I'm really sorry I wasn't specific before. In this story's universe, the events of the Karate Kid DID happen, but the events of Cobra Kai DID NOT. Miguel and Sam's generation graduated from high school without the karate war that is happening on the real show. Johnny is Miguel's stepfather but not his sensei.

CHAPTER 5

A couple of incredible days later, Sam left for New York again, and the day after that, Miguel had to go back to work. It had been the best month of his life. Him and Sam were officially dating and had decided to try a long distance relationship. It wouldn't be as bad as they originally thought, as there was no time difference between New York and Virginia, and Miguel had access to a phone to use for Skyping, calling, texting, etc. When it would be difficult, however, would be when Miguel was forced to get deployed or enter the field.

"ALL RIGHT, DIAZ, MOSKOWITZ, GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!" The commanding officer of Miguel's platoon barked to his men at the Virginia Naval Base that morning. Although Miguel was the highest ranking enlisted soldier in his platoon and would be on any missions they went on, he was still commanded by specialist SEAL officers, who trained their troops and oversaw missions in the Command Center.

Miguel and Eli walked into one of the many conference rooms on base, and they sat down next to a bunch of officers.

"Okay, gents. Hope you got some rest over your month off, because it's back to business now!" Their commanding officer, Navy Lieutenant Anderson, told them.

"I know Diaz didn't. He was up quite a few nights with his new girlfriend." Eli joked, smirking gleefully. Miguel hit him on the upside of the head, and glared at his friend.

"Sir, permission to shoot Moskowitz for being a pain in my ass?" Miguel asked the Lieutenant. His commanding officer chuckled. Although in training, the officers had to put on an extremely macho, asshole act to test the mental strength of the recruits, as the troops spent more and more time with their commanders on missions, they warmed up to each other.

"Permission denied, Diaz. Just make sure your girlfriend doesn't distract you in the field." Anderson said. Miguel nodded.

"Yes, sir." He nodded. "So, any missions for us yet?"

"As a matter of fact there is one." Anderson said. Miguel raised an eyebrow. That was soon! Normally, after a long vacation, they were given at least a bit of time to get back into the rhythm of things before they were sent out on mission. They normally spent at least a week or so on the target range and at least a week physically training.

"Really? That's… soon." Eli remarked. Anderson nodded.

"Yeah, it is. I know you boys just got back from vacation, but there's nobody else I trust for this mission." He said.

"What is it?" Miguel asked.

"We have intel about a bomb smuggling ring on a ship off the coast of Somalia. Apparently, they are trying to smuggle the bombs from Somalia, across the Arabian Sea and to a Taliban cell in Pakistan. We need to intercept the bombs before they can do that."

"Got it. So what's the plan?" Miguel asked.

"Well, we're tracking the ship's location right now and we were thinking that you guys will be flown in a jet to our closest ship, which is around 5 miles South and is loosely tailing the smuggling ship. When you guys make it onto the Navy warship, you're going to get into a small motorboat and you are going to catch up to the smuggling ship. From there, the mission is yours to play out as the situation reads, with us in your ear of course. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Miguel said. "How many troops do we get for this mission?"

"As many as you need. How many do you need?" Anderson asked. One of the best parts about being as highly respected as Miguel was in his SEAL team was that his commanders listened to his suggestions when it came to missions. After all, he was the highest ranking soldier on the ground in all of his missions.

Miguel thought deeply about the mission and he eventually came up with a decision.

"Well, this mission is all about stealth so I want one small squad. No more than 4 SEALs including me and Moskowitz." Miguel said. The Lieutenant looked at him, unsure.

"Are you sure? Because we can provide you with a lot more manpower. If this turns into a firefight, you might need it." Lieutenant Anderson said. Miguel shook his head.

"No! We need to go about this quietly. If they hear us coming, they might toss the bombs overboard, or worse…" Miguel murmured. Lieutenant Anderson nodded.

"Okay. You fly out in a couple of hours. Get ready. I'll pick two other men from your platoon to come with you. Dismissed."

Miguel and Eli left the room and immediately went into calm hyperdrive preparing for the mission. They went down to the base armory to gear up for the mission. But before Miguel put on the 60 pounds of armor, weaponry and gadgets, he took out his phone and he called Sam. Although in many cases Miguel couldn't tell her where exactly he was going on a mission or what he was doing as it was classified information, they had agreed that whenever Miguel was being deployed, he would call her and let her know.

Miguel groaned as the call was sent to voicemail, and he resorted to sending her a quick voice message to let her know that he was leaving. After that, he went down to the armory and him and the other SEALs were decked out in all of their equipment. As well as carrying their weapons and optics, they were also forced to wear helmets, tactical vests, a waterproof watch, eye gear sunglasses, water sacks on their backs, escape and evasion kits, fighting knives, and lightweight boots. It was practically like having another person permanently strapped to their backs. But they were fine with it. They had trained to carry that amount for years so it was almost second nature for them.

Just as Miguel and Eli were about to walk over to the jetway, where their jet was waiting to fly them to their warship on the Arabian Sea, Miguel took out his phone and saw that he had a video message from Sam. Miguel's eyes widened and he quickly clicked on it. Sam's face immediately filled the screen, and Miguel couldn't help but smile when he saw her. She was wearing pajamas and no makeup in the video, and she still looked drop-dead gorgeous. Miguel could see that she was smiling, but her smile was pretty evidently a mask for the massive worry and fear she was feeling.

"Hey, Miguel. Day one of being back and you're already on mission?!" She said, taking a deep, shaky breath to calm herself so she didn't cry. "I know it's gonna be okay. I haven't been able to talk to you in less than the day and I already miss you so much. I love you and I'm so proud of you. I'm thinking of you always and I will see you soon!"

Sam blew a kiss to the camera and then stopped the video. Miguel smiled as he watched it, but he felt his phone immediately snatched from his hands. Miguel's head shot up and he saw Eli grinning at him and looking at the phone.

"This your girl?" He asked. Miguel nodded and Eli whistled. "Damn! I'd love to break off a piece of that!"

"Watch it. That's my girlfriend!" Miguel growled. Eli rolled his eyes.

"Calm down. I wouldn't want to be that guy and steal your girlfriend." Eli remarked.

"Ha. Like you could." Miguel chuckled. "Now seriously, give me back my phone!"

"Awwww. How sweet! She's worried about you." Eli laughed as he watched the short video. Miguel eventually grabbed his phone back from Eli and glared at him.

"Mate, bad idea to piss me off while I'm holding a gun." Miguel remarked, slapping the M4 that was strapped around his neck. Eli chuckled and the two guys walked over to the hangar, where they saw their Lieutenant, the plane's pilot, and the two other SEALs who were coming on the mission with them. Although Miguel and Eli were experienced soldiers, the two others coming with them were rookies. The two guys had never been on a mission before, and they looked extremely nervous. Not that Miguel and Eli weren't. They were just better at hiding it.

"Diaz, Moskowitz, meet Petty Officers Richards and Neils. Richards, Neils, meet Petty Officer First Class Moskowitz and Chief Petty Officer Diaz. As per Diaz's request, you 4 are the only ones on this mission."

Miguel nodded gratefully at his Lieutenant, who nodded back.

"I will be here, in the Command Center. I'll be in your ears the whole time." Lieutenant Anderson said.

"Oh, goody." Eli remarked quietly to Miguel, who coughed back a laugh. A couple of minutes later, the four SEALs got into the aircraft they would be flying in and they strapped into their seats. The plane was much, much faster than a normal commercial airline, and that meant that the engine was much louder too. They couldn't hear anything but the roar of the engines and afterburners, so they all wore earpieces to communicate.

When they were up in the air and roaring towards Somalia, Miguel gestured for all 4 SEALs to turn on their earpieces. The plane they were in was 3 times faster than a commercial plane, so the flight that would normally take 15 hours would take only around 5. They had nothing better to do in that time than talk.

"Hey, what's up, guys? I'm Miguel Diaz." He said to the two new recruits.

"I'm Eli Moskowitz." Eli said.

"Bryan Richards." One of the other SEALs chimed in.

"Robert Neils." The fourth said. Miguel nodded.

"This your first mission?" Eli asked.

"Yeah." They both replied.

"You nervous?" Miguel asked. They both shook their heads, trying to put on a brave face in front of Miguel and Eli, who looked perfectly at ease. Miguel and Eli both laughed.

"Really? Well that's just not true." Eli remarked. The two SEALs sighed and nodded.

"Okay, yeah, we're pretty nervous." Neils said. Miguel nodded.

"That doesn't go away." Miguel replied. "You just get better at hiding it."

"Really? You're nervous?" Richards asked. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"What's that supposed to mean? Why'd you say 'you' like that?" Miguel asked, furrowing an eyebrow in confusion. Richards and Neils both blushed before answering.

"It's nothing. It's just… we heard a lot about you when we were in BUDs." Neils replied. "Top of your graduating class in BUDs. Silver Star in your first mission. You were kind of a hero to us."

"Ha! Miguel?!" Eli exclaimed, gleefully as Miguel blushed. "You think he's a hero? Here's something you don't know about him. Back when we were in BUDs, he hated waking up early so much that one morning when he was woken up by the Drill Instructor, Miguel didn't want to wake up so much that while half-asleep, he threw his pillow at him!"

"No way!" The two rookies exclaimed.

"Yup! If he hadn't been the top of our class, he would have for sure been kicked out." Eli stated, laughing at the embarrassed expression on Miguel's face.

"Okay, could we not talk about BUDs? The name alone gives me PTSD." Miguel said. Everyone groaned and nodded. BUDs was the SEAL training program, a gruelling 24 week program that weeded out nearly 90% of those who started it. Only the very, very best accomplished BUDs, and Miguel was in fact the highest achiever of his class. That alone proved how accomplished and good he was at his job.

"You and me both." Richards laughed. Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"All right. We got a couple of hours before we arrive. Try and get some sleep." Miguel stated, sitting back into his seat in the jet and closing his eyes. "Lord knows, when we get there, we're gonna need it…"