CHAPTER 52

That afternoon, Miguel walked into the Cobra Kai dojo for their 3 pm training and to his great surprise, the dojo was a LOT busier than normal. Miguel had started to get used to the bare-bones, quiet 4 person dojo, but now he was staring at the exact opposite, and it was beautiful. The dojo was buzzing with activity, the loud voices of tens of people all over the room. Not only did he spy their new sensei - Sensei Barnes - standing next to Silver at the front, but there were at least 20 to 25 new students that Miguel had never seen before, standing around and waiting for class to start. But these weren't just the new students that Miguel was used to seeing in Cobra Kai, the nerds who would be moulded into fighters. They made up maybe half the room. The other half was made up of some pretty scary young adults that Miguel had never seen before. Not teenagers, as Miguel would have recognised them from West Valley. No, these were more the type of people if you see in school, you sound the intruder alarm. All wearing sleeveless tank tops and wife beaters, Miguel spied a host of muscular, tattooed arms, and their faces were chock full of marks, scars and grins that sent shivers down Miguel's spine. These people didn't seem like the kind you wanted to run into during the day, let alone at night, and it was pretty unnerving so he walked over to Silver, who smiled at him when he saw his champion walk in.

"Ah, Miguel, you're here!" He exclaimed cheerfully. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, uh… who are these people?" Miguel asked. Silver grinned widely.

"Well, our new recruits, of course! I told you I'd be getting some soon, and I'm a man of my word." Silver replied. "We have 12 new students who decided to join after seeing us in the tournament, and 11 who Sensei Barnes has managed to bring with him."

Miguel glanced around the room. It was pretty evident who the new students were and who Barnes' recruits were.

"Right. Sensei Barnes' recruits… they don't look very friendly." He commented quietly so only Silver could hear him. Silver shook his head.

"They're born fighters. Something neither Johnny Lawrence or John Kreese brought into their dojos." Silver stated. "Don't worry about them. They aren't a risk to you or the others in any way. You can have my word on that."

As Miguel turned around and watched three of these new recruits beating one of the punching targets brutally hard and laughing gruffly, he internally shook his head. It isn't exactly me I'm worried about, he thought to himself. But he didn't say anything else to his sensei. Instead, his eyes scanned around the room again, trying to gauge who was the biggest threat? Who would it be? Would it be the guy whose biceps looked nearly as big as his head? Or the guy who had a mouth of almost entirely metal fillings that almost looked like they had been filed into fangs? Or the guy whose sleeve tattoos told the story of a pack of lions tearing apart a billie goat? Or the guy whose face looked like he had been mauled by the same lions on his friend's tattoo? These people all looked terrifying!

A few moments later, Silver barked for the class to listen up so the Cobras, both old and new, all lined up before their two senseis.

"To the new students… welcome to Cobra Kai." Silver announced. "We hope you can find a home in our dojo and that the dojo does as much for you as I'm sure you're going to do for us."

The worry inside Miguel increased slightly at this comment. What were these new students going to do for Cobra Kai? If it was Miguel's first thought when he heard that sentence, it wasn't good at all.

"And to the old students of Cobra Kai…" Barnes addressed Miguel, Piper, Kenny, Kyler, Stingray and the other few veteran students. "Know that with the arrival of these new students and what I'm sure will be many more in the future as we continue to expand, your place in the dojo is not safe. Cobra Kai is not a right. It is a privilege. You need to show Sensei Silver and myself that you've earned the right to train at this illustrious dojo. Earned the right to don our crest."

Silver nodded.

"Sensei Barnes is right. Cobra Kai aims to permanently claim the title of the greatest dojo in the Valley. We won the All-Valley. Currently, we're on top. But if each and every one of you doesn't put in 110% effort and commitment into the dojo, then there's no chance we stay there. Which is why Sensei Barnes and I are not going to accept any less than every ounce of energy you have. Training until your muscles are aching and pleading for you to stop. Collecting countless bruises and scrapes in countless sparring matches. Because THAT is how you improve. And if anyone has a problem with that, behind you is the door. You can walk out right now because as soon as training starts, you're going to stick out like a sore thumb and you're going to be kicked out anyway."

However, as expected, nobody headed for the door. All of them glanced around at their fellow students, seeing if any would crack and leave, but none did. They all stood facing their senseis with hard, determined looks on their faces.

"Good. That's good." Silver nodded after a few seconds. "Well then… let's begin!"

"Okay, everyone, listen up and listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once." Barnes announced. "Sensei Silver and I were discussing last night how this new era of Cobra Kai was going to work. And we both agreed that there are much too many students for one dojo full, as it would become so packed that we wouldn't be able to train you in the most efficient way."

"So instead, we decided that we are going to split you all into two classes." Silver continued, finishing his co-sensei's sentence. "The beginners and the advanced class. The advanced students will have 5 training sessions a week under the guidance of both myself and Sensei Barnes. And the beginners will be moved to our brand new location on Mulholland, where they will train with either myself or Sensei Barnes, three times a week."

"The groups will be as follows." Barnes called. "Listen carefully for your name. When you hear which group you're with, advanced students move to the left side of the dojo, and beginner students move to the right? Does everyone understand?"

"Yes Sensei!" Miguel and the other veteran Cobras shouted back, as the new students looked at them, confused. Barnes nodded, approvingly.

"I said… does everyone understand?"

"YES SENSEI!" The entire dojo erupted in one simultaneous bark, the phrase almost like an Army war cry with the number of students and the deep voices, nature of having non-nerds back in the dojo again.

"Good!" Barnes exclaimed. "Alright, let's get to it. Diaz… advanced."

Nobody was expecting otherwise, and Miguel moved to the left side of the dojo as instructed, taking the opportunities to watch and scout the various new students that would be joining. He didn't catch many names of the new students, but it became pretty evident what Silver and Barnes were doing. Despite not having formerly trained in karate before, those that Barnes had brought in were all brought to the advanced group, and all of the students who had joined after watching the tournament were in the beginner's group. There was a vast difference between the two groups and it showed without them having to even throw a punch: the advanced group were all in great physical shape, while the beginner's group were all the collection of the overweight or underweight students the dojo had. That was for the new students of course. For the veterans, that's where it got a bit more interesting…

"Elwith… advanced."

So that was her last name, Miguel remarked to himself as he watched Piper join them in the advanced group. Though she wasn't yet at the level of Sam and Tory, given how short a time she had trained and still made the tournament semis… she was a pretty decent recruit for the dojo.

"Park… advanced."

Kyler's smug grin became unimaginably wider as he practically sprinted over to the advanced group. He tried to fist bump the other people in the group, a gesture that Piper returned, but nobody else did, with Miguel's hands firmly by his sides and the other advanced students staring disgustedly at him.

"Payne…"

Barnes hesitated for a moment, and in that moment, Kenny's heart stopped. He prayed with all his might that he'd be put in the advanced group. With Miguel. With Piper. With Kyler. After all, he had made great strides in the past 6 months since he had started. But at the same time, Kenny's size and build was not dissimilar to that of the other students in the beginner group. In fact, some of the beginner group was even bigger than he was, so Kenny was terrified that for that reason, they'd put him with the beginners.

"Advanced."

Both Kenny and Miguel let out massive sighs of relief when they heard this, as they had almost been equally as nervous. Miguel was delighted that there was at least one kind, familiar face around in this pretty drastic shift that the dojo had made, and he was also happy that he'd be able to keep an eye over Kenny's shoulder in case the dojo did begin to go down a dark path. Miguel discreetly fistbumped Kenny as the boy delightly joined their ranks. There was just one boy - well, man - left in the center of the room, while there were pretty much equal numbers on the far left and far right.

"Stingray…"

It all came down to this. One name left. Beginner and advanced. But Stingray knew which dojo he'd be with. He'd been in Cobra Kai longer than anyone else in the dojo besides Miguel, and given that Miguel had quit, he had been the most loyal member of the dojo. Cobra Kai was his life, and he knew that he'd put in 200% effort into training, something would eventually make him the best student in the dojo. 10 months of probation, each day sitting in his sister's place, longing to get back to training. Hearing the horror stories of what those pricks at Miyagi-Do were doing to his best friends with there being nothing he could do to fight back. Hearing all the betrayals that were occurring within the dojo, with no way he could go back and express his loyalty. Training in his basement at home was all he could do, watching hours and hours of combat movies - Gladiator, Bloodsport, John Wick, Rocky, Creed, he had seen them all. All of that to finally hear that glorious word. That he was being put in the advanced group. That his senseis had faith in him. That he was part of the future of Cobra Kai, and not in the overgrown babysitter they called the beginners' group. He was Cobra Kai through and through. He knew, and he knew that his senseis knew it too.

"Beginner."

Stingray's heart broke…