CHAPTER 42

"Oh, man, what a fight!" George exclaimed as the two of them walked out of Madison Square Garden after what could only have been described as one of the fights of the century. It had been a 5 round, drag-out brawl between the two bitter enemies, both of them bloodying and pounding on each other but neither enough to knock the other man out. 5 glorious rounds of brutal bashing eventually came to an end, and it was up to the discretion of the judges to crown a victor. When they announced that Conor McGregor had been declared winner by split decision, Miguel had never heard anything so loud in his life. The whole arena had erupted in a frenzy of incredible cheers and screams. The floor beneath Miguel's feet was practically vibrating as the whole 20,000 person audience stomped their feet as they jumped around in victory. And Miguel absolutely adored it. The electric atmosphere coursed through his veins and soon he was one of them, as manic and crazy as the rest. As he looked around at all of the gloriously insane UFC fans celebrating like maniacs around him, Miguel smiled to himself and vowed… 'they'll be celebrating me one day.' He didn't care how long it would take. He didn't care about the countless beatdowns he knew he would receive on the way. All he cared about was making it to the UFC, and he vowed then and there that he would do it.

Miguel didn't realise it, but a lone tear slowly rolled down his cheek. George glanced sideways at him and noticed it, raising an eyebrow.

"Bro, you good?" He asked, slightly concerned. Miguel nodded, quickly wiping away the tear.

"Yeah, man. Sorry, I'm just… really happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. Thank you so much for bringing me." Miguel said.

"Of course, man." George replied. "And hey, in like less than 10 years, that's going to be you." He said, pointing at the center of the octagon, where Conor McGregor was triumphantly hoisting his newly reclaimed UFC Lightweight Championship belt in the air. Miguel smiled.

"You read my mind, man." Miguel replied.

"Yeah? Well, you can pay me back for this by getting me a ticket for your championship fight." George said. Miguel raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Ticket? Dude, when I make it to the big championship fight, you're going to be right there by the octagon." Miguel stated. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to find a ticket anyways. That fight's going to be completely sold out in minutes. The whole world's going to be watching."

George nodded, seeing the look of determination on his friend's face and knowing that come hell or high water, Miguel would fulfill every word he was saying.

"Damn right…"

A while later, after all of the celebrations finally began to die down, Miguel and George joined the massive wave of people shuffling out of the arena. They made it out a couple of moments later and as they did, George turned to Miguel.

"Hey, what do you think everyone's doing in the Valley right now?"

Miguel shrugged and chuckled.

"I don't know. All I can say is whatever they're doing, I'd much rather be here."

Miguel didn't know how right he was…

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Meanwhile, back in the Valley, the Miyagi-Do dojo had just finished training, and they all decided to spend the evening relaxing at the Larusso house. Daniel and Amanda were working late and Anthony was at a sleepover so they had the house to themselves. However, rather than throwing a party, they decided to have a lowkey movie night. It was all going extremely smoothly, the group just relaxing contentedly in each other's company, when about halfway through the movie, Demetri stood up.

"I'm just going to go to the bathroom." He said. "Be right back."

Demetri then left the room moments later. They decided to pause the movie as they waited for him. However, a couple of minutes later, they suddenly heard a loud knock on the door. They all turned to each other, confused.

"We expecting someone?" Chris asked Sam. Sam shook her head.

"I don't think so." She replied.

"Pizza Delivery for Demetri!" A gruff voice called, causing smiles to spread through the group.

"Demetri ordered us pizza? Nice!" Nate exclaimed, running to the door and shutting it behind him as he picked up the pizza. At that moment, Demetri walked out of the bathroom and back into the living room.

"Hey. It was really nice of you to get us pizza." Sam told him. Demetri furrowed an eyebrow in confusion.

"Um… what? I didn't get you guys any pizza." Demetri replied. Sam raised an eyebrow, perplexed.

"Huh? Then what…"

Before Sam could finish her sentence, they heard a deafening SMASH coming from the living room window. They sprinted over and their blood ran cold as they saw Nate lying before them, only partially conscious as he groaned in pain from being thrown through a window.

"Nate! What happened?!" Sam cried worriedly. Nate's vision was blurry and he was still in a combination of shock and immense pain.

"Not. Pizza." Nate managed to gather himself enough to croak out. Just as he said this, the front door flew open with a smash and 3 people she knew only too well prowled into the room: a mohawked foe, a blonde nemesis and an asian ex-boyfriend. Sam's heart stopped. She knew these people definitely weren't here for a tea party, but at the same time she wasn't that terrified. There were 6 of them and only 3 Cobra Kais. The numbers loved them.

Before Sam or any of the other Miyagi-Dos could react, the back door also swung open and 5 more Cobras stormed into the house, all of them with pure loathing in their eyes. The Miyagi-Dos all stammered to their feet and stood in the center of the room, able to do nothing but stand together and watch helplessly as the Cobras circled them, eyeing their prey hungrily.

"Guys, you don't have to do this." Sam stammered. Tory scowled daggers at her and smirked.

"I know we don't. Consider it a late Christmas present." She replied. With that, the Cobras cocked their fists and charged…

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It wasn't a fair fight from the very start. There were 6 Miyagi-Dos and 8 Cobra Kais and in a fight, even a 1 man advantage was game-changing, let alone 2. Miyagi-Do struggled desperately to fend off attacks as even if all of the Miyagi-Dos were fighting someone, there were still 2 Cobras who could wreak havoc and attack anyone when they were distracted. In addition, Cobra Kai had the quality advantage as well. While Sam was a great fighter, she was pretty much the only one on her side and all of her energy was being used fighting Tory. This left other elite fighters such as Hawk and Kyler to be granted the ability to pick off the pretty much defenseless Miyagi-Dos.

Cobra Kai threw onslaught after onslaught after onslaught at the Miyagi-Dos, a flurry of punches, kicks and everything in between. Miyagi-Do were utterly defenseless and could do nothing but get picked apart by primarily Hawk and Kyler, but also by the other Cobras. As Nate felt himself get thrown through a coffee table and feel his back smash against the wood in incredible pain, he closed his eyes. Assuming that he was unconscious, Kyler - the Cobra attacking him - walked away, and Nate was finally able to take a couple of breaths to try and gather himself without being stomped on or attacked again. He slowly lifted his head and looked around the room, seeing all of his friends being dominated by Cobra Kai. As he watched Tory thow Sam against the wall and Sam powerless to stop her, Nate winced, knowing that if she was losing her fight, the rest of them stood no chance. They desperately needed help, and unfortunately Nate knew he had to call some people he really didn't want to ask. Dialling the number, he murmured into the phone, wary of Cobra Kai hearing him.

"Hey, dude. Look, we need your help. Cobra Kai are beating the shit out of us. We're at Sam's house. Please come."

Nate then hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He had called for reinforcements, so all he could do was wait for help to be on the way…

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"I gotta say, Larusso. I'm disappointed." Tory remarked as she dragged Sam by her hair into the kitchen, throwing her against the marble counter and causing the girl to cry out in pain. "I really thought you'd put up more of a fight."

This has to be a nightmare. This has to be a nightmare. Sam told herself this over and over again but deep down, she knew that this wasn't a nightmare. That the scariest and most painful part of this was that it was all 100% real. Cobra Kai had stormed in and conquered Miyagi-Do. They were stronger, faster and more skilled than the Miyagi-Dos and now even 1 on 1 fights like Sam's fight with Tory might as well have been a 1 on 3 with how powerful Tory had become. Miyagi-Do's all-defense ethos had been penetrated by the brutality of Cobra Kai's new offense, and the fact that Miyagi-Do didn't have much of an offense of their own to respond with absolutely killed any chance they had of fighting back.

Tory grabbed Sam by the hair again and lifted her head, preparing to smash it down against the marble counter, ending the pathetic daddy's-girl princess once and for all. However, before she could, the door to the house swung open and Tory scowled as she saw who entered the house. It was none other than all of the traitors (minus Miguel and George) who had betrayed Cobra Kai and joined Eagle-Fang: Bert, Mitch and 3 other teenagers. Tory snarled, her fury for the backstabbers who had betrayed the dojo momentarily eclipsing her hatred for Sam. She clenched her fists tightly and prowled towards them.

"We'll finish this later, Larusso." She spat, before turning towards the newcomers and lunging towards them…

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Unfortunately, the Eagle-Fangs lasted even shorter than the Miyagi-Dos did. There were just 5 of them against the 8 Cobra Kais, and not one of them possessed the star quality that Sam did to help prolong the fight. In addition, having almost 0 defense in Eagle-Fang absolutely screwed them as Cobra Kai's incredible offense against no defense was always going to end in disaster. It didn't take long for Cobra Kai to walk all over them and have all of them either completely unconscious or barely conscious. The house was an absolute wreck. Walls, tables, glasses, paintings, plants were all destroyed during the fighting, with Cobra Kai not giving a damn about what they demolished. This attack had been meticulously thought out, with them comfortably knowing that there was no way of them getting into legal trouble for it. Kreese reassured them of that much at least, and unlike those traitorous Eagle-Fangs, they actually trusted Kreese.

As Cobra Kai stood around the Larusso house, admiring all of the carnage they had caused, they smiled to themselves in triumph. They looked at the bodies of all of their vanquished Eagle-Fang and Miyagi-Do foes, all powerless in the face of a proper fight against the Cobras. Sure everything about the situation had played into Cobra Kai's hands (the number's advantage, the element of surprise and Eagle-Fang's lack of Miguel and George), but the events of the night had shown them and shown their opponents that they were the strong favourites right now to win the All-Valley. They had staked their claim as not only future All-Valley champions, but also their right to continue to live as a dojo in the Valley.

However, their victory celebrations were cut short as they heard a car screech to a halt in the driveway. Their eyes widened.

"Shit, adults are here!" Hawk exclaimed.

"Quick, quick, let's get out the back way!" Tory instructed, and the Cobras immediately darted for the back door, barely making it out just as Daniel and Amanda opened the front door. As they stepped inside and saw the carnage all around them, their daughter and students lying all over the floor, their house in ruins, they almost passed out. Daniel's mouth ran dry and his heart ran cold.

"What. The. Fuck."