CHAPTER 20
Shortly after, the homeroom teacher finally arrived so the teenagers were all forced to take their seats. Marcos and Sarah sat together, far from the Miyagi-Do students, and the couple could feel the larger group staring a hole into the backs of their heads even after the teacher started speaking. Marcos turned his attention to the teacher, though it was hard to maintain his focus as the teacher rambled on for what felt like hours. They got an entire lecture about the school's strict no-fighting policy, they got an introduction to what they could expect from their senior year, before they finally were told to leave for their first class of the day. Marcos and Sarah were last to leave the room, and as they stepped out into the crowded corridor once more, they realized that they were headed to different places. Marcos had Chemistry while Sarah had History, so the two said their goodbyes and walked to their respective classes.
It didn't take Marcos long to find his chemistry classroom. He already had all of his books for the day in his backpack so he didn't need to go back to his locker, and the classroom he was heading to was pretty closeby anyways, so Marcos was one of the first people to arrive. He took a seat at a lab table at the back of the classroom and opened his chemistry textbook. He tried his best to read a couple of paragraphs, and to be fair with all of the universal symbols that were on the page, it was a little bit easier than reading the novel, but not by much. Marcos struggled through a couple of words before out of the blue, he heard a voice from above him.
"Is this seat taken?"
Marcos looked up at who had spoken, and he immediately tensed up as he recognized who it was. It was a member of Miyagi-Do, not one of the ones who had just confronted him in the classroom that morning, but instead the brunette guy who had squared up to him in the dojo the evening before. Expecting the worse, Marcos was about to stand up to protect himself, but the other boy looked like he had no interest in fighting.
"Relax. I'm not here to fight. I'm Robby by the way." He held out his right hand, the hand lingering in the air for several moments as Marcos stared at it suspiciously, but he did eventually shake it firmly.
"Marcos." He replied, before gesturing to the empty chair beside him. "Please. Sit down."
Robby nodded and they sat down beside one another. As they looked each other up and down, they both felt the strangest of feelings. So much in themselves they could see in the other person. Not physically of course, as they were opposite in almost every possible way appearance-wise. No… it was more about what was inside. The pair could somehow see straight into each other's souls, see the similarities they had in both personality and upbringing. They could tell both had grown up in less than ideal situations, both in terms of location and in terms of family. It had forced them to raise themselves in many ways, and forced them to be tougher than they wanted to be, tougher than a teenager should have to be. Sensing that feeling in each other, the pair were somehow able to sit beside one another, not feeling the same hatred as the others felt. Because Robby understood Marcos better than any of the other Miyagi-Dos could possibly understand him.
There was a long silence as they both silently read one another, before Marcos decided to speak first.
"Look, if you're here for another sales pitch about me leaving Cobra Kai, I'm going to save you the time. I'm not quitting."
Robby nodded.
"I know. That's not what I wanted to say." Robby told him. "I wanted to first apologize. For what happened at the dojo last night. I was really angry at one of the senseis there, and you were standing in the way, so I was about to take my anger out on you."
"But you didn't. Nothing to apologize for." Marcos murmured.
"I'm also sorry for what happened with the other Miyagi-Dos this morning." He said. Marcos raised an eyebrow, and Robby sighed. "Come on, you really think they didn't tell me all about that as soon as I walked into the room?"
Marcos shrugged. Fair point.
"Yeah, I, um… I'm sorry too. Like you, I got pissed and said some things to your friends."
Robby nodded.
"I appreciate that. And I'll let them know." Robby replied. "And look, I know it sucks that they didn't really understand what you were telling them. I don't know much about you, but from what I hear, you joined Cobra Kai because you figured they were your best chance at winning the tournament. I can relate to that. It's why I joined."
"You were in Cobra Kai?" Marcos asked, shocked, given the boy's seemingly passive nature. But upon thinking about it, given how fuming he had been at the dojo the night before, and the unadulterated rage that Marcos had seen in the teenager's eyes that evening, he wasn't very that surprised.
"Yeah. I was. So was Hawk - the dude with the mohawk. So was Tory, the blonde girl. And so was Miguel, the guy you fought at the dojo. As have both of our dojo's senseis." Robby responded. "That's why we all got so rattled when we saw Cobra Kai back. We know the impact it had on us."
"I get that. But no offense, but the words and experiences of a bunch of strangers isn't enough to change my mind about being in the dojo." Marcos said. Robby nodded.
"I know. At the end of the day, we don't know each other. Why would you listen to us?" Robby said. "What I am worried about is my friends' safety. The safety of the whole Valley. I know you weren't around for it, but this war between our dojos - Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do… it almost destroyed the whole Valley."
"Yeah, I heard about the fight that happened in the school." Marcos remarked. Robby's face darkened slightly as he saw flashbacks of that day.
"Exactly. People almost died. People were sent to jail. So many people were injured. So many lives were almost ruined because of the fighting."
"I'm sorry to hear that, man. And I'm sure that sucked. But what happened in the past is the past. That's nothing to do with me." Marcos commented.
"I know. That's why I'm not here to talk about the past or the present between our dojos. I want to talk about the future. I want to make a deal with you."
"What kind of deal?" Marcos asked, thoroughly confused. Robby took a deep breath. Like Johnny had suggested, he needed to take the first step, and maybe this chapter of the rivalry could be different to the other bloody pages.
"Even though both of our dojos are competing in the Taikai, we don't have to fight with one another before then. Let's make a deal… if you keep your Cobra Kais away from Miyagi-Do, we'll keep our Miyagi-Dos away from you guys."
Marcos sighed.
"They're not my Cobra Kais. I just joined, and I'm there to train and that's it. I'm not around them enough to be their leader."
"Come on. I was there. I know it works. You beat them, you establish power, you automatically become the leader. When you have power over them, they automatically listen to you. If you tell them to back away, they won't fight. We'll do the same with Miyagi-Do. There doesn't have to be any fighting before we arrive in Japan for the tournament."
Marcos stared at Robby for a few moments, pondering the deal, before eventually shaking his head.
"No." Marcos replied. Robby was taken aback. He was almost certain he and Marcos would be able to find common ground.
"N-no?" Robby stammered.
"I'm sorry. I just don't have time to keep the reins on these people 24/7. My only concern is going to the Taikai and winning. I will make a no-fighting deal with you right now if it comes to your dojo with me personally. Because that's all I can control. With everything else going on in my life, I really don't have time to play permanent Peacekeeper. What the other Cobra Kais do is their business. Like I said, I'm not their leader. I'm just a student."
Robby sighed and nodded, the two falling silent. Although a little of his worry had faded, as he had basically gotten verbal assurance that Cobra Kai's top student and main threat had no interest in actively warring with them, provided tensions between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai didn't rise to a point where he didn't have much choice, or he was being personally targeted by Miyagi-Do so wanted retribution. If neither of those things happened, the vast majority of them would be safe. It wasn't ideal though, as Robby knew that even without Marcos involved, there were other Cobra Kai students in the dojo. All of whom sure Robby, Miguel, Hawk, Sam and Tory could fight off with ease. But in terms of the other Miyagi-Dos… they were still very much at risk…
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Chozen, Daniel and Johnny sat in the living room of the Larusso house that morning. Amanda had gone to Larusso Auto to cover their business for the day, but Daniel had taken the day off. Him, Johnny and Chozen were still reflecting on the bombshells that had been dropped on them 24 hours ago. Cobra Kai was back. They hadn't been dead, but instead had gone into hiding, only to return that day, not even a week after they had supposedly 'put an end to Cobra Kai.' And not just that, they were back with a vengeance. Kreese had now reclaimed the throne, which meant that Daniel and Johnny knew he'd be back with a vengeance. But that wasn't even the worst part. Kreese was a threat to them, which while that was something they obviously didn't appreciate, it wasn't the end of the world. His new champion on the other hand… that boy was a threat to their kids, and the mere thought of that made their skin crawl.
"What exactly was this boy doing?" Chozen asked them. He was still recovering from his injuries that he had sustained against Silver. The man had lost a lot of blood that night, but one thing he certainly hadn't lost was his drive and willpower. He was itching to get back into training his students for this new threat of the tournament, a thirst that no amount of watching 90 Day Fiance on TV could fix, but unfortunately he still required a few more days of rest before he was truly able to come back.
"I don't know." Daniel replied. "It wasn't just one style."
"There was definitely a bit of Jiu Jitsu." Johnny remarked disdainfully. "Joke of a Martial Art, honestly! Bunch of grown-ass men feeling each other up! How the hell does anyone actually learn that style by choice?!"
"It wasn't just Jiu Jitsu and grappling though." Daniel said. "Although the boy didn't land any strikes on Miguel, I don't think it was because he couldn't. He was throwing kicks around with ease to warm up, so he clearly does some kind of striking style too."
"Whatever style he does, doesn't matter!" Chozen exclaimed. "We will win in the end!"
"How?" Daniel replied, neither him nor Johnny convinced by Chozen's optimism.
"I teach you." Chozen replied. "They want to use a crazy style? I teach you both even more crazy style! We go back to origins of Miyagi-Do, back to when it was used to protect in war."
"Chozen, is that… is that safe?" Daniel asked, nervously. Chozen slowly rose to his feet, gesturing to the two men to do the same.
"You can answer for yourselves." Chozen replied. "Stand up. We go to the home dojo. I will now train you both…"