Chapter Twenty-Four

 im here no matter what

3rd person pov

two days later, everyone stood next to each other in front of their sensais and watched

" the sekai taikai is coming, its up to us to pick our six most badass fighters" johnny spoke and then daniel walked by

"and there are no easy decisions, we know you all wanna go to barcelona" he told them and they started to train.

"some of you think youre shoo-ins, that youre the top of your game, that nothing or no one can stop you" johnny stated

"some of you think youre the underdogs and you don't know if you have what it takes and that you feel left out and left behind"

"but its a level playing field, anything can happen"

"each and every one of you has a shot. so we make our evalutions do your best" daniel spoke as blake trained against sam and tory as hawk watched her closely to see what she had brought to the game yet again

" now is not the time to puss out"

"even though we're competing against each other, we are still one dojo and its time to bring out the best in all of us" daniel spoke

"so which one of you has what it takes to be in our top six?" they spoke and then they finished the training for the night. the next day, blake walked into the school with demetri and hawk as demetri talked to them as demetri talked to them and blake nodded, then demetri started to talk about MIT and blake grabbed his hand as she squeezed, clearly he hadn't say anything about not applying yet and she hated that he hadn't said anything. 

at the end of the day, they all stood back in the dojo together as a man stood in front of them and blake made eye contact with eli and the others before turning back to them.

"please welcome our guest for the weekend, sensei barnes" daniel spoke and he started to talk to them

"during my years as the tournament terror, all i wanted was to be in the sekai taikai but i blew my chance. i am to ensure that you maximize yours. everyone i know who has participated in this has horror stories. this thing is intense, unpredictable, people have died, whos ready for that? i will do to you what the sekai taikai will do, i will surprise you with events. i will push you to your limits and if any of you delicate flowers feel like going to sensais and crying, don't. ive been given full authority for these eliminations" he told them and selene looked at the others

"get on the sparring deck, now. to survive the first round, you will need to show me excellence and speed. strength, endurance, and teamwork" he told them and they all started to train together. blake worked with sam and tory and at the end, they all stood in the rows together. 

"congratulations, you didn't die. still half of you wouldnt last one match at the sekai taikai. to the 12 who might, join me up here when i call your name. hawk, robby, miguel, sam, tory, blake , kenny, nate, chris, demetri, devon and anthony" he said 

"congratulations top 12, meet me back here tomorrow for round two. the rest of you, youre out. better luck next time" he told them and they all separated and went home until the next day when blake walked in with the group and they walked over to miguel and hawk when they were talking about colleges.

"hey if you need me to be there when you tell him, im here no matter what" she told her boyfriend and he smiled as he kissed her forehead and she smiled 

"top twelve get ready, todays challenge is a battle royale, the rules are simple, protect your flags, steal the others, lose your flags and youre out. the ones with the most flags at the end go to barcelona, the rest of you will be judged on performance. ready, and fight" he said and they all started to go at it with each other. Blake ended up with three to four flags and she stood with the others yet again as she held them up. 

"et me see those flags, come on. all right , we clearly got our top four, tory, robby, sam and miguel, your four are going to barcelona, you bottom five are tied. ill go back tonight and review my notes, retally the scores, all announces the final two in the morning" he told them and they all walked off from each other and went home.

the next day, they were in the woods near coyote creek, they all brought their bags and walked out as he stood on the table and looked at the group of them

"morning, at least for now, gather 'round. is everybody here? good. last night, i reviewed my notes. made sure the remaining five got a fair shake. ive decided its too close to call so youre all gonna get another opportunity to prove yourselves. two flags wait deep in the forest, whoever brings them back wins" he told them all

"wait thats it?" hawk asked

"what if two of us find a flag at the same time?" demetri asked

"you fight for it, youre on your own. winning is everything, plan and simple. take ten minutes, stretch, use the restroom, call your mothers, when you get back, its go time" he told them and they all walked off. Blake however noticed that Eli and Demetri were fighting and she sighed as she shook next to sam and turned to the girl

"looks like he told him" Blake said and Sam nodded before they were called to line up and they did. the five of them stood in a line together and then it was off and they all ran as quickly as they could seperating soon off.  Blake went one way not knowing that hawk and demetri were soon gonna be following after her and she got there not long after 

"demetri, just stop" blake told him and he turned to the girl and stared at her. he scoffed and shook his head 

"did you know? why am i asking that? of course you knew, your his girlfriend. you probably steered him away from it" he said and she finally noticed that he held the flag and hawk was watching them closely, if he couldn't win, he wanted it to be her.

"im sorry?" she asked with a scoff and he stared at her 

"you probably told him to not apply, you don't want to be all alone again" he spoke and she snarled. 

" Now it's funny you say that but I don't remember you ever asking him if this was what he ever wanted. I have never once steered anyone away from anything they have ever wanted to do because that's not what I do hell I don't even know where I'm going to college but all I know is that I didn't steer away you were all about yourself and what you want and what you need and what you think is best for everyone so fuck you demetri cause I am so sick of your superiority complex and you thinking that everyone just has to bow down to you because of something you want to do. You go to MIT you live your life there and you do what you want but trust me when I say that I would never stop any one from ever going anywhere they want to go. You are trying to force your dream onto someone not me" She said and he finally swung at her, she ducked and kicked his legs out from under him as she grabbed the flag and looked at it and then down at him before she leaned down and punched him in the chest to make sure he stayed down. she made eye contact with hawk and he nodded thankfully as she smiled sadly and she ran off back down the mountain to the others.   

they ran back and held the flag up as robby ran over and hugged her and she smiled at the others as he let go and sam hugged her too. this meant that they were going with each other and next thing blake knes she was standing with the others in front of everybody and she smiled 

" i give you miyagi dos team sekai takai, miguel, sam, robby, tory, devon, and blake" he called and they all stood in front of the others as he walked off and everyone dispersed.

soon enough kenny walked out of the porta potty and blake has standing in front of him with pants in her hand and she handed them to him as he smiled as he walked into the porta potty again and changed. once he walked out, she saw kenny and devon talking and blake watched as devon put the laxatives in the trash and she grabbed her by the shoulder 

"are you serious, devon? laxatives? i know you wanted to win but thats not how you do it and you know that. im really disappointed in you" she told the girl and she walked off and away over to her boyfriend who was sitting there alone and she sat next to him.  

"thanks for standing up for me,b" he said to the girl and she nodded as she grabbed her boyfriends shoulders and hugged him. they stood there until they walked to blakes car and got in. she drove him home and then she got home with one thought in mind 

the sekai taikai and the way things were going. 

-ABBYS NOTES-

me when angst between best friends