The Serpent Queen

The Good, The Bad, and The Badass | Part Three

The next night, the council meeting was being held. Sophie, George, and Demetri were seated in the audience along with the three Valley sensei's and Sam LaRusso. Many were bored about a man going on and on about completely tribal things when mostly everyone wanted to get to the main issue: The All Valley Tournament

The chairwoman of the council banged the gavel. "Mr. Carter, please, we need to move on."

"And now I'm hearing the city wants to rename manholes 'maintenance covers'. Do you know what we called a manhole back in my day? A manhole. And that's just the start."

Daniel noticed Johnny sitting down a seat away from him. Leaning in, he hushed, "What are you doing here?"

"Fighting for All Valley." Johnny replied. "You? Gonna read from your diary?"

"Nothing wrong with being prepared."

"Yeah, and I don't need notes. I'll shoot from the hip."

Daniel shook his head a little as he leaned back towards his family, "This is gonna be a disaster."

"I don't think so. If we all pull together, it can happen." George said.

The gavel banged again loudly, "Okay, next we will hear appeals for the cancellation of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament. Who would like to speak first?

All three Sensei's rose from their seats at the same time, but Kreese got to the podium first and spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm retired Army Captain John Kreese."

"Thank you for your service." The head council member thanked.

"It was an honor to serve. And I continue to serve right here in our community, by teaching our children strength and discipline through karate. I was devastated to hear about the cancellation of the tournament because of the fight at the high school. Why are my students being penalized because of the violence perpetrated by... dojos like Miyagi-Do?" He glanced back to Daniel for that last sentence.

"Now, wait just a minute." Daniel exclaimed.

"Mr. LaRusso, please. It's not your turn to speak."

"I apologize, Councilwoman Roberts. But this man--"

"'Councilperson' Roberts." Kreese corrected.

"Thank you, Captain Kreese. Please, continue.

"I think my colleagues here would agree that all we want is the best for our students and our community. Cobra Kai's goal is to prepare the Valley's youth for the unfortunate realities of the real world. It's hard out there. I'm simply just preparing them to defend themselves."

"Councilperson Roberts, I'm sorry, but this guy is selling you a bad bill of goods." Daniel spoke up again. "Just a few weeks ago, my students were injured by a bunch of his Cobra Kais in an abandoned recreation facility."

"Who started that fight? If memory serves, your out-of-control daughter."

That angered Amanda, she jumped out of her seat and pointed at him, "Hey! You leave my daughter out of this, you piece of shit!"

"Mom!" Sam hissed.

"Ma'am, please restrain yourself."

"That man is a lunatic!"

Daniel gave her a look and she sat down.

Kreese continued, "Councilperson Roberts, I assure you that I am a positive influence to my students, and the hundreds of students before them."

"Horseshit!" Johnny yelled. He stepped up and addressed the council, "Your Honour, John Lawrence, Eagle Fang Karate. This man has poisoned the minds of his students. And I should know, I was one of them."