Chapter One Hundred Two
Primadonna

SYDNEY WAS IN her room getting ready for tonight's elimination rounds when her phone started ringing. It was a FaceTime call from her mom. Devon was taking a nap so she went out into the hallway. Sydney answered the phone with an excited smile. "Hi, mommy!"

Caroline's face showed up on her screen and she gasped. "My sweetheart, I've missed you so much!" She said with the same giddy smile. "How are you doing? How's the tournament? How's Spain? Tell me everything."

She slid down the hall and pulled her legs to her chest. Sydney smiled at the phone. "It's so beautiful here, mum. I'm so excited to be here. The competition is. . .tough. Really tough."

"Yeah, I imagine it is," Caroline nodded. "But how are you doing? Working hard?"

"Of course I am. I always do."

"Is that Syd I hear?" She heard her father say and then a second later, his face appeared on camera. "Hi, mon amour." Alexander waved to her. My love.

Even though it had only been two days since she left home, Sydney missed her parents so much. Seeing her sad almost made her cry. "Bonjour, papa. Tu me manques beaucoup. J'aimerais que vous soyez tous les deux ici." Hi, daddy. I miss you so much. I wish you both were here.

"Tu me monques aussi, ma chérie. Vous êtes en train de botter des fesses là-bas?" I miss you too, sweetheart. You kicking ass over there?

Caroline scoffed. "Alex."

Sydney chuckled. "Bien sûr papa. Je ne te manquerai pas trop à la maison, d'accord?"   Of course, daddy. Don't miss me too much over there, okay?

"Impossible," her father responded.

Caroline giggled and they pressed their faces together, smiling at the camera. "We love you so much, Sydie."

"Tell all the others we say hello, okay?"

"I will. I promise." Sydney responded with a nod and she sniffled. She wiped her eyes. "Au revoir."

"Au revoir!"

The call ended and Sydney sighed. She wiped her teary eyes.

"Syd!"

She raised her head and saw Sam coming down the hallway. "Hey, Sammy. You just missed it. Mum and dad FaceTimed me," she told her.

"That's great," Sam responded but she looked spaced out. She slid down the wall next to her.

Sydney furrowed her brows. "What's the matter? You look like you just saw a ghost," she pointed out.

"I feel like I just did," she replied with a short breath. Sam looked her way. "You're never going to believe what I just saw."

She raised her brows.

"I was on my way back here and I passed by the dojo where the Iron Dragons train, and. . ." Sam started to explain, looking distraught. "Axel was training with his Sensei. His Sensei hits him, Syd. Anytime he gets something wrong, he gets hit."

Sydney's face softened. "Oh my gosh, seriously?"

"Yes, it was awful. I-I left before they saw me, but, I just can't believe it," Sam said, lying at the end.

"Gosh, and I thought our Senseis were nuts," she said with a slight laugh. Sam didn't laugh. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "I don't know what to do now."

"There's nothing you can do, Sammy. Wolf's his Sensei. It's not right, but, you know what people would say if we told someone. I can already hear it: "That's just sports." Maybe all you can do is show him so kindness

Sam stared at the wall across from her. Slowly, she turned and met her eyes, nodding a little. "Kindness. Yeah, that could work."

Sydney half smiled. Sam's heart was her favorite thing about her. She could be tough, she could be mean, but her heart was always in the right place. "You always have a way of making people feel better about themselves. Maybe you'll be able to help him out. And don't worry, I won't say anything to the others."

Sam slowly smiled. "Thanks, Sydie."

Sydney stretched and prepared herself for the event that would happen next. She held onto Eli's shoulder to keep her balance as she brought her leg all the way up by her head. She wasn't sure what the next round would be but judging by the very narrow platform, she had a general idea.

"In this final points round, competitors will try to knock their opponents off their platforms," the official announced. "Once you have fallen, you are out. Points are determined off of wins, losses, and time. Final rankings after this event will determine placement in tonight's elimination round."

Charlie released a breath. "That's not terrifying at all," he muttered sarcastically.

"We will now call up the first group of fighters."

"All right. Listen up," said Johnny and he stood in the middle of them. Looks like I'm taking charge, so we're going things differently."

Sydney narrowed her eyes. "Why? Where's Mr. Larusso?" She questioned, looking at him.

She only shrugged. "He stepped out," Johnny answered shortly. "No more waiting around like scared little bitches, waiting for them to come at you. We're gonna do it like Sydney's been doing. Taking charge. Alright? You go at them. Aggressive. Knock em off first."

Sydney half shrugged. "Alright by me," she stated.

"Those platforms are pretty narrow. My dad would want balance," Sam contradicted.

"Yeah, well, your dad's not here. All right? It's time for us to start scrolling some points."

"Sora Haruto from Hirobukan on platform one. Devon Lee from Miyagi-Do on platform two," said the announcer.

Devon looked panicky. "All right. Don't let me down, Lee," Johnny told her.

"Yes, Sensei."

Before she walked to the platform, Sydney gently took her by the arm. "Take charge but still be smart, yeah? You know your limitations." She said quietly.

Devon gulped and nodded slightly. "I do. Thanks, Syd."

She smiled. The team gathered around along with the other international teams. "You got this, Lee. Be aggressive!" Johnny shouted.

Miguel clapped. "Come on, Devon!"

Devon started odd with a kick at the girl she was fighting. Then, she threw a punch and the opposing fighting grabbed her arm and twisted it. She punched Devon in the back while still holding her arm and Devon threw another punch with her free arm. She was able to twist herself out of the girl's hold. She swung her leg at her and the other girl bent backwards, avoiding the kick, and Devon stumbled. The girl kicked her in the back and she fell off the beam.

"Oof," Charlie slipped out. Sam quickly slapped his arm. "I-I mean, dang."

Sydney sighed and closed her eyes.

"Lee out. Time, ten seconds."

"All right, we need to do better. Let's go," Johnny firmly stated. "After that, you all need to step up, all right? Come on, let's do this."

Sydney half way rolled her eyes. She caught a glimpse of Sam's annoyed expression.

The next person called up to the platform was Charlie. The tall boy's eyes widened at his name.

Johnny spun around and faced him. "Alright, Charlie. Let's go." He said with a hard clap.

"You got this, dude," Miguel encouraged him while Sam squeezed his arm, "Good luck."

He made his way to the platform.

"Let's go, Charles," Robby said and clapped for him.

Charlie stepped onto the platform, meeting a boy from Rising Sun Karate. He was shorter than him by a few inches, which in Charlie's case was an advantage.

"Come on, String Bean, use those legs!" He heard Johnny tell.

He sucked in a breath. Charlie rocked back and forth on his heels. Be aggressive. He went in with a punch, the boy on the other team ducked down. He dropped down and attempted to take out his legs up Charlie quickly jumped, avoiding the leg and as the boy spun back around on the platform, Charlie took the opportunity when he was facing him to do a side kick and he kicked him in the ribs, making him stumble and then Charlie did a tornado kick in the air, kicking him across the face and knocking him off the platform.

Sam gasped an immediately, a smile stretched across her face. "Yes!"

"Gao, out. Time: 20 seconds."

Charlie's eyes widened in shock and he faced his cheering team. "Holy shit," he let out and jumped off the platform.

"That's what I'm talking about, Howard!" Johnny said while aggressively pointing at him. He rocked him by the shoulders. "You guys see that? That's how it's done."

"Nice job, man," Miguel said and held out his hand.

Charlie slapped his hand against his, still very shocked. He felt nudge to his ribs and looked down, seeing Sam smiling up at him and he smiled back, wrapping his arm around her.

The rounds continued and so far, only Charlie had been able to score them points. Sydney was more than annoyed. She hadn't fought yet so she sat on the bench and watched her teammates one by one lose their matches, increasing her anger each time. "This is ridiculous. You're telling me not one of these boys can score a single point?" She voiced quietly to Sam, who was sitting beside her.

She sat there with her arms crossed. "Maybe if we were following my dad's methods instead, we'd actually get somewhere," Sam whispered bitterly.

Sydney furrowed her brows. "You think that's what it is? To me it looks like they're just not trying," she responded and looked over, watching Robby's match.

"Come on, Syd. Johnny's been against my dad's training from the beginning. He doesn't care. He only wants us to win his way."

"That's not true, Sammy. Johnny's just. . ." She paused when she heard Johnny yell at Robby, the words harsh. She winced. "He's just passionate."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's it."

The buzzer blared and Robby came walking back to them sadly. "Keene out. Time: 45 seconds," said the announcer. He sat on the bench with a loud thud.

"It's alright, man." Charlie said and patted him on the back.

The next person called was Miguel. "Alright Diaz, you and Syd are our last hope for points. . ." Johnny uplifted him.

Sydney stood from her spot on the bench. She waited until they were done talking. Miguel turned around and she smiled at him. "Good luck, Mr. Diaz," she teased slightly and stuck her hand out.

Miguel gave a crooked smile and he shook her hand. Then, they kissed each other's thumbs and pressed them together. Sydney smiled widely and watched him walk to the podium.

"Stay focused, Miguel!" Johnny called out. He looked towards her. "When the hell did you two come up with that shit?"

"Right around the time you called us Mr. and Mrs. Diaz," she answered, keeping the smile on her face as she watched Miguel.

Miguel was quick to knee his opponent in the gut before his foot slipped off the platform. Once the two of them separated, he dodged the hits thrown at him and then Miguel twisted their arms, walking forward and taking his free arm to throw a punch. The boy he was fighting moved out of the direction of the hit and grabbed him by the torso.

Sydney held her breath. She looked at Johnny and he looked at her, both looking nervous.

"You got this, Miguel!" Charlie yelled and he stood from the bench, going over and standing on the other side of Sydney.

Miguel struggled to figure out how to get out of the hold without falling off the platform. Hearing the encouragement from his team, he wrestled in the boy's hold until he was low on the platform, then he twisted himself out his arms and grabbed the opponent's arm, turning it harshly and then they kicked at each other. It was clear that the boy from the other team was getting tired by how sloppy his swings were.

With one powerful kick to the chest, Miguel knocked his opponent off the platform.

"YES!" Sydney and Charlie shouted in unison and they double high fived each other.

"Phan out. Time: 40 seconds."

Miguel raised his head and caught the eyes of his smiling girlfriend. She was practically bouncing on her toes. He exhaled a breath, feeling proud of himself. "Sensei!" He voiced and ran off the platform.

Johnny was too busy looking at the leader board.

"Sensei, did you see that knee?" He asked his Sensei with a giddy smile.

"Let's hope it's enough. Sydney's our last fighter. I don't think it's going to be enough. We're near the bottom of the standings."

Miguel's smile fell. He flinched when he felt Charlie practically jump on his back. "Yo, man. That was awesome!" He expressed happily.

"You did great, love. You had me scared for a second," Sydney said with a small laugh.

His expression didn't lift.

"Maria Alvarez from Furia De Pantera on platform one.  Sydney Benoist from Miyagi-Do on platform two," said the officiator.

Johnny finally looked away from the leader book. "Alright, Frenchy. You're the last chance for us to move up on the board. Do exactly what you've been doing." He instructed.

Sydney glanced to the side and saw her opponent step onto the platform. She nodded. "Don't worry, Sensei. I got this," she confirmed.

"Good luck, Syd," she heard Eli say from the sidelines.

"You got this, Syd." Charlie said and clapped his hands on her shoulders, making her flinch.

Before she went to get on the platform, she stopped past Miguel and smiled. "Wish me luck?"

"Let's hope you do better than me, apparently," he answered dully with his arms crossed.

His answer made her frown.

"Let's go, Frenchy! Make it happen!" Johnny yelled with a loud clap.

She made her way to the platform. The girl, Maria, stood there smirking. "Buena suerte, perra." She said in Spanish with a condescending giggle. Good luck

Sydney locked eyes with her and raised her fists. Wasting no time, she grunted and threw a front kick at her. Maria backed up and Sydney instantly went in for a punch. The opposing girl grabbed her wrist and twisted it, managing to turn her around so that Sydney's back was against there and she was trapped in her hold. Immediately, Sydney brought her leg back and kicked her in the knee, causing the grip to loosen. When she got out of the hold, Sydney spun around and when Maria was doubled over, she went in for another kick. Maria quickly grabbed her leg before she could hit her. Sydney twisted her upper body and jumped, using her other leg to kick her in the face and Maria let go of her, stumbling back and Sydney spun around once, landing on her feet and she dropped down to the platform, swiping her legs out from under her and Maria fell off the platform.

The buzzer went off. "Alvarez, out. Time: 33 seconds."

"Whoo!" Charlie shouted obnoxiously loud and he threw his arms in the air. Her team cheered her on. "Nice job, Syd!"

"That's right, Frenchy!" Johnny rejoiced.

Sydney crouched down and looked down at Maria. "Puedo hablar basura también, perra." She recited and stood back up, smirking in the process. I can trash talk too, bitch

Johnny ordered them all to go to the locker room. The team was silent, the tension so thick it caused Sydney to feel like she was overheating. She sat alone on the bench across from Demetri and Devon and she observed all of their expressions one by one.

She obviously understood why Miguel so was pissed off. Robby wasn't fulfilling his captain duties. He hadn't won a single one of his matches. Miguel wanted the position so badly and he deserved it. To make it worse, he was winning his matches and Johnny wasn't paying him a lick of attention.

Robby's head wasn't screwed on no matter how many times she tried to screw it on for him. Tory was the only thing on his mind and Sydney was annoyed by it. She understood completely, but it wasn't the time for him to get distracted.

Eli and Demetri were still at each other's throats about MIT and Sydney wanted to bang their heads together. Demetri didn't seem to care about being in the tournament at all while Hawk was trying his absolute best but he didn't feel encouraged to be as good as the others, which she hated, because Eli was a great fighter.

Devon didn't feel like she belonged with them. In Sydney's mind, it was 50/50. She was a great fighter but she was young. She wasn't as experienced as them which she said from the very beginning. It showed in her fighting.

Sam was annoyed to the heavens by Johnny, which she always seemed to be. She believed in her father's methods of fighting more than anything else and Sydney understood. Her father had been training her for years. Mr. Miyagi's way of karate ran in the Larusso blood. But Sydney wished she would understand that Johnny's methods work also. They just needed to get their heads in the game.

The only ones that didn't have any battles were her and Charlie.

"What I saw from you just now, it wasn't karate. It was weakness. You fought like little lambs waiting for slaughter. We keep going like this, we get eliminated tonight," Johnny harshly lectured them. "Some of you will put this behind you. But some of you are gonna carry this for the rest of your lives. Knowing you had this chance to actually make something of yourselves. But instead, you crumbled under pressure. And you're gonna go on to live shit lives in shitty apartments with shit jobs. And always have to live with this failure!"

Sydney watched him despondently, feeling bad at his spitefulness while also understanding where he was coming from. For Johnny, winning the Sekai Taikai was more than just about winning, it was how far the winning would take them in life. Because losing his tournament ruined his life. He didn't want that for them.

"So if you wanna save some humiliation, why don't we just skip the next round and catch the next flight home?"

"No. No way," Charlie spoke, shaking his head.

"Thanks for speaking up, Howard. Glad to know how you're feeling," Johnny stated and looked around at the others who were still completely silent. "What is wrong with you guys? Where's your fight? I mean, so far, it seems like the only two people who want to win this thing are Sydney and Charlie. Aren't you gonna stand up for yourselves?"

"You keep blaming us like this isn't on you, too," Sam finally spoke up, almost glaring at him. "If my dad were her, we never would've lost like that."

"Yeah, well, he didn't show up."

"Probably because of you! You keep disrespecting him, trying to prove your that way is better, when it's so clear that we should've been using Miyagi-Do!" She yelled at him. "You shouldn't even be wearing that gi."

Devon hit her fist against the locker and stood up, glaring at her. "Hey! Don't talk to my Sensei that way!"

"Guys—" Sydney tried to say.

"Your Sensei got you knocked off the board in ten seconds. So I would sit down if I were you." Sam snapped at her. "You're not helping us. I don't even know how you made this team."

Devon quickly sat back down, hurt by the choice of words.

Charlie lightly scoffed. "Come on, Sam. That's not fair."

"Don't try to make me look like the bad guy when you've been thinking it, too," she raised her voice at him, crossing her arms again.

The constant arguing caused Sydney to lean her elbows on her legs and she out her face in her hands, trying to keep her thoughts and anger at bay. But they were making it so hard.

"Well, I, for one will be putting all of this behind me when I'm off to MIT—"

"Shut the fuck I'm about MIT!" Eli finally broke. "Okay, some of us actually care about winning the tournament. Be nice if you did, too."

Reaching her breaking point, Sydney raised her head. "God, enough!" She yelled, making them all look her way. She stood from the bench in a flash. "Enough with the constant arguing and pointing fingers at each other!" She said while aggressively pointing at them. "Johnny's right. What the hell is wrong with all of you? None of us really seem like we want to be here, especially the two of you!" She shouted, looking between Demetri and Robby. Demetri looked hurt that she couldn't say something like that to him while Robby avoided eye contact. "This constant blaming each other and finding excuses for the shitty fighting is the reason we're losing, not whoever's training methods we're using. Okay, that's not us. We're a family. We don't blame each other. We're supposed to be there for each other!" Her voice cracked the louder she started to yell. The room was completely silent. Sydney looked at Johnny, the man standing there in silence, looking at the floor, not knowing what else to say. She threw her hands up. "I mean, if this is how we're going to be the rest of the tournament then yeah, maybe we don't deserve to be here at all."

With that, she left the room, pushing open the door with such a force that it echoed.

My girl spoke her peace cause they were really getting on my nerves the whole tournament LOL