¸„.-•~¹°"ˆ˜¨i can't fight¨˜ˆ"°¹~•-.„¸

【SEASON 6 EPISODE 13: PART FOUR】

Julianna had never been more nervous for anything in her entire life. Her stomach felt like it was twisted into knots, her hands were clammy, and it felt really hard to swallow. Her hands shook by her sides and she bounced on her toes as she stared at Tory all alone across the mat.

Today she would be fighting for a spot in the finals.

"The time has come for our final semifinals match to complete!" Gunther announced and the roaring of the audience only made Jules feel worse. She blinked and took a deep breath to try her hardest to control her nerves.

"Today, we have the girls match, Tory Nichols of Cobra Kai versus Julianna Lawrence of Miyagi-Do. Whoever wins, competes against the Iron Dragons, Zara Malik for the title of girls champion."

From behind her and her sensei, Lexi winced at the sight of her best friend. Without looking away from Jules, Lexi leaned toward Eli next to her and shook her head. "Why is she so nervous? She's fought Tory before and we know Silver rigged it that time." Lexi whispered.

Eli couldn't look away from Jules. He hated that he couldn't stand with her and be there for her since he wasn't a captain—that he had to stand a good five feet behind her. He couldn't even reach over and hold her hand. He could only stand there and watch her panic to herself.

He sighed and looked away from Jules and to Lexi. "It doesn't matter if Silver rigged it last time or not. This is bigger than that." He whispered. When he turned back to face Jules, Eli was about to step forward—he didn't care if Johnny yelled at him or embarrassed him in front of the team—he wanted to check on Jules.

But the second he took a step forward, Gunther raised his hands from the center of the mat and looked back and forth between Jules and Tory.

"Competitors, please step onto the mat."

Jules didn't get onto the mat right away, she turned her head to look to her senseis and Eli realized now was better than ever to make a move. He walked forward, joining the small group that surrounded Jules.

Eli pushed his way in between Jules and Johnny just as the older man smiled down at his daughter.

"You've got this. You fought her before, you can do it again." Johnny reassured and Jules kept her head high as she nodded. She tried her hardest to control her breathing, but ended up just holding her breath to stop herself from freaking her dad out.

Daniel took a small step forward, getting closer to Julianna as he nodded his head in encouragement. "Just remember to stay balanced. You've got a lot of your dads training mastered, but you're still good at Miyagi-Do." Daniel breathed out, his eyes glued on Julianna.

Jules nodded, her lips pressed together to control her nerves, but the corners of her lips twisted upward in a small smile. She was happy she was good at Miyagi-Do. In the end, it could be what helps her in this fight with Tory.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Chozen shaking her shoulder enthusiastically. Jules turned her head and giggled at the big smile on his face.

"Win this thing!" He yelled and Jules forced herself to push her smile down because she knew that across the mat, Tory stood with no senseis, and no team. No one to fall back on.

"Yes, senseis." Julianna breathed out, nodding her head once as she looked between the three men in front of her. Chozen and Daniel chuckled at the girls lack of volume. They didn't see a reason for her to be nervous. They really believed she could win this thing.

As the three men stepped away from her, Eli stepped toward her. He had a soft smiled on his face as he stood chest to chest with her.

"You're gonna kill it." He whispered, dipping his head down so only she could hear her.

Jules started to smile at his words and she could slowly feel her cheeks start to flush. Eli smirked at that. His eyes moved away from Jules for a split second to flicker to Johnny. When he saw Johnny talking with Daniel and Chozen, Eli turned back to Jules, cupped her face, and pulled her into a kiss.

Her shoulders relaxed and her heart rate slowly started to ease when Eli's lips met hers. It was a short kiss, but that plus the feeling of Eli's thumb softly running back and forth against her cheek made her calm down.

When they pulled away, Eli was still smiling as he kept their faces close. His thumb still traced Julianna's cheek as he waited for Jules to meet his eyes again.

"I love you." He breathed out when Jules finally looked up through her eyelashes and locked eyes with Eli. He dropped his hands from Julianna's face and he stepped away. Jules pulled her lips into a line and started to back away toward the mat. "I love you." She muttered back.

Jules turned around and stepped onto the mat, Tory and the referee already standing in the center. When she met them at the middle of the mat, all of those nerves Eli just helped get rid of, came back like a brick.

The referee raised his hands as Julianna's own hands started to shake by her sides.

"Face me. Bow." Daryll instructed and Jules turned to him, her and Tory bowing before they turned to each other and bowed again.

As she started to rise, Julianna's eyes met Tory's. She could see the girls ragged breathing and Jules pressed her lips together. Tory looked just as uneasy as she did.

"Good luck." Jules whispered to the girl with a small smile as she started to get into her fighting position.

Tory eyed Jules for a second, her eyes and body softening as she got into her own stance. "Good luck." Tory whispered back, making Jules exhaled shakily, shifting her position. Her heart pounded, not just from nerves but from the weight of this match. She trained hard for this—pushed through every tiring training session, every horrible workout, every surprise attack from her team to make sure she was ready for anything at anytime lead to this moment.

When the whistle blew, Tory was the one to strike first. She threw a front kick aimed at Julianna's ribs.

Jules twisted out of her way and sent a roundhouse kick back to Tory, heading toward Tory's side, but it was blocked. Jules barely had time to reset before Tory was on her again, throwing a jab that made her a step back to dodge getting hit.

The two continued to go back and forth and yes, they were scoring points, but after the fifth time Jules tried to get a point on Tory and it was blocked, Jules realized it probably wasn't great they train together. They knew each other's every move and technique. There wasn't any back pocket move they could use because the other already knew it.

They were tied 2-2 right now and it didn't change until Jules finally landed a kick to Tory's ribs.

"Point! Lawrence! 3-2!" Daryll yelled and Julianna jumped on her toes to try and relieve the stress coursing through her. Her lungs burned and she closed her eyes to try and catch her breath.

While her eyes were close, she didn't see Tory throw a kick right at her face.

Tory didn't know Jules wasn't looking.

Tory wasn't aiming for Julianna's face.

When the crowd gasped and Jules yelped, Tory's heart sank when she realized what she's done.

She kicked Jules in the face–right under her eye. Again.

Julianna's face cheek burned and she was scared to open her eye right away. She started to hear a sharp ringing in her ears and she barely registered the stumble in her own steps before her hand flew to her face.

"Point! Nichols! Tie 3-3!" Daryll screamed from her left, but she barely registered his words as the buzzer rang again, only worsening the ringing in her ears.

Her cheekbone throbbed. Her right eye stung. She tried to blink through the pain, but her vision blurred as tears started to grow in her eyes. She didn't even realize she was crying until she tried to blink again and she felt something warm start to trickle down her face.

Jules swallowed the knot in her throat as she started to blink rapidly and turn to walk back toward her team.

She could barely see her senseis, Eli, Robby, Miguel, Lexi, and Demetri all crowded around the edge of the mat in worry. With a half closed eye, still getting used to the pain, Jules shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She tried to reassure, waving her team off so she can focus on her senseis.

Everyone was hesitant to back up, but watching the way Jules was holding herself, Eli pushed Lexi, Demetri, Robby, and Miguel back, forcing them to let her only talk with Johnny, Daniel, and Chosen.

But Chozen and Daniel stepped back, letting Johnny take the reins.

Johnny was quick to replace Julianna's hand by her eye with his own. He gently cupped his daughter's cheek, both to take care of her injury and to force her to look at him. His eyes were soft, but his eyebrows were raised to show his seriousness.

"You're still in this." Johnny said, his voice steady. Not coddling, not overly concerned—just steady. "Pain comes and goes. You know that. But this match? You don't get it back. You've gotta keep fighting, sweetheart."

Jules stopped focusing on the pain in her eye after that. She nodded her head, her jaw tightening and yeah, her cheek still hurt like hell, but that didn't matter.

She had to keep fighting.

When Jules reached Daryll and Tory again, she practically forced her eye open, ignoring the pain and twitching it did to the rhythm of her heartbeat.

The second Daryll called "Fight!", Jules jumped forward. She faked a left hook toward Tory's face and then twisted into a back kick that hit hard against Tory's stomach. Tory stumbled, but Jules didn't give her time to fight back. She threw a sharp jab, a hook, and a kick—all landing clean, and all Tory letting hit her.

Julianna's eyebrows furrowed when she realized Tory wasn't fighting back anymore. She froze, waiting to see if Tory would take the bait and jump at her, but Tory just stared back at her, fists raised and eyes wide.

She could hear her dad behind her ask Daniel and Chozen what was happening before the buzzer echoed through the arena. Both girls flinched at the noise and now that the round was done, Jules made a beeline toward Tory, her hands dropping and her heart still hammering in her chest, but it wasn't from the fight anymore.

"Tor, are you oka—"

Jules was cut off by Tory turning on her heel and running off the mat and through the side doors.

Tory had run like she couldn't breathe. Like she needed to get out before she broke down and Jules was right back to the fight for the captain spot—watching Tory run off.

But this time, Jules wasn't going to leave her alone.

Without even hesitating, she jumped down off the mat and ran after her, ignoring the gasps from her team, her dad yelling, Zara laughing, everything.

"Looks like we have a small issue. Both girls will have fifteen minutes to return to the mat or both will be disqualified and Zara Malik will be declared girls champion." Gunther's voiced over the loud speakers, but Jules hardly paid any attention to it, her focus staying on Tory in front of her so she didn't lose her in the halls.

"Tory!" Julianna yelled. She could see Tory up ahead of her, running like her life depended on it. Jules pushed hard to try and catch up to Tory, but she was never the greatest at running and Tory was just too fast.

"Wait! Tory!" She yelled as Tory turned left into the girls locker room.

When she finally got to the locker room, Julianna's steps slowed when she saw Tory on the opposite end of the room. Her knees were pulled into her chest and her was face hidden in her knees as her entire body shook. Jules couldn't tell if she was crying or hyperventilating, but she didn't care, she only cared about helping Tory.

She ran toward the girl and slid on her knees when she got close enough, ignoring how she probably dirtied her white gi.

"Hey, hey, hey. What's going on?" Jules whispered, pushing fallen hair from Tory's ponytail behind her ear and Tory lifted her head. Her eyes were red and her bottom lip quivered as she spoke. "I thought I could do it. I really thought I could." She cried and Julianna's eyebrows furrowed. Jules shook her head, moving to lean closer to the girl. "You can. You are!" Jules quickly corrected herself as she gently placed her hand on Tory's knee. "It's still anyone's match."

"But I'm right back there. I'm right back to last years All Valley." Tory sobbed, tears starting to fall down Tory's face when her eyes landed on Jules.

Julianna's face softened and she moved from crouching in front of Tory to sitting criss cross. She scooted herself as close to Tory as she could and moved her hand from Tory's knee to her shoulders.

"What are you talking about?" Jules whispered. Tory sniffled, taking a deep breath to try and control her crying, but she was barely able to do it. Her breathing was ragged as she stared down at her knees, not wanting to look Jules in the eyes.

"That kick. I almost hit your eye again and I just couldn't stop thinking about..." Tory's words started to die out as the moment from the last All Valley started to repeat itself in her mind and Julianna's face fell as she finally realized what Tory was talking about.

Julianna raised her leg and in the midst of slamming it down against Tory, the Nichols girl tried to break free from Julianna's grip, her sharp nail catching right under Jules' eye, making an inch long cut down her face.

Jules yelped in pain, letting go of Tory. The referee raised his hands. "Warning. Injury to the face. Go to your sensei's." The referee yelled, pointing at the Senseis on either side of the stage.

Johnny scoffed from the sidelines. "Warning? Should be a point deduction!" Johnny yelled as Tory started to get up, her eyes softening when she saw Julianna bleeding and her eyes watering slightly from how close the cut was to her eye. "I didn't mean to. No, it was an accident." Tory whispered to Jules as Julianna went to touch her cut.

Tory sniffling brought Jules back into the moment. Her lips parted as she watched the crying girl in front of her shake her head.

"Being back in this gi, fighting you again—it was fun training, but I can't do it." Tory muttered, her voice wavered from her crying, but it was finally starting to sound more like her. She finally looked up from her knees and let herself look at Jules. Besides the slightly red eyes and her wet cheeks, Jules wouldn't have been able to even tell Tory was crying a mere ten seconds ago.

"I'm dropping out." Tory said in a matter of fact tone.

Jules blinked, waiting for the girl to second guess herself and back out of her words—maybe even start to laugh and say it was all some crazy prank, but Tory didn't budge. In fact, she held her head higher.

"You're insane." Jules stumbled over her words, shocked that Tory would back out now. She was already in the fight, she was already so close to winning.

"Tory, you can't drop out. It's all almost over." Jules said and Tory nodded her head almost instantly, and quickly cut Jules off. "And it'll be over it faster if I just drop out and let you fight Zara."

Jules sighed, her head dropping as it shook from side to side. "Even if you did that, Miyagi-Do doesn't stand a chance at winning. We're too behind on points." She muttered, licking her teeth in a tired defeat. As much as she hated to admit it, Demetri was right yesterday. Miyagi-Do wasn't going to win. They were too far behind and no matter how good Jules was, she couldn't win it for them.

Stuck in her own thoughts, Jules didn't see the way Tory's eyes widened and her eyes sparkled like a lightbulb went off in her head. She looked up at Jules, the corners of her lips twisting upward.

"Then maybe you don't fight as Miyagi-Do." She whispered. Julianna's face fell and her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?" Jules asked, her face twisting and her head tilting. Before Tory could respond, another pair of footsteps ran into the locker room.

Jules and Tory turned their heads and saw an out of breath Miguel standing in the doorway, his chest heaving and his eyebrows scrunched together as he looked between the two of them. "Hey, what's going on?" He breathed out, tiredly throwing his hands out by his side.

It was like the lightbulb in Tory's head somehow grew brighter looking at Miguel in front of her. Her head snapped back to Julianna, her eyes wide and lips parted.

"Where's your dad?" She blurted, making Jules and Miguel turn back to her, their eyebrows furrowing further.

...

Jules paced back and forth in the locker room and picked at her nail polish as she waited for her call to come back onto the mat.

She could hear footsteps coming toward the locker room, but she didn't stop, figuring the person would just walk passed the room or if it was her dad and Miguel looking for her, they would stop her from pacing and drag her into the main room.

"What's going on? I've been searching everywhere for..." Eli said as he walked into the locker room.

Jules stopped pacing and turned to face the boy while Eli's words and steps froze at the sight in front of him. His eyes widened as he took a small step toward Julianna.

"What are you wearing?" Eli muttered, slowly reaching out to touch the black gi Jules was wearing.

Jules let out a nervous chuckle and straightened her back as Eli's hands found her waist. "My dad's talking with Gunther right now about switching me and Miguel to Cobra Kai." She rambled in a speedy voice. Her hands moved to rest on his arms and she nervously toyed at Eli's sleeves has his head snapped up from Julianna's body to her eyes.

"What? What about Tory?" Eli asked, shaking his head rapidly. His eyebrows furrowed together when Jules shook her head, waving off his confusion. "She's dropping out. It's all too much for her." Jules explained.

Eli didn't answer for a few seconds. He just stared at Julianna and blinked at her before he finally spoke. "So you'll be fighting for Cobra Kai?"

Jules let out a nervous laugh as she nodded her head. "Freaky, right?" She asked, but before Eli could answer, her eyes moved to the ground and she quickly nodded. "But I'm gonna be fighting for my dad's Cobra Kai." Jules stated, her voice firmer now. She looked back up to Eli and shook her head. "Not Kreese's. Not Silver's. Johnny Lawrence's."

Her brain had been thinking 100 thoughts per second since the moment she stepped into the All Valley Sports Center. A smile spread across her entire face as she step closer to Eli, her hands sliding up his arms until they rested on his shoulders. "Now, we'll have the points to beat the Iron Dragons. We actually have a shot at winning this thing." Jules added.

It was then that she realized she had been talking so much and so fast that she hadn't given Eli time to respond. Her eyes jumped across his face and her expression started to falter when he only just stared back at her.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Jules whispered, her hands readjusting themselves on the boys shoulders, rubbing the knot behind his collarbone unknowingly.

Eli blinked, shaking his head as broke out of his thoughts. He smiled down at Jules, rubbing his hands up and down her sides as he smiled down at her. "Just weird seeing you in a black gi again." He answered and Jules snickered under her breath.

"I know." She breathed out as she looked down at her clothes. It still felt weird seeing the black and yellow attire on her body.

As she looked down at her gi, Eli stared at Jules. His eyes unashamedly looked the girl up and down. He licked his lips before he pulled her closer, her chest ramming into his and forcing her to look up at him.

"You look hot." Eli breathed out, the smirk on his face growing.

Jules dipped her head and playfully hit Eli's shoulder, making the boy chuckle, holding onto her tighter.

"Shut up!" Jules giggled out as Eli wrapped his arms tighter around her until they were hugging. He chuckled at her words and laughter, leaning down to kiss her hairline as a third person ran into the room.

"Hey, Jules!" Johnny yelled out of breath, hitting his hand on the doorframe to get the two kids attention.

Jules and Eli pulled away from their hug and Julianna took a step toward her dad as his eyebrows raised. "We've got the okay. You ready to go?" Johnny asked, pointing in the direction of the arena with his thumb.

Jules raised her chin higher, a small smile growing in her lips. "Yes, sensei." She hummed and Johnny smirked, chuckling as he nodded his head.

"Alright." Johnny chucked before his eyes moved to the boy standing just behind his daughter. He smiled at the boy, which caught Eli off guard.

"Hawk, get out there before us." Johnny said, nodding his head back toward the main room.

Eli let a breathy smile grow on his face and he nodded his head at the man in front of him. "Yes, sensei." He said, jogging a couple steps forward until he was side by side with Jules. Not caring about Johnny being right there, Wli leaned forward and kissed the girls cheek before heading out of the room entirely.

And he was right not to be nervous about Johnnys presence because the man smiled at the action and when Eli passed him to run out of the room, Johnny clapped the boy on his back.

...

"The Sekai Taikai has always been unpredictable, but this year has been like no other." Gunther announced to the audience.

From the hallway, Jules was back to pacing back and forth, Miguel and Johnny standing right beside her. They tried to get her to stop a good five times now, but after a minute or two, she would go right back to pacing so the two of them gave up.

"Julianna Lawrence and Tory Nichols have both elected not to fight for their teams. This officially ends Miyagi-Do Karate's underdog run. Let's give them a round of applause!" Gunther's voice rang from the main room and Julianna's stomach twisted at the audience cheering for her now old team.

Jules had Eli fill the rest of the team in on their new plan, plus she was sure Daniel would've told them something by now. Her hands that were crossed over her chest raised to her mouth and just as she was about to start biting her nail, Johnny noticed it out of the corner of his eyes and smacked her hand away from her mouth.

"This now concludes our semifinal matches. Cobra Kai not naming replacements for their two captains means that Axel Kavacevic and Zara Malik automatically become our new male and female champions."

The audience roared at Gunther's words and as soon as they finished, Gunther added one more thing.

"However, Cobra Kai has named replacements."

Jules finally stopped pacing. She could've sworn she heard her dad mutter, "finally" from behind her, but she ignored it and instead tried to think about how in just a few seconds, she can smirk at the smile getting wiped off of Zara's face when she realizes she on another team.

Miguel turned to Jules on his left, the girl meeting his gaze when she saw him move out of the corner of her eyes. When the two of them locked eyes, Miguel's eyebrows raised. "You ready?" He asked and Jules smirked.

"Hell yeah, I am."

"Please welcome to Team Cobra Kai, Julianna Lawrence and Miguel Diaz! Coached by the two-time All Valley champion and their new sensei, Johnny Lawrence!" Gunther screamed and the three finally took their cue to walk into the main room.

The cheers and applause was so loud, Julianna felt it in her chest. She smiled as she, Miguel, and her dad walked onto the stage and her eyes stayed on the crowd in front of her. She looked over the stands, finding Carmen and Rosa, her mom, Joey, Moon, and Bert.

Julianna's eyes then moved to her team and she held back laughing at Eli, Demetri, and Lexi's excitement. The two boys were practically jumping on each other and Lexi was shaking Tory so hard, Jules was shocked Tory didn't fall over.

But seeing none of their faces was as good as turning to her left and locking eyes with Zara standing with the rest of the Iron Dragons.

Julianna's posture straightened and she gave the practically fuming brunette and sickly sweet (and very fake) smile.

Jules raised one hand and twirled her fingers around to tauntingly wave at the girl, only making Zara's face redden in anger.

When Zara crossed her arms over her chest and clenched her jaw so tight, Jules could see it from the mat, Julianna's smile only grew and with the same hand she just used to wave at Zara, Julianna brought the tips of her fingers to her lips and blew the girl a kiss.

—tory and jules my loves 💗💗oh how i've missed them so much

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAITTT
i thought i could get a lot of chapters done over winter break but i was SO busy i barely had time to just sit at home with my cats and rest
AND THEN when i got back to school i was sick for the whole week but now i am better and chapters are BACK ON (sadly because that means this fic is getting closer to ending💔💔)

im hoping to have more lexi/dexi scenes in upcoming chapters (and joey do not fret)

ILL SEE YOU GUYS SOON!! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER🫶🫶