Red venom, Cobra Kai.

40. La caída.

For the last two days, Taylor had been sleeping on the couch at her mom's house, only because she didn't want to sleep in the dojo anymore. Every night there it was freezing cold, and the mattress was uncomfortable. Who knows how old the mattress was? The couch was way better, and the room was warmer. Though it was pretty weird when Taylor showed up at Laurie's front door with a box in hand, water drops falling from her face from the rain.

Everyone agreed to go to the tournament for Taylor. Even Marley agreed to do it. She was actually the first to agree to the idea, which was surprising.

Things had been weird between Taylor and Marley ever since she got there after staying the night with Harvey. But Taylor decided to suck it up. Eventually, she would have to face Marley again. The sooner the better.

Finally, though, the nerve wrenching day finally came. The All Valley tournament. Taylor's first one that she would be competing in. To say that Taylor wasn't nervous, that would be wrong, because Taylor was very nervous. The deal that Kreese, Daniel, and Johnny had made was stuck in Taylor's mind. And now Silver was on board with it. Taylor knew she had to go all out for this day.

Taylor's family drove her to the stadium where the tournament would be held in, just the same as last year.

"It's okay to be nervous." Laurie said from the front seat. Taylor was in the back, Alanna in the middle, and Kade in the other seat. "Just know that we'll support you if you win or lose."

"But I have high hopes that you'll win," Marley added, parking in the carpark.

Taylor sighed, nodding her head. "And I'll be cheering for you the loudest." Alanna said to Taylor. "So will Kade."

Kade scoffed, but nodded his head. "If I'm not yelling out loud, then I'll be mentally cheering for you. How does that sound?"

"Oh, he just doesn't want to be embarrassed," Alanna stated, nudging her brother's shoulder.

Taylor let out a small laugh. "Should we go in then? Everyone's probably already in there."

As Taylor and the others walked in, Harvey was waiting right by the door. When he caught sight of her, his head instantly perked up before walking over to her. "Taylor, finally." He huffed.

Taylor glanced over at him. "What? How long have you been waiting there for?"

"Ten or so minutes. I came here, though, like an hour and a half ago. Better early than late, right?" Harvey said nervously.

"Is everyone already here?"

Harvey nodded. "Yeah, I saw Kenny go into the changing rooms earlier."

"Right." Taylor looked over at Laurie. "I need to get changed. I'll see you in the crowd?"

"You'll see us in the crowd." Laurie reassured before everyone walked away to get their seats.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊

As Taylor waited for her dojo named to be called on to the sidelines of the mat, Taylor paced around nervously. Harvey was next to her, breathing in and out. They were both nervous. Then, Kreese and Silver came up to the students, stopping in front of them.

Taylor huffed out a breath as Daryl's voice spoke through the microphone.

"This next dojo took last year's title. But they're under new management. Can they reign supreme once more? And last year's runner up. He may be wearing a new gi, but one thing's for sure, Robby Keene and his team are ready to strike! Hailing from Reseda, defending champions and still the most badass name for a dojo, here comes Cobra Kai!"