Danger at the Dojo!

Seamus Sato entered the M.C. Aikikai Dojo ("the Dojo") on Thursday for his teaching shift. Seamus smiled, reflecting on the progress of his students, as he walked over to the business counter to review the day's teaching schedule. Seamus stole a glance at Hayato Jun Kobayashi ("Sensei Kobayashi, or just Sensei") instructing a group of new students, now gathered in a circle around Sensei.
 
Seamus taught the class, and eventually everyone was sweaty and went to clean off before leaving. Seamus looked at the schedule again and saw there had been a cancellation, a family taking lessons together had gone on vacation this week. Seamus sighed, looking, reluctantly, at the mop and pail by the wall. He felt the rush of air from the Dojo's front doors and turned slowly to see three gruff-looking men walking in, shoes still on as they stepped onto the mats, approaching the business counter.
 
As Seamus took the few necessary steps to greet the prospective customers, one of them (Spencer, as Seamus would learn) said, "we want training. Let's get to it!" Seamus replied, "of course sir, here's the rate card. What subscription term would you like?" To Seamus’s surprise, things quickly went downhill from there. The men weren’t willing to remove their shoes, although the wads of cash they plunked down on the counter seemed real enough, for Destroyer Dollars.
 
Seamus surreptitiously stole glances at the men’s stances and postures. They’d had some military training and could probably beat up a person off the street easily, but Seamus could stall them all day in a fight if he wanted to show off. While Seamus spoke with Spencer, their leader, he also overheard the others, Lucas and Rupert, mutter under their breath about being tired of Resistance fighters kicking their butts in recent battles.
 
Seamus swallowed a bit at that, while Spencer was ranting about “wanting to learn how to kick butt right now.” Seamus wasn’t skilled at spotting someone packing a gun, but knowing they were Destroyer’s men, he realized this situation could get very bad very fast if they realized Seamus was making fun of them.
 
Seamus promised the men he would begin their training right now, and as they tramped their dirty feet on the mats Seamus winced at how many hours he would need to clean the mats after the soldiers left.
 
Seamus asked them questions about their martial training, and they expressed little more than impatience, so Seamus proceeded to train them one at a time, beginning with Spencer, on how to take a fall. The soldiers weren’t having that, and demanded combat contact training right then. Seamus sighed inwardly as he leaned slightly out of the way of Spencer’s first punch thrown. Seamus took their measure and then executed a leg sweep on Rupert – not enough to truly hurt him, but to go along with their desire for “real combat training.”
 
Seamus hadn’t thought he was embarrassing them, but quoting Ki Lo Ni Sensei seemed to only infuriate the soldiers. Then wise Kobayashi Sensei intervened and offered to train the soldiers himself. The soldiers encircled Kobayashi Sensei and began throwing punches at him. As those punches connected Seamus realized Sensei was sacrificing himself for the Dojo. But Sensei was more than twice Seamus’ 20 years and if… WHEN… the soldiers injured Sensei, he would be a long time recovering, if Destroyer’s hospital would even take him after the soldiers reported in…
 
Seamus sprung into action and joined the fray, appearing to be overcome by their “great skill” as Seamus leaned into every blow meant for Sensei, knowing that even if there was serious injury, Seamus’ 20-year-old body would recover much faster than if Sensei took the blows. After about one minute, Seamus and Sensei were both on the floor, the soldiers towering over them and the novice students quivering in terror along the back wall. Suddenly Lucas’s phone beeped, and looking at it, he told the others to “leave these losers, we have go, now.” The soldiers sadistically laughed at the pain and bruises they’d given out, dropped some money on the floor, and Spencer said, “great training guys, we’ll be back again.” And then they left.
 
Before they left, Seamus used his position on the floor, beaten and bruised, to close his eyes and use his powers without suspicion, or so he thought. Seamus had spotted a spider hanging from its web above the fray and flicked the mental switch that quantum entangled a direct connection between the spider’s optic nerves and Seamus’s brain. Seamus was thankful it was a spider – spiders have simple eyes similar to people’s, so Seamus wasn’t straining to make sense of an insect’s compound eyes… As the spider issued more thread, descending lower, Seamus was able to read Lucas’s phone from the spider’s view while Lucas was holding the phone, and saw that Lucas and crew had been recalled to Destroyer’s nearby military base. Accessing that base would be a suicide mission, so Seamus settled for shifting his perspective to one of many ants loitering on the sidewalk outside and memorized the soldiers’ car’s license plate.
 
After the soldiers left, Seamus rolled onto his side, aching, and examined Sensei. Sensei was bruised, but not severely so. Kobayashi Sensei had likewise rolled onto his side to face and examine Seamus. Sensei said, “Sato-san… Anata wa daijōbudesuka (あなたは大丈夫ですか？/ are you all right) ?” Seamus wordlessly rolled himself sitting upright, took a deep breath and felt no pain (good, no ribs broken). “Hai, Sensei.” Seamus got up first, owing to his youth, and extended both arms for Sensei to grasp his hands, which Sensei did, wincing a bit as he stood up. “Sato-san, I… will be o-k… (turning to the students, Sensei bowed slightly) Students, I am sorry the peace of the dojo was disturbed. We will give all of you present one free class on your accounts. We did what we had to do so they would leave without hurting any of you. We hope you will understand that classes are cancelled for the rest of the day so we can recover and also clean and restore the dojo for your next classes.” The students looked sad, not at their class having been interrupted, but their eyes walked slowly and lazily over the bruises and cuts on Kobayashi Sensei and Sato Uchi-deshi (Seamus). As one, they all said, “Hai, Sensei” and obediently went to the back area to change clothes and retrieve their personal effects.
 
After the students left, Seamus turned to Sensei, “Kobayashi Sensei, what will we do if… when… the soldiers return?” Sensei replied, “I do not know, Sato-san, but we must have a plan. It is against our beliefs to simply bruise them, next time, as they have bruised us today…” Seamus paused a moment, and replied in a very low voice, “Sensei, I am in agreement with you, that we two are not the ones to put a boot to their head… but there are other practitioners of branches of Aikido who have no such beliefs. It might be risky to expand the Dojo with combat Aikido practitioners, but if we found some who were good at taking hits instead of dodging them, the soldiers could be placated enough that they would not attack our other students. With the right teachers, perhaps the soldiers could be given… weaknesses in their style so that others could quickly defeat them with the right knowledge?”
 
Kobayashi Sensei took a long, wincing, breath, less painful than before… and appeared lost in thought for a moment. Sensei came out of his meditation a moment later and said, “yes uchi-deshi, I think I know just the senseis, if they can safely travel to Millennium City…” Seamus smiled and walked slowly, carefully, over to the mop and bucket on the back wall, and began cleaning the Dojo of the stench of Destroyer’s Desecrations, plotting, planning harder than ever how to go about finding the New Champions and joining their ranks…