Lull

The next day, Miguel and Cherry were stretching together. Cherry was wearing grey joggers and a black spaghetti strap crop tank top. She had a thin jacket ontop so no one would stare at her. The two noticed Johnny walk in and approached him. "Hey sensei, we're sorry about your loss." "Thanks." "How was the funeral?" "As good as any funeral can be. So, how'd it go around here while I was gone?" "Great," Miguel answered. "I mean, sensei Kreese is tough, but uh, he knows what it takes to win."

Johnny looked at Cherry who said nothing.

Johhny went to his office and the two went back to their friends. "Everybody get your gi's on, training starts in five minutes." Everyone looked confused. "Yeah, what's wrong?" Johnny asked when everyone approached him. "Nothing's wrong, I just thought we were going to the woods for a special training today."

Johnny looked back at Kreese.

"What's happening in the woods?" "Well, I thought it was a good time to separate the men from the boys." Kreese saw Cherry's glare and quickly added, "And the girls too, I suppose." "How?" "Coyote Creek." "I'm not sure they're ready for that." "There's only one way to find out," said Kreese.

"We're ready sensei. We want to prove ourselves," Eli stated, everyone else nodded in agreement.

"It's up to sensei Lawrence. If he says it's okay, then and only then, is it okay."

Cherry narrowed her eyes at Kreese. He was pressuring Johnny into saying 'yes' because he knows Johnny doesn't want to fail his students. Johnny locked eyes with Cherry and sighed. "All right. What are you waiting for? Let's go."

"I call shotgun!" Miguel yelled.

Eli and Aisha sprinted out, heading for Cherry's car.

Cherry laughed at her friends and she and Miguel followed them.

× × × ×

"Gentlemen. Ladies. Welcome to Coyote Creek." The students were separated as they stood infront of each other, a headband was tied around their foreheads. "You've been split into two teams: red and black. The goal is to capture as many headbands as possible from the other side. Today, the people across from you are not your friends." Cherry looked at Aisha and Tory, who were on the red team. Cherry stood next to Miguel who was across from Eli, Tony on Cherry's right.

"They're not your brothers or sisters. They are the enemy. Last team standing wins." "How do we get the headbands?" Miguel asked.

"By any means possible. No rules."

"Use your judgment. This is just a training exercise," Johnny quickly added.

"Correct. But remember, this is your life. You lose it, you die."

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Traffic on the 1-18 was a real bitch." Cherry raised an eyebrow at the man. "Put Coyote Creek into the nav, nothing came up." "What have you done to yourself?" Johnny asked and Cherry tried to not burst out laughing.

"Oh the - yeah you know what? I just decided to flip the script, Hawk style. Respect." Cherry looked over to see Eli looking at the man in distaste. "Here to for, you could refer to me as Stingray." Cherry sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, all right, Chubs. He's on your team."

"Terrific."

Everyone was now in the woods, trying to find anyone from the other team, the couple sticking together. "What happens at the end of this, it's just you and me?" Miguel asked. "Well, I'm just gonna have to rip the headband off that pretty little head of yours. 'Cause there's no way in Hell you're getting mine." Miguel chuckled and took hold of his girlfriend's hand. They heard rustling and turned to see a guy from the other team. The boy sighed and they all got into fighting positions.

The guy faced Miguel first, but then quickly attacked Cherry. Cherry blocked his blows and she kicked him towards Miguel. "Go ahead babe, all yours." Cherry smiled and threw the guy over her shoulder and then took off the headband.

Miguel was about to walk off but Cherry stopped him.

"Hey man, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be all right."

Cherry helped him up and they watched as he walked away.

After Miguel grabbed his first headband, the two decided to split up. "Take care." Cherry nodded and Miguel pulled her into a kiss before they separated. Cherry heard rustling and got into fighting position, but calmed down when she saw Tony, but she still glared at him.

"Don't attack. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for yesterday. It was wrong of me." "Hell yeah it was." Before Tony could reply, two people appeared. Tony and Cherry turned to see Tory and Aisha. "Sorry Aisha, but you're going down." Cherry smirked before running towards Aisha, Tony running towards his sister.

Aisha blocked Cherry's blows and kicked the girl, making her hit a tree. She groaned but quickly moved out of the way when Aisha nearly hit her head. Cherry tackled Aisha and they stopped for a moment.

"We're still friends, right?"

"Depends on how hard you hit me."

Cherry smirked but it fell when Aisha kicked her again. Regaining her balance, Aisha went after Cherry, but Cherry side stepped and kicked Aisha. When Aisha was on the ground, Cherry grabbed her headband and helped the girl up. She turned around to see the twins still fighting each other. She carefully made her way towards them. Just as she was about to attack Tory, Tory had her brother on the ground then she grabbed his headband. Tory turned around and the two girls faced one another.

"Let's see what you got."

Tory ran towards Cherry, but the girl did the same thing she did to Tony. She side stepped then wrapped her legs around Tory's shoulder. Slamming Tory to the ground, she grabbed her headband. Cherry's victory was short lived when a boy had sneaked up on her and put her in a chokehold.

The boy quickly grabbed the headband and let Cherry go.

The four who now had no headbands looked at one another before laughing. They then made their way over to the rest who were out.

"I guess it's just Hawk and Miguel left."

Cherry left the group and headed towards Johnny. "I noticed that you didn't agree with Miguel this morning. What did you think?" Cherry sighed. "Sensei Kreese told me that the fight isn't over until my enemy is finished. I got the point, but he wanted me to finish Mitch off. . . I don't trust him, Johnny. But I trust you."

Johnny looked at the girl and nodded. "I'll take care of it." Cherry nodded and they all heard a pained scream. "Was that Miguel and Hawk?"

Cherry immediately sprinted towards the sound, everyone else following her. She arrived to see Miguel pocket something. But she didn't have time to question it as everyone joined her. Miguel noticed them and he rose the red headband.

Kreese and Miguel shared a look and Miguel nodded. He then turned and kicked Eli in the face. Johnny stepped forward but Cherry held him back.

"Team Black!"

Everyone that was on team black began to cheer. Everyone approached Miguel, but Cherry didn't. "Looks like that champion of yours is developing a real killer instinct."

Suddenly, Stingray came out from fallen leaves and had Miguel in a chokehold. Cherry went to run towards them, but Johnny held her back. "You know the thing about Stingrays is they lie and wait, for the perfect opportunity to strike!" He pealed off Miguel's headband and shoved him forward. "The red team just won!" Cherry rushed forward and kneeled next to Miguel. "Love, are you okay?" Miguel had gotten his breathing back and he nodded at Cherry. Cherry helped him up and they watched as the red team cheered.

Johnny approached the two.

"Miguel. What was that? That's not how I taught you to fight." "It's what sensei Kreese taught us. This isn't a tournament, this is real life." "Is that how you want to live your life?"

× × × ×

Miguel knocked on Cherry's door and she opened it. She didn't say anything, but let Miguel in nonetheless. "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "Cherry." "It's Kreese." "What about him?" "He's changing everyone - he's changing you. I'm sorry, but you're turning into a jerk. This isn't the Miguel I fell for." Miguel grabbed hold of Cherry's hand and spun her around.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"You're right. Sensei Lawrence is right. I forgot about honor. . . Can you help me?"

Cherry looked into Miguel's eyes and nodded. Miguel sighed and rested his forehead on hers.

"I love you, Cherry."

"I love you, Miguel."

3 more chapters left guys! Then we gotta wait for next year for season 3. :(