Fly Like A Hawk

Chapter 90 - Qualifiers

I got back to the tournament arena as a new host stepped up onto the mats. "Ladies and gentlemen, the male and female qualifiers are about to begin, and with them we enter a new era!" The crowd went wild as he spoke, "That's why we need a very special guest to kick things off. Let's give a big All Valley welcome to multi-Grammy-award winning, international superstar, Carrie Underwood!" The star walked into the mats with a huge smile on her face and a mic and I took her performance time to prepare myself for the qualifiers. I had a sip of my water and bent down to fix the bandages on my foot.

The performance came to an end and the qualifiers started as the dojos crowded round to watch the ensuing matches. I cheered for Bert as he scored a point against his much bigger opponent and booed when the opponent scored a point against him. I found myself crossing my fingers for Eli's victory and smiled happily when he pulled it out of the bag at the last minute to win the round.

Sam beat her opponent easily and so did Tory and I realised that it would soon be me, fighting an opponent from another Dojo. Robby stepped up to fight his qualifying opponent and took them out with 3 consecutive strikes. I cheered for Miguel as he won his match and clapped amicably when Eagle Fang's female champion won her match. It seemed to be going exactly as we'd planned when I was called up to fight my own qualifying match.

I looked to Miguel across to mat and he nodded determinedly at me. Then my eyes skimmed back to Demetri, who gave me a thumbs up and Sam who smiled excitedly. I caught Tory and Robby scowling from the corner of my eye and then for some reason I looked to Eli for support.

"You can do it." He mouthed and I closed my eyes, breathing out slowly as I centred myself. My opponent stepped up, a strong looking woman dressed in a blue Gi from an opposing dojo.

"Ready?" The referee asked, looking between the two of us then they cut their hand between us, "Fight!" I took a step forwards, lunging for a punch at my opponents stomach but I misjudged and stumbled forwards into their personal space, putting them into an advantaged position. I knew the score, I had to secure at least 2 points to win. The people around me held their breath and everything seemed to move in slow motion. My opponent brought her fist towards the side of my head and I looked back at Sensei LaRusso, "Block!" He yelled as my opponent swung for me, but amongst the chaos of shouts there was one very clear voice.

"Sweep the leg!" A memory of Sensei Lawrence cried and I widened my eyes at the memory. I ducked down, dodging her fist and sweeping her legs with mine. She fell backwards onto the mat with a thud and I swarmed over the top of her, holding her down with my legs while I secured my first point with a punch to the stomach.

"Point!" The referee called and we returned to our starting positions.

"Ready?" The referee cut his hand between us, "Fight!"

My opponent lunged first this time, using a barrage of punches to push me backwards. I blocked, employing the techniques I'd learnt at Miyagi-do to protect myself from disqualification. My opponent slowed and I took my turn, attempting to swing my leg up and secure a second point but she grabbed my foot and pulled it, tilting me off balance. I crashed down onto the mat as she flew after me and tried pinning me down. She raised her fist above me as if she was going to strike and suddenly I let out an almighty cry.

I ripped my arm out from beneath her grip and brought it up, shoving her backwards as I tried to wriggle my other arm free. She yelled back at me and brought her fist down hard. I swiped my head out of the way as her fist plunged into the mat. I frantically squirmed beneath her grip, managing to pull my other hand free, I shoved with both hands, limply this time as she pulled her fist up to punch again. My leg flew up at the same time her arm came down and the referee announced the verdict as she rolled away from me with a victorious smile.

"Point!" I sighed as I got to my feet and the referee made his way onto the mat, he grabbed my hand and raised it into the air, "Winner!" He called and I smiled triumphantly.

"What? How?" My opponent cried, pointing to me in frustration.

"Sorry, guess I was just faster, plus you should have been paying attention to my legs rather than my hands."

I moved back off of the mat to Miyagi-do and got greeted with a round of congratulations.

"I can't believe you beat her with deception." Demetri mused, smiling as I made my way over, "Scoring a point on her back with your foot was genius. How did you do all that at once?" He quizzed, mimicking my punches and I laughed.

"Multi-tasking Demetri, it's a wonderful thing!" I laughed. With that we settled back into our positions on the side of mats to watch the final qualifying matches and prepare ourselves for the real thing.