MOMENT OF TRUTH¹ eli moskowitz (in EDITING)

skeletons

The Lawrence-Diaz family was sitting in the living room of Johnny's apartment, watching the Sekai Taikai advertisement on the tv with their new baby, Laura. The competitors and senseis all got their own interviews that would be played on this show.

"The world's most elite karate tournament is almost here. It's the Sekai Taikai. The best under-18 martial artists from across the globe competing for the title of world champion. Amara Lawrence of Miyagi-Do versus Cobra Kai's Tory Nichols. Winner advances to the girls' final, where she'll face Iron Dragons' superstar Zara Malik."

Amara took a deep breath as she watched the clip of a fight between her and Tory during the tag team. That semifinal fight had to be hers to win.

"On the boys' side, it's Miyagi-Do's Robby Keene versus Iron Dragons' Axel Kovačevič. And it all starts today."

It showed clips of the boys' fight. The ending clip being Axel punching Robby in the face, causing blood to spill out of his mouth. Very bloody, right?

The screen changed as it was now the reporters talking, "Hi, everyone, and welcome to our live prefight coverage of the Sekai Taikai Championship. I'm Kevin Burkhardt, joined by Ryan Clark. And Ryan, I gotta tell you, between the two of us, we've covered just about every major sporting event there is, but karate, now that's a new territory."

"Karate on the world stage? What could be better? And we have the best of the best when we talk about the three dojos competing in today's finals..."

"Robby, Amara, you two are famous." Carmen said to the two twins sitting side by side on the extra couch.

"You guys feel good?" Miguel asked,

Robby took a deep breath, "Yeah, I mean, I'm a little nervous. Last time I fought Axel it didn't go too well so... Gonna be a lot more people watching this one."

"Yep." Amara sighed, "I mean, Tory and I didn't get to fight last time and her and I are on good terms but... I don't know. It's just kinda scary knowing the whole world is gonna be watching." Amara looked over at Miguel, "You know, I'm not sure I wanna be famous."

Miguel shook his head, "Don't worry, you're not."

Amara cracked a smile. It was almost like the little moment they had when Hawk told Miguel he was Drake because he won the All Valley. Except now they're seniors in high school, fighting to be World Champions, not just All Valley Champions. Time has just snuck up on them.

"Hey, forget about who's watching and screw the cameras." Johnny said as he looked over at the tv, "Oh, shit, here comes my interview. Turn it up."

Carmen grabbed the remote and began to turn up the volume and Kevin spoke as replays of the 1984 All Valley tournament played. The fight of Daniel and Johnny.

"Yeah, what a story this is. Two high school rivals from 35 years ago now teaching together."

"Watch this." Johnny told baby Laura.

"Johnny, you lost a heartbreaker in this very arena 35 years ago. Gotta ask, what's it like to be back?"

"Yeah, well, you know, listen, uh, nobody likes to lose."

The screen cut and went to Daniel's portion of the interview, "That was a long time ago. Let's just say time heals old karate wounds."

"Wait, that's it?" Johnny questioned, "I talked to that dude for like an hour. I rented a whole damn suit."

"Maybe they'll come back to you." Carmen reassured him.

"The tournament underdog is Miyagi-Do, a dojo with a rich family history going back 400 years and brought to the United Stares by its previous sensei, Nariyoshi Miyagi."