CHAPTER 22
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Miguel shouted at his friend as they all walked into the Miyagi-Do dojo for training that afternoon after school. Hawk was berated in this fashion by all of the other Miyagi-Dos for the entire journey to the dojo, and all it did was cause the fury that bubbled within the All-Valley champion to rise and rise. He was furious at how stupid his friends were being! It was like he was the only one who could see through this "peaceful" facade Cobra Kai's champ was wearing, and see the horrible person he really was. Sure enough, all it had taken was 1 sentence to cause Marcos to snap and throw threats their way.
Hawk knew how this worked. Although many others around had been in Cobra Kai at some point, none had been in it as deep as he had. He knew how the mind of a Cobra worked. How that whole world worked. Miguel hadn't truly succumbed to the dark side. Robby wasn't in Cobra Kai long enough to do so. But Hawk… he had fully submerged himself in its teachings, in its mentality. He knew the danger of it, and he couldn't allow his friends to lose sight of the threat and have it end up costing them dearly, even if that meant him standing up to and challenging Marcos. And even if that meant going against what his friends wanted, what they thought was best for Miyagi-Do, but he knew for a fact was wrong.
Marcos was always going to target them, no doubt about that. He was a Cobra Kai, they were Miyagi-Do. It was the law of the jungle. But Hawk knew that if they stood up to Marcos, showed him that they weren't afraid, it would at least make him hesitate before deciding to attack them in future.
Hawk's beratement from the other Miyagi-Dos was soon interrupted by Johnny and Daniel, who had just entered the dojo and stood before their students. From the moment the two senseis stood before them, their students could tell that something was wrong. Something was different on the faces of the two Senseis. They seemed troubled, out of their comfort zone, despite the fact that they had done this - stand opposite their students and address them - almost every day for the past 2 years, it felt different this time.
"First of all, welcome everyone." Daniel declared. "I hope you all had a good first day of school."
The teenagers exchanged solemn looks as they silently recalled what had happened at the high school earlier between Hawk and Marcos. Misinterpreting the Miyagi-Dos' facial expressions, Daniel sighed.
"Look, I know it feels like we're right back to exactly where we were a few months ago, with the whole bet with Cobra Kai and everything. And I know how much that sucks, especially given that a lot of you are in your senior year." Daniel continued.
"Which is why, right now, we are giving all of you a chance to step down and quit." Johnny stated.
"We don't judge you in any way for it. And you're welcome to continue training at Miyagi-Do however often you want to. You don't have to participate in the Taikai if you don't want to." Daniel said. "Because for those who do want to compete in the tournament, Johnny and I are going to go harder on you than ever. Cobra Kai might think they have the edge on us right now. And you know what? Maybe right now they do. But we have something that Cobra Kai doesn't…"
"A koi pond?" Demetri joked. Everyone laughed.
"This. This is what I'm talking about." Daniel stated. "With the students we have, the senseis we have… we're a family. So Cobra Kai can train in the high tech dojo. They can have highly skilled students. But when it comes down to it, we will always win because what we have, that they don't, is heart. We have personality. We're not afraid to challenge one another. Not afraid to protect one another. We actually have something to fight for: each other. So when our backs are against the ropes, and we think it could be the end, I know that we won't stop fighting, and we'll keep going until the very end."
Nods went around the entire dojo as the students looked around the room. For the vast majority of them, they had been here for so long that the dojo really had become a second home. They saw their teammates and senseis as much as they saw their own families at times, and they certainly cared about and loved the other Miyagi-Dos like family. That meant that all of them were more than eager to fight for the dojo, fight for their friends, fight for what they believed in.
So even after Daniel laid out the offer for any of them to drop out if they wanted to, none of them did. If anything, they were filled with even more fire than before, as they were all reminded of everything they loved about this dojo, and so were even more eager to defend it once more.
"Good. I knew I haven't been training a bunch of quitters." Johnny remarked, as he nodded at the Miyagi-Dos approvingly, elated about the fact that none of them had even tried to quit. If they wanted to beat Cobra Kai in the Taikai, they needed all of the reinforcements and help they could get. "Now, get ready to feel pain like never before! Because we're about to train you gimps so hard that you're going to have to sleep at the dojo tonight because your legs won't be working well enough to help you get home!"
"Oh, God." Demetri murmured in horror. He had a sneaking feeling that the next few hours weren't going to be very fun…
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sweat dripping down his face and into his Cobra Kai vest, Marcos ruthlessly threw punch after punch after punch at the human-shaped punching target in the center of the dojo, unwilling to stop for even a moment. It was a few minutes before training, and the rest of Cobra Kai hadn't yet arrived yet, so it was just him and the dummy.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Marcos' father's words rang through his head as he unleashed killer blows on the target. The man had been called into school that afternoon, as although Marcos had stormed out of the classroom, he didn't get far before security caught up with him and hassled him into the principal's office. Marcos and Hawk managed to somehow get away without serious punishment as neither of them had actually fought and rules were slightly more lenient for Marcos as it was his first day. However, they were both sent home for the rest of the day, and their parents were called into school to have a talk with the principal. For Marcos, that meant that his father - his only family member around - was called out of work in the middle of the day and forced to come and pick him up. Needless to say, the man wasn't happy.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU COULD HAVE COST ME?! WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!"
Marcos' punches increased in both speed and power as flashbacks of the unbridled yelling he had just taken from his father had come rushing back. Marcos' father did not BS with him. He was always brutally honest, even if it was something Marcos didn't want to hear. And for the most part, Marcos really appreciated that. When they had first been truly thrust into a close relationship after his mom had died, everything had been absolutely chaotic. The last thing either needed was making things more complicated by them lying to each other or having to try and see through a facade. So they had made a pact to always be honest whenever they had problems with one another. While that was mostly great, in times like these, Marcos felt even shittier, as his father made no effort to hide how much his son had disappointed him that day. Not only was Marcos stirring up trouble on his first day, but his father had to leave work early on his very first week on the job, which risked a whole lot if his boss found out about it.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"Woah. Take it easy. You're going to punch a hole through the target, son."
Marcos turned around and saw Kreese walking out from the dojo's backroom, the sensei intrigued by the sudden venom he was seeing in his student, even more intrigued when Marcos looked at him and Kreese saw the wrath written on the teenager's face.
"Yeah, well, not gonna win the Taikai by just sitting around, am I?" Marcos replied, puffing in exhaustion as he continued to beat down on the target.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Kreese then chose that moment to stand between Marcos and the target, preventing the boy from throwing another blow.
"Too much training is going to lead only to exhaustion." Kreese said. "Actual training hasn't even started yet for today. If you do too much tonight, you're going to burn out and get injured."
Marcos nodded and finally drew to a halt, panting furiously for breath and grabbing a towel from beside him to wipe his face. Truth be told, he needed a break. His muscles already felt like jealous, as he had been ferociously assaulting the punching target for nearly 10 minutes without a break. But despite that, as he remembered the humiliation he had felt earlier that afternoon at the hands of Miyagi-Do, and then hearing his father's disappointment in him directly afterwards, there was nothing he wanted to do more than go back to punching it.
"What's going on, kid?" Kreese asked him. Marcos took a few deep breaths as he felt his heart rate eventually return to normal, before replying.
"They embarrassed me. Miyagi-Do. This afternoon. At the school." Marcos muttered quietly in reply. Kreese raised an eyebrow.
"You got involved in a fight?" Kreese asked, shocked about two things: first that he had gotten into a fight on his first day to begin with; and second that he had appeared to have lost. Sure enough, Marcos shook his head at this.
"No. But they… they exposed something about me. Something I wanted to keep secret. They started making fun of me for it. It was humiliating."
Kreese slowly nodded.
"I think I can relate to how you feel, son. When I was younger, I was always considered different. I had secrets, ones that I would have much rathered kept hidden." Kreese told him. That was actually true. When he was younger, the secrets about his mother and her mental illness were something Kreese had tried desperately to keep secret, in fear of what people would do when they found out. Little did Kreese know that Marcos had the very same exact secret that he was harboring. Only that wasn't what he was furious about right now.
"Did you manage to keep them secret?" Marcos asked him. Kreese shook his head.
"No. It got out. And as I expected, it was absolutely awful for a while. Every time I stepped outside, I could hear people laughing at me, muttering about me."
"That sucks." Marcos murmured. "How'd you get over it?"
"I didn't. For a while." Kreese replied. "It was only when I joined the military that things really got better. Dedicating myself to the fight. Pouring everything I had into it… it put everything into perspective again. Getting stronger, faster, fitter made me feel more powerful, and when I began to feel more powerful, I no longer got affected by what people said about me."
"Right. Well, if only there was a way I could join the military tomorrow." Marcos muttered. Kreese shrugged.
"You don't have to go overseas to truly join the war." Kreese replied. "There's a battlefront right here in the Valley that needs you. Some advice…"
"Please." Marcos said.
"Fight. Mr. Oliveira. Fight." Kreese told him. "Because if you are anything like me, which I think you are in many ways, I guarantee it will make all of the difference. Become so powerful that your enemies become mere ants to you, and then whatever comes out of their mouths afterwards, whatever embarrassments they might have caused you in the past, become complete insignificant. All you have to do is work even harder, push yourself even further, and I assure you that things will almost immediately get better."
Marcos nodded and thanked him for the advice. The two locked eyes for a few moments, and a lot of respect from both figures was evident in both of their eyes. Because shockingly, although Kreese did want to do anything he could to keep his new champion settled in the new dojo, this advice he had just given him wasn't just a collection of lies to try and manipulate him. Upon seeing how troubled the teenager looked, Kreese found himself actually being genuine and sincere with his advice, and he was taken aback by it all. Few and far between were students that Kreese genuinely cared about. Johnny Lawrence was one of them. Tory Nichols was another. But Marcos Oliviera… there was something about him that reminded Kreese so much of himself when he was young, and it had instantly drawn him to the student, building respect for him that he rarely had for his other students. This boy was more than just a champion, more than just a means to an end to help him take down Miyagi-Do. He truly cared about Marcos, and so he wanted what was best for him. It was only a coincidence that what was best for him only pushed him further into the arms of Cobra Kai…