CHAPTER 146

The next day was officially their second off-day of the Taikai. The round of 16 did not take place until the following evening, but that didn't mean that the Miyagi-Dos and Cobra Kai had the whole day to themselves like they did last time. They couldn't sneak off to the mall again. Instead, their schedules were rigid to the minute, filled with more extensive photoshoots, media appearances and interviews.

It was clear that they were no longer in the prelims. They were in the knockout stages now, which meant that the televizing of the tournament was officially beginning, and the attention on the Taikai would become thousands of times more. People would be able to tune in from all over the world to watch the fights, as well as the press conferences and promos that led up to the fights each day. The already extravagant Taikai had kicked it into another gear.

It all started with the press conference that morning. Miyagi-Do were still combined with their Valley counterparts for the press conferences, but this time there were easily double the number of interviewers in the room, eager to get the scoop from the competitors before the massive event began. However, although the room was much larger from a press point of view, it was slightly smaller from a fighters' point of view. Only those remaining in the competition would be facing the press, which meant Demetri, Kyler, Piper and Kenny all weren't required.

The Miyagi-Dos filed into the press conference room and took their seats without even a second glance at the Cobra Kais. That's what it had come to. They knew that the moment they bothered to grace them with retaliations and retorts, the rivalry would flare up anew.

"Good morning." The mediator eventually said, shutting everyone in the room up. "Thank you all for being here. This is the pre-knockout stage press conference for both the Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai dojos. We'd like to remind everyone, both press and fighters, to keep things civil. To show reasonable etiquette throughout. Without further ado, let's begin. Interviewer 1…"

The first interviewer stood up.

"Thank you. This question is for Miguel Diaz of Miyagi-Do Karate." He said, staring at Miguel as he asked. "During my research of the competitors, your story resonated with me in particular, as I'm sure it did with a lot of people. After everything that's come before, how does it feel to now be fighting in the knockout stages of the biggest youth combat sport tournament in the world?"

"Yeah, uh… feels good." Miguel murmured, unsure of what else to really say. The interviewer chuckled.

"Care to elaborate?" The interviewer asked. "I'm sure many of the people supporting you would love to know what's going through your head right now."

Miguel nodded.

"Uh… I'm just really happy to be here. Happy to be fighting for this dojo. It's been a really, really long way back from injury. Definitely longer than I thought or wanted. But the fact that I was able to make it here is a testament to the incredible people around me. To fight alongside all of these great Miyagi-Dos, without whom I'd probably still be in a wheelchair back home… it means a lot. I want to win to do them all proud and give thanks for everything they've done for me."

"How are you taking things with this upcoming fight? It's no secret you're the favorite for your round of 16 fight. After all, you were seeded 6th and your opponent 11th. Does that mean that you're keeping one eye looking towards the quarter finals and the semis?" The interviewer asked. Miguel shook his head.

"There are no easy fights here. Especially not at this point in the competition." Miguel reiterated, not only to the interviewer but sending the message to his teammates too. "Underestimating someone is the quickest way to get sent home, as the gap between all of us is so narrow by this point. I don't know much about my opponent yet, but I'm going to give him the respect he deserves. I'm going to give him my full concentration and my full effort, and then I'll worry about the quarter finals afterwards, if I make it."

"Thank you, Mr. Diaz. Final question… your history with Mr. Keene, as well as the Cobra Kai dojo has been widely documented. As interviewers, it's our job to read up all about it so I read a lot about the history between all of you. My question to you is that if faced with the prospect of fighting one of them in the later rounds, will you approach the fight any differently to any other fight."

"Short answer… no." Miguel replied. "There's nothing between Robby and I now, if that's what you're asking. I'm sure you already know this from whatever research you've done, but he's legally my stepbrother too. There's no reason to treat him differently in a fight to anyone else. We both have enough respect for each other to put on a clean, fair fight."

"And if you have to fight one of the members of the Cobra Kai dojo?" The interviewer asked. "Given your history fighting for and against the dojo, are there any fears about fighting one of them, particularly with your injury record?"

"No." Miguel bluntly responded. "If Cobra Kai wants to fight dirty, they'll fight dirty. Nothing I can really do about that. But I won't change the way I'm fighting because of it. As for my injury record… you legally can't hit your opponent in the back in a fight, so if Cobra Kai tries to start doing that, if they start targeting my back, I trust the referees to take the necessary steps, whether it be a warning, a deduction or otherwise. I'm also not too afraid of re-injury. I feel stronger than ever, and haven't felt any pain or anything there for almost an entire year now, so I'm as confident as I possibly can be about that."

"Thank you, Mr. Diaz." The mediator said, and the interviewer also thanked Miguel before sitting down. "Moving onto the next interviewer…"

The press conference lasted about an hour. Almost every single one of the remaining competitors (Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory, Daniel, Johnny, Kreese, Silver, Marcos, Sarah and Shawn) were asked similar questions to Miguel, the press all getting the answers they were so eagerly waiting for as they prepared to write profiles on all of the fighters. It was all part of the process for the round of 16, the beginning of the main stages of the competition.

Following the press conference, the competitors all proceeded to do a number of different media responsibilities that were required. They started with photoshoots and video promos wearing their tournament gis. They also had short profiles done on all of them. There were a few other things they needed to do too before eventually, it was time to break for lunch…

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"Must you take so much food? You realize there's enough on that plate to feed half of Asia for a year, right?" Sarah remarked as her and Marcos sat together in the dining hall after they finished all of their interviews and photoshoots, before they left for some afternoon training. The pair were eating lunch, and Marcos hadn't hesitated to scoop a mountain of food onto his plate, ravenous as always.

"Sue me. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet! I'm simply doing as instructed: I'm 'all-you-can-eating'." Marcos joked back. Sarah rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the comment as the couple continued to eat peacefully. They were only interrupted when all of a sudden, two familiar figures burst into the room and ran over to them.

"Kenny. Shawn. What's going on?" Marcos asked cheerfully as he saw his teammates. Apart from Sarah, of all of his Cobra Kai teammates, Kenny and Shawn were the only ones Marcos had really bonded with - he wasn't too much of a fan of Kyler, Piper and the other Cobras. Kenny was a sweet kid, young enough to not be permanently infected by the cruelty of the world. He was reverting more and more back to his normal self as days went by, his bullying days well behind him. Shawn, meanwhile, was probably Marcos' best friend in the dojo other than Sarah. Although the boy had a very prickly exterior, he was loyal like nobody Marcos had met before. He was the kind of person you knew would be the first to lay his body on the line for you in a fight without any hesitation. As soon as Shawn and Marcos had gotten on the same page, they had hit it off quite well, and were great teammates and sparring partners.

Almost immediately, an iPad was shoved under Marcos' nose from the hands of Kenny.

"Have you seen this?" Kenny asked. Marcos looked down at it and immediately recognized the press conference room of the Sekai Taikai in the form of a youtube video. However, it wasn't the Cobra Kais or the Miyagi-Dos that Marcos watched inhabit the room. It was instead a vaguely familiar dojo, but Marcos couldn't quite place them.

"Who are they?" Marcos asked.

"They're the reigning champion dojo. From Argentina. You're fighting one of them in the round of 16." Kenny informed him.

"Their champion?" Marcos asked, surprised. He hadn't paid much attention to who exactly he was fighting in the round of 16 just yet. That was supposed to be the next thing on his plate. Kenny shook his head.

"No. Their champion qualified in 1st with a 10-0 record, remember? Not even conceding a point." Kenny said.

"Good lord." Marcos murmured quietly. "So who am I fighting?"

"That guy." Kenny pointed at a figure on the iPad screen. "He seems like their second best fighter. He's the only guy apart from the champion to make it through. Seeded 13th so he's your opponent."

"That's not the point. Look at what the fucker says." Shawn snapped, pushing the iPad closer towards Marcos and Sarah. They watched the press conference unfold and Marcos' opponent began to be asked questions. As things proceeded, Marcos and Sarah were left stunned.

The Brazilian boy Marcos had met on the first night, Joao, had not been exaggerating when he spoke about the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina taking shape in the Taikai. The amount of venom and disrespect Marcos' opponent possessed when talking about Marcos far surpassed even the things that were said during the heated Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do press conferences. This guy had absolutely no filter whatsoever, nothing holding him back from saying some ruthlessly dickish things about Marcos.

Why would he censor himself though? What did he have to lose after all? His dojo were the reigning champions, establishing a dynasty in recent times. Trash-talking was a large part of the press conferences, particularly in the later rounds, so there was nothing stopping him from absolutely tearing into Marcos. Amongst many other things, Marcos watched as his opponent called him a "fake Brazilian". He was called a "pathetic American, from Hollywood, just like the rest of them." Although the two boys had never even had a conversation, that didn't stop Marcos' opponent from igniting an inferno.

At one point, Marcos simply turned off the iPad. He had no interest in watching any more, even though it went on for at least another 15 minutes.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, concerned. Rivalry was one thing, particularly international rivalries, but what this guy had done had gone way too far. It took everything Marcos had to remain calm, not let anger and aggression take over, and as he handed the iPad back to Kenny, he nodded.

"I'm fine." Marcos grunted.

"You sure? Because if you want to, we can do the exact same thing back. Or we can go and fight them right now." Shawn growled. Marcos shook his head.

"We're not doing that. We're not getting ourselves disqualified for that shit. We'll wait until tomorrow night. Then we'll see who's talking then…"

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Marcos didn't say much for the rest of lunch. The other Cobras could tell that he was silently seething about the insolent interview from his round of 16 opponent, an interview where the boy not only insulted Marcos, but insulted his home country too. Marcos didn't say much more on the topic though, but it was interesting that he hardly touched his food for the rest of the meal. He remained silent, moving the food around on his plate but not taking a bite, eventually getting up with Sarah, Shawn and Kenny and prepared to leave the dining hall.

But even that wasn't without its drama. Because just as the Cobras headed for the door of the dining hall, who was to walk into the dining hall at the very same time but the reigning Taikai champions, the Argentinian dojo possessing the fighter who had spent almost an hour disrespecting Marcos. Marcos spotted his opponent in their midst within seconds, and it didn't take the guy long to see Marcos either, the two immediately standing face to face and squaring up to one another.

"I saw your interview." Marcos remarked. "Strong words. Especially for someone who couldn't even make the top 10 in the prelims."

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm confident." The boy responded. "In case you haven't seen, our dojo has won 5 of the last 10 tournaments. You've come in for the first time from some beach in California, calling yourself Brazilian and…"

"Hey, mention my country one more time and I swear to God…" Marcos snarled menacingly. It wasn't Marcos' opponent who spoke up next, but instead the reigning Taikai champion himself, the guy who had been seeded 1st and was still undefeated in the tournament so far. He was the clear leader of the Argentinean dojo, and so his teammates parted like the Red Sea as he walked through them to face Marcos and the 3 other Cobras.

Instinctively, as the Cobras saw the Taikai champion approaching Marcos, they all did the same, Kenny, Shawn and Sarah all stepping up to defend Marcos if things came to blows. Which they probably wouldn't. Because everyone knew that if any of them fought one another, they'd be on the first flight home.

"Why don't you listen here, little boy? You're going to lose your match tonight. Whether that be by dropping out or losing your fight, I don't care. But you're going to lose. For your own safety."

"That's not happening." Marcos snapped back, unfazed by the champion's almost threatening words. The champion chuckled before stepping back.

"Fine. Have it your way. But when things soon go to complete shit for you, don't say I didn't warn you." He told Marcos, before laughing and leading his team into the dining hall, leaving the rest of Cobra Kai outside.

"That's not good." Sarah murmured, concerned. "You realize he's threatening you, right? He wants you to quit or he's going to do something to you in retaliation."

"He isn't doing shit." Shawn snapped back in reply. "He's just trying to run his mouth to distract you before your fight, Marcos. Now all you've got to do is get on the mat tomorrow and obliterate his friend. That'll shut him up…"