CHAPTER 5

A plan already taking shape in his mind, Kreese knew that step 1 of his mission was taking Cobra Kai back under his control. He knew that the dojo had changed drastically during Silver's time in power, but he couldn't have imagined just how much. Daniel and Johnny had told him that Silver had expanded to multiple dojos, but as Kreese had seen during his walk through the city, there was now almost a dojo on every street! He wasn't sure how he would be able to retake all of these location and claim them as his, as he assumed that they were all run by different senseis under Silver's employ. But it also occurred to him that he didn't need to claim every single one. All he needed to do was find the biggest dojo, seize that one, and the rest of them were bound to fall in line.

It didn't take Kreese long to find that dojo either. As he walked through the streets of Encino, he found himself drawing to a halt right opposite the largest karate dojo had ever seen. Its shadow loomed ominously over him, the cobra logo on the door staring daggers at him.

Taking a deep breath and preparing for a fight, ignoring the lingering aches and pains from his fight with the teenager earlier, Kreese walked into the dojo. Kreee chuckled. Everything about this massive facility screamed Terry Silver. Whether it was the smoothie bar on one side of the room, the state-of-the-art equipment on the other, or the trophies adorned on the wall like all hangings. The man was not a warrior at heart; he was a businessman. There was no doubt that in the creation and expansion of all of these locations, Silver had lost sight of what truly mattered: the Way of the Fist. You could have all of the equipment in the world, but without the right leadership and students, you will always still lose. Well Kreese was back now. Cobra Kai had that leadership again, and he wasn't going to let it go again.

The dojo was unlocked, but completely dark and abandoned when Kreese walked in. All of the training equipment was still there, but by the looks of things, it hadn't been used in a while. However, as he stepped inside, an automatic bell connected to the door rang, and a couple of seconds later, Kreese heard footsteps approaching from a back room.

"Sorry. We're closed to new students." A voice called out from the shadows, still not visible to him yet.

"Oh, I'm not a student." Kreese remarked. Recognizing his voice, the other person stepped into the clearing and into Kreese's eye line, and the two of them were temporarily frozen to the spot in shock. Although they hadn't seen each other face to face in decades, having remained in contact over the years, the two still instantly recognized each other. It had felt like just yesterday that Kreese was at her grandfather's dojo, training with Terry Silver in the Way of the Fist.

"Sensei Kreese." She said, surprised to see him, but not too surprised, as she had indeed seen the news from earlier that day about his release.

"Sensei Kim." Kreese smiled faintly at her, bowing deeply as a show of respect, Kim doing the same. Respect emanated from both of them for the other person.

"It has been too long." Kim said, to which Kreese most definitely agreed. "I must say, it was quite the surprise that you weren't around when I arrived."

"Yeah, well, I had a few… legal issues I needed to work through first." Kreese said. Kim nodded.

"I heard. And to tell you the truth, I'm not surprised." Kim remarked. "Sensei Silver always feared you. He would never challenge you to your face, so it wasn't a shock that he went behind your back to try and incapacitate you."

Kreese nodded, his hatred for that man, his former best friend, burning through his veins at the mere thought of what he had done to him.

"I've got to ask though… what brought you to the Valley? Was it the money?" Kreese asked her. Kim shook her head.

"The opportunity." Kim explained. "Sensei Silver…"

"That man is not a sensei." Kreese interrupted her. "A sensei does not prioritize riches over the teaching of his students."

"Indeed. Terry offered me the opportunity to spread my grandfather's style of Karate to the world, through the Sekai Taikai. He planned to invest heavily in making the Sekai Taikai well-known world wide, 'bigger than the Super Bowl in America' he said. He even gave me 50% partnership of Cobra Kai, full ownership now that he is in custody."

"So do you plan on keeping all of the dojos open now that he's gone?" Kreese asked, sensing an opportunity. Kim shook her head.

"I do not have the money, nor the interest in doing so. This was never about Cobra Kai for me. Cobra Kai means nothing to me. I was using Silver to generate attention to my grandfather's style of Karate. But now that there's no way of doing that, I do not have any interest in being here longer."

Kreese nodded thoughtfully. This was perfect. By the looks of things, he didn't even have to wage a war to reclaim Cobra Kai for himself. It seemed like Kim had no interest in keeping it for herself, and so he knew that all he needed to do was present the right offer.

"How about this?" Kreese began. "You and I become partners. 50/50. I know that without Silver's money, we don't have the ability to spread Cobra Kai as far and wide as before, but if we can win the Taikai, we still have the opportunity to spread it a lot more."

Kim chuckled.

"Do you know what I always appreciated about you, Sensei Kreese?" Kim told him. "Your honesty. Silver… he was just like a snake, like a cobra. He was always lurking and you never knew what his motives or plans were. But you… you were always honest. And I feel right now, you're not being honest with me about your intentions. Why do you want to reopen this dojo?"

"Cobra Kai was my life. Being a sensei is what I am. I want to try to convert as many of the next generation as possible to the Way of the Fist." Kreese immediately replied, but Kim's eyes clearly expressed that she wasn't buying it.

"Sensei… I do not appreciate being lied to." She stated, her voice growing ever-so-slightly slightly in annoyance. Kreese sighed and nodded. Kim knew well about the events of 1984 and 1985, and she had also heard about the All-Valley tournament and rivalry with Miyagi-Do, but she had not heard about the latest chapter yet, the one where Kreese was in prison and Miyagi-Do had stabbed him in the back.

"I want revenge." Kreese growled, venom dripping from his tone. "They think they've won. They think they've gotten the best of us. I want to show them just how wrong they are."

Kim slowly nodded.

"I understand your anger, Sensei Kreese." She stated. "I have seen this anger with Mr. Silver towards the end. He allowed it to cloud his judgment and it cost him."

"Well I'm not Silver." Kreese told her. "I know exactly what I plan to do, and I will not let anything distract me from that plan."

"That's good to hear." Kim responded. "Because I accept your proposal, and I will even go one step further. It is clear your investment in the Valley goes a lot further than mine. I have no reason to be here anymore, so I would like to transfer full ownership of the dojo to you. I will stay for a while to make sure our students are progressing in the right way, but after that, I know I can trust you to make sure our students stay on the right path."

Kreese grinned widely and nodded, the pair bowing to each other once more. That had gone better than he could've imagined. Not only did he now have full ownership of Cobra Kai, but he also had an extremely powerful ally that knew the Way of the Fist almost as well as he did. Larusso and Lawrence could team up with whoever they wanted, but they were almost certainly doomed to fail at this point.

Stage 1 of his plan was completed. He was officially back at the top of Cobra Kai, where he belonged. However, he knew that if he wanted to elevate this dojo to the highs that it once had, the second stage was just as important: the students. Given that all Cobra Kai dojo locations had shut down in the past week, all of the students had quit, so he knew it wouldn't be easy to recruit them back or find new ones. Even more difficult was the fact that they still needed to find their champions, because all of this was for nothing if by the time the Sekai Taikai came around, Cobra Kai did not have the right fighters to compete, and Miyagi-Do somewhat won anyways. Kreese knew exactly who he wanted as his female champion - one of the only people who had visited him in prison, and one of the few people he genuinely trusted and cared about. And as for the male champion… the wallet still buried in his jacket pocket, maybe, just maybe, Kreese had a lead on that front too…