CHAPTER 85

Pure luck. That's all you could call it if you were a member of Cobra Kai. They had planned to hit the Miyagi-Dos during the Phys Ed class, and luck had allowed it to be so that they were playing mini football games after the warmup for the entire class. It was supposed to be a benchmark, to allow the Phys Ed teacher to gauge the various levels of the students at the sport, and all that meant was that Cobra Kai were going to be provided with an immediate opportunity to hit the Miyagi-Do students.

"Alright, remember. Subtle." Marcos murmured to all of the Cobra Kai students except Sarah, who had refused to join their pre-game huddle after hearing about their plan. "I don't want to see anyone randomly kicking or punching someone for no reason. We hit them with subtle blows and it'll piss them off. And then if we piss them off, chances are they'll be less subtle in hitting back. And when they do that… well, then we have the perfect opportunity for some 'self defense'."

The Cobra Kais all nodded in agreement before breaking up their huddle and walking onto the field to start the game.

Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory, Demetri. Those were the 6 people on the field for Miyagi-Do. 6 targets, all of whom the Miyagi-Dos prepared to wipe out over the course of the Phys Ed lesson.

Marcos, Sarah, Shawn, Kyler, Piper, Mitch. Those were the 6 people on the field for Cobra Kai. The 6 assailants.

Let the game begin…

Cobra Kai started the game by kicking the ball to the Miyagi-Dos, waiting for one of them to catch it and allow the game to commence. It was Sam who caught it, taking it in her stride and beginning to run, signifying the start of the game.

Immediately, the 6 Cobra Kais converged on her like a pack of hyenas. Picking up speed, they were 6 battering rams, ready to absolutely obliterate their first target. And boy, did they do exactly that. The fastest member of the 6 Cobra Kais, Marcos was first to arrive on the scene. He didn't know Sam personally, nor did he have anything against her, so he wasn't as inclined to go barrelling into her immediately. Kyler, on the other hand, had no such reservations. He increased his speed to running at full pelt before absolutely wiping his ex-girlfriend out, causing her to collapse on the ground in a barely conscious heap.

Kyler had made an attempt to tackle. That much was clear. He had followed Marcos' instructions and been subtle enough to not make it a clear assault, but the brutal hit had still been enough to enrage all 6 of the Miyagi-Dos. As Sam groaned in pain on the ground, unable to even sit up as she felt a blinding pain between her ears, Kyler smirked down at her. Revenge for what she had done to him sophomore year.

However, his delight was certainly short-lived. Before he could react, he felt himself being roughly dragged by the back of his helmet and shirt to his feet, and he found himself face to face with a livid Miguel. Kyler didn't have a chance to defend himself as Miguel used a herculean amount of strength to throw him away from Sam and into a heap on the ground himself.

Seeing this, Marcos knew that he had his opening. He had his opportunity for self-defense, now that his teammate had clearly been assaulted after the whistle had been blown during the game. Putting his head down, Marcos charged at Miguel, channelingall of his strength to pounce on the former All-Valley champion. Marcos was far from a good football player. He came from Brazil, where American Football was far from a popular sport, and in fact he could probably count on one hand the number of times he'd played the sport in his entire life. However, in this situation, he didn't have to be a good football player. He had done enough Martial Arts in his past to know how to roughly take someone to the ground.

And that's exactly what he did. Arriving at the scene a few seconds later, Marcos felt time slow as he collided with Miguel, wrapping his arms around Miguel's legs and throwing him down onto the ground on the back of his head, thankfully protected by his helmet to prevent serious injury, but still providing him with a heavy blow as he was sent crashing to the ground like a sack of bricks.

Marcos' heart was pounding with adrenaline as he stood up from Miguel's semi-conscious body, knowing full well that he was definitely not in the clear right now. He was in a bad position, still deep within the battlefield, exposed to any Miyagi-Dos around him who wanted to retaliate. Closing his eyes for a moment, Marcos was brought back to Sato's training in Okinawa, when he had advised them on fighting more than one opponent at once, when you couldn't see where the other opponents were…

"You have 5 senses. Not just 1. You can't just use seeing. Use the other senses. Sense where your opponent is. Rely on instincts, sounds, anything you can. Pretend like you can't see them until the last moment where you turn and strike."

That's what Sato had told them and Marcos did exactly that, following the elderly sensei's instructions to a tee. He could sense someone coming up behind him, but Marcos was unsure as to who. He hadn't turned around yet and he didn't plan to, not until the very last moment. When Marcos finally turned around, Tory was already on him, so close that he could see the whites of her eyes and the anger etched on her face. She was so close that Marcos even let her throw the first punch, using his new-found Miyagi-Do knowledge to block and throw a counter-move: a ruthless spearhead to the throat that left Tory on her knees, a coughing and spluttering mess.

At that point, after he had taken out Tory, Marcos was allowed a moment to survey the scene. Sam was down. Miguel was down. Tory was down. That left 3 Miyagi-Dos remaining. He could see the other Cobra Kais taking care of Hawk and Demetri, but that left one other student. Where was he?

Robby had watched the entire scene unfold in alarm, shocked to his core to see the ferocity that Cobra Kai attacked them at first sight, after no contact for 2 whole weeks. He guessed he shouldn't have been so surprised, but he was. After Sam had gone down and Miguel and Tory had followed suit, the latter blow had snapped Robby out of his shock. Part of it was about who Marcos had just laid out. Seeing your girlfriend down and hurt was never a fun sight. But there was something else that remained on Robby's mind long after the scrap between the dojos ended that afternoon: in that moment, the way Marcos had moved, with razor-sharp reflexes to sense Tory's presence, turn and block her strike, and then sending a mere single strike in retaliation… Marcos didn't look to be fighting much like a Cobra right now. Robby had fought him before. He knew Marcos' style was to overwhelm his opponent with a whole plethora of strikes, not just 1. It was almost like just then, Marcos was fighting like a Miyagi-Do. No… because that was crazy, right?

Robby couldn't dwell on that fact or think about it for longer either. Maybe if he had, he would've discovered the Cobra Kai trip earlier. But he didn't, as his focus was on the imminent threat that Cobra Kai were posing that instant. By now, most of the students were no longer wearing helmets as they exchanged vicious verbal and physical blows with each other, so Robby threw off his own as he ran onto the scene. He made a beeline for Marcos, who spotted him immediately and geared himself for a fight.

Making it over to the Cobra Kai, Robby immediately flew in with a punch to the face, one that Marcos didn't even attempt to block as he watched Robby approach him, amused by the unhinged fury on the Miyagi-Do's face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Robby yelled at him. Marcos chuckled, wiping his lip where Robby had connected, preparing for his own strike.

"Come on. You really didn't think that you'd be able to stick your nose where it didn't belong with me and Hawk, attack me and not expect some repercussions, did you?" Marcos replied, before pointing to all of the fallen Miyagi-Dos. "Take a good look for next time. This is what happens when you mess with us."

As a show of further disrespect, as Marcos gestured to the fallen Tory beside him, still down after the blow she had taken from him, he even prodded her with his foot. He was out of control now. All of the emotion truly had gone out inside him like a light, turning him into nothing but a bloodthirsty soldier.

"This is your All-Valley champion. Taken down with one punch. Embarrassing." Marcos muttered. More rage-filled than ever, Robby lunged at Marcos once more, determined for revenge for not only Tory, but all of his friends who Marcos and Cobra Kai had dismantled. He never got the opportunity to do so though. Because at that moment, security finally arrived, rushing onto the field without hesitation and separating them, grabbing them all and pulling them towards the school's main building, towards the principal's office.

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"Seriously, guys? What were you thinking?!" Johnny and Daniel berated their students as all of the senseis and Miyagi-Do students stood in the Miyagi-Do dojo after school. They had all arrived at training early that afternoon, though not for a reason they would've predicted and not a good reason at all. All of the Miyagi-Do students' parents had been angrily called into school that afternoon, including Daniel and Johnny, on account of the conflict that had occurred between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai during Phys Ed class that morning.

Thankfully, none of the Miyagi-Dos were too badly hurt, bad bruises and minor dizziness being the extent of it. The fact that none of them were concussed was a minor miracle after the hefty tackles and blows they had taken. That said though, they had all been sent home from school immediately and even suspended for a few days after their antics. And to their fury, Cobra Kai hadn't received the same treatment. Miyagi-Do had been deemed to have been the aggressors and instigators of the conflict, having been recorded by CCTV cameras as Miguel who started the fight by throwing Kyler after Kyler's tackle on Sam.

Of course, this had enraged the Miyagi-Dos, who had strongly believed that Kyler had been the one who started it, but that didn't matter. The school clearly thought otherwise and were not going to change their minds on that one. Cobra Kai had waltzed away scot-free and that fact boiled all of their blood.

"It wasn't us. It was them. They started it." Miguel snapped. Johnny narrowed his eyes at his student.

"The school showed us the footage, dumbass. We watched you lay out the Chinese guy! And Robby, we watched you punch Marcos!"

"Did you also watch what they did to Tory and Sam?" Robby responded. Daniel sighed, hearing all of this and shaking his head.

"Look, that's enough. All of you." He said. "We have bigger things to think about right now. You all need to learn from this and be smarter. Don't engage with Cobra Kai no matter what, unless it really is self-defense and you have no other options. Don't take the bait when they are very obviously just trying to bait you like they were today. You need to be better than them, stay ahead of them, or you're going to find yourselves in a lot deeper trouble than just a 3 day suspension. Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Sensei." They all murmured, the students still all trying to get over what had happened at the school earlier that day. Daniel nodded.

"Good. Because I have an announcement." He informed them. "This morning, I received a letter from the Sekai Taikai committee, detailing the event, the rules, everything…"