Chapter 24 - State Champs Part 1

Chapter 24 - State Champs Part 1

I had to hire a car to take me to the States Martial Arts Championship. The reason being, it would take several hours to get signed in, weighed and for the tournament to start, Mom and Dad wanted to come and watch me compete, but it seemed pointless for them to have to hang around for the hours that the preliminary would entail. So by using the hire car, they were able to sleep longer, keeping their sleep pattern the same before driving. I however had to be up at four thirty, in order to have time for some breakfast, before the hire car service picked me up at five.

The tournament was being held in a sports complex to hold the number of both cadets and adults fighting.

I initially had a bit of trouble at the sign in station; the official there thought I was joking when I said I wanted to sign in for the cadet tournament. Luckily I along with Mr. Yahmahta had anticipated this awkwardness, he had given me a letter for the officials, stating my intent to compete and his endorsement of my attempt. Once the official read that, he completed my paperwork to allow me to compete.

As you would expect, I had no trouble with the weigh in, I was easily the lightest competitor there, so I was entered into the flyweight category.

I wanted to warm up, but I didn’t want to do it with the other fighters, as that would lead to questions, and I would expect the usual sarcasm and heckling that would go along with it when they found out I was competing.

I moved around the hall, trying to find a quieter area to myself, when I bumped into another of Mr. Shinuto’s students, Dave Fellows; he was in his shinobi, so I gathered he was also competing today in the cadet category.

He was a tall, slim teenager, wiry rather than heavily muscled, but I knew that he trained hard, so he was stronger than he looked.

“Jack, what are you doing here in your shinobi, there isn’t a junior division fighting is there?” he greeted me with.

“Hi Dave, no there isn’t I am competing in the cadet category, just like you are.” I explained.

Dave’s eyebrows rose till they disappeared into his fringe, then he took a second to collect his thoughts, “And your parents and Mr. Yahmahta are ok with that? Come on I know you’re good, but this is a bit different to sparring in lessons, you could get hurt today.”

“I know that Dave, I will just have to concentrate on my defense so no hits get through.” I reasoned.

“Well I hope I don’t meet you in the rounds, which would suck for us, as two of Mr. Yahmahta’s students, to knock one of the others out.”

“If what I know of tournaments is correct, they will put us as classmates, in different sides of the draw.”

“OK Jack, well good luck, I will try and watch your fight if I’m not competing at the same time. See you later, I want to go and warm up, maybe meet some of the others if they’re here.” Dave nodded at me and started to move off.

“I will try to do the same Dave.”

Once I found a quiet area, I did some warm up exercises, enabling me to focus and get myself centered for the tournament to come. I didn’t go crazy though as I guessed it would still be a while before things got started, I would need to conserve my energy for now, doing another warm up session just before my first fight.

As I thought it took a couple of hours for everyone to turn up and the official to get sorted. Then they started calling out categories over the public-address systems, asking the relevant competitors to move to the ring or rings they would be using.

That started a great turmoil of activity. All the fighters moved around down on the floor to get where they needed, while in the stands, a lot of spectators also moved, giving them a better view of the ring of the fights they wanted to see.

My category was using rings 15 and 16, luckily me for that was near the quiet area I had picked, so I didn’t need to move far, I made my way to the official table for those rings.

I gave my name to the official sitting there, with my trustee piece of paper ready just in case, he did give me a long look, checked his list of names, after spotting mine, looked back up at me, shrugged and moved onto the next cadet waiting.

One of the other cadets waiting spotted me moving away from the desk. “Hey Kid,” he called, “what are you doing fighting with us?”

Not wanting to get into it with him I just shrugged and turned to move away.

“Well don’t think any of us will go easy on you, just because you’re a pipsqueak.” he called after me, nudged his companion, and the both of them burst into laughter.

As I made my way back to where I had left my gear, I noticed Mom and Dad moving into the stands, closest to our rings, I was glad they had made it in time to watch me, win or lose. I went through a more thorough warm up session now that I knew the fights were getting ready to start, I didn’t want to not be warm if I got called up first.

I didn’t get called up first, but I did watch the bouts on the two rings intensely. If I got through my first round, then I could easily be fighting anyone else who had been up before, I wanted to get an idea of the types of fighters each was, before meeting them in the ring.

The first two bouts went quite quickly, the rounds were only two minutes long, they were not full Ninjustu fights, more a kickboxing style for the cadets, no kicks or punches below the knee.

I was surprised just before the next two bouts started when a fellow competitor sat down next to me.

“Alright, this should be a good fight to watch, see the guy on the left, he was last year’s champion, don’t think he will have any problem retaining his title this year either.” he told me.

That piqued my interest, I watched this fighter closely, I had to agree, he was in another league compared to the guy he was facing, his attacks were clever and fast, most getting through as his opponent’s defense wasn’t up to it. I wasn’t able to see how good his own defense was, since his opponent barely got into an aggressive position, before the champ switched it and took the offensive again.

The champ won the bout easily, not looking even slightly out of breath by the end.

“See what I mean.” my companion commented. “Hey what club are you anyway, you haven’t got a club badge on your Shinobi or belt.”

“I train with Master Yahmahta.” I answered, “But since I didn’t train there to get my latest belt, I don’t wear a club badge.”

“Senior Sensei huh, heard he is tough on his students.” my companion mentioned.

I smiled, “The lessons aren’t easy, but then if you don’t train hard, you don’t get much out of it do you?”