Hello everyone! This is my first story on this website, and here is Different but Same! I'm a huge fan of this movie, and I wanted to write out a different take where Daniel had come in as a black belt student, and how it affects the events surrounding him. Check it out!
Chapter 1: "Making new friends and enemies"
The day had turned out great. He had met this girl Ali, who he was really interested in. They were hitting it off and then these guys in motorcycles came crashing the party. This one guy, who looked like he knew Al, I started having a pretty heated discussion with her. Daniel, not one to impose on something that didn't involve himself, chose to wait it out. That is until, this guy Johnny grabbed her radio and threw it so hard, it looked like he broke it.
Okay, this is going too far, thought Daniel, who finally decided to interfere as it looked like it was getting ugly, and no one else was stepping up to defuse the situation. He then walked up to the radio to pick it up .
"Don't touch it punk", said Johnny. At this point , he was livid. He just wanted to talk to Ali, for her to give him another chance, but she was not going to let him. And now some guy he's never met, who looks like is sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Daniel was just about to give the radio back to its rightful owner until he had snatched it up.
"You want it?", asked Johnny.
"Hey man, just calm down alright"? Replied Daniel in a placating tone. Johnny ignored the remark as he looked on at this stranger with a sneer. "You want this back"?
"Yeah just hand it ov-ugh!" Daniel had been cut off as Johnny unexpectedly pressed the radio onto his chest and shoved him to the ground.
Anger. Embarrassment. Payback. All these thoughts were swirling through Daniel's head. Here he was, trying to avoid a fight altogether, choosing to settle things with words, just like he was taught by his old sensei, Doi Makoto. But this guy was too hot-headed to reason with and he pushed it too far. Avoiding the instinct to run up and start wailing on Johnny, he remembered one of the first lessons his sensei had imparted onto him as he started to take deep breaths. The best fighter is never angry.
With his sensei's voice in his head, Daniel finally stood up. Taking one last calming breath, he closed his eyes to block out the crowd surrounding him as he finally centered himself.
While he wasn't sure what the hell the guy in front him was doing, Johnny didn't show any confusion. Finally opening his eyes, Daniel glared straight at Johnny, who met his stare with a cocky smirk, but inwardly was still wondering what this kid was going to do.
As all this was going on, the crowd was divided. Most of Johnny's friends were laughing at the stranger in front of them, except for Bobby, who didn't enjoy the feeling of a beatdown about to happen. He would always defend his friends to the end, but he didn't go out of his way to bully people. Freddie's crew were looking at Daniel with anticipation in their eyes, wondering if his talk about knowing karate can be backed up. Ali's friends were busy trying to hold her back, not wanting Ali to get hurt. She was getting worried that her new acquaintance would get badly hurt. While she never enjoyed her ex's violent antics one bit, she knows that he's Cobra Kai's champion.
Everyone's thoughts were interrupted and they soon began to look in disbelief as Daniel took up a fighting stance. His eyes never leaving Johnny and with his outstretched hand, he motioned for Johnny to bring it.
"Let's see what you got, prick".
"Hmph. No mercy man," replied Johnny as he got into his own stance.
The first chapter, done. I didn't want to start from the beginning of the movie, because this is really where things would start to deviate from canon. The next chapter is Daniel vs Johnny! Tell me what you think with your reviews.