CHAPTER 26
That night was a grave night for Miyagi-Do. After taking Demetri to the hospital, they had nothing to do but wait in the hospital waiting room, sitting there in silence and still wrapping their heads around everything that had happened. It had all happened so fast, in a blur, and now that everything had slowed down, they could truly reflect on the fight. They couldn't believe that Hawk and Cobra Kai would do such a thing. Even with everything Cobra Kai had already done to them, this had crossed to new levels of bad. It marked a new low in the war that had broken out in the Valley. Cobra Kai had just proven that they would stop at nothing to wipe out Miyagi-Do once and for all and Miyagi-Do knew that.
After Demetri got a cast put on his arm and was discharged from the hospital, the group finally split up for the night, leaving the hospital and heading to their respective homes. As Sam got out of her dad's car and they walked up the driveway, Sam felt her stomach in turmoil. She still hadn't fully comprehended everything that had happened so shock was still numbing her system. They walked into the house and almost immediately, Sam saw her mother come rushing into the room, an extremely anxious expression on her face. Amanda raced over and quickly enveloped her daughter in a crushing hug.
"Oh, my God! Sam, I was so worried about you! I can't believe that Cobra Kai could do such a thing! I swear first thing tomorrow, I…"
Amanda's frantic voice trailed off as she felt her daughter break in her arms. Literally break. The shock in her system had worn off, and Sam felt all of the emotions she had felt during and after the fight, as well as her panic attack, come rushing back to her. Sam broke down and before she knew it, she was back to being a young girl, sobbing into her mother's arms. Amanda and Daniel - who was standing immobile in shock in the corner of the room - looked at each other in alarm as they saw their daughter break down in front of them. They knew about the fight, but Sam hadn't told them about her panic attack and her failure to help her friends.
"Shhhh. Shhhhhh. Sweetie, you're okay." Amanda whispered softly into her daughter's ear. "You're okay. You're okay…"
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"This is unbelievable. This is absolutely unbelievable. These Cobra Kais have gone fucking mad! This is too far!"
Later that night, after Sam had calmed down a bit, Daniel, Amanda and Sam sat outside around the backyard table and Sam briefly explained to them a bit more about what had happened.
"I want to quit karate." Sam suddenly blurted out. Daniel and Amanda looked at her in disbelief.
"W-w-what?" Daniel stammered. Sam scowled, not at Daniel, but at her situation in general. She couldn't believe how messed up things had become and she wanted to fold her cards and walk away now.
"You heard me. I'm done." Sam uttered. "Today I rallied my friends and convinced them to come with me to this fight. But when the fighting started, and I heard her voice… I froze. I watched my friends get hurt and I couldn't do anything! This is no longer just a dojo rivalry that will end when you and Johnny put a stop to it! These Cobra Kais… they're not gonna stop until they obliterate every single one of us. And now I'm having these panic attacks and I… I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to defend myself again."
Daniel and Amanda looked at their daughter, tears in their eyes. They could practically hear the pain leaking out of every word Sam released.
"I'm so sorry, Sam." Daniel whispered. "This is all my fault. Maybe reopening Miyagi-Do after the school fight was a mistake. Maybe it would better for everyone to just fly under the radar for the next little while with Cobra Kai."
The three Larussos looked at each other, sombre expressions on their faces. They stayed in that pained silence for several moments, before the third Larusso decided to speak up.
"You know what… No!" Amanda exclaimed. "I'm not going to let the two of you give up! Although it absolutely kills me to see both of you like this, I think both of you know deep down that having Miyagi-Do open and getting into these fights occasionally would be better than being at Cobra Kai's mercy every day. You should keep Miyagi-Do open for that reason."
"It's not that simple, Amanda." Daniel murmured.
"Sure it is." Amanda stated confidently. "Sam, do you really think you're going to be able to go every day until you leave for college in September living in fear of getting beaten up whenever you leave the house? Because that's gonna happen for sure if you quit Miyagi-Do. You really think that crazy psycho bitch is gonna forget about you if you quit Miyagi-Do? At least if you continue, you have the opportunity to become better than her, and hopefully scare her off."
"Problem is these Cobras don't get scared anymore." Daniel replied. "They've been so brainwashed by Kreese that they've lost all sense of common sense. They've all become unhinged, merciless monsters."
"Not all of them." Sam mumbled quietly, causing both Daniel and Amanda to turn towards her, shocked.
"I'm sorry?" Daniel asked.
"I said not all of them are monsters." Sam replied, a bit louder. "Some of them looked like they didn't actually want to be there. Like Miguel."
Daniel scoffed.
"I'm sorry. You really mean to tell me that Cobra Kai's top bully is having doubts about his being a bully."
Sam shook her head.
"That's the thing… he isn't a bully!" Sam stated, before taking a deep breath. "During the fight, when I had my panic attack and froze, I heard Miguel and Tory plan to search half the maze each hunting for me."
"Jee, because that really sounds like the kind of sensible, non-bully behavior." Amanda remarked. Sam glared at her.
"Here's the thing though. He actually found me. He stood over me for a couple of seconds, and I saw in his eyes… he didn't want to be in the fight at all. He saw me in pain and didn't want to hurt me even more so he walked away and didn't shout to Tory. He didn't want to bully anyone. He wasn't insane like Hawk or Tory. He looked…"
"Like a soldier…"
A voice finished Sam's sentence from behind the Larussos. The three of them spun around to see Johnny entering their back garden, a slightly worried look on his face but a look that relaxed considerably as he saw them unharmed.
"Johnny!" Daniel stammered, surprised.
"Hey. I heard shit went down tonight between the dojos. Just wanted to make sure you guys were alright."
"Yeah, fine thanks." Sam replied, before turning back to her parents as Johnny sat down with them. "Yeah like Johnny was saying, Miguel looked like he had to fight, not like he wanted to."
Johnny nodded.
"That's exactly what Kreese does." Johnny stated. "He so brilliantly evil with it. He manipulates the kids by digging into either their pride, or any personal vendetta they have against his opponent, and uses it to make them feel like they're soldiers. He inducts and entraps them into his sick Army. But deep down, each one of these students is still a good person."
"And that's causing rifts between members of Cobra Kai." Sam added. "It's clear not all of them are functioning as one united Army. Hell, Miguel even tackled Hawk through a wall after Hawk broke Demetri's arm."
"He did?" Johnny asked, shocked. Sam nodded, and Johnny chuckled. "Atta boy. So Cobra Kai has weak bonds right now. We can possibly pick off some of them and convince them to join Miyagi-Do. But that's not going to change the fact that for as long as Kreese is in town, they're always going to have more people being recruited to join. So what do we do?"
"Well…" Daniel grinned, looking up as a plan came to his mind. "We get rid of Kreese…"
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So Daniel, Amanda, Johnny and Sam came up with a plan. 48 hours later, they had gotten a hearing with a judge to try and convince him that Kreese was a menace to society, and should no longer be allowed to be around kids. It was a foolproof plan. In the short span of time, they had gathered every iota of evidence they had under the sun and by the time the court date had arrived that evening, they felt a kind of hope they hadn't felt in so long. This wasn't a handshake deal. This wasn't a verbal smackdown. This was the law, and that was something that even someone as slippery as Kreese couldn't outrun.
The night of the trial came around and swallowing all of their nerves, Daniel, Johnny, Sam, Amanda and Demetri poured their hearts and souls out to the judge. Demetri talked about the physical toll John Kreese's students had done on him and the other students. Sam talked long about the emotional and mental health affect that Kreese's Cobra Kai had had on her, the judge swallowing every word she spoke as the Valley were desperately trying harder and harder to put a greater emphasis on mental health, so having someone describe the mental spiral Cobra Kai had caused on her was a great argument for Daniel's side. Johnny then dealt another heavy blow to Kreese's hopes of remaining a sensei by describing his own experiences with Kreese, first as a student himself and then as a sensei later. He spoke about how Kreese poisoned the minds of each and every one of his students, and every day he remained in the Valley would only bring them closer and closer to another school fight, this time with even more fatal consequences.
"Anything else?" The judge asked as the adults and teenagers had all finished speaking. They shook their heads.
"Nothing else, your honor." Amanda replied. "But can I ask you something? Are you a parent?"
The judge didn't answer but Amanda pressed on.
"Because if you are a parent, you know that seeing your child in pain is the most painful experience a parent has. And right now, every day I'm waking up and I'm seeing my daughter in so much pain that it's practically killing me. And what's killing me even more is knowing that all around the Valley, there are tens more parents that are feeling the exact same way. Please, your honor, for all of these people, get that menace out of society."
With that, Amanda sat down and they all stared at the stoic judge, hoping to see some kind of expression on his face that would show them that he was leaning their way. However, his face remained stony for several more moments, before softening slightly as he finished taking in Amanda's short speech.
"Well… I'd like to thank all of you for coming in today. You brought up some very compelling arguments. We will have a decision for you by the end of the week. Court is…"
"WAIT!"