Chapter 16: Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy
Eli did not want to see anyone, he was done with Karate. However, a knock on the door forced him to get up. He was the only one in the house so he had to answer. When he opens the door, he is startled to see a detective in front of him.
"Good evening, I'm Detective Alfonso. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"Uh, not at all." Eli says.
"You and James are friends, correct?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"Yeah." Eli says.
"You are both into Karate, correct?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"I'm not anymore." Eli says.
"Oh? Why is that?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"I'd rather not say." Eli says. Detective Alfonso nods.
"Were you in contact with James on the night he got attacked?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"No, my phone got stolen and he didn't show up to the big rematch." Eli says.
"Do you know who stole your phone?" Detective Alfonso asks. Eli fears what might happen to him if he tells the truth.
"No, sorry." Eli says.
"Okay, I'll look into it for you." Detective Alfonso says.
"Hey, you might want to look into a guy named Steve. He might have been involved with the attack." Eli says.
"Really, how do you know?" Detective Alfonso asks.
"Well, let's just say that he and James are enemies. Please keep me anonymous." Eli asks.
"I'll try to. Thanks for the tip." Detective Alfonso says.
James's POV:
Two weeks. Two weeks I was forced to stay in the hospital. As I was waiting for my ribs to heal, all I could think about was how much training I was missing out on. I also thought of something else. Chase needs to pay. There's no way I'm letting him get away with this. But how could I do anything? Despite all my time at Miyagi-Do, I'm nowhere near the level as the rest of my friends. But I can't let Chase, Steve, or anyone else push me around anymore. I need to do something about it. It just sucks that Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang split up. When I was finally discharged from the hospital, I was crushed yet again. My parents found out that I was still involved with Karate. They took away my phone and threatened to do worse if I didn't stop hanging out with my friends. However, that's not gonna stop me. When I enter the school on my first day back, Sam walks over to me.
"James, I hope you're ready to continue training as soon as you can." Sam says.
"You know I have to. But, I'm still the weakest fighter out of everyone." I say.
"That's because you've only been fighting defensively. You need to be more aggressive sometimes." Sam says.
"I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure. Are you sure that's a good idea?" I ask.
"I know it is. How many times will Steve have to knock you down before you truly fight back?" Sam asks. With that, she walks away.
Later…
As I'm walking down the hall, someone shoulder checks me. I look up to see that it is Chase. He's with his three other teammates.
"Hey, back from the dead already?" Chase asks sarcastically. I attempt to walk past him but he grabs my backpack and pulls me back.
"If you think you can just walk away, then you have another thing coming." Chase says. He then pushes me to the ground.
"Don't forget that I'm in charge here." Chase shouts as he walks away. As I get up, I'm seeing red. I'm sick of people like him thinking that they can just own me. Sam's right, no matter how many times I try to use defense, they always manage to beat me and the bullying continues. I'm sick of waiting for them to do something to me first. It's time for me to get some payback. Steve and Chase are always able to beat me because they strike first. I think it's about time I do the same.
Later…
Chase and his teammates are in a locker room. I quickly enter and walk over to him.
"What the hell are you-" Chase begins to say. He is quickly cut off when I punch him straight in the face. He falls over and one of his teammates rushes towards me. I remember the kicking drills Sensei Lawrence taught us. I quickly sidekick this guy in the chest and he falls over as well. As I'm doing that, the second teammate gets behind me and puts me in a headlock. The third teammate rushes towards me to punch me, but I kick him in the balls. While he is in pain, I elbow the second teammate and quickly get out of the headlock by grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. I let go and then kick him in the back, sending him crashing into the third teammate and the first teammate who had gotten back up. That's when Chase gets back up. He goes to punch me but I grab his arm and knee him in the chest twice. When he starts to go down, I punch him in the face. I then sweep both of his legs and he hits his head on the lockers before collapsing on the ground. While he is in pain, I grab him by the head, the same thing he did to me two weeks ago.
"Don't ever mess with me again. You hear me?" I say. Chase just nods his head. Without thinking, I slam Chase's head against the lockers, knocking him unconscious. With that, I realize what I just did.
"Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god." I say when I get up and stare at everyone. I did this. I used no Miyagi-Do, and I beat them. It kinda felt good. Wait…no, I shouldn't be thinking this way. I quickly leave the locker room.
Third Person POV:
Cobra Kai is training when a new kid enters the dojo.
"Welcome to Cobra Kai." Terry Silver says.
"Thanks. My name is Chase Carver." Chase says.
"Ahh, Steve told us about you. Please, join us." Kreese says. With that, Chase takes his spot on the mat.