Blake pov
I have to admit. Hawk caught me completely off guard there. He's gotten stronger and much faster alright, but I won't let him get me like that again. I ready up on my line and the ref signals.
This time, I strike first. I block Hawk's punch and throw my own. Hawk maneuvers his way around, but can barely block worth a shit. I punch him in the solar plexus and he winces.
Tied 1-1
"Hey this is fun! Are you having a good time?" I say to Hawk while bouncing on the balls of my feet.
"Totally, but your not scoring another point on me," he says while the ref holds his hand out between us.
"We'll see about that," I say smugly when the ref signals.
Hawk goes for a punch, but I catch his arm and knee him hard in the ribs which causes him to cry out. I elbow him right on the ear, then front kick him to the ground. Hawk lays there clutching his ear for a second, but then gets back up like nothing happened.
"Point! 2-1," the ref says pointing his arm to me.
Hawk snarls in rage. I can tell he's fuming and I can use it against him. Hawk charges me as soon as the ref signals and we scrap around. I punch and kick at him until he backs up off the mat.
"Break! Out of bounds! No point!" The ref says.
"What's the matter? Scared?" I taunt in good fun.
Hawk takes a step like he's a bout to punch me, but stops.
"Time!" Sensei Lawrence calls out.
"Turn, kneel," the ref says patting me on the shoulder and I nod and oblige.
I can hear Sensei Lawrence scolding Hawk and telling him to calm down. Obviously, he knows my little trick to use Hawk's temper against him so he'll get sloppy. Miguel and Aisha are nodding in approval.
"Let's go man, finish the match," Miguel cheers.
"You got this Murphy!" Aisha cheers as the ref tells us to get back on our lines.
Hawk looks slightly calmer thanks to Sensei.
"Fight!" The ref instructs.
Hawk goes to kick my side, but I block it with my elbow. We exchange a few blows. One moment ahead, and the next behind, and then we both get a little to aggressive and sock each other in the face by accident at the exact same time.
The crowd let's out an "ooooo" in cringe as we both grab at our jaws.
"Ah! You good man?" I say to Hawk.
"Yeah, you?" He says.
"Yeah," I say rubbing my jaw.
"Illegal clash both ways. Warning to both of you. No point," the ref says.
The next round is a short one. Hawk charges me again and manages to drive me back. I grab him by the collar and throw him down, but he honestly might have planned this as he gets on an arm and a leg and swings his foot up and kicks me in the side of the head just like I did McCarthy all those months ago in the woods.
Authors note: the same kick Johnny used to kick Kreese's cigar out of his mouth in season 2 ep 1.
"Point! 2-2!" The ref shouts.
"Who saw that coming?! I know I didn't! What a turn around! Whoever wins this is now ANYONES GUESS!" Darryl announces from the box.
We ready up for the final round and charge as soon as the ref signals. We scrap around for a second until I put some distance between us. Hawk charges forward and tries to kick me, but I lean back to dodge. Suddenly a move clicks into my head.
The signature move I came up with when I couldn't do the two legged kick. I used it in the woods to finish McCarthy. I get into a handstand and the whole stadium goes quiet as I spin around on my hands and briefly twirl my legs a around. I get onto one arm and swing my body with momentum from my center of gravity. I swing my legs and they collide with Hawk's. Just like the last time, the helicopter sweep is dead silent. There is no thud of impact. I don't even feel one. It's almost as if I was kicking air. Hawk flies head over heels as if a gust of wind flipped him over and he lands hard on the ground. I quickly gather myself and leap from all fours over to Hawk before he can recover and punch him in the ribs as hard as I can.
"Haaaah! Point! Winner!" The ref shouts holding my arm up.
The audience goes from dead silent to completely wild as they erupt in cheers.
"What kind of move was that?! I've never SEEN such graceful, but deadly movement! Such amazing skill from both of these young men. Let's hear it for the both of them folks!" Darryl yells fired up and the audience cheers louder.
Hawk looks kinda like Eli for a moment as he's clearly sad he lost. He looks around for a second as I offer my hand to help him up and he obliges.
"Wow man, you really beat me," Hawk says sullenly, but proudly.
"You didn't make it easy on me," I say and pat him on the back as we walk over to our lines to bow and shake hands.
"You better keep it up," Hawk says when we reach the line.
"Don't worry, I'll win it all, and I'll do it for the both of us," I say proudly. Then we shake hands and everyone in the stands roars in praise.
"Dude, I'm gonna be honest, that was awesome. I haven't had that much fun in a while," Hawk says while we walk off the matt together.
"I know man, for sure," I say as we get back to the other cobras and Sensei Lawrence.
"Awesome work both of you," Sensei says clapping a hand on each of our shoulders.
Our friends from the dojo pat our backs and high five us as we make our way toward the locker room to get some water.
"With that match coming to a close, Blake Murphy is our third semi finalist!" Darryl announces.
Robby's match goes rather quickly as this dude doesn't give him nearly as much trouble as Amelia did.
"Robby Keene is our last semi finalist!" Darryl announces to the audience.
The semi finals were set now.
Miguel would be fighting last year's champion, Xander Stone and I would be taking on Robby Keene.
The four semi finalists step up on the mat for Darryl's speech accompanied by our sensei's. Miguel and I stand on either side of Sensei Lawrence while Stone stands next to his Sensei. Robby stands alone on the far end of the mat. I scan the crowd and see Mr. LaRusso in a conversation with a tournament official. He points to Robby and the guy hands him some kind of paperwork. Mr. LaRusso furiously begins to fill out the papers. The audience cheers and claps as we stand on the mat.
"Yes! Let's give it up for all of our competitors! You're all winners. We have seen some great fighting today, haven't we? Huh? But there can only be one true winner and he's standing on this stage right now!" Darryl announces and the audience claps.
"Will it be Miguel Diaz from Cobra Kai karate?" Daryl asks and Miguel bows while the audience claps and I see his grandma stand up and cheer very loudly.
"Will it be Blake Murphy also from Cobra Kai karate?" Daryl asks and I bow and the audience claps.
I see my brother do the two finger whistle and Moon clapping with a wide smirk on her beautiful face.
"Will it be Robby Keene unaffil...?" Daryl begins to say before the official Mr. LaRusso was talking to runs onto the mat and whispers something in his ear.
"Daniel LaRusso's gonna coach? DANIEL LARUSSO'S GONNA COACH!" Daryl yells in excitement as the audience roars in approval as Mr. LaRusso walks on the mat and rolls up the sleeves of his button down.
I look in shock and surprise. I turn my head and see Sensei and Miguel with looks of hatred and white hot rage on their faces.
"I'm sorry folks, there's been a change. Robby Keene will now be fighting for Miyagi Do Karate with former champion Daniel LaRusso as his Sensei! How bout that?! I guess I should say, will it be Robby Keene from MIYAGI DO KARATE?!" Daryl yells into the mic very fired up.
Robby smiles slightly and bows. For once his doesn't have that smug asshole smirk on his face. He looks genuinely thankful and happy. To be honest, I'm even more excited to fight Robby now because he'll certainly be more challenging with a Sensei in his corner.
I also notice that a lot of my animosity toward Robby has dissipated slightly. The kid's still a no good punk, but I wanna beat him not for the purpose of hurting him. I wanna defeat him fair and square and send him and LaRusso home packing. I'm still mad at Mr. LaRusso for jacking up our rent and Sam for doing Miguel dirty. I know Robby is partially to blame as he's a worm who just wants to get in her pants or he likes her because she's a rich girl. I can see it in his degenerate eyes. However, his eyes lighting up with a genuine look of gratitude at LaRusso having his back causes me form a new respect for him.
"And last, but certainly not least, last year's champion. Fighting out of Topanga Karate, Xander Stone!" Daryl announces.
The kid flips his way over to Daryl and takes the microphone.
"Show off," I mutter to myself.
Sensei very quietly snorts at my remark.
"I just wanted to say, even though I love to fight, we all need to fight against hatred," he begins to say.
Oh you've gotta be kidding me. This gymnastics major was last year's champ? Give me a break. I dramatically roll my eyes after I finish my thought and don't even try to hide it. I spot my mom give me a warning look from the stands, but I know for a fact that she wants this snowflake to cut the bullshit just as much as me. I tune out most of his speech.
"And I pray for every race, religion, and gender that we can all live together in peace. Please join me in a moment of silence as we strive to end intolerance in our time," Stone says.
I don't even bother closing my eyes. As much as I agree with intolerance being wrong, now is not the time at all. This is a day meant for karate and fighting. Don't people have Instagram and Twitter for this nonsense? I look around and lock eyes with Mr. LaRusso. I see that he's not closing his eyes either, but he's bowing his head because all eyes are on him. I quickly bow my head to fake it. I hear Sensei whisper something to Miguel.
"Kick that pansay bitch in the face," he whispers quickly.
"Yes Sensei," Miguel responds wordlessly making an oath in his tone.
I look around and see Daryl quickly snatch the microphone from Xander's hand. Haha nice.
"All riiiight! First up, Stone vs Diaz! Let's go!" Daryl says and everyone claps.
Miguel and I do our bro handshake and I walk off the mat with Sensei Lawrence as Miguel turns to walk to the line. The match starts off very even. Xander is not only fast, but probably the most athletic person I've ever seen. However, Miguel has more of a killer instinct and doesn't waste time showing off which slows him to get two easy points on Stone after he surprised him with the first point making it 2-1.
Stone got the first point very similarly to how Hawk got his on me. Miguel roars in triumph when he scores his second point.
"Ready, and fight!" The ref says and the two reengage in combat. Stone flips around Miguel, but Miguel uses this to his advantage because Stone isn't focused on him due to his mind being preoccupied with making sure he lands on his feet. Miguel uses this to deliver a spinning hook kick to Stone's ribs, winning him the match.
Hawk and I roar in excitement for Miguel as he emerges victorious with a 3-1 lead.
"Let's go!" I yell in joy with a grin on my face while clapping my
"Miguel Diaz is headed to the finals," Daryl announces.
I can't believe it. Miguel is going to the fucking finals let's gooo! If I win then I get to fight him for the crown. I take a deep breath and focus up because my match is starting soon. I glance over at Sensei Lawrence and notice that he looks uneasy. Does he think I might lose? Is it because of LaRusso? Or something else?
"Everything good Sensei?" I ask.
"Yeah, show him what you got. Don't hold back anything," Sensei says and pats me on the back.
I step up on the mat and stare stone faced at Robby who nods at Daniel when he finishes their pep talk before turning and walking into the mat.
"Next up folks, we have Murphy vs Keene!" Daryl yells excitedly.
"Face me, bow. Face each other, bow," the ref says and we both follow suit.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes to focus. I picture my sparring matches, that fateful night at the woods where Cobra Kai was truly reborn, I even picture the calmness of the woods with Mr. LaRusso. How Ironic. Just because I'm fighting his student doesn't mean I can't incorporate some of his methods also right?
"Ready, and fight!" The ref says.
My eyes snap open and in the blink of an eye, I'm sprinting toward Keene. I know his style by now. He's waiting for me to blindly attack him so he can defend and counter. I leap into the air and put my hand on his shoulder. I use my momentum and push down on his shoulder in order to spin over him in midair and he stumbles forward. He turns around quickly and he's out of sync based on his startled expression.
I use this to my advantage and leap up using the momentum from my sudden change in direction and spin around and swing my leg as hard as I can. I deliver the hardest flying roundhouse I can muster and I see Robby's eyes widen. His yelp of surprise turns into a gutters noise which is turned silent as my leg slams into his chest like a baseball bat smashing a pumpkin. Robby goes pretty much flying backwards and slides across the mat and nearly falls over.
"Haaah! Point Murphy!" The ref shouts.
"Ouch folks! That couldn't have felt good. Blake Murphy never ceases to amaze and surprise us as he and Cobra Kai take the first point his bone crunching and brutal flying roundhouse to Keene's chest. He's gonna be feeling that in the morning," Daryl announces.
Authors note: this would look WAAAAY cooler on screen. I got this idea of an opening round from Ash vs Alain in pokemon xyz. When Ash's greninja literally silences Alain's bisharp by knocking it out with a single water shuriken. Look it up, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Robby gets up and walks back to his line. The ref signals again. We both go at it. Kick after kick, punch after punch. Both of us sweating and rather winded. I move out of the way of Robby's punch, but realize that he was trying to fake me out. He goes for a hook kick, but I duck under it. He barely jumps back to avoid my punch and I continue my onslaught. We've each landed multiple blows in places that do earn points, but arent illegal either.
authors note: Hawk fell for that move during his fight with Robby which cost him the point.
Our senseis are furiously barking instructions and motivation as we continue to battle it out.
I charge Robby and he ducks under my Superman punch that I learned from watching Hawk. I drop down, pick him up by the legs, and throw him over my shoulder behind mol me. He flips and lands on his back with a grunt of anguish. I go for an axe kick, but he rolls away at the last second and gets back on his feet. We lock eyes and get back into our stances as we both pant.
"That was a close one folks. These two fighters are demonstrating honorable strength as NEITHER SIDE IS GIVING AN INCH!" Daryl yells fired up.
I back Robby into a corner and go for a right hook, but he grabs my arm and yells in determination as he throws a vicious uppercut to my stomach that I was too late to block. The punch literally lifts me about a few inches off my feet and slightly knocks the wind out of me as I fly back for a second then land roughly 2 feet away from Keene on my back with a loud thunder clapping thud.
"Haaah! One point Keene," the ref shouts.
"There we go ladies and gentlemen! Keene and Miyagi Do tie it up with that brutal uppercut. Don't get comfortable folks! This fight is just beginning!" Daryl says.
Authors note: alright here we are. The tournament is heading into the final stretch. I'm gonna detail the rest of the fight as much as possible. Do you guys want me to include Johnny and Daniel dialogue that they're shouting to their students or do you feel that it might drag the fight? Let me know in the comments. Next chapter we finish up the tournament and the it will be the final chapter of Season 1. Details about the season 2 story coming next chapter. Happy reading!