CHAPTER 170

"Mr. Lawrence, the next question is for you." The next interviewer told Johnny. "From the information that we managed to gather prior to the tournament, you and Mr. Larusso have your own long history with one another: first as opponents on the mat; then as senseis for rival dojos; and then finally as co-senseis of Miyagi-Do. Is it all smiles between the two of you going into this fight, or have old feelings of rivalry begun to resurface? Talk us through your mindset going into this fight."

"I want to win." Johnny grunted bluntly in reply. "I'm not going to cheat, but I'm going to do absolutely everything possible to win this one. No matter what it takes. We might be on the same team, but we're on opposite sides of the mat for that fight."

That's where Johnny stood in regards to his upcoming clash with Daniel. The loss from 1984 still haunted him, and he was all too aware that this was his chance to finally make up for it. He shouldn't have even lost that fight. He had trained for almost 5 years, in comparison to Daniel who had trained for just a few weeks. It had been his mind that had let him down on the day, Cobra Kai winding him up into a ball of aggression and preventing him from thinking straight. Because if he had, there was no chance little Danny Larusso would have beaten him.

Well he wasn't going to let another opportunity go to waste. He had a chance now to write the this chapter of the story himself, and wasn't going to fall short agan.

"Mr. Larusso, same question to you. How are you feeling going into the fight against Mr. Lawrence?" The interviewer asked Daniel.

"Uh… well I want to win, just like Johnny does. I want to win as much as he does." Daniel stated. "But I want to remind Johnny, and remind everyone else listening, that we're here as sensei. Our job is to be there to mentor the kids in the healthiest, best way possible. That should be our priority throughout. We need to lead by example, and that means not letting the fight get out of hand by breaking rules and going too far. If we can do that, I'm sure it's going to be a great fight."

That's where Daniel stood. Of the two senseis, he was probably the more laid back about this whole thing. He knew what it was like to win, so his main focus now wasn't about him winning, but instead allowing Robby and Tory to feel that same euphoria too. That didn't change the fact that Daniel was, for lack of a better word, the Karate Kid. He was a proven champion, a 2 time All-Valley champion. And he hadn't gotten there purely on luck. Nor had he relied solely on skill. What differentiated him from the rest was his unmatched drive and willpower to win, even if he was the overwhelming underdog. He knew exactly what it took to win, and he was prepared to do so once again.

Both Daniel and Johnny were not only almost completely evenly matched when it came to current skill level, but they had both won 2 All-Valley championships too. Neither one of them was ahead of the other in anyway, and they were perfectly balanced, as all great rivalries were. With practically nothing separating them, choosing who to bet on in the fight could be decided by the mere flip of a coin. It was all going to come down to how the fight unfolded tomorrow.

"Ms. Nichols, a question for you." The interviewer said. "Of course, your semi final fight yesterday didn't end the way I'm sure you planned for it to. It ended with Samantha Larusso getting injured and having to forfeit. Has that had any effect on you in the 20 hours since?"

Tory nodded.

"Yeah, uh… it was tough to deal with at first. It's no secret that I've done some really bad things to Sam in the past. Even though this one was an accident, it felt like I was right back to that time." Tory admitted. "But Sam reassured me that she's fine. She knew that it was just a freak accident. And she said that she'd be supporting me in the final, so now I owe it to her as well to win this thing."

"That's great to hear, Ms. Nichols." The interviewer nodded. "Another question… from what I've read - and please correct us if I'm wrong - you and Ms. Gledhill have never properly fought. Unlike the other four finalists, who have all fought their opponent on numerous occasions. Do you think that puts you at any kind of disadvantage going into the fight?"

"I mean no more than her." Tory replied. "You're right: we've had a few encounters, but we've never actually fought 1 on 1, so we don't really know how each other fights. But I feel like that could be a good thing. It means that there's going to be more skill involved trying to work out our opponent's style."

"Does it help that you were in Cobra Kai for a while before, so maybe you already know a few of her moves?" The interviewer asked. Tory shook her head.

"I don't think so." Tory said. "Her and I were talking earlier today during lunch. She mentioned that she trained for almost 8 years kickboxing. Meanwhile, she's only been in Cobra Kai for less than a year. So I think that there really shouldn't be that much that I recognize from her fighting style."

That was true. Much like Johnny and Daniel, Sarah and Tory's matchup was going to be an incredibly equal affair, but for the exact opposite reason as the senseis. While for Johnny and Daniel, they had grown closer and closer in level due to the sheer number of times they had fought, for Sarah and Tory it was the uncertainty that pulled them to an equal status.

"And finally Mr. Keene." The next interviewer said, smiling at Robby. "Talk to me… how does it feel to have made it this far?"

"Great." Robby replied. "A year and a half ago, I was sitting in a cell in juvie for nearly killing my now step-brother. Now, I'm sitting at a press conference as one of the top 2 male U21 Karate fighters in the world. It's so surreal for me."

"Any nerves about tomorrow?" The interviewer asked. Robby shrugged.

"Not really." Robby said. "Maybe a bit, but they're the good nerves. The ones you get when you're excited. I get to represent the dojo that's given me almost everything in my life, the dojo that completely changed what could have been a useless, worthless life, and helped guide me and prevent me from going too far down the wrong path."

"How do you expect the fight to pan out tomorrow?" The interviewer asked. Robby shrugged.

"If Sam and Tory's fight last night is any indication, I really don't think anyone can predict that. Marcos is a great fighter. No doubt about that. And I'm sure he's going to be even better tomorrow with the entire stadium cheering him on. But I'm just as prepared as he is, and I'm ready to take the fight to him and win."

"Best of luck for tomorrow, Mr. Keene." The interviewer told him, before sitting back down. At this point, the press conference mediator stood up.

"Thank you all so very much for the questions asked, and competitors, thank you so much for answering them." The mediator said. "We're going to close off by doing something that we do annually on the night before the final. We're going to ask each of you to name 1 person or thing in this world that tomorrow, you're going to be fighting for. It helps the audience get to know the fighters a little bit better, if they don't know you well already. Does that make sense?"

All of the 6 finalists nodded, understanding the assignment immediately. The mediator began asking…

"Mr. Larusso, who are you fighting for tomorrow?" The mediator asked him.

"I'm fighting for Mr. Miyagi, my first sensei and mentor." Daniel said without missing a beat. "I want to prove that he was right all along, that his style of self defense is the right way."

"Mr. Lawrence?" The mediator asked. This one took Johnny a few moments to answer, but when he did, he answered with an answer far more intellectual than anyone expected from him.

"I'm fighting for the 17 year old kid who lost to Larusso in 1984, and was wrecked by it for 4 decades after." Johnny said.

"Mr. Oliveira?"

"My mom. May she rest in peace." Marcos instantly responded. Like Daniel, he didn't even need a moment to think. "She believed in me from the very beginning. Even when we barely had enough money for food, even when we were living in a really shitty area and life was at its worst, she was the only person who still had faith that one day I'd fulfill my dream and become a UFC fighter."

"Ms. Gledhill?"

"Uh… probably Marcos." Sarah replied, smiling faintly at him. "If I hadn't met him, my life would be in a very different place right now. He encouraged me to take the leap of faith and join Karate in the first place so without him, I definitely would never have gotten into Karate. I wouldn't have been able to meet the incredible people I've met and done the amazing things I've been able to do. So yeah… I'm fighting for him."

"Ms. Nichols?"

"For everyone in my dojo." For Tory, this didn't take that much thought to answer. "I've done some horrible things to them in the past and yet when I needed them, they still immediately took me in, despite the things I'd done to them in the past."

"And finally, Mr. Keene? Who are you fighting for?"

As Robby answered, his response definitely surprised a few people in the room.

"Mr. Larusso." Robby replied clearly. Immediately, a few eyebrows were raised, and so Robby decided to elaborate a little bit further. "Things are great between me, my friends, my family and my stepfamily now, but the fact is that there was a time when I had none of them around. I was on my own, and I was going down a pretty bad path. It was Mr. Larusso who was the only person who had faith that there was still a person inside me who deserved a good life, even when I hardly believed it myself. He accepted me into his family. Took me in when I got evicted and my mom and dad weren't around. Treated me like his own son. He showed me that there was good deep down in everyone, including myself, and I know that I definitely wouldn't be here without him."

It was a really sweet thing to say from Robby. While things had never been better between him and his dad, between him and Miguel, between him and everyone around him, Robby would never forget who had been the one person to have been there for him when he was at his very lowest. When even both of his biological parents were too screwed up themselves to properly acknowledge their son, Daniel had been there for him and by using Miyagi-Do, he had single handedly turned Robby's life around. Whenever he thought about his old friends, Trey and Cruz, and the fact that they were already in prison, Robby shuddered as he knew that had he not met Daniel, he would have been in there with them.

There was one person, however, who wasn't particularly thrilled to hear Robby's emotional sentiment. It was a certain blonde middle aged man who sat on the other side of the stage.