CHAPTER 5

"Dude, we are crushing this!" Hawk exclaimed as Miguel crossed off another obstacle from their list. It was 3 and a half hours into the race and the pair were 11/15 obstacles done. They had just finished a strength drill where they had to flip an incredibly heavy boulder and pull another gold ribbon out from underneath. They were soaring in the lead of the competition and they knew it. They had come across Sam and Demitri - their closest rivals - around a half hour ago. At that point, Miguel and Hawk had completed 11 obstacles and Sam and Demitri had completed a mere 5. If that's where Sam and Demitri were, there was no telling where the other teams were.

Suddenly, Miguel heard something. Voices. They were coming from around a quarter of a mile away. He immediately tensed up as he recognised one of the voices. He would have recognised it anywhere: it was Kyler. Hawk noticed his friend's sudden change in demeanor and he raised an eyebrow.

"Um… Miguel?" Hawk asked. Miguel quickly put a finger to his lips in a gesture to quiet his friend.

"Shut up. I heard something." Miguel whispered. "People."

Hawk rolled his eyes.

"Well, yeah. One of the other groups may be nearby." Hawk remarked, quietly. Miguel shook his head. He knew something was wrong. The woods had gone eerily quiet. The birds who were previously singing in the trees had diminished. The wind that used to be blowing a faint breeze had completely died down.

"Follow me." Miguel whispered, and the two silently tiptoed towards the noise…

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"All right, guys. Listen up." Tory announced to the other three Cobras. "We know Hawk is somewhere in this quarter mile radius. He could have others with him so we need to be prepared. Kyler and Shawn, you two head in this direction…" She said, pointing in one direction of the forest. "And Robby and I will head in this direction…" She said, pointing in the other.

"Aight, let's do it. Yo, Shawn, pass me my bat from the trunk of the car." Kyler said. Shawn glared at him.

"Get it your own fucking self." Shawn glared. Kyler sighed and opened the trunk of his Jeep, taking out a metal baseball bat. Robby rolled his eyes when he saw it.

"You're such a pussy, Kyler, you know that?" Robby snapped. "You're walking into a 4 on 1 fight and you still feel the need for a baseball bat?"

Kyler shrugged.

"Win at all costs. Just like Sensei Kreese said. I just don't want another embarrassing loss. You know, like in the Larusso house. Or like you in the All-Valley final. Or like you in your relationship with Sam…"

Robby's eyes blazed with fury and he stormed over to Kyler and squared up to him, about to beat the crap out of him. Kyler started to retreat in fear - Robby was by far the best Cobra and it was stupid to try and get a rise out of him - but thankfully, Tory held Robby back before he could strike.

"Hey. Robby. Stop. Calm down." Tory urged him. After taking several deep breaths of anger, Robby slowly stepped away from a terrified Kyler.

"Mention her name one more time, and you'll regret it…" Robby growled. Kyler, almost trembling, nodded.

"Ok, guys, let's go." Tory declared. They all nodded and took off in pairs into the forest.

Robby and Tory silently crept through the trees, searching for any sign of Hawk. As Tory side glanced at Robby, she could tell he was still fuming at Kyler's remarks about Sam. She didn't blame him. Sam and Miguel had both screwed them over so hard. Sam had cheated on him, and then betrayed him when he emotionally needed her the most, dumping him for the same fucking guy who he had pulled her out of a toxic relationship with the year before.

"Hey, you okay?" Tory asked. Robby looked at her and saw the concern in her face and he sighed. Tory was the one person he could talk freely with. She was the one person who truly understood his pain. They had so much in common: leading with the fact that they both had been screwed over by Miguel and Sam.

"Yeah, fine." He grunted. Tory sighed.

"I know how it feels, you know?" She remarked. Robby looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I know how it feels to be thrown under the bus by the one person you opened up to. The one person you trusted." Tory stated. "I know that intense anger that you get whenever you hear her name."

Robby nodded.

"Right. I suppose you would." He murmured.

"It's not our fault." Tory continued. "Any of this. Everyone calls us mentally crazy. Everyone calls us evil. You know how Sensei Kreese says that there's no such thing as good and evil? Well he's wrong. There is a good side and a bad side. We're not the bad side though. We haven't been starting fights. We've just been reacting to situations they've started, and we're the only ones strong enough to end it."

"It's just… there's so much anger in me. And pain. How do you remove it?" Robby asked. Tory shrugged.

"You don't. You just channel it. It makes you a better fighter." She replied. "Trust me. You'll see."

Robby nodded and faintly smiled at Tory.

"Thanks, Tory." He murmured. "For everything. I owe you."

"No, you don't." Tory said. "But do me a favor, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. What?" Robby asked. Tory smirked.

"When you eventually, inevitably fight Miguel and I'm not there, hit him in the dick as hard as you can and tell him that Tory Nichols says fuck you." Tory replied. Robby chuckled.

"And if you fight Samantha, you do the exact same. Deal?" He said, holding out a hand for Tory to shake. Tory laughed and shook it.

"Deal…"

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Hawk and Miguel slowed to a halt. The voices were much closer now and Miguel realised that he couldn't hear Kyler anymore. He heard two other people who he would recognise from a mile away: Tory and Robby. Hawk and Miguel crouched down and peered around a large tree to see the pair talking about 50 meters away. Hawk looked at them and his eyes widened.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Hawk whispered. Miguel shrugged.

"No idea, but we need to get out of here. NOW." Miguel responded, urgently. "Robby and Tory are here. I heard Kyler somewhere too. There's gotta be more. We need to get back to base camp and warn Sensei."

Hawk nodded.

"Base camp's like two miles away. Shouldn't we call him?" Hawk asked. Miguel nodded.

"We'll call him on the way. We just need to get moving. I don't like this." Miguel whispered. His hair was on its end. He could sense that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite tell what. Hawk nodded and the two quietly got to their feet, preparing to run. However, before they could move even one step, a cracking pain seared across Miguel's head and he blacked out. Hawk spun around and saw Kyler and a massive gargantuan black guy leering at him.

"Told you the bat would come in useful." Kyler remarked to the other Cobra, kissing the tip of the bat in delight. Hawk was immobile. He couldn't run away because his best friend was lying, unconscious, right in front of him and he wasn't about to leave him to the vicious, merciless Cobras. All Hawk could do was lamely try to defend himself before a single punch from the massive guy knocked him out cold…

"Hey Robby! We got them!" Shawn shouted to his friend, who was standing with Tory a short distance away. Robby turned at the sound of his friend's voice, and him and Tory ran over.

"Wait, what do you mean them?" Robby asked as him and Tory made it over. His jaw dropped as he saw the answer to his question. Lying at his feet, knocked out, was his mortal enemy. When Robby saw him, all of the memories he had of him cascaded through his mind like a tsunami. He was taken to that evening when he saw Johnny treating Miguel more like a son than he ever had Robby. He was taken back to the night of the party, where Miguel had tried to start a fight with him and ended up hitting Sam. He was taken back to the All-Valley, where Miguel cheated and targeted his injury to win. He was taken to all of the times in his life when Johnny had prioritised Miguel over him. All of the times Sam had chosen Miguel over him. Rage coursed through Robby's veins, but it wasn't a fiery rage: it was cold. Robby was deathly calm. He knew that he had Miguel at his mercy and now was finally the time that he would get revenge for all of the shit that boy had put him through.

"So, what are we going to do to Hawk? How are we going to use him to send a message to the Cobras?" Shawn asked. Robby looked at Tory and saw that she was thinking exactly the same thing as him. Robby shook his head.

"We're not." He replied, before pointing at Miguel's limp body. "We're going to use him instead…"

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7 hours after the race had started…

Sam and Demitri sprinted over to base camp, the end of the race finally in sight. They knew that Miguel and Hawk had probably won, but they were more than okay with second place. They saw Johnny and Daniel standing at the camp, looking bored out of their minds but brightening up considerably when they saw Demitri and Sam.

"Finally! Took you long enough!" Johnny exclaimed as they stumbled to a halt and gasped for breath at the end of the absolutely obliteratingly tiring half marathon obstacle course.

"Congrats, guys! You won!" Daniel exclaimed. Sam and Demitri looked at each other, confused.

"We won?" Demitri asked, perplexed. "How?"

"Um… because you were the best team!" Daniel said, cheerfully.

"Or because Diaz and Hawk got lost." Johnny remarked. Daniel glared at him and Johnny shrugged. "What? We're all thinking it? Those boys should have been back hours ago!"

"Johnny, shut up." Daniel snapped. "Sam and Demitri won because Sam and Demitri deserved to win."

"No, dad, he's right." Sam said, slightly worried. "We crossed paths with Miguel and Hawk like four hours ago. We had 5 obstacles done. They had 11. They were due to finish like at least 2 hours before us. Something happened to them."

"So they got lost. That's their problem. They'll find their way back. They're smart kids." Daniel said. "For now, sit back, relax, recover, and enjoy your victory."

Sam and Demitri nodded and sat down on the camping chairs and picnic mats Daniel had set up, but Sam was anything but relaxed. What the hell had happened to Miguel and Hawk? What if one of them got injured? Or bit by a snake? Or attacked by a wild animal? What if Miguel's back injuries had acted up again? Demitri noticed Sam's facial expression and he smiled faintly at her.

"Don't worry. He's fine." Demitri said, reassuringly. Sam sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Everything is fine…"

Oh, how wrong she was.

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"Come on! This is boring!" Kyler grumbled. Hawk had woken up a while ago as he had just been knocked out with a punch, not a bat like Miguel. The Cobras had then proceeded to beat the living crap out of him until he was completely unconscious and wouldn't be waking up for a while. However, they wouldn't be sending their message to the Miyagi-Dos until they had beaten Miguel up to, and they wouldn't be able to do that until he finally woke up.

"Patience, Kyler." Tory snapped. "He's gonna wake up soon. Just pass the time by thinking about everything he's put you through. The dining room fight. The fight at the Larusso house. The soccer game. All of it. And now picture everything you want to do to him when he finally wakes up."

Kyler growled as he stared at Miguel's unconscious body. That bitch 'Rhea better get up soon. He had a score to settle with him…

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2 hours later…

Two hours later, the other groups had all made it back to camp, but Miguel and Hawk still hadn't. They were all starting to get worried now. Surely even if they had gotten lost, they would have found their way back by now, or had at least used their phone to call base camp. Sam paced around, nervously, as she called Miguel's phone again and again with no answer.

"Maybe they finished so early that they left?" Bert suggested, dumbly. Everyone glared at him.

"And gone where? Hawk's car is still here and Miguel came in my car, dumbass." Johnny snapped.

"Should we start looking for them in the forest?" Mitch asked. Johnny shook his head. Although he was just as worried as everyone else, more so even, he knew what needed to be done, and he needed to stay calm.

"No." Johnny said. "The forest is huge and Miguel has his phone off so we can't track his location. The last thing we want is to split up and get lost ourselves. Also, if something bad has happened to them like they were attacked by a bear, the last thing we want is to put ourselves at risk as well. Let's wait another hour so it will have been 12 hours, and then consider calling Fire and Rescue."

Everyone nodded and they stood around nervously, staring into the forest and hoping to God that they would see Miguel and Hawk sprinting through the trees towards them…

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Miguel groaned in pain as he woke up. He had a splitting headache and his temples were pounding. He had no idea what was going on. He was lying in dirt, and he spat out a piece of mud as he stumbled to his feet.

"Well, well, well, look who's up. I was beginning to think you were dead." A low snarl cut through the air. Miguel looked up to see Robby standing over him and everything came flooding back to him. His head spun around anxiously, looking for Hawk, and his heart dropped when he saw him. Hawk was lying on the ground, completely out, bruises and gashes all over his body and shirtless chest. Miguel started towards him but his path was quickly blocked by Shawn. Miguel spun around in a circle to see that Robby, Tory, Kyler and Shawn had surrounded him. If things resorted to a fight, Miguel knew that he stood no chance. And running wasn't an option either, what with Hawk lying there on the ground. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Look, you don't want to do this." Miguel stammered. "I can't speak for Kyler and Shawn because I don't know either of you very well, but Robby and Tory, you two aren't bad people. You're good people who have just been dealt a real shit hand in life. You don't need to do this. Beating me up or killing me or whatever is not going to erase the pain you guys are feeling. Yes, I've been a jerk to both of you. Tory, I cheated on you that night at the party. There's no excuse. Nothing I can say to defend myself. It was one of the worst things I've ever done. But what you need to know is that I wasn't dating you to get Sam's attention. Our relationship did mean something to me. It meant a lot to me. After breaking up with Sam, I felt kinda empty, and you helped fill that hole inside of me. And Robby, you think I've done a lot to you, yeah I've done a fair but, but I think you know that not all of it is my fault. I didn't steal your girlfriend. As far as I knew, you had stopped writing and had ghosted Sam more than a month before her and I started dating. You can't blame me for all of your issues. I have nothing but sympathy for what you guys are going through, but you can't blame me for everything. I didn't start the school fight, Tory, you did. I didn't jump off the balcony myself, you kicked me off, Robby. So please, please let me go and let me get help for Hawk. You don't want to do this."

Robby and Tory scowled at Miguel and eventually, their frowns lessened. Robby walked over to Miguel and held out a hand.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Robby said, holding out his hand for Miguel to shake.

Miguel took it, but as soon as he did, Robby grabbed him by the arm and then kneed him in the solar plexus as hard as he could. Miguel groaned in pain and fell to the ground.

"Fuck you." Robby growled as he stood over Miguel. Miguel looked up and saw the four teenagers towering over him, but his sight was quickly covered when Robby's foot came up and then stomped on his face. For the next 15 minutes, the Cobras beat every inch of him they could find. Miguel knew that his nose was definitely broken, and he was in excruciating pain, but he forced himself not to pass out. He needed to stay awake. Who knew what would happen if he passed out. After about 20 minutes, the Cobras stood over him as Miguel writhed on the ground in pain. For a moment, things were completely silent, before the quiet vibrating of a mobile phone cut through the air. Miguel's phone had fallen out of his pocket at some point during the beatdown and Robby picked it up and looked at it. It was a facetime call from Sam. Robby chuckled mirthlessly.

"Wow, that's actually perfect." He remarked, and he accepted the call.

"MIGUEL, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Sam shouted into the phone as soon as the video call began, in her panic not realising that she wasn't actually talking to her boyfriend.

"Hello, Sam." Robby smirked into the phone. Sam then realised who it was, and her mouth dropped.

"Robby? What are doing with Miguel's phone?" Sam stammered. Johnny, who was standing a couple of feet away, quickly walked over at the mention of his son's name. Robby saw Johnny walk into the frame and he grinned. Daniel followed close behind.

"Ah! Dad! What a fantastic surprise! And Mr. Larusso, you're here too! How wonderful!" Robby exclaimed, cheerfully.

"Robby, what's going on?" Johnny demanded. Robby shrugged.

"Not much. I just wanted to show you guys something." He said, before panning his camera to show Shawn, Tory and Kyler, who were holding an extremely beaten down Miguel. Everyone's hearts dropped as they saw Miguel bleeding profusely, coughing and spluttering in pain. He had never looked this beaten down before. Not even after the ten minute school fight. Sure his back was broken, but even after that fight he didn't have very many bruises or gashes on his face. Now, he looked like something from the last 10 minutes of The Walking Dead.

"Oh my God, MIGUEL!" Sam screamed, tears immediately forming in her eyes. "ROBBY, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"This is your champion?" Robby remarked, slapping an already injured Miguel as a form of insult and then panning his camera to show a completely unconscious Hawk. "And this is your number 2, right? I must say guys, I'm honestly disappointed. I expected better. I thought he'd put up more of a fight."

"Robby, please, stop." Sam begged, tears streaming down her face at the sight of Hawk and Miguel so beaten down. She couldn't believe Robby would do that. Robby shrugged.

"Sorry, Sam. Do you remember the night I saw you and Miguel, how you blamed me and said that it was my fault for not writing and I said that it's pretty hard to write when I was getting my face busted in? Well, let's see if Miguel can do better. Miguel, talk to your girlfriend." Robby said, shoving the phone in Miguel's face and forcing the group watching on the other end a more zoomed in sight on how damaged Miguel was. Miguel slapped the phone away from him, and then spat a mixture of blood and saliva in Robby's face.

"Fuck. You." Miguel growled, before he was roughly knocked at the back of the head again by Shawn. Robby smirked and picked up the phone from the ground again, looking at the group of terrified Miyagi-Dos.

"Well, that's all we have time for this episode of Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi Do." Robby said, putting on a phony host voice. "I will see all of you very soon."

Right before Robby hung up, Miguel and Hawk's faces were zoomed in, before Tory walked into the frame and looked right at Sam, fury and animalistic wrath in her eyes.

"Hey, Larusso. You're next, bitch." She growled, before hanging up the phone. Robby nodded at her as she snapped the phone in half to prevent anyone from tracking their location.

"All right. Good work today, guys. Let's go." Robby ordered. The Cobras nodded and after spitting on Miguel, who was still convulsing in pain, they all walked away, into their Jeep, and they drove off…