CHAPTER 148
With the fighting in the Round of 16 officially over, it was now time for the final event of the night: the quarter final draw. This was where it got really interesting. Because while in the round of 16, matchups had been based on prelim performances, now it was entirely random. Now, the names of every single competitor had been placed in a bowl, and would be picked one by one. In theory, two teammates could be fighting against one another. In theory, the number 1 and number 2 from the prelims, who had both qualified for the quarter finals, could be fighting against each other. It was all about to be discovered.
For that reason, as the Miyagi-Dos took to the stage along with the rest of the qualified competitors, they were slightly nervous. While everything that occurred on the mat was in their control, this was most definitely not. They would have to adapt to deal with whatever was thrown their way, and they were about to find out exactly what that was.
"So… Ray, we've made it to the Quarter Final draw. What are your thoughts from the round of 16? Which competitors stood out to you?" Peter Drury, one of the commentators asked his fellow co-commentator.
"Well from the Senseis' division, it's hard to look past Terry Silver from the Cobra, isn't it? He's been superb." Ray Hudson replied. "He absolutely obliterated his opponent in the quarter finals, and went undefeated in the prelims too. That man is showing us first-hand that age is just a number."
"Especially when you're a member of the Cobra Kai dojo, it looks like. That entire dojo has looked really sharp so far. Not only Terry Silver, but Marcos Oliveira looked spectacular in his round of 16 fight, didn't he? Clearly not afraid to get his hands dirty to win this competition. He's definitely one of my picks to win this thing." Drury stated.
"Not so fast, Peter. Let's not discount the other Los Angeles dojo: Miyagi-Do. Whatever they're doing out there in L.A is clearly working, because both of the dojos have looked incredible so far. They're not showing any signs of fear, despite the fact that this is their first tournament, huh?"
"They sure are. That girls' duo of Tory Nichols and Samantha Larusso… remind me not to mess with them!"
"Well… for all of you still watching, we're about to see who our quarter final matchups will be. The competitors and the audience will find out tonight, and there will be less than 24 hours to prepare before they fight tomorrow night. We haven't even seen the matchups yet and I've got to tell you, Peter, I'm so excited for this one!"
The quarter finalists - girls, boys and senseis - all stood on the stage, opposite the entire intrigued audience. In front of them were three large bowls, clearly each marked with the word "Boys", "Girls" or "Senseis", and inside each bowl were 8 names. Everything was set up, and sure enough, a few moments later, a few senior Taikai committee members took to the stage to begin the draw.
Names began to fly out of the bowls thick and fast. The Miyagi-Dos and Cobra Kais anxiously awaited their fates but it turned out, for the most part, they had nothing to worry about. On the Miyagi-Do side, every single one of them had avoided fighting against a Cobra Kai in the quarter finals, which was something all of them were somewhat dreading, especially as they approached the latter rounds of the competition.
Meanwhile, the Cobra Kais also managed to avoid having to fight any of the Miyagi-Dos, however, they did end up having one problem. One LARGE problem. It occurred towards the end of the draw, as the boys' quarter final draw was being decided.
"Now… for matchup number 6 of the boys' division, let's see who we have fighting…" The Taikai committee member built suspense as he slowly reached into the bowl and pulled out a tightly sealed slip of paper, containing a name.
It took him a while, but eventually he managed to open up the paper and display the name that was written on it for all to see, both those in the arena and those watching on TV.
MARCOS OLIVEIRA, BRAZIL (COBRA KAI KARATE)
Marcos' name had officially been pulled from the bowl. He leaned forward a little curious to see who he'd be up against. He already knew that it wasn't going to be Miguel, Robby or Hawk, as the three of them had already been drawn in different matchups. But he would soon find out that there were other people still remaining in the bowl that he definitely wouldn't rather be fighting at this stage of the competition.
Sure enough, as the Taikai committee member reached into the bowl once more, he pulled out possibly the worst remaining option that Marcos could've gotten…
DIEGO RODRIGUEZ, ARGENTINA (WARRIOR KARATE)
For a second, Marcos didn't recognize his Quarter Final opponent. After all, he didn't know of this man by name. He instead knew of him as the reigning Sekai Taikai champion, the Argentinian who was attempting to make history by going undefeated throughout the whole tournament, the dickish 20 year old who had tried to threaten Marcos to quit before his fight against the champion's friend in the round of 16. Well Marcos might've been able to easily dispatch of the boy's friend in the round of 16, but taking on the champ himself would be a whole other story.
As Marcos and Diego were led to the middle of the stage to do a photographed faceoff - as had been the case with every other matchup - it was clear that there was no love lost between the two of them. Their faces got within inches of each other, their eyes burning with loathing, particularly on the side of the champion.
"We told you to quit. We warned you to drop out before the round of 16." The Argentinian champion snarled, quietly enough so that only Marcos heard him.
"Yeah, well, I didn't feel like doing that." Marcos remarked back.
"That was a big mistake. You should have listened to us. For your own safety." The champion growled, but not fazing Marcos.
"Go on. What are you going to do? You're just scared I'm going to send you crying right back to Argentina like I did with your friend." Marcos shot back.
The Argentine's face flushed dark crimson in fury as Marcos stared him down. Marcos knew that this probably wasn't the wisest decision. It probably wasn't too smart to so openly and outwardly challenge his rival, especially before their fight, but at the same time, he wasn't going to let himself get pushed around.
After the face off, as the two boys were then being led away, the Argentinian champion managed to whisper one more menacing threat to Marcos.
"You better watch your back tonight." He warned the Cobra, who once again shrugged off the insult as he went to rejoin his team. Moments later, the remaining matchups of the Quarter Finals had been decided and announced, the media already in the process of making posters, photos and other promotional material for each of the matchups.
"With that, another day of the Sekai Taikai is officially over." The commentator, Peter Drury, announced to those still watching on TV. "Only 4 days now until the moment of truth, until the moment where 3 of these competitors will be lifting a trophy and experiencing a joy beyond anything they've ever felt before."
"Yeah, such a shame that it's only 4 days, because this has been an absolutely spectacular tournament so far. Definitely the best one I've seen in recent years." The other commentator, Ray Hudson, replied.
"Well it's not all sad. We've still got a few days left of incredible matchups. Tell me, Ray, which one of these quarter final matchups stand out most to you?" Drury asked his co-commentator. Hudson chuckled.
"Well, Peter, how can I say anything else but the Marcos Oliveira, Diego Rodriguez fight. Brazil vs. Argentina. Challenger vs. Reigning champion. One of the most lively fighters we've seen in years against the undefeated champion who's trying to make history by winning his third championship in a row. The combination between flair and brute strength of these two is simply excellent. Not only that, but early tonight Oliveira ended up eliminating Rodriguez's teammate. That can't have helped in trying to keep things civil between these two."
"Oh, it definitely hasn't, Ray. You could see as they were doing their face-off, there were definitely some things said, some words exchanged between these two. They definitely don't like each other, that's for sure. Hopefully they can keep things clean tomorrow because if they do, I'm sure we're in for a spectacular fight."
"Let's hope we get to tomorrow first, Peter. If I were Cobra Kai Karate or Warrior Karate, I'd draw a line right down the middle of the accommodation facility and make sure each competitor stays on their respective half. The last thing I'd want is these two coming together before the Quarter Finals even begin…"
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Around an hour later, the Cobra Kais finally made it back to the accommodation facility. It was close to midnight, the latest the tournament had run any day so far. Sure enough, it made sense as there had been a ton of fights to get through, as well as a breathtaking Opening Ceremony and then the Quarter Final draw at the end. All this meant was that by the time they arrived back at the castle they were living in, they were all on the brink of exhaustion, ready to fall asleep from the moment their heads hit the pillow.
As they walked into the familiar castle, most of the Cobra Kai teenagers began to head back to their dormitory. However, there was one of them who decided to walk in the exact opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Sarah asked Marcos as she watched him walk in the exact opposite direction of their dorm.
"Medical wing. Just to grab some ice." Marcos clarified, as he saw worry flash across Sarah's eyes. "My shoulder's a bit sore from the fight today and I want to make sure it's all good by tomorrow."
"Do you want one of us to come with?" Sarah asked, the threats that had been made by the Argentinean champion not going unnoticed by her, even if Marcos was doing a great job ignoring them.
Marcos shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. Go back to the room. I'll meet you there in like 5 minutes." Marcos reassured her. Eventually, Sarah nodded and her and the other Cobra Kai students walked away, Marcos splitting off and heading towards the medical wing as he said.
However, one thing he didn't notice was that in the distance, at the end of the corridor behind him, another group of students lay, led by someone who had an inferno of wrath still burning in his eyes. Spotting the Cobra walking through the deserted, empty hallways all alone, he gestured to the rest of his dojo to follow him. It turned out that revenge was going to come sooner than he expected…
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THUD!
All of a sudden, the deafening, eerie silence that filled the air shattered as Marcos found himself being thrown into the wall so hard that he was shocked he didn't damage it. By the grace of God, he narrowly avoided bouncing his head off the wall, as that would've almost certainly cracked his skull open. Instead, it was his back that took the brunt of the impact, but that still caused spasms of pain to stab through him and caused him to collapse to the ground in a heap.
Before he could react to what was going on, Marcos was dragged to his feet and as he squinted through the pain and looked up, he found himself being surrounded by the entire Argentinian championship winning dojo, led by the boy that Marcos was due to fight in less than 24 hours and the boy that Marcos had just eliminated a few hours ago.
His head whipping back and forth as he desperately searched for an exit, a way out of the situation, Marcos quickly found himself encircled, a gazelle amid a pack of hyenas. He watched as 5 of the thugs slowly prowled towards him - interestingly enough, the 6th person (their champion) remained a few steps behind all of them. There was only one option left for Marcos: to fight.
That plan also failed extraordinarily quickly. One thing that Marcos was forgetting was that while he could take on 5 normal people with relative ease and come out on top, these were most definitely normal people. These were multiple world championship winning Karate students. Even taking on one of these students was a challenge, so 5 of them… Marcos stood no chance.
But he tried. He managed to land a few solid strikes, knock one or two of them backwards as they advanced on him, but pretty quickly it all became too much for him. The fighters standing behind him managed to grab hold of his arms and pin them behind his back, rendering him defenseless.
Once he was successfully pinned down, unable to move even an inch more to defend himself, the dojo's champion, Marcos' Quarter Final opponent, finally approached him, smirking cockily as he saw the pure hatred but also the hints of fear in Marcos' eyes.
"We warned you." Diego, the Argentinian champion, remarked. "We told you to drop out or there'd be consequences."
"Fuck you." Marcos growled. As Diego drew nearer, so close that their faces were mere inches apart, Marcos didn't hesitate to use his head as a weapon - after all, it was the only body part he could still move - and he headbutted the champion as hard as he could.
Taken by surprise, Diego stumbled a few steps backwards, clutching his head. He glanced downwards for a moment as he got over the small explosion of pain in his head, but when he looked back up, there was new venom in his eyes. Curling his hands into tight fists, he walked towards Marcos once more.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this now…"