HA2 19.1 – Sparring
As they had agreed yesterday, Hide, Takeo, and Shizuka carried out a sparring match today. Once they finished the raid simulation, they immediately rushed to martial gym. After some warm ups and basic exercise, they replace the water bag or mitt hitting with sparring.
As she helped Takeo wore his protection gear Shizuka explained, “Full-face reinforced head gear that is specifically designed to prevent blunt force trauma, mouthpiece, vest that cover torso and crotch, and sparring gloves, these three will prevent dangerous injury, but the sparring won’t be pain free.”
“Okay,” Takeo calmly replied.
Shizuka then turned her gaze to Hide. “I haven’t teach Twig how to safely fall to the ground yet. So, don’t use throwing or slamming on him.”
“Got it,” Hide replied as he tightened his gloves.
After making last check to ensure Hide and Takeo wore their protection gear properly, Shizuka brought the two into middle of the fighting cage.
“When I say start, you can start. When I said stop, stop right away,” Shizuka sternly said. “Got it?”
““Got it,”” Takeo and Hide replied at the same time.
“Good.” After Hide and Takeo put their mouth piece into their mouth Shizuka said, “Start.”
Shizuka then stepped back, while Hide and Takeo raised their guard. Then, never did Takeo imagine that Hide would launch a strike right away, and it came in a lightning speed.
Baam!!
Takeo was caught off guard and did nothing as a powerful right front kick perfectly landed on his gut, and sent him flying backward until his back hit the cage’s wall.
“Urgh… The fuck!!”
Takeo groaned and cursed as he tightly held his gut. Then, his knees lost strength before falling to the floor. Even if the protection vest fully covered his gut, the pain from Hide’s front kick was still hurt like hell.
“Stop.” Shizuka said as she came over to Takeo and checked his condition. “I know it hurt like hell. Hide’s front kick is as perfect as it can be, both in form and motion. If you don’t wear protection vest and he aim at your ribs, we will have to bring you to hospital right now.”
Dark cloud instantly filled Takeo’s face to the brim as he took out his mouth piece. “That’s freaking dangerous.”
“Exactly, but this is what you need,” Shizuka calmly said. “Out there, we will facing people who will try to kill us at first attempt, and they really good at it.
That’s why I and Hide agree that the essence of our sparring is not about learning martial arts, but how to survive a deadly fight, especially for you.”
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After a moment of silence Takeo said in determined tone, “A team is only as strong as its weakest member.”
“It’s true, but our deepest concern actually is that, we don’t want you to get killed because we don’t prepare you good enough.”
“Understood,” Takeo firmly replied.
“Now, take a deep breath, and learn how to overcome the pain while continue the sparring,” Shizuka said as she deeply looked at Takeo in the eyes. “In this kind of situation, three rounds of two minutes each can be felt like forever, but you can’t stop midway.
If you give up the fight here, then, from here on, no matter how hard you train it won’t do any good as your heart have already been defeated.”
“Who said I give up the fight?” Takeo said as he put his mouth piece back into his mouth and got up to his feet.
“Good,” Shizuka happily said.
Wasting no time Hide and Takeo continued their sparring. It was fierce sparring. Takeo kept charging forward no matter how hard Hide hit or kick him. At the same time, here and there Hide would let Takeo to land a hit or kick to increase his confidence.
Until finally, Hide gave Takeo a solid anaconda choke just before the last round ended. As the result, Takeo lied unconsciously on the floor with white eyes, right cheek on the floor, and saliva dripped down from his mouth.
“I admit. He has indomitable fighting spirit,” Hide said as he took a glance at Takeo.
“He is,” Shizuka happily said, but then her eyes became cold as she continued, “But I think you are too harsh on him. You should put him into a sleep far earlier.”
“I have no intention to spoil him,” Hide casually replied.
“In that case, don’t resent me if I treat you the same way,” Shizuka firmly said.
After a smile Hide happily replied, “Fair enough.”
Without delay Hide and Shizuka moved Takeo out of the fighting cage. Hide held his shoulders while Shizuka held his feet. After that the two started their own sparring.
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In the middle of fighting cage, Shizuka calmly stood four steps in front of Hide. As she looked at Hide’s casual expression, an amusement grew in her heart. In her entire life as karateka, she had tasted countless sparring matches against boys who were older and physically stronger than her, and she defeated almost all of them.
After she entered middle school, no boys would stand casually in front of her when they had sparring match. Even Kuroki, a national level Karateka who won male individual 60-kg class kumite two times in row would take her super-duper serious when the two had sparring match.
And yet, now, a boy in her age who also far weaker than her, stood casually when he had a sparring match against her.
‘Can’t blame him, he never saw how I beat a jerk sparring partner into a pulp,’ Shizuka muttered as she inwardly smiled. Then, she cheerfully asked, “Are you ready?”
“I’m,” Hide casually replied.
“Good, fight on then.”
Wasting no time Shizuka and Hide put their mouth piece into their mouth and raised their guards. Then, without any warning the base of Shizuka’s right toe already landed on Hide’s gut. It was powerful front kick, perfect both in form and motion, and smoothly sent Hide flying backward until his back hit the cage’s wall.
Shizuka was very satisfied because her attempt to make Hide tasted his own medicine went as she expected. Even though it didn’t enough to put Hide down to the floor, it made him groaned painfully at least.
Most of all, no matter how high his pain tolerance, as long as he was still a human being, Hide would reach his limit. In summary, Shizuka believed she would be able to put Hide down to the floor sooner or later. Wasting no time Shizuka then walked over to Hide.
‘Don’t resent me, I just treats you using your own medicine,’ Shizuka muttered before driving in her right fist into Hide’s left side.
Baam!!
“Keuk!!”
Hide groaned as his complexion turned as pale as corps. Even so, his eyes were still full of fighting spirit, and it triggered wrong reaction from Shizuka. Without delay, Shizuka made a preparation to drive another body blow using her left fist.
However, she suddenly felt a strong grip in her right wrist. When she checked it, she found Hide held her right wrist using his right hand tightly, but it was not a problem.
While sweetly smiling, Shizuka lightly waved her left fist in front of Hide’s face, to tell him that she could still torture him. However, Shizuka smiled instantly disappeared as she saw a motion from Hide’s waist. It was a smooth motion when someone tried to throw a left hook.
In reflex Shizuka tried to block the incoming left hook, but she couldn’t raise her right hand as Hide held it.
Baam!!
A full force left hook landed on Shizuka’s chin perfectly, followed by a right upper cut. The head gear had prevented a direct contact that could lead into fatal blunt force trauma. Even so, the two consecutive blows still made Shizuka dizzy as hell, and it considerably hindered her ability to react.
In short, Shizuka couldn’t prevent Hide from holding the back of her head and sending a series of full force elbow strike to her face. Worst of all, it went so fast and everything suddenly turned into total darkness.
In short, when Hide let her go, Shizuka’s body instantly fell to the floor. After making sure her vitals were stable and she just lost her conscious, Hide then took his protection gear off and checked his gut and left side. He had no dark bruises but the pain was still there and it hurt as hell.
‘Fyuuuuhhh…..’ After letting out a long and painful exhale Hide turned his gaze to the peacefully unconscious Shizuka on the floor. “This fierce and brute chick must be Piccolo’s descendant.”
*****