Chapter 7: Welcome to the Club

Friday, the first day of meetups for the Martial Arts Club, as finally here. Godzilla couldn't help but look forward to this just a little, his academic courses melted his brain, so it would be nice to unwind with something he enjoyed, plus he was interested to see what kind of equipment they had for use, and it was the whole reason he was at Toho U to begin with. The bell finally rang to let the students out and Godzilla packed his books, hefted the duffle bag containing his gi and water bottle, and started making his way towards the building containing the club room. While heading down the hall however Godzilla overheard two male 3rd students talking, "Tons of cute freshman girls this year." Said one, "Yeah, replied the other, "you hoping to snag one in particular?", "Absolutely!" the first continued "That one with the silver hair and blue eyes... what was her name... Mothra!". Upon hearing Mothra's name Godzilla stopped and he could already feel the anger building in him from the tone the first one spoke with, but what he heard next settled it. "Seriously?" the second one said in surprise, "What? Something I should know?" the first inquired, "Dude, I've seen girls like her before and they come in two types, usually, there a stuck-up bitch, and they whine and demand expensive shit from you, or there a total sl-" he stopped, seeing his friend go pale and point behind him, "Wha- oh..." the student turned around to see Godzilla, glaring down at him, rage visible in his eyes, "Mothra happens to be a friend of mine, now, I want you tell me what she is exactly, think real carefully." Godzilla threatened the visibly smaller student in front of him, "Nothing, I'm sure she's a fine and upstanding person." The 3rd year answered, visually panicked and all confidence gone from his voice, "Good, let's keep it that way." Godzilla said before leaving, behind him Godzilla could hear the student telling his friend how he saw his life flash before his eyes and that he needed to be sure he wasn't dead. "Great, now I feel as pissed as people tell me I look." Godzilla grumbled to himself as he left the building. After a few minutes Godzilla reached the building containing the clubs room, even from outside he could tell the room was large, something he knew was to ensure that their was ample space for not just the members, but also the equipment he also remembered that, when the school initially approached him about enrolling, the message they sent mentioned that it also contained working showers and lockers for members to store clothes or whatever else they deemed essential. Godzilla did have to appreciate though that the rooms outer wall, as well as the door, were modelled to resemble a traditional dojo, the door even functioned the same, he gave a slight nod and huff in approval at the novelty of it and finally entered.

What Godzilla saw inside wasn't quite what he was expecting, the room itself and the equipment were fine, the room was in good shape, properly lit, an as he expected, had plenty of space in it. As for the equipment, it was fine as well, a mix of modern and traditional pieces, and he could tell it was all in good shape. No, the problem was the other members, some were diligently training and sparing with each other, most however were just sitting around chatting or just staring at their phones, not a single one of them majority looked like they had trained a day. As Godzilla mumbled his disapproval one student excused himself from his sparing match and came over to greet him, "Ah, hello there," he greeted, "I'm Toshi, the club head and team captain. Can I ask your name?" "Hm? Oh, I'm Godzilla, that should probably tell you why I'm here." Godzilla answered, being pulled from his mental criticism of the lazy members, "So you're him huh? Ha, the told me you were a big guy but I didn't expect this. I'm certainly glad to have you aboard though." "Thanks." Godzilla replied, "Hey, uh, I noticed a few of you already started, I'm not late am I?" he asked, "No, me and some of the more senior members just like to start early. The other guys are new, but honestly, given how there acting, they have till this time next week to shape up or get out." Toshi answered, "Anyway, if you already have a gi or some other training gear, then go change, if not, we'll get you one on Monday. Then, see if anyone is willing to spar, if not I'll either assign someone or hone yourself with the equipment. The actual training regiment will start on Monday since I'll need a couple days to properly gauge where all the new members are at s I can write up the most effective schedule." Godzilla nodded, dismissed himself to change ad then returned to find anyone willing to spar. Unsurprisingly most of the non senior members were intimidated by him and refused, a couple even shot him some dirty looks, nothing Godzilla wasn't used to, he would have actually been a little shocked if these things didn't happen given his appearance, so he just moved himself into the back by the sagi makiwara, he still had the urge to hit something after his encounter in the hallway, got into a comfortable stance, and repeatedly struck the hanging post as hard as he could. When it came to letting out aggression like this Godzilla preferred older more solid equipment he felt less likely to damage it and something about the contact with a hard surface just felt more satisfying at those times, maybe because more leathery equipment felt too much like hitting a person and reminded him of his fights from childhood. During normal training it made little difference to him, but right now, this was far more therapeutic. With every blow Godzilla could feel the anger dissipate, martial arts was one of the only two things that, at least too Godzilla, cleared his head and kept his anger, or whatever else he was feeling, in check, the other was swimming. Being surrounded and submerged in water had nearly the same effect, often he would just submerge himself or just float around face down, he'd even learned to hold his breath for up to 15 minutes for that purpose, he fully intended to use the schools pool when he had time, and after it's renovations were done.

Meanwhile, about 30 minutes had gone by since the club hours officially started and now Mothra found herself standing nervously outside the martial arts club room's door. She has psyched herself up for this all evening yesterday and all of today, but now that the time had actually arrived, she couldn't seem to bring herself to go in. "Come on," she said to herself, "you've seen Goji like this before at team demonstrations and tournaments before in both Jr high and high school. I can absolutely do this... right? No, I can't." She said, turning away, only to turn back around and walk up to the door again almost immediately, "No, I have to do this, I can do this." And with that, Mothra took a deep breath to calm herself and finally entered the club room. The sight and sound of the door sliding open caught the attention of the club members closest too it, the actual sight of Mothra, her bright blue eyes, slender figure, and long silvery hair, is what held it. Mothra either didn't notice or chose to ignore them though as she slid the door back closed behind her, took a look around and then headed further in to find Godzilla. As she passed by, every member stopped to look at her, and a vast majority hoped that she was their to see them specifically, only to be disappointed when she didn't stop by any of them, and shocked when she finally did at the Godzilla, near the back of the room still punching the hanging wooden post, so focused was he that Godzilla didn't seem to notice Mothra approach him until she spoke. "Hey Goji." She said with a smile, a few club members gasping in awe at the name she'd just called the big guy. With that, Godzilla's assault on the makiwara stopped and he turned towards the much smaller girl. Several of the more enamoured club members prepared to leap to Mothra's aid, expecting Godzilla to do something horrible to her, but instead saw his face soften into a smile at the sight of the silver hared girl who he greeted back in cheerful surprise, "Hey Mothy, what are you doing here?", and earning another few gasps and similar sounds of shock at his name for her. "Well, I'm not part of any clubs this year, so I thought I'd keep you company here. Plus, well... I know how people can... react to you." She answered back with the half truth she must have recited 20 times to avoid giving a more honest, and embarrassing, answer to the question she knew he'd ask. "Hmmm... I mean, it'll probably be pretty boring here for you, but, I guess if the captain doesn't say otherwise you can stay." Godzilla said as he turned back to the wooden post to hide his own embarrassment, "Thanks though, really, I mean it." He said to her with a quick look over his shoulder before picking up where he had left off. Toshi barked an order for the rest of the club to get back to work, Godzilla and Mothra didn't talk much for the duration of the club hours, mostly due to carefully hidden bashfulness, but both were completely content at the simple knowledge of others presence for now, even if they didn't know they both felt the same.

Notes: Chapter 7 is here and with it both the Martial Arts Club, and, possibly, the end of my format of one Godzilla focused chapter and then one Mothra focused chapter, well, maybe, I'll see what my mind does with the other chapters as I write them. Speaking of the club, I'll just make it clear to avoid confusion, no, Toshi isn't based on, or named after, any monster or prominent actor/character, I just had a basic idea for the sort of person I wanted as the clubs captain and picked his name at random. As always please leave any comments, questions or feedback you have, just remember to be respectful, and again, please do spread the links around to anyone who you think would enjoy this, it's here to entertain people so why not get it out to as many as possible.