When Dylan stepped on the mat, I was totally and utterly in the zone.

"Good luck, you're gonna need it," I said, grinning at him.

"Keep your luck for yourself, honey."

One of the judges with a loooong beard stepped up and started to outline the rules of the match. He rang the gong, signaling the start of the match.

I bowed and struck a defensive stance. He did the same and regarded me. I blew some hair out of my eyes and launched myself at him.

He easily dodged my first blow, but I was expected that. I swept my foot around and knocked his feet off the floor. He landed on the mat, and I was just about to bring my foot down on him, but he rolled and got to his feet behind me.

He narrowed his eyes and proceeded to attack with more caution. He started to pound me with his fists, but I blocked and dodged his blows. I started to realized that this kid only had strength, he didn't have nearly as much agility as a smaller person like me would have. I decided to use this to my advantage.

I nimbly flipped out of the way of his spin kick and came up beside him. I quickly shot my foot out and kicked him in the gut. I jumped lightly out of the way when he turned around. I could see the sweat starting to bead on his forehead and knew that I had to end this soon.

He threw a kick that probably could've knocked a hole in the wall. I narrowly avoided a trip to the hospital by dropping down, pressing my chest and stomach to the floor. I used my arms to push my lower body up, delivering a crucial blow. He staggered backwards and fell down heavily… out of the boundaries.

The room was quiet, before suddenly erupting in cheers.

A huge smile spread across my face when I realized that I would be advancing to the next round. I threw my arms up in the air and jumped up and down, laughing.

"This round goes to Kimberly Crawford! Close the match, you two," the judge recited as he stepped onto the mat.

I turned to Dylan and bowed, watching him do the same.

"Better luck next time, pretty boy!" I smirked at him as I stepped off the sparring mat.

I looked around the throng of people, trying to locate the rest of my dojo. Since when are so many people interested in karate? I wondered to myself as I ducked under somebody's waving arms.

I was in no means claustrophobic, but I reconsidered that assumption when I pushed through the crowd, trying to find my way back to the bleachers. I felt trapped and squished as people jolted me out of the way. I seriously needed to gain an inch… or two.

I finally broke through the mass of people into a clearing near the bleachers. My face was flushed and my hair was dangling annoyingly in front of my face. I roughly pushed it out of the way as I scanned the bleachers.

There!

I saw Grace animatedly talking to a vaguely familiar-looking boy with brown hair. Jeez, that girl was flirting with every boy here! I tried to catch a glimpse of his face, but he had his back to me. Sensei was standing near them, talking to one of the judges.

I made my way to them.

Grace caught sight of me as I came closer, and her eyes lit up. She directed the boy's attention toward me. I stopped in astonishment as soon as I got a glimpse at his very familiar face.

My heart leaped as I gaped at him. "Jack?" I whispered.

He grinned, his classic smile that could bring light to the dark side of the moon, and held his arms out. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running full-tilt into him.

I crashed into him, my momentum knocking him back a couple of steps, but he didn't seem to care. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me so tightly that I could hardly breathe. I didn't care though; I was probably doing the same thing.

I buried my face into his neck and closed my eyes, hardly believing that he was here.

I pulled away as a hoard of questions flooded my mind.

"What are you doing here? Why didn't Sensei tell me? Are you competing? So you're doing karate again? Does Sensei even know?" I managed to get out before I ran out of air.

"Calm down, you're going to talk yourself out," Jack said, grinning.

"We all know that that can't possibly happen," Grace smirked.

"Oh, shut up!" I sighed, before smacking both of them.

I stepped back and took my first good look at my friend.

He had finally managed to make his hair lie down straight, after all of those years with his cactus hair. I smiled to myself as I remembered his old nickname, Cactus Brain, courtesy of moi. But now, it looked like all he did was brush his fingers through it. The look actually suited him.

He had also grown a couple of inches, and was still a head taller than me; something I found very annoying.

The only thing that hadn't changed at all were his eyes. They were the same open, caring eyes that he'd always had.

All in all… he looked… almost… hot.

Not that I would ever say it out loud. I would probably boil my head first.

I felt my cheeks heat up at my train of thought. I quickly shook my head to snap myself out of it.

"Okay Mister, spill it. Why are you here?" I said.

"What? Are you not just happy to see me?" he teased, with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course I'm happy to see you, you big dummy! Now just tell me what knocked some sense into you," I said, rapping his head with my knuckles. I was relieved to hear that there wasn't a hollow sound.

"I'll tell ya later, I have to compete in a couple minutes. This story is going to take way longer than that," he said, turning to check the board for the match times.

"Well then it better be good-" I started to say before I heard a crash behind me.

I yelped and jumped forward in a panic. I turned around in time to see a short man argue with a judge. A very old, priceless looking table was in shambles next to them. I could guess what their argument was about, and I tried not to laugh.

"Oh no," Jack muttered under his breath as he covered his eyes with his hand.

"Do you know him?" I murmured to him as the man walked toward us, having lost his argument.

"Um… He's Rudy, our… sensei," he winced as Rudy tripped over absolutely nothing.

I laughed and glanced at the clock. "I got to get back to the warm-up room, my next match is coming up soon. What room are you in?" I asked.

"Room 248, just meet me there after today's matches and we'll catch up," he said. I smiled and nodded, before turning around to leave.

For some reason that I still don't know, I decided to turn around. When I did, I caught sight of Kai head into the hallway, suspiciously looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. Naturally, I had to follow him. I crept down the hallway and peeked into the room I saw him enter.

I couldn't hear anything over the clamor of the people in the hallway, but I could just make out Kai talking to a couple of guys. Kai passed something to one of them, and then they shook hands. Something about that simple gesture felt significant, final.

I was so lost in my thoughts, that I didn't notice Kai head to the door. I barely caught sight of him in time, so I couldn't do anything except flatten myself into the wall and hope he didn't see me.

He seemed in a hurry so he barely spared me a second glance before heading off toward the sparring room, no doubt late for his match. I blew out a sigh of relief and turned around.

Well I certainly would not be forgetting that anytime soon.

For some reason, this chapter was really hard to write.. It took me FOREVER! Well, many editing days later, it has finally been deemed worthy for all you lovely people to read! Tell me what you think!(; Cough..Cough.. That means review.. Cough.

Oh and to the reviewer who asked if I was going to describe all of the fights, I will only be describing the ones important to the story. But, not all of them. I'm not that karate-esque (It's a word :P) enough to think up all those fights...

-Courtney(: