"Man, I'm sorry. That was so unlucky. You deserved to win." Miguel said to Hawk after the fight, as they walked over to the water fountain. Hawk was pissed. He really wanted that win, and he was so close too.
"Dude, I was so close." Hawk groaned, punching the wall in frustration.
"Hey, if it's any consolation, you definitely helped me out! You've weakened him A LOT." Miguel stated. Hawk nodded.
"You better win now, Miguel!" Hawk exclaimed. Miguel chuckled.
"Yeah, I'll try." Miguel laughed, before seriousness taking over again. "All right, I think we gotta go."
Hawk nodded and they walked back to Johnny, Jimmy and Bobby, preparing for the finals. As they walked back, they spied all of Cobra Kai on the opposite side of the arena, all of them crowded around Robby. Miguel forced his eyes away from them and he joined his senseis.
Shortly after that, Miguel and Robby were finally called to the mat.
"LADIIIIESSSS AND GENTLEMENNNNN, ARE YOU READY FOR THE ALL-VALLEY FINAL?!" Ron exclaimed as he took his familiar place in between the two fighters. The whole arena cheered and clapped, eagerly awaiting the fight. 200 teenagers in the prelims had been cut down to 2.
It was an inevitable fight. Robby knew it. Miguel knew it. Johnny knew it. Kreese knew it. It was a fight that was coming from the day of last year's All-Valley.
"All right, folks! Hang onto your hats for this one! As I'm told, there is a lot of history and no love lost between these two! Diaz might have taken the All-Valley win in their fight last year, but less than three months later, Keene had his revenge when he took down Diaz in the brawl of West Valley High last year. Love triangles. Broken backs. Father issues. Everything that could possibly go wrong between the two has! Keene, do you have anything to say about Diaz before the fight?"
"All I have to say is that this guy is a dead man walking." Robby growled. "I'm gonna maul him. I'm gonna rip him limb from limb. For the past year, I have been in every single nightmare he's had, and when I'm through with him, he's gonna thank me one day in hell that I ended his life early and I spared him of 80 more years of nightmares."
Miguel almost snorted in laughter. He could tell from Robby's slightly shaky tone that this wasn't Robby talking; this was Kreese. Although the whole arena was looking at each other nervously, Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang especially, Miguel wasn't at all fazed.
"Diaz, any response?" Ron asked. Miguel chuckled.
"Look, man. He can talk and threaten me all he wants. Right now, I'm gonna teach him. I'm gonna humble him. And most importantly, I'm gonna walk out with the All-Valley trophy in my hands."
The crowd started cheering and making noise at this one. Almost the whole arena, bar the Cobra Kai supporters, were on his side. After a reluctant bow to each other, the two took a couple of steps back, raised their hands in fighting positions, and prepared to fight...
All of the anger. All of the hatred. All of the... envy Robby felt towards Miguel erupted inside him like a volcano. MIGUEL was the reason he had gone to juvie. MIGUEL had stolen Sam from him. Had stolen Johnny from him. The anger all came in useful, as he sent a flying side kick that connected with Miguel's side, knocking him over.
Miguel 0 - 1 Robby
Boos erupted through the arena and Miguel winced. He knew that the more Robby got booed, the angrier he would get, and the harder it would be to fight him. Miguel slowly got to his feet, but as he started to walk back towards his corner, Robby leaned in and whispered something in Miguel's ear.
"Vas a morir." Robby growled in spanish, literally meaning 'you are going to die.' It was one of the insults Barnes had taught him to get in Miguel's head. Miguel chuckled.
"Who taught you that one? Google Translate?" He remarked. Robby scowled at him but the ref, sensing danger, quickly stepped in between them and forced them apart before he restarted the fight.
This time, it was Miguel who got in his hit. From the very beginning of the tournament, Miguel knew that Robby was a much better striker than him. This meant that he would have to resort to other tactics if he wanted to win the fight. God Bless Johnny for teaching him how to grapple and throw! Miguel dodged one of Robby's kicks and grabbed the leg, before using the leg to pick Robby up and slam him down as hard as he could, causing the Cobra to land flat on his back in a heap. Miguel followed it up with a couple of punches to Robby's head and body to solidify his point.
Miguel 1 - 1 Robby
The crowd raised its volume even more, and they all stomped their feet and clapped as loud as they could in support of Miguel. Robby stumbled back to his corner, possibly concussed as he hit his head pretty hard, but Kreese didn't care. He grabbed Robby by the shoulders and shook him roughly.
"Focus, Keene!" Kreese yelled at him. "YOU CANNOT LOSE THIS FIGHT!"
Robby was then roughly shoved back onto the mat, where he faced Miguel. As he looked at the Ecuadorian, he didn't see hatred or vengeance in Miguel's eyes. He saw... pity. It was like despite everything, Miguel felt bad for him. This made Robby stop and think for possibly the thousandth time... was all of this carnage seriously work it? They were teenagers, fighting some insanely petty fight.
Robby's mind was in a complete mess as the fight restarted, and it didn't take Miguel much to score another point. Miguel took advantage of a sloppy punch by Robby and grabbed his arm, sending him over the top of Miguel in an over the back shoulder throw and onto the ground, punching him as hard as he could to knock the wind out of Robby.
Miguel 2 - 1 Robby
So close. So close to the title. So close to Kreese finally being kicked out of their lives. So close to Miguel finally having a normal high school life. So close to this karate war finally being over. He was a single point from victory and his heart was pounding.
As Robby stumbled back to Kreese's corner, Kreese scowled at him.
"Okay. Listen up, Keene. You're 1 point away from losing this fucking tournament, so here's what I want you to do. You destroy his back..."
Kreese whispered instructions into Robby's ear for several moments, before Robby stepped back onto the mat, ready to fight.
A full minute was spent Miguel and Robby throwing shots at each other. They were both pretty close to the bottom of their fuel tanks, so they were slightly sloppy at this point. The fight had become both of them waiting each other out for the first one to make a mistake. Unfortunately, that was Miguel. Miguel sent a head kick that Robby managed to dodge by ducking and sweeping Miguel's leg, causing Miguel to fall onto his stomach. Robby stood over Miguel, who was on his stomach, and saw as Miguel groaned in pain. Miguel's back was in the perfect position to Robby, and Kreese's instructions flashed through his mind.
"Pin him to the ground and stomp on his back. The fight will be over for him."
Robby looked at the boy underneath him, and then he glanced at Kreese. Kreese nodded at him to do it. He then turned to where Johnny was standing. Johnny could tell what Robby was about to, and he shook his head pleadingly. Robby then turned back to Kreese and slowly shook his head. He then sent a light punch to the back of Miguel's head to earn him the point, before holding out a hand and helping Miguel to his feet.
Miguel 2 - 2 Robby
As the two looked at each other, ready to go for the 5th and final round, there was something between them that they had never seen before... respect. They both had nothing but respect for one another, no matter who won the upcoming round. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with this. As the two boys fought, the natural course of the fight took them closer to Kreese's corner of the mat. Soon, they were not any more but a foot away from Kreese, with Miguel having his back to the Cobra Kai corner. As Kreese saw Miguel the foot away, he knew what he had to do. At this rate, Miguel would be winning the All-Valley and he would be forced to leave down. He had only one option...
As Miguel blocked one of Robby's shots, Kreese sent his own kick Miguel's way, hitting him in the small of the back and causing Miguel to fall over and hit the ground immediately. The whole arena gasped and went deathly silent at this malicious act. Well, everyone but Johnny. When Johnny saw his son go down, he finally saw red and snapped.
"HEY!" Johnny shouted sprinting onto the mat and over to Kreese, tackling him and throwing him to the ground. He then sat on top of Kreese, beating every inch of the cruel old man he could reach. He was ready to kill Kreese. That man had already stolen one son from him and there was no way he was letting him lay a hand on the other. Daniel, Jimmy and Julie shot up to their feet in alarm, and raced over, but they were quickly intercepted by Silver and Barnes, who shoved them backwards. The Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang senseis scowled and fought back, thus triggering an all-out war between dojos...
Hawk lunged at Robby, igniting a brawl between the two. They had a lot of unfinished business between them. Tory was the next student to her feet, making a beeline towards Sam, who didn't retreat, but walked towards the fight. All of the other Cobras (bar Shawn and Kyler who were at the hospital getting medical treatment) took on all of the Miyagi-Dos and Eagle-Fangs.
The actual tournament fight between Miguel and Robby was immediately forgotten as this insane, long overdue brawl took place. The animosity leading up to this fight was even more than leading up to the school fight, and this time, even the adults were involved. Because this was meant to be a controlled tournament, there were only 3 security guards present, one of whom meant to be guarding Miguel's father and only Miguel's father, and they all immediately ran towards the adults to break up their fight. As Miguel's dad looked around, he realised that he had no guard, and this would be the perfect time to escape. Breaking his handcuffs against the side railing of the crowd balcony, Mr. Diaz was about to sprint out of the arena and make a break for freedom, when his eyes lingered on Johnny. Miguel's father's face went crimson-red with rage, and murder filled his eyes. He stormed towards Johnny, who was still attacking Kreese, and he threw him off of the old man and onto the ground. Johnny tried to defend himself but he was taken by surprise so it was too late. Mr. Diaz sat on top of him, his hands slowly squeezing around Johnny's neck, choking him to death.
As soon as Kreese had kicked Miguel in the back, Miguel had fallen over and nearly passed out. Kreese was an adult, and using all of his strength on Miguel's weakest area had caused him blinding pain. He barely even realised the brawl breaking out under shouts and yells of pain and anger completely filled the air around him. He slowly got to his feet and looked around. There were various matchups going on. The senseis were all fighting each other, and the teens were too. Miguel spotted Sam definitely holding her own against Tory, but Hawk overpowering an exhausted Robby. His eyes widened. He knew that Robby was no longer who he used to be, and he started to run in Hawk's direction to stop him, when his eyes stopped on a man in an orange jumpsuit suffocating his sensei. Miguel's eyes widened. It was his dad! Abandoning his thoughts about Robby and Hawk, Miguel started running in that direction.
"You took everything from me." Miguel's dad growled at Johnny, who was coughing and spluttering. Black spots danced over his eyes and he felt himself about to pass out. It was like a steamroller was crushing his neck.
"Please. Stop." Johnny stammered as his eyes started to close. However, suddenly, Miguel's dad felt himself roughly yanked off of Johnny, and he turned to find himself face to face with his son.
"Hey, son." His dad grinned, laughing sadistically at him. Miguel's fists balled into fists.
"You wanted this fight? You got it." Miguel growled, lunging at his dad. The two exchanged heavy blows for several minutes. Despite Miguel's karate experience, Mr. Diaz was a lot more experienced in a street fight as he had been practising in prison for 6 months. He soon managed to pin Miguel to the ground, and he was slowly constricting Miguel from his throat.
"I'm sorry, son. I didn't mean for it to end this way." His dad murmured. As Miguel struggled helplessly to get out of his father's vice-like grip, suddenly, it came to him! Miguel was thrown back to months earlier, in the forest, when Johnny made him wrestle a bear.
"This is the technique I want you to use when you're being overpowered and pinned by someone bigger or stronger than you. First thing you gotta do is break his grip."
Miguel remembered the bear training and he snuck his hands inside his dad's arms and pushed them outwards, causing his dad to fall with his hands on either side of his head. Miguel used his hands to trap his fathers, and he wrapped his legs around his father's stomach in the triangle choke. He remembered Johnny's next step.
"Now, grab his left wrist and trap it on the ground, and then shoot your other hand towards the opposite side of his head, and push your upper body upwards!"
Miguel did exactly as Johnny had told him and his upper body lifted half off the ground as his left arm extended so that it was next to his dad's left ear. He couldn't get up yet though as the man's right arm was blocking him. He remembered the final step...
"Now, that left arm that you just shot up... wrap it around his arm that's pinning you. As you do this, roll to the side, pinching his back with your legs, connect your wrists, and then from there, STOP!"
Miguel did so, pulling his father into a figure 4 armlock, just as Johnny had taught him. However, rather than showing restraint like he did with the bear, Miguel went all the way, snapping his dad's arm right out of its socket and causing the man to cry out in pain. Miguel knew that the fight was not over yet though. Miguel grabbed a metal chair that were by each dojo's corner at the mat, and he smashed the chair over his dad's head, causing him to finally collapse, unconscious. Miguel slowly got to his feet and stood over his father. He scowled at the unconscious man.
"Sorry, dad." Miguel murmured. At that moment, an Army of security guards sprinted into the arena and the fighting was finally broken up...
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"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED, KEENE?!" Kreese bellowed at Robby that evening. Nobody had been legally charged for the brawl, but the tournament was put on hold. Everyone quickly left the arena and into their respective cars.
"I'm sorry, sensei." Robby stammered, begging for forgiveness and terrified for his life. He not only disobeyed Kreese's orders during the tournament, but he had gotten beaten up during the brawl by Hawk relatively easily. "I remembered what you asked me to do, but I couldn't kill him. I can't go back to juvie!"
Kreese eventually nodded and put an arm around Robby.
"I understand, Keene. War is hard for some people. I saw it a lot with my men in 'Nam. Some of them just didn't have that killer instinct, and they were useless soldiers. But you're not like them. You have that instinct, but you just need an extra push in the right direction. Which is why I'm going to give you one last chance..."
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"Here. Put this on your face." Miguel said, tossing Johnny an ice-cold Coors from the fridge. Johnny hadn't come out of the dojo fight nearly as well as Miguel had, even though Miguel's back was still throbbing in pain. Although Johnny had managed to subdue Kreese, Miguel's dad had almost killed him that afternoon.
Johnny popped open the can and Miguel rolled his eyes.
"I said put it on your face, not drink it." Miguel stated. Johnny shrugged.
"It's helping, isn't it?" Johnny remarked. Miguel chuckled and closed his eyes for several moments, taking in the events of that day. It had been an absolutely whirlwind of a day for him, starting with his battle with Shawn, and culminating with him finally besting his dad. However, he wasn't thinking about either of those fights. He was thinking about the one in between: his fight with Robby. During the final point of the fight, right before Miguel got kicked by Kreese, he noticed forgiveness in Robby's eyes. Their rivalry had come so close to finally being over. If that stupid brawl hadn't gotten in the way, maybe they could've even found a way to shake hands and live harmoniously. Despite the brawl putting a damper on that, it did show Miguel that maybe Robby wasn't all that bad.
Miguel's long train of thoughts was broken when they heard a sharp ring of the doorbell. Miguel and Johnny looked at each other, confused.
"You expecting somebody?" Miguel asked. Johnny shook his head.
"Nah. We were meant to be out celebrating your championship right now. Why would I have invited someone over?" Johnny stated. Miguel raised an eyebrow.
"That seems kinda premature." Miguel remarked as they walked over to the door. When they opened it, their hearts stopped... standing at the door was none other than Kreese himself!
Johnny immediately started to raise his hands and lunge at Kreese, but Kreese raised his hands in surrender and Miguel held Johnny back.
"YOU DARE COME TO MY HOUSE?!" Johnny shouted.
"Johnny, stop!" Miguel snapped. Johnny slowly calmed down, and then Miguel turned to Kreese. "What do you want?" Miguel spat at the old man. Kreese smiled.
"Well, given that none of your students won the All-Valley, I believe I have the right to stay in town for as long as I want."
"This was your plan, wasn't it?! To challenge us to a game but pull the plug the second we pull ahead?!" Johnny shouted. Kreese chuckled.
"Easy, Johnny. One of these days, that temper of yours is gonna do you harm. Especially when I'm here baring gifts."
"Excuse me?" Miguel asked, echoing Johnny's confusion.
"I want to give you an opportunity." Kreese stated. "An opportunity for you to baish me from this city once and for all. If you, Miguel, manage to beat Robby in a fight, I will leave town forever. Cobra Kai dojo. Midnight. No holds barred street fight. Come alone, without Johnny, or the deal is off."
"Are you crazy?! He's not doing that!" Johnny exclaimed. Miguel held up a hand to stop Johnny.
"How do I know that even if I do win, you won't kill me anyways?" Miguel asked. Kreese smirked.
"You don't. You just have to trust me. Just like you'll have to trust that I'll actually leave town if I lose."
"You can't possibly expect me to agree to those demands." Miguel stated. Kreese shrugged.
"Not like you have a choice, kid. Because if you don't, Cobra Kai is going to be in the Valley forever, and every time people get injured at the hands of the Cobras, the blood will be on your hands. You had the chance to stop it. But you didn't. You cowered away and refused to fight."
There it was again. Kreese pulling at strings to try and manipulate Johnny and Miguel into doing what he wanted them to. Scary part was that Miguel was extremely tempted. Kreese raised his hands.
"Think about it. You have until midnight." Kreese said, before walking away into the night...
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"You're not doing it." Johnny stated bluntly as he shut the door. Miguel scowled.
"That's it? No discussion? Nothing?" Miguel asked.
"Miguel! He's going to kill you no matter what you do! This isn't a rivalry with the Larussos anymore! This man is straight-up evil!"
"I know!" Miguel shouted. "But I also know that if tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year, him and his Cobras injure someone else like the way they injured me, I'm going to be the one to blame."
Johnny shook his head.
"No! He's just saying that to get in your head!" Johnny exclaimed.
"But he's right!" Miguel shot back. "I can't live with myself knowing that I had a chance to stop him but didn't!"
Johnny took a deep breath.
"Look, get in the car. Let's go get a second opinion, okay?"
Miguel instantly knew what, or rather who, Johnny was talking about. They quickly got into the car and drove to an extremely familiar house in Encino, picking up Hawk along the way. Johnny banged on the door and moments later, a banged-up looking Daniel opened the door. He looked at Johnny, confused.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Daniel asked. Johnny looked at Miguel, who nodded at him, and Johnny took a deep breath.
"We need to talk..."