The Final Test

For those who enjoyed seeing young Kreese and flashbacks to Terry Silver and John Kreese training under Kim Sun-Yung during Season 5. The final test, in where their Sensei, Sun-Yung gives Silver and Kreese choice: Be dismissed from his tutelage, or kill their best friend. Each other.

…

1981, South Korean Mountainside

…

During every morning at ten o'clock, on every day, of every week, G.I.s living on a small village in the mountains would prepare a meal.

For each other, and their master.

Kim Sun-Yung didn't say much, if at all. He was a greying old man having studied martial arts his entire life.

His students wore white tops with black pants as their karate uniforms.

He formed his original version of Tang-Soo Do, and his students had a single directive for their creed: You fight as if your life depends on it.

No control. No limits. No mercy.

His students were American army men stationed from across the globe, but by far his best students, were John Kreese and Terry Silver.

After over two years of training with him, and using the name of their old captain, Turner, as a way to introduce themselves, Kim Sun-Yung believed his class was ready.

At least, his top two students were.

It was a day of training like any other. Sun-Yung placed large stones on stilts, and the entire class was unable to break them open.

Except Terry, followed by John.

Then he had a single order, ignoring the weakness showed by the rest of the class.

"Meditate. Tomorrow will conclude your training," he said in Korean. "Dismissed."

…

Terry kept his eyes open, he found it, the best form of meditation.

He watched birds flying overhead through the trees. He listened to the water slip through the streams nearby.

And the rushing current of the nearby waterfall, giant, flowing, elegant. Amaz-

He was hearing John snore.

"Are you serious man?"

"Wh-What? Is it over?"

Chuckling, Terry turned around, his sleek black hair tied back into a ponytail. "We're supposed to be meditating."

"Uh. Wasn't that what I was doing?"

"No. You were asleep. Sleeping is not meditating."

"What is meditation? What's even the point of it?"

"Master Kim believes the deepest roots of your mind unlock your greatest potential."

Scoffing, a young John Kreese rubbed his eyes. "Lies. No fight can't be won without a solid jab."

"True, but having a more solid game plan prior would be a better win."

Still sitting cross legged, Kreese turned around. "Terry."

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you. I know you still have to help run your dad's company and all but. Why not help when I open the dojo?"

"I can't."

John shook his head. "Look we take our last test tomorrow. Then we're on leave for the rest of our lives. Hell, I just got my first check for the GI bill."

"You can take mine."

John appreciated the joke. "Seriously. You're as good as a fighter as I am now, you could really help me reach all those kids back home. The ones who weren't raised by hippies that is."

"I'll be honest, it's an honor."

Terry paused.

"But teaching is an art in and of itself, it goes beyond karate. I'll help where I can only with finances, have a spot over on Lankershim near North Hollywood already set up when we fly back."

Kreese nodded, smiling lightly.

"But all the stuff we learned here, and back in Vietnam. It should be you who teaches it, not me."

John turned back around, and to Terry's surprise, as a way to show his gratitude.

He was actually trying to meditate.

…

The following day, Sun-Yung addressed his entire class.

Kreese and Silver were in the front row, everyone else in perfect rows.

"Attention!"

Everyone formed Charyot, standing with their arms in, eyes forward, feet together.

"This will be your last test before I dismiss all of you and allow the next batch of soldiers to resume their training. Those who pass the test will be allowed to return. Those who fail, will not dare to ever show their face on this mountainside again."

Terry and John looked at each other.

"I will have the first pair of students testing start at the bottom of the mountain, I will place traps and all of you to face them along the way. When you reach the top, I will give you your last ever challenge. Begin."

…

Sharing few words, Terry and John began their ascent about forty five minutes later.

Pairs of Kim Sun-Yung's students would pop out of the trees.

Some held weapons, nun chucks, staffs, others unarmed. But they all posed a massive challenge.

Terry and John defeated them all, together, split up at some points.

But they found their way, bruised here and there.

John and Terry fought with their backs to each other, knocking out or disabling whoever came their way.

"Go." Terry said, his ribs hurt after one of their last encounters. "Just finish the mission, I'll be fine."

"Think you forgot," said Kreese jokingly. "I make it to the mountain top without you, I fail the test too."

Grinning, Kreese helped Terry up after he let him rest and catch his breath after a moment.

…

Finally, they reached the top of Chiri-San.

There, Kum Sun-Yung was waiting for them.

Da-Eun was nowhere nearby, not hiding behind clay pots anymore. He dared not allow the girl witness what he always had planned for the final test.

"We made it Master."

The boys in their early twenties knelt in front of Sun-Yung.

"Yes Sensei, we're ready for the final challenge." said Kreese confidently. "What is it?"

"Striking boulders?"

"Carrying weights beyond what a man can hold?"

"Cracking cement with our knees?"

Sun-Yung spoke. "You will fight each other."

They half expected him to challenge them both.

John and Terry were actually surprised, they got up from the stone floor of the mountain top pagoda, and got ready to spar each other as if it was a regular Tuesday.

"To the death."

Kreese froze.

Terry looked at him, half expecting him to be kidding. But they knew Kim Sun-Yung, the man had not told a joke in his life. If he said run, you ran, and if he said strike, no matter how hard, with what part of your body, you struck.

And if he said kill. He meant it.

…

"Well this is just great."

Sitting on a nearby bench as Terry paced back and forth with his hands on his hips, John sat on a bench made of stone.

"We've come too far to give up now." John looked at him.

Terry rubbed his face nervously. "Didn't you hear him? I'm not gonna kill you just to pass some test. You and I have been through way too much together."

"I agree with his lesson."

"Seriously?"

"In a way he's right. You can't have any mercy, even the tiniest shred deep down." John sighed. "Even for the best of friends."

"John, Master Sun-Yung's philosophy has changed our entire lives. It's going to be the reason for the success of all of your students. Hell! A moment ago, you even offered to let me help teach with you."

John nodded. "I know, that's why, I promise, I'm going to give you my best."

Silver paused. This wasn't even supposed to be a discussion to him, and if Kreese wasn't hearing it. That meant only one thing:

They fought.

The first two Cobra Kais in history locked eyes.

"Does that mean I have to give you mine?"

John struck first, roaring as he lunged and their battle began as they traded blows into the forest. Sun-Yung nodded, not following them, but approving nonetheless.

…

They were fighting like their lives depended on it from the get-go.

Terry was losing, still unsure if they could resolve it by coming to some sort of agreement.

Kreese landed three strikes in a row, Terry barely blocking the last. Gripping the blood stained fabric of Silver's GI top, John grunted, speaking in his face.

"You're fighting like you're still locked in that cage! By the snake pit! That's not you anymore!"

Silver responded by closing his eyes, headbutting Kreese right in the nose.

"You're damn right." hissed Silver, blood on his teeth.

The two had the brutality of killers, with years of discipline under Kim Sun-Yung, Captain Turner, and the Vietnam war itself. But the honed precision, combination attacks, of the highest quality trooper and karateka.

Now Terry was winning.

He landed a backfist to the cheek, a side kick.

Kreese was bulkier, but fast enough to keep up with how slippery Terry was at long range and when grappling.

Suddenly, Terry drew a knife he'd been keeping strapped to his ankle.

Kreese slipped both swipes from the blade, managing to be backed up against a tree.

He dodged just close enough so that when Terry tried to stab him in the eye, John had it so that the tip of the knife was stuck in the trunk behind him.

John spun mid air, using a tornado kick to stagger him.

The man was so skilled in his prime that he was able to strike Terry and grab the knife himself at the same time.

Silver managed to time a perfect counter, using a crescent kick as John stabbed to disarm him.

John ignored the stinging pain in his wrist, he had to win this fight. No way would he dedicate himself to the way of the fist only to lose the final battle as a student to then become the ultimate Sensei.

He turned the tide of the fight with sheer grit.

John was powering through bruises all over the side of his body, and even his shins.

Terry was forced to fight as rough as he could, not saying much, but because John had been fighting on the streets for all of his life, he was simply too tough to not be able to keep up.

But Silver had his own tricks. He was craftier, able to bait John into traps with how fast he was with his hands and even his legs, having a longer reach to time him better.

Yelling at the top of his lungs, John picked up his best friend and hurled him as far as he could.

Terry flew through the air and hit a tree right on his back.

Groaning slightly, Terry had the wind knocked out of him. Doing his best to not let John see it.

But he knew. The second Terry failed to get back up the second after it happened, John knew. That blow to his buddy's back was enough to win him the fight.

He had two choices, knock him out, or…

Finish him.

John picked up the knife off the ground of the forest floor as Terry wheezed.

As he began to walk forward, Terry realized how close he was to death. There was nothing like seeing someone who had just told you, you both had to fight for your lives just beat you.

He closed his eyes, thinking.

As soon as he opened them, he took a huge but quick breath, and popped off the ground.

Terry had to wind the kick with his rear leg but still make it snappy to make it fast enough to prevent the stab and die from it. He kicked John so hard in the jaw blood flew away from his chin.

Both being karatekas, they had trained that if necessary, in a true fight with an opponent out of competition. That truly meant harm, you no longer moved or struck to prevent pain or damage to your opponent.

They had been like that from the first blow, punching and kicking, blocking, dodging, and throwing, as if every second meant their survival.

But Terry had won, snatching victory from the defeat John handed him at the very last second.

Kreese staggered, even his mighty chin no match for Terry's strike. His right incisor was loosened from how powerful the blow had been.

He was missing a tooth. He'd been fighting on the streets, in Vietnam, and with Kim Sun-Yung his whole life, and it didn't matter.

No one had hit him as hard as he just got hit.

Kreese was knocked out with open eyes, leaning over and wobbling on the ground trying to stay stable with one arm.

Silver picked up the knife, and even with victory right in front of him, he didn't strike John again nor stab him.

Instead, he reached forward, and gripped John by the metal necklace carrying his dog tags.

"What-What are you doing?"

Terry used his knife to free the necklace from John's neck, and turn around.

"What are you doing?" Kreese asked again, his own blood smeared against his entire left side of his face and his mouth.

Terry looked down at John with calm rage. "We're even."

He tossed his knife next to a defeated John as he laid on the ground of the forest.

"Everyone has a weakness John. I'm not going to let Master Kim become mine, and let him take away the few allies I have left in this world."

John was going to say something else but Terry gripped him by the collar and knocked him clean out with one straight punch to prevent him from stopping him.

…

Kim Sun-Yung stroked his long white beard, sipping his warm tea as Terry placed the bloody dog tags of John Kreese in front of him.

"I-I did it Master." Terry said, panting.

"You have freed yourself of mercy and become the ultimate fighter. Now you have fully mastered my teachings. Go, and spread what you have learned to your homeland, come and visit me whenever you so desire."

"Thank you." Terry placed his forehead on the floor in front of Sun-Yung who nodded back.

"My family will always be here if you ever need our help. As I hope you will be for us."

…

Near an army truck, Kreese had already taken his own when he escaped the village in the dead of night, a very young Kim Da-Eun ran up towards Terry, carrying his pack.

"Wait."

Terry turned.

"You, you killed him didn't you?" asked Da-Eun in perfect English.

Terry shrugged. "I did what needed to be done."

"Then where's his body?"

"It's…it's in the forests where we train."

Terry said nothing else to the little girl, and got in the truck.

Kim could tell by the way he looked, that he had not told the truth.

"Liar." she said, seeing the US Army truck depart.

…

Decades later, Terry Silver shook his head at a picture in his Encino flagship dojo looking at Kreese.

"Weakling." he tossed it away on his desk, remembering the final test Kim Sun-Yung put him through.

The only thing the final test taught him was that you couldn't trust anyone. Not even your best friend. A debt he repaid around the campfire when he had the police officers take John away.

He sneered over the picture he'd thrown face down on his desk. "I guess I shed my weakness, didn't I."

"Captain?" he said.

…

A/N: Non canon. Eh?