Eagle Fangs got a letter from the committee of the All Valley. Johnny was pacing as he read it. "This is the worst thing that could have happened to us. All these stupid points. You should win by taking it all. All this is idiotic. Skill combination, bullshit. Kata is not Karate, it is dancing. What's this girl division? I thought they were all about women's libs. They ought to man up and take a punch like the rest of us."
"Sensei, that means we have to find some female students." Miguel stops his rants.
"What are you talking about? I got my female champ, right there." He pointed at Lee. "Now that I'll be sending her in to fight girls, I can train her."
"We can find someone. I'm a scholar, not a fighter." She shook her head.
"If you can find me someone else then I'll think about it." Johnny agrees.
"I know this girl on the debate team." Bert raises his hand.
"Debate team? We need killers, not more nerds." Johnny throws the letter to the side. "Run some laps, maybe it'll jog your memory." They ran around the building.
Miguel stayed behind. "Sensei, I know things got heated at Miyagi-Do but now that the tournament has changed, we need Sam on the team. If you can talk to Mr. LaR…" He was starting to say.
"No, we are better off without him. Come on, Lee." He grabs her by the arm to pull her over to the punching bag. "A hundred punches."
"What?" She shrieked.
"Come on, you'll get to punch Tory and Sam in the face." He shoved her towards it. She throws a half-hearted punch. "You can do better than that. Imagine someone you hate."
"I don't have anyone I hate at the moment." She turned to him.
"Kreese." He reminds her of their mortal enemy.
"Oh right," She turned back and imagined the elderly man's face and swung the way Johnny taught her to.
"That's it, now 98 more." He pats her back.
Lee walks down the steps to the basement where she found Hawk sitting on the couch. When he noticed her, he pulled on his hood. "Stop it." She pulled it back down to run her hand through his short hair. He got it even out so it didn't look choppy anymore. "It's nice that I can touch it now." She kissed his forehead.
"Don't kiss me like my grandma." He gave her a hard kiss on the lips when he pulled back he noticed the tiredness in her eye and the bruises along her arms. "What the hell happened to you?"
"They change the All Valley. There is a skills competition and a girl bracket. The dojo that wins is the one with the most points. So, Johnny decides that I'm his champ. I am so sore." She laid out on the couch. "He was so mean to me."
"Oh, you're not used to Johnny telling you, you're bad at something." Eli laughed. Johnny treated her like the perfect child.
"I punch like a newborn baby. Yeah after 80 punches anyone would." Her arm felt like noodles. "When are you coming back? I want you to kick Bert for me. He hit me today." Johnny made him spar her.
"I don't know. I don't even know when I'm going back to school." He looked at the TV that was playing Doctor Who.
"You can't stay here forever. I need a prom date." She pushed his leg with her foot.
"If you're going to put her feet on me, take off your shoes." He took them off for her.
"Massage them." She begs while wiggling her feet on his lap.
"Fine." He smiled while he did what she asked. It didn't matter how bad things got, she made him feel like everything was fine even if it was just for a moment.
Miguel and Lee were on the field. The girl's sports teams were practicing. "We have to find someone. I can not do this. Johnny woke me up at 4 am to train before school. Miguel, I don't go to bed until around 1 in the morning." She looks around the field.
"So, do you have any ideas on who to pick?" He asked.
"I'm going to start with the soccer team. They like to kick." She walks over to them. "Hi, I'm…"
"We know who you are." A redhead glares at her.
"And you hate me because?" She froze from being under the heated stare.
"Maybe because you stole Eli from me." The girl spats.
Lee looked at Miguel confused. He took a second to think. "Oh, you're crazy Angie." He remembers Eli talking about a girl on the soccer team who was hated Lee's lips being tattooed on him. He ends up breaking up with her because of it.
"Is that what he is calling me?" She shrieked.
"I'm so confused." Lee huffed.
"She was one of the girls that Hawk dated when you guys were broken up. She did not take kindly to the lipstick stain tattoo." He whispered.
"Oh, so do any of you want to join a karate club? You can take your aggression out there because soccer doesn't seem to be doing it for you." She looked at the girl's face that was matching her hair.
"I would rather die." She screamed.
"Let's go." Miguel dragged her away.
"Why did Hawk or Mitch hit on all these girls? They think karate is full of creepy perves." She hangs her head as she walks off the field.
"With practice, you'll be great, Lee." He pats her back. "It's scary now, but by All Valley, Sensei will have you ready."
"Hey Miguel, Lee." Moon walks over to them.
"Moon, do any of your cheerleading friends want to join karate? Learn how to defend yourself." She looked at the girl next to Moon.
"Oh yeah, that would be cool… But do I have to hit other people? I want to learn to defend myself. I don't want to cause harm to others for no reason." Lee sighed, realizing this as one of Moon's hippie friends.
"Is a trophy a good enough reason?" Miguel tries.
"No, sorry." She walks away.
"Maybe you can try my ex," Moon told them.
"That's why we're here. Lee won't do it." He explains.
"No, my other ex." She giggled. "She's the best athlete in school and she's not afraid to get into a fight." She realized that she might have a type.
"Do you think she is still mad at me?" Lee wonders.
"I'm not sure. Maybe… she can hold a grudge." She grimaces.
"I'll take Johnny with me." Miguel nodded that it was no problem.
"Then maybe I should give you some pointers." Moon offers.
"Please." They put their hands together to bow.
Lee leads Demetri down into Ei's basement. He turns it into his man cave. "Where the hell have you been?" He yelled at his friend. He was sitting on the couch with his laptop. He was wearing a hat and a hoodie.
"I didn't give you that key for you to abuse it, Lee." He looks at his girlfriend who sat down next to him.
"You don't get to be grumpy with me. I'm grumpy with you. Did you date a girl on every sports team? The soccer girl was a bitch." She crosses her arms.
"Oh Angela, yeah I may have let your name slip while we were fooling around." He nods.
"Every girl hated me because you wouldn't commit to them or their friend." She thought the Lacrosse girl was going to swing that stick at her.
"Not every girl." He did have a new girl every other week, but that was only for a few months.
"A few was because Mitch was being a total creep by staring at them for a long time before giving them a vulgar pickup line and mentioning that he was in a dojo." She was going to ask Johnny if she could kick him.
"We have more important matters than what Eli did while you were broken up?" Demetri couldn't believe that they were ignoring him to have a pity argument.
"Excuse me, what he did was important because I can't find a girl for Eagle Fang now. Johnny wants me to be his female champ. I'm not Wonder Woman. I am Lois Lane." She pointed at her chest.
"That's why I need Eli to come back to Miyagi Do. I can't defeat Robby Keene or Miguel. The latter beat me in a spare in less than thirty seconds. I'm not batman. I'm more like Alfred. He, You are Batman." He pointed at Eli. When he got no reaction he threw his hands in the air. "Oh right, I forgot you're not a DC guy. Whatever, forget Batman. You're the Hawk."
"Not anymore." He took off his hat and hoodie.
Lee grips his chin to make him look in her direction. "The Hawk is more than a haircut. He's an attitude. Your alter-personality when you step on the mat. Robby didn't take shit from you."
"Everyone knows what happened, I can't go out there." He tears up. Lee let them fall knowing the tears needed to be shed. She wasn't going to wipe them away like he wasn't allowed to feel sorrow for the humiliation they put him through.
"Who cares what they think? Besides, it'll grow back." Demetri thought the short haircut was a better look.
"It doesn't matter. I ruined my reputation, I talked a big game, and just proved that I'm an asshole to Miguel, Johnny, and especially you two." He looks at the people he hurt the most. "I got what I deserved."
"Okay, so you got what you deserve then that means the slate was wiped clean. You can move on from it." Lee hated seeing him scared to leave his house.
"We forgave you. Who cares if everyone else thinks you're an asshole? They are assholes. Look, it doesn't matter to me if you have a mohawk, mullet,... or pigtails. Miyagi-Do needs you." Demetri wanted his friend back at his side.
"I'm not going back to Miyagi-Do." Daniel didn't care that he got his head shaved.
"That's just great. You're choosing Eagle Fang over your best friend." Eli scoffs.
"Hey! Eagle Fang is where his girlfriend is." Lee pointed at herself.
"I'm not going back to Eagle Fang either!" Eli yelled before taking a deep breath to say. "I'm done with karate. I quit."
"You can't…" Demetri was going to yell but Lee cut him off.
"Leave him, Demetri. This is his decision." She glares. Demetri threw himself down on the couch next to them. Lee laid her head on Eli's shoulder. "Thank you for not getting rid of my tattoo." She rubbed the spot where it was.
"A few of them told you about threatening to cut it off." He wraps an arm around her while using his other to play Dungeon Lords.
"Yeah." She snuggled into him. One good thing that came out of today was she knew that he never gave up on her.
"You can't quit." Demetri wasn't ready to give up.
"I already told you I made up my mind." He didn't look up from his laptop.
"Hey, you're the one that got me into karate, remember." He got up to push Lee to the side so he could sit between them. "I was perfectly happy playing Dungeon Lords after school but you put me in the situation where I had to join a dojo. And you know what? It was the best thing I ever did." Eli looks up at him. With how much grumbling he did during practice he thought Demetri was doing it because he felt like he needed to. "I got stronger, gained confidence, got the girl of my dreams even if she ends up leaving me for some hot Aussie dude she meets there…. Hell, I'm excited about the All Valley tournament." He paused as he realized what came out of his mouth. "I never thought I would say that…. But, it's not gonna be as exciting if you're not there."
Eli looks at his laptop. "Okay, you're going to make me do this." Demetri pulls out his phone. "Excuse me." He shut the laptop to make him look at the phone that was showing the Binary Bro music video.
"You said you deleted these." Eli hates this video.
"I say a lot of things which tend to be a polarizing attribute of mine." He pushed play.
"I still can't believe you didn't come up with a better codename than zero." Lee watches from over Demetri's shoulder. He was on screen playing a toy piano as techno music played.
"It's one and zero." He pointed at Eli then himself.
"One or Zero, we'll be your hero. Binary Brothers. Binary Brothers." Demetri and Lee sang.
"Dude, why are you showing me this." He watched them dance around like idiots when a cat shooting lasers out of his eyes came on.
"Because this is who you are." He shakes his phone.
"A loser?" He didn't see how that would make him want to go back to karate.
"My best friend. I know you think that the mohawk defines who you are, but it didn't. Not to me. Not to Lee. Eli, Hawk, hell call yourself Cornelius for all I care. None of that changes that you are my Binary Brother. Whether you are number one or a zero." Demetra pats his shoulder.
"Baby, whether you quit or continue karate, whether it's Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang, or some other dojo, we are here for you." She got up to sit on the coffee table so she was in front of both of them.
"You would be fine with me going to another dojo." He knew he didn't want Eagle Fang. Johnny was too aggressive for him right now.
"That doesn't matter. I'm tired of karate being the most serious topic in the world." She smiled.
"I'll think about it." He told them.
"As long as more thinking is being done." Demetri pulled up Dungeon Lords on his phone. "Want a challenge?"
"Sure, join Lee." He went into multiplayer mode. She got out her phone to do so.
Lee was ready to cry when she walked into the Eagle Fangs building to see all males. "Alright, she is a little late, no big deal. Just a few minutes." Johnny was telling himself more than them.
"20 minutes." Mitch corrected. Johnny shut him a look making him hang his head.
"Miguel, I am blocked. DM her." She nodded to her friend.
He got out his phone to go to her Instagram. "Oh no." He whines.
"What?" Lee and Johnny went to see it.
He played a video of Piper opening a box of Cobra Kai merch. "Nothing but the best for the best. Can't wait to kick ass with Cobra Kai. See you on the mat, Lee." She smiles while ending the video.
"That annoying bitch." She punched the bag with all her might.
"Oh, that's good." Johnny went to encourage her rage. "She wants to hate you for no reason. We'll give her a reason."
"I think we should still try to find other options." Miguel brought up. He got a glare from Lee and Johnny. "Lee wants to compete, great but we need more people in general."
"Lee is a great option. Besides, we don't have Cobra Kai money so how can we get a champ." He didn't know why Miguel was pushing the issue to find someone. They need to keep Lee wanting to kick Piper's ass.
"I wasn't a champ when I started but you saw something in me and made me one. You just have to find more people like that." He was looking at the bigger picture of keeping Eagle Fang around forever.
"Fine, take us to the debate." Lee looked over at Bert.
"I am ready to take you anywhere." He jumped up from the crate he was sitting on.
"Tomorrow, today we train." He didn't want Lee to lose motivation.
They were sitting in the auditorium. "Capital punishment is a legal penalty of the US state of California. As of March 2019, further executions are halted by an official moratorium order by government officials."
"This is boring." Johnny leans over to groan. "How are we supposed to be able to tell who is going to be a good fighter? I notice the better people are with words, the shitty fighter they are."
"Bert got a good feeling about this girl, so what's the harm in talking to her? It's not like you have anything to do right now." Lee was getting into the debate and was irritated with him for talking over it.
"I have a life outside of you little shits." Johnny was offended. "I'm out of here." He went to get up when the girl on the podium snapped.
"My opponent is full of crap. His evidence is garbage. His argument makes no sense. And I was bored to death." She shot him a death glare that made him shrivel up. "Which is ironic considering we are debating the death penalty."
"You're not going to deduct points for lack of decorum?" Her opponent asked the judge.
"Screw decorum. Wanna know what I think of the death penalty?" She walks over to pick a thick book off his podium and rip it in two.
"My book?" He cried.
She threw it at his chest. "Choke on it…. I cede my time." She spoke into his mic.
"Sensei, that's the girl I told you about. She loves extracurriculars." He leaned over to tell him.
"Can it, Bert, I just found the most badass girl in the Valley." He smiles fondly.
"You told me that's what I was." She glares.
"No, you are the cutest princess in the valley." He stood up to go meet her backstage.
"You're everyone princess, Lee." Miguel got up to follow sensei so he didn't ruin this for them.
"No one can take that crown from you, Princess Lee." Bert bowed before going with them.
Lee got up and walked out of the auditorium. She didn't understand the gross feeling she got. Normally she beams with pride when she is referred to as the princess. But, she was feeling waves of disgust. They were tossing her aside to run after something more valuable.
She blinked her eyes to hold back the tears as she tried to swallow the rejection. "Are you crying? Are you scared of my challenge?" Piper smirks at the blonde.
Lee glares at her. At the moment it seems like it was all her fault. If it wasn't for her hating her for no reason. If it wasn't for her threat then she wouldn't have even been motivated to train. She wouldn't have spent the afternoon training, feeling like she was truly part of the group. She wouldn't have gotten pushed to the side for a new girl. She would still be blissfully unaware. She would be happy to take a video of the new girl, claiming her as the future champion. "Scared of your challenge, please. I laughed at it. I'm gonna kick your ass come All Valley." She bumped her shoulder with hers as she marched on.