Chapter Thirteen: Moon's Party
…
OST: Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
…
For the last two weeks of summer, Lucas Schwarber dedicated himself fully to karate.
He had two trophies, he was on the cover of two issues of Black Belt Magazine framed in the Lankershim Cobra Kai dojo, and was the top student of the number one karate dojo in the Valley.
John Kreese, every day in class demanded the best, and only the best from every single one of his students.
For them to fight the best, to be the best, in everything, everywhere, and always.
Lucas likewise, lived almost his entire life to excess. Every day.
He ate a very large extravagant breakfast a personal chef the Mills family had in the Mills Manor for generations since his mother Ali Mills lived in his home.
Lucas jogged with his golden retriever Donnie Junior around Encino Hills every morning at nine AM.
The dog panted under the late summer sun, running with him.
He smiled, jogging around his neighborhood of Encino every day. Always proudly wearing a Cobra Kai tracksuit.
When Lucas got home he worked out his arms, his legs, and then at midday for extra summer classes he left towards the Cobra Kai dojo.
The entire cul-de-sac near the Mills Manor could hear the rumble of Lucas' motorcycle even from inside his garage. The garage door rolled up and Lucas left his garage, leaving behind the word 'COBRA KAI NEVER DIES' painted in black proudly on the white garage wall behind him.
Miguel lived and trained very differently.
In a much poorer part of town in Reseda, he ate a humble breakfast his own grandmother Rosa cooked for him every morning.
He didn't jog, he didn't have a motorcycle half the block could hear him ride, Miguel was a member of a local gym in Reseda he went to each afternoon to exercise, and he only rode the bus or rode his bicycle around town everywhere to get around.
Miguel never wore a bright blue Cobra Kai tracksuit or tore up the night and day with a group of four other Cobra Kais on motorcycles.
All he did was not stand out, either on his bicycle or doing anything.
He trained to be centered. To be balanced. To have focus.
In Miyagi-Do every day, he led warm ups alongside Sam on a wooden platform in Mr. Miyagi's backyard.
Miguel threw round kicks, did blocks, and strikes. In the same way Mr. Miyagi and Daniel turned and faced each other to do kata, the class of Miyagi-Dos all turned around and spun their hands around in blocks and other defensive hand movements.
In the Cobra Kai dojo, Lucas Schwarber trained completely the opposite way.
John Kreese yelled in his face, the face of every Cobra Kai Karateka there to strike faster. Harder. With less mercy.
The black headband on Lucas' head flicked in the air with each reverse punch he threw warming up the class as if he was Johnny Lawrence's modern incarnate.
He spent hours on the beach playing volleyball against his friends in Cobra Kai, against Dieter, Edwin, Big Red, and Mitch.
Mikey set up a shot and Lucas jumped out of the sand, striking the volleyball so hard it flew downward and right into the sand as Mitch completely missed it.
Yelling loudly, Lucas clapped Mikey's hand and nodding victoriously to him.
Lucas went back to the roots of his training when he started training, he broke apart wooden pallets, did pushups on his knuckles on concrete. He threw kicks, punches, and every karate strike he knew against a punching bag repeatedly.
In Miyagi-Do one morning remembering how Lucas flexed his muscles over his two All Valley trophies and sparks flew everywhere at Valley Fest, Miguel remembered what Lucas had told him at the roller rink days prior.
"I got some work of my own to do too. When that rematch happens Diaz. Again. I'll be ready. Otherwise you know what might happen." Lucas then whispered with a grin. "No mercy." he winked to Sam and Miguel.
The bag hanging in the abandoned warehouse Lucas trained in jumped as Lucas hit it with a flying knee. He hit it so hard after Lucas launched off the air that the chains holding up the bag rang and the entire warehouse seemed to echo with the sound of the blow afterward.
Lucas as well was thinking of something Miguel had told him after shoving his face into the dirt of Coyote Creek.
"You left me no choice," Miguel said. "I guess defeat does exist for Cobra Kai."
As Miguel and Lucas wailed on the bag, going all out, they had perfect technique.
Between warm ups and drills and other obligations summer gave them when alone together, Sam and Miguel sparred flirtatiously as an excuse to kiss. And on his own time in private at her home, Lucas and Moon kissed.
They launched off their feet, landing strongly next to the bag and hitting their targets on the punching bag, one in Miyagi-Do, and another the Cobra Kais used to train on their own in an abandoned warehouse, they were throwing all of their energy behind it.
It was all focused, all of it clean, all of their strength, every bit of muscle strength was released at that one point as fast as they possibly could go. By twisting their bodies instantly and effectively into a single blow, a punch or kick, the bags jumped as if someone was hitting them with a baseball bat.
Miguel and Lucas were striking their respective punching bags with enough power to make the bag jump with each strike, they felt like they were on fire from how well they could strike, how fast, for how long. After months and months of training in both styles, and ultimately perfecting their karate, they were reaching their prime.
When they were done, Miguel and Lucas panted quietly, wiping the sweat off their face and muscles as if they were done beating their anger into each other's faces despite not being in the same room. And had no qualms about doing it for real soon.
…
Sam was talking to Moon in her bedroom for what seemed like the tenth time that summer.
"A party?"
Moon nodded. "School starts just in a few days. Next Thursday actually. You'll really enjoy it."
"I'm not. One for parties typically."
"This won't be that mess at the beach like last year. No motorcycles, no fist fights. It'll be everyone we know from school. Just to let everyone get back in touch before the semester starts."
Sam nodded. "It sounds like a good idea. I don't know what my parents will think."
"What are they doing tonight?"
"My mom mentioned they're going to. She wasn't specific, just dancing and getting dinner together apparently."
Moon smiled. "You'll be fine. They're just having a night to themselves. So have a night yourself. Bring Miguel. Better yet, bring all of your friends from karate. All of them."
"My entire dojo." Sam said blankly. "You do know the typically nerdiest sort of people at West Valley are everyone in my dojo right? They're not one for parties. As much as I am."
"This won't be like the party you'll be thinking of. I promise. You'll have a fun time. Just bring everyone."
Sam nodded slowly. "How was your summer so far?"
"It was. Good." Moon said quietly.
"Did you. Meet anyone interesting?"
Moon nodded slowly. "I took this summer mostly to focus solely on myself."
"No one tried to make a move on you. All summer?"
Moon said nothing, just shaking her head quietly.
"Moon we don't have to talk about guys. But whenever we do it seems like I'm the only person saying anything," said Sam. "And it's not like you have to tell me about guys. I know you're into girls too," said Sam awkwardly. "Just trying to share equally here." she sighed out.
"Girls and guys. Have not necessarily, dated me at all this summer." Moon said lightly. "And that's the truth."
"Oh. Then you just relaxed by yourself then?"
"Mostly," said Moon, still unable to look Sam in the eyes.
Sam cleared her throat checking the time on her phone. "If the party's in a few hours I need to pick something to wear."
"I wouldn't worry about that."
"It's just. I want Miguel to. Like what I wear. I want him to notice."
"Look." Moon smiled, now looking Sam in her eyes. "He doesn't have to. Miguel likes you for you Sam. You seem to really understand each other. Don't worry about it. Always be yourself, you have so far right?"
"I mean. Yeah."
"Then he will too." Moon said.
"Thanks. You seem to really get. People. I guess. How are you not really. Dating anyone right now?"
The question seemed to puzzle Moon for a moment.
"Lack of convenience I suppose. Lack of interest too." Moon admitted.
"Great. I'll see you in a few hours."
…
I knew tonight was technically the last night I'd ever have. Whatever this was with Moon going on. In fact, with the party going on, a few days ago might've been the last night we spent together.
The next step, if there even was one. Was no longer attached to this summer.
I sighed, knowing the party Moon invited me to personally the last time I was at her house two days ago was to parent trap both Miyagi-Do and my dojo.
Mostly because a part of me wanted Miguel and I to just. Put aside all of this before we put the pedal to the metal on the dojo conflict accelerating. But greatly because Moon asked politely and was honest about everyone 'needing to forget about this summer and start school as friends again.'
She knew my first instinct would be to refuse for multiple reasons. So she omitted the fact that Miyagi-Do would almost for sure be there.
Granted, Moon would offer the same courtesy when inviting Sam for sure not telling her Cobra Kai would go. But I just didn't know what to think yet. I didn't know at all.
Of what to do. Yasmine's plane landed in just a few days. School would start, and the absolute hurricane of insanity I knew the third and fourth seasons of a show which was fictional by this point despite literally being part of my life for two years by now would start.
Tory had barely said a word to me in class for the weeks since I rejected her outside of the roller rink.
I couldn't imagine how painful it must be to find someone you liked for months and then just. Be politely rejected romantically.
I didn't know yet if Moon or Yasmine were even people who I could see myself reliably dating or wanting to date in the next few months. Tory least of all.
All of it hinged on how tonight went on.
By this point I considered the actual Cobra Kai show to be more than fiction, it existed on a series of occurrences that simply didn't happen to me. The events that transpired in my lifetime as Lucas Schwarber were alien to those events only similar in a few places.
Robby Keene was not the reason for Daniel and Johnny's continued rivalry. Now, his decisions with Sensei Kreese were mostly at fault to restart Cobra Kai with him again were.
Miguel Diaz I knew to be largely the same person. But as much I respected him, we did hate each other. I wanted to put that aside in a way, and I'm sure he did. But we just couldn't. That escalating to violence was what worried me the most about the next few days.
Everyone else, from Anthony LaRusso to even someone as far away as Chozen Toguchi over in Okinawa would affected by this dojo conflict if it escalated as fast I knew it to be.
When I set out to become the very best karate fighter and competitive martial artist who ever lived, I told myself I wasn't doing it to start feuds. Or get people hurt. I just wanted to be a legend.
Now, staring at the folded up posters on my bedroom desk, serving as the daily reminders that I was the first two time champion of the All Valley in over thirty years, I considered the person I had become. What I wanted. Who I had grown into.
Above all, my goals had dramatically shifted but in a way remained the same.
And my relationship to Sensei John Kreese was the biggest reason why.
We had watched a man's life slip away before our very eyes together. Something he had probably done multiple times during the Vietnam War, and now as my Sensei of Cobra Kai watching Tommy pass away.
He had trusted me to be Cobra Kai's Sensei in the future. To carry on the legacy he had started. The same lessons, the same code, techniques, and honor of Cobra Kai karate.
Despite how flawed yet good I knew the people in Miyagi-Do, and Eagle-Fang, known to everyone now I knew were called Steel Eagle Karate under Johnny Lawrence, almost all of them were in fact my enemies by default.
I had watched them struggle, grow, and connect with each other. As friends, family members, and romantically too in another life.
Here though.
I didn't know them to be the same people.
The love and loyalty I shared to Cobra Kai karate. Was only appreciated by around sixteen people. The fifteen other Cobra Kais and Sensei Kreese.
The rest either would either spite me for that fact, insulted me for it, or worse, outright hated me. At best they just ignored me for being called 'King Karate' the next Johnny Lawrence but with dark brown hair, and an Instagram.
This wasn't me. I hated that they saw me like this.
It was how teenage Johnny Lawrence was seen by audiences across the country in the eighties when the film was released. It wasn't him.
He was flawed, and Daniel deserved his victory over him. But neither him nor Johnny were perfect.
I knew Miguel was flawed and like this too in a way, but Miguel only looked at me as if I was pure evil, it was in his eyes. He spoke to me as if I was evil. As if I loved evil, and because I had convinced John Kreese to return to karate in the first place and everyone knew it, that I was the reason for evil in the Valley.
As much as I wanted things to be different, that very fact made me livid.
Because I couldn't stick my hand out to him and say 'we're good' to him. I can't turn the other cheek to being slandered.
And the worst part was that I never directly bullied anyone in Miyagi-Do or outside of it.
Even Demetri who I threatened one single day because I was mad.
I never bullied Miguel, I never bullied or harassed him or anyone ever, and I was made the villain. I was made evil. Actually called and seen as evil by him.
They, Sam and primarily Miguel, hated me more than Hawk now, and he was the one who treated Miguel like actual hell this entire time.
This wasn't Miguel rightfully stating I had messed up by not stopping Hawk from bullying him, this was Miguel calling someone his age as actually malicious.
I couldn't forgive that.
I wasn't Miyagi-Do. I didn't care about forgiveness. I didn't care about anything when someone slandered me like that.
I knew my Sensei so well that I already knew what he'd say.
He'd tell me to rightfully show Diaz no mercy. Miguel has the right to defend what was his, but I had done rather tame stuff compared to what normally would've happened so far during the entire summer.
No one trashed Miyagi-Do. The fight at the mall wasn't so much a fight as it was Demetri getting punched once. No one stole Mr. Miyagi's medal of honor, that actually insulted me on a level no one ever had because I held Sensei Kreese's war medals from Vietnam in my own hands.
I sighed, leaning back on my bed.
I didn't want a dojo war. But at the same time. No one treated me or talked to me the way Miguel Diaz had. He had his reasons, but I was right.
Until he connected with Daniel LaRusso and Miyagi-Do on a father to son or family manner, he'd never defend his dojo like I have.
I decided to wear a simple black T shirt with a grey unbuttoned shirt over it, with some old jeans to Moon's party.
…
Cobra Kai and I pulled up to Moon's house in Big Red's car, people carpooled with Edwin too to save gas.
Everyone I recognized from school nodded to me and bumped fists with me on the steps up to her home. A house I knew very well by this point.
"The champ man. Wassup."
"Schwarrbeerr!"
"Wassssup Luuuuke!?"
I nodded and smiled back as Hawk spoke with me walking up. "Told you man. Everyone at West Valley knows you're the king."
Doug nodded. "Probably gets laid like mad. But it seems like you've been in a massive dry spell this whole summer Luke."
I shrugged. "Sure." I'd rather him think that than know the truth.
Piper muttered with the rest of Cobra Kai nodding to the music. "3005. Huh. Good taste." she said, quickly eyeing several people on our way up.
I liked that song too. Found it odd in one turn of events Piper would be coming to this party as Moon's girlfriend and now she was a Cobra Kai like I was.
I chuckled, I bet Tory was standing behind us all rolling her eyes. It was always funny to know how much Tory didn't like that Piper was very attracted to her.
We walked into her house and then I saw Moon talking to several of her guests at the party.
She looked absolutely stunning. Beautiful.
Moon was wearing a simple red dress showing off most of her legs, heels, and an amazing pair of gold headbands holding her gorgeous light brown hair back.
I wanted to kiss this girl in front of the whole damn party tell her how incredible she looked. But it would ruin the cover we'd held all summer so far.
Moon walked over to us. "You guys all made it on time. Not too early, not too late." she said.
"Cobra Kai always strikes first." Tory crossed her arms.
"Get a drink Nichols unwind please," I asked.
"You're not the boss of us," Tory mumbled walking past me towards the kitchen likely to get a drink anyway.
Shawn spoke after her. "Actually he kinda is. Sensei Kreese's assistant, our champion remember?"
Moon and I made eye contact for a quick second and I turned to Hawk. "I'll catch some beers with the squad outside. Wanna chat with Big Red and Mitch and stuff."
Hawk nodded. "For sure. Let's go chug a few, Payne, c'mon."
Shawn nodded too and the guys walked into Moon's backyard to start drinking.
I made light conversation with Mitch, Edwin, and Big Red sneaking glances at Moon every few minutes.
I don't know today of all days made me want to be with her more now that it looked like it was actually over after tonight. I wondered if she felt the same way.
Red and Edwin walked off to see if Moon had any food for this party while Mitch patted my shoulder and stood up off the couch. "Gonna try to find a bathroom."
I hesitated to tell him exactly where it was since I'd been going here all summer. Mitch would realize really quick how well accustomed to Moon's house I was by this point if I told him.
I had been here so many times that I could actually look at the same spot I had left my bicycle in Moon's backyard all summer.
Moon sat down next to me on the couch. "So glad all your karate friends could come."
"Cobra Kai knows how to have a good time," I muttered. "We'd never miss this."
I looked around the couch to see if anyone was listening. "You look absolutely. Just. Like. Stunning today."
Moon smiled. "You look good too. No leather jacket today. Still kept the headband."
"I never take it off, except a few days in the month I gotta clean it."
Moon whispered. "I know when you take it off," she said in a way anyone paying attention nearby would know was suggestive.
I looked quickly around the couch no one heard that. "You wanna try to say stuff like that? Get me thinking of that with-"
Moon was looking at me blankly.
I sighed. "I got it."
"It's special to you," Moon said. "That's okay. I just appreciate you wearing it today."
"Moon I." she blinked, looking at me. "About. This entire summer I just-"
"Hey. Relax. It's a party. All our friends are here. Don't worry about what happened, what might. Be yourself Lucas. It'll all be fine. Anything you do. You act like yourself, and it'll be fine."
I smiled, wanting to kiss her in thanks like always as we did for months, but I couldn't.
"Thank you." I said as Moon smiled and stood up off the couch to speak to other people in the party.
I noticed how many friends Moon seemed to have at school.
While I thought I was the most popular guy at school. I realized I had nothing compared to her.
I never knew anyone's name at school except those in the three dojos, Miyagi-Do, Cobra Kai, and Steel Eagle. Moon knew almost everyone she invited really well, she took her time to introduce herself to those she didn't.
She was so much better with people than I was. I was actually jealous of that.
Mitch groaned, sitting back down on the couch with me. "Found it."
"Didn't need to know that." I said.
"No I mean." Mitch passed me a beer. "Found this. About the bathroo-"
"Thanks." He could really be dumb sometimes, I took the beer Mitch handed me.
"Saw you talking to Moon."
I nodded, shifting where I sat on the couch next to Mitch. "So?"
"She's. Smoking."
"Yeah no shit," I muttered, uncapping the beer and drinking it.
Mitch smiled at me. "Dude. You get mad tail. How have you not like. Smashed everything in town already?"
I couldn't tell him the truth.
"Wasn't feeling it."
"Wasn't feeling it? You're a degenerate my dude. The top degenerate in town." Mitch chuckled and slapped my knee as I was wearing jeans. "Half these girls at this party pro'lly looked at you as you walked in. You're like. The top degenerate. Drinking, fighting, the bike races?" Mitch asked quietly.
"Ace degenerate almost." I said, knowing his headband and legacy in fact in a way.
"Hell yeah!" Mitch said. "You've only really dated Everston my dude. And that ended kinda. Badly."
"Charlotte and I were. She was-"
"Like a starter girlfriend."
I sighed. "Dude. How would you like being called a starter boyfriend?"
"Wouldn't mind it." Mitch said as we kept talking.
I began to drink with it as Hawk, Shawn, Rickenberger, and Mikey walked back into the house after a few minutes of talking with Mitch.
"You wanna get drunk with Ass Face but not us man?" Rick asked. "Duuuude. Not cool."
I sighed. "Can we just like all get drunk together?"
Now Hawk and the guys nodded. "That sounds dope. Not gonna lie."
Steel Eagle Karate arrived next.
Robby led Bert, Aisha, Charlotte, Dirk, Virgin, and several other dismissed recruits and team members of the Cobra Kai dojo who quit into the party.
"Freaking rejects." Hawk smiled, turning around to mutter in my ear on the couch.
Rick and Shawn laughed quietly at this as Robby rolled his eyes trying to lead the Eagles away from here.
"What losers man," Shawn said seeing Robby walk past. "Complete traitors."
Robby clearly heard this but pretended he didn't, as he walked into the backyard.
I checked my phone and drank beers with Rick, Mitch, Hawk, Shawn, and Mikey and then about three minutes later I saw Sam walking in with a smile that was almost instantly erased.
"You gotta kidding me." I audibly heard Miguel mutter to Sam, looking aside as all of Miyagi-Do walked in.
Big Red and Little Red, Mitch and Chris, Tory and Sam, everyone in Cobra Kai seemed to glare at one person in Miyagi-Do, a glare that was returned.
Moon walked out from the kitchen towards Sam. "Hey guys. We got food, drinks, everything. Glad you made it!"
"Moon. Why is Cobra Kai here?" Sam asked.
"School starts next week. I think this disagreement could be settled tonight. So we could all be friends like we were before the karate fights happened."
I smirked at Miguel and then Sam as well as Demetri.
Sam crossed her arms. "That's. Not gonna happen."
"It might. Give it a chance." Moon smiled to Sam with a nod.
Moon walked off and I saw Sam and Miguel stand there uncomfortably while I stood up off the couch to walk towards Demetri.
Hawk probably caught on to what I was doing and smacked my elbow slightly with a quiet chuckle.
"Hey Alexopolous," I said as Demetri looked a little nervous. "Glad you could make it too."
Demetri cleared his throat. "Thanks."
Miguel looked at me. "You trying to threaten him again?"
"No! No, no, none of that." I traded smiles with Big Red and Rickenberger. "Just wanted to see here. Oh. You brought Trivial pursuit!"
I took it from his hands, lifting the box to the party. "Anyone feel like playing!?" I asked loudly.
The entire party in Moon's living room seemed to laugh together.
I saw Miguel's hands ball into fists. "Leave 'im alone."
"Why? I'm just asking. Can we play or not?" I asked. "I just legitimately want to play." I really did.
Hawk smiled. "I'm down."
The rest of Cobra Kai was in on the joke too.
"Let's go, that sounds great." joked Edwin.
Shawn and Rickenberger both nodded. "Yeah man. Let's go," they said as they laughed quietly.
Sam politely moved her hands forward to take the box from me. "Hey." I said. "Just trying to break the ice."
"Think you already broke it then." Miguel put a hand over Sam's shoulder as I handed Sam the box of Trivial Pursuit and I chuckled to myself, watching Miyagi-Do walk off.
…
Sam was filling a red cup with beer with a keg in Moon's backyard as Hawk was standing behind her already holding a beer.
"What do you want?" Sam asked uncomfortably.
"Just to talk."
"About how much of an asshole you've been this summer?"
Hawk sighed. "Look I just. I wanted to clear the air between us. Maybe Moon's onto something."
"You guys ruined any chance for us to forget about this when you spray painted my car. And then jumped Demetri and Nate for no reason."
Hawk nodded slowly. "So. None of you ever set me off?"
"No. No one did Eli!" said Sam. "You still haven't apologized to Miguel for what happened at the beach!"
"That was over a year ago."
"I don't care. You've been jealous, angry, and petty this whole time. And even after everyone's moved on, you're using this dojo rivalry stuff as an excuse. An excuse to just be terrible."
Hawk glanced at Sam up and down. "So you went out with Miguel."
"Maybe."
"You. Became the girlfriend. Of the guy dedicated most to bringing down Cobra Kai." Hawk said.
"We're not trying to bring down anything." insisted Sam. "I still don't get what your issue is."
Hawk scoffed. "I got what yours is. You shut me out the second I joined Cobra Kai." Sam looked away and Hawk continued. "We were going out for weeks. Everything was fine. All of a sudden. No discussion. Not even a text. You just ghosted me one day. The same way Robby, Aisha, and Charlotte ghosted the rest of us after the tournament."
"Eli. John Kreese is. Pure evil."
"No one. Is pure evil. Not even your dad."
Sam laughed. "Especially not my dad. Look what he's turning you into. What Kreese is doing to you is just, wrong."
"So I choose to wear a mohawk. And you know. Not be a pussy. And I'm like, bad now."
"Eli I left you because I trusted that my dad knew best about Kreese," Sam said simply. "It was never an attack on you."
"So it wasn't personal." Hawk finished his beer and threw it aside into a nearby trash can.
Sam frowned. "Yeah."
"Okay, well what I'm about to tell you is personal. Here's something that would really piss Diaz off. The fact that you didn't like him first."
"So what? Miguel knows we went out. He knew it when we met."
Hawk chuckled. "I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about Luke."
Sam shifted where she stood as Hawk continued. "I saw the way you looked at him the summer before freshman year. You were into him. And unlike me, he wanted nothing to do with you. Nothing at all. That would be painful for him. To come in second place to Lucas. An entire year before you two even met."
Sam looked away and Hawk laughed again. "He must start getting tired of it. Losing to Cobra Kai, coming in second. Always. Always the runner up. Always. Even a year before Cobra Kai existed. It's ancient history at this point, finding out you liked Luke when, I think all of us met. But it would really sting for Miguel."
Hawk smiled. "Thanks Sam. Without you. None of this was possible. Feel free to let him know."
Sam looked at Hawk quietly as he laughed again and walked off.
…
Lucas nodded quietly to the beat of the song Moon was playing for the party.
From Moon's backyard, he saw Edwin embarrassing Nate and Miyagi-Do with how much better he was at dancing.
He watched Sam begin to walk up to him.
"Let me guess." muttered Lucas. "I'm in for a lecture."
"You, and your friends. Are turning into like. Really bad people."
Lucas shrugged. "We're no worse than Steel Eagle."
"No. They're certainly better." Sam said. "They don't jump people just cause. And they don't spray paint cars."
"Is that why Hawk has you in a bad mood right now? How would Miguel feel. About you talking to plenty of guys at this party except your boyfriend?"
Sam shrugged. "You jealous?"
"Oh of course," Lucas said sarcastically. "That's why I specifically find it embarrassing to fight for girls and put karate in the middle. I will never lose to Miguel in anything, ever. But you had absolutely nothing to do with it, it was always about my title and you know that."
"That's funny because you already did lose to Miguel."
Lucas smiled. "Okay princess." he said as if he knew how much Sam hated being called that. "You want me to prove real fast how little of a chance Miguel ever had against Cobra Kai?"
"Almost beat you for it all at the All Valley a few months back. And beat you at Coyote Creek until he lost to a cheap shot."
"Maybe. Maybe things have changed a bit."
Lucas walked inside Moon's house and called out. "Red!"
Big Red turned and Lucas beckoned him outside. "Set up some drinks."
Sam looked at Lucas in confusion. "What are you doing?"
"Ending that stupid dance off Miyagi-Do was losing," Lucas said knowing how Miguel was watching it. "And starting an actually fun competition."
…
Tory and Rickenberger had one of the fastest drink off matches.
Doug lost his footing in seconds, standing on one leg on a chair in Moon's backyard in moments.
"Okay. Diaz! Let's go." Lucas called out, waving him over as the party cheered quietly and hooted.
"Oohhh." Mitch smiled. "Let's go!" he nodded to Edwin and Dieter.
Lucas and Miguel quickly stood on one foot each on the wooden stool in Moon's backyard.
"This is stupid you know that right?" asked Miguel as Big Red started to prepare drinks for them.
Lucas smiled at Demetri and then Miguel. "If you'd rather play Trivial Pursuit. Be my guest."
Cobra Kai almost keeled over in laughter, even those in Steel Eagle cracked a smile as Demetri seemed to frown in embarrassment.
Big Red offered a drink of beer in a red cup and Lucas was insulted. "Get that outta my face. A double. Jagerbombs, small glasses. Now."
The party was impressed and cheered louder and Miguel was looking infuriated.
Sam muttered to him. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I can know I can beat him."
"But this is dumb, you said it yourself-"
"Rahh!" Lucas had downed the double Jagerbomb Big Red had handed to him, "Let's gooooo!" he said shaking his head so quickly Johnny Lawrence's old headband flicked around in the air wrapped behind his head.
The party cheered and quickly Miguel was handed one.
He winced after downing it, managing to stay on his feet.
Three rounds of Jagershots later and Lucas and Miguel were still standing.
"You didn't skip leg day." Lucas nodded approvingly before drinking the shots Big Red passed to him again. "But. I learned balance first dude. No one beats the first Miyagi-Do."
"Shame you're not an actual Miyagi-Do," Miguel said drinking the shots Big Red handed to him. Miguel hissed quietly and shook his head, passing the glass back to Big Red.
The party kept cheering and then, Hawk yelled loudly above the crowd. "You can't keep it up Diaz!"
Miguel was distracted by this and soon completely lost his footing and fell off the stool.
"Told you!" shouted Hawk.
Even though he didn't need to anymore, Lucas sipped his Jagershot victoriously. He jumped off the stool and yelled loudly. "Yeaaaaahh!" he roared at the top of his lungs high fiving Hawk with both hands. "That's right, let's gooo!"
He bumped chests with Doug Rickenberger as Miguel gasped quietly in pain on the ground, rubbing his ribs as he stood up.
Sam helped Miguel up. "You alright?"
"I drank like four of those things. I barely felt that." Miguel smiled.
Lucas' black headband flicked in the air from how fast he turned around to Miguel. "That's right!" he repeated.
"We got it!" Miguel said standing up. "Whatever man."
Miguel shook his head walking inside. "Asshole."
Lucas was grinning widely, Cobra Kai ecstatic while Lucas stopped smiling the moment Miyagi-Do walked away.
…
Seeing Miguel pretty drunk made Sam a little upset.
She helped him up the stairs of Moon's house and let him sit at the top of them. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"No. I'm, I'm sorry."
"And Demetri actually thought Trivial Pursuit was a good idea. Or any sort of game with these people was a good idea. I can't stand Cobra Kai either, I get why you did that."
Miguel smiled, looking up at Sam. "I would've done the same for you." he slurred out slowly.
Sam felt a bit bad seeing him like this but understood. "Thank you. I'm gonna see if some food or something can help you. Maybe a glass of water."
Miguel rubbed his forehead. "Anything but more Jagerbombs. Please."
…
Chuckling, Hawk put his empty beer can down as Lucas sat across from him. "I think I did it boys." he smiled. "I outdrank. The ace degenerate."
Cobra Kai and several other guests of Moon's party cheered for Hawk, patting him strongly on the shoulder.
"You didn't chair, drink contest. Fuckin'..." Lucas groaned quietly. "Diaz. He was less of a lightweight than I thought."
"I need to," Lucas muttered. "Sober up for a second."
He collapsed on Moon's couch with a wince.
Robby didn't realize Lucas was sitting next to him.
"You look like hell," Robby said.
Lucas smiled. "You try upholding your dad's old title man. Everyone everywhere wants a piece of you when you're the toughest person in school."
"You made all of that up." Robby said. "No one cares about that anymore."
Lucas leaned back, closing his eyes and drinking some water and eating some nachos on the table. "Is that why you're here. To show Cobra Kai how little you care by now?"
"Lucas we never." Robby sighed. "The bike race. This whole rivarly with Miyagi-Do. It's just not worth it. The moment people started getting hurt. It wasn't worth it at all. Besides, everyone loses when you fight for the sake of it. Especially the person who supposedly wins."
"Defeat," Lucas said. "Does not exist."
"I know my opinion probably means nothing to you at this point." Robby looked towards Lucas and he listened. "But I really do miss being best friends with you. My dad says someone always wins in a fight. But I still think you lose if you fight just because. Again, I miss us being friends man."
"Yeah right."
"I'm honest. Things are not the same for me at Steel Eagle. Sensei Bobby retired for good. You're gone. I can only really bond with girls, or freaking Bert or Dirk. Don't tell me you don't miss me either."
Lucas rubbed his tongue between his teeth and his mouth and spoke bitterly. "I don't."
"I miss the Ride. I miss the bikes, and the jacket, how fast we'd hit the downhill, and the highway. But I miss being with you guys most of all. The fact that you're willing to lie to me about that proves I'm right. That Kreese is getting in your head. He's twisting you."
"I met him before I met you." Lucas turned to Robby. "I've known him for well over two years. He's not perfect, no more than your dad and Daniel LaRusso. But he's a far better teacher than both of them."
"I don't know what you two have shared. Because I know that the same loyalty you have for him is what I have with my dad. And Sam has with hers. But Kreese is just. Wrong. He just teaches the wrong things."
Lucas smirked. "You'd never side with him. When it's convenient to you. Just to spite your dad if he neglected you? Or chose someone else?"
"Never. Not just because he's my dad. But because he teaches the right way."
Lucas scoffed, having sobered up after sitting down, drinking some water, and eating for a few minutes.
Without a word to Robby, Lucas left his spot on the couch sitting next to him.
…
What utter bullshit.
I know Robby was not the same person. Not by a longshot. But he never acknowledges or thanks me for the fact that without me there would never be Steel Eagle Karate.
Johnny Lawrence might as well have been a handyman all this time without me.
They didn't owe it all to me, but I knew for a fact that in a different turn of events. Robby Keene would be Sensei Kreese's student.
I began to walk up the stairs and I popped a mint gum into my mouth for a bit. I knew my breath smelled very strongly of both beer and Jager. After it did its job, I threw it away in a trash can I found in a bathroom.
I chewed it as I walked past Miguel and Sam speaking to each other quietly in a corner of the house upstairs, they didn't see me luckily.
With my breath properly not smelling like several beers and multiple Jagershots, I eventually found what, or who I was looking for.
Moon was talking to a few of her friends in her room and I quietly chatted to a few people I recognized from West Valley's Chess team. I didn't know them exactly I just had them in a few of my classes.
When a few began to leave and there were only a couple left I quickly walked past Moon and lightly brushed my hand on her shoulder.
Since she was talking to someone she seemed like she didn't notice for a moment until she glanced over at me for a moment.
I glanced at her and looked over at the closet across the hall from her room diagonally, hoping she'd get the message I wanted to talk privately to her.
I then left her room and then looked around the hallway outside.
Sam was helping Miguel down the stairs, I was actually a bit surprised to see Miguel not trying to shove his tongue down Sam's throat right now but then again, he was still respectful enough as I knew him to be to not try anything when as drunk as he was.
Everyone else in the hall was either talking to someone, making out, or leaving the hall as well.
No one saw me at all quietly enter the closet at the end of the hall.
Luckily no one was inside already trying to make out so I sat there alone for about two minutes before it opened.
Moon stepped inside and spoke. "Hey Luke."
I smiled. "Can we talk?"
"Could've talked in anywhere but this cramped closet."
I chuckled, speaking as quietly as she did. "I needed to tell you this as privately as possible. I don't know how I feel about not being able to tell anyone about us now. But least of all. Not being able to talk to each other about it."
"You can always talk to me about anything Lu."
I smiled. "I kind of started this so we could forget it ever happened in a few days."
Moon frowned, but nodded. "So?"
"So I don't want you to take this as goodbye. I want you to take this as a thank you. That I don't know what I'm going to do next. But I want. I want you to just know that um, I want you to remember tonight at least."
Moon glanced at the door of the closet for a moment and merely nodded. It was impressive how well she could understand me using the simplest and least amount of words possible.
I held the hostess of this party as close to me as I could and kissed her. I kissed as passionately as I ever could.
With the right amount of tongue from both of us, we began to make out furiously.
I listened to Moon inhale rapidly through her nose and then pant quietly when I lifted her and placed her on the wall of the jacket and shoe closet, kissing her all over.
She began to whisper my name in my ear again. "Lucas," she said, which was the general term I had begun to accept meant I was doing exactly what she wanted. "Lucas!" she whispered in my ear again as I kissed her neck tightly.
I held Moon tightly, she kissed me very deeply and then I helped the red dress Moon wore as she hosted this party slip off her.
We kissed, we rolled around for a bit in this closet, and then as passionately as we ever did before, we had sex.
I kissed her on the mouth, we pressed our tongues together for a bit in the kiss, and then I ran my mouth along her shoulder, her neck. And Moon still kept her heels on while she tied her legs around my waist similar to how she leapt upon me the night I had my bike race.
I thought it was stupid because I thought it was something really dumb and trashy romance novels or movies had happen but I lost myself in the beauty of Moon's eyes, her body. In all of her.
She tangled her fingers into my hair and gripped me by the back of my head, both of us gasping as quietly as we could together as we continued.
Luckily the closet door wasn't one where it had little lines that you could see or hear through better, it was just solid making this all easier and then withstand the horrifically embarrassing possibility of getting caught.
Despite months of doing this, it topped the first time. It topped all of them. Maybe because there were people in the hallway outside who were very unlikely to catch us as I locked the closet from the inside by moving a cardboard box connected to several others and the wall aside to hold it in place.
If before it was utterly mindblowing where I completely lost myself with being intimate with her, I didn't know what this was then. It was far better than before for some reason.
I must've lost track of time because the last I remember the sun was going down when we started making out and now when it was all over it was well into nighttime.
I was sweatier and more satisfied than I ever remembered being with her, sitting on a cardboard box in this closet behind me as Moon laid on my chest with a smirk.
"Well Lu. I think I have to return to this party before people figure out where I went," she whispered.
I nodded. "Okay." I managed to say.
She pecked me on the lips tightly enough to quickly put her tongue in my mouth again, then she stood up and turned around, drew them up her legs, and put her blue lace panties back on with a light snap giving me a view of her fantastic ass and then put her bra and red dress back on.
Moon fixed her two gold headbands and hair and smiled at me. "Remember. Whether you want to talk about this, or anything ever again. Or even if you never do. I'm fine with it. Never forget that."
There was no one I knew like Moon who would be this cool with everything that happened so far. This understanding, this accepting.
Her smile was different than several of her other ones now. I didn't understand what that meant, but she moved the cardboard box holding the door in place to lock it from the hallway with her foot and then stepped outside.
I waited a few minutes to leave too and then I left the closet where Moon and I had made love.
That was a bit pointless since absolutely no one was in the hallway at all now.
Great luck for me and Moon, I think there were people gone in the hallway by the time we had actually started too to make this a bit less odd. But where was everyone?
…
Before I walked to find where everyone in the entire party was, I walked past Moon's pool.
Surprisingly, Miguel and Sam were there next to it, I saw them kissing for a moment and then Miguel was resting his head on Sam's shoulder. They were just cuddling together alone despite a few other people making out and talking nearby in a chair together.
It was actually a bit heartwarming to see Sam be there for Miguel when he was upset over probably and basically this whole summer and pretty drunk over all the Jager. Then I remembered how much I had begun to truly hate both of them and it was over in seconds.
And I turned to the small platform in Moon's backyard where Demetri had mustered the courage after surprisingly having drunk beer to call me out.
I walked towards him as Demetri spoke. "The man of the hour. Give it up for Lucas Schwarber everyone!"
Everyone awkwardly and confusedly applauded for me.
"Isn't he great?" asked Demetri gripping the mic. "Acts all tough. All the motorbikes and trophies. Pretends he's all that. All macho. But guess what guys. He was just like me."
I merely crossed my arms and stayed calm while Hawk instantly spoke. "I'm not taking this shit."
"Remember man." I said. "Fight smart." I muttered as Shawn, Mikey, and Doug all nodded.
Hawk calmed down and then Demetri continued. "He made fun of me today for playing Trivial Pursuit. But guess what? He was into that game!"
I smiled and Demetri kept talking. "And he wasn't just into that game. He was into Warhammer Forty Thousand. Star Wars. Even Dungeons and Dragons, and Dungeon Lord! He has an entire room at his house dedicated just to Legos and Warhammer miniatures. We spent hours the summer before last just painting miniatures, having Warhammer duels, and coding and building Legos together."
The party seemed to laugh a little and I laughed as well with them. "No one said I couldn't be nerdy Demetri. Just that I know the place for it."
Demetri kept speaking on the platform. "Does being a bully have a place anywhere? All of you in Cobra Kai act like we're the scum of the earth. For being Miyagi-Dos. And nerds. But guess what, at least we admit it!"
Abe seemed to nod with Frank and Little Red, and Chris looked my way.
"We don't act like we're anything that we're not! Lucas played Magic the Gathering with Eli, better known as Hawk, every Wednesday after school. We had Game of Thrones watch parties together! Lucas even helped us play Dungeons and Dragons!"
I smiled. "Yeah that happened." I looked around the smiling and lightly chuckling party. "And yeah. It's far nerdier than what I get up to nowadays. But Cobra Kai never changed that. It just let me evolve."
"Evolve into a giant asshole," Demetri said.
Mia threw her beer into a trash can nearby so loudly that Demetri almost jumped followed quickly by Big Red. The rest of Cobra Kai looked like we wanted to fight, I made all of them back down.
"Hold it," I said as all of Cobra Kai stood still.
I walked towards the platform ignoring Chris trying to stop me and then I stepped next to Demetri.
Instantly, I took the mic from Demetri's hands and spoke.
"Do you all want to hear the truth?" I asked the party.
A few people muttered in agreement and Chris spoke. "No!"
"Let him finish," Hawk muttered as he and Rickenberger stopped Chris from stepping onto the platform.
"Guys!" said Moon loudly.
"No it's fine," I said, looking out over the party. "I just want to talk. You all deserve the truth. Eli and I used to be nerds. No shame in that." I heard Hawk sigh loudly as a few people chuckled quietly. "And guess what. So was Robby, he wasn't ever fully a nerd, but he tried."
Robby Keene looked at me and then quickly looked aside.
"Dieter was a nerd too. Same with Edwin. There's no reason to be ashamed of being a nerd. Demetri. Do you want to know why we don't like you? Why you don't like us? Because, your karate. Is just weak."
The party began to mutter amongst each other and I saw Hawk smile now.
"Your karate. Teaches you how to get hit. How to stand there, waiting for everything to happen to you." I said. "If that doesn't create weakness. I don't know what does." Demetri opened his mouth and then I spoke over. "You know what? There have probably been rumors of it, but I'll put them to rest. I was a Miyagi-Do. Before Miguel Diaz, before anyone, even before Sam LaRusso in a way, she technically quit for about a decade anyway."
Everyone began to keep murmuring and then listened.
Admittedly Miyagi-Do was effective in building good counterattacks, that's how I scored almost every point but three in my first All Valley tournament. But it didn't teach you anything else at all for fights, and you needed that for karate or otherwise in any fighting.
"I learned the kata. I learned the zen. And after, I realized one very important thing." I smiled at Demetri and the Miyagi-Dos. "It can't teach you anything more than defense. It can't you how to strike. How to attack. How to be aggressive at all. In life. Nothing is handed to you."
"You have to earn, to take what you need in life." Someone who hadn't really said a word to me since I rejected her, Tory, nodded to me in respect as I spoke. "You have to take things sometimes, by being on offense to earn them too. After all. We never call people evil just because they're different."
"So yeah. I liked Magic the Gathering, Legos, all that. But that'll never take away how much of a Cobra Kai I am. How much I know about the way of the fist. You. Nor anyone. Will ever take that away from me. And you won't be able to take it away from Hawk, or any of us."
I threw the mic to Demetri and nodded. "Good luck trying to."
I turned around and left the platform and Demetri spoke into the mic again.
"He and his friends spray painted Sam's car. They broke Nate's nose and his bicycle!" Demetri said as Nate nodded.
"That's right they did!" he said.
"They're aggressive, violent, and psychotic bullies. Everything he just said they're quote on quote taking! Is just bullying, it's that simple!" said Demetri. "Call it what you like. Bullying or harassment or whatever! But they hit people and break their stuff! Again, it's that simple!"
"It's not. I just said that." I muttered walking back towards him.
Chris pushed me back. "Say it again!"
Hawk shoved Chris back very hard. "Try me. I dare you." Hawk said coldly his eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows.
Surprisingly to both myself and the Miyagi-Dos, Robby spoke up and took their side, now getting ready to shove Hawk back with a nod to Chris. "Back up."
"Back me up! Come on." challenged Hawk, yelling loudly.
Moon spoke. "Please. Stop it!"
I nodded. "Yeah I'm with her."
Everyone, surprised, looked towards me. "We can see these people at school anyway. They're wrong but. A fight won't prove anything."
Partially because the only person here who could give me a fight is Robby, and I think Hawk could take him at this point with how skilled he was getting.
"Cause they'd lose," Hawk said turning around and leaving with me and the other Cobra Kais.
"Keep talking that bullshit on your way out of the door," said Bert as the other Steel Eagles weirdly sided quickly with Miyagi-Do.
"Dumbass," muttered Mitch.
"Asswipes," Robby said as Charlotte laughed.
"Traitors." said Tory before we left.
…
I walked towards my house after parking my motorcycle in the driveway.
Johnny Lawrence stepped towards me on the steps made out of bricks towards my front door. "We need to talk."
"Not creepy at all you hanging out right outside my house."
"Please, your mom and I used to go out for ages. Your grandparents and I go way back."
"So?"
Johnny sighed. "We still need to talk."
"I don't think so."
"Luke this whole summer is exactly what I'm talking about. You're going down the wrong path."
"Am I?" I scoffed. "Again, you're acting like we vandalized Miyagi-Do itself. I wasn't even in town the night Sam and Nate were attacked. I had nothing to do with Demetri either!"
"Kreese brainwashes people. He-"
"You don't know him. You, what? Knew him for four years as a teenager like thirty years ago? Then you ditched him the moment you didn't like the way Xander Stone was rightfully treated-"
"Rightfully treated? Accidents happen on the mat. I get that. But you were a step away from just trying to break that kid's ribs. That has John Kreese written all over it. Same with all the shit that went down with Miyagi-Do. Stop trying to relive my mistakes kid."
"I wear this headband 'cause my mom gave it to you. It's only right."
"She'd tell you what I'm saying now. Stay away from John Kreese. Or your life will end up in the shitter."
"Because yours did?"
Johnny frowned. "Because it always does."
"You ended up pretty alright. You reconnected with Robby and now you're a full time Sensei. Bobby Brown and Jimmy both have successful lives and families. Only Dutch it sounds walked away unchanged from Cobra Kai, and it seemed like he was always crazy anyway."
Johnny sighed. "This isn't how your teenage years are supposed to go. Bullying nerds for the sake of it. Yeah it's fun kid, it's all fun and games. Until the minute someone gets hurt."
"Why do you care what Nate. Nate! From Miyagi-Do thinks."
"I'm responsible for all of you-"
"You are not! My Sensei." I said. "You were for a time."
Johnny walked towards me across the bricks on the front patio of the Mills Manor. "When I met you, you were the nicest kid in the world. A bit strange maybe, but you knew what was right. You got Robby away from those shitbags he called friends and made sure I could take care of him."
He kept speaking. "I didn't make you what you are," he said in a very familiar way. "But neither did Kreese! Daniel LaRusso did!" he said raising his voice.
"That must be pretty humbling for you to admit."
He ignored this. "LaRusso was the one who helped you. Taught you his karate. He took you into his dealership, basically gave you an internship just cause. And you repaid him by siding with goddamn Kreese!"
"You forget. I sought Kreese first. Same way you did."
"Because I didn't know who he was Lucas!" Johnny said loudly. "And neither do you."
"LaRusso said the same thing."
"Then he's right." said Johnny simply. "Now look. I had a few of my reasons for what I did. But I almost killed LaRusso twice when we were kids. I threw him down a cliff and then beat him pretty badly on Halloween. But saying No Mercy over and over doesn't justify any of that."
"We're not like you."
"You are!" he said. "LaRusso saw your blonde friend. Nichols? Kicking kids when they were already down saying No Mercy. And you think that's okay?"
He went on. "Spray painting cars? Breaking bikes, noses? Just to. To send a message to someone? To threaten someone? I'm no fan of LaRusso's, you know that. But that is taking it way too far."
"If someone threatened your son. How mad would you be?"
Johnny stayed quiet.
"Pretty mad."
"Right. Well. John Kreese is like a father to me. I know how much that must hurt you. But you will never be my father. Or! My Sensei. It's not on you. It's not on anyone."
Johnny sighed. "How much longer before someone gets really hurt huh?"
"Why now? Why ask me this now?"
"Because enough is enough. Ali's son should not be training with Kreese. No one should be. The shit he fills your head with and has you do. All of it is wrong."
"You really think Cobra Kai is a mistake then right?"
"Yes."
I sighed. "I became a two time champ based on my own efforts as well as Sensei Kreese's. No one can take that away from me. So stop trying."
"I want what's best for you here Luke. Truly I do. You have to trust that."
"I trust your intentions," I said. "I know you mean well. But you look at Sensei Kreese the same way people have for decades. A crazy old man from the wrong war. Taking his anger out on everything. What he taught us is supposed to shape us. I'm grateful for it."
"If that's who you truly want to be. Despite the truth coming out-"
"What truth!?" I asked. "You're acting like he's still trying to choke me out in a parking lot or something."
"Because you won for him Lucas!"
Johnny sighed quietly.
"Because you became All Valley champ, twice, just like I did at your age. That helps him. Gives the dojo a better name. Gives him more students, more respect. Watch how fast he'll turn his back on you when you're no longer useful to him."
He had a point. Sensei only appeared to Johnny in the show when he'd already brought the Cobra Kai dojo back to champion status, to what it used to be.
But he was there for me when I wasn't a champion. When all I had was a few hundred dollars in cash and an idea. Granted, Sensei had no other real career options. But he still trusted me, he still trained me.
"Was I useful to him when we met? All I was, was a fourteen year old soccer champ and writer. Nothing else. He came back to Cobra Kai after he could very well argue it had ruined his life. Made him known as the town lunatic and outcast for decades. He trusted me."
"He doesn't love you like a father Luke. I know him. He'll make you feel that way. But there's no love in him. There's nothing there."
"I wish I could say there wasn't. But there is. I've seen it."
I've seen him pour one out and sing Earth Angel to Betsy's memory. I've seen him say goodbye to Tommy. I've seen him trust me with the entire future of Cobra Kai after he passes away.
No one. Has ever trusted me on that level. Has ever shared that much with me, grandfather or father figure to me, that was family. That was family for life. That was Cobra Kai for life.
"Seen what?"
"Things you basically couldn't believe. All you saw was a Sensei. All you saw was an Army captain in a karate GI. For years. You saw nothing else. Because I trusted him more than just being his student. I saw how much he cared. How much he believed in me, in you, in everything. Sensei Kreese said goodbye to Tommy-"
"I still don't get that."
"He wanted the last thing he ever looked to be my mother. A woman you loved too once, right?"
Johnny frowned in silence again.
"I don't look that much like her. But he wanted the memory of her to be the last thing he ever thought of."
Johnny managed to speak. "Why?"
"Because he loved her at one point. He'd tell you the same thing I'm telling you right now. You can't let life slip by you. Cobra Kai. Is about grabbing life by the steering wheel and taking control of it for once. And I don't just want a watered down version of properly being on offense, otherwise I'd be in your dojo. I always go all in, the same way both you and Sensei Kreese taught me."
"Go all in on being a better person Lucas." said Johnny. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
I sighed and Johnny walked off to his car nearby.
I was sure he was wrong.
Sensei Kreese had never, and will never let me down.
…
…
…
Author's Note:
Whoo boy. Next chapter.
So there's actually a decent chunk of the fanfic still left before book 2 is over. Two entire more chapters of this length around that.
I can already tell that almost everyone reading and or reviewing the fic, Jack, Golden Black Dragon, Alvarez Diego and others are thinking the next chapter will be the most tense.
Yes. All of you have seen the show, and everyone knows what happens when everyone in Cobra Kai goes back to school.
No spoilers, if it will happen or not. But I won't say anything.
What I will say is the the running romantic plotlines between Yasmine, Moon, Tory and Lucas will be resolved soon. And no Jack, as hot as hell as it would be for Luke to wake up one morning and he's slept with two of the hottest girls in the show again, he will never a harem or a mini harem of two girls.
Realistically I can't see any of these three girls, or even Charlotte, agreeing to share a guy with another person. These are teenage girls living in southern California, not like, waifus from an anime or a fanfic or who knows what.
Yes this story's a fanfic, but it's a fanfic based on a show as grounded in realism as Cobra Kai is. If this was a fanfic of a fanfic then maybe, but Cobra Kai is a dramedy of very grounded stories in LA. The only remotely supernatural or odd aspects to the Cobra Kai series are the abilities of Mr. Miyagi, even then, it's mostly just 80s movie hand waving anyway, it's fine. It basically all could've existed in a very real possible turn of events in LA in the 80s and now.
On that note, more than anything I wanted to ask you all moving forward if my biggest intention has come across properly.
Season 2 of Cobra Kai is the weakest admittedly. It's still good, but I did not like Robby and Sam together and Miguel and Tory. Not because I thought the pairings were bad, the writing just wasn't there. The couples only existed to fabricate tension to lead up to the school fight, none of it felt natural.
When now into canon Season 2 of the show I asked myself on where to improve it the most, and the teen romance and rivalries were number one. The show really faltered on making them believable, on the three main rivalries between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, only one felt engaging, and even then it was made unbelievable by its resolution.
Demetri and Hawk, ruined by how absolutely absurd it was that Demetri could ever knock Hawk so hard with a kick he struck him into a trophy case (what!?).
The rest were just odd, Chris and Mitch were brand new characters and added little more than comic relief.
So I'm just wondering if I'd managed to improve that aspect, because the rest of the drama wasn't that fun. She dates my ex, she kissed my boyfriend, my dad chose him over me for karate, he dates my ex girlfriend, he cheap shotted me at a tournament. Just stuff in highschool that would get you a few glares or rumors in the hallways is now a full blown karate riot through a hallway with like a dozen people fighting at once.
I'm hoping above all I've grounded it in realism soon.
Other than that I liked Season 2 a lot, so I'm really wondering if that aspect has been improved.
So, next two chaps, maybe three depending on word count will be the last of this book. Because Yasmine will be included and it will be the first few weeks of the cast's junior year at West Valley High, it kind of strays into Season 3 canonically. And by the end of the book the romantic plotlines with Lucas will be resolved.
Thank you all for reading and supporting, I'll see you all next time.