Right after they ran out of the school building, they started heading down a street, wanting to get some distance between them and the building.
Jack was following Sam and Demetri lost in thought, while the two talked.
This wasn't how his day was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a normal peaceful day with no drama, but of course it wasn't going to go that way.
The same thing happened in Seaford. At first he wanted to just be a skater and skate in peace, but then the Black Dragons started causing trouble and everything went to shit.
It felt like the same thing was happening all over again just in a different city.
Maybe it doesn't have to be a bad thing though. To be honest, Jack doesn't regret anything, he doesn't regret joining the Bobby Wasabi dojo, he doesn't regret meeting Kim or any of his other Seaford friends, despite all the trouble and drama that led to it.
So maybe this whole thing was a blessing in disguise. Maybe everything was going to turn out alright in the end.
A voice broke him out of his thoughts.
"Jack?"
He looked up and saw Demetri and Sam looking at him, their eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you okay?" Demetri questioned, his head cocked.
Jack nodded, and looked around. He didn't recognize the street they were on. "Yeah, I'm fine. But um, where are we going?" He asked them, while looking around.
Sam looked up at him, her lips pulled into a friendly smile. "We thought we could show you our dojo. We have Karate practice today, you can join us if you want.
Jack shrugged, his lips twitching into a smile. "Sure, why not."
Demetri grinned widely. "Awesome! Maybe you can show us some of the moves you used against Robby, that was amazing by the way. It was about time someone put him in his place" Demetri exclaimed, punching his right fist into his left palm and looking up at Jack hopefully.
"Don't you have a Sensei for that stuff?" Jack chuckled, sliding his hands in his pockets. He didn't actually mind showing them a few moves, he was just curious about their Sensei.
"Sure we do but Sensei Larusso doesn't really teach us individually, just in groups. And even then it's always some boring stuff, like meditation or some other boring crap." Demetri said, wrinkling his nose.
Sam looked offended. "Hey! Breathing exercises and meditation are important too, you know! Martial Arts is not all about cool, flashy moves." She huffed, arms crossed over her chest.
Demetri rolled his eyes. "Yes it is. I don't wanna learn how to breathe. I already know how to do that! I wanna learn cool moves like Jack. Did you see the way he beat Robby? Robby couldn't land a hit on him, maybe one at most, while he-" He pointed at Jack before continuing, "landed almost all his blows while dodging and blocking all of Robby's punches effortlessly. That's what I wanna do too." He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
Sam was about to retort but Jack beat her to it.
"She's right actually" He spoke up, jabbing his finger toward Sam. "Martial Arts isn't all about cool, flashy moves. There are plenty people who only learn moves that look cool, but those moves are completely useless and just for show. They won't help you when it comes down to a real fight." He finished, voice casual and light.
Sam looked at a wide-eyed Demetri, she stuck out her tongue at him and mouthed 'I told you so', smirking.
"But your moves looked really cool and you still kicked ass" Demetri shot back, raising an eyebrow at the black belt.
Jack shook his head, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Actually, those were not even close to being flashy, I'll show you actual cool Karate moves when we get to the dojo" He said, putting his arms around Demetri and giving him a playful noogie. Demetri's eyes lit up and he started nodding rapidly.
Then he started asking bunch of questions, one after another. Jack answered all his questions, a grin plastered on his face and an amused glint in his eye.
Sam let out a laugh at the two boys. She was actually kind of interested too, and wanted to see what he was capable of. She was just good at hiding her enthusiasm, unlike Demetri.
oOo
Jack's jaw dropped wide open when they arrived to the dojo and he laid his eyes on the place.
"Wow" he breathed out, in awe, as they walked up, past all the cars, to the awesome looking building.
Sam smiled widely. "Cool, right?"
Jack nodded absetmindedly, still looking at the place in awe. This place was beautiful.
Demetri and Sam walked inside the building and Jack followed wide-eyed.
Jack was looking at the different medals, trophies, pictures and the other cool stuff on the shelves and all around the dojo, when he heard someone clear their throat.
They all turned around, toward the sound and saw a tall, lanky man with short, dark hair. He looked to be in his forties and was looking at them, an eyebrow cocked.
Jack figured he was the Sensei of this dojo. The black belt had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as he thought about his old sensei and the difference between the two. Rudy was pretty childish at times and lighthearted, though he was serious whenever he needed to be, while this guy looked pretty serious, he was the complete opposite of Rudy from what Jack could tell.
"Sam, who is your new friend?" Daniel asked his daughter, as he took a good look at the brown-haired boy. Daniel somehow instantly knew that this kid knew Karate or at least knew how to fight. It was just the way the kid carried himself. He looked carefree and laid-back but confident at the same time.
"This is Jack Brewer. He is new here and he's interested in joining the dojo. Jack this is my father and the Sensei of this dojo, Daniel Larusso." She introduced the two.
"Hello sir. It's very nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you from these two." He pointed at Demetri and Sam, a smile on his face.
"Good things only, I hope" Daniel quipped, already liking this boy. He had good manners which were pretty rare in kids nowadays.
"Of course." Jack laughed, shoving his hair back away from his face.
Demetri jumped in on their conversation. "Jack is a second-degree black belt, Sensei!" He exclaimed, nudging a sheepish Jack on the shoulder and smiling brightly.
Daniel's eyebrows almost rose to his hairline in surprise. A second-degree black belt. So this kid really knew what he was doing then, just as he suspected.
Daniel let out a low whistle. "That's amazing, Jack." He said, grinning at the boy.
Jack scratched the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. He was somewhat used to the attention but it still caught him off guard at times. Especially when an accomplished Sensei complimented him. Just by looking at the dojo and some of the medals and trophies Jack could tell that Daniel was really skilled.
"We were just about to start Karate practice you wanna join us?" Daniel continued, a friendly smile plastered on his face.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that" He replied, lips curving upwards in a smile. Daniel grinned and told the three to join the rest in the backyard.
When they walked outside, Jack saw a few other kids their age waiting there already, when the three got closer, the other students' heads snapped up to stare at Jack in wonder, they saw the fight at school. Some of them were intimidated by him and some looked at him happily. Happy that someone so skilled was on their side and not on Cobra Kai's.
Jack waved at them a friendly smile on his face, and saw a dark-skinned, bulky teenager walking toward them.
"Hey Demetri" the boy greeted Demetri, a wide smile on his face.
"Heya Chris." Demetri smiled back.
"So, who's the new kid?" The dark-skinned boy questioned. He saw his fight at school but didn't know anything about him, not even his name.
"This is Jack, he's new here and he'll be joining us today" Sam spoke up, a smile on her face.
Chris smiled and introduced himself to Jack. They joined the rest of the students and made small talk, waiting for Daniel to show up.
oOo
When Daniel showed up they started going through the basic Karate forms. They practiced their forms for over thirty minutes when Chris let out a loud groan.
"Why do we have to go through this stuff again? Can't we do something more advanced?"
Daniel shook his head, letting out a sigh. "No Chris. It's important to practice the basics to perfect detail, before you start on more advanced forms."
Demetri spoke up,
"But why? Basics won't help us win a tournament. We need something more advanced or we're done for."
"It's better to master all the basic moves than to know them only partially, before moving onto more advanced moves" Daniel continued, voice calm.
"How so?" Nathaniel, the smallest one of the group, asked in confusion.
"Do you guys know who Bruce Lee is?" Daniel answered the question with one of his own.
They all nodded.
"Bruce Lee himself lived by that idea. Practicing the basics over a thousand times to perfection is more effective than knowing a few advanced moves and some of the basics partially." Daniel explained, running a hand down his face.
"But fine. Let's do something else for now" He announced, clapping his hands loudly to catch everyone's attention.
Most of the students cheered but were silenced by Daniel's glare.
He cleared his throat, before continuing. "Let's do some sparring, as you guys know we have a new student here." He motioned toward Jack, who smiled casually and waved at everyone.
"Every single one of you are going to spar him and the goal is to land at least one hit on him, the first one who succeeds wins" Daniel explained, grinning when he saw Jack's eyes widen.
Daniel wanted to see Jack's skills, but more importantly he wanted to see how his students would fare against a black belt.
They formed a huge circle where the spar was going to take place. Jack walked to the middle of the circle, hands in his pockets and a small, calm smile on his face.
Everyone but Demetri and Sam looked at him nervously. Demetri was excited to spar with Jack and so was Sam, though not as excited as Demetri.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" Daniel asked everyone. He was half expecting everyone to bicker over who goes first but was surprised when no one spoke up. Demetri and Sam wanted to wait and study his fighting style before fighting him so they wanted to go last, and the others were simply scared of fighting Jack.
Daniel sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Okay then I'll just pick someone." He looked around at the students in thought. "Nathaniel. You go first." He pointed at the small boy with glasses.
Nathaniel froze in slight fear, before snapping out of it and walking to the middle of the circle in front of Jack. The height difference between the two was immense and Nathaniel gulped as Jack towered over him.
They both bowed.
"Begin!"
Nathaniel stood still, staring up at Jack, eyes wide in apprehension. Jack sighed, he didn't want to hurt the guy, so he ran at Nathaniel and before the kid could even react Jack flipped him on his back, making sure that he landed on his back and not on his head.
Daniel let out a sigh, shaking his head, and looked around for the next student to go against Jack.
"Chris! Your turn"
Chris' eyes widened and he gulped but walked up to Jack nonetheless. Jack smiled at him hoping to calm him down, as he noticed the boy's nervousness.
"Begin!"
Immediately Chris charged at Jack, hoping to knock the other boy down with his weight, but Jack sidestepped with ease, and raised his eyebrow at the boy.
Chris growled and threw a sloppy punch at the brown-haired boy, only for him to catch his punch and flip him on his back.
Chris groaned, and cursed under his breath when his back made contact with the ground.
Daniel sighed, and looked around for the next student to go against Jack.
"Demetri! You're next"
Said boy cheered and threw his fist in the air. "Finally!" He exclaimed, making Jack grin.
Demetri walked in front of Jack and they both bowed, huge grins on their face's.
"Alright, Begin!"
Demetri watched Jack and waited for him to make the first move.
Jack nodded, impressed. He didn't cower and freeze like Nathaniel and didn't charge at him blindly like Chris, but instead was playing it smart and waited for him to make the first move.
Jack shrugged, and threw a punch at the boy which Demetri managed to block in time and in return sent a right hook at Jack.
Jack blocked the right hook with his forearm and spun low in an attempt to kick the boy's feet under him, but Demetri saw it coming and jumped over his foot.
Jack grinned. He wasn't going at Demetri with all he got but he was still really impressed at the boy's speed.
Deciding to spice things up a little, Jack added more force behind his blows and sped up a bit.
Demetri was sweating as Jack came at him harder, they traded blows for a while until Jack found an opening and kicked Demetri in the chest, sending the boy tumbling on the ground.
"Aww man, how are you so fast" He whined, and got up.
Daniel clapped, a smile on his face. His mood improved when he saw the two fight. He was impressed with Jack's speed and the boy didn't even go all out. And Demetri was keeping up very well.
"Sam! You're up" Daniel exclaimed. He was really excited to see how Sam would fare against a skilled black belt.
Sam's eyes lit up and she skipped over to Jack, face set in determination. They both bowed, smiling.
"Begin!"
Immediately Sam charged at Jack and the two started trading blows. Jack instantly noticed the skill difference between Sam and the rest of the dojo. She was faster than the others and her attacks were precise. Jack had to actually try his best and go all out to not get hit.
All the students were watching the fight wide-eyed, the two were moving very fast and they used bunch of advanced moves that the rest haven't even learned yet. Daniel was also watching the fight intently.
Sam threw two quick punches at Jack's stomach and chest area, but the black belt managed to dodge one and block the other, and sent one of his own, which Sam narrowly dodged.
Jack didn't give her time to recover and he sent a high-kick to her face, Sam managed to block it but Jack immediately followed up with another kick, right after that he flipped aerial, and as soon as he landed he sent a roundhouse kick that hit Sam in the chest, hard enough for her to lose her balance and fall on the ground.
Sam looked up at Jack, eyes wide. The aerial flip had confused her and she wasn't prepared for a kick right after it. She was really impressed by his skills. She smiled at the black belt as he helped her up.
"Wow" Demetri whispered, he couldn't believe how skilled Jack was. Sam was unbeatable, as far as he was concerned. No one had beaten her, not even Tory, but Jack managed to beat her, without getting hit a single time!
All the students started clapping when the fight was over.
"That was a good fight" Sam told him, a smile on her face.
"Yeah. It sure was." Jack smiled back.
Daniel started clapping. "Nice work Jack. You definitely have the skills of a black belt" He congratulated the boy, a beaming smile on his face.
"Yeah man, that was truly awesome" Demetri exclaimed, grinning broadly at the black belt.
Jack grinned sheepishly, and scratched the back of his neck. "Thanks guys"