Season 4

Chapter 22

The next morning, Miguel walked into the Miyagi-Do dojo relatively early. He always came 30 minutes earlier than anyone else, as it gave him a half hour extra to train before the rest of the group arrived and training began. It was an unspoken consensus within the group that if any of them were going to top Robby in the All-Valley, it would Miguel, and Miguel felt every ounce of that pressure on his shoulders.

Twenty minutes later, the rest of the group started to arrive, with Sam the first person to show up, a worried expression on her face. Miguel walked over to her, and she kissed him quickly.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Miguel asked.

"Much better. Thank you so much for being there." Sam said, her face extremely nervous. Miguel noticed.

"What's up?" He asked. Sam closed her eyes, remembering the pure rage and fury in her dad's eyes when Sam had told him about what Miguel did that night at the party. That incident had dredged up all of the resentment Daniel had towards Johnny and Miguel for their actions at the All-Valley. Sam was half-surprised that her dad hadn't stormed over to Miguel's house to confront him that night, but she knew a confrontation was coming.

"Look, Miguel, I need to tell you something." Sam said, trying to warn Miguel about what had happened the night before. "Last night..."

Sam never got a chance to finish her sentence. At that moment, Daniel stormed into the dojo, wrath written across his face. Before Sam could say anything, Daniel had lunged at Miguel, shoving him backwards and punching him in the face.

"What the hell?!" Miguel gasped, as he stumbled backwards in pain.

"YOU HIT MY DAUGHTER?!" Daniel bellowed. Miguel's face went from extreme confusion to realisation in a matter of seconds.

"Wait... last year at the party?" Miguel asked. "I swear that was an accident, Mr. Larusso. I've apologised like a hundred times for it, and..."

THUD!

Daniel sent a second blow at the side of Miguel's head, too wrapped up in his anger to realise that he was beating up a teenager. Sam stood there, immobile in shock. She tried to move, to stop her father, but her body didn't seem to be responding to her brain. Miguel's back was to the wall, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't defend himself against the karate sensei.

"Mr. Larusso? Can I just say something?" Miguel spluttered, winded from a punch to his solar plexus, but seriously annoyed at this point. Daniel held off throwing a third punch as the student spoke again.

"WHAT?!" Daniel shouted.

"I swung at Robby, and ACCIDENTALLY hit Sam. You deliberately beating up a teenager... doesn't that make you worse than me?" Miguel snapped, just as angry as Daniel at this point. Daniel and Miguel were insanely similar - both of them had normally passive personalities, but also had extreme temper issues.

Daniel roared in annoyance and lunged at Miguel again, sending a punch at Miguel's ribs. Sam finally got over her shock and she rushed over, trying to pull her dad away from Miguel but failing.

"DAD, STOP!" Sam shouted, trying to grab Daniel's arm and pull him away, but he was too strong. At that moment, thankfully, Johnny walked into the dojo. His eyes widened and he dropped his bag in shock. He rushed over and pulled Daniel off of Miguel, doing what Sam couldn't, and shoving Daniel against the wall.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Johnny shouted. Daniel tried to shove Johnny out of the way, but Johnny wouldn't budge.

"Get out the way, Johnny! This doesn't concern you!" Daniel growled.

"Like hell, it doesn't! That's my kid you're whaling on!" Johnny spat, pointing at Miguel, who was being helped by Sam over to the side of the dojo, still trying to regain his feet after being severely winded. The rest of the students except Hawk had arrived at this point, and were watching this exchange, astonished. Tensions had finally boiled over between Johnny and Daniel, and they were about 5 seconds from going nuclear on each other.