CHAPTER 130
A/N
Thank you so much for the suggestions so far! They've been really good and many people have brought up great points regarding the characters that I hadn't even thought of! So keep the opinions coming! I'm loving reading them! Anyways, as they continue to come in, I'm going to begin the flight to the Taikai chapter. Hope you enjoy…
"This is too early to be awake." Tory muttered as she and Robby sat at L.A.X airport, in seats a couple of meters away from the baggage drop where the rest of the Miyagi-Do were standing.
The day had finally arrived. 5 o'clock in the morning and Miyagi-Do had all gathered at the airport, preparing to fly to Japan and compete in the Sekai Taikai. In around 3 hours, they'd be on a plane and hovering somewhere above the Pacific. After almost an entire year of training, that thought was absolutely crazy to them. Tory lived the closest of all of them to the airport, and given that Robby had stayed with her that night, they were the first to arrive at the airport. They managed to check-in and drop their bags off before the rest of the dojo had even arrived, eager to get onto the plane and kick off their journey to become World Champions.
However, the excitement and anticipation about the tournament did not overpower the fact that they were awake at an absolutely ungodly hour, and especially given how restless all of them had been the night before, it meant that they were all absolutely shattered.
Hence why when Tory spoke up to her boyfriend, she didn't receive an answer. She glanced sideways and saw that Robby's eyelids were beginning to flicker shut. Tory nudged him roughly in the ribs.
"Wake up." She told him. "The more you sleep now, the worse the jetlag is going to be when we arrive in Japan, remember?"
They had calculated this the night before. With the immense time difference between Tokyo and L.A, sleeping right now or on the plane for any more than a couple of hours would mean that their bodies would have even more of a nightmare trying to adjust to the jetlag and time difference.
"So tired." Robby groaned. "Just let me sleep."
"Go splash some water on your face. Maybe that'll help you wake up a bit." Tory suggested. Robby nodded and stumbled to his feet, shuffling in the direction of the bathroom sign at the corner of the airport.
He walked in, recoiling slightly at the putrid smell that greeted him as he entered the public washroom. Splashing some cold water on his face did absolutely nothing to help wake him up. If anything, he felt like he was in a trance, completely zombified by his exhaustion. However, he snapped awake when he heard a familiar voice from the doorway.
"Robby." The voice stabbed through Robby's exhausted state and dragged him back to reality. He spun around, only to see a very well-dressed Marcos Oliveira entering the bathroom.
As Robby looked at him for only the second time since he arrived - the first being when they confronted Silver at the Cobra Kai dojo - he took in the sight before him and raised an eyebrow.
"What's with the suit?" Robby asked.
"In two weeks time, I'm going to be the World Karate Champion. Might as well look the part." Marcos replied. Robby chuckled.
"Let me guess… Silver's idea?" He remarked. Marcos sighed and nodded.
"Yup. Not exactly the most comfortable thing to be wearing for a 12 hour flight." Marcos stated. Robby laughed.
"Yeah, I can't say I envy you." He said, looking down at the comfortable hoodie and sweatpants that he was wearing, before looking at his polar-opposite standing opposite him.
A silence overtook the two teenagers as they stood before one another. Both were thinking about the exact same thing: how they were both fighting for the same crown. How they might have enough respect for one another not to be brawling on the streets, but as soon as they have to fight, if they had to fight, there would be no holds barred. They were going to be forced to be enemies for the next two weeks, enemies who didn't even hate one another.
"I know I didn't get to say it to you when we saw you at the dojo last month, but it's good to have you back." Robby eventually broke the silence by speaking. "Valley wasn't the same without you."
"Thanks. It's good to be back." Marcos replied. "Kind of surprised at how nice and welcoming you've been though. Would've thought you'd be a bit more upset to see me. Like the rest of them were."
Robby sighed.
"I'll admit… is it fun seeing Cobra Kai's only half-decent male fighter back in the Valley, just in time for the world tournament? No, not really." Robby stated honestly. "But there are bigger things in life than a tournament. You never deserved to be kicked out of the country the way that you did. That's more important than whether or not we're competing against each other in the Taikai."
"That's… really big of you. I appreciate that." Marcos commented, slightly taken aback. The Taikai had been on the forefront of his mind every waking minute he had been back in the Valley. He assumed it was the same with all of the Miyagi-Dos.
"Don't take that the wrong way though… that doesn't mean I'm scared to fight you in any way, because I'm not. If we fight in the Taikai, I'm giving absolutely everything to walk away as the winner."
"I don't doubt that." Marcos nodded. "And like I said to you before I left 3 months ago, I'd be honored to have the opportunity to share the finals with you. We just both need to make it first."
Robby nodded as he finished drying his hands and prepared to leave the washroom.
"I'm going to go find my dojo now." Robby said. "If I don't see you before the tournament starts, good luck from me."
"Let's be honest man… knowing our dojos, we're definitely seeing each other again at some point before the tournament starts." Marcos remarked. "I'm just praying the idiots don't choose to pick a fight in the middle of the airport and get us arrested before we can even make it to Japan."
"Trust me, if a fight breaks out in the airport, it won't be because of the Miyagi-Do students." Robby stated. Miguel chuckled and shook his head.
"I was talking about our senseis. Remember, the ones with the combined maturity of a 10 year old and the egos and pride of Kardashians? They're the ones I'm really worried about. From both our dojos."
Robby laughed as he headed out of the bathroom, Marcos walking beside him as they talked.
"Can't argue with you there." Robby responded. The two boys walked over to the check-in aisle where all of the passengers traveling to Tokyo that morning were supposed to go, and as they drew nearer, they groaned. Their prediction had indeed rang true. They had jinxed it. Both dojos stood a few meters away from the check-in line, face to face and seeming to square up to one another.
Looking at each other, both too tired for whatever this was, they ran over to their respective sides to survey the scene. Sure enough, Robby and Marcos were right about another thing too. It didn't seem to be the students leading the charge. They were standing a few feet behind their respective senseis, who were the ones squaring up to one another.
Robby walked over to Miguel, who was standing towards the back of the Miyagi-Dos.
"What's going on?" He asked. Miguel sighed as he turned to him.
"What do you think? The senseis saw each other across the airport and just couldn't keep away from each other." Miguel grumbled. Sure enough, the 4 Miyagi-Do senseis - Daniel, Johnny, Barnes and Chozen - all stood menacingly opposite the 2 Cobra Kai senseis, the tension and stress of the occasion and the looming bet not lost on any of them.
"Listen up, old man. You better turn around before I rip your ponytail right off your head and feed it to you in front of all of the kids." Barnes snarled at his former employer, as Silver towered over all of them and chuckled mirthlessly. Whatever Silver had said first, it had definitely rubbed the Miyagi-Do senseis the wrong way, as they seemed absolutely livid.
"Mike, Mike, Mike." Silver tutted. "I must say, I was almost disappointed to see that you weren't one of the two senseis competing. But then again… we saw what happened last time you stepped on the mat. National champion and you couldn't even beat little Danny Larusso."
"Hey!" Daniel snapped. "He's ten times the fighter you are. So is Chozen. So is Johnny. After all, the last time you decided to fight, it wasn't exactly fireworks, was it? Lost to Chozen. Lost to me. All in one night. Maybe age is finally catching up with you."
"Maybe. Father time is the only force that none of us are able to beat." He stated. "Or maybe it was all to lead up to this moment. The moment where I beat one of you on the global stage. Expose your fraudulent teachings to the entire world. Show everyone that the way of the fist isn't just the better way… it's the only way."
"Yeah well we'll see about that." Johnny snapped, taking half a step forward towards Silver, Silver doing the same. However, before anything could happen between the dojos, Silver felt Kreese's hand quickly hold him back.
"Stand down." Kreese quietly ordered. "Let's go."
Silver scowled daggers at Kreese, staring almost incredulously at him.
"Are you serious?!" Silver snapped, livid to be put down in front of all of his students and opponents. It was a very purposeful move by Kreese, a reminder to Silver that even though Silver might be fighting for them, there was only one man in charge.
"Very." Kreese replied. "We're not fighting them. Not now. Not yet. Step down."
After glaring hard at Kreese for a moment, with murder in his eyes, Silver eventually did what he was told, taking a step back. The Miyagi-Do senseis had to hold back a laugh as they saw the normally so authoritative man being put in his place.
"You're right. We'll get them on the mat. Where there's nowhere to hide, no one to hide behind." Silver stated quietly. "Anyways, let's get going. First class boards early."
One of the first things Silver had done as the newest member of Team Cobra Kai was upgrade all of their tickets to first class ones. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for the whole team on his private jet, so first class on a commercial jet would have to do.
"You guys are in first class?" Johnny snapped, slightly taken aback. Silver smirked and nodded.
"Only the very best for our students." Silver replied. "We don't mind putting in the extra buck if it benefits our students."
With that, Silver turned on his heel and walked away with Kreese, the rest of the Cobra Kai dojo following close behind him. When they were gone, Johnny turned towards the other senseis, his fists curled so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"I hate that guy so much." Johnny spat, wanting nothing more than to punch whatever was closest to him. Preferably the pony-tailed Cobra Kai sensei who was retreating further into the airport.
"You'll get your chance to do that soon enough." Daniel reassured him. "Chances are, one of us will have to fight him at some point in the tournament. And when we do, he's going to regret ever messing with our kids…"