Season 4

Chapter 34

Miguel was one of the last people to begin fighting the prelims. He fought fast, and he fought hard right out the gate, and he didn't drop a single point the entire prelims! 3-0, 3-0, 3-0. Easy. Peasy.

Unfortunately, Miyagi-Do didn't have the same luck Eagle-Fang did. Although Sam - their standout star fighter - made it to the knockout rounds, she was the only person who did. Demitri, the other decent fighter among them, was pitted against none other than Tory, who absolutely mauled him until the ref decided to end the fight early and give Tory the win. Sam was forced to watch on as the girl who had been haunting her nightmares for 6 months beat the living crap out of one of her best friends. It definitely was messing with her head, but she couldn't let it get to her in the knockouts. Besides, what were the odds the two of them would end up facing off, right?

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Soon, the stage was set for the quarter finals. The 8 fighters who qualified had been established: Miguel, Hawk, Sam, Tory, Robby, Shawn, Kyler and Xander. The standard of fighters in this year's tournament was infinitely better than the standard last year. People like Sam, Tory and Shawn were fighting for the first time, and even veterans like Miguel and Robby were a million times better than they were last year.

Right before the beginning of the quarter finals, Michael, the All-Valley committee head, was sitting in his office. He was extremely excited for this year's tournament. It was the most packed the All-Valley Sports Arena had ever been, and the crowds seemed to be loving the prelims so far. He had in his hands a random quarter finals bracket, and he was about to go out and announce it to the fans and fighters, when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" He called. Walking into the room was the Cobra Kai sensei, John Kreese. Michael smiled. The man was always extremely polite and courteous to him.

"Hello, Michael." Kreese said as he walked over to Michael.

"Hey, man! Your dojo has been doing great so far! 4 fighters out of the 8 in the quarter finals are in your dojo! That's gotta be some kind of record!"

Kreese chuckled.

"Yeah, thank you. I actually had a favour to ask you." Kreese said, pulling out a sheet of paper. It was a bracket for the quarter finals that he had made the night before, knowing full well who the fighters in the top 8 would be. It provided Miguel with the toughest physical and emotional path to the finals possible, whilst simultaneously providing Robby with the easiest path. In addition, as an added bonus, it pitted Sam and Hawk against their toughest psychological challenges.

Kreese handed the paper to Michael, who looked at it, confused.

"I'd like you to use this sheet of paper as the bracket for the knockouts." Kreese stated. Micahel looked at him, puzzled.

"Mr. Kreese! I can't do that! It wouldn't be fair for the other dojos!" Michael exclaimed.

"Come on. As a favor to me and my students. My students have been through a lot. They deserve this."

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Kreese. There's nothing I can do." Michael said. Kreese chuckled.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to make you..." Suddenly, Kreese lunged at Michael, grabbing Michael's arm in the same lock he had Tory's landlord in 9 months ago, and he took out his cigar cutter, looping it around Michael's finger, ready to slice. "Reconsider?"

Michael started trembling in fear, and he stammered to string words together.

"Okay! Okay! I'll do it! Just please don't hurt me!" He begged. Kreese smiled.