Mike Zolo

Chapter 2: Mike versus Ricky

Walking down the Hidden Flame Academy's main hallway, Ricky tightened his fists as he grew more anxious to fight Mike. Meanwhile, Mike, who was walking only a few feet behind him, was also getting pumped to fight Ricky, but deep inside, he was a little scared. Since all of the students were still in their rooms taking the exams, Mike and Ricky appeared to be the only ones around, in which case, only the tapping of their feet against the floor could be heard. In his mind, Mike thought, "I sure hope we didn't get ourselves into a mess of trouble..."

"Those two just got themselves into a mess of trouble!" The teacher said to himself, watching the both of them leave his sight. Mike and Ricky turned at a corner, and the teacher walked back into room 243, closing the door behind him. He calmly walked over to the window, just like the rest of the students, and came to see the two rivals enter a large, grassy, empty field. "The right thing to do would be stopping them. However, this probably will end up being the perfect example of a ninja battle. So, pay attention, class." The teacher spoke out to everyone.

Outside, Ricky walked far off into the field, while Mike stayed within the range of the Hidden Flame Academy's doors. After a while, Ricky noticed Mike wasn't following him, so he halted and turned around to face him. "What's the matter, Mike? Scared already?" He taunted him.

Not believing what he said, Mike yelled at him, "Of course not! There's... just no reason to go out that far! I only said outside! And now we're outside!"

Knowing he was obviously lieing, Ricky laughed and replied with, "Okay, then. Fine by me. Let's just get this thing goin'."

Taking that as a meaning to begin, Mike took one step forward in preparation to attack, but was stopped. The teacher had opened up the window and shouted out to them, "I think you'll be needing these!"

"Needing what?" Mike asked, slightly angered that the teacher made him refrain from making his move. He then saw the teacher toss both of them their very own pouches of ninja gear. Mike and Ricky both caught theirs, and put them on. "Oh, thanks!" Mike thanked him, grinning. With that, the teacher left the window open to watch more clearly, and Mike got into a fighting position. The wind picked up, blowing leaves around everywhere. Mike and Ricky's hair blew with the breeze, as they both waited for the other to make the first move. Or so it seemed...

Finally annoyed by the waiting, once a reasonable amount of time passed by, Ricky raised his arm and let his wrist drop as he asked, "Weren't you going to attack me before the teacher stopped you? What's the matter, now? Are you actually thinking this through for once?"

"Maybe." Mike said, smiling. Ricky then felt a presence behind him. He quickly shifted his body around to see Mike behind him. The Mike that he saw, said, "I just needed to stall you long enough for my clone to get behind you! If you count that as "thinking this through", then yes, yes I am!"

"Heh, what kind of cheap trick is that?" Ricky asked, spinning once and roundhouse kicking Mike's clone in the head. The clone exploded in a small eruption of smoke, leaving Ricky wide open to an attack from behind.

Rushing up from in back of Ricky, the real Mike told him, "Perfect! I used the Clone Jutsu when you couldn't see, which was while you were attaching that pouch on! Then, I waited for it to get behind you and get you to turn around as a distraction!" Eventually getting caught up to Ricky, Mike pulled his arm back and made a fist. He thrusted his arm forward and continued, "So that I could really attack you where you can't stop me: from behind!"

"Hmph..." As a smile broke at the corner of Ricky's mouth, the boy sidestepped to the right so that Mike's punch completely missed him, just in time. "Smart move... for a student like you." Ricky then kneed Mike in the stomach while he was off guard. He went on with a combo by swinging his right arm around into Mike's face. The blow threw him a few feet back, skidding across the field. "Still, though." Ricky said. "You're not technically counted as a Genin, yet. Therefor, you're not ready to pull off a real surprise during battle."

"You mean, like this?" A voice said, coming from above Ricky. Shocked, Ricky's eyes opened up wide at the view of the Mike in front of him, poof into a slightly cracked log. Up in the air, the real Mike descended upon Ricky, holding a kunai in his hand. "A basic Substitution Jutsu." Mike said, landing on Ricky and making him fall to the ground. "I used it as soon as I noticed I missed. Otherwise, that pounding to the face would have really hurt!"

"And what do you s'pose you're going to do now?" Ricky asked with the left side of his head against the ground. He seemed to still be calm and cool, not worried about how Mike was on top of him with a dangerous weapon.

Grinning for a moment, Mike moved the kunai over to Ricky's neck as he said, "I'm going to force you to give up so that I win!"

"Nice plan." Ricky complimented him. "If it actually would have worked." Speaking those words, Ricky got his right hand and grabbed onto Mike's hand that was holding the kunai. He pulled it away, and used his left hand to grip onto Mike's leg and push him, making him fall over. As soon as he got his chance, Ricky rolled over and bounced back up on his feet. While Mike was still on the ground, Ricky showed off a single hand sign, saying, "This should trick him..."

Getting up slowly, Mike lifted himself up by pushing off of his knee, then, he closed his eyes and rubbed his head. "When did you learn that? Did you take wrestling or something?" He wondered, before opening his eyes at the sight of the teacher. "Whoa, where'd Ricky go?!" Mike asked.

"He got tired of how weak you were and decided to come back to class." The teacher said in an immature fashion.

"Huh?" Confused, Mike dropped his guard as the teacher threw a punch at him. Mike went crashing into the Hidden Flame Academy's wall, coughing up a small amount of blood at impact. "Ugh... what in the world is going on, here?!"

The teacher then let off a small outburst of smoke as Ricky stood there, smiling. "The simple Transformation Jutsu. Only an idiot like you could fall for that."

"Is that so?" Mike asked, trying to stand back up. Without taking his attention off of Ricky, he put his hand behind him and searched his pouch for something. "Got it!" He stated, pulling out a small tape full of string. He held onto the tape as he rushed back at Ricky and started running large circles around him. Eventually, his speed picked up and Ricky had to keep track of where he was.

"What are you doing, now?" Ricky asked, soon falling into Mike's confusion. It was so hard to keep up, Ricky became dizzy and had to constantly keep turning.

"Now!" Mike announced. He made a quick stop and started running the other way. Noticing his change in direction, Ricky forced himself to keep his eyes on Mike, but his body kept turning. Realizing he could be attacked now, Mike ran right up to Ricky and pulled out some string from the tape. He ran around Ricky, wrapping him up in string, before he was completely tied up. Mike bit the string, cutting it apart from the tape, and made a knot. Then, he put the tape back in his pouch as he stopped running. "You're so easy to fool, Ricky." Mike mocked him.

"I think Mike won!" Zola stated from within room 243. She was certainly surprised, just like the rest of the class, for Mike actually winning in a fight against Ricky appeared to be almost impossible.

Mike turned around and walked away from Ricky. He clapped his hands together, as if beating Ricky was hard work, until he heard something behind him. "Now what is it?" He wondered, turning back to see Ricky standing up, fine, and the string scattered all over the ground. "How is that even possible?!"

"Escape Jutsu. They only taught it for a little while, but I memorized it. Now then. Shall we continue?"

"Enough of this. This repetitive back and forth is annoying! I'm finishing this!" Determined to win, Mike performed the same hand signs from the exam. He charged up the rest of his chakra to his fullest extent, then bent back to get ready for his best Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu yet.

Astonished, Ricky had no choice but to do that as well. There was no time to get away and try to dodge it. There were no objects around to block. He had to counter it with his own jutsu. So, Ricky attempted in doing the same hand signs as Mike, before gathering up all of his chakra as well. Completely ready, he also bent back, ready to unleash all of his fury.

"Can it be?!" The teacher questioned himself. All of the student's jaws dropped after watching both Mike, and Ricky, release an extremely large ball of fire at each other.