𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 ⎯ 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐢¹

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚

Chapter Eighteen
NATURAL COBRA

     It's been almost about a month since the All Valley and Miguel was tired of everyone fighting. He and Ryan had been invited to the beach that morning and he had a plan to get everyone to be friends again and it started with Ryan. Miguel hadn't told the boy who invited them which Ryan thought was suspicious. Ryan glanced at Miguel out of the corner of his eyes as he drove them. "What aren't you telling me?"

     Miguel looked over at him and shook his head. "Nothing!"

     "I swear to God Miguel if I get there and I see Kyler or someone else I hate, I will—" Ryan shook his head. "I would probably do nothing. I can't stay mad at you. You're too adorable." Ryan pinched Miguel's cheek and the boy slapped his hand away.

     Miguel laughed at his boyfriend. "I promise Kyler won't be at the beach."

Ryan nodded believing him. He pulled up to the beach and the two got out of the car. Ryan pulled his shirt over his head and left it in the car since he wouldn't be needing it. Miguel stared at his boyfriend's abs and Ryan just smirked. "Like what you see, Diaz?"

"Well, yeah. How can I not?"

     Ryan smiled at him and pulled him in for a kiss. "You know we could leave and go back to my house. Have some alone time."

     Miguel rolled his eyes and dragged Ryan by the hand towards the beach. "Nice try."

Ryan groaned and let the boy pull him away from the car. When they got down to the beach he saw a familiar boy with a mohawk and he pulled his hand away from Miguel's. "Oh hell no."

"Ryan come on. Moon's here too. Just speak to them. I'm tired of everyone fighting."

Ryan looked between them and Miguel and finally gave in at the pleading eyes his boyfriend was giving him. "Fine. You're lucky your cute." He trudged past Miguel and down to the volleyball net. Demetri was there too and Ryan realized how long it's been since he's seen the boy over at their house.

     "Demetri! My man!" Demetri looked up at Ryan confused. "You join Cobra Kai yet?"

    Demetri shook his head. "No, but I will soon. I'm just deciding when to bless them with my services."

     Ryan just nodded and pat his back. "Good for you dude. They need your talent. Honestly, they're miserable."

     Miguel rolled his eyes and went to greet Hawk. Hawk looked behind Miguel to see if anyone else was behind him and was disappointed when there wasn't. He looked back at Moon and shook his head.

    Moon looked down and went to sit down on her towel. Hawk turned back to Miguel and noticed the boy's slightly upset face. "What's up with you?"

     "It's about Sensei."

     "Is this about his rap sheet? My parents read it online. I think it makes him more badass."

     "It's about him and Robby Keene. I'll tell you about it later but right now I need you and Moon to talk to Ryan. I'm tired of seeing everyone fight."

"Dude. I don't feel like being punched by him. Look at his muscles."

"I know. I've seen them. Multiple times."

Hawk just shook his head and walked over to sit by Moon. Miguel huffed and walked over to Ryan and grabbed his wrist. He dragged him over to where Moon and Hawk were sitting and then he pulled the two up off of the floor. He stood between them and looked at each of them sternly. "Talk!" He then walked away and went to talk to Demetri.

Ryan stared after him and then turned back to the two teens standing in front of him. They were all silent until Ryan decided to speak up. "So you guys are dating now?"

Hawk and Moon looked at each other and then looked at Ryan. "Yes," they said simultaneously.

Ryan nodded. "So have either of you checked on Mara since the whole rumor? Or did you just assume it was true and keep moving on with your own happy lives?"

Hawk and Moon looked at each other. "You mean her and Miguel sleeping together," Hawk asked.

"What rumor would I be talking about idiot?"

"We didn't know it wasn't real."

"So you didn't even think to ask her? You just believed the girl who's been bullying her for years. You heard her say that and you didn't think oh maybe she's trying to start shit! It was Yasmine out of all people!"

Moon looked down and Hawk just avoided eye contact. " It's the fact that you both believed Yasmine so easily when you know Mara would never do that to either of you. That's what hurt her the most and then she turns around and sees you guys eating each other's faces and you think she's supposed to be ok with that?"

     Ryan shook his head and walked away from the couple and over to Miguel and Demetri. "I'm not staying here with them. Come find me when you're ready to leave."

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       Mara walked into the dojo for practice. Everyone was already there and changed so she needed to be quick. She slipped her shoes off and went to the backrroom to change into her Gi. When she came out Sensei Kreese approached her.

     "Ms. Abrams is it?" Mara nodded. "I was just wondering why you always seem to come in later than the others."

     "Oh, I always go on runs before practice. I have to get at least 5 miles in before I come."

"And why is that? Do you run for fun?"

Mara laughed. "Yeah, I guess. I'm on the cross country team at school and I have to get my speed and time up before the season starts."

Kreese nodded. "So you're a natural athlete? That right there is what makes you a natural cobra. You have dedication. Strength. You can be a champion Ms. Abrams."

Mara smiled at him. No ones ever said that to her before. "You really think so?"

"Oh I know so. Now I know you want to stretch with your friends. Go on now."

She smiled at him and went to sit down next to Gia. "Hey! Did you have fun last night?"

     Gia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you're friends are really nice and you're brother is well...different."

     Mara snorted. "He's different all right. Horniest person I've ever met."

     Gia laughed at that. "Sam is pretty cool. She said she does karate too and her dad has his own dojo. That just be so cool."

     "He has his own what?"

     "You guys! Have you seen the commercial?" Mara stood up and walked over to Aisha.

     "What commercial?"

     "Sam's dad started his own dojo and he disses Cobra Kai." Mara took her phone and Miguel and Hawk stood up to look at it too.

     They watched the commercial and Mara handed Aisha back her phone. "What a dick. He didn't have to diss Cobra Kai like that. That's a cheap shot. Apparently Sam knew too and didn't tell us."

     Some kids started asking why they were paying for karate when Sam's dad was offering it for free. Mara looked at Aisha and the girl looked at her equally as mad. "They just started something they're not prepared to finish."

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     "There's a lot of talk going around the Valley about free karate. But everyone knows that in life you get what you pay for." Mara watched as Aisha recorded Sensei. "You wanna really kick the competition?" Sensei kicked a plant that another student was holding and it broke and exploded in the kid's face. "Then you need to get your ass over to Cobra Kai. Screw that lame meditation bullshit. What you need is bone-crunching, face-smashing, good old American karate." Sensei demonstration a few punches on a dummy. "Enough about self-defense. Learn self-offense. Don't be a pussy. Join Cobra Kai and let me teach you the way of the fist."

"And cut." Aisha stopped the video and out her phone down.

"All right did we get it?"

"I think so."

"All right great. Just make sure the Cobra Kai snake comes in at the end, all right? I want it to really pop." Sensei started to walk away but then he turned back. "Make it chrome. And throw "Thunderstruck" under it."

"I'm pretty sure the rights for that song will cost too much."

"No, I already own it. Cassette's in the car." Mara face palmed. "Oh and put one of those hash browns at the end. You know, like 'Hash brown, Team Cobra Kai' or something. And then send it to the internet!"

      Mara laughed at Sensei's cluelessness. She saw Hawk and Miguel follow after him and she followed after them. They walked into the backroom and Mara stood behind the wall and listened to their conversation.

     "Sensei, can we talk to you about something," she heard Miguel ask.

     "Look, if it's about the infomercial, I know."

     "It's not about the commercial," Hawk cut him off. "It's about Robby Keene."

     Robby? Why were they talking to Sensei about Robby?

     "What about him?"

     "I saw his picture on your refrigerator," Miguel answered. "I wasn't snooping, but we know he's your son."

     "That's why you got mad at us after the tournament, right?"

     There was a pause before Sensei spoke up. "Is that what you think? Yeah, Robby's my son. But that has nothing to do with how I run my dojo. It's also none of your damn business. Do you understand?"

Mara backed away from the wall. Did she hear that right? Robby was Sensei's son? Was he keeping any other secrets from them? She hoped that Sensei was telling the truth about Robby not effecting the dojo. They couldn't have him going soft on them just because his son was on the enemy's side.

He was trying to make them better and Mara just hoped he wouldn't go back on his word.

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     After class Mara came home to see Ryan sitting at the table with his hands folded in front of him. He didn't look at her when she came in and it slightly scared her.

     "Why did I find this under your bed?" Ryan put the bottle of vodka on the table and Mara felt herself stiffen.

     "W-why were you in my room?"

     He looked at her then. "Why was this under your bed Mara? Have you been drinking?"

"I drink at parties."

"This isn't a party Mara. You're storing vodka under your bed! How long?"

Mara looked down. "One."

     "One what?"

"Month."

Ryan ran his hand through his hair. How could he not have noticed? "Sit down." Mara listened and sat down beside him at the table. "Is this because of what happened between you, Hawk, and Moon?"

"Kind of. I've been in this really weird mix of sad, stressed, and angry lately and the only way I can get the emotions to stop is drinking. I miss how things used to be Ryan. When Mom was still alive,
Demetri, Eli, and I were still friends, Moon was still my friend, and dad wasn't such an asshole. Why does growing up have to be so hard?"

     Ryan stood up from his chair and knelt down beside her. "Hey. Growing up is apart of life and all we can do is learn to adapt to it. Moon and Hawk still care about you Mars. When you're ready I think you should talk to them. And with dad, he can't stay that way forever. I'll talk to him too if that will make you happy." Mara sniffled and Ryan looked at her sadly. "Right now I just want you to be ok. So if you ever feel yourself getting upset or craving another drink you call me and I'll be there. You don't have to go through this alone. I'll buy us our cupcakes and we can sit down and talk about whatever's bothering you. Does that sound ok?"

Mara nodded and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back and buried her face in his chest.

"I love you Mara."

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       "So I heard word that Miyagi-do was doing a presentation at Valley Fest. We're going to crash it. Show them that you don't mess with Cobra Kai!"

     Mara and the rest of the Cobra Kai students nodded at Sensei. Gia however didn't. She didn't like this. Why were they trying to attack Miyagi-do for just trying to promote their dojo. Shouldn't they be the bigger people?

     Gia looked at Mara who was learning her part for their presentation. She had gotten really close to Mara ever since she joined Cobra Kai a few weeks ago and she could see how the girl was changing. She hadn't know her for that long but she could tell something was bothering her and that she was holding something in.

     Mara looked over at Miguel was avoiding her. He didn't even look in her direction the entire day. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "What's up with you?"

"What do you mean? Nothings up with me. Does it look like somethings up? I promise I know nothing!" He then quickly walked away and Mara stared after him confused.

She huffed and walked back to her spot to keep practicing her kicks. Mara knew Miguel went out to eat with Sensei yesterday. What had happened that caused him to not want to be around her?

Sensei Kreese walked up to Mara and she stopped what she saw doing. "Yes, Sensei?"

"I want to teach you something."

   
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       Mara watched as Miyagi-do did their presentation. They were waiting for the grand finale to come out. Mara and Miguel were in front of the two lines and Hawk and Aisha were right behind them. 

     "Now, time for the grand finale." The lights turned off and Mara smirked knowing it was their time to shine.

     "Cobra Kai!" They all chanted as they ran towards the stage. The crowd around them cheered and followed them over to the stage, completely forgetting about Miyagi-do.

A Cobra Kai banner fell down on stage and all of the students entered and got in their positions. Mara stood in the front and all of the Cobra demonstrated the moves they learned earlier.

"Cobras, show them what real karate looks like!" Mara started to fight a random student. Once he was down she moved on to another one. In the end it was only her and Miguel left and she did their choreography so Miguel was the last one standing.

     All the students left the stage and it was time for the individual performances. Aisha went first, breaking boards blindfolded. It was Hawk's turn after hers and the boy pulled Demetri out of the crowd. He placed a board in Demetri's hand and then backed up. Another Cobra came out and placed his hands on his knees allowing Hawk to use it as a catapult and break the board in Demetri's hand.

     It was Mara's turn last and she got ready to do the moves Sensei Kreese taught her. Two students came out and held four paddles at different heights. Mara took a deep breath and took a slight running start before doing four different kicks and kicking all of them out of the students' hands.

She smiled not expecting herself to actually get it. The crowd went wild and Mara turned back to the side she came in and saw Kreese nod at her with a small smile and start clapping. The rest of the students joined her on stage and they started to toss t-shirts and towels out into the crowd.

     Sensei was going to break cement blocks for the grand finale. "Cobras, light it up!" Two students came out and lit the blocks on fire and Mara covered her mouth with her hand. Everyone watched in anticipation as Sensei stepped up to the raging fire. He brought his hand down and punched straight through the blocks causing everyone to cheer including the Cobras. They all joined him on stage and stood in front of the audience who was chanting their name.

     Mara had a giant smile on her face. This is why she loved being a Cobra. It made her happy.

     And that was a rare feeling for her lately.

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So Ryan found out about Mara's drinking problem. Do you think he will keep his promise and be there for her?

What do you guys think is up with Kreese?

And what are your predictions for the rest of the season?

As always if you liked this chapter don't forget to vote and leave a comment!