Beelzebub adventures chapter 15
The Ogre of Ishiyama made his entrance to the mountain where the sanctuary was located, where the elder Troll of the Shingetsu style was awaiting to face him. The reason of their feud? The Hollyhock princess, the proud and powerful ona bugeisha from Kantou, was held as hostage by the troll. The Ogre was not going to stop until he had retrieved the maiden away with him to his encampment outside of the city, a seemingly paradisiac place. The reason? The princess was not entirely sure. Or more like she had it difficult to assimilate.
His hands in his pockets, dressed in a pair of jeans and a worn, black rugby polo t-shirt, Oga started walking up the stairway towards Kunieda, who waited at the top. Sometimes he would look at his sides to scan the forest around the manmade structure.
"Yo, Kunieda." Oga happily greeted.
"Hey Oga." Kunieda happily greeted. "What brings you here?"
"I'm here to ask you to come camping with us!" Oga replied.
"Camping?" Kunieda surprisingly says.
"Yeah. Tojo called me and said he's planning a camping trip and other things for us to do. Want to come with us?" Oga asked.
"I would love to go, but I don't think Granddad will let me go. Since what happened before, he wants me to focus on my training incase something like that happens again." Kunieda replied.
"What!?" Oga cried.
"I'm sure Kouta can come with you guys." Kunieda says.
"Kunieda, you're not going stay here and train for the entire summer. Where is that old geezer?" Oga asked.
"I can take you to him, but I don't think he's going to say yes." Kunieda replied.
"All right, lets pay him a visit." Oga said.
"I'm telling you, maybe next year. It doesn't have to be this summer, Oga." Kunieda said without much conviction.
"Don't be a fool, Kunieda. You know very well things will get crazier from now on. You don't know if there's going to be a next time." Oga said.
They found Ittosai cutting some low branches from a small tree. The old man looked at Oga with a stern face.
"I'm not a genius, young man, and I don't need to be one to know why you came here." Ittosai said, gathering some branches.
"Why do you treat Kunieda like a little girl? She's already an adult and you're still holding her hand." Oga wonders.
"Don't be silly. We're not wasting our time here, boy. I'm training her to avoid another situation like the last one. You would do well to train yourself too." Ittosai suggested.
"It will just be a week, old man. She´ll have two more months after that to train." Oga pointed out.
"And what guarantees that she will not disappear in front of your eyes while you're mind raped?" Ittosai wonders.
Oga smirks. "Because I have a secret weapon this time."
Ittosai raised an eyebrow. "It's impossible for you to have trained in such a short time to handle psychic attacks."
"That´s not the only way, gramps. You know that." Oga said.
Oga introduced his hand inside his collar and took out an amulet hanging from his neck. Something that looked like an inverted gothic cross combined with the Zebul fly seal, with green emerald settings in the center line, hanging from a Japanese rosary. The gems glowed in a kind of way Ittosai immediately identified as the one that could be perceived only by demons or humans with enough power and training.
"An exorcist collar? Interesting. Can I assume it´s a gift from the Demon Lord himself?" Ittosai pointed out.
"It was the easiest way." Oga said, putting his exorcist collar back.
"Ok. Did your people also tell you that such a collar consumes a lot of energy?" Ittosai asked.
"They did." Oga replied.
"And that, during combat, the energy flow towards it will weaken significantly?" Ittosai stated.
"They did." Oga said.
"Then how do you plan to protect my granddaughter and yourself in case you're attacked again by another telepath?" Ittosai asked.
"I came here to show you, gramps." Oga replied.
For a split second, Kunieda thought she could see a hint of a smile in his grandfather's face. He walked near to Oga until they were a few inches away from each other, face to face. The elder, despite his years, still walked erect, making more evident his three inches of height and reach advantage over Oga, who was already six feet himself.
"You sure are bold, kiddo. Ok, let's make a deal. I'll test your abilities right now. I'm not a good offensive telepath myself, but I have a little friend whom I got a contract with who will help me with that. If you pass my test, I'll allow Aoi to go with you in your camping trip." Ittosai said.
Kunieda gulped nervously at the hint.
"What if I fail?" Oga asked.
"You'll have to clean and organize my dojo, 6 times a week after EVERY SINGLE training session. You'll also help me to clean and organize the sanctuary after the cults, for the entire summer vacations. Granted, as a perk I'll feed you one meal and allow your kid to hang around if he wants." Ittosai replied.
Kunieda could see a hint of disgust Oga's face at the hearing of such a task. An instant later, however, his typical malicious grin appeared on his demeanor.
"You're gonna need more than food to buy me, gramps. I accept." Oga accepts the deal.
"Ok then, follow me." Ittosai said, as they follow him.
The Ogre and the Maiden followed the elder trough a dirt track surrounded by woods to a big clearing of circular shape. Two boulders protruded from the grass on the right side. Kunieda knew the place. She normally trained combat techniques there with her grandfather and her fellow Red Tail sisters, as the marks on the ground and small craters evidenced. Most people who strolled in the place normally thought the site was either a remnant from WW2. The most superstitious either thought that the evil spirits who fled from the sanctuary tried to bury themselves underground in order to avoid the punishment of the gods of the mountain. Ittosai liked to spread the latter story on those whom he believed the most prone to sneak into the place at night to drink or drug themselves.
Kunieda's thoughts soon became full of conflicting feelings. On one side, if Oga won, they would spend time together in another memorable trip, one she hoped would not be as crazy as their last adventure in the Demon Island. On the other hand, if he lost, despite having to sacrifice his vacations swearing while cleaning the dojo, he would spend every single summer evening with her. Granted, he would most likely be in a bad mood and she would have to spend time studying, but he would be as close to her for the longest possible time as it could get. They would get to talk, rest, work, train, study, laugh and eat together practically every single day of the summer vacations. Their friendship would improve in a way that might not had been possible to replicate in other. With enough time perhaps…maybe only perhaps…
The raspy voice of Ittosai speaking in a severe tone woke her up from her daydreaming.
"Well, boy, since your son is not with you, I assume he's now confident and strong enough not to cut his link with you under tension. If something happens to him or he distracts in certain way, however, I guarantee that I'll let your family host your funeral in my sanctuary for free." Ittosai offered.
"Are you sure the funeral will be mine, old geezer!? It's going to be yours when I'm done with you. Bring it on!" Oga said, getting into his fighting stance.
"Sandalphon! You know what to do!" Ittosai called out.
A dark pink aura started to glow around Ittosai. Kunieda soon recognized a presence that crawled at the right of his grandfather. The contracted demon, Sandalphon, appeared in the shape of an old bearded man wearing a turban and dressed in tunic. As Kunieda knew what he would do, he walked towards one of the boulders without saying a word and sat over it's top. He started glowing in a blue light. Knowing what the seemingly defenseless demon could do, Kunieda crossed her fingers.
Faithful to his style, Ittosai remained on his place, loading his Shingetsu energy aura while Oga charged at him. The Exorcist amulet soon started to glow under his shirt, so powerfully the metal could be seen glowing in white while the emeralds shined in green. Jumping from side to side to confuse his opponent, Oga launched a spinning punch at Ittosai's head. The old man grabbed the arm and rolled with it, trying to catch it in a wristlock. Oga, however rolled with the energy and avoided the attack, snapping his arm away. Throwing a left jab, he followed with a body kick on the same side. Blocking both attacks with a composite Karate block, Ittosai, grabbed the leg and tried to sweep Oga to the ground. The young man lifted his other leg, holding his torso above the ground with his arms and launched another kick to the other side. Lifting his shoulder to minimize the effect of the strike, then spun over, gaining enough momentum to throw Oga towards the boulders. Oga controlled his flight and managed to stop the impact with the rocks with his legs. Charging again, he covered one hundred feet with a single jump. Feinting with a superman punch, he transitioned to another spinning punch. The old man parried it upwards then stroke Oga in the solar plexus. Despite the boy rolling with the punch, the Ittosai grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder. Oga landed on the ground with a very violent impact, screaming. He barely avoided the follow up stomp by rolling to the side. Between every move, Kunieda could feel the energy pulses that emanated from Sandalphon and were rejected by Oga's totem, his green demonic aura intermittently glowing at the same rhythm.
"So you finally discovered the power of leverage, kiddo? About time." Ittosai said.
"Shoot wrestling gramps. You Aikido snobs are not the only ones who know to use that grappling shit." Oga said.
"Ok, show me then. No strikes from now on. Let's see what you can do." Ittosai said.
"It'll be a pleasure." Oga said.
Kunieda understood immediately what Ittosai meant. Part of her training session against telepaths that morning consisted in some isolated drills, where both training partners had to either just grapple or only strike against someone who was better than them at either fighting style. Fighting at a disadvantage while still having to concentrate on repelling mental attacks was one of most challenging but also one of the best ways to train to fight psychic fighters. Standing back to his feet, Oga circled around Ittosai before faking a charge. The old man didn't flinch and started to walk towards him. Oga faked a jump to his neck, then switched for a double leg takedown. Ittosai sprawled and spun to dissipate the energy, then grabbed Oga by the neck attempting a standing choke. Oga predicted it and switched for a clinch. Both men rested for a few seconds. Oga would make the next move, attempting a half suplex. Ittosai jumped in the air with the momentum and landed on his feet. He countered with another shoulder throw. Oga reacted by jumping himself, replying with a hip throw. Ittosai followed with a kimura throw that ended with the same result.
Before she could realize, Kunieda started to laugh nervously, not being able to believe the hilarious spectacle in front of her eyes. After more than thirty throw and takedown attempts, no man was able to get his opponent to the ground. After a last failed attempt by Oga, both men clinched again to rest.
"This…is going…fucking nowhere." Oga angrily said, breathing heavily.
"Already…out of breath…kiddo? At your age I would have wiped the floor with you in ten seconds." Ittosai said.
In the blink of an eye, Ittosai spun Oga around and grabbed Oga by the waist, attempting to make him test his own medicine with a suplex of his own. Oga dropped his weight and got free of Ittosai's grapple. Ittosai gripped his shirt and tried another throw. Oga spun, keeping his body perpendicular to that of the older man and clinged to his neck sideways to avoid the shoulder throw. Ittosai bend over trying to floor him and land on top of him. Oga, however rolled with the momentum, getting his right leg between Ittosai's legs, then scissor traping the right one. The old man fell to the ground while Oga performed a knee bar on him, in the most Japanese pro wrestling fashion Kunieda had seen on TV. Ittosai let out a growl, trying to inhale and relax his body and straighten his back In order to break the hold. Oga, however, inhaled and used both of his legs to keep the old man's back bent. Finally, Ittosai gave up and tapped.
"Oh yeaaah!." Oga cheered , releasing Ittosai and extending his arms in triumphant manner, while still lying on the ground. Kunieda approached her grandfather and offered him a hand, which he refused. Both men lied on the grass for almost a minute, panting. Finally, Oga was the first one to stand up. Walking towards Ittosai, he offered him his own hand. The old man accepted it and rose to his feet.
"So, Purorseu Wrestling is still alive and well, I see. Whom do you train with, Imanari?" Ittosai said casually.
"Sakuraba himself. Not very often, since my parents would not pay for me." Oga answered in the same tone.
"Ha! So now you're going to tell me you learned most of your stuff by watching tapes and wrestling your dad?" Ittosai said.
"I'm surprised you even know whom Sakuraba is, gramps." Oga surprisingly said.
"I'm old, not isolated, kiddo. Yoshiaki Fujiwara is an old friend of mine." Ittosai revealed.
Oga's eyes opened wide. "Really?"
"We used to spar and roll whenever we could at college back in the old days." Ittosai said.
"So you did Kosen Judo?" Oga asked with interest.
"9th degree black belt. At least now you have something more you can brag about." Ittosai replied.
A smile illuminated Oga's face. Both men shook hands.
"I hope I'm as tough as you when I'm 80, old man." Oga said.
"And I hope you're not too much of a drag and Aoi and the children doesn't have to take care of a decrepit shadow of your former self, grandson. She's in your hands, as I promised. Take good care of her, unless you want me to get dead serious next time we trade blows." Ittosai warned.
Sandalphon, smiling from a distance, vanished. Ittosai placed his hand over Kunieda's shoulder, without saying anything, then headed towards the exit of the clearing. Oga walked until he was very close to her side, making her feel uncomfortable. Her feelings were still conflicted.
''Well, if I'm not getting to see you everyday, let's hope this trip will be unforgettable.'' Kunieda thinks to herself with a smile she felt both as sad and joyful.
"Well, Kunieda, what about going for some ice cream now? It's hot as fuck." Oga suggested.
"Yeah, sure!" Kunieda happily said.
"You sure know the place. I invited your cousin, Aoi Kunie there a few years ago. Why don't you invite her to the camp? I'm sure everyone will like her." Oga gave her a light push on the back, smiling and walking at her side while getting out of the clearing.
Despite their years as friends, Kunieda's head started to boil and steam in a mix of both anger and amusement.
'"You're a damn fool…. Oga''. Kunieda thinks to herself.