Chapter 29 The Tournament
School was let out and soon, we were picking the five to go to the tournament for karate.
Since I was already the sempai, I was to the side of the class, training and getting better on my skills. I had asked Dave if I could train with a friend from the pirates, and he agreed, saying that I had to use mats just in case we did takedowns, which was fine, but I had already guessed that.
When the others started their test to see who would join me, I went to Joe and asked him if he could help me train.
Joe nodded. "Of course I'll help you," he said, getting to his feet. "I know how much this means to you."
We put a couple mats together and then started the practice.
Dave was always doing a constant watch between me and Joe and the kids who were trying to earn their spot with me.
A couple times, it looked like Joe was going to pin me down, but I was always able to escape and then pin him down.
"You're really getting stronger," Joe said when Dave called for us to rest.
"Thanks," I said as we went to sit down. I took out a towel from my bag and wiped my forehead to clear the sweat and keep it from getting into my eyes. I got a drink from my water and sat down, but it wasn't long before I heard an unfamiliar noise for the class.
I got to my feet and looked around intently, trying to find the source of the noise.
"Amanda?" Joe asked, looking up at me.
"Basco," I whispered, noticing the sound of a trumpet. "Curse him!"
"Stop," Dave told the students. He looked up at me and called, "Everyone alright, Amanda?"
Just then, the sound of Basco's trumpet filled the room, and Ahim, Joe, and I had our mobirates out, ready to morph.
"Where are you, Basco!?" I called. "Don't try hiding! It won't work!"
The trumpet died and instead, there was laughing.
"This is not well," Ahim said.
"Not at all," Joe said.
"I cornered three Gokaigers, alone and no captain to help them," Basco said as he appeared out of nowhere.
"Are you really stupid enough to fight here?" I asked as I took a step forward. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a place where you learn how to fight and every single here wants to prove that they are the strongest to join me in a tournament. Do you really still want to fight now?"
In reply, Basco went to fire.
"I guess that's a yes," I said. "Guys, let's go!"
"Gokai Change!" we said.
"Gokiager!" our mobirates cried.
As we morphed, the shots that Basco fired rebounded harmlessly against an invisible protective shield.
"We will not be taken down!" Ahim said.
"If anyone, it'll be you who disappears," Joe said.
"I don't think so," Basco replied as he went to attack us.
"Joe!" Ahim said, handing Joe her GokaiSaber and receiving his GokaiGun.
I fired at Basco and then went into close combat, but he could tell every single move that I would do and blocked all of them, finally getting enough of a pause to throw me back.
"Alright, I think I'll use this," I said, holding up the red GekiRanger ranger key.
"Agreed," Joe said, holding up the blue GekiRanger ranger key.
"I concur," Ahim said, holding up the yellow GekiRanger ranger key.
"Gokai Change!" we said.
"GekiRanger!" our mobirates cried.
"This is what is best for our abilities," I said. I charged at Basco and kicked him back, using enough power to send him flying back.
As Basco's eyes began to glow, not only in the sign of annoyance, but also to indicate what was going to happen, I jumped back next to the others, but we were all stuck down.
"Now, I'm going to take what's most important to you," Basco said without looking at us, pointing his gun at the students and Dave.
"No!" I cried, jumping to my feet and running in front of them, taking the hit for them. I fell to a knee, turning back into a Gokiager, and feeling pain spark up in my side.
"Amanda!" Joe and Ahim cried, running to my side.
"I'm fine," I said, getting to my feet. "You're a coward: to aim for someone you're not fighting instead of the actually fighter."
"I knew you would do that," Basco said. "You're tournament is tomorrow, and I've gotten big bucks from a rival school to take you out, the school's sempai and only hope of winning. No one else is in your power, so you're the only threat."
"Which school?" I growled.
"Don't know," Basco said. "They just had a golden dragon as the logo."
At that, the kids behind me gasped.
"They've never resorted to trickery to win!" Dave said.
"It's been ten years since they've won the trophy," I said. "Any school would be desperate at that rate. And we won the past three years. It's trickery, but it's their only hope."
"Now, to finish the job," Basco said, firing another round of bullets at me.
I sent me falling to the ground and unmorphing.
"Amanda!" Joe cried as Ahim suddenly broke her usual character and charged at Basco.
"You will not hurt my friend anymore!" Ahim exclaimed, trying to hit him, but he disappeared. "No!"
"Ahim, leave it," I whispered, trying to get to my feet, but falling.
"Yes, Amanda-sama," Ahim muttered, turning to us and powering down.
"Don't try to move," Joe said, also powering down and putting a hand on my arm.
"Ow," I mumbled, my hand covering my arm as my other hand was planted firmly on the ground, keeping me on my knees and I tried to get enough strength to get up.
"Amanda, I'm sitting you out," Dave said, walking to me and pulling me to my feet, letting Joe support me.
"What?" I asked, a chill setting in.
"Unless you can get better by tomorrow morning, I'm going to use you as a last resort," Dave said.
"But, Sensei Dave-!" I began.
"No," Dave said sternly. "I won't allow you to fight when you just took a beating."
"Yes sir," I whispered, bowing my head.
"Go rest," Dave sad. "I want to talk to you after class."
I nodded and, with Joe's and Ahim's help, went to the tables and sat down. "Man," I murmured, turning to the table and laying my head down. "I trained for the past six months for this. I've skipped monster fights and treasure hunts just so I can practice my skills. Now, it's ruined." I closed my eyes and a tear glistened on my cheek.
"No," Joe said, using his thumb to wipe the tear away. "You still have a chance. And as long as you have a chance, you'll do well."
"I concur," Ahim said, pausing in her homework to reach over the table and take my hand in hers. "Amanda-sama, you've never given up, on anything, before. You didn't give up when the hospital was destroyed, you didn't give up when you're family was killed right before your very eyes , you didn't give up when the school was taken down, you didn't give up when Adriana-sama and Jessica-sama passed, and you didn't give up when we were taken and you had to rescue us. Don't give up now. We believe in you, me, Grace-sama, Gai-san, Don-san, Luka-sama, Marvelous-san, Mikko-san, Macy-sama, and especially that boy sitting next to you, giving you the most support you could ever want. As long as we believe in you, you will do well tomorrow, even if you have only one fight. Don't give up now, or everything that's happened before will be lost. Do you want that to happen?"
"No," I said. "No, I don't want that to happen."
"Then listen to us," Joe said. "We'll help you tonight, give you all the care you could ever want, and tomorrow, you will be as good as new, and you will show the world that the Red Warriors deserve the title of the best school out there."
"Alright," I said. "I'll do my best."
"And that's all we need," Joe said.
When we got to the Galleon, I tried to walk by myself, but it was obvious that there was a fight even if I could walk. I collapsed, but Joe and Ahim caught me and held me up, putting my arms around their necks and supporting my full weight.
"What the heck happened?" Marvelous asked as we came in.
"There was an attack," Joe said as they took me to the couch.
"Basco," Ahim said. "A rival school paid him to take out Amanda so that she couldn't fight tomorrow, and when he targeted the class, she took the attack for them."
"Why would they do that?!" Luka demanded.
"They want to win," I said. "I'm the best my school has. I'm the reason we won the title three years straight. Get me out of the way, then you have the best shot at winning."
"But Basco doesn't go for money," Grace said. "Marvelous, out of the time we worked with him, has Basco ever asked for one penny in return?"
Marvelous shook his head.
"Look, the main point right now is that Basco hurt her, and hurt her badly," Don said as he checked on me.
"I can't believe this would happen," Gai said.
"And for it to happen the day before something very important, too," Marvelous said. "You can't fight."
"I can, and I will," I growled. "I've trained for six months to get back to the top, and now that I'm here, I'm sure as heck not going to back down from it."
"It'll only make you worst," Grace said.
"The sensei said that he will play her only as a last resort, unless she gets better overnight," Ahim said. "Joe and I have already agreed to give her any help needed to get well enough to fight."
"Then we'll get you something to eat and then get you to bed," Joe said.
The others simply sighed and then went to their rooms for some sleep while Ahim and Joe did everything in their power to help me out.
The next morning, I was surprised at how much better I felt, but I still had a limp in my step and a pain in my arm whenever I went to punch.
Still, I suited up in my uniform for karate, checking in the mirror to see just how bad I looked.
Satisfied that I was fine, I joined the others with a quick breakfast and then had to leave early to get to the arena where all the schools would meet.
Joe walked with me to the arena and then stayed with me until Dave told him to leave and to save spots for the others. With that, he nodded, gave me a quick hug, told me good luck, and then left.
"Amanda, report," Dave said.
"I'm doing much better," I said. "I have only a limp and a pain in my arm if I punch."
"That's excellent," Dave said. "And you have even more time to rest, because since I asked you to come several hours early, it'll take time for the others to come. I'll take you to our place and then you rest."
I looked at the group who was picked, but I noticed three other people. "Who's our fifth?" I asked.
"Ahim," Dave said. "She didn't tell you?"
I shook my head. "Nor did she come with me," I replied.
"She'll be here," Hannah said. "She always comes."
"Yea, she's strong," added Ben. "Even if she is a beginner!"
"I know she will help us!" Audrey said. "After all, we have two pirates who are strong on our team!"
"I'm sorry I'm late, Sensei Dave!" Ahim cried as she ran to us, bowing as a greeting. When we returned to bow, she stood up straight and said, "The other Gokiagers wanted to wish me good luck. They would've told Sempai Amanda-sama, but she left too quickly."
"At least you're here," Dave said. "Let's go."
We went to our spot inside the arena and Ahim told me, "Marvelous-san wants you to call him."
I looked at Dave for permission and he nodded.
Taking out my mobirates, I dialed Marvelous' number and he answered.
"Thought you could leave without us talking to you?" Marvelous asked, half humored.
"Marvelous," I said with a chuckle.
"We, all, want to wish you good luck," Marvelous said. "Just listen." He put the mobirates down and everyone said, "Good luck, Amanda!"
"Thanks, guys," I said with a smile. "Where are you?"
"Look behind," Joe said.
I turned around and saw the Gokaigers among the other early-comers. I nodded to let them know I saw them. "Good to know you can watch everything," I said.
"Yep," Marvelous said. "Later, we're going to make sure that you're treated like a champion, whether you win that trophy or not."
"I look forward to it," I said.
"You need to end the call," Dave said.
"I'll see you guys after the tournament," I said.
"Alright," Marvelous said. "We're watching you, cheering you on."
We hung up and I took the time we had to rest.
While the others looked around to see what there was, I took the time I had to rest and get better. Every so often, I got to my feet and tried a few things that were easy, and each time, the pain became less and less. Finally, the pain died, altogether.
Turning to my friends in the stands, I made my thumbs-up visible.
They raised a hand in the air in a victorious fashion.
"Report," Dave said.
"No pain at all," I said.
My four comrades cheered.
"I'm bumping you up to the front," Dave said.
"Yes sir!" I said, bowing. "Thank you sir!"
"Now, shouldn't you be training?" Dave said. "Just be careful."
We nodded and started our practicing.
When the other schools started to show up, I got the other to stop and we watched as they came in. It was no use letting them know our game plan, what our strengths are, before we even begin our fights.
When the Golden Dragons came in, I saw the boy that had first challenged me on my first day back, and when he saw me, he didn't look too happy about it. He whispered something to the other students and they looked in our direction.
I shook my head at them, making the message clear that what they did wasn't honorable, and that it wasn't enough to keep me down.
As the final school came in, the fights suddenly went out and the scoreboard lit up with the schools, their students, and the ranks the students were in. They called each school and each student, letting the crowd cheer for their favorite.
The Golden Dragons got their name called and there was little cheering for them, which annoyed them to no end, but when we were called, the whole arena, even other schools, cheered for us.
I looked at my friends sitting next to me and they smiled.
"Even if we don't win," Ben whispered.
"We're still the favorite," Hannah said.
"Even if we don't win," Audrey repeated.
"We are who they like," Ahim said.
"Hey, I don't want to hear any 'even if we don't win' stuff," I commanded. "We are going to win this."
The other four nodded.
The tournament began when the lights came back on. The arena had several other small rooms where the fights would be taking place for the beginning rounds. If you were struck three times, you were out of the competition.
My record was five hits throughout the whole tournament, and now that I knew more than before, I changed my target to two hits.
As the first on the team that won last year, I was first up against a boy from the Silver Blossom's school, but the name was something to fool you: they were tough.
We walked to the room where we were going to, neither of us talking to each other, and went to our spot. Taking a quick look around to see where stuff was placed, we saw the tables for the judges, the drinking area, and I saw Marvelous and Joe, who had snuck after us.
"Win," Marvelous mouthed.
"For us," Joe added.
I nodded.
We bowed to the ref who would be looking over our fight and then to the judge's table.
"State your name, rank, and school," said a judge.
"Sempai Amanda, from the school of the Red Warriors," I said.
"Sempai Gorge, from the school of the Silver Blossom," the boy replied.
"Another sempai," I thought. "This will be a challenge."
"Face each other," the ref said. "Bow." When we did that, he took a step back. "Fighting stance!" As we got into our fighting stance, he said, "Begin!"
