Chapter 1: Try Your Best to Win Them All
He hated to admit how much the blow to the back of the head really disorientated him. His head was both spinning and throbbing and it took all his will power to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and actually make his way to where his sensei was standing without planting pathetically on his face. Again.
Death before dishonour.
That was the Cobra Kai way.
Wasn't it?
All of a sudden he couldn't remember. All he could focus on was what was right in front of his eyes and the sound of his teammates calling him names. He deserved that, it was no doubt. To let a twerp like LaRusso get the drop on him like that was just disgraceful. He deserved the ridicule and the tongue lashing that came his way.
His head hurt more than his face and he could see the smudge of red on his fingertips when he swiped it under his nose.
His sensei's fingers were hard and calloused and rough when they wiped away the rest of the blood. His eyes were cold and steely and never had Johnny felt like a disappointment than he did at that moment.
"Sweep the leg," he said and for a moment, Johnny couldn't understand what his sensei was saying or what he meant. He was desperately trying to focus on his face and his lips moving because his ears were ringing something terrible and he couldn't concentrate on the man's words. "Do you have a problem with that?"
In that moment Johnny knew that he truly had lost his sensei's trust. The trust that he'd painstakingly built and the respect he fought so desperately for… gone.
In that moment he was no longer his sensei's best student, he was just another disappointment among many disappointments.
He had nothing to lose.
"No mercy," his sensei said, his eyes steely and his voice cold.
No mercy, Johnny repeated inside his head.
That was the Cobra Kai way.
His head was spinning and his eyes couldn't concentrate anything that wasn't in his immediate line of sight. He moved on instinct alone, his sensei's voice echoing like a resonating chant inside his mind.
No mercy. No mercy. No mercy.
Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy.
That was the Cobra Kai way.
He had nothing more to lose, not the trust of his sensei or the respect of his teammates.
He could feel the heat of Dutch's glare on the back of his head and it only reminded him that this was his last shot; his only shot. There were no second chances in Cobra Kai. You could only be a winner, runner up was a joke. Anything other than a win was a humiliating loss. It didn't matter if you lost by one point or by twenty. Whether you lost to the best in the tournament or an annoying worm like LaRusso. A loss was a loss and this was his last shot to make everything right again.
His nose was throbbing and his head was spinning; his eye could see double of everything and the last thing he needed was two of LaRusso. One was enough trouble as it was.
He needed to win. He needed this win and he was going to get it no matter what.
Fair play and integrity – those weren't philosophies Cobra Kai taught, and up until that match, watching LaRusso take hit after devastating hit and keep going; keep persevering and getting back up against all odds; the tenacity he showed – that was the first time Johnny actually questioned whether everything he'd been taught was right. And to have Kreese even ask that of him, such a gutless move in front over every fighter he looked up to and respected, it showed that his sensei didn't trust his ability at all. Maybe he never did.
Johnny hated to admit it, but it hurt. More than any kick ever would.
But he did it and he could only watch as LaRusso dragged himself back up to his feet again. That was the moment that it truly really sunk in for Johnny.
He was going to lose.
The elbow to the back of the knee really was just his last ditch effort. When it failed; when LaRusso got back up again, that was the moment he felt an eerie sense of acceptance washing over him like a frothing tide lapping at the shore – like the beach he used to go with Ali. He couldn't help but remember when Ali used to say his name with fondness instead of scathing hatred. When the things she said didn't always come out so cold. He missed those times but he had only himself to blame for letting her slip out of his grasp.
Right into LaRusso's awaiting arms.
He had only himself to blame.
For Ali, for sensei, for his mom being stuck in a loveless marriage with an unkind, emotionally abusive man. That was all on him. It was his fault.
He deserved the loss just like he deserved to lose Ali, just like his sensei deserved a better student and his mom deserved a better son; one who wasn't such a pathetic loser.
That was it. It was truly the end. He was spent, not so much his physical energy but everything else.
He was going to lose and despite the reality of the situation closing in on him while he had his back to an immovable wall, on the inside, he was at peace with it.
He was going to lose, but that was okay because that was what he deserved. That was all he deserved.
His head was throbbing, his eyes were dipping in and out of focus and whatever blurry thing he could even see was spinning wildly in his sight.
He didn't even see the kick coming straight at his face.
The velocity of the kick coupled with the fact that he was rushing headlong into it snapped his head back. He could feel the impact and the sound was almost like a hypnotizing whoosh which was a strange thing to notice but it was the only thing he could focus on in the moment before the surreal feeling of disembodiment and then just darkness.
He was out cold before he even hit the mat.
The moment the kick landed. The moment Johnny Lawrence dropped to the ground; a thick, stunned silence seized the entire arena.
No one could believe what they were seeing; that the skinny kid from nowhere had toppled the titans of the All Valley tournament, the feared Cobra Kais. He'd defeated all the veteran members one by one against everyone's expectations and done what very few had ever managed to do: bring the two time champion Johnny Lawrence to his knees.
The explosion of sound that followed was deafening.
It was only the presence of the officials and the referees that prevented the crowd from engulfing the stage to offer their congratulations to the new champ. Only the members of LaRusso's corner and his mother were allowed access.
The feeling of euphoria was palpable and the excitement in the air was contagious from one person to the next.
However, as the crowd began noticing the referee kneeling over Johnny who was still on the ground, lying unmoving on his stomach; a hand on the small of his back, the noise and the chatter slowly began seeping away until the heavy silence reined once more. The final nail in the coffin was when the referee straightened up and with a frantic motion of his arm, called for the medics who were standing at the ready on the sidelines.
That was the second time Johnny hit the mat during the tournament, and only the fifth time in his entire competitive career.
But it was the first time he didn't get back up again.
Tbc.
