After Raph took off, Perrin and the others walked Kit to his dressing room, mostly because now that the fight was over he felt exceptionally sore. Ayano was running around making all sorts of sound effects and fighting poses as she ran through a play-by-play of the fight.
Kit excused himself from the others so he could take a quick shower (after insisting rather vocally that they keep a close eye on Foxie). He felt the warm water helped a little, it was refreshing to clean himself and his sore muscles, he hadn’t noticed it before but there were a few small cuts on his chest from where he’d been struck, and several small scrapes on his arm, then there was the blood he now tasted in his mouth, must have cut the inside of his cheek or lip. then there were all the bruises that were now starting to show themselves more prominently. By the time he finished and got dressed he felt rejuvenated, but still tired.
When he rejoined all the others they were just setting up chairs in the room. “What’s going on?” he asked them all.
Hitomi had a first-aid kit in her hand and pointed to a chair for him to sit in, he needed a few bandages, to his face, especially, as he had some cuts to his face, mostly from being punched, he’d thought they were just bruises, but upon looking in the mirror there was a lot of blood caking the edges of his wounds.
“Oh, the reporters are going to want to do interviews with us, instead of doing it one-on-one, we figured we’d do a group interview for them… we’re also announcing Jaxon’s tenure with us tonight,” Perrin told him evasively.
“Welcome to the circus, Kid,” Daisuke told him as he completed the second row of chairs. The others were all working so seriously to help set up for the event, meanwhile he was sitting there with Hitomi worrying about small cuts.
“What should I do to help set up?” Kit asked as Hitomi smeared something on one of his cuts before placing a patch of gauze against his cheek.
“Sit still,” she told him as he’d tried to look around to Perrin.
“Yes, sit still... rest. You’re more than likely still riding the adrenaline high right now, here in a bit you’ll feel more than a little soreness, you’ll start to feel exhaustion setting in, maybe even a little stiff, after that more soreness and maybe even some pain, we have to find out if you injured yourself, and if so how seriously before we start letting you worry about this,” Perrin said as he held the door open, in stepped Renka and Kisara who were carrying a fold out table together.
“Sensei, I’m sure Kisara could-,” Renka started to say.
“No she can’t,” Kisara interrupted her as she prodded her sister to keep moving, the table looked heavy so it was understandable.
Perrin muttered something that sounded like “damn straight,” but his back was turned as he was lifting a small podium from which the reporters would take turns asking their questions.
“Where’s Foxie?” Kit asked as he noticed the missing dragon.
“He went to fetch Jaxon before the reporters arrive,” Perrin answered.
“Hey, you might want to get something to drink , refill on electrolytes to help you after that, it was a short but sweet fight kid, and that choke, and that guillotine at the end, except for the parts you messed up… absolutely beautiful. You have it in you to be a pretty good submission fighter it turns out. What d’ya say we give it a go?” Daisuke proposed to him.
“He chose… my style… first,” Hitomi interrupted.
“I think I may have been too hasty when I made that decision,” Kit told them as he sat there thinking. Suddenly there was a sharp burning on his cheek, Hitomi had slapped a cut with a towel soaked in alcohol.
“Hmpf,” she grunted when he cried out.
“I just meant that… maybe I could try working as an all-around fighter,” Kit told her.
“What brought about this change of heart?” Perrin asked him.
“Honestly… my mom,” Kit answered him.
“Care to elaborate?” Daisuke shrugged.
“Well, before Jaxon’s visit, I had no clue that my mom used to fight, she brought in money but she didn’t participate in the flash of it all, so I guess I just assumed, because of Jaxon, that I would be better suited to striking,” Kit tried to explain it to them.
“Ah, I understand… you thought this worked like the angry or calm thing, that people had natural proficiencies in one category or another. Honestly no such thing exists, it’s more a matter of comfort than anything else,” Perrin rationalized it for him.
“I want to learn more about her, she kept a lot hidden from me it seems, or at least a big part of her life… I want to understand her more,” Kit told them as he put his head down.
“Kit, your father understands better than anyone who your mother was and how she fought, if you really want to learn more about her, if you really want to fight in the all-around manner, I doubt there’s anyone more qualified to help you,” Perrin told him.
“You’re giving my student away?” Daisuke asked in a shocked voice.
“I too… do not… wish for… him to… stop being… my disciple,” Hitomi said nervously.
“NO!” Kit told him firmly. “They know enough about how this is done, they can show me what I need to know,” he followed up.
“I understand, but know this… if you’re ever going to know or understand your mother, all of her… you’ll have to talk to him eventually,” Perrin told him. ~
When Foxie finally found Jaxon Davenport he was sitting alone in the Battle Network’s control room. He was watching footage of the match, of the choke hold from the very end. Foxie heard him mumbling something into a small recorder. “Bring up archive footage 25225, start the playback at 12 minutes 43 seconds, then put it on a loop back to that point,” he ordered it. A moment later another piece of footage came up, it showed a young vixen fighting Davenport when he was roughly Kit’s age. He went in slowly toward her, his limbs were heavy, his head was slightly bowed, like his neck was tired or hurting. Almost thirteen minutes into a fight, Foxie was actually rather amazed the young Davenport was still standing, but he made a mistake, he tripped over his own foot, stumbled really, but the Vixen was there to capitalize. She was on him almost immediately, one arm wrapping around his neck, the other firmly gripped her first arm, she leaned back, at first they stood for a few moments, but after a time the two of them fell forward, whether it was intentional or because Davenport was too winded was hard to tell, but the result was the same, the vixen wrapped her legs around Davenport’s waist and a few moments later the referee tapped her on the shoulder. Then the footage hit a loop and started again.
Foxie hadn’t said anything, but the room had been dark, the light from the hallway was spilling in. “C’mon in,” Davenport told him over his shoulder.
“Is that Kit’s mother?” Foxie asked him.
“First time we fought. Pissed me off to no end that she won, hurt my pride, made people question if I was as good as they’d thought. It was a crazy night, with tons of pressure on me, looking for my 6th student championship, a lot of people were mad, it was billed as my last student division fight, people thought I was trying to pass the torch to somebody who would still be in the division, safe bet since it was only her third year, but they were wrong, she beat me straight up, and the next year she joined me in the master division. Lot of folks thought I’d carry a grudge with her, that I’d chase her down, and I did, because from the moment she put me in that chokehold I knew I loved her… that she was the one,” Jaxon shared with him. Foxie found himself suddenly very uncomfortable, he didn’t know the masters of the dojo well, and he’d only met Davenport once, and he was sharing some very personal information.
“Run that as a side-by-side with the end of this fight, the resemblance of their technique is uncanny,” Davenport noted before he put the recorder down and turned to him. “I suppose you’re here to tell me it’s time?” Jaxon asked him. Foxie didn’t answer him right away, he was too busy watching the footage on loop behind him. The vixen was a beautiful young woman, even though Foxie wasn’t interested in girls he couldn’t help but feel that, her technique was a little rushed, but nonetheless impressive. He was captivated by the startling similarities between the two, yet still noticed the glaring differences. She didn’t make any mistakes, she hadn’t doubted herself, and her form had been flawless once the hold was secured, but still, he could see some things alike between mother and son.
“Perrin says they’re ready for you,” Foxie answered as he stared intently at the screen. After a moment he turned to join Davenport as he left. “She was really something, wasn’t she?” Foxie asked Jaxon.
“Kid, you have NO idea,” the ferret answered with a smirk. ~
