Chapter 4

Miguel didn't even have a chance to take a breath before he felt his head being roughly shoved into the pool. Instead, he was immediately greeted by the icy water, the liquid filling his unexpecting lungs. Desperately, he thrashed around, trying somehow to make it out of Robby's grip but he couldn't. He had been severely weakened by Robby's assault with the chair, and even more so as seconds passed with him underwater. Robby had him pinned down with no signs of letting up. I'm going to die tonight, Miguel thought to himself, as his struggles got weaker and weaker. He could feel any remaining air slowly drift away from him, and with it, he felt his soul leave too. It was incredibly weird, an out-of-body experience like nothing he had ever felt before. Strangely, he felt no pain. He was dying in front of everyone's very eyes, and yet he couldn't feel it at all. His soul had begun to escape his body and with any, any feeling.

Meanwhile, almost all of the fighting had ceased, as everyone was staring on in shock at what was happening. A deathly silence had passed over the backyard, with everyone too frozen in astonishment to react or do anything.

"Robby, stop!" Tory shouted, tears prickling in her eyes as she watched Miguel being drowned. The worst part… she was unable to save him as she was being held back by 3 Miyagi-Do students and was too weak from her fight with Robby to fight back. Robby wasn't listening to her though. He wasn't listening to any of the pleas coming from the normally cocky Cobra Kais, as he was so wrapped up in his wrath. He couldn't hear, couldn't see anything that was going on around him as his only thought was drowning Miguel Diaz. And he was close too, as Miguel was seeming to struggle less and less. He was fading fast. Just a few seconds more before he would finally go limp, his life coming to an early end. However, Robby was pulled out of his wave of fury as suddenly, he heard a loud click of a safety, and the unmistakable feeling of cold steel was pressed up against the back of his neck…

Robby's blood ran cold. He knew exactly what it was. He had come across a few in his time as a low life but never before had he had one pointed straight at him. Trembling, Robby instantly let go of Miguel, slowly raising his hands in surrender.

"Yeah. You know exactly what that is, don't you?"

The voice of Hawk snarled quietly in Robby's ear, dripping with malice and menace. He had just finished beating up Demetri inside, the Miyagi-Do student having sprinted into the house to try and hide, and then came outside to see this sight. It had nearly given him a heart attack to see Miguel, his brother, in that state, and he hadn't hesitated to bring out the gun that he had swore he'd only take out in emergencies. Well, this was an emergency and a half.

As soon as Robby let go of Miguel, the Cobra Kai leader broke the surface, gasping and spluttering for air. He was safe, but Robby certainly wasn't.

"Your move, motherfucker." Hawk growled.

"HAWK! Put the gun down!" Sam yelled, a couple of feet away and now conscious enough to see what was going on. Hawk turned slightly to look at her and laughed.

"You say something princess?!" Hawk shouted, pressing the gun further into the back of Robby's head.

"Look, we're good. We're good, okay?" Robby stammered, positively terrified. Miguel was out of danger. Robby had surrendered. The fight was over, so Hawk put the gun away and then turned around to the rest of the petrified students, as well as all of his shocked friends.

"Come on, Cobras. Let's get the fuck out of here." He stated. It wasn't difficult as all of the Miyagi-Dos were still immobile in shock, so the Cobras were able to leave without any more confrontation. Tory and Hawk had to work together to support Miguel and practically carry him away, as although he wasn't dead, he was still extremely weak to the point that he couldn't even stand. They all quickly exited Moon's house, piling back into Hawk's car and swiftly driving away, leaving the carnage of the battle behind them…

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"Come on, Sam. Let's get you inside." Robby murmured as he parked Sam's car in the Larusso house driveway, before opening Sam's door for her and helping her out of the car. She was still pretty out of it, the beatdown weighing even heavier on her now that the adrenaline had worn off. Every inch of her body felt like it was being seared by a blowtorch. It was excruciatingly painful, and she needed Robby to carry her up the driveway. As they made it to the front door, he banged on it several times, praying that Daniel and Amanda were home. Sam definitely needed some medical help, so with every passing knock, his hope faded a little bit. He knew that they had gone out that night, and he was just praying that they were home now. To his relief, just as his hand was about to bleed from banging on the door so hard, it opened to see a disheveled looking Daniel and Amanda, both in their respective robes. Initially, the couple looked slightly disgruntled at the sudden intrusion but when they saw who it was and saw the state of their daughter, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped slack with shock.

"What happened?!" Daniel snapped, as he and Robby carried Sam into the house and set her down in the living room. A large part of Daniel already knew the answer before he even asked the question, and a dark look from Robby was enough to confirm it.

"Cobra Kai happened…"

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"This is absolute bullshit! Cobra Kai has gone insane!" Daniel shouted, pacing around the room. Amanda and Daniel had helped clean up Sam and she had gotten over her shock enough to recount to them what had happened. Or at least her version of what had happened. She

neglected to mention everything that had happened before Miguel threw his punch - it didn't seem relevant to her.

"Yeah, um… Miguel… he… he just went crazy." Sam stammered, wrapped in blankets and sipping a soothing tea that her parents had made for her. She was still letting out silent, heavy sobs that her parents couldn't help stop. "I was just minding my own business and he… he came over. Started insulting me and saying how this whole karate war between the dojos was my fault. I tried to tell him that it wasn't me, that it was Cobra Kai, then he just… just attacked me and wouldn't stop! "

"Of course he did! I mean, why on earth would I ever be so gullible to think that Johnny was telling the truth and Cobra Kai had actually changed!" Daniel yelled, not necessarily yelling at anyone, but still erupting in fury. "They're still the ruthless asshole bullies they were 35 years ago! And Johnny's boy is right at the center of it! Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! I swear Cobra Kai isn't going to get away with this!"

"Daniel! Calm down!" Amanda exclaimed, glancing from her enraged husband to her crying daughter, who was seeming to get more and more worked up and emotional with her father's outburst.

"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! No, I'm not gonna calm down! This has gotten way out of hand! Cobra Kai needs to pay for this!" Daniel shouted. Amanda stood up and grabbed Daniel by the hand.

"Sam, Robby, we'll be right back, okay? We're just going to talk outside for a minute." Amanda said, before leading her husband out of the room. As soon as they did, Amanda turned to him.

"Look, Daniel, first thing's first, you need to calm down. You're scaring Sam, and yelling angrily isn't helping anyone." She instructed. Daniel, his chest heaving angrily, eventually nodded and relaxed fractionally. "Now, thinking rationally, what do we do from here?"

"Are you kidding? They've gone too far this time! We're going to the police!" Daniel stated. Amanda looked at her husband, before looking down and staring at the ground for several moments. Daniel noticed. "What?" He asked.

"Okay, look… I can't believe I'm saying this but… are you sure that's the best idea? At least right now?"

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked, thoroughly perplexed. Amanda took a deep breath.

"Look, if this had happened 24 hours ago, I'd be right there beside you, on my way to the cops, wielding a pitchfork and demanding justice. But if tonight, meeting and getting to know Johnny, has shown me anything, it's that there are two sides to every story."

"No, no, no! This isn't a two sides to every story thing, I promise you!"

Amanda raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Because up until tonight, what happened to you and Johnny in high school wasn't a two-sided thing either!" Amanda shot back, before sighing. "All I'm saying is if you go to the cops now, Cobra Kai is going to argue back with an equally one-sided point of view and you're going to get nowhere. I can't believe I'm saying this but MAYBE… it's worth you talking to Johnny and TOGETHER, the two of you get the facts straight and try to come up with a solution. Because if the two of you can get on the same page like you did tonight, I'm sure your respective students can too."

Meanwhile, in the living room, Robby looked at Sam. He had been absolutely silent throughout Sam's retelling of what had happened, taking it all in. He was deep in thought about everything that had happened, everything that he had done, and was silent for a long while after. Eventually, though, he turned to Sam and spoke for the first time since they had arrived home.

"Hey, Sam. Can I ask you something?" He asked. Sam nodded.

"Sure, what is it?" She said. Robby took a deep breath.

"I know the story that you just told your parents is utter bullshit. But I also am not sure I believe Miguel's version of the story either. So what really happened?"

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"What do you want to know exactly?" Sam asked, nervously.

"Well let's start with, did you kiss Miguel?" He said. Sam's voice was caught in her throat, and she was rendered briefly speechless, long enough for Robby to get his answer.

"Robby, I…"

"Right, so you did." He stated, sharply, his tone and facial expressions unreadable. "And how did he react? Did he kiss you back?"

Sam took a deep breath. She decided to be honest now. She still cared about Robby and owed him that much. She eventually shook her head.

"No, no he didn't. He pushed me back. Said that we're both dating other people and he isn't about to cheat on Tory." Sam murmured, extremely embarrassed. Robby nodded.

"Mm hmm. So the right thing to do." He replied, anger beginning to drip into his tone. "And so the fight started there? He hit you and you two began to fight?"

Sam reluctantly shook her head.

"No, there was… there was more." She replied. Robby sighed, quickly getting tired of Sam's antics.

"Of course there was. What happened?" He asked, almost eager to hear the response.

"Well, after he pushed me away, we exchanged words." Sam mumbled. Robby laughed mirthlessly. More and more of this was shaping up to Miguel's version of the story. And the scariest part… Robby almost agreed with him! Miguel had opened his eyes to Sam, to Sam's family's bullshit, and now that he was aware of it, it was impossible to ignore. He could almost guess what would happen next. Sam would insult Miguel to the point of him attacking her, and then her playing the victim in the whole situation.

"Let me guess, you went after him verbally to the point that he snapped and hit you?" Robby remarked. When Sam nodded, he laughed again. "Yeah, that makes sense. Miguel was right. This is exactly what you do, Sam. You provoke, provoke, provoke, and then when push actually turns to shove, you put your tail between your legs and pretend you're completely innocent!"

"What? No! Robby, that's not true!"

"Yes, it is!" Robby snarled, his rage bubbling up with every passing second that he looked at the brunette. "You keep people around when they're of interest to you! You flirt with me while you're dating Miguel, pretend like you really care about me. Then now when you're interested in Miguel again, you kiss him behind my back and try to make him the bad guy!"

"Robby, you sound… you sound like a Cobra Kai right now." Sam stammered, worriedly. Robby shrugged.

"Maybe I do. But you know one thing about Cobra Kai… at least they have honor." Robby snapped. It was Sam's turn to laugh as she pointed to her bruise-covered face.

"Ah yes, clearly a lot of honor." Sam shot back.

"Look, are they aggressive, sometimes overly so? Yes. But on the other hand, anyone would look aggressive compared to all the whining that goes on here in Miyagi-Do! You know what happens when Cobra Kai loses a fight?! They don't just sit there and whine and blame the other side! They rally and train harder to win the next one!"

"So is that what this is? You want to join Cobra Kai?!" Sam spat. "Because honestly, by the sounds of it, you deserve them!"

Robby laughed.

"You know, the more and more I think about it, that might not be the insult you think it is." He said, before standing up. "In case I hadn't made it clear beforehand, we're done. We're done and we're never getting back together. I deserve more than that. Goodbye, Sam…"

With that, Robby got up and after quickly packing his stuff from the guest-house, he said thank you and goodbye to the Larussos (after all, despite his animosity towards their daughter, Robby still had gratitude towards the Larussos for what they had done for him). He then left, leaving a shell-shocked Larusso family behind him and walking out into the night…

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"To making Miyagi-Do our bitches!" Hawk exclaimed, raising his beer into the air. The Cobras had all made it to Miguel's compound and given that they were all safe and in relatively okay health, they decided to stick around, sitting around in a circle at the front of the compound and drink together. Miguel had set up a small campfire in the center, and they all sat around.

At Hawk's toast, they all clinked their beers together and drank, disbanding into smaller conversations. As Hawk bragged about how he had gotten Demetri, and Mitch bragged about how he had gotten Chris, Miguel was silent. He was deep in thought and hardly noticed someone slipping into the seat beside him.

"Hey. You know, in case I haven't told you yet, the way you beat up Sam today… totally hot."

Miguel's head shot up to see Tory sitting beside him, an unusually concerned expression on her face.

Hey." He murmured.

"How are you feeling?" She asked. Miguel shrugged.

"Fine, I guess. My head's still pretty sore from being smacked by the chair so many times. And still feeling really sluggish after being underwater for so long. But other than that… yeah, fine."

Tory nodded.

"That's good, I guess. So you'll probably be back to 100% in a few days then?" She said. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, probably." He replied. He still had a faraway expression on his face though. Like he was thinking about something else. And after a while of silently staring into the amber flames, Miguel heard a voice that pulled him out of his daze.

"Hey, Serpiente. Why the long face?" Hawk said. Miguel looked up and faced him.

"Huh?" Miguel murmured.

"Why do you look so sad? We won!" Hawk exclaimed. Miguel sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess we did." He said quietly. "It's just… what happens next?"

"What do you mean?" Mitch asked, confused.

"Look, I honestly don't regret what I did to Sam. Quite frankly, she deserved it. But it's just… well you guys know the Larussos. I laid a hand on their precious daughter so 100% they're going to want to go to the cops. If they do, none of us are safe. I'm just scared that a fight that I started is going to be the reason why you guys get in trouble. The backlash of the fight I started is going to splash on all of you."

There was a long silence before Tory spoke up.

"Look, you didn't force any of us into the fight, Miguel," Tory said, squeezing his hand gently. "We chose to go in alongside you and I know that none of us regret it. We've got your back and in case you've forgotten, that's what Cobra Kai does. So Larusso and Miyagi-Do can try to do whatever they want, send some of us to juvie, try and get us expelled, whatever they try, but we'll be able to fight through whatever they through at us. Because we're Cobra Kai for life, so we'll always have each other's back."

"Hell yeah!" Hawk chimed in. "Cobra Kai for life!"

At that moment, things lightened up considerably, Miguel even cracking a smile as they all clinked their beers together and all celebrated their victory. It had been a hell of a summer that had taken such a toll on all of them. But when the volcano finally erupted, and it came to blows between their dojos, they had come out on top, and that was all that mattered.

They celebrated long into the night, until a couple of hours later, they suddenly saw someone pulling up to the compound. They didn't seem to be driving but didn't seem to be walking either. They were cloaked in the shadows, and it was only as they got closer, did the cobras realize that they were on a skateboard, and only when they stopped in front of the compound that the Cobras realised who it was.

Immediately, they all shot to their feet, somewhat sluggishly after all the alcohol. They all prepared to fight, but their opponent didn't seem to be there for violence. Miguel was the first to get up, ready to lead his fellow soldiers into battle, but their enemy already seemed to be waving the white flag. He merely walked over to Miguel, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender, and the two stood face to face. They had been arch-rivals for so long, so much animosity between them, that the fact that they weren't fighting right now was incredibly strange.

"Hey, look, I know after tonight, you're unlikely to believe me, but I'm sorry. For all of it."

As Miguel stared at Robby, his jaw dropped slightly, but not in unpleasant shock. He was surprised but happy. Robby had seen through Sam's facade, and it had seemed to wipe out some of their toxic behavior towards each other.

"Excuse me?" Miguel murmured.

"You were right. About Sam." Robby continued. "She really was just using me. Now that I can see that, it's made me see everything else so much clearer. I realized that I don't want to be in Miyagi-Do. That's not where I want to be. I want to be somewhere else."

A small smile graced Miguel's lips as he realized what Robby was saying.

"Yeah, then where do you want to be?" Miguel asked him, more for the other Cobras' benefit than his own. Robby took a deep breath, looking at all of the Cobra Kais behind Miguel as well as he replied.

"Well, if you guys would let me, I want to join Cobra Kai…"