This was the dullest part of a tournament day. You'd been beaten in a single elimination match up and you had to sit around waiting for the dojo's 'stars' to complete their programme. Usually that meant the finals of whatever tournament they were at as Bobby and Johnny were likely to make the latter stages again. It also meant avoiding the glare of his Sensei who required total Cobra domination of the finals brackets. This year, however there was the spanner in the works, La Russo.
Pausing for thought Tommy decided to predict an outcome. He listed the fighters he knew were still in. Dutch, sadistic but not much more than a 5th round or quarter finalist. Johnny the king cobra and the All-Valley defending champ. Daryl Vidal (of the Lotus Valley Karate Club) who went out in the brackets to Johnny the previous year but who had already beaten the dojo's fat kid with a sneaky back kick. Bobby Brown who'd lost in the final the previous year and of course La Russo. The kid had turned up with his mommy.
Shaken from his musings Tommy had noticed that Dutch had drawn La Russo in his quarter-final match. Being the good little worm that he was Daniel had bowed deeply to all concerned whereas Dutch had barely acknowledged his opponent.
Shockingly the vicious Dutch had failed to do much against Daniel. Despite landing his favourite move (he called it his recoil kick) Daniel had beaten him by a margin of 3-1. Tommy knew this would enrage Kreese as he didn't want either the slope or the wop to win, he had said as much in a pre tournament huddle.
As there was a pause between the quarter and semi finals, Tommy decided to take a wander around the All-Valley Stadium. After talking to various fighters he knew from other clubs he had bought a soda and a corn dog from the concession stand, how was that vendor still in business? Fighting off the early onset of indigestion, he continued towards the central mats where he knew the last 3 matches of the day would take place to check out the so-called final four.
Since Dutch's shock loss to Daniel, the last three matches had been finalised. Johnny would face Vidal and La Russo had drawn the Cobra no 2, Bobby. This was looking like payback for the soccer trials where Bobby had been tagged hard by Daniel in an off the ball incident. As it was time for the matches Tommy moved into his dojo's ranks and took up a place with Jerry and Dutch. After waving to Barbara of course.
Each fighter was preparing for their match in different yet appropriate ways. Vidal was loosening up with his sensei, doing long flowing strike preparation, Johnny was talking to Kreese, seemingly unconcerned, Bobby was on the bench with the rest of the dojo and La Russo was hanging back with his teacher. He noticed that Daniel was heavily taped under his arm. With a chuckle Tommy remembered he'd done that.