CHAPTER 8

"BECAUSE I'M MOVING BACK TO ECUADOR!"

The words slipped out of Miguel's mouth before he could stop himself and when they did, everyone fell into an astonished silence.

"You're… you're what?" Aisha stammered. Miguel looked down and took a deep breath.

"During my 9 month coma, my family spent nearly every cent they have on hospital fees. We're broke now so we can't afford to live here anymore."

"Oh my God." Aisha said. "When do you move though? It's not for a couple of months, right?"

"Tuesday." Miguel murmured.

"TUESDAY?!" Johnny shouted. Finn sighed.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I should have told you earlier…"

"YEAH! YOU SHOULD HAVE!" Johnny spat. "Seriously, Miguel? After everything we've been through, this is how it ends? You try to sneak out the country? Is that all we mean to you? I thought… I thought we were closer than that. But you know what? Message received!"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry!" Miguel snapped. "I wanted to tell you earlier, I wanted to tell you all earlier, but I didn't know how. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving in two days so can't help with your pointless feud. I'm sorry."

With that, Miguel walked back into his house, leaving just Johnny, Daniel, Aisha, Demitri and Sam outside, the 5 of them still reeling from the news. They didn't know how to react. Their short-lived stand against Cobra Kai was already over and someone who meant a lot to them. Johnny had obviously taken the news the worst of all. Miguel was more than just his neighbor or his student. He was his son, and he couldn't believe that in 48 hours, both of his sons would be out of state.

"Um… Johnny, should we leave?" Daniel asked, sympathy filling his voice. Despite his major issues with Johnny, he couldn't imagine how the man was feeling. He knew that Miguel was like a second kid and Daniel didn't even know what he would do if Samantha and Anthony were suddenly torn out of his life.

"No, stay here a moment." Johnny muttered, not really listening. His mind was whirring at a hundred miles an hour. He had to do something. He knew that. He couldn't let Miguel move to Ecuador. He knew that Ecuador wasn't what Miguel wanted. Miguel wanted to live in the States. And as God was his witness, he was going to help Miguel achieve that. He knew what he needed to do. Ignoring Larusso, his daughter and their friends, he walked over to Miguel's house and banged on the door. "OPEN UP, IT'S ME!" He shouted. A few moments later, the door swung open and Carmen opened it. She smiled at him.

"Johnny. Hey. I heard Miguel just told you." She said, gently.

"Can we talk? You, me, Miguel?" He asked, urgently. She looked at him, confused, and nodded.

"Miguel!" Carmen called. Miguel emerged from his room moments later, a few loose tears on his cheeks and his eyes etched with sadness. When he saw his sensei, he sniffed back the tears and looked at him.

"Hey, sensei, look, I don't know what else to say. I'm really sorry and I…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I forgive you." Johnny snapped. "Look, Carmen, I've got a proposition for you. I know Miguel doesn't want to move, and you and I both know that if he moves back to Ecuador now, he's never getting out. So why doesn't he stay here and live with me? I've got a good job now as a private school high school gym teacher. I can support him for the year while you and his grandmother find your feet in Ecuador. Help him with college applications and visits and all that."

"Wait… you would really do that for me?" Miguel asked, absolutely astonished. Johnny nodded.

"In a heartbeat." He replied. "So what do you say, Carmen? Trust me. I swear, I will not let you down."

Carmen looked extremely torn. On one hand, she knew that living in the States would be infinitely better for Miguel than living in Ecuador, and he probably wouldn't be able to get into an American college if he went back to Ecuador. But on the other, she didn't know if she'd be able to go a whole year without Miguel. He was her son, the most important person in her life.

"Um… Miguel, mami, come with me to my room. Johnny, wait here." She snapped. Miguel and his grandmother quickly followed her into the empty master bedroom of the house. All of their stuff was already in boxes so they just stood across the room and stared down each other.

"Mom, please, please let me do this. Please let me stay here." Miguel broke the silence by begging.

"No! Miguel, I'm sorry. You're my son. This move is going to be extremely hard as it is. I can't be worrying on top of that about my only son across the continent with a known alcoholic." Carmen stated.

"Come on, mom! You know he's more than that! You know when it comes to me, he doesn't mess around. And face it, he was more of a father to me than papi ever was!"

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself, once again. Miguel's 'papi', or father, was the one major taboo topic in their family. The man was an absolute monster, physically and emotionally abusing Miguel and his mom for 14 years before Miguel's mom managed to escape with him out of the country. After everything they had been through with that immoral man, they agreed to never talk about him again. Carmen took a deep breath and looked at her son with an unreadable expression.

"Miguel… please wait outside with Johnny. Your yaya and I need to talk." Carmen said. Miguel slowly slunk out of the room, leaving just Carmen and his grandmother to talk. They looked at each other.

"He should stay here, you know?" His grandmother stated. Carmen glared at her.

"Seriously? That's an awful idea!"

"He's not your little Miggy anymore. He doesn't need your help with every single thing. For crying out loud, he's 18, Carmen!" his Grandmother responded. "Think about the past two years. It was Johnny who has been there for him every step of the way. That man truly cares about Miguel, almost as much as you do. Shouldn't Miguel stay in the place, the only place, where he has a shot at a future?"

Carmen looked down, tears filling her eyes. After all of the immense hardships her and Miguel had been through regarding his dad, they had been an extremely strong bond. She was devastated about him leaving for college next year, but to be leaving a whole year earlier? She didn't think she could take it. But in her heart of hearts, she knew that staying would be the right move. She nodded and the two of them walked into the other room to meet Johnny and Miguel. When they walked in, Johnny and Miguel instantly stood up, nervously.

"So…" Miguel asked, petrified. Carmen walked over to Johnny and stood an inch away from his face.

"You better not screw this up, Johnny." She growled, menacingly. Miguel's face broke out into a tentative smile.

"Wait… does that mean…" Miguel started. Carmen nodded.

"Yes. You can stay here." Carmen said. "Provided you call every week, you work your hardest, you stay in school… oh, and you get a part-time job! Do you understand?"

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"Well, I guess that's over." Demitri said. Larusso and his group of teenagers had gone back to the Larusso house and collapsed on the sofas in the living room.

"Well, not necessarily. We can still do this without Miguel." Daniel said, unconvincingly. Aisha scoffed.

"No offense Mr. Larusso, but I think we all know we can't. Having Miguel on board didn't just mean having the best fighter in the Valley on our side, but it also meant having someone who knows Cobra Kai better than anyone. Better than even me. He was extremely deep within their ranks so he was the key to stopping them. Not to mention the fact that we needed Johnny's teachings too, and he wouldn't do that without Miguel."

Sam was listening to the whole thing, still speechless in shock. Although she and Miguel were not about to get together anytime soon, she had always assumed that one day they would put aside their differences and at least be friends, if not more. But now, he was leaving and there was a good chance she would never see him again.

"So what now?" Sam asked, eventually. "We go back to school and keep getting beaten up and bullied by Cobra Kai? We keep having our lives ruined and terrified?"

"Not like we have a choice." Demitri murmured. All of them put their heads in their hands. They felt helpless. Powerless. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Daniel and Sam stood up and walked over to it. When they opened it, they saw Miguel and Johnny standing there, determined looks on their faces. Johnny looked right in the eyes of his arch nemesis and spoke…

"We're in…"

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"So how's this going to work?" Miguel asked as the 6 of them sat around on the patio. "Are we going to negotiate peace talks with the Cobras or something?"

"Ha! If only it were that easy! Sit down, shut up, and listen." Sam snapped. Miguel glared at her and sat on one of the deckchairs outside.

"So… what we were thinking is that we take them on, head-on." Daniel explained.

"Take them on? Take on 25 people with just 4. Oh, that's a great idea! NOT!" Johnny remarked. Daniel scowled at him.

"Look, you got any ideas, other than illegally injuring them beforehand and illegally targeting that injury during the fight?" Daniel spat back. Johnny quickly jumped to his face, Daniel doing the same, and the two men squared up to one another. Sam immediately stood up and pushed Johnny back, which caused Miguel to leap to his feet and stare down at her, causing an extremely tense 2v2 standoff. Finally, Aisha stood up and she stood in between the two parties.

"GUYS, STOP!" She shouted. "Look, we're only going to have a chance at pulling this off if we work together, so you guys have to call a temporary truce!"

The four rivals reluctantly nodded. Miguel looked at Sam and held out a hand.

"Truce?" He grumbled, frustratedly. Sam nodded and reluctantly shook it.

"Truce." She replied. Johnny and Daniel did the same thing. Although their team had absolutely no chemistry or morale, they knew deep down that they needed each other if they wanted any chance of succeeding. Once the four had sat down, Aisha smiled at them.

"See. Was that so hard?" She asked.

"Yes." Daniel, Samantha, Miguel and Johnny all said at the same time. Aisha rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, Miguel, our plan was to challenge Cobra Kai to a fight scheduled for the week before graduation. A 25 on 4 fight. Yes, that sounds dumb. Yes, that sounds like suicide. But it's all we've got." Aisha said.

"What we're planning to do is have Johnny train us for half the year. He can teach us all of the things he used to teach as part of his Cobra Kai." Demitri explained. "Then, for the other half of the year, Daniel is going to teach us his Miyagi-Do style training. We believe that if we learn the offensive skills from Cobra Kai and the defensive skills from Miyagi-Do, we'll have the best of both worlds and that will be enough to overpower Kreese's Cobra Kai."

"Stands to reason." Miguel nodded. "Just one thing though. Why should Cobra Kai fight us?"

Everyone looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Demitri asked, disbelieving. Miguel shook his head.

"Sorry. Let me rephrase that. Why should Cobra Kai wait until the end of the year to fight us? What's to stop them from attacking us tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that? What's in it for them? We need some kind of bargaining chip. Something that will make them play by our terms and wait until June."

Everyone looked at each other. They knew Miguel was right. Kreese and Cobra Kai were probably the last people who would stick to their word, so they needed a bargaining chip.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Daniel asked.

"Honestly?" Miguel asked. Daniel nodded. "If we lose, we tie Sam and Demitri's hands behind their backs and let the Cobras have their way with them."

"Woah, woah, woah! You want to sacrifice us?!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel shrugged.

"They're not going to kill you." Miguel stated. "Just beat the living shit out of you."

"Gee, I feel soooo much better all of a sudden!" Sam exclaimed.

"You got a better idea?" Miguel snapped. Everyone fell silent again. Eventually Johnny broke the silence.

"Miguel, what if we lose?" Johnny asked, slightly unsure.

"We don't." Miguel replied simply. "Look, I know this sounds crazy, but Sam and Demitri are really the only people Cobra Kai want. I know these people. They're like leopards. They will stalk their prey for as long as necessary if it means eventually getting what they want. If we promise them Sam and Demitri, they will wait out until June."

Everyone looked at each other nervously.

"Sam, Demitri, is this okay with you?" Daniel asked, concerned. Demitri reluctantly nodded.

"We'd better not lose." Demitri growled.

"We won't." Miguel replied. "Sam?"

Sam took a deep breath and looked at Miguel.

"Let's do it…"

24 hours later, the 6 rebels had successfully challenged Cobra Kai to an all-out brawl. May 31st. The Valley. No holds barred. It was going to be the fight of their lives, so good thing they had all of senior year to prepare…