CHAPTER 22

(i know that not many of u readers r hockey fans so might not understand the first part of this chapter, but it is necessary to the story so bear with me)

That afternoon, Miguel and George were at George's small mansion in Encino, shooting some hockey pucks at George's net in the backyard. They had a deal: if George joined Cobra Kai, Miguel would join George's hockey team in the Valley's Community Hockey League. And unlike Karate, hockey was a LOT harder to learn. Although learning how to skate well on ice was actually pretty easy for Miguel because of the amazing balance and lower body power he had gained from karate. The hard part was the actual technical aspects of the game such as puck handling, shooting, passing, etc, because Miguel hadn't grown up playing the sport like George had. Because of this, George had taken it upon himself to spend every waking moment they weren't in school or karate coaching Miguel.

"All right, you got this! Four shots. Four corners. You ready?" George asked. Miguel nodded, closing his eyes in determination, his fingers curled around the hockey stick George had given him. Miguel then looked down at the four pucks below him and shot the first one…

THUD!

Miguel cracked the first shot like a whip, sending the puck flying at around 70 miles an hour into the top left corner of the net, the puck nestling beautifully there for a few moments before gravity pulling it down and leaving it to rest at the bottom of the net. But Miguel wasn't done yet. He quickly pulled the second puck onto his puck and geared up to shoot the second shot…

THUD!

The second shot was even more powerful than the first, almost tearing through the net in its sheer power. Almost. Instead, it smacked against the right-top crossbar and went rattling bar-down into the top right corner. Miguel couldn't help but smile at how satisfying the shot was. However, at this point, the third puck was already on his stick, and he unleashed it viciously.

THUD!

This shot barely went half a foot off the ground, but it still contained just as much power as the first two, rocketing into the bottom left corner. Three out of three. Only one more shot to go. Miguel dragged the puck over to his stick and took a deep breath, before bringing his stick back and firing the final wristshot…

THUD!

As the shot nestled into the final corner - the bottom right - Miguel finally was pulled out of the state of intense concentration he was in, and was dragged back to reality. He turned around and saw George grinning at them.

"Dude, you nailed it!" He exclaimed. Miguel couldn't help but smile proudly too.

"Thanks." Miguel replied.

"You're totally ready to start playing competitively now! You gotta join our club team!" George stated. Miguel chuckled.

"I'd love to, man. It's just… I don't think my mom would let me." Miguel remarked. George raised an eyebrow.

"What, are you 5 years old, need mommy's permission to do something?" George laughed. "And besides, she let you do karate?"

Miguel rolled his eyes at his friend's taunt and sighed.

"Come on, dude. You and I and pretty much everyone know that hockey is wayyyyy more dangerous than karate." Miguel replied. "And after my injury, I don't think my insanely overprotective mother is gonna be okay with me playing a sport where it is literally legal to slam someone into a glass wall."

George chuckled.

"Hey, only one way to find out. You want me to come with you to try and convince her?" He asked. Miguel shook his head and smirked.

"Nah, man, I need to convince her that getting hit repeatedly in hockey doesn't make you lose brain cells. Having you there would only prove her point." Miguel joked. George shoved him playfully and Miguel laughed as they walked out to the front of George's house and Miguel walked over to his bike.

"Hey, you wanna stay for dinner? (New York) Rangers play (LA) Kings tonight. We can watch it in the den."

"Appreciate it but I gotta get home. My mom's still at work so I gotta make sure my yaya takes her afternoon pills." Miguel replied. George nodded.

"Another time." He said. Miguel nodded and got on his bike, quickly heading home. He had a lot on his mind that Sunday afternoon. Along with karate, Robby, Tory and everything he already had on his mind, he also had to think about the fact that the next day, he would be going back to West Valley for the first time since the day of the school fight. He had been told by Hawk that despite added security, tensions had risen even further since the school fight and there was a massive risk of another school fight breaking out. Despite being in peak physical condition, Miguel didn't want this at all. He didn't think he could emotionally or physically recover from another injury, nor to be honest did he want any of the other Cobra Kais or Miyagi-Dos getting hurt. His anger wasn't with Miyagi-Do at all. It was with Robby Keene, and any fight that he got into before his rematch with Robby is nothing but unnecessary.

20 minutes later, Miguel managed to make it home, but when he pulled into his compound in Reseda, he was in for a big surprise. Sitting on a bench in front of his house was one of the last people he wanted to see, but someone he would inevitably run into at some point given that they were neighbors. The blonde man stood up as Miguel slowed his bike to a stop in front of his house, but as the man walked towards him, Miguel quickly walked away in the opposite direction.

"Miguel! Hey, Miguel!" Johnny Lawrence called after his former student. Eventually, Miguel stopped walking and slowly turned around to face him.

"What?" Miguel snapped. Johnny took a deep, shaky breath. This was it. All or nothing.

"Can we talk?"

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"What do we need to talk about Johnny? Seriously?" Miguel asked, tiredly. "I like being in Cobra Kai with Kreese, so far he's done nothing to make me doubt him in any way. So I'm staying"

Johnny sighed and closed his eyes as he heard the hispanic teenager say these words without a shadow of doubt in his voice. Kreese had sunk his fangs deeper into Miguel than he thought.

"Miguel, you and I… we don't bs with each other. So I'm just going to tell it to you straight. Kreese. Is. Using. You. If you can't see that, you're blind."

Miguel chuckled mirthlessly and shook his head.

"Johnny, let me ask you, what is the job description of a karate sensei?" Miguel asked. Johnny was taken aback by the sudden, seemingly off-topic question.

"Huh?" He asked.

"What is the job description of a karate sensei?" Miguel asked again. "Like what exactly is the role of a sensei?"

"Um… teaching karate?" Johnny answered dumbly. Miguel nodded.

"Exactly, and forgive me, but I don't think it really counts as teaching your student Karate well enough if you ended up nearly getting them killed." Miguel replied. A flair of frustration blasted through Johnny's body at Miguel's stubbornness, and normally he would have lashed out at Miguel there, but his rehab, among many other things, had taught him patience. Johnny bit back his retort and sighed.

"Look, Miguel, I understand you're upset. You have a right to be. But Cobra Kai is not going to help that. Joining Miyagi-Do might?"

Miguel's eyes widened.

"J-joining Miyagi-Do? You joined Miyagi-Do?" Miguel asked in disbelief.

"Not really. Kind of just an alley to them." Johnny replied. "And the people there… Me, Larusso, Larusso's kid… we can help you. We know what you're going through. We can help you."

For a moment, Miguel's fierce stance against Miyagi-Do loosened for a moment as he took in what Johnny had said. If even Johnny, the man he knew hated Mr. Larusso and Miyagi-Do most in the world, had joined Miyagi-Do, could that be the right place to be? However, those thoughts were cut short as the fading scars on Miguel's upper arms and legs from his self-harming days a couple of months ago pricked with pain. That's when he remembered why he was in Cobra Kai. All of the misery, resentment and unbridled fury he had felt came rushing back and he exploded…

"Johnny, you have no idea what I went through!" Miguel growled. "No one does! Robby nearly killed me, and…"

"Miguel, you know that was an accident! He didn't mean to kick you over the balcony!" Johnny cried. Little did he know that the school fight was not actually what Miguel was referring to. He was actually referring to how during the aftermath of the school fight, Miguel had crawled closer and closer to completely giving up on life and slitting his wrists once and for all. But Miguel couldn't tell Johnny that. Nobody other than George and Mary knew about that and he intended to keep it that way. But that didn't lessen any of the anger he was feeling.

"Robby nearly killed me, Johnny." Miguel repeated. "And now it's my turn to do the same to him."

"Miguel, you don't mean that!" Johnny said, disbelievingly. Miguel chuckled mirthlessly.

"Funny thing is I actually do." He spat. "I suffered more than I ever had suffered before at the hands of that son of a bitch, and it's time for payback. I want to choke him and watch the life slowly squeezed out of him as he passes out. I close my eyes and dream of smacking his head against the pavement over and over and over again, watch him bleed out into the dirt. I want him to suffer like I suffered. Feel the pain I felt for months. You say Miyagi-Do can help me? They can't, because everyone in Miyagi-Do loves Robby so much and nobody, including you, understands pain the way I do."

Johnny stayed silent in shock as he listened to Miguel's murderous outburst. But instead of feeling the urge to call the cops, or try and warn Robby, Johnny just felt pain. Everything Miguel was going through was his fault. He could practically feel the suffering radiating off of Miguel and each ray of agony stabbed through Johnny. He could practically hear Kreese saying "it's all your fault, Johnny. You lost again." Because Miguel was right. Johnny didn't really understand much of Miguel's pain. He could tell there was clearly a massive emotional aftermath of the school fight on Miguel but because Miguel was so sealed shut, there was no way Johnny would be able to pry out information about it anytime soon.

"But you know…" Miguel continued. "There is one person who actually understands my pain. Someone who is teaching me how to convert my pain and anger into motivation to work harder. Kreese helped me turn my life around and I'm not going to just stab him in the back like you did. Good night, Johnny."

With that, Miguel stormed away from the blonde and into his house, slamming the door shut behind him. Johnny stood outside, his head in his hands. Mission failed. Now what?