LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 64: Zoey’s Boxing Classes.
“Honestly, I couldn’t believe how quickly the match ended. You know, before the match started, I didn’t think that Zoey would stand a chance against Cory. With how easily he defeated all of his opponents in the tournament, I expected him to dominate Zoey just like the others!” Jack Manson, a popular Beetuber, shared.
“I can’t say I was any different, to be honest. I don’t understand why Zoey forfeited her spot in the tournament if she was that strong. Maybe something came up in her personal life that forced her into forfeiting. She did gain a lot of negative publicity after that match with Donald Aldo.” Richard Kole, another influencer within the YFTL community, responded.
“How is Donald Aldo these days? Is his recovery going well?”
“Yes, from what I heard, his coach said his recovery is coming along nicely. He still doesn’t hold any ill will toward Zoey and plans to start from the beginning again by joining a local cup in his area.”
“What a nice kid. I hope he goes far in his career, he has a personality that I wish more fighters had.”
“Ain’t that the truth, hahaha. But I don’t dislike Zoey’s strong personality, either. She can actually back up her talk, unlike other people!”
“I’m not a fan of it, but I can respect her skills. She’s definitely a talented fighter who will go far in the fighting world. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear her crowned champion somewhere in the next few years.”
“A few years? More like in a few months! That girl is an insane fighter, Jack. She’s got speed, she’s got power, endurance, and she’s got technique! The only weakness I could find in all of her fights was her weak ground game, but after yesterday’s match, I'm not so sure about that anymore.”
“We aren’t the only ones surprised about Zoey’s submission finish at the end, Richard. You can’t believe how many people went wild last night on the internet about it.” Jack sighed.
“My DM’s were spammed to hell, haha! She’s shown absolutely no knowledge of any grappling skills before, and then she finishes the current champion off with something like this? Zoey is a monster. I’m telling ya, wait a few months, and she’s going to break social media again.”
“It was a really unbelievable submission because when Cory went up against Jason Thomas, Jason couldn’t even get near him without receiving a kick somewhere.”
“Wasn’t Jason that wrestler?” Richard asked.
“Yeah, him. He was kind of similar to Zoey in how he never lost any of his matches, either. Jason either won all his matches with a tap-out or a technical knock-out.” Jack explained.
“Maybe Cory had the same weakness as Zoey did. In her fight against a grappler, she used brute force to overpower him before he could put her into submission. Cory did the same thing but differently. Unlike Zoey, he didn’t get caught and barely squeeze out a win. He just knocked him out before he could get put into a hold.” Richard reasoned.
“That makes sense...”
Zoey’s comeback match against the current champion had people in the YFTL community talking about it all over. The biggest topic was Zoey’s finish at the end. As a fighter that has shown nothing but boxing skills, it was more than just a surprise to see her end the match in such a way. Her beating the current champion caused thousands of fans to ask her to continue fighting in the YFTL when the next tournament or championship comes by. As of yet, there has been no reply to these comments on Zoey’s social media pages. But then again, there was no reply from Zoey saying that she wouldn’t do it either, giving these fans hopes of seeing Zoey in the YFTL ring again or maybe even the FTL ring!
Since Zoey was 17, she wouldn’t be allowed to join the YFTL the next time it came around due to the age of maturity being 18 in her country. It was strictly for fighters aged 17 and below. Some fighters in other countries were unable to join the YFTL at age 16 because their country put the age of maturity as 16 instead of 18. So, the next time Zoey reappeared on the fighting scene, it’d be in the Fighting Tournament League or the Global Boxing Organization. Out of the two, no one was sure where Zoey would appear first.
“Combination!” Zoey called out. “One, two, three, four.” A left, right, left, right combo.
A massive group of children from ages 4-12 stood in front of Zoey, throwing punching combinations. She was currently in teacher mode and couldn’t help but shout a little if she wanted everyone to hear her. Zoey’s awkwardness or social anxiety didn’t really show around children. From what she could tell, children liked her for some reason.
“Stop! Bob and weave!” The children stopped throwing punches and now kept their gloves in front of their faces and lowered their upper bodies while moving left to right. “Back to combinations!”
Zoey’s been teaching this group for the past few weeks and was rather terrified of their progress. Her teaching skill is really something... She wasn’t the only one to notice the abnormality in how quickly the children in her group picked up on things. Coach Scott and the parents themselves also noticed. Coach Scott in particular, stared at the children like he was looking at a massive pile of unripe gold.
Most of the parents that signed up their kids to be taught by Zoey didn’t really intend for them to become professional fighters or anything like that. From what Coach Scott said, it was something to keep them busy. To use up all their energy on and keep them fit and healthy. It would also help them protect themselves if they ever got bullied at school. From how the little kids looked at her, she knew most of them planned to get into the fighting scene.
Whenever it was time to take a break, they would come over to her and ask her thousands of questions or watch some of her videos on Beetube. Before trying to replicate the moves, she performed herself in the videos. Of course, she had to stop them from hurting each other. Zoey’s class didn’t include any sparring or fighting of any kind on account of how young the children were. The closest thing they got to do that was similar to fighting was when Zoey had the punching mitts on for them to practice their combinations or the punching bags.
Coach Scott didn’t need to emphasize how important it was that the children didn’t hurt each other or get hurt themselves. Zoey understood perfectly just how crazy parents were about their children. Lawsuits were the least of their problems. So, what she taught the children was mostly fitness, proper form, and stance, and about having fun. Once a week, she would think of a new game for the kids to play. One of the most important things that Zoey thought she had to teach these kids was that fighting was fun. Why do something if you didn’t enjoy it?
Sure, some of the kids were brought here because of their parents will, not their own, but that didn’t mean it had to be a horrible experience. All of the kids seemed to be getting along well and having fun. Thankfully, there was no one that seemed to outright hate her classes and refused to participate. The worst she had to deal with was trying to connect to the kids and not keep them at a distance. To engage with them as people and bring a sense of joy during the class.
Zoey was actually suspicious of how well she was teaching her class. A socially awkward geek like her being able to connect and get along with a big group of kids? There was something about it that didn’t add up, which led to Zoey thinking about her Teaching skill. It was possible that it had something to do with how well she was socially interacting with her class since she was teaching them. Could Zoey breeze through life if everyone she came across she tried to teach them something? Was this a way to finally get rid of her weirdness and be normal for once in her life?
“Miss Devil!” A kid named Ricky called out. “How do I do that punch you did against the champion!?” Ricky asked while trying to mimic her twisting punch.
Devil was her nickname in the YFTL. Zoey’s students collectively agreed to ignore calling her Miss Winters or Teacher for the cool awesome nickname Devil instead. Against a group like this, it was impossible for Zoey to change their mind. If she tried stopping them, it wouldn’t be good for connecting with the children.
The scary part about his question was that he had the framework of the punch just by watching the video somehow... He wasn’t the only one, either. It was very frightening to see that her students had the talent or instinct to understand everything she did or taught. All of her matches were analyzed and dissected by these little monsters. Because of the terrifying skill Teaching, Zoey had to be very careful in her classes. If these monsters saw her perform a high-level technique or one of her finishing punches, they’ll get the basics of it down by next week.
A majority of her students were strictly interested in how to hurt people, meaning how to punch better. Uppercuts, hooks, straights, jabs, they wanted to swallow as much information as they could about punches. This was partly because of her villainous fighting persona has definitely impacted the children. Of course, she didn’t act in her persona when she taught, but it seemed like they imprinted themselves more from YFTL Zoey than Teacher Zoey. It was very difficult to explain to them the difference between her inside the ring and outside. Trying to coat a lie without outright saying it was a lie could only be done with the help of Teaching being level 10.
A small portion of her students was enamored by her defense in the ring. Footwork, dodging, parries, that type of stuff. Zoey liked these few the most because she wasn’t worried about them being little terrors at school. It gave her less to worry about because she knew for a fact that one day, more than one of these monsters will cause some trouble at school and get her involved in it somehow. Their talents were being improved or brought out too much by her Teaching skill, and there were just too many of them to hope that they would use their boxing knowledge for good. This is why Zoey made sure to include some morals and ethics during her classes! Hopefully, with Teaching, they’ll be more susceptible to pondering about good, bad, and the grey of the world. Thinking before acting. Looking through the eyes of others. Doing kind and respectful acts. Not resorting to violence first unless it's absolutely needed.
“I’m not here to teach you how to hurt people. I’m here to give you the necessary tools to protect yourself and those you care about.” Zoey lectured. She read that from a comic once.