Chuck vs. The Proposal

Previously, Morgan through pure luck and use of pop culture reference of Tom Hank's movie Castaway was able to start a fire. Now, Challenge #2 awaits Morgan and it involves catching a fish without the use of a net or fishing pole for the matters. Is he going to pull it off? Will he fail and thus lose his opportunity to get the blessing of proposing to Alex from Casey he so wants from him? Plus, how does the movie Karate Kid help him? Read and find out! Anyways, I think you'll enjoy it. Enjoy the read peeps. Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment please leave a comment for this one as well. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy the story.

The Bearded Karate Kid

XXX

Morgan Grimes currently stands just above waist high facing with the flow of a streaming river water instead of against it as he's embarking on a mission to catch fish. A difficult task indeed to undertake with even greater difficulty, especially without the use of a net or a fishing pole for that matter. His own hands are the quintessential tools that will only be used to catch fish swimming within waters of the Kaweah River.

For it's a seemingly devious twisted mission given to him by his potential future father-in-law John Casey who just put him up to quite possibly an immense physical and quite possibly mental challenge before him. Yet, he's up to it as he wants prove to himself that he can do it to the point where he can attain the one thing that he's never really gotten from the hulking NSA Agent…respect.

To him, it's the something he truly wants to somehow and in some way earn from him. What better way to do that by having some bonding time with a guy who his hetero life partner used to refer to him as emotionally constipated. Granted, when he put his own life on the line to save Alex from The Ring's top ring agent Vincent Smith he got a subsequent handshake from him. An approval of sorts to continue the relationship with his daughter.

Unfortunately, it's not necessarily the same as getting his respect because that takes something far greater to achieve that he thinks to himself. He recalls the conversation he had with Chuck a few days after the whole ordeal went down and things started to call down for the most part. His lanky best friend sharing with him how he and Alex under direst by their mutual hulking friend were under intense surveillance in an alley across the street from the Olive Garden they were on a date at.

A grown up date to be exact unlike the dates he had with Anna where it sometimes involved playing arcade games at the Santa Monica Pier. Half the time he would be so focused on playing against kids in order to win he would totally forget Anna was there so much so she would leave him there in anger. Thinking about further, that was their entire relationship in which he would do something stupid, she would get angry and he end up somehow get back into her good graces. A man-child through and through back in the day.

Truth be told, he knows before he ever met Alex he considered himself an utter screw up. A screw up who lacked the drive, determination and not mention fortitude to grow up in order to grab his future by the stones as Casey would so eloquently put it. Unfortunately, he didn't do that and he only did just enough to get by to the point where "just enough" was considered to be his credo. In hindsight, he held himself back and didn't want to break the hold of mediocrity.

Essentially, he in all intents and purposes hid in plain sight in that mediocrity with his former flame Anna Wu, which only lasted for a few years. Thankfully he broke free of that mediocrity via the Buy More, as well as Jeffster otherwise known as Jeff and Lester, the Beevis and Butthead of the nerd herd desk. Once all ties were finally served, he found himself gaining a new found energy and stride in regards to the outlook of his future.

In any case, he remembered it totally blew his mind to hear that coming from his own best friend and how his privacy was violated but more so for Alex he thought to himself. It was an intimate moment shared by both of them only to be tainted by 3 pairs of prying eyes. However, it gave him a sense of weird relief knowing that if they weren't under surveillance the whole situation would have ended tragically at the hands of a top ranking Ring agent.

Of course, he and Casey have always had a relationship of sorts mainly one where in the beginning he constantly threatened him with bodily harm, torture, or having him disappear into a deep, dark cave. Now, not so much and maybe the reason is he's wearing him down in a Steve Urkel kind of way and instead of Casey being Laura Lee Winslow it's the patriarch of the family Carl Winslow. Granted, there have been plenty of "did I do that" moments that he barely got out unscathed from the military vet's grasp thanks to Chuck, Sarah, and/or Travis for that matter.

While still just above waist deep in Kaweah River water, Morgan has a sudden epiphany in which Casey has been his unofficial teacher all through these years. A wise sensei the likes of Mr. Miyagi to him being the young student Daniel Larusso or otherwise known as Daniel-San True, he Casey did study under his former sensei turned bad guy Ty Bennet according to Chuck but unfortunately his anger centers him much to his dismay. Fortunately, he considers himself a much different student without having anger to center him. Alex is my center.

For the man who once nearly burned down his best friend's business he suddenly sees what he hopes to be his future father-in-law as his own unconventional sensei. From his own viewpoint, a sensei that isn't teaching him through sage wisdom but by letting him use his own way of doing things in order to accomplish the challenges he's making him do. You are good big guy. So good. I see what you're doing. In that instance, a smile is expressed on his lips as he looks up at Casey standing atop the edge of the hill overlooking the Kaweah River. This causes the proud marine to keenly notice.

"What are you smiling about moron?" he hollered out in a growl. His breath wafts out from his mouth due to how chilly it is within their surrounds.

"Nothing!" he hollered back shaking his head. "Mr. Casey-agi." he faintly breathed also wafting out because of the chill and the fact he is the cold Kaweah River.

Once he returns his attention to said Kaweah River he notices a piece of fabric hanging from his right shoulder straps that's just big and long enough. To do what exactly? He reaches up and rips it out and lays it out in front of him in full view with both hands. It's at that point, he begins hearing in his head climax confrontation near the end of Karate Kid 3 where Mike Barnes is yelling at Daniel. This leads him to raise the long fabric up towards then inevitably tying it up around his forehead. Afterwards he tightens the back with determination and then looks up at/towards Casey.

"I will stay focused!" he yelled out proudly. In that moment, he looks forward with absolute focus and claps his hands together and never separates them as he mentally prepares himself to conquer the next part of Casey's challenge. "I won't let you down!" he added closing his eyes.

Casey stands there in utter bewilderment at what Morgan just yelled out to him. To him, he either lost his mind for being in the cold Kaweah River or pressure has gotten to him that something snapped in that man-child brain of his. Either way, this leads to trained sniper to give his response.

"You have now until noon to capture at least 2 fish. I'll be nearby so don't look for me. I'll be watching." he yelled out once again. He then walks away thinking he may have broken Morgan sooner than expected, which leads him to express a slight smirk on the right side of the lip.

"I got this!" hollered back Morgan. His full attention on preparing himself to catch 2 fish. "I got this." he whispered faintly to himself.

XXX

"I go this." he repeatedly whispered to himself once again.

While continuing to standing there just above waste deep and not to mention cold waters of the Kaweah River, he recalls the low key forms that Mr. Miyagi played awesomely by Noriyuki "Pat" Mortia taught to Ralph Macchio's young character Daniel Larusso. His eyes still closed trying to not let the cold water physically affect him, he focuses on concentrating on the 1st initial lesson to Daniel-San…Sand The Floor.

He recalls that a seemingly strict Mr. Miyagi had the young and eager young man do work around his house, which started with Daniel sanding his floor. It's those unique techniques would ultimately be one of the most awesome pop culture movie references that for any 80's kid growing up would know instantly about, especially if it involved referencing somehow to real life. True, real life didn't go hand in hand with Morgan's lifestyle back then but now he's determined to grab life by the nose and give it a honk he thinks to himself.

In any case, thus begins Mr. Miyagi's kata involving his uniquely interesting teaching techniques. Morgan then slowly places his hands above the flowing water and inevitably opens his eyes clearly noticing the several number of fish underneath the surface of the water thanks to sunlight shining a bit on the water. Sunlight that is rising over the tree line. Thankfully, it's not shining directly at him or he would be totally blinded right now as the sunrise is just off to his right...3 o'clock in terms Casey would most definitely grunt out.

Speaking of Casey, he wonders if he's intently watching him right now and whether or not he's looking like an absolute fool in his eyes. Who am I kidding. He always thinks that way. I'm here to prove to myself my mother didn't raise no fool. Figure of speech of course because quite frankly as a kid I always would try to make my mom laugh. It helped keep her from being sad sometimes. It's that particular thought that he suddenly shakes his head and refocuses his attention on the matter at hand.

Morgan begins by circling his right hand in a clockwise fashion on the top surface of the water then does it again with his left hand. He intently focuses on his mission and objective which is swimming underneath the water mere inches away from him. Of course, he's faintly breathing out the following four words: Sand The Floor. Granted, whether it's working on it is dependent on the possible success of him actually catching a fish. 2 would absolutely be a miracle.

In that moment, his determination rather than his doubts wins out leading him to express of look of intensity emanating from his eyes. His breathing becomes more controlled as if he's hearing the voice of Mr. Miyagi in his head right now. More importantly, replaying the scene in his head where Daniel-San is fed up with Mr. Miyagi not teaching him anything and then suddenly finds himself using those lessons, which was considered to be a real eye opener.

He continues circling both hands down below over the water in a big clockwise fashion instead of in the air in front of him. However, its not at the same time mind you. He then suddenly stops after noticing something.

"Yikes. Don't want to break Chuck's watch in case I have to fight and ending up crane kicking one of the fish. Plus, I don't know if it's waterproof. I'm not taking any chances since it's helped my best friend. I don't know how it will help me but time will tell."

In that instance, he reaches over with his right hand unstrapping Chuck's watch from his left wrist. Afterwards, he safely places it in the inside right breast pocket of the sleeveless jacket vest he's wearing. Once he's safely tucked it away he returns to the task at hand of circling both hands above the water. Show me sand the floor. This goes on for a while but a few moments later he quickly sinks his right hand into the water then his left hand in order to what seems like scoop out the fish.

True, he makes a tremendous splash to the say least scooping/kicking up and out the water within/around his situated area. He continues waving both his arms huge circles like a mad man until he gradually stops due to fatigue. Unfortunately, he doesn't catch any fish but what he does catch is a possible cold as his entire head and face is drenched with Kaweah River. While standing there with water dripping down his nose and entire head, as well as face he looks around then takes a deep breath.

"Well…" faintly stated Morgan shrugging his shoulders. "…times to wax on, wax off."

XXX

When it came to Mr. Miyagi's sand the floor technique it was an epic fail. Yet, Morgan was undaunted because in his mind the first try is considered to be a trial run and it didn't work. So, he went on to the next technique that he made Daniel-San "train" for, which was waxing his collection of antique cars. Unfortunately, he would be dealing with antique cars that were just sitting there as he's dealing with fish that swim around and to mention have a mind of their own so they're absolutely unpredictable.

Not willing to give up whatsoever, he remembers what Mr. Miyagi told Daniel-San as he instructed him to Wax On, Wax off. Concentrate and look in eyes. Not The Hand. Thumb inside. To him, he had the concentration, thumb inside, and not looking at his hand part down but when it came to trying to look the fish in the eyes it was utterly hard. Also, a struggle to do. He did his best to do it but that begrudgingly failed which was disappointing. Fortunately, that didn't deter him one bit. After taking a look at Chuck's watch, he had at least 5 and half hours left before the noon deadline.

With Wax On, Wax off it too was a fail since it was somewhat similar to sand the floor. A bit frustrated but not defeated he ventured with unwavering determination towards the next of Mr. Miyagi's technique: Paint The Fence. Once again, he hears the iconic fictional movie character's voice in his head. Up. Down. Up Down. He whispered this to himself with a bit of force in his voice mixed like Mr. Miyagi did with Daniel-San in the movie to the point where he mentally added the hands impacting the palms to pump him up even more.

Eye! Always look eye! As much as he trying his best to heed looking his opponent in the eyes, those aforementioned opponents aren't cooperating much or refusing to at all. To him, if he doesn't somehow pull this off he'll fail Casey's challenge and thus won't get the blessing of proposing to the woman he loves. A woman who he is actually trying to be a better man for in hopes of becoming an even better husband for to where he wants to be an awesome father to their kids.

A thought that never really crossed his mind with Anna because it was merely a relationship that represented having fun at least to him back then. He now wholeheartedly understands why she dumped him because he wasn't fighting for a real relationship with real responsibility. In hindsight, he was fighting against having something real because it truly scared him if he actually found someone who wanted to grow up for.

He found that person in Alex and as much as he's scared in facing off with real life, he'll gladly go up against it now since he wasn't ready back then. In a way, the opponent he's facing off against are representing the fish version of the human main villain to the movie Johnny Lawrence. His thoughts regarding Johnny Lawrence inevitably take over, when it comes another iconic or in this particular case legend…wait for it…dary character Barney Stinson.

A very memorable character from the series How I Met Your Mother played by Neil Patricl Harris who considered Johnny Lawrence played by William Zabka. He made an appearance thanks to Ted and Marshall during his bachelor party deemed the "bro mitzvah". Yet, its Barney who drops the proverbial bomb that he considered Johnny the good guy with Daniel being the bad guy. Season 8 of Episode 22…

Focus Moron-San! It's those words that screamed in his own head via the Casey-esque version of Mr. Miyagi that bring him back to completely focusing on the task at hand. Now, Paint the fence! In that moment, the former Buy More green shirt slowly goes up and down with both arms this time from in the water making sure to having his palms out. When it comes to taking them out of the water he bends his wrists in a downward motion so as to stick to the authenticity of it all despite it being a movie.

After taking time to inhale and exhale, he continues to move his arms up and out of the water then into it with a seemingly easy flow. Nothing too complicated he thinks to himself. While doing so, he does his best to at least imagine locking eyes with what he now considers countless fish versions of Johnny Lawrence. The seconds seem like minutes then minutes seem like hours until he suddenly finds himself locking eyes with a fish. He doesn't know what kind of fish exactly, which he should have googled beforehand but its pointless now he thinks to himself.

He doesn't dare break focus on the fish he's locked in a staring contest of sorts. His fluid of motion with both of arms entering and leaving the water is amazingly smooth much to Morgan's own surprise evident by how wide his eyes are right now. Yet, he doesn't dare make sudden moves and tries at best not to blink because he's about to strike…or at least he hopes he strike.

Upon thinking that though, he suddenly makes his move causing the water in front of him to disturbed in such a way that it erupts in a sort of volcanic type of eruption. For it's an eruption that's momentarily chaotic but it would gradually settle down in every sense of the word. Morgan stands there bent over with his soaking wet face and head a few inches from the surface of the water. He lifts himself a bit then peers down at his arms that are now against his chest.

His face expresses fatigue but after a few seconds it expresses something much different. A victorious smile as he bends straight up to reveal that he has a rather large fish pinned tightly against his chest with both arms. He quickly heads carefully on his way to shore making sure not to fall back into the water or he'll drop the fish he just caught thanks to Paint The Face. As he heads to shore, he keeps repeating the following in his head as he's grinning. I did it! I can't believe it but I did it!

XXX

The surprising achievement in catching a fish shocked Morgan and he immediately scanned the area for Casey. Unfortunately, he didn't see any sign of him whatsoever whereby signifying that in his eyes even he may have got a partial win it's still doesn't complete the challenge he's been tasked to do. Fortunately, he has taken breaks from time to time even though they were to be shorts one so as to not lose the momentum he attained after catching the 1st fish.

The easy part is getting the 1st catch out of way to alleviate the pressure he's possibly placed on his own shoulders knowing it may get tougher as the hours pass. Unfortunately, he was right as 1 hour turn to 2 then 5 and half hours as he would find himself in an incredibly difficult situation where the mental, as well as emotional pressure was mounting.

What was also mounting was the physical pressure as being in the water for so many hours have possibly taken its toll on his entire body and not to mention his health as well. Yet, he's willing to put his mind, body, and even soul on the line if it means nearly killing himself to accomplish any challenges Casey puts in front of him.

It's that particular that as he stands in the now somewhat warm waters of the Kaweah river. Thankfully, as the day continued on the sun's rays shined down on the spot where he's been standing in giving some comfort knowing full well his legs have grown gradually numb by being in the water for so long. Once again he does his best to set aside the mental and physical pain to the point where he knows it's crunch time causing him to slap his hands together one more time. In doing so, he slowly rubs them together and turns around to face the other direction, which means he's going against the current of the water.

As much as Morgan wants to crane kick a fish out of the water to complete Casey's challenge he has to kick it up a notch. In that moment, he takes it to the next level or should I say Karate Kid 2 after the last technique of paint house was an utter failure. Side to side. Lock Wrists. Side to side. Yeah that awesomely failed. In any case, he's channels the ice breaking scene where a cocky Chozen challenges Daniel to break the ice in order to embarrass him in front of everybody including Kumiko. In his mind, he considers it a pivotal moment where Mr. Miyagi helps Daniel drown out the noise that's distracting him for what he has to do.

So, he does just that as briefly rubs his hands together once again. Afterwards, he closes his eyes and does the exact same technique Daniel does as he stands in front of the blocks ice with Mr. Miyagi standing right beside him. Unfortunately, he's not standing right beside him in this high stakes moment but he forges on as if he is. His breathing is calm and focuses every intention of break through the ice that also represents the 1 fish he's trying to capture. A few seconds go by and he feels centered but that doesn't long. Why?

Casey. With his eyes remaining closed, Morgan hears the unmistakable gravel tone as he makes his presence known. "10 minutes to noon Grimes. Then your time is up." he hollered out.

Undeterred, Morgan gives his response. "Then I shouldn't waste my last ten minutes. I'm using every second I got!." he bellowed back.

"By just standing there!?"

"It may look like I'm just standing here, but I'm doing much more than that!"

"It looks like you're about to swim the back stroke against the fish. My money is on the fish winning!" he yelled out.

As much as he's trying to center himself, he's beginning to unravel due to Casey verbal antics. They go back and forth like for the next 9 minutes causing the anger to build up in him. His challenge is up in the next 60 seconds and if somehow a miracle happens for Morgan he won't be able to face the next challenge. His calm focus would be absolutely broken when the proud marine suddenly says something that cause him to completely unravel.

"It's a no-win situation Grimes. 20 seconds! Just say it! You give up!?"

In that moment, Morgan opens his eyes and as he turns to give his angered response a finish jumps out of the water in front of him. It completely startles him to where his instincts suddenly take over leading him to do the karate chop through ice maneuver that he's been focused on doing for quite some time. The maneuver miraculously hits the fish point blank on target hard with his right hand causing it to sail across the air landing on the shore inevitably flopping around.

As this is happening, Morgan stands there in the water in absolute astonishment as he stares at the flopping fish along the shore where he gets out and stands to take short breaks. He continues to watch it flop…right at Casey's feet where it landed. Speaking of Casey he is left considerably speechless. However, who isn't speechless is Morgan Grimes as he raises both arms up celebrating in the last seconds utter victory and screams out loud the following words that echo in the surrounding area:

"I am the Bearded Karate Kid!"

XXX

NOTE: SORRY FOR THE WAIT! I REALLY ENJOYED WRITING THIS CHAPTER! HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AS WELL! AS ALWAYS PLEASE REVIEW!