CHAPTER 199
Miyagi-Do didn't waste a second. With their 4 opponents down and out, they knew that it was time to move. They had still not seen any sign of the hostages yet, which meant that they were somewhere unknown within the park and they needed to find them. Leaving the 5 younger students to keep dominating against the Cobra Kai students, the team of 9 took off, running deeper into the park in a bid to look for the hostages.
As they ran up the path, the Miyagi-Dos all came to the same realization pretty quickly, all slowing to a halt and turning to each other.
"This park is too big." Demetri gasped between pants for breath after the exhausting first phase of the massive fight on their hands. "How are we supposed to find them like this? It's going to take hours to sweep the whole park."
"He's right. This is way too inefficient." Miguel murmured. "We don't have long before Silver sends his next wave of offense. And we can't wait around long enough that Silver gets tired and decides to hurt Laura and Sarah anyways."
"We should split up." Sam suddenly suggested, her eyes locked on the large map of the park that was behind them. "We can split the park into sections. It's much faster than just all running together everywhere."
"Doesn't that just make us more susceptible to getting ambushed?" Kenny asked. He was definitely correct, but the options were looking pretty slim for them right now.
"It does. But that's a sacrifice we're going to have to make." Tory stated. "WE don't have time to all move as one unit. And besides, provided Silver's watching us right now through all of the cameras I'm sure he has up, maybe seeing us split up will also force him to split his troops up too. We divide and conquer the enemy."
"Even so, we'll make sure that nobody's going alone so nobody can get ambushed." Miguel added.
"How about this?" Sam said, turning to the rest of the group, looking away from the map for a second and beginning to point to a certain landmark on it. "Hawk, Demetri, Shawn, Kenny… you 4 search the main admin building over there. It's probably the most likely place they're going to hide a person, as it's the easiest place to hide someone. It's not an open space like the rest of the park so there's the most space to hide in. Go together. Look through every room. Leave no stone unturned."
Hawk and Kenny could not have been less thrilled to have to work together given the history that the two of them had, but neither said anything at that moment. There were more important things to worry about right now. They were going to have to find a way to bury their differences, as the safety of everyone they cared about, all 9 of the people they were standing shoulder to shoulder with, was relying on it.
"Tory and I will search the west side of the park." Sam continued. "Miguel, Robby, Marcos… you 3 take the east side."
Tory nodded, but Miguel, Robby and Marcos were a little bit more hesitant. The three of them were the ones most affected by all of this, as Laura and Sarah were their loved ones, so they weren't huge fans of Sam's plan.
"No offense, but I don't think that's a very good idea." Robby said. "Like you said, we're on a lock here. We're not going to have enough time if we split into groups that large."
"Agreed. If we're going to do this, we're going to need to have some balls." Marcos commented. "We can't just rely on safety in numbers to do the fighting for us."
"Easy for you to say." Demetri muttered.
"What do you guys suggest then?" Tory asked.
"Keep Hawk, Demetri, Shawn and Kenny together." Miguel suggested. "They have the biggest part of the park to get through in the admin building. It'll be good to have quite a few people there."
"Sam and Tory should probably stay together too." Hawk murmured. "If they're going through that laser tag arena maze, that could go horribly wrong very quickly if someone's trapped in there alone."
It was a morbid thought - one person being trapped in that maze with enemies converging all around them - but it needed to be said. Everyone shuddered as they thought about this, and it sliced fear through all of them, especially Sam and Tory, as well as Robby and Miguel. The two boys were less than thrilled to have to watch the people they loved so much have to tackle such a dangerous section of the park - probably the most dangerous in their current predicament - without any kind of reinforcements whatsoever, but they were forced to accept the fact that it was happening. For Laura, they told themselves, trying to use the thought of their baby sister to calm their fears a little, but failing miserably.
"Then what? That still leaves the three of us." Robby remarked, glancing at Marcos and Miguel.
"The three of us should just go separately. It's much more efficient in searching for Sarah and Laura." Marcos told them. Robby immediately shook his head.
"No way. We said no one's going alone." Robby stated firmly. Marcos chuckled drily.
"Come on, man. Let's be realistic here. If we suddenly walk into 10 or 11 people of Silver's army, it won't even matter how many of us are there to fight them. Whether it's just one of us, two of us, or all three of us. We're fucked either way. At least by splitting up, if one of us gets caught, the rest of us can keep looking."
Even more morbid than Hawk's statement was the one that Marcos had pointed out. It did the exact opposite of building what was already very fragile morale, but the worst part… he was absolutely right. He was simply the only one blunt enough to point out the God's honest truth: that they were way out of their depth here. That even if they fought tooth and nail, this wasn't like a tournament or a brawl against teenagers where showing heart alone would be good enough to win. Marcos simply highlighted the very good chance that none of them would be making it out of this park alive. They were in the Hunger Games, with the entire Capitol routing for them to fail, the Gamekeepers targeting them with assault after assault. There would eventually come a point where they were no longer strong enough to keep fighting, and they just needed to prolong that moment until after they had found the hostages.
"No. No way." Tory snapped, glancing at Robby as she said so. "You're not going alone. None of you are."
"I have to agree with her. That seems way too reckless and dangerous." Sam agreed, staring at her own boyfriend. It was the two girls' turn to be filled with worry about their significant others. The heart that every single one of the Miyagi-Dos showed every time they fought was truly coming back to bite them now. The loyalty and affection that had been bred between the members of their dojo after going through so much together was turning into a weakness.
Marcos sighed, turning to Miguel and Robby.
"Look, it's just an idea. You guys can go together if you want to. But I'm going alone." Marcos stated.
"Come on. There's got to be a better way to do this." Kenny remarked.
"No. Marcos is right." Robby interrupted. "If we want to find the hostages as quickly as possible, the 3 of us splitting up is the best chance we have."
Although it wasn't explicitly stated at that moment, Marcos, Robby and Miguel were the three best fighters they had. They were the three sharpest knives in the set. If anyone was going to split off and go alone to look for the hostages, it would be them. But that didn't minimize the danger that they were bound to face, amplified by the fact that they were now separate from the group.
"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked, still very unsure about the massive risk the 3 boys were taking.
"Laura and Sarah… they're who matter here. Not us." Miguel stated.
Slowly but surely, the Miyagi-Dos were beginning to slip into a mindset that had been shared so many years ago by none other than Silver and Kreese. They found that where they were right now… this wasn't just a fight. This was a war. This was a war, and they were the soldiers fighting in it. The only way they'd stand any chance of winning the war would be realizing that their lives were not only secondary to the hostages', but were completely dispensable in comparison. While in the past, their own self interests might have been the top priority on their minds, that sure as hell wasn't the case anymore. Walking away from the fight and abandoning his team like he had in his second All-Valley was the absolute last thing on Miguel's mind. His well being, both physical and mental, didn't matter in the slightest, for as long as this all ended with the hostages being saved.
As they prepared to split up into their 5 groups to search the park, there was a moment between the Miyagi-Dos. They knew full well that there was a good chance that they wouldn't all come back from this. They knew that this could be the last time that they would be in each other's company, at least in this life. It was a tough pill to swallow for all of them, but none more so than the 2 couples, neither of whom were paired together for the next phase of the plan. Miguel and Sam, Tory and Robby couldn't bear to think about the fact that the relationships they held above anything else in the world could be shattered after tonight. There was a very good chance they would never see each other again, never hold each other again. The couples couldn't help but embrace for the last time, holding onto each other like no tomorrow. Because there was the chance that there could be no tomorrow.
As Marcos stood in the corner and watched them say goodbye to each other, he averted his eyes, feeling a pang of agony stab him right in the heart, an iron fist clenching harder in his chest as he thought about Sarah. His face darkened as he thought about what his own loved one was going through right now, and his change in look did not go unnoticed by his closest friend. Shawn, who was standing beside him, placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"We're going to find her." Shawn stated quietly to him, an infectious determination in his voice. Marcos took a deep breath to steady himself, and he nodded.
"I know." He replied.
A few moments later, the team finally split up and headed in different directions, prepared to search every nook and cranny of the vast park in hopes of finding a trace of the hostages. Meanwhile, from a distance, a certain pony-tailed man watched on, pulling out his phone and sending the same message to a whole host of different people: a karate sensei; a cartel leader; an abusive father; and two other ex-cons…
It's just as we expected. They split up. Plan goes ahead like we had before. Everyone, get into position and get ready. They're coming…