CHAPTER 97

Betrayal. That was the first thought on Robby's mind, and he wasn't entirely sure why. It wasn't like Marcos was a teammate, or had any kind of obligation to show honor towards Miyagi-Do. but still, Robby felt betrayed. The fact that Marcos and Cobra Kai had managed to go behind everyone's back all the way to Okinawa to learn Miyagi-Do secrets was something that completely rocked him. It had shaken all three of them to their core - seeing their enemies having learnt their secrets, even if it was only 2 weeks worth of techniques, felt like an utter violation.

Rage. That's what came next. Even stronger than the shock of the betrayal was the anger that followed it. The anger wasn't even towards the fact that Marcos had stolen an unfair advantage over them for their next fight. Robby felt enraged for the sake of Miyagi-Do that Marcos had lied, taken advantage of an elderly man, to learn their secrets and use them with nothing but bad intentions.

They needed revenge. They needed payback. That thought burned a hole through Robby's mind and before anyone could stop him, he turned on his heel and stormed on his dojo, not saying another word. He could faintly hear Chozen and Tory calling him back from a distance but he ignored them. He had somewhere else he needed to be right now, so he got onto his skateboard and made his way towards a certain dojo in Encino…

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That afternoon, Marcos stood before a punching target, lashing out at it violently. It wasn't a foam bag like he had practiced on a million times before, but instead something a bit more… challenging. Shaped like a human being, it was made of wood and was Sensei Kim's very own creation, the invention causing Marcos' knuckles to bloody very quickly as he attacked it.

He was the only person in the dojo. Everyone else, including the Senseis, had already left, so Marcos' thoughts were allowed to run rampant as he let out his never-ending wave of anger at the ruthless wooden target. Marcos was a mere shell of a human being, a physical husk, nothing more than that. His whole life, the world had been showing him no mercy, kicking him around in one way or another, and he had finally lost it. He was done. He felt like he had nothing left to live for. Nothing left. Nothing but the immense anger inside him. It was like a raging inferno inside him, slowly burning him from the inside out, scalding and charring his insides, only able to be temporarily quenched by him letting out the fury on something or someone.

All of a sudden, the door of the dojo roughly swung open and someone stormed inside. Marcos didn't even need to turn around to know that this was not the presence of an ally, but rather an enemy, and sure enough when he turned around, he found himself face to face with Robby, the two of them otherwise alone in the empty dojo.

"Look who it is." Marcos murmured. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this breaking and entering?"

"Are you proud of yourself?!" Robby yelled at him, his normal aura of calmness completely evaporated as he burst into the dojo and found himself face to face with none other than his bitter rival. Nobody else was around. If they wanted to, the two of them could kill each other right now and there would be nobody there to stop them, no common sense to prevail.

"Pardon me?" Marcos asked, taken aback slightly by the comment and rendered slightly confused.

"We found out about your trip to Okinawa! We know that you learned Miyagi-Do!" Robby shouted. A flicker of shock flashed upon Marcos' face for a moment, but he hid it well, realization dawning on him as he nodded.

"Yeah. I did. And?" Marcos asked.

"Seriously?! You have no shame about it?!" Robby spat. Marcos looked even more confused now.

"Shame about what?" Marcos questioned, puzzled. Robby took a deep breath, trying to calm himself a little but failing miserably, as fury overwhelmed any other emotion in his body right now.

"Let's see… you took advantage of an old man and lied to him, all to get him to teach you Miyagi-Do. You completely disrespected our dojo by learning our secrets for your own gain. All because you know that we're a real threat! When we fought and you lost to me, you realized that you're not all that you think you are and rather than holding your head up and working harder, you slithered away to Okinawa behind everyone's backs and learned our moves to use to beat us. You know what you are? You're nothing but a coward!"

Marcos raised an eyebrow, audibly chuckling at this, but his fist curling into a ball in silent anger.

"Strong words." Marcos remarked. "A little hypocritical though, don't you think? What you did when you were Cobra Kai, teaching them all Miyagi-Do… would you call that cowardice too?"

"No. I would call that a mistake. I never should have done that." Robby stated. Marcos shrugged.

"Agree to disagree. You were helping your team improve, simple as that. But that's besides the point." Marcos said. "Putting that aside, what would you call it then when Johnny Lawrence teaches all of you? Because those techniques that he's teaching your dojo… guess who taught them to him first? I'll give you a hint, he's currently a sensei in the dojo you're standing in right now."

"No. But that's different…" Robby began, but Marcos cut him off as he laughed.

"Is it? Miyagi-Do realized that they were handicapped if they simply used their own techniques. So they enlisted the services of Johnny Lawrence to teach them all Cobra Kai and give them an edge. He taught them all of our secrets, all of our techniques, and didn't even hesitate to do so. This is no different. So if you're going to call what we did cowardice, at least be consistent."

"It's different because my dad's actually a sensei at our dojo. You flew all the way to Japan to lie to an old man and trick him into teaching you." Robby snapped. Marcos shrugged.

"And? He still chose to teach us either way." Marcos responded. "Besides, you realize that you can't copyright your dojo's moves, right? You don't own these techniques, just as much as we don't own Cobra Kai. I could watch a replay of the All-Valley tournament and learn Miyagi-Do from that, and it wouldn't be cheating in any way. It would just be doing due diligence on the opposition."

"What my dad did was not the same. And you know why? Because by doing what you did, you went against everything Miyagi-Do stands for." Robby told him. "Above any technique, Miyagi-Do is about peace. It's about honesty. Integrity. Not about lying and using the techniques to harm others."

Marcos raised an eyebrow.

"And what you're doing right now, breaking in after hours in our dojo… that definitely follows this, huh?" Marcos commented.

Robby's response got caught in throat as he pondered this for a moment. Marcos had a point. Daniel's Miyagi-Do was all about avoiding fights - no be there, after all. But Chozen's Miyagi-Do… it was different. It wasn't so much about avoiding fights as it was choosing the right fights to get into. It was about fighting to protect those around him, the people he loved. That was the Miyagi-Do philosophy Robby bought into. That was the philosophy he was thinking about as he looked Marcos dead in the eye and spoke up.

"It does exactly. Because I'm here with a message. All of this, everything between us… it ends tonight." Robby stated. Marcos chuckled and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"And what does that mean exactly?" He asked.

"I heard about what you told Tory at the school today. And I remember what you did to my friends a few weeks ago on the football field. I'm not going to let you terrorise the people I care about any longer." Robby stated, his voice quiet yet firm. "So we settle this once and for all. Tonight. 9 pm. The canyon."

"Wait… you're challenging me… to a fight?" Marcos stammered, genuinely taken aback by this. Robby nodded.

"Yes. I am." He replied, looking Marcos right in the eye upon responding, dead serious and completely calm in making this decision. "No adults. No other students there. Just me and you. 1 on 1. Last man standing."

Marcos pondered this for a moment, shocked by the way the conversation had turned.

"Are you sure about this?" Marcos asked.

Robby was. There was not a doubt in his mind that this needed to be done. He didn't want to do this. He wished there was another way. He didn't get off on violence in the same way that Cobra Kai did. And yet he knew that this had to be done, for the safety of the rest of his dojo. Robby could sense that a Miyagi-Do would be fighting Marcos sometime soon - tension had built too high to be resolved in any other way - and Robby would rather be the one fighting the Cobra than anyone else. He knew he could beat him: he had done it before, so all he needed to do was do it again. No matter the potential risks he was opening himself up to, no matter how badly this had the potential to go, it was a sacrifice Robby had to make. For the safety of all of those he loved.

"I am." Robby responded confidently. "Why? Are you scared?"

"Of you? Not a chance." Marcos chuckled. "And as for your challenge… you're on."