Chapter 50: First fight

Harish and Taro headed towards the mat almost simultaneously. However, Taro was stopped by his master before he entered the mat.

"You remember the rule that I talked about? It still applies. Try winning by soft blows and defense. When I say soft blows, it should have a bit of power, you know? Like a teeny tiny bit of your actual power." The master ordered.

"Ah, rules! You forgot to tell me the rules of this fight." Taro replied.

"You're right. Ok, listen. I'll try to make it as brief as possible. Look, scoring is quite simple here. You can score a point by placing a hit on any of seven regions: head, face, neck, chest, abdomen, side and back. So, land a punch over those places. Although, a punch in the face wouldn't be so apt. Like, focus on the abdomen and chest regions. Make sure to defend their punches and kicks with your hands." The master explained.

"What about kicks?" Taro asked.

"Hmm, since you will be focusing on defense, I'd rather see you use your hands and keep your legs grounded. Stability is important for defense. Once you take your leg off the ground, you have to be absolutely sure about landing a hit. However, as I said before, we're trying to minimise the damage and increase the effectiveness. So, no kicks." The master said.

"I see. Is there something else that I have to know?" Taro asked.

"Let's see. Well, although you can score three points by landing kicks or landing a technique on a fallen opponent, we won't be concerned with that. They award points for good form, timing, distance and stuff like that too. Hell, they will even give you points for sporting attitude. Don't go for hits below. That's a strict no-no. Also, don't go for a technique after the referee calls for stoppage. By the way, if you wanna end the match soon, try to get eight points as soon as possible.. As soon as you get a lead of eight points, you win. I guess that's all you're gonna need." His master explained with a sigh. Never had he explained the point system to anyone just before their match.

"Thank you. I'll make sure to abide by the rules." Taro replied with a smile. It kinda felt like the arena battles back in Wados. Even though it gave freedom to unleash your superpowers, the Wadorian government placed strict rules since the heroes were kinda destroying the premises with their violent fights. Taro was happy about that since the disaster management squad had less work to do after the enforcement of that rule. Even though, on Earth, it was a much different reason to enforce such rules, he was quite content to follow such rules.

"You better!" The master spoke as he nudged him towards the mat.

On the mat was Harish waiting for his arrival. Upon catching Taro's glance, Harish gave out a light smile. Taro smiled back as well.

Meanwhile, the referee made his way to the mat as well. "Ready?" He asked.

"Yes!" Both answered.

"Bow! Fight!" The referee roared. As soon as the match began, Harish advanced towards Taro as quickly as possible, reducing the distance between them. He had hoped to land a swift kick on Taro's side, giving him no time to prepare.

However, it was as if Taro had expected Harish to do this. He shifted his stance to a wider one. And rather than giving importance to mobility, Taro gave importance to the defense and sinked as low as he could, gaining the utmost stability. After that, it was much simpler for him to defend against the kick with his bare hands.

Seeing that he sacrificed his mobility to put it all into defence, Harish thought of quickly following up with a punch to the chest. However, he failed to notice the punch that was headed straight to his abdomen. Just like that, he lost one point.

Harish was flustered by this. That's when he made the mistake of backing up rather than continuing his advances. With that, Taro got time to retreat and prepare as well. And this proved to be a costly mistake. As Harish tried attacking, all his advances were defended against and countered. Harish entered into a state of despair by the time Taro had a hefty lead of seven points.

Not knowing what to do, Harish was destroyed. He started throwing random punches towards Taro, which missed him. "I… have… to… win…" He said as he swung his fist with his entire body. Rather than concentrating in good form, he wanted to land at least one punch on Taro's body.

"Harish!" Someone shouted. It was his master. He looked sad. Harish realized it. Rather than giving an apt send off for his master , he was concerned about winning the match and heading to the nationals. It was his own selfish desires. His master never wanted this; he never wanted to see his pupil's desperate punches. He rather liked the pupil who lost the fights but earned the respect of his opponents through his displays.

That exact moment was when Harish realized that martial arts was not about scoring points, it was about putting up a respectable front against your opponent. It wasn't about winning trophies, it was about survival; a way to lead life.

Harish stopped throwing stray punches and got back to a basic stance. Each time he tried attacking, he was stopped by Taro's arms, however, he was relentless as well when it came to Taro's counterattacks. The match which had strayed off from being a martial arts match reverted back into one where Harish attacked and Taro counter attacked. However, neither one of them scored any more once the defense game began.

In the end, the match dragged until the referee signalled the fight's end. Harish somehow managed to last the entire match. Even though he knew he lost, he felt like a weight was off his shoulders. Taro won the match ten to two; the judges awarded him three extra points for his technique, form and timing. Meanwhile, Harish ended up gaining to because of his actions and behavior in the latter half of the fight. The tenacity of not giving until the end even though the fight was done really impressed the judges.

"Thank you!" Harish bowed deeply towards Taro for the fight that he had. The fight that made him realize what kind of martial artist he was.

"Ah, don't worry! I had fun! Lots of it. You got spirit. I like that! Let's fight again, someday!" Taro tried to break down his words as much as possible, so that his translator won't glitch.

Harish smiled as he saw Taro's exhilarated face. He got a sense of satisfaction. "Sadanandan, huh? I'll remember your name! Let's have another fight someday. And that day, I'll finally crack that defense of yours!" Harish laughed as he left mat first so that his opponent could celebrate his victory.

"Well done." Harish's master gave out a little hug. Once he was embraced by his master, he couldn't hold it in. He broke into tears. Even though he did have a new perspective towards martial arts, he still wanted to win. He still wanted to give his master a proper farewell.

"I'm sorry." He said as he cried down his master's shoulder.

His master pushed him back. "What are you sorry about, huh? You just showed off our dojo's values and worth out there! Didn't I tell you? Winning or losing in a tournament like this doesn't matter. What matters is that you don't give up and stray your path. And even if you did, you must show the tenacity to get back on track. You just showed that to me. So, don't be sorry. Be proud instead. Be proud of what you have become. Be proud of finally achieving the potential that I saw in you. The fight you showed today is the best farewell that anyone could possibly give me. So, don't cry. Stand tall instead!" Harish's master replied as he patted his shoulder.

As his master said, Harish wiped the tears off his face and stood straight, proud of what he did on the mat. "Yes, master!" Harish shouted in a broken voice.

"That's good! Now take this." The master said as he tossed him something.

"This is!"

"What? Did you think I was joking about you being a dojo master? Well, I wasn't. I don't think there isn't anyone else who's capable of managing our dojo other than you. So, from this moment, I'm no longer your master. I'm just a father watching his son from the sidelines. I'll swing by and cheer for you though!" The master smiled.

"Son?" Harish was overwhelmed by his master's words.

"Well, I considered you as my son for a long time now. Of course, if you don't like me calling you that, do tell me and I'll…"

"NO!" Harish stopped him from speaking any more. He finally heard what he wanted to for the longest time and he didn't want to lose it. "Thank you for everything… father. I love you." He nearly broke down into tears while saying those words.

"I love you too… son." He said as he embraced Harish. A huge smile dawned on both their faces. It was the greatest day of their lives.

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