Chapter 40 - Baptism

"Well… I'm no longer in the mood for sparring after that." Fumio breaks the silence in the room.

"Same… I already feel bad hitting you." Kotone bows in apology to Fumio.

"It's fine. Let's spar some other time." Fumio waves the apology off.

"Huh… Interesting." The two's odd moment is interrupted by Red's comment.

"It's a nice moment but, the money I spent to reserve this place will go to waste if you two don't use it." Red continues.

"Do we really have to spar now?" Kotone asks.

"Not anymore…" Red says as he looks at the combat training room's metallic door.

"You two. Wear your illusions." He then orders the two.

Fumio immediately follows the order which compels Kotone to do the same.

Red too casts an illusion on himself, assuming his Old Phantom identity.

The next moment.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* Someone from outside the room, bangs on the metallic door.

"We have company, boss?" Fumio asks.

"Yep." Red says as he walks to the door and opens it.

"…" Blade Tornado is stunned to see who just opened the door for him.

"O-Old Phantom… Hello." He greets Red awkwardly.

"Come in." Red gestures Blade Tornado in.

"Old bastard. I didn't know you'd be here too." Blade Tornado says as he walks in.

"Well. I just wanna see these two students of mine in action." Red explains.

"Oh... Do we spar after I test them?" Blade Tornado asks as they walk further inside.

"If you'll have fuel left." Red shrugs.

"Alright. Hey. Nice work in your last match by the way…" They two then start to catch up.

Meanwhile, Kotone and Fumio who recognized Blade Tornado, are surprised by the superiori's arrival.

Kotone also catches information from Blade's words.

"Old Phantom… is Kichirou-san?" She whispers to Fumio.

"Yes." Fumio nods.

"K-kichirou-san is an underground fighter?!" Kotone harshly whispers in shock.

"It's his hobby, really. Don't worry. He just plays with his opponents and never seriously injures them. Boss is different." Fumio explains, calming Kotone down.

"Wait a minute…" Kotone suddenly remembers something.

"Then doesn't mean that Kichirou-san beat Flame Colossus and Gorilla who are B-Class Superiori?" Kotone asks.

"Precisely." Fumio smiles proudly.

"Then Kichirou-san is as strong as a B-Class?" Kotone asks.

"No. I'm confident that boss has the ability to beat even A-Class superiori." Fumio says.

Kotone gasps in awe at the information.

"You two." The two are interrupted by 'Old Phantom' and they turn to Red and Blade Tornado in attention.

"So, which one goes first?" Blade Tornado asks.

"The young man." Red says pointing at Kotone who is wearing her young man disguise illusion.

Kotone is intimidated as Blade Tornado gives her a playful smirk.

"Hey. Come over here and don't get in the way." Red then orders Fumio.

Fumio, while worried for Kotone, follows the order.

"So… The old bastard said you're green? Don't worry. I'll go easy on you." Blade Tornado says as he joins Kotone in the middle of the room.

Kotone, despite her numerous encounters with Blade Tornado in the shop, has never felt so scared of the man until today.

"You're not longer the same as before!" Fumio yells to Kotone to help her get her head in the incoming fight.

Kotone immediately raises her wooden sword to prepare for what is coming and Fumio's words making her more confident.

Blade Tornado stops in his steps right outside of what he estimates as the range of Kotone's sword.

"Tsk. Tsk…" He clicks his tongue and looks at Red.

"Hey, old man! You said that he's green, but I didn't expect this… Really? It looks like one hit, and he'll be running away!" He complains.

"…" Kotone cannot argue as currently, she is indeed very scared of getting hit.

"Well. Just chase him 'til he fights back. What's the big deal?" Red says, to Kotone's disbelief.

"Hey, kid. Blade Tornado's gonna hold back. And I'm a doctor, remember?" He then turns to Kotone. This assures Kotone a bit.

"Oh, that's right. You'll be fine then, kid." Blade Tornado turns his attention back to Kotone and he charges forward.

Kotone immediately swings her sword downwards. Blade Tornado simply tilts his body sideways, dodging the wooden sword easily, and at the same time, he throws out a middle kick to Kotone's ribs.

Kotone, seeing the incoming attack, immediately hops away, sloppily but successfully dodging Blade Tornado's leg. Blade Tornado however is not done and he stomps the ground with his other foot, shooting off to Kotone's direction in pursuit and he throws out a straight.

Kotone hops to her side immediately, dodging Blade Tornado's fist by a wide margin.

"Pffft.." Blade Tornado stops in his pursuit and snickers in amusement.

"Hey old man. Are you sure he's your student? You just pulled in a random fuck off the street to fight me for giggles, didn't you?" He asks Red once again.

"Hey. Like I said. He's green." Red shrugs.

"And you. Is that how you dodge strikes? Have you learned nothing?" He then addresses Kotone.

Kotone is reminded of her sparring training with Red and she relaxes a bit.

Red, seeing this, nods.

"Blade. Continue."

"As you wish." Blade Tornado shrugs and goes to attack again with a middle kick.

This time however, he is surprised to see that Kotone simply steps back, dodging his foot at a much narrower margin than earlier. After that, he is almost startled as Kotone uses her back step's momentum to gather power for a downward swing.

*whoosh*

Blade Tornado dodges the wooden sword, but at a large margin that does not allow him to counter.

"OHO~ Nice." Blade Tornado is pleased that Kotone is faster than he thought.

He starts bobbing up and down using his knees, assuming a lighter stance.

A second later, he approaches Kotone in a zigzagging manner.

Kotone is taken aback and she gets stressed out. At every bob and weave that Blade Tornado does, she twitches, her tension increasing, preparing, trying to anticipate any incoming attack.

Soon, *whoosh* Blade Tornado has approached close enough to have Kotone in his range, and he throws a jab.

Kotone's eyes widen. Startled by the fist that is already approaching her face, she swipes her sword in an attempt to intercept Blade Tornado's fist.

That action saved her a bit as Blade Tornado's fist lands on her sword, but it causes her own sword to hit her face and chest. She then hastily takes steps backs to get away. The strength of Blade Tornado's strike strikes fear in her heart, and adding the stinging pain on her face and chest, she does not know how to proceed.

"Tsk." Blade Tornado meanwhile, clicks his tongue as he caresses his knuckles.

A part of his knuckles just happened to hit the sword in a way that it dislocated a bone.

"Some kind of a wooden sword. Fuck it's hard." He complains.

Kotone, seeing Blade Tornado is a bit in pain, is a bit relieved and her fear goes down a little.

"Hey Kotaru… If you want this to end. You have to land at least three successful hits." Red tells Kotone for encouragement.

Kotone simply accepts her temporary name and gets to attack mode immediately.

*foo-fofofo-fooo..* A barrage of sword strikes comes Blade Tornado's way.

Being unused to dealing with sword users, Blade Tornado, in caution, dodges the strikes. Not long after, *whack* his rhythm is broken, dodging is suddenly out of his options, and can only block the sword coming for his shoulder with his arm.

Blade Tornado smirks that Kotone is starting to grow teeth and fangs so he ups the pace.

Before, he restricted his speed and strength to be careful to not injure Kotone so much as he is afraid what 'Old Phantom' would do to him.

But now, he is confident that Kotone can handle harder hits with her strength.

Kotone, getting more confident, starts another combo.

To her surprise however, Blade Tornado starts to move faster and soon enough *smack* her sword is smacked to the side and another middle kick goes her way.

Blade Tornado's speed this time does not allow her to dodge so she only raises her leg to check the kick.

*WHACK* Even though she successfully blocked the man's kick, the strength of it lifted her a few inches off the ground and she is pushed a few feet backwards. She then stumbles in retreat to make space.

Blade Tornado stops his attacks to observe and to his pleasure, Kotone is wearing a painful expression.

Kotone bites her lower lip, her leg she used to block the kick starting to severely ache, making her head hurt, making her worried that it might be fractured. She has no time to process the pain as she sees Blade Tornado closing the distance once again.

Blade Tornado meanwhile, plans to not make any attempts in connecting any clean hits yet. He notices that not only Kotone is not used to getting hit, her body is not even conditioned to block strikes. So he instead plans to throw blockable attacks to condition Kotone.

*whack* *whack* *whack*

A few moments later, and numerous attacks blocked later, Kotone is starting to breathe heavily. While she is not tired, all of her limbs are hurting, making her want to puke her guts out. She also can barely raise her wooden sword.

Even though she wants to quit, she feels it is not yet time as she herself successfully landed two successful counterstrikes on Blade Tornado's body, just one more hit before she meets her quota.

Blade Tornado and Kotone charge at the same time.

Blade Tornado throws a kick and Kotone prepares for a thrust.

*shunk*

Kotone's thrust lands on Blade Tornado's chest first, but unfortunately for her, Blade Tornado is tall and his reach is long, so his leg lands on Kotone's undefended torso.

*SMACK* Air is knocked out of Kotone's lungs and is she is knocked a few feet away. She manages to land on her feet, but the pain and her struggle to breath forced her to her knees.

Blade Tornado, knowing that Kotone succeeded on her task, stops his attacks and nods in approval. Red also nods, satisfied with Kotone's performance for someone who never fought before. Fumio on the other hand, wants to approach Kotone in worry.

A few seconds later, "*GASP*" Kotone gets her breath back and hungrily executes the basic breathing technique, making her feel a bit better.

"Good job." Red calls out.

He then tosses Blade Tornado a small canister.

"What's this?" Blade Tornado asks as he unscrews the cap.

"Apply the thing on your chest. It's a wooden sword, but it stabbed you pretty squarely." Red says.

His words remind Blade Tornado of his injury and he realizes that there is now a red spot on his chest and it starts to hurt bad.

"Shit…" He takes a sharp breath as he hurriedly digs his finger on the ointment in the canister before applying it.

"Damn… I don't know where you get these things old man, but they're convenient. Can you sell them to me?" Blade Tornado asks as he feels the cooling and healing effect on his chest.

"I'll give you one after your next spar." Red says as he helps Kotone up.

"You did great, Kotone." He whispers to Kotone's ear.

"Thank you, Kichirou-san." Kotone whispers back.

As Kotone is assisted by Red to the side of the room to rest, she looks at Red, expecting something. Red knows what she is thinking and shakes his head.

"Later. Don't you want to feel the pain of your first fight? If you can call that a fight at all? You have to get used to this if you want to grow stronger." He refuses Kotone's silent request of healing.

"You're the devil." Kotone can only accept bitterly as she sits down on the floor and rests her back against the cold concrete wall.

"Are you fine, now?" Red asks Blade Tornado next.

"Yeah. I'm ready." Blade Tornado nods.

"But... This guy's your student? He seems to be older than me?" He asks as he points at Fumio.

"Yes. You did say all you wanted is a good spar, no? Even though he does not fight as often as you do, he's good enough." Red says.

Blade Tornado then looks at Fumio to assess him.. Fumio, unlike the scared Kotone, gets excited and he walks to the center of the room to join Blade Tornado.