CHAPTER 30

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

You would've thought there was a drum directly in between the Cobra Kais and the Miyagi-Dos with how loudly all of their hearts were pounding. It wasn't just a drum, it was like an entire orchestra's worth of percussion, and they could practically hear it in the air. Pretty likely too, as that was literally the only thing any of them could hear. They had all gone dead silent, coldly staring one another down, tension so palpable you could smell it in the air. It smelt like gasoline, and all that gasoline needed was a match to set it ablaze. That was why all of them had gone dead silent, none of them really wanting to engage in a fight with the other side, but their loathing of their opponents still pushed them forwards. It was eventually Demetri, the one with the courage to break the silence.

"Well this is a fun coincidence." He remarked, trying to use a joke and laughter to cut a little bit of the tension. It didn't work. Neither Cobra Kai nor Miyagi-Do laughed; they didn't even crack the faintest of smiles. Demetri sighed. "Fine. Why do I bother? No matter what I say, it always ends with a rumble anyway."

It sure looked that way right now. Miguel, Robby and Hawk all eyed up Marcos, while Sam and Tory both stared at the person who would surely be their main opponent at the Taikai. They hadn't seen nor heard much about this girl, though they had heard rumors that she was Cobra Kai's new female champion, a rumor that was being proven true now as Sarah fearlessly stood face to face with them. She was the biggest question mark in the minds of all of the Miyagi-Dos. Although they had seen Marcos fight only once, that still meant that they had been given a snapshot of what he could do, a snapshot of his ability level, skill level, strength level. But with the girl standing beside him… none of them had ever seen her fight. She was visibly in much better athletic shape than either Sam and Tory - 8 years of kickboxing followed by 4 years of cheerleading would do that to you - but in terms of actual fighting, they knew very little. All they knew was that if she was Cobra Kai's new champion, then she had to be very good.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hawk snapped. Marcos didn't reply, but he turned towards Hawk and took the slightest step towards the mohawked teenager. He hadn't forgotten. Even now that his reading was much better, he hadn't forgotten how eager the mohawked teenager had been to humiliate him in English class. Stabs of fury rippled through him as every instinct told him to lunge at the boy and only better judgment about the prospect of fighting a 2 on 6 prevented him from doing so.

Hawk, meanwhile, was secretly the most nervous of the 6 Miyagi-Dos. No… nervous was the wrong word. Cagey was probably a better word to describe how he was feeling. With the last words Marcos had spoken to him a month ago, even this whole thing was just one unlucky coincidence and neither side knew the other was coming, he was worried about Marcos attacking one of his friends. But on top of that, he was angry too. He had spent the past month taking shit from his friends for his confrontation with Marcos, when it had been more Marcos' fault than his. Sure he hadn't exactly been pleasant to him during that class, but at the same time, Marcos hadn't hesitated to use that disagreement as an opportunity to threaten him and his friends. What kind of 'good' person did that? And why was Hawk stuck taking blame for the situation when it had been Marcos who had been out of control and threatened violence, not him?

More seconds ticked by as the two sides squared up to one another. However, it became evidently clear that neither side was going to throw the first punch. Neither side was stupid enough to do so. So eventually, they turned away from one another, the consensus not verbally spoken and yet very clearly stated: you stay away from us, and we'll stay away from you. Break that rule and all hell would surely break loose…

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"How is he even here?" Demetri remarked, as the Miyagi-Dos sat around on one side of the beach club, scowling in the direction of Marcos and Sarah, who were sitting on the other side.

"Maybe he snuck in. We can call security." Sam suggested. Tory turned towards Sam and scowling at her, knowing exactly what Sam was implying.

"It occur to you that maybe he has a membership? Or maybe his girlfriend does? That maybe just because he doesn't look or act like you, he isn't automatically a criminal delinquent?"

Tory wasn't exactly subtle with what she was referring to. It hadn't been that long, just over a year, since Tory and Sam's had begun at that very club. Sam sighed and glared at Tory.

"Look, I'm sorry for trying to take your bag, okay?" Sam snapped. "But what did you expect me to think? One minute, you're showing me a stolen bottle of Vodka, talking about robbing half the silverware in this place. And the next, my mom's wallet is gone. You do the math."

The four guys looked at one another, confused, none of them having any idea about what had happened at the club a year ago between the two girls. Robby was the only other person who had been there, but he hadn't seen any of what had happened.

"Robby did some messed up shit in his past." Tory pointed out. "You knew that too. Did you accuse him of stealing the wallet too? Did you try and steal a bag from him too? Or was it just me?"

As Sam and Tory scowled daggers at one another, the four guys internally groaned. They knew past rivalries were far from under the bridge between Sam and Tory. They had done a good job of not bringing it up until now, but that didn't mean that the pair had fully processed their issues. And in a time like this, where the entire group was emotionally rattled, their troubles with each other began to creep up again.

"Guys, can we please not?" Miguel asked them.

"Yeah, we have bigger things to worry about right now. Can you please save this for later?" Robby asked. Sam turned towards Tory and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Can we?" Sam asked, almost condescending in her tone, causing Tory's face to darken even further.

"Screw you, Larusso." She murmured, before standing up and storming away. Robby groaned, his head in his hands, as he stood up to go follow her. This wasn't good at all. The prospect of having to fight Cobra Kai was already scary enough, without having to worry about a Miyagi-Do civil war as well…

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"You good?" Marcos asked Sarah as the two of them walked back to their area in the beach club, far away from the Miyagi-Dos. Sarah nodded.

"Yeah. Not thrilled about the thought of fighting a 2 on 6. It doesn't exactly seem fair." She remarked. Marcos raised an eyebrow.

"For them or for us?" He replied. "If it comes down it and we are forced to fight them, I personally guarantee that we win that fight."

"You're confident." Sarah laughed. Marcos shrugged.

"I have a right to be. These guys have been training for less than 2 years of interrupted on-off training. I've been training my ass off non-stop for a decade." Marcos replied. "I'd be disappointed if they even land a hit in that fight."

"Well don't get cocky." Sarah instructed him, and Marcos nodded. "Even if you can beat them in a fight, please don't fight them unless you absolutely have to. The last thing we need is you getting arrested and sent to juvie for assaulting 6 teenagers."

Don't fight them. Marcos heeded those words from his girlfriend. She was right. Even if Miyagi-Do started the fight, as soon as lawyers got involved, that wouldn't mean jack shit. Kreese had told him as much, when he had learned all about the infamous school fight, and how the only thing that mattered to the police then was who finished the fight, not who started it. Diaz had started it, Keene had finished it, but it was just the latter who had gone to jail, with the former getting off scot-free. Marcos knew that anytime he fought any of them, he was risking that very situation happening to him. Hit too soft and risk getting beaten up by the Miyagi-Dos. Hit too hard and risk getting charged with assault. He had to walk the line.

"Well if we're not fighting, what am I supposed to do now? Don't think I'm gonna be able to fall back asleep now." Marcos remarked. He definitely couldn't. Now that he knew that their enemies were on the same soil as them, he needed to remain awake, he needed to remain alert.

"You're at the fanciest beach club in the city. Do what everyone else does. Eat. Drink. Be lazy. Spend time with your incredibly sexy girlfriend." Sarah replied, smirking at him. Marcos met her gaze, and smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a sweet kiss. They made out for a couple of seconds, their hands beginning to roam, before all of a sudden, Marcos pulled away. Sarah raised an eyebrow and her lip curled in the slightest of pouts.

"What…"

"Great as this is, if we keep going, I'm going to end up having to fight Miyagi-Do with a sword rather than my hands and legs." Marcos said jokingly. Sarah laughed.

"Sword? Someone's feeling good about themself. Toothpick maybe more accurate." Sarah joked back. Marcos rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Here, how about this? I'll go find us some food. You go find us some drinks. We'll take it down to the water and have it there, away from everyone else."

Marcos nodded. That sounded great. So he got up, and the couple went their separate way. Marcos walked over to the cocktail bar, eager to see what wacky, unique drink combination the bartender had up his sleeve. Meanwhile, Sarah went over to the buffet and grabbed a plate, scooping some of everything at the buffet onto the plate. If she knew one thing about her boyfriend, it was that he ate like a bear. With the amount of training he did, it seemed that any moment he wasn't training, he was eating.

After she had finished gathering all of the food, she grabbed the large plate and carried it away from the buffet, walking back to their deck chairs to meet up with Marcos. However, before she could get there, all of a sudden she looked up and saw someone swiftly storming towards her. Both Sarah and the other person had been looking down, so neither had time to react before they ended up completely walking into each other, the plate in Sarah's hands ending up all over the person in front. Food trickled down the other person, from their head to their toes. Clasping a hand over her mouth in shock, Sarah began to stammer profuse apologies, but her voice trailed off as the person finally looked up and Sarah saw who it was…