Hot For Sensei

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kreese had set up his own version of practice matches, and the cobras sat around outside of the mat again. Tory and Mitch were sparring, and Miguel was appointed as the referee. Everyone watched as they exchanged kicks and punches, both still angry from what had happened in the back Dojo. Tory managed to get a kick in, and she backed up as Mitch dropped to the mat.

"Point!" Miguel stepped forward and raised a red flag in Tory's favor.

"Hit him again." Kreese urged, and Tory looked to him in shock, "Do you have a problem with that?"

Tory wasn't able to answer. Instead, she looked between Mitch and Kreese continuously, unable to decide what to do.

"A fight isn't over until your enemy is finished." Kreese said sternly, "You show your enemy no mercy."

Tory nodded to him, and Mitch braced himself, but Miguel stepped in before she could strike.

"Wait!" he shouted, and Tory froze, "This isn't what Sensei Lawrence has been teaching us."

"Excuse me?" Kreese looked to him, disgusted.

"There's no honor in being merciless." Miguel shook his head, "Tory scored a point. It's over."

Everyone turned to Kreese to see what he would say next. Ivy forced herself to take a deep breath to try and calm her anger. She needed to keep her mouth shut, she promised. Kreese changed his stance before he answered Miguel.

"Sensei Lawrence is right, of course." He let out a sigh and began to pace, "In a tournament, the fighting stops when you land a point. But in the real world, it's not about scoring points. It's about being a winner, or a loser, and there are no losers in this Dojo."

He made his way to Miguel slowly as he spoke, and when he was done, he was almost nose to nose with him. Ivy's body tensed, afraid that Miguel might suffer a fate similar to Dimitri's for speaking up. Miguel swallowed hard, his eyes betraying his anger, but he decided against saying something, and Kreese backed off. He motioned to Tory to finish Mitch off, but Ivy stepped in, unable to help herself because she knew Johnny wouldn't approve of this.

"Your whole philosophy screams loser, and you're standing in our Dojo." She spat and stood to face him.

Kreese let out a laugh as he turned to her, but this laugh was not amused. It was dark and hateful.

"My, my, ever the difficult one, I see." He sneered a smirk at her.

"Why, because you can't break me?" she challenged.

"I'm not here to break you, I'm here you prepare you for the war that is life." He continued, "And you'd make a fine soldier if you'd just redirect that anger."

"I don't need to be a soldier. I don't have to be the reason for destruction, cruelty or disarray. I can use my skills in karate to keep the peace. I can protect it." She growled.

"My dear, there is no such thing as peace." He narrowed his eyes, "There are only breaths between wars."

"Don't hit him, Tory!" Ivy warned, her eyes never leaving Kreese.

Tory let out a sigh, still struggling to make a decision, and Kreese stepped onto the mats with his hands up to try and diffuse everything.

"Seems those punishment drills messed with your heads a little." He faked concern, "We'll resume this lesson next time with fresh minds. Class dismissed."