The (incredibly dysfunctional) family slept in the car at night, Johnny took the front, Rae took the back, and Robby took the trunk, seeing as he lived in there, about a year before. In the morning, Johnny drove it over to a small shop whilst the kids were still asleep.
"Morning." Rae groaned, turning her head towards the back of the car.
"Sup." Robby smiled. His hair was a mess, falling all over his face.
"Where's Dad?"
"Dunno. You wanna check?"
"Sure."
They got up and left the car. Rae went inside the shop to check for her dad, despite Robby's challenging against it. After wandering between aisles, she eventually found him looking at chocolate bars.
"Hey!"
"Holy shit what are you doing here?"
"I'm looking at.." she paused, "Cereal! Yep!"
"Cereal's over in the other aisle. What are you up to?"
"Nothing. I swear. Just checking in here."
"Get out now. Tell Robby to hook his phone up with the map so we can get better directions."
"Okay."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Love you."
"Love you moooore."
_________________________
Half an hour later, Johnny returned from the store.
"All right. How we looking?" He asked Robby.
"I think I got it matched up to my phone. Only a few miles to go. Looks like a lot of bars and restaurants." Robby explained.
"Here, let's ask this guy." Johnny said, pointing at a local.
"Dad, no.." Rae encouraged, trying to save herself from embarrassment.
"Hola." Johnny greeted.
"¿Habla Español?" The guy asked in response. None of them knew what he meant.
"What?" Johnny questioned, speaking for the whole family.
"¿Español?"
"No, we're from America." Rae spoke up, seemingly getting the gist of what the man was saying.
"Estás en una zona de remolque. Necesito que muevas la camioneta." The man stated.
"Gracias. It's custom decal." Johnny smiled, seemingly not understanding what the man said. "Yo quiero hombre. Hector the Salazar."
"No conozco a Héctor Salazar. Tienes que mover la camioneta, por favor."
"I think this guy wants money." Johnny told the kids. Both shook their heads, knowing only basic Spanish, but still sure that money was dinero, and not any of those words the man said.
"No, no hay dinero. Mueve la camioneta." The guy shook his head.
"No, you cannot have the van. It's very special. You tell me, donde Hector Salazar, I give you dineros, sí?"
"He speaks very good Spanish, doesn't he?" Rae whispered to Robby.
"Yeah. Donde Hector Salazar, I give you dineros. I'll make sure to use that one in my next Spanish test." Robby responded.
"Dineros?" The man repeated.
"Sí." Johnny agreed.
The man walked over towards the van and shouted something to his mates.
"All right. Can you believe this guy?" He paused, studying his children's faces. "What?"
"If this Hector guy is so dangerous, I don't think we should be throwing his name around." Robby stated.
"Yeah, that guy could be one of his goons, and in five minutes they could be calling Carmen or someone, holding us for ransom." Rae added.
"We gotta shake the tree to get the apples." Johnny analogised.
"Or we could climb the tree ourselves." Robby said.
"What does that mean? What tree?" Rae's father asked, prompting a large sigh from her.
"The apple tree. You just said you wanted-"
"Wait!!" Rae interrupted. The van was being driven away.
"Hey, hey! Hey!" Johnny shouted, alongside his children. They were all chasing the car trying to get the guy to stop driving.
"Fuck." Rae sighed.
"Hey. Language." Her father scolded.
"You say worse." Robby defended his sister.
_________________________________
Later in the day, they managed to arrive in some kind of market area. It sold all sorts : pointless gifts, food, whatever you needed.
"Guy at the impound lot said we need 4,000 pesos." Johnny began telling them. "That's, like, a million dollars."
"It's $200." Rae corrected.
"But still, we only have about half that." Robby sighed.
"We're not gonna find Miguel without the van."
In front of them, there was a man yelling something in Spanish, and taking money from people. Their eyes diverted to a guy eating a chilli.
"What's that?" Rae pointed.
"That's a Red Savina. That thing'll burn a hole right through you." The teenage boy explained. Both Johnny and Rae looked at him confused as to how he knew that. "Mom and I watch Hot Ones on YouTube."
The man who was eating the said Red Savina flew out of his chair, retching.
"This is our shot to get back on track. If you see me about to choke, cover my mouth so I don't spit it out." Johnny stepped forward, seemingly trying to eat the chilli.
"Have fun Dad!" Rae exclaimed, pulling out her phone to record her Dad probably almost die.
"Wait. I'll do it." Robby volunteered.
"No. Robby, I got us into this." Johnny almost began bickering with his son about who would eat the pepper.
"Like you said, this is our best shot. I know I can win."
"Good luck." Rae pat her brother on the back.
Robby sat down at the table and slammed some money down. The bald man opposite him gave him a confused look, presumably thinking Robby had just wasted all of that money. He gulped, and went for a pepper.
"Go on Robby!" Rae and her father cheered.
Moments later, the pot was empty. Robby was sweating and had gone slightly red. Everybody around was impressed.
"That's my boy!" Johnny exclaimed, prouder than ever.
"Mira el gringo sudando como un cerdo. Estará muerto antes del segundo round." The bald guy snickered.
"Uno mas." Robby demanded. Nobody, especially Rae, knew how he could do it. "Give me the hottest pepper you've got."
"El dragón!" The man yelled. Everyone gasped.
"D'you reckon he's gonna die?" Rae muttered to her dad.
"No! Well, maybe. Yeah. Probably." He responded.
A man brought over the glass in which the pepper sat. He carefully placed it down on the table and unscrewed the lid. He grabbed a set of tongs and handed Robby the chilli.
"We're going all in. Todo." Johnny announced.
"Dad, are you sure? I wanna be supportive and all but I just don't see how Robby could eat this." Rae challenged.
"¡Haga sus apuestas!" The man yelled. People began handing money to him.
Robby viciously picked up the pepper.
"You got this. I'd bet on you any day of the week." Johnny encouraged his son, for what Rae thought was the first time in his whole life.
Everybody was whispering. Robby seemed to pray to himself, some sort of preparation ritual. He put it in.
"Do it for Tory! And the baby!" Rae shouted encouragingly.
"Baby? What?" Johnny asked.
"Oh, it's just an inside joke." She explained.
Robby slammed his fist on the table then opened his mouth. It was... empty? The bald man looked very intimidated by this, and stuffed one into his mouth to try for himself. He ended up spilling all of his milk all over himself due to the spice levels, and that meant Robby had won.
"Yes!" The father and daughter exclaimed, before the man spat his milk all over them.
Robby stood up, took his money, and headed off to get the car back.
YOU ARE READING
STRIKE FIRST - A COBRA KAI STORY
ActionRae Lawrence was a normal girl with a normal life. Well, normal-ish. She never knew her mom so her dad single-handedly looked after her, even if that meant he had to work several jobs. Home life was a bit of a struggle, but at least school was okay...
