𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍

eight

『 eight 』

TRAINING HAD GONE ON WITH minimal bumps for the next two months. 

The dojo trained well. Sensei Lawrence improved greatly in his training tactics somewhere around April. Miguel proved to continue to be one of the dojo's best students, if not the best. 

When the group got together to watch movies on a weekend night, Demetri began seeking out movies with the least amount of martial arts possible. He didn't want to give them any ideas. This proved to be more difficult than expected on his part. You'd be surprised how many movies contain the arts, and you never notice it until your friend is purposefully avoiding them. 

As for Natalie, she slowly rose through belts. She wasn't as natural a Cobra as Miguel, Aisha, or Hawk. But she was something. She gave it her best effort, progressing at a steady pace. Sometimes this was all you could do in life. It was usually enough. 

But this time, it wasn't enough. It wasn't near enough. 

The All Valley tournament was a relatively lax system. Anyone could compete. It didn't matter your size, or experience level, or even whether or not you had a dojo to affiliate with. You just had to show up and be under the age of eighteen. 

Of course, there were other built in rules to maintain order, but nothing that would serve as a possible roadblock. Only one rule did this. 

The tournament, as stated in the title, was eligible for anyone under eighteen. Natalie was seventeen. Next year, as time works, eighteen. With a December birthday, by the time next year's tournament rolled around, she would be well out of eligibility. 

She had discussed it with Sensei Lawrence. If she were able to sign up before her birthday, when still within the guidelines, they would accept her. You just needed to be seventeen when signing up. But there lied the problem. It didn't matter how close to the next year she was signing up, it had to be within the year of said tournament in order to count. Her birthday would have already come and gone by such year. 

This was her only chance. Her only shot. 

Natalie worked her hardest. She did everything that came to mind to progress. Kate cheered her on, once reaching to compliment how she was working more diligently than ninety percent of her companions. 

This raised Natalie's spirits for all of five minutes. Then she watched Hawk do a roundhouse kick. 

Miguel was working alongside, being as supportive as possible. They drove to the beach every weekend for a few hours before traffic and trained. They trained and trained and trained. Miguel became her own little sensei. For those few hours every Saturday, Natalie felt safe in the comfort of her friend's help. 

Natalie no longer felt safe confiding in Hawk about her struggles. Aisha was right in there with Hawk, progress wise. She listened, but couldn't offer the same sort of help. Demetri, Kate, and Theo all had no idea what she was talking about. Robby always changed the subject of conversation whenever her karate dojo was brought up. 

This left Miguel, and he was as good a listener as ever. For now, this was the best she could work with. 

The anxious side of her knew it wouldn't be enough. Her goal was the semi-finals. From where she was looking now, that seemed to be an overshot. Clearly the other half of her, the optimistic half, hadn't been paying attention to Miguel or Hawk. They were incredible. Insanely skilled! Here Natalie stood, off to the side, only being able to defeat the students smaller than her. It made her feel terrible about herself. 

She knew she was stressing herself out too much over something that may not matter in ten years. Maybe not even five years. But it mattered now. And if she didn't shoot for her best now, she was going to regret it later.