Camping Trip -! Or- That Time the Eagle Fang Sensei's really tested their luck.

[fightagain]

With everything going on, a couple days away from karate gang wars might just be what the doctor ordered. Or, it could be a grand exercise in unsupervised chaos. Either way, the next three nights and four days are going to be interesting.


Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, to the first annual (and probably last ever) Eagle Fang/Miyagi-Do camping trip!

It seems as though Sensei Lawrence and Sensei LaRusso decided this camping trip would be a great way to create team bonding. Which...maybe?

Or, they brought a bunch of keyed up, feral teenagers into the woods and everything that can go wrong will.

For example, sleeping arrangements. While it was wise in theory to put girls with girls and boys with boys, some of these teenagers are dating and the rest of them just aren't the best at listening.

Also, they're smart. If there's a loophole in the rules, they will find and manipulate it.

At the same time, these kids are actually good kids. It's probably best to assign tasks to various groups. One is responsible for picking up firewood from the camp's small shop. Another is responsible for keeping the camping sites clean.

You get the picture.

So, after the last week of school, this is where most of the Miyagi-Do kids will find themselves. At a lovely campground two hours away from Reseda. There's swimming in both the pool and the giant lake. The camp shop has some of the best ice cream and junk food around. There are hiking trails, a frisbee golf area, and two of the nights at camp will have outdoor movies (the first nights movie being Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the original the less family friendly Deadpool). Entry is a dollar, there's freshly made popcorn included in the price of admission.

Just please be mindful of the free-range feral karate kids. They travel in packs, are ridiculously loyal and really aren't in the mood for anything ruining their camping trip.

Not even the rain on the third night.

Throw up a top level, tag around. Have fun. Get into trouble.

Y'know. The usual Cobra Kai bullshit.

Comments

[innerbalance]

Isn't everything Daniel does some kind of team-building exercise or life lesson? Certainly feels that way sometimes. He doesn't mean to make everything a lesson, it just sort of happens. It's not his fault. It's a little of Mr Miyagi's influence rubbing off on him. He just wishes he had Mr Miyagi's wisdom to go long with it.

"Let's face it... we need all the team building we can get. The tournament will be here before we know it and we're nowhere near ready." Daniel doesn't mean it in a cruel way. There are some really talented kids, and plenty with the potential to go far. But Gwen's right, the group is still fractured. And Cobra Kai are ruthless. Sometimes Daniel feels like he and Johnny are practically sending lambs to the slaughter by entering their kids in the tournament.

He ponders Gwen's suggestion. "Well Sam already knows it. You volunteering to learn? The pair of you could teach others, and then they could teach others." A pyramid scheme of kata.

[fightagain]

“Okay, so,” Gwen states after a pause, smiling just a bit like she has some big secret she wasn’t allowed to say anything about just yet. But now she can, and she’s fairly well excited about it.

In her own laidback way.

“Sam’s been teaching me. The last few times I hung out at your house while Simon and Anthony played video games. I know half of it? Roughly? But we got into this conversation about balance and dancing and that came up so I asked.”

That’s what Gwen does. If it’s something she wants to learn about, she asks questions. She studies hard. Researches. Does her best to understand as much as she can.

“Basically I think Sam teaching would be a great idea. Me, maybe when I’ve had some practice.”

[innerbalance]

"You know the secret Miyagi family kata? The deeply secret and sacred Miyagi family kata?" Daniel asks. "Wow. See, now I'm just going to have to throw you in the lake or feed you to a bear," he says with a deadly serious tone to his voice.

This is why he shouldn't be allowed to teach children. In fact, how are he and Johnny actually allowed to teach impressionable teens?

A smile breaks on his lips. "I'm kidding. It's great that Sam's teaching you. You wanna run through it now?"

[fightagain]

"I do and I plan on making millions demonstrating it on TikTok and YouTube," Gwen says, just as deadly serious as him. She can bullshit, too, Mr L.

She can even grin about it, laughing just a bit. She's not showing anyone, honestly. Just keeping it to herself. She hasn't even shown Phil, and that's her favorite brother.

"I kinda do, yeah," Gwen states without much hesitation. She would love to run through it, is what she's saying. "I'll follow you, Mr LaRusso."

[innerbalance]

"I still don't really know what a TikTok even is." Daniel wasn't as much of a technological dinosaur as Johnny. Hell, even actually dinosaurs probably knew more about technology than Johnny. But even Daniel struggled to keep up with all the latest trends and apps. Anthony had shoved a screen in his face many times and told him to watch this funny TikTok or that funny TikTok but that didn't mean he really got it.

"But if you do make millions then the dojo could use a new mini-fridge and one of the screen walls needs repairing... just sayin'." He knows she's joking, but part of him wonders how Mr Miyagi would feel about people profiting off of his family kata. He often wonders about how Mr Miyagi would feel about a great many things - opening up the dojo, combining with Johnny's dojo, going up against Kreese. He really wishes the old man was here to give him some guidance.

Mr Miyagi had once told him that he would one day find his own way of doing karate. Daniel hadn't understood at the time. He did things Mr Miyagi's way. But maybe joining forces with Johnny had been what Mr Miyagi had meant. Taking everything Miyagi-Do and everything Eagle Fang and combining it into something new.

Daniel steps into position. "I'll go slow. Just tell me if you need me to go over anything," he says, as he goes through the first few moves.