Cobra Kai had been doing fantastic. They cheered each other on, showed no mercy, and just beat the crap out of everyone. Alexa had been doing good, like before, taking her anger out onto the enemy. She used defense at first, blocking each hit from the boy across from her, twisting on her feet as she kicked him in the face, hand grasping his collar with a harsh punch to the chest. "Winner!"

"Yeah! Go job, Alexa!" Johnny cheered her on as Alexa smiled, high fiving him and accepting the praise from Miguel, Hawk, and Aisha.

The tournament went on longer, resulting in Hawk winning his match with a loud yell, yanking his gi off, making the tattooed wings on his back move with his shoulders. Alexa had to laugh, falling into Aisha before the next match had been announced. Bert hadn't done so good, despite the team yelling at him from the end of the mat, mainly because the other kid was a lot bigger then him, resulting with the tiny blonde on the floor with Johnny trying to cheer him on.

They entered the Quarter Finals, the four strongest of Cobra Kai making it through with ease.

Like all the times before, Miguel was aggressive and on fire in his round. The boy he was fighting flipped around a lot, extremely skilled and talented. Alexa clapped loudly. "Come on Miguel, eat him! Finish him!"

The Diaz boy kicked off the mat, coming up with a foot straight to the other boys face, scoring the final point and announced winner and making it to the finals. Robby Keene had done well, and Alexa learned that Miguel and him had unspoken beef because of Sam. She shook her head, despite him being nearly perfection. "He's not even that good. And his man bun needs work."

Miguel looked her way with a half smirk. "You're a real one, Lexi."

"Always." she smirked back, bumping his shoulder hard while Robby won his match and making it to the simi finals.

Alexa was announced next, getting a loud, and aggressive, pep talk from the boys as they shook her around slightly. Alexa got onto the mat, bowing to the ref, then to the boy across from her. He seemed overly confident, but distracted by, what Alexa assumed, was her newly toned arms. "Fight!"

With a lung forward, striking first, she kicked him in the chest, his hand grasping her leg and yanking her in. It was clearly a move to get a feel of her, but Alexa used it to her advantage, wrapping her other leg around his waist slightly, jumping up as she dove over his shoulder. The sudden weight had him falling back onto the mat, Alexa ducking between his legs to do a forward roll, the boy under her now as she stood up and slammed the bottom of her heel into his nose.

"Yeah, Alexa! You get that son of a bitch!" Hawk yelled for her, Alexas hand pulled into the air as Moon and Demetri clapped. Demetri held a slightly worried look at the violence he'd only heard about, not seen.

"Alexa Castillo of Cobra Kai advances to the simi finals!" Daryl announced, Alexa walking back to her team as they all beamed and congratulated her. Aisha was up next, and like Alexa, she's kicked the absolutely crap out of another boy one of her rounds, but he had her by the end, Xander taking the win as Aisha stormed off the mat, ignoring the team as she grabbed her bag and stormed off.

"There can be only one true winner, and he, or she, is standing on this mat right now." Daryl spoke as Johnny lined up his three students that made it all the way. "Will it be Miguel Diaz from Cobra Kai Karate? Will it be Hawk...Well, I guess it's just Hawk, from Cobra Kai Karate? Will we have our first ever female champion with Alexa Castillo from Cobra Kai Karate? Will it be Robby Keene, unaffiliated? And last but certainly not least, last years champion, fighting out of Topanga Karate, Xander Stone!"

He flipped across the mat, making Alexa blink in shock by the act before he grabbed the mic from Daryl. She gave a loud snort, elbowing Miguel with a look of disbelief as the boy in blue went on talking. "I just wanted to say, even though I love to fight, we all need to fight together against hatred. And as I look around this arena, I pray for every race, religion, and gender that we can all live together in peace. Please join me in a moment of silence as we strive to end intolerance in our time."

The arena fell silent, Alexa looked to Johnny with a questionable look. He leaned over to her. "Kick that pansy bitch in the face."

Alexa had to smirk his way. "Whatever you want, sensei."

Daryl yanked the mic. "Alright! First up, Stone versus Castillo! Let's go!"

"You got this, Lex!" Miguel called out to her with a loud clap.

After their bows, Alexa and Xander were put together. He kicked her way, Alexa ducking under his leg as they switched sides quickly. Alexa kicked his shoulder, blocking his two kicked, ducking down as he swung his fist over her head. Alexa winced when he punched her in the wrist bone, replacing it with a nasty glare as she kicked him in the ribs.

Xanders mom yelled from the crowd, pissing Alexa off. "Your bitch ass cheerleader ever shut the fuck up?"

"Don't talk about my mom." Xander swung at her again, trying to kick her when she moved. Alexa shoved his leg to the side, making them face each other again. "Where's yours?"

It struck a nerve. The worst nerve out there. Her mother. Alexa's nose twitched, her blood boiled, only seeing red.

When Xander swung at her again, Alexa caught his wrist, bending it in an unnatural way a she gave a cry of pain. She swept his feet out from underneath him, flipping over his body so she'd straddled his waist, and went to town with punch after punch in his face. The ref tried to call her off, but Alexa was angry. Angry at what he said, angry at her mom for not being here, anger at Ty for not showing up, angry at her mom for never being here, and so angry at her dad. Xander was no longer just the boy from the opposite dojo, he'd been every single person that wronged her.

"Alexa! Hey!" Johnny tried to call her off, getting on the mat as the ref yanked her body off of Xander, giving shoved away as the blood on her hands rubbed across his shirt.

"Disqualification!" he announced to her. "No hits to the face!"

Alexa laughed, nodding her head as she turned to the crowd. Alexa rubbed the sweat off her forehead, smearing blood across her cheek, smiling as she bowed to the crowd, a final glare as she stormed of the mat. Hers and Robbys shoulders hit as she spun to look as him, he rose his hands in surrender. "My bad."

Alexa glared, finding it impossible to bite her tongue at this point. "You should build up that shoulder strength. Feels like I'm bumping into my grandmother."

Robby gave an odd look as Alexa left, storming down the hallway and pushing the bathroom door open. It was the unisex one, not wanting a single person to come in. She grabbed the sink, finding her breath as her chest was screaming in utter pain. The door opening nearly set her off, looking up as Demetri snuck in. "God, I almost kicked your ass."

"Yeah, I believe you." he said with a nod, his eyes widening slightly. "I mean, Moon said you shoved an old lady out of the way earlier."

"Had to pee." Alexa answered, her voice dripped of annoyance, looking back down at the sink. Demetri hadn't moved, he didn't know Alexa was capable of what she just did, and apart of him didn't feel entirely safe around her right now. He let her make the first move, turning to him after cooling off. "Sorry you had to see that."

Demetri shook his head. "Ugh, no, no. It is grossing me out with this blood on your face though."

Alexa looked to the mirror, seeing Xanders blood smeared across her face. "Gross."

She looked over at him, nodding him over. Demetri hesitated, walking over as Alexa ribbed the bottom of his shirt, pushing past his flannel to do so. It wasn't enough to show any exposed skin, but when she did it, he was taken off guard. Turning to the sink, she wet the green fabric and rubbed the blood off her face. Demetri watched her in the mirror, making Alexa frowned her eyebrows. "I'll buy you a new one."

"No, it's fine." he shook his head, simply staring at her. Alexa got the blood off her face, turning to him with an annoyed look. "What?"

"What is right." she snapped with a look of disbelief. "What? You disappointed in me? Wanna lecture me a little bit? Call me a bad person? Go ahead, Demetri. Lay it on me."

The dark haired boy stared down at her slightly, shaking his head. "I don't want to do any of that. I just don't know what to say."

Alexa sighed, looking down with a nod. Her eyes watered, out of anger, out of embarrassment, out of pain. A loud exhale came from her, looking back up at him. "A lot is happening in my head right now."

He nodded in return. "I know. You can tell me whatever it is you want to."

"I don't wanna think about it. Not now. It's bullshit." her hand grasped his shirt again, pulling him in closer as his eyes doubled in size. "I don't wanna think about anything."

"Well, it's actually impossible for someone to think about absolutely not-" he was cut off by Alexa pulling him down on her level, pressing her lips onto his firmly. Demetris eyes widened, waiting a second before shutting them and kissing her back. It didn't last long before Alexa pulled back, backing him up into the door and locking it. "Woah. Okay."

"Is is okay?" her chest heaved, eyes dancing of desperation.

Demetri wanted to say that he'd rather figure out what was wrong with her first, would try to get her to talk about whatever had her so angry. But, he'd do anything just to make her happy, anything to help that person he saw on the mat just now disappear. He'd do anything to get his sweet, gently, shy, and nerdy girlfriend back. Not whoever it was that was staring at him, not whoever busted a kids face in, not whoever had taken over her body and was living where she once was. So, he nodded. "Yeah."

Alexa leaned in again, Demetri kneeling down on her level more, breathing heavy against her lips as her hands pressed into the door behind him.

•

kylie speaks

complex lex. i blame
randy, deena, and mr.bryant
for all this pushed down pain
and anger she's got.