CHAPTER 40

The Cobras started to prowl towards Miguel and Robby, and the two slowly retreated backwards until they hit the wall.

"Hey, Cobras!" Miguel cheerfully exclaimed, waving at them. "How are you guys? It's been a while. Can I just say that you guys look absolutely radiant! I don't know if Kreese has you guys on some kind of skincare routine, but you guys are absolutely glowing!"

The Cobras scowled at Miguel and stormed closer. Robby glared at Miguel.

"Great. Piss 'em off while they surround us. That's smart." Robby snapped, sarcastically. Miguel shrugged.

"Eh. They're gonna kill us anyway." Miguel replied.

"You know, you're a terrible person to have in a fox hole!" Robby exclaimed. Miguel nodded and he grabbed a bo staff and a set of nunchucks, and he tossed the bo staff to Robby.

"Maybe. But I'm pretty good at fighting my way out." Miguel replied. "Look, I know we've had our differences, but if we want to get out of this, we're going to need to work together."

"Hey Miguel?" Robby said. Miguel looked at him and Robby nodded. "Don't make it easy for them."

Miguel grinned and spun the nunchucks expertly in his hands.

"Hell no." He replied, and the two boys lunged in unison…

Without even discussing it, Miguel and Robby were perfectly in sync with their tactics. They were using Daniel's circle attack tactic, but were using a much more aggressive version of it. A massive advantage that was in their favor was that they were fighting with weapons, when the Cobras were empty handed.

Robby and Miguel stood back-to-back, swinging their weapons at incoming Cobras, knocking them all backwards. However, the wave of assaults that the Cobras were doing were never ending. Miguel and Robby were soon nearing exhaustion, and Robby turned to Miguel, sweating profusely, about to collapse from exhaustion.

"What do we do?" Robby asked.

"We do plan B." Miguel replied.

"Which is?!" Robby asked. Miguel took a deep breath and dropped the nunchucks to the ground, spreading his arms outwards, not trying to defend himself.

"This is plan B." Miguel stated.

"Seems like a pretty bad plan!" Robby exclaimed. Miguel shrugged.

"You got a better idea?" He asked. Robby didn't say anything and Miguel nodded. "Didn't think so."

He then turned back to the Cobras, who were more confused than anything else.

"What the hell is this?" Tory snapped. Miguel shrugged and walked towards her.

"Go ahead. Kill me, Tory. End my life. I swear to God I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to fight you. Just do it. Snap my neck. Choke me out. Whatever you want."

"The fuck? You want to die?" Tory spat. Miguel shook his head.

"No. But I also know that you're not going to kill me." Miguel replied, confidently. Tory raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?" She growled.

"Because you're not a bad person, Tory. You've been extremely unlucky in life and you do have serious anger issues, but you're not a murderer. A killer. You've just been manipulated by Kreese to hate everyone and everything around you."

"You don't understand, Miguel. You haven't had to be tough like me. You and Larusso. You both had life handed to you on a silver platter." She stated. Miguel sighed.

"Tory, I had to flee Ecuador when I was 14 to get away from an abusive father who nearly killed me. A father who came to L.A earlier this year and nearly killed someone I love. Robby here didn't have any contact whatsoever with his father until he was 16. Everyone has their own issues! But you can't let hardships turn you against the people who care about you!" Miguel exclaimed.

"He's right." Robby chimed in. He knew Tory a lot better than Miguel did, so if anyone could really reach Tory, it would be him. "Tory, when we met, we both HATED Miguel and Sam for what they did to us. They walked off scot-free while we were stuck eating shit."

"I mean, I wouldn't say scot-free. You did break my back and paralyse me." Miguel stated.

"Miguel, shut up." Robby muttered, before turning back to Tory. "We were at the lowest points of our lives, and Kreese took advantage of that. He manipulated you. He manipulated both of us. He fed off all of the anger, the hatred and the betrayal we were feeling and he used it to turn us. He doesn't give a fuck about us. We are just pawns in this sick battle of his. We're not bad people, Tory. Remember that time I came to your house and I met your mom and brother? You were so sweet to them! You're an amazing person, Tory, and I really, really like you. Please don't do this. Get out of Cobra Kai while you still can!"

Tory looked extremely torn at this point. She was fighting an internal moral battle. On one hand, Kreese had been the only person completely loyal to her since the school fight. He had gotten her out of her issues with her landlord. He had offered her free karate lessons. He had put his faith in her to win. But deep down, she knew that Robby was right. She knew that Kreese didn't care about her as a person. She was nothing more than a weapon that when no longer sharp enough would be tossed aside. Eventually, she nodded at Robby and stood beside him, slipping her hand in his.

"None of you are bad people!" Miguel addressed the whole group, more confident now that they had turned Tory - their leader. "All of you have just been pulled down the wrong path. It isn't your fault. It isn't karate's fault. It is all KREESE'S fault. Karate is one of the best sports in the world. It absolutely changed my life. And if you guys fight for the right side, alongside the right people, I bet you anything that it'll change your lives too."

There was a brief silence, before the sound of sarcastic slow clapping filled the air. Making the noise was Kreese, who had been upstairs in the other dojo during this fight, but had now come down and heard the last part of the talk.

"Well that was sickening. I feel like I'm about to puke." Kreese remarked. "Now, all of you get the hell out of my dojo."

All of the students slunk out of the Cobra Kai dojo. Well, everyone but Miguel, Tory and Robby.

"Here's how it's going to go down, Kreese." Miguel snapped. "You're out of this town. You're never going to set foot in this dojo again. You've ruined so many lives, but no more."

"I don't think so." Kreese murmured. "I think I'm going to stay here as long as I want to."

"GET OUT!" Robby bellowed. Kreese chuckled.

"You have a temper, Keene. Like father, like son. And it's like I've often told him, it's going to be your downfall."

"Fuck you." Robby growled. Kreese then raised his hands, and got ready for a fight. He didn't care they were just kids. He was out for the kill. Miguel, Robby and Tory forced their nerves away though. There were 3 of them and 1 of him. They liked those odds.

Kreese lunged at Miguel first, but Miguel dodged his attack and sent a vicious kick towards Kreese's groin. That's right, Miguel was fighting dirty! If the kick had connected, it would have been fight over then and there, but unfortunately, Kreese blocked it and shoved Miguel backwards into an incoming Robby. He chuckled as both boys went down.

"Look at you two. Weak. And to think both of you were at both some point Cobra Kai's lead cobra."

"Ignore him. He's trying to get into your heads." Tory murmured to them and they nodded. She then turned to Kreese.

"Why don't you try me, you son of a bitch?" She growled, lunging at him. Kreese NEVER hit women. It was one of his only rules that he stood by, but when Tory threw the first punch, he had no chance than to defend himself. There was a MASSIVE strength difference between the teenagers and Kreese, and Kreese used that to his advantage. Kreese slapped Tory's punch away so hard that she spun to be facing backwards, and then he kicked her back into the glass mirror, shattering it against her and causing her to go down.

"Tory!" Robby shouted, concerned, running over to her. As he checked on Tory, Miguel turned his attention back to Kreese, who was leering maliciously at him.

"Come on. Try me." Kreese growled. Miguel sent a flurry of kicks Kreese's way, but Kreese blocked them all easily.

As Miguel stumbled backwards, Kreese tutted.

"Come on! You can do better than that! You're the All-Valley champ!" Kreese exclaimed, mockingly. Miguel nodded, using immense athleticism to leapfrog off the wall and land on top of Kreese's shoulders, immediately wrapping his legs around the man's neck and pulling Kreese to the ground in a triangle choke. That would have been enough to finish most people. It was enough for Robby. Miguel squeezed his legs as hard as he possibly could but before he knew it, with a herculean feat of strength, Kreese managed to get to his feet and lift Miguel up while he was still on Kreese's shoulders, and then the man slammed Miguel to the ground with a massive BANG! Miguel groaned, unable to move as his back absolutely killed him.

Kreese stood over the three fallen teens, and he shook his head. He shook his head at them.

"You three are disgraces. But you know, if I have to leave you with one thing, let me leave you with this…" Kreese said. "Cobra Kai never dies…"

With that, he walked out of the basement dojo, through the main dojo and out of the door forever. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was as he walked though the main dojo, he took out his cigar lighter and dropped it onto one of the mats, causing it to go ablaze and start spreading a massive fire around the dojo with Miguel, Robby and Tory still in the basement!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As Miguel, Tory and Robby lay in the basement, they had no idea what was going on above. The door to the basement was slammed shut so they had no idea about the inferno that was taking over the top floor.

The three teenagers were absolutely exhausted. Although Robby didn't fight much against Kreese, he had done the most fighting out of all of them that day, between the All-Valley and his fight with Miguel. Tory was still recovering from being kicked into the glass mirror, and Miguel was trying to get his bearings after being slammed back first onto the mat. They had no idea why Kreese had abandoned the fight, but all three of them had an eerie feeling that something was wrong. Eventually, the three of them had recovered enough to get to their feet and limp towards the basement door. When Robby opened it and they all saw the flames in the upper dojo, their eyes widened. The flames had almost completely taken over the dojo, to the extent that parts of the ceiling and walls were falling apart. Robby slammed the door to the basement shut again, and the three turned to each other in panic.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Tory exclaimed. Robby took deep calming breaths and forced himself to think clearly. They all had to if they wanted to make it out alive.

"Okay, here's what we're going to have to do." Robby murmured. "We're gonna have to just fling open the door and sprint to the door and hope for the best."

"Are you crazy?!" Miguel cried. "The fumes alone are enough to…"

"So take off your shirt and wrap it around your mouth." Robby demanded. Miguel did so and Robby did the same, but Robby then noticed Tory hesitant. She was a girl after all, and girls obviously weren't as comfortable taking off their shirts as guys. Robby looked around the basement and saw a towel lying at the side of the room. He tossed it to her, and she nodded gratefully.

"Your clothes are probably going to be on fire by the time you make it out so she second you get out, stop, tuck and roll to extinguish the flames." Tory stated. They all nodded.

"All right. Are you guys?" Miguel asked, his trembling hands on the extremely hot doorknob. "3…"

"2…" Robby murmured.

"1…" Tory said.

"GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!" Miguel shouted, flinging open the door to the basement and sprinting out the door after Robby and Tory. However, despite the fact that it was only a 15 meter walk, it was a LOT easier said than done. The flames were everywhere, and the smoke alone was enough for the three teenagers to start choking, despite their clothing protection. In addition, due to the smoke, they couldn't really see where they were going. They could barely see a foot ahead of them.

Tory led the pack, making it out of the dojo unscathed. Miguel was next, making it to the door in one piece. Robby was supposed to be a couple of feet behind Miguel, but to Miguel's horror, when he turned around, Robby wasn't there. Miguel's eyes watered as they frantically searched the burning dojo, looking for Robby. He eventually found Robby, his left leg trapped under a fallen punching bag. Miguel limped over to him, ignoring his body's screams of pain as the fire started to burn through his thin clothing and singe his skin.

"Miguel, no! Get to safety!" Robby shouted as Miguel made his way towards him.

"Robby, shut up." Miguel snapped, as he heaved the punching bag up and off of Robby's leg with all his might. Robby slowly got to his feet, extremely dazed but grateful.

"Thanks, Miguel." He whispered. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, no prob…" Miguel's voice trailed off and his eyes widened in alarm. He saw the patch of ceiling that was right on top of Robby's head start to crack. He could see what was about to happen. It was all happening like a slow motion nightmare. Miguel sprinted towards a bemused Robby just as the ceiling on top of him finally cracked off. Miguel didn't have time to pull Robby to safety before the ceiling came down so he did the next best thing: he pushed him. He pushed Robby out of the way of the falling ceiling, but that left him right where Robby had been standing and the plaster ceiling came right down on his head with a sickening CRACK!

When Robby heard that sound, the shock and daze he was in completely snapped off. Miguel had possibly just died. Sacrificed himself for him. And Robby couldn't let that happen. He picked up an unconscious Miguel and draped him over his shoulders, using the last of his strength to dive out of the dojo doors with Miguel just as the rest of the ceiling came down…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

At that moment, Johnny, Amanda, Daniel, Sam and Hawk finally made it to the dojo. It had taken them a LONG time to get a taxi and there was a fair bit of traffic getting to Reseda. When they pulled up and saw the flames, their hearts stopped. Johnny and Daniel dived out of the car and sprinted over.

"No!" Johnny whispered. "No! No! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

As Johnny watched the whole dojo come down, he thought about his two sons in there, and how he had just lost the both of them. Daniel put a hand on Johnny's shoulder and there was a brief moment of silence before a quiet croak filled the air.

"Dad?" Johnny heard someone whisper. His head snapped around to see an EXTREMELY beaten-down and injured Robby and Tory kneeling next to an unconscious Miguel. Johnny and Daniel sprinted over to them, and at this point, Hawk and Sam joined them. Despite the fact that Robby and Tory's supposed enemies had just shown up, there was no lashing towards them. Their rivalry had been forgotten as they all stared down at the fallen teenager.

"What happened?" Johnny whispered. So Robby told him the whole story. About the 1 on 1 fight with Miguel. About the fight against the whole dojo. About them managing to turn the Cobras good again. About their fight against Kreese. All of it culminating in the fire, where Miguel saved Robby's life, and possibly sacrificed his own because of it. At this point, fire and ambulance had arrived at the scene, and Miguel was quickly taken away, stretchered into an ambulance that rushed for the hospital, the paramedics desperately trying to revive the unconscious boy…