CHAPTER 23

Now what? Johnny thought for several moments. He was at a complete loss. He had lost any and all hope he had had upon leaving rehab. Convincing Miguel to quit Cobra Kai was beyond his reach for now - Miguel had been sucked too far in - and he knew that he would only be able to try again with a chance of success after the dust settled.

So Johnny honestly didn't know where to go, what to do next, so he went to the only place he knew would know what the next step would be in this karate war that was breaking out in the Valley. Getting into his car, Johnny drove up to Encino and knocked on the familiar brown door. Daniel opened it moments later, hope lifting his face up as he saw Johnny standing at the doorway.

"So… were you able to talk to Mi...?" Daniel's voice trailed off as he saw the defeated expression on Johnny's face, and he instantly knew the answer. "Let's talk inside…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So what did Miguel say exactly?" Daniel asked. Sam, Daniel and Johnny sat around in the living room, a long silence filling the room as the two Larusso's listened intently to what Johnny was about to say. They could tell from the look on his face that it wasn't about to be good news, but they needed to know how bad it would be.

"Um… not much to be honest." Johnny murmured. He had made a decision in that moment not to tell them about what Miguel had wanted to do to Robby, especially given that Miguel's ex-girlfriend was sitting right across from him.

"Well what did he say then?" Sam pressed. Johnny sighed.

"Um… he's just… he's so, so angry right now." Johnny replied, choosing his words cautiously. He knew that although he wasn't about to tell them the details of his conversation with Miguel, he still somehow needed to warn Larusso to protect his students and train them harder so they could defend themselves against Miguel. "He is so furious he's kicked up a tornado, and until it settles, he's not going to be able to see the forest from the trees. All we can do now is wait for a while as he gets a handle on his anger and then try again."

"Right. That's a good idea." Daniel murmured.

"No, that's bullshit!" Sam exclaimed angrily, causing both adults' heads whip around to face her.

"What is?" Johnny asked, tiredly.

"We can't just wait and let Kreee get into his head! We need to act now." Sam declared. "It's like knocking down a wall. If each day we can dislodge one brick, eventually it will be weak enough for us to knock it down. We need to start trying as soon as possible!"

Johnny sighed and shook his head.

"And normally I would agree with you." Johnny said, looking at both Daniel and Sam, partly in shock as to how far things had come. If 6 months ago today someone had told him that he would be sitting in the Larusso living room, trying to discuss the best way to regain Miguel's trust and loyalty, he would have laughed in their face and then kicked their ass. But now it was different. Times were different. Tension filled the air of every Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai student's house and Johnny and Daniel knew that only them could put an end to the war once and for all, but they couldn't do that with Miguel - Cobra Kai's leader and ambassador - firmly rooted on the other side. Johnny turned to Daniel, more desperation in his tone that although invisible to Sam, was noticed by Daniel. He needed to make sure Miyagi-Do stayed away from Miguel at least for the next little while, as there was no telling what Miguel and Kreese's Cobra Kai would do to them. "Look Larusso, you know I'm the first through the door at everything, but even I know in this situation we need to give him some time and space. You brought up that wall example… well right now, that wall is made of steel and all trying to knock the wall down is doing is bruising your hands."

Sam glared at Johnny for several moments before shaking her head again.

"No, no. I'm not doing that. I'm going to try again! We owe it to him, and maybe having me talk to him rather than you could…"

"OH MY GOD! You just don't get it, do you?!" Johnny snapped, slamming his hand against the table, causing a loud BANG! He was less angry than he was desperate at this point. He knew that if Sam went into a conversation with Miguel right now with Miguel's mental state, it could go sideways real fast. "Right now, Miguel is NOT going to change! He's just not! And any conversation you have with him at this point is only going to push him further towards Cobra Kai, not to mention get him worked up and possibly affect his recovery."

Sam scowled at him for several moments, both of them silently squaring up to each other, not backing down and waiting for one of them to relent. It was eventually Sam who did, sighing in defeat and nodding.

"Okay, fine. I won't talk to him." She said, before getting up and storming out the room in a huff. When she left, a silence overtook the room for several seconds before Daniel broke the silence.

"Hey, Johnny?" Daniel said. Johnny's head shot up as he faced his former rival.

"Yeah?" Johnny grunted. Daniel looked him straight in the eye as he spoke his next words...

"Cut the bullshit, would you?" He said. Johnny looked at him, confused, and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Johnny asked. Daniel sighed.

"Come on. You and I both know you were withholding the truth about what actually happened with Miguel just now."

Johnny's expression quickly went from confusion to panic to stony in a split second, but that split second was all Daniel needed. Daniel's eyes widened.

"There is something, isn't there?! Johnny, what's going on with Miguel?"

"You don't want to know." Johnny grumbled. Daniel glared at him.

"Johnny… tell me." He growled. Johnny scowled back at him, dislike bubbling up inside him.

"No." Johnny spat back, the simple word containing barrels of anger. Daniel's own face mirrored Johnny's in a glare so powerful that if looks could kill, it would have incinerated anything it touched.

"Goddamn it, Johnny! If you want this partnership to work, you need to fucking tell me what is happening!"

"All right, fine!" Johnny snapped, sitting back in defeat, before continuing in a quieter, defeated tone. "Miguel… he said some things about Robby. Bad things."

"W-w-what kind of things?" Daniel stammered. Johnny took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"He said… he said he wanted to kill Robby." Johnny murmured. "And I know that many kids say that to each other but trust me, Miguel meant it. He said he wanted to see Robby suffer like he suffered after the fight."

"Oh, my God." Daniel mumbled, his eyes wide and his hand clasped over his mouth in shock and horror. Johnny nodded.

"Yeah, but it's more than just Miguel acting psychotic I think." Johnny stated. "Miguel's really scared. Unlike all of the other kids in the Valley, he truly knows what it's like to lose in this war, and he's just terrified of it happening again. So he knows that as long as he stays in Cobra Kai, he'll get stronger and stronger and won't be forced to go through the painfully slow recovery again. THAT'S why he isn't going to listen to any of us anytime soon. The pain of recovery is still fresh in his mind. When it starts to fade… that's when I can make my move to try and talk to him again and try and get him to leave Cobra Kai."

Daniel nodded silently, listening intently to what Johnny was saying. He knew that Johnny's logic was surprisingly well thought out and was actually probably the best way for him to move forward in terms of how to reach Miguel. But he still had one problem…

"But then what do we do until then?" Daniel asked. Johnny sighed.

"I really don't know." Johnny admitted. "Look, all I know is that without Robby, Miguel could kick the ass of any of your students with ease. And yes, that includes your daughter."

Daniel scowled slightly at this but didn't argue. Because deep down, he knew from his own experiences in Cobra Kai that with every day Miguel was training with Kreese, he was getting stronger and stronger. And combining that with his size and muscle advantage over most of Miyagi-Do, combined with the "no mercy" attitude that Kreese was undoubtedly drilling into him as they spoke… well, let's just say Daniel didn't want his daughter in that fight.

"So my suggestion… just keep your daughter and Miyagi-Do well away from him." Johnny said. "I know Miguel. He's not going to go looking for a fight, but if he finds one, he's not going to let himself lose."

Daniel nodded, and the two of them sat back, putting their heads in their hands. The next few months were surely going to be… interesting.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THUD! THUD! THUD!

That night, rather than being at home preparing for his first day of school the next day, Miguel was at the backroom of the dojo, furiously sparring with a punching bag. He spent every free moment he had at the dojo. Kreese had even been kind enough to have given him a spare key so he could go in anytime he wanted. As Kreese had said, "if you ever can't sleep and have the sudden urge to do karate at midnight, feel free to come to the dojo."

Miguel continued to land furious blows on the target, focussing on trying to stay mobile and nimble, darting around the target in circles as he hit it. He needed to improve his agility and reflexes. It was currently, in his opinion, his weakest aspect in Karate. If he had been more agile or more nimble during the school fight, he could have reacted to Robby's sudden charge at him after the fight was over, and he could have blocked or sidestepped any of Robby's blows that had caused him to fall over the balcony. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Miguel continued to spar for the next little while until suddenly, he heard the door of the dojo swing over. He slowed to a halt and wiped his face with a towel, before grabbing his bag and heading towards the exit of the dojo.

"Hey, Sensei?" Miguel called, assuming it was Kreese at the door because who else would be at the dojo at 9 pm? However, as he walked into the main dojo and towards the door, he realised that it wasn't Kreese. It was probably the person he both wanted to see most and least in the world: it was Tory!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Tory?" Miguel asked, confused. Tory, who was at the side of the main dojo facing away from him, spun around at the sound of his voice.

"Miguel… What are you doing here?" Tory stammered.

"I had some free time and I wanted to train for a bit." Miguel murmured. "What are you doing here?"

"Left my jacket here this morning." She grunted. Miguel nodded and the two stood in awkward silence for many moments, tension palpable in the air. After a couple of seconds, Miguel took a deep breath and spoke.

"Um… look, Tory. Like I said before, I'm really sor…"

"Miguel, I really don't give a fuck about your apologies." Tory snapped. "You cheated on me with that daddy's girl bitch. You did the slimiest, most scum-of-the-earth thing you could have possibly done to me. So you don't have to apologise anymore. Save your breath, because I'm never going to forgive your backstabbing ass for what you did."

October 19th. 9:17 pm. That was the exact time when Miguel finally lost his patience with Tory and managed to see the things that had happened before and during the school fight clearer than he had before.

"You know what, Tory? You're right. I'm done apologising. Because to be honest, I'm not the only one of us who lied."

"What?" Tory snapped. Miguel scowled at her, his face filled with nothing but rage. Ever since the school fight, he had been too consumed with guilt to see clearly what had happened, but now he did and he had nothing but anger towards his ex-girlfriend.

"What I'm saying is you're full of shit." Miguel spat, watching as Tory's face temporarily transformed to shock, before transforming to match his with a fury-filled expression. But he knew that he wanted to continue confronting her, despite the terrifying look on her face. "You keep on going on and on about how cheating is the lowest thing I could have done to you when honestly, that's not what you're pissed about. You're pissed because it was with her."

"Are you serious?! Are you seriously trying to run away from the blame in what happened?!" Tory exclaimed. Miguel shook his head.

"Look, I cheated on you. It was one of the worst things I've ever done. But at least I own that." Miguel said, spreading his arms wide. "You, however, keep using what Sam and I did to hide from yourself the truth that you are just as guilty as we are. Because you didn't have to start the school fight. Over one in five people in this country cheat on their partner at some point. You don't see them charging into school with spiked knuckles, trying to kill people! You're using us to stick the blame on for the fact that after the fight, your life went down the shitter but you know what? You have only yourself to blame for that! Not me! Not Sam! YOU!"

As Miguel panted to catch his breath after his outburst, there was a long silence dojo. Tory was still reeling from Miguel's harsh words, and Miguel was still reeling from the feeling of actually having said them. A couple of moments later, both had recovered enough and the two merely stared daggers at each other in the mostly deserted dojo. Miguel sighed, his anger wearing off and being replaced by sympathy.

"Look, Tory, I know you're helping your mom and everything, but… you need help."

At those words, Tory snapped back to her senses and charged over to him, standing a couple of inches away from him, her hands balling into tight fists. At that moment, Miguel genuinely thought she was about to hit him and he mentally prepared himself for a fight. However, that fight never came. Tory's fists unfurled as quickly as they balled up, and she took a couple of steps back, heading towards the door.

"Fuck you, Miguel." Tory growled, before storming out of the dojo…