Day of the Duel
The day had come. I continued to practice diligently 1.2.1.2.1.2… But there was something very very mysterious. Doc had taught me Karate, so why did I have to join the Dojo? The practice doesn't begin until early September. It was too late!
After making sure that Doc was at home with the walky-talky he’d invented, I went to his laboratory on my bike about noon. At first I thought Doc was doing some experiment but was waiting for me wearing old-fashioned musty Karate wear and said with conviction,
“Well, it’s the day of the duel!”
Doc seemed to be enjoying it. But I felt so bad and had to ask him something.
“Well, I must fight Devil today. So why did I join the Dojo when the master is away traveling the Himalayas? There’s no point in it!”
“You’re smart to notice it.”
“Anybody can do it! It’s quite obvious!”
“Now listen. Swear that you will practice Karate for years at Dr. Gestalt’s Dojo. You must swear sincerely!”
“Why?”
“Just swear you'll do it!”
“OK. Well, I swear sincerely… Now what?”
“Then get in the Machine.”
“Well, how old am I to be?”
“Twenty.”
So I went into the Machine to be twenty years old. Once it started up I was really astonished to see myself in the mirror of the Machine. I looked so strong. I could see amazing muscles in my arms. And I was a little taller than before.
“Wow. What’s happened to me?”
“Since you’d sworn, your future has been renewed. You have been practicing Karate for years at Dr. Gestalt’s Dojo. And now you’ve got huge muscles.”
“Really? This is awesome!”
“Now let’s begin the practical training!”
Saying so, Doc fetched a set of protectors for ‘Kendo’, which looked very old and also a little bit musty.
“Wow, you did Kendo too?”
“Yes, but only for a while. I don’t want to be knocked out while training. So let me put on the protectors.”
“Am I that strong?”
“You will see.”
Then we began sparring. I didn’t know how but I could move agilely and easily dodge or receive his punches and kicks. And sometimes I could do things that I didn’t know I could do at all. I was a master of Karate! We really got into it until finally it approached three o’clock. Then Doc took off the protectors and wiped his brow.
“As I expected, Dr. Gestalt has taught you ‘Sun-dome’ as I am uninjured because your punches and kicks stopped just before impact. You have upheld the defense-only policy so I didn’t really need to put on protectors. Oh, it’s very hot.”
So the time for the duel had finally approached. I guessed that Devil assumed that I was going to bring him 30,000 yen. And he and his sidekicks would go to a video arcade or somewhere and spend it. But that’s not what I was thinking!
“OK. I’ll beat him!” I said. But Doc was apprehensive.
“No. No. Don’t beat him. Just block his attacks using ‘Uchi-Uke’ and ‘Gedan-Barai’ like I told you. And remember the defense-only policy, you learned from Dr. Gestalt.”
“But… OK. I understand.”
So away I went to the ‘Octopus slide’ in Octopus Park at exactly three o’clock. As I expected I found Devil and his sidekicks gathered here and there on the slide like a herd of monkeys. And they were smoking! Looking at the situation, my ‘conscience’ got angry. So I unexpectedly spoke to them with a tone set to fight.
“Hey, are you a herd of monkeys? And do you think you are cool smoking!”
“What nerve! When did you get so bossy?” Devil said.
I was slightly afraid of what he said. So I said with a little friendlier tone. “From today.” So he said,
“Aren’t you a little taller than before?” Then one of the monkeys…no, no, sidekicks said.
“Must be those make me taller wannabe nerd shoes!”
And I got a little angry by the word ‘nerd ’. So I said with a tone to set a fight once again.
“Hey guys. Come on! Why are you still monkeys sitting there?”
As soon as I said that, Devil threw the cigarette and came down to me with his face red really like an angry monkey.
“Shut up! Or I’ll beat you half to death, you son of a bitch!”
The situation seemed to be very bad. I might have really been beaten half to death. But I decided to be defiant. Because there seemed to be no way around it since I was surrounded by his gang. It was the only way. So I said,
“Come on!”
