1.
The Warrior
The sun was just dipping to the horizon spreading the sky with a blazing field of red and orange that danced over the clouds giving the appearance of an ethereal wonderland in the sky. Over a hill on the outskirts of Reseda, California, a lone figure could be seen walking. He paused to regard the Reseda town sign, then, he continued on his way.
As he emerged from the deepening shadows, the lights at the base of the sign came on and illuminated him revealing him to be a young man apparently in his late teens with brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing black jeans a white button-up shirt with a nehru collar and a black denim jacket with a grey hood.
Over his back was a backpack with a bedroll on it. slung over his right shoulder by a black leather strap was a long narrow leather case.
A couple miles down the road he came into the main part of the town. as he walked along the side of the main road, into the young man's line of sight came a pizza place which reminded the young man that he was hungry.
Turning off of his path, he walked into the pizza place, and taking off his backpack, and tying the long leather case on to it, sat down in the first booth he saw that was empty. Placing his pack next to him on the seat, he picked up his menu and began studying it to decide what he wanted.
He hadn't sat there for more than a few seconds when he suddenly became aware that the room had gone quiet. He looked up and saw that everybody in the room was looking at him uneasily.
"Um did I do something wrong?" he asked when the waitress came to take his order, "Why is everyone staring at me."
The waitress just shrugged
"I don't know." She said
The young man didn't believe her. he could tell that she was nervous. But he decided not to press her for the moment.
Instead, he gave her his order of a personal pan pizza with peppers, tomatoes and sausage. The waitress nodded and went to give the order to the cook.
The young man heard one of the other waitresses talking to the one taking care of him.
"Ellie Why didn't you tell him?" she hissed
"I don't want to get involved!" the other girl hissed back.
Now the young man was even more perplexed. It was clear that all of these people knew something he didn't even though he seemed to have stumbled into the middle of whatever it was.
A few minutes later, the Waitress returned with his order. He thanked her and was given what looked like a forced smile.
"I wish new what was going on here." he mused to himself, "But one thing is clear these people are terrified of something."
His stomach growled again reminding him to eat. he picked up a piece of steaming the hot pizza and bit into to it. oh, but it was good!
Just then the front door of the place opened, and in walked a group of five teenage boys of various hair and eye colors. He noticed they were all wearing shirts and jackets that were emblazoned with a gold and black cobra displaying its full hood and the words Cobra Kai in big red letters.
The young man had gone back to focusing on his pizza when suddenly the five boys were standing there looking down at him.
"Hey guys," said the one who seemed to be in charge, "We've got someone here who doesn't know the rules!"
"This is our booth," he growled, "beat it!"
"As I understand it seating in a restaurant, such as this one, is first come first served and I was here first. Now I understand you want this booth, and you're welcome to it after I finish my meal." Replied the young man calmly and reasonably.
One of the others suddenly swept the rest of his pizza and his plate off the table and onto the floor with a loud clatter.
"Now you're done." He sneered
The young man swallowed the last bite of the piece he had in his hand.
"A pity," he said still not showing a trace of temper, "I was really looking forward to eating that."
"Oh, you're breaking my heart." Sneered the ringleader, He grabbed the young man by the lapels of his jacket, "Now get out of our booth or I'm going to make you eat your teeth!"
The young man shook his head in disbelief.
"I really don't want to fight over a booth!" he said
"Well, you need to be taught a lesson!" snapped the ringleader. He drew back his fist and threw a punch but his arrogance was turned to surprise, shock, and then pain when, in a flash, the young man flicked his head to the side dodging the punch and in two moves broke the Cobra-kai's grip on his jacket, swept his feet out from under him, lifted him up and slammed his face down on the table hard enough to break the boy's nose and crack the table.
The other Cobra-Kai's attacked, but with equal speed and skill the young man soon left them on the floor too with an assortment of their own injuries.
The young man dropped some money on the table to pay for the pizza and the damage. He even left a tip for the waitress.
He put his pack back on and got ready to leave. Then he paused to look down at the Cobra-Kai punk with the broken, bleeding nose and spoke:
"While you and you pals are down at the local trauma unit getting patched up, ask yourselves one question, was it worth it?"
With that he turned and walked out the door.
As he stepped off the curb into the parking lot, he shook his head.
"3300 years and no matter where I go, people still fight over the stupidest things!" he grumbled to himself.
Meanwhile back inside the Pizza place a dark-haired girl was making a phone call.
"Dad," she said when the call was picked up, "You're not going to believe this, some guy down here at the pizzeria just dropped five Cobra-Kai in one fight without even breaking a sweat!"
To be continued… please read and Review