CHAPTER 27

So I have gotten A LOT of messages across various different platforms (Wattpad, FFN, AO3) about Miguel's dad. They are all dissing my other story and begging me not to make the story unrealistic and to keep Miguel's dad a minor character. From the very beginning, when I was drawing out the plot, I wanted to keep Miguel's dad as a minor character. He will NOT be breaking out of jail, as many are asking about. I'm not going to disclose what kind of role he'll be playing in the story, but I can tell you that his gang is NOT involved. So for those of you who sent the 39 messages in the 24 hours that chapter was out for, CALM YOUR SHIT and stop spamming my inbox. It's honestly exhausting and disheartening.

If you have any other feedback for me other than trashing my other story and demanding about Miguel's dad, I am open to here it, but please if it is about Miguel's dad, shut the fuck up and don't send the message.

As for my harsh tone, in the wise words of my hero Conor McGregor "I want to take the chance to apologise… TO ABSOLUTELY NOBODY!" I'm sorry, but I write these stories for ME. If y'all have a problem with them, just don't read them. It takes WAY less effort for you to just close your tab, than it does for me to read all of the hate reviews and private messages I'm getting.

Anyways, with that being said, let's start the chapter…

For a couple of hours, Johnny and Daniel's dojos stayed completely separate. They were on opposite sides of the forest and they could barely hear each other from their respective camps. Daniel was fuming. He couldn't believe that Johnny was here, and he had roped in another one of Daniel's old bullies! As if one wasn't enough!

Daniel didn't say much that afternoon. He was sitting at the edge of the lake when he heard someone walk up beside him and sit down beside him. He looked up to see Julie, and she smiled at him sympathetically.

"Hey." She said gently. Daniel nodded at her.

"Hey." Daniel murmured.

"What exactly happened there? I've never seen you that fazed by anyone before." She stated. Daniel sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know, Julie. Those guys… they always bring out the worst in me." Daniel said. Julie nodded.

"Well, you know what Mr Miyagi would say if he was here. You need balance in your life." Julie said. Daniel looked down.

"I know, but it's kind of hard to do that when I've fucked up my entire life. My daughter, my dojo." Daniel said, putting his head in his hands. "I just feel like everything I do, when I train my students purely so they become soldiers to fight in this fucked up war we've started, it's like I'm spitting on Mr. Miyagi's grave. Karate is for defense only. That was Mr. Miaygi's one rule, and I'm breaking that by teaching these students how to win fights, rather than defend themselves. I started this whole karate rivalry thing in the valley. If I had just let Johnny teach his students in peace…"

"Then we'd have a Valley-full of Johnny's and based on the brief conversation I had with him, that's not a good thing." Julie said. "The Valley needs you to help keep balance, and you two need each other to keep balance with Kreese. And as for your relationship with your daughter, I've been talking to her a lot. She's a great kid. She'll come around eventually. It just takes time."

Daniel nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, I guess. I just want to fix things but I can't." Daniel murmured.

"Just show her you're there for her no matter what. Oh, and don't assault her boyfriends!"

Daniel blushed and Julie laughed.

"Yeah. Sam told me about that. What the hell were you thinking?!" She laughed. Daniel shook his head.

"I don't know! I was angry! He hit my baby girl!" Daniel exclaimed.

"And your 'baby girl' is more than capable of handling herself in a fight." Julie stated. "Besides, from what I've heard, there are some people who need to be beat up more than a 16 year old kid, namely Kreese, Barnes and Silver!"

Daniel nodded.

"Yeah. I guess so. We've just got to get through the All-Valley and now that Johnny has split from our dojo, in all honesty, the only hope of a non-Cobra Kai victor is Sam. Johnny's ruining Miguel and Hawk's chances in the tournament with his dumb training."

Julie shrugged.

"I mean, not necessarily. Say what you will about the man but he did win the All-Valley twice himself, and he brought one student to the semis and one student to the All-Valley crown last year. He knows what he's doing, even if his training methods are slightly unorthodox…"

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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A massive truck beeped as it reverse parked next to Johnny's campsite. For a minute, Miguel thought it was the cement truck from their old training, but this truck was different. It was, for starters, a lot bigger. It looked like some kind of animal enclosure, but it was opaque so they couldn't see into it. Miguel was nervous though. Johnny had been hinting at some kind of intense training coming up that evening, and this could well be it.

Even Daniel and his campsite had heard the beeping, and it peaked their curiosity. Daniel, Sam, Demitri and Julie all walked over to the campsite, and saw the truck park and a man step out of the driver's seat.

"What are we doing, Sensei?" Miguel asked, not noticing the Miyagi-Dos, who were all hiding behind the trees 50 meters away.

"Today's lesson… grappling and wrestling!" Johnny announced. Miguel and Hawk stood up and faced Jimmy and Johnny.

"Um… okay? I thought you can't wrestle in the All-Valley." Miguel stated. Johnny nodded.

"You can't, but that doesn't mean that it's not useful." Jimmy continued. "You can use grappling techniques to take someone down in the All-Valley as long as you finish with a strike, and wrestling is also an excellent way to improve strength, and win in street fights."

"I'll be honest with you guys." Johnny sighed. "I don't know what's going to happen after the All-Valley. Even if we win, who's to say that Kreese is actually going to leave town? And even if he does, what happens if Barnes and Silver stay? Cobra Kai might not be over after the tournament, and if they aren't, you guys are going to be targets number 1. Therefore, as the person who got you into this foxhole, it's my responsibility to teach you how to fight your way out. And that means training with any method necessary."

Miguel groaned. He knew what that meant. Johnny had something really dumb in mind for training exercise, and he had a feeling that it had something to do with the massive truck and the driver, who was standing a couple of feet away.

"Sensei, what's the drill?" Miguel muttered. Johnny gestured to the driver, who walked over to his truck and pulled open the back storage comportant. The man then grabbed a leash, and helped a small grizzly bear out of the truck.

"What the actual fuck?" Hawk declared. "Sensei, what are we doing?"

"You're wrestling him." Johnny replied, pointing to the bear. Miguel and Hawk's jaws dropped. Although the mini grizzly was far from full-sized, it still was bigger than Miguel, and it looked to be extremely difficult to be able to wrestle.

At that moment, the Miyagi-Dos, who were watching from the trees, stepped out into the open and stormed over to Johnny.

"What the hell are you doing, Johnny?!" Daniel exclaimed. Johnny immediately scowled when he saw the group.

"Get out of here, Larusso. All of you." Johnny snapped. Daniel and Julie had walked up to Johnny and Jimmy, ready to stop whatever madness Johnny had concocted, and Sam and Demitri watched on, terrified and confused.

"You can't possibly think that having your kids wrestle a bear is a good idea! You're gonna get them killed!" Julie declared. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"Listen, new chick! I know you haven't been here that long so you don't know how things work." Johnny snapped, causing Julie to ball her fists into tight balls, desperately holding herself back from socking Johnny in the face. "Having my students do extreme stunts… it's what I do! But I know that there's no way they're getting seriously injured. I always step in before that happens, don't I, Miguel?"

Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. Crazy as his drills may be, he never lets us get too hurt doing them. And they make us stronger, so…"

Daniel sighed and shook his head. He suddenly realised what he needed to do. He needed to get Miguel and Hawk to come back to Miyagi-Do. It would solve all of their problems.

"Look, Miguel, Johnny's methods might make you physically strong, but is that really what you want?" Daniel asked. "Johnny's crazy. You must know that! You've been lucky so far, but some day, he's gonna push you too far and you're gonna get seriously hurt. Come back to Miyagi-Do. Let me and Sensei Pierce train your body and mind. You too, Hawk! We could have both of you back! It would be so wonderful!"

"SERIOUSLY?! You're trying to poach my students?!" Johnny exclaimed, starting to prowl towards Daniel, but Miguel held him back.

"Sensei, chill. I got this." Miguel murmured quietly to him, before turning to Daniel. "Mr. Larusso, I will leave Eagle-Fang and I will join you right here, right now…"

"Miguel…" Johnny growled warningly. Miguel rolled his eyes and continued.

"IF you can honestly tell me you would do this… back when you were in high school, would you ever leave Mr. Miyagi and join another dojo? I'll join you right now if you can tell me honestly that you would have honestly made that move."

Daniel was taken aback by this question, and he stammered for an honest.

"That's different, Miguel. Mr. Miyagi was like a father to me." Daniel stated. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"And Johnny's what? A drunk uncle to me? NO! He's my Mr. Miyagi! Don't you get that? He was right there next to me when I broke my back and was in a coma! He was there for me when I had to relearn how to walk! He was there, risking his life to get my dad arrested! He has proved time and time again that he would follow me through the gates of hell, and I hope he knows I'd do the exact same thing for him."

Johnny, who was standing a few steps behind Miguel, couldn't help but smile faintly as he heard his student saying these things about him. He had failed at a lot of things in his life, but the one thing he had done good was helping to raise that kid in the past 2 years. Miguel took a deep breath and continued.

"I don't hate any of you and your style of karate. Remember when Kreese would say 'there is no good or bad'?"

"You're seriously quoting that son of a bitch?" Daniel asked, confused. Miguel shrugged.

"To some extent, that son of a bitch is right. In this fight, there are only THREE bad people: Kreese, Barnes and Silver. None of the Cobra Kai students are inherently bad people. Miyagi-Do isn't evil. Eagle-Fang isn't evil. They're just… all different. Who's to say whose dojo is the best? So the best we can do is STOP trying to poach each other and leave each other alone until the All-Valley. Can you guys please do that?"

Daniel and Johnny eventually nodded. Miguel let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God. Now, if you guys would please leave… Hawk and I have a bear to wrestle."

Daniel and his Miyagi-Dos eventually slunk back into the woods and Johnny shot Miguel a grateful look, before returning to his stoic, determined demeanor. The man with the leashed bear walked over to them. The man was one of Jimmy's close friends who worked for Ventura Zoo, and Jimmy had convinced them to let them 'borrow' the bear for a few hours.

"Okay, Diaz, you're up first." Johnny said. "You talked a lot, but now you need to back it up."

"What do I do, Sensei?"

"It's not rocket science, Miguel. You grapple with the bear. Aim of the game is to pin him to the ground for three seconds."

"Easier said than done." Miguel muttered, staring at the massive bear nervously. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"Don't be such a drama queen. The bear is going to be leashed the whole time so if it gets too far, we'll pull him off."

"And if he slashes me with his claws?" Miguel asked. Johnny shrugged.

"That probably won't happen." He replied.

"Probably?" Hawk asked, feeling sympathetic for his friend but nervous as he knew that he would be up next.

"Come on, guys! We don't have all day!" The zookeeper called. Miguel took a deep breath and nodded, before walking towards the bear and preparing to wrestle…

"All right! 3… 2… 1… Go!" Johnny instructed. Miguel locked arms with the bear and began to try and take the bear down. It was A LOT harder than he thought. He was nearly flipped over immediately by the bear. That's when Miguel realised why this lesson was so important: it was Johnny's version of balance training. Balance and agility would be vital in beating bigger fighters like Shawn in the All-Valley, and now that they weren't training with Miyagi-Do, Johnny needed to help them improve their balance himself.

Daniel, who was still watching them from the trees, also realised what this training was all about, and his eyes widened. Despite how crazy it was, it was actually a good idea.

Soon, the bear had Miguel completely overpowered, and had pinned him to the ground and was lying on top of him. The bear must have weighed at least 250-300 pounds, so Miguel was feeling a lot of pressure on his chest.

"Sensei, get him off!" Miguel coughed and spluttered as the bear pressed his two massive paws harder onto Miguel's chest. Daniel was about to run out from his hiding spot in the trees and save Miguel as Johnny and Jimmy didn't seem too bothered, but he hesitated as he heard Johnny's voice.

"No! Listen up, Diaz! This is what you're going to do!" Johnny instructed calmly. "This is the technique I want you to use when you're being overpowered and pinned by someone bigger or stronger than you. First thing you gotta do is break his grip. Sneak your hands inside his and push them outwards, and as you do that, pull him towards you!"

Miguel did that, causing the bear to fall and place his two paws on either side of Miguel instead, but due to Miguel pulling his arms, the bear was forced to be practically completely horizontal on top of him, causing his balance to shift and become less stable.

"Good! Now, wrap your legs around his hips and squeeze to lock him from moving!" Johnny instructed. Miguel did so, isolating the bear so he was flat on the mat.

"Did that, what next?!" Miguel called, the pressure on him starting to decrease slightly.

"Now, grab his left wrist and trap it on the ground, and then shoot your other hand towards the opposite side of his head, and push your upper body upwards!"

Miguel did so, and his upper body lifted half off the ground as his left arm extended so that it was next to the bear's left ear. He couldn't get up yet though as the bear's right arm was blocking him.

"Now, that left arm that you just shot up… wrap it around his arm that's pinning you. As you do this, roll to the side, pinching his back with your legs, connect your wrists, and then from there, STOP!"

Miguel did exactly that and to his astonishment, that move ended with him trapping the bear in a Figure Four Arm Submission, his legs wrapped around the bear's midsection and preventing even something as big as him to move. Obviously, Miguel wasn't about to actually break the bear's arm, so at Johnny's command, the zookeeper pulled the bear off of him.

Miguel slowly got to his feet, flabbergasted. Johnny had never shown any interest in grappling before, and that was the first technique he had taught him.

"Sensei, what was that?" Hawk asked, just as perplexed and intrigued as Miguel. Johnny smirked.

"That is the Kimura Move." Johnny stated. "It's a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu move that I learned in the Air Force. It could save you in a fight with someone bigger than you. Hawk, your turn…"

As Daniel watched the group silently from the trees, his jaw was gaping in shock. Johnny was truly taking 'training' to another level. What kind of kids stood by someone like that? Maybe Miguel and Hawk were better off not in Miyagi-Do. But Daniel knew one thing. Although Miguel was managing to keep Eagle-Fang away from Miyagi-Do for now, if they ever had Miyagi-Do in their crosshairs, they would be serious threats. Daniel needed to teach his students how to defend themselves…