Chapter Five: The Champ of Champs

Johnny had his blindfold pulled off of him.

He stood up in the back of the car and looked around.

Daniel LaRusso and a man Johnny didn't recognize were standing in front of him.

"Hey Johnny. Welcome."

"Welcome to what!? The hell is this, you tried to kidnap me LaRusso?" Johnny was on the verge of getting ready to fight.

"No." the man said. "We have kidnapped you for a bachelor party!"

"Who the hell is he?" asked Johnny.

"This is Chozen, Chozen Toguchi. The closest thing Mr. Miyagi left to living blood on Earth."

Chozen chuckled, gripping Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel-san is being too modest. He, is Mr. Miyagi's family."

"You couldn't have just sent me a text or something?" groaned Johnny.

"It's more fun this way." Daniel shrugged.

Johnny was confused. "So wait, where are we?"

"In an alleyway," Daniel said. "Near the bar we're going to drink at. I figured since this is the last night West Valley's old Ace Degenerate is a free man. We might as well celebrate it the way he would. Crazy as hell."

"Ha ha!" declared Chozen. "Then let us begin shall we!?"

Chozen sipped his Long Island Iced tea. "So to understand. Miyagi-Do survived, but was then defeated?"

"The son of the person I'm marrying." Johnny sipped his fourth Coors Banquet as if it was a soda. "Fucked us all over. Kid's still in highschool, makes Dan here from back in the day look like an angel by comparison."

"Watch it." Daniel nodded.

"So you were defeated by a child?"

"No. The child's Senseis." Johnny explained. "Two ancient pieces of shit." Johnny put his beer down on the bar and spoke. "Run a dojo called Cobra Kai, and Ali's son. So the woman I'm marrying's son. Helped them both."

"So you both lost?"

Daniel nodded. "Pretty much."

Chozen looked troubled for a moment, before he downed his glass and laughed loudly. "Bahahaahaaa! You were both beaten. By children!"

"Okay, he's practically an adult. This is no child." Daniel corrected quietly.

"Mm." Johnny shrugged. "We were his age when you and I met man."

"It doesn't matter, the point is-" Daniel squinted at his phone when he received a text. "Oh no."

Johnny and Chozen looked at each other before following Daniel outside.

"Louie, what's going on?" asked Daniel.

"What's going on is your ride's here! There's a better bar across town get in." Louie LaRusso was standing in front of a rented limousine clearly run by someone named 'Reggie'.

Daniel sighed. "Alright then. Johnny?"

"The more the merrier I guess." he shrugged.

Johnny muttered as Chozen was the first to get inside the limo. "You invited your cousin?"

"He invited himself Johnny, what do I look like?"

They drove around for about five minutes, and then the limousine pulled over and some strange young women in short and tight dresses entered the limos.

They all looked like they knew Louie and were very friendly with all the men inside the limo, a few were more than happy to invade Johnny's personal space.

Daniel looked uncomfortable within seconds. "Louie, who are these girls?" he asked in exhaustion, despite it sounding rather obvious to him.

"They won't bite don't worry." Louie guided one into his lap with a wink to his cousin. "Hey, it's all paid for. A favor was owed." Louie tapped a very irate Daniel's shoulder with a nod.

Daniel covered his face, fixing his wedding ring that matched Amanda LaRusso's.

Johnny smiled awkwardly to the girl next to him and Chozen was more than happy to return the friendliness the young women showed them.

"Banzaiiii!" Chozen cracked open a cold beer can that was handed to him and laughed with the woman next to him.

And the night of drinking, partying, and dancing began. To celebrate the last few nights in the world Johnny would ever have without being married.

Hawk, Doug Rickenberger, Mikey Miller, and Shawn Payne were all leaning on their bikes and chatting near a dark alley in Northern Hollywood.

"Took him long enough. Wonder who he brought with him." Shawn muttered, fixing the light blue leather of his Cobra Kai jacket.

Lucas took off his helmet. "Hey everyone, sorry I'm late. But I brought a surprise."

Robby Keene took off his helmet too, wearing Bobby Brown's original navy blue jacket.

"Take that off!" roared Hawk.

"Now man, look." Lucas started to speak but was interrupted quickly.

"He's not one of us anymore!" Hawk barked again. "I thought you were bringing Kenny or something!"

Robby said nothing as Lucas spoke. "I think he's loyal enough to be one of us. At least for tonight."

"He ran off with your ex and joined Miyagi-Do. You call that loyalty?" Hawk asked angrily.

"He kicked our asses at the country club. We had that fight won remember!?" Doug asked.

Lucas sighed, silence overtook the boys.

Shawn could barely meet Robby's eyes, neither could Mikey.

"This some bullshit bruh." Mikey tutted, Shawn barely nodded.

"Guys listen. You wanted me here, Robby has to stay."

Hawk nodded slowly. "Bobby Brown was an OG. You don't deserve to wear that jacket. Take it off!" Hawk now pointed right at Robby.

"Hawk calm down." Lucas said.

"Make me." Robby challenged.

Lucas raised his voice as Hawk and Robby instantly squared up. "Hey hey hey! Easy. You want to compete? Wanna throw hands? Do it the way tonight intended. On the road."

Hawk and Robby lowered their fists.

Hawk nodded. "Bet your traitor ass can't keep up with me."

"Yeah watch me."

"All of us rode while you rolled around with Charlotte at prom dude." Hawk put his helmet on and started his bike. Robby jumped on his bike as well to not let Hawk get a headstart.

It was clear Hawk would not let Robby get anywhere near him for this race.

OST: Running in the Night - FM 84

The night was supposed to be fun. Instead, it turned into a high speed competition.

Lucas, Mikey, Shawn, and Doug Rickenberger had to quietly trail awkwardly behind the roaring motorcycle race Robby and Hawk had.

They flew around the corners of the highway downhill from Los Angeles to its beaches.

Robby had no idea why he was chasing Hawk so hard. Hawk was the one who had something to prove, not him right?

Robby panted beneath his helmet, the last time he tackled the downhill for a race was against Lucas.

Hawk had no idea how Robby hadn't caught up yet. Sure Robby was out of practice, but after a few minutes both Robby and his tires should've warmed up enough and Robby should've easily outstripped Hawk.

Was he not trying? The arrogance!

Hawk was past his limits, and Lucas could tell judging the speed of both boys entering the corners.

He started to get nervous, but luckily for everyone Robby finally caught up on the exit of one of the right hand turns easily slipping past some slower traffic with delicate ease despite the danger.

Robby had won after several surprisingly struggle filled minutes.

Hawk was expecting Robby to cement Hawk's failure by leaving him in the dust but instead he hung back.

Hawk could've sworn Robby had nodded to him, his helmet dipped for sure.

Hawk didn't know how to react. Because eitherway, they reached the sand dunes Johnny Lawrence's friends used to ride on on their motorbikes in the 80s.

The Ride began.

For the rest of the night, all of them had casual races up and down the sand of the hill above the same beach Daniel had met both Johnny and Ali.

No one cared who won, all that mattered was chasing the other person.

The sand flying about, the bounce of the bikes.

When Lucas hit a perfect hill, he caught air for a moment.

The entire world seemed to sit still. Mikey wasn't chasing him anymore, the boys weren't cheering or recording the friendly race on the sand dune's downhill at all.

He was just flying. His dark hair and his headband seemed to float in the air in free fall for a split, blissful second.

Lucas recovered from the flight perfectly.

His bike engine roared, sand flew everywhere, and Mikey hooted, throwing a leather gloved fist into the night's sky. "Nice man!"

After many two hours of practice, they all posed for a picture on Hawk's phone.

Grinning at the camera with their helmets off, Lucas Schwarber, Mikey Miller, Robby Keene, Eli 'Hawk' Moskowitz, Shawn Payne, and Doug Rickenberger all stood on their motorcycles.

"This is going on the gram boys." Hawk smiled.

"Nah." Lucas shook his head. "This is the kind of stuff you show your grandkids. Just send it to me, I'll take care of it."

"That last run bro." Shawn clapped Rickenberger's hand and shoulder bumped him. "That was some sick speed. Great control."

"Straight up on fire Payne!" Doug replied.

Robby looked over at Hawk. "Guess you were alright."

Hawk nodded slowly. "So were you, Keene."

Lucas spoke up. "Last one to the campground has to set up the tents!" he said putting his helmet back on.

Even after hours of riding their bikes, no one protested.

Hawk chuckled, putting his helmet back on. "Heard your dad's getting hitched. Think he's having his bachelor party soon?"

Robby revved the engine to his bike. "If he is, it's probably is them sipping wine and smoking cigars around a fireplace. Old guys can't party anymore."

Hawk kept laughing with a nod, riding off with the others.

It turned out old men definitely knew how to party.

Johnny's last night of freedom was supposed to be a relatively tepid affair but turned wild in less than an hour.

Chozen was the first to indulge as the limo went on, and did so with great help from the strange women Louie had brought with him.

He danced with two at the same time, a hip on one hand, and a beer in the other.

Chozen knew how to dance oddly.

"Life of the party, back in Okinawa." Daniel nodded to Johnny, who was politely declining the offers one of the young women in the limo made.

"What about you handsome? Wanna party it up with us?"

Daniel smiled and spoke respectfully. "No thanks."

"Aw." she pouted. "You're no fun." the girl stood up and chose to dance with Louie instead, despite the fact that he already had a partner for the night.

Johnny and Daniel could speak underneath the blaring music of the party limo.

"So. You and Ali huh?"

"Yeah man. Can hardly believe it."

"Someone finally tied down the king of West Valley."

Johnny smiled. "I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"You put aside all the shit we had, to finally flip Kreese the bird. I know we've had our problems but, you'll always have my respect for that."

Daniel nodded with a dry smile. "We lost Johnny." he looked at him.

"I know. But we went down swinging."

"Oh. We're here!" Louie smiled and announced.

Inside the bar, Louie LaRusso spotted a familiar face.

"Anoush?"

Anoush looked nervous. "H-Hey Louie."

"Wassup man? I thought you were busy tonight."

"Well I was but actually-"

Louie saw another familiar face emerge from the bathroom.

"Ness?"

Vanessa popped her bubblegum. "Uh…" she trailed.

Louie looked between Vanessa and Anoush. "Ness I thought you were married."

"The divorce was settled months ago Louie keep up."

Louie nodded slowly to himself, looking over at Anoush. "Hold up. Are you bangin' my sister?"

"Look man-"

"And you didn't tell me?"

Johnny chuckled, watching the very loud, and then comically violent scene unfold. "LaRussos always know how to start some shit."

Chozen chuckled. "Back in Okinawa. Daniel-san real trouble maker."

"Tell me about it." Johnny sipped his beer, ignoring the eye the girls who followed Louie out of the limo were making at both him and Louie.

"You two were no angels either." said Daniel.

"Apparently Johnny win the battle." Chozen drunkenly put his hand on Johnny's shoulder and spoke. "You two fight over girl. Johnny win girl! Ha ha!"

Johnny shook his head. "That's not how it happened."

"Yeah Chozen, not how it happened."

"Then why did you two fight?"

Both Johnny and Daniel couldn't find the answer to that question.

Johnny shrugged. "Kids fight over all sorts of stuff. I bet both of my kids are up to some shit right now, some real trouble."

"Oh yeah." Daniel chuckled, sipping his beer with a nod.

Instead, Lucas had set up a small campground in Big Bear.

The drive normally would've been at least two hours all the way from the beaches near Los Angeles to that far north, but the Cobra Kais were faster than the vast majority of motorists on their bikes.

Instead of drinking or partying or picking fights, the boys merely sat down around a campfire, sipped sodas, and ate some food together as they talked calmly.

Hawk raised his soda can. "To the guy who still knows how to fuckin' Ride. Keene!"

"To Keene!" the camp echoed.

Lucas smiled, sipping his cola.

Hawk and the others talked, and Lucas sat on the log by the campfire as Robby. Everyone's motorcycles were parked nearby on the dirt.

"This all went rather nicely."

Robby nodded, finishing his food. "I wasn't expecting to have this much fun."

"Then why did you go?"

Robby shrugged. "Cause you asked."

Lucas smiled. "We're gonna be step brothers soon. Had to break the ice somehow, thankfully we already knew each other."

"Right." Robby opened a bag of chips.

One by one, Rickenberger and the other Cobra Kais turned in for the night, going to their sleeping bags within their tent.

"Hope to see you around the dojo sometime. At least you can get some work in, we use gloves and stuff now. Points are a bit different but the work's still the same." Hawk offered a fist to bump. "Feel me?"

"Yeah man." Robby bumped it. "I feel ya."

Hawk smiled, ruffling Robby's hair before Robby pushed the jean covered knee of Hawk's leg and he walked back to his tent.

Robby and Lucas sat in silence, looking at the campfire for almost ten minutes.

"It's odd to think you know. My mom and your dad never should've broken up in the first place." Lucas shrugged. "They ended up getting married anyway."

"If they did. None of this ever could've happened. You wouldn't exist. So would I."

Lucas nodded. "I think they'll be happy together though."

"Match made in heaven. Your genius, rich, doctor of a mom, marrying my dead beat, alcoholic, Uber driver who thinks Googling is some sort of thing you use to swim in a pool."

Lucas and Robby laughed quietly together.

"How did we let this happen? We were tight man. Before anyone else met and became friends, before any dojo existed. You and I were best buds."

Robby shrugged. "You tell me. I tried to tell you Kreese was bad news, you wouldn't listen."

"I tried to tell you not to listen just to your dad."

"I wanted to listen to you, Luke." Robby put a hand on his chest. "I swear. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to fight."

"If your dad had stayed. None of this shit would've happened," Lucas said.

Robby opened his mouth to speak and Lucas interrupted. "I get Diaz is a cool guy. I regret what happened, but, do you really feel your best friends are at Miyagi-Do?"

Robby raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Did you just say you regret what happened?"

Lucas couldn't respond for about an entire minute.

Cobra Kai OST: You're the Champ

"Since the day we met, I started doing things out of the worst kind of part of anyone imaginable."

Lucas thought of Moon. Tory, Charlotte, Yasmine.

His times making love to them, their skin, their bodies, all of it. And what it had cost him.

Moon and Yasmine were friends once more, but there was a piece of their trust that could never be recovered even after being best friends for nearly a decade.

The three times he was lifted into the air as a champion. And the world championship he had won just a few weeks prior.

Anthony LaRusso's head crashing into the water just a few days prior inches away from solid concrete woke Lucas up out of his daydream.

He shook his head, looking into the fire. "I wanted to be someone, anyone who'd be remembered. I wasn't being myself."

"Who were you trying to be?" wondered Robby.

Laughing on his motorcycle gripping Bobby's hand, a teenage Johnny Lawrence laughed. Tommy had told him to take a right, and check out what was happening on the beach decades prior.

"Your dad man. And I'm sick of it." Lucas shook his head again. "I'm sick of people telling me I'm this selfish ass. Because I know they're right now. I won a world goddamn championship and I'm still not proud of who I am. And if that's the case, I know winning more won't fix anything."

"Then what do you want to do? Who do you want to be?" asked Robby, the only light nearby being the campfire.

"I want to be the champ worth remembering. I want to be, Luke Schwarber for once. Start a dream no one did."

Robby shrugged. "Which is?"

"Make a team, see the world. Compete in tournaments anywhere and everywhere. Start a dojo people could be proud of, with just my friends, people I trust. People I'd like to be with."

"And what would you call it?"

Lucas' hand gripped Tommy's necklace, still in his pocket at all times.

"Team Lightning."

Robby chuckled. "Sounds dope."

"It'll never happen which is the worst part," Lucas said to Robby. Lucas sighed. "I fucked myself over. That'll never happen you know," he repeated.

Robby saw Lucas stare blankly into the campfire.

"Hey."

A hand was placed on his shoulder.

Lucas looked over, to see Robby smiling at him.

"You're a world champion. The champ of champs. You can do it, you can do anything." Robby nodded. "I promise."

"But. I messed up our friendship, and you're-"

Robby shook his head, grinning. "You messed up nothing. I might not ever be in Cobra Kai again, but I'll always be your friend."

"Did I let Tory get between us?"

Robby smiled, exhaling quietly as a scoff. "I've never seen you look at anyone the way you look at her. I liked her, sure. But we never had that."

"Why?"

"She looks at you the same way." Robby smiled.

Lucas sighed. "If winning was supposed to be this meaningless, I never would've let it get between us."

"I think it was meant to. We all learn dude." Robby nodded.

The two chuckled, Robby rubbed Lucas' shoulder, and then sipped his cola.

They watched the campfire dance and crackle in the contained pit together, and didn't share a word again.

A/N:

Hey guys. Gonna start resolving the Sekai Taikai stuff soon, get more into the characters and stuff how S5 generally handled them but with my own take. Thanks for walking through this epilogue of mine with me, more to come. Thanks for staying tuned!