Chapter Four: A Very Specific Reason

…

Cobra Kai OST: Lay it Down - Ratt

…

Miguel Diaz grew an appreciation for hard rock and working out after a few weeks of Cobra Kai karate training with John Kreese.

"Again!"

Miguel had to pushups as slowly as he could on his knuckles inside the dojo.

"Again!"

"Up! Down! Up!" Miguel winced. "Down!"

"Up. And down, up, and down," said Daniel LaRusso quietly.

Lucas was painting the outside of Mr. Miyagi's house with blue paint with up and down brush strokes.

"Can I practice some actual kata now?" he asked.

"Nooo." Daniel sipped his coffee as Lucas almost fell off his ladder.

For the last weeks of summer, Lucas trained the basics of Miyagi-Do karate specifically, and it was all chores.

He had to clean all the bird droppings off Miyagi's old cars, he had to sand and pain his old fishing boat, and paint his house top to bottom.

And only then, was he finally allowed to give the entire fence line a new paint job.

He had to replace the old punching bag, sand the decks, wash the windows.

Lucas did not feel like a karateka.

Miguel felt like he was in the best shape of his life.

He'd work out so much that even in his own room, his grandmother Rosa thought he was up to other physical activities.

But he had grown stronger. Much stronger.

Almost threatening to pull his dentist's teeth out when he accompanied him to his office, Kreese helped Miguel and had his braces removed a bit early but without actual orthodontic harm.

Miguel's cardio finally got into shape, and his muscles began to grow, noticeably so.

Within time, his mother Carmen just suspected he began to work out in his own enough, but John Kreese was proud of him.

The clock was ticking on his bills, even with Miguel learning the first punches and kicks of Cobra Kai karate, as he went to school for his first day.

…

After a month and a half of strength and cardio training with John Kreese, Miguel went to West Valley High School.

A rather wealthy public high school in the San Fernando Valley.

He locked up his bicycle, and went to the locker he was assigned for orientation across the hall from several girls.

"New kid alert." Yasmine, a blonde, shared a locker with Moon and Sam, said before smiling to them.

"Dang he's cute." another cheerleader said before closing her locker.

Miguel put his books away and went to his first period class.

Not even seeing him, Lucas went to his own locker where three boys were chatting.

A tall and skinny teen named Demetri, a shy boy with a cut on his lip named Eli, and a brown haired teenager with a long sort of bowl cut named Robby.

"Sup champ?"

Robby and Lucas bumped shoulders.

"You're still on about that karate stuff?" Demetri and Lucas nodded to each other.

Robby squinted a little. "It's pretty badass, you should try it."

"No thank you."

Eli spoke in a small voice. "I think it could be worth a shot."

"Leave the face punching to the tough guys." Demetri opened his locker. "We should just stick to Dungeon Lord and Lego sets where we belong."

"Don't forget," Lucas spoke. "Demetri and Eli! Binary brothers!"

Robby chuckled with him, and it did a good job of cheering up Eli and Demetri a bit.

The four walked off, and Miguel started his day going to his first classes for freshman year.

…

During lunch, Sam sat with Yasmine, Moon, and other cheerleaders.

Lucas sat with Demetri, Robby, and Eli, and Miguel didn't know where to sit.

Kyler, Brucks, Rory and their friends sat together.

Eventually, Miguel found a spot.

"Can I sit here?"

"No man!" the curly haired kid then chuckled. "It's cool. I'm Mitch, this is Bert and Aisha."

"Sup."

Miguel sat down with a smile. "Hey I'm Miguel, I moved in from Riverside a little bit ago."

He took his jacket off and Mitch's eyes widened. "Dang dude! What gym do you go to?"

"Oh, it's called Cobra Kai. It's a karate dojo."

Mitch scoffed. "You do karate?"

"It can help with confidence and stuff." Miguel gave a braces free smile. "Sensei Kreese is tough but he makes me tough, he's awesome."

He handed Mitch a flyer.

"You know what?" Mitch nodded. "Alright man. I'll check it out."

Bert was a tiny freshman with glasses. "Does it really work?"

"You won't know until you try it."

Even Aisha seemed interested, a girl with short curly hair and glasses was very curious to try the class.

A few cafeteria tables away, Lucas chatted with his friends.

The boys chuckled.

"You're spending your afternoons doing unpaid gardening work just to get close to Sam's dad?" asked Robby, sipping some water from a plastic bottle. "That's a lot of work just to go for a chick."

Lucas sighed. "Keep forgetting who your dad is bro."

"No, but seriously," Demetri said. "I honestly respect it. She might treat Eli like hell, but man, Yasmine could walk on my spine in her high heels any day of the week."

Lucas smiled. "You're such a cuck it's actually funny 'metri."

The boys all laughed again, except Demetri, even Eli cracked a smile.

…

Later that day, Lucas was done waxing a yellow De Luxe for what seemed like the millionth time.

Daniel exited his car. "Hey Luke. How's it going?"

"Hey Mr. LaRusso. Just putting the finishing touches on the Banana mobile."

"Yeah. This car had some great memories, one time, I took your mother out for a ride with it."

Lucas winced. "Yeah, I'd rather not hear about that one."

"Trust me, it was a very PG experience."

"I um, still don't care."

Daniel chuckled. "I can respect that. Now look, I wanted to show you this new balancing technique you might like, it's part of the third kata."

Lucas' eyes lit up hopefully. "Can we practice it inside the house?"

"Mm. Not yet."

The can of wax Lucas was holding dropped to the gravel beneath him.

Daniel watched as Lucas was walking to his bicycle.

"Where are you going?"

"Look at this place. Look at it."

Daniel sighed. "Luke you-"

"Look at it!"

He did.

Mr. Miyagi's home was perfectly maintained.

The grass, the fence boards, the porch, the paint and wax of every car and inch of Mr. Miyagi's house looked like it wasn't one day old.

Lucas might as well have taken a picture of it in it's prime and replicated it with his own hands.

"What more, do you want?"

"You know what it is."

"You want me to grow patient? It's the middle of August, and I've been taking care of every inch of this place like it was my own! How much more patient do I have to be to gain your trust? I've had enough of this."

Lucas clicked his bicycle helmet under his chin.

"Hold on now-"

"I made the wrong choice."

Daniel was surprised. "You'd rather train with Kreese?"

"I'd rather train with no one!" said Lucas. "Both you and him are messed up man! All this karate stuff is pointless, and just stupid. You're both just interested in it to get back at each other, to resolve old history. If you cared about teaching me, you'd trust me by now. It's been over two months of this and I haven't said a word!"

"Lucas, listen to me."

He began to ride off on his bicycle.

"Luke wait!"

Daniel shook his head, watching him leave out of Mr. Miyagi's front yard.

…

At Cobra Kai, Bert, Mitch, and Aisha entered, watching Miguel practice the round kick and the jab punch on a Bob dummy on the mat.

"Whoa." Bert was impressed by the Cobra on the wall and all the trophies.

Kreese turned with his arms crossed. "These must be the new recruits you mentioned, Mr. Diaz. Welcome in, take your shoes off, step onto the mat."

He looked at Aisha strangely. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Um. To try the class?"

"I don't train girls," he said calmly.

Miguel was surprised.

Aisha was too. "Well. Why not?"

"Same reason there weren't any women when I was in the army. They're not meant to fight, pure and simple."

"You do know women do karate right?" asked Aisha.

"Not at Cobra Kai," Kreese said simply. "Thanks for coming."

"Sensei can I talk to you in your office?"

Kreese obliged Miguel.

…

"Look at her Diaz. Any plumper and she'd be a pumpkin." scoffed Kreese.

"Sensei she needs our help. And she'll pay and train hard, what's the problem?"

"The problem is there's a reason I never bothered to train girls. Girls bring problems, as a matter of fact, they were the reason for the dojo's downfall to begin with."

Miguel's expression changed. "Hold up, what?"

"My point is, I'd be wasting my time."

Miguel sighed. "Just give her one chance, if not, let her go."

Kreese nodded repeatedly, after some thought.

…

He bowed back onto the mat with Miguel.

"Because I like to spoil my top student." Kreese grumbled, looking aside at Miguel. "I've decided to give you a shot, whether or not it seems like a waste of time. But I'll test you."

Mitch, chubby and curly haired, chuckled at this while Bert nudged him.

Aisha frowned. "So what's the test?"

"To strike first, you have to learn how to strike. And you won't learn how to strike until you learn how to take a strike. To condition his lack of mercy, and your strength. Mr. Diaz will kick you."

Both Miguel and Aisha were surprised.

"Hard. Directly in the rib cage."

"Do I have to?" asked Miguel.

"You're barely learning the first two lessons, so it's a little early to move on to the third." Kreese nodded towards the words in black ink on the white wall of his dojo. "But it's still necessary. Fighting stance, ais!"

Miguel kiai'd quickly, getting into his front stance in front of Aisha.

Aisha's eyes widened. "Uh, wait-"

"Round kick, aii!"

Miguel roared and his entire foot slammed at full power near Aisha's liver.

Mitch and Bert winced and gasped for Aisha, she collapsed to the mat trying to collect her air.

"See?" Kreese shrugged. "Waste of my time."

Miguel seemed to feel a little bad for her, until Aisha got back up and hit Miguel with a shoulder tackle.

It was intentionally meant to hurt as well, and it slammed Miguel to the mat.

Still standing and smirking, Aisha brushed herself off, still panting and holding the spot on her chest where she was hurt.

Chuckling, John Kreese nodded.

"You passed."

Miguel shook his head, standing up and speaking. "Good job Aisha," he grunted quietly.

Kreese then moved back as if he wanted to observe. "Alright then. Mr. Diaz, warm them up."

"Yes Sensei."

…

Kreese looked at the four sweat soaked teenagers quietly. "Nice work. Payment's due by the end of the month. Hundred bucks flat, preferably cash."

He then went to his office silently.

"Was that it?" Mitch winced, his face covered in sweat. "Just cardio?"

"Trust me, he'll teach you the actual karate after your stamina is good." assured Miguel.

"Why don't I just go to a regular karate place where they teach me the moves right away?" asked Mitch.

"Cause he trains champions. Sensei Kreese trains winners, and winners only."

Aisha leaned up, panting quietly. "Are you sure?"

Miguel smiled, looking at the door of Kreese's office with pride.

"More sure than anything else in my life."

…

After Aisha, Bert, and Mitch were done chatting with Miguel, they left the dojo.

"Perfect, you did perfect with Robinson today."

Miguel turned to see John Kreese standing there.

He shook his head. "I let my guard down, let her tackle me to the mat, Cobras don't do that."

"No," Kreese admitted. "But that was my fault really. In a real situation, you would've busted her rib cage. Bone and all."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?"

"Cobra Kai, is always ready for the extreme."

Miguel liked that, nodding with a slight smile.

Kreese beckoned Miguel closer to him, approaching the Bob dummy.

"Demonstrate the Cobra strike."

"Yes Sensei."

Miguel made his approach, the lunge with his fist prepared, and the bite, the actual strike itself that made contact.

"Good. But it lacks something else, something that makes the strike matter."

Miguel listened.

Kreese spoke. "To tap into your full potential. You can't exclude any emotions in your body when you attack. You're not fighting to tap your opponent and run away, no. You're here, to strike through your opponent. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sensei."

"Demonstrate."

Miguel took a deep breath and tried hitting the dummy in the face with anger.

Whatever it was, it wasn't working.

Kreese explained. "Look. You have to reach the very root of all of your anger, all of your frustrations. Everything you've ever doubted about yourself to become a Cobra Kai. Demonstrate."

"I just, I can't."

"Aren't there things that make you angry? That Park kid I taught a lesson to this summer. Doesn't he make you angry?"

"I've seen him at school but he didn't bother me."

Kreese sighed. "Inside every person lives a Cobra. I promise you, yours is there."

Miguel nodded, thinking as he looked at the dummy.

Kreese walked behind Miguel, speaking quietly. "Think of your father. He never met you right?"

"No."

"How does that make you feel?"

"I don't know. Confused?"

"No. It should make you angry."

Miguel nodded, exhaling widely.

"You deserve to be mad Mr. Diaz." Kreese looked at Miguel. "Those friends of yours you brought in have potential. But if you want to truly reach your fullest, to be their leader, to be everything you wanted. A champion and more, be angry. You deserve it."

"Aiiii!"

Kreese was surprised at how well Miguel absorbed the lesson.

In one blow, Miguel launched off his back foot, his right and onto his left in a karate lunge.

He placed his hand on the dummy's shoulder and then transferred all of his weight and momentum into a reverse punch to the face.

Miguel had hit the dummy so hard he dented its rubber chin.

Kreese fixed it in seconds but spoke, pointing to the mark Miguel left.

"That." Kreese kept pointing to the dummy's face. "Is the cornerstone of traditional karate. None of this bouncy screeching ballet nonsense, karate is bone smashing, nose crunching, knuckle dusting strikes and sweeps. Keep up the good work Mr. Diaz."

Miguel bowed his head and Kreese nodded back. "Thank you Sensei."

"Remember. One technique, one knockout."

"Yes, Sensei."

…

Lucas answered the door to his house already knowing it was Daniel.

"I'm not changing my mind, I've quit karate."

"I refuse to believe you'd make a decision like that so fast."

"Well believe it."

Daniel frowned. "Let me just show you one thing. One thing then I'll stop trying."

"I doubt it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Just, please, listen to me. Let me show you."

Lucas agreed reluctantly.

…

They returned to Miyagi-Do, Lucas was not surprised.

"Not that way."

Lucas was however surprised when they didn't go into the front entrance.

"This way."

Daniel led Lucas past a formal tatami mat and Kanji calligraphy.

Then, he opened a door, and showed Lucas the room in Miyagi-Do where Mr. Miyagi lived.

It had pictures of his old wife, old war medals, everything.

Daniel considered himself lucky Lucas had his back turned to him, because he had shed a small and silent tear at the sight.

"I don't go in here." Daniel broke the silence between them.

A part of Daniel's soul resided in the room.

"Ever."

Lucas turned, silent, and pale, setting down a small Okinawan drum.

Daniel frowned. "I was testing your patience the same way Mr. Miyagi trained mine. I didn't realize I was going too far."

"You weren't. You didn't have to do this."

"Lucas you are one of a kind. Not just as a karateka," said Daniel. "You are a one of a kind person."

Lucas looked away.

"Your mother helped me through one of the toughest times of my life. I was missing New Jersey, I was getting beaten up, bullied, and thrown off cliffs on my bike. And Ali was there for me." Daniel smiled. "I want you to know, that I will always be there for you too. Not just to teach you karate, for anything."

Lucas smiled back. "Thank you."

"Well don't thank me yet."

Daniel walked over to an old cabinet and pulled out a lotus headband, Lucas could tell this was once his.

"This thing is a little too old to wear consistently. But, it is part of a promise."

Just like Mr. Miyagi did to him, he wrapped it around Lucas' head. "Swear, to always obey my teachings. First listen, and then do."

"First listen. Then do. I swear."

"Excellent."

They bowed to one another.

And then Daniel and Lucas hugged.

…

It was pretty clear to Samantha LaRusso that her suspicions the past few months were correct when she saw her father returning home late again.

Lucas was once more her father's student.

"Are you training Lucas in Miyagi-Do again?" she asked that evening in the LaRusso's kitchen when Amanda and Anthony were in their bedrooms.

Daniel froze.

"Uh. Um yes, I am."

Sam asked calmly. "Why?"

"Because he's-"

"A liar." Sam crossed her arms. "He lied to you, he went behind your back, and then you forgave him."

"You don't know the full story." Daniel was confused. "W-Wait, are you mad at him?"

"No, I'm mad at you!" said Sam. "You need to tell me right now how you could trust him again."

"Don't you trust him?"

"Maybe as friends," Sam answered. "But with Miyagi-Do? That's a bad idea."

"And why's that? Mr. Miyagi was all about forgiveness."

Sam neared Daniel around the kitchen island. "Dad he was your only student for over a year, he- He made us think he wanted to be our friends. When the whole time he was using you to win the All Valley. I mean if he was only training with just Kreese all along at least he was being honest about it."

"Did I ever tell you the full story about John Kreese?"

"You told me enough, Lucas knew how bad Cobra Kai was, that much I do know."

Daniel thought for a moment, and then put away a few dishes and then turned to face his daughter.

"Sam, I'm only going to tell you this once. But there's a very specific reason why I've forgiven Lucas."

She listened.

"I've never told anyone this. But Lucas grew up without a father." Sam was surprised but Daniel explained. "Yes, Greg Schwarber is alive, but he wasn't really there for him. And neither was Ali sort of."

Sam nodded quietly, blinking slowly.

"Mr. Miyagi was more than a karate teacher to me, he taught me about life. To even think for a second that Lucas would seek him for guidance on anything. That really pains me." Daniel looked around his kitchen. "When I came back from Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi I started to have a really rough time. And, even after I knew what Cobra Kai was, I became its student."

Sam was speechless.

Daniel shook his head slowly. "Sam, I can't fault Lucas for making the same mistake, not when he spent the last two months doing exactly as I said. He lost his temper a little recently but, so did I at his age."

Sam looked aside and then at her father. "So, why did you never tell me?"

"Because I wasn't proud of it, no one should be."

"Thanks for telling me, dad."

"You're welcome."

Sam said goodnight to her father, and it made her think.

And think a lot.

…

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