Jura's Boxing Doghouse: A Night at the Foxwoods

Mashantucket, CT, USA.  Amid the Connecticut forest stands a vibrant center for gaming, gambling and a popular place for professional fighting sports events big and small.  The action inside the casino is torrid, with the sounds of roulette wheels, blackjack tables, Craps, and other gambling activities filling the place just as much as the bodies winning and losing inside.

Away from the hustle of the slots and gambling tables, two young ladies spent a little extra time in the boxing gym inside the arena they would be fighting in the next evening in an international “Boxing Lottery” event.  Participants had their opponents chosen through a lottery system, with the results given three weeks before the event to give time to prepare for their matches.  

All except for one, apparently.  

The Boxing Bunny Gym from Tokyo, Japan has several of their members here – some of them on their first international trip in the sport – with one member in particular working especially hard this evening.  The sounds of a heavy bag being pounded reverberated through the empty gym…

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“That’s right, Jura-chan!  Now harder; give that bag a 1-2 upstairs, downstairs and upstairs, right hook!” Sonohara Kagami called out methodically, encouraging her best friend with each exchange on the bag.

“Fm! FM! EHM! EH!!” Jura’s voice grunted out with each swift swing of her arms toward the bag.

“Nice set, Jura-chan,” Kagami calls out, “Now 1-2, 1-2, and 3 uppercuts any style!  Move that head!”

In compliance with her friend’s direction, Jura launches her string of 1-2 jabs stiffly against the bag, following up with a left-left-right set of uppercuts that really make the bag shudder in Kagami’s grasp.

“Ngh! You’re really into this tonight.  Now give me a set of hooks striking the bag at 23, 28, 32 and 40-degree angles with varying forces between 700 and 850 psi.  Also, lean into the punches by an extra ¾ of an inch.  Go now!”  Kagami called out in one long breath.

“Hai, Kaga--- A-ano… What was all that?” Jura started to work the pattern, then pulled up looking quizzically at Kagami with her large brown eyes.

“OH, uh… Left and rights, any combination you want.  Go, now!” Kagami said with a sheepish grin.

Jura lets out a muted sigh and hammers the bag with a set of alternating hooks, upstairs and down low with echoing sounds traveling around the empty gym.  BAM!  BAM! BOOMF BOOMBOOMBOOM!

Kagami’s body shuddered along with the bag being punished by the Chibi Tatsumaki in front of her. Cicero’s bard, she’s really into it.  She’ll be ready for tomorrow night, for sure…

“Okay, that’s all for tonight, Jura-chan.  Neither of us wants to over do it before our big night tomorrow, ne?”  Kagami said, letting go of the bag, “Here, a towel for you,”

Jura catches the towel being flung at her, wiping her face off but not the odd look on it, “W-What was that last part you said when calling punches out?  You’ve… You’ve always been so bookish.  Math was never my strong point in school,”

“Ah, gomen.^{(Ah, sorry.)} But come on now, you were pretty smart in your own right through high school, too,” Kagami replied.  A good mussing up of Jura’s hair followed her words.

“N-Not smart enough to figure out who this Elizabeth Victory is supposed to be.  How did this happen?  All of us were supposed to know who we were fighting at this event,” Jura said.  Her voice was slightly downcast from the fruitless quest to find out more about this mysterious girl she got paired with.

“It’s not your fault, Jura-chan,” Kagami reassured her with a pat on the shoulder.

“Even with all the detective work I’ve done, I didn’t find anything useful to pass on to you.  In all probability, this girl you’re fighting is someone new who’s making their professional debut, or someone moving up from the underground ranks,”  

Jura’s eyes widened, “U-UNDERGROUND??  A-Aren’t they really…?”

“Relax, puppy dog!  Relax!” Kagami interjected, patting Jura’s back.

“It’s only a theory, and besides, it’s not like all the girls who come from the underground are vicious animals or anything.  Who’s your #1 role model?”

“Ah,” Jura’s mood softened slightly, T-Tamao-sama,”

“And she goes between the two, right?  You’ve been training with her for a while and she’s not a scary monster in any way,” Kagami continued.

“W-Well, you haven’t seen her ‘other’ side if the wrong thing is said, o-or you’re goofing off instead of training hard,” Jura noted.

“Ah, yes.  She does take after her own rather eccentric trainer and mixes in that ‘Black Rabbit’ in for good measure.  She’s kind of like a good-natured R. Lee Ermey on happy gas in some ways from what I’ve heard.”  Kagami said, giving a military salute.

“In any case, between Tamao-sama, Misaki-chan, Kanata-san and I, we’ve gone over just about every kind of style you might be faced with so---“

*CLAP…. CLAP… CLAP… CLAP…. * the sound of slow, loud clapping disturbed the peace surrounding the two close friends.

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“YADA… YADA… YADA.  Another boring lesson brought to you by Dr. Slump and her pet dog, Sherman,” echoed a mildly menacing, if not annoying voice.

“Ah…. M-Minaki-senpai?  Sakura-senpai?” Jura said with surprise, “What are you two doing here?”

Sakura suddenly stepped in front of Jura, giving a stinging flick on the forehead with her finger, “What else, Poodle-girl?  We were out jogging getting ready for tomorrow.  I guess you’re getting ready to lose, right?”

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” Jura shot back.

“Come on, it’s your first time fighting a gaijin from the USA.  I’ll bet she’s way tougher than that Chinese girl you fought at your pro-trial, huhhhh?” Minaki retorted.

Looking down and away, Jura mumbled, “T-tougher than you were,”

“EHHH? What’s that, JOO-CHAMAAA? You just got a lucky few shots in that—“ Minaki began before an interruption.

“Didn’t Jura-chan send you to the hospital after that fight?  She joined you in there for a bit, too.”

“EH? S-Shut up…. I remember that… Differently,” Minaki spouted out a little deflated, “Anyway!  Tomorrow night’s gonna be no problem for us.  Sakura and I’ll thump our opponents and make our gym the talk of the state!”

“It’s your first time fighting American girls.  Minaki-san, your opponent’s been sparring with partners 25-pounds heavier than you the last 6 months and is 6-0 just like you.  She’s a bit slower, but picks her spots pretty carefully.  You’re only looking at a 56% chance of taking her down if you’re going to be overconfident like that,” Kagami said, adjusting her glasses.

“OH, I have a simple math equation for that,” Minaki raises her hands, “One plus one = K.O.  See, I know my math, too,”

“I drew some Canada-jin girl named Hiro Maguire.  She only debuted a few months ago, going 3-0-1 fighting other newcomers, so this’ll be a walk in the park,” Sakura arrogantly beamed.

“She’s a southpaw.  You’re taking a walk in the park all right, but it’s probably Central Park at 1AM.  You’ve lost more rounds to southpaws at the gym, and overall match-ups with them a good 68% of the time, so your confidence really defies logic,”

“OH Blow it out your glasses!” Sakura retorts, shoving the heavy bag into Kagami, “Like you’ll do any better!  You’re so high and mighty with your statistics and crap!”

“Ow! H-Hey…” Kagami stammers after being whacked by the bag.

“Y-Yamerou yo,^{(Stop that!)} Sakura-san!” Jura calls out before being shoved back by the antagonist.

“Or what? You gonna take a swing at me? Oooo, so scary!  I’ll bet the gal you’re fighting looks like Mr. T and will knock those widdle puppy dog eyes clear to Connecticut!” Sakura said, beginning to get aggressive.

“W-We’re already in Connecticut,” Jura corrected Sakura.

“SHUT UP!!  I hope that bitch you’re fighting rips your head off—OOMF!”

A swinging heavy bag interrupts the aggressive Sakura’s threatening diatribe.

“Odds are that Jura-chan’ll win her match and you’ll be eating crow with your apple pie, Sakura-san,” Kagami called out, the one behind the swinging weapon.

Sakura glared at the scholarly, tactical boxer with gleaming, angry eyes. She began moving toward her with fists ready to do their work early.

“O-OKAY, ALGEBRA… I’m going to make sure you don’t… UHMF!!”

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From out of nowhere Sakura’s head was whipped by a stiff right hook that nearly dropping her down to all fours.  She looked over to see where it came from with even angrier eyes than before.  To her side, was Jura, still in the position of having thrown a big hook.

“Y-You effin’ mutt-girl.  You won’t be fighting at all after that!!” Sakura heaved herself up and was ready to get revenge for the interruption, only to be interrupted by another voice off in the distance.

“HEY… GIRLS!!  It’s almost curfew time!  Get to your hotel rooms and get some shut-eye so you don’t fall asleep in the middle of your matches tomorrow night!”

Minaki pulls the enraged Sakura back and begins retreating, “C’mon, Sakura.  You want the Boss-Lady to tan your hide with her boxing gloves?  Let’s just get going, already.  We’ll have our fun tomorrow night,”

Reluctantly, Sakura pulls back still full of rage, “After this event, I’ll see YOU in that ring, Jura.  I’m gonna thump my opponent tomorrow, and then I’ll spay you!”

The two antagonists make their retreat final with the clacking sound of the door to the gym closing.   Sakura muttered quietly to herself, looking back at Jura as the door shut.

“I can’t wait to see THAT girl pound you so far into the ground they’ll mistake you for a cast member on Six-Feet Under,”

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Back in the gym, the Boss-Lady addressed Kagami and Jura.

“You’d better get going, too.  Get some sleep so you can do the gym proud!” The authoritative voice calls out to Kagami and Jura.

“Come on, Jura-chan.  Let’s get going, and thanks for that,” Kagami pulls at Jura by the arm, “Let’s get some rest so we’re fresh for tomorrow.  Besides, isn’t Misaki-chan waiting for you?”

“Ah, h-hai.  Let’s… go, Kagami-chan,” Jura follows her best friend to the opposite door, taking a look back at the spot where she decked Sakura.  She felt surprised that she did that so suddenly without thinking.  Kagami was standing up for her, so was she standing up for Kagami?  She wondered what other surprises might be in store the next time she and Sakura met eye to eye.

For now, she had a mystery opponent to worry about.

The Boss-Lady made sure the four girls from her gym were out of the arena gym like a chaperone on a high school trip.

“Well, that’s everyone, finally.  Now I can get some sleep and… Oh, blast it all,” She said, looking down at her iPad being held in her right hand. She’s been going over the fight details all week long, making sure everything was in order and her girls were prepared for everything.  She did have one thing that came up this morning, though…

“That was Sakura back there a few moments ago.  I forgot to tell her Hiro Maguire sprained her ankle and can’t go tomorrow and she’ll be substituted,” She thought for a few moments before walking off.  

“I’ll let her know tomorrow.  The surprise will…. It’ll build character for her!”

She made sure all the lights were off.  Tomorrow, the arena lights will shine brightly over the girls of the Boxing Bunny Gym from Tokyo, Japan.  They’ll also finally shine some light on some nagging questions swirling in the “Chibi Tatsumaki,” Yukinoshita Jura’s mind.  

Sleep tight, and be ready to fight!