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.

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[fightagain]

Gwen honestly needed a break from the chaos, too. From the kid who twisted their ankle doing something stupid, to the kid that went home because he pissed off a very protective mother skunk, Gwen needed just a few minutes to herself. Her way of refocusing herself, and Mr LaRussos were very different. While his involved precise movements and focus on breathing, Gwen's was drumming.

But there was nothing to drum on in the woods that wouldn't make her look ridiculous. So she opted for a walk.

Catching Mr LaRusso mid-kata, it's easy for her to focus on the natural beat of it and that helps.

She turns off the music that had been playing from her earbuds and tilts her head a bit, studying the way he moves and trying to memorize just a bit of it.

When he's gone through all of the steps, Gwen speaks up.

"Is that gonna be one of the lessons some day?" She would love to learn as much of it as she could.

[innerbalance]

See? This right here. This is why Gwen is his favourite Miyagi-Fang... Eagle-Do... Miyagi-Eagle... whatever ... student. Well, aside from Sam - but that goes without saying. But Gwen shows an interest and indulges him when he goes on some spiel about Miyagi-Do teachings whereas most the other students switch off. Even Sam tends to switch off but that's because she's heard it all before - many times, so he can't really blame her.

Daniel lets out a soft laugh. "I hope so. If Sensei Lawrence lets me spend time teaching 'pansy-ass karate yoga' when we should be focusing on 'badass kicks'. I think some of the kids will really benefit from doing kata." Like Hawk. "It's not just the moves, it's something more. It's about finding balance." If anyone would understand then it was probably Gwen. After all, kata was like a dance. Poetry in motion.

"Mr Miyagi once told me that all karate can be found in this kata." God, he wished Mr Miyagi was here now. Maybe if he was then Daniel and Johnny wouldn't have dragged the Valley into an all out karate gang war with Kreese.

"What do you think? Teach everyone the moves then pair them up on the balance board to see who really can find their inner balance?"

okay so i used the wrong damn journal.

[fightagain]

"I think it sounds a lot like one of your team building exercises," Gwen says, the smirk on her face a little bit teasing. She's been in dance troupes, she's been in bands. She even played soccer for the high school for a bit. She's good with team building exercises, and even understands how important they just may be with everything coming their way and everything going on.

"What if you taught it to a couple people and then had them teach people? I could definitely see that being some kind of bonding experience. And then you use the balance wheel in the pond to teach that part of it?"

It could be fun. It could go badly. But people would learn about themselves and each other, and she thinks that's what the dojo really needs. It's still a bit fractured. There are still tensions and problems between former Cobras, Miyagi-Do students and the new Eagle-Fang group. But this might help.

Emphasis on might.

[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.