"Time!" Johnny shouted as he saw Aisha being completely dominated by her opponent.
The referee looked at Aisha and nodded, raising his hands, and each competitor returned to their sensei for a few short minutes.
Johnny, seeing his only female student in the final, felt proud, but he understood perfectly what she was going through. He asked, "What's going on, Miss Robinson? You're doing a great job, but you're losing in the mental game."
"She's too good; I can't do anything..." Aisha said, feeling totally desperate. She felt ashamed for not being able to show her teammates how good she was at karate and bring the trophy home.
Miguel shook his head on the side and said, "We all support you, so don't think about any kind of trophy and fight as best as you can."
"Everyone here trusts you regardless of the results; what you need to do is feel the fight and know that where you are, none of the girls besides you are facing someone who has been a champion many more times than any other woman!"
Eli looked at Johnny and didn't know if those were words of support or not, but they sounded quite good, so he said, "Destroy your rival, Aisha, use your strength!"
Aisha looked at the expressions of her friends and nodded. She filled herself with competitive spirit, so after renewing her desire to keep fighting, she walked back onto the mat.
Devon, who was waiting for her, raised her guard. Unlike Aisha, she was fighting for many different things. Her mother, who might lose her life in the operation scheduled in a few days, needs to see that trophy; she wants to show her that she is strong and that she shouldn't worry about anything other than herself.
A display of weakness should not be witnessed by her mother, so she couldn't afford to lose in this tournament. Besides, being the only defender of this tournament, she had to be ready to maintain the dojo's title and never let it be forgotten.
Thinking of Dash, who should be back, Devon couldn't allow herself to feel a sense of weakness.
"Ready?" The referee looked at both competitors, and after knowing they were fine, he said, "Fight!"
"Now!"
Facing Aisha's desperate attack, which was draining all her energy, Devon remained calm as her defensive moves continuously evolved, incorporating traces of attack when encountering her opponent's blows.
Right now, she remembered when she faced her first opponent, who almost defeated her in her first championship. So now, she felt what she felt at that time and couldn't allow herself to show weakness.
The moment their blows connected, Devon's arm suddenly shook, lifting Aisha's arm into the air.
Thud!
The audience watched as Aisha's arms were raised in the air by Devon's defense, and with a final wobble, Devon jumped and struck Aisha's face, knocking her down completely.
An absolute silence dominated the surroundings; no one could have imagined that Devon had improved so much in the last few years. And above all, how she had defeated a much larger and stronger opponent so easily.
"Well... Excellent!" Mr. Kim looked open-mouthed at Devon standing while receiving the trophy for the women's division. A second later, all the members of Sakura Bushido entered the arena to celebrate her fourth championship.
"Devon! Devon! Devon!"
Daniel LaRusso looked at Devon's overwhelming victory and shook his head. "Although Aisha made it to the final, experience is so much that I can't do anything throughout the whole match."
Samantha looked at her friend leaving the arena and stood up. "I'll be back in a moment."
At this moment, she remembered when Devon defeated her in her first tournament. She wanted to keep competing and beat her in the next one, but after a lot of training, she began to focus on other things.
Eventually, now being in high school, that Karate feeling had returned to her veins, and she felt the need to train to see how far she could go. But she felt it was too late, seeing her former friend being defeated by Devon, who had beaten her no more than five years ago, was really overwhelming.
That's why Samantha wanted Aisha not to feel overwhelmed; at least she owed her this for being a bad friend in the last year.
...
Devon Lee, who had emerged victorious, looked at the huge trophy in her hands and smiled slightly. She had managed to win, so all she wanted to do was celebrate when Dash arrived, along with her mother.
"Shall we stay here until the final of the men's championship?" Sophia, who held the trophy for Devon, looked at her friend and asked.
Devon smiled slightly and said, "Out of respect, we should do it. Everyone stayed even though their dojos didn't pass the preliminaries."
Looking around, Devon sighed and walked towards the bathrooms because she wanted some fresh air and to send a message to her father about her victory.
As she walked away, Mr. Kim was the only one who knew about Devon's concerns, so he didn't say much about her victory. For her, this was not a victory; it felt more like an obligation to show that she was okay when, in reality, she was devastated.
While heading to the bathrooms, Devon ran into Samantha, who was on her way out, and she said, "Devon, congratulations on your victory."
Devon stopped and nodded; she had nothing to say, but just out of discomfort, she said, "I thought you wouldn't come. Have you considered returning to Karate?"
"Maybe I will..." Samantha felt even more uncomfortable, so she said, "So goodbye, have a nice day."
Watching Samantha's back, Devon shook her head and entered the bathrooms. She wanted to talk to Devon and her father, so that's exactly what she would do.