Joy immediately erupted inside of the Daniels. Rhea rose into her standing position as a grin with an open mkouth appeared on her face. “Wait, we’re in the contest?! Seroiusly?!”

“Yes, seriously. It’s what it said right here in Gmail,” Ray said, his eyes shifted back to his phone.

“Well, what’s it say?” Ralpha asked, his face being lit up and his widened eyes full of enthusiasm.

“It says here, ‘Congratulations, D-Tribe. You are now part of the Battle of the Bands Competition. There are obstacles yet to come, so let’s be prepared for it. I hope you rise up to become one of the best bands in the world,’” Ray read it out loud.

“Oh-ho-ho,” Ralpha said as his right fist and his left palm collided with each other. His four left fingers wrapped around his fist. His face was now plastered with determination. “We’re gonna be the best band, alright.”

“Anyways, I’m proud about having us as a band and I’m proud of being part of the contest with you,” Diona said.

“Yeah, same here. This would be my chance to express my passion for keyboard,” Rhea said.

“Don’t forget about the deal with the Dazzles, Rhea,” Ralpha said.

“Yeah, that too. And hopefully, Celia will be safe and sound,” Rhea said.

After dinner is finished, everyone went to do the same, usual nighttime routine before heading to bed. They bid goodnight to each other. Lights were out and all the Daniels drifted off to sleep.

The next day, they did the usual morning routine before dressing themselves up to go to Cru Point. Ray was dressed in his black Nike shirt, blue pants and brown rubber shoes. Ralpha was dressed in his red t-shirt, blue pants and gray loafers. Diona was dressed in her white shirt with brown leather jacket, black jeans and black Dr. Martin’s Chelsea Boots. Rhea was also dressed in her white shirt, just like her mom. The only difference is that she wore blue jeans and black & white sneakers.

Right now, they were in the exact same auditorium-like area where the D-Tribe auditioned to be part of the Battle of the Bands. Along with Johnnie, Jenny, Jayden, Eli, Nicholas and even Celia. Because not only the contestants are present, but there are also other people watching the performances as the audience. And the D-Tribe’s friends are some of those people.

Right now, they were sitting somewhere on the left side of the seating. In the front row. The conversation was scattered among the whole gang. You see, on Rhea’s right were Celia, Jenny and Johnnie. Right behind her was Eli and beside him on the left was Nicholas. On the other side of Eli was Jayden. On Rhea’s left were Ray, Diona and Ralpha. You can see two grownups — a male and a female — sitting beside Nicholas.

The female has tan skin, but has lighter shade than Celia, brown hair and brown eyes, just like her daughter. For her outfit, she was wearing pink shirt with beige shorts and brown sneakers. Her name is Marene Rose Manzedillio.

The male has tan skin, but it’s a bit darker than Celia’s. His hair and eyes were also brown. For his outfit, he was wearing white polo shirt with a few buttons in the middle-top corner, blue jeans and white rubber shoes. His name is Jeffery Sheko “Jeff” Manzedillio.

The two grownups seemed to have a freestyle conversation with Diona.

"You're here to watch the auditions as promised?" Rhea asked Celia.

"Yup," she answered.

“We heard from Ray that you participated in the Battle of the Bands and you endr up being accepted,” said Jenny.

“Yeah. Congrats, guys. We can't wait to watch you perform on stage as a family band," said Johnnie.

"Me too," said Jayden.

"Me three. Just remember, I'll treat you to dinner if you win or perhaps, if you lose as well", said Nicholas.

A smirk spread across Rhea’s lips as she rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure. Let’s see about that. Anyways—” she turned to Johnnie. “—thanks for congratulating us, Johnnie.”

“Yeah, thank you,” said Ray.

“You’re very welcome,” Johnnie replied.

They could hear the “Break-a-leg” statement from Eli. Rhea moved her hand to her mouth and her eyes squinted tightly. Snickers escaped from it, but it was barely heard from her surroundings. “Thanks, Eli.”

"Why do we need to break a leg onstage?" Ralpha asked Eli in confusion.

Rhea’s eyes opened. Her hand moved back to her lap. Then, she turned to her younger brother. "It's not that serious. The words 'break a leg' means 'good luck' in the theater."

Ralpha’s head turned from left to right, then to the top. After his head looked at his surroundings, he turned back to Rhea, his thumb, gesturing to the stage. "Does it look like a theater to you?"

Rhea turned to the stage. “Somehow, it is.”

Suddenly lights began to dim and on the spotlight was a man. A man standing onstage. He had fair skin with black straight hair. He was wearing a black and white suit with a necktie in the middle. He also wore black pants and matching leather boots. The microphone was held in his left hand.
As cheers erupted from the audience, words from this man were heard. “Good morning, everyone! I am Sir Matthew Hensford and thank you. Thank you for being here today. I would like to welcome to the Battle of the Bands Competition. Are you excited?”

Loud cheers erupted from the audience.
“Yeah!”

As the cheers died down, the man continued, “Now, this event is not just any event. It is an event where one winner can win the cash prize of one million pesos and can be entitled one of the best bands in the entire world. And that’s not all.” Matthew began walking towards his left. “The winner will also have the opportunity to— can you guess what it is?” he asked, looking at the audience.

You could hear laughter from the audience. Some of them even shook their heads. Matthew walked his way towards his right of the stage, “Can you? Can you?” He slightly leaned forwards to the part of the audience.

Another laughter was heard.

“Okay,” Matthew said as he leaned back to his standing position. He walked his way back to the center of the stage as he spoke up, “The winner will have the opportunity to…”

As soon as he got back to the center of the stage, a dead silence occurred upon the event. Everyone leaned their ears towards the stage in curiosity. It took a few moments before something popped on the screen behind the stage. A white and hot pink bus appeared there with some black shadings and a black outline. At the bottom of it were words written in pink, blue and in a black outline. The first word, “WORLD,” was colored in hot pink while the second word, “TOUR,” was colored in aquamarine. Wild cheers erupted from the audience. Grins with open mouths appeared on all the Daniels’ faces and their eyes widened in excitement and enthusiasm. Especially Rhea. This could be an opportunity to go to Reseda! To meet Daniel LaRusso, his family and Robby Keene!

“That’s right! The winner will have the opportunity to go on a world tour. Think about it! You want to explore different countries like France? You can do that! You want to try new things in different countries? You can do that, too! You want to meet celebrities in person? Don’t waste it!”

Chuckles and laughter were heard from the audience.

“Well, I hope you have a wonderful time—” Matthew’s right index finger pointed upwards. “—but remember. This is a friendly competition and we’re all here to have fun, right?”

Cheers erupted from the audience again. "Yes!"

His right hand went back to the side of his body. “So good luck to the contestants and I hope you enjoy your time here, in the Battle of the Bands Competition!”

Loud cheers were heard from the audience as Matthew exited the stage.

As the audience clapped, a smile appeared on Rhea’s face. You could hear an exciting and enthusiastic voice coming from Ralpha.

“Did you guys hear that? This will be an opportunity to meet the—” His left hand rose to his chest level with the palm facing upwards. “—LaRussos—” He did the same thing with his right hand. “—and the Punzalos!”

“Did you know what else could be the opportunity?” Ray asked Ralpha.

“What?”

“Going on a Food Tour.”

“Like Marco Lien?” Rhea asked Ray, her lips stretching out a smirk.

“Something like that.”

Suddenly, footsteps approached the whole gang. They all turned to see a man wearing black shirt, black pants and matching leather boots. He was seen approaching in the Daniels’ direction.

“D-Tribe, you can go to the backstage now,” he said, his thumb gesturing to the direction to the backstage.

Ray nodded in reply. With that, he and his family bid goodbyes to their friends before going to the backstage.

Inside, it was Rhea once again who wrote the song and the melody, although Ray helped her with writing the melody. After about two-in-a-half hours, Ray and Rhea taught Diona and Ralpha about how this song is ought to be sung.

During that, various bands can be heard singing different songs. But soon, they had a feeling that the song might exactly the same as theirs, so they decide to try something… different.

After the Dazzles’ performance, it was the D-Tribe’s turn to perform onstage.

As the D-Tribe walked onstage, the employees helped set up the astage. This includes carrying the instruments. Once the setup onstage is done, Ray began by leaning slightly towards the microphone. “The song that we’re going to sing is called “Breakthrough.”

“Alright, then. Whenever you’re ready,” said the judge in the middle.

With that being said, the strumming on the guitar was the start of the melodic introduction. It took about ten seconds before the keyboard came in. And as it did so, Diona’s singing voice immediately came out melodically.

This is our time
'Cause we're gonna work this out
This will be the time to show our potential

Drumming beats with moderate speed and rhythm came in. Now, it was Ralpha's turn to sing.

Put us down all you want, but we persevere
And we never stop 'til we reach to the top
So get ready, 'cause we're all prepared

As they got to the chorus, a few eighth notes on the strums were heard. Then, everyone on the D-Tribe got a chance to sing altogether. You can notice the fun looks on their faces as they performed like they're celebrating.

Ohhhhhhhhh
You've got nothing against us
Ohhhhhhhhh
We believe in ourselves

We know we can do our thing
Do you think we stop and give up?
Oh no, we won't 'cause we'll keep on breaking through

Breaking through
Oh, we'll keep on breaking through

After a few seconds, it was Rhea's turn to sing. The melody was rising into the climax as the performance went on.

Laugh at us all you want
But we're rising up to victory

Ray and Diona sang two more lines in the lyrics together.

Even though it's a work-in-progress
We'll keep doing our best and we'll keep on persevering

Then, it was Ralpha's turn.

On and on until we win the title
So keep learning your lessons or you'll be going down

This time, in the second chorus, there were a few new adjustments added in the lyrics. The melody started going insane as the audience cheered for them. Especially Johnnie, Jenny, Celia, Jeff, Marene, Jayden, Nicholas and Eli.

Woah-Ohhhhh
You've got nothing against us
Woah-Ohhhhh
We believe in ourselves

We know we can do our thing
We won't give up 'cause we're family
Oh no, we won't 'cause we'll keep on breaking through

Woah-Ohhhhh
You've got nothing against us
Woah-Ohhhhh
We believe in ourselves

We know we can do our thing
Give up now 'cause you're going down
Oh no, we won't 'cause we'll keep on breaking through

Each member of the D-Tribe sang the exact same line in the lyrics. It started with Diona...

Breaking through

...then Ralpha...

Breaking through

...then Rhea...

Breaking through

...then Ray...

Breaking through

...then lastly, Diona again.

Oh, we'll keep on breaking through

The song ended with the last strum on Ray's guitar. The crowd went wild for the D-Tribe's performance. This sent a smile on the band's faces. They all nodded their heads as a sign of bowing before exiting the stage, with the help of the employees carrying the keyboard and the drum set.

Soon after, the contestants were called onstage. In Rhea's perspective, she could see Matthew's back turned on the contestants and he was standing in her northeast corner.

"This is it, folks! It's time for the results!" Matthew said.

The crowd was erupted with cheers and wild screams.

"But..." His right index finger pointed upwards. "...here's the twist. Due to the contestants having... almost the same songs, the judges have chosen the bands... who would be moving on... to the semifinals."

Gasps of shock were heard from the audience.
"What?" Rhea muttered, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

Ray's and Rhea's heads turned to each other in confusion. They were expecting this contest to take a few more days before the finals. And usually, a contest has something called "the quarterfinals." Images constantly ran through their heads. None of it makes sense.

"The three bands that will be competing in the semifinals... are..."

A pause occurred upon the event. Then, after about ten seconds, three band names flowed in everyone's ears. "...the Super Band, the Dazzles and the D-Tribe!"

Once their band name was heard, the Daniels were filled with surprise, a bit of shock and joy. Ralpha pushed his feet up high. His right leg was stretched out to his right while his left leg was formed like an acute angle. His right fist was in the air with his left fist sticking to the left side of his body.

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he did so.

Then, his feet landed back on the ground.

"The semifinals will start at 2pm. Good luck to all the contestants and happy lunch to everyone!" Matthew said.

The crowd erupted in cheers again as the contestants and Matthew himself exited the stage.

Later on, it was lunchtime.

The Daniels and their friends were gathered around three tables in the restaurant known as "The King's Burger." Sitting around the first table were the Daniels. In Rhea's perspective, ahead of her were Ray and on the right was Ralpha. Sitting beside her on her right was Diona.

The second table was behind Ray. It involved Johnnie, Jenny, Jayden, Nicholas and Eli. In Johnnie's perspective, Jenny sat beside him on his right. Ahead of him was Nicholas and beside him on the right were Eli and Jayden.

The third table was behind Rhea. It involved Celia, Marene and Jeff. In Celia's perspective, her parents were sitting ahead of her.

They had ordered food from "The King's Burger." For the Daniels, they ordered a simple hamburger for Ralpha since he loves burgers, two clubhouse sandwiches for Diona, one large hamburger for Ray and six pieces chicken nuggets and rice with barbecue sauce for Rhea. She doesn't care much about burgers, but would not tell anyone except her parents. The rest ordered their favorites according to the menu. They even had a large bucket of fries to share with.

Words were barely heard from the other two tables, but none of them seem to care. The one thing they would assume is the ordering of the food.

Right now, while waiting for the food to arrive, the Daniels were keeping up their own entertainment. Ralpha was using his phone, watching YouTube as usual. Diona was using her phone to read online anime comics. Rhea was coming up with the lyrics for herself and her family to sing in the semifinals. As for Ray, he was just scrolling posts on Facebook in his phone.

Ray didn't know why, but for some reason... his mid was... dull. The scrolling didn't last long until a ringing was heard in his phone. The screen involving Facebook was switched to something else. His eyes widened in surprise. Someone was calling him. And it's not just anyone. He could see a picture of Daniel LaRusso on the screen.