CHAPTER 2

"Miguel… your passport?"

Miguel, who was in the middle of a daydream, snapped back to reality, to see Johnny standing in front of him expectantly. Miguel shook himself out of his daze and remembered exactly where he was. Miyagi-Do were in the airport, for they were preparing to fly to a National Karate Tournament in Florida. That's right… Florida! As the two finalist dojos, Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai had been invited to compete in a National Karate Tournament. Any other day, Miguel would be hopping up and down with glee and excitement but today he hadn't said a word. In fact, he had barely spoken at all since the All-Valley three weeks ago. He felt incredibly guilty. He had lost, let down his team when they needed him most. Though they didn't blame him at all for losing the final as after all, he was the only one of them who had even made it that far and had put every iota of strength he had into the tournament, but Miguel still felt like it was his fault. If anything, the amount of effort he put in made the loss sting even more. He had sacrificed everything for this tournament: he had stopped seeing his family and friends nearly as much; he had broken up with Sam in February; he had put schoolwork on the back burner, all to spend every waking moment training for the tournament, only to still come up short. Second best to Robby. Loser.

He couldn't close his eyes without seeing Robby and Cobra Kai, their smug smiles on their faces as they stood over Miguel after the tournament, their future in the Valley now set in stone. Jolts of pain stabbed through Miguel as he thought about it, jabbing right at his injured lower back. He couldn't believe Robby had resorted to that cheap trick to win the tournament, targeting an injury that HE himself had created, but there wasn't much Miguel could say about it. It was, after all, the exact same strategy Miguel had used the year before to take his crown. That was all Miguel had thought about non-stop after the tournament, so the fact that Miyagi-Do qualified for a National Tournament for the first time didn't excite him as much as it should've. It was just another fight to come up short to Robby and Cobra Kai.

"Dude! Hey! Dude! You're daydreaming again!" Demetri exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front of Miguel's face, waking his mind up.

"Sorry." Miguel murmured. He slowly opened his backpack and handed his passport to Johnny, as Johnny and Daniel were collecting everyone's passports to check them in. As the two adults went off to go do that, the teens all turned to one another and talked.

"Hey Miguel…" A voice behind Miguel said. Miguel turned around to see Sam looking at him. As he looked her in her piercing, ocean-blue eyes, a pang of guilt stabbed through him. He had treated her SO badly in the past 6 months. After getting back together with her in December, he had dumped her once again in February, as he said he needed 0 distractions from the tournament and didn't have the time to maintain a relationship amidst all his training. An absolute piss-poor excuse for an absolutely piss-poor act. Worse yet, he had completely pushed away her and all of his other friends in Miyagi-Do in his quest to win the tournament. So yeah… being around Sam and sensing the hurt that both of them carried was not the easiest.

"Yeah?" Miguel grunted.

"The tournament… it wasn't your fault." She stated simply, knowing what was weighing on his mind. They all did, as he practically hadn't spoken to a single one of them since and as soon as he found out about the National Tournament, he had trained himself like a madman. He wasn't going to be taking any prisoners this time. Victory would be his.

"Really? So it wasn't my back, the injury that I said I had under control, that lost us the tournament? I was just imagining that? Please tell me I was just imagining that!" Miguel snapped.

"Dude, that wasn't your fault. That was Robby being a bitch and just targeting it because he knew you were about to win! Fucking pussy!" Hawk spat.

"Well… well… well… look who it is." A low, cocky drawl came from behind them and as they all recognised it, they spun around, only to find themselves face to face with the entire Cobra Kai roster. Robby, who had spoken, was accompanied by Tory, Kyler and the rest of the dojo as they smirked at their vanquished foes. "I thought I smelled a crippled loser. Vaginal rejuvenation surgery go well after the tournament, Miguel?"

Miguel's hands balled into fists as he prowled towards Robby, prepared for a fight. Immediately, Cobra Kai stepped back, granting Robby and Miguel room to scrap then and there, but Miyagi-Do did the opposite. Hawk immediately grabbed Miguel, and him and Sam together held Miguel back, as Chris, Mitch, Demetri, Nate, Bert and the rest of Miyagi-Do created a wall between the two All-Valley champions to prevent Miguel from charging him.

"Miguel! Miguel! Hey, stop okay?! You're gonna get yourself arrested!" Sam shouted as Miguel struggled in her grip, trying desperate to wriggle his way out and go flying at Robby. Miguel couldn't hear her though. He was like a lion locked on his prey, and a nuclear blast a meter away from him wouldn't have distracted him from the task at hand: destroy Robby Keene. However, before he could do so, Daniel and Johnny returned, having checked them all in for the flight.

"Hey guys. What's going o… oh, it's you guys." Johnny scowled as he saw all of Cobra Kai standing opposite the Miyagi-Dos. "What do you want?"

As if on cue, at that very moment, Kreese, Silver and Barnes strolled over to them and grinned.

"Hahahaha! If it isn't Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso, the senseis who choked the All-Valley final! How's it going, guys?" Silver remarked. Johnny and Daniels' faces flushed with anger as the Cobra Kai sensei verbally jabbed at them.

"I see you guys are on your way to the tournament too. You know, this tournament… it's the big leagues. I fear how a dojo that couldn't even win the All-Valley is supposed to cope." Barnes commented.

"We'll be just fine." Daniel stated coolly. "Come on guys. Let's go."

"Headed to your economy class seats? Makes sense." Silver laughed. "We bought upgrades. I guess we just care about our students more. Come on, Cobras. First class awaits…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The dojos then split up, Miguel and Miyagi-Do still smoldering in anger. However, they couldn't hold onto it for long as soon, it was time to get onto the plane. Miguel hadn't come from money, so this was the first time he had ever gone on a flight. He had to admit, the thrilling feeling of the plane shooting down the runway and the gut-wrenching feeling as it took off as absolutely incredible, but Miguel wasn't able to enjoy it to its fullest. His mind was still, understandably, on Cobra Kai and the confrontation they had earlier. Even after they split up at the airport, they had seen each other once more as they got onto the plane. As Cobra Kai were in first class, they were the first to board the plane and were seated at the very front. This meant that as Miyagi-Do eventually walked onto the plane and walked towards the back of the aircraft, where their economy class seats were, the first people they saw were their arch rivals. The tension was palpable and couldn't have even been sliced by a razor sharp machete as Miyagi-Do walked past them and the rivals briefly stared down at each other.

However, as the plane took off, everyone settled down for the flight, though still the hatred between the two sides was radiating throughout the plane. Some of the Miyagi-Dos slept, but Miguel couldn't. He could hardly sit still, let alone sleep. The turbulence was incredibly strong from takeoff, and throughout the flight, it only seemed to get worse. Miguel was practically bouncing around in his seat. Supposedly, this was normal, according to the other Miyagi-Dos. Miguel wasn't so sure. If planes were so uncomfortable, why were they so popular?

But he thought nothing of it, despite the turbulence getting worse and worse. About two hours into the flight, Miguel decided to get up and go use the bathroom. It was located in the middle of the plane, right between economy and first class. This meant that as he walked over to the lavatory, where a small queue had formed, he was greeted by an unfriendly guest from the first class cabin…

"Hey, Tory." Miguel murmured as he took his place in the queue behind her.

Tory turned around and scowled at him. She didn't respond and turned back around shortly after. However, in the short moment that she turned around, Miguel saw a look on her face that very much mimicked his own: anxiety.

"This your first time on an aeroplane?" Miguel asked, knowing full well the answer. Tory reluctantly turned around again and glared at him.

"What do you think?" She snapped. Miguel nodded.

"Mine too." He continued, ignoring her harsh tone. Especially given the growing turbulence, for both their sakes, he wanted to continue the conversation as a distraction. "Honestly, if you told me two years ago today that I'd be flying for the first time, for the sole reason of competing in the inaugural U18 National Karate Championship, I would've laughed."

"I'm not surprised given you shouldn't be here anyway." Tory remarked. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" He said.

"Well you didn't even win the tournament. We did." Tory stated. Miguel chuckled. Okay, if that's how you want to play it….

"Actually, if I remember correctly, Robby did. You got knocked out in the quarter finals by who? Oh yeah, me, the only other champion still under 18 besides Robby in the Valley. So maybe it isn't my place in the tournament you should be doubting. I deserve my place here."

"That right? How's the back doing there, champ?" She said, shoving Miguel none too gently into the wall behind him. A flare of pain stabbed through him at that moment, but it was quickly diminished by the fury that was bubbling up inside him, preparing to erupt.

"Okay, that's it." He snarled. "You want to fight? Let's fi…"

However, before the words could escape Miguel's lips, then came a massive BANG…