"I'm afraid he's not… Cobra Kai material."

Hawk had no response as Sensei Kreese repeated the words he used earlier about Kyler and Brucks. He did not want Mitch to be kicked out but it sounded like there was no changing his sensei's mind.

It wasn't fair! In the time that Miguel had been sent to the hospital, Hawk had to find a substitute friend and Mitch had been the one he picked and he had been great company. Sure, he wasn't Miguel, but he had proven he was very loyal. He very much doubted he could count on Kyler for any kind of true loyalty.

"I told you, only the strong will survive." Sensei Kreese said to Mitch as final words.

Mitch looked at Hawk as if hoping he might speak up for him again. Hawk had no idea what to say. He felt he should speak up, but Sensei Kreese made it clear he was no longer welcome here.

Yet, hadn't Hawk been having troubles himself with what Sensei Kreese was teaching? Wasn't that the whole reason he hesitated to break Demetri's arm only last night? Wasn't it why he questioned Sensei Kreese when he kicked out Bert and the others over the hamster?

Where had Sensei Kreese's loyalty been to his paying customers then? Where was it now?

Hawk was finally figuring out the pieces! Sensei Kreese didn't care about him or any of them.

That realisation was enough to make Hawk feel cold on the inside. What was he supposed to do now? Now he needed Miguel more than ever. But Miguel wouldn't be able to help him now. He was recovering from his fall.

So what would Miguel do if he was here?

Well, Miguel never really liked Sensei Kreese too much and wasn't pleased about him taking over Cobra Kai. He certainly wouldn't be ok with Kyler and Brucks in this dojo, especially if they were taking the places of loyal friends.

Hawk loved Miguel and would always do anything for him. He proved that last night. Now Hawk understands what Miguel didn't like about Sensei Kreese.

"Mitch let's go." Hawk said.

Hawk grabbed his bag and started to walk out, with a confused Mitch following him. All of his friends looked confused.

"See you later Lip!" Hawk heard Brucks say.

Hawk ignored him. He'd get him back for that later.

As Hawk walked to the door, he thought Sensei Kreese might call him back. He didn't, but Tory did.

"Hawk? Hawk!"

Hawk had no choice but to ignore her and step out the door with Mitch after they put their shoes on. Perhaps he and Tory could meet up later at their place and have a talk.

"Dude what was that all about?" asked Mitch, sounding very upset. "Why did Sensei kick me out? Why did you quit? Since when did you start calling me Mitch?"

Hawk couldn't really think straight. He had about as many emotions rolling through him as Mitch had questions.

"Look man I can't really talk now. I gotta go. I need to clear my head. But I'm sorry Sensei Kreese kicked you off the team like that."

"Yeah ok… thanks man." was Mitch's response. Hawk nodded and got on his motorcycle and put his helmet on.

Hawk took a glance at Mitch and saw he still looked pretty sad about being kicked off the team.

"Hey Mitch! Just so you know, Sensei Kreese was wrong. You are Cobra Kai material!"

…

As Hawk sat in his room that evening, he kept thinking about what to do. He figured he should text Miguel. He could do with his advice. But Miguel was still having his physical therapy going on. Would he be able to help? Would he even want to help? He might be in no mood to give advice to anyone at the time, given what he's going through. Besides what if he already heard about what Hawk did to Demetri and didn't want anything to do with him anymore?

Hawk stopped thinking about this when he heard a buzz from his phone.

Our place. 1 hour.

Tory texted him. Asking him to go to their place on the same day he left Cobra Kai didn't exactly sound good but he wasn't walking away from a possible challenge. That's not who Hawk is anymore.

So Hawk said he'd be there. When it was time to go, he went outside, got on his motorcycle and drove to Canby. A bar in Reseda that he and Tory agreed to meet up at once a week. Hawk really liked her company. He felt a good bit closer to her ever since she came back to Cobra Kai after the school fight. They were the strongest students in the dojo and nobody wanted Miguel avenged more than they did.

Or enjoyed talking shit about Sam more than they did for that matter.

After Hawk parked his Motorcycle, he went inside the bar and saw Tory was sitting at their usual table and went to sit across from her.

"Hey." Hawk greeted Tory with a nod but he didn't smile.

Tory didn't smile either or say anything but she did nod back. She was staring at Hawk with a guarded expression that she very rarely took down since the school fight.

"You want me to get the usual?" Hawk asked. They usually got a couple of Coors Banquets when they came here.

"Not yet." Tory answered.

Hawk nodded and waited for her to say something.

" Who are those guys that showed up at the dojo today?"

Hawk was prepared to answer the question. He knew she was asking more than he let on and that she expected him to understand what he was asking.

She was asking who they were to him. She was asking why them being at the dojo bothered Hawk so much.

"I know them from school. They're not exactly my favourite people."

"Ok. What did they do that was so bad you'd leave Sensei because of them?"

He saw Tory narrow her eyes. He knew this could end badly. There was also something odd about Tory. It was like something else had happened to her today.

"I.. I don't really wanna talk about them. I left because… because Kreese doesn't care about us."

It hurt Hawk to admit out loud that the man he had come to trust more than anyone had been nothing but a manipulative horrible human being who only cared about himself, but he had to say it.

Tory's mouth hung slightly open. "How could you say that? He's the one who's been looking out for us since the school fight! He promised to make things better for us and he has been! We just got our revenge on the Miyagi-Do's thanks to him. How could you say he doesn't care about us!?" She demanded.

"Because he doesn't. Think about it Tory. Cobra Kai is about loyalty and brotherhood. Where was his loyalty when he kicked out Bert and the others? Or today when he replaced Mitch all over losing a sparring match? How does that make him not Cobra Kai material?"

Tory didn't have an answer for him straight away. Perhaps she couldn't think of one? Perhaps she'd leave Cobra Kai as well?

"Things changed since the school fight Hawk. We needed to have the strongest to win this war. It sucks that Bert got kicked out over a hamster, at the end of summer I promised to teach him so new moves and I admit I was looking forward to it. It also sucks that Mitch got kicked out as well. I did think that was cruel, but we gotta trust our sensei right?"

Hawk had told himself to trust Sensei Kreese when thing weren't making sense. But kicking Mitch out had been the final straw for him.

"I'm not going back. You shouldn't either. Come on Tory, you're better than him. I wanna go see Miguel tomorrow. Come with me!"

Tory's eyes widened and she looked angry. "I'm not leaving Sensei. You have no idea what he's done for me. You're really not coming back?"

"I'm not."

"This is your final answer?" Tory asked, in a deadly quiet voice.

Hawk nodded.

Tory immediately stood up. "Then you're a traitor. You can forget we were ever friends or teammates. Get in Cobra Kai's way one time, you're also the enemy. You know what happens to enemies. You better watch you're back."

Tory started to walk away. "Tory? Tory!"

Tory left the bar without looking back at Hawk once.