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Ding Ding Ding!
The sound of the bell rings out as the crowd’s cheers begin to soar.
“And that round goes to Hua from Sabo High! Give it up for her everybody!”
The roar of the stands becomes rhythmic with chanting,
“Monk! Monk! Monk! Monk! Monk!”
Teaks is part watching, part furiously writing in her notebook, recording all the information she can gather of the combatant’s fighting styles and where they come from. Seraï sits next to her making casual conversation with Garl and Zale. Garl, seated in between Seraï and Zale, is finishing one of the sandwiches he brought for the group. Zale is intently focused on the fights in the arena, one in particular holding his attention.
Monk bows to her opponent and returns to her seat on the outskirts of the arena. Brugaves hands over a bottle of water and a clasp on the back,
“Congrats on makin’ it to the semifinals, Monk! You got this in the bag.”
He flashes a smile and a thumbs up before walking over to address the other members of the club.
“Good job out there everyone, you’ve all done wonderfully! The simple fact that you’re here speaks to your dedication and heart. We’ve got a few more rounds in the quarter finals before moving on but if anyone who’s been eliminated needs to leave please feel free to do so.”
One of the members speaks up,
“We’re not going anywhere, Pres!”
“Yeah Monk’s made it to semi we gotta see her all the way through!” another interjects.
Brugaves smiles and starts to speak again when he’s suddenly cut off by the match bell.
Ding Ding Ding! “A fierce and decisive knockout by Valere from Sabo High! A double trouble school to be sure!”
The crowd roars with fervor yet again, one voice booming louder than all the others,
“LET’S GO VALERE!!! THAT’S MY GIRL!! THAT’S MY GIRL!! YEAHHHH!!!!”
Wielding akimbo, light blue glow sticks and an intense, fiery passion, Zale is cheering on his friend like a man possessed. Garl, looking a little embarrassed, attempts to calm him down as others in the stands stare in bewilderment at the frenzied boy. Seraï gives a little snort and looks over to Teaks to ask a question, but is stopped as she notices that, yet again, Teaks is not writing. Instead she is staring ahead at the fighters in the ring, or more specifically, at Valere in the ring. With her sharp eyes Seraï has noticed this every time Valere has stepped onto the mat; Teaks stops writing and just watches.
At the beginning of the tournament she merely slowed down and wrote absent-mindedly, but now, nearing the end, her attention is fully wrenched away from her beloved notebook and placed squarely on the cerulean haired fighter. Beneath her mask, Seraï gives a knowing smile.
Back on the sidelines, the Sabo High club members are all clapping and congratulating Valere as she returns to her seat. The conversations begin firing by one after the other,
“Valere what was that! That round went by in a flash, you trounced him!” “You’re a monster out there!” “Two of us heading to the semi finals is nuts, what if you end up fighting Monk?” “Oh Valere doesn’t stand a chance! No offense!” “Nahh Monk’s good but Valere is something else! She’s got the edge!”
Valere breaks the cacophony of voices, “Let’s not be too hasty everyone, Monk has both reach and experience on her side. I think I can handle my own level just fine but I’m not sure I could get to hers just yet.”
The rest of the members continue their speculations while the quarter final rounds continue. Monk walks over and taps Valere on the shoulder,
“Hey girl, your form’s a little off. You feelin’ alright?”
Valere is taken aback by the question. She tweaked her shoulder a bit in a previous round so she’s had to drop her left arm lower than usual, but there’s no way anybody but her would notice, right? It’s only a minor change to her usual stance. But here was Monk, very conscious of the difference. Valere responds,
“Uhh, yeah. It’s just a small bit of tension in my shoulder, nothing major.”
Monk reaches into her backpack and pulls out a tube of lidocaine cream. She offers it to Valere,
“Here, this’ll help for the rest of the tournament. Make sure you stretch well after we’re done and put some more on after you shower. Should be all better by the morning.”
Valere takes the tube with a smile,
“Hey thanks, Monk!”
Monk returns her appreciation with a nod and says, “Just making sure my junior is able to fight with everything she’s got. Seems like she might be my top contender and I don’t want anything less than her best.”
Valere furrows her brow with determination. She reciprocates Monk’s nod with one of her own and a smile.
“Boo.”
Teaks nearly jumps out of her skin with a shriek. Seraï starts laughing while Teaks fumes at her.
“Seraï! What did you do that for! Don’t scare me like that, you know I get invested in my writing,” Teaks says with a huff.
Seraï looks back at her with a smug expression and says, “Oh~? You were writing ? Pardon me then because it looked like your mind was elsewhere. Somewhere sky blue perhaps?”
Teaks looks at Seraï with a confused expression until it hits her-
Ding Ding Ding! “ Yet another exhilarating match! Give it up for Valere! Two Sabo High students on their way to the finals! I can already feel the tension brewing in the air! We’ll be taking a brief intermission to allow the contestants a minute to breathe and then we’ll see who is taking home the title of our newest champion!”
Teaks can feel her face turning red hot. She stammers to try and get a single word out but Seraï’s cheshire expression just makes her all the more flustered.
“I-I-uh you what you um, you-what do you mean? By that??”
Seraï keeps staring, unblinking, her ear-to-ear grin visible even beneath her mask. Zale suddenly shouts out,
“Valere! Holy cow! You’re going to the finals, that’s so awesome! You got this in the bag!!”
Teaks snaps back to reality and sees Zale over Seraï’s shoulder giving Valere a big bear hug. Garl offers her a sports drink from his bag to which she gratefully accepts and begins to drink. He says,
“I made sure to keep it a little on the warm side like you like it so you don’t cramp up.”
Valere exhales after a few gulps and looks to Garl with a relieved smile,
“Thanks Garl! I really appreciate it. Hey Seraï! Hey Teaks! Are you two enjoying the matches?”
Teaks’s eyes are locked onto Valere until the recognition of her name, to which they sprint back to her notebook for a place to hide. Seraï pipes up,
“Yeah you’re really givin’ ‘em what for out there. Teaks has been a little lost taking notes but you could probably have guessed that.” She pokes a thumb over her side to the girl next to her. Teaks peeks up from her hiding place and makes eye contact with Valere. Her heart skips a beat. With all the resolve and bravery of a puppy eyeing a vacuum from around the corner, she says,
“Y-yeah! The competitors have all been really interesting! I’m curious as to the origins of their different styles. They’re all so different but there’s a familiarity that ties them together.”
Ok, I’m ok now. Once I start talking I can get into my groove and get my feet back under myself. Yeah! You got this, Teaks! Remember: she’s your friend, you’ve talked to her dozens of times before, this is no different.
Valere replies, “Oh awesome! I didn’t know you were that interested in martial arts, Teaks! Maybe we can have a little study session together and I can teach you a little more about it.”
Two more beats skipped.
Aaaaahhh! Why did she have to say that!? This is different, this is very different ! Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!!!
The announcer taps his microphone a couple times and says,
“Alrighty then that’ll do it for our intermission, can our finalists please step onto the mat and ready themselves for their final bout!”
Valere looks back at the arena,
“Oh that’s my call! Thank you so much for the support guys it means the world having you all here! I’ll see you in a bit!”
Zale cheers after her as she steps down the bleachers back onto the court; Teaks’s eyes following her all the way. Monk and Valere step into the arena opposite each other, give a bow, and take their stances: Monk with her left arm outstretched into a flattened palm that faces the opponent and her right arm craned over her head ending in a fist, both legs bent with her left forward hovering mere centimeters above ground. Valere stands shoulder width apart, her left foot planted forward and her right heel raised off the ground with the ball of her foot down. Her body turned slightly, her right hand semi-open close to her chest and her left extended in a closed fist toward her rival. The two stare each other down for what feels like an eternity until a single sound pierces the tension and ignites the warriors’ engines. The starting whistle.
Valere springs forward and dodges a swift kick from Monk, counter-attacking with a right jab to the stomach. Monk follows suit by hooking Valere’s arm and dropping her to the mat over her knee. Valere takes the fall and rolls with it back up to her feet. She goes in again, this time feinting a left hook into a kick striking Monk’s forward leg. Monk plants her foot before the strike connects and keeps her stance solid, moving closer to Valere for a quick jab to the chest. Pressing her advantage, Monk steps into Valere and scoops her back leg with her own, once again knocking her to the ground. She returns to her stance as Valere gets back up, frazzled and fazed. Her breathing grows heavier and her hair becomes looser, the tight bun unraveling into stray strands and locks. Valere composes herself and eyes up her target. Monk waits ever patient. And then.
With the force of a tsunami she springs off the mat and takes a swift kick to her inner thigh, but continues forward. Valere forces an opening and strikes once, twice, three, four, five times finally causing Monk to retreat. She follows but right before she sends another volley, Monk unexpectedly steps into Valere’s stance, pushing her left leg in between Valere’s and pivoting around to her left side. Monk lands a solid forearm blow to Valere’s back and continues through, toppling Valere head first over once more landing her flat on her back halfway out of the arena.
Ding Ding Ding!
The announcer’s voice comes booming through the speakers, “Valere has been rung out! What a stunning display of skill and execution from both of our competitors! A hard fought match from the both of them but only one may go home the winner and that winner is: Hua from Sabo High! Thank you all so much for coming out this evening, thank you to the University of Brisk for hosting this event, and an even bigger thank you to all of our wonderful combatants!”
As she lays on the rubber mat huffing and puffing, Valere feels both a sense of pain and pride. She lost. She also made it further than anybody else. But she didn’t feel like she even came close to Monk, she didn’t see her falter once. But she also got in, and almost nobody gets in on Monk. As her ambivalent thoughts swirl in her head a hand reaches down to her. It belongs to Monk. Valere takes it and is hoisted back to her feet. Monk, still holding Valere’s hand, gives it a firm shake.
“Well fought. You got some good hits in. You need to focus more on your body’s position though, you left your legs wide open throughout the whole match. Defense is equally, if not more important than offense.”
Valere looks at Monk with awe, “Were you… analyzing me during the match?”
Monk nods, “Of course. That’s something you should learn how to do as well. If you can figure out your opponent’s game plan mid-match you can craft an unbeatable counter strategy. Overwhelming force might get you places in the minor divisions, but in the majors you’ll be facing fighters who play five steps ahead of you. Fighters that practice multiple disciplines in order to throw their opponent off and make openings that would never have been there.”
Valere stands in amazement, “I didn’t think fighting would be more mental than physical.”
Monk gives a small grin to Valere, “There’s a lot to learn. But that can wait until Monday’s meet.” She raises Valere’s arm up to the crowd who fill the gymnasium with hoots and hollers and whistles and cheers; none quite as loud or as energetic as Zale. As Valere looks into the stands, pride beaming on her face, she makes eye contact with Teaks, whose eyes widen in surprise before giving a small wave and a bashful smile. Valere, caught off guard, feels her face get even more flush than before.
Zale rushes down the stands after the awards ceremony, “Valere!! You were so cool! You were like, woom and then Monk was like, fwoosh but then you went all bop-bop-bop-bop on her! Gah what an awesome, awesome final match!!”
He scoops her up in another bear hug, Garl hands her the unfinished sports drink and gives a pat on the back, Seraï snaps a photo of her with her silver medal, and Teaks… just watches. As everyone else is conversing and discussing plans for the rest of the night and the weekend, Teaks stays on the quiet side. Her heart pounds, her thoughts race at a mile a minute, a lump forms in her throat. The rest of the world falls away as she’s consumed by anxious thoughts and a yearning for something she can’t quite process. An aching in her chest that attempts to claw its way to the surface and burst forth, spilling out her bottled up feelings as a river upon a dam’s final crack. But the dam holds fast.
As her surroundings fade into static she’s brought back to conscious thought in an instant upon hearing Valere call out to her,
“Hey Teaks! Come on, we’re going to celebrate at The Humble Boast!”
Valere holds out her hand for Teaks to take. Teaks hesitates just slightly, a single heartbeat, before smiling and taking her hand.
“Sounds great! I want to pick your brain more about martial arts there. So, what do you practice? Where did it originate from? Is it a branch of…”
The five of them walk together to the finale of their night, with two of them lagging just a little farther behind the other three.