The Serpent Queen

Take a Right | Part One

The peaceful feeling that consumed Phoebe at the end of the day at the country club certainly didn't last.

As two days later, all the Cobras, including her, were back in the dojo. But they weren't there for a lesson. Sensei wasn't teaching them today. Instead, he decided to put every single one of them through a whole lot of torture. So much for having a great first lesson without Circus-freak lurking in the background.

Thankfully, she had been off her leg for the entirety of those two days in between the club and the dojo and her left ankle and leg felt a bit better. Phoebe could put an amount of weight on it, but not all of it. The swelling had died down and the purple bruises faded in colour ever so slightly, but not much.

The fact that the dojo didn't have any air conditioning, the Californian August heat didn't let up even a bit and the intense exercises they were doing made the Cobras sweat and become even more tired and dehydrated than they already were.

Dressed in her clean white gi, she and the rest of the Cobras were doing an insane amount of burpees in formation. The only sound in the room was their heavy breathing and grunts. No one was safe from this, not even her. Even though she had a rock solid alibi like Tory, Aisha, and Miguel. Phoebe's lungs burned and her chest tightened when she completed her fiftieth one.

Johnny stepped through them demanding answers like an army drill sergeant. "This could all be over in an instant. The decision's yours. Who trashed the Miyagi dojo?!" He yelled at his students. When no one spoke up, he continued, "Y'all know I'm no fan of LaRusso's, but that sort of bullshit we don't teach in here." He stood next to his former and directed the next sentence to him. "At least not anymore." Looking to his students, he yelled, "So, I'm gonna ask you again. Who trashed Miyagi-Do?!"

Kreese stood stoically in front of them with a frown on his face and his arms folded at his chest.

Raymond was the first voice of the day to speak up. Through his pants, he said, "It was not me, Sensei. I would never disrespect another man's dojo..."

"Shut your cake hole, Chubs. I'm not looking for excuses. I'm looking for answers."

Miguel breathed heavily, "Sensei, we really don't know who did it."

"Somebody knows something. Question is, who's gonna break?" John Kreese glanced at Hawk very briefly and the boy caught his eye and then quickly glanced away.

Hawk, Mitch, Big Red, and Rickenberger all kept quiet and their heads forward while doing the burpees. None of them would snitch on each other.

Just then, Johnny's phone began ringing from the office. Turning his head in that direction, he decided to go for it.  "Keep going. We can do this all day." Answering his phone in the office, he saw the caller ID and it was his old friend, Bobby. "Hey, hey, man. Long time....Good, man. Listen, I'd love to catch up. I'm just in the middle..." Hearing the former Cobra's words, he paused. "Wait, what? How bad is it?"

"Sensei, we need a water break." Assface managed to say.

"Two-minute break." Kreese announced to them all. "Get your bearings."

Everyone sighed in utter relief and gasped while running to get their water bottles and drink as much water and breathe as much air as they could for those short two minutes.

Hawk sneakily walked up to Sensei Kreese. "I think I should tell Sensei Lawrence that I did it." He whispered.

"Say nothing. I'll handle it."

"Yes, Sensei." The boy gave him a nod and quickly walked away.

All the students didn't have the energy to speak to one another. They clutched their water bottles as if they were their individual lifelines.