Forums » General Roleplay » Dying Dojo (PM to join)

Kenji had fortunately moved close enough to the school for him to walk home, leaving the crowds of students and starting to enter the neighborhood that surrounded the school. However, it didn't take him long to notice the extra footsteps close behind him, stopping just as he was about to turn a corner.

"Are we really going to do this again?" Kenji said as he turned around to come face to face with Barry, a smug and murderous look on his face. "You're friend isn't going to be here to save you this time."

"You mean save you this time." Barry replied with a crack of his knuckles. "I let you off the hook last time as a favor to my girl, but now we can settle the score."

'You're girl, huh? well that explains a lot.' Kenji thought to himself, realizing why that Rowan girl had dodged to question. "So, is it just going to be you this time around, what about the others?" Kenji inquired, noticing that Barry was alone.

"Hmph, those pussies wussed out on me, but don't worry, I'm more than enough to beat you into the dirt." Barry replied with a snarl at the memory of his cohorts abandoning him.

"Says the guy who ended up on his back the last time." Kenji quipped, sliding his backpack off of his shoulders and throwing it to the side.

Just as he suspected, the taunt provoked him, Barry's face twisting into a scowl before he threw a hasty punch that Kenji easily blocked. He then checked his arm with the other hand and landed a punch of his own square in Barry's jaw, causing the boy to real back in pain. He didn't back down however, and charged forward with another fist reared back for a punch. This time, Kenji simply leaned back to avoid the strike, and in the process set himself up to throw a side kick with his front leg, burying his foot into Barry's gut causing him to stagger. While he was winded, Kenji took a step with his front foot and landed a spinning hook kick to Barry's face, sending him tumbling to the ground. Kenji managed to hit him right in the temple, knocking him out and bringing the fight to an abrupt end. Kenji let out a sigh and quickly set Barry up against the nearby fence before grabbing his backpack and heading home, in the opposite direction that he was leading Barry.

Micah got home before her brother did, which was her plan. She often took the heat of the torment for him. She wondered if Barry had been thrown on his ass again- she was pretty sure he was.

She couldn't really sleep that night, like most. She got up the next morning and left earlier. She wasn't going to be late today, she didn't really want to be suspended. Perhaps she'd humor her teacher for a while. She entered the building and this time, the halls were filled with students rather than empty. Micah had gotten there about fifteen minutes before homeroom was supposed to start, so that meant she could try to find Barry to see if he'd had enough of Sanso yet.

When she found him, he was with a few friends, the look on his face was anything but pleasant. He had a bruise on the side of his head. His hair partially covered it, but Micah could tell it was there. She was a bit afraid to approach him while he looked so mad, so she turned and walked in the opposite direction before reaching her homeroom class.

When Kenji got home, he got straight to work. He designed a flier for the club on his computer, printed out a couple dozen of them, and went to school very early the next day in order to hang them up wherever he could. For the most part he stuck to the bulletin boards spread out all across the building, but he also allowed to place them on the doors of the gym, cafeteria, and auditorium. As he made a lap around the school, his path sent him down the hallway that Barry and his cohorts were hanging around in before class. Luckily, a couple of teachers were having a conversation in that same hallway, and none of the meatheads were foolish enough to start something right in front of an authority figure, so they settled with shooting him a few dirty looks as he walked on by.

Eventually, there was only one board left without a flier on it, and it just so happened to be right outside his homeroom class. As he stuck the yellow flier on the board, he noticed the Rowan girl approach, significantly earlier than the day before.

"Hey." He casually greeted. "I got cleared to start the club I mentioned yesterday, info's all on this flier if you're interested." Kenji informed. He knew it was a long shot, but she was the only student he had actively spoke about the club too, and with how desperate he was for members, reaching out to her was worth a shot.

Not a scratch on him. Micah was certain now that what she suspected was correct. Her face was still slightly deadpan as it was the day before. She watched him put up the flyer.

No one had really ever spoken to her like this before. It was simple to anyone else, but to Micah, it felt a little strange having someone talk to her this casually. Even though it was only a few words. She shrugged, looking at the flyer that he put on the board. "That was fast," she said. "Haven't even been here a week and you're already advertising for your club. Good for you."

"It never hurts to take initiative." Kenji replied with a shrug. "Besides, I'm kind of on a time limit, I only have a month to find some members and... past experience tells me it isn't going to be easy." He lamented, crossing his arms and staring at the flier on the wall. Suddenly, all of the glaring imperfections popped out at him, details that he wished he could have done better, info he wished he had included or excluded, maybe he should have used the picture of the weapon form rather than a flying kick. What if the fliers didn't grab people's attention, if so he would probably need to campaign in person, handing them out at the front gate if need be. This had to work, Chung Do depended on it.

Micah looked at the flyer a bit longer than she realized. She'd never cared to join a club before. She had never seen a fighting club advertised at school before. She wondered if Kenji would be disproven, probably having multiple people joining just because they could beat each other up. If that was even included, She lost herself in thought about it. It didn't really occur to her why that was though.

She let out a labored breath and went into the classroom without saying anything else to him. Maybe she'd like to learn something like this. It could help in the long run too. Her home life, the people she was involved with, maybe she could build up even a sliver of confidence. Was it worth it?

Kenji continued placing fliers wherever he could all throughout the day, he couldn't help but notice that some went missing from the bulletin boards he had already tagged, so he did a few more rounds after classes ended just to make sure the word got out. Tonight may have been the first official meeting of the club, but Kenji didn't expect anyone to show up right away, after all the posters had only been up since this morning. Regardless, Kenji made his way to the gym, and as expected he was the only one in attendance, not even their faculty advisor was present. Kenji let out a sigh.

"Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day." He lamented. Regardless of the lack of attendance, Kenji was still going to use the time to train, so he went into the boy's locker room and changed into his dobok, or what a karate or judo practitioner would call a gi. The uniform consisted of black pants and a black top that opened up and tied together like an regular gi. The top had a series of white lines across it that made the uniform have a pattern of black rhombuses all over, on on the front were two patches sewn on that represented the nation of Korea, and the specific Chung Do Mu Sool Won Association itself. On the back was bright yellow lettering that had the words "Chung Do Mu Sool Won" written in both Korean and English, accompanied with the symbol of the association in the middle. Once he tied his black belt onto his waist, Kenji returned to the gym and began setting up the mats that were typically used by the wrestling and gymnastics clubs.

Micah wasn't really interested in seeking out her boyfriend after school. So she made an effort to avoid being seen. She recalled Kenji's flyers from that morning and when he mentioned the club the day before during PE. She had thought about it a few times during the day if she saw a flyer stuck up somewhere. She did see someone take one down. She thought that she would try it out, at least for once try to do something worth her while.

She hoped her brother would manage fine on his own after school. Micah finally made up her mind and went to the gym. Luckily, Barry didn't find her. Opening one of the doors, she looked inside to see Kenji placing a couple mats out near the bleachers. He was really serious about this club. Even dressing the part...

Micah let the door close quietly behind her as she just seemed to stand there, unsure what to do. "So, uh, this club thing. You starting?"

"Oh, uh... hey." Kenji said as he paused and turned to look at Micah, more than a little surprised that somebody actually showed up. "Yeah, the club is meeting today, just give me a second to set up these mats." He said before going to grab more mats, now needing more than just the two he was setting up. Suddenly, Kenji felt awfully nervous, this was going to be his first time running a club all on his own, and though it was only one person, that just meant that there was no excuse for botching what was essentially a private lesson.

'Just calm down Kenji, this isn't your first time teaching somebody. Just stick to the curriculum, show that you know what you're doing, and just let the greatness of Chung Do do the rest.' He thought to himself as he set up two more mats next to the others and then took his place in front of them.

"Alright, go ahead and set your stuff down, take off your shoes and socks, and get on the mat." Kenji instructed. "Oh, also, I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Kenji Sanso." He said as he offered her his hand to shake.

Micah set her bag down on the floor next to the bleachers. Was he seriously going to continue on with this even if no one showed up? His reaction when she showed up said it all. He probably thought no one would come. She did as he said and removed her shoes and her socks, leaving them by her backpack. Micah was only planning to observe should anyone else show up, but it was only her.

She stepped onto the mat as he told her and glanced down at it, and then up at Kenji when he spoke up again. "Er, Micah," she responded, hesitantly giving his hand a weakish shake. It was clear she was more relaxed due to the lack of people around, but she still seemed sort of awkward.

"It's nice to meet you Micah." Kenji replied as he shook her hand. He could easily see the awkwardness in the exchange, though that was to be expected, Micah seemed like an anti social person in the first place, and being overly friendly with someone she just met probably wasn't easy for her. As a senior member of his previous dojo, Kenji was used to interacting with strangers, people who would come in to check out the class, though recently that had become something of a... rarity.

"So, do you have any experience in Martial Arts?" Kenji inquired, as he usually did with new students.

He didn't seem to mind that it was her and not someone else. Yesterday, her first impression on him probably didn't seem very pleasant. Especially since she had been pretty rude to a teacher. She put her hands behind her back once they let go. Micah let out a short, dry laugh at his question. "Nah, never. Just thought I'd get some today, I guess."

"Well, I'm glad you're interested. Chung Do Mu Sool Won, the style that I practice and will be teaching you, has everything you'd want in a martial art and more. I'm sure you won't be disappointed." Kenji replied with an enthusiasm that may seem out of character for a calm and quite boy like him.

"Alright, let's get started. Now, the first thing we'll do at the beginning of each meeting is "bow in". All of the members will line up on the mat, and upon the instructor's command they will stand at attention and then bow." He explained as he stood in front of her, but off the mat, denoting his position as the instructor. "So, when I say cha ryuht, you will put your feet together and place your hands at your side." Kenji demonstrated. "Then, when I say kyung nae, we will bow to each other. In Chung Do Mu Sool Won, when we bow, we will make a fist with one hand, grab it with the other, and hold it in front of you." Once again, he demonstrated, grabbing his left fist with his right hand, but the most notable part of the gesture was that his right index finger was pointing straight out.

"Men grab their left fists, woman grab their right fists, and make sure you point your finger, we do that for all of the grips in Chung Do Mu Sool Won." He explained before returning to a neutral position. "The fist represents power, grabbing the fist represents controlling that power. Now, let's bow in for real this time."

"Cha ryuht!" He stood at attention.

"Kyung nae!" He bowed, with the same gesture he taught her.

He really knows what he's doing. If it wasn't already obvious. Micah watched him demonstrate, a little hesitant to copy him. Then again, she wasn't prepared at first to participate. As he said, she grabbed her right fist and mirrored him just to feel it out. And then he suggested that they do it for real. When they started, she felt her lips pull into a small amused smile. Mostly because she was taking someone like him seriously. She didn't voice it though, and did as he instructed.

It was obvious that her posture was never the best, but she straightened up to do this right. When he said the words, she bowed as well and then they straightened out again.

"Now, I'm going to walk you through our basic warm up, which starts with an exercise called dahnjun ho-hyoop." Kenji continued. "The word dahnjun means "abdomen", or rather the center of your body." He explained, standing up straight and gesturing to his abdomen. "And the word ho-hyoop means "breathing", so it's "breathing through your center". In eastern practices, the abdomen is believed to house your "ki", or if that's a little bit too "kung fu movie" for you, I guess you could call it your inner power. The goal of dahnjun ho-hyoop is to teach you how to tap into that inner power, and release it."

"Now, there are many different variations of this exercise, but for now I'm only going to show you the first two exercises, so you just follow along." Kenji instructed. He started by demonstrating the exercise himself, which required him to spread his feet shoulder with apart in what was called a "horse stance". The motions he did were fairly simple to follow, and he made sure to instruct Micah on how she should be breathing through each motion.

Micah found herself actually getting into this as it went on. She was concentrating. It reminded her of Yoga, kind of refreshing to the mind and body. Starting slow rather than jumping to the intense part right away. She became a little more comfortable, since she was focusing on what she was doing rather than her surroundings. She admitted that she found it more inviting when he explained things to her this way. When he would tell her what things represented or what they meant. She considered coming back next time if she could help it.

Kenji continued to walk her through the warm up, which mostly consisted of various stretches that helped loosen up every major part of her body, from her neck, to her legs. The routine was well crafted as well, each stretch logically flowing into the next, and all throughout Kenji counted everything off in Korean.

"Alright, now that we're all warmed up, let's move on to some pad work." Kenji said as he walked over to his gym bag sat down on the bleachers and picked out a black target kick pad. "I'm going to start you off with two kicks, yup chagi, or side kick, and dolrya chagi, or roundhouse kick. Here, hold this so I can demonstrate." Kenji instructed, showing Micah how to hold the pad, one hand on the handle, the other hand on top with the face of the pad facing forward.

Micah would occasionally glance at the smallish wall clock that was situated between two mascot banners above the doors. She didn't want to be here too long, her brother was probably by himself at home and she didn't exactly want him to be alone. But she did it whenever Kenji wasn't looking, not wanting to make him think she was bored or anything.

He went to get a pad from his gym bag and then he brought one back to her to show her how to hold it. He was going to demonstrate some kicks, she wondered if he'd be teaching her how to do them. She may have been loosened during the warm ups, but her body wasn't really used to this kind of balance.

"Alright, to start off, every kick is going to start with a solid stance, with your body turned off to the side away from the opponent, one foot in front, one foot behind." Kenji said, demonstrating the stance complete with his hands up in a basic guarding position. "Now, when you go to kick somebody, you are going to turn your back foot so that your toes are pointing in the opposite direction of your opponent. This way, when you lean back for the kick, your foot helps support the weight of your body and helps keep your balance." He demonstrated by slowly leaning back, showing how the weight was being placed on his foot while keeping his stance perfectly stable.

"Now, for the actual kick, what you're going to do is you are going to lean back onto your back leg," he did so. "Lift your front foot up and chamber it so that your knee is pointing in the same direction that your body is facing," He demonstrated, lifting his leg so that his knee pointed towards the bleachers. "Finally, you extend your leg, and turn your hips, so that when your foot makes contact, your back facing your opponent." And with that he finally let his foot fly, hitting the pad with the flat of his foot and keeping it there so that Micah could see the way his body was positioned, indirectly demonstrating his excellent balance.

"Once you make contact with your target, you are going to bring your leg back into its chamber position, and then set it back down on the floor." He instructed, pulling his leg back towards his chest and then setting it down. "Alright, now you try it." He said as he took the pad from Micah and held it for her to target.