chapter ten

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"You've trained hard." Sensei Lawrence stood on top of a van in the middle of a junkyard, an open beer in his hand. "You've gotten stronger, tougher, faster. You've done your best. You're ready for this tournament, am I right?"

"Yes, Sensei!" Iris and the other students stood below him, all confused as to why they were there.

"Wrong!" Iris jumped back as Sensei Lawrence threw the can of beer down at their feet. The remaining liquid spraying their legs. "You're best ain't shit! If you wanna win the All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament, you gotta give me better than your best. Which is why from now on, you're gonna get my worst. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sensei!" Iris agreed with the other students even though she was almost certain that Sensei Lawrence wasn't making much sense.

"Are you losers?" Sensei Lawrence walked from one end of the van to the other, looking down at his once hopeless group of students.

"No, Sensei!"

"Are you nerds?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Are you sure?"

"No, Sensei!" Iris couldn't hold back her laugh as Sensei Lawrence dropped his head into his hands. The small group of students began to chuckle as Sensei Lawrence lifted his head to glare down at the girl, this motion only making her laugh harder.


***


"Move those feet!" Iris ran behind Hawk as they went through an obstacle course. The first being tires that the group had to run through. "Go! Go! Go!" Aisha, Miguel, Hawk and Iris finished the tire obstacle and got back in line to do it again. "Let's go, squirt. Good job, buddy."

Iris' group was up again, Aisha led followed by Miguel, Hawk and then Iris herself. They were doing great until they reached the end and Aisha tripped on one of the tires.

"Whoa!" It was like a domino effect, first Aisha, then Miguel, then Hawk and finally Iris. They all groaned, Iris slowly rolling off of Hawk's back holding her stomach where Hawk had accidentally elbowed her.

"I'm good, I'm good." Iris reached up, grabbing Sensei Lawrence's outstretched hand. He pulled her up off the ground easily, patting her hard on the back telling the group to get up and do it again.

The next thing on Sensei Lawrence's agenda was handing out weapons to children so that they could destroy all of the junk cars.

"You're enemies are all around you. Destroy them!" Sensei Lawrence picked up a metal bat, looking to Iris and tossing it her way. The girl caught it with ease as the group dispersed, all of them beginning to destroy all the cars in the lot.

Iris found herself in front of an old mini van, raising the bat in her hands she swung it into the windshield. The windshield cracked and with one more swing broke into a million pieces. Iris couldn't help the relief that she felt from breaking the mini van's windows, each one she broke felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders.

"Iris! Watch this!" Iris looked up at Miguel and Hawk who stood in a large window of the abandoned building. They leaned down, picking up a huge metal slab and threw it out the window and onto a car. Shards of glass flew everywhere and Iris was smart enough to hide behind another car.

"That was so cool!" The two boys smiled down at her before turning to each other and high fiving.

Next was having the kids walk across a wood beam above a bunch of sharp metal and broken glass, and hoping they didn't fall in.

"Go! Attaboy!" Miguel decided to go across the beam first, holding his arms out to keep his balance. He almost lost balance a few times, quickly regaining it and jumping off the end. Iris stepped up to go next, holding her arms out just like Miguel had done. "Come on, princess. Let's go. Move that ass."

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