CHAPTER 21

"All right, guys, great work today!"

Daniel stood before his Miyagi-Do students, on the front steps of the Miyagi-Do dojo, and he couldn't help but smile extremely widely. It was his first time leading a Miyagi-Do training session since the day of the school fight and he was over the moon. After almost two months being closed, Daniel had finally managed to reopen the dojo. Although he had made the decision to do so back in early September, it took him a whole month to finally hold the first class as not many parents wanted their kids to come back after the events of the school fight. Because he genuinely cared about the kids he was teaching, he decided to go to the house of each student who wanted to come back but wasn't allowed to, and he spoke to their parents. He relentlessly convinced their parents of all of the benefits and the necessity of rejoining Miyagi-Do especially now, and one month later, he had a full dojo again. Well, almost a full dojo. He was missing one person: Miyagi-Do's student leader and the first student… Robby.

Whenever Daniel thought about Robby, a pang of guilt rushed through him. It had been Daniel who had convinced Robby to hand himself into police custody, under the impression that Robby would receive a lighter sentence if he did. Robby had, but the sentence he got was still really harsh. He would be in juvie until at least February with no chance of getting out before that. 4 months at the very least he would have no contact with his regular life as Robby had made it very clear that he didn't want to see him at all.

Students began to slowly shuffle out of the dojo, and after all of them but Sam left, Daniel went inside the indoor dojo and stared at the wall, smiling as he looked at the photo of Mr. Miyagi that he had framed on the wall. For a while after the school fight, he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror, let alone look at Mr. Miyagi. He had been so wrapped up in his personal anger towards Johnny that he had forgotten who the real threat was: Kreese. And that had led to many of his students getting hurt. He wouldn't make that mistake again. He COULDN'T make that mistake again. As Daniel looked at the picture of Mr. Miyagi, he thought to himself… what would the Valley be like right now if he had been sensei of Miyagi-Do? Would Miguel have broken his back? Would Robby have gone to juvie? Would the school fight have even happened? Because if anyone had the power to stop something like the merciless brawl that had occurred in the hallowed halls of West Valley High.

Suddenly, Daniel heard the door to the dojo swing open and someone step inside.

"So this is what Miyagi-Do looks like. What a dump…" The voice commented, and Daniel couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle as he recognised it and turned around.

"Hey, Johnny."

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It had been a whirlwind of a past couple of months for Johnny. His life had gone into a deep spiral when he entered rehab but that conversation with Miguel's yaya had changed everything. It had given him a newfound motivation and will to truly kick the addiction he had been battling with for so long. So he had restarted the program, completed his month, and was now finally able to go home a sober man. He felt so much better now than he had before rehab, his hair no longer unruly, his eyes no longer sunken, his walk no longer a drunk stumble. A new man, and he knew that now he had the best chance yet of getting Miguel and Robby to truly forgive him.

Johnny stood at the entrance of the Miyagi-Do for the first time, looking around the dojo he had spent his whole life hating so much.

"Wow… this place looks like the inside of a unicorn's vagina after having sex with a fairy princess." Johnny commented as he strolled into the dojo and stared at the bland walls. "I mean come on… where are all the badass posters? Training weapons? I mean Larusso, how the hell do you train your students in this shithole?!"

"We have a koi pond outside that we train in. It's pretty badass." Sam commented, smirking and laughing as she responded. Johnny put his head in his hands and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, between that and the korean writing on the wall, Cobra Kai don't stand a chance, do they?" Johnny remarked, sarcastically.

"Actually, the writing… it's Japanese." Daniel corrected. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Same thing." Johnny grumbled in reply. Daniel sighed. Some things really never change. Johnny was still the insulting, bordering on racist, dumbass he always had been. But despite that, in a weird way, Daniel was actually somewhat happy to see him. With every passing day, Cobra Kai had become more and more threatening and if Miyagi-Do were to ever be able to put a stop to their dominance over the Valley, they needed all the help they could get. And yes, that actually meant one of Miyagi-Do's greatest foes. Daniel still remembered the conversation that him and Johnny had had two months ago, the night before Johnny checked himself into rehab. He remembered Johnny practically begging him to reopen the dojo that he himself had hated so much, in hopes that it would protect the Valley. The fact that Johnny was willing to go to such lengths showed Daniel that Johnny would definitely join the fight to save the Valley.

"So, you're out of rehab?" Daniel asked. A small smile appeared on Johnny's lips.

"Yup. Got out yesterday morning." Johnny replied. Daniel smiled faintly.

"Well, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm glad you're back. Cobra Kai is fiercer than ever and we could use your help trying to stop them."

Johnny's smile faded slightly at the mention of his old dojo.

"Kreese is still being an asshole, is he?" Johnny asked. Daniel and Sam didn't answer, but their grave expressions said it all. Nowhere in the Valley was safe for Miyagi-Dos anymore. Walking around at school, in malls, and anywhere else alone put them at risk of being ambushed by Cobra Kai, so they were forced to walk around as a group to protect each other. They knew that Kreese was also bringing the heat by recruiting more and more students to join the ranks of the Army he was building.

There was a long silence as worry filled the air, so palpable it could've been cut with a knife. Daniel, Sam and Johnny all thought silently to themselves about how potent Cobra Kai had gotten, and how many casualties Miyagi-Do had already suffered, and how many more both sides' innocent kids would suffer before they could somehow get rid of Kreese once and for all.

"So…" Daniel eventually broke the silence by turning back to his blonde former rival and speaking to him. "You mentioned a couple of months ago about opening your own dojo when you got back. You still planning on doing that?"

Johnny sighed and shook his head.

"Nah. Thought about it. Right now, it's probably not the best time. I have more important things to do first. I gotta make up with Miguel and Robby first."

At the mention of Miguel, Sam's head shot up as she remembered something she had heard a couple of hours ago…

Earlier that day…

It was Sunday morning, and most of the Valley was fast asleep. However, few people were awake, and many of those people were Miyagi-Do students. With Cobra Kai so fearsome, and schoolwork taking up much of their time during the week, the weekend was one of few times they could train, so they all forced themselves out of bed on Sunday and made their way over to the dojo.

When Sam arrived at the dojo, to her surprise, most of the students were already there, and they eagerly waved her over as she got out of her car.

"So… did you hear the news?" Demetri asked her, gravely. Sam looked at him, confused.

"Um… what?" She asked, completely at a loss.

"Wait… you don't follow Miguel in instagram?" Demetri asked, surprised. Sam shook her head.

"No, I… um… I blocked him after we broke up." She replied, before worry starting to set in.

What was going on with Miguel? He was still AWOL after 2 months, so any news Demetri had heard was as likely to be good news than bad news. For all they knew, Miguel had passed away. But it probably wouldn't be that bad, right?

"What's happening with Miguel?" Sam asked, nervously.

"Look at this." Demetri took out his phone and showed it to Sam, who looked at the photo. It was a selfie Miguel had taken of himself, standing perfectly fine, glaring seriously to the right of the camera in a candid shot. He was wearing an untied Cobra Kai jacket and pants, his shirtless abs and arms flexed in the photo. Sam immediately noticed that Miguel looked a lot more toned and muscular since the last time they had seen him, but his face had changed too. He looked a lot more serious now, a lot more adult, with the innocence that previously inhabited his face completely vanished. He looked a lot more emotionally burdened in the photo, and looked like he had transformed that burden into training. In the caption of the photo, it read…

Miyagi-Do u really thought u could get rid of me that easily? Back stronger than ever. Score 2 settle. robbykeene1 when u finally get ur fatass outta jail, hmu fr round 3. Anytime. Anywhere. #cobrakaineverdies

"So, Miguel's back in town?!" Johnny exclaimed, in shock. Sam nodded.

"Yup, apparently. And he's already back in Cobra Kai." Sam added. Johnny's eyes widened.

"Really? Is that safe?" Johnny asked. Sam shrugged.

"To be honest, I'd be more worried for Miyagi-Do because from the sounds of it, Miguel's back is just fine and the only effect the school fight had on him wass it incensed him and set him on a warpath for Robby." Sam stated. Johnny winced and shook his head. Things were so fucked up right now: he was being told by the daughter of his nemesis about how his son and his favourite student were on the verge of war.

"That's not good." Johnny murmured. He knew first hand how relentless Miguel was in his approach to everything. It was what had made him such a good fighter in such a short time. But it had a downside. Now that he had locked on Robby as his target, Miguel was too blind to be able to see around him and see how pointless this battle really was. It was Johnny's job now to be able to talk to him and get through to him, breaking the target lock Kreese had manipulated him into embedding on Robby, and get him to see sense again.

"You going to go talk to him?" Daniel asked, reading Johnny's expression. Johnny nodded and started towards the door of the dojo.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am." Johnny replied. He was going to go and talk to Miguel right now, try and talk some sense into him. As Johnny opened the dojo door and was about to step outside, he heard Daniel's voice behind him.

"Hey, Johnny?" Daniel called after him. As Johnny was halfway out the door, he turned around to face his former rival and saw nothing but respect and hope in the man's face. He knew that Miguel being on Cobra Kai's side was awful for the Valley as in addition to the damage that he would personally do, having him there as the talisman would only bring in more and more recruits. They needed to try and turn him before he was sucked in too deep.

"Yeah?" Johnny asked.

"Good luck…"