CHAPTER 2

"Jesus Christ." Robby murmured, shaking his head and putting his head in his hands. "So he's in jail now?"

"Yup. Sensei Silver is now the sole sensei of Cobra Kai apparently."

As Robby heard this, he shook his head. That was not good, not good at all. Kreese… Kreese had a line. No matter how badly he wanted to win, there was always a line. Robby knew that had they lost the tournament, Kreese would have left. Because he was a man of his word. He had promised Cobra Kai that he would lead them to championship glory and he had. He had promised that they would be the most feared in the Valley and he had delivered on that. But Silver… that man was a maniac. That thing in the human mind that tells you what you're doing is wrong… Silver's moral compass was not only muffled, but completely muted. It had vanished, being replaced with merely an ice-cold heart that pumped black sludge through his veins. With Silver at the helm, there was no telling how far Cobra Kai would go. There was no ban on fighting until the All-Valley like there had been over the past few months. There was nothing to protect Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang from relentless, ruthless and cruel onslaughts, day after day, week after week, until the enemy could physically not go any longer. It was like he had constantly drilled into them, "man can't stand, he can't fight. Man can't breathe, he can't fight. Man can't see, he can't fight." That was exactly what he had instructed them to do in the leadup to the tournament. Targeting Miguel, Silver had instructed them to constantly attack his back if any of them had to fight him, as if he couldn't stand, he couldn't fight. Then against Sam, Silver had demanded that Tory make sure that she get as much into Sam's head as she could before the All-Valley. She needed to make Sam unable to breathe in fear after so much as looking at the girl. And finally, the last phrase in the mantra. This was the only one Cobra Kai had actually gone through with completing, and it was ironically the one that came back to bite them the hardest. Hawk's sense of personality lay in his unique hair, so Silver had suggested that if Cobra Kai managed to rid him of that, he wouldn't be able to see who he truly was anymore, would have a massive confidence crisis, and wouldn't be able to compete anymore.

"Tory… that's… that's not good." Robby stammered. "With Silver…"

"Nobody is safe." She finished in a grave tone. "We need to do something about this."

"Yeah, but what?" Robby murmured, partly to Tory, and partly to himself as he thought deeply. Eventually, he came up with a solution, but he knew that Tory wouldn't be a huge fan of it. "Well, I have something."

"What is it?" Tory asked, almost eagerly. She was no more of a fan of Silver than Robby was. However, as Robby looked down for a few seconds too long and refused to look Tory in the eye, Tory realised what he was suggesting. "No, no, no, no, no! No! No! We are NOT joining Miyagi-Do! I don't care, I'd honestly rather burst into flames than have to train with her!"

Robby shrugged.

"I know. That's why I'm not suggesting we join Miyagi-Do. Well at least not full-time." He said.

"Huh?" Tory grumbled, thoroughly confused now. Robby took a deep breath.

"Well I think we can both agree that it's no longer safe for us to stay in Cobra Kai." He began.

"Sure, yeah, I agree with that." She stated. Robby nodded.

"Yeah, well there is one other dojo in the Valley. One that trains with Miyagi-Do every now and then but isn't actually Miyagi-Do. Badass but not too aggressive. One of the stupidest dojo names and logos I've ever seen."

Realisation dawned on Tory's face and she groaned.

"Oh, God…"

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At the mention of the name Manuel Diaz, Miguel noticed the woman's face flash with alarm, before forcing up a wall of no emotion.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who that is." The woman said. "Now, if you're not getting a drink…"

Miguel sighed and rolled his eyes, half-expecting this reaction. After all, why would she tell some random stranger about a man who, according to the very few stories he had heard about him, was quite the intimidator.

"Look, I'm sure you're a really busy woman. I'm a pretty busy man myself and I don't have the time or the money for us to just sit here, lying through our teeth, pretending not to know things we actually do. I want to speed this along so I'm going to make the first move and tell you that I'm not an absolute idiot. I know that this place is a Los X's bar, and I know that Manuel Diaz is a member of that gang. So if anyone in Juarez knows where he is and can get a message to him, it'll be you."

Miguel then sat back and let this sink in for a little while. Immediately, he knew that the bartender's view of him had changed. He wasn't some clueless American that she thought he was. He was in Juarez because he had an important reason to be in Juarez, just like everyone else in this shithole. Miguel watched as the bartender's face went through a whirlwind of emotion: first came flat-out disbelief; then came a look of great thought; and then finally a look dripping with a lack of certainty and assuredness.

"I'm sorry. Even if I did know someone by the name of Manuel Diaz, I'm not sure he appreciates random Americans asking to see him."

Miguel chuckled to himself.

"You know, I think he's going to want to see me." Miguel replied. "Tell him… tell him his son is here and he wants to see him."

It was the bartender's turn to laugh. As she stared at the dishevelled, American teenager sat opposite her and her mind drifted to the menacing, petrifying man that was Manuel Diaz, she was having trouble seeing any similarities between them.

"I'm sorry. Manuel Diaz doesn't have any kids." The woman replied shortly. "Now if you're not going to get a drink, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

Miguel shook his head furiously.

"Please, just tell him, okay? Please. I've come all this way to find answers. I can't go home and live my life in unknowing anymore. Please get a message to him." Miguel begged her. "Tell him his son's here. Tell him Carmen Diaz's son is here."

With that, Miguel then stood up and walked away from the bar at the front and moved over to one of the tables at the far corner, taking out his phone. He now had nothing to do but wait…

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"Hey, dad?" Robby called as him and Tory arrived at Johnny's compound and entered his house. No response. The pair called his name several times but it was made pretty evident that he wasn't there. Tory and Robby were about to leave when just as they were turning back towards the open door, something caught their eye… Johnny's laptop lay open on his kitchen table, the most random facebook post in the world written on his screen.

As they read it, they both couldn't help raising eyebrows. "TO MEXICO: WILL PAY $10000 TO ANYONE WHO CAN FIND ME AN ECUADORIAN TEENAGER IN YOUR COUNTRY." was what it read. The two read the search bar several times and looked at each other, thoroughly confused. Suddenly, at that very moment, they heard voices from outside the apartment, in the compound.

"Thanks, Carmen! Yeah, I'll make sure to knock on your door before I leave!" The voice, unmistakably Johnny's, called. Before Tory and Robby could react, the door swung open and Johnny stepped inside. He initially jumped in surprise and prepared for a fight when he saw the intruders, but when he saw who it was, he relaxed.

"Oh. It's just you two." He murmured, before remembering the situation. "Wait… what are you doing here?"

"Came to talk to you about something. But more importantly, why does it look like you're trying to buy someone on facebook?" Robby remarked. Johnny looked at him, thoroughly perplexed for a moment, before Robby pointed at the screen. As Johnny looked at and remembered what was on it, he quickly blocked their view of the screen with his back, and looked at them.

"I'm… I'm not. Uh… friend of mine went missing in Mexico a few days ago so I'm trying to send one of those, um… facebook post things to find him."

"Offering 10,000 dollars to find him. Must be some friend." Tory remarked, before reading the post through again and realising something. "Wait… Ecuadorian teenager… that's Miguel, isn't it?"

Johnny's head shot up and he immediately glanced at Robby, trying to gauge his reaction. He knew that before, Robby would have flipped out at hearing that Johnny was doing that much for Miguel, but this was a different Robby. One that had grown in the past 6 months. So rather than a look of anger, it was a look of concern that flitted across his face.

"Is everything okay with Miguel?" Robby asked.

"Um… Yeah." Johnny replied, pausing for a moment and looking at Robby and Tory's unbelieving expression and sighed in defeat. "Okay, no it's not. Miguel… I'm sure you noticed that he wasn't there for the end of the tournament."

"Yeah, I figured he went to the hospital or something for his back. I mean why else wouldn't he be there for his princess?" Tory remarked in her typical cold fashion when referring to Sam. Though she wasn't actively trying to kill her anymore and she was completely over Miguel and happy with Robby, she still maintained some strong negative feelings towards Sam.

Johnny shook his head.

"No, no he didn't. He decided to go off the grid and head down to Mexico to go looking for his father." Johnny replied. Robby raised an eyebrow.

"And so you're paying 10,000 dollars to find him? On a Facebook post which by the way, only goes out to your followers so is literally useless in this situation. Isn't what he's doing a good thing?" Robby murmured. Johnny shook his head.

"Look, it's a lot more complicated than that." He replied, and he left it at that. He wasn't in the mood to go into more detail about the man Miguel was looking for and also didn't know how much Carmen was willing to tell people about her ex-husband. "Anyways, what did you guys come here to ask?"

Robby and Tory looked at each other and they silently nodded. They were going to do this.

"We, um… if you'd be willing to take us, we want to join your dojo…"

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As Miguel sat at his table in the back corner of the bar, he watched the woman pull out a phone and make a call. Miguel let out a huge sigh of relief. She was doing it after all. He was going to finally meet his dad! Unable to sit still, he began to tap his knuckles against the table nervously.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Was this exhausting journey he was on safe? Even if he wanted to come back to L.A, would be physically be alive to do so? The few people he had met so far in Juarez hardly looked like the friendliest blokes in the world, and Miguel could only imagine that as a new American in the city, he had a target painted on his back. He was prey, the juiciest hunk of flesh for the lions to tear their jaws into.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Even if he was safe, or safe enough at least, would his father even want to see him? After all, the man had known Miguel was alive for 17 years and had not once come looking. It wouldn't even be difficult for him to find Miguel. A search for "Miguel Diaz" resulted in a whole host of articles regarding his All-Valley win, the school fight, his injury. Anyone with two brain cells would be able to know where he lived and went to school from that information, and the fact that his father hadn't caused anxious feelings of doubt to bubble up inside him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Upon thinking about karate, Miguel realised something… he had no idea who had won the tournament! He had left after his semi-final so he had no clue whether or not Hawk had beaten Robby, or whether Sam had beaten Tory. The whole soul of the Valley was at stake and he had no clue who had prevailed. He had no clue if Miyagi-Do were even alive. He knew full well that Robby and Tory, if they won their fights, were going to pull out every dirty move in the book to take out Hawk and Sam in their finals. But if Miguel was being fully honest, he didn't really care who won. If anything, a small part of him wanted Cobra Kai to win. He didn't think, after all of the shit Johnny and Daniel had put their students through because of their petty rivalry, they deserved the satisfaction of beating Kreese and Silver.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Despite all his trying, Miguel couldn't stop thinking about home. Thinking about Sam, Johnny, his mom and yaya, all of his friends. All of whom were probably a mixture of confused, worried, shocked, panicked, depending on how much they knew about his dad. He couldn't stop thinking about it so just as he was practically drumming a full-on latin beat with his knuckles on the table, he gave in on his 0 contact until his return rule and pulled out his phone. As he unlocked it, a notification popped up on the screen.

Voicemail: 15 unread messages…