CHAPTER 162

Daniel vs. Johnny. Fight number 1 of the Sekai Taikai final. An all Miyagi-Do final, an absolute dream for the historic dojo who were fighting for so much. Not only were they not fighting Silver, but they had also dumped Kreese out of the competition, sealing Miyagi-Do's win in the Senseis' division, no matter which of the two fighters took home top prize.

But to every conflict, there were two sides. While one dojo couldn't have been more ecstatic with the way things had shaken out for them, Cobra Kai were devastated. It was a killer blow for them, especially given that going into the tournament, all of them expected to win the division with Silver fighting for them. But no. Things weren't meant to be. They were already 0-1 down in their massive bet with Cobra Kai. And while it was only 1 point in the grand scheme of things, it was an absolutely COLOSSAL blow that Miyagi-Do had laid on them. Now, from this point on, Marcos and Sarah had to be perfect with their performances. Anything less than a win in any of their 4 remaining fights (2 each) would mean that Miyagi-Do would officially win the bet and would take over the Valley, with Cobra Kai forced to shut down.

Daniel Larusso vs. Johnny Lawrence… of course it was going to come down to this between the two senseis. It was poetic. Iconic. There was even a certain level of irony to it. After almost 40 years of feuding, Daniel and Johnny were finished with their rivalry and were finally friends, only to now have to compete for the biggest karate prize in the world. The millions of fights both had been in up until this point did not even come close to the gravity that the Taikai final possessed.

Although Daniel and Johnny were ready to celebrate, they couldn't yet. There was still a long night ahead of them. Although they were already guaranteed a finalist in both of the other divisions as well given the all Miyagi-Do semi final matchups that were in store, that didn't change their approach to the fights. Every fight from this point onwards was a final. Simple as that. Make a wrong move and you would be punished immediately by your opponent.

As Cobra Kai sat in their waiting room, waiting to be called for their other semi final fights, none of them said a word. A silence enveloped the entire room, a feeling of hopelessness beginning to wash over them. Although they were still technically in contention, morale was at an all time low. They were all starting to lose faith, to lose hope, even the two teenagers who were still yet to fight. They needed something. Something to rejuvenate their hope. Something to make them believe that they were still in this. Something to remind them that they could still win this thing. A confidence booster was vital if they wanted to continue in this tournament, especially as the intercom of the waiting room suddenly announced that it was time for their next fight…

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"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… PLEASE WELCOME TO THE MAT… FIGHTING OUT OF THE COBRA KAI DOJO IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA… REPRESENTING THE COUNTRY OF BRAZIL… MARCOOOOOS OLIVEIIIIIIIRAAAAA!"

As Marcos took to the mat for the next semi final of the evening - the fight between him and Hawk - the arena erupted into cheers and screams. The "O-LI-VEIRA!" chant that they had all come to expect by this point was in full blast. Marcos definitely hadn't lost any fans in the past 24 hours. If anything, he had gained some. He was well and truly the crowd's favorite of this year's tournament. They absolutely adored him, and the love that Marcos could feel radiating from the 15,000 people in the arena inspired him to turn the tables on Miyagi-Do and punch his own ticket to the finals. Confidence and morale might have been low right now amid his beloved dojo, but he was going to make sure that changed. And every member of the crowd stood behind him as he prepared to do so.

On the other side of the mat, as Hawk prepared to fight, Barnes in his corner, it was an utterly daunting task for the Miyagi-Do as he could hear the amount of support the crowd had for Marcos. With this in mind, as Hawk took to the mat himself, even though he hadn't made himself personally known to the audience, because he was fighting the crowd's child, he had received a fair few boos and jeers.

As Hawk listened to the racket that the fans were producing to hype up their champion, Hawk's face paled ever so slightly. Barnes noticed and he quickly pulled Hawk in for a final pre-fight pep talk.

"Alright. Remember what I taught you. Aggression, but smart, controlled aggression." Barnes said, but he could tell that Hawk wasn't listening to him. The teenager's head was slowly circling the arena, absorbing all of the hatred that the fans had for him purely because of who his opponent was, and it was threatening to throw him off his game if his sensei didn't snap him out of it quickly. Sure enough, Barnes roughly smacked Hawk on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Hawk complained.

"Listen carefully. I wanted to remind you of something." Barnes said. "The crowd in here might be against you. Marcos might own this arena, but you own the whole fucking Valley! You're the All-Valley champion! Remember that! You're the fucking champ, not him! Don't be afraid to attack him! Don't be hesitant! Be confident! Be yourself! This is your moment! Don't let it be impacted by things out of control. Not by your opponent or by the crowd. Own your fight and none of that will make a damn difference! Because when you're fighting at your highest level, you could be fighting a damn grizzly bear and I'd still bet on you! That's how good you are! That's how good I KNOW you can be! Now go out there and win this thing for all of us!"

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Filled with new fire and inspiration inside him, Eli leapt onto the mat, hopping from foot to foot as he waited for the fight to start, eager to get underway with it. The Hawk was in the building. And he was about to win this whole fucking thing, just like he had in the All-Valley! Everyone outside of Miyagi-Do thought he was going to lose, but to hell with them! To hell with what the crowd thought! He was the champion, and he was the champion for a reason! He was now about to go and show the world just that.

As the fight commenced, it became immediately obvious that this was going to be yet another highlight reel fight for both competitors. It was a real battle, but not in the same way that Marcos' fight with Diego was. This fight was different. There was respect between the two competitors, so it wasn't a brawl in the same way that Marcos' fight against Diego had been, but it was just as close of a matchup, if not even closer. It was a contest between two top class fighters, both of them with so much to lose, so it was bound to be a solid matchup.

Both fighters flew out of the gate from the first bell, but of the two, it was Hawk who got the much better start than his opponent. Hawk was amped up from his pre-fight talk with Barnes, combined with the fact that there was a hell of a lot of pressure on Marcos' shoulders as if he lost, Cobra Kai would mathematically lose the bet against Miyagi-Do no matter how the rest of the Taikai played out. Marcos was slightly afraid, definitely very cautious as he began fighting, wary that any wrong move could mean that his entire dojo was eliminated. This meant that he didn't take the same risks that he normally did when fighting, and it definitely meant that he wasn't able to fight at the same level that he normally did.

This led to Hawk scoring 4 of the first 5 points in the matchup, making the score 4-1 and shocking every member of the crowd into silence. Their boy was being pretty soundly beaten and wasn't showing any signs of improvement as he called for a timeout and stumbled back to his corner, where Kreese and Sarah were standing, just as shocked as everyone else. This wasn't the physically and technically dominant Marcos that they had expected.

As Marcos walked over to them, Sarah grabbed him and pulled him closer, beginning to speak to him in a calming, quiet tone.

"Talk to me, Marcos. What's going on?" Sarah asked gently.

"Sarah, I can't do this." Marcos murmured quietly so that only she could hear him. "All of these people, the crowd here… they all want me to hurt him. They all think I'm some monster that's going to hurt him. It's too much."

"They don't. They're just idiots who are trying to support you but don't know much common sense." Sarah replied, before seeing the look on his face and realizing. "But that's not what's really going on, is it?"

Marcos slowly shook his head, unable to even make eye contact with her.

"I'm scared." Marcos eventually whispered. "I'm scared that all of them are going to take over in my head. Scared I'm going to have another… episode, and I'm going to really hurt him like they want me to."

"Answer me this, Marcos. Who are you fighting for?" Sarah asked. Marcos looked at her, confused.

"Sorry?"

"You heard me. Who are you fighting for? Who do you fight for?" She repeated.

"This dojo." Marcos said.

"And?" Sarah prompted him.

"And… me. For my future." Marcos added.

"And?" She prompted him once more, waiting for the answer she knew that he'd eventually come up with. She knew him better than he knew himself, and knew that eventually he would come to the answer she was looking for.

"My mom." Marcos then replied. It was true. Every time he stepped onto the mat, he fought for her. He fought for the promise that he had made to her before she died that one day, he'd become a UFC fighter. One day, everything she hoped for him, everything she sacrificed for, would become a reality. And when he made it there, he was going to make it his mission to bring more attention to suicide awareness, to make sure that nobody else would have to go through what he went through when she passed away.

Sarah smiled faintly and nodded.

"Exactly. Now when you step back into that ring, I want you to think of her. If you start to feel overwhelmed, or start to feel your mind drifting to a dark place, I want you to think of her. Remember who she was. Remember that you're fighting for her. Remember that no matter what, she's always going to be supporting you. As am I. It doesn't matter what the crowd thinks, or what assholes like Silver think. Your mom always knew that you were going to go places with your fighting, but she also knew that as good of a fighter as you were, you were an even better person. That hasn't changed a bit now. You're still that same person: the innocent little 7 old boy who loves to fight, dreams to fight. Don't let external pressures ever make you forget that, okay? Now get back out there and win this thing! I love you."

Marcos nodded. She was right. He was stressing out too much about the things around him, when in reality, that stress was only causing more hurt than it was helping. Relaxed and reminded of why he fought, how much he loved to fight, Marcos felt new-found inspiration to get back on the mat and keep going. To come back from the 3 point deficit to Hawk he currently faced, and win the fight and later the tournament final.

"Love you too." Marcos replied, before turning on his heel and walking back onto the mat, ready for things to resume.

Now that he was in a much better frame of mind, Marcos was able to turn the fight back in his favour. He managed to level the score at 5-5, before the two boys hit an incredibly even stalemate that lasted for several minutes. Their extremely similar styles of offense and aggression meant that they were too closely matched for either to score a point if they continued to fight in the way that they were fighting. The score remained 5-5 for nearly 5 whole minutes before one of them finally managed to slip ahead. The two boys were forced to branch out into doing different things, utilizing different styles if they wanted to score against each other, or else the stalemate looked like it would last forever.

Although Hawk held an advantage over his opponent by knowing Miyagi-Do, the sheer variance of different Martial Arts skills and styles that Marcos knew outside of Karate managed to give him the edge. The fight ended 8-6 in favour of the Cobra Kai, and as Marcos scored the winning point, both boys nearly collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"Point! Winner Oliveira!" The ref barked. It was official. The second Miyagi-Do had been eliminated from the tournament. Eli 'Hawk' Moskowitz was officially out. And Marcos Oliveira was headed to the final.

The crowd exploded in a frenzy of cheers and screams, not just for Marcos but for both of the boys who had competed. They had both put on an absolutely exhilarating performance, one that had both of their sides' hearts in their mouths from the second the fight began. Neither of them established dominance at any point throughout the matchup, and it always looked like either fighter could win. Although the Cobra had come out on top this time, the performance that Hawk had put in was nothing less than spectacular, remarkable, and most certainly the performance of an All-Valley champion.

After laying on the ground for several minutes, exhaustion rendering them unable to get up, the two boys eventually found the strength to stand and face each other. For a horrible moment, it looked like the two were about to continue to whale on each other, even though the fight had officially ended, but what occurred next was the exact opposite.

A funny thing about fighting… you would expect when two people fought, coming to blows would only increase animosity between them. Sometimes that happened, sure, but more often than not, it was the opposite. The sheer act of putting one's body on the line and backing up everything that had been done and said in the year of buildup to this moment bred a unique respect between the two competitors.

So Hawk and Marcos didn't lunge at each other; they hugged. Both fighters had given it everything they had, left it all on the mat, and although only one of them could advance to the final, both of the fighters were winners. Win, lose or draw, that was an incredible performance by both of them.

"Great fucking fight man. Congratulations." Hawk said to Marcos as the two embraced after the fight was over. He was devastated not to qualify for the final, but he had to give credit where credit was due. Marcos had earned his respect, just like Hawk had earned Marcos', coming to blows being the only way the two could settle their shit.

"Right back at you. Fucking hell, that was a tough one. That spin kick you landed… what a kick! My ear feels like it's about to fall off." Marcos murmured back.

It was official. Marcos Oliveira was marching on. But who would be his opponent. That was going to be revealed pretty soon.