CHAPTER 28

After the bear wrestling, the bear was taken back to the zoo and the Eagle-Fangs prepared for the night. Unlike Miyagi-Do who actually brought supplies, Johnny didn't bring anything so the Eagle-Fangs were forced to do everything themselves. It was 4:30 in the afternoon, so they had about 2 and a half hours to gather food and prepare for the night. They had already collected firewood before their wrestling class so they had warmth for the night, so the next most important thing was food.

Jimmy and Hawk made a makeshift fishing rod out of string, a small piece of bread that Johnny had brought, and a sharp splinter of wood as a hook, and together, they managed to catch 8 moderately large fish in 3 hours, definitely more than enough for all 4 of them. They knew that Daniel definitely could have done it a lot faster, but Johnny wasn't about to ask him for help.

As they did that, Miguel gathered up various herbs and vegetables from the forest that they could use for the meal, and he washed them thoroughly. He had gone camping A LOT in Ecuador and he was the only one with a lot of camping experience, so he set to work on that. Meanwhile, Johnny continued collecting firewood and did everything else they needed to do to set up for the night.

After they had all done what they needed to do, they reconvened at the campsite. The sun was starting to set, and the wind had started to pick up slightly so they needed to light the fire. In addition, they needed to grill the fish and they couldn't do that without fire. Jimmy turned to Johnny.

"Gimme the matches." He told Johnny. Johnny looked at him, confused.

"Huh?"

"The matches. Give them to me. We need to light this fire." Jimmy stated. Johnny's eyes widened when he realised…

Jimmy groaned.

"Seriously, Johnny? You had 1 job!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I convinced a buddy to practically break a law by bringing a bear here, and you couldn't even remember a fucking match box?!"

"I'm sorry! I forgot, okay?!" Johnny responded. "But we need fire, so what do we do?"

"We do what you would want us to do." Miguel stated. "We do it like the cavemen did it. We start the fire by hand."

Johnny nodded and grabbed two sticks and started rubbing them together, trying desperately to start a fire like he had seen in the movies, but he had no idea what he was doing. After five minutes of struggling, Johnny sighed and threw the sticks to the ground.

"Screw it! This is useless!" He snapped in frustration. Miguel couldn't help but start laughing, and Johnny glared at him. "What?"

"I'm sorry. It's just… you are truly awful at science, aren't you?" Miguel remarked. "You're never going to light the fire by just rubbing the sticks together. The only heat you'll get is from your muscles over-exerting themselves."

"Well, you got a better idea, Bear Grylls?" Johnny snapped. Miguel nodded and walked over to the pile of firewood they had, taking out one extremely narrow and one extremely thick plank of wood. He then placed the thick plank of wood flat on the ground and balanced the narrow piece of wood on its head right on top of the other plank. He then turned to Johnny.

"Yo, sensei, give me your spare key to our house." Miguel said. Johnny looked at him, confused.

"Why?" Johnny asked.

"Because I don't want you ever coming near my house ever again." Miguel remarked sarcastically. "NO! I need it to carve out a hole in this piece of wood and none of us have a knife so the key will have to do. I'll give you another one when we get home."

Johnny nodded and handed him the key. Miguel took it and started digging a thin hole into the large plank of wood in the exact width of the narrow piece of wood. After he had done that, he stuck the narrow piece of wood inside the large piece to make a T-shape, and then he grasped the top of the narrow piece and started rubbing his hands together and causing extreme amounts of friction inside the hole. Soon, the friction had turned to steam, and that steam had become fire. Miguel quickly tossed the flaming piece of wood into their large campfire before the flames became too large, and soon, they had a roaring campfire and a lot more warmth. The Eagle-Fangs all let out sighs of relief, and they all patted Miguel on the back in appreciation.

By the time the sun completely set, Johnny had expertly grilled the fish, and Miguel had seasoned it with his gathered herbs, and the group feasted on their hard-earned dinner. It actually smelled delicious, and tasted even better than they thought.

After dinner, the group finally settled for the night, each of them tying car tarps between trees to shield themselves from wind, and using the massive central fire they had to stay warm.

Meanwhile, across the lake from them, the Miyagi-Dos weren't having nearly as much success as the Eagles were. Despite the fact that they had all brought supplies, their supplies were extremely limited - beef jerky and ramen noodles were the extent of their food, and they could smell the feast that the Eagle-Fangs had made.

In addition, even though they had sleeping bags, they were still colder than the Eagle-Fangs as their fire was not nearly as large. None of the Miyagi-Dos were nearly as comfortable as Johnny's dojo were in the woods, and they weren't having too much fun.

Late at night, Sam huddled deep into her sleeping bag for warmth, but when she woke up a couple of hours later in the middle of the night, she was still cold. For about the thousandth time since their breakup, she missed huddling close with Miguel for warmth. She slowly got out of her sleeping bag and walked towards her backpack to grab her coat, but she groaned when she realised that it wasn't there. She must have dropped it somewhere in the woods. Looking around and seeing that the whole group was fast asleep, she settled for going into the woods alone to look for it, ignoring the fact that there could be any kind of wildlife there. Not the smartest move.

Meanwhile, in the Eagle-Fang base camp, Jimmy and Hawk had fallen asleep, but Johnny and Miguel were still up. They were on opposite sides of the fire, but they could see each other's eyes open so Miguel stood up and walked over to Johnny. As Miguel sat down next to him, Johnny took out a 6 pack of Coors and offered him one. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You forgot matches but you remembered beer?" He laughed. Johnny shrugged.

"Priorities." He replied. Miguel chuckled and put his head in his hands.

"I'll pass. I don't want to be extremely thirsty tomorrow morning and have to walk all the way down to the lake to get water a bunch of times."

Johnny nodded.

"Suit yourself." He replied.

He then looked at Miguel and sighed as he saw the troubled look on his student's face. That look had become so common on Miguel's face. Johnny kind of missed the dopey, overly-happy expression that used to be plastered on his student's face.

"What's up, kid?" He asked. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"Huh?"

"What's bothering you?" Johnny asked. "The downside to having a lady's mouth is that your feminine pout is easy to read."

Miguel rolled his eyes at his sensei's cheap insult and sighed.

"Sorry. It's just kinda weird seeing Sam again after what happened." Miguel said. Johnny nodded, understanding immediately.

"I'm guessing it's the first time you guys have since each other since you broke up?" Johnny said. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. I mean we used to see each other every day, and then the dojo split and our break up made everything end so fast. It's not like I want to get back together - I mean I do, but I just don't have the time and energy to maintain a healthy relationship. It's just weird, that's all."

"I mean, have you considered talking to her? I know this is gonna make me sound like a woman, but it could help you get over her. You know, get closure." Johnny said. Miguel shrugged.

"Just sounds like another unnecessary, awkward conversation with my ex to me." Miguel stated. Johnny shook his head.

"Trust me. It actually helps. I had the same view as you, but having that conversation lets you close that chapter in your life. It worked for me."

"With my mom? Are you guys okay?" Miguel asked. Johnny nodded.

"Yeah, we're great. Your mom is absolutely amazing. I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about Ali." Johnny replied. Miguel looked at him, confused.

"Ali? I thought she never wrote you back on facebook." Miguel said. That was what Johnny had told him at least. Johnny shook his head.

"Nah. She actually responded on the week of the Cobra Kai raid on the Larusso house." Johnny said. "We met up. You know that Christmas party I went to in Encino? I went with her."

"So this was before you and my mom started dating?" Miguel asked.

"After we hooked up, before we started dating." Johnny replied. "Anyways, catching up with Ali finally made me able to move on with that part of my life, and officially ask your mom out. It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Trust me, if what you're going through is anything like what I was, that conversation is one of the best things you could do. And you know how much I hate to talk, so if even I'm saying that…"

Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. I guess I'll talk to her tomorrow morning." Miguel said. "Thanks, sensei."

"Anytime, kid." Johnny replied. Miguel then turned towards their campfire and realised that the fire was starting to die out due to lack of wood. He stood up.

"I'm gonna go grab some firewood." Miguel said. Johnny stood up too and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll help. Meet back here in half an hour?"

Miguel nodded.

"Got it." He replied, before walking into the woods.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

DAMN IT!

Sam was officially lost. She was in the middle of the pitch-black woods, extremely far from the Miyagi-Do campsite, with no idea where he was. She frantically looked around for anything that she recognised, but with no success. She was starting to panic now. The sounds of wildlife around her started to increase. Her head constantly whipped around, looking for bears or any predator that might be after her, as she felt her panic level rising. She forced herself not to have a panic attack as she knew that that would make getting back 100 times harder, but she could tell she was on the brink of having one.

Suddenly, she heard it. A twig snap extremely near to her. Sam spun around to face the noise, and she saw a large, black furry shape. The creature hadn't noticed her yet, but it was slowly coming closer, and Sam wasn't about to let it attack her. She charged at it, kicking it as hard as she could, causing it to fall to the ground, ready to run as she assumed it was a wild animal. However, the animal didn't chase her. It groaned in pain and Sam looked at it for the first time. Her panic level diminished immediately when she realised that the 'creature' she had just kicked was Miguel. He looked a lot larger than he normally did due to all of the coats and sweatshirts he was wearing, and her seeing 'fur' was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Sam quickly helped Miguel to his feet, blushing furiously.

"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry, Miguel!" She cried.

"Guess I deserved it." Miguel remarked.

"No! No! I thought you were like a bear or something!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel raised an eyebrow and looked down.

"This some way of telling me I gained weight?" Miguel joked, trying to lessen the immediate awkwardness that had filled the air. Sam couldn't help but laugh at his joke.

"Where am I? Why are you close to our camp?" Sam asked. Miguel looked at her, confused.

"Your camp? You're way closer to ours. We're like a 100 yards that way." Miguel pointed behind him. "Your camp is like 500 yards west."

Sam nodded.

"Thanks. Well… good night." Sam said, starting to walk away. Migeul took a deep breath.

"Hey, Sam?" He called after her, causing her to turn around and face him. "Can we talk? About… you know."

Sam nodded and walked back over to him, the two of them sitting next to each other on the forest floor, their backs resting against the trees. Sam knew that she needed this conversation just as much as he did if she wanted to move on. They looked at each other. Neither one of them looked too great, but they both looked infinitely better than they did right after the break up.

"So… how are you doing?" Miguel asked.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie. This hasn't been the easiest month of my life. You?" She asked. Miguel chuckled and looked down.

"I'm also feeling pretty shitty." Miguel replied. "Look, Sam, I owe you an apology. The way I ended things so quickly… you didn't deserve that."

"No, I didn't!" Sam snapped. "After everything we've been through together. We got through all of those ambushes from Cobra Kai; all of the crap that happened with your dad; all of the panic attacks and PTSD issues I was going through because we got through them together. And then you just end things in less than a minute?"

"I know. I'm really sorry. But it wasn't you…"

"Miguel, I swear to God if you say 'It's not you, it's me' I'm going to bash your head against this tree!" Sam warned. Miguel chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm serious though. You're absolutely amazing. I've never met anyone like you in my entire life. Trust me, if things were even a little bit calmer in my life, there's no way in hell I'd break up with you. You were one of the best parts of my life, Sam. You seriously think I wanted to break up? I'd have to be the dumbest person in the world to actually want that."

Sam couldn't help but smile faintly. Damn it, Miguel knew how to talk. She wanted so badly to be mad at him, make him feel the pain that she was feeling, but that's when she realised… the pain Miguel was feeling was even worse than the one she was going through. Although it was hard for her to face the decision Miguel had made, it must have been a lot harder for him to make that decision to begin with.

"Hey, look, I know there's no reason you ever have to agree with this, but would you ever consider us being friends?" Miguel asked, hesitantly. "You were my best friend in the whole world. We trusted each other completely. Although we're not dating anymore, it would be a shame to ruin that. So… friends?"

Sam looked at him for several moments and then nodded. She knew he was absolutely right. She missed having him in her life. Even if they weren't dating, she definitely wanted him around. She smiled at him.

"Friends." She agreed. Miguel smiled widely and the two hugged.

"I don't know if I've said it enough, but you're really awesome, Sam." Miguel stated. Sam giggled.

"You say it a lot. Not that I'm complaining!" She responded. Miguel laughed.

"Right. Can I walk you back to your camp? I know you're awful at directions and I'm fairly sure you're going to get lost."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Sam exclaimed, indignantly.

"Sam, you're like the one person I know who can get lost WITH Google Maps on." Miguel stated. Sam blushed and rolled her eyes. The two of them stood up and walked through the woods together, catching up on everything that was happening with each other's dojos. Soon, they made it to the outskirts of the Miyagi-Do campsite, and Sam turned to say goodbye to Miguel.

"Hey, as your friend, can I ask you to do something?" MIguel asked. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, sure. What?" Sam asked. Miguel took a deep breath.

"Take it easy on your dad." Miguel stated. Sam sighed and frowned. Miguel wasn't off put though. "Hear me out! He really cares about you, Sam. He only wants what's best for you."

"It's just… he's so involved in my life." Sam murmured. Miguel chuckled.

"Trust me, if I had a dad like yours, I'd want him to be that involved in my life. Look at what I was given. A dad in the California State Penitentiary. Nobody there to teach me how to be a man for 14 years. Until I met Sensei Lawrence. So if you want my opinion, cut him some slack. Tell him to maybe back off a little, but don't hold this grudge against him. He really cares about you, Sam, maybe too much so. And trust me, as someone with a really shitty dad, that's like the best problem you could possibly have."

Sam nodded. She knew Miguel was right. In less than a minute, he had completely changed her perspective. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, Miguel. I'm really glad we're friends again." Sam said. Miguel smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, me too…"