"The rules are simple," Ali begins, dribbling the large red ball, causing dirt to rise up in dusty gushes of air like Pigpen on Peanuts. "You hit the ball with your hands only, hunched over like this." She bends down, lacing her hands together by her fingers and hitting the ball like serving volleyball. It rolled quickly, hitting Larusso where he stood watching dumbly.

"You'd be out." Ali says simply. "Hit the ball with your hands, make sure your feet don't get hit. If you get hit anywhere below your waist, you're out. Above the waist, you're still in. If you knock the ball out of the fence, you're out. If someone touches the ball before it goes out of bounds, they'd be out. Does that all make sense?"

Larusso nods along, and he looks different from back in the days of history class; he's actually focused and registering.

"Can we get on with it already?" Johnny leans a little into Larusso's space, eyeing him up and down, sizing him up as if he hadn't studied Larusso's form and fighting style for months in the past. "I can't wait to wipe the floor with you, Larusso."

"Please," Larusso scoffs, "this is nothing compared to karate. It's literally child's play, and it's no contact."

"Accidents happen," Johnny replies, before he can think on it, and Larusso's eyes widen a fraction at that. He seems almost afraid, seraching Johnny's eyes for any sign of a threat.

Johnny can feel Ali's eyes boring into him.

Before he can retract his words, a familiar voice sounds from the nearby trail. "You guys are going for a gaga round? Alright, let me in." Tommy hops over the fence, and Ali opens the fence for any willing campers to come play as well.

Larusso eyed Tommy for a moment, that uncertain look still present, but masked under determination. Johnny knows the look on him well.

Johnny grabs Larusso's forearm, his grip barely a touch in case Larusso flips some karate on him. His arm is warm and small, scrawny like the rest of his campers; Johnny wonders when he's gonna grow into his training. "Hey," he says, a quiet admitting of defeat already. "Nothing's gonna happen, promise. It's all for fun. You know, Rocky III?"

Larusso nods, and he smiles a bit, something apprehensive, but almost excited. Johnny thinks about that night at Golf-n-Stuff, when he offered Ali and Daniel a ride and saw Daniel's mom. He knew the woman was pretty nice from what he saw, and how she came to cheer on her son at the tournament. He wondered if it was his mom that had him sign up to volunteer here, or perhaps his creepy little sensei that had both kicked and saved his ass. He thinks about asking Larusso what it was that got him here, but he doesn't want to come off as rude. Then, Tommy's calling for the game to start already, and Johnny goes over to the other side of the circle.

The game starts with Ali hitting the ball towards Johnny's feet (clearly, she's picked a side) before she sprints off and hops over the fence, clearly not interested in getting caught in the Lawrence and Larusso crossfire. Johnny deflects the ball easily, sending it hurling towards the knobby knees of Demetri, who immediately crumples.

"Sorry, kid!" Johnny comments, eyes only on the ball, which is being darted between the campers like a racecar. Larusso's campers may be scrawny, but they were quick, slick little bastards; true underdogs, just like their counselor.

The kids are picked down one by one. Ali's little second-in-command, Tory, fights like a beast. There a couple close calls where she almost takes Johnny out, though she's eventually taken out by one of Johnny's boys, Eli. She practically has to be dragged out, trying to hit Eli, who in all the hustle is taken out by Robby, another one of the boys in Johnny's group.

Johnny tries not to eye Larusso too much, adrenaline racing as his eyes followed the ball with lethal accuracy, jumping and dodging when need be. At this point, Larusso was circling, trying to hit the ball towards Johnny, jumping back like a spooked deer when Johnny fired right back at him.

One of Larusso's boys, Miguel, was taken out by Robby, leaving Robby, Larusso, Johnny, and Tommy in a tense match. Robby would be the new camper potential--they had a camper that stayed in the longest every year, but he'd surely be taken out in only a matter of time now that he was at the mercy of the counselors. Johnny wasn't going to go easy on the little eleven-year-old powerhouse, that was for sure, even if he was in Johnny's group.

For now, however, he was focused on getting Tommy out; once he could knock Tommy, the second best player after himself, he could focus on Robby. After Robby, he'd let all the others watch as he finally beat Larusso at something.

Then, fast and powerful surpassing Tommy's ability, Robby actually managed to take him out. This halted the game for a second, the ball skidding to the edge of the fence.

"I'll get it," Tommy breathed heavily, catching his breath for a second. "Man, can't believe the kid took me out. You've got potential, man." he nodded to Robby, who nodded back as he got a drink from his water bottle on the other side of the circle.

"Good game, Tommy," Johnny says, and when Tommy turns, Johnny slaps his ass as he walks away. It's light and all in the name of sportsmanship, but when he turns back to Larusso, he looks as if he just witnessed gay porn. His jaw is slack open and everything. "What?" Johnny asked with a sneer, which he was used to when talking to Larusso. He didn't want to say he wasn't a fairy, all tight-lipped and defensive, because nothing was gayer than saying you weren't gay. "Ever watch a football game, Larusso? It happens in sports."

Larusso just blinks, and honestly, it's like Bambi getting the sex talk. Finally, he manages: "You didn't slap my ass at the All-Valley."

Johnny scoffs at that, a blush rising in his cheeks at the implication, whatever that may be. "I'm sure you would've liked that, wouldn't you?" and at Larusso's stuttering, flustered refusal, Johnny rolled his eyes. "I'm just busting your balls, man. Karate's different," Johnny says, and part of his brain supplies 'you're different'. Because Larusso isn't one of his guys that he's cozy like that with. "We just bow, there." he finishes, a stupid and weak finish, but he wanted to just stop talking.

Thankfully, Tommy returns with the ball, and Robby returns from his drink, and the three are ready for a final intense round.

Tommy drops the ball, then hops the fence in the same fashion of Ali earlier. Apparently word had spread, because Jessica was here with her group of girls. As the ball is hit around, and dodging and jumping commence, the cheers start up once more.

"Go, Robby!" Demetri and Eli's voices carry from the other side of the circle, and Johnny can even hear Miguel join in the mix. It's a funny thing; they must really want a camper to win.

"Go, Johnny!" Johnny grins as he hears fierce little Tory, joined by one of Jessica's girls, Devon. When one of his own smaller guys, Bert, adds his voice to the mix, Johnny actually feels a little bashful. With karate, when he lost, he most likely would never see those people again. With this, he'd be mentoring these kids all summer.

Go, Daniel!" Another one of Jessica's girls, Samantha, shouts over the railing. Larusso freezes for a moment, probably actually surprised to hear someone cheer for him. Johnny hits the ball towards him, hoping the distraction will be enough, but Robby intercepts...and hits the ball hard enough to knock it out over the fence entirely.

It was a dumb move, as it left Johnny and Larusso alone, but Robby seems alright with losing; perhaps he took himself out, sensing this was over his head. Indeed, when Robby went to the sidelines, cheering for Larusso, Johnny huffed in annoyance. He didn't know what the kid was playing at, rooting against his counselor, but no matter. He zeroed in on Larusso, the two knocking the ball to each other in quick succession. Larusso could zip away pretty well, though Johnny could come in with the unexpected hard hit.

They equaled out, perfect balance as they went back and forth for what felt like an eternity. Even the kids were getting bored, telling them to give it up already. That is, until Larusso hit the ball too hard in frustration, sending it sailing out of the perimeter of the fence.

Impulsively, Johnny reached up, fingers brushing the ball just before it hit the ground far away from the ball pit.

Johnny was the last person to touch it before it hit the ground. Larusso had won.

"Daniel won!" Jessica was the first to cheer, hoping in the ring and enveloping Larusso in a hug, Larusso sighing as he hugged her back, looking utterly exhausted.

"That was a good game, still, counselor Johnny." Bert was saying, but Johnny was still processing what had happened. He liked to think himself a fair loser--he'd congratulated Larusso after the All-Valley, anyway--but he hadn't lost a game of gaga ball since he was head over heels crushing on Ali two years ago. What the hell had happened?

Jessica was saying something about going to the Big Cabin for popsicles, and the campers followed cheerfully, Larusso and Johnny lagging behind.

"Hey," Larusso said, his smile bright, looking at Johnny as if thinking something new, something perplexing. He then reached around and slapped Johnny's ass, shrugging as if attempting to play it off. "Sportsmanship. Good game, Lawrence."

Larusso started up ahead, as if Johnny was going to follow behind like some kind of puppy, especially after the hit to his gaga ball career. No, he was going to stick in Larusso's mind as much as Larusso stuck in his.

And maybe he was impulsive--he was absolutely impulsive--when it came to Larusso. But Johnny couldn't care less. He sped up after him, and--god, he'd be dealing with the repercussions for the rest of his life--grabbed a greedy handful of Larusso's ass, squeezing for a full second just to really rub whatever psychological mind game Larusso was trying to play back into his face.

"Good game, Larusso!"

And he trudged forward, face burning, absolutely not committing the feeling of Larusso's ass in his hand to memory.