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1: Lessons of the Fang

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Reseda, 2014.

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"You're firing me because of that bitch?" Johnny muttered into his outdated flip phone, "Ah...shit..."

Only a few hours later, and his Firebird had been totaled. He was at his lowest. His old 80s memories filled with brimming nostalgia were just that, memories.

He wrapped his old black headband around his head and Johnny had reopened Cobra Kai. The only problem was, the first students that would make up his new dojo would characterize it forever.

There was a group of rich middle schoolers chattering as they walked past the dojo on the strip malls sidewalk, their leader was brown haired and brown eyed, named David, surrounded by his cronies Kyler and the chubby boy Brucks along with two others.

"Hey check it out." David tapped Kyler's shoulder, "Karate."

"So?" Twelve year old Kyler looked at him.

"So Karate is awesome, let's go check it out." David smiled.

"Nah." Kyler shook his head, "Place looks like a dump." The other boys nodded.

David tutted, "Come on! Let's at least check it out."

"Fine." Kyler groaned and their group followed him.

Johnny turned with a Coors banquet in hand when the five boys walked into his dojo.

"Sup." David flicked his nose upwards and crossed his arms, "We're here to learn some Karate."

"Uh...great." Johnny smiled as he actually caught a lucky break and someone had actually walked in, "Why're you looking to do Karate?"

"To kick ass." Brucks nodded and the rest of the gang followed suit when he kept talking, "Wanna pound some loser and see how he cries."

Johnny sighed. Well, these kids sound like assholes. Thing is, I don't think I have any other options... He shook his head out of his thoughts,"Okay. First we're gonna set some ground rules. Number one, call me Sensei. Now and always."

Kyler shrugged, "Yes...Sensei."

"Yeah sure thing Sensei." David nodded with his gang again.

Johnny nodded back, "Great. Rule two..." Johnny smiled as he remembered as life had just struck him very hard and he was striking back, "No mercy."

The boys chuckled and high fived each other, cackling like hyenas, "I love the sound of that!" David hollered.

"Oh yeah..." Johnny smirked, "You'll learn what that means."

Johnny nodded, "Okay. First..." He looked around the rather seedy looking dojo he just opened putting his Coors banquet down, "We gotta have this place clean before we can start training in it." He pointed to members of the gang and gave them orders, "Uh...pube lips." He pointed to a weakly mustached David, "Getta broom and sweep the mat." He then pointed to Kyler, "Squints, wash the floor..." He pointed to Brucks, "Chunky, take care of any exposed wires."

The boys groaned, "Ah...what?" David tutted, "Sensei, when are we gonna wear Karate pajamas and punch stuff?"

"You mean GIs?" Johnny shook his head, "Cobra Kai is all about endurance. I'm gonna make fun of you all and make you clean this place, and you'll get your GIs when I say so."

"When will that happen Sensei?" David wondered.

Johnny sighed, "When you earn them."

"And when will we earn them Sensei?" Kyler asked and the boys muttered in agreeing impatience.

"Quiet!" Johnny yelled and the boys froze, before smirking at each other and liking Johnny's rough teaching style, "Now get to cleaning." Johnny said.

"Yes Sensei!" The boys shouted and dispersed to find items to start cleaning.

Johnny drank beers in his office as the boys did as he told them to do so. David found a broom in a closet by the American flag Johnny had in the dojo and swept the mat clean of its heavy dust. Kyler and two of David's cronies washed the floor with sponges and soap while Brucks tried his best not to get electrocuted.

Their blonde Sensei sipped his beer as he walked out of his office, "So how old are you guys?"

"I turned thirteen last week Sensei." David nodded to Johnny as he swept the mat, "The rest of us are about twelve, thirteen you know."

"Twelve Sensei." The rotund curly haired boy Brucks nodded and hissed when he accidentally brushed an exposed wire coming out of the wall, "Ow!"

"So...you're the oldest?" Johnny turned to David who swept the mat clean.

He nodded, "Yes Sensei."

Johnny retreated back inside his office again and eventually drank more beer.

"Sensei?" David washed one of the windows of Johnny's office when he was finished sweeping the mat, "Should I be washing this a certain way?" He asked through the glass as he cleaned it with a rag.

He flipped a page in his magazine held in his beer free hand, "Nah I don't give a shit."

Time had passed in his office and the boys kept working, the clock seeming to wind faster with more beers drank by Johnny.

"Uh Sensei?" Kyler entered the office, "We're finished?"

He looked up from his desk and stood out of his chair, "Already?"

Johnny left the office and looked around the dojo. The exposed wires had been removed, the floor was shiny instead of dusty and the mat was looking ready to be trained on, along with clean windows David had worked on.

"Damn Squints you weren't kidding." Johnny bit his lip as Kyler sighed, "How'd you all get it done so fast?"

Brucks walked over to Johnny nursing a few of his electrical burns, "Mm...Sensei, it's eight o'clock."

Johnny looked outside the dojo and saw the night through its windows, "Huh. I mean, I guess there's five of you, woulda taken a long ass time with just one person."

"So is class over now Sensei or..." David asked.

He shook his head, "You know what? I'll teach you the first two moves."

"All right! Yeah!" The boys high fived each other.

"Take off your shoes and socks and bow when you step on the mat." Johnny ordered to them.

"Yes Sensei!" They shouted and did so.

Kyler, David, Brucks and their two friends formed a semi-circle around the corner of the mat where Johnny was paired against a dummy, "Okay, the first move...Cobra bite, straight punch."

The boys nodded and Johnny kept explaining as he struck various parts of the dummies face lightly, "You can hit them in the eye, give them a black eye. Nose, bloody nose. And throat...well let's hope you never have to do that."

"Wicked." The boys just loved the sound of everything Johnny was teaching them.

"Second move. Front snap kick." Johnny's knee rose up and he struck the dummy in the stomach with the ball of his foot quickly, "Knock 'em down pretty quick with that one."

David and his gang adored how fast and strong the strike was and chuckled seeing the dummy whip back from how powerful Johnny's kick was, "Awesome." David said simply.

"We'll practice that tomorrow." Johnny nodded, "But we gotta talk about payment. I mean, I have to pay rent and stuff."

"All right Sensei, how much do we owe you?" Kyler asked.

"Hundred bucks a month. Each. Been that way since the eighties." Johnny said.

David shrugged with his posse, "Sure. I mean, this is the only thing we do besides school no problem."

"Really?" Johnny was confused, "You're not poor or something?"

"Poor?" David chuckled, "We don't actually live here in Reseda, we live in Encino. Our bikes are just in the shop a block away. My mom's a surgeon and my dad's an oncologist. Kyler's parents are doctors too and Brucks your parents are...lawyers?"

"Yup." He nodded.

"Okay then great. See ya tomorrow. Make sure to bow off the mat and on the way out."

"Sure thing Sensei." Kyler bowed off the mat with his buddies, "See ya tomorrow."

They all bowed out of the dojo when they put their shoes and socks back on, and chattered when they left.

"That was a lotta fun." David admitted, "Wanna come back tomorrow?"

"Sure." Kyler said, "My dad always said I should've done Tae Kwon Do or Wing Chun if I wanted to start a martial art but I guess Karate'll work for him."

Brucks nodded too and the group agreed that they liked Cobra Kai. Then they got their repaired bicycles from the shop and rode off from Reseda down the street.

"Hey you guys wanna go to my place for a soda or something?" David offered.

Brucks hooted, "Yeah! Let's go!"

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Author's Note:

Super sorry for the extremely short intro, this will be a complete AU of Season 1 of Cobra Kai. I do not own the idea of Robby becoming a Cobra, that goes to spiderduck he came up with it first. The rest will unfold from this set point in time, Johnny opened Cobra Kai three years earlier from canon, and you'll just have to wait and see to catch the rest!

Have a lovely day and peace out!