Somehow the boy managed to take some degree of control over his momentum, though it clearly wasn't the control of a man with the powers of flight. At least the unconventional defense had served to reveal that much. Tom had begun to define his opponents limitations, and now was not the time to give up on that pursuit. Giving up on his planned attempt at the world record for a human home run, however, he waited for his opponent to return to the ground, floating back down himself as he did. When the new assault was launched, he was ready, though his stance said otherwise. His feet were placed evenly shoulder width apart, his right hand was gripping his staff (whose lower end was placed lightly on the pavement of the street), and his left hung comfortably at his side. By all appearances, he was simply a very large bearded man taking in the sights.

When the assault came, however, he slipped to the left to avoid the first punch, forcing his opponent to waste precious time re-adjusting for his follow up blow before slipping back to his right to avoid that one too, then side-stepping entirely and turning ninety degrees as the foot shot up just in front of his face. His left hand came up along with it to snag the boy's calf between his thumb and pointer finger, then shove the appendage forcefully back the way it had come, most likely sending his opponent into a series of head over heels cartwheels at a couple hundred miles per hour down the street and into the building he'd just jumped off of. All the strength in the world would do him no good if he lacked the leverage to use it properly.