Kamen Rider Hitomi 013 - Deception's Spreading Web Part 1

"Congratulations! You are now up to level 3!"

Hitomi looks at the water of the bay. "I hope that I am making progress at an acceptable rate?"

"There is no such concept. Being an Oni means putting your life on the line. It is much better to be well trained and live than to take shortcuts in your training and die in the field."

"I see. So, what new ways to exhaust me do you have?"

Akira smiles a sneaky smile. "Well, first off, you remember our old friend, running up a hill?"

Hitomi nods.

Akira throws a couple of backpacks down. "Starting today, we will run the same hill running drill, only wearing backpacks with rocks in them."

"No way!"

"We will start with only a small number of rocks. But, as your training progresses, you load up with heavier and heavier rocks."

"Why?"

"Because you might have to haul a frightened child up a hill to get it out of danger."

"Okay, then I will do it."

"Good. Also, while we are up at the park at the top of the hill, not only will we do body weight exercises, we will also start some tumbling work. Your Oni body will be tough, but you still need to learn how to fall properly so that you can be the most effective in combat."

Hitomi nods.

"Okay, let's gather up some rocks and do this!"

...

Hitomi collapses after falling on her back, unable to get up. "Honestly, I think I hurt more today than I have hurt all the previous training sessions put together!"

Akira helps her up. "There are some more aspects to level three training that I haven't told you yet."

"Oh?"

Akira throws a punch at Hitomi.

Hitomi shrieks, covers up and steps out of the way of the punch.

"Starting today, you will learn how to defend yourself against unsophisticated attacks. Makamou, Douji, and Hime aren't exactly superstar martial artists. They are most likely to throw punches or kicks against you. In level three, you will learn how to avoid their attacks as opposed to cowering."

"But, things blow up when you punch things!"

Akira laughs. "I am not transformed so things are not going to explode. But, if I punch your head at the right angle with enough momentum I could cause your head to snap causing brain damage. So avoiding my punches would certainly be in your best interest."

Hitomi nods.

"When fighting an opponent, it is important to always look at them. If you can see an attack coming you have five ways of countering the attack. But, if you don't see it coming then you have no way of countering it. Now, stand up and face me."

Hitomi stands.

"I will throw a punch in slow motion at your head. That's where most of the monsters throw punches anyway. Tuck your chin down and block my punch with your shoulder."

Hitomi sees Akira throwing the slow motion punch. She has plenty of time to tuck her chin and place her shoulder in the way of the punch.

"Excellent! Now stand still." Akira punches Hitomi's shoulder hard.

"Yikes!"

"How bad was that?"

Hitomi rubs her shoulder. "Actually, not too bad."

"Good. The side of the shoulder can take some punishment and not give you too many problems. Now, hold the back of your fist up."

Hitomi does and gets punched there.

"Not bad?"

"Yeah, tolerable."

"Good, that's the principle of the block. Take the blow in an area that doesn't hurt so bad. Now for the parry. When I punch, push my hand across my body."

Hitomi is able to do this easily against Akira's slow motion punch.

"Now, see how clumsy my position is? You could probably push me over or get behind me. Now the next one is pretty easy. It's called duck."

Hitomi is able to duck under Akira's slow motion punch.

"Now comes a really hard one. It might take a while for this to become natural. It's called rolling with the punch. It's kind of a last resort defense. It's waiting until the punch is a couple inches away from your chin and then rolling your head away from the punch so that even though the punch makes contact it does so with less momentum."

Akira throws a slow motion punch. Hitomi jerks her head away too quickly and the punch misses completely.

"Too fast, you must allow some contact."

"Wow, this is hard."

"This is the last one, so don't worry."

"I thought there were five techniques?"

"I can show you the fifth technique, but it's also an offensive technique so I really shouldn't show it to you in level three. However, you're a good student so I know that you won't be misusing it."

"Okay."

"It's a combination shoulder block and roll. The idea is to bait your opponent in so that he thinks that he is throwing a killer punch when really all he is doing is exposing a weak point."

"Wow."

"Now, I will throw a slow motion punch. Deflect it with your shoulder slightly and roll with the punch. After my fist has passed your face, pivot back with all your force and drive your fist upward into my chest."

Hitomi has an uneasy face.

"And, Hitomi? Please do not kill me. Pull your punch at the last second."

"Okay."

Akira throws the punch and Hitomi gets the technique correct the first time, pivoting sharply but stopping herself right before she drives her fist through Akira's solar plexus.

"Thanks. I have been hit there before and it is heinous!"

Hitomi lets out a giggle of relief. "Will that hurt a Makamou?"

"Sometimes. Really though, if you're not transformed you should not be trying to attack a monster, simply because you don't know ahead of time what will hurt them. But, if you are transformed, pure sound will destroy them."

"Amazing."

"Now, also for level three, we are going to be doing some special training on Friday after school, so please look forward to it."

"I will."

...

Akira goes out on the balcony of her apartment and breathes in the night air. She takes out her flying disk animal and animates it with her transformation whistle and then makes it invisible. "I'm sorry I keep asking you to do this, but I don't have any other way to continue this investigation."

The disk animal nods in sympathy.

"Safe trip."

The disk animal flies off.

Akira walks back into her apartment and examines a map. One spot on the map is circled and a bunch of black pins loosely surround it. There is one pink pin among the black pins.

There is also a print out of the picture of the five men by the map.

Akira looks at the map and looks at the picture of the men. "Four dangerous animals are still out there, and dangerous animals come out at night."

To be continued