Tommy's Tale V.
Time dragged.
Fifteen minutes felt like forever. Almost time enough to read the All-Valley rulebook.
Feedback from the house mic jerked Tommy from his thoughts; the MC was at long last making an announcement.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment we've been waiting for, the presenta.."
A blonde blur had rushed onstage and stopped the MC mid word.
So much for the sweetest sentence in the English language, winner by default. It looked like Johnny would have to earn his 'threepeat' after all. Time for the burial of La Russo was nigh. Tommy wished he was the one delivering the coup de grace to Danielle's ambitions but then again he was a natural agitator and had been reminded by Bobby that he was indirectly responsible for the whole situation.
Come to think of it where was Bobby?
Tommy pushed his uneasy curiosity from his mind and concentrated on the match.
Oddly, the first point went to Daniel. Johnny had thrown a flurry of strikes but the worm had blocked them all, scoring with his only attack of the exchange. He'd landed a reverse punch as Johnny had been finishing his follow through from a kick.
Tommy remembered shouting that it was OK.
The second point also went to La Russo. Again Daniel had blocked a couple of strikes but this time he'd rolled through the supporting leg to deliver a chop to the occiput forcing Johnny's nose into the mat. Why was Johnny taking a beating like this and was La Russo targeting his nose? Begrudgingly Tommy realised if it was true Danielle had learnt to prey on other's weakness he was more like him than he cared to admit. Come to think of it was Ally being on the floor for the earlier matches a ploy too?
Luckily the referee had noticed the blood on Johnny's nose and sent him to Kreese for treatment.
Pretending to wipe away the blood Kreese had told Johnny to sweep the leg but Johnny had looked vacantly until Kreese asked him if he'd a problem. What were the Cobras going to do if Johnny lost and who was he going to play the role of malevolent court jester to?
Kreese's pep talk looked like it had helped. The next point went to Johnny who had suckered Daniel in with a feint before delivering a simple kick to his head. Tommy was so relieved he'd almost burst roaring his approval. Surely now Johnny's mind was right and the scare was over.
The next point evened the match with Johnny delivering a kick to La Russo while he was on the ground. Nice move but why wasn't he sweeping the leg? Had Johnny grown a conscience? Damn useless things Tommy thought.
The next exchange was an absolute clusterfuck. Flurries of moves and blocks were executed with Daniel waving an arm like a drunken fence painter and Johnny throwing more attacks to La Russo's injured wheel. Johnny even looked to have won the point with a strike to La Russo's face but the ref had ruled it a clash. Then it got darker.
Following the clash Johnny must've decided to sample the dish Bobby had served up. The worm had actually attacked with a kick and Johnny had driven an elbow into his knee. This broke the tournament rule on light (and I do mean light) contact to the knees. As a result Johnny drew a warning and Tommy felt compelled to order a body bag for Danielle with a trademark snicker.
Right idea but the wrong recipient, Tommy couldn't believe the outcome.
Johnny went back to his Cobra stance with shouts of encouragement ringing in his ears. All of Kreese's hackneyed mantras were thrown in, 'no mercy' and 'way of the fist' were heard along with a terse. "Finish him!" That was unsurprisingly from Kreese.
Meanwhile Danielle was standing on one leg like a flamingo in a gi. Johnny closed in but for some reason he was hesitant with his guard lower than usual. As a result Daniel's only available move, a kick from his injured leg had caught him flush on the chin. La Russo had not only won he'd beaten all of the Cobra's top fighters.
Kreese was going to go apeshit. The crowd rushed the mats and Tommy wanted the floor to swallow him up. Surprisingly Johnny was up and presenting the trophy to La Russo himself. Magnanimous, but why? Tommy felt an urgent gnawing in his guts. Was it adrenalin, food poisoning or the thought of Kreese's wrath?