The Foundation

FIVE

The mats were set, the bleachers put out. It was the day of the fated All-Valley Tournament. For weeks, we were thrown into training, and now we could put that into practice.

"Where's sensei?"

"He's not here."

"I did see him last night at the mini-mart pissing on his car after getting drunk. He said that it was the end of the world and that we were all going to die."

"Relax, he's probably late. No big deal."

"But he's not here and we are, so it's officially a big deal. I don't know, maybe he drove his car off a cliff, or bought a gun and blew his brains out."

"Nah, sensei wouldn't kill himself. That's too much of a pussy move."

"I guess we'll have to do without him."

"Do what without whom?"

To our surprise, Sensei Lawrence was standing there.

"I may lose, but I won't back down from a fight."

"Great! Let's sign up!"

"Not yet."

A few minutes later, we're inside the sports arena.

"You've all learned to strike first, to be aggressive, not be losers. I taught you to strike hard, put every ounce of your power behind everything you do. But I haven't taught you the third rule of Cobra Kai. No mercy. The older you get, the more you're gonna learn that life isn't fair. You wake up one morning feeling great, and then life throws a spinning heel kick to your balls, takes a big steaming shit in your mouth. You get an "F" on a test, you get suspended. You fall in love with a girl, and some other dude comes and steals her away. The car gets set on fire. Just when you think things are going well, everything falls apart. That's how it goes. Life shows no mercy, so neither do we. We do whatever it takes to keep our heads above water. We do whatever it takes to keep moving forward. We do whatever it takes to win! Remember who you are. You're a badass! You don't give a shit! You kick ass! You're Cobra Kai."

The rest of us cheered in response.

"Now let's go down there and kick the shit out of everyone."

***

I'm too lazy to write out the fights, so here's the final match. Don't like that? Well, tough shit.

"And now, for our final match to determine this year's All-Valley champion, we have Jack Dawson of Cobra Kai! Also, in a strange turn of events, we have Miguel Diaz of Cobra Kai!"

The audience roared with approval at the anticipation of an exciting fight. I knew that the last few matches bored the crowd, so I made sure to give them the fight of a lifetime.

"You're going down."

"Hey, if I'm going down, might as well go down fighting."

"Ah yes, the battle of the boyfriends."

"Shut up Demetri," Ellie responds with a flushed look on her face.

***

The fight begins, and the two of us are at the top of our game. It was a seesaw battle, neither one of us could break through the other person's defenses. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes of fighting, with both of us at two points each, I hear the announcer.

"For our tiebreaker, the next point wins the match and the tournament!"

It became a seesaw battle again. For the next ten minutes, neither of us could get through the other and land a hit. After a few seconds when Miguel lowered his guard for a split second, I saw my opening. I flipped up into the air and caught him with a heel kick to the face, sending him to the ground and claiming the final point. (Think of Dre Parker's finishing move against Cheng in the 2010 remake.)

"The winner of this match and this year's All-Valley champion, Jack Dawson of Cobra Kai like his father before that! As the victor of the tournament, would you like to share a few words?"

Nodding slightly, I took the mic from the announcer.

"Well, where do I begin? Before I joined Cobra Kai, I was at rock bottom. With my parents gone and having no answers as to how they died, I felt as though my life had no meaning. In elementary school, I not only got unwanted pity, but I took a lot of shit from my classmates for being an orphan. I won't deny that it hurt at first, but eventually, I got used to it so much I stopped caring. Got numb to the pain, ya know? But that all changed when I first saw the Cobra Kai dojo. If it weren't for my sensei and friends, I don't think I'd be standing here today making this speech. Karate in essence saved my life."

Before I return the mic to the announcer, I have one final request; "I would like to share my victory with one of my best friends, Miguel Diaz."

The announcer nodded at me before turning to the referees, who nodded in approval as well.

"In that case, due to our champion's request, our runner-up second place winner is Miguel Diaz of Cobra Kai!"

The crowd roared with excitement as Miguel took his place next to me and gave me a fist bump.

"You did good, man."

"Thanks. Just wish my parents were here to see this."

"I'm sure they're watching up in heaven looking down on you with pride. They'd be proud of you. Happy birthday."

I smiled at this and turned to the roaring crowd.

***

Hours after the tournament Sensei Lawrence is sitting in his office. The door opened and a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway.

"We're closed. Come back tomorrow."

"You did what I could have only dreamed of doing. I'm proud of you, Johnny."