CHAPTER 168

After an action-packed semi final day, there was a complete contrast the day after. There would be no fighting that day, and there would be very little to do for most of the day, as most of what was going on was the Taikai advertising the final matchups far and wide. The Taikai organization would spend the morning and afternoon sending out electronic and billboard advertisements to bring even more attention to the rising global phenomenon. Then, in the evening, all of that attention would reach its climax as the competing finalists would have a large, televised press conference.

But for the most part, the day was theirs to do what they wanted to. For Miyagi-Do, that didn't even mean any training. Robby and Tory had discussed it with their senseis, had they had pointed out the fact that there was nothing they could really learn this close to the big final, so their time was better spent relaxing than forcing themselves to train and exhausting themselves. The senseis agreed, so they were able to spend the day together with the rest of their friends.

That morning, the students of Miyagi-Do were relaxing in their dorm common room as they waited for all of their teammates to wake up, playing a random board game that Demetri had found lying around in the room. Everyone except Sam was awake, which made sense given that Sam had slept latest of them all, having been kept at the hospital until past midnight to get all of her extensive tests and X-rays done.

It turned out that the medics were absolutely right. The foot wasn't broken or fractured. It was indeed an ankle sprain, one that might cause her a little bit of pain for the next little while, but it was nothing that rest and ice wouldn't heal. She had been allowed to return to the dormitory with the rest of her friends, not even forced to spend the night in the hospital, so she was able to spend the last few days of the Taikai with her friends. Well, she would be as soon as she woke up.

Hawk and Demetri, the first to wake up, had gone to the dining hall before anyone else had awakened, and they brought back with them a basket filled to the brim with delicious breakfast food. As everyone else woke up and joined them, they all cheerfully feasted together, the disappointment of those who had been eliminated the day before already mostly faded, as they were more happy than anything else for their friends.

Sam was the last to enter the living room that mid-morning, and when the Miyagi-Dos heard her bedroom door open, they all spun around to face her. Nobody apart from Miguel - who had stayed with her at the hospital and was sharing a room with her - had seen her since last night, so they were all concerned to see how she was doing after her elimination from the tournament, and the heartbreaking manner by which she was forced to bow out.

Needless to say, none of them expected to see the massive smile that was spread across Sam's face as she saw them and walked over, sitting down in one of the plush armchairs in the common room.

"Hey guys!" She said, in great spirits. All 5 of the other Miyagi-Do students stared at her like she had just grown a third arm, their mouths gaping in shock.

"Hey, Sam." Robby slowly hazarded a greeting. "Are you… okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great." Sam responded.

"Are you… are you sure?" Demetri asked. Whatever they had expected from Sam… it definitely wasn't this. They expected a more glum, more saddened figure. Definitely not the cheerful person they had been greeted by.

"Guys, I'm fine. I really am." Sam reassured them. "This whole experience has been a massive success. I'm in Japan. I made the semi finals of the biggest Karate competition in the world, and I get to support my friends in the finals. My ankle injury could've been a lot more serious than it was. Really… life could be a lot worse."

That was amazing to hear for all of them, especially Tory. The guilt that had kept her up all night about how the fight had ended managed to fade a little. Sam didn't seem to be harboring any resentment over what had happened, and that encouraged Tory to turn her attention to what was happening next: the Sekai Taikai final. Well there was still a whole day before that, and that day could be anything they wanted it to be.

The group initially planned to go out and tour Tokyo some more, as other than the first few days, they hadn't gotten much of an opportunity to do so after that point. Certainly they hadn't since the fighting had begun. They knew that they only had a few days remaining before they had to return to L.A, so they wanted to make the most of the time they had here.

Unfortunately though, the Miyagi-Dos very quickly realized why that would simply not be possible… they were famous! Like they were really, really famous! People had already recognized them when they went into Tokyo before the tournament started, but now that they were in the finals, it was a whole other story. As they Miyagi-Dos came close to the gates of the compound, and as soon as they did, the cheers and screams of everyone waiting outside began to erupt. They didn't even have to leave the compound for the frenzy to begin, all of the fans and press right up against the compound gates, eager to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

"I really don't feel like wading through these people all day." Robby murmured. "Is there any way we could just stay here?"

"Please." Miguel nodded. "If we go out right now, we're going to get mobbed."

So the Miyagi-Dos decided to stay and instead spend their time within the compound gates. It was noon, so the sun had risen into the sky, providing a comforting warmth but not so hot that it had them sweating. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, a mixture between sunny and a gentle breeze. They knew that they couldn't fail to take advantage of this, so they instead decided to relax in one of the compound's lush fields. Hawk had managed to scour them a soccer ball, so the Miyagi-Dos decided to play a game…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As Marcos lay in the grass, sunbathing in the 12 o clock sunlight, he could feel sleep beginning to overtake him. Thank God, because he hadn't slept well at all the night before, kept awake all night by the thought of the potentially life-changing Sekai Taikai final. He was absolutely exhausted by morning time, so when Sarah suggested that they just relax in the warm sunlight that morning rather than train, Marcos happily agreed. The rest of the Cobras had also joined them, relaxing and playing games in the gorgeous noon air.

All of a sudden, Marcos felt the air cool a little, and everything went dark. His eyes were closed as he tried to sleep, but the sudden lack of light was enough to make him groan.

"Kyler, I swear to God, if I open my eyes and see that it's you who's blocking the sun…" Marcos grumbled, annoyed.

"Not Kyler." A familiar voice replied, and Marcos slowly opened his eyes to see none other than his Taikai Final opponent, Robby Keene, standing over him. Marcos sat up a little and raised an eyebrow.

"Robby. What's up?" Marcos asked. Although Marcos was sitting with all 5 of the other Cobra Kai students, interestingly enough the Miyagi-Do student didn't spark any kind of instant conflict or confrontation. Sarah, Shawn and Kenny were on neutral to good terms with him, and Kyler and Piper were too scared to do anything to Robby anyways, so the boy was able to walk up to them without any fear of another stand-off between the sides.

"We were playing some soccer on the field over there and we saw you guys, so we were wondering if you'd like to join us." Robby offered them. It was an olive branch that Miyagi-Do had agreed to extend to Cobra Kai before the Finals, a way of hopefully creating good memories together and ensuring a clean, fair fight in the final, rather than a brawl spawned from bad blood.

It wasn't Marcos who spoke up first to reply. Nor was it Sarah. Instead, it was none other than Kyler who hotly responded to Robby…

"No! You're just trying to injure our fighters before the final! Fuck off!" Kyler snapped at Robby, who didn't even grace Kyler with a response. The brunette didn't even look at the asian bully, but Marcos did, slowly turning towards his teammate and rolling his eyes.

"Kyler… shut up." Marcos remarked, before slowly getting to his feet and facing Robby once more. "I would love to play some football actually."

"Me too." Sarah said, standing up herself. Kenny and Shawn also stood up, eager to join in the festivities and fun.

However, the other two members of the dojo - Kyler and Piper - refused to join them. Miyagi-Do were the enemy, they said, so they wouldn't mix with them ever. This split Cobra Kai almost directly down the middle, as it seemed to do increasingly often between the two sides. Marcos, Sarah, Shawn and Kenny were the more reasonable of the Cobra Kais; they were the ones you could actually have a conversation with; they were the ones on Kreese's side. And Kyler and Piper were the ones on Silver's side; the ones who had dived too far into the 'no mercy' antics of their dojo that they allowed it to seep into all aspects of their life, rather than just their fighting style like the others had. If there was ever to be a civil war within Cobra Kai, these were almost certainly going to be the battle lines.

Marcos and the others didn't let that bother them though. They simply left Kyler and Piper to be - probably for the best anyways - and the four Cobra Kais joined Robby as they walked down to the soccer field that had been made by the groundskeepers of this incredible compound.

"I will warn you… I am Brazilian. From the favelas too. Football is basically ingrained in our DNA." Marcos remarked, light-heartedly.

"Don't get too cocky. You're looking at a 2010 Under 8 Valley Soccer Championship participant." Robby joked back.

They made it to the rest of Miyagi-Do a few moments later, who were somewhat shocked to see the 4 Cobra Kais who accepted the offer to play, but they were happy all the same. The rivalry between these two sides was definitely reaching its final chapter - they could all feel it - as for the first time in as long as they could remember, they were able to genuinely have fun together without rivalry being the most pressing thing on their minds. Maybe it was something to do with being in Japan and outside the Valley's familiar war territory. Maybe it had to do with the fact that their senseis weren't around right now, in particular the manipulative, instigating likes of Silver. But right now, they were about to have a nice game of soccer, and the dojo they all represented was temporarily forgotten.

"Should you really be playing with your ankle?" Sarah asked Sam, slightly concerned, as she walked over to her. Sam smiled at her and shrugged.

"Eh, I'll take it easy. And I'm getting it properly checked out when we get home, so if something happens to it between now and then, it's not the end of the world." Sam replied.

"So… what are the teams?" Hawk asked, eager to get the ball rolling. Literally.

Unfortunately, with the competitive natures of every single student there, it ended up taking longer than expected to make teams. They all wanted the best chance of winning possible, so they struggled to make even enough teams that everybody deemed fair, despite none of them actually knowing each other's soccer ability at all. At the end of all of the debating, they decided on the teams of Marcos, Miguel, Demetri, Tory and Sarah against Robby, Kenny, Shawn, Sam and Hawk.

But by the time the game started, none of them could have really cared about whether the teams were fair or not. They were simply content with having a great time. It was made abundantly clear that Marcos was by far the best footballer there, as his upbringing had meant countless days playing football with his friends, but the amount of screwing around that they did meant that he hardly scored a goal. Every time he got the ball, he would try to do something obscenely skillful and end up losing it immediately afterwards, or he'd find himself being playfully rugby-tackled and dumped onto the ground by Shawn.

The Miyagi-Dos and Cobra Kais all played together in harmony, having an absolute blast as they got to know the other dojo as people rather than simply as their opponents. There was a newfound respect formed between them. It was like a new team of the 10 of them was being formed, one that transcended what dojo they were fighting for. In another lifetime, maybe the 10 of them would've trained together and fought on the same side earlier. They definitely would have made a formidable team…