CHAPTER 43

As expected, it was indeed Miguel who threw the first punch. And a hell of a powerful punch it was. All of the hatred, all of the loathing he had towards Robby was channelled into that blow. All of the nights he had gone to sleep, screaming obscenities in frustration about his injury. All of the hardships Robby had put his family through when he had kicked Miguel over the balcony. The emotional, physical and financial toll Miguel's coma and injury had had on everyone. Miguel let all of that emotion flood through his body as he lunged at Robby, but that was exactly Miguel's problem. He could fight opponents much better than Robby and win, provided there was no emotional connection to them. But fighting Robby… the level of animosity and emotion in that fight caused Miguel to be sloppy. His desperate aggression to land a ruthless hit on his foe caused his other hand to venture away from guarding his face, and Robby used that to his advantage, blocking Miguel's first punch and sending a roundhouse that slapped hard against Miguel's cheek, causing the Cobra Kai leader to go tumbling to the ground. As Robby stood over him, he grinned at his downed foe.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" Robby asked cockily. "I mean, you do remember what happened last time we fought, right?"

You do remember what happened last time we fought.

There it was again. Robby mocking Miguel for the injury that he himself had inflicted on him. Hearing the words and letting them set into Miguel's mind took the latin teenager to a new level of fury, one he had never even been to before. Every time he and Robby faced one another, Miguel found himself taken to a new level of fury. He was no longer feeling the same burning wrath he had felt a few moments before. No, he was even past that stage now. It was an icy-cold sensation that he had rarely ever felt before. He wasn't a teenager with a rivalry. No, he was an exterminator, ready to squish the mosquito once and for all. He was dead silent, laser-focused as he got to his feet, letting his training instincts set in as the fight resumed.

This time, Miguel was a lot more calm with his approach. He threw a couple of kicking and punching combinations to feel Robby out, get a handle on how the boy fought and as he realised, he couldn't help but chuckle. You could take the boy out of Miyagi-Do, but you really couldn't take the Miyagi-Do out of the boy. And that was great, because Miguel knew Miyagi-Do, he had been in Miyagi-Do himself, so he knew exactly how to beat it. He smothered Robby, didn't let him breathe. All the boy could do was defend himself as Miguel unleashed a tornado of punches, kicks, throwing everything he had at the boy who had screwed him over so badly. And sure enough, eventually one of the shots broke through. Miguel had sent a swinging hook punch that Robby had managed to parry, and for a moment, it looked to the brunette that Miguel had thrown too much weight into it that he was off-balance and momentarily vulnerable. Knowing that this was his chance to get Miguel down again, he quickly tried to take it, dropping his hands slightly in his haste to strike Miguel again. But he was split seconds too late, as in the blink of an eye, Miguel's 'overthrown' punching arm had come crashing back the other side of Robby's face in a brutal backhand. The trap had been set and Robby had walked right into it, the boy falling to the ground, clutching his face as he swore he felt a tooth chip from the strength of the blow.

With Robby down, Miguel didn't immediately lunge at Robby to finish the fight. He could've, but he didn't want to. He clearly had a vice-like control over the fight, and he wasn't ready for it to be over yet. So all he did was walk over to Robby's dazed body and he crouched down so he was right there beside the boy, and he looked at the boy he loathed so much and decided to talk to him. One of his father's lessons came rushing back to Miguel: "if you manage to beat your opponent psychologically, there's a 0% chance he wins physically." So Miguel decided to do just that. Get into his head.

"You know, you're lucky Tory isn't here right now to watch you get beat up." Miguel whispered to him quietly, so only Robby could hear him and not the gawking crowd of students. "I saw you watching us talking tonight. I don't blame you for being upset. I mean, if history's any indication… you do remember what happened last time I spoke to one of your girlfriends at a party, right?"

Just as Robby had hit Miguel right where it hurts with his comments about Miguel's injury, Miguel had weaselled his way into Robby's head by the mention of Tory and to an extent, Sam too. Upon hearing this, Robby felt new life and new wrath burst through his body, reinvigorating him to finish the fight. He let out a roar of pure fury and shot up, diving at Miguel, who was still crouched down. Miguel was wildly off-balance as he talked to Robby, as he was bent down sitting only on the ball of his feet, so when Robby attacked him again, Miguel was caught completely unawares.

Robby took advantage of this and in a second, he had Miguel flat on his back, and was sitting on top of him, throwing down powerful punches at Miguel's head, Miguel raising his hands to cover his face and block them all. And for a moment, just for a moment, Robby had dominance over the fight. THUD! THUD! THUD! Robby hurled at Miguel fury filled fists, and for a second, it was all Miguel could do to cover his head with his hands and block the shots that would've knocked him out instantly. Miguel had been taken by surprise, and took him a few seconds to collect himself, but once he did, relaxation filled through him. It didn't matter that right now, Robby had the upper hand. They were both on the ground, which meant that Miguel could demonstrate his grappling superiority and use moves that Manuel had taught him, things he knew Robby had no way of defending against.

In an instant, Miguel shoved his hips upwards, tossing Robby forwards and towards him so their faces were just a few inches apart. From there, Miguel quickly wrapped his arm around Robby's neck and pulled him into a guillotine choke, something his dad had taught him. It was an immensely powerful choke, and as Miguel locked his legs around Robby to keep him in the lock, the brunette knew that there was no way he was going to be able to wriggle his way out of this one. He thrashed around in it for a few moments before his calmer mind prevailed, and he managed to think of a way to escape the hold that was cutting off his circulation and making it harder and harder to breathe with every passing moment.

Robby knew that because there was no way he'd be able to use agility to get out of this one, he was going to have to rely on pure strength. He couldn't pick the lock, so he was going to have to blow the door right down. While Miguel had clearly trained a hell of a lot since the last time they fought and definitely held an advantage over him on technical skill, agility and even speed, Robby knew that body strength was one area where he still held a slim advantage over his rival. While Miguel had taken the past year to improve technically in the sport, Robby had taken the time to bulk up and put on a lot more muscle, something he was about to have to rely on in the next few moments. As he felt more and more lightheaded in the fierce choke, he knew that he needed to strike now or never. While trying to pelt Miguel with weak punches to get him to loosen the choke wasn't working, Robby decided to try something else. A hail mary…

Robby channelled every fiber of strength he had left in him and he pushed it all down to his lower body. He slowly rose, literally rose, to his feet with Miguel still latched onto him in the chokehold. Robby managed to stumble first onto his knees, and then onto his feet, so Miguel was now hovering nearly 6 feet off the ground as Robby stood upright. Robby then prepared to let his legs give way and fall forwards, so he would end up slamming Miguel's back onto the asphalt. It would be the move to end the fight in an instant. Miguel being slammed onto a hard road onto his bad back… yeah, he wouldn't be getting up from that one.

An unreadable look on his face, Robby prepared to complete the move but just before he did, something caught his eye. Miguel was smiling. Smiling at him! What the hell was he smiling for? That idiot had no idea what was about to hit him, Robby remarked to himself. And without wasting a second more, Robby threw his lower body backwards and slammed Miguel as hard as he could.

Well, that's at least what he was trying to do. Instead, what actually happened was very different. At the last possible moment, Robby felt Miguel shift in the choke, almost completely letting go with his legs. But because Robby had thrown all his way backwards, it meant that he had absolutely no balance, and the idea of him falling forward and dropping Miguel on his back onto the ground ended up becoming Miguel shoving Robby downwards with his face hitting the ground, while the part of Miguel's body that made contact with the floor first was his knees.

Robby was very nearly knocked out as he felt his face slam against the concrete with a loud CRASH. If he hadn't broken anything, it would have been an absolute miracle, but it still dazed him more than enough for Miguel to prowl over to his vanquished foe. He had truly and thoroughly outplayed him, his skill level far surpassing Robby's and causing Robby's strength advantage to become obsolete. But Miguel was not done with Robby yet. Far from it. He knew exactly what Robby had just tried to do. That piece of shit had tried to reinjure his back, and Miguel was not going to let that stand. He was going to send a message to Robby and the rest of Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang to stop trying to pick a fight with him for joining Cobra Kai. To get them to back the fuck off.

Miguel made it over to Robby, who was still lying flat on his stomach, completely winded and dazed. He grabbed Robby by the hair, pulling his neck and head up and off the ground, just enough for Miguel to wrap his arm around it once more in a rear naked choke. He then rolled himself and Robby over so Miguel's back was on the concrete and Robby was lying on top of him, trapped in the choke, and Miguel also wrapped his legs around Robby's midsection so the boy could not go anywhere. He was completely and utterly helpless, and though he was already only barely conscious, he knew that in a few more seconds, he would be completely out. With Robby in this position, Miguel began to whisper in his ear.

"You see? This is what happens when you try to pick a fight with me, asshole." Miguel murmured quietly yet clearly in his enemy's ear. "This is what you get for all of the hurt, all of the misery you caused me and the people I love over the past year. Me, Sam, Johnny, Miyagi-Do… you caused so many people so much pain. It's time for you to repent for your sins, you piece of shit."

And for a few seconds, Miguel didn't hear an answer from Robby. The boy had been trying to claw himself out of the grip, but had been wildly unsuccessful so had pretty much given up and given in. But when Miguel finally heard him speak, it was words Miguel never expected to hear.

"P-p-p-p…" Robby spluttered, unable to get out a whole word with his neck being squeezed like a crank.

"What?" Miguel snapped quietly.

"P-p-p-please." Robby eventually managed to get out, and in that moment, Miguel was suddenly dragged back a few weeks, to a time where he himself had been in Robby's shoes…

Miguel was lying on the ground, helpless, as his father began to squeeze the life out of his son's body…

I'm going to die, Miguel thought to himself. I'm officially going to die today. Today's the day that God has decided to punch out my ticket. With every passing second, Miguel could feel less and less air coming into his lungs, his head beginning to feel lighter and lighter. And at this point, Miguel simply stopped fighting. He knew it was useless. It wasn't going to change the outcome. All it would do was give him a false sense of hope and checking out of the world would be a lot less painful. So Miguel just closed his eyes and let the angel of death overtake him.

"P-p-p-p-please." Miguel managed to stammer, his face beginning to turn purple in the deadly grip of his father's choke. As Miguel begged and pleaded for his life, Manuel didn't show any shred of emotion on his face. His features were cold, ice cold. He had no emotional attachment to anyone and anything, no moral sense of right and wrong. He was no different to a reptile, in that he was nothing but a cold-blooded creature able to kill a man without batting an eye.

"I'm sorry, Miguel…" Manuel murmured, in a tone that didn't have a ray of sunshine in it. It was pure frigid, as he shook his head at his son. "I wish it didn't have to end this way…"

With that, Manuel began to squeeze harder…

However, as Miguel's mind flashed back to the memory, it had the exact opposite effect on him. He immediately let go of the only barely conscious Robby and he pushed him aside, alarmed at in that moment how similar he was to his father. The fight was over, as Robby was down and out, unable to stand let alone fight, and anything more Miguel did to him from here would be being an asshole type of person that he wasn't, or at least he tried not to be.

Miguel slowly stumbled to his feet and stepped back, for the first time noticing the massive crowd that had formed. They were still gawking interestedly, sublimely entertained by Miguel and Robby's bout. Shaking off every urge he had to beat the shit out of all of them for their lack of compassion and lack of action upon seeing the guys going at it, he quickly ran over to his car which was still lying there a couple of meters away, still pretty damaged from when Hawk kicked him against it, and Robby threw him against it at one point during the fight. However, thankfully the engine still worked, so Miguel quickly turned it on and sped away from the canyon and the site of the fight, leaving the barely stirring Robby behind him…