Lupin The Third: The Gunslinger's Lament

Chapter 5

When they walked into the place, they were greeted by the sight of a full gym, complete with several different pieces exercise equipment and machines, tumble mats, and most notably, a full boxing ring. A lot of it seemed like it had gone untouched for a long time.

"It all looks to be in good shape," remarked Jigen, looking around.

"It'd better be," said Izzy. "Just because I closed the gym, doesn't mean I don't keep it up."

Ruby paused where she stood, gazing around at all the equipment as Izzy flipped on the lights. "Woah," she breathed. "Cool!"

Goemon took in the place with a silent curiosity. For a moment, he closed his eyes. He felt as if the place carried with it a negative energy. But perhaps Ruby's eagerness to ready herself for the competition would cleanse the place of the lingering emotions from the past.

Ruby trotted about, checking everything out. "Oh! Even tumble mats! This is perfect! Just needs a balance beam and a high bar."

Izzy turned away from Jigen and looked to Ruby. "You really are a gymnast, eh? Well, I may be able to get you what you need. This place used to be used by athletes of all sorts, even Olympians at one point. I'll check my storage, see if I've got anything for you."

These were the most words that he'd spoken since they arrived. And he was admittedly a lot warmer to her than he'd been to, well, any of them moments ago.

"T-Thank you," she stammered.

Jigen noticed how Izzy softened up a little around Ruby. Apparently, the girl had genuinely caught the man's interest. And while Izzy might still be rough with him, Jigen felt as if Ruby might be the one thing that could keep the man calm during their time there, as he seemed genuinely interested in assisting her in her training for the competition.

While Izzy went to check his storage, Ruby, feeling a bit more relaxed and like herself, ran to the boxing ring. "I've never seen one of these in person," she said, climbing onto it.

It was old and dusty. Definitely hadn't been used in quite some time, but as Ruby jumped around on it, she could tell it was still sturdy. It even still had some bounce to it. She ran from one side to the other, bouncing off the ropes, far less like a boxer, and more like a pro wrestler. Lupin grinned as he thought of how he'd love to see Ruby in some skimpy wrestling outfit... and he thought that he'd like to be her opponent in that situation.

Hovering in the corner, Ruby's voice echoed throughout the empty gymnasium as she feigned the voice of a ring announcer:

"Annnd in this corner... hailing from the U.S. of A... this spritely rookie is more formidable than she looks! Weighing in at none-of-your-damn-business, our underdog challenger is an apprentice gunslinger and samurai-in-training! This spunky kid has trained in the back woods of Dal Fiume under the tutelage of Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth and is reputed to be the favored sidekick of an infamous gunslinger!"

Jigen scratched his jaw, trying not to smile. "Jeez kid..."

"They don't call her 'The Protégé of Daisuke Jigen' for nothing... Everyone give it up for... Rowdy RuRu Robinson!"

Ruby cupped her mouth with her hands and mimicked the sound of a cheering crowd. She climbed onto the turnbuckles and raised her fists in a victory pose. Then, she performed a backwards flip off the post and landed lithely upon her feet on the ring.

Goemon stood at her corner, impressed by her vivacity. That was definitely a good start to rid this place of negative energy. Best of all, Ruby had so much more vitality than before; his worries from their time in the car were slowly disappearing the more she goofed off.