In a continuation of their fighting session, two Karate practitioners face off against each other in a tournament match and later celebrate, only to be sidetracked by a group of alleyway instigators.

Karate Fighters

The following day after their practice session, Luca and Kyli had agreed to meet each other at the local gym again. Only difference is, the energy inside is different. Instead of the normal activity, the people inside were talking amongst themselves about some sort of upcoming tournament. Not that everyone knows about it…

Like usual during his time at the gym, Luca is busy training at a punching bag, swinging and kicking away. His emerald eyes are clouded in focus while concentrating on his moves and strikes with deadly precision and force. Even his white toe claws are out to inflict more damage in his kicks. However, there is something slightly different about his attire.

Usually, Luca doesn't wear gloves or pads during his training; this time, the silver lynx is wearing his usual karategi outfit, except that he is missing the top half, leaving his muscular upper body bare and exposed. Luca normally wears his full silver karate outfit, but this time he is wearing only the shorts, keeping his black belt wrapped around his waist. This time, the silver lynx is sporting a pair of black fingerless gloves to add to his attire while his hands and pawfeet are laced up.

At the moment, Luca is carrying out his usual training when he is intercepted with a simple tap on his bare shoulder, which gathers his attention. Swinging head over his shoulder in alarm, the silver lynx soon relaxes and straightens up from recognizing who is behind him. "Oh, it's you. Hey, Kyli. Are you training here like usual?"

"Hiii! It's me, and although I've just arrived here, I have something to tell you." Kyli greeted Luca with a simple wave while simply explaining why she is here. While Luca turns to face her, the blonde cat bows to him and leans forward to inform him, "There's going to be a tournament match going on later today and I've signed up to compete. Will you be joining the tournament?"

Luca blinks at the purple cat while straightening up his posture. Mention of a tournament certainly captures his fancy, and it's one good way to improve in technique and fighting style. The silver lynx brushes away a lock of his red hair while accepting the offer, smirking at her. "A tournament, huh? I'll join, then!"

Kyli giggles from Luca's response, mentioning in a whisper, "I'll see you at the tournament; who knows, maybe we'll even see and compete with each other there. I'll see ya later!"

While the blonde cat slips away, Luca is left processing the information in his mind. An upcoming tournament at so little of a notice? Still, it wouldn't hurt. This leaves Luca in thought when he goes back to training again.

~~~~~

Luca is waiting like usual following the meetup information that Kyli had sent him for the tournament. And now the silver lynx is standing in a public arena, dressed in his white karate outfit with a black belt girded around his hips. While waiting, he catches sight of a familiar purple tabby who steps into the arena, much to the excitement of the crowd and the surprise of the lynx.

His breath taken away in surprise, Luca beholds his purple friend entering the arena across from him, his emerald eyes sparkling in surprise. He breathes in bewilderment, "K-kyli??? You mean, we're fighting each other???"

"Hello to you too, Luca! And yes, we will be fighting each other for this round! Hope you're ready!" Kyli responds animatedly. For a pair of black belt fighters, the purple tabby is more fun-spirited than serious about it, something which impresses Luca even more about her. But he has no time to daydream or fantasize; he shakes his head to regain his focus right as the bell dings to start the round.

*DING!*

(BGM: Techno - Chronos [The Need For Speed OST])

Luca receives a sudden punch to the face with Kyli barking out, "Aye, Earth to Luca! You gotta focus, buddy!"

The silver lynx only gives her a blank, unimpressed stare while blatantly wiping the blow off. He and Kyli begin circling each other in the arena for a bit, matching each other in their movements. Then they charge at each other.

Kyli goes in for a low leg sweep to trip Luca, knocking him directly onto his back. This sudden rush causes Luca to become disoriented slightly, yet he immediately gets back up.

Shaking himself briefly, Luca regains focus right as Kyli remarks, "Having fun yet? I know I am!" Luca, meanwhile, seems more on the defensive. This time, he's ready.

When Kyli attempts a right swing, Luca grabs her fist to deflect it away and decks the female across the face with a right cross of his own, which also knocks her glasses off in the process.

Hearing her glasses clatter to the ground, the blonde female becomes alarmed upon losing her glasses. Without her glasses, she couldn't see a thing.

"My glasses!!" Her glasses are toast now. Without them, she is unable to see clearly. But even though she is fighting blind now, she can put her other senses to good use.

With Kyli now literally fighting blindly, she has an even greater challenge. This is an absolute 'whoops!' moment for Luca because he never anticipated this to happen, and neither did the audience spectating the match!

While the two are surrounded by the clamoring audience, Luca sheepishly acknowledges the crowd and turns back to his rival, only to get decked in the face by a palm slap.

*SMACK!*

Taken aback by the force of the slap, Luca rubs the stinging sensation where he is hit. That's when he notices that Kyli's ears are constantly swiveling. He weaves around a jump kick while thinking to himself, 'She must be using her other senses; I had no idea she was blind until now. I'd better be careful…'

The right continues with Luca being extremely cautious to avoid Kyli's attacks, now that she is fighting blindly. However, while the purple tabby has lost her sight for the time being, she can still use her other senses to guide her in her tournament fight against Luca.

Using her hearing to her advantage, Kyli begins to slowly pick up on Luca's movements. But she is still literally fighting blind. But there is something else that Luca is beginning to pick up on. He notices something more peculiar about Kyli's fighting now that she's literally fighting without her glasses on. She's actually syncing herself with the vibrations around her while engaged in her fight with Luca.

Luca manages to narrowly weave around a left hook aimed for his face. When he comes back up, he can actually see how blank her visual focus is. Yet her ears are working more than her sight.

The moment Luca loses focus, Kyli directs an uppercut to his solar plexus, knocking him off the ground briefly. The lynx actually coughs and clutches his chest from how hard she decked him. She catches him again, this time on the left side of his face with a sweeping kick.

Luca clenches his eyes shut from the toe claws scratching his face, leaving behind at least four small cuts on his cheek. Though the kick causes him to recover, he's winded now.

Luca caresses his cheek, wincing slightly from the stinging sensation when he weaves to avoid an overhead chop aimed for the left side of his head. Attempting a counterattack, Luca scoots back and proceeds to bring his left foot in an arc kick, going straight up at first and slamming it down on Kyli's noggin. However, the lynx hits dead air at first, moving on to a mid roundhouse kick, catching the purple tabby in the stomach.

'Shoot, I'm getting exhausted, she's probably getting exhausted, I'm exhausting myself. If this keeps on any longer, I'm gonna drop dead before the match ends!' Luca realized internally. While he manages to deflect a few swings and attacks from his blind rival, Luca shakes his right fist and charges in with a quick uppercut. However, he has his eyes closed, not even caring about a hit or a miss. But upon feeling something hard, he stays frozen in place…

When the bell dings and the crowd becomes an uproar, Luca snaps his eyes open and is met with a sight he didn't expect: his rival is on the ground, flat on her back with her eyes closed. The horrifying sight moves Luca to action, but he forgets about his own injuries in the process.

~~~~~

A few hours later, Kyli comes to, stirring and cracking her eyes open. With a mild groan, she wheezes, "Where… where am I?? What happened??" When she begins gazing around, she freezes upon sensing Luca's presence nearby, looming over her.

Luca isn't directly looming over her, but is sitting directly beside her. He softly speaks, "You're in an infirmary; I managed to carry you in here despite the damage we both took." Luca chuckles upon pausing, attempting to read the expression on Kyli's face.

"Luca, how did you manage to carry me despite taking a good hit to the chest? You could have blacked out, yourself!" Kyli interjected in worry. "How in the world did you even manage to carry me anyway??"

Luca mutters, "I just kneeled down and carried you on my shoulder. It's no big deal."

"But we're the same weight, just about. Not to mention that you're taller than me. It couldn't have been that easy for you, Luca." Kyli protested again in response.

Luca shrugs and chuckles, "What can I say? I'm not Superman but I am something, at least. …Sorry about your glasses, by the way."

Hearing the soft apology from the lynx, the blonde tabby waves him off, brushing the matter aside. "Ehh, don't worry about it. I'm a purple bat anyways. I can function fine with my other senses." Luca appears unconvinced by her statement, so she grumbles, "Alright, fine. But it's not like O had those glasses for a long time anyway."

"Sooooo… …regarding our tournament match, it doesn't feel like a win to me." Luca shakes his head slowly, feeling guilty for ending the match on his own whim. He concedes, "I think it's best if this match win was yours anyway."

"Well you won fair and square, technically, so it's a win on your record and a loss for me. But we can always still be together." Luca's face heats up, literally turning into a pepper from what she just said. The lynx coughs, "Uh sure, I don't mind. So, once we're both well-rested, then we can work on getting you some new glasses."

"Fine by me, either way. You lead the way, Mr. Karate Lynx!" She couldn't help but giggle at the new nickname she's created for Luca, which turns into outright laughter from his face heating up again. Luca only parts his crimson hair while mulling to himself, 'Looks like this is going to be another long day… …but as long as she's happy, I'm happy.'

~~~~~

My end of a trade with Donnie from ToyHouse as a continuation of the story commission I did, found here!