CHAPTER 184

One more round. 5 more minutes. For all of the glory. Everything was on the line, and they were approaching the dying minutes of the encounter with neither boy having done enough to properly knock the other out. If they had been fighting anyone else, it was almost certain that there would have been a winner crowned by now, as nobody in the entire competition was as capable of dealing with each other as they were, especially in a final fight of this nature. Even the other top quality male fighters of the dojos - the likes of Miguel, Hawk, Demetri and Shawn - wouldn't have survived half of what Robby and Marcos had put each other through. The two of them were unique as although they were nothing too special when it came to point sparring, in moments like these where they were forced to take serious damage, nobody else was strong enough to take the hits that they had taken and still keep going. Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do had to consider themselves lucky that these were two on the mat right now, and the audience were sure as hell. They had been treated to yet another iconic fight in this year's tournament, one that would surely go down in history, no matter who won.

Well the fight wasn't over yet. There were still 5 minutes left, but before that, it was time for their final pep talks with their senseis. Robby was the first to limp over to the 4 senseis who were watching on, and he could already tell from their facial expressions that whatever they had to say, it wasn't exactly pleasant.

"What is it?" Robby asked.

"Hey, you did great that round!" Daniel exclaimed. "Really, really good stuff!"

"What is it?" Robby repeated, staring a hole into all of them, completely ignoring Daniel's attempt to ease him into whatever they had to say. He wanted to hear it bluntly. And that ended up coming from none other than Mike Barnes.

"Robby, uh… first of all, you're doing great. You're definitely holding your own, but uh… the way things stand, if this goes to decision, unless something drastic happens in the 5th round, it looks like he'll be edging you out." Barnes murmured. "He dominated 2 rounds, you dominated 1. He's had more takedowns than you and more knockdowns. You're losing pretty heavily on the scorecard."

"What is he saying?" Robby asked the other senseis, his mind not exactly firing on all cylinders in his near-exhausted state.

"What he's saying… is that you're going to go out there right now, and you're going to knock his ass out!" Johnny demanded, passion seeping into his voice as he spoke to his son. "There's no alternative. You want to win this fight, then you need to do whatever it takes to knock him out."

"How do you suggest I do that?" Robby asked. Johnny took a deep breath.

"Look, to win my fight, you told me to use Miyagi-Do. Now, for you to win yours, I'm going to tell you the exact opposite." Johnny stated. "It's time to use Cobra Kai. That ruthless, unwavering offense is your best chance at winning this thing. If you want to win, simply letting the time tick down isn't going to work for you. In fact, given that he probably is being told right now that he's ahead, he's probably going to do everything he can to let the seconds tick by. You can't let him. You need to be on him from the start, pushing like you've never pushed before."

"5 minutes. 5 minutes, Robby. That's all that's left. That's all that's remaining after a year of training. 5 minutes that have the potential to go either way." Daniel encouraged him. "There's nothing else we can really say but good luck, and we all love you so much either way."

On the other side of the mat, things were getting hyped up in the Cobra Kai corner. Although Marcos was barely able to speak in exhaustion, Kreese, Sarah and the rest of his teammates were hopping from foot to foot, shouting encouragements and hugging him in celebration. He hadn't won the fight yet, but he had done a lot of the grunt work while they were still full of energy. Now there were just 5 minutes left where they were both exhausted and would probably hit less hard. Survive those, and he would be champion, no question about it.

"Fucking warrior, man! What a fight!" Shawn exclaimed, grabbing Marcos by the shoulders and jumping up and down in celebration.

"Yeah, you're doing so well. I'm so proud of you." Sarah added.

"Fight's not over yet, guys." Marcos murmured tiredly. Kreese nodded.

"Mr. Oliveira's right." He spoke up. "This is the perfect situation. We have only 5 more minutes left, and we're up by enough points that there's nothing this round can really do to sway the judges' decision. But we can't get cocky, as he can still knock you out at any point."

"I know." Marcos nodded, well aware of that after his excruciating slam to the ground a few minutes before.

"Listen, here's what you're going to do." Kreese instructed him. "Just survive. Preserve your energy. He's going to be lashing out at you with everything he has. Just stay calm. Defend for all you can. Make it through the 5 minutes and the title is yours."

Marcos pondered this for a few long moments, before slowly shaking his head.

"No. I'm not going to do that." Marcos told his team, who all looked at him, perplexed.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"I want to win, but I want to win the right way. Not by hightailing it around the mat for 5 minutes as he chases after me." Marcos said. "I want to press on to win this thing properly: knock him out. I know that I can. I have him on the ropes."

"Marcos. You're clearly fatigued. You took a lot of big hits. Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, you might end up making a mistake." Sarah said. Marcos was about to respond, but someone cut him off before he could.

"Do it." Kreese said, much to the shock of all of the other Cobras.

"But sensei…" Shawn started, but Kreese swiftly raised a hand to stop him, turning to face Marcos and standing face to face with him.

"Do what's right for you. This is your moment." Kreese told him. Once again, it wasn't about winning at all costs for him, as much as he still wanted to win. It was about his student, the boy he knew had been through more than any human should ever have to, let alone a child. It was about finally giving him the win that he so badly desired and needed for him to have any hope at a future in his dream job.

"Thank you, sensei." Marcos smiled faintly at him. "And don't worry. After this round, I swear the trophy will be ours."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

RING!

Round 5. Here we go. With millions watching all over the world, the two boys trending all over global social media. It was time for one boy to be crowned world champion once and for all, and the other to go home devastated, after what had been a spectacular showing by both of them.

The fight was still up for the taking, open to either of them, and that was demonstrated clearly by the way that the first few minutes of the fight unfolded. The two boys went back and forth, Robby clearly with nothing to lose now, and Marcos showing no signs of slowing down despite his favorable position in the fight. Punch after punch they threw and more often than not, they connected. Fatigue had caused their defenses to crumble long before their attacks, so right now it was more about maintaining the strength to keep standing more than it was about actually blocking the strikes.

Robby used every page of the Cobra Kai and Eagle-Fang playbook to push with all of his offense, and Marcos used the few pages of Miyagi-Do he had learned from Sato during his brief stint in Okinawa. It was the exact opposite of what they traditionally did, and that led to even more chaos as the round wore on.

At that moment, Robby's greatest enemy wasn't Marcos: it was time. There was a colossal timer hanging over their heads on a jumbotron screen, and he could see it in the corner of his eye, ticking down.

5 minutes left… 4 minutes left… 3 minutes left…

Robby put in every ounce of energy he had, but it was no use. At every turn, Marcos had him covered. The boy was just one step ahead of him, just a bit too good. Soon the time ticked into its final minute, and shortly after it did, disaster struck for Robby…

Just as the timer was approaching the final 15 seconds of the fight, Robby completely misjudged one of his blocks, causing his hand to drop and leave his face exposed, Marcos capitalizing with a somewhat half-assed punch, all he could summon in his severely exhausted state. It was a miracle he was still standing, let alone fighting, but even the lighter punch was enough to knock Robby off balance and drop him down to his knees. The two of them were on the brink of passing out, and with Robby down on the ground with around 10 seconds left, it looked like Marcos was going to survive after all and ascend to the peak of the global Karate championship.

For the first time that round, Marcos finally made his first move of self-preservation. Despite Robby being vulnerable as he had been knocked down, Marcos didn't make to chase after him and knock him out for good. He was simply too tired and didn't have the strength for that. All he could do was keep standing and hope that his legs didn't give out from under him, watching as the timer trickled into the last 10 seconds of the fight. 10 seconds to victory…

Everyone in the arena knew it too. Cobra Kai were standing on the edge of the mat, ready to sprint onto the mat and mob their boy as soon as the timer hit 0. Miyagi-Do knew it too, many of them watching on, heartbroken, as Robby struggled to get up and the bet looked to be heading to their rivals after all. Every one of the 100,000 members of the audience also knew it, bouncing up and down in anticipation for their boy to be officially declared winner.

There was one person though in the arena who hadn't given up just yet. And he wasn't even on the mat right now. He was standing in the Miyagi-Do corner, screaming at Robby at the top of his lungs, praying that Robby would hear him.

"Robby! Robby! Your signature move! Use your signature move!"

Robby heard Miguel's voice faintly in the distance, and for a moment, he was kind of at a loss. His first thought was the crane kick, using the crane kick. But how the hell would he be able to do that from his position of being down on his knees and his opponent watching him the entire time.

But then Robby remembered…

"You know what I need?" Robby told Miguel.

"Water?" Miguel suggested in a hoarse croak, his throat dry as the desert around him. Robby shook his head though.

"No. I need a signature move. For the Taikai. Something that no one will see coming." He stated. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"That's really what you're thinking about right now?" Miguel laughed incredulously. Robby shrugged.

"I don't know, man. I'm exhausted. My whole body hurts. My mind's done." Robby complained. "Just entertain it for a second. Imagine the finals of the Sekai Taikai, winning the fight in the final seconds with a signature move like a superman punch, with millions of people watching."

"I think dehydration's starting to get to you because you're dreaming, man." Miguel chuckled. "For one, you're not winning the Taikai. I am. And two, even if you do win, it's sure as hell not going to be with a superman punch."

It was nearly one month later and Robby decided… he was about to prove Miguel wrong. He WOULD pull it off. He would win the tournament with that move. Or at least he would lose, knowing that he tried.

Forcing any ounce of exhaustion and pain deep down, Robby dragged himself to his feet and with less than 5 seconds left, he charged at Marcos at full speed…