CHAPTER 55

Time marched on. Christmas Day came and went and everyone had an absolute blast with their families. Almost everyone. In the Valley, there were 2 teenagers who weren't exactly sharing in the festivities as everyone else: Robby and Marcos. On opposite sides of the Valley, they were both going through completely unique issues, and yet they were handling them in very similar ways. They had both become completely reserved, barely speaking, throwing themselves into their training as a way to take their minds off it.

For Marcos, his father had only deteriorated further in the past 2 days. Marcos wasn't entirely surprised that this monster lived within his father. The man's sheer brutality and aggression put even the likes of Kreese's to shame. However, Marcos' entire life, as he had seen that ruthless person that lived inside his father, he had always thought that there was a line. He had always thought that he was the line. That his father would never try to harm his son, his own flesh and blood, the only remnant of their life in Rio that they had left. Boy, was he deathly wrong about that. Any line that had previously been there had completely melted by now, his father holding nothing back, even with his own son.

On Christmas Eve, he had been late getting home from training as he had been so distracted by what his father had done the night before, and his father had physically let him know his anger about that. Marcos hadn't been spared on Christmas Day either, his father getting black-out drunk once again and absolutely whallopping Marcos and beating down on him as Marcos came home. Violent purple bruises beginning to form on his ribs, it was an utterly terrifying ordeal for Marcos, who honestly had no clue what to do. He knew what you were supposed to do in this situation. They teach it to you from a very young age. If you are being physically abused, call child services support. Well he most definitely was being physically abused, but at the same time, he couldn't call child services and have them arrest and take his dad away. Because at the end of the day, no matter how many times the man hit him, he was still his dad. His family. The only part of his life in Brazil that he had left. He couldn't lose him. Which meant that he was forced to lie to Sarah and everyone else and claim that nothing was wrong, when it was most definitely wasn't.

Robby, meanwhile, wasn't doing great either. Although he probably had more people around him than ever, he had never felt so alone. His mom was due to leave for New York soon, so she was fully consumed with packing and wasn't planning on celebrating Christmas or anything. And while he had an invitation to the Christmas celebration with Johnny, Carmen, Miguel and his grandmother, Robby felt extremely out of place there as well. All of them… they were a family. He was just the step-child, not quite part of the family but without any more family around of his own. So while Robby did go to the Christmas dinner, he didn't get involved in any of the other festivities, instead spending his time training hard for the fight night the next day. It wasn't much time to prepare of course, as they would be fighting in less than 24 hours, but that didn't change the fact that Robby threw himself head-first into the preparations. It was the only thing that was keeping his mind of his sadness and hardships.

It wasn't long until December 26 rolled around. It was going to be an extremely fun day. They all knew it. Not only did they have their fight night in the evening, but Moon was even throwing a massive house party at her house afterwards, an invitation that all of them had accepted. However, none of them were thinking about that right now. The only thing they were thinking about was the fight night and getting the best of their opponent…

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Fight 1 and 2 went by relatively quickly, although they were thoroughly entertaining to watch. Anthony managed to barely scrape a win against Devon, and Nate was able to beat his best friend, Bert. It was 2-0 to team Larusso after the first two fights. One more and they had already won the whole thing. And it very much looked like they were going to get one more, as the people who stood up next to fight were Demetri and Hawk, with Hawk on team Larusso and Demetri shockingly on team Lawrence.

"Why am I even bothering?" Demetri remarked to Robby, who stood beside him in their corner of the mat. Those were the feelings of many people going into the fight. The All-Valley champion against Demetri… many were expecting a repeat of Demetri's All-Valley semi final, where Robby had comfortably bested him 3-0.

"Don't worry. You've got this." Robby replied. "With Hawk, you've just got to pick your moments. Be patient as you know he's definitely going to attack first. Defend and allow him to tire himself out, and then pick your moment carefully."

Demetri nodded and prepared to step onto the sparring deck, but he was immediately held back by Johnny, who grabbed him none-too-gently by the scruff of his shirt.

"No. Sitting and waiting… that's a real pussy move. That's not what we're doing." Johnny instructed. "I didn't spend the past year training your dojo to be badass, all for you guys to just bend over and wait for your opponent to take you. This is what we're going to do…"

Johnny then told Demetri the plan, and by the end, Demetri was filled with reluctant confidence. Although he was confident with the idea, he couldn't help but think that there was no way this strategy was actually going to work for him of all people, against Hawk of all people.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the deck, Daniel spoke to Hawk.

"Eli, look, I know you want to win, okay? I want you to win as well." Daniel said. "But I want you to remember at all times that at the end of the day, this is only a friendly spar. Nothing more than that. You're fighting against your friend, not a Cobra Kai, not a random fighter in the All-Valley or Taikai. Tone the aggression down a little. Take it easy. Remember your Miyagi-Do fundamentals. I know you can do this."

Nodding at his sensei, Hawk stepped onto the deck too, taking a deep, calming breath. Mr. Larusso was right. This wasn't Cobra Kai. This was Miyagi-Do. This was his best friend that he was fighting. He needed to keep the Hawk chained up deep within, and instead only rely on Eli, the Miyagi-Do student, to win this fight. He couldn't risk allowing the Hawk to take over and him getting out of control.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Daniel asked them as the two Binary Brothers stepped closer to the center of the sparring deck, nodded at him and then bowed. Here we go…

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What happened right out of the gate was something that NOBODY would have expected coming into this fight, least of all the two fighters. Channeling Johnny's advice from before the fight, Demetri decided to man up and charge down Hawk, hoping that his offense would possess the element of surprise, as well as a strike that could connect to score the point. It possessed both of these things. Already on the back foot as he uncomfortably attempted to fight in a fully defensive way, Hawk had been in shock to see the way that Demetri lunged at him, and it wasn't long before Demetri and his offense managed to score him the first point of the fight, in the way of a sidekick to Hawk's exposed midsection.

Demetri 1 - 0 Hawk

"Demetri strikes first! Who would've thought?! The underdog has scored the first point in this bout! Is David set to beat Goliath here tonight?!" Chris, the voluntary videographer and commentator of the fight, exclaimed.

Hawk walked back to his corner, dismayed, but he forced himself to remain calm. He felt like right now, in this moment, he was fighting 2 battles. He was fighting one fight against Demetri, and one fight against the Hawk. It's like there was a monster chained inside him, one that it was taking most of energy to keep at bay. He had never been taught how to truly channel the Hawk inside him - it had always been either display it in full when he had trained with Johnny; and hide it at all costs when he had trained with Daniel. Even though he now had license to create his own unique fighting style, Hawk felt handicapped and unable to do that, as he had never been taught how to control all of his anger and aggression. All he could do right now is push it down at all costs and force the Miyagi-Do student, Eli Moskowitz, to fight this fight for him.

As the fight resumed, Eli realized that the problem was on top of everything else, if he only relied on the Miyagi-Do parts inside him, Demetri had trained at Miyagi-Do way longer than he had, so he knew exactly how to counter whatever Eli tried. What made Eli special and on the same level as the other top fighters in the Valley was his flamboyant, unorthodox fighting aggression, but now that he couldn't do that, he was a mere shell of himself. It didn't take long for Demetri to score yet another point.

Demetri 2 - 0 Hawk

Nobody was more surprised than Demetri at how this fight was shaping up. He was… winning! Using offense was actually paying off for him. He felt stronger, faster and more capable than ever, all thanks to the risky call that Johnny had before the fight, that was clearly paying dividends now. That said though, as the fight continued once more, Hawk did manage to get one back on him. With the technical advantage that Demetri shockingly had due to more extensive Miyagi-Do training, Hawk still had a physical advantage. He was still stronger than Demetri, so he managed to eat a few kicks that bounced off his parrying arms, before landing a Miyagi-Do takedown of his own and punching Demetri to the solar plexus.

Demetri 2 - 1 Hawk

However, despite scoring a point and only being one behind now, it still felt like it had just delayed the inevitable. Demetri was very much on the front foot, and had Hawk on the ropes, even before Hawk had scored on him. Although every fiber in Demetri's body wanted him to step back and simply defend, he forced himself to continue with this all-out attack method, as he knew Hawk was unable to really counter it thus far, and sure enough, that proved to be the case for the third, most decisive time. The more pressure Demetri put Eli under, the closer he was to tasting that final third point. Hawk was pushed further and further into simply defending, unable to make attacks of his own in his need to defend. And that led to him eventually accidentally leaving his body open, something that Demetri took advantage of with a punch to the abdomen.

Demetri 3 - 1 Hawk

As Demetri scoring the winning point in the fight, almost every single Miyagi-Do rushed onto the sparring deck in celebration, carrying him off the deck on their shoulders and chanting his name in victory. NOBODY had expected him to even come close to beating Hawk, let alone beating him as decisively as he had, in the unexpectedly offensive manner that he had. As Hawk trudged off the sparring deck, defeated, he watched as all of this occurred and he could feel the Hawk more desperate to return to overtaking him than ever. It wanted to, it needed to, if he wanted any chance at ever winning a fight again. Because if today was any indication, Eli Moskowitz was not even capable of beating the likes of Kenny and Demetri, let alone Robby, Miguel and Marcos. The Hawk needed a return. NOW.

Demetri had won the fight, so team Lawrence had managed to claw back a point to make the score 1-2. Nobody was thinking about that right now though. Most of them were celebrating Demetri's win, although some of them had their minds turned to the next fight on the agenda. As it was a very, very big one. Sam vs. Tory…