Hotaru sat and watched her friends as they discussed what they were going to teach her. She couldn't wait what to learn more. She wanted to be just like each and everyone of them for she admired not only their skill, but their friendship. Not once in her short life had she ever expected to have any friends, especially none like the ones that she had, ones that filled her life with joy that she would never trade in for anything.
When the link had been created, she realized just how much they liked, even loved her, which only made them even closer. 'Wait until Papa hears about this. He's going to be so happy.' She smiled when she saw the others walking towards her. "Did you think of what you wanted to teach me?" She jumped to her feet, eager to learn even more than what she already knew.
"Yeah, we did. We're going to start you out with the basics of fighting, like punching, kicking, evasive movements." Usagi walked to Hotaru and grabbed her by the arms. "This is the tricky stuff. It can be taught and learned, but whether you use it right is up to you. We're going to try to teach you how to use it right, yes, but it's one of those things that you have to learn from experience."
"So listen and watch carefully to what we have to say and show." Makoto interrupted. "We will show you the moves, you will figure out when to use them."
"We will demonstrate and then let you try." Usagi pulled Hotaru out close to the lake, away from the trees and looked down at her. "I'm going to teach you how to make effective hits. First, you make a fist, like this." Usagi clamped her hands tightly and held her newly created fist in front of the youngster. She motioned for Makoto to join her, who promptly complied. "Now that the fist is made, you're going to want to hit. First I'll show you what to do." She turned to Makoto and VERY slowly punched her in the stomach, turning her fist just as she hit, which allowed her to also push in harder.
Hotaru moved her eyes in closer to watch everything that Usagi was doing. "Why are you turning your fist like that, Usagi?"
"I'm glad you noticed that. We've learned that when you turn your fist like this that your punch is more effective, it also let's your fist dig deeper into the skin. What you can do after this, is lift up your fist a little bit, which makes your opponent hurt more." She pulled her fist out of Makoto, who hadn't really felt a thing since Usagi didn't put any strength into the punch.
"So you twist and push harder? Gotcha. Can I try?"
"Sure, punch your hardest. Oh yeah, and when you feel comfortable with it, you can make a power punch by adding some of your Ki energy to it. Try it on me." Usagi moved in front of Hotaru and nodded for her to begin.
"Ok. Here I go." Hotaru tightened her fist and, unconsciously, concentrated a small portion of her energy into it. Doing the same thing that her Sensei just showed her, she raised her fist and planted it in the center of Usagi's stomach, twisting it, slightly, and pushed harder to make Usagi fly backwards into a tree with a large crash. "USAGI, I'M SORRY!"
Hotaru didn't waist any time running to Usagi. She had already hurt Goku, she didn't want to hurt Usagi too. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit that hard. Are you all right?"
Usagi grabbed her stomach as she dizzily sat up. "Whew! What a rush!" She looked over to Hotaru, who seemed to be scared and confused. "I'm fine. But MAN. That was GREAT. I SO was NOT prepared for THAT. Where did you get so strong? I felt you building up power in your punch, but gees, I didn't think it was going to be strong as it was. That was fun, actually. That was the first time that I've ever been thrown around like that and not have it hurt."
Hotaru blushed as she showed a hint of a modest smile. "You really think I'm strong?"
"Oh yeah…You actually threw me into a tree." She turned her head to look at a fallen tree and laughed. "I guess I have a hard head. I think you're going to do just fine with punching." 'Wait till daddy hears about this, too. He's going to be SO surprised.' Usagi crawled up to her feet. "Now you know how to punch, I'm going to teach you some tricks to punching. Now then, I've learned lots of things about fighting with boys because, well, I always fight with my dad and brothers, and this jerk Mamoru. If it's one thing I know, you want to punch the back of their neck cause' there is a special nerve or something that paralyzes them, but momentarily. Mom showed me where it was." She stopped when she heard the giggling of her friend. "What's so funny?"
"Or you can hit them where it really hurts."
"Ah…the most painful spot for a boy. Yes, I've used that a few times. But only on Mamoru. Mom used it on dad a couple of times. We all got a good laugh out of that. But yes, that does work too. You can also try punching the knees, from the front. That will either lock them up, or even break them. That's why we don't usually use this attack, but it works when you're trying to defend yourself. What also works is that little lump in their throats. They choke when you do that."
"What about girls?"
"Go all out there. Believe me when I say this, girls can be harder to beat than guys. They fight dirtier and usually turn into crazed maniacs." She could see that Hotaru was thoroughly enjoying herself. "Ok, there are lotsa different kinds of punches. There are uppercuts where you would lower your fist and then smash it right into someone's jaw. There's this other one where you put your hands together to make a double sized fist. That's good for hitting someone in the back or the back of the head. Well, that's all I can think of for now, Hotaru. Why don't we get you over to Makoto so she can teach you the art of kicking? She's the best at that."
"When will I get to learn reversal stuff?"
"Reversals? Been reading up on fighting have you?"
"Not really. My daddy likes to watch wrestling. I only know stuff from that."
"Oh, well, we'll teach you that a little later after you learn all of the necessities of fighting."
"K!" Hotaru chirped as she ran back to the other girls, who were in a slight spar of their own while they waited for Usagi to get through with her teaching. "MAKOTO!" She yelled just as she was wrapping herself around Makoto. "You're turn!"
"Ok. Did you learn a lot from Usagi?"
"I learned how to hurt a boy."
Makoto giggled as she lead the younger child away from the group of girls. "Her specialty." She grinned as she and Hotaru passed Usagi, who stuck her tongue out at them. "So, you want to learn how to make an effective kick, huh? Well, not only am I going to teach you how to kick right, but I'm also going to teach you how to block them, as well."
"So what do I do first?"
"Well, why don't you show me how you think a kick should be done."
Hotaru nodded. "Ok, I think I can handle that." Hotaru became quiet as she raised her leg and kicked Makoto in the stomach, though, it didn't affect her. When she hit, her leg was still half curled in on itself.
"That would have been good, but…" Hotaru groaned, "It's all part of the learning process. Your major problem with the kick. You weren't standing far enough away from me to make it REALLY work. When you make a kick, by the time your leg hits with your target, it should be fully extended."
"Why?" Hotaru curiously asked.
"Well, look at it this way. Kicking with your leg, with OUT having it extended all the way is like attacking with half power. When you give yourself time to extend your leg all the way before you kick, then you are also letting your kick get full speed and power."
"So it's stronger than way then, right?"
"Yeah. Now you're starting to see it. Good. Now we'll move on. Now keep in mind that kicks are sometimes trickier than other things because you have to know what technique to use for a certain type of kick. You have to know WHEN to use the kick, too. I'll also be explaining when you should perform them."
Hotaru smiled with excitement. "I can't wait!"
"I bet you can't. Now let's start with the basic kick. What you do is…well…kick. Try not to kick in front of the person. Make the hitting area on their side or even back, unless they are all beaten up."
"What happens if you try kicking from them in front when they aren't all beaten up and staggering around?"
"Well, Hotaru, they will most likely grab your leg and reverse your attack. It's not a good thing. Until they have lost a lot of their control with themselves, try to do things less obviously. Now, if you find yourself in a bind or you want to try something different, you can jump and at someone's chest, or even head."
"Makoto, I know how to do a roundhouse kick from watching T.V." Hotaru beamed with pride for knowing that little bit.
"That's good. I was just about to get to that. I guess I can skip that. Onto the next type of kick, my personal favorite. What you do is kneel down to the ground, extend your leg, and swing it into your opponents feet, making them fall of their feet." Makoto could see a look of confusion on her temporary student's face. "Here, I'll show you. You don't mind if I demonstrate on you, do you? I wont do it for real."
"I don't mind, Makoto." Hotaru watched as Makoto kneeled down to the ground, as she had said to do. "I think I get it."
"Good. I'll show you anyways." She proceeded to extend her leg all the way and then pull it back away from Hotaru's feet, only to immediately swing it back, stopping it right before it hit the target. "Just like that, get it?"
Hotaru nodded. "Yep. I get it."
"Great. You catch on fast. I like that." She hopped back to her feet and decided to tell Hotaru of just one last kick. "Here's a trickier kind of kick. I'll demonstrate this one too. Now watch, and don't worry, I wont hurt you." Without even waiting for an 'ok' from Hotaru, Makoto reached out and grabbed the child's hands, pulling them away from her body. "Pull your opponent's arms away to reveal the body more. Then do this." With one swift movement, Makoto's knee was placed firmly within Hotaru's chest. "This is what we call a half kick, otherwise known as kneeing someone." She pulled her leg back and put her foot on the ground. "That's about all I can tell you right now about kicks. I'll teach you some even cooler ones when you master these."
"COOL! But…how do you block?"
"Well…let's say that I was about to kick you, anywhere, it doesn't matter. And you sensed my movements. What you would do, is either jump out of the way, attack before me, or block it with your arms." Makoto could tell that she had just confused the younger fighter even more. "Ok, here's a scenario for you. A leg is headed right for my foot. So I would, look over to where it was coming. If I didn't have time to jump away without getting hit somewhere on my body, I would do this." She looked to her side as if something was coming out at her and raised her forearm to be in front of her face. "My arm would be hit, and I would probably be thrown back, but my face wouldn't too injured, if at all. It's better to have a face, than an arm. Don't you think?"
Hotaru nodded in complete awe. She had never known anyone her age who knew ANYTHING about fighting, let alone THIS much. "Wow."
"Well, Hotaru, I'm about through for now. Come back when you have mastered these and I'll teach you more." Makoto slowly let herself rise into the air to look at her friends on the ground, who were still engaged in a small spar. "OK GUYS! TIME TO TELL HER EVERYTHING ELSE!" She screamed down to the ground.
Hotaru smiled as she looked over to her friends, who were flying for her with bruises and cuts from their spar. 'I can't wait for that kind of action.' "What else are you guys gonna teach me?!"
"Well, Ami is going to tell you some ways to keep yourself safe when fighting, right Ami?" Usagi stated as she turned her attention to her friend in blue.
Ami nodded. "Right. Now, Hotaru, there are so many ways to get yourself hurt when fighting. Fighting is one of the most dangerous things to do, especially the way we fight. But I'm going to give you some hints that reduce your chances of getting severely hurt. First rule, KNOW your opponent. Now I don't mean throw yourself into conversation before you fight. What I'm saying is, analyze your opponent as much as possible before you fight. Don't just run into it without knowing what you're doing. I guarantee that if you do this, you will have a much easier time fighting your opponent."
"Second, don't underestimate your opponent. Be ready for ANYTHING. Don't drop your concentration. If you do, you're stuck. If the enemy gets a hold of you when you've dropped concentration, you can kiss your victory goodbye."
"Third, don't believe ANYONE unless they are on your side. The enemy will say ANYTHING to get you in their grasps. They will lie to your liking, but you must have enough strength to resist. When it comes to fighting, you must always trust those close to you."
Hotaru let the information sink into her as if it were coated with candy. "Wow, Ami. You're smart. Anything else I should know?"
"Yes, always be ready for an attack." She giggled as she saw Usagi hovering over Hotaru, ready to attack.
Hotaru just looked up and deviously smiled back at Usagi as she reached up and pulled her down to her level. "I knew you were there the whole time, Usagi."
"Did you now?"
Before Hotaru had a chance to get in her reply, she turned around and brought her arm in front of her face in response to a kick coming from Makoto, who was testing her ability to expect an attack at any moment. "Too slow, Makoto. I felt your energy building up."
Usagi laughed as Makoto landed to the ground. "Wow, this really DOES Work. Wait till I tell dad. He'll be surprised. He thought that teaching gently couldn't be done, well, it works better. Now Hotaru knows that to do."
Hotaru pulled her arm down and looked at it. A large red mark now lay on it where Makoto's leg made contact. "Wow, I actually blocked it? COOL."
"Now you know the basics of fighting, Hotaru. What are you going to do with your newfound knowledge?"
"Well, Minako, I'm going to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! LET'S HAVE US A GOOD WRASTLE RIGHT HERE!" Hotaru happily squeaked.
Rei grinned as she looked down to the girl in purple. "Fine. Dog pile on Hotaru!"
"AHH!" Hotaru got her act together and high tailed it out of there as soon as she saw her friends approaching her like zombies. "You're all crazy I tell ya!"
"First one to catch her gets a reward! Find the prisoner I say!" Minako jumped to her feet and into the air, giving herself a burst of power as she flew towards the child weaving in and out of the trees around the lake.
"I'll take you up on that one, Minako." Usagi set out in search of Hotaru, who was still running at her top speed away from her friends. "Come on Hotaru, we just want to…Play with you." She laughed out loud as she continued to hunt around for her.
Hotaru persisted as she ran forward. She glanced over her shoulder when she felt Rei's energy signature hot on her tail. "AHH! I'M GOING TO BE CAPTURED BY CRAZY PEOPLE!" Just as she had seen the girls do the day before, she fired a Ki blast at Rei, which made the girl in red jump to dodge. "You will never catch me!"
"Really?"
"WHAT?!" Hotaru quickly turned her head back to face forward only to be faced with an upside down Makoto, who was hanging from a tree. "NO!!" She put her hands in front of her face to block as she tried to stop. But at the pace she was going, she couldn't JUST stop. She slid right into Makoto, causing her to fall out of the tree and land on Hotaru.
"I caught her!" Makoto dug her fingers into the ground and wrapped her legs around Hotaru's. "We have you now. Now you must suffer the consequences."
"I will not be caught by you! No one can catch me! I am the great HOTARU!" Hotaru laughed as she tried to struggle free from Makoto's hold. She soon found out that it was no use, though. Makoto was just too strong for he to break free from. "No fair! Not fair!"
Usagi landed just above Hotaru's head and laughed hysterically down at her. "You have done good, lady Makoto. You have found the prisoner, the great Hotaru. Great Hotaru, what do you have to say in your defense?"
"I'm innocent I tell ya! I didn't do it! It was rock. He hypnotized me. He made me do it." Hotaru pointed to a giant boulder sitting on the edge of the lake. "Bad rock! Bad!"
Rei giggled as she looked over at the boulder. "I don't know, lady Usagi. She has a pretty promising story. The rock does look kind of suspicious."
Usagi skipped over to the rock and bent down to look at it. She could hear Hotaru laughing in the background. "Well Mr. Rock, what do you have to say for yourself? You look guilty. Did you frame The Great Hotaru?" She knocked on it. "Hello in there…It's official ladies, this rock is guilty. Release The Great Hotaru and all the charges on her."
Hotaru stood to her feet and brushed her Gi off as a result of Makoto moving out of the way. "What were my charges, lady Usagi?"
Usagi thought for a moment. There hadn't really been any charges, it was just a game, but she thought of something good soon after the question was asked. "Well Great Hotaru, you were charged with being too cute for you own good. But we clearly see that the rock was feeding us all a bunch of lies and it's ok to be cute."
~*~*~
After Usagi and her friends had taken Hotaru home, she hurried home. They had accidentally returned Hotaru home fifteen minutes late, but the professor wasn't angry. He didn't mind as long as she was safe, which she was. Usagi wasn't worried about getting yelled at by him, though. She was more rather worried about getting chewed out by her mother, who would probably end up fussing about dinner having to be thrown out because she was late.
Once she arrived home, she threw down her school bag by the door and also threw her shoes there too. "Mom, daddy, I'm home." Her attention was caught by her father walking out of the kitchen. "Hey daddy. Sorry I'm home late but we…" Goku put his hand on his daughter's shoulder and led her out of the house without a single word. Usagi found that to be strange. "Look, daddy, I know I'm late but I didn't mean to…"
Goku quietly closed the door behind him so it wouldn't make any noise to alert his wife. "I'm not mad. It's your mother that you have to worry about. Let's just let her cool off for a while." He led her away from the house and into the woods by a small river. "As you've guessed, she's angry about you being home late."
"I know. Daddy, we didn't mean to be late. We were training with Hotaru and lost track of time. Can't I just explain that to mom?"
Goku let out a small laugh as he sat down on a stump and looked into the river. "Do you know what you just said? You just said 'mom' and 'explain' in the same sentence."
"But I didn't mean to be late. What was she saying?"
"Whew…you really want to know?"
Usagi cringed when she heard his 'scared' tone of voice. "Uh…is it really that bad?"
Goku nodded. "Oh yes. She's going through one of those 'times' again where she's just moody all the time. She didn't have dinner ready yet, don't worry. We actually just got home ourselves. She expected to find you home, though. When she didn't, she locked herself in our room and told me to send you in when you got home. But, for obvious reasons, I'm not about to do that."
Usagi sat down and waved her hand around in the water to scare some fish away. "Thanks, daddy. I guess I'm going to get in trouble again. Oh well, I'm used to it. It's nothing new."
Goku could see that his daughter didn't really want to talk about it. He didn't blame her, either. He wouldn't want to talk or think about getting chewed out by Chi-Chi. But that was why he had taken her out of the house. He wanted to give his wife time to cool down. "So, what did Hotaru learn today? Did the link work?"
"YES! We finally got someone else to join. Isn't that COOL!? It was easy too. It didn't even take as long as yours and mom's failures did, no offense."
"That's great, sweetie. Sounds cool. I bet she's happy."
Usagi smiled. "Oh yeah. You should have seen the look on her face when we it worked. Man, nothing is more exciting than making her happy."
"Now you know how your mom and I feel when we see a smile on your face."
Usagi looked up into the sky where stars were becoming visible. "She also learned how to fight, sort of. We taught her all the basics. She even used a few of them. She even punched me into a tree. She's really strong for a human, don't you think daddy?"
'She hit one of them into a tree on her first day?! We had all better watch out for this girl.' "Sure is. I don't know how a human could have gotten such power. The other girls never learned that fast nor did they have that much power when they first started out. I know you did, but you have a reason. But that's good that she's a fast learner. That means that she'll grow up to be strong." He stood up and stood behind his daughter as she continued to look up. "Think we should take this opportunity to mess with that gravity enhancer?"
"Ok." Usagi stood up and pulled the amulet that Bulma had given her out of her pocket. She handed it over to he father, since she knew that he would want to look at it. "Set it REALLY high."
Goku barely raised his eyes enough to look at his eager daughter as he held the device in his hands and changed the gravity setting. "Honey, gravity is not the same as weights. Gravity is harder to work with than weights. Believe me, I had to learn that out the hard way."
"Please? I'm strong. I can do it."
"But you're not going to be able to raise your power level just to be able to withstand this. I wont let you. If you want to become stronger, you have to be at your weakest level when you overcome your obstacles. You know this already. Do you still want it really high?" Usagi nodded. "Ok, if you say so." Goku turned a little dial on the side of the amulet and set it to fifty times earth gravity. "Here you go." He held out the amulet.
"I can do this." As soon as Usagi grabbed the amulet out of her father's hands she fell flat on her face. Her body now felt like it had the day that she had snuck into Vejita's gravity chamber. She felt as if she were being crushed to the floor. Her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse, which only made it more difficult to breath. She couldn't even lift her chin off of the ground.
Goku chuckled as he bent down and grabbed the amulet out of his daughter's hand, immediately releasing the pressure off of her body. "Now do you believe me? I wasn't lying, you know."
Usagi wheezed as the pressure on her lungs returned to normal. She was actually able to keep in more oxygen than she was breathing out. "Oops." She looked up for her father's approval of her mistake.
"It's ok. Just don't mistrust me next time. I'm setting it to twenty times earth's gravity. It will give you a challenge, yet, you will still be able to walk around. It will be like the time when you first started using weights." He once again held out the gravity controlling device to his daughter, who was reluctant to take it from him.
"Like when I first started using weights?" Usagi thought back to her first day of using weights. That was the day that she had been left behind by her father and the day that she and Minako had run into the two muggers in the alley. That was the day that Vejita had taught her how to fall 'correctly.' The day that he had made her get up, even with the weights. That was also the day that he had taunted her because she had trouble getting used to the weights.
Goku wished he knew what was going on in his daughter's mind. She looked to be deep in thought, he knew about what though. It was obvious. She was contemplating whether she wanted to take this next step or not. "Come on, I'll help you get used to it. Let's just see if twenty times is ok. Trust me."
'Trust me', The words that Goku had said to her over and over. Words that were always able to be believed by her. "Ok." She hesitantly reached out and held the amulet tightly in her hands. 'hmm…' She immediately felt an increase of gravity around her and had to lock her legs in place to be able to stay standing. 'This is a lot like the time that I first started using weights.'
"Is that too easy, or hard?"
Usagi struggled to shake her head. "No…it's…fine."
Goku chuckled at his daughter's struggle. "Go ahead and try to step forward. You'll find it to be a lot harder than trying to walk with weights."
"K…" Usagi struggled even more to lift her right foot, she could barely get it up off the ground before it came crashing back down, only it didn't land on the foot. Her calve collapsed beneath her and caused her leg to curl up. "Owe!" She quickly unlocked her other knee and let it do the same to leave her sitting on her knees. "This stinks!"
"Well I think we've found your new training for this evening."
"I thought you said that you weren't going to train me for a while until we got Hotaru used to fighting and all."
"Well Hotaru isn't here right now, is she? So now I'm training you how to properly use this thing. You're going to need it if you plan on walking around school tomorrow. I don't think you want to look like an idiot walking around on your knees, do you?" He laughed as he turned around and began to walk very slowly back to the house. "Come on, let's go home. Your mom has probably cooled down by now.
"I have to wear this to school tomorrow? What if I don't get used to it by tomorrow?"
"Don't worry, you will. It's a long walk home. It should be enough of a walk to get used to it."
"What? It's only a half mile walk from here to home. All we do is cut through those trees." Usagi put her hand on the ground before her and with great effort tried push herself back to her feet. Though even moving her hands was a great struggle to her.
"Who said anything about cutting through trees. We're going out to the road."
Usagi widened her eyes. "What?! The road itself is two and a half miles from here, daddy. Then it's another four miles to the house."
"I know. Like I said, it should get you used to the new gravity enough to at least be able to walk up right. We better get going now if you want any sleep tonight. And don't worry, I wont walk ahead like I did before. I'll stay by your side. So let's get ourselves moving out."
"Daddy! This isn't fair."
"Don't complain. It's good training."
Usagi groaned as she lifted up her foot again, but this time she lost her balance completely and fell flat on her face. She rested her head in her hand as she struggled to just pull up a few grass blades. "This is going to be a LONG night."
(Ok, end of part. What did you think? Good, or bad? See you all later…Ja ne. ^_^ )
When the link had been created, she realized just how much they liked, even loved her, which only made them even closer. 'Wait until Papa hears about this. He's going to be so happy.' She smiled when she saw the others walking towards her. "Did you think of what you wanted to teach me?" She jumped to her feet, eager to learn even more than what she already knew.
"Yeah, we did. We're going to start you out with the basics of fighting, like punching, kicking, evasive movements." Usagi walked to Hotaru and grabbed her by the arms. "This is the tricky stuff. It can be taught and learned, but whether you use it right is up to you. We're going to try to teach you how to use it right, yes, but it's one of those things that you have to learn from experience."
"So listen and watch carefully to what we have to say and show." Makoto interrupted. "We will show you the moves, you will figure out when to use them."
"We will demonstrate and then let you try." Usagi pulled Hotaru out close to the lake, away from the trees and looked down at her. "I'm going to teach you how to make effective hits. First, you make a fist, like this." Usagi clamped her hands tightly and held her newly created fist in front of the youngster. She motioned for Makoto to join her, who promptly complied. "Now that the fist is made, you're going to want to hit. First I'll show you what to do." She turned to Makoto and VERY slowly punched her in the stomach, turning her fist just as she hit, which allowed her to also push in harder.
Hotaru moved her eyes in closer to watch everything that Usagi was doing. "Why are you turning your fist like that, Usagi?"
"I'm glad you noticed that. We've learned that when you turn your fist like this that your punch is more effective, it also let's your fist dig deeper into the skin. What you can do after this, is lift up your fist a little bit, which makes your opponent hurt more." She pulled her fist out of Makoto, who hadn't really felt a thing since Usagi didn't put any strength into the punch.
"So you twist and push harder? Gotcha. Can I try?"
"Sure, punch your hardest. Oh yeah, and when you feel comfortable with it, you can make a power punch by adding some of your Ki energy to it. Try it on me." Usagi moved in front of Hotaru and nodded for her to begin.
"Ok. Here I go." Hotaru tightened her fist and, unconsciously, concentrated a small portion of her energy into it. Doing the same thing that her Sensei just showed her, she raised her fist and planted it in the center of Usagi's stomach, twisting it, slightly, and pushed harder to make Usagi fly backwards into a tree with a large crash. "USAGI, I'M SORRY!"
Hotaru didn't waist any time running to Usagi. She had already hurt Goku, she didn't want to hurt Usagi too. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit that hard. Are you all right?"
Usagi grabbed her stomach as she dizzily sat up. "Whew! What a rush!" She looked over to Hotaru, who seemed to be scared and confused. "I'm fine. But MAN. That was GREAT. I SO was NOT prepared for THAT. Where did you get so strong? I felt you building up power in your punch, but gees, I didn't think it was going to be strong as it was. That was fun, actually. That was the first time that I've ever been thrown around like that and not have it hurt."
Hotaru blushed as she showed a hint of a modest smile. "You really think I'm strong?"
"Oh yeah…You actually threw me into a tree." She turned her head to look at a fallen tree and laughed. "I guess I have a hard head. I think you're going to do just fine with punching." 'Wait till daddy hears about this, too. He's going to be SO surprised.' Usagi crawled up to her feet. "Now you know how to punch, I'm going to teach you some tricks to punching. Now then, I've learned lots of things about fighting with boys because, well, I always fight with my dad and brothers, and this jerk Mamoru. If it's one thing I know, you want to punch the back of their neck cause' there is a special nerve or something that paralyzes them, but momentarily. Mom showed me where it was." She stopped when she heard the giggling of her friend. "What's so funny?"
"Or you can hit them where it really hurts."
"Ah…the most painful spot for a boy. Yes, I've used that a few times. But only on Mamoru. Mom used it on dad a couple of times. We all got a good laugh out of that. But yes, that does work too. You can also try punching the knees, from the front. That will either lock them up, or even break them. That's why we don't usually use this attack, but it works when you're trying to defend yourself. What also works is that little lump in their throats. They choke when you do that."
"What about girls?"
"Go all out there. Believe me when I say this, girls can be harder to beat than guys. They fight dirtier and usually turn into crazed maniacs." She could see that Hotaru was thoroughly enjoying herself. "Ok, there are lotsa different kinds of punches. There are uppercuts where you would lower your fist and then smash it right into someone's jaw. There's this other one where you put your hands together to make a double sized fist. That's good for hitting someone in the back or the back of the head. Well, that's all I can think of for now, Hotaru. Why don't we get you over to Makoto so she can teach you the art of kicking? She's the best at that."
"When will I get to learn reversal stuff?"
"Reversals? Been reading up on fighting have you?"
"Not really. My daddy likes to watch wrestling. I only know stuff from that."
"Oh, well, we'll teach you that a little later after you learn all of the necessities of fighting."
"K!" Hotaru chirped as she ran back to the other girls, who were in a slight spar of their own while they waited for Usagi to get through with her teaching. "MAKOTO!" She yelled just as she was wrapping herself around Makoto. "You're turn!"
"Ok. Did you learn a lot from Usagi?"
"I learned how to hurt a boy."
Makoto giggled as she lead the younger child away from the group of girls. "Her specialty." She grinned as she and Hotaru passed Usagi, who stuck her tongue out at them. "So, you want to learn how to make an effective kick, huh? Well, not only am I going to teach you how to kick right, but I'm also going to teach you how to block them, as well."
"So what do I do first?"
"Well, why don't you show me how you think a kick should be done."
Hotaru nodded. "Ok, I think I can handle that." Hotaru became quiet as she raised her leg and kicked Makoto in the stomach, though, it didn't affect her. When she hit, her leg was still half curled in on itself.
"That would have been good, but…" Hotaru groaned, "It's all part of the learning process. Your major problem with the kick. You weren't standing far enough away from me to make it REALLY work. When you make a kick, by the time your leg hits with your target, it should be fully extended."
"Why?" Hotaru curiously asked.
"Well, look at it this way. Kicking with your leg, with OUT having it extended all the way is like attacking with half power. When you give yourself time to extend your leg all the way before you kick, then you are also letting your kick get full speed and power."
"So it's stronger than way then, right?"
"Yeah. Now you're starting to see it. Good. Now we'll move on. Now keep in mind that kicks are sometimes trickier than other things because you have to know what technique to use for a certain type of kick. You have to know WHEN to use the kick, too. I'll also be explaining when you should perform them."
Hotaru smiled with excitement. "I can't wait!"
"I bet you can't. Now let's start with the basic kick. What you do is…well…kick. Try not to kick in front of the person. Make the hitting area on their side or even back, unless they are all beaten up."
"What happens if you try kicking from them in front when they aren't all beaten up and staggering around?"
"Well, Hotaru, they will most likely grab your leg and reverse your attack. It's not a good thing. Until they have lost a lot of their control with themselves, try to do things less obviously. Now, if you find yourself in a bind or you want to try something different, you can jump and at someone's chest, or even head."
"Makoto, I know how to do a roundhouse kick from watching T.V." Hotaru beamed with pride for knowing that little bit.
"That's good. I was just about to get to that. I guess I can skip that. Onto the next type of kick, my personal favorite. What you do is kneel down to the ground, extend your leg, and swing it into your opponents feet, making them fall of their feet." Makoto could see a look of confusion on her temporary student's face. "Here, I'll show you. You don't mind if I demonstrate on you, do you? I wont do it for real."
"I don't mind, Makoto." Hotaru watched as Makoto kneeled down to the ground, as she had said to do. "I think I get it."
"Good. I'll show you anyways." She proceeded to extend her leg all the way and then pull it back away from Hotaru's feet, only to immediately swing it back, stopping it right before it hit the target. "Just like that, get it?"
Hotaru nodded. "Yep. I get it."
"Great. You catch on fast. I like that." She hopped back to her feet and decided to tell Hotaru of just one last kick. "Here's a trickier kind of kick. I'll demonstrate this one too. Now watch, and don't worry, I wont hurt you." Without even waiting for an 'ok' from Hotaru, Makoto reached out and grabbed the child's hands, pulling them away from her body. "Pull your opponent's arms away to reveal the body more. Then do this." With one swift movement, Makoto's knee was placed firmly within Hotaru's chest. "This is what we call a half kick, otherwise known as kneeing someone." She pulled her leg back and put her foot on the ground. "That's about all I can tell you right now about kicks. I'll teach you some even cooler ones when you master these."
"COOL! But…how do you block?"
"Well…let's say that I was about to kick you, anywhere, it doesn't matter. And you sensed my movements. What you would do, is either jump out of the way, attack before me, or block it with your arms." Makoto could tell that she had just confused the younger fighter even more. "Ok, here's a scenario for you. A leg is headed right for my foot. So I would, look over to where it was coming. If I didn't have time to jump away without getting hit somewhere on my body, I would do this." She looked to her side as if something was coming out at her and raised her forearm to be in front of her face. "My arm would be hit, and I would probably be thrown back, but my face wouldn't too injured, if at all. It's better to have a face, than an arm. Don't you think?"
Hotaru nodded in complete awe. She had never known anyone her age who knew ANYTHING about fighting, let alone THIS much. "Wow."
"Well, Hotaru, I'm about through for now. Come back when you have mastered these and I'll teach you more." Makoto slowly let herself rise into the air to look at her friends on the ground, who were still engaged in a small spar. "OK GUYS! TIME TO TELL HER EVERYTHING ELSE!" She screamed down to the ground.
Hotaru smiled as she looked over to her friends, who were flying for her with bruises and cuts from their spar. 'I can't wait for that kind of action.' "What else are you guys gonna teach me?!"
"Well, Ami is going to tell you some ways to keep yourself safe when fighting, right Ami?" Usagi stated as she turned her attention to her friend in blue.
Ami nodded. "Right. Now, Hotaru, there are so many ways to get yourself hurt when fighting. Fighting is one of the most dangerous things to do, especially the way we fight. But I'm going to give you some hints that reduce your chances of getting severely hurt. First rule, KNOW your opponent. Now I don't mean throw yourself into conversation before you fight. What I'm saying is, analyze your opponent as much as possible before you fight. Don't just run into it without knowing what you're doing. I guarantee that if you do this, you will have a much easier time fighting your opponent."
"Second, don't underestimate your opponent. Be ready for ANYTHING. Don't drop your concentration. If you do, you're stuck. If the enemy gets a hold of you when you've dropped concentration, you can kiss your victory goodbye."
"Third, don't believe ANYONE unless they are on your side. The enemy will say ANYTHING to get you in their grasps. They will lie to your liking, but you must have enough strength to resist. When it comes to fighting, you must always trust those close to you."
Hotaru let the information sink into her as if it were coated with candy. "Wow, Ami. You're smart. Anything else I should know?"
"Yes, always be ready for an attack." She giggled as she saw Usagi hovering over Hotaru, ready to attack.
Hotaru just looked up and deviously smiled back at Usagi as she reached up and pulled her down to her level. "I knew you were there the whole time, Usagi."
"Did you now?"
Before Hotaru had a chance to get in her reply, she turned around and brought her arm in front of her face in response to a kick coming from Makoto, who was testing her ability to expect an attack at any moment. "Too slow, Makoto. I felt your energy building up."
Usagi laughed as Makoto landed to the ground. "Wow, this really DOES Work. Wait till I tell dad. He'll be surprised. He thought that teaching gently couldn't be done, well, it works better. Now Hotaru knows that to do."
Hotaru pulled her arm down and looked at it. A large red mark now lay on it where Makoto's leg made contact. "Wow, I actually blocked it? COOL."
"Now you know the basics of fighting, Hotaru. What are you going to do with your newfound knowledge?"
"Well, Minako, I'm going to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! LET'S HAVE US A GOOD WRASTLE RIGHT HERE!" Hotaru happily squeaked.
Rei grinned as she looked down to the girl in purple. "Fine. Dog pile on Hotaru!"
"AHH!" Hotaru got her act together and high tailed it out of there as soon as she saw her friends approaching her like zombies. "You're all crazy I tell ya!"
"First one to catch her gets a reward! Find the prisoner I say!" Minako jumped to her feet and into the air, giving herself a burst of power as she flew towards the child weaving in and out of the trees around the lake.
"I'll take you up on that one, Minako." Usagi set out in search of Hotaru, who was still running at her top speed away from her friends. "Come on Hotaru, we just want to…Play with you." She laughed out loud as she continued to hunt around for her.
Hotaru persisted as she ran forward. She glanced over her shoulder when she felt Rei's energy signature hot on her tail. "AHH! I'M GOING TO BE CAPTURED BY CRAZY PEOPLE!" Just as she had seen the girls do the day before, she fired a Ki blast at Rei, which made the girl in red jump to dodge. "You will never catch me!"
"Really?"
"WHAT?!" Hotaru quickly turned her head back to face forward only to be faced with an upside down Makoto, who was hanging from a tree. "NO!!" She put her hands in front of her face to block as she tried to stop. But at the pace she was going, she couldn't JUST stop. She slid right into Makoto, causing her to fall out of the tree and land on Hotaru.
"I caught her!" Makoto dug her fingers into the ground and wrapped her legs around Hotaru's. "We have you now. Now you must suffer the consequences."
"I will not be caught by you! No one can catch me! I am the great HOTARU!" Hotaru laughed as she tried to struggle free from Makoto's hold. She soon found out that it was no use, though. Makoto was just too strong for he to break free from. "No fair! Not fair!"
Usagi landed just above Hotaru's head and laughed hysterically down at her. "You have done good, lady Makoto. You have found the prisoner, the great Hotaru. Great Hotaru, what do you have to say in your defense?"
"I'm innocent I tell ya! I didn't do it! It was rock. He hypnotized me. He made me do it." Hotaru pointed to a giant boulder sitting on the edge of the lake. "Bad rock! Bad!"
Rei giggled as she looked over at the boulder. "I don't know, lady Usagi. She has a pretty promising story. The rock does look kind of suspicious."
Usagi skipped over to the rock and bent down to look at it. She could hear Hotaru laughing in the background. "Well Mr. Rock, what do you have to say for yourself? You look guilty. Did you frame The Great Hotaru?" She knocked on it. "Hello in there…It's official ladies, this rock is guilty. Release The Great Hotaru and all the charges on her."
Hotaru stood to her feet and brushed her Gi off as a result of Makoto moving out of the way. "What were my charges, lady Usagi?"
Usagi thought for a moment. There hadn't really been any charges, it was just a game, but she thought of something good soon after the question was asked. "Well Great Hotaru, you were charged with being too cute for you own good. But we clearly see that the rock was feeding us all a bunch of lies and it's ok to be cute."
~*~*~
After Usagi and her friends had taken Hotaru home, she hurried home. They had accidentally returned Hotaru home fifteen minutes late, but the professor wasn't angry. He didn't mind as long as she was safe, which she was. Usagi wasn't worried about getting yelled at by him, though. She was more rather worried about getting chewed out by her mother, who would probably end up fussing about dinner having to be thrown out because she was late.
Once she arrived home, she threw down her school bag by the door and also threw her shoes there too. "Mom, daddy, I'm home." Her attention was caught by her father walking out of the kitchen. "Hey daddy. Sorry I'm home late but we…" Goku put his hand on his daughter's shoulder and led her out of the house without a single word. Usagi found that to be strange. "Look, daddy, I know I'm late but I didn't mean to…"
Goku quietly closed the door behind him so it wouldn't make any noise to alert his wife. "I'm not mad. It's your mother that you have to worry about. Let's just let her cool off for a while." He led her away from the house and into the woods by a small river. "As you've guessed, she's angry about you being home late."
"I know. Daddy, we didn't mean to be late. We were training with Hotaru and lost track of time. Can't I just explain that to mom?"
Goku let out a small laugh as he sat down on a stump and looked into the river. "Do you know what you just said? You just said 'mom' and 'explain' in the same sentence."
"But I didn't mean to be late. What was she saying?"
"Whew…you really want to know?"
Usagi cringed when she heard his 'scared' tone of voice. "Uh…is it really that bad?"
Goku nodded. "Oh yes. She's going through one of those 'times' again where she's just moody all the time. She didn't have dinner ready yet, don't worry. We actually just got home ourselves. She expected to find you home, though. When she didn't, she locked herself in our room and told me to send you in when you got home. But, for obvious reasons, I'm not about to do that."
Usagi sat down and waved her hand around in the water to scare some fish away. "Thanks, daddy. I guess I'm going to get in trouble again. Oh well, I'm used to it. It's nothing new."
Goku could see that his daughter didn't really want to talk about it. He didn't blame her, either. He wouldn't want to talk or think about getting chewed out by Chi-Chi. But that was why he had taken her out of the house. He wanted to give his wife time to cool down. "So, what did Hotaru learn today? Did the link work?"
"YES! We finally got someone else to join. Isn't that COOL!? It was easy too. It didn't even take as long as yours and mom's failures did, no offense."
"That's great, sweetie. Sounds cool. I bet she's happy."
Usagi smiled. "Oh yeah. You should have seen the look on her face when we it worked. Man, nothing is more exciting than making her happy."
"Now you know how your mom and I feel when we see a smile on your face."
Usagi looked up into the sky where stars were becoming visible. "She also learned how to fight, sort of. We taught her all the basics. She even used a few of them. She even punched me into a tree. She's really strong for a human, don't you think daddy?"
'She hit one of them into a tree on her first day?! We had all better watch out for this girl.' "Sure is. I don't know how a human could have gotten such power. The other girls never learned that fast nor did they have that much power when they first started out. I know you did, but you have a reason. But that's good that she's a fast learner. That means that she'll grow up to be strong." He stood up and stood behind his daughter as she continued to look up. "Think we should take this opportunity to mess with that gravity enhancer?"
"Ok." Usagi stood up and pulled the amulet that Bulma had given her out of her pocket. She handed it over to he father, since she knew that he would want to look at it. "Set it REALLY high."
Goku barely raised his eyes enough to look at his eager daughter as he held the device in his hands and changed the gravity setting. "Honey, gravity is not the same as weights. Gravity is harder to work with than weights. Believe me, I had to learn that out the hard way."
"Please? I'm strong. I can do it."
"But you're not going to be able to raise your power level just to be able to withstand this. I wont let you. If you want to become stronger, you have to be at your weakest level when you overcome your obstacles. You know this already. Do you still want it really high?" Usagi nodded. "Ok, if you say so." Goku turned a little dial on the side of the amulet and set it to fifty times earth gravity. "Here you go." He held out the amulet.
"I can do this." As soon as Usagi grabbed the amulet out of her father's hands she fell flat on her face. Her body now felt like it had the day that she had snuck into Vejita's gravity chamber. She felt as if she were being crushed to the floor. Her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse, which only made it more difficult to breath. She couldn't even lift her chin off of the ground.
Goku chuckled as he bent down and grabbed the amulet out of his daughter's hand, immediately releasing the pressure off of her body. "Now do you believe me? I wasn't lying, you know."
Usagi wheezed as the pressure on her lungs returned to normal. She was actually able to keep in more oxygen than she was breathing out. "Oops." She looked up for her father's approval of her mistake.
"It's ok. Just don't mistrust me next time. I'm setting it to twenty times earth's gravity. It will give you a challenge, yet, you will still be able to walk around. It will be like the time when you first started using weights." He once again held out the gravity controlling device to his daughter, who was reluctant to take it from him.
"Like when I first started using weights?" Usagi thought back to her first day of using weights. That was the day that she had been left behind by her father and the day that she and Minako had run into the two muggers in the alley. That was the day that Vejita had taught her how to fall 'correctly.' The day that he had made her get up, even with the weights. That was also the day that he had taunted her because she had trouble getting used to the weights.
Goku wished he knew what was going on in his daughter's mind. She looked to be deep in thought, he knew about what though. It was obvious. She was contemplating whether she wanted to take this next step or not. "Come on, I'll help you get used to it. Let's just see if twenty times is ok. Trust me."
'Trust me', The words that Goku had said to her over and over. Words that were always able to be believed by her. "Ok." She hesitantly reached out and held the amulet tightly in her hands. 'hmm…' She immediately felt an increase of gravity around her and had to lock her legs in place to be able to stay standing. 'This is a lot like the time that I first started using weights.'
"Is that too easy, or hard?"
Usagi struggled to shake her head. "No…it's…fine."
Goku chuckled at his daughter's struggle. "Go ahead and try to step forward. You'll find it to be a lot harder than trying to walk with weights."
"K…" Usagi struggled even more to lift her right foot, she could barely get it up off the ground before it came crashing back down, only it didn't land on the foot. Her calve collapsed beneath her and caused her leg to curl up. "Owe!" She quickly unlocked her other knee and let it do the same to leave her sitting on her knees. "This stinks!"
"Well I think we've found your new training for this evening."
"I thought you said that you weren't going to train me for a while until we got Hotaru used to fighting and all."
"Well Hotaru isn't here right now, is she? So now I'm training you how to properly use this thing. You're going to need it if you plan on walking around school tomorrow. I don't think you want to look like an idiot walking around on your knees, do you?" He laughed as he turned around and began to walk very slowly back to the house. "Come on, let's go home. Your mom has probably cooled down by now.
"I have to wear this to school tomorrow? What if I don't get used to it by tomorrow?"
"Don't worry, you will. It's a long walk home. It should be enough of a walk to get used to it."
"What? It's only a half mile walk from here to home. All we do is cut through those trees." Usagi put her hand on the ground before her and with great effort tried push herself back to her feet. Though even moving her hands was a great struggle to her.
"Who said anything about cutting through trees. We're going out to the road."
Usagi widened her eyes. "What?! The road itself is two and a half miles from here, daddy. Then it's another four miles to the house."
"I know. Like I said, it should get you used to the new gravity enough to at least be able to walk up right. We better get going now if you want any sleep tonight. And don't worry, I wont walk ahead like I did before. I'll stay by your side. So let's get ourselves moving out."
"Daddy! This isn't fair."
"Don't complain. It's good training."
Usagi groaned as she lifted up her foot again, but this time she lost her balance completely and fell flat on her face. She rested her head in her hand as she struggled to just pull up a few grass blades. "This is going to be a LONG night."
(Ok, end of part. What did you think? Good, or bad? See you all later…Ja ne. ^_^ )