Chapter 162 - 162. Reflex

"I don't know why she had to take it zero to a hundred so fast." Louis pouted a little while Art and Asher gave him tips on what to do next time.

"They were cheering in unison without any practice, it was kinda cool." Jackson wasn't much for analyzing battles yet. He needed to expand his knowledge and was taking notes as Asher and Art spoke to Louis.

"Dude, forget about your crush on Laura for now. Focus here." Art wasn't dancing around and just threw it at Louis. It was enough to make him more bashful but also listen more. "You did well when you baited him to throw away all the mud armor he had. But you let him catch you.'

"Exactly. When he caught you he could have trapped you in the mud and you would have lost without a doubt. You got really lucky to kick him in an exposed sport. I bet that one day he will be able to cover his whole body in mud and your luck will run out. That's why you need to stay focused on baiting strategies early."

"Oh, I get it. Just because he said it was armor doesn't mean he wouldn't throw his armor or try and put his armor on you." Jackson followed right along with Art and Asher's breakdown. He felt that he had his perspective expanded.

"I get it, but I think I could still have zapped him through the mud. I took the meteorology class and when lightning strikes the ground it doesn't just nullify it completely. The energy has to go somewhere and still super heat the earth. I could have forced the armor to break with enough hits."

"Now that is what we need, great thinking." Jane had made her own theories and strategy and was blown away by the way Louis thought after the fact. "If you can apply that kind of thinking when you have your moves ingrained in your body you won't need to worry at all.'"

Laura and Sammy were talking quietly away from the others and Louis had a bad feeling. Upon creeping up behind them he realized that Sammy was pulling up a folder on her phone called "'for when Louis messes up"". "No way!" Louis snagged the phone and immediately tried to start deleting them.

Sammy was about to rush him and get the phone back when Jane snagged her hand. "We have our next challenger in rotation here. We need someone speedy and light on their feet." She wanted to get someone who could force Sammy to use her power to speed herself up. By going against a faster person it would act as motivation and pressure to do so.

"Wait, Jane, my phone…" Jane just glared at Louis who felt that he was about to get hit if he didn't stop his actions. Her glare ended both of their antics and left the now locked phone in the safe hands of Laura who accepted this result. She didn't want to cause too much trouble.

"Um, I think I would like to try then." A thin girl with very neat clothing and glasses stepped forward. She didn't hold any sense of a combatant but for some reason her actions as she walked up put them all on edge. "I don't have much experience so please go easy on me.'

"Don't worry, I am new to this too. They have only taught me the basics, if you are worried about your glasses one of my friends can hold them. I plan to use my wind if I can and I would hate to blow them away or damage them." Sammy felt glad to have a nice opponent, unlike the boys.

"Oh, thank you so much. I am going to use my hyper reflexes so I should be able to catch them. But I feel better if someone else holds them." The girl gave them to Jane and then stood ready. Her stance was perfectly balanced making them wonder if she had been training this specifically.

Once Sammy was in her rough beginners' stance the staff member started up the match. Sammy was the one to start off and tried to get in to close range. With every step, the thin girl had an instant response and change her footing. It was like watching a crab on the top of a rock scuttle about.

Sammy was thrown off but didn't have the experience to change her approach. She went for the straight punch she had learned from Jane. Her first punch was quickly dodged by the thin girl leaving Sammy wide open. The only thing was that the thin girl was winding up for her own punch.

The speedy punch snapped forward and made contact with Sammy. "Ah-oh?" Sammy thought she was about to take a huge painful hit but was instead met with a soft tap. The thin girl retreated looking nervous.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I should have held back." The thin girl was terrified that she had hurt Sammy.

"No, I'm alright. You can go all out. Don't worry, if I get a little scraped up I will go to the nurse." Sammy reassured her and tried to hit the thing girl again. But like last time her straight punch was easily dodged and met with a soft tap.

Sammy felt that she was going against a child instead of another of her own age. The girl was definitely not able to build up any strength behind her hits, but he was easily faster than her.

"The girl said hyper reflexes right? I bet her weird movements is her body firing her muscles much faster than normal. She reacted to every little movement without thinking about it." Jane had heard what the thin girl had said.

"Then the best strategy would be for Sammy to feint and get her to walk in to a punch or just straight up out speed her?" Art thought of these two possibilities and was met with nods from Jane and Asher.

"I think she should be able to do it with her super power right? She said it was wind and that she wants to use it to speed her body up. So she just needs to try that, I haven't seen it yet and I think it would be a neat power." Jackson had an interest in the elemental powers because he knew that they affected weather and nature. If Sammy had wind he might be able to ask her to help bring rain clouds one day for the garden clubs' flower beds.

"Then we need to let her know, she had taken like five of those soft hits and is looking annoyed. Pretty sure she forgot her super power completely." Laura was a little unhappy seeing the slow reactions of Sammy in comparison.