Before I Forget

Remember Who You Are

Once the tournament started, Sky quickly forgot everything else - even the distracting hotness of her boyfriend.

The floor under her bare soles, the sounds of feet slamming the mat, of fast breathing, fists meeting flesh, the sharp cries, and low grunts—

It all melted into an ocean of sounds that surrounded Sky and made her feel like she was home. If she closed her eyes, if she imagined there was music too, she could almost think she was home - sparring with Kat, like she had done a million times.

But this wasn't home - this was a new beginning - and she was burning bright like a star in the night sky.

She easily won the first couple of matches, the opponents who were clearly underestimating her skills. And seeing them go down, hearing the referee announce her as the winner - it felt amazing.

As expected, Miguel also won fight after fight, steadily making his way towards the finals. He was fighting like he meant business - aggressive, angry, brutal, and Sky wasn't thrilled by all the moves she noticed him using. He wasn't fighting completely clean, and the emotion that radiated from him was... dangerous. As if he wanted to fight for all the wrong reasons - and when Sky noticed him glancing towards Sam or Robby from time to time, her suspicions were confirmed.

Miguel was out for blood. And Sky feared it wouldn't end pretty.

And Hawk... well, he was winning his fights too, but something about the way he did it made Sky's stomach turn into tight knots.

This was a whole new side of him, and Sky wasn't all that sure she liked it. It was like he was on the edge, so full of adrenaline that everything in him was sharp, violent, volatile. He was the Hawk and watching him strike down one opponent after another, flexing his impressive muscles and showing off his tattoo - well, it was hard to even remember the boy who had been called Eli.

The boy Sky had fallen in love with.

Of course, he was hot to look at. So damn hot, that Sky almost wished they could sneak somewhere, maybe to the girls' locker room which probably would be empty because there weren't that many girls competing—

Snap out of it! You're here to fight - not to make out with Hawk.

"Sky, shit—" Miguel said by her ear. "Look!"

She had finished a fight some minutes ago, and the opponent had managed to kick her into her shoulder. It was now painful and raw and Sky was just tentatively rolling it to see if anything was amiss, while watching Hawk beat the crap out of his current opponent on the mat. Miguel's voice brought her back to the moment and she looked up, to see the names on the wall.

"But..." she tried to find the right words, fear suddenly gathering in her belly. "But that can't be right!"

She stared in disbelief as Hawk's name was lifted up too. The truth began to sink in as the announcer holding the mic walked to the center of the stage and started talking.

"What a tournament!" The man bellowed. "What a night! In the final four, we have three people from the same dojo, the new dojo that only entered the tournament this year! From the infamous Cobra Kai, we have O'Brian fighting her teammate Miguel Diaz. And from the same dojo comes Hawk who will fight unaffiliated Robby Keene. One of these four will be the winner of this year's All Valley under 18 tournament–!"

It had been Miguel to point the situation to Sky, but her eyes instantly turned to Hawk, who was now standing by her side, taking big gulps of water from a bottle he held on his lips.

"Shit!" she breathed. "If I win Miguel and you win Robby—"

She didn't want to finish that sentence.