…
01: He's Not Human Anymore
...
Vietnam Jungles, 1968.
…
Birds twittered quietly beneath the jungle canopy.
In the distance of the jungle, small storm clouds were brewing. Rain fell, and small crickets sang ambiently.
A trooper of the US Army stood within the darkness, camouflaged perfectly both by his uniform, the warpaint made to mask his face, and where he was positioned.
Even his rifle was impossible to discern in the darkness.
John Kreese, a young man, calm, quiet, and strong soldier, was listening and watching like a statue 'walking point' or being on guard duty against enemy raids and scouts during the nighttime.
He lifted his rifle quietly knowing something was moving. Expertly, he slipped his gun higher, aimed down the barrel, only to see a Douc monkey walking across a nearby tree branch.
John lowered his rifle, looking away, continuing to stare back and forth from his small perch between some foliage.
Despite several minutes passing by, John didn't nod off. He didn't grab a cigarette, he didn't lean to a more comfortable position.
All John Kreese did, was blink, and gently lift his rifle and look if something was moving nearby.
Wildlife tended to make very little noise, but when it did, he immediately had to identify it, keep it in mind, and resume guard duty.
John didn't yawn. He didn't move from his position. He didn't so much as reach for his canteen of water or clean his rifle.
He continued to sit there.
Two hours before sunrise, he silently returned to his camp.
"Hey Johnny how you doing?"
"Terry." The two soldiers smiled, Terry placing a hand on John's shoulder while standing near the edge of the US Army camp.
Both young men chuckled quietly, Terry leaning on the tree near where John was now sitting on a tree stump.
John was shorter, much more muscular, and had shorter browner hair.
Terry Silver was far taller, skinnier, and wore a sleek black ponytail far too slick and well kept for an enlisted man in the Vietnam War to wear.
"Wanted to talk to you lately," muttered Terry, he looked quickly around. "Something, pretty massive's come up."
"What do you need?"
"Do you remember the pit? A few months back?"
John glanced around the camp and the nearby jungle blankly, then back at Terry. "Why?"
"Old cap of ours. Turner. Mentioned something about an um. Kim Sun-Yung. Up north in South Korea near a monastery in the Taebaek mountain range."
"What about him?"
"Talked to some officers. We've done plenty of time on the frontlines. You've already collected more medals than half the boys in our sector. You're moving up John, being promoted. All of it."
John smiled. "You mean?"
"A few more months of this. Maybe some more combat if we're unlucky. And we're on special assignment to learn from him, then come back here and teach what Cap Turner taught to other platoons."
John chuckled quietly. "You chose the wrong spot to deliver good news like this."
"I know. I just didn't want you hooting and howling so loudly you'd wake up the entire camp thinking it's a 'Cong raid."
John looked sad for a moment.
" 'S the matter?" wondered Terry.
"Everyone here struggled so hard, fought, died. Dean's brother. Got picked off last week on patrol. Eddie, and Julian, both died just last month. And we're being sent off to a. Taekwondo school in Korea with Buddhists?"
"Johnny." Terry smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You earned this. We. We earned this."
"What are you talking about?"
"I was there during most of our operations. I'm a Lieutenant Corporal now, I'm heading up there with you. We're both officers now, we'll only be near the frontlines not needed in the thick of it unless we really want to. Johnny. You're a Special Forces Army Captain, highest honors, top tier, all of it. You earned this. You've killed for our brothers. Almost died for them. For the cause. We're not out of this hell hole yet completely, but we're damn sure going to make it easier for others like it was made for us."
John scoffed. "It was never easier."
"No. But Cap taught us tricks he-"
"Cap betrayed me." John looked Terry in the eyes. "Betrayed both of us. Tried to weaken me, before the fight, might've killed me anyway even after we were saved. If he won, where would we all be right now?"
"I don't know. But this isn't just some Taekwondo place. John. This is the top martial arts school in Korea, Japan, back home, and possibly the world. This would be, everything. No one trains here but elite combat UN officers, the best soldiers from across the globe. We would both help develop the skills necessary to help the war effort down here. The same way we were taught."
John looked around the jungle, both men still keeping their voice as quiet as they could.
"What does this school teach?"
"Some sort of karate. Korean karate, Tang Soo Do I think it's called."
"Honestly I'm not gonna let some. Monk. In the Korean mountains, teach me how to fight after everything we learned down here. We know enough."
"John we'd spend years in this program," Terry said. "We'd be. We'd be made into some of the best fighters in the world. You seriously would rather spend your time walking point for the next few years. Hoping this would all end at some point, soon hopefully? Instead of. Taking advantage of very useful opportunities we were given? Making a better life, for ourselves, and even everyone right here in the thick of it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because there's nothing waiting for me back home."
Terry was still confused. "What are you talking about? You got Betsy, you probably got a nice job waiting-"
"Besty's dead."
Terry was wide eyed. "But. How?"
"Turner told me before he tried to kill me. I didn't believe him. Until I asked around the camp when we got back. Car accident."
Terry said nothing.
John stared blankly into the jungle, glancing back at the camp next to him quickly. "So now. Either I live out the rest of my days doing what I do best. Or let the war consume me, just like it did Frankie, Gordon, Nathan, Julian. All of them. I've got nothing left to offer the world but fighting."
Terry frowned, letting the ambient noise of the jungle ring around them both.
"You're right. You might only have fighting left for what you're good at. But you can use that. To have a life after we're done here."
"Don't you get it? We're not supposed to be done here. I know I'm not. There's gonna be a war after this one, and a war after that one, and I want to fight in all of them. All I have left is this." John waved a hand towards the jungle.
"The skills this program can give you. Can turn you into an actual fighter. You might know war John. But all these martial arts. Karate. Taekwondo. Tang Soo Do. They're just getting started, they can start building international tournaments, I hear even enlisted men will be selected to compete in a few years. Real championships that can mean a great deal. And. Back home there can be a real craze for them."
"What? You think people will pay for me to teach them that stuff?"
"No. I think they'll beg you for it. They'll say. John Kreese is the best there is."
John scoffed, chuckling quietly.
Terry smiled, continuing to speak. "They'll say. John Kreese trains the best in the world. His way. Is the right way. Whatever that way is for fighting. He makes it the very best."
"What would I call this school. What would I teach? What would the point of any of it be?"
"You'll decide that. I might help." Terry patted John's shoulder. "All I know is that you'll be great at it. Besides."
Terry leaned off the tree and spoke. "Just a few weeks of that Tang Soo Do stuff Cap Turner taught us. I got good enough at walking point, fighting, all of that. To survive just as well as you. See you for drills."
John nodded without any words.
"Terry." John said quietly.
Terry turned around.
John kept nodding.
"I'll do it. I'll go with you."
Terry smiled. "It'll be the best decision you ever made Johnny. Like I said. We'll make the right choice, because your whole life man. I'm with you. Whatever you need, for the rest of your life."
John smiled. "I intend to repay that."
"Repay it by giving it your all when we're shipped out to Korea. Pack your things!" chortled Terry quietly.
John turned around to the jungle again directly next to the camp.
John saw something moving in the darkness, something moving along the ground.
It was something he found to be the biggest threat in the jungle besides enemy soldiers. It was the most dangerous kind of wildlife, it didn't have a rattle, and never hissed until after it had already struck.
Its fangs and venom were typically quite lethal, snake bites were very common while standing guard duty out in the jungle, but most doctors had the training, antivenom, and medicine necessary to counteract them and just barely save a man's life.
It moved without noise, always searching for food, and it mercilessly hunted. There were barely any predators except for maybe humans above it in the jungle.
A king cobra of the Vietnamese jungle slithered right past John Kreese in search of its next meal next to the Army camp. And then entered into the bushes to not be seen again.
John smiled quietly, fixed his rifle, and walked towards his tent.
…
Decades later, in the same location he once opened Cobra Kai on the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia, John Kreese lectured his new generation of students.
Sweat was upon all of their faces and bodies, but it still did not stain their white uniforms, with the Cobra Kai symbol on their backs.
They had been trained hard for the day, but were still in ready or Junbi stance.
"Mercy. Weakness. Defeat. Are all unacceptable."
He walked past a Cobra Kai with a slight afro, Shawn Payne.
"You train to be the best version of yourself."
Kreese walked past a blonde girl who was utterly calm, staring forward like a statue, Tory Nichols.
"You train. For victory. Victory, not just on the mat. But in life. To excel at all that you endeavor. When a challenge, not just a man, confronts you. It is the enemy. You strike first against it. Give it your all."
Kreese went on, walking past the only student wearing a provisional black belt, or Cho Dan Bo belt, another calm and attentive dark brown haired teen, Lucas Schwarber.
"You show no mercy. You destroy it. You use all of you, all of your strength, your intelligence, your wit. To overcome it."
Kreese now walked past a teen with a scar on his lip and a tall red mohawk. This student, Kreese quickly looked in the eye as he walked past him. "With constant vigilance. Constantly moving forward. If you stand still and are left unaware, you get stuck. Which is why I tend to have you doing drills while I give you these lessons."
"But today's lesson is especially important. It's about loyalty. And true strength."
Kreese tucked his hands into his belt, walking around the class. Speaking.
"You've used to be friends with those who are now your enemies. Robby Keene. And others who now are with Miyagi-Do and its ally. You must not squander your abilities. Do not let their weakness become yours. They have chosen their path. Yours, is different. Yours. Is better. Is that understood?"
All sixteen students of Cobra Kai barked in unison, almost making the glass across the street from the dojo shake from how loudly they could yell together.
"Yes Sensei!"
"I. Can't. Hear you!"
"Yes Sensei!" the class yelled twice as loud now.
Kreese nodded quietly.
…
In his office, as the rest of the class left the dojo, Lucas entered as Kreese sat down and poured himself scotch.
"Schwarber. Sit."
Lucas nodded and did so.
"I had something to tell you Sensei."
"All ears."
"Do you think. That a lot of people will object to what we're doing? Not just Miyagi-Do, but others too?"
Kreese sighed quietly.
"I knew people who objected to what needed to be done myself. My unit and I returned home from the war. We weren't expecting confetti, kissing women in the street, and roses thrown around like at the end of the Second World War, mind you. We just wanted to be left alone, to have, normal unbothered lives after we were done."
Lucas nodded.
"I had bled, in the mud for this country. I had watched men, good men." Kreese raised a finger. "Sacrifice life, brothers, and limb. Just for the opportunity of success on the battlefield. Just to fail after all. To lose the only war this country has ever technically lost in its history. For these sacrifices."
"I had people. Just like the ones you are mentioning. With the songs, the guitar, and the reefer. Call me a murderer. A killer. An abomination. For doing the job responsible for their safety and freedom. Shame me. Hate me. While they sat around tapping drums avoiding the draft, I was out there fighting for the very ground beneath their feet."
Lucas shifted in his seat.
"Don't let anyone. Ever, doubt your abilities. What you can accomplish."
"Yes Sensei."
Kreese nodded. "For almost two and a half years now, I've taught you well, as well as I could. But I have not and will not for a very long time, teach you everything. You are strong. You are strong, and skilled, and smart. More so than anyone you probably know."
"Remember what I said just a few minutes ago." Lucas watched Kreese move a finger around in front of him pointing towards Lucas for a moment. "The weakness of these people. Cannot become yours. It's not my business at all to know what happens outside of the classroom here. But I expect you to hold the creed of this dojo to yourself. As if it is your very life."
"Have you known me to do anything but that?"
"Actually. There was a time when you were apparently learning Miyagi-Do. During the very first year, you even trained in the way of the fist. I don't doubt your loyalties now. But you are not weak at heart. Not at all actually."
Kreese looked at Lucas calmly as he sat in the chair in front of him. "There's a war coming. A war involving strategy, and much more than just battles and fights. You understand the consequences of letting this dojo fail. Of letting, everything you struggled so hard for. Disappear."
"This dojo would mean nothing," admitted Lucas.
"Correct. You are only months away from becoming the very first black belt Cobra Kai has truly produced in a very long time. We'll have to call in an official from Tang Soo Do of America. During that test, you'll show more than your abilities. You'll show your character. And again, that is more important than anything else I can teach you."
Lucas nodded.
"You are. The closest thing to family I've had in almost thirty three years. You reciprocate the faith I've put into you until now. And I promise you, on my life Lucas. You will be the greatest and most famous martial artist who ever lived."
Kreese dismissed Lucas with a slight wave of his hand.
Lucas stood up, bowed deeply and left.
Then Kreese promptly sipped his scotch and muttered to himself.
"I wish I could tell you how proud you make me kid." the old man smiled to himself and shook his head. "Prouder than anything in the world."
…
Daniel was quietly finishing up his breakfast in the LaRusso household when his wife interrupted.
"Hey honey. Just about to head out to the office with you-"
"Yeah. You can go in your own car." Amanda said flatly.
"Wait. What's going on?"
"Do you really have to ask?" asked Amanda. "Our daughter was viciously assaulted."
"Honey this was two weeks ago," Daniel said.
Amanda sighed. "And it's been two weeks of me repeating the same. No more karate. No. More."
"It's not like Sam was pinned down and beaten walking to her car someplace. These girls all agreed to fight. Sam was threatened, she had to do something." insisted Daniel.
"And that somehow makes it better?" Amanda asked. "You do you realize you're letting these kids act like psychopaths right? Daniel. This karate phase of yours was fine at first when the most it affected was you helping me at the dealership. Now our own children are being attacked and beaten."
"I'm not saying I rather would have had just talked to me and avoided the fight. But she stood her ground."
"I thought you were all against violence. That that was the point of your karate."
"It is but at the end of the day I'm proud of the way Sam stood up for herself and her friends. At the same time though. You're right. I am failing as a father if I'm encouraging violence. I'll talk to her."
Sam walked down the stairs with her backpack and her younger brother closely followed.
Amanda sighed. "I gotta go to work." she picked up her car keys and quickly left the house.
"We already ate dad," Sam said standing near the kitchen. "We're ready to go."
"Then that means I'm driving you both to school."
Anthony quietly spoke. "Why isn't mom coming with us?"
"She has something to take care of." sighed out Daniel.
Anthony chuckled at this and Sam nudged him for it.
"Let's go guys." Daniel picked up his own car keys.
…
Driving towards West Valley High School after Anthony was dropped off, Sam muttered in the passenger seat next to Daniel.
"There's no need for you and mom to keep fighting over just the karate stuff." she said.
Daniel glanced at her. "I think there's good reason to. The only thing I don't understand was you not walking away from a fight."
"I know we could've won."
"No one won. Even if they gave up, you lost because there was any violence. I taught you this. Since you were very very young Sam."
Sam sighed. "Dad I know you think you know Cobra Kai. But whatever it was in the eighties it no longer is. They know Miyagi-Do, very, very well. They even incorporate it into their fighting style, they even talk like a Miyagi-Do sometimes. They're always a step ahead of us, either we know how to go on offense too, or we'll never stand a chance."
"And that makes it okay to try to fight them every time they get in your face?"
"You're not proud of me defending myself? Or Aisha and Charlotte?"
Daniel frowned. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."
"Really?" Samantha almost smiled for a moment.
"Miguel proved to me how important it is to stand up to bullies. But not just by walking away. I also can't have you getting you and half a dozen girls at school trying to put each other in the hospital every other weekend. It's crazy. It shouldn't be happening."
"Did Mr. Miyagi never approve of violence under any circumstance?"
"You already know the answer to that question."
"But did he say his way. Was the only way?"
Daniel braked at one of the last stoplights before reaching Sam's school.
He remembered Mr. Miyagi's words.
"Just like bonsai. Choose own way grow, because root strong. You choose own way do karate. Same reason." said Mr. Miyagi to a teenage Daniel.
Daniel protested politely as they planted the bonsai. "Yeah but I do it your way."
"Hai." acknowledged Mr. Miyagi. "One day. You do own way." he said smiling for a moment.
"I still want you to be safe Sam. Always."
Daniel stopped the car next to the school and Sam merely nodded and got out.
"Hey." Miguel smiled before he and Sam shared a kiss on the mouth. Wearing a white Miyagi-Do sweatshirt, Miguel wrapped his arm over Sam's shoulders and walked into their school.
"Hey." Sam said smiling back and walking with him.
Daniel saw this and noted the way Robby Keene was standing by himself. He knew for a fact he and Sam had known each other for over two years and were likely friends at one point, but Robby continued talking to other Steel Eagle Karate students as if Miguel and Sam didn't even walk past.
He thought to himself, and Daniel sighed. "My own. Way." he muttered to himself in disbelief, as if he didn't even know what it could mean.
…
Johnny Lawrence was drinking beer and watching reruns of Duck Dynasty on his television.
There was a knock on his door, and Johnny stood up off his couch to answer it.
He did so to see John Kreese standing in front of his apartment.
"Creep. Showing up to my house!" Johnny began to slam the door in Kreese's face but he lightly put his hand out.
"Five minutes. Hear me out. For five minutes."
"No."
"Johnny. I'm trying to be civil about this."
"You forgot to be civil. When your students attacked Everston and Robinson. Not to mention LaRusso's daughter."
"That's not what happened but, I didn't realize you cared about any students but your own."
Johnny eyed Kreese by squinting at him. "What do you want?"
"To try to offer an olive branch. You know for a fact I have no interest in waging war against you Johnny. My only target. Is Miyagi-Do karate. And it always has been, even when you were just a kid."
"That's where we disagree. This is just some bad blood between me and LaRusso. A dumb highschool love triangle when we were teenagers for crying out loud, that went wrong and karate got involved. There is no war. I have no respect or interest in Miyagi-Do at all, but I still have no genuine hatred for it."
"But you do."
Johnny blinked, listening.
"I should've coached you better the day of your tournament and your title bout with LaRusso. It's true. But I also didn't prepare you." said Kreese. "I didn't prepare you for what Miyagi-Do was. This dojo. This man. Ruined your life. He was the one who taught LaRusso what he needed to steal your crown. And, a future that you deserved."
Johnny looked aside and Kreese spoke. "You deserve better than some strip mall dojo filled with mostly nobodies except for the same three students you started with. You deserve to be the champion. To be known, and treated as such."
"And you can give me that bullshit?"
"I already have. With a much younger alternative, that you know well."
"You can't dangle Ali's son in front of me and expect me to be stupid enough to fall for the same scam for the third time."
"It's no scam. It's the same success we started to have when we were still partnered as Senseis at Cobra Kai just a few months ago at the fiftieth All Valley. Johnny. I always wanted what was best for you. Your students are needlessly getting caught in the crossfire. Ask yourself, if you truly want to be caught with ricochet and shrapnel, when it's Miyagi-Do being shelled."
"I will always stop you."
"Johnny. Either step aside and tell your students to stop intervening in this on LaRusso's behalf and that of his students. Or you will be my enemy. Neither of us want that."
Johnny then slammed the door in his old teacher's face.
Kreese turned around, frowned, and walked away.
…
Aisha stood in line with almost sixteen other Steel Eagle Karate students in rows.
All were wearing red uniforms, and calm expressions.
"As your Sensei." Johnny began to say. "I have made it my ultimate duty to have your best interests at heart. To look out for every one of you."
Robby watched his father walked past and listened.
"To have your health and safety be of utmost importance to me. I've told you to stand up to bullies, to be on offense, and be tough. But I haven't taught you other things too."
Aisha almost raised an eyebrow, but remained expressionless as Johnny continued to pace by and speak.
"Your friends at Miyagi-Do have been targeted. Sam LaRusso, a kid named Demetri I think. As well as others. Let's face it. Cobra Kai is smart enough to know we're not their real target. But when someone does something wrong, right in front of us. We make it our problem."
Johnny frowned. "Until now."
Aisha now turned and saw Johnny pace and speak, confused, but attentive.
"I'm not asking you to back down. I never will. I want you to be the best versions of yourselves you always can be. At all times. I've taught you strength, and how to be aggressive properly. But I haven't taught you self preservation."
Johnny sighed. "Because. Those shit heads over at Cobra Kai, harassing and bullying whoever they want. Is not your fault. It's mine. And Mr. Kreese's. And Daniel LaRusso's. Because our beef couldn't be settled almost a decade and a half before any of you were born. From now on, think only of your own safety first. It might sound selfish, but I don't wish to see anyone hurt because of my mistakes."
"This feud. The stuff Cobra Kai's pulling. It's on me. So you need to talk to me about it before you decide to take action first. Class dismissed."
…
Aisha entered the dojo office of Johnny as he sipped from a Coors Banquet.
"Ms. Robinson. How can I help you?"
"Uh Sensei? A few weeks ago. The top Cobra Kai. You know. Red leather jacket, black headband. Hard to miss."
"Know him well. What about him?"
"He showed up at my house to talk to me, and he told me something strange. He told me. That the only real family he felt he ever had. Was John Kreese. And I'm just wondering if maybe you already knew that. And that might be why you're asking us to back down from standing alongside Sam and the Miyagi-Dos."
Johnny squinted at Aisha. "Is that really what you think?"
"It's not. That's why I'm asking you."
Johnny shifted in his chair at the desk of Steel Eagle Karate's office.
"I never asked you to back down. And I never will. But it's not right, to let you, or anyone in Miyagi-Do. Or even those in Cobra Kai. Suffer from the mistakes, old, but real mistakes, LaRusso, Kreese, and I made decades ago."
"But. His mother. Is she a part of this?"
"Why would she?"
"I know you knew her. It doesn't make any sense that she would abandon her son in all of this."
"I haven't talked to Ali in a while. Barely caught up with her when she visited her son last summer. But I don't think she would ever abandon her son. More than likely he."
Johnny trailed and Aisha spoke. "What?"
"Luke Schwarber is a strange kid. He always was as long as I've known him. The first thing he ever really told me was he wanted to learn karate in LA so badly he was willing to almost run away from his home all the way in Denver just to do it."
Aisha blinked. "Wow."
"More than likely. Luke shut himself off from his parents, for reasons too personal for me to ever learn. Regardless. You shouldn't fault him for trying to find any family at all in Kreese."
"And why not?" asked Aisha politely.
"Because at the exact same age he sought fatherhood from Kreese, I did the exact same too Ms. Robinson," Johnny admitted.
Aisha was surprised but said nothing.
"I never really had a father. I never really had much family at all besides my own mother. At home, at school. Everywhere. The only mentor I really had was my mom and she did what she could to give me a good life. The first real person to try to teach me anything meaningful, life lessons, strength, any sort of moral code. Was Kreese."
Aisha nodded. "I got it."
"That's why as much as I don't want Schwarber anywhere near that. Monster. I understand that deep down, there has to be a connection between the two. There's no way a kid that smart, is too blind to see that Kreese doesn't care about anything. Somehow, maybe in some dark, twisted way. Kreese has started to care about him too. It's the only explanation for why he's stayed loyal to him so strongly, for so long."
Johnny sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it. That's more than I ever had with Kreese at all. Because he sure as hell never cared about me to never stab me in the back. This kid, literally found Kreese with nothing. Some homeless guy living in a shelter, and he brought him back to karate. That was well over two and a half a years ago now. Even Kreese would have to admit he needs to reciprocate that trust, that empathy in some way."
"How did you know about this?"
"I asked the bastard myself. I was confused over how the whole thing started, and I'm sure it was the truth."
"The rest of the class looks up to you in that way too Sensei," said Aisha. "We want to be like you. And we're proud to be part of your class."
"I appreciate that. But honestly, things have still been tough. Even without Cobra Kai involved." Johnny frowned. "Robby can't really make friends with anyone here. He can barely fit in better with the people in Miyagi-Do. That connection he had with all the guys still training with Kreese. It probably hasn't left him, it technically never does."
"I wonder why that is."
"It never left me either. When you form a brotherhood like that, even if it just lasts a year. It follows you. And it's not just like it seems like some dumb thing guys do as teenagers. It clicks. It just feels right."
Aisha smiled. "I got that too Sensei."
"Thank you Ms. Robinson. For telling me about this."
"I'll always tell you Sensei," Aisha said. "I'll tell you what I need to."
"Just know that. Even though at his age I fell for the same nonsense. I don't think I shared the connection to Kreese Luke does. And I don't think that means anything good."
"Well, what does that mean then?"
"He's not human anymore," Johnny muttered. "In a way at least."
"So then what is he?"
"He's Cobra Kai," Johnny said looking up from his desk at Aisha.