CHAPTER 54

Today wasn't a planned session of training at the Miyagi-Do dojo. They hadn't planned that they were all going to meet on Christmas Eve. Daniel expected that they'd all be caught up with festivities with their families, so he gave them December 24th and 25th away from training, and the rest of the month's training sessions optional too. It had been completely on the group's accord that they had decided to come to the dojo on that early morning and decorate the dojo.

"Alright, guys, listen up!" Daniel called. "Well first of all, the dojo looks beautiful. Amazing job with the decorating. And shout out to Johnny, Miguel and Robby for getting us our tree."

Cheers and whoops rang around the dojo. There was only one person who didn't even crack a smile, the brunette young man standing towards the back of the group.

"I must say though… I'm kind of surprised to see you all here. I mean, it's Christmas Eve after all." Daniel remarked.

"Where else were we supposed to go? Our families?" Demetri remarked sarcastically. Everyone understood exactly what he meant. They all loved their families. They really did. But honestly, in the past year and a half, the amount of time they spent with each other far surpassed the amount of time they had spent with family. Through fighting together, training together, hanging out together and going to school together, Miyagi-Do had become their own kind of family, so they all wanted to be able to celebrate moments like Christmas together. With their chosen family, so to speak.

"Well as glad as I am to have you, I'm sure your parents probably aren't as thrilled that you aren't spending time with them. Which is why after this afternoon, we're closing the dojo until December 26th."

A collective groan rang around the group, to which Daniel smiled as he shook his head.

"Don't worry though. We've already got something awesome planned for the 26th, and we're going to tell you about it now so you guys can prepare."

This surely got everyone's attention. Something awesome? Something that they'd have to prepare for? That sounded interesting…

"Well you all can thank Sensei Lawrence for this idea… Miyagi-Do is officially holding its first ever Christmas fight night!"

Oohs and aahs echoed around the group, although the overwhelming emotion amongst them was confusion. Fight night? What exactly was that?

"What is it exactly?" Sam asked curiously.

"So, the way it works is that right now, Johnny and I are going to split you into two teams: his team and my team. On the 26th, we're all going to come here in the evening, and we're going to have a big event together. Think about it more as a celebration than a fight. We'll support each other, watch the fights, we'll go out for a meal all together after."

"Sorry… what fights?" Hawk asked. Daniel nodded.

"Each fighter on each team is going to fight 1 fight, against a member of the other team. Winning fighter earns a point for their team. The team with the most points at the end wins."

"Wins what?" Miguel asked eagerly.

"Bragging rights. Pride." Johnny declared.

"And a late Christmas present of a 30 dollar gift card from Amazon each." Daniel added. This perked them all up. 30 bucks from Amazon? That was a pretty nice Christmas present right there.

There were 10 of them in the dojo who had continued to come to train during the Christmas break: Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Demetri, Anthony, Devon, Bert and Nate. These were the students they had, and they knew that they were about to be split into 2 teams, and then matched with a fighter of the opposing team to fight. This would be interesting, as not everyone in the dojo was of the same level, so it could make for some pretty interesting fights. Not only that, but by this point, almost none of them only trained in one style of Karate, so they all had a unique fighting style and arsenal to unleash.

"How are we deciding the teams?" Miguel asked.

"Well, in typical American sports tradition, Johnny and I thought we'd do a draft." Daniel told them. "We'll flip a coin, and the winner gets the first pick. We'll then alternate picks until everyone has a team. Sounds good?"

The dojo all echoed their agreement, and Daniel then took a coin out of his pocket and flipped it. Johnny called tails, and sure enough, it was tails.

"Alright, Johnny, you start. Who do you want as your first pick?" Daniel asked. Johnny took a deep breath as he looked around the dojo. So many quality fighters to choose from, so many different strategies he could use for his team selection. However, eventually he made up his mind and decided to go with the person he knew needed him most right now.

"Robby." He announced. Cheers and whistles rang around the dojo as Robby moved to stand on Johnny's side of the dojo, not a shred of emotion on his face still. Although it was interesting that Johnny had gone for Robby over Miguel and Hawk, none of them questioned it much at all. Robby was a brilliant fighter indeed. And on top of that, he was Johnny's son.

"Miguel." Daniel almost immediately responded with his pick. It was interesting that Daniel hadn't opted for his daughter or son right off the bat, but it was an understandable decision as Daniel clearly didn't want Johnny to take both Robby and Miguel, as that would put him in an almost unbeatable situation. And Daniel didn't want to lose. Him and Johnny had a six pack of beer riding on this after all!

Johnny then thought for a moment about his next pick, deliberating between two people before finally deciding on his pick.

"Nichols." He announced, and Tory moved to join Robby and Johnny at his side. A flash of shock ran through the face of one of the remaining students, a look that became even more prominent on the All-Valley champion's face when Daniel called out his following pick…

"Sam." Daniel replied. There was no guesses as to who Sam and Tory were going to be matched up against in this fight night. Although thankfully the girls weren't feuding anymore, and seemed to have turned a page in their rivalry after Coyote Creek, they were still EXTREMELY closely matched in terms of fighting ability, so any fight between them was bound to be extremely competitive.

"Lee." Johnny called. Another one of his mentees, Devon, joined Team Johnny, an extremely formidable team by the looks of things. Although, Team Larusso wasn't looking half-bad either, especially now that Daniel got to have his final three remaining picks in a row, as it had been Johnny who had gotten the first pick overall, a compromise the two senseis had made when deciding upon the rules.

"Eli, Nate and Anthony." Daniel called them over to his side. Johnny couldn't hide his loud groan of annoyance. Although he was happy to coach Bert, it also meant that he had been left with the final unpicked student: none other than his least favourite person in all of Miyagi-Do, Demetri Alexopolous. The nerdy teenager looked none too thrilled to be fighting under Sensei Lawrence's guidance either.

Now that the teams had been made, Johnny and Daniel retreated inside the dojo for a moment to discuss the matchups, and they returned moments later to announce them.

"Alright, are you guys ready to hear the matchups?" Daniel asked. The students definitely were. Although this was completely friendly, all of them were extremely competitive people, and all were relishing at the opportunity to stretch their legs a little before the Taikai and properly fight with people of their similar skill level.

"So… fight 1 will be Anthony against Devon." Daniel announced.

"You got this. Easy." Johnny whispered none-too-quietly to Devon, who nodded determinedly at him. Daniel ignored them and rolled his eyes.

"Fight number 2 will be… Bert against Nate." Daniel continued. "Fight 3 will be Demetri against Hawk."

A flash of annoyance was evident on Hawk's face as he heard who he was being asked to fight. 6th overall pick, picked after the likes of Devon, and now he was being told that he was going to fight Demetri of all people, while Miguel and Robby presumably got to fight each other. Hawk felt thoroughly disrespected as the All-Valley champion, and couldn't help but feel annoyed about their decision. He didn't say anything though, and so his reaction went unnoticed.

"Our penultimate fight… Sam against Tory." Daniel announced. This fight was probably the one that would generate the most interest amidst the group, but also the most apprehension. Although things were much healthier between Sam and Tory now, neither one of them had gotten that final fight with the other to seal off their rivalry like Robby and Miguel had. They were just hoping that the girls wouldn't interpret this friendly spar as a means of doing this.

"And the final fight… Miguel and Robby." Johnny finished. What was there left to say about this fight? The pair were extremely familiar with one another, and they always put on an absolute show whenever they fought, no matter the circumstances. They had had a pretty tumultuous record against each other in the past. Miguel had walked away from the first encounter as victor at the All-Valley, but had done so in a less than honorable way. Then a few months later, the exact opposite had happened at the school, where Robby might have technically won, but he didn't win honorably. There was then a pause in their period of fighting and feuding, all the way until the Prom fight, which Robby had all but indisputably won. Finally, they had fought once more at their apartment complex, a fight which Miguel walked away closer to the victor of the two. 2-2 was the scoreline, if anyone really desired a numerical value to it. This would finally prove who was the best. There were no unclear heads, no rivalries and no animosity to get in the way of it.

"That's all we have to say." Daniel said. "Merry Christmas everybody. Thank you all for coming today. We'll see you all on the night of the 26th for Miyagi-Do Fight Night!"