CHAPTER 37

As Miyagi-Do brought their convoy to a halt at the rendezvous point in Coyote Creek and they all switched off their engines, for a moment there was complete silence in the air. Marcos, Kreese, Kim and Sarah didn't say a word. Even the birds stopped singing; it was as if they knew what was about to happen. Knew about the carnage that was about to be left behind in their forest.

Miyagi-Do stepped out of their respective vehicles, and not for the first time, they stood face to face with their bitter rivals. They could feel their pulses racing as they walked over to the two senseis and two teenage champions beside them. Tory's breath hitched in her throat for a moment as she laid eyes on Sensei Kim again, forcing herself to remain calm, although the memories of what Kim had put her through came rushing back, pumping anger and a little bit of fear into her veins. The coldness in her eyes, the emotionless expression… she wasn't a human. She was a cold-blooded reptile.

The silence that had fallen upon the entire forest was only broken by the sounds of their pounding hearts. All of them: the Cobra Kais, the Miyagi-Do students, the senseis, the guest referees. This wouldn't be the first brawl between the two sides, but while the other few had been spontaneous, this one had been completely planned. They knew exactly what they were walking into, exactly what the potential risks were if something went wrong.

That was why as Robby stepped out of Johnny's minivan and saw the Cobras, he asked himself for the hundredth time that week why the hell they were doing this. Of everyone, including the senseis, he was possibly the most reluctant to do this. He had tried to point out the fact that this was a horrible idea, but his words had been completely shut down by everyone. It didn't help that his father and girlfriend were two of the most aggressive people in the dojo, but it was like nobody could see how fucked up of an idea this was, and nobody was listening to him as he told them that. They had shrugged off his words. All they had said was that if he had such a problem with it, he didn't have to fight. But of course, he couldn't do that. If his friends were all fighting, there was no way he wasn't going to help them.

"Welcome." Kreese told them as Miyagi-Do all walked over to him.

"Where are the rest of your students?" Johnny immediately asked as he stormed over to his old sensei.

"We were here early, so I gave them their headbands, briefed them on the rules and sent them onto the battlefield to prepare themselves." Kreese replied.

"Well, call them back. Because there's no way we're starting without checking your students for weapons." Daniel demanded. Kreese shrugged.

"Can't do that. There's no way to communicate with them." He replied. "I give you my word that none of them have weapons. We don't need weapons to win today."

"We train our students to be strong enough that they don't need to resort to weapons to win a fight. They aren't weak and cowardly enough to need them." Sensei Kim remarked, staring right at Tory as she said it. Tory's hands clenched into fists and her face went white. It took a hand on her shoulder from Robby that prevented her from attacking Sensei Kim. The last thing they needed was a brawl that involved the senseis.

"We won't cheat." Marcos spoke up, speaking genuinely honestly. If there was something Marcos NEVER did, it was cut corners and cheat to win. He was nothing if not a fair sportsman, and would rather lose than win dishonorably. "And anyways, this is why you brought referees, right? To make sure nothing shady goes down?"

Miyagi-Do slowly agreed, and they then proceeded to go through all of the rules. It was nothing new. Everyone got a headband. You fight opponents to take their headband. After you've taken their headband, the fight automatically stops and continuing to beat down on them would result in disqualification. As Daniel reiterated this fact, staring right at the Cobra Kais as he did it. The entire group were staring at the Cobra Kais, extremely cautiously. None of them trusted the people in front of them, and their feelings ranged from mistrust to flat-out loathing.

However, they didn't have to stand around for much longer. Marcos and Sarah turned and retreated into the forest, Miyagi-Do giving them a little bit of a head start before they followed them in. After all of the students and referees had retreated into the forest, ready to commence battle, all that were left at the base camp were Johnny, Daniel, Kreese and Kim. Kreese, perfectly relaxed now that they were in the thick of battle, walked over to Johnny and held out a hand.

"May the best team win." He said, almost kindly. Johnny looked down at the outstretched hand for a moment, before scowling deeply and slapping it away.

"Yeah, we will…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump.

As Sam tiptoed through the woods, the only sound she could hear was her own heartbeat. That, and the faint sound of her feet crunching against the crisp autumn leaves. There was nobody around her, not Cobra Kais nor Miyagi-Dos. Miyagi-Do had made the group decision to split up, not only because of the fact that their group was deeply fractured in their dynamic right now, but also because they figured it would be the best way to divide and conquer when looking for the Cobra Kais.

Things at Miyagi-Do were worrying, to say the least. Cobra Kai had absolutely rattled them over the past month, and that had dragged out different feelings and different opinions in everyone, completely fracturing the group. There were those adamantly against engaging their enemies. There were those practically frothing at the mouth in anticipation of a fight. This had caused two sides to form within the dojo. Sam didn't really know where she stood in all of this, to be honest. She knew the risks of engaging Cobra Kai, and the last thing she wanted to see was one of her friends getting hurt. But at the same time, she also knew very well that the more Miyagi-Do retreated, the more Cobra Kai would torment them. They had seen exactly this after the school fight, and had seen it again after the last All-Valley. Now, Miyagi-Do definitely had the fighters and senseis to be able to confidently fight back against Cobra Kai, so why wouldn't they capitalize on that and force Cobra Kai to stay away from them?

Despite that, Sam couldn't say that things weren't going mostly well for her right now. Her and Miguel were very much in love. She had found some amazing friends at Miyagi-Do. And under the teachings of a united Johnny and Daniel, she had everything she needed to finally get her big win at the Taikai. There was only one thing that was dragging everything down… Tory.

For a while, Sam genuinely couldn't believe that Tory was training with Miyagi-Do. She couldn't believe they had allowed her in. It seemed that everyone was forgetting the fact that it was Tory who had tried to kill her numerous times. Who had broken into their house. Sure, Robby said that she had changed and they trusted his word, but at the same time, after everything the girl had put her through over the past year, Sam couldn't just forgive and forget so quickly. All it took was a look at her fading scars to remind her of how Tory had plagued her days and her nightmares in a way more terrifying than Satan himself. Sam tried to be okay with it at the beginning. She tried to keep to herself and stay away from the blonde to prevent a conflict that would fracture the entire group. But that proved a near impossible task, as it didn't take long to have the girls at each other's throats once more. They hadn't yet fought again, but tensions were higher than ever. They just couldn't find even a shred of common ground. Hell, Tory hadn't even acknowledged trying to kill her, let alone apologized for it! Sam didn't know how, if Tory couldn't do something as simple as that, Sam was ever supposed to get on the same page as her.

Sam was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard it. It was quiet. It was distant. A twig snap. Just a single twig a couple of meters away, but through the thick foliage around her, Sam couldn't tell where it was coming from. She tried to peer through the thick blanket of green around her, but she couldn't see a thing. She might as well have been blind other than what was directly in front of her. For that reason, she didn't have time to react before she saw a blur streaking towards her and knocking her to the ground. Sam crashed to the ground on her back, and as she saw who was lying on top of her, her eyes widened.

"Tory?!" Sam exclaimed. Instantly, Tory rolled off of her and stumbled to her feet, stepping back from her.

"Shit, Larusso! I thought you were her!" Tory remarked. Sam scowled daggers at her as she rolled to her feet, facing her bitter rival.

"Sure, you did." Sam shot back, sarcasm dripping from her lips. Tory narrowed her own eyes at her in anger.

"I swear, I did." Tory said. "Though I can't say I'm not happy that it was you I took down."

Sam's hands balled into fists and she took a few steps towards Tory, Tory doing the same. And for a moment, it very much looked like they were going to settle their feud right there, fight it out once and for all. However, before either could throw a first punch, a voice behind them stopped them in their tracks.

"Wow. Looks like I don't even need to fight to get you two idiots eliminated."

Sam and Tory spun around to see Sarah walking towards them, amusement written all over her face. Immediately, Sam and Tory turned their hatred towards her. The girl was ironically the part of Sam that Tory hated the most, and the part of Tory that Sam hated the most. She had a rich, privileged upbringing, a "princess" as it were, something that deeply infuriated Tory. She also possessed a fiery temper and wasn't afraid to verbally or physically attack, something that Sam deeply loathed. Their deep disliking of her was enough to draw Sam and Tory away from each other for a moment and turn their attention to her.

"Guess not then." Sarah smiled as Sam and Tory both got into fighting stances, Sarah doing the same. It was about to begin. The brutal, merciless training exercise was about to claim its first victim. Or victims. It all depended on who came out on top right now…