Chapter Two: The Sensei He Was

…

John Kreese found Terry Silver's home to be as luxurious as he remembered, but was surprised when a woman answered the door.

"Um. Hello?"

"Yes." Kreese said quietly. "I'm looking for Terry Silver, I'm an old friend of his."

"Really? Terrance never mentioned you."

Kreese smiled lightly at the woman with curly hair and a slight accent. "Well I promise you, he'll remember me."

The woman shook Kreese's hand. "Well I'm Cheyenne, Terry's partner. And your name?"

"John."

"Honey I think Jinko's is actually closed this time of-"

Silver froze, seeing Kreese stand on his front porch.

Cheyenne kept smiling. "So it seems he does remember you."

"Can we talk?" Kreese nodded. "Terrance?"

Silver slowly nodded.

…

The two shared some iced cognac on Silver's back porch.

"I don't see you in over thirty years, and the first thing you ask me for is help?"

Kreese sighed. "Quite frankly I'm in deep. You remember my old champion, Johnny Lawrence?"

"Hard to forget." Silver smiled slightly before sipping from his glass.

"He had an old girlfriend, Ali Mills-"

"Yes, the blonde girl. Hard to forget her too, caused all that trouble."

Kreese nodded. "Her father wants me out of the Valley for good, bailed me out of prison yesterday."

"What did you get in prison for?" asked Silver.

Kreese shrugged. "A small disagreement."

Silver smiled at this quietly.

"Anyways. I owe him well over a hundred thousand all said and done." Kreese muttered.

Silver nodded. "And you want me to cover you?"

"I want to repay the debt I've always owed you, Terry," Kreese said. "I can and will do it on my own this time."

Silver grinned widely. "Make a superstar karate team, like we were supposed to."

"We had a chance, back in the 80s. Those boys, if you'd only met them-"

"Don't. Guilt trip me." Silver threatened quietly.

Kreese frowned, leaning on the railing of Silver's back porch. "I wasn't."

"So, you want me back in the game or some nonsense?"

Kreese shook his head. "I want your support in opening a new Cobra Kai dojo. I get our name back on its feet, and I promise you, you'll get your money back."

"You want a loan? When you're already massively in debt?"

Kreese glanced down at this glass quietly. "I've been ready to die for some time now Terry," he muttered calmly. "There's nothing more painful than having an old dream die twice. But I'll give anything for a third try, just one more chance."

Silver seemed deeply pensive over this, and after a moment he spoke.

"I'll set you up at the cheapest location I can find. Probably someplace in Reseda, getting it licensed and operational. All told, probably seventy-five grand or maybe even twice that much depending on how things roll out." Silver nodded to himself. "I'm not doing this for old time's sake, this is the last favor I'll ever give you John so you can be out of my hair for good. Don't expect another one."

"I won't."

Kreese gave a ponytail-less Silver a slight nod, finished his cognac, and began to leave.

Silver turned around, looking at Kreese over his shoulder. "What the hell made you want to come back to this mess? Hatred? Spite? Revenge?"

Kreese needed about ten seconds to think.

"A kid."

"Which kid?"

Silver didn't really care that Kreese didn't respond.

…

After three more days living on the streets, Kreese was contacted by Silver and was given a home and a place to work, which were the same location.

In the very same Reseda strip mall where Kreese beat Kyler and his friends, John Kreese reopened the Cobra Kai dojo without a single student to its name.

There were no exposed wires, the mirrors were clean, John Kreese was seventy one years old and owed almost three hundred thousand dollars to two much wealthier men, Terry Silver and Frank Mills.

Now all he had to do was pay it all back.

John Kreese began to staple fliers and papers promoting his dojo all over Reseda, eventually, he began to staple them to telephone poles near a particular apartment complex.

"Hey!"

Kreese turned, recognizing Miguel who hopped off his bicycle.

"Hey you're, you're that guy!"

Kreese didn't even grimace. "Yes. I'm that guy," he said dryly.

"You're opening up a karate school?" Miguel checked the paper.

"It's called a dojo," Kreese said.

"I never really did karate, my mom was always against contact sports."

Kreese could tell.

Miguel smiled widely, showing his braces. "I wanted to thank you for the other day. It was pretty brutal but-"

"Life is brutal son." Kreese stapled the last paper to the telephone pole and kept walking, completely ignoring Miguel.

Miguel caught up to him. "Wait up I mean. I think what you did is pretty cool all things considered."

"I appreciate it." Kreese did not sound at all like he did so, barely blinking an eye.

Miguel held the flyer out to Kreese. "Think you can give me a shot?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I can pay?" Miguel shrugged. "Because it might be fun, and I need it."

Kreese looked around the mostly empty street next to Miguel's apartment complex.

"So you really want to try?"

"Yeah!" said Miguel.

"Fine then."

Kreese smiled maliciously and Miguel smiled widely too, Kreese patted Miguel's shoulder and began to walk off in the direction of the dojo.

Johnny Lawrence was taking the trash out when he saw this, and almost was going to do something when he hesitated, shaking his head.

…

Kreese stood in front of Miguel in a sleeveless black GI, Miguel was silent and wearing gym shorts and an oversized Naruto t-shirt.

Miguel didn't know what to do until Kreese finally spoke.

"You ready to begin?"

"Yes."

"You have to say. Yes Sensei."

"Er." Miguel felt awkward. "Yes Sensei?"

"Great," Kreese said.

Kreese hit Miguel directly in the solar plexus with his elbow and then swept him off his feet with a one handed hip throw. Even as a senior, Kreese was that strong.

Miguel groaned on the mat, wincing, his air knocked completely out of him twice almost.

"First lesson!" barked Kreese. "You have to strike first!"

Miguel could barely nod.

Kreese pointed down to Miguel. "Mental toughness is one thing. But you have to be smart. Aware! Vigilant. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sensei." Miguel groaned painfully, wheezing.

Miguel slowly stood up after catching his breath and Kreese spoke.

"You do not wait for the enemy to attack," Kreese said. "You hit him first, always. Is that understood?"

Miguel leaned over, nodding. "Yes, Sensei."

When he pulled out his inhaler, Kreese froze.

"What is that?"

Miguel used his inhaler, speaking quickly. "I have asthma so-"

"Asthma? Like a disability?"

"Er. Yeah. Have you never heard of asthma?"

Kreese tilted his head slightly.

"Sorry, have you never heard of asthma, Sensei?"

"No. In my day you were just called what you were. Weak."

Miguel was shocked when Kreese smacked his inhaler right out of his hand and against the wall.

"You see those trophies over there?"

Miguel nodded, and assumed correctly they were from decades ago.

"People misunderstand champion hood all the time." Kreese said calmly, squinting at Miguel. "You don't just get into physical shape. You get into mental shape. To become a Cobra, you have to think like a fighter, and stop being a civilian."

Kreese pointed back to the black words on the wall. "Again, the first lesson of Cobra Kai is to strike first. It's about life, not just karate. Your enemies are everywhere and everything, so you had to be ready for anything."

Kreese flicked his nose towards the broken inhaler Miguel had. "A champion never won a thing breathing from a tiny plastic cup. And at Cobra Kai, you train to be a champion. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sensei but, I have a condition. A doctor prescribed me that inhaler-"

"I said. Is that understood?"

Miguel nearly took a step back.

Kreese spoke slowly. "I don't care if it takes you a day. Or a week, or a month, or a year. Or the rest of your life. But unless you no longer have lungs, you will train and fight like a normal person. So you're either a Cobra Kai, and a winner."

Kreese glanced at the door. "Or a loser, and I'll be happy to escort you out. Is that understood?"

Miguel felt more fear than he ever did in his life knowing what Kreese did to four boys much larger and stronger than him just on his own.

However, he kept his composure and nodded.

"Yes Sensei."

"Good. Knuckle pushups, go."

"Until when?"

"Until you feel like you're gonna puke. Bathroom's in the back."

…

For almost two hours, John Kreese exclusively trained Miguel's cardio.

He made him do pushups on his knuckles and Kreese did actually stand next to the door when Miguel nearly threw up.

Proud of him without showing it, Kreese nodded and gestured back to the mat.

After Miguel caught his breath, he started to run laps around the mat until parts of it were splattered with his sweat.

Panting and leaning over, wincing, feeling like he was passing out, Miguel groaned.

"What's the next drill?"

"We're done for the day."

Miguel watched Kreese retreat into his office with a nod.

Miguel caught his breath and walked over, soaked in sweat to Kreese's office.

"But you never taught me any actual karate."

Kreese sat in his desk chair, slicing open the end of a cigar.

"Do you not trust what I'm doing kid?"

"Sort of Sensei?" asked Miguel. "I get stamina is important, but that can't be the only part of karate."

Kreese nodded slightly, lighting his cigar and leaning on his office desk on his elbows. "So you want a karate lesson?"

"Yes, of course, that's why I'm here!"

Kreese nodded a bit.

He looked at Miguel plainly. "Stop talking so much and listen to what I say. And I guarantee, I promise, you'll learn Cobra Kai karate."

"Don't take this the wrong way Sensei but, who have you trained?"

"Two All Valley Under 18 Karate champions."

Miguel's eyes widened, knowing that title had to be important. "Really? What were they like?"

Kreese looked around the dojo. "It's getting late kid, you should get home."

"Shouldn't you too?"

Kreese slightly widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "What did I say about talking too much?"

"Er. Sorry Sensei."

Miguel bowed quickly and Kreese nodded his head back slightly.

Miguel left the dojo on his bicycle, and Kreese smoked his cigar in silence.

…

John Kreese remembered the days when Johnny Lawrence was sixteen years old.

Shortly after winning his first All Valley trophy, Kreese took the team to every karate tournament he could find in southern California.

Bobby, Jimmy, Tommy, Dutch, and the rest of the dojo went in black and sleeveless gold rimmed karategis to compete.

There were several tournaments, hosted by local karate dojos either in highschool gyms or actually in their own dojos, but none were as large as the All Valley, nor were they ever in a place as large as the All Valley Sports Arena.

Eventually, Johnny actually lost one tournament, and was given a second place trophy.

John Kreese was curious as to how Johnny would respond since it was the first time since he sparred with Darryl Vidal two years prior that he had lost.

Johnny was looking at his trophy sadly when he placed in on the entrance glass cases by the Cobra Kai karate dojo.

"Not feeling too great son?"

Johnny shook his head. "Why should I? I lost."

Kreese explained quietly. "Even I couldn't have won that match."

"What're you talking about?"

"Whether intentionally or not, the judging was terrible." Kreese shrugged. "It just happens in karate."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because like I said, it happens in karate."

Johnny was confused. "So, you let me lose?"

"No."

Kreese put a hand on Johnny's shoulder. "I will only ever be upset, when I know you could've won the match and you didn't try your best. Defeat, does not exist in this dojo, but some victories are just out of grasp."

"But, winning is what Cobra Kai is all about. We're champions."

"Champions don't lose, and you didn't lose today." Kreese tapped a finger on the center of Johnny's chest. "When you lose for real, and you shouldn't have. I'll let you know. Is that understood, Mr. Lawrence?"

"Yes Sensei."

Kreese gave a nod and Johnny left the dojo to go talk to his friends outside the Lankershim dojo.

Kreese walked past the picture of Kim Sun-Yung and all his trophies Cobra Kai had collected, and shook his head in disappointment.

…

Blowing smoke decades later as he puffed on his cigar, John Kreese wondered how he'd react knowing what he knew now back then.

Cobra Kai had lost so many times by now that he wondered how to treat Miguel, how to teach the dojo moving forward.

Stuck eyebrows deep in debt, and with only one asthmatic student to his name, Kreese bared his knuckles and looked at them quietly.

After some thought, Kreese chose the determining factor to teach his karate.

"No mercy." he muttered to himself.

…

…

…

A/N:

To respond to the latest review, why Lucas?

I think the show needs a character, a regular and relatable teenage character who genuinely trusts Kreese. Tory technically doesn't count since she bailed, and the show always painted her as deranged and like, bad. He fills that role pretty well.

So thank you all for reading everyone, and peace out