"Slow down, slow down... she wants to talk to me? After what happened yesterday?"
"Look, I have no idea what she wants either. She just wants to talk, I guess," The kunoichi said, turning a corner, Sean followed closely behind, "She has something up her sleeve, that's for sure." Ibuki said as they turned the final corner, and the Rindo-kan dojo came into view, and right on the side of it was a rickety- looking pickup truck. This was the building where Sean blew a hole in last night, the Brazilian shoto felt awful just being in the dojo's presence.
"Well we're here." Ibuki said entering the dojo, "You coming Sean?"
"Yeah."
Once the two stepped in they were immediately shocked to see the wall Sean penetrated had completely fallen apart. Leaving a massive gaping hole in the dojo. And sitting right smack dab in the middle of the building was Makoto, who was quietly meditating, wearing the same dougi she had yesterday. She opened her eyes to see who had entered just to be greeted with two shocked faces.
"Yeah. It's awful isn't it?" Makoto said calmly, "And I'M the one who has to pay this off."
"Look Makoto. I'm so sorry that I did this to-"
"Oh. Don't apologize, because I know how we're going to fix this. Matsuda." Makoto said.
"Really? Ok. What do we have to do-"
"We'll be going around the world."
...Silence. The air stood still as Sean and Ibuki were still processing what Makoto had just said.
"That's... ridiculous, Makoto." Ibuki said, "I'm pretty sure fixing up a wall would cost less than 3 plane tickets!"
"Yeah... I'm with Ibuki. I don't think that's very smart." Sean said.
"Well, Matsuda. Truth be told, I wouldn't be satisfied if I just gave you some farm work to do so you can pay off my wall, because it isn't just my wall," The tomboy said, "This whole place will fall apart eventually, and WHEN that happens... it will be on YOU, Matsuda."
"Look Makoto. There has to be an alternative," Ibuki intervened, "business might be slow right now, but maybe if we do a marketing campaign or something..."
"Well nobody would want to come here if there's a GIANT FUCKING HOLE IN THE WALL!" Makoto yelled, shutting the kunoichi up. The tomboy very quickly regained her composure, even though she was obviously frustrated.
"Alright, I'll help you out Makoto." Sean finally spoke up, and Makoto's eyes lit up a little.
"Good. You didn't really have much of a choice anyway."
"Really? Ok, what were my alternatives?"
"Death."
Figures. Sean thought to himself.
"I guess I'll tag along too..." Ibuki said reluctantly, "you're lucky that my summer break starts today!"
"Ok, so what's the plan Makoto?" Sean said getting closer to the tomboy, Ibuki did the same.
"Ok! First, we have to get plane ticket money..." As soon as Makoto said that, all of the excitement vanished into thin air.
"You mean you don't have money?" Ibuki asked.
"I have some, we just need more for the three of us." Makoto answered.
"Aaaand, how exactly do we do that?" Sean questioned. Makoto shuffled around in her pockets, until she came across a certain folded up poster. She unfolded it and showed it to Sean and Ibuki.
Turns out, it was an invitation to fight the one and only, E. Honda, and the reward was a whopping 50,000 yen (about $469.53).
"Yo, isn't this Honda dude the same guy who fought in the Second World Warrior Tournament?" Sean asked, Makoto nodded in response.
"Great. That's more than enough money for a plane trip and hotel," Ibuki said looking over the paper once more, "Thing is, who's gonna fight him?"
"I'll do it," Sean volunteered, "Fighting a sumo wrestler who fought Ryu? Sign me up, and who knows? Maybe I'll learn something."
"Good." Makoto said getting up and walking over to the entrance of the dojo, picking up some car keys as well, "C'mon, we're going right now." Makoto put on her sandals.
"Wait? You mean right now?" A surprised Ibuki said, however, Makoto just ignored her and exited the dojo, the kunoichi and shoto followed suit.
The sun had started to set, a mix of red and orange had painted the sky that evening, and the two martial artists and ninja hopped into the old pickup truck.
"Oh man. Who's beat up truck is this?" Sean asked as he entered the backseat, and Ibuki entered the passenger's seat.
"My father's." Makoto answered sternly, causing Sean to shut up real quick. The tomboy put the keys into the ignition switch and turned them. Causing the vehicle to sputter to life. Makoto cracked a small smile knowing that her father's vehicle still worked.
"It's gonna take about three hours to get from Tosa to Sakai. So get comfortable, I guess." Makoto explained, "ALSO, do you two need to go to the bathroom before we leave?"
"Nah."
"Nope."
"Good. Because I'm not stopping for either of you."
The long ride was fairly quiet and uneventful.
Ibuki was silently looking out the car window, watching the other cars go by with great speed. Sean's eyes were glued to his phone as he scrolled through social media, however, the shoto would occasionally catch Makoto glancing at him through the rear-view mirror.
"Look Makoto. I'm not gonna destroy your father's truck if that's what you're thinking." Sean figured he might as well put an end to Makoto's suspicion.
"Oh really Matsuda? Sorry if I seemed cautious around you after you destroyed my property. I was just making sure you wouldn't do it again." The tomboy shot back. Sean just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever." The Brazilian said as he went back to scrolling on his phone. The rest of the ride was silent, but the tension was palpable. Ibuki hoped that Makoto wouldn't pounce on Sean like a lion and kill him before this is all over.
That's wishful thinking. The kunoichi thought to herself.
Our trio had finally reached Sakai, Osaka, and the night was still young. The buildings lit up the night sky, while the busy cars and buses had illuminated the town below.
"Man, Osaka is super pretty at night." Sean commented.
"Yeah, to be honest, Asia isn't as cool as people make it out to be, but it sure is beautiful sometimes." Ibuki added, Makoto had simply kept her eyes on the road for the rest of the trip.
Our trio had finally arrived at their destination, which wasn't like anything they expected.
"An onsen? Seriously? We drove 3 hours for a frickin' bathhouse?" An irritated Makoto said.
"What are the chances you get to see some sweaty old guys Ibuki?" Sean jokingly asked the ninja, the latter which had merely tried to not imagine some old guy's hairy old crotch-
"Ugh. I think I might get sick, don't joke about that stuff Sean!" Ibuki said as she elbowed her partner in the ribs a little too hard, causing Sean to almost double over.
"Gah! What the hell man?"
"Oops, guess I don't know my own strength-"
"Are you guys done messing around? We have things to do." Makoto yelled back at the two, She very quickly broke up the hijinx between Sean and Ibuki as she was waiting impatiently at the entrance of the onsen, the two very quickly caught up with Makoto.
The lobby of the bathhouse was relatively crowded, as fighters bunched up to challenge one of the original World Warriors. Our trio stuck together and they found a spot near the receptionist's desk and waited. Around the room, people recognized our group of three as the former participants of the Fourth World Warrior Tournament.
"...That's the Rindou-kan kid isn't it? I heard she went toe-to-toe with Ryu, and didn't she fight Fei-Long before too? She must be the real deal."
"I recognize that ponytail, wasn't she the ninja chick who fought that Kenyan girl? She's a badass!"
"..."
"..."
"Hey, isn't that the black kid who got rocked at the World Warrior Tournament? AND the U.S Martial Arts tournament? He sucks."
Sean heard that one, flustered, he turned away from the crowd as his face started to turn red.
"Oooooh yeah, that totally is him dude! See how he got embarrassed like that?"
"I don't blame him, if I got my ass kicked at the preliminaries, I'd be ashamed too."
"He reminds me a lot of that Dan guy. Y'know him?"
With gritted teeth, Sean did the quickest 180 ever, prepared to knock the out guy who badmouthed him.
Right at that moment someone came flying out of the area where the challenge was being held, the random man's face was bruised and his body battered, and his stomach had a giant handprint on it, then the wrestler himself entered the lobby from the arena, standing tall, he wore a gold and blue mawashi, his hair was tied in a neat chonmage, and his face had the same kumadori paint on it.
"Ha! Better luck next time, and make sure you take it easy in our world famous hot springs," Edmond said joyfully pointing over at the entrance of said hot springs, Honda took one look around the room and noticed all the new challengers.
"Alright! More challengers! Follow me everybody!" Honda motioned everyone to follow him into the arena, which was massive, right in the middle was a sumo ring surrounded by sand, and above it was a traditional Japanese dohyo, and surrounding the ring were bleachers. All of the participants took different seats. Makoto and Ibuki sat right next to each other, and Sean sat on the bleacher above them, and so they waited as Honda plowed through the competition.
12AM
Sean and Ibuki were glued to their smartphones, while Makoto waited semi-patiently.
1AM
Sean played on his CPSP and Ibuki's phone had died, she tapped the Brazilian on the foot.
"Hey Sean, do you have your charger on you?"
"Nah, I left it in my bag… along with my dougi… damn it!"
Makoto silently meditated.
2AM
Sean was slowly starting to doze off, until he was awoken by Makoto snapping at him.
"Wake up, you gotta go up there soon." The tomboy demanded, Sean just sighed in response.
3AM
"Ugh… what time is it?" Ibuki said, half asleep.
"Dunno. My phone died a while ago." Sean responded.
"It's 3:43 AM." Makoto said, checking her own smartphone.
"You have a phone?" A shocked Sean said.
"Obviously. What made you think I didn't?" Makoto retorted.
"Oh sorry, it's just that you act like an old lady sometimes."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying it feels like you're stuck in the past."
"I could be in my 80's and I'd still kick your ass 7 ways from Sunday, Matsuda!"
"Well I could-"
"Can you too knock it off? Sean, you're up." Ibuki managed to separate the two, and they both looked around to see that most of the arena consisted of defeated challengers, and they were the only ones still in the competition.
"Hey! You guys ready or…?" Honda shouted up at the trio, Sean got on his feet and hurried down to the arena not without taking off his yellow hoodie and throwing it at Ibuki to catch with her face. The kunoichi very quickly dropped it on the floor.
Sean reached the ring and started stretching.
"Are you not tired from fighting all of those guys?" Sean asked his opponent, Honda shook his head.
"They weren't really much of a challenge. Truthfully, I was waiting for one of you three to step up. What better way to start with the pupil of Ken Masters himself?" Honda said excitedly.
"Uh, yeah, pupil of Ken. Let's go with that."
"Alright, before we start some rules: If you get knocked out of the ring, I win, and vice versa. And if any part of your body touches the ground besides your feet, you lose, and vice versa. Got that?" Honda explained, Sean nodded eagerly.
"OK! I'm getting tired of talking! Let's get to it!" The sumo wrestler said as he raised his leg and slammed it right back down on the earth, causing the arena to shake a little, Sean relaxed his muscles, took a deep breath, and got into his fighting stance, similar to Ryu and Ken's.
After a moment of silence, Honda quite literally launched himself at Sean like a missile, but the shoto simply sidestepped the assault, but the sumo wrestler knew he'd do that, as he flipped right back on his feet and flew back at Sean. Luckily, Sean barely dodged that one, as Honda was flipping back to his neutral position, facing away from the Brazilian, Sean rushed at his opponent. Edmond turned around to deliver a giant hand slap to Sean's face, but the shoto quickly ducked under the hand and dove for Honda's legs and tackled him, making the wrestler fall on his back, Sean jumped off of his opponent, and the wrestler got up.
"Heh, not bad. You get a point!" Honda said with a smile, Sean confidently smiled back at him.
"Alright, round two. Let's go!" Honda said, getting back into his stance.
This time Sean made the first move, he dashed toward Honda with the intent of just attacking him head on, the wrestler prepared to counter it, but Sean quickly went low to go for a leg sweep instead.
Sean's leg collided with Honda's. No impact, Honda stood tall and smirked as he lifted his other leg up to stomp on the shoto, but Sean's reflexes kicked in as he quickly went from his squat back to standing and dashed away, all of those years playing basketball really helped out his footwork.
"Back where we started." Sean said, Honda resisting his sweep had him genuinely surprised.
"Ha! I guess you're right!" Honda laughed, but quickly regained his composure, "Now get ready!"
Sean decided to go on the offensive again, this time he was going for an actual head-on assault, the shoto went for a right hook but Honda merely dodged left, and the wrestler responded to the hook with a hard palm to Sean's stomach, almost knocking the wind out of him. But Sean stood his ground as he saw another giant palm heading for his face. He narrowly avoided the attack and caught Edmond's arm with his own two. Using all of his strength, he lifted Edmond on his back and threw him over his shoulder, slamming the wrestler on his back with a hearty thud.
"Another point for me," Sean celebrated, he looked up to the bleachers to Ibuki and Makoto, "don't worry about this guys, we'll be out of here in no time!"
"Don't jinx it Matsuda, you still have to get one more point." Makoto didn't seem to care if Sean was winning or not.
"Well do you wanna see him lose?" Ibuki asked her friend, Makoto didn't respond.
"It's match point, I hope you got that 50,000 yen ready." Sean was really feeling himself now, as Honda got up he started to laugh.
"Ahhhh, getting competitive now are we? I like that, I'll have to start getting serious now." Honda said as he slapped himself, and back in his hunched over stance, something was different however. Honda looked at Sean with a determined stare, and the shoto shot one right back at him.
This time, Honda approached, while he was slow, his wide figure covered a good amount of space, so even if Sean tried to sidestep him, the wrestler would be able to tag him. Sean prepared himself as Honda got closer, and once close enough, the sumo wrestler reached out toward Sean to grab him, but the Brazilian's experience in basketball aided him again as he front flipped right over Honda, and landed right back on his feet, he turned around to deliver a roundhouse kick to Edmond's noggin, and when Sean's heel collided with Honda's head, it was his own heel that ended up throbbing in pain.
"Ugh! What the hell-MMMF!?"
"HUNDRED HAND SLAPS!"
Honda's massive palms collided with Sean's body multiple times, and once Edmond delivered the finishing blow, he sent Sean flying out of the sumo ring, ending the match. Makoto and Ibuki let out collective sighs, and the beat up challengers started cracking up.
"He got too cocky!"
"Honda-san let him get his hopes up!"
"Looks like Dan Jr. lost another match. Who would've guessed?"
"Alright, settle down. It's not like guys did any better." Honda managed to silence the rowdy crowd, he approached Sean who had gotten up and was mentally kicking himself for losing like that.
"You did a good job Sean, but you have to realize your journey has just begun." Honda reassured his challenger, who in response just silently nodded and returned to the bleachers where Ibuki and Makoto were sitting.
"You got overconfident, and against a veteran fighter like E. Honda? Come on now." Makoto said as she got up to challenge the sumo wrestler herself, Sean shot a glare at her as she went down to the sumo ring.
"Ah yes, the prodigy herself. You were making waves in the street fighting community when they heard about your match with Ryu. Very impressive!" Honda complimented.
"Thanks, but my best is yet to come. And I'd have to agree with Matsuda, fighting another veteran World Warrior is exciting." Makoto admitted.
"Yeah, and also, since you, Sean and Ibuki are together. His points he got against me carry over to you, so you can thank him for that."
"I'll be sure too. Now get ready, and don't hold back!" Makoto exclaimed as she kicked the sandals off her feet and to the side.
The match starts, and Makoto slowly but surely starts approaching Edmond, carefully stepping toward him before dashing right at him at high speed, which caught the wrestler by surprise. Now Makoto was right in front of Honda, and she dug her fist in the wrestler's gut, causing him to double over.
But it wasn't enough. Honda stood his ground and grabbed Makoto by the arms, rendering them ineffective right now. The tomboy squirmed trying to break free, but Honda reeled his head back so he could smash it into Makoto's, but she wasn't just gonna take it, so she did the same.
BONK!
Silence.
"Ugh…" Makoto groaned as she was knocked out, Honda released her grip on the girl to let her fall over.
But she didn't.
Instead of falling over, Makoto wandered around the sumo ring aimlessly, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Until she finally came too, shaking her head, she looked back up at her opponent.
"Sorry," A determined Makoto said, "I'm not hitting the ground today."
"You're amazing kid! I don't think I've ever seen someone stand their ground after being unconscious!" Honda gushed, Makoto chuckled.
"First time for everything huh? Now let's get back to it!" The tomboy got back into her typical fighting stance, Honda did the same.
Makoto went on the offensive again, as she dashed right at Edmond, however the wrestler predicted where his opponent would strike. As Makoto threw a punch at Honda's face, he quickly deflected it with his palm, staggering the young girl for a few seconds, but she quickly retaliated by lifting her leg, intending on hitting Honda in the face, but Honda was quicker, he managed to strike Makoto in the stomach, blowing her back, but she managed to get back on her feet. Honda launched himself head first at Makoto, much faster then he did with Sean.
Makoto clenched her fist, and when Honda's head was mere inches away from Makoto's stomach, she delivered an incredibly powerful strike to Honda's face. Launching him skyward, and finally landing face first into the sand. The final point went to Makoto, she won.
Makoto approached the fallen Honda and helped him up, the wrestler laughed heartily as he got back on his feet.
"Well, that was really something huh? You guys win!" Honda said with a smile, Makoto's face lit up.
"Thank you, Mr. Honda!" Makoto said, bowing to her opponent.
Back in the lobby, E. Honda had given the trio their check and congratulated them on completing his challenge, most of the other participant's congratulated them too.
"So… what're you kids gonna do with the money I gave you?" Honda asked the three.
"Well, we're gonna go around the world and raise some money for my dojo." Makoto stepped up to answer. Honda tilted his head slightly in confusion, but he kept most of his questions to himself.
"Good luck with that then, and remember. If you ever need to relax, make sure you come visit my hot springs!" Edmond advertised, even though the trio were basically outside already, and had gotten back into the pickup truck.
"Ugh. I'm exhausted. We stayed up all night, and my phone is dead." Ibuki complained, Makoto rolled her eyes.
"You didn't do any fighting! If anything, I should be complaining." Makoto said as she drove out of the parking lot and back onto the road. Ibuki looked back at Sean, who was silently staring out of the car window.
"What's up with you Sean? You've been dead quiet ever since we won-"
"I won."
"..Yeah. Anyways, what up?"
Sean just stayed quiet, and Ibuki knew exactly where this was heading, so she tried to give him advice.
"Y'know, Sanjou, a ninja from my village, told me: To learn how to win-"
"You gotta learn how to lose first, right? I've lost so many times now, and I just don't know what I'm doing wrong," Sean vented, "Ken is no help either, he's done more harm than good, and everyone back home treats me like a disgrace, except my family."
"But you aren't a disgrace," Makoto stepped into the conversation, "If you hadn't earned those two points before I fought Honda, I don't think I would've won. While right now you're definitely a below average fighter, but with some work, we'll get you to where you wanna be."
"Woah, really? Well thanks."
"I haven't forgiven you for what you did to my dojo."
"Right." Sean smiled and looked out of the window again. Ibuki felt like she could rest easy knowing that the tension between those two settled slightly.
"By the way Mako, where are we heading first?" Ibuki asked, Makoto looked hesitant to answer.
"...We're going to meet Elena in England." Makoto reluctantly responded, Ibuki gave a smug little smile to her friend.
"Are we? And here I thought you didn't like her! Guess I was wrong." Ibuki teased.
"I never said she was weird! I mean… she IS weird, but that doesn't mean I don't… consider her a friend. Besides, Sean's probably weirder than her." Makoto said.
"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Sean interjected.
"You're not wrong Mako! Did you see the way Sean was looking at Elena during the World Warrior tournament? I think your suspicions are justified." A smug Ibuki said.
"Ugh! Shut up!" Sean threw his hood over his head and tightened it, obscuring his reddening face. Even though she was relatively tired, that managed to get a smile out of Makoto.
The three had finally reached the Tosa region, and the sun was coming up. The rickety truck had made its way toward the Rindo-kan dojo, or atleast what was going to be left of it.
All of a sudden, Makoto was wide awake. She jumped out of her car and ran toward the demolition crew.
"HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ALL ABOUT?" The crew noticed the angry tomboy, she looked like she was going to explode on them.
"Oh! You're Makoto Kato right?"
"Yeah I am. What's happening here?"
"This dojo has been put up for demolition." The crew member explained. That last word echoed in Makoto's head. She started trembling.
"But… you can't do that." Makoto said quietly.
"Actually we can," another worker stepped in, "this building has been damaged beyond repair, the only thing we can do is destroy it. You might want to gather all of your belongings."
Makoto silently glared at the workers, before running up to one of them and reeling back her fist as far as she could, and she probably would've broken the workers jaw if Ibuki hadn't grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me Ibuki." Makoto didn't even look at the ninja, who refused to release her.
"I SAID LET GO OF ME!" Makoto, now facing her dearest friend with tears in her eyes, Ibuki simply pulled her friend into a hug, and that was enough for Makoto to break down into tears, crying in her friend's school shirt, but Ibuki didn't care, as long as she was there for her friend, it didn't matter.
"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Mako." Ibuki said, trying to comfort her friend, "but you gotta say goodbye, and hey! You'll get to sleepover with me tonight? Doesn't that sound fun?"
Makoto stopped crying and pulled herself away.
"Let's just get my stuff and get out of here." The young girl sniffled.
"...If it means anything, I'll help you with your stuff, Makoto." Sean offered, the girl silently walked into the dojo, and Sean and Ibuki followed.
Getting all of Makoto's stuff didn't take too long, but that didn't matter as the three were dead tired from staying up all night driving. Ibuki had returned back to the Ninja's Glade with Makoto, who was welcomed with open arms, and Sean had returned back to his hotel room and rested up.
Two days later, Sean met Ibuki and Makoto at the Kansai International Airport. Makoto was surprisingly wearing something different, just a pair of overalls, a pink undershirt and red sneakers. Ibuki wore a simple cropped tank top, blue jeans and black sneakers, and Sean wore his same yellow hoodie, with black joggers and the same red sneakers.
"You guys ready?" Sean asked the two girls.
"We should be asking YOU that. You were almost late." Makoto chided Sean.
"Like hell I was! I was right on time!" Sean shot back.
"No dude, you were totally almost late." Ibuki disagreed playfully.
"Heeeeeey guys! Hold on!" Someone said running toward all three of them.
"Oh god. Who is it now-"
SKREEEECH!
"Oh it's just Sakura. What's up?" Makoto asked her fellow street fighter, Sakura, who somehow wasn't exhausted, managed to get Sean, Ibuki and Makoto into one big group hug.
"I'm gonna miss you guys! Oh wait! I just remembered, I'm gonna be in Hong Kong in a few months to meet up with Dan, can we meet up then?" Sakura asked of the three.
Makoto thought about it for a few seconds, no harm in visiting her friend for a few days, along with… Dan.
"Eh. Sure. Why not?"
"Great, and I got one more thing for you, Sean." Sakura rifled around in her pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a white headband and handing it over to her shoto colleague.
"That's…!"
"Yep! This is Ryu's old headband. He gave this to me as a gift, and now it's yours!" Sakura said handing the band over to Sean, but he rejected.
"Thanks, but… I don't deserve this. Why'd you give this to me anyway?" Sean asked.
"So you can stay focused, dummy. When I saw you yesterday, I could tell that something was bothering you, so this is for you." Sakura explained, Sean still hesitated, and Makoto started to get irritated.
"Just take the damn headband Sean, we don't have all day here." An impatient Makoto said, and not wanting to hold up Ibuki and Makoto, he took the headband.
DING~
ATTENTION, FLIGHT PASSENGERS, AIRPLANE TO LONDON WILL TAKE OFF IN 10 MINUTES.
"Oh crap, we gotta hurry!" Makoto said as she grabbed her bags and ran to the gate, "See ya later Sakura!"
"Bye Sakura, I'll text you later!" Ibuki said as she ran to catch up with Makoto.
"See you around, and thanks for the headband." Sean said fistbumping Sakura.
"No problem! And have fun, Sean." Sakura replied, Sean ran over to Ibuki and Makoto. Once Sean caught up, the kunoichi figured it would be prime time to mess with the shoto.
"So, you excited to meet your other half in Hong Kong?"
"Shut up man."
"Alright! Jeez. By the way, what are you gonna do with that headband?" Ibuki asked, Sean didn't respond, instead he just shoved the headband deep into his pocket.
*END*
Author's Note:
Sweet relief, this was a massive chapter, and rightfully so. Because this is the start of something amazing. Or terrible. I think I definitely could improve on some things, but I'm really tired right now so I'll do that… later.
As always, if you have any critiques in mind, lemme know. I'd love to hear them :)
