CHAPTER 69

THUD! THUD! THUD!

THUD! THUD! THUD!

It was the next morning, bright and early, and there was only one person present in the Miyagi-Do dojo, sparring with the punching bag. Training wasn't for a while that day, and yet someone had decided to come in early for a little bit of extra work beforehand. Of all people, it was the reigning All-Valley champion, Hawk. Even after the intense beatdown he had taken at the hands of Marcos almost 12 hours ago, the boy was still the first to arrive at the dojo.

He needed it, after all. He had had his ass handed to him on a plate by the Cobra Kai. He tried to excuse it by the fact that his mind hadn't been right. Or the fact he had only gotten less than 24 hours to prepare for the fight. But the truth was, and he knew this very well, that Marcos had just been a large step above him. If they had fought 10 times, Hawk would've been lucky to have won even once. He was furious at how behind he was, at how little chance he felt he had at winning the Taikai based on last night's fight, so he forced himself to train at double speed.

That had its downsides though, as Hawk still hadn't fully recovered from the effects of his beatdown the night before. His entire body throbbed with pain. His arms groaned in reluctance whenever he so much as moved them, and they screamed in pain as he punched the punching bag.

After one more feeble punch at the target, Hawk couldn't take the pain in his arms any longer and he allowed them to fall to his sides. He felt like absolute shit after the beatdown, both physically and mentally. He had no idea what he was supposed to do next, how he was supposed to pick himself back up. He was lucky to be alive after last night. Who knows what would've happened if Robby hadn't shown up, because Marcos had seemed intent on causing some serious harm if not worse. It was a minor miracle that he had come away from this one with nothing more than temporary aches and pains rather than nothing more serious. That didn't mean that they were any less painful though.

"Fuck." Hawk swore quietly as his arms fell from the target, the boy too much in pain to carry on, and he panted for breath.

"How are you feeling?" A voice came from behind Hawk, and the boy spun around to see none other than Karate's Bad Boy, Mike Barnes walking into the dojo and facing him. Although Hawk didn't know him that well, this wasn't the first time the pair had met. They had seen each other at Coyote Creek as Barnes had been refereeing, as well as a couple of other times fleetingly as well.

"Fine." Hawk grunted in reply, not really wanting to get into it any more than that. Barnes, however, had other ideas.

"I heard about what happened." Barnes told him. "How's the body feeling?"

"I said I'm fine." Hawk gruffly responded, not really in the mood for a pep talk right now.

"You know, of all of the kids in this dojo, you know you're the one who reminds me most of myself? At least, myself back in the day." Barnes remarked.

"What do you want?" Hawk snapped. Barnes chuckled and shook his head.

"The resemblance… it's uncanny." He continued. "I know what it feels like to be in your position."

"Yeah? What's that position?" Hawk asked, not really interested in hearing the answer.

"To be a champion. To make it to the top of the mountain. Only to have everything come crashing down around your ears upon losing." Barnes said, and Hawk's face immediately darkened.

"What's your point?" Hawk snapped.

"I know what it's like to feel that anger building and building and building inside you. All that aggression bubbling up to the point where you can hardly see straight, let alone fight properly afterwards." Barnes said. "Why do you think I lost to Larusso back in '85?"

"He was the better fighter?" Hawk replied, and to this Barnes audibly laughed.

"Please. That scrawny little bitch had about as much talent as my left toenail." Barnes replied. "The reason he won is that I allowed my aggression to take over and started being a fucking dumbass during the fight."

"Mr. Barnes, what do you want?" Hawk asked, almost tiredly.

"I want… well what I don't want is for you to make the same mistakes I did." Barnes replied. "I can see you following the same path I took in '85. And all that got me was a fist to the stomach and a front row seat to watch Larusso lift the All-Valley trophy. You deserve more than that. Which is why I want to train you myself."

"You want to train… me?" Hawk stammered, shocked. Barnes nodded.

"I do. From what I hear, Toguchi is training Keene and Nichols extra. Larusso is training his daughter. Lawrence is training Diaz. It's only you who doesn't have someone to train you."

"I'm training with Mr. Larusso and Miyagi-Do." Hawk responded quickly. Barnes raised an eyebrow.

"Is it working?" He asked bluntly. "Because no offense but from where I'm standing, it doesn't look like you've had much success training with Miyagi-Do. In fact, from what I've heard, it was only when you fought like a Cobra Kai that you won the All-Valley. And every time you've tried to use Miyagi-Do only, you've either dropped points or lost a fight."

Hawk's face darkened further at this and Barnes sighed.

"Look, you don't have to say yes if you don't want to. But trust me when I say this, I've been in your shoes before. I know how you're feeling. I can help you." Barnes stated. "Believe it or not, I've actually been in one or two of these fights myself. I know what works and what doesn't work. How to play to your strengths and fight offensively, using your emotions to fuel you, but not letting them cloud your mind and judgment when you fight for Cobra Kai."

Hawk didn't say a word, listening to Barnes as he spoke.

"I know you're angry, Hawk. And while you might've been told to let go off all that anger in Miyagi-Do, I know better than that. I know how hard it is to truly let go of resentment. And you know what? That's actually a good thing. Because that resentment towards your opponent is what pushes you far past your limits, even when you think you can't go much longer. It gives you that edge, the difference between a champion and a runner up."

Barnes could tell that Hawk was beginning to warm up to the idea, as the boy's angry facial expression was beginning to fade.

"Do you know why Diaz rarely ever loses a fight?" Barnes asked him. "I'll tell you, it's not because he's in peak physical condition. You and Keene are in much better shape than he is, and yet he still manages to win quite often against the two of you. You know why? Because he's productive with his emotions. He allows his feelings to be channeled into determination, a healthy emotion, rather than blinding him with rage. That's why he's such a successful fighter. It's the same thing with Daniel Larusso."

Hawk looked down for a moment, lowering his gaze as he heard Barnes mention these names. Obviously, the name Larusso was synonymous with Karate. There was no touching the legacy that he's left on the sport in the Valley. But with Miguel… it had always been a sore spot for Hawk that although they had done the sport for around the same amount of time - with Miguel starting earlier and Hawk regaining that time when Miguel was injured - Miguel still managed to best him more often than not, and he didn't know why. It wasn't like he was physically superior. And it wasn't like he was more extensively trained or anything. He always just… won, and Barnes was clear with his reason why he suspected that happened.

"Hawk, I guarantee that if you let me help you, and we work together to teach you how to reign in your emotions and use them productively in a fight, you'll become unstoppable. Diaz, Keene, Cobra Kai… they'll have nothing on you. I can honestly count on one hand the number of people I've seen with your work ethic at this sport. It'd honestly be a shame if all that work is wasted because it isn't being done efficiently. Training with me… you'll be fighting offensively, which you're much better at than Miyagi-Do. AND you'll most definitely have a much better handle on your emotions, so you can use that to gain an extra boost in your next fight. What do you say?"

Barnes looked on, almost nervously, as he waited for an answer from the teenager. He genuinely wanted to help this boy, but unfortunately he knew that if the boy didn't want his help, there was nothing he could really do. He couldn't force him, and training anything less than wholeheartedly would prevent him from making any progress in the long run.

After thinking about it for a while, Hawk finally responded, not with words but with a gesture. Learning forward slightly, Hawk bowed at his new sensei, Barnes smiling widely and bowing back.

Barnes honestly couldn't believe where he was right now. For so long, he had banished the thought of Karate and everything about the sport. Ever since the '85 tournament, Barnes was satisfied if he never heard the word Karate ever mentioned again. It was only after Daniel Larusso was reintroduced to his life that he was slowly sucked back into that vortex of the Japanese Martial Art and you know what… Barnes loved every second of it. Karate was a part of him, a part of his identity. And no matter how much he tried to push it down or hide it, it would never truly disappear from him. Now that he was back in the sport, he was extremely happy, ecstatic even, that he got to pass all of his knowledge onto the next generation.

"So… sensei, when do we start?" Hawk asked him. Barnes grinned, leading his student onto the sparring deck in the backyard of the dojo.

"Right now."