CHAPTER 13

A collective silence ran through the dojo. You could hear a pin drop as Miguel lay barely moving on the ground, and Daniel slowly raised Marcos' hand aloft, signaling the win for Kreese's main man. Nobody, not the Cobras or the Miyagi-Dos, could really believe what had just happened. This random 17 year old, who none of them had ever seen before, had just dispatched arguably the best fighter in the Valley without breaking a sweat. The silence carried on for a couple of seconds as everybody tried to come to terms with what had just happened. But then came the cheers…

It felt like Miyagi-Do had been befallen with a record-breaking earthquake. The ground practically vibrated from the monstrously loud stomping and cheering that occurred. Cobra Kai had all lost their minds in delight at what had just happened, and Marcos quickly found himself being carried off the sparring air and thrown up in the air repeatedly by the Cobra Kais, all of them chanting his name, and chanting the name of the dojo.

"COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI!"

You would've thought Cobra Kai had just won a tournament with the volume and passion that they celebrated with. Meanwhile, on the other side of the sparring deck, Miguel slowly started to regain consciousness, as Daniel, Johnny, Sam, Robby and all of Miyagi-Do stood over him worriedly. Other than from the throbbing pain at the back of his head, Miguel had absolutely no idea about what had just happened. One moment, he was face to face with Marcos and the next, flat on his back.

The only person in Miyagi-Do who wasn't crowded over Miguel was Tory, as she stood facing the celebrating Cobra Kais, a very troubled expression on her face as she watched them. She could see Sensei Kim, the person who had caused her so much trauma and so much pain, standing to the side with Kreese, and it took all of her strength to remain composed in that moment. For a second, her and Kim even locked eyes, and as Tory looked into the black slits, she saw no emotion staring back at her. Kim's eyes were cold, reptilian, emotionless. She clearly didn't care who she hurt, or how many lives she ruined, for as long as she got what she wanted. Tory could feel her heart begin to pound so loudly she could almost hear it in her ears, and she felt herself being dragged into a trance. She only snapped out of it when she heard someone saying her name.

"Ms. Nichols."

At the sound of the eerily familiar utter, Tory's head shot up, and she found herself standing face to face with none other than her other former sensei. The one who she had put all of her trust in, and sacrificed her health and safety multiple times for, only to be betrayed by him without warning.

"What do you want?!" Tory snapped at him.

"I wanted to offer you a return home." Kreese replied, calmly. Tory scoffed audibly at him.

"Return? To Cobra Kai? Why the hell would I do that?" She snapped. Kreese shrugged.

"Because Cobra Kai is where you belong. It's who you are. Trust me. I want what's best for you, and I guarantee that what's best for you is for you to come back."

"Bullshit!" Tory spat. "You're only saying all of this because you need me again to win the tournament! You don't give a shit about me!"

"Come on, Nichols. You know that isn't true." Kreese responded. "I am trying to look out for you. Like I always have, and I always will."

"Oh yeah? And when you stabbed me in the back while you were in jail… that was you trying to look out for me too?!"

"I never abandoned you, Ms. Nichols." Kreese calmly replied. "I set you free. I realized that what I was putting you through wasn't right, so I gave you the option to back out."

"You forced me to rot in that dojo for months! Only to suddenly tell me that you no longer wanted my help!" Tory yelled back at him, speaking loud enough for pretty much all of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai to hear them. In the midst of their celebrations, only one member of Cobra Kai listened on with intrigue. And in the midst of Miyagi-Do's immediate concern about the still struggling Miguel, only one Miyagi-Do was listening in too."

"Nichols, I…"

"I turned back on the only person who actually cared about me, because I thought you needed my help! I lost everything! All for you to one day, out of the blue, tell me that it was all for nothing!"

Kreese shook his head.

"Let's not misunderstand each other. I had no part, and continue to have no part, in your relationship with Mr. Keene." Kreese remarked. "But look around, Nichols. This pansy-ass garden they like to call a dojo is not who you are! Cobra Kai is your home, and deep down you know that too. Don't let your feelings for Mr. Keene cloud that fact for you. That's who he is. That's not who you are."

Tory went silent for a few moments, and for one horrible moment, a small part of Robby truly believed that Tory was about to walk across the sparring deck to rejoin her former dojo. Robby was torn between checking if Miguel was okay and listening into this conversation, and after he heard this part, he decided on the latter. He silently begged with every fiber of his being that Tory didn't switch sides, and thankfully, it was like God had heard his prayers. Tory took a step forward towards Kreese so the two were directly face to face, and she stared fearlessly at him.

"That's not me, that's him? Well then maybe I should be more like him then. I wouldn't have made the mistake of spending so long in Cobra Kai, and allowing myself to get bullied by that monster you call a sensei! So thanks for the offer, but there's no way in hell I'm coming back."

Kreese took one last look at her, before eventually nodding.

"Fine. You made your choice." He told her. "But when Cobra Kai wins the Sekai Taikai, and Miyagi-Do becomes nothing but a distant memory, don't say I didn't give you the choice to pick the right side."

With that, Kreese turned on his heel and walked back over to the Cobra Kais, ordering them to leave the dojo immediately. They had done what they had come to do. They had sent their message to Miyagi-Do. That even though Miyagi-Do might have won the last battle, Cobra Kai were definitely not out just yet. They all left the dojo, the students all still vivaciously celebrating their victory, leaving Miyagi-Do in dead silence, still in shock at what had just happened.

Robby stood behind Tory as she watched Kreese walk away, and a few moments later, she turned around. As she did, Robby was alarmed to see the expression on her face. Traces of tears were evident on her face, threatening to spill over her eyes. He had never seen Tory express much emotion, especially not emotion of this kind, before. He knew that she always believed that showing emotion was a weakness, but right now she was just overwhelmed to hold back from doing so.

Immediately, Robby took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Are you okay?" He murmured into her ear, loudly enough for her to hear but not loud enough for the rest of Miyagi-Do, who were all treating Miguel, to do so as well. Even more alarming was the fact that Tory slowly shook her head.

"Robby, I'm so sorry…"

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That morning, after they left the dojo, the Cobra Kais split up for a while. It was the last few days of summer vacation, so many of them had a lot to do before school restarted. Instead, they would be meeting later that day for training. Marcos didn't go home though, and nor did he go to the dojo immediately. Instead, he found himself at the public library that Sarah had briefly pointed out to him the day before as they had walked past it. Marcos did not need to check out a book, but he spent an entire couple of hours glued to a seat opposite a computer, reading. Marcos was confused, to say the least. This whole day felt like it had all been some kind of discombobulating blur. They had gone to a random Karate dojo in who knows where. He had been told to fight a random guy at said karate dojo. And then his Cobra Kai teammates had celebrated like he had just cured cancer. There was clearly something Marcos was being kept in the dark about in regards to this whole thing, and it didn't take long for him to find out. All that was required was a quick search of "Cobra Kai karate" on google, and he instantly found himself in a wormhole that told him all about what had happened in the Valley, both in the eighties and in the past two years. And by the end, it took all of Marcos' restraint not to break the mouse that he was scrolling with in anger.

He knew that the Cobra Kai dojo was not far from where he was, so Marcos practically sprinted all of the way there, nearly half an hour earlier than their training that day. He made it within 5 minutes, and he swung the doors open so hard they almost broke off their hinges. Making a beeline for the back office, Marcos found Kreese sitting inside, alone, smoking a cigar. He smiled at Marcos as he stormed inside.

"Ah, Mr. Oliviera! You're early! Celebrations of the win ended early I guess." He remarked light-heartedly, although Marcos was definitely not in the mood for it. His entire face was flushed crimson with rage, as he scowled daggers at Kreese.

"You lied to me!" Marcos shouted. Kreese sat up a little straighter in his chair, puzzled.

"Excuse me?" Kreese asked.

"You said you wanted to me to join this dojo because you wanted to help me win the Taikai!"

"That's not a lie, son." Kreese responded. Marcos shook his head vehemently.

"Bullshit! You just wanted me as some minion in this war you have going on with Miyagi-Do!" Marcos yelled. Kreese's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Marcos noticed. "Yeah, I know all about that! I spent this whole afternoon on the internet, and I read all about what's been going on here the past two years! What's been going on since 1984!"

"Marcos, Marcos, Marcos." Kreese shook his head. "I'm slightly disappointed that you chose to believe what's been written online."

"You're telling me it's all fake?" Marcos scoffed, disbelievingly.

"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'history is only written by the victors'?" Kreese asked him. Marcos nodded. "Well this is exactly the case here. Cobra Kai fell short of Miyagi-Do, in a variety of its past encounters, hence why we've been painted as the villains."

"I… I don't believe you." Marcos shot back. Kreese shrugged.

"Take the 80s for example. I'm sure you read the story of Daniel Larusso and Johnny Lawrence, who are the two men whose dojo we were at today." Kreese said. "It was so easy for it to be written about how Daniel Larusso overcame adversity to win the All-Valley champion, fighting in his first tournament against a boy who was supposedly bullying him. But what they neglect to write about is everything that happened before then. They neglect to mention the fact that in many of their encounters, Johnny Lawrence was completely and utterly provoked by Daniel Larusso in some way. They neglect to mention the fact that Daniel Larusso had his own sensei assault all of my students. Because that doesn't fit their narrative, does it?"

Kreese continued to retell the story of everything that had happened in the war between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, and he told Marcos the 'whole story'. He told him about returning to Cobra Kai, and seeing how soft Johnny had made them, and how it had led to them being pulverized in the school fight. How Kreese had heroically stepped after Johnny had gone off the grid following the school fight, and he had taken control of the dojo. He talked about how despite the physically assault at the hands of Miyagi-Do on several occasions, how he had still been willing to come up with a peaceful compromise between the two sides in the form of the tournament. He then talked about how he had invited Silver back into Cobra Kai to help, but the man had completely stabbed him in the back. He told the full tale, the one where Kreese was the real victim, and by the end, Marcos stared at him with a peculiar expression on his face.

"So… that's the story. The whole story." Kreese finished. "Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, one." Marcos nodded. "What kind of a fool do you take me for?"