Pang So-Yi is the best. At least that's what she'd say if you asked her. She's held a sword for as long as she can remember, and when she fences it's like fighting a snake. Aggressively quick strikes and reflexes like lightning. She's never been defeated, she's never lost a match. At least she hasn't until she competed for her first National title, and came head to head with An Yuna.
Yuna is steady. Where So-Yi is aggressive, she's calm. She conserves her energy and her movements, relying on precision to make up for a lack of speed. When she strikes, she knows her tip will go exactly where she means it to. She's lost, occasionally, but not often. She's seen So-Yi compete before - really, what Korean fencer hasn't? She doesn't like her. So-Yi is arrogant and emotional. She thinks she can beat her.
The sabre is a good weapon for So-Yi. In that style of fencing one can strike with the flat or edge of the blade, and combat is much faster. She faces this girl the same way she faces any other opponent. This is the last person between her and her first title. Nothing can possibly stop her... except Yuna scoring the first point. And then the second. So-Yi lands the edge of her blade on Yuna's shoulder, but the other girl scores a third point nearly immediately. Each of So-Yi's attacks leaves her vulnerable and Yuna takes advantage.
It's her first loss but in the end she makes Yuna work for it with a final score of five to four, the last point scored in the middle of a flurry of attacks. The judges have to view replays in order to decide the winner. So-Yi barely stays long enough to show good sportsmanship before she storms off on the verge of tears. The safest place is the locker room.
She throws her gear down and sits on a bench, hands balled into fists before she punches her hand into metal. Standing, she leans against the wall and lets the anger ebb out of her. There's no reason for it. She's gone over the fight ten times already and she can't think of anything else she could have done differently. She lost because the other girl had moved a fraction of a second faster. She's seen the replay. Yuna's edge had struck So-Yi's arm a tenth of a second sooner.
Luck. It was all luck.
"I'm sorry," A voice says quietly. "Am I intruding?"
So-Yi looks up to see the National Champion standing at the other end of the room. An Yuna is serious, for a girl who's just gotten one step closer to the Olympics, but there's a ghost of a smile on her lips. So-Yi closes her eyes for a moment, straightening subconsciously. "No, you're not."
Yuna nods her head towards So-Yi respectfully, then steps up to her locker. The older girl watches her, then picks up her bag and walks out without changing. Yuna rolls her eyes.
They meet again at a charity event in August. An Yuna is all but destroying the competition. Each match is over quickly and she isn't really trying but it all changes when she hears So-Yi's name. Suddenly this match matters, and from how her opponent stands, confident and poised she knows it won't be easy.
Behind her mask, So-Yi grins to herself and when the buzzer sounds she launches into such a furious attack that An Yuna nearly loses her balance. It's nearly a minute before a point is scored when So-Yi's blade digs into Yuna's shoulder. They trade points in the next few rounds until the score is three to three.
There's a commotion among the judges, and before they can start the next round the match is canceled. Yuna steps away, fuming silently. So-Yi's anger is visible on her face, but the emotion evaporates when the live video is put onto the scoreboard.
"Is this some kind of joke?" She asks. Only Yuna hears her, but the girl doesn't respond as they watch Trespasser tear through San Francisco. Yuna feels this fear inside her stomach, like ice has taken hold and will not let go. When So-Yi looks away again, her rival is gone. She looks back to the display. This isn't a movie. This is real.
Everything is different after that. The Kaiju gets taken down and the world starts to return to normal while the smart people try to figure out what that thing was. Yuna turns her fears into training. There's another Kaiju attack. And then another. Sydney nearly nukes itself into oblivious and that more than anything terrifies her. She's scared, so scared and fencing becomes her life and her escape. She focuses on reaching the Olympics, and nothing else.
It's shortly after So-Yi's fifteenth birthday that she learns who her opponent is for the last slot on the Olympic team. She and Yuna have met a few times since that charity match, and Yuna has one match on her, not counting the draw. This is important and she knows it. In the face of the Kaiju the world needs these Olympics. Even with the newly deployed Jaegers, the 2016 Olympics are going to be the most important to world morale in decades and So-Yi desperately wants to be there. Maybe she can't fight a Kaiji but she can give the world a break.
She meets Yuna in the locker room again. Except for some short exchanges, neither girl has spoken to each other since K-Day. She holds out her hand to Yuna. "You better put up a good fight. I don't want to go to Rio because you choked."
Yuna grasps So-Yi's hand. It feels like there's a charge in the air. The other girl has always rubbed her the wrong way. She's always made her feel so tense. "I do not care if you choke or not. Either way I'm going to win." Yuna has put so many obsessive hours into training that any other outcome will shatter her.
Well screw you too, So-Yi thinks, yanking her hand away. It's always so personal, and she's going to enjoy proving once and for all who's better.