Once he finished covering his embarrassment, T.K. made his way out of the dressing room. He thumped himself on the head a few times, hoping he could force himself into forgetting about the previous moments that forced Kari to the nearest washroom. The moment he stepped out of the room, however, Yolei began cackling like Ed from The Lion King.
"So, T.K." She managed between guffaws. "Everything in working order?"
T.K.'s faced turned tomato-red at an almost instant. So much for forgetting.
"Thad's noth of your bithneth!" Kari shouted from the washroom. She clamped her nose shut to cut off the bloodflow.
Ken raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know what's going on?"
"No!" T.K. shouted, starting to get frustrated over the event.
"Okay, guys." Takuya held his hands up to get their attention. "Let's get down to business here."
The three still in the main workout room turned to the two trainers.
"Now then," Takuya continued. "We've got a lot of work we need to do before you two get yourselves locked up." He looked at Yolei. "Which reminds me, how much time do we have to train these knuckleheads."
Both T.K. and Ken raised an irritated eyebrow. That means they each picked one up, kiddos. The same thought crossed their minds.
You're busy pulling pranks on the guy you're training and you're calling US knuckleheads?
Yolei crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well, we haven't called around about reserving a cage yet, so I'm not quite sure." At that moment, Kari reentered the room.
"We could probably arrange the match to take place in a few months." She said, dabbing her nose with a paper towel.
Takuya nodded. "That's good. Now then, we've got a lot to do today, so we should get started." With that, he walked over to the panel that controlled the sound system in the room. Thumbing a button, Takuya smiled as he prepared to let the smooth tones of rock and roll take over.
Instead, what he got was something far different and far more embarrassing.
"GO GO POWER RAN-"
Takuya quickly killed the music while the other five sweatdropped.
"Uh...ehehe...I think my little brother switched CDs on me." Said trainer took a few moments to trade out CDs. Once he was done, he pressed the proper button again and basked in the musical style of various rock bands.
"That's better." He said. Tomoki joined Takuya at the system and engaged the older man in a conversation none of the teens could see nor hear.
"What are they talking about?" Kari asked.
T.K. shrugged. "I don't know. I can't read nodding heads."
Yolei brought a finger up to her lips. "Maybe they're discussing lunch?"
Ken bopped her lightly on the head. "Yolei, why would they be talking about lunch right before a training session?"
The four noticed that the secret discussion between the trainers heated up a bit as Takuya started to flail his arms about a bit. Tomoki opted to roll his eyes and make his argument with a bit more emphasis.
"They probably can't decide where to start." Kari said. The four sweatdropped a bit as they watched Tomoki jump up a bit and slap Takuya on the back of the head. Said trainers made their way back to the teens, Takuya glaring at the younger person to his side.
"So," Tomoki said. "We talked about it, and we decided that it'd be best if I take Ken and start him on the heavy bag."
"I'll take T.K. into our cage here and start him on some basic grappling training, I guess." Takuya said. T.K. lowered his shoulders a bit.
"You guess, huh?" He said, slightly irritated.
"Yeah, well...I wanted to start you with the bags, but the brat over here..." He thumbed toward Tomoki, who glared at him. "...put up something of a convincing argument, so we'll start there."
"So then, now that we've all decided," Tomoki said. "Let's get started." He directed Ken and Yolei toward the bags that hung in a corner of the room. Takuya beckoned T.K. over to the cage and led the teen in.
"Alright then, first thing's first. Shoes and shirt, off."
T.K. looked at him confused. "Why?"
"Rules of the game. You're not allowed to wear anything other than your shorts and gloves in the cage, so we're going to practice that way. You won't be used to fighting under the rules if you don't practice under them." T.K. nodded and did as he was told. It made sense. Kari stood outside the fence in curiosity.
"Alright then." T.K. said as the two went through various warm up exercises.. "Where do we start?"
Takuya scrunched his brows. "That's a good question. You don't have any formal training, which is why I wanted to start with teaching you some striking techniques. Oh well. I guess we can start with throwing each other around."
"Works for me, I guess."
"Me too!" Kari called out from the sidelines, causing the two inside the cage to look at her oddly. Meanwhile, over at the bag section of the room, a young teen led two older ones to a large, black bag.
"Okay," Tomoki said. "So this is the heavy bag. It's...um...heavy and...uh...a bag. Any questions?"
Yolei raised both an eyebrow and her hand. "Exactly how long have you been doing this again?"
"Two years." Tomoki quickly replied.
"And that's the best intro you can come up with?"
Tomoki shrugged. "You want some long, drawn out explanation about how all we're going to do is watch while Ken here hits it over and over again?"
"It'd be nice." Ken rolled his eyes while Tomoki performed the time-honored action of bringing one's hand up to one's face. Said younger teen turned to the navy-haired one.
"How do you put up with this?" He asked.
"Years of practice." Ken answered.
"Patience of a saint..."
Yolei chose that particular moment to stomp her foot. "Yeah, thanks jackasses!"
"Anyway," Tomoki said. "Let's get started with warm ups before we do anything else."
Ken nodded before the two began said exercises. Yolei opted to sit on a nearby chair and watch her boyfriend and his trainer with a sense of interest she didn't quite expect and a raised eyebrow when Ken took off his shoes.
Maybe I could see just how flexible Ken is, she thought to herself with a smirk. Maybe I could put that flexibility to good use...
An hour later, Kari's fingers had laced themselves into the steel gate that comprised one of the eight sides of the cage. She was joking when she said that watching T.K.'s grappling training would interest her. As it turned out, she was engrossed. She watched as her boyfriend and his trainer contorted one another in manners that could only be described (in her mind, anyway) as painful to even see. Arms were twisted, legs pretzeled, necks wrenched and constricted, and encouragements and tips were heard from the older of the two males.
Yolei engrossed herself into the repeated pounding of human flesh on leather and padding. Each punch and every kick surprised Yolei. She'd seen Ken practice on his own before, but all she had seen was a level of grace and precision that most people wouldn't normally have. Seeing some of those same techniques used on heavy bags and striking gloves gave Yolei a chance to hear the power behind them. And, if volume meant anything, there was certainly a lot of power behind his strikes.
After a few more minutes, and after being released from a choke hold that looked none too comfortable, Takuya stood up in the middle of the cage.
"Ho-kay..." He said as he took a deep breath. Sweat formed a rather slick layer on his skin, as well as his client's. T.K. sat on the floor and panted heavily. "Well, we've made some good progress."
"Really?" T.K. asked between deep breaths.
"Sure. I didn't think you'd catch on as quickly as you have. I figured I'd have had you screaming like a little girl by now." Takuya stifled a laugh as he spoke. T.K. couldn't help but chuckle himself.
"Hey, if you knew what I've been through, that thought wouldn't have crossed your mind."
Takuya offered the teen a hand, which he graciously took. The two walked over to the cage door, where Kari waited with a pair of towels. She handed one to each and watched as they wiped themselves down.
"I suppose we'll call it a day." Takuya said as he slipped on a shirt. T.K. nodded in agreement. "Well, don't argue to stay or anything."
"Sorry, but I feel like I need to lay down for a while."
"You've been lying down for over an hour."
T.K. rolled his eyes while he got dressed. "I meant without someone trying to break me in half."
"Oh, alright. Take a couple days off, and come back early...uh...what's today?"
Kari rolled her eyes. "Friday."
"Right! Monday, then." The two teens nodded as they made their way out of the gym. As they walked through the door, Kari leaned in close to T.K.'s ear.
"You're going to have to show me a few of those moves, T.K." she whispered.
T.K. wore a wolfish grin. "I don't think your brother would be too appreciative of that."
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"It might me." Both teens laughed.
Back at the bags, Ken mimicked the actions of his slightly older friend, wiping away a layer of sweat that built up behind on his forehead.
"Welp, I think we're done today." Tomoki said.
"Great." Yolei said, hopping up from her seat. Both Ken and Tomoki eyed her oddly.
"Why is that great?" Tomoki asked.
Yolei rubbed her sore bottom. "Because I'm tired of sitting all day."
Ken scratched his head. "It's only been a little over an hour. How can you be tired already?"
"I...uh...well..."
"Patience of a saint..." Tomoki muttered under his breath. Not quite softly enough, though.
"I heard you, jackass!" Yolei screamed. "Why do you feel the need to put your opinion out there, anyway? I doubt you're even qualified to be a trainer in the first place!"
"I'm qualified." Tomoki said nonchalantly. "I've got my license. I'm also a black belt in karate, jiujitsu, and a brown in taekwondo. I also know a thing or two about girls."
"Oh yeah, and how's that?" The sound of a cellphone ringtone entered the room. Tomoki quickly walked over to another chair where the ringing phone sat. He took a moment to look at the phone's Caller ID before answering.
"Hey, babe." He said. "Yeah...no...no, we just finished...yeah...ten minutes?" He looked at a clock mounted on the far wall. "Sure, I can do that. Alright, see you then." He eyed the two older teens for a moment before cradling the phone close to his mouth. "Loveyoubabebye."
Yolei grinned widely. "So, that's why."
"Yolei, leave him alone." The door to the gym flew open and a familiar blonde rushed into the dressing room. The four offered Kariraised eyebrows as she stood in the doorway.
She simply shrugged. "He forgot to change before we left."
Ken turned to Tomoki. "You wouldn't happen to have anything for CGS, would you?"
Tomoki and Takuya, who heard Ken's question, burst out laughing while Kari and Yolei looked confused.
"Nope," Tomoki said between guffaws. "You're on your own for that one."
"Damn."