CHAPTER 36

Ding!

Well there's one thing that hadn't changed. The bell on the door still rang as Miguel stepped into the Cobra Kai dojo for the first time in nearly 11 months. It was quite possibly the only thing that hadn't changed, as the dojo he once loved so much looked a far cry from the dojo he stood inside now. As Miguel's eyes flicked around the room, he commented to himself that this place had gotten a serious face-lift. He knew that with Silver's arrival, there had been a massive influx of funds, so he didn't expect it to look like the same dingy, shabby place it was when Johnny was sensei. But this… this was totally different. It actually looked like a professional facility, training equipment all around the room, the mats spotlessly clean.

The ghost of a smile graced Miguel's lips as he took off his shoes and stepped on the mat for the first time in forever. So many great times, some of the greatest times of his entire life, had been within these very walls. He had been at his very peak physically, only to have it all come crashing down at the hands of that piece of shit brunette. The past few weeks, Miguel had said, he had sworn to himself, that he didn't miss karate. That he was done with that part of his life. He had been dead wrong. Karate hadn't just been an activity to him. It was a part of his identity, a big part of who he was, and he was ready to reclaim that. Not only that, but to be earning the amount Silver had promised to pay him would allow him to graduate and leave the Valley to do bigger things with his life. There was nothing Silver had said about Miguel having to plan, or even be a part of any fights with Miyagi-Do. From what Silver had said, Miguel was more of a poster child than anything else, so all he needed to do was train, help Silver recruit, and defend his fellow Cobra Kais if Miyagi-Do started any fights with them.

"Mr. Silver?" Miguel called out to the pitch-black dojo, but to no answer. There was no movement, and no voices that Miguel could hear, so he decided to walk deeper into the dojo. The main dojo had transformed by an incredible amount, so Miguel was almost eager to find out what had become of the back room. It had been mostly storage other than the occasional drill they did in there for Johnny, but Miguel could only imagine that Silver had fixed it up a little since then. Sure enough, he was right. As Miguel slowly stepped into the room, he couldn't help but gasp a little and smile. This place was incredible! Treadmills, weights equipment, and stretching/recovery equipment filled the room, as well as a variety of different punching bags. In fact, the punching bag in the corner was occupied, as Miguel watched Silver sparring furiously with it. He circled it, throwing a monstrously powerful combination of punches and kicks, breathing heavily as he did so.

As Silver unleashed a couple more of punches, he then let his arms fall beside his waist, and he stepped back from the target, before looking up and seeing the newcomer watching him intently. Silver's lips spread into a massive smile as he saw Miguel standing there.

"Ah, just as I expected. You come to reconsider the offer?" He asked, to which Miguel nodded.

"The 5k a week still on the table?" Miguel asked. Silver raised an eyebrow.

"What if I told you it wasn't?" Silver remarked. Miguel sighed.

"Then I turn around and go home, and none of this ever happened." Miguel replied. Silver nodded. That made sense. Miguel wasn't there for the love of the dojo. Not just yet. He was purely there for the pay stub. Not exactly what Silver would have wanted to see from his new champion, but he had faith. Faith that Miguel would fall in love with the dojo that were willing to do more for him than Johnny Lawrence or Daniel Larusso ever were. Faith that when the two of them found out about Miguel being a Cobra Kai, they would immediately lose their heads and them and their students would only push Miguel further into the arms of Cobra Kai. If what happened with Johnny Lawrence when he offered Robby money was any indication, Johnny Lawrence would hardly be the pinnacle of zen and calmness when he tried to get his former student to quit. By the end of the summer, Miguel Diaz would be deeper than ever in Cobra Kai, and there would be no chance in hell Johnny Lawrence or Daniel Larusso could do to pull him out.

"No… no, don't do that." Silver responded. "The money's still very much on the table. But… if you want it, you're going to have to earn it. Earn your place on the team just like everyone else. Earn your seat at the head of the table."

Miguel nodded.

"That's fair. So do I come back tomorrow and beat an existing student like we used to have to do to be able to join?" Miguel asked, remembering the way that people like Tory had joined the dojo the previous summer.

Silver chuckled and shook his head.

"No, no, no. That would be much to easy, Mr. Diaz, and not at all indicative to me that you're ready to be Cobra Kai's champion." He said. "No… to be a champion, you shouldn't just be trying to beat the average student. You need to fight someone better than you if you want to truly show your mettle."

Miguel nodded.

"I get that. You just pick a student, any student. Let me know when, where and who the opponent is and I'll be there." Miguel told him. Silver smirked at him.

"Okay. Right now, Cobra Kai dojo, and your opponent is Terry Silver." Silver replied coolly. Miguel's eyes widened as he looked at the much taller, much bigger, much more skilled sensei who he was about to be fighting. Fighting Johnny was hard enough, but this man made even Johnny seem like a novice. That being said though, Miguel knew that he wasn't getting out of this fight if he wanted his money, so he pushed down all of his nerves and nodded at his sensei.

"Okay. But I don't see how you expect me to score 3 points on a sensei who started Karate like 40 years before I did, and even before that fought in 'Nam."

Silver shook his head.

"Oh, I don't expect you to score 3 points on me. In fact, if you do, I'll turn around and walk out these doors and leave the Valley forever." Silver remarked. "Which is why this fight is going to be different to any initiation fights in the past. You don't have to beat me to solidify your place in this dojo. You have 10 minutes to score just one point on me. You do that, and you're in. If you don't, you're out. Got it?"

Fire-like determination returned to Miguel for the first time since August, when he had left Cobra Kai. Sure he had worked hard since then - learning how to walk again, learning how to fight again, training for the tournament - but all of those times his feelings had been muted or numbed a little for whatever reason. When he was relearning how to walk, it was that fear that he wouldn't be able to walk again. When it was training for the tournament, it was all of the worry about so much: getting attacked by Cobra Kai; keeping Daniel and Johnny together; what would happen if they didn't win the tournament; and on top of that the stress of maintaining his relationships with Johnny, Sam, his friends, everyone else. Well that wasn't the case anymore. The sky was the limit for him again, and he was chomping at the bit. Silver set up a 10 minute timer, before the two bowed at each other and got into fighting stances. 3… 2… 1… Fight…

Miguel very nearly won the fight in the first five seconds. He realised from the start that he was nowhere close to being the better fighter of the two. He was physically and technically inferior to the older, bigger sensei, so he knew that he needed the element of surprise on his side. Rather than taking a more defensive stance to staunch the upcoming attacks, Miguel went on the front foot, suddenly lunging at Silver and sending a jumping roundhouse kick towards his head. And he was so close he could've sworn he felt the tip of Silver's ponytail connect with his foot as the man ducked. Silver managed to dodge the kick at the very last moment, and that was when Miguel truly realised he was screwed. The biggest difference between Silver and everyone else he had fought before… Silver's fighting IQ was about a million times better than anyone he had exchanged blows with in the past. He made decisions in the blink of an eye, and his reflexes were insane too. Miguel hadn't even landed on the ground yet after his kick before Silver had already recovered and had planned out the next few moves. It was like a game of chess, fighting with Silver. Silver thought 3 moves ahead, and was cunning as he was strong. As soon as Miguel's feet hit the ground, Silver had already pounced on him, sweeping his legs out from under him and causing him to go crashing down onto the mat.

Groaning in pain, Miguel quickly rolled to his feet, out of direct harm's way so he could take a moment to regroup. But he knew he couldn't wait too long as he was on a ticking clock, with nearly one minute already gone. So Miguel geared up and charged at Silver again. But Silver was completely ready for Miguel's swinging combination, and was once again 5 moves ahead of him in the game. Miguel threw a flurry of punches, each of which Silver dodged with just his head, not having to parry them. And as he did this, he allowed Miguel to start to feel hope that he had gotten him on the back foot, which made the teenager greedy. He allowed his hands to venture further from his fighting stance as he unleashed punch after punch. And once Silver had managed to drag Miguel's arms out far enough by tempting him with his face, he let Miguel walk right into the trap. He dodged one more punch, before releasing two of his own strikes. It was one of the most basic traps in fighting, as it meant that Miguel's arms were no longer guarding his head and Silver had almost a completely open target. Of course, Silver's pinpoint accuracy allowed his first punch to clobber Miguel's jaw, and the second his ear, causing Miguel to fall to the ground. As he hit the floor, he slammed his hands at the ground in frustration, scowling up at the sensei who stood over him.

Miguel felt an inferno of determination burn to his body as he shot to his feet, ignoring any pain his body might be feeling as the passion, the will for the fight roared him on. He was in a bad shape physically, but mentally, this moment he was feeling the best he had in a long time. His fire burning inside him was well and truly back. And Silver noticed this in the boy's eyes, and he grinned at him.

"You've missed this, haven't you? The fighting. The rivalry. You say you just want to join but I see in your eyes that it's more than that." Silver remarked, hopping from foot to foot as he waited for Miguel to shoot to his feet and attack again.

It took Miguel just a couple of seconds to rise to his feet again, and he was filled with even more desire to win, if that was even possible. He hated losing, hated it with every fibre of his being. He couldn't let Silver win, at least not without throwing at Silver everything he had. So Miguel fought back any feelings of pain, and he launched assault after assault at the older man, giving it absolutely everything. The time ticked away as Silver countered attack after attack after attack, knocking Miguel down more times than he could even count, sending some crushing blows that would have knocked out, or at least scared off, any lesser-spirited individual. But Miguel didn't give up, launching strike after strike, ignoring the screaming pain that every inch of his body was feeling. He couldn't stop, couldn't give up. That was until a loud ringing echoed through the room and Miguel stopped dead, his hands dropping back down beside him. That was it. That was the timer. He had failed.

It was a blow more crushing to him than any of the strikes Silver had landed on him. He hadn't done what was required, which meant that he wasn't allowed to join Cobra Kai, wasn't able to get the money Silver was offering.

"Damn. Well I guess I'm… I'm sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Silver." Miguel murmured, utterly devastated. Silver chuckled.

"Where are you going, Diaz?" He asked. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"Well I had to score a point to earn my spot on the team. I didn't do that, so I'm out, right?" Miguel responded. Silver laughed and shook his head.

"No, you're not out, Miguel." He replied. "I'll admit, I was never expecting you to win that fight, or even score a point to be honest."

Miguel's eyes narrowed slightly as he glared at the man.

"Gee, thanks." Miguel snapped in reply. Silver shook his head.

"No, no, you misunderstand me. The whole point of the fight was to test you, to test not only your skills as a fighter but as a person." He stated. "And the way you kept getting back up when you got knocked down, and the way you didn't lose hope until the timer rang… if that's not the mark of a good warrior, of a good leader, then I don't know what is. Congratulations, Miguel. The spot is yours. That is, if you want it of course."

Miguel couldn't help but smile widely in relief. He had done it! However, his expression quickly changed from elated to controlled as he looked the man in the eye.

"So just to confirm… if I join you, I won't have to plan any assaults on Miyagi-Do?" Miguel double-checked. Silver shook his head.

"No, you don't. That's not what we do in this dojo now, despite whatever happened in the past." Silver replied. Miguel nodded, and a smile crept onto his lips once more.

"Okay. Alright, you've got yourself a deal." Miguel stated. Silver grinned a beaming smile to match Miguel's.

"Welcome back to Cobra Kai, my boy!" He exclaimed.

"5000 dollars a week. I'll get that in writing?" Miguel asked. Silver nodded.

"By noon tomorrow." He replied, before holding out a hand for Miguel to shake. Miguel took it, firmly shaking the man's hand.

"Sensei Silver… you just bought yourself a champion."