AUTHOR'S NOTE: its been a long, long time. I apologize for the delay. I wrote a bunch of other stuff relating to Fire Emblem and honestly once the new seasons of the show came out i felt...odd still writing my saga. But today i got a message and i was...overcome and surprised you guys still want to continue the karate saga through my path penned. I am honored and embarrassed to have left you out in the woods for so long. Forgive me. your scribe.

sincerely, REMI FEMBLE

-_-

Chapter 5: The Rubicon

Four Cobras, four young bodies drained of their proper mindset from the chaos that ensued from the long day of competition and drama where no on a march. The racket of their feet upon the Encino concrete soon found the rhythm in unison as if a trained combat unit had stepped in and taken control of the tear stained, uneasy teens as they approached the mansion before them. A few lights were on but nothing that made Diaz and the others feel less scared of the situation at hand. Onward the four marched. Though they had more knowledge of what happened at the end of the show "Lost" than what the actual plan for this mission was, they still marched. Sometimes that's the way a war can be for the grunts, an unknown excursion into a blind realm, complete with no intel, no direction other than march. Despite all of the glaring truth of this being a pursuit of asinine hormonal youth, the fact that whatever they were about to embark on put the impending fate of their master eight miles down the round of their conscious. And that alone made this feel good, this could be drugs, sex, a two piece chicken wings and some fries, anything would have sufficed to delay their overwhelmed brains with the reality of their day. Yet, here they were, goose stepping behind their ace Miguel…not because this made sense, not because they wanted specifically to hurt LaRusso, but simply because this was the first thing suggested. The other students of the dojo, none of them had any knowledge of the incident as of now. None of them knew where Miguel and his venomous retinue were. Bert hadn't made some silly hashtag. Aisha hadn't posted a facebook prayer request. Hawk didn't post a rant video on Instagram. Partly because they were consumed with this mission at hand, and also because the teaching of the Cobra way, of Johnny's way, had them fully living in the moment more than ever and not being a passerby to their own life. We see them every day with their phones out, scrolling while real bodies of flesh and blood exist in front of them. As if they can ignore the entire world and tune out everything in front of them to stare at some fake model who has edited herself to the point of complete stupidity. Johnny taught them, and broke them well. Freeing them from this fate of shares and retweets, of thirst posting and like spamming. The four approached the enclosure unaware that they weren't being "normal teens" for they were real people. Reacting.

As the group got to the gate. Miguel stepped up and shook his head realizing that he had set this in motion and now it was his move to make. How far would this go? Was it time to stop and let cooler heads prevail? Time to go to the hospital? Time to let himself feel the emotions he would be expected to feel. A slight jolt toward being impaled by the grief and stress thrust toward his main conscious. However, the young man had become skilled not only in karate of the body, but of the mind as well. "Not yet." He thought as the young man tightened his jawline and rotated his wrists. All were now paused and looking to Miguel. Aisha and the others knew they should be at the hospital, but Miguel seemed determined and they wished only to follow their leader.

However…an initial pause at the gate, was no longer just a lingering pregnant pause of slight suspense preceding rampant action. Miguel seemed at a precipice in his mind that fork in the road of life now stood before him, one of those vast altering forks that guidance counselors and parents whom know the gravity of these few proverbial moments in young people's life and yet never fully disclose the full truth of what these times feel like as if by doing so they are neutering the life experience for the young one in their counsel for just a tad longer. Miguel, gripped by the growing intensity of the gate before him, found comfort to linger still. Beyond that gate of the LaRusso mansion, in that house, that courtyard. To go inside, would me no turning back. To go through, means truly, Cobra Kai's students are now enemies of Daniel LaRusso a powerful teacher, and even more powerful businessman in the valley.

"Hey Miguel." The little pipsqueak Bert tapped up on the zoned out leader standing two feet in front of the gateway. "You got a plan or are we just going to play zombie all night?" Miguel shook his head again, breaking himself loose from the mental decathlon attempting to occur in his jumbled chaotic mind.

"AHH YAHH!" Miguel in an instant snapped his right leg upward and thrust it with all his might. He had made his choice. It was war, and revenge…Whatever that crap was supposed to look like.

"BUUUNNG!" The kick's force rattled the large metal gateway…Yet it was a strong gate and not one to collapse upon the pressure of a reckless leg confronting it in aggression. Miguel dropped to the ground grabbing his shin as he winced in pain while the ringing gong of the gate clamored through the late evening air.

"Miguel…I know we're all hyped up and such. But Foot doesn't beat Steel." Aisha retorted as Miguel let a few curses and grunts out as he rolled around trying to ward off the pain blitzing his mind. Aisha was still unsure of the real plan but seeing Miguel down on the ground she knew it was time for her calmer mind to take over. "Hawk come here. We're going to basket toss Bert over the Gate." Bert was slightly terrified at the prospect but wasn't offered a chance to back out as Hawk grabbed his forearm immediately and hoisted him high at the gate with the help of Aisha. After a quick three count and few internal prayers from their flyer the boy flew over the gate and landed safely on the other side.

"HOLY CRAP!" Bert exclaimed.

"What? What do you see? Are you alright?" Aisha replied quickly with a hint of concern in her voice.

"I….I didn't die!" Bert raised both arm high in the air at his victory.

"Did you piss your pants?" Hawk asked as he then reached over to help a now hobbled Miguel to his feet.

"NO I DIDN'T PISS MY PANTS!" The tiny cobra hollered back…and then instantly looked down and patted his trousers to quickly check. "PHEW!" he let out a sigh of relief as he found his proclamation to be fact.

"Bert open the gate dude!" Aisha broke the pause and got the crew back to focus on the task. Whatever it was they were to do. Bert looked around and pulled the locking mechanism loose and pushed the gate open.

"VIOLA!" he smiled as the gate swung wide to reveal the inner yard to the teens who didn't vault the gate. Miguel seeing the inside felt a calm come over him as he took his first step forward with a slight limp and then corrected his gait quickly after a few more steps toward the pool yard.

"OKAY MIGUEL!" Aisha called as they followed Miguel inside. "We're here. What is the plan? Why are we here and not at the hospital? Are you going to have us apologize to Mr. LaRusso? Are you going to try and get makeup sex with Samantha…assuming she's like that?" Hawk and Bert seemed more in awe and less in confusion. Aisha was from the Encino crowd, the setting wasn't out of her normative world. However Hawk and Bert came from more modest levels similar to Miguel…not the same level…but more similar. The LaRusso house seemed more fairy tale castle than real place to them, as it should have for Miguel. Except, this wasn't his first time here.

"Mr. LaRusso was behind the assassination attempt!" The others were shocked the reveal, they were in the bathroom when Miguel thought of this fact earlier and he had been blind with rage ever since and behaving in a non-verbal manner.

"Wait….they did that to Sensei?" Aisha was completely confused and in disbelief. She knew the LaRusso's after all…for years. Miguel quickly planted a seed of doubt to that picture of the quaint, perfect LaRusso family that they really were, by reminding them all of the car burning incident. And while setting a car on fire by an idiot cousin and a murder attempt are a far cry apart in intensity….The hormonal teens saw this in their state as a sound progression of escalation.

"Wait this could be a trap!" Bert immediately readied his hands to defend himself. The others took stance as well, heightening their awareness of the surroundings. Miguel looked about. He was surprised all the noise this late at night hadn't solicited a response. Things seemed too quiet. Sure Robby was passed out listening to music in his headphones. Sam was showering and deaf to the world after her rigorous exercise session. Anthony was killing zombie on the xbox despite it being past his bedtime. That left only Daniel and his wife Amanda. She had taken two Ambien and was dead to the world. He was rustled from the unfamiliar voices outside.

"Did someone invite friends over?" Daniel was stirred but shrugged it off as the haze of the day was still consuming him and robbing him of normative judgement, after all he lived in a mansion far from the reality of world of the valley and the suspect things that happen throughout the regular lives of others.

"Miguel!" Hawk now called to his leader. "What is the plan?" Miguel as looking about as the crew were still on edge and alert now that they were officially trespassing and doing so in enemy territory. Miguel frantically looked about trying to compile a plan. He had none. So his young mind did the next best thing and played a roulette game of songs his Sensei liked or approved of in his head.

"Get Born Again" He landed on "No that's not it." He tried to spin the wheel in an instant again. "Limo Wreck" He thought. "UHHH but….they don't have a limo do they?"

"Miguel!"

"BREAK STUFF" Well sensei wasn't the biggest Limp Bizkit fan but Miguel was drawing blanks. All he could think of were Def Leppard track names other than the Limp track and "Armageddon It" just didn't fit the vibe right….Also how does one 'Armageddon It'?

"GUYS!" He regained his composure for a split second. "BREAK STUFF!"

The ensuing second and minutes followed with a growing crescendo of percussion crashes and bangs as the gnag reacted first with trepidation and then with increasing endorphin based rush and giddy glee as things once threatening and scary now seemed fun and projectile to the crew. Bangs and wails filled the air as the night lingered.

But the noise rustled the head of the house to his senses. "WHAT that doesn't sound right?" LaRusso knew the smashing sounds meant trouble and he arose to meet it. "Darn….I knew one of these days I was going to regret not believing in guns." He muttered as he slipped on shoes ready to meet the trouble ahead.

This is his castle, and just like all those years back in Japan, it was up to him to protect his people.