CHAPTER 38

2 on 1. Definitely not good odds for Sarah, especially against two fighters as capable as Sam and Tory. If the two of them managed to effectively fight against her and expose their numerical advantage, there was no chance of Sarah even coming close to winning. But luckily for her, at times it was almost as if she was fighting a 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 rather than a 1 vs. 2. Sam and Tory were an absolutely tragic team, and that showed from the word go.

"Alright, you go right, I'll go le…" Sam tried to instruct Tory, but before she could even finish her sentence, Tory had lunged straight forward at Sarah, trying to surprise her with some early aggression. Sarah had been anticipating this though, and so she was able to block Tory's strikes and land with her own sidekick to Tory's abdomen, a strong kick that pushed Tory backwards, right into Sam, causing both of them to topple to the ground on top of each other.

"Argh…" Tory and Sam both groaned quietly in pain as they slowly dragged themselves back to their feet. Sarah watched on, unable to keep the laughter off her face.

"That went well." Sarah remarked jokingly at them, trying to push both girls' buttons and throw them off. It worked, as the frustration Sam and Tory were feeling increased a hundredfold, and they both turned to one another again.

"Alright, listen to me." Sam demanded, desperate to get them both on the same page so they could win this fight. "We can win this if we just work together. Now… like I was saying, if you go to the right, I'll go left. We'll flank her from both sides and she won't be able to defend it."

"That's a stupid idea, Larusso." Tory snapped back. "We don't need to do that. We can just face her head on and we can win this."

Tory was proven incorrect though, as Sam and Tory's abysmal teamwork once again cost them. Sam's flanking of her opponent proved useless as Tory tried to attack Sarah again head on. Both Miyagi-Dos were definitely not in the right mindset for the fight, as they were more preoccupied with each other than Sarah. For this reason, Sarah was able to intercept their attacks and counter with some of her own.

What happened next was a blur to them all. A horrible miscommunication between Sam and Tory put both of them right in harm's way. As Sam tried to go right and Tory tried to go left, they ended up crashing into each other, almost losing their balance and falling over completely. Sarah, noticing this, took advantage of this moment to finally make her move and properly pounce. She lunged at the both of them, and it was only Sam and Tory's quick thinking that prevented Sarah from stealing both headbands and leaving completely unscathed. Sarah tried to take both girls down to the ground at once, and she successfully did so. However, as she did, the three girls became a tangle of thrashing limbs and in the scuffle, not just 2, but all 3 of their headbands were ripped off their heads, Sarah taking the two Miyagi-Dos' and Sam taking Sarah's.

It all happened in a matter of seconds, and it took Sam and Tory a short while to realize what had happened. By that point, Sarah had already walked away, disgruntled and defeated, so Sam and Tory were able to turn their attention fully to each other.

"What the hell?!" Tory snapped, shoving Sam backwards as the two stood face to face once more.

"Me?! You're blaming me for that?!" Sam exclaimed. "We could've easily won that if you had just listened to me and didn't go psycho aggressive mode on her!"

Not for the first time, Sam and Tory walked up to one another, squaring up, both waiting eagerly for the other to strike first and ignite the tension into an all-out fight. They both had reasons why they couldn't start the fight: Tory was still painfully aware of her probation and the consequences of her attacking the girl again; and striking first would mean Sam was stooping to the level of her former bully. However, both were equally happy to strike back if the other hit first.

They were locked in a stalemate, and that first blow never came. After a couple of seconds that felt like an eternity, the girls slowly backed away from one another, turned on their heels, and stormed out of the woods, their fury and hatred for one another higher than ever…

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Edgar Allan Poe once said that "The best place to hide is in plain sight." Marcos remembered reading a translation of this quote at one point in elementary school growing up. And at the time, he laughed at it. That didn't seem like a very smart way to win a game of hide and seek, he had thought to himself. Fast forward 10 years and Marcos found himself adhering to that quote to the letter. Kreese had come up with a unique strategy for him for that day's Coyote Creek fight. Marcos had very much expected to be the hunter, to prowl around the forest, picking off victims one by one. Kreese, however, had other ideas. He had ordered Marcos to walk to the highest point at Coyote Creek, a large clearing at the top of a hill, and sit there, waiting for opponents to come to him. Originally, Marcos thought that that was a stupid idea. That it would be the quickest way for him to be ganged up on and eliminated. His sensei knew better than that, and sure enough, he was right. He predicted that if Marcos remained in plain sight at the top of the hill, the mere sight of him would be enough to scare off most of their competitors from approaching him, and those that would approach him would almost certainly be the more aggressive members of Miyagi-Do, who Marcos would be able to pick off, courtesy of them being mentally unbalanced.

The plan worked for a while. Nobody bothered Marcos as he lay at the top of the hill, staring aimlessly out at the gorgeous creek below him, watching as the sun tiptoed across the cyan blanket above. He wondered what was happening below, to both his friends and his rivals. The whole thing was peaceful, meditative almost. The tranquility was interrupted though as he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching him. Marcos slowly rolled up so he was no longer lying down and instead sitting upright, facing the incoming person. It wasn't a student so Marcos knew he wouldn't have to fight. It was instead one of the referees, a middle-aged bald man who smiled kindly at him as he walked over.

"Can I help you?" Marcos asked him. The man continued to smile at him, not showing any traces of vilifying him for being the champion of Cobra Kai.

"Hey, buddy. I'm Bobby. Bobby Brown. It's really nice to meet you." Bobby said. Marcos, thoroughly confused and curious about all this, shook his head.

"Likewise. I'm Marcos." Marcos replied. Bobby nodded.

"I know. I heard a lot about you from Johnny." Bobby remarked. Marcos raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? What did they say about me?" Marcos asked, assuming that he knew the answer. 'Lunatic', 'unhinged', 'aggressive.' Probably something along those lines.

"He told me that you're one hell of a fighter." Bobby told him. "That you're one of the best teenage fighters he's ever seen. That you're even better than he was at your age. And I don't know if you know Johnny, but the fact that he said that you're better than even him… that means a whole lot."

Marcos chuckled and looked down.

"Thank you, sir." He responded, humbled by the compliments.

"Please. Call me Bobby." He told him. "Anyways, it made me curious who this person was that has suddenly arrived and is generating such praise. I spoke to Daniel Larusso. He mentioned that you grew up without a mother."

Marcos' face darkened slightly as he recalled the fact that he had mentioned that at the Larusso House a week ago. He didn't hide the fact that it was just him and his dad living together, but he also loathed the follow-up questions that came whenever he talked about her. The last thing he needed was to get into that now.

"Yeah, that's right." was all Marcos gruffly replied. When in the thick of the Karate War, Bobby knew that it was easy to forget that those who they were fighting, those who were causing them so much misery… they were still people too. Marcos was still a child, a child with so much pain buried deep within him, pain that Bobby could see in his eyes.

"I know how it feels." Bobby told him. "I know how it feels to feel like you're all alone in this world. That you've lost everyone and everything you love, and now it's just you against the entire world. Trust me, I went through the lowest moment of my life when I was 18. I realized that the person I looked up to and idolized more than anyone didn't give a shit about me, and was only using me to hurt others."

"Kreese." Marcos quietly murmured. As Bobby raised an eyebrow, Marcos sighed. "I know who you are, Mr. Brown."

Bobby nodded.

"Right. Yeah, it was with Kreese. After my last All-Valley tournament, when he'd rather I mangle Daniel's leg than actually win the fight, I realized that he didn't give a shit about me. And with what happened after the tournaments, with the trauma my other friends went through, they were too busy getting over their own shit to really be there for me. I was completely and utterly alone."

"Is that what this is about? You're trying to warn me not to trust Kreese?" Marcos asked. Bobby shook his head.

"I'm not a stupid man, Marcos. I'm sure Daniel, Johnny, and all of their students have already given you the spiel about how Kreese is evil, can't be trusted, excetera excetera. The fact that you're still with Cobra Kai after that suggests that you're not interested in hearing that speech again. I know I wouldn't be if I were in your place." Bobby rightfully commented. "See. We're not so different you and I. And do you know how I managed to stop feeling so alone?"

"How?" Marcos murmured.

"I found God." Bobby replied. "I turned to the Lord for guidance, and it's the best decision I've ever made in my life. I applied myself to religion, and from that moment onwards, I never felt alone again. I guarantee that if you do the same, you'll feel a whole lot better."

Marcos sighed and looked down, silent for a while, before he eventually spoke up again.

"I guess we're not so alike then." Marcos replied. "Because if you've seen happen what I've seen happen, you'd know that there's no way that God exists. Because God wouldn't have subjected me to what I've been subjected to. Wouldn't have doomed all of my friends from my old neighborhood to such shitty lives, living in extreme poverty until the sweet release of death."

The way Marcos spoke, Bobby saw a flash of the great pain and sorrow that possessed Marcos at every waking moment. He could tell that something had happened to him in the past. He didn't know what it was, and he never could've imagined that it was him walking in on his mother's suicide, but he could that something was there. Marcos was not a bad person. He was just a traumatized little boy.

Bobby didn't get a chance to respond, and Marcos didn't get a chance to say another word, as at the moment, Marcos' first opponent finally arrived on the scene…