Chapter 9: Pecking Order

Monday of week two, the day the martial arts club begins it's official training regiment written up by Toshi, Godzilla stepped out of the back room along with a couple other members after changing into their Gi's, and headed to the front of the room to get the rundown. "Listen up" Toshi began, "as of today, we begin our official training routine to prep for the regional college level martial arts tournament. I'll be dividing all of you into groups based off of skill level, general fitness, and year." Toshi explained training each group would be going through and then started calling out names and sending them to the designated section of the room to begin. Godzilla was placed into the group for high skill, high fitness, first years, they were to do 30 minute hi intensity reps of various punches, kicks, palm, and arm strikes against sagi makiwara's. Godzilla had to admit, Toshi was thorough with the organization of it, but given how small each group was and the number of them, it made it clear that there was more discrepancy between the three categories than anyone would have thought. "The captain must be joking, YOU'RE on the same level as ME?" Godzilla heard an arrogant and prideful voice say from behind him, "Huh?" Godzilla said as he turned around to see it's source, a young man who came up to just below his neck, the man had short black hair with streaks of blonde dyed across it, he had beady predatory blue eyes and a spider tattooed on the back of his right hand. "Alright, I'll bite. Who the Hell are you?" Godzilla asked more from annoyance than any actual interest. "I am Kumonga Inoue, soon to be the STAR of the MMA team! Who do you think YOU are to dare attempt to stand on MY level?" he haughtily declared, 'Great, one of these.' Godzilla thought to himself before responding, "I'm the guy who got a scholarship to come be on the team." "WHAT? How did something like YOU earn that?" Kumonga demanded seemingly offended by Godzilla's answer, and unprepared for the coming reply "By beating the shit out of people like you." Godzilla dismissively answered before turning around and starting his reps. "Why you... do you know how many punks like you I've... are you even listening?", He wasn't, Kumonga's rant fell on deaf ears a Godzilla had seemingly forgotten Kumonga even existed. Realizing it was pointless to keep ranting at him, Kumonga begrudgingly started his own reps, but still shot angry ad disgusted looks Godzilla's way the whole time, all of which were also ignored.

"Is he always like that?" Godzilla asked to no-one in particular as he changed out of his Gi after club, "Who?" a guy two lockers to the right asked, "That Kumonga guy, he gave me an earful before we started our reps and then went right back to it as soon as time was up. He didn't shut up till he walked out the door." Godzilla responded. "Oh him, yeah, that's pretty much how he always is. Honestly, he's is actually one of the best among the first years, tough that's not saying much considering how most of them are. Plus with that attitude, it's only a matter of time till he gets his shit kicked in." Explained another member from the locker immediately to Godzilla's left. "Hey Godzilla, wanted to ask, where was that girl that usually shows up with you?" asked the guy directly to his right, "You mean Mothra?" Godzilla replied, "She said she was going to go straight to her dorm today, wanted to catch up on a few assignments." He answered, remembering back to the slightly awkward text conversation from the night before, "Wait, why?" Godzilla inquired, suspiciously. "Well, I was thinking of asking her out and... uh..." he was cut off by the glare Godzilla gave him from over his shoulder, everyone in the locker room could feel the threat of death radiating from the big guy, "You know what, never mind, I'll just mind my own business." "Yes, you will." Godzilla said before heading out.

The next day all of the first years in the club were instructed to spar with each other to gain "practical experience" as it was regiment put it, and Kumonga was set on using this to put all the other first years in their place. "Looks like today you'll all finally understand just how superior I am." Kumonga gloated as two other first years started their match. "You're a mouthy bastard, you know that?" Godzilla retorted, earning a few snickers from the other members. "You ignorant brick! I-", Kumonga began, "hey," one of the first years in the ring interrupted, "How about you two come up here and prove whose better." The two agreed and stepped into the ring. "Alright, the first to three pins is the winner, standard rules apply, no shots below the belt, no eye gouging, etcetera. Now bow and begin!" declared the acting referee, as directed, the two gave a customary bow, Kumonga more begrudgingly, and began. Kumonga immediately lashed out at Godzilla and the two grappled briefly, however, the size and weight difference quickly became apparent as Godzilla soon spun Kumonga around, pulled his right arm back, shoved him onto the mat, pinned Kumonga's left arm behind his back with his knee, and finally heled Kumonga's head down with his left arm, the count hit zero and Godzilla was given the first pin. Godzilla let Kumonga back up, they turned to face each other and started again. At this time Mothra walked into the club room and saw the small crowed gathered around the ring. "What's going on?" she asked the nearest member, "The scariest guy and the biggest asshole in the club are sparring." He responded, "The big guy scares the hell out of me, but Kumonga had this coming.", 'big scary guy, that must be...' Mothra's thoughts were confirmed before she even finished them as she got close enough to see Godzilla having pinned Kumonga for the second time. "Two." The acting ref said Godzilla released his grip and the two repositioned themselves once more. This time Godzilla charged first, Kumonga tried to counter, but sore from the previous two pins and not thinking clearly from anger, quickly found himself lying face first on the ground with Godzilla siting on his back and bending his right leg back into the air, "Damnit damnit DAMNIT!" he cussed as the count hit zero and Godzilla won 3-0. Godzilla got off and watched as Kumonga picked himself up, expecting to get some rant or another about the results. When he was back on his feet the referee instructed the two to bow in respect, Godzilla did so but Kumonga just scoffed and walked off to the other end of the room getting a murmur of disapproval from the others as he did. As Godzilla got out of the ring and the next two members stepped in he was greeted by Mothra, "Hey Goji.", "Mothy, I didn't think you'd be here today." He said back with a pleased grin the girl used all her will not to blush at. "Oh, yeah, I didn't think I would be either, but I my work done sooner than I thought, so I thought I'd drop by." She explained "Umm, did that guy really think he could take you?" she asked, "I think his pride convinced him of it. Honestly, he wasn't all THAT bad, the skill was there but not the discipline. If it was and he had been thinking clearly, he could've used my size to win." He responded, "You're kidding right?" Mothra replied with visible confusion, "Yeah, if you knock big guys like me down we hit the ground hard. Plus we carry a lot of momentum when we go in for a swing or a grab, there's a couple of ways to use that to you're advantage too." Godzilla recalled from several of his past classes. "But that would take a while to explain, and you'd probably find it boring. Anyway, what were you working on?" Godzilla inquired and the two talked back and forth about school and assignments until they parted ways at the dorms.

Notes: I told you the chapters would go back to normal length. I hope this is satisfactory after how short the last one was and that everyone is still enjoying the story. Now, I know at least one of you was probably expecting a Christmas or holiday themed chapter, but that's just not happening yet, I'll do one when the time in the story gets there but I thought it best not to do one because 1. I didn't want to do a time skip from April all the way to December and then jump back to April in the stories timeline, and 2. I didn't want to lock anyone into a specific spot that far off in the story and later on not be happy with that but being forced to go along with it to keep things consistent with said Christmas chapter. So, again, there WILL be one, just not until I actually get to December in the story. Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or whatever else you may or may not celebrate, and that you all have a Happy New Year. As always, please give me any comments, questions or feedback, just keep it respectful and remember to share this story with anyone you think would like it since that's what it's here for.