Martial Arts or Magical Arts

 CHapter 8

 

Spring Semester

 

Carl pulled up to the curb in front of Laura’s house. She leaned over the console to give him a kiss, and then jumped out to rush into her home. Carl hit the window down button.

“Hey Laura! Come over tonight and we can study together.”

 

“Okay, I’ll call you later to let you know, see you!”

He watched her hurry into her house. She was a great friend. If she decided not to come over he would get with his Uncle Rick to see if there was anything useful they could do for a couple of hours.

 

Then it hit him! He turned his car around and headed to his Uncle’s house. Peggy was great with CAD software. Her plans for the garden for Carl’s house were in his workshop; as soon as spring arrived the three of them were going to convert their backyard into fairy paradise.

 

But right now, he needed to design a factory that could build Power Capsule that nobody could duplicate. Then he would build a flying car! The Power Capsules would power them!

His brakes squealed as he stopped in front of his Aunt and Uncle house. It was Friday an unusual day to start school but with the shake up in the Department of Education the rules were that school had to start the first weekday after the New Year. So the best the school district could do was start school on the 2^nd a Friday. Peggy would love his suggestion that she do a sleep over.

 

He did not run to the front door! He moved a little fast but he didn’t run! Carl stood there for hours pounding on the door while holding the bell button down.

His Uncle jerked the door open, “Carl! What’s wrong, boy^”

“Peggy^ Where are you Peggy?” He hurried into the house looking for Peggy. Carl did not see his Aunt step into the living room as he headed for the upstairs.

 

“PEGGY!” He hollered at the top of lungs. By that time he was running up the stairs.

“Carl! Wait boy, she’s not up there.”

He had made it to the top of the staircase before what his Uncle had said made sense. PEGGY was not here, somebody had stolen her!

“Who took Peggy?” He screamed as he almost fell down the stairs. “Tell me! Who did it? I’ll reduce them to sub-atomic particles, and then reduce those to quanta of energy!”

 

“Carl, son calm down, nobody took Peggy. Its Friday night, the 2^th, tonight is the City Martial Arts for juniors tournament. She went with her class at the dojo, we’ll be leaving soon. Now what is wrong, that you’re flying around without wings?”

 

“Oh, I was going to get her to come over for a sleepover. I have some idea and I need her skills with CAD software.”

 

“I thought you two had finished the designs for the garden?”

“Oh yeah, got the plans, and put them away until spring.  This is something new! Hey Uncle Rick! I’m going to need a factory! I’m going to start making Power Capsules similar to our power supply in the warehouse!”

 

“Settle down Carl, you’re jumping around like a rabbit in a cage full of Dobermans!”

“Oh, sorry but the idea just popped into my mind.”

“Well you see, I know how to make a power source that needs no fuel, and will basically last forever. What I am going to do it make them so they don’t last forever. They will be simple, easy to manufacture capsules, easy to assemble and to operate. But, if you take them apart, they cease to function.”

“Each one must first be energized here in our factory.”

“They will be two halves of different conducting metals, with an insulator between them that acts as the control. Twist it; turns it on and increases power by one order of magnitude. The insulator will have a plastic film that separates the two halves. The whole thing is a farce, a distraction; it works because I will make it work.”

“I need Peggy to help me design the capsules and the manufacturing process to put them together. We will need to design and build an alternator to convert the pure DC current to AC with a selection of current and cycles.”

“Well that all sounds good, but now we need to get to the Civic Center. That’s where the tournament is being held.’

“You mean Peggy is really going to compete? Why?”

“Oh Carl, I know you were never into that competition thing, but Peggy wants something that says she was good, great or the best.”

“Okay, it was just that all those jocks always seemed like bullies to me.”

“You know, you could compete also. Your Sensei will be there, and can clear you as qualified. You did get the yellow belt for your knowledge of the Kato’s.”

“Nah it’s too late. I’d have to get my parents to sign the application form.”

“No it’s not too late. I can fax them the forms, they can sign them and then fax them back to us at the center. Just make sure you have your Gi in you car.”

 

Carl hesitated, and learn the meaning of the saying ‘he who hesitates is lost.’ The parking lot at the Civic Center was a mad house; hundreds of people filled the sidewalks. The entrance to the Civic Center was crammed with people trying to get inside.

He walked with his Aunt and Uncle. “Where do we go?”

They gave no answers; maybe they didn’t know the answer. But soon Uncle Rick pulled them out of the people headed to the auditorium. Carl at first had no idea where they were going, but finally spotted the signs directing them to the Tournament Organizers. They entered a huge office with dozens of people examining papers and charts.

“Yes, may I help?” asked a man sitting at a desk.

“We need to get an application filed and fees paid. I had the application faxed to this ofice.”

“Name of the applicatant?”

“Carl Black, 16 years old, yellow belt aikido, Japanese Jujitsu, Mixed Martial arts, Inoue dojo of Tulsa. ”

The man looked up at him, studying him.  

“Master Inoue rarely teaches the mixed arts. I hope you honor his teaching here today.”

Sensei Inoue was one of the few people outside his family to whom he gave his full respect. One reason was how he had evaluated Carl the first time they met. The man got up, and walked across the room, where a bank of printers was located. He quickly returned with the application that Carl’s parents had signed and faxed to the center.

 

Sitting down, he looked over the application, and then looked up at them. “Everything appears to be in order. Your class division in Jujitsu will be starting in one hour; you must report to the weigh-in area as soon as possible, fully geared up. Gi, protective cups and shin protectors. For mixed, you will need head gear, gloves and foot protection.”

 

With that he dismissed them. Uncle Rick, who seemed to know the place like his warehouse, led them away. Aunt Clara was looking all over the place. Uncle Rick dropped Carl off at the locker room, telling him they would wait at the entrance to the auditorium.”

 

The locker room attendant signed him in and gave him a locker, towel and a lock with a key. He charged ten dollars, which made Carl dig through his papers to find that Uncle Rick had paid the $150 application fee for three different divisions.

 

He put all his clothes and extra gear in the locker and locked up. Finding his Aunt and Uncle at the entrance way from the locker room, he handed his key over to them. At that time a man in a black gi with a Red Dragon embroidered on the back show up and asked for his papers.

 

“See that area over there? Find an empty spot, kneel there, and wait until your name is called. At that time come to your feet. Bow to the judge’s table over there, report to the nearest official, who will wear a red sash around their waist. Have you ever competed in an open tournament before?”

“No Sensei.” Carl said and bowed to the man.

“Hum that’s good and bad. You have no bad habits to unlearn, but you have no good ones to help you. The most important rule is always show courtesy. Bow to all official, bow to your opponent before fighting, and after winning or losing. A person who is always courteous is never dishonorable. Go!”

 

Carl bowed, turned away, and walked over to the area the official had shown him. He found an empty spot between some white belts and yellow and orange belts. He then took a kneeling position. He knelt there for a few minutes; then noticed some people stretching and limbering up. He had not done that! He knew that it was a real no-no not to have his muscles ready when facing an opponent. He came to his feet bowed to the judge’s table then turned to look for the nearest official.  Finding one watching the people stretching, he walked over to him, and bowed as soon as he had the man’s attention. “Sensei, I have not had a chance to warm up. My I do so?”

 

He looked at Carl’s belt then asked, “Which division are you competing in?”

 

“I will compete in three, Japanese Jujitsu, Aikido and mixed martial arts weight 140 lbs and 16 years.”

“Very good! The Jujitsu will be first and very soon. Go get warmed up.”

Carl took a position at the end of a line of people. Then for the next sixteen minutes he twisted, stretched and fell.”

 

“Attention everybody! Take your positions!”

 

Carl looked around all the people on the floor were exiting the mats. He headed over to where he had previously knelt, but before he got there, he could see the line was longer and the space between belts and white belts had moved down the wall. He finally made a space between the color belts and the whites and knelt.

The competition started, and right away he saw that they were doing four matches at a time. It was white against white all four fights. Carl listened as the guys to his left discussed each match near them. They basically tore down each of the fighters. To hear them, none of them were any good.

 

His own opinion was the fighters were fair. None of them would give him any problems.

 

The guy to his right must have heard his name, as he came to his feet bowed, then approached the nearest official. He was directed to the far end of the auditorium. Carl followed the fight as much as he could from his awkward angle. The fight went to full three falls. His neighbor won.

 

Carl watched as the winner was directed to another official who took the winner over to a table where something was done. He brought his attention back to his area of the auditorium. That was when he noticed that the whites were thinning out. If you lost with no falls you left. If you won one fall of the three, then you came back to the kneeling position, and waited some more.

Then those were called a second time to face off with one of the others that had taken one fall. This time, if you did not win the match you were gone. Carl was thinking that probably meant he be out of here quickly.

He sat up and looked around; Peggy’s name had just been called. There she was on the far side, darn.

 

They trained at different times so he really had no idea how good she was. He watched closely. She was facing a girl that was a little larger then she was. They bowed, and the other girl jumped her, grabbed her Gi and did a move into a hip throw. Just as the other girl went for the twist to lift her up on the hip, Peggy did a full leg sweep. The other girl was down!

Wow, that was good.

“Carl Black, yellow belt, Sensei Inoue Tulsa Dojo.”

He quickly got to his feet, bowed to the judges, then stepped over to the nearest official. “Carl Black, Sensei.” He said with a bow.

“Take your position on the black ‘x’.”

He moved over to where a Black taped ‘x’ was on the floor. There, 15 feet away was a Red ‘x’. Another yellow belt contestant took his position on ‘X’.

“Attention, this is two falls out of three. A partial fall counts as a half fall. You will bow, when I say “Fight” you will come off the ‘x’ the match begins. If you leave the circle it counts as a fall.”

He backed away slightly “Fight”. Carl had watched enough of the other matches to know the best way to go, was quickly engage. So he was moving as the word coming out of the official’s mouth. Then he did the really unexpected, Carl went for an arm bar. With that firmly in his grasp, he pivoted, and his opponent went down on his face. Carl stood there holding the bar, until the official looked closely at what he had and said, “Break, first fall.”

 

Carl dropped the bar, and stepped back when his opponent got to his feet. He bowed and held it until his opponent returned it. “One more fall by Black will be match, Red still needs two falls.”

 It helped keep Carl confusion down that he called him Black. “Fight” He had let himself get distracted and his opponent was determined to make up for that last fall.

 

Carl stumbled back as the opponent bulled into him, trying to push him out of the circle. He dropped to the mat and swept his legs out, catching the other fighter across his shins. It was almost a trip but not quite. Carl came back to his feet, and was on top his opponent as he came up to his feet. Carl reached over and took a firm grip on his opponent’s gi, with that he now controled the other’s movement.

 

It was a classic shoulder throw that rattled their part of the auditorium. Carl kept his grip until the official could see that he still had hold of his lapels. In jujitsu, the matches were almost true sports that judo evolved into. They were not supposed to let the opponent go until he was down. In Mixed Martial Arts, with that same throw, he would have let go while the opponent was still at least a foot above the floor.

 

After the match, Carl had to go through the paperwork. Finally, he was told to return to his position on the side. As he returned to his position, he spotted his Aunt and Uncle, so he went by where they were seated.

“Carl that was good! You were looking sharp and crisp.

“Yeah, how did Peggy do? I saw one fall but then they called me.”

Uncle Rick grinned and held up his video camera, “She took the first two falls. I got you and her so you can see them later.”

Carl returned to his position. The yellow belts had thinned out a bit; neither of the two mouthy critics that had been sitting to his left were there. He looked over the matches on the floor they were not in any of them. After kneeling he learned over to the contestant who had not been called yet.

“Where did the two motor mouth guys setting between us go?”

Looking over at him, he grinned. “Wham bam thank you mam, they are gone.”

“Wow, that fast?”

“If you’re not good to start with then it takes no time to be eliminated.”

Carl’s neighbor turned to face the floor once more. Then he got to his feet as his name was called. He was pretty good. He took the next fighter with two straight falls. Then he was back. Carl listened but he never said anything. No bragging, just good straight skill. He knelt there thinking about what he was seeing. These matches were in most cases just good straight skill versus skill.

Carl was enjoying himself. This was fun, stretching his abilities to the fullest. He was good, he finally admitted. The next three matches were breezes, even the last one where he was paired with an orange belt.

 

He had to keep telling himself don’t get over confident. One of these more experience contestants was going to clean his clock. Then his fifth match started. His opponent had an Orange Belt with two stripes on the ends. He was not sure but thought that meant he was about to go up a belt.

 

His opponent simply walked out to the center of the ring and reached out to grasp his gi. Carl did not wait; he turned the reaching arm into another arm bar, and forced his opponent to his knees. That was a far as he made it. The opponent grabbed his pants leg and pulled his feet up off the floor. Carl started falling backwards and the arm bar started to come apart. He twisted, sticking out his leg; it came across his opponent, and instead of Carl falling backward on his back, he was now falling forward into his opponent’s chest.

As they fell he got his grasp on both the left and right lapels. With a twist, using his falling weight he had a legal choke hold on his opponent. He exerted pressure. He felt the official who was now crouched over him watching. His opponent had one of his legs trapped under his body, the arm on that side was trapped under Carl and his right hand was pushing the collar of the gi to the right putting pressure on the neck. “Break!” The official said!

Carl let go of everything, and then moved carefully, to be sure not to apply pressure from his leg. He felt a grip on the back of his gi lift him up. Then he was standing upright and backing away from his opponent.

 

He watched as an EMT team rushed into the ring. This part of the auditorium got very quiet. Then one of the EMT held up his hand with a thumb up. They waited, and then waited. Finally, a bell rang and the official turned to the judges table where one of them was standing, pointing to his wrist watch.

 

The Official turn to face the audiences, “Black, full take down for the first fall.” He paused, “Red failure to come to the center of the ring for the second fall, match point to Black.”

Carl slowly turned to his opponent who they were helping on to a stretcher. Carl bowed to his opponent, and held it until the stretcher was out of the ring. Then he turned to face the official and bowed to him. Then he turned to the judges table where all five judges were standing and bowed. He was shocked as all five gave him a bow. He walked over to the table where the winners went.

“Is he okay?” were the first words out of his mouth.

“Yes, it was his own fault he should have retired with a slap to you or the floor. When you’re beaten, there is no reason in competition to take it to extremes. His Sensei will have a lot to say to him.”

 

Carl returned to his position at the side. There were huge empty spaces. There were no yellow belts left. He looked at the floor where an orange was facing a blue. The blue was playing with him. He saw the official was frowning at the blue. Then finally that match was over. As the blue started to leave the official called him back; Carl was close enough that he could hear the dressing down the official gave the blue belt.

When it was over the blue belt stumbled away. Carl waited, only an hour and a half had passed since the tournament had started.  There was some stirring around at the judges table. Finally they were calling names again. He watched as a blue went to the circle nearest him. Then he heard his name, but that had to wrong there were no more yellow or orange belts. 

He stood and approached the official that had chewed the last blue belt out. “Sensei, I am Carl Black.”

“Red ‘x’ this time.”

For the first time he didn’t get the Black ‘x’ to start with. He was facing a blue belt; a high ranked blue. The expression on the Blue’s face said it all. A look of disbelief flashed on his face, and then followed by one of distain.

 

Carl bowed to the official. Then to his opponent; he held it while the Blue belt just stared at the judges table.

 

“Prepare to fight Black.” The official stated.

His head whipped back around and finally he gave a sloppy bow. “Fight!”

Carl didn’t wait; he hit his opponent with a full body block staggering him backwards. It was not going to be enough as he stopped his motion toward the edge of the circle. As Carl bounced, he reached out and hugged his opponent closer to him. His right leg went between his opponent legs, and did a forward leg sweep while pushing him away. His opponent had one leg to support himself, and he was up on his heel. He reached out, grabbing for anything he could get, and caught Carl’s gi at the mid-point on the front.

 

He twisted as he felled, and Carl went with him. The pull rotated Carl, and he was going to land on his back. Carl brought his right arm down and locked the left hand of his opponent in his tunic. Then he added to the twist rotating his body instead of his back, it was going to be his left side that hit the mat. Carl did not have time to think. What was about to happen was not illegal. In fact in Mixed Martial Arts he might have even tried to do what was happening accidentally. But with all the angular momentum he was about to break his opponent wrist.

With a twist of his mind he cast a spell; the arm flexed and did not break. But it was locked tight and his opponent had no leverage to break free. He slapped the mat behind Carl. The official was right there “Break!”, “Break!”

Carl rotated his head to see the Official, “I can’t. It’s locked; I can’t release his arm.”

“HOLD! Both of you do not move.”

 

Within seconds a group of men were kneeling around them then slowly, they began to reposition the two of them. They in fact, had both of them up in the air at one time. But slowly they came apart. Carl saw flashing lights and knew that cameras were recording this for future examination. The final act was to slide his opponent’s hand out of his gi where the tunic had been twisted around it.

Carl stood facing his opponent as the official step up, “Red’s fall with a wrist lock take down.”

“Center!”

Carl looked at his opponent who was twisting his wrist around and around. He turned to the official and held his hand up; the official went to him and they talked.

Returning to the center, then official made the announcement. “Black forfeits the match.”

“Winner is Red”

Carl staggered around in shock. The official told him he was the only undefeated contestant in his division. That was it for the night. The Aikido matches would start Saturday in the afternoon. Peggy had won three matches, lost one, and tied one, which was very hard to do. He showered, and left his gear except his gi in the locker. The gi needed a good washing.

It was not all that late so they went by to get some clothes for Peggy, and to get a copy of her CAD software to take to Carl’s house. They sat around in his basement work area discussing what he wanted. He sketched out what the Power Capsule would look like, and the possible material they would be made of.

Then he sketched out the alternator designed to convert the DC current of multiple hundreds of volts and amps to AC at 50-60 cycles. He went on the internet and found where he could have stainless steel half capsule made. Then he did the same for aluminum. Then a plastic company that could make the insulator to go between the two pieces of metal. By the time they went to bed they had a plan outline.

 

At nine the next morning Carl was up and on the phone. He soon had a price per unit of stainless steel half caps. Then it was the aluminum manufacturer’s turn. It was ten thirty by the time he had gotten a price quote from the Plastic molding company. At one thousand units he could get all the parts for $33,000 dollars.

 

It was time to get his Uncle Rick involved. The two of them piled into Carl’s car and went to her house. They found that Uncle Rick had gone to the warehouse. They were soon on his trail.

 

When they told him what they wanted to do, he just shook his head. “You do know you are going to make a lot of enemies with this?”

“Yeah, that’s why I waited until I had it fully figured out. The converters or alternators can be built by anybody. But the Power Capsules can be made only by me or Peggy. We can buy the converter and install the power capsules then sell the entire package.”

“I’m thinking a small unit that turns out 120-220 volts at 50-60 cycles, will be just what is needed to run a household.”

 

“We can sell them at about $1,200 and make a real profit. Just the saving on electric bill will pay for one in a year.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My thanks to TxAgBand59 for his editing and proofing help. But the final results are mine and all criticism should be loaded onto my shoulders.

 

© Virgil Lee Fuqua III and ‘vlfouquet.wordpress’, 2008-2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Vlfouquet and Virgil Lee Fuqua III with appropriate and specific direction to the original contents.