CHAPTER 160
A little while later, it was time for the pre-fight press conferences. There were only 11 competitors left in the competition, so by this point, they were all in one room to address the press. Daniel, Johnny, Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory, Marcos, Kreese, Sarah and her opponent were all seated on one long table, Silver absent of course. Just like they had been the day before with Marcos, today the press were also chomping at the bit, eager to get started, as of course there was the newest drama of Silver pulling out of the competition.
By now, it had been made official by the Taikai committee that Silver was out of the tournament, so Johnny had been crowned the 1st of the 6 competitors who would be fighting in the grand final of the Sekai Taikai. His opponent and the rest of the fighters would be determined later that night but right now, it was Johnny's time to celebrate. He couldn't though. Not yet. Not when he was preparing to coach his students to their own finals that night. It was numerically possible for there to be a maximum of 5 Miyagi-Do senseis and students in the finals, and Miyagi-Do fully intended on fulfilling that number.
As they all sat down to meet the press, the questions began, one thing on the minds of every press official there. And so naturally, the questions were initially directed at the most qualified person to answer them: the other Cobra Kai sensei in the room, Sensei Kreese.
"Mr. Kreese, as I'm sure you're aware, Mr. Silver was spotted leaving the facility late last night, and this morning we heard the news that he was officially removed from the tournament. What can you tell us about the nature of his removal? Was it his decision? A mutual decision?"
"No, it was all me." Kreese replied bluntly. "Silver and I fundamentally disagreed with the lessons that were being taught to our students. I didn't like what he was telling them, didn't like the effect he was having on them, and so I felt this was the only option."
Kreese's very first question of the press conference floored both Johnny and Daniel, as well as the rest of the Miyagi-Dos. They weren't sure exactly what had prompted Silver leaving - quite frankly, they hadn't really cared as they were more happy than anything else - but hearing that Silver had been forcefully removed by Kreese was a bombshell. They never expected that the Cobra Kai sensei would see eye to eye with them when it came to the toxic manipulation that Silver did to innocent teenagers. They thought that the loyalty Kreese had to Silver would outweigh anything else. But clearly not. Because Silver was gone, meaning that Miyagi-Do had one less major trouble to worry about.
"Mr. Kreese, by now it's almost common knowledge that your relationship with Mr. Silver goes back a long time, and there is also some history from a legal standpoint from the recent past. Did that affect your decision to remove him from the tournament in any way?"
Kreese shook his head.
"Silver approached me during his time behind bars. He wanted a second chance with the dojo when he returned, and after all of the generosity he showed towards the dojo financially - before, during and after he was locked up - I decided to grant him a second chance, provided he understood that he wasn't to be teaching or talking to my students and I was the only one with license to do that. He broke that deal, he taught some horrible lessons to one of my students, and when I found out, that was the end of his time with us. Simple as that."
The next question was still about Silver, but rather than it being asked to Kreese, it was instead asked to Daniel Larusso.
"Mr. Larusso, we're also aware that you yourself have had your own history with Mr. Silver, both as a former student of his and as a sensei in Los Angeles at the same time. What can you tell us about Mr. Silver? Is what Mr. Kreese saying also accurate in your experience?"
"It is." Daniel nodded. "What Kreese said is absolutely right. Silver is a vile, manipulative, toxic man who thrives off of kids getting hurt. What Kreese is neglecting to mention though is that he was the man's partner in crime for almost 50 years. The people that Silver hurt, Kreese hurt too."
"You're right." Kreese's voice once again astounded every Miyagi-Do in the room. This was most certainly not the same ruthless, merciless John Kreese talking. It was the John Kreese who had seen the damage that Silver's harmful ways had had on Marcos, on Tory and even on Johnny, before he had finally managed to see the light. "I did make some mistakes with my past students. Listened to and taught the same lessons that Silver did. I'm sure all of my former students sat on this stage - Mr. Lawrence, Ms. Nichols, Diaz, Keene, Moskowitz, all of them can attest to that. But the lessons I used to teach my students are not identical to the ones that I teach now. Cobra Kai's philosophies have evolved. We still fight in the same offense-driven manner. We're still just as determined, just as hungry to win. But the way we win is different. And Silver wasn't willing to adapt to these changes. Which is why I forced him out."
"Mr. Larusso, is there anything else you'd like to say to Mr. Kreese?" The interviewer asked Daniel. The 2 time All-Valley champion took a while to gather the words to respond, still stunned by the John Kreese who was sitting on the stage this morning. He sounded almost… rational. Which is a word Daniel never in a million years expected to use to describe Kreese. He was still cautious though. A few words definitely couldn't undo the decades of damage that Kreese had caused.
"Uh… not really." Daniel said. "It's good to hear that Kreese has finally wisened up to the kind of person Silver is, and the dangerous lessons they were both teaching innocent kids. I know how long Silver and Kreese have been working together, so it can't have been easy to do what Kreese did. It definitely was the right decision for the sake of the kids of both of our dojos. But that doesn't change the fact that for almost 40 years, Kreese was the root cause of so much pain to me, my family, my friends and my students. I'm happy to hear that there are changes being made to Cobra Kai. It's about time. But that doesn't erase all of the things that they did to people in the Valley, in particular to Miyagi-Do."
That was Daniel's response. Improvised yet completely coherent and totally valid. He was happy about the changes that were supposedly being made, and after his confrontation with Silver the night before, Daniel fully believed that Cobra Kai's champion's ruthless showing the day before had been mostly Silver's doing. But that didn't change the fact that it wasn't Johnny Lawrence sitting at the helm of Cobra Kai again. It was still John Kreese, the man who had been in charge for so many years, orchestrated so much chaos and harm. It was easy to forget some of the things he had done as there had been so many by this point, but it was impossible to forget the impact that the elderly man had had on the Valley in the most negative way.
"The next question is for Mr. Oliveira." The next interviewer who stood up said, addressing Marcos. "To sum up your fight last night in one word, it would probably be barbaric. It certainly made for some high quality entertainment, but at the same time, it's impossible to ignore the increase in aggression and anger you showed in comparison to your previous fights. Now listening to Mr. Kreese talking about Mr. Silver manipulating his students, could that have been the reason for your ruthless actions last night?"
"No." Marcos grunted honestly in reply, once again surprising some of the people on stage with his answer. "Did Silver advise me to do it? Sure. But he also gave me the option to accept Diego's disqualification, skip the fight entirely, rest up and then restart in the semis. I made the decision to fight in the Quarter Finals, and I made the decision to do so in the way that I did. My fault. Nobody else's. And I'd like to personally apologize to everyone who watched the fight last night and had to bear witness to my actions. That's not who I am. At least, not who I strive to be. I fight because it's what I love to do. Not to use the power to hurt people. I swear that it won't happen again."
"That actually leads me onto my next question, Mr. Oliveira. I was going to point out that in your round of 16 fight, you fought with more flair. But in the quarter finals, it was all about brute strength. What can we expect to see in this semi final tonight?"
"Come on, guys. It's Karate, not ballet." Marcos stated. "We're not doing ballet here. This is a contact sport. There's nothing wrong with hitting hard. It's the harsh reality. I'm sure Hawk is going to hold anything back, so neither will I. But the difference between the semi final and last round is that there's going to be more respect this round. I at least am going to show my opponent and show the referee and other people involved the respect they deserve. I'm going to follow all of the rules, and I really hope that Hawk does the same, because I think then we have the potential to put on a really great fight together."
"Next question is for Mr. Moskowitz… after watching Marcos' fight last night, are you at all scared heading into your semi final fight with him today?" The following interviewer asked Hawk. Hawk shook his head.
"Scared of what?" Hawk asked. "Getting hit? I wouldn't be here if I wasn't prepared to get hit a couple of times."
"Sure, but the damage that Mr. Oliveira caused his opponent last night…"
"Is nothing I've never seen or felt before." Hawk stated, confidently. "Marcos is a great fighter, I'll give him that. I'm going to have to give him the respect and focus he deserves if I want to win the fight. But what he did to his opponent last night is nothing I've not done or felt before. I'm not scared of it. I know what it takes to win and I know that I have what it takes to become Taikai champion. Whatever Marcos throws at me tonight, I'm going to be prepared for it and I'm going to handle it as well as I can."
It was a confident yet somewhat understated response from Eli. On one hand, it was in his nature to be confident. And he had every right to be. He was, after all, still the reigning All-Valley champion. But at the same time, he had indeed fought Marcos before and knew the challenge that the boy posed, so he was going to have to give his A game to win this thing, something he knew he had. He might've become somewhat of an underdog compared to the likes of Miguel, Robby and Marcos, but Hawk was ready to make a statement, show the world that he had earned his All-Valley trophy for a reason.
"Final question of the press conference… this one's for Mr. Lawrence, but can be answered by any of the Miyagi-Dos. Mr. Lawrence, first of all, a huge congratulations on officially making the final in your first year competing. Even without a semi final fight, that is still a massive achievement and is extremely inspiring. However, I wanted to remind you of the fact that tonight, there are 2 matchups that are being contested solely by members of your dojo: both Samantha Larusso vs. Tory Nichols; and Robby Keene vs. Miguel Diaz."
"Uh… yeah. I know." Johnny remarked, confused. The interviewer nodded.
"Right. We were wondering whether there's been any talk of team orders within the team?" The interviewer questioned.
"What does that mean?" Johnny asked.
"In previous years, given the extremely physically taxing nature of this tournament, in situations like these where two teammates come up against each other, it's sometimes the case that the dojo has a predetermined winner of the fight. Often teams choose that fighter in advance, or they decide based on who performed better in the prelims. The other fighter bows out of the tournament. This allows for maximizing rest and preventing risk of injury this close to the finals. Have you as a dojo decided on the male and female champion fighter in these matchups, with the other person preparing to drop out?"
"No. That's fucking stupid." Johnny rudely responded, setting his microphone down and sitting back in his chair, scowling at the interviewer who had asked the question.
"Uh… I think what Johnny means is that all of our fighters are champion fighters." Daniel quickly covered for his friend. "So no, we're not going to resort to team orders. Any of our students could win on any given day, and so it would be utterly disrespectful to them if we picked one or two of them to go through without even giving the others a chance to compete. It would be so rude, particularly after all of the hard work they've put in to make it this far."
"We have 4 senseis here at the tournament." Johnny stated. "In the fights where we have teammates up against each other, 2 senseis will coach one student and 2 will coach the other. They'll fight respectfully, and only the better fighter will win."
There it was. The senseis had spoken. There would be no predetermining the outcome of the two titan clashes, one with the girls and one with the boys. They had talked the talk, promised for impartiality. It was now up to the students to walk the walk and deliver from a fighting perspective…