Chapter 52: Inner Peace

Third Person POV:

Brian finally left the hospital with a brace around his finger.

"How did this happen?" Violet asks.

"Cobra Kai did this!" Brian shouts.

"Well…um…you must have done something to anger them." Violet says.

"Screw you! Listen to yourself!" Brian shouts. A little doubt can be seen in Violet's eyes.

"Enough! I don't want any fighting from you two! I'm gonna get to the bottom of this and arrest the Cobra that did this to Brian." Detective Alfonso says.

James's POV:

I woke up early in the morning. I check my phone and see that I have over a hundred text messages from the Miyagi-Fang group chat. I went to bed early last night due to being sore from my injuries and missed all these messages. I text Eli.

"Dude, I'm too lazy to read all the messages you guys sent yesterday. What's the big commotion about?" I text.

"Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso found out that Cobra Kai is going to try and enter into the Sekai Taikai, the biggest karate tournament in the world. Our Sensei's were able to convince the officials to give us a shot at gaining entry." Eli texts back.

"Jeez, things just jumped to one hundred really fast." I text.

"Be sure to be at the dojo on time. Also, check this video out." Eli texts. I watch the video that Eli sent me and it's a Sekai Taikai fight. Jeez…these fighters were miles ahead of me. I get out of bed and get ready to leave.

Later…

I exit my room and am about ready to leave the house when my parents stop me.

"James, we know you got into a fight with Steve. We saw the video." My mom says. I turn around and my parents see the black eye and bruises on my face.

"Did he try and mess with you again?" My mom asks.

"Not exactly. He said something about Nick and I just snapped." I say.

"James, we've been meaning to talk to you about what you did to the Cobras." My dad says.

"I…I know what I did was wrong, but I'm trying to make up for it." I say.

"James, you could've killed someone with the way you were fighting. We also learned that you bullied someone. Why would you do that?" My dad asks.

"I…I was just so fed up with Cobra Kai's bullying that I thought I was doing the right thing. I believed that everyone in Cobra Kai was a bad person. The things I did to them were horrible. The things I did to Brian, the kid I bullied, were horrible too. I'm trying so hard to make up for what I've done. Brian left Cobra Kai and is now in Miyagi-Do. I apologized to him for everything I did. I also tried to apologize to the Cobras but they didn't take it as well. They took offense to it and they…they…." I say.

"What did they do to you?" My dad asks.

"It doesn't matter. All I know is that nothing I do can take back what I did to everyone. But maybe I can still make things right by taking down Cobra Kai and preventing any more kids from joining this dojo war. There's…there are still good people in Cobra Kai that need to be saved." I say while thinking about Violet.

"I get what you're saying. However, we realized that this isn't your fight. We moved to the Valley for a fresh start. Now I see that moving here has brought nothing but pain onto you and others. You're father and I have been talking, and we've decided that we're going to move out of the valley." My mom says. My jaw drops. My vision begins to blur and I begin breathing heavily.

"James, are you okay?" My dad asks.

"I…I need some air." I say before walking outside the house.

Third Person POV:

Tristan was training with Aaron in the Cobra Kai dojo.

"You're kicking could use some improvement." Tristan says.

"I was able to beat Chase with these kicks so…" Aaron points out.

"Don't get too cocky. He'll be more determined now than ever to beat you. You have to be prepared." Tristan says. The two continue training until Tristan notices Kenny by himself. "Keep practicing." Tristan says as he walks away. Tristan approaches Kenny and notices that he's watching a video on his phone. "Hey, what's up?" Tristan asks.

"James got into a fight with Steve at the bowling alley." Kenny says. Tristan looks at the video and sees James and Steve in a pretty intense fight on the bowling lanes. A huge crowd of people were watching them.

"Why are you watching this in the middle of training?" Tristan asks.

"I'm watching this for a reason. I'm analyzing James's fighting style. I'm trying to figure out how to counter all of his fancy moves and strike hard when he isn't prepared." Kenny says.

"That's…actually pretty smart. Let me help you." Tristan says.

"What?" Kenny asks.

"If you wanna know how to beat the best, then you need to train with the best. I'll teach you all the ways you can counter James's moves." Tristan says.

James's POV:

I arrive at the dojo with Miguel, Eli, and Robby.

"Dude, did you catch that video I sent you of last year's Sekai Taikai?" Eli asks Miguel.

"Man, who knew people could kick that high?" Miguel says.

"Or that hard." Robby says.

"Dude, seriously." Eli says.

"I guess that's why it's the biggest competition in the world." Sam says.

"I heard last year's winners did a big car commercial in Taiwan." Eli says.

"Dude, imagine being in a commercial. What would you do with all that money?" Mitch asks.

"Buy a yacht with a hot tub on it. Fill it up with smarties and hotties." Chris says. We all laugh.

"All right, all right. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. All right, remember, Cobra Kai is gonna do everything they can to get a spot. And if they win this time, kids all over the world are gonna have to deal with the same kind of crap that you guys have gone through." Mr. LaRusso says.

"But if we win, we can show the world how to stop them." Sam says.

"First you must prove you can compete with best." Sensei Toguchi says.

"But in order to do that you have to be better than the best. Which is why we're gonna kick your asses into high gear." Sensei Lawrence says.

"Sensei Lawrence, Sensei Toguchi, and I are gonna get you ready for the presentation tomorrow. Ok, so come on. Let's get warmed up." Mr. LaRusso says.

"Go! Move those asses." Sensei Lawrence shouts. I walk over and join Chase, Emma, and Brian.

"Brian, what happened to you?" I ask.

"I got beat up by Cobra Kai." Brian says.

"What happened to your finger?" I ask.

"One of the Cobras broke it." Brain reveals.

"What?! Who?!" I ask.

"I don't know who he is. I'm sorry." Brain says.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to protect you the best I can from now on." I say.

Later…

After we warm up for a bit, I notice a familiar kid enter the dojo.

"What are you doing here?!" Sam shouts. Steve walks into the dojo looking pretty disheveled. I did a number on him during our fight yesterday.

"I…I came here to apologize." Steve says. Sam glares at him and walks up to him.

"Sam-" Mr. LaRusso begins to say.

"Listen, I don't know what kinda sick game you're playing, but you better leave right now before I kick your ass again." Sam says.

"I…I'm not here to fight." Steve says. Eli approaches Steve.

"Yeah? Well that's what you've been doing every single time you've shown your face." Eli says.

"Listen, I'm sorry for everything I did to you guys." Steve says.

"Sorry? You broke my kneecap, allowing Cobra Kai and Aaron to bully me all summer! You manipulated me into hating James!" Chase shouts while approaching Steve.

"You assaulted me, Chase, and James just a couple months ago!" Emma shouts while approaching Steve.

"You and the Cobras tried to assault me when I quit Cobra Kai!" Brian shouts while approaching Steve. I stay in the back, not wanting to be a part of what was happening.

"Enough! Step back!" Sensei Toguchi shouts. The Miyagi-Fang students step back as Sensei Toguchi approaches Steve.

"You say you're sorry?" Sensei Toguchi asks.

"Yeah." Steve says weakly. Sensei Toguchi looks at Steve for a bit until deciding to speak.

"Come." He says. Steve silently follows.

"You can't seriously be trusting him!" Sam shouts.

"Sam, you'll have to let Sensei Toguci handle this." Mr. LaRusso says.

"No! I'm not letting this go!" Sam shouts. Sam turns to me. "Back me up here!" She shouts.

"I…I don't know what to think. I trust Sensei Toguchi though." I say. Sam grits her teeth and decides not to argue anymore.

Third Person POV:

Chozen brought Steve over to the front of the dojo, where all the cars were.

"So, you say you want to apologize for what you've done?" Chozen asks.

"Yeah." Steve says.

"And why is that?" Chozen asks.

"Because I realized how shitty I was. I let Cobra Kai turn me into a bully and a monster. Even after getting kicked out, I still acted like that because that's all I knew. But my brother helped me realize how much of an idiot I was being. In a way, I don't want to end up like him. I also don't want to be remembered as a bully anymore. I was so full of hate and fear because of what James's brother did to my brother that I let it control me. I hurt a lot of people because of my emotions, and I want to change. Sorry if I shared too much." Steve says.

"So you understand. The reason you have so much hate in your heart is because of snake. Snake taught you all the wrong things." Chozen says.

"Even so, I still targeted James on his first day of school because I was scared. That's all on me. However, I let my former teammates get in my head." Steve admits.

"The only way to unlearn snake's teachings is to learn new teachings." Chozen says.

"What do you mean?" Steve asks.

"I teach you a new way of fighting. I teach you Miyagi-Do." Chozen says. Steve immediately puts his hands up and begins backing up.

"No thank you. Miyagi-Fang already hates me enough as it is. Imagine how angry they'll be when they see me training with you. Besides, I already know some fancy moves thanks to Robby." Steve says.

"Miyagi-Do is more than fancy moves. It helps you find inner peace. It shows you a new way of fighting. It shows you that fighting opponent is more than just winning, it about honor." Chozen says.

"I…I don't know." Steve says.

"Don't worry what rest of dojo thinks. The first step to undoing your hateful nature starts here." Chozen says. Steve hesitates.

"Okay, I'll train with you." Steve says.

Later…

After a while, Steve started to understand why people would join Miyagi-Do. It honestly felt nice learning a style that wasn't hell bent on destroying your enemies. The way Robby taught Miyagi-Do and the way Chozen taught it were completely different. That's when the rest of the Miyagi-Fangs return to the front.

James's POV:

Class had finished and I arrived at the front only to see Sensei Toguchi training my arch nemesis.

"What the hell is this?!" Sam shouts.

"Be calm. I am only showing him the right way to fight." Sensei Toguchi says.

"No! This is messed up! He's just gonna attack us with our own style now!" Sam shouts.

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm okay with this." Eli says.

"Relax guys, I'm sure this will all work out in the end." Mr. LaRusso says.

"I…I'm not in Cobra Kai anymore. I don't want to bully people anymore." Steve says.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have stripped James naked at the mall and claimed it was sexual assault." Sam says while getting in Steve's face.

"You'll never be welcomed here." Chase says while approaching Steve.

"You attacked James at the bowling alley just yesterday!" Eli says.

"That's not true! I came there to apologize to him. Tell them James!" Steve shouts. However, I don't say anything.

"Get out. The world would be better off without you." Brian says. Steve looks down and begins walking away.

Author's Note: Steve tried to seek Miyagi-Fang's forgiveness but to no avail. Will Steve ever be accepted? How will Steve ever be able to redeem himself? James's life has been turned upside down with the news that he'll be moving out of the valley. How will everyone else react to this news? Sorry that this chapter took so long to come out. I had so much work that I had no time to revise the chapter. I promise to upload another chapter tomorrow.