CHAPTER 164

As the fight restarted, it became abundantly clear that all of the senseis had done their jobs extraordinarily well. The fight unfolded exactly as they had predicted, which meant that scoring points continued to be like pulling teeth for either of them. Miguel went harder with his offense, but Robby was well-matched for that as he had tightened up his defense. Neither of them fought with any fear whatsoever, the occasion looming large in both of their heads, yet both of them taking it into their stride and allowing it to fuel them and motivate them further.

They exchanged point after point in a grueling, physically exhausting display. Miguel scored. Robby scored. Miguel scored. Robby scored. That was the way it went. They bounced back and forth, neither of them being able to establish any kind of advantage whatsoever, as their opponent wouldn't allow them to do so. This continued for an eternity, long after fatigue kicked in and the two were running on mere fumes. But the important thing was that the score was still level. Neither one of them had established a lead, so the fight was open for both to win, and that was enough to keep both of them long after their bodies screamed at them to stop.

Miguel 7 - 7 Robby

That's what the score was when the ref finally had to step in and call for a pause to the fight. Both competitors were just 1 point away from a spot in the finals, but neither of them looked physically able to score that point at this rate. They were stumbling to their feet, struggling to remain upright, and the ref didn't have much choice but to give them a timeout.

"30 second timeout. Back to your corners. Take a breather." The referee said, taken aback by just how much blood, sweat and tears the two warriors were putting in on their question to win the grandest karate prize in the world. He knew that if the two kept on going unchecked, they would probably both pass out before conceding defeat.

However, something interesting happened when Robby and Miguel were told to return to their corners, and their respective senseis gestured at them to come over. Neither one of them moved an inch from where they stood at the center of the large mat. Part of it was exhaustion. That had to have played a part in it. But also… neither one of them wanted to go back and hear a pep talk from their senseis in that moment. This was between the two of them. Miguel and Robby. No one else. Not the senseis. Not anyone.

The two had a silent conversation with their eyes and they came to an agreement: they would settle this right now. There would be no more talking to their senseis. There would be no more planning, strategising or preparation. Their rivalry had one final chapter to it, and that was this final point.

One more point to guarantee which one of them would advance to the final and potentially become world champion. One more point to guarantee which one of them was going to be sent home empty-handed. One more point to finally put to bed the debate of which one of them was a better fighter, which of them truly ruled the Valley with their skills…

"Score's at 7-7. Next point wins. Blue corner, are you ready?" the referee asked, looking at Robby.

"Yes." Robby nodded.

"Red, are you ready?" The referee asked, now turning towards Robby.

"Yes." Miguel murmured, already hopping from foot to foot.

"Okay… aaaaand FIGHT!"

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As expected, it was Miguel who struck first. He was the first to lunge, swallowing any hints of fatigue deep down inside him, forcing himself to push through and score 1 point. Just 1 more point. He threw a beautiful combination of punches and kicks that Robby dragged his weary limbs upwards to block and parry. Robby, in turn, threw his own counter, Miguel dodging the punches and kicks with relative ease.

If either of them had anything left in the tank, now was the time to use it. Miguel certainly knew that, as he pushed forward, forcing Robby backwards. All the Miyagi-Do could do was dodge, block and parry, unable to throw any kind of counter of his own at this time, as Miguel seemingly had him right where he wanted him. Robby found himself getting closer and closer to the border of the mat when all of a sudden, disaster struck…

Robby stumbled. It was a mistake that he never in a million years would have made if he hadn't been so exhausted. One leg moved behind the other and he tripped over his own two feet. Abut to fall down, Robby knew that he only had split seconds before he fell to the ground and Miguel surely scored the winner. He needed to improvise… FAST!

Well, from this position, beginning to fall to the ground as they spoke, Robby really only had one thing left in his arsenal that he could turn to. One more move. A move that had scored him a point in the last All-Valley, and one powerful enough to do so again.

Falling onto his hands, Robby bent his knees back before using all of his balance and agility to kick outwards with both of his feet. As Daniel had told him when he first learned the move, it was one of the most powerful moves in all of Miyagi-Do. Robby had already used it once before to score on the same opponent, and he was about to use it again to score the winner. Or was he?

Because as Robby kicked out with all of his might, he found himself kicking… nothing! He had kicked the air, Miguel seemingly not where Robby thought he would be. Because as the timeless expression said, 'fool me once.' Robby had already used this trick on Miguel before, and as one of the smartest fighters around, there was no chance Miguel was falling for the same thing again. Using his brain was one of the reasons that Miguel had advanced so quickly up the ranks in Karate, and that would definitely not have been the case if learning from mistakes wasn't his top priority.

As he saw Robby falling onto his hands, Miguel already knew what was coming. The element of surprise to the move was gone, so Miguel was able to easily move himself out of the way before Robby was able to land the shot. Instead, he waited as Robby fell back down after the kick to lunge and try to score the winner.

It was only by the skin of his teeth that Robby had managed to make it out from this mistake unscathed. As soon as he landed, he immediately rolled to his feet and although Miguel tried to catch him while he was on the ground, Robby used all of his speed to move just out of reach. He managed to get to his feet and take in the scene before him.

He needed to calm down. He needed to relax. Center himself. Feel peace gushing through his system like a stream. It was like Chozen had taught him countless times before, even blindfolding him a couple of times to prove his point. When you had the perfect amount of peace and tranquility inside you, your senses were so inhibited that you could win a fight without even seeing your opponent.

Well, Robby definitely wasn't going to do that. That was the stupidest thing he could've done. However, all of those lessons about peace allowed Robby to calm himself down and feel time around him slow to a halt as he talked internally to himself. That was a close one, he told himself. A stupid error could've been all it took to send him home from a tournament once again without a trophy. But it wasn't. He was still here, and now he needed to move on from that moment.

By this point, Miguel had made it over to him, another vicious combination of strikes locked and loaded, though this time Robby was well prepared to defend them. In fact, this time, he managed to throw some counters of his own. He blocked and weaved around his opponent, looking for that miniscule opening, waiting patiently for that gap to open up, as he knew that it would eventually come, provided he kept his defense up long enough. After all, Miguel was an incredibly good fighter but he wasn't perfect. Nobody was. Everyone made mistakes. Even Miguel.

And after what felt like an eternity, Miguel did just that. The smallest overextension of his arm allowed Robby to duck under his arm and push him forwards so that Miguel's back was to him. Miguel's back was to him! That meant that Robby had a split second to decide on what move to try and throw to finish the fight. Well, he needed something with a severe amount of power. Anything less than that and Miguel would simply block it out of the air as soon as he turned around. He needed something extremely difficult to block, even by the most superior of fighters. Something proven to be a useful, successful move, originally used by fighters in his dojo, but was later used by their enemies as a way of mocking them.

A move made iconic by Robby's sensei himself, the brunette knew that that was what he needed to do. It wasn't a move to try and embarrass or belittle his opponent in any way. The kick was symbolic. Although Robby had gone astray, he was still Daniel's original student. And proud of it too. Daniel had made his name with this kick, and Robby was prepared to carry on his legacy. It didn't matter about Robby's biological lineage. It didn't matter that he had fought for Cobra Kai in the past. He bled Miyagi-Do through and through, and he was going to show that to everyone with this kick…

THUD!

Miguel 7 - 8 Robby

There it was. The winning point. Scored by a crane kick no less. Robby had done it! He had finally bested the opponent who was the biggest black spot on his metaphorical resume. The mountain that Robby hadn't been capable of climbing up until this point, he had finally managed to do so at the most crucial of times.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… YOUR WINNER… ADVANCING TO THE SEKAI TAIKAI FINAL… ROBBY KEENE!"

As Robby had his arm raised in the air in triumph, he immediately turned to his opponent to congratulate him. The pair of them, the two undisputed best fighters in their dojo, never failed to put on a show. Even now that their rivalry had long ended, their fighting was no less powerful, fierce and technically superb. Miguel accepted the hand that Robby held out for him to shake, and just like the fight that had occurred between Marcos and Hawk beforehand, the pair embraced. Miguel was devastated not to make it to the final, not to even have the chance to win the Taikai, but he knew that Robby was the deserved winner. There was nothing he could say to dispute that. It had been close, but at the end of the day, the tightest of margins were what determined a great fighter from a world champion.

Although Robby was the better fighter between them for now - though out of humility he probably never would say that himself - nothing could be taken away from Miguel. The former All-Valley champion had pushed Robby all the way to the final point, the fight extremely unpredictable from the word go. If they fought 9 more times now, chances were that by the end of it, they would have won almost exactly the same number of fights each.

For the Miyagi-Do dojo, the Sekai Taikai had claimed its third victim: Miguel Diaz. It was someone that nobody expected to be knocked out so early, if you could even call the semi final early. But nobody could look back now. Robby was advancing onto the finals.

It was almost poetic that the fight that Robby finally won, the tournament that he finally lived up to his full potential, was this one. He was a proud student of Daniel Larusso and the biological son of Johnny Lawrence, fighting for both of them in this tournament. Robby was also one of only 2 students in the entire world who had had the privilege of training under all 4 of Daniel, Johnny, Kreese and Silver. The only person in their dojo who had trained under more people was Tory, who had also trained under Sensei Kim, if you could even classify the torture that Sensei Kim inflicted as training.

But Robby couldn't rest now. Because up ahead of him, he had arguably his toughest challenge yet. If he had a poor record against Miguel, his prior record against Marcos was even worse. The two of them had fought in Coyote Creek. And they had fought in the Canyon twice. And of those 3 fights, Robby had only one 1 of them, a 33% success rate, one that looked even worse when you realized that Marcos had just finished fighting Hawk and was in the worst period of his life with his father when that win had occurred. Not only that, but Marcos had further proven his ability and mettle by beating Hawk and Miguel on every occasion that he had fought them.

The boy looked unbeatable. An unstoppable barrier. With almost a decade more of experience, and a height, weight, reach and muscle advantage, there was no question who the favorite would be going into the final. But Robby wasn't scared. If this fight against Miguel had given him anything, it was confidence. He was prepared to face the challenge head-on and beat Marcos, no matter what it took.