CHAPTER 163

It was time for a big one. A blockbuster clash. Arguably the mostly tightly contested matchup in Karate history: Miguel Diaz vs. Robby Keene. The number of times these two had come to blows was unmatched, seemingly less over the past year but that didn't take away the fact that these two had been consumed by rivalry for the better part of their teenage years.

And despite all of the fights they had had, so few of them had actually had a winner to them, and in even less of them was the winner the more dominant fighter. That was how small the gap was between them. One fighter could have the upper hand for 90% of the fight, but it only took one moment to change the course of a fight between them.

Miguel had officially won 2 of their matchups: his first All-Valley final; as well as one of their later battles that occurred at their compound. Robby had also won 2 of their matchups: he had been the last man standing when they came to blows at the school, and when they had fought after the prom. None of these fights had come without their own controversy, and in between these fights, there had been plenty more of them that had simply ended without a clear winner.

Their latest scrap that took place over the Christmas break was a perfect example of that. They were both so evenly matched, so equally contested, that exhaustion had arrived before they had managed to arrive on a winner. But that wouldn't take place now. Now there could literally be just 1 winner. It was first to 8 points, winner takes all. Only the better fighter would make it to the finals, and both fighters intended for it to be them.

Because this was the first time 2 Miyagi-Dos were fighting one another, it meant that the senseis were forced to split their attention amongst the pair. Two senseis were coaching Miguel, and the other two were Robby. Thankfully, there was no debate as to who they would be. Miguel's more offensive fighting style was much better aligned with Johnny and Barnes, while Robby had spent most of his time training with Chozen and Daniel.

In Miguel's corner, Johnny stood with him before the fight began, feeding him some final encouraging words.

"You're a smart guy. Definitely a lot smarter than me. I don't have to remind you what's at stake because I'm sure you know that." Johnny said. "All I'm going to say is to remember who you're fighting. It's not some Cobra that you don't know. It's Robby. Let's have a hard fight, but a clean, fair one. Don't let the tournament and your need to win blind you of that. I know you've learned a lot since your first tournament, so I'm not too worried about that."

"Yes, sensei." Miguel nodded, determined. "This whole thing… everything that's been going on… it started with us. We're the ones that brought back Cobra Kai. Now let's be the ones to put an end to Cobra Kai once and for all."

"Win this fight now, and we will be." Johnny told him, motivating his student. "You got this, Diaz."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mat, Daniel and Chozen were motivating a little bit less confident Robby ahead of the battle.

"Look, we've been here before. We've been in this exact situation before in your first All-Valley final. And although you might not have scored as many points as him, you came mighty close. And with the use of only 1 arm too! You're also the only student to have made 2 All-Valley finals!"

"I lost both of them." Robby murmured. "And even the fights I've won against Miguel, one of them was because he wasn't looking, and the other was because he was still injured."

Although Robby didn't outwardly say it, it was clear what he was implying. He was implying that Miguel was a better fighter than him, that beating him was a step too far. He was going to do all he could to win, but at the same time, he was almost internally preparing himself for a situation where he didn't. After all, nobody had ever gotten an uncontroversial, undeniable win against Miguel to date, and Miguel didn't intend on losing that streak anytime soon.

"Don't count yourself out, Robby. Fights, just like any other sport, are 50% about clash of different fighting styles, and 50% about having the right mindset. Your fighting style might not have worked to perfect success in past encounters with him, but you're not the same fighter that you were last summer. You've trained for a year with Chozen. You've trained with your father. You've trained with Barnes. You've trained even more with me. Your style has changed drastically."

"And you finally have the right mindset." Chozen added. "You are now fighting for, no longer fighting against. You are not fighting against your father. You are not fighting against Miguel. You're fighting for Miyagi-Do, to show that it's the right way rather than Cobra Kai. You're fighting for your friends and your other loved ones, to protect them from Cobra Kai."

"Robby, nobody can stop you from winning this fight but you. If you don't think you can win, then you're not going to win. Simple. But if you truly believe in yourself and fight with the confidence that you believe you can win, nobody's going to be able to stop you. Not Miguel. Not Marcos. Not anyone…"

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When the fight began, it took an eternity for either boy to score their first point. These two knew each other so well, that it was damn near impossible to break down the other's defenses. Not only had they fought countless times, but in the past year, almost every new technique that was introduced by a sensei, they learned together. Which meant that now, in their massive semi final clash, it was like both of them knew what the other was going to throw before they even threw it.

Back and forth, back and forth they went. Although Miguel favored his offense and Robby his defense, both boys were equally adept at both sides of fighting, so for a few moments, Miguel would be attacking, then the next few, it would be Robby on the attack.

Eventually though, one of them managed to break the deadlock. And when it happened, it was honestly more out of luck than anything else. Robby missed with his punch. Pretty drastically too. It was an exhausted swing from the brunette, and while he was aiming for the head, he ended up punching almost half a foot away from Miguel's head. As luck would have it though, Miguel was taken aback by just how far the punch was away that he was left uncertain for a few moments whether to dodge it, parry it or block it completely. The split second that Miguel was left dumbfounded was enough to allow Robby to follow up with a punch with his other hand. Miguel had ended up deciding to block the first punch, which left a small undefended gap in his abdomen, one that Robby took advantage of.

Miguel 0 - 1 Robby

The fight stopped and then quickly recommenced, this time Miguel hurtling towards Robby like a whirlwind on flat land. Conceding the first point had only filled the former All-Valley champion with more drive, more determination. This was his tournament to win, he told himself. He had been through so much on the way here, physically and emotionally, and now it was time to show the world that it hadn't broken him, but instead only made him stronger.

And made him stronger it certainly had. It didn't take him long to score his own point to level the score, and then another point to put him one up.

Miguel 2 - 1 Robby

A quick flurry of offense was enough to score Miguel the 2 points, and it was enough to allow the Ecuadorian teenager to gain momentum in the matchup. He had full control over the pace of the fight, and Robby knew that he needed to wrestle that away from him fast. Because if he let Miguel continue to dictate the tempo of the fight, he knew that Miguel would walk all over him.

Robby also knew that due to the amount of time he had spent training with the likes of Silver, his offense was better than Miguel's defense. As good as Miguel was, that was a only slight chink in his armor. Miguel's immense durability, which made him so good in street fights, meant that he didn't need to focus as much on defense as Robby did. Miguel was able to take an obscene amount of hits and yet still keep going, which meant that he had neglected to study Miyagi-Do defense as religiously, even if he was still pretty good at it.

This meant that it was in Robby's best interests to press him harder on offense, force the boy into having to rely on Miyagi-Do defense, and through that gaps inevitably began to show. Robby managed to score 3 of the next 4 points, Miguel managing just 1, making the score 4-3 in favor of the two time runner up.

Miguel 3 - 4 Robby

With that, Miguel and Robby retreated back to their corners for their respective talks from their senseis. It was such an even fight. Such a close one. Neither of them had been up by more than 1 at any point, and anyone who knew Miguel and Robby would've predicted that from the get go.

Right now, both corners of senseis were eager to turn the tide towards their respective fighters. Even though they wanted both of their students to do well, they knew that only one could win, and they owed it to the student that they were coaching to give it everything they had from a sensei's point of view.

"You know what's going on, right?" Johnny said, wiping the sweat and blood that had pooled on Miguel's brow from one of the shots that Robby landed. Ever the astute and intelligent person that he was, taking a few deep breaths to catch his breath, Miguel nodded.

"He's using offense. His offense is better than my defense and he's utilizing that." Miguel said. Johnny and Barnes both nodded.

"Exactly." Barnes nodded.

"So what do we do?" Miguel asked, determined to find a way for himself back into the fight. He would not go down easy. If he lost, there was no way he would lose the fight by anything less than 7-8. But he wouldn't lose. He knew that. He was a winner. Not born that way, but through all of the drive, all of the determination, all of the hardship, he had been molded that way. He had a champion's mindset, and that wasn't disappearing anytime soon.

"Look, his offense might be better than your defense, but your offense is much better than his offense." Johnny told his student.

"I don't follow." Miguel said, slightly confused.

"What Johnny's saying is step up with your offense." Barnes said. "Don't let him use his offense to control the fight. Instead, push even harder on offense yourself. Force him to have to resort to defense as he'll be unable to do anything else. And your offense vs. his defense… I definitely fancy your chances."

"More offense. Got it." Miguel nodded, clenching his jaw on determination, turning on his heel and returning to the mat, eager to score some quick points and return the fight's momentum to his favor.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Daniel and Chozen spoke to Robby.

"You're doing great, Robby! Really, really good job!" Daniel exclaimed. Chozen grunted in disapproval.

"You can do better. I have seen you do better than this. You could be 3 or 4 points up by now. Not just 1 point. You are basically tied with him right now." Chozen declared. "Your offense is very good. Your defense has holes."

"Where?" Robby asked.

"Body. Your karate stance and where you put your arms means that your head is always protected. But as you do your blocks, your arms go too far away from your body and it leaves you open." Chozen told him.

"Well… yeah? My arms are away from my body because I'm blocking his strikes." Robby said. Chozen tutted and shook his head.

"You can do the same block from a few inches closer to him. Then your arms would be close enough to your body to defend yourself. But you're too scared of getting close to him so you're moving further backwards and it's exposing your body. You need to remove that fear from inside you."

"Chozen's right. Don't think about anything except the task at hand. Don't think about what could or couldn't go wrong. Think about what could go right." Daniel told him. "At least that way, even if you lose, you'll have absolutely no regrets. Don't fight with any fear. Give it everything you have and the result won't even matter."

"Yes, sensei."