3 Years Ago.
It was a beautiful summer day, without a cloud in the sky.
Usually, on days like these, Mina would be out with her friends, or just be out of the house enjoying the warmth of Japan's summers.
Not today. Today was different. Very, very different.
With a big grin, Mina landed on the wall and kept running.
Momentum. It was all about momentum.
She ran for a short burst of speed as fast as she could go, feeling the pull of gravity force already begin to force her downwards.
Then she jumped again, twisted in the air, landed on her feet, and kept running, keeping the momentum going all the way, as she finally made the move she'd been building it all up to.
An awesome flying kick at high speeds!
She'd trained to do that move many times, and as she jumped, she did it with a grace and form that no 12-year-old should have.
Which was immediately made considerably less awesome, when her target, still with her back turned towards the kick, easily stepped to the side, leaving Mina to fly harmlessly past her, and promptly grabbed the back of her training jacket.
With a yelp, Mina's momentum was completely cut off, though rather than making a counterattack against the girl who she'd just stopped, Felicia instead just dropped her the moment Mina stopped moving forward, leaving Mina to fall to the ground, landing on her rear end.
Mina felt a brief flash of anger and annoyance, but by the time she'd jumped back to her feet, her sparring partner was about 8 meters away.
"Good form Mina." Her mom said, not yelling, but loud enough she had no problems hearing what was being said.
"But a sweeping side kick would be better. Much easier to do, forces me to dodge more drastically, and much easier to keep the momentum going."
Right. The momentum.
Mina had attacked her mom from the front, then done a speedy, advanced maneuver to get behind her using the wall to give herself a footing much stronger than the soil of their home.
Always keep good footing. Always keep the momentum. Never stop moving.
Mina did not start with a leg sweep.
Instead, she tried to punch her mom in her face using a series of flicker jabs.
One of her mom's arms shot up into a guard position, and easily blocked every single one of the blows, one after another.
Not that Mina planned for that to work. Flicker Jabs were meant to set up, to be a distraction before a real blow hit.
Her mom probably expected a sweeping kick.
Instead, Mina followed up the jabs with a straight from her right arm with way more power in it.
She fully expected her mom to block but that was fine so long as-
Her mom made a speedy jump backwards, having predicted that Mina would follow up with another kick.
Mina was about to go into another set of flicker jabs when a loud "DING" was heard from the side, where her Mom's phone was set up to signal when they neared the end of each sparring bout.
Felicia Ashido-Hardy did not take her eyes off of Mina.
"One minute left Mina. Second to last chance today."
Mina didn't rise to the bite. Her mom wanted her to panic, but frankly, Mina hadn't been expecting to win today, so she didn't feel any need to rush in.
It wasn't that Mina didn't WANT to actually reach the next step, but she understood the sheer difference between her mom and her current level.
The training matches they had were simple. Her mom wouldn't hit her, just dodge, block, and throw her. Her job was to hit her. Just once.
She'd been stuck at this level for a month now. But that was okay. Her goal was to get it done sometime before the end of the year, so she had a lot more time to get it done.
And besides, she LIKED these training matches.
Getting to spend time with her mom was FUN!
Mina moved in, this time with a sideways kick. Not a sweeping low kick, a sideways kick with all her power behind it.
Her mom would block, then grab it. She counted on it.
The lower leg slammed into Felicia's block with a sound like a bullwhip cracking.
The older woman grabbed then immediately grabbed it with both hands.
Leaving Mina free to quickly move her other leg up from the ground and, as gravity began to take hold, she kicked her mom right in the stomach!
Or that was the plan anyway.
Felicia blocked the kick with her right elbow, though unlike most of her blocks, it was not perfect. The angle was all wrong to block.
Mina grinned, but she didn't stop the momentum.
Instead, she slammed one of her hands down into the ground and PUSHED.
It was a maneuver that in the hands of an ordinary person would have done little more than maybe made the target stumble.
Mina, with her superhuman strength, got quite a bit better result, and, as her mom was standing on grass and soil, her rock-solid stance didn't help her against the opposing force, and both of them flew a good four meters through the air in a sideways arc.
Black cat let go of her leg, wisely as Mina had planned to land another kick with her still free foot.
So instead, both of them focused on landing on their feet safely.
The moment she landed, Mina moved forward with a straight that would take the crouching Felicia right in the face and-
A fist flew right in front of Mina's fast with a dazzling speed.
The pink girl flinched, instinctually closing her eyes as she braced herself for pain. The whip-like sound came, but not pain.
Instead, a "Ding" sound came.
Mina blinked. The match was over.
A pang of anger flashed through her mind.
"Hey, no fair! You said you wouldn't hit me!"
Felicia grinned.
"And I didn't. I made a feint and you flinched. We're gonna have to work on that."
Mina pouted, which had the effect of making her look even more adorable than the 12-year-old usually did.
In response, her mom ruffled her hair, before going to pick up her phone, then heading to the back entrance of their house, where they had a large table and chairs.
Mina let the anger and annoyance fade, and eventually just followed her, sitting down by the table, where Felicia was opening the cooling box she used to store drinks and the like.
She plucked out two Fantas and threw one to Mina who snatched it out of the air and opened it in one smooth motion.
It was only as she felt the sweet, incredible feeling of cold, sugary liquid on her tongue that Mina realized how hot it was. Not too surprisingly, she was absolutely drenched in sweat, a result of one hour of heavy activity on a summer's day.
"Not bad, that last part," Felicia noted with a grin after having taken a draught.
"The part where I pushed myself off the ground?"
"Yes. You're getting way better at using your terrain to your advantage. That's great. That maneuver wouldn't have worked on concrete, but since grass and soil can be shifted with enough force, you can easily knock someone off their feet, even with a good stance."
Mina grinned, the 12-year-old beaming at the praise.
"Yeah, you'll go far alright. Another month or so more, and you'll be ready for the next step."
The next step. Actual, real sparring with mom. The thought filled her with ecstatic and energetic excitement, but also with a bit of fear.
...
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