I wake up the next morning as I look out my window. The sun is shining brightly in the sky as a bird lands on my window. I yawn as I get a text from noah saying. “Hey start getting ready...We have the tournament today.” I nod to myself as I get out of bed and open my closet. I then reach in and pull out a black gi and put it on. I then grab my black belt and put it on. I then put on some sandals and grab a bag filled with martial arts tools and my sparring gear. I walk out of the door and start heading to 56th street. As I am walking I see Noah in a Black gi with a brown belt on. I walk next to him and we nod as we head for 56th street. When we get there we see Emily and Josh in Black gi’s and they each of purple belts. Me and Noah walk up to them and we all smile as we see a limo pull up and a man with cool shades says to get in. We get in and there is a man waiting for us as he looks at each of us and the limo takes off. The man begins to speak. “Alright so we are heading to the silver creek sports complex for the tournament.” Our eyes widen as we hear that. “Thats where our dojo is!” I say with a bit of surprise on my face. “But sadly shihan does not enter our dojo in tournaments.” I say sighing. We arrive as we all exit the limo and start walking up some steps. One we reach the top we walk in and I see our dojo. I tell everyone to go on ahead as I enter the dojo and bow as I enter. Then a man in his mid thirties looks at me and smiles. The walls are covered with knives, fake guns, and martial arts sticks. I walk up to him and shake his hand. “Good afternoon shihan.” I say showing great respect. He nods and then asks. “Alex what are you doing here?” I then tell him about the tournament and he nods his head. “Well I wish you the best of luck.” He says as I bow to him and bow out of the dojo and I hurry to the area where the tournament is being held. I walk over to Noah and the others as an announcer comes up onto a big battle arena and a mic comes down from the ceiling and he grabs it. “Welcome everyone to the world martial arts tournament. Where many dojos have gathered to see who is the best. Now without further adue I present the first contestants.” He pulls out a sheet of paper with bracket on it with many fighters. “Alright now the first match is… Noah vs Thomas!” Noah and his opponent step onto the fighting platform and Emily and I are cheering him on while Josh is sitting down and watching. The announcer looks at the two fighters and says. “Alright now…..BEGIN!!” He shouts as the both jump back from each other. Noah charges at Thomas and Tries a straight punch. Thomas parries it and tries to backhand noah. Noah catches his hand and hits him in the face with his fist. Thomas is sent rolling off the platform and hits the ground. The crowd goes wild. “Alright the first match is won by Noah!” He comes back down and We congratulate him and the Announcer looks at the paper again. 2 hours pass. “Alright time for the last match of the day.” He looks on his paper and says. “Alex vs Kureno.” I step up to the platform and see a boy about my age and he has brown hair and blue eyes. We bow to each other. “Now you may begin.” The announcer shouts as we begin. Kureno charges at him and try to kick me with a round kick to the mid section. I raise up my knee and block the kick and I try to kick his upper body with a round kick. He jumps back and he smiles. We both charge at each other and we each throw a straight punch. My fist collides with his face as his fist collides with my face. We are both sent down to the ground as we each rub the point of impact. We get up as he gets into a weird stance. He then shouts. “Spirit animal: Dragon strike.” He hits me in the stomach and Sends me flying down to my friends. I land and everyone gathers around me. I open my eyes and sit up. I look up at the man and he smirks as the announcer announces. “And Kureno is the winner!”  All my friends looked shocked. We leave the tournament and they see my pride has been broken. I go home that day and I lay in my bed. I slowly shut my eyes saying. “I need to get stronger.” My dream that night was strange. I woke up in a forest and I sat up. I stand and look around and wonder where I am. I see a light in the distance and I see a lake. I walk over to the water and look at my reflection. But when I look I see a tiger. The tiger jumps out of the reflection and I jump back falling on my butt. The tiger snarls at me and I look terrified. The tiger backs up and gets into a low stance. It then stands on 2 legs and gets a sort of man shape as I stand. “Hello Alex..I am goaga. Your spirit animal.” I look stunned at what he said. I had read about spirit animals. Apparently they only reside in people who are destined to be strong. I am shocked about what I heard but I manage to say . “No way..” He looks angry and gets into a battle stance. He smirks at me and says. “Show me your strength alex..and I will teach you how to use me.” I laugh a bit and say. “That sounded wrong.” He gets a tad annoyed and charges at me. I rush to get into my fighting stance. He try to punch me with a straight punch and I counter with a straight punch of my own. We continue to match each other blow for blow neither one landing a single hit. I try to kick him with a round kick but he matches me with his own. We jump back from each other and smirk. We charge at each other and throw a straight punch. Our punches miss our fists and hit each other’s face at the exact same time. We both get sent back a few feet. Blood drips from my lip as I wipe it away. We charge each other again and right when we reach each other the dream ends. I wake up and sit up very quickly. I look around my room but I feel different. I look at the clock as it says 6am. I get dressed and head to the warehouse and leave a note for mom that I went out. As I get there the only one I see there is noah. I walk up and say. “What’s up noah?” I ask as he looks at me. “Oh the ceilings up.” He says as I look at him and say. “Dont be a smartass noah.” I say sitting next to him. I look at him and sigh as I say. “I had the weirdest dream last night.” He looks at me and asks if he can hear it. I nod as I begin to speak. “Alright so I was in this weird forest and I found this lake. Then this tiger appeared and took the shape of a man while still being a tiger. He told me that he was my spirit animal and said that he would teach me how to use him if I fought him.” Noah laughs and says. “That sounds wrong.” I laugh and say. “I know right. Anyway we fought and he was just as good as me. We never land a hit on each other. Until we hit each other in the face and the exact same time. Then I woke up.” He laughs and says. “So let me get this straight..you are saying you have a spirit animal?” He says as I nod my head. He laughs and gets up. “Well then lets fight.” I look a bit surprised as I stand and back up a bit. We each get into a fighting stance. He charges at me and tries a straight punch as I put up my arm to block his punch. I try to sweep kick him and He jumps and dodges it. He tries to kick me mid air as I raise up my leg and out legs clash. We jump back as he does a backflip. I charge at him and try to hit him with a straight punch to the mid section. He catches my punch as he try to kick me with his heel in my face. I block his kick throwing him off balance. I hit him in the stomach and he stumbles back. Then something comes over me and I punch the air in front of me. Then Noah gets sent flying as I am shocked at what I just did.