Raising the Bar

Dash's current opponent was much more at his level, but he seemed to be faster and more determined in his strikes.

"Look at me, Bow."

"Look at each other, Bow!"

Dash bowed to his opponent and positioned himself to fight; this time, he wouldn't throw punches so quickly as he wanted to maintain control of the fight at all times.

"Ready? Fight!"

Dash looked into his opponent's eyes and quickly advanced, delivering a front kick that was dodged by his rival. As Dash closed in on his opponent, the latter attempted a body punch, which Dash evaded using the defense he had been trained in, swiftly countering the attack with a surprising speed.

Pum!

"Point, back to your corners!" said the referee, awarding the point to Dash, who had demonstrated an incredibly superior level.

"Ready, fight!"

Dash once again moved quickly toward his opponent, who immediately began throwing front kicks to keep him at bay. However, Dash, observing where he stood, retreated slowly. With Dash on the edge, his rival smiled. Just as he kicked towards Dash's head, Dash seized this moment and attacked, first covering the impact of the kick and then counterattacking with a hook kick.

"Point, two to zero in favor of Hale!"

Looking provocatively at his rival, Dash felt all that excitement and directed it towards his fists. Once again, when the referee initiated the kick, he closed the distance and received blows from his opponent.

Pum! Pum! Pum!

Evading his rival's strikes and returning them at a moderate speed, Dash faced a fight in which he was not comfortable, so he stepped back. Seeing that his attacks weren't working this time, his body calmed down, and he opened his fighting stance.

His rival didn't look confused, but as he was losing the fight, he immediately attacked with anger for losing to a younger boy with obviously less training time.

"I'll finish this with a feint..." Dash clenched his fists and opened the fight once more. His punches this time seemed uncontrollable but were fast, catching his rival off guard. However, as he was about to continue attacking his rival clearly, he stopped midway and instead of punching, he used a spinning kick.

Pum!

This time his kick wasn't strong, but it was brutal enough to surprise his rival and win the match, gaining a point clearly.

"Point, Winner Dash Hale!" said the referee, signaling him as the winner.

"Good fight!" Dash bowed to his rival and quickly left the mat. Just as he was about to ask Mr. Kim how Devon's match was developing, a Topanga girl flew out of the allowed combat zone.

"Winner, Devon Lee!"

"Incredible..." Dash applauded Devon's overwhelming victory, who, even after winning, still provocatively looked at her rival.

An expression of joy appeared on Devon's face as she descended. She, who had surprised her opponents with her short stature, was dethroning her rivals relatively easily.

"Practicing with you is much more tiring than fighting here. Have you noticed how slow they were?"

"That's because we've been improving our speed to score points. That's the only way we could win back then, but we've improved more than usual in the time we spent training." Dash handed her a water bottle after seeing Devon so excited.

While Dash laughed, he saw out of the corner of his eye a man in a white karate suit approaching him, and when he saw his face, he knew who it was.

"Your fights have been incredible. Congratulations to both of you, who at such a young age have proven to be tough competitors to beat this year." Daniel LaRusso approached with his daughter, who had advanced to the round of sixteen, and smiled as he greeted them.

"Mr. LaRusso, I'm Dash, and she's Devon. Your daughter seems to have inherited the excellence of her karate!" Dash said while signaling discreetly to Devon not to be too hostile.

"We'll see which karate is better. Surely, if we reach the final, we'll face each other, unless we meet in the early rounds." Devon smiled falsely and greeted the girl in front of her.

"I'm Samantha LaRusso..."

"All right, Sam, you can call me Devon. It would be nice to face each other in the final of our division!" Devon extended her hand and greeted Sam more courteously, who seemed a bit shy.

"I look forward to it too. Good luck until then!" Sam was about to leave with her father when Devon suddenly stopped her.

"What's happening?"

Daniel also looked at the girl named Devon, who seemed a year younger than his daughter, and listened attentively to what she said: "Luck doesn't exist; everything is based on our own talent considering where we come from. There are no accidents either, as they are caused equally by ourselves."

"If we are aware of our surroundings, nothing would be attributed to luck, especially in a fight where only the skill of each fighter is considered."

Dash remained silent and looked at Devon; where did all this profound philosophy come from?

"You have a point; I'll keep that in mind from now on." After saying goodbye, Sam walked away with her father.

"Where did you read that?" Dash didn't believe any of what Devon had said, so he asked her with his eyes full of questions.

"I don't remember, but it's not good for anyone to be friends before facing each other; that will only distract us. It's better to be enemies until the tournament is over." Devon said as she combed her hair again.

"That makes more sense." Dash helped her tie her hair and patiently waited for the other competitors to qualify.