CHAPTER 176

Two fighters. One trophy. If Cobra Kai won, the bet would go down to the final fight of the night, but if they did anything less than that, Miyagi-Do would win right then and there. The stakes were burned into the minds of every single person in the arena, particularly those fighting, but neither Sarah nor Tory seemed to be affected by it at all. In Tory's case, she could feel the pressure fueling her, converting into a fiery motivation inside her.

RING!

For this reason, as the bell rang, signalling the start of the first round of the Sekai Taikai Girls' Final, neither competitor showed a hint of fear. They both charged from the word go, not wanting their opponent to establish even the slightest bit of momentum in the matchup, as they knew that momentum could mean everything if it came down to a win by decision, like it had for the senseis' fight.

Although Sarah had spent most of her time sparring with Marcos, and Tory spent most of her time sparring with Robby, the fight that unfolded between the two girls was nothing at all like that of their boyfriends' previous encounters. If anything, this fight - at least the first round of it - Marcos and Hawk's semi final fight more than anything else. Both of them wasted not even a second, lunging with vicious attacking combinations to try and get onto the front foot of the fight. They went from 0-100 in a matter of seconds, very dissimilar to the more cautious, calculated starts to Robby and Marcos' fights.

It was all about who landed the coveted opening blow - that was what was going on in both Sarah and Tory's minds. And it was indeed the competitor dressed in the pale-white gi who landed the first strike of the fight. Tory managed to duck under the razor-sharp spinning heel kick from Sarah, a flashy kick that the Cobra had produced as a show of confidence - and Tory then landed a punch to Sarah's exposed abdomen. This caused Sarah's hands to quickly drop downwards to block the area, exposing her head, which Tory then found with another punch.

This time, Sarah went stumbling backwards, clutching her jaw that Tory had found with the latest punch. First blood had been drawn by the Miyagi-Do, and Tory was eager to capitalise on her early advantage. However, Sarah was not going to allow her to do so very easily. She knew that the momentum in the fight was dangerously close to swaying to Tory's favour. As Tory charged towards her once more, Sarah knew that Tory was being allowed to dictate the pace of the fight, which was absolutely the last thing Sarah needed. She needed to do something that could slow down the tempo of the fight, and allow her the opportunity to do so.

Thankfully, during all of the copious training her and Marcos had done in the leadup to the Taikai, her boyfriend had taught her a few MMA tricks that would almost definitely work against the strictly Karate trained opponent. As Tory approached her once more, Sarah did not do anything to stop her, drawing her in close before suddenly lunging and making her move. Sarah parried Tory's punching arm, ducking under it so that the girls became only a couple of inches apart. Then, she found herself grabbing Tory around the waist in a vice-like grip, throwing all of her weight backwards and therefore tossing Tory onto the ground.

It was the first takedown of the fight, and the first proper takedown that had been done all day actually. Johnny and Daniel's fight had been prominently a striking matchup given their similar training, but Sarah was able to benefit from the tricks that she had learned to take Tory by surprise and throw her to the ground.

It wasn't done there though. Sarah had Tory right where she wanted her, in a position that as a Karate student Tory wasn't used to being in, so Sarah knew that she needed to take advantage of this. Before Tory had a chance to get up, Sarah rolled over so that she was directly on top of Tory in a mount position, raining down a few lethal punches on her opponent's undefended face before Tory managed to bring her legs in and kick Sarah away, propelling the Cobra backwards and off of her.

The two girls scrambled to their feet at around the same time, but it was Tory who was seemingly slightly the worse for wear after their latest encounter. There was still a long way to go, and neither of them were backing down.

RING!

A bell rang, signalling the end of the highly entertaining first round. These two had completely skipped the stage of cautiously testing the water, and had gone straight to throwing brutal shots that had the potential to knock their opponent out and end the fight right there.

Tory was the first to retreat to her corner, eager to get some advice from her senseis on the events of the first round.

"I don't know how to defend against takedowns like that. We didn't practise that in training." Tory told them. "So what do I do?"

Daniel, Johnny and Barnes all looked at each other, the same expression on all 3 of their faces, and something became abundantly clear to Tory.

"You have no idea how either, do you?" Tory remarked. Daniel sighed.

"I'm sorry. Look, Barnes, Johnny and I are all Karate students. We haven't trained at defending takedowns." Daniel admitted. "Maybe Chozen can help?"

"Keep your distance from your opponent." Chozen instructed Tory. "It's difficult, because you can't allow her to control the fight as it will put you at risk of more takedowns, but you also can't push too close to her while attacking as she'll just take you down again."

"Great. So I have to attack her, while still staying the hell away from her. How am I supposed to do that?"

"Pick your moments. Attack smart." Johnny told her. "She could know every single move in the world, but there's one thing she physically can't do and that's predicting what you're about to do before you do it. And if she can't predict, if you're fast enough, she won't be able to counter either."

"Johnny's right." Barnes agreed. "Weave in and out. Lunge in with a quickfire attack, but then pull away when you see her trying for a takedown or a counter. Quick moves. In and out. In and out. Like a mosquito. Don't even give her a chance to think."

At that moment, the fighters were called back to the middle of the ring, and so Tory turned on her heel and walked back over to the fight, a new gameplan in mind, ready to seize the 2nd round from Sarah and get closer and closer to victory…

RING!

Round 2 began. The second round of the fight, and both fighters had ever so slightly taken their feet off the gas to try and regard each other for the first time, examine and understand what exactly they were up against, so they knew how to defend against it and how to plan attacks of their own. It was definitely an incredibly intriguing matchup stylistically. Although in the past, there had been countless clashes between offensive and defensive styles, in this fight it was a totally different dimension that was being compared between them. Tory was a stand-up striker. That was solely what she had trained, so she wanted to remain on her feet for as long as she possibly could. Although Sarah was also mostly a striker given her Cobra Kai and kickboxing training, because of the few things she had picked up from Marcos, she found herself much more adept at takedowns and fighting from the ground than Tory was.

Presumably, during the break, Kreese had informed Tory of that, as Sarah seemed to target taking Tory down more and more as the second round wore on. It only made Tory's objective of being quick to go in and out with her attacks more crucial. She would lunge in with incredible precision and speed, land a strike or two on Sarah, before darting out of the way before Sarah could react. She really was like a mosquito with this style of attack, but one that possessed a vicious sting.

This round belonged to Tory. While the Cobra might have edged her out in the opening round, Tory had come out stronger than ever in round 2, showing utter and complete dominance that could've very well ended in a knockout in her favour. It didn't though, as every time she attacked, Sarah managed to render herself just one step too far for Tory to knock out.

RING!

By the time the bell rang once more and the girls retreated back to their corners to prepare for round 3, the fight had been completely turned on its head. It was nearly impossible to look past Tory Nichols going all the way and winning the trophy, because she had looked simply superb that round. If Sarah wanted any chance at clawing her way back into this thing, she needed a change of tactic, and FAST.

"What do I do? She's too fast for me." Sarah said to Marcos and Kreese, panting and trying to catch her breath. It had been a physically exhausting round for her. Trying to even remain standing after the heavy hits she had taken was hard enough, but now she knew that she needed to gather herself, regroup and come up with a new idea or plan.

"Of course she is. Because you're letting her have full control over the pace of the fight. You're fighting in a purely reactionary way by trying to take her down as she comes close, which means that for as long as she's faster than you, you're not going to be able to land a single blow, as you're not going to guess her coming." Marcos instructed her, having watched the fight unfold in an eagle-eyed manner.

"That's correct." Kreese agreed. "You're fighting in the same way that Miyagi-Do used to. You're only reacting to what's being thrown at you, rather than taking the fight to her yourself, allowing her full control. And while that might work on a good day, sometimes it just doesn't, and this is one of these cases here."

"So what do I do?" Sarah asked.

"Just be yourself. You're more than good enough to win this thing, Sarah." Marcos said. "I've spent the past year sparring with you, and I know the way that Tory fights. You definitely have what it takes to win. But rather than just reacting to her, force her to have to react to you instead. You be the attacker. You don't need to take her down or anything like that. Just push her and force her to rely on Miyagi-Do. Your offence is probably better than her defence."

RING!

As Round 3 started, once again there seemed to be another complete U-turn in the direction that the fight was heading in. Things were almost the exact opposite to how they were in the previous round. Sarah had been told prior to Round 2 to do more of the same as she had done earlier, and this time it was Tory who had been told exactly that by her senseis. Sarah, on the other hand, had now completely changed her game. She was the one initiating the offence. And if Tory tried to challenge that… then, well, Sarah just went even harder on the attack.

Blow after blow Sarah landed, a variety of kicks, punches and even a couple of takedowns that she had managed to pull off when she had seen opportunities open up for them. She was no longer being pressured to solely use takedowns, but she didn't have to solely use strikes either. She was able to do whatever she felt most comfortable doing, and whatever was most appropriate in any given situation.

Tory, meanwhile, was taking heavy hits all over her body, but she refused to give in. She refused to give up. Sarah was all over her, and Tory was sure that it wouldn't be long before Sarah finally managed to land a knockout punch or kick. She was digging for it, Tory could tell, waiting to strike oil. The pendulum of momentum had completely swung towards Sarah's side, and seemed to be staying there for the foreseeable future, possibly until Sarah inevitably knocked her out and won the fight.

But despite this, Tory shockingly didn't find herself in too much fear. She was completely calm, as she knew exactly what she needed to do to turn the tide in her favour again. She needed to do what she did best: fight her way out of the foxhole. As she could sense the seconds ticking down towards the end of round 3, Tory knew that she couldn't rely on the clock to save her. She needed to battle her way out of this situation, even if she only had a few seconds before the end of the round and she was allowed to return to her corner to regroup.

What happened next could have only really been described as a series of unfortunate events. It was a one in a million chance, but if there was anything that the past year had taught them, it was to expect the unexpected. And that was exactly what occurred….

Sarah was smelling blood, a shark slowly inching its way towards the defenceless seal. She knew for a fact that she had Tory on the ropes, beaten down, and all that was left to do was to deliver that final killer blow. She took a few moments to scan Tory opposite her, trying to gauge for any weaknesses or gaps in the girl's defence. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she saw one… because Tory was keeping her arms up to almost head level to protect herself, that meant that her lower body was not very well defended. Not only that, but as Tory retreated a few steps back, her feet ended up being pretty close together. There was only 1 option for Sarah now: a takedown. Little did Sarah know, the reason for Tory's legs' positioning was because she was preparing her next combination: a ferocious cycle of spinning kicks. She hoped that her legs moving like helicopter blades would manage to back Sarah away from her, at least temporarily.

What happened next, seemed to happen in slow motion for the entire arena. As Tory was lifting her leg up, Sarah swooped downwards head-first as she attacked Tory's leg with a takedown. A few people in the arena winced, already foreseeing what was about to happen and sure enough, less than a second later, Tory's leg and Sarah's face made contact, the sickening sound of the impact echoing around the whole arena.

CRACK!