❛ I was doing just fine. ❜

Changing back into her gi for the next event, Ayane decided that she would go to the gym while she waited for it to begin.

She made her way down to the training area, walking down the hallway to find an unoccupied room.

Pushing open one of the doors, Ayane halted when she saw none other than Miguel in there, bench pressing weights with headphones on.

She tried to turn around and walk out before he noticed, but then decided against it. Ayane turned back around, Miguel seeing her in the doorway now.

He placed the bar back on the rack and sat up, removing his headphones and placing them around his neck.

"Ayane," Miguel spoke, knitting his brows. "What are you doing here?"

Ayane raised her shoulders slightly. "I-I was gonna come do some warmups before the next event. I can find another room–"

"No, it's fine," Miguel interjected, rising to his feet at once. He had not yet changed into his gi, wearing gym clothes that were now sweaty.

Ayane eyed him for a moment, folding her arms. She inhaled sharply, meeting the boy's eyes.

"Why were you so defensive over me earlier? In the first match? You know I can handle my own."

Miguel made a face. "The whole point was to protect the captains. And, you know, maybe if everyone had listened to my strategy then we would've won. Or at least not have been the first ones knocked out."

Ayane set her jaw, halfway rolling her eyes. "You should've focused more on protecting Robby, then. I was doing just fine."

The boy began to laugh, undertones of agitation in it as he looked her up and down.

"Are you kidding? That is all you have to say after that shit show of a match? Are you trying to put the blame on me, for some reason?"

Ayane glanced away, not replying for a moment. She was just angry at Miguel, and that was really her only motivation behind her words. No matter what she asked of him, Miguel could not seem to step back and respect her boundaries.

"Even in the tournament, you still couldn't give me space," she muttered, but Miguel heard her.

He took a step closer to her, his face contorted with anger and frustration.

"You know what, Ayane? Fine. I am done protecting you, or defending you, or whatever else. Just stay as far away from me as possible for the rest of this tournament."

Ayane brought her eyes up to his, Miguel looking down at her with a deep hurt all over him. She kept her arms crossed, her expression unwavering.

"You should be telling yourself to stay away," she shot back, finally turning on her heel and leaving the room.

Miguel watched her go, his fists squeezed tightly. He was so frustrated, so beside himself with the way Ayane's words continued to sting over and over again.

Miguel just wanted his girl back.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

     For some unknown reason, Daniel was not present when it was time for the next event to begin.

Ayane approached Johnny as she stood amongst the other Miyagi-Do students, concern on her face.

"Where is Mr. LaRusso?"

Johnny seemed dismissive. "He stepped out. Guess he got caught up or something."

He looked over to the rest of the team at that, saying, "It's probably for the best."

Ayane crossed her arms, hearing the announcer begin to speak across the arena.

"In this final points round, competitors will try to knock their opponents off their platforms. Once you have fallen, you are out. Points are determined off of wins, losses, and time. Final rankings after this event will determine placement in tonight's elimination round."

Easy enough, Ayane thought, eyeing the platforms that were lined around the room. Miyagi-Do tactics were going to be an important factor in this round; they all needed to keep their balance.

"Alright, listen up," Johnny called them all to attention. "Looks like I'm taking charge, so we're doing things differently."

Ayane stood on one side of him, Miguel on the either. She glanced at him briefly, although it was more of a glare.

"No more waiting around like scared little bitches, waiting for them to come to you," Johnny continued. "Alright? You go at them. Aggressive. Knock 'em off first."

Sam frowned from beside Ayane. "Those platforms are pretty narrow. My dad would want balance."

Ayane nodded in agreement, but Johnny dismissed them.

"Yeah, well, your dad's not here alright? It's time for us to start scoring some points."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Ayane pinched the bridge of her nose. She decided that she was going to ignore Johnny's advice this time around.

"...Ayane Cain from Miyagi-Do on platform two," the official called out, Ayane raising her head.

Johnny looked over at her, clasping a hand on her shoulder. "Alright, Ayannie, I know you won't let us down. Do your thing."

Ayane nodded firmly, her eyes wandering behind Johnny to Miguel. He cut her a sharp look, bringing his head away at once.

She turned, shaking her limbs out with a deep breath before approaching the platform.

Her opponent was Maria Alvarez of Furia de Pantera, who Ayane had seen fighting in a previous match. She was pretty good.

Ayane and Maria faced each other with a bow, then assumed their fighting positions.

The referee called for the match to start, and Ayane waited for Maria to strike first. She knew that might piss off Johnny momentarily, but he would get over it when she won.

Maria put forward a kick, Ayane blocking it and throwing strikes. Maria defended them, bringing up a knee to Ayane's midsection. She grabbed Maria's thigh, lifting her off the ground and grappling her around the waist with the other arm.

Using all her strength, Ayane threw the girl off the platform. Maria hit the ground with the sound of a horn, some of the spectators murmuring to each other as Maria laid there in a momentary daze.

"Alvarez, out. Time, thirty seconds."

Ayane stepped off of the platform, walking back to her teammates. She noticed, off in the distance a little, that Zara was watching her. The girl looked away when she saw Ayane's gaze on her, the Cain girl smirking a little.

"Did you just throw someone?" Demetri asked in disbelief as Ayane rejoined them, the girl placing her hands on her hips.

"I was using Miyagi-Do," Ayane replied, pointedly looking over at Johnny.

He ignored her statement. "Good job, kid."

Up next, Miguel was fighting. Ayane did not give him any words of encouragement before he went up to the platform, simply hanging back and observing. He was fighting a captain from another dojo, but Ayane figured that Miguel would probably win.

And, just as she thought, she watched as he kicked his opponent from the platform in victory.

"Phan, out. Time, forty seconds."

Miguel started to grin as he jumped off the platform, running over to everyone else.

"Sensei, did you see that knee?" he said to Johnny, who did not seem focused on Miguel in that moment.

Instead, Johnny was observing the leaderboard, which had Miyagi-Do in eleventh place and not budging. It seemed that even after Ayane and Miguel's victories, they had not gained many points.

"It's too little too late, man," Johnny replied with a dismal head shake. "We're near the bottom of the standings. There's nothing to celebrate here."

Miguel's face fell, Ayane watching the entire thing unfold. His face twinged with sadness, shaking his head a little.

The other Miyagi-Do kids began to walk away, now that the event was over. Johnny went forward and grabbed hold of Demetri.

"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Demetri made a face. "Back to the hotel to wash off this disgrace."

"You're not getting off that easy," Johnny was quick to reply, looking to all of the students. "Locker room. Now."

Ayane drew in a breath, following along with the others to the locker room.

She leaned against the lockers, too agitated to sit down and stay still. Ayane was becoming frustrated with the team, and how it seemed like their heads were all in different places.

"What I've seen from you guys since we've been here, it's not karate. It's weakness," Johnny paced the room. "You're fighting like little lambs waiting for slaughter. We keep going like this, we get eliminated tonight."

Ayane crossed her arms, staring at the ground while she listened to Johnny's rant.

"Some of you will put this behind you," he continued. "But some of you are gonna carry this for the rest of your lives! Knowing you had this chance to actually make something of yourselves! But instead, you crumbled under pressure."

There was nothing but silence around the room.

"And you're gonna go on to live shit lives in shitty apartments with shit jobs. And always have to live with this failure. So if you wanna save some humiliation, why don't we just skip the next round and catch the next flight home?"

More silence. No one bothered to speak, though Ayane could see that some of them wanted to.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Johnny asked. "Where's your fight? Aren't you gonna stand up for yourselves?"

Ayane finally broke the silence. "All due respect, Sensei, but you can't just blame us here. You and Sensei LaRusso have yet to see eye to eye on anything since we've been here, which– let's be honest, isn't that surprising. I mean, what's the point of you being a Miyagi-Do sensei if you're gonna discourage us from using Miyagi-Do lessons?"

Johnny went quiet, and no one else said anything for a moment.

Then, Demetri said, "Well, I, for one, will be putting all of this behind me when I'm off to MI–"

"Shut the fuck up about MIT!" Eli snapped, interrupting Demetri. "Some of us actually care about winning the tournament. Be nice if you did too."

Ayane rubbed her nose, silently in agreement with Eli.

"Guys, can we just cool it?" Robby cut in. "This isn't helping. We need to focus up."

From beside Robby, Miguel muttered, "Maybe you should listen to your own advice."

Robby turned his head to him, raising an eyebrow.

"You got something to say?"

Miguel looked back at him, holding Robby's gaze with a firm look of his own.

"I already did."

He stood up, grabbing his stuff and starting to walk out.

Johnny stopped him. "Hey, I'm not finished."

"No offense, Sensei, but I'm pretty sure we've heard enough from you," Miguel replied, continuing past Johnny and out of the locker room.

Ayane stayed back as the others left, until it was only her and Johnny.

She eyed him, arms still crossed as she leaned against the lockers.

"You want my advice, Sensei?"

Ayane pushed off the lockers, grabbing her stuff and walking toward him.

"Show your students that you actually care about them, and maybe then you can prevent this from happening."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

     For the entirety of the break between events, Ayane did not leave the gym.

She practiced furiously, over and over again, repeating the same exercises until she felt like she could have done them in her sleep.

Ayane had a lot of pent up energy that she really wanted to take out in a fight.

The final event of the day was about to begin. Ayane was gathered back up with her teammates, the six of them listening to the official speaking.

"We have now entered the elimination phase of the Sekai Taikai. The dojos who do not win tonight will be headed home. The previous rounds have determined your current rankings."

Miyagi-Do still sat at eleventh place, Ayane grimacing a little. She was not used to losing like this.

"The number one team will face the number sixteen team. The number two team will face the number fifteen team, and so on."

Ayane looked up at the board, trying to do the math.

"That means at number eleven, we're facing number six, Dublin Thunder," Miguel spoke up.

"Oh great," Eli remarked. "I heard they started a fight last night with some locals at the beach. They're always looking for a brawl."

Ayane looked over at the dojo that stood a short distance away from them, who appeared to be quite an unruly crew.

"I am too," Ayane said, looking away from the team.

"Now, the rules of the event," the official continued. "Fighters will, again, face off on a platform."

She gestured to a descending platform to her left, which was about fifteen feet high with padding around the bottom of it.

"But this time, two fighters from each dojo are allowed at one time. If one of your fighters falls, they are out. But another teammate can climb up to take their place. However, the fight never stops, so get up there quick– do not leave your teammate alone two-on-one."

Ayane looked over at Dublin Thunder, pushing a braid over her shoulder.

First up, the Iron Dragons were up against the West End Warriors.

Zara and Axel, as she had learned his name was, were the only two fighters from their dojo to go up against the entirety of the other dojo. They never tagged anyone else in, claiming a quick victory.

Some of the other dojos cheered for the two, Zara giving a cocky smile to the crowd. Ayane rolled her eyes, awaiting her turn.

Soon enough, it came.

Johnny gathered with the team. "Alright, let's bring it in. I got something to say."

They all huddled up, listening to him. "It's been a tough day. Probably shouldn't have been such a dick to all of you, but I want you to know that I believe with every bone in my body that you can do this. You guys know a lot more about balance than me, so remember everything Sensei LaRusso said and use all your Miyagi-Do skills to stay up there."

Johnny clasped his hands together. "Alright, I'm thinking we should start strong with our captains up there. Ayane and Robby," he nodded at the two, who shared a look.

"Next Sam, Eli, then Demetri, and Miguel's our anchor. Let's do this."

Ayane and the others all bowed, the girl turning and approaching the platform. She climbed up with Robby following behind, taking their spots on the platform.

She exchanged a look with the Keene boy, giving a curt nod. The two Dublin Thunder fighters got in their spots, the official calling, "Fight!"

Both Dublin Thunder students came forward immediately, Ayane and Robby working in unison against them. Ayane faced one while Robby took the other, finding that her opponent was very aggressive.

Ayane swung back as a punch was thrown at her face, Robby looking up at her as he saw it. In the split second that he looked to her, his opponent brought a kick to his chest, Robby stumbling back before another kick sent him flying off the platform.

With a quick look, Ayane saw what had happened and turned her focus back to the two opponents. She had both of them on her now while Sam was running up to assist her, Ayane holding them both off.

Sam jumped in with a kick at one of them, Ayane simultaneously kicking the other. The two girls stood back to back, Ayane managing to get her opponent in a hold before bringing her knee to his stomach and causing him to fall off the platform.

Turning back around, Ayane watched as both Sam and the Dublin Thunder fighter went off the platform at the same time, grimacing a little.

It was not long before two more opponents replaced them, and Eli was coming up now. Ayane was holding steady against each opponent, now taking on their female captain.

The girl was very strong, but slower than Ayane, who could see her moves coming. Ayane ducked under a kick and swung herself around, bringing her foot across the girl's face with a hard kick.

The captain had blood come out of her mouth, Ayane spinning into another kick that sent her off the platform.

Eli held up strong, but another one jumped in a took him by surprise, shoving him to the ground below.

Demetri joined Ayane moments later, the girl trying to pace herself as she took on her fourth opponent. Ayane was surprised that she had not gotten thrown from the platform herself.

She tried to keep herself in the middle of the platform, not realizing that Demetri was fighting toward the edge. Ayane turned and saw him narrowly missing the edge, jumping forward to grab hold of the guy that was on Demetri. However, as she did, he pushed Demetri off the platform. The girl kicked back one of them behind her, bringing back her fist to punch the guy in the face.

There were only two fighters left from Dublin Thunder, now. And only two fighters left from Miyagi-Do.

Miguel hopped onto the platform, eyeing Ayane for a brief moment before he threw a kick at the male captain. Ayane turned away from Miguel and blocked strikes from the other guy, backing into the middle of the platform once again.

Behind her was Miguel, fighting the captain almost identical to the way Ayane was taking on her guy.

She felt herself bump into Miguel, throwing strikes at her opponent and kicking him back. He ducked under her second kick, Ayane going for a low grab as she spun them both around, shoving her guy into Miguel who was now facing her.

He landed a kick on the guy's midsection while Ayane jumped in the air, using a tornado kick against the captain that was about to grab Miguel. Her foot made contact with his face while Miguel wrestled with the other guy.

Then, having both opponents on either edge of the platform, Ayane and Miguel performed the same kick to send them off of it.

Turning, Ayane saw that only Miguel was on the platform. They had won.

"Incredible performance from Miyagi-Do's Ayane Cain, who never got knocked from the platform. She and Miguel Diaz send Miyagi-Do to the next round!"

Ayane broke out into a smile as her teammates began to rush to the stage, looking over at Miguel. He was grinning as well, but was quickly overtaken by Eli picking him up in triumph.

Sam embraced Ayane excitedly, the girls high-fiving one another as they celebrated.

Ayane noticed that Robby hung back, meeting his eyes briefly. She did not say anything to him, looking away as she continued to celebrate with the rest of the team.

She then heard chants amongst the crowd, Ayane realizing that they were chanting her name. Her eyebrows raised, looking out at everyone cheering for specifically her. It felt surreal.

Once they got back down to Johnny, Ayane saw that he was talking to someone on the phone. His face appeared serious as he talked, Ayane getting closer to him to hear what he was saying.

"...I'll let Miguel know. We'll be on our way as fast as we can."

Ayane frowned, Miguel approaching from behind her.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" she questioned, frowning.

Johnny looked to Miguel, apprehensive. He put his cellphone away, an urgent look on his face.

"Miguel, it's your mom."

Notes.
extraaa long chapter for you guys, i got carried away writing the fight scenes (there are so fucking many)

we're roping in ayane and miguel's relationship a little more now, that's gonna be a big focus of the next couple chapters before i get to the brawl and the absolutely gut wrenching scene

our girl is CARRYING y'all, she is locked in like she has never been before

anywayy... next chapter is gonna include a lot of drama between ayane and kwon and ayane and zara...

favorite fight scene with ayane?