Inextricable//A Cobra Kai Story

Chapter 23

Joining the line of Eagle Fangs again was extremely heartbreaking to do with out Miguel.

AJ could feel Johnnys eyes on her and she knew that he was probably blaming her for the reason why Miguel was quitting. She sighed and stood at the end of the line of her teammates as the announcer made the official statement of who was going to be in the finals.

"It looks like Miguel Diaz is not gonna fight" The man said, "Which means that the winner by default is Eli Moskowitz, who advances to the final where he will face Robby Keene!"

AJ looked over at her boyfriend who was staring back at Daniel with a look of worry. She knew that as much as Eli wanted to fight in the finals and win the championship, he wanted to do it fairly. Which meant he wanted to win against Miguel and not by default.

When Eli turned back around he looked over at AJ who nodded encouragingly. His anger and sadness was slowly fading away.

"The finals are up next!" The announcer continued on.

There was going to be a fifteen minute break before the finals officially began so AJ took the time to give another supportive speech.

"How are you feeling?" AJ sat down next to the boy on the Miyagi-Do bench.

Eli shrugged and looked over at her, "Disappointed, honestly" He sighed and stared out at the other competitors, "It doesn't feel like I deserve to be in the finals because I didn't actually beat Miguel, this is just a default win, it doesn't count"

"But it does" AJ assured him to which she got a soft scoff in return, "It does Eli. You have worked so hard to get to where you are now. Not everyone can be so lucky"

She didn't know what possessed her to say the last sentence but once she started talking she just couldn't stop.

Eli picked up on what she meant with the last sentence but didn't comment on it. Instead he said, "But do I have what it takes to beat Robby?"

"You shouldn't even be asking that question but I know why you are" AJ told him as she spared a glance over at the members of Cobra Kai, "When you were just Hawk you lost to him a lot, no offense, but now you are also Eli again, a blend of the two. And I know that this version of you is the version that you were always meant to be and the version that can defeat an enemy that has haunted you for so long"

Part of what she said brought back deja vu of their earlier conversation that ended in a not so romantic kiss. But what AJ said needed to be said again for it to be cemented into the boys head.

"Sounds like you just repeated everything from earlier" Eli smiled a little, "You're losing your touch Aubrey"

AJ rolled her eyes and nudged him gently, "I wouldn't have to repeat myself if you would just listen to me the first time"

Eli's response got cut off by the loud message from the announcer that said, "All finalists, please report to the center mat"

"Thats you" AJ smiled as they both stood up facing each other. As much as she wanted to kiss him, she didn't. For some reason it didn't feel right. So instead she held out her fist for a fist bump, "Good luck Mohawk"

Eli chuckled softly and returned the fist bump before joining the rest of the finalists on the center mat.

AJ watched him with a proud smile on her face. She knew that he could do it, he just needed to believe in himself as well.

Her gaze was only broken when the door swung open and Sam came into the tournament area. AJ's eyes were met with Miguels who was watching Sam enter. AJ gave him a small wave and a nod which the boy returned just before the door swung closed again.