CHAPTER 23

"Listen up everybody!" Daniel called to his students at the Miyagi-Do dojo the next morning.

All of the students had witnessed what had happened the day before, so they all gathered around slightly hesitantly.

"I need to apologise to all of you." Daniel stated. "What I did yesterday was horrifying. I've thought about it a lot in the past 24 hours. I betrayed everything Mr. Miyagi and Miyagi-Do stands for. I let my anger and temper get the better of me. I spoke with my fists, rather than my words. I beat up a kid, for crying out loud! I know that Mr. Miyagi would have been ashamed of me. Because Miyagi-Do is not about beating people up. It's about forgiveness. Mr. Miyagi always said that if you're looking for revenge, you can start by digging two graves. I understand if after yesterday, some of you might want to switch to Johnny's dojo." Daniel said, glancing in Sam's direction for this part. "I'm not going to stop you. I completely understand. What I did was unforgivable. But if you stay in Miyagi-Do, I vow to teach you the right way of Karate."

"Mr. L, we're all staying." Demitri stated. "But you do have two students and a sensei who have quit, and we can't win without them."

"Yeah, we're not the ones you owe the apologies to." Sam added. Daniel nodded.

"I know, and I'm going to apologise to them later today…"

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KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Come in!" Kreese called. Kyler walked into Kreese's office after training that day, and he faced Sensei Barnes, Sensei Kreese and Sensei Silver. Kreese smiled at him.

"Kyler. What can I do for you?" Kreese asked.

"Senseis, did you hear the news about Lawrence and Larusso last night?" Kyler asked. Kreese raised an eyebrow.

"No, what's going on?" Kreese asked.

"Apparently, they got into a massive fight. Larusso was whaling on 'Rhea and Lawrence stepped in. The two started to fight, and ended up splitting dojos permanently. Hawk and 'Rhea went with Lawrence, and Larusso officially reopened Miyagi-Do with the rest of the students."

Kreese looked at Silver and Barnes, whose eyes were wide as they were thinking the exact same thing as Kreese.

"Thank you, Kyler. Is there anything else?" Kreese asked.

"No, sensei." Kyler said, before leaving the room. When he was gone, the three senseis looked at each other, grinning.

"If Larusso was whaling on Lawrence's kid and it caused Lawrence to start a fight with him…" Barnes started.

"It means that the two split on really bad terms…" Silver continued.

"Which means Lawrence will want to get back at Larusso…" Barnes continued.

"Which means we might be able to convince him and his students to rejoin Cobra Kai." Kreese finished, before turning to Silver. "Silver, take out your cheque book. If we want Lawrence to come home, he needs to have some extra incentive…"

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"Dude, you put up a basketball hoop?!" Hawk exclaimed gleefully as they walked into Miguel's compound that afternoon and he ran over to the basketball hoop that was hammered to the wall. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get so excited. It's the lid of a laundry bin with a circular hole cut in the middle." Miguel laughed. Hawk shrugged.

"Doesn't bother me." He replied. "Come on! Let's have a game!"

Miguel nodded and grabbed a ball from his room. Him and Hawk spent around a half hour playing, before they heard a car pull up in front of the compound. They turned around and saw Mr. Larusso getting out of his car. Immediately, Hawk stormed over to him, and it took Miguel holding him back to stop him from punching the man in the face.

"Hawk, stop!" Miguel snapped, before turning to Daniel. "What do you want?"

"I want to apologise." Daniel said. "I'm really sorry, Miguel. I shouldn't have attacked you. I let my temper take control and it was extremely low of me to do that."

"Yeah, fine, whatever. I forgive you." Miguel said, not really caring or wanting the apology. At that moment, Johnny walked out of his apartment, and he saw Daniel standing opposite the two boys.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!" Johnny shouted, running over to them, his fists in tight balls, ready for the fight.

"Ok, easy, Sensei. Mr. Larusso was just apologising to me for beating me up and now he's just leaving." Miguel said. Daniel nodded.

"Yeah, so I'll see you guys at training tomorrow?" Daniel asked. Miguel, Hawk and Johnny looked at each other, confused.

"Um… what?" Miguel asked.

"Training. You guys are coming back to training, right?" Daniel said. Miguel, Hawk and Johnny looked at him and simultaneously started laughing hysterically. Daniel glared at them. "What?"

"You know, Mr. Larusso, I think I need to thank you." Miguel said, his tone back to serious.

"Thank me? For what?" Daniel asked, dumbfounded. Miguel sighed.

"If anything, that whole experience yesterday showed me exactly which side of this war I want to be fighting for, and it's not Miyagi-Do." Miguel replied.

"But… we're fighting the same fight! It's in our best interests to work together!" Daniel exclaimed. Miguel shrugged.

"Not necessarily. I don't believe in your methods of teaching, and your style of karate. It's no disrespect to you, it's no disrespect for Mr. Miyagi. I'm NOT coming back."

"Yeah, in case you didn't understand, the kid's telling you to fuck off." Johnny stated, bluntly. "We are Eagle-Fang and we're going to win the All-Valley, and you are going to be thanking God that we split apart from your dojo to form our own as none of your fighters even stand a chance of making the finals."

Daniel glared at Johnny, and turned back to Miguel, who sighed.

"Look, no hard feelings. I forgive you for beating me up, and I'm more than happy to apologise for the million and first time for hitting Sam that night. But that doesn't take away the fact that this whole thing was a wake-up call for us. The enemy of my enemy doesn't have to be my friend." Miguel stated, keeping a calm, cool tone to his voice like a diplomat. Daniel, however, wasn't as composed. His face went red with anger and he scowled at all of them.

"You guys are so going to all live to regret this!" Daniel growled angrily, before storming back into his car, and beginning to drive away from the compound.

"Drive safely!" Miguel cheerfully called after him, causing Johnny to glare at him.

"Seriously?" Johnny remarked. Miguel shrugged.

"What? I just want to make sure he gets home safe!" Miguel said, laughing. Johnny rolled his eyes and put his head in his hands. Why did his champion have to be such a dork?

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Less than a half hour later, there was another unfamiliar car pulling into the driveway, and none other than John Kreese, Terry Silver and Mike Barnes stepped out. Miguel's eyes widened and him and Hawk immediately banged on Sensei Lawrence's door. Johnny walked out moments later, and when he saw who was standing there, his eyes filled with hatred, and he geared up for a fight.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Johnny growled. Kreese chuckled and raised his hands in surrender.

"Easy, Johnny. We're not here to fight." Kreese said. "I heard about what happened with Larusso and I was concerned. How's your eye?" Kreese turned to Miguel and asked, pointing to Miguel's prominent black eye. Johnny scowled at him.

"Look, if you don't turn around and leave in 5 seconds, I swear to God I'm calling the cops." Johnny growled. When it came to the safety of Miguel and Hawk, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Still got that temper, I see." Kreese stated. "That's good. I was afraid it all got washed away because of all that Miyagi crap you and your students were being brainwashed with."

"Larusso and I are done. But you know that. So why the hell are you here?" Johnny asked, genuinely perplexed now, his confusion overcoming his anger.

"Diaz, Hawk, do you boys take History in school?" Kreese asked. "Have you guys heard of the Battle of Hastings and the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066?"

"Yeah." Miguel replied. "It's when two groups wanted to take control of Anglo-Saxon England. King Harald Hardrada and his Norweigen force invaded the North of England. King Harold Godwinson sent his troops to defend, and they drove the Norwegians out to win the Battle of Stamford Bridge. But then, as Godwinson's men were all tired, distracted and in the North of England…"

"King William of Normandy, France invaded from the south, taking advantage of the previous battle and winning the battle to take control of England." Kreese finished. "I'm glad some people in this city know their history. I'm warning you, Johnny. This is what is going to happen to you. You are going to be so distracted and exhausted from fighting your battle against Larusso, that Cobra Kai is going to use it to their advantage and take control of karate in the valley forever. I don't want to have to go through you, Johnny, so I want to make you an offer. Come back home to Cobra Kai. We can take down that pussy Larusso and his Miyagi bullshit once and for all."

"How many times to I need to say no for you to get the message and fuck off?" Johnny snapped. Kreese chuckled.

"You didn't even let me make my offer!" Kreese exclaimed. "My friend, Mr. Silver here happens to have quite a lot of money. And I happen to know that that foster family you've been adopted into, the Diaz family, is in quite a bit of debt, due to a mess that your own son got them into. If you and your boys rejoin Cobra Kai, I will make sure every penny of his hospital bills is paid off within 24 hours."

Kreese was brilliant. Terrible, monstrous, but brilliant. He knew exactly what strings to pull, and how to manipulate Johnny to the point where Johnny was genuinely considering going back to Cobra Kai. He played at the guilt that was a metal ball inside Johnny's chest. The guilt that Johnny felt for letting down his son and letting him get so far gone that he did what he did to Miguel.

Miguel noticed the unsure expression on Johnny's face, and his eyes widened. His sensei was actually considering it!

"Sensei, a word." Miguel snapped, dragging his sensei away from the three Cobra Kai senseis. Once they were out of earshot, Miguel slapped Johnny across the face.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Johnny snapped.

"Are you insane?!" Miguel exclaimed. "How can you even consider going back to Cobra Kai after everything they've done?!"

"Miguel, you heard him! He's going to pay for all of your hospital bills. That's more important than any stupid karate rivalry!" Johnny stated. Miguel shook his head furiously.

"NO! Sensei, please! If you go through with it and rejoin Cobra Kai, I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life that I'd be throwing the whole Valley under the bus. Every time Cobra Kai would beat someone up or start a fight, I'd feel responsible. We have a chance to end this war once and for all. We need to take it. I don't care if it means me waiting tables for the next decade!"

Johnny reluctantly nodded and walked back to Kreese. Kreese smiled at them.

"So? Are you coming home?" Kreese asked. Johnny scowled at him.

"Go. To. Hell." Johnny spat back. Kreese sighed and nodded.

"Fine. So be it. You'd better get your students ready for the All-Valley, because I can assure you, ours will be.."

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That evening, Sam texted Miguel and asked him to meet her at the canyon. He did so. He knew that they were long overdue to have a conversation about their relationship. They hadn't spoken at all in the 3 days Miguel had been gone from Miyagi-Do as Sam had hoped that her dad would be able to convince them to come back, but now that Miguel was confirmed to no longer be a Miyagi-Do student, she had called him up and asked to talk.

Miguel sat down on a bench next to Sam, and she looked up and smiled when she saw him.

"Hey." She murmured, wincing as she saw the massive bruise on the side of Miguel's face that her dad had given him. "How's your eye?"

"Fine." Miguel grunted. "I'll live."

"Miguel, I'm really sorry for what my dad did. He was completely out of line." Sam said. Miguel chuckled.

"Yeah, so he said earlier today." Miguel murmured. "Tell him again that there are seriously no hard feelings. I completely understand why he did what he did, and that had nothing to do with why I'm quitting Miyagi-Do."

"Why exactly are you quitting? You were great at Miyagi-Do tactics!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel shrugged.

"Same reason why you're not joining Eagle-Fang, I'm guessing: a combination of two things. I prefer Johnny's ethos and style of karate to your dad's, no disrespect intended. And also I'm not about to abandon my sensei after everything he's done for me. You know better than anyone how strong family bonds are."

Sam slowly nodded. She completely understood why Miguel was sticking with Eagle-Fang, and although she didn't like it, she respected it.

"Look, I didn't come here to talk about karate." Miguel said. "I came to talk about us. What happens now? It's not like we can go with our relationship as normal after everything that's happened."

Sam nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But I also know that both of us are a lot more mature than we were last year, so we don't necessarily have to become enemies just because our senseis are." She stated. Miguel nodded.

"I agree. But like no offense, but you aren't the most popular person to my family right now, and I can only assume that it's exactly the same with me and yours. So it's not like we can be near each other's places."

"Yeah, so we're only together when we're out. We can tell our parents we broke up, and we can continue our relationship in secret. Sound good?" Sam asked. Miguel looked at her and then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"No, no I can't do that, Sam." He murmured. Her eyes widened and her heart starting to sink.

"You… you can't?" She stammered. Miguel shook his head.

"Look, Sam, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met. I have no idea what I possibly did in my life to deserve you. It's like I won the lottery. But between the psychological aftermath of everything that happened with my dad, working almost every afternoon waiting tables to pay my hospital bills, training and fighting Cobra Kai in the All-Valley, now having another rival dojo in Miyagi-Do, and also a secret relationship with you… it's just too much, Sam." Miguel murmured, tears in his eyes. Sam looked at him and realised that his life was A LOT more complicated than she thought.

"Are you… are you breaking up with me?" Sam whispered, tears starting to run down her own cheeks. Miguel put his head in his hands.

"Do you have a better idea?" He asked. "Please. I'm open to anything."

Sam thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"How about this? We press pause on our relationship until after the relationship." Sam stated. Miguel looked at her, confused.

"Huh?" He asked.

"Basically, we break up and act like any old friends until after the All-Valley. Then, afterwards, we can talk about restarting the relationship." Sam said. Miguel looked at her, his jaw dropped.

"You'd be open to that?" Miguel asked, remembering only too well how Sam had started dating Robby less than a couple of weeks after breaking up with him last year.

"Yeah, definitely." Sam said. "Miguel, I love you so, so much. I'm the one who doesn't deserve someone as amazing as you. And if all I have to do is wait 3 months to be with the person I love most in the world again, I can definitely wait. Oh wait, one rule! You can't hook up with other girls."

Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"Deal." He said, and the two of them kissed for the last time, before hitting pause on their relationship…

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That night, Johnny and Daniel sat in their respective houses across town, thinking deeply. They both knew that with Kreese, Silver and Barnes all teaching Cobra Kai together, Johnny and Daniel didn't stand a chance at winning the All-Valley alone. They both needed part-time assistant senseis, but they knew that the backup could no longer be each other.

Johnny pulled out his phone and dialled a number. It was the number of one of his closest friends, someone he trusted fully and someone he knew could help him, as he was an even better fighter than Johnny back in his day. The man answered moments later.

"Hey, Johnny, what's up?" The man asked.

"Hey, Jimmy." Johnny said. "Look, I have a massive favor to ask you…"

Meanwhile, across town, Daniel was scrolling through the contacts on his phone, searching for the surnames beginning with 'P'. Eventually, he found the contact he was looking for, and he called the number. It was the number of someone he hadn't seen since Mr. Miyagi's 5 year death anniversary in 2016. The person on the other end of the line answered pretty quickly too.

"Hello?" The woman said.

"Hey, Julie." Daniel said. "Long time. Look, I'm calling because I could really use your help in something…"