Season 4

Chapter 34

"All right, guys! Gather around!" Both Johnny, Kreese and Daniel called to their respective dojos on opposite sides of the All-Valley Sports Center the next morning. The day had finally arrived. 6 months of extremely rigorous training had finally come down to today, the day of the All-Valley tournament.

Miguel had woken up that morning, already nervous. He couldn't stomach anything more for breakfast than a single piece of toast, and him and Johnny left for the sports arena early so they could register and get ready. Carmen and Miguel's yaya would be coming later, closer to when the tournament began.

As Hawk and Miguel stood opposite Johnny and Jimmy, the Miyagi Do students stood opposite Daniel and Julie, and the Cobras stood before Barnes and Kreese, the three instructors began to give their pep talks.

"All right, listen up, guys! Today's the day." Daniel said. "The day we finally show the world what Miyagi-Do is all about. I don't care about the result too much, because I know that each and every one of you gave me every ounce of what you've got. All I want you to do is..."

"Beat the living shit out of them!" Johnny declared. "That's what I want you to do to all of your opponents today. I want you to use every strike, every kick, every throw Jimmy and I have taught you. But at the end of the fight, I want you to always bow and shake hands with your opponents. We're badasses, but we're not..."

"Assholes!" Daniel spat. "That's what Cobra Kai are. They have all bullied us for a very long time. But I don't want you guys to let emotions from the past into your fighting and end up abandoning Miyagi-Do's never-strike-first..."

"Bullshit! That's what Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do's policies are!" Jimmy stated. "Both dojos have too one-sided ethoses. Ours is perfect. We strike first. We strike hard. But we show mercy. If your opponent is already down and you've already won the fight, you..."

"Finish him!" Kreese barked. "Your opponent is never down and out until he has stopped breathing. The fight is still going until the ref steps in and pulls you away. What I want you to do today is to..."

"Show forgiveness." Daniel stated.

"Kick ass. Have fun." Johnny declared.

"Obliterate this tournament!" Kreese spat. "Is that clear?"

"YES, SENSEI!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"All right. We're all signed in." Johnny announced as he walked over to the other Eagle-Fangs half an hour later. "Miguel, just one thing. As the reigning champ, you have the option to skip prelims and go straight into the quarter-finals. Your choice."

"I want to fight in the prelims." Miguel immediately replied. Johnny looked at him, slightly worried.

"Are you sure? The last thing I want you to do is to burn out, or get injured in the prelim. I mean, for all you know, you could be facing Robby in the prelims. Are you sure you want to risk that?"

Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. My muscles are feeling kind of tense today. I feel it would be good to get a warm up and get into the fighting mindset, you know?"

Johnny nodded.

"Fair point. Okay, so there really isn't much to do now. You guys just need to change into your gi's, and then we can warm up and stretch and get ready for the tournament to begin."

"Are we wearing our normal training gi's?" Hawk asked. Jimmy chuckled and shook his head. He opened his duffel bag, tossing Miguel and Hawk their special tournament gi's. As Miguel and Hawk looked at them, their eyes widened and they whistled in appreciation.