CHAPTER 203

As Sam and Tory approached the very familiar laser tag arena that they'd be looking through, the silence in the air was deafening. While so little was being said between the two girls, both of their minds were racing, and they were thinking about exactly the same thing. They remembered the last time they had been here: Sam leading Miyagi-Do into the fight; Miyagi-Do winning for a while; Tory's entrance; Sam's panic attack; Demetri's arm being snapped. The flurry of events, long ago as they were, were seared into the minds of both girls.

Sam, in particular, was dragged right back to that night, from the moment her and Tory came near the dark arena. She felt herself curled up in the ball, listening to her friends being beaten up all around her, unable to gather the strength to help them. She felt herself whisked back to the hospital waiting room, the gut-wrenching SNAP of Demetri's arm being broken echoing through her ears as an immense guilt crushed her chest. That fight… Demetri's arm being broken… it was all her fault. She had instigated it. Rather than advising Chris to tell his manager that the Cobra Kai stole from his stall, she had decided to rally all of the Miyagi-Dos and wage war on the Cobras. And then when shit had hit the fan and Cobra Kai fought back, she was physically unharmed yet hadn't been able to defend herself or her friends.

For a while, Sam had blamed Cobra Kai for all of it. They had busted into the theme park. They had broken Demetri's arm. They were the bad guys, and Miyagi-Do were the good guys - that's how this whole thing worked, right? It was only when a lot of time passed, allegiances shifted and Sam found herself on the same side as many of those Cobra Kais that she realized that things weren't as simple as she had initially thought. They were people too, people who had simply been defending themselves from the fight that Miyagi-Do had started. While Cobra Kai had started plenty of fights, Miyagi-Do had also started their fair share: at Golf n Stuff, on the soccer field, and so many more. If strong emotions were no excuse for the shit Cobra Kai had pulled, then the same thing applied for Miyagi-Do. She had screwed up, and it had led to someone she cared about getting seriously hurt.

Needless to say, it wasn't easy re-entering the maze where all of this had happened, especially not standing alongside the person who had caused her so much anguish at this very location. But the girl forced herself to swallow her fear, remembering the task at hand. They were looking for Laura and Sarah, and then getting the hell out of here. That's what mattered here. Her own feelings would have to wait.

Tory, meanwhile, noticed the apprehension and fear that flitted across Sam's face as soon as they entered the maze, and it didn't take her longer than a split second to realize why. She didn't know that much about Sam's panic attacks as she and Sam still weren't exactly friends, but she knew enough to have been wracked with more guilt than she could bear when she found out. The guilt hadn't faded in the slightest either: Tory was sure that it never would, and the most she would ever be able to do would be to learn to live with it. She debated saying something to Sam, but the look on the other girl's face told her not to. The message Sam was sending her was clear: focus on the mission. So that's exactly what Tory forced herself to do.

Side by side, the two former rivals walked into the maze together, into the eerie silence. As they did, Sam's breathing was almost deafening. The brunette gently stroked her hand against the side wall of the maze, feeling the exact same surface that she had crumpled against during her panic attack, and she struggled to keep her breathing steady. On the verge of hyperventilating, it took everything Sam had to keep herself together and remain calm. She was fighting against her entire body, almost dragging herself deeper into the maze as every fiber of her being wanted to turn and run.

It was a good thing she didn't, or else at that moment, she would've been leaving Tory at the mercy of the wolves. Or in this case… wolf. Because as Tory suddenly felt herself getting blindsided and knocked to the ground, the blonde looked up, only to see a spine-chillingly familiar former sensei stepping out of the shadows.

"Ms. Nichols." Sensei Kim greeted her former champion, a combination of rage and bloodlust on her face. "Nice to see your reflexes haven't gotten any better. It means killing you and your friend here will be so much easier."

Tory scrambled to her feet, her and Sam standing face to face with the Cobra Kai sensei. As they stared into Kim's cold, reptilian eyes, the two girls only had one thought: run! It was one thing to fight a henchman who wasn't well-trained in hand-to-hand combat. But to fight a Karate Sensei… one who had trained with the founder of Cobra Kai no less… it was a death wish.

"RUN!" Tory shouted, as Kim unleashed another wave of offense their way, the two girls diving out of the way just in time. Sam and Tory dived in opposite directions to avoid the sensei's punches and kicks, and they then did the worst thing they could possibly do: they split up.

It was purely instinctual. The two girls were too far away from each other, on opposite sides of Sensei Kim, so they weren't able to flee in the same direction. Sam was forced to go one way and Tory the other, Sensei Kim also having to choose which of the two girls to pursue.

Because Kim wasn't going to let this fight end so quickly. She had flown all the way back from Korea for this. She was hungry for revenge, eager to put a knife in the heart of Miyagi-Do once and for all, starting with the two girls here. Kim had been so reluctant to involve herself in the rivalry between the dojos when she had first arrived in the Valley almost a year ago, but now that she had returned, the feud and the thought of vengeance was the only thing on her mind.

When Tory and Sam split up and ran in opposite directions through the weaving maze, Kim decided to chase her former student first. She didn't run after the girls, perfectly at ease as she prowled after them like a lion. There were henchmen blocking both the entrance and the exit of the maze, so her prey was trapped inside, scurrying around like mice looking for holes in the wall.

So many obstacles for Sam and Tory. Flashbacks of memories so vivid they were almost crippling, for both girls in different ways; the discombobulating nature of the laser tag maze meant that they had no idea which way they were going; and the constant thought of knowing Kim was in the maze somewhere too meant that they were both hesitant to take a step.

SLAM!

With the speed of a lunging Cobra, Kim suddenly made her move. As Tory turned a corner, she was met with a brutal takedown, slamming her back against the wall of the maze and causing the girl to go sliding to the ground.

It didn't take long for Sam to follow her teammate. Ironically, despite running in opposite directions, the girls found themselves in the same place once more. Up ahead, Sam saw the action unfolding in the distance and swallowing her fear, she charged at Sensei Kim too. Despite an outstretched leg in the form of a flying kick, Sam wasn't able to connect with her target. Kim slithered under the teenager's leg with ease, and a vicious hook kick cracked against Sam's jaw, knocking Sam to the ground right beside Tory.

Kim stood over them, dusting off the creases in her clothing and shaking her head disapprovingly at them.

"Wow… this was worse than I thought. Pathetic! Both of you!" She snapped. Hearing her voice, remembering the torture that Kim had put her through that fateful night at the dojo… it made Tory realize that she wasn't done yet.

Letting out a cry of anger, Tory stumbled to her feet, Sam rising with her, and the two of them lunged at Kim once more. This time a bit more synchronous with their attacks, it still came to little effect. Kim was simply a class above both of them, and sent them both crashing backwards in the maze once more, countering their techniques and landing her own strikes in retaliation.

Tory fell back with a large CRASH against the arena wall, but to Sam's surprise, she didn't reciprocate with her own fall. Instead, Sam felt herself fall against something warm, something moving… a person! What the hell?! Who was it, Sam thought to herself as she rolled over, trying to see who had fallen beside her?! Tory had fallen pretty far away from her, and Kim's attention was fully on the blonde as she prepared to approach her to finish her.

When Sam spun around, her eyes widened for a moment as she realized who it was.

"S-S-sarah?" Sam stammered.

The female champion of Cobra Kai had fallen beside her, still gagged and her hands tied up but otherwise unharmed. A combination of fear and relief filled Sarah's face at the sight of someone who wasn't an enemy.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, immediately snapping to action, removing the gag and beginning to untie Sarah's hands. Sarah nodded.

"Where's Marcos?" was the first thing Sarah asked as soon as the gag was out.

"I don't know." Sam replied honestly. "I'm sorry. We all split up to search different areas in the park for you and the baby. Miguel, Robby and Marcos all went off on their own."

Worry flickered through Sarah's eyes at the thought of Marcos trying to tackle his father alone, but it was quickly overtaken by confusion.

"Wait… baby?" Sarah asked, realizing something peculiar that Sam said. It was Sam's turn to be confused.

"Yeah. You didn't know? Silver didn't just take you. He took Miguel and Robby's baby sister too." Sam murmured. Sarah's jaw dropped in shock and Sam noticed. "I guess that means you haven't seen her, huh?"

Sarah shook her head, before her eyes flashed with alarm as she looked over Sam's shoulder. The fight between Sensei Kim and Tory was still unfolding, though it wasn't much of a fight anymore. Kim had Tory pretty much down and out, and was preparing to finish her when she looked up and saw Sarah and Sam together.

Anger flashed across Kim's face. She was livid at the pitiful incompetent that had led to Sarah getting free, half of the leverage they had over their enemies disappearing. Turning away from Tory, Kim rushed towards the two other girls, Sam still with her back to the scene as she untied Sarah's hands, so she was unaware about what was going on.

"Duck." Sarah murmured, the moment Sam untied her hands. Sam raised an eyebrow.

'What?" Sam asked.

"DUCK!" Sarah shouted, and the Taikai Semi Finalist didn't need to be told twice. As the girl ducked, Sarah didn't hesitate to go flying over her head, vaulting herself off Sam's back and onto the approaching Kim Da Eun.

It all happened so fast, in a mere matter of a few split seconds, so Kim didn't have enough time to react or to block the girl that was hurtling towards her. Sarah landed with a flying side kick square to the chest, knocking Kim backwards a few paces.

Taking a few breaths to steady herself, Kim clutched her chest and nodded.

"Not bad, Ms. Gledhill. I guess your win at the Sekai Taikai wasn't a total fluke after all." Kim remarked. "It's a shame that it has to end this way though."

"Shut the fuck up." Sarah snapped, her loose tongue getting the better of her and her frustration boiling over after being held captive for countless hours. She was ready to crack some heads together, and her energy was infectious to both Sam and Tory, who were quickly rising to their feet and facing Kim too, creating a 3 on 1 fight in favor of the girls.

Despite the vast amount of experience and skill they were up against, the girls knew that they had one unassailable advantage over Kim, one that she couldn't possibly claw back: numbers. As good as Kim was, she couldn't be in 3 places at once. If they all attacked from different angles and attacked different areas of Kim's body, there was no way that Kim could possibly defend it all.

"Sarah, go low. Sam, go high. Surround her." Tory instructed the two other girls, who immediately obliged.

Sarah went low. Sam went high. And Tory went right for the middle. A volley of punches and kicks aimed at all three of these locations, completely encircling Kim as they did so… there was nothing the sensei could do. Razor-sharp strikes were landing left and right, and it was all Kim could do to eat the hits until eventually, she was sent crashing to the ground.

They had done it. By the combined efforts of all 3 of them, the girls had managed to topple one of the best fighters in the Valley. Someone much older, much wiser and much more experienced. Teamwork between two girls who had spent years fighting for their lives against each other, as well as a girl who had been feuding furiously with both of them for the past year, had been enough to guarantee them the victory.

But the girls made one fatal flaw. It was the same flaw that Miguel had made. The same that Robby had made. The same that Hawk, Demetri and all of the others had made. None of the Miyagi-Dos so far had come close to finishing their opponents for good. They knocked them to the ground and left them there, which against teenagers might have been more than sufficient. But with fighters like these - grown, hardened adults - that simply wasn't good enough…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Let's find the others." Sam told them as the three girls burst out of the maze, surprising the henchman guarding the exit to death, knocking him out before he could react. With one hostage alive and well, the girls were filled with more confidence that they could find Laura too, and get the hell out of here without any casualties.

Their hopes were only further boosted when suddenly, they heard familiar voices calling to them in the distance. As Sam, Tory and Sarah turned around, they saw 6 members of Miyagi-Do running towards them: Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Demetri, Shawn and Kenny were all together. In Miguel's arms, to everyone's great relief, was Laura.

The Miyagi-Dos grabbed each other in tight embraces as they all reunited, both hostages alive and well, everyone seemingly safe and unscathed too. There was only one person missing though, and Sarah was the first to immediately notice his absence.

"Wait… where's Marcos?"