"Hey guys." I greeted the boys as I sat down at our usual lunch table.
"Hey Kira." Milton greeted me, while Eddie just gave a nod and Jerry winked.
"Have you seen the new kid?" I asked.
"What new kid?" Jerry said, straightening up in his seat.
"His name's Jack." I looked up to see the guy I was talking about. "There he is." I pointed him out and the guys looked at him.
"Hey, new kid!" Eddie called out to him and beckoned him over, which made Jack immediately come to our table.
"Uh, what are you doing, Eddie?" Jerry placed a hand on Eddie's shoulder. "We save that seat for cheerleaders, prom queens and supermodels."
"Unfortunately for these dorks, I'm the only girl that will actually have a conversation with them." I told Jack, who just nodded and sat down.
"I'm Jack." He introduced himself, even though I'd already just told them. "How do you guys all know each other?"
"We're friends." Milton spoke up. "We do karate together after school."
"We don't just do karate, Milton." Jerry held up his hands. "These fists are registered weapons. In fact, I've already gotten a few calls about joining the Navy SEALs."
"Navy SEALs?" Eddie scoffed. "You're afraid of baby seals."
"Oh!" I yelled, high-fiving Eddie. "You just got burned!"
"Shut up Kira." Jerry pouted, folding his arms across his chest and slumping down in his seat.
"Gaaah!" Milton cried and turned towards the Black Dragons' table, who immediately burst out into laughter.
"That's awesome." Jerry laughed, seemingly happier than before. But it was short-lived. "That kid from the Black Dragon dojo just wailed you in the-" He was cut off as a meatball hit him in the forehead. "Not cool, man. Not cool."
"Aren't you gonna do anything?" Jack exclaimed. "Wait, I thought you guys knew karate."
"Yes we do." Milton grinned and stood up from his chair but quickly sat down again. "But they know it better."
"It's cool. I got this." Jack said, standing up and walking away from the table.
"Why did we learn his name?" Milton asked. "Now I'm gonna miss him."
We watched Jack talk to Frank calmly but Frank ended up busting out some of his karate moves. Jack turned to walk away and Frank threw a punch but Jack caught his fist. And that's when it all unfolded. Fists and feet were flying and only a few minutes later, the Black Dragons were defeated.
"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life." Milton declared after Jack had ran out.
"I agree with you there, buddy." I told him, patting his shoulder.
The end of school came quickly and now we were at the Bobby Wasabi dojo. I was leaning on the lockers, Milton and Jerry were eating pizza and Eddie was sparring with Marge, the lunch lady, who had just flipped him once again.
"I love doing that." Marge grinned after letting out a whoop.
"I love watching you doing that." I called to her, laughing to myself.
"Dude, Eddie just got dusted by Marge again." Jerry said, laughing with Milton.
"Guys, what are you doing?" Rudy exclaimed after two guys in suits left. "They said if we don't win two belts at our next tournament, they're shutting us down." Our sensei was so annoying sometimes.
"Yo Rudy, you wanna win some belts?" Jerry looked at him. "You should get that new kid Jack in here."
"He was awesome!" Eddie said. "At lunch, he took out four Black Dragons all by himself."
"Yeah, he defended our honor." I told him, pulling myself off the lockers and stepping onto the mats. "It was so cool."
"I don't care about some slap fight at school." Rudy frowned. "Martial arts isn't about beating kids up in the lunch room. It's about getting better through hard work and discipline."
"I guess the sensei of the Black Dragons doesn't use that saying since Frank loves to beat up kids in the lunch room." I muttered. A loud burp cut us off from talking about it further and we all turned towards Jerry.
"What?" He asked with a grin on his face. "You should be happy it came out the right end."
"He's got a point." I said.
"Enough about Jerry's habits." Rudy told us. "Into your meditation positions." He clapped. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the mats, crossing my legs. "Everyone focus." He put his hands together and we copied before closing our eyes.
And then our peace was interrupted by someone crashing through the wall. I quickly stood up to steady the person and saw it was Jack. He looked around dizzily before looking back at the hole he made in the wall.
"That boy just came right out the wall!" Marge shrieked.
"You guys have got to try that." Jack laughed.
"Come here, you." A mall cop said through the wall.
"Gotta go." Jack said quickly and I let go of him. "Sorry about the wall." He then backflipped away from us and tried to run out the doors but another two mall cops were already there and they grabbed him.
"Who was that kid?" Rudy asked.
"Jack!" We all yelled at him.
"Oh!" Rudy realized, a smile on his face.
After Jack had joined the Wasabi Warriors, we headed over to Falafel Phil's. I was squeezed in between Jerry and Eddie, which wasn't very pleasant for me.
"Hey Jack." Kim walked up to our table.
"Hello Kim." The other guys said flirtily. I rolled my eyes.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked.
"Yeah." The boys said.
"Guys, can you gimme a sec?" Jack exclaimed.
"You will have to deal with this on a daily basis, Jack. You should probably get used to it." I told him, managing to pull myself out of the seat I was practically stuck to and climbed over Eddie, landing next to Kim.
"Vamoose!" Jack said, waving his hands at them but they ignored him. "That means go!"
"I know what vamoose means." Jerry acted like he was offended and then started rambling in Spanish as the guys stood up and walked out the door.
"Well, I will go follow them." I pointed to the door. "Bye, Jack and Kim." I smiled at them both before retreating from the restaurant.
For the second time today, we were in the dojo again. We had all changed into our training gear, which made me feel a lot more comfortable than fighting in a skirt. Eddie was kicking at a training dummy, Jerry was practicing with some nunchucks, Milton was sorta hugging another dummy and I was stretching.
"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late." Jack walked in, swinging around a metal bo staff. "I was-"
"Sorry doesn't cut it." Rudy stopped him from explaining before noticing what Jack was holding. "Where did you get that astronaut bo staff?"
"It was a gift from the Black Dragons." Jack swung the staff again before trying to hand it to Rudy. "See, we can all use it."
"Agh, no!" Rudy cried, jumping back from the weapon like it was going to burn him. "Students from this dojo are forbidden from even entering the Black Dragon."
"What?" Jack exclaimed. "You can't forbid me from doing anything."
"How could you betray me like this?" Rudy screeched. "If it wasn't for me, you would have been banned from this mall for two weeks!"
"Banned from the mall?" Jack questioned, a look of anger on his face. "You said I was going to juvie."
"Rudy, did you really do that?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at my sensei and stopped my stretching.
"I say a lot of things." Rudy laughed, his face turning red. "I'm what they call 'chatty'."
"You lied to me." Jack stepped forward towards Rudy. "You broke the Wasabi Code."
"What?" Rudy smiled nervously, his voice going high.
"Kim was right. This place is a joke." Jack glared at Rudy. "I'm out of here." He stormed away after shoving the bo staff at Jerry.
"Fine! Go ahead!" Rudy yelled before turning to us. "Who needs him?"
"We do." We all shouted at him.
"What have I done?" Rudy gasped before running towards the doors. "Come back!"
"Well, that was a fun friendship while it lasted." I muttered before walking towards the locker rooms.
We had changed back into our normal clothes and we were packing up the dojo since we couldn't win those belts without Jack. Speaking of him, he walked through the doors of the dojo with a bag in his hand.
"Jack, you're back!" Rudy exclaimed excitedly.
"I'm just here to get my stuff." Jack shot him down. "What's going on?"
"We're closing." Jerry told him. "No Jack, no belts, no dojo."
"Milton David Krupnick!" A nerdy looking man walked into the dojo and stopped to look at the boy in question. "So, this is your French horn lesson, huh?"
"Dad, I'm sorry." Milton stepped forward. "I was taking karate lessons because kids kept beating me up for taking French horn lessons."
"Let's go, Milton." Milton's dad shook his head. "You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself."
"It's closing anyway." Milton sighed and looked around the dojo. "This is the only place I felt I really belonged." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll let my bully know I'm available."
"Now my mom's gonna send me back to Mrs King's Dance Academy." Eddie told us, slumping his shoulders. "My body was not made to mambo!"
"And my mom is gonna make me take ballet again." I sighed. "I guess I'll have to make myself look taller."
"Guess I'm a lone wolf again." Jerry said menacingly. "And that's how I like it. Don't think for a second I'm gonna miss any of you meatbags."
"Don't cry now, Jerry." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Save it for later."
"See you around, guys." Milton waved his hand at us and we waved back.
"Milton!" Jack yelled and jogged over to him. "Hang on." He shoved his hands inside a box and pulled out a board. "Why don't you show your dad that you can break a board?"
"Break a board?" Milton exclaimed as Jack laid down the piece of wood on two blocks. "I can barely cut a well-cooked piece of fish."
"Just believe in yourself and do it!" Jack told him.
"I can't!" Milton said. "When I was born, my parents thought they'd given birth to a baby bird. I mean, that's-"
"Do it, Krupnick!" Jack cut him off and Milton let out a war cry, slamming his hand down on the board and it broke. It actually broke!
"Holy Christmas nuts." Milton said in surprise.
"That ain't no baby bird right there." Marge exclaimed.
"Nah, that's an eagle." I grinned and shook Milton by the shoulders. Jerry pulled him into a man-hug and Eddie high-fived him.
"That was unbelievable, Jack." Rudy said proudly. "These guys are your friends. They didn't break the Wasabi Code, I did."
"You thought we broke the Wasabi Code?" I asked angrily and stormed forward but Jerry hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me back.
"I broke it too." Jack said, ignoring me. "You don't walk away from your friends when they need you." We all smiled and Jerry let go of me to walk over to Jack and the rest of us joined him.
"Wasabi?" Rudy grinned, putting his fist to his palm and we copied him.
"Wasabi!" Jack nodded.
"Whoo!" Jerry hollered.
"Glad to have you back, man." I patted Jack's shoulder before hugging the guys.
"Let's train." Rudy yelled and we all joined in with cheers before standing on the mats and preparing for the tournament.
It was finally the day of the tournament. We were in the Black Dragon dojo, sitting in the stands after a very embarrassing introduction. The boys had tried to look hot but they failed.
"Okay guys, Eddie's up first." Rudy said as he held a clipboard.
"Oh man." Jack shook his head at a praying Eddie and walked over to him to give him advice.
"You scared?" Jerry leaned over to me.
"I'm terrified." I told him. My hands were shaking profusely and they wouldn't stop.
"Here." He grabbed my hands and held them in his own. My eyes widened and I blushed. He started to stammer and pulled back his hands, his cheeks burning red too. I laughed a little before turning my head towards the fight. Eddie was up against a huge guy. As soon as the timer started, Eddie had already flipped the guy over onto his back and held him down.
"That was amazing!" I told Eddie as he sat down. "I knew you could do it."
"We got our first belt!" Rudy exclaimed.
"Okay." Jack crouched next to Jerry on the bench. "Nunchucks are up next. Jerry, all you gotta do is-"
"Save it, Jack." Jerry cut him off. "I got this." He stood up from the bench and swaggered over to the mats.
"He doesn't have this." I muttered.
The guy for the Black Dragons started doing some impressive moves, ending it with a flip. Jerry started off with some twirling before one swung the wrong way and hit him in his junk I winced before jumping out of the seat and crouching beside him.
"Jerry, you okay?" Jack asked.
"Everything is purple." Jerry looked around dizzily. Me and Jack hauled him up and helped him over to the benches.
The next event was Milton and he had to break more boards than the other guy. He strolled over to the mats and stood in front of the blocks. His opponent broke one board but Milton managed to break two and we got our second belt. But then Milton decided to blow it for us and performed an illegal move on the loser which cost us our belt.
"Milton, why did you do that?" I snapped at him.
"I don't know. I guess I just had a confidence boost." He stuttered.
"Dang it, Milton. I can't stay mad at you." I sighed.
After that, it was Jack's turn. He ended up hurting his leg but managed to come out on top after doing a flip on his hands and won us our second belt. The dojo was staying!
"Hey guys, let's get to work." Jack said while we were in the dojo. He was throwing up an apple and he dropped it. It landed on the foot of a particular girl. "Kim! What are you doing here?"
"I quit the Black Dragons." She said. "You guys were alright in the tournament. But the way I see it, you need all the help you can get." She handed the apple back to Jack.
"Woah, woah, woah." Jerry said, walking over to the pair. "You can't just walk in here and assume you're gonna be part of our dojo. You have to pass the test."
"Okay." Kim shrugged and turned around. She kicked and hit the training dummies in front of her, knocking them all down. She flipped her hair and looked at the boys with a look that just screamed 'obviously, I'm in'.
"What do you think, guys?" Jerry asked, looking scared.
"Mine's a definite yes." I said.
"She's in." Jack said.
"Got my vote." Eddie said.
"A plus." Milton said, sounding a little scared.
Awesome.