[SEASON SIX: EPISODE SEVEN]

After a series of losses and a decent showing in the second event of the Sekai Taikai, the Miyagi-Dos gathered in the lounge area, strategizing their next move.

"Everyone, listen up. All right, this morning's event was tough but let's not get discouraged just yet. We have two more events today. And the eliminations won't begin till the second one."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Demetri exclaimed with a worried look on his face.

"If that wasn't the elimination round, then what is? Getting our heads cut off with swords?"

"We knew this wasn't gonna be easy. We're going up against the best dojos in the world." Daniel said, his tone steady but filled with encouragement.

"But don't forget you guys are one of them too."

"Yeah, so start fighting like it." Johnny agreed, with his voice sounding a bit harsh while carrying the weight of motivation.

"Johnny, come on, man. The best thing you can do right now is just clear your minds, get some rest, you know, put this behind you. You got this, all right?"

Ethan and the others all nodded in agreement, before grabbing their bags and heading back to their hotel rooms.

"Hey, listen, I'm gonna go check in on Chozen."

"Why bother? The way he's been puking all morning, he won't be up all day." The blonde man said, as they began to walk down the hallway.

"I still don't get why he thinks drinking himself sick is gonna get him over his heartbreak."

"Because people don't always take the right approach. Like the way you've been Sensei-ing."

"Here we go." LaRusso sighed in disbelief, realizing he keeps rubbing it in his face.

"You tell them to take it easy when they're getting buried alive out there."

"Yelling at them will not make them fight better, okay? They need encouragement and focus."

"They need points. This is a tournament, remember? If we end up at the bottom of the rankings going into the elimination round, we might as well say adios."

"Johnny, we cannot keep arguing like this. Not if we wanna beat these other dojos. The Iron Dragons have fighters from around the world. Their Sensei is a former three-time champ."

"I don't care. He's a pussy. I'm not scared of him." Sensei declared, and shook his head.

"Yeah, well, he's certainly not gonna be scared of us, seeing that we can't even figure out how to Sensei together."

"I've been letting you do your go take a nap find your balance bullshit, but clearly it's not working."

"How do you expect these kids to master Miyagi-Do if one of their senseis keeps calling it bullshit?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Know what's bullshit? Letting them keep losing because you care more about honoring some dead guy's legacy than doing what'll actually help them win."

"Mr. LaRusso?" A woman from the front desk called out, trying to grab his attention.

"Someone left this for you."

"Thank you." Daniel grabbed the folder from the desk and walked back over to Johnny, as he opened it, revealing a piece of paper that said Master Serrano can meet him today at eleven, with an address.

"Holy shit."

"What? Is that the bill from the minibar? Chozen should pay."

"No. I gotta go. This is important."

"More important than the tournament?" The blonde man asked.

"We still have a few hours. I'll be back before the next event." He patted him on his shoulder before turning around and heading out the front entrance.

"All right. Don't come back until you get your damn head on straight."

Meanwhile, in their shared hotel room, Ethan, Hawk, and Demetri lounged around, discussing their struggles in the Sekai Taikai events. The frustration evident as they went over their shortcomings, while the sound of running water from the shower signaled that Robby was still inside.

"What if we just skip the rest of the events? Hit Las Ramblas, pick up some churros?"

"What? You're already giving up on the tournament?"

"Okay, well, let's be realistic here. There's no way that we can win. At this point, I'd rather not lose any more brain cells." He remarked.

"Oh my god, we get it. You're going to MIT. Let them know about your rank-ass farts."

"No, no." The boy sputtered his words, trying to cover up the fact that he farts in his sleep.

"That was not me."

"Just saying. Whoever denied it supplied it." Eli stated, before noticing the look on William's face.

"Hey, Ethan, dude. You okay? You fought really good."

"Thanks, man. I'm fine. But I don't know about my brother. I don't know what the hell is going on in that head of his, but he's not focused." Ethan replied.

"He's probably bummed out about Tory being on Cobra Kai."

"He needs to get over it. At this point, it's not about whether we advance or not, because he's the who fighting for us in the finals. We're in really deep shit."

"I don't know if it means anything, but.... We all think it should be you out there." The Mohawk boy said, his tone sincere as he glanced at the person in front of him.

"Tell that to Robby, who can't even fight well without looking at Tory."

"It's true. Yeah." Demetri agreed, nodding his head. The conversation came to a halt as the sound of running water stopped. Moments later, Robby walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, glancing at the group curiously.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing, no. We were just sleuthing the cold case of who cut the cheese last night." He replied quickly, trailing off awkwardly, before laying down on the bed, then snapped his fingers and pointed at Hawk.

"And as we all know, whoever smell it.... Dealt it."

Keene walked over to the bed, and gave Williams a pat on his shoulder as he passed by. The boy shook his head in disbelief, letting out frustration sigh, and walking out of the hotel room.

After receiving a folder containing a piece of paper with a note stating someone knew Mr. Miyagi, along with a street address, Daniel sat in a taxi, giving the driver directions to the location.

"Wait, so let me get this straight, Daniel. You're on your way to meet some mysterious, potentially dangerous fighter in the middle of a country where you don't speak the language?"

"Hablo un poco de espanol." LaRusso replied speaking in Spanish.

"Plus, I have Google Translate." 

"Daniel, don't be cute. I thought we agreed to move on from digging into Mr. Miyagi's past."

"That's before I learned about the headband."

"Oh, so now we're letting ancient karate apparel drive our choices." She said, a hint of sarcasm lacing in her voice.

"When I first met Mr. Miyagi, he told me was against tournaments. Now I find out he probably forgot in the biggest one in the world during a time of his life he never spoke about. His wife and newborn child just died." He explained to her.

"Well.... I can only imagine what he was going through."

"I know. If this guy knew Mr. Miyagi, he could shed some light on what happened. I mean, come on, I gotta least talk to him."

"Look, I get it, but just...." Amanda trailed off, letting out a sigh, her concern evident.

"Couldn't this have waited? I thought you had two more events today."

"This is when Serrano could meet. It's not far. I'm gonna be back in time. And who knows? I may get some insights that could help with the tournament."

"Just be careful. Love you."

The two ended the call, and shortly after, the taxi driver pulled up to the address, stopping in front of an old abandoned church.

"Address is up there. Are you sure it's correct? Tourists don't come here." The man said in Spanish, glancing over his shoulder to look at the person behind him.

"Si." Daniel replied, pulling out some cash from his pocket and handing it to the driver in the front seat.

"I shouldn't be long. Do you mind waiting here? Espera aqui?"

As LaRusso stepped out of the taxi, the dude seemed to get the wrong idea, and immediately sped off, leaving him standing alone.

"Hey, hey! I said wait!"

He pulled his phone back out, checking the address on Google Maps, before walking up to a locked gate. Suddenly a crowbar struck the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

Back at the Sekai Taikai arena, all the competing dojos gathered around as one of the officials explained the next event and what they needed to do to advance.

"In this final points round, competitors will try to knock their opponents off their platforms. Once you have fallen, you are out." She said, gesturing to the large rectangular stage elevated on four legs, positioned in front of the viewing area.

"Points are determined off by wins, losses, and time. Final ranking after this event will determine placement in tonight's elimination round. We will now call up the first group of fighters."

"All right. Listen up." Johnny commanded, as Ethan and the other Miyagi-dos students quickly gathered around their Sensei.

"Looks like I'm taking charge, so we're doing things differently. No more waiting around like scared little bitches, waiting for them to come to you. All right? You go at them. Aggressive. Knock them off first."

"Those platforms are pretty narrow." Sam observed, glancing toward the stage.

"My dad would want balance."

"Yeah, well, your dad's not here, all right? It's time for us to start scoring some points."

"Sora Haruto from Hirobukan on platform one. Devon Lee from Miyagi-Do on platform two."

"Don't let me down, Lee."

"Yes, Sensei." She nodded, although you could tell she was hesitating about something.

The two fighters stood on the rectangular platform in their fighting stances, waiting for the match to start.

"You got this, Lee. Be aggressive."

"You can do it, Devon!"

The match begins, as they both exchanged blocks and blows, trying to knock one of them off the platform.

"Come on, Lee. Don't sit back. Strike."

Lee attempted to land a kick, but Maria swiftly dodged it and countered with a precise kick of her own, sending her opponent tumbling off the platform.

"Lee out. Time, ten seconds."

The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the round. Devon made her way back to the others, clutching her side in discomfort before lowering herself to the floor to sit.

"We need to do better. Let's go." Sensei said firmly, clapping his hands together with a tone that was slightly harsh but motivational.

"After that, you all need to step up, all right?"

After struggling through the second event, Robby ultimately lost his match. He walked back to his teammates, frustration evident on his face.

"Keene out. Time, 45 seconds."

"All right, Ethan. You're our last chance for points. Come on, let's get it done."

Now it was Ethan's turn to step onto the platform, facing off against the male captain of the Hornet Nest Dojo. Determination flickered in his eyes as he prepared for the challenge ahead.

The two bowed respectfully before getting assuming their fighting stances. As soon as the match began, his opponent lunged forward, locking his arms around him in an attempt shove him off the edge. Williams dug his feet firmly into the platform, resisting the push. With quick thinking, he drove his knee into his enemies side several times, forcing him to release his grip.

They continued exchanging blows and blocking each other's attacks, each attempting to gain an advantage and force the other off the stage. The boy seized an opportunity, twisting his opponent's arm to destabilize him. With precision, he launched a flying knee strike, knocking the opponent off balance and sending him tumbling off the platform.

"Phan out. Time, 40 seconds."

The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match. Johnny turned to glance at the leaderboard displaying the standings of each competing dojos. His expression tightened as he saw Miyagi-Do drop down to twelfth place.

"Oh crap."

"Sensei?" Ethan asked, walking up behind him after noticing he hasn't been watching.

"Did you see that knee I landed?"

"It's too little, too late, man. We're near the bottom of the standings. There's nothing to celebrate here."

"What?" He questioned, as the others started walking away, before Sensei stopped them.

"Hey! Where the hell you think you're going?"

"Back to the hotel to wash off this disgrace." Demetri replied.

"You're not getting off that easy. Locker room. Now."

The group moved to the locker room, where Ethan and his fellow students sat down on the bench. The blonde man stood in front of them, pacing back and forth, with a frustrated expression on his face.

"What I saw from you just now, it wasn't karate. It was weakness. You fought like little lambs waiting for slaughter. We keep going like this, we get eliminated tonight. Some of you will put this behind you."

"But some of you are gonna carry this for the rest of your lives. Knowing you had this chance to make something of yourselves. But instead, you crumbled under pressure. And you're gonna go on to live shit lives in shitty apartments with shit jobs. And always have to live with this failure."

"So if you wanna save some humiliation, why don't we just skip the next round and catch the next flight home?" Johnny questioned, as none of them spoke not a single word, just sitting there.

"What is wrong with you guys? Where's your fight? Aren't you gonna stand up for yourselves?"

"You keep blaming us like this isn't on you too. If my Dad had been there, we never would've lost like that." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, well, he didn't show up."

"Probably because of you. You keep disrespecting him, trying to prove your way is better, when it's so clear that we should've been using Miyagi-Do. You shouldn't even be wearing that gi."

"Hey!" Devon shouted, standing up from her seat.

"Don't talk to my Sensei like that."

"Your Sensei got you knocked off the board in ten seconds. So I would sit down if I were you. You're not helping us. I don't even know how you made this team." The brunette snapped. Williams couldn't help but snicker quietly to himself, thinking his girlfriend looked pretty when she was angry. Lee, finding the sting of the comment, immediately sat back down next to Demetri without another word.

"Well, I, for one, will be putting all of this behind me when I'm off to MI—"

"Shut the fuck up about MIT." Hawk interrupted, cutting his friend off mid-sentence. He then gestured to himself and the boy sitting next to him.

"Some of us care about winning the tournament. Be nice if you did too."

"Guys, can we cool it? This isn't helping." Robby said, trying to calm down the tension between them.

"We need to focus up."

"Maybe you should listen to your own advice for once." Ethan muttered under his breath.

"Got something to say?"

"I already said my peace."

"Hey, I'm not finished." Johnny said, noticing he grabbed his bag and started walking away. The man stopped before he could go any further.

"No offense, dude. But I'm pretty sure we've heard enough from you."

With that, they all walked out of the locker room, one by one.

After feeling the pressure from his Sensei and dealing with constant jealousy of not being the captain of Miyagi-Do, Williams walked back to the front door of the hotel room, with someone trailing behind him.

"Ethan, hey, can we talk, please?" Robby asked, hoping his brother would just listen to him. He reluctantly turned around to face him.

"Look, you obviously got some shit to get off your chest about me, so just say it."

"Alright, since no one else is going to say it, I will. You have the opportunity to be captain of this team, and you're blowing by getting distracted. You've lost every single one of your matches. It's like you don't even care about winning." Ethan explained.

"It hasn't exactly been the easiest for me."

"It was never supposed to this simple, bro. You knew the day before we were gonna fight for captain, it would've changed my life. I would've become a Sensei with I get older."

"Well, it's not all about you, dude. It can change my life too. You can hold a grudge all you want, but I won't it fair and square back home." Keene stated firmly.

"Sure. But you're also gonna the number one reason why we go home with nothing at all. So either quit being such a pussy or admit that I'm fighting way better than you and hand it straight over to me." The boy said, pointing to the captain headband about his neck before walking away in disbelief.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE AND LEAVE ANY FEEDBACK YOU GUYS HAVE :)

SORRY FOR LONG DELAY!!!

HAD NO MOTIVATION TO WRITE WHATSOEVER BUT IM GOOD NOW!!!

SEE YALL IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!

I MIGHT COME BACK TO THIS CHAPTER AND ADD A COUPLE OF MORE IMPORTANT THINGS!!!

PEACE EVERYONE!!!