"Come on, guys." I called out to my fellow martial artists while doing the task we were assigned by Mr. Larusso, my new Sensei from Miyagi-Do.
It had been more than a week since I had left Cobra Kai and joined Miyagi-Do. Most kids enjoyed the Summer vacation, while some of us utilised this time to improve ourselves.
"You're a monster, Alex." Sam shouted back in an annoyed and tired tone.
"Is it because I am the only one doing the task, while you all resting under the shade of that tree?" I questioned with a smile and wiped the sweat off my forehead with my free hand.
The task I was doing was shoveling the ground, which Mr. Larusso had ordered all of us because he wanted to create a Japanese style pond in the Dojo.
"Accept it, Alex." Demitri sighed heavily, "It's more than 100 degrees out there. I don't even know why we're doing it at this time."
"You're correct." I heard Daniel's voice behind and saw him coming towards us, "I mean, Alex is right." He smiled at me, "Now stand up and get to work."
"Hey, Mr. Larusso." Robby called out tiredly, "It's like flaming out. Can't we take it easy today?"
"Are you kidding?" Daniel replied back, "This heat wave is a gift. Today, you are going to experience Shochu-Geiko."
"Like the car insurance?" Chris asked cluelessly.
"No." Daniel embarrassedly shook his head, "Shochu-Geiko is a Japanese exercise where you train during hottest days of the year. It's about pushing yourself to your limit." He shrugged, "The fight isn't always gonna come when it's 75 degrees and breezy."
"Aren't we supposed to avoid fight?" Sam asked, because defending was Miyagi-Do was all about.
"Sometimes you can't." Daniel replied with a serious look, "Someday the fight may come to you. And I wanna make sure you're ready. So, today, we're going to see what Miyagi-Do is made of."
None of us looked excited, well, except for me. After all, why not? My Martial art skill has been exponentially levelling up since I joined Miyagi-Do. Not to mention, the overall increase in my stats from the training everyday.
Of course, there was also a downside. While Miyagi-Do was a great way of Karate, everyone knew it was about defense. And defense, not really my suit. I was learning the Karate by heart as I enjoyed it, but honestly, I knew that I would be on the offense whenever I engage in a fight.
Mr. Larusso gathered us up and told us about the training we were going to do next. Each of us was given a number and told to stand by forming a circle, while only one would standing inside that ring.
And whenever Daniel would call out a number, that person would come inside the circle and fight the opponent inside it. If the opponent loses, he joins the circle and the next person gets the chance to stand in.
At first, everyone was hyped by the training, but eventually they all started crying about the heat again. I mean, it wasn't like they were the only ones bothered by the heat. I was burning under the sun and sweating as hell, but at least I wasn't bitching about it.
Mr. Larusso agreed to the demands and requests of his students and decided to change the environment. To be honest, I was slightly impressed when he brought us to a freezing cold storage room and repeated the same training again.
Daniel lectured us about the benifits of our current freezing environment and how this training method was called Kan-Geiko in Japanese.
And he was, in a way, correct. I have lived in extreme cold environments before and I know how it feels to fight, when the entire place around you is covered in snow. Though, it's different that there was no snow around at the moment.
Sam chose to be the first to question her father's teaching method and got to be the first one to be in the circle.
"Honestly, if I knew this was going to happen, I would've bitched about it first." I chuckled as I stood in the ring as number 9.
"Hey, I wasn't bitching, okay?" Sam annoyingly glared at me, "And I hope Sensei calls the number 9, so I get to kick your ass."
"And I would be called sexist if I say the same thing to you." I snorted and rolled my eyes.
"Stop bickering like kids, you two." Daniel stopped our argument from escalating any further, "You do have your way with the words, Alex."
"Dad!" Sam whined as she saw Daniel taking my side.
"Okay, okay." Daniel raised his hands in defeat as his title suddenly changed from Sensei to Dad, "Now lets begin this. Seven!"
Chris as the Seven stepped into the ring behind Sam, but Sam showed a quick reaction and made the first move by kicking Chris away on his stomach.
"Four!" Daniel immediately called out the next person to keep this going.
As four, Robby stepped into the ring and confronted Sam. And I don't know if anybody noticed it, but I discovered what was going between Sam and Robby during this fight.
Sam eventually defeated Robby by landing a punch on his chest, and finally-
"Nine!" Daniel called out by looking at me.
-I stepped into the ring.
"Huh." Sam scoffed at me with a mocking smile, "Mr sexist is here to get his ass kicked."
"I hope that's not my new nickname." I chuckled and quickly reacted by ducking under her kick.
"Tch." Sam clicked her tongue as she thought it was an opportunity to catch me off guard, and continued with the barrage of attacks.
I decided to play along and tested my skills, by playing only defensive. I dodged, parried and avoided all of her attacks, that is until the point Sam released a heavy grunt of exhaustion.
"Monster." She glared at me while breathing heavily and crouching with the support of her knees.
"Congratulations, you have defeated your opponent without using any form of offense." Daniel clapped for me with an impressed look, "You might really be a Monster as Sam says."
"Come on, not you too." I grunted tiredly, "You can see that I am clearly exhausted here as well."
"You did last longer than the other students." Daniel reasoned with a light shrug, "Anyways, this has earned you the opportunity to step into the ring. Sam, you can rest this one out."
I stepped into the ring, but after all the fight, I eventually gave up on my fifth call, to Big Red. Since I was exhausted after my turn as well, Daniel asked me to sit out.
"Really, you lost to a kid." Sam mocked me as I sat next to her on the floor and chugged down a bottle of water.
"Well, I did defeat your boyfriend though." I remarked back with a smirk as wiped my cold sweat with a dry towel.
"He's not my boyfriend.." Sam replied nervously by avoiding my eyes.
"So at least you know whom I am talking about." I teased her with a light chuckle, "So how long is the relationship going on for?"
"I told you." Sam glared at me, "There's nothing between us, okay?"
"So are you going to ignore the sexual tension I saw between you guys earlier?" I argued back with an raised eyebrow and leaned forward to whisper, "At least I can guess the name you'll be using tonight."
It took a while for the innocent Sam to realise what I meant, but when she did, I got punched on my arm by an overly blushing cute teenage girl.
"Pervert." Sam glared at me.
"Are you asking me whose name I take?" I smirked mischievously in response.
"No, not at all!" Sam whined frustratedly and placed her right hand on my mouth to shut me up, "Don't even let me imagine it." She glared at me.
Since I could not speak, I used my fingers to tell her what's my size.
"You..." Sam's eyes went wide in disbelief, before she started beating me to hell.
"Hey, hey, what's going on?!" Mr. Larusso shouted as he saw us and came running towards us, "I told you guys not to fight, right? And stop being childish, Sam."
"Child." I mocked her meaningfully, in a way only she would know.
"And you too, Alex." Mr. Larusso scolded, "Be a little more mature."
"But I am only sixteen years old." I innocently defended myself, because I knew arguing back was not going to help me with this person.
"Mature for a sixteen year old." Daniel corrected and sighed, "Just stay put, we'll be done here soon." He said and walked back to training his other students.
"Real mature." I slowly nodded at Sam with a big smile.
"Hey, would you stop teasing her?" Robby asked of me with an annoyed look on his face.
"Oh, no. Your boyfriend has come to the rescue." I whispered into Sam's ear by leaning next to her.
"Oh, come on." Sam grunted and tackled my shoulder as we sat against the wall, "Robby, ignore him. He's an idiot, a total child." Sam said as she looked at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, I wonder when I'll grow up." I said in sarcasm as I got up and took my phone out of my bag, "You guys talk, I'll go have a round outside. I need to make a call."
"To whom?" Sam asked out of curiosity.
"It's about the place where I am currently staying at. The owner wanted us to meet today, so I'll ask him for a location to meet." I replied shortly.
"Nothing to worry about, right?" Sam asked with a concerned look, since she knew I live alone.
"Nah, it's most probably him asking my hand for his daughter's marriage again." I replied with a light chuckle and waved it off, before I walked out of the storage facility.
"I hope he's not in trouble." Robby said to Sam as he could sympathise with Alex's situation. After all, Alexander's parents were not around to look after him anymore, unlike his.
"I would be more worried about the person who gets in trouble with him." Sam said by pursing her lips, "He might act childish around us, but we know how scary that guy can be."
"I can agree on that." Robby nodded with a sigh, as he remembered the time they had seen Alex beat Hawks and his friends all by himself.