CHAPTER 5

"So he really cheated?" Daniel murmured, at a complete loss for words. An interminable silence passed over the group as they all took in the information, in complete shock. A pin could be heard drop in the room, Daniel, Amanda and Sam rocked to their very core by the shocking development.

"I knew it! I didn't lose!" Sam suddenly exclaimed. "I knew I scored that point against you that the ref didn't count."

"Yeah, he didn't count it because I was out of bounds!" Tory shot back.

"Stepped back out of bonds AFTER the point." Sam responded hotly.

"Before." Tory bickered.

"After." Sam replied.

"Well the trophy on my nightstand says that it was before." Tory snarked.

"Okay, Tory, Sam, shut up." Amanda interrupted them. "Daniel, Johnny, what does that mean for you guys?"

"Well I can tell you what it means for me." Daniel said. "I'm sure as hell not closing my dojo and risking my students getting beaten up, injured or worse by Cobra Kai after losing a bet that would have been impossible to win anyway! Chozen and I are going to work together in keeping Miyagi-Do open and training our students."

"Wait… silent Monk here is a Sensei?" Johnny asked, surprised. Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Chozen teaches Miyagi-Do back in Okinawa. We sparred a bit when I went there last October. He's a better Martial Artist than me."

"Doesn't exactly say much." Johnny murmured under his breath to Robby, who had to stifle a snicker. Daniel glared at his rival.

"He knows more about Miyagi-Do than I do. You know that arm numbing thing I learned? Well I learned it from him, and he's got a lot more techniques like that we can use to protect our students."

"What about you, dad? Are you going to reopen your dojo?" Robby asked hopefully.

"Robby, you know that even if he doesn't, you always have a place at Miyagi-Do if you want." Daniel said. Robby shook his head.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that. Nothing against you, it's just that I've learned that Miyagi-Do style isn't the most effective when fighting outside a tournament." Robby replied. "And besides, I'm sure that Tory and I are hardly Miyagi-Do's favourite people right now."

Daniel nodded, looking down glumly.

"That's… that's okay." Daniel said, defeated.

"So… are you going to reopen your dojo?" Tory asked eagerly. Johnny thought for a moment then nodded.

"I am, but not quite yet. I'm going out of town for a while starting tomorrow." Johnny said. Daniel looked at him, confused.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Mexico." Johnny replied. Daniel couldn't help but let out a small laugh in disbelief.

"Mexico? You're going to Mexico?" Daniel questioned. "Why?"

Johnny looked up, not at Daniel, but instead at the teenager sitting to the right of him, who had remained unusually silent since Tory had walked in. He knew that of everyone, she would be the one who wanted to hear this most.

"It's Miguel…"

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"Look, I'm sorry that things got off to a rocky start just now. I didn't know that…"

"So my mom never told you that I existed?" Miguel interrupted, shocked, as him and his dad sat across from each other at the table in the corner of the bar. They both had beers in front of them, Miguel's dad insisted that the bartender serve him one, but they both lay untouched as the two men stared at each other.

"Nope." Manuel shook his head. "Not too surprised to be honest. She was a real bitch after all."

"Hey, that's my mom you're talking about!" Miguel growled. His father merely laughed.

"Aw, you're defending her. That's sweet." He said. "But you realise who exactly you're defending, right? This woman ran out on me. Took with her our child who I didn't even know existed. I mean, shouldn't she give me some warning or something? A chance to turn things around, step up? No, instead randomly one day, when I left for work, she ran away with her mom and never even called me since."

"She left for my own good." Miguel murmured, though there were traces of insecurity in his voice. Manuel raised an eyebrow.

"Did she? Because I grew up without a father myself so I know first-hand how hard it is. You know, so much your father is supposed to teach you that you have to learn how to do by yourself. Throwing and catching. Getting through a first date. Learning how to drive. Learning how to shave. Learning how to fight. All of these times where a dad should be there for his son, nobody is there. Sure your mom can try, but you and I both know that it's not the same. I know that back then, I was a pretty messed up man. Definitely not someone you'd want your kid to be around, least of all as a father. But I know exactly how hard it is growing up without one, so if your mother had told me she was pregnant, I guarantee you that I would've changed to become a better man for her, and for you."

Miguel had to close his mouth to prevent his slack jaw from hitting the table in astonishment as to what he was hearing. Everything his mom had told him about his dad, and everything Miguel had assumed based on seeing his physical appearance, had painted a picture of a man in his mind who was absolutely nothing like the one sitting before him.

"No… No… Look sorry. I don't know you, but I do know my mom. And I trust her. So if she wanted to keep me away from you, it had to be for a legitimate reason."

At this moment, Manuel, unexpectedly, smiled at his son.

"You're loyal to her. I respect that. The loyalty… I think you got that from me."

"I think I got that from anyone but you." Miguel replied. "I got that from the people around me. Friends. Family. From my mom, who was there for me every time we'd have to move and I would have no friends. The mom who would sacrifice everything in an instant for the chance of me having a better life than she did. I believe that who you are is a result of the people around you, not the DNA inside you. And you haven't been around at all my entire life."

Manuel nodded.

"Well let's change that, shall we?" Manuel suggested.

"E-excuse me?" Miguel stammered.

"How long are you in Juarez for? How long until you go home?" Manuel asked. Miguel shrugged.

"I don't know, to be honest. School's out for the year so I have as long as I want. Could leave as early as tonight."

Manuel shook his head.

"No, no. Don't do that." Manuel said. "You say that I haven't been around your whole life? You're right. But let's change that. Why don't you stay here for a while? You can stay at my place? With me, you'll be protected from the people in this city, and we can spend the time getting to know each other."

Miguel stared at him for several moments, weighing the options in his head, before eventually nodding.

"Alright, let's do it."

Manuel smiled widely and genuinely at his son, but as soon as Miguel turned around slightly, that smile transformed into a villainous smirk. Yes… this was it. This was his way of getting back at Carmen for screwing him over. He didn't know where she lived, what she was doing, so it had taken him so long, but he had never forgotten the humiliation of being left the way he was. Poaching her only son and turning his allegiance from her to him… she would soon taste a fraction of what it's like to have a loved one leave you without warning…

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It's Miguel…

Hearing the name jolted Sam out of her daze like she was being zapped by a cattle prod. Her ears started ringing and her hair stood up on its end. Her head shot up, and she immediately locked eyes with Johnny, listening intently at what he had to say about her boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend. She had no idea where her and Miguel stood, to be honest, as she hadn't heard from him at all since the tournament. It was terrifying… he could be anywhere in the world for all she knew. She was going to ask Carmen if she knew where he was as soon as she emerged from the bathroom, but she hadn't yet and now that Johnny had brought him up, she was hoping that her countless questions would be answered.

"Miguel's in Mexico? Why?" Daniel asked, surprised. "He taking a little bit of time off from training after the tournament because if anyone needs it, I think it's him."

Johnny shook his head.

"No, he's not vacationing or anything. He went to Mexico looking for some answers." Johnny said. The Larussos looked at him, confused.

"Answers about what?" Amanda asked. Johnny took a deep breath and shuddered before answering. Even just thinking about what Miguel was doing, who he was looking for, sent shivers up and down his spine.

"He, uh… he went to Mexico to look for his father."

Sam, who had just drank a sip of water, nearly spat it out in shock and disbelief. She felt her blood run cold and a tremor run down her spine. Her eyes widened. She had heard very little about Miguel's father, only snippets that Miguel had mentioned in passing and a few sentences by Carmen when Sam had come over to their place one time, but that was all she needed to gauge that whoever Miguel's father was, he was a very bad man. A dangerous man. The last person she wanted the boy she loved in the hands of.

"W-w-what? When did he leave?" Sam stammered.

"Night of the tournament. He turned off his phone so we have no way of contacting him and he could be absolutely anywhere in Mexico for all we know." Johnny replied. Anger flashed through Sam's body upon hearing this.

"You found out the night of the tournament and you didn't say anything for 5 days?!" Sam yelled. Johnny raised his hands in surrender.

"Easy, Larusso! In case you haven't noticed, things have been kind of crazy in the past 5 days." Johnny snapped.

"Well we can't just leave him out there! We have to go find him!" Sam exclaimed. Johnny looked at her and raised an eyebrow at her outbursts.

"You know, that thought actually did cross my mind once or twice." Johnny commented sarcastically. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

It was someone else's turn for a reaction; this time it was Robby whose face dropped.

"Wait, you're leaving tomorrow?!" Robby stammered, before perplexion about everything else took over.

"I'm sorry, I am so confused." Tory interrupted, at a complete loss. Johnny and Sam clearly knew things that she didn't, and it was causing the rest of them to not understand what was going on. "I think I might be missing something. How is Miguel looking for his father a bad thing? If anything, isn't it a good thing he's looking for his father? Worst case scenario, he comes back and nothing changes. Best case scenario, he has another father figure in his life. Why don't we just let him do his thing. He's a pretty resourceful person. He can get around Mexico. He can spend the summer finding whatever answer he needs, and can come back whenever he's ready."

"Unfortunately, it's not that easy." A voice came from behind all of them. It was Carmen, who had just walked back into the room. "Miguel's father… he is not a good man."

"Yeah, neither was my father for 17 years." Robby remarked, glancing sideways at Johnny. "So what? Miguel can handle himself."

Carmen shook her head.

"No, no. This man is so, so much worse than Johnny. He's a real asshole, who… who might have one or two ties with one of the most fearsome gangs in all of Central America." Carmen said.

"He has one or two connections or he's actually in the…" Daniel's question trailed off as he got his answer. Carmen didn't have to say anything. The sheer terror in her eyes said it all. "Jesus Christ."

"So Miguel is at the hands of a South American gangbanger… that's just what you want to hear." Tory grumbled sarcastically. "Now, does anyone know where in Mexico he is exactly, or Johnny, are you just going to search through the hundred million people asking each of them if they've see Migu…"

"Found him." Sam said from her seat in the corner of the room. Everyone turned towards her and saw that she was on her phone.

"You… you did? How?" Johnny asked.

"What, did you doggy chip your own boyfriend? Because that takes possessiveness to the next level!" Tory laughed at Sam. Sam scowled daggers at her arch-nemesis and shook her head.

"I didn't doggy chip him, Tory. His phone is on right now, so I can see where he is on Find my Friends." Sam stated.

"What is that? Some kind of government tracking computer bullshit?" Johnny asked.

"It's an app where you can see where your friends are, or at least where their phones are anyways." Sam explained. "Miguel and I added each other on it in case, um… in case Cobra Kai attacked one of us and we didn't have time to send a full message with where we are but needed to find us."

At this comment, Robby and Tory looked down in shame. Despite all of Tory's lingering animosity towards Sam, upon hearing things like this, a small part of her felt bad about the terror she had inflicted on so many lives.

"Well… where is he?" Carmen asked Sam urgently. Sam zoomed deeper on her phone's map and eventually squinted to read a city name on the Mexican border.

"Juarez, Mexico."