The Serpent Queen

Molting | Part One

Molting refers to a snake shedding its old skin to make way for a new growth.

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Sipping her tea and eating her cereal at the dining table, Phoebe saw her dad dressed quite business smart for work. "Morning." Her mum was working a night shift so she was due back soon.

"Morning." He replied with a yawn. "I'm surprised you're sitting down and not training."

"Yeah. I'm just tired this morning. Training for the All Valley is exhausting."

"Are you really going to compete?"

She nodded. "It could be fun."

"It's quite dangerous, Phoebe. You could get hurt."

"It's not different to gymnastics." She argued. "I could get hurt competing for it."

"Karate's different. You've got to focus on what you're doing, but also what your opponent is doing. It's a completely new set of rules."

"Then teach me." She demanded without letting a second go by before she spoke.

"Pheebs..."

"I thought you'd support me, since you've done it twice before."

"I do, but twice I've came third place. I don't want you to lose your first place streak."

"That's for my other hobby. Karate will start from square one. I could get the Alexopoulos name into second or even first place."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes!"

George sighed, "Okay. Kicks to the head are allowed, but punches aren't. Any hits you may get 'out of bounds', don't count. To win, you need to win against every single opponent you fight on the mat in the qualifying rounds, quarters and the semi's that will get you to the final fight to determine the winner."

Phoebe nodded taking in the helpful advice.

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Sensei Lawrence had taken his sixteen students after school to a scrap yard for old and broken cars, other vehicles, and random furniture. His Cobra Kai students were all huddled up in a group in front of him, wondering why they were there.

Phoebe stood at the end next to Aisha. They were two of the three girls in the dojo and they were quite close friends. Not as close as she and Miguel, but close enough.

Kayla stood at the front for once. She was going to steal Phoebe's thunder, no matter what it took and she was determined to win the All Valley, before getting her reigning champion status back in September for gymnastics.

Wearing his black headband, red leather jacket and a black T-shirt with the badass yellow cobra of the dojo on it, Johnny cracked open a can of beer while standing on top of a car. "You've trained hard. You've gotten stronger, tougher, faster. You've done your best. You're ready for this tournament, am I right?"

"Yes, Sensei!" The sixteen students said in unison.

"Wrong!" He threw the can at them. Some of the students at the front like Miguel, Hawk, Phoebe, Bert, and Aisha flinched. Only because they had a beer can coming in their direction, along with some beer itself. If it were a fist, it'd be a different story. "Your best ain't shit! If you want to win the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, you gotta give me better than your best. Which is why from now on, you're gonna get my worst. You understand?" He shouted.