Chapter 4: No More Amateur Hours
One Month Into Training...
...In a Wrestling Ring...
The Santa Destroy Wrestling Company hadn't bloomed back into business since the late nineties, yet it still remained. The company was been involved in the big leagues, but due to multiple accidents with ring equipment, several wrestlers being injured, and debt, it slowly died. Today, the small wrestling ring, with its worned down red ropes and dusty mat, was the only living memory of an old legend...
And Mineta was standing in the middle of it. The small teen had worn a small, white tank top which displayed his small biceps and chest, and a purple set of broken down headgear. He currently sat down, and listened to Travis as he gave his lesson.
"Okay kid," the Otaku started, pacing back and forth, his right hand pointing upward. "Now here's the scenario: you're in a Ranked fight and the person grabs the weapon that's you used and throws it away. What do you now? Simple," He sharply faced the grape haired boy. "Hand-To-Hand combat."
"So today's lesson is simple; you're gonna learn some moves that'll help you on your way. first we'll do some warm ups, then we'll go on to the good stuff. Clear?"
Mineta nodded.
"Good. Now get up, we have work to do."
What came next was quite difficult and exhilarating. First, Travis made Mineta do stretches for his arms and legs. Then, Mineta struggled to do pull ups, nearly falling every time. After the fifth one, he collapsed onto the floor, nearly exhausted.
'...This might take awhile,' The Otaku thought.
Several Exercises Later...
"Alright!" Both Travis and Mineta returned to the ring, as the grape haired boy drenched in sweat. Mineta's hair was wet, and looked a bit more fuzzier than usual. At first, the boy struggled with the warm-ups, however, he started to get the hang of that.
"Let's start with something simple," Travis then quickly exited the ring by climbing over the middle rope, and grabbed an dummy, which matched Mineta's size, and slid back in.
"This is a dummy used by wrestlers to improve their strikes," Travis placed the dummy in front of Mineta, where it stood as if it wanted to intimidate the boy. "I want you to hit it as hard as you can."
"...Okay," the boy rose up and faced the dummy, its featureless, bronze face staring. Mineta balled up his right hand into a fist, cocked back, and punched the dummy right where it nose would be.
Travis just shook his head. "Nice punch, but you've got to hit it harder."
Mineta threw another, a tad harder than before.
Travis wasn't satisfied yet. "Look, do you want to clear your name or not?"
"Of course i do!" Mineta responded.
"Well, you're not going to do that by pulling your punches. The people you're about to face are trained killers. Any signs of weakness will be the end of you. Trust me, i know. Now, would you please hit the fucking dummy harder?"
What Travis must've been effective, because Mineta punched the dummy with a roar. The face of the dummy had been cutted, causing sand to fall onto the ring.
Travis stepped back, with shock and awe. 'Woah! I didn't expect that!'
Mineta panted furiously, his balled up hand started to shake. His pupils dilated in surprise, and he also stepped back from the dummy.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean... er... It was a accident! I must've imagined the dummy as the one thing i hated, and i must have snapped!"
"...Um," Travis couldn't find the right words for this kind of problem. "It's fine, kid. We all can get a little, well, snappy. Let's just clean this up, and wrap this up."
Mineta then grabbed the dummy, with sand still falling onto the floor, and exited out the ring.
(NMHPV)
Two Months Into Training...
There hadn't been a perfect time to train at five o'clock in the morning, as Mineta was awaken by a sharp sound of an airhorn. The boy jerked up, his eyes lit up in surprise.
"Rise and Shine!" Travis held an airhorn in one hand and what appears to be a device shaped like a Wii remote. "Come outside, it's time for more training!"
Mineta, groggily rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"
"Like five in the morning. Come downstairs. I'll be waiting for you." Travis said as he walked to the door and opening it, leaving Mineta alone.
'Why this early?' Mineta thought as he got up from the couch and walked to the bathroom.
...A Few Minutes Later...
"Was the air horn necessary?" Mineta asked as he walked down the stairs leading to the parking lot, where Travis was waiting patiently. The boy wore a lavender shirt with white stripes and grey sweatpants.
"Yes. You wouldn't wake up. It was like waking up a fuckin' brick," Travis said.
"Yeah?" Mineta walked down the last step and went to Travis.
"Anyway, the reason i woke you up is you've worked your ass off for a month, and there's no reason why to reward," Travis said as he held out the device. "This is a beam katana made by a woman named doctor Naomi. She has built me several of these in the past, and i asked her to make me one just for you." He threw the beam katana to the boy, which he caught.
"You're serious, right?"
'Yep. Today's lesson is simple: Beam Katana 101," Travis said with a smirk, and walked back a few paces. "Now press the button with the plus on it."
Mineta did as he was told, and pressed the button, which was on the middle of the weapon. A long antenna shot out on the side...
Vmooom!
And the weapon came to life, a bright purple light shot out in a shape of a blade. Mineta stared at the light, with pure astonishment.
"...Wow~!"
"Pretty cool, right? Those bad boys are used rarely by others, and they pack a Hell of a punch." Travis went out to the curb of the motel, and grabbed a few small mannequins.
"They run of these special kind of batteries, and they run out of juice fast, so you gotta make your strikes count." Travis places the mannequins a few feet away from the boy. "Go ahead. Try it out."
Mineta stepped forward and approached a dummy on the far right. He raised the blade of light high over his head, and slashed horizontally. The blade passed through it like a hot knife to butter. The dummy slowly slid into two and fell onto floor. "Woah!"
"I know, right?" Travis looked like a proud father just watching the boy. He was a quick learner, that boy.
Mineta moved to the dummy in the middle, and hacked out its arm, which also fell onto the floor. Then...
Beep-Beep!
Beep-Beep!
A beeping noise sounded from the beam katana. Mineta stared at it in confusion, and looked at Travis. "Is this noise normal?"
"The beeping noise means that the beam katana is running out of juice. I used it for a test run, to see if it was working properly. You can recharge it by replacing the battery, or by movement."
"Movement? what do you mean by that?"
"...Um, well, er, you know," Travis began to sweat nervously. "That thing that other boys do on their free time."
"...You're kidding me, aren't you?"
"I kinda wish I was." Travis rubbed the back of his head.
"So I have to-?"
"That's right."
Mineta blushed furiously. "O-Okay."
He hunched down, and looked at the katana, before looking back at the Otaku. "W-Will you mind?"
"Oh! Alright!" Travis turned around, his back facing Mineta.
Mineta returned to the beam katana, gulped, and began to shake it.
'This is so humiliating.' He started lowly, before increasing his speed. The beam katana made sounds that began to increase in pitch. After a few seconds, a loud noise rang from the katana, causing Mineta to stop.
Travis turned back, in shock. "You've managed to recharge a beam katana faster than me. How the hell did you do that?"
Mineta's blush worsened, causing his skin on his face to become a shade of red. "Let's just say that I have a lot of free time than others."
(NMHPV)
The last day...
"Mineta...when we first met, to be honest, you were a fucking twig. Now look at you."
What Travis stated had been true, Mineta had grown a few inches, his figure had improved. His pectorals had been shaped up, and his biceps had also grown. His midsection had been shaped into nearly a four-pack, yet it remained skinny.
"You really put in a lot of effort into these three months, and I'm impressed."
Mineta smiled brightly, some tears began to fell onto his face. He gave a thumbs up to his mentor. "Thank you!"
"As you go through the fights, I'll be on your side. You can train with me more, and I'll even teach you some wrestling moves," Travis said.
"Alright!"
Then, an answering machine beeped in Travis room. Travis walked towards it, and pressed a button. A familiar french accent answered.
"Travis? It's me. Tell Mineta that tomorrow is his first Ranked fight. Right now, Mineta Minoru doesn't stand in the Rankings, so he was to defeat his opponent to become 100th in Ranked. Good luck, and go on into the garden of madness."
To Be Continued...
Next Time:
Chapter Five: Ranked Number 100: Toby Slicer