More Than A Bat

Kassius wastes no time and rushes towards Sado. He starts punching at Sado, but Sado manages to block them. Kassius relentlessly applies pressure. He throws a heavy hand, which Sado avoids. Sado tries punching back but Kassius blocks and immediately counters with a hook to the lower body, which slightly hurts Sado. He tries backing up but Kassius continues pursuing him. Kassius attacks, pressuring him even more. As Kassius tries to swing, Sado grabs his arm and chest. He throws Kassius towards the sofa.

Sado: "Very ferocious."

Kassius gets back on his feet. He goes back at Sado and continues to attack. All the way down in the basement floor, Kaizen attacks Henzo with his bat, but Henzo manages to avoid the swings. Kaizen tries to swing again, but Henzo avoids it and closes the gap quick. He knees Kaizen in the stomach, hurting him a bit. He then grabs Kaizen and throws him onto a car windshield behind him. Henzo tries to punch Kaizen but he moves in time and Henzo hits the windshield, cracking it. Kaizen walks back into the open space and Henzo follows.

Henzo: "Swinging that thing around doesn't make you a threat, you know."

Kaizen takes a deep breath. Henzo walks slowly towards him.

Kaizen (in head): "Why is he walking so slow?"

Kaizen wastes no time and rushes at him. He swings but misses, as Henzo vanishes.

Kaizen: "What?!"

Kaizen looks around.

Kaizen: "Where did he-"

Henzo reappears right behind him. Before Kaizen can react, Henzo kicks him straight in the side, which gets Kaizen weak. His bat drops from his hand and tries to defend as Henzo follows with more and more hits. Kaizen tries to block but Henzo reads him and lands blow after blow. Kaizen tries to hit back to stop the pressure, but Henzo gets to his back and suplexes him, throwing Kaizen to the ground. Henzo gets back up on his feet, as Kaizen is hurt and bloodied on the ground.

Henzo: "Hmph."

Up on the 2nd floor, Arnold evades as he gets attacked by both Sandworm and Dune. Clyde and Feela both on the ground, bleeding and hurt, try but fail to get up.

Ayana: "Guys! Shit... ugh!"

Ayana continues to try free herself but she also fails. Dune tries to punch Arnold, but he avoids. Right behind him, Sandworm tries to hit him with the shock stick but Arnold avoids it last minute. But before he can react, Dune punches him in the face, followed by Sandworm hitting him with the stick.

Arnold: "Argh!"

Dune kicks Arnold and sends him to the ground. Sandworm steps on him, directly where Tamun sliced him, which causes him to wince in pain.

Dune: "You're all bloody."

Sandworm: "He was more of a threat than I thought."

Dune: "Hmm?"

Dune turns to see Clyde getting back on his feet.

Sandworm: "Deal with them and tie them up. Then we'll tie up this one."

Dune walks towards Clyde, who gets back on his feet.

Clyde: "Feela, are you alright?"

Feela: "Y... yes..."

Clyde: "I'm... gonna stop the girl. You... you go free Ayana, alright?"

On the 4th floor, Hamza rushes straight towards Bonnie, but she runs towards him as well. As they reach each other, Hamza kicks off the wall and tries kicking Bonnie. She manages to avoid the kick. Hamza wasting no time continues the attack. As he attacks Bonnie, she manages to block some punches and kicks. Hamza throws a few punches, which Bonnie blocks, followed by a round house which she avoids as well. As Bonnie tries to get on the offensive, she immediately blocks, as Hamza throws another kick.

Bonnie (in head): "He's quick."

Hamza keeps up the pressure as Bonnie forced into the defensive. Back at the bottom, Henzo walks up to Kaizen and traps his limbs. He starts to choke him, and Kaizen struggling tries to move, but he can't. The light slowly starts fading from his eyes.

Henzo: "The sun shall be our guiding light. Our death shall free us of our- argh!"

Kaizen slowly regains consciousness. He turns to the side, seeing Henzo moving around with Palu on his face.

Kaizen: "Palu..."

Henzo pulls Palu off his face. With some scratches, he touches his face with his other hand.

Henzo: "Damn monkey!"

Henzo throws Palu on the ground and kicks him away. Palu lies on the ground, barely moving.

Kaizen: "Palu!"

Kaizen pushing through the pain, gets back on his feet. Henzo looks on to see Kaizen stand there, bloodied up.

Henzo: "Saved by a monkey. Ridiculous."

Kaizen: "..."

Henzo: "You want this?"

Henzo picks up his bat, and throws it to his feet.

Henzo: "I guess we should continue."

Kaizen picks up his bat and looks at it. He thinks back to a moment a couple years back when he was a teenager;

Kaizen walks around the village, and stumbles past a group of kids. As they walk by, Kaizen overhears them,

Boy 1: "I'm gonna win today for sure."

Boy 2: "No way! Churo is too good. You can't beat him. He's the best around."

The boys fade into the distance as Kaizen walks home. He enters his house and sees his mother, the Mistress.

Mistress: "Kaizen, good. I need you to go deliver something to him again."

Kaizen takes the items from his mother and heads towards the abandoned factory. He walks down into the mines and as he reaches the end, he sees the man mining the wall.

Kaizen: "Delivery."

Man: "Thank you, Kaizen. Just leave it over there."

Kaizen places the items on the side.

Man: "Are you ok?"

Kaizen: "Hmm?"

Man: "Ahh. Sorry. It's just... you know... nevermind. It's too complicated to explain. I can just sense something is wrong."

Kaizen: "Can I ask you a question?"

Man: "Go ahead."

Kaizen: "Do you know how to fight?"

Man: "Hmm... sort of. I think I'm well enough to fight off most threats that come my way."

Kaizen: "Could you teach me?"

Man: "What's the sudden interest?"

Kaizen: "I just got to thinking. If I am gonna go explore the world one day, wouldn't I need to know how to protect myself?"

Man: "That is a fair point. So what style are you interested in? Are you good at brawling?"

Kaizen: "No, I can't risk breaking my hand. How will I hold my map? Also, what if I encounter a wild animal or something out there? Fighting with your hands is a bit too risky for my liking."

Man: "So you'd prefer weaponry?"

Kaizen: "Mhm."

Man: "How about a trusty pickaxe? I can lend you mine."

Kaizen: "Haha! No way. That's too much to haul around."

Man: "Yeah, you're right. You'd probably prefer something easier to carry, right? Maybe a sword. Those are really good. Sharp too."

Kaizen: "No, definitely not. I'm not trying to kill anyone. Just stop them from hurting me, or Palu."

Man: "Palu?"

Kaizen: "A little monkey I adopted. I don't know where he came from, but I've been taking care of him since I saw him."

Man: "Hmm. So what weapon do you want then?"

Kaizen: "I was thinking, a metal bat."

Man: "A bat? Like the animal?"

Kaizen: "No, not that. It's like a stick, but it widens past the handle. They use it in baseball. It isn't sharp, but it's a heavy hitter. So all I have to do is swing and hit."

Man: "You'll have to do more than that."

Kaizen: "What do you mean?"

The man puts down his pickaxe and turns to Kaizen.

Man: "Out there, are dangers you don't know of. At some point, just swinging is going to stop working. If you are serious about this, then you'll have to seriously practice. Who knows, you could even make it more than just a bat."

Back in the present, Kaizen continues to stare at his bat.

Kaizen (in head): "More than a bat... more than a bat..."

Henzo: "What's the matter? Are you afraid of your own bat?"

Kaizen: "It's not a bat."

Henzo: "What?"

Kaizen: "It's a sword."

Henzo: "Hahahahaha! Then I guess it's the world's most blunt blade."

Kaizen: "How about you do that disappearing act again for me so we can find out how blunt this blade is?"

Henzo, slightly disturbed by his confidence, arrogantly smirks.

Henzo: "You're dead."

Henzo slowly walks towards Kaizen, and vanishes.

Kaizen (in head): "Again. He slowly approaches and bursts out of view. If I'm right... I can win."

Kaizen slightly lowers and gets into a drawing stance, mimicking that of a swordsman drawing his blade from his sheath.

Kaizen (in head): "I don't need it all. Just need enough to react."

Kaizen slowly draws his bat, moving it slowly. Through the silence, he focuses. He draws, and he draws.

Kaizen: "Extension of the body..."

Henzo reappears right above him from behind. He tries to stomp his head with the back of his heel, but Kaizen shifts his body to the side and full draws in a circular motion. In a blitz, the bat strikes Henzo in the head, sending him to the ground, tumbling and dazed by the hit.

Henzo (in head): "Wha..."

Kaizen's shifting leg and swinging arm both go weak. He takes a knee and almost drops his bat, but grips on to it.

Kaizen: "Hah... hah... it worked."

Kaizen looks to his bat.

Kaizen: "The perfect weapon... Palu!"

Kaizen looks up ahead and sees Palu on the ground. He gets up slowly and walks up to Palu. He picks Palu up.

Kaizen: "Sorry, Palu. We'll get some food soon, okay?"

Palu, still awake, lays in comfort as Kaizen holds him in his other arm. Kaizen walks towards the stairs. As he's about to go up, Henzo, barely managing to stand up, looks onwards in anger.

Henzo: "Don't... disrespect... me! We aren't... finished..."

Henzo, losing balance, tries to keep his footing.

Kaizen: "Pretty good blade, right?

Henzo: "Fu-"

Henzo falls to the ground, losing consciousness.