Chapter 6: Stronger Together

It's a new day and I'm heading over to Miyagi-do as soon as possible for more training. As I get closer to the dojo, I see...Sam and Miguel about to enter? What was he doing here? They soon notice me.

"James? What are you doing here? There's no class today." Sam says.

"Huh?" I respond. I take out my phone and see a text from Demetri telling me about there not being class. I had my ringer off and I didn't bother checking my phone at all.

"My bad. I'll go." I say. Right as I am about to leave, Sam calls out to me.

"Hey. I've noticed that you've been acting different recently. Is everything okay?" She asks. No, It's not. I could get the shit kicked out of me by Cobra Kai any day. However, I keep those thoughts in my head.

"No, everything is fine." I say while forcing a smile. I turn and walk away. If I couldn't train there then I'm going to train in the forest. I get there and really don't know what to do. I see a tree and decide that it will be the perfect target. I spend a long time just kicking the tree, over, and over again. I need it to be perfect. Then, I move on to punches. I punch that tree more times than I could count. I just...keep thinking about Steve and his face. I want to punch it so bad. My punches get harder and harder until my knuckles begin to bleed. Oh shit. I'm not really sure what to do. Suddenly, I get a splitting headache again. Shit, how long have I been in here? I haven't had any water all day. To be honest, I haven't eaten much either. I find my water bottle and take a few sips. I just hope this headache goes away soon.

"Hey." I hear a voice say. I turn around to see Sam and Miguel. How did they find me?

"My dad sent us here to check on you. He said he knew you'd be here." Sam says.

"Oh, well I'm fine." I lie.

"Shit, what happened to your knuckles?" Miguel asks.

"I got mad at a tree." I respond.

"James, you can't do this to yourself." Sam says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Ever since you got beat up again, you seem angrier than usual. I also heard from my dad that you were pushing yourself too much." Sam says.

"Look, I know you're worried about me, but this is the only way I can get better." I say.

"No, it's not." Miguel says stepping forward.

"I was bullied by Kyler back when Cobra Kai first opened. I was weak and I felt angry that I was powerless. I even kicked Kyler during Halloween, but that ended porley. The point is, I trained a lot, but it took time. I trained for months and months before I finally beat Kyler. You don't have to push yourself to exhaustion to be good. You just need to believe that with enough time, you will be able to do some badass stuff." Miguel says. Once again, I feel shame and look towards the ground.

"To be honest, I've pushed myself to dehydration twice now." I say.

"James. Trust us. You won't have to experience that anymore." Sam says. I think about it. Maybe they're right. I haven't been looking out for myself.

"Okay. I'll try to balance everything." I say. This response makes Miguel smile and Sam sigh with relief.

"I don't think we've even been properly introduced." Miguel says while putting out his hand for me to shake.

"Miguel."

"James." After that, I think about our current situation.

"So, how are we going to deal with Cobra Kai?" I ask. Same and Miguel look at each other and smile.

"We have a plan." Sam says.

Later...

"Well, this Christmas party is turning out to be ho, ho, horrible." Demetri says. To be honest, he was right. Sam had invited Miyagi-do to a party at her house. However, we were just sitting on the couch doing nothing. The people who came included me, Demetri, Chris, Nate, and some other Miyagi-do members.

"Yeah Sam, thought you said your parents would be out for the night. Why aren't we throwing a rager?" Chris asks.

"There's a keg on the way, just going to be a few more minutes." Sam responds.

"Can we at least put on a Christmas special. I'd even watch that creepy one with the little...elf dentist." Demetri says. This makes Sam look at Demetri funny.

"Yeah, I'm that bored." Demetri says. Suddenly, the doorbell rings.

"It's here" Sam says. We all turn to look at the door as Sam goes to open it. That's when Miguel, Bert, and another kid I don't recognize, enters the house.

"What the?"

"No way."

"Uh uh."

"Oh hell no. You gotta be kidding me." Chris says.

"The hell are you doing here? This isn't a keg party. I bought this hat for nothing." The unknown kid says.

"Wait, you parent trapped us? Why?" Demetri asks Sam.

"Look, I know we haven't always gotten along, but Cobra Kai is the bigger threat now. To all of us." Sam says. She's right.

"We think we'd stand a better chance against them if we joined forces. Two dojo's are stronger than one." Miguel says. However, there's still a lot of tension in the air.

"Look, I know we've all done shitty things to each other." Miguel says.

"Yeah, like breaking Demetris arm?" Chris points out.

"Hey, you guys started that fight." The unknown kid says.

"After you almost got me fired!" Chris says.

"God, I hate your stupid face so much." Bert says

"If you died, I wouldn't even attend your funeral." Nate says. Damm.

"This isn't gonna work." Miguel says.

"It has to. We have one last chance to make things right. Alone we're nothing but if we work together we have a shot. If we can't get over the past, the fighting will never end. We have to confront our enemies. This rivalry has to stop. One way or another." Sam says. Yeah. I know for a fact that Miguel and Bert are good people. We have to find a way to make this work.

Author's Note: I can't wait to write the house fight.