CHAPTER 24

So this chapter is about Eagle-Fang, next chapter is about Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them.

Also, for those who are saying that because Sam didn't walk away from Miyagi-Do, she's not that upset, trust me SHE IS. You guys are going to see in the next chapter that is about Miyagi-Do about Sam's relationship with her family

Also, this isn't the end of Sam x Miguel for all of their fans. Big things to come

"WAKE UP!" Johnny bellowed, causing Miguel to leap out of his bed in shock. "BIG DAY TODAY!

"Get out. I've got a thing." Miguel mumbled into his pillow.

"WHAT THING?!" Johnny yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Ears." Miguel groaned, putting his hands over his ears. Johnny rolled his eyes and dragged Miguel out of bed. Johnny was extremely excited about that day. There was a LOT to do. It was his first training session with Jimmy as his co-sensei. Jimmy had agreed because his wife was out of town, and his kids were both at friends' houses so he had the time. Jimmy had also agreed to help train them 2-3 times a week, if he had the time. Although he was a family man now, he was also one of the best Cobras in history.

After a quick shower, Miguel met Johnny at the entrance of the compound, and the two of them drove to Hawk's house to pick him up. When Hawk joined them, Johnny then drove for a good half an hour, before parking on a large field on the outskirts of town.

"Um… Sensei? What, did you drive us out here to kill us or something?" Miguel asked.

"Thought about it. But then again, it wasn't my idea to come out here." He said.

"It wasn't? Then whose was it?" Hawk asked. Suddenly, a car pulled up next to them, and a middle aged man stepped out. Johnny grinned and bro-hugged the man.

"What's up, Johnny?" The man said.

"Great to see you, Jimmy." Johnny said. "Diaz, Hawk, meet your new sensei, one of the best students Cobra Kai has ever had: Sensei Jimmy. Jimmy, this is Miguel and Hawk." He said, pointing to the two of them. Jimmy looked at Miguel and raised an eyebrow.

"You're Miguel?" He asked, confused. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're less nerdy than Johnny described." Jimmy remarked. Hawk snorted in laughter, and Miguel looked at Johnny and raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously, Sensei?" Miguel asked. Johnny shrugged.

"What? I didn't say anything untrue!" Johnny exclaimed. "Anyways, Sensei Jimmy is the one who told us to meet here, so why are we here?"

"Well, a buddy of mine in the Marine Corps told me about this place about a 5 minute walk away." Jimmy said, as they began walking. 5 minutes later, they arrived at their destination: a replica obstacle course of the ones that U.S Marines were forced to do during training.

Miguel and Hawk raised an eyebrow as they saw the obstacle course. It looked extremely difficult - after all, it was something the fittest of adults are put through.

The first obstacle was easy: it was a low log that they just had to hurdle over. However, after that, it got a lot harder. The second obstacle was a high bar, situated at 8 feet. They had to do a swinging pull up where they kicked their legs up and over the bar from the backside, flipping their body over the bar and flinging off it like a ninja. Some of the other obstacles included an incline bar where they had to pull themselves up and slide down the horizontal steel bar; a 10 foot wall jump; a 20 foot rope climb where they had to shimmy themselves up a rope; as well as many other intense obstacles.

"Okay, guys, listen up!" Jimmy barked. "The two of you are going to race through this course as fast as you can."

"Yo, this looks pretty hard." Miguel remarked as he did a pull up on one of the obstacles and already felt his arms begin to ache.

"Well, only way to improve is to keep doing the drill until you get better." Jimmy said. "Whoever gets to the end first wins."

Hawk and Miguel looked at each other, competitively. This race was suddenly extremely important to Hawk in particular. Now that the dojo had split so Johnny was just training Miguel and Hawk, there was even more focus on Miguel. Hawk understood it to a certain extent - whenever Miguel and him sparred, Miguel normally came out on top - but it was getting a bit too much for Hawk's liking. It was like Johnny had dismissed him as even a competitor for the All-Valley crown. Sure Miguel was a great fighter, but he was too! He needed to win this obstacle course to prove to Johnny, and himself, that he shouldn't be counted out!

"You guys stretch and warm up for a couple of minutes, then we'll start." Jimmy said, before walking over to Johnny.

"Hey, you do realise Miguel's going to win this, right? He's the All-Valley champ." Johnny stated. Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be so sure. That Hawk kid looks pretty good too." He stated. Johnny nodded.

"He is, but he can't beat the champ." Johnny said, confidently.

"Oh, yeah? Wanna bet?" Jimmy asked. "50 bucks says Hawk wins."

"You're on." Johnny replied, shaking Jimmy's hand.

"You do realise we can hear you guys betting on us, right?" Miguel asked. Jimmy and Johnny looked up and realised that Hawk and Miguel were only a few feet away. They shrugged.

"Meh. More incentive for you to win." Johnny stated. "All right? You guys ready?"

"Yup." Hawk stated, clearing his mind and preparing to go full super-soldier mode on this obstacle course.

"Yup." Miguel said, hopping from foot to foot and readying himself for the race.

"Okay! 3… 2… 1… GO!"

To see the obstacle course, click:

watch?v=B7TVdkHObVg

The obstacle course started extremely evenly. Miguel and Hawk were well-matched for pace in the first few obstacles, Miguel pulling slightly ahead on the obstacles that required more strength, but Hawk coming right back on the obstacles that required more speed and acrobatics. They reached the ten foot wall at the halfway point pretty much exactly the same time, and they forced themselves to pick up the pace, despite their aching limbs.

They went through the second half of the course pretty quickly, and were again neck and neck when they reached the rope climb. Johnny and Jimmy's eyes were wide at the speed and expertise their students were showing.

"Jeez. They're a hell of a lot better than we were back then." Jimmy remarked. Johnny chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, they are." He replied. Miguel and Hawk started scaling the rope, and despite Miguel's best efforts, Hawk made it to the top about a second before him. Hawk slid back down in triumph, and Johnny and Jimmy clapped for their students.

"Great work, Hawk!" Johnny exclaimed, impressed. Hawk smiled to himself. He had put himself back on Johnny's map at the perfect time.

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However, despite Miguel and Hawk's impressive performance at the obstacle course, over the course of the next week, Johnny was less than pleased with Miguel. Now that him and Sam were broken up, Miguel was spending every free moment he had training, to an unhealthy extent. He wasn't eating enough, and he was pushing his body past the limits every single day, for several hours a day. His student needed to rest, but he wouldn't listen to him.

"Hey, man." Johnny said one night, as Miguel walked inside after three hours straight of cardio training. "Why don't you finish training for tonight and we crack open a sixer of Coors and watch Iron Eagle?"

Miguel shook his head.

"Can't. Gotta train." Miguel grunted. Johnny sighed. What Miguel was doing… it wasn't healthy, and it was going to come back to bite him at some point. It certainly wasn't benefiting him.

"Okay, how about we go into the city and go to a ball game. Dodgers play tonight, right?" Johnny suggested, trying desperately to pull Miguel away from training. He had also noticed some other worrying signs about Miguel: Miguel was looking pretty skinny, his skin was slightly yellow, and his eyes sunken. Johnny empathised with his students. He knew exactly what Miguel was going through. After his big fight with Alli, before Daniel Larusso came to town and things went toxic, Johnny had thrown all of his frustration about their fight/break up into fighting, and he didn't want his student to make the same mistake.

Miguel shook his head.

"Sorry. Wish I could. I need to train though. I need to be in tip-top form if I want to beat Ro…"

Miguel didn't finish his sentence though. Before he could, he passed out from exhaustion and collapsed. Using his quick reflexes, Johnny caught him and carried him into the house…

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Miguel awoke a couple of moments later on his living room couch, to see Carmen and Johnny standing over him, concerned expressions on their faces. Miguel felt extremely dizzy all of a sudden, and he felt like he was about to pass out again. As soon as Miguel's eyes opened, Johnny thrusted a bottle of orange juice and a protein bar into Miguel's hand.

"Here. Take these. Your blood sugar is low. That's why you feel like shit." Johnny stated. Miguel gratefully accepted the food, and he chugged the orange juice. Almost instantaneously, he started to feel better, and he sat up on the sofa.

"Thanks, Sensei." Miguel murmured, and he started to get up, but he was quickly shoved back down by Carmen and Johnny.

"Miggy, we need to talk." Carmen said. "What you're doing to yourself, it's not healthy."

"Yeah, kid. Training harder after a breakup is natural, but you're pushing it to an unhealthy extent."

"No, I'm not." Miguel snapped. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh, because normal people just pass out on the street, right?" Johnny remarked. "Look, shut up, sit down, and fucking listen!"

Miguel was taken aback by his sensei yelling. He was used to Johnny shouting, but this time, he was yelling in like a parent kind of way.

"I don't know what's going on with you after your break up with your girlfriend, and honestly, I don't care! What I care about is you pushing yourself past exhaustion, which is unhealthy, counter-productive, and just plain stupid! You can't keep doing this to yourself or you stand no chance against Robby! Hell, right now, you hardly stand a chance against Bert or Nate! I'm in charge of your training, and you need to trust that I know exactly how far to push you to beat Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do! Do you trust me?"

Miguel eventually sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, fine. I'm sorry." Miguel murmured, before getting up and walking into his room. When he was gone, Carmen turned to Johnny and smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You yelled at him." Carmen remarked. "You got very firm with him. Very confident. Cool. Like a dad would. It was nice."

Johnny nodded and shrugged.

"You're very sexy when you yell Johnny." Carmen said.

"Ughhhhh! God! Well, I'm gonna go puke until I'm 40." Miguel, who had just exited his room on his way to the bathroom, stated. Carmen and Johnny chuckled at Miguel's dramaticness and smiled at each other. It was like they were co-parents of Miguel. A family.

However, despite Johnny's talk with Miguel, Miguel didn't improve by much. He wasn't passing out from exhaustion anymore, but he was still training WAY too much. As Johnny watched him leave to train for several hours one afternoon, Johnny put his head in his hands. What was he going to do?