried to raise their feet. It made every on the scene uncomfortable that their attacks weren't connecting. It didn't take long before they retreated and got more wild with their attacks. Noticing this, Jerry started to direct the parrying attacks to their neighbors instead of just the air. It didn't take long for more people to notice that they are getting injured by their fellow fighters and and moved away from each other. Seeing this, Jerry realized that he can't let them go so he started to parry dodge once again until they regained their confidence and started to tackle him in a corner as a bigger group huddled together. Once they were congested again, he started to parry them towards each other. The cycle continued for a few minutes until almost everyone was injured in some way and Jerry suddenly retreated quickly out of their group.
"Give up, your group can't defeat me. Of course, if you want to go again, I will accompany you. However this time, I will punch you all for real, not just defend."
One of them tried to complain.
"Don't listen to him, he's actually weak-"
A young man suddenly raised his arm. Making all complaints halt as everyone immediately kept quiet. He stood up with a few bruises and cleaned the dust from his elegant robe. He waved to everyone around.
"Let's go."
"But-
"Shut up. We have been humiliated enough. Let's go before anyone else shows up."
'I could turn dababy into a convertible', he found himself mumbling so after hearing the leader say 'let's go'. No one noticed this but he got himself out of that stupor quickly enough to shout before they got far.
"Hey, does this solve the debt between us?"
The improvised leader turned back with a solemn tone and replied.
"We accept our loss and are not so narrow minded to harbor hatred. Yes, the debt is solved."
He hurried away with the rest of the group made up of injured youths, except for the first two attackers. When they had reached far enough. Jerry suddenly collapsed on the ground, heaving like a fish out of water as he tried to clutch at his chest to relieve the feeling on blood welling up in his lungs but before he could do so. His arms gave out as energy drained from them while the adrenaline wore off. The he started to feel unimaginable pain in his arms and legs like they were about to shatter at any second. He hadn't felt this much pain since he fell down the stairs after slipped on some kid's juice and went to the hospital to check for bone fractures.
He knew he couldn't stay long in one place, lest he got ambush again by a crazier mob and not even have the ability to fight back. He gritted his teeth and stood up. It was difficult at first, seeing that he couldn't exactly use his arms to push the ground while standing. He ran as fast as could with the little regained energy and collapsed on his bed. Falling asleep but the pain kept him awake for a while.
Seeing that the pain wasn't cooling down, he stood up from his bed and limped to another corner of his house and pushed a tile with his head. The tile surprisingly sunk in and a wall opened up, forming stairs that led to the underground. It felt painful walking down to them, especially since they weren't even like he had wanted them to be. Cosha would cry their eyes out if they saw these dangerous steps but he still reached the underground safely and dipped his hands in a pot. He stayed like this for a few minutes and then removed them. What he did next was also to dip his legs in the pot that had some murky green liquid swirling inside.
Once he completed this bizarre ritual, he walked with a normal pace like nothing had happened except for his pale face until he walked between a clutter of pots, pans, cinder and blazing fires to reach a certain cup, taking a swig. The moment he did, he almost puked out his lungs and snarled at the bitter taste. At this moment, he hoped he would have been cured by just lying in bed for a few weeks but he had no choice. Once the bitter taste disappeared from his mouth, he decided to continue with his research.