Dedicated to @AbbyWatson4 and @Robby2Keene for their awesome feedback!

"I love you."

Miguel could still hear Sam's soft voice saying the words as if he were at the park, his hands folded gently in hers. Her sudden declaration was surprising, yes, but in the most amazing way! Their relationship definitely couldn't be called perfect (even for a teenager's definition of the word). To be fair, most of their problems stemmed from misunderstanding, though he wouldn't put all the blame of their problems on coincidence.

He overreacted while at the Cobras' beach party when he accidentally shoved Sam. Of course, he wasn't trying to hurt her, he just got upset when he saw her and Robby show up together, holding hands. And then there was the whole mess of their kiss at Moon's party that sent things spiraling even further. Eventually, causing the school brawl to unravel which above all else, was the memory that haunted him the most.

If it weren't for Sensei, I would've never been able to walk again.

But all of that had been solved between the two of them after his recovery when they had a real, honest conversation about their feelings towards one another and they owned up to their individual mistakes. And recently, they'd seemed to have reached a certain level of trust that was unbreakable, especially involving their relationships with each other's Senseis.

I still feel bad for lying to her about my dad, things are just so great with us right now and I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize us.

"Diaz, you alright?" asked Johnny, shaking his shoulders lightly.

Miguel's attention snapped back to reality where he was met with his fellow Miyagi-Fangs (I still can't believe Sam and I came up with that name!) avidly talking to one another. They were all standing in the center of the worn down warehouse known as the Eagle Fang dojo. As he surveyed his surroundings, he noticed the odd circumstance dividing half the room. On one side, tires were sprawled across the cement floor along with the usual cement blocks stacked nearby the door for easy access during training. On the other side, the floor was lined with blue foam rubber mats, bow staves leaning up against the wall, tidily. Only when these two halves met in the middle of the room did he notice the white spray-painted line that separated them.

Well, at least it's better than fighting over dojo space like last time.

"Yes, Sensei. Sorry, just got a little distracted," replied Miguel, apologetically.

For a split second, his eyes darted to where Sam stood in the front row, her wavy brunette hair tied behind her head in a graceful bun.

"Ah, I see, Diaz," smirked Johnny, smacking Miguel on the back, proudly.

Miguel smiled sheepishly at his Sensei, a tinge of pain shooting up his spine from the impact.

Okay, I need to focus on Sensei Lawrence and LaRusso's lesson, they'll be time for Sam and I to talk later.

"As all of you know by now, Sensei Lawrence and I have decided to rejoin our dojos," started Daniel, addressing the crowd of cautious Miyagi-Fang students standing before him.

"But some of us weren't here last time," argued Devon Lee, her arms crossed.

She might have only joined a few weeks before the tournament, but she seemed to have immediately caught onto the rivalry revolving around the Senseis.

Regardless of how good she was, anything was better than Sensei's idea of me dressing up like a girl.

"Your point?" questioned Johnny, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't assume we've all been here before when clearly, some of us haven't," reasoned Devon, harshly.

"You're right, sorry," rephrased Daniel, remorsefully.

Miguel honestly felt bad for Daniel misunderstanding Devon's sarcasm. Not that he didn't feel bad for Johnny too, he was just used to his Sensei's outdated reactions to social cues.

"You know, I was just messing with you guys, right? Who cares about that consideration stuff anyway," smirked Devon.

A wide smile quickly covered Johnny's face as he watched Daniel sigh, agitatedly as several of the students (including Miguel) quietly laughed.

"Regardless, we'll be teaching all of you new moves that will hopefully help you defend yourselves against Terry Silver's advanced training," finished Daniel.

"But we don't want you guys to get into fights with Cobra Kai anymore," instructed Johnny, firmly.

A few of the students immediately exclaimed looks of shock at their Senseis' words.

"So, we're only going to be learning defense?" asked Sam, confused.

Her tone didn't exactly match her words. Despite the fact she was asking, she seemed to be hoping the answer was yes.

Did something happen in a fight when she used her offensive training? I'll have to ask her after class.

"Of course not! We're just saying that it's too dangerous to be going around picking fights with Cobra Kai," answered Johnny, scoffing.

Daniel shot Johnny a quick look of frustration that he'd answered his daughter's question first, before continuing his speech.

Maybe I spoke too soon about the whole getting along thing.

"And you all will have the choice to decide if you continue training with us. We'll fully understand if any of you don't want to learn more karate after all that's been happening in the Valley recently, without judgment," finished Daniel.

"Err, more like without his judgment," corrected Johnny, honestly.

A few of the students in the back abruptly grabbed their bags and left out the open doors.

Miguel straightened his posture, uncomfortably.

How can any of them be considering leaving? It's not like avoiding karate will stop Cobra Kai's bullies from picking on us. In fact, it's the thing that helped stop them.

"What a bunch of pussies," muttered Johnny.

In a matter of seconds, half the students seemed to have dispersed from the dojo.

"I guess we know where their loyalty lies," commented Eli, agitatedly.

"Now that we have the losers out of the way, we can tell you our real idea," stated Johnny.

Beside Miguel, Demetri cringed nervously as he pictured the ideas Johnny must have been planning for all of them to do in training. Most likely, something similar to that of the punching bag incident.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you," reassured Miguel, patting Demetri on the back.

"Yeah, I am ninety-nine percent sure that isn't true, but thanks anyway," whispered Demetri over his shoulder.

He's not completely wrong, although Sensei would never intentionally hurt him. Probably...

"We're going to be training under Sensei, Chozen Toguchi," announced Daniel.

"No disrespect meant, Sensei, but what do you mean by we're?" questioned Eli, skeptically.

Daniel smiled, understandingly.

"Sensei Chozen is the best there is, at least that is still with us. I'd even argue that he's better than Terry Silver. So, if we're going to beat Cobra Kai, Sensei Lawrence and I will need to learn some new skills, too," explained Daniel.

The Senseis improving their skills made sense to Miguel, he just had a hard time imagining someone training either of his Senseis, especially Johnny.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" confirmed Miguel, uneasily.

Last time Sensei brought in a teaching assistant, it was John Kreese.

"I'm positive," reassured Daniel, confidently.

"Honestly, it doesn't matter to me who's training us, as long as we get to learn more moves," stated Bert, excitedly.

"And they're not known killers, of course," added Demetri, quickly.

"Yeah, this guy's definitely not John Kreese," reassured Johnny, firmly.

And as if on cue, Chozen stepped through the entrance, bow staff in hand. Even without knowledge of who this new sensei was, Miguel could feel a certain level of intensity to him that Johnny, nor Daniel brought.

"Hello, students. I'm Sensei Chozen Toguchi," announced Chozen, bowing.

All the students bowed back respectfully.

"Now, for those of you who have been mainly trained in Miyagi-Do techniques, stand next to Sensei LaRusso," instructed Chozen.

Sam, Eli, Demetri, Chris, and Nathaniel all stepped next to Daniel, lining up in a kind of military formation.

"Good, now those of you who have trained mainly under Sensei Lawrence, Stand beside him."

Miguel, Mitch, Bert, and Devon followed their new Sensei's orders and lined up similarly to that of the Miyagi-Dos.

"Very good, now we begin," nodded Chozen, encouragingly.