MOMENT OF TRUTH¹ eli moskowitz

mercy

It was the day of the All Valley, and boy wasn't the group ready. Especially Amara. Amara finally got her answers for not being wanted and wasn't it amazing to know that it wasn't Johnny. It was his girlfriend at the time. But she had a new tactic. She was hurt by what Hawk said, and she was gonna use that to fight. Fight with her emotions.

Amara had a brace to go around her ribs. Three of her ribs were fractured from Miguel's kick the night of the party at the Canyon. It was confirmed. Her doctor told her she was not allowed to fight in the tournament but Johnny needed her. She was going to do whatever it took to make sure she fought.

The group was standing outside of the dojo waiting on Johnny. They couldn't sign in without him. Miguel was over throwing punches like crazy.

"Yo, Miguel, calm down, man." Eli told him. "Save some for the tournament." Miguel looked over at Eli and then started punching again.

"Hey, don't even bother." Aisha told him. "He's been super aggro ever since the breakup."

"Where's Sensei? The tournament's gonna start soon."

"He'll be here." Amara said.

"I don't know about that." Bert told the three.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw him last night at the mini-mall. I was buying..." Bert paused and looked away, "a carton of milk when I heard him in the parking lot, yelling. He was pretty drunk and saying we were all gonna die."

Amara looked at Bert in shock. "Damn it." She cursed. She knew that he wasn't here because of the issue with Robby.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Aisha asked.

"I don't know. I guess I'm so used to seeing him drunk, it didn't seem like that big a deal." Eli said. "What if something happened to him?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know." Eli said, "Like he drove his car off a cliff, or bought a gun and blew his brains out."

"No." Aisha said, "Sensei would never kill himself. That's too pussy a move."

"Whatever. We're here. We're gonna have to do it without him."

"Do what without me?" Johnny asked as he walked up to the group of kids.

"Sensei."

"We didn't think you were gonna show up."

"I may not always win," Johnny said, "but I never back out of a fight."

"Great." Miguel finally spoke. "Let's sign up."

"Not yet. There's one more lesson I have to teach you."

"Another lesson?" Amara questioned. "Is there even time for that?"

•♪~†~♪•

The kids were at the front of the All Valley Sports Arena in a group with Johnny in the middle of them.

"All teams report to the locker room in five minutes." The announcer spoke over the intercom.

"You've all learned to strike first," Johnny began, "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."

Amara nodded her head, understanding. After everything she has found out. It wasn't fair to her.

"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." Johnny said as an example. All the students had a look of disgust on their faces. "You get an 'F' on a test, you get suspended."