Chapter Seven: Fear Never Existed
…
A/N: All OSTs are a must for this chapter, I just encourage it strongly.
…
A pair of teenagers were playing tennis in the courts of the Encino Oaks Country Club.
With loud pops of the ball, Yasmine was starting a volley with Lucas. They traded it back and forth, and eventually Yasmine scored, making Lucas utterly fail to return the ball in time.
He smiled, fixing his hat under the summer sun. "Not bad."
"Was Junior champ when I was younger. Shame your sport isn't tennis instead of karate." Yasmine grinned in return.
Lucas used an overhand serve, Yasmine popped it right back.
Lucas was trounced quickly. Yasmine was far quicker with a tennis ball, athleticism couldn't beat Yasmine's level of skill.
Sighing, Lucas rested his tennis racket against a nearby bench and used a towel he had brought to wipe the sweat off his face.
"Giving up already?"
Yasmine frowned, seeing that Lucas stayed silent.
"What's the matter?"
"I got somewhere to be today." Lucas raised a water bottle and drained it.
Yasmine sat down next to him. "You don't have a girlfriend and it's summer break. What could you have to do today that isn't karate training?"
"Plenty." Lucas began to stuff his towel, tennis racket, and water bottle into a backpack.
Yasmine shrugged. "Like?"
"Doesn't matter."
Frowning again, Yasmine looked at Lucas from fingertip to shoulder. "So are you going to that party in Reseda later tonight?"
"Yeah. It was Hawk's idea."
"Doesn't sound like you want to go."
"I got a tournament that's going to come smack dab right after finals."
"Is it that big one in Korea everyone's talking about?"
Lucas shook his head. "No, it's a national championship. Gotta coach Kenny and Hawk who are both competing."
"But that's like. Months away." Yasmine said.
Lucas shrugged, putting his backpack on. "I'll guess I'll see you at the party."
They exchanged slight smiles before Lucas left.
Tory had witnessed the scene while walking past through the chain link fence of the country club tennis courts.
…
"What are you doing here?" asked Samantha LaRusso.
Tory turned, as she stopped writing on a clipboard in the lobby.
Moon, Sam, and Yasmine had approached.
"Just filling out a job application." Tory said honestly.
Sam chuckled. "Think it'd be best if you found somewhere else to work."
"I think a few topless bars over on Sunset would fit you just fine. Maybe a Hooters." Yasmine shrugged.
Sam smirked as Tory gripped her pen, causing a scene in the lobby would be the greatest way to end a summer job right before it started.
"Some of us don't have everything handed to us, and you know, are spoiled rotten."
"Some of us aren't violent psychos who break into country clubs to start fights. Or trash cars and beat people up." Sam shrugged with crossed arms.
Moon spoke quietly. "Guys we should all just calm down."
"You know she's right girls," Yasmine said. "It's not right blaming our misfortune on others."
Tory watched Sam and Yasmine walk past and smirk as well as chortle. "Maybe she was just too much for Luke. After all, the guy's a guy. But not nuts, worked better with you didn't he Moon?" Yasmine placed her best friend under her arm, despite Moon being uncomfortable, the girls all walked away.
"You're not deranged after all."
Tory didn't notice she had snapped the pencil she was writing with until after Yasmine and Sam had walked off.
"Hey."
Tory turned around, surprised to see Aisha standing there.
"Hey."
"Saw what happened. Think I can relate."
"I thought Yasmine had changed."
Aisha shrugged, fixing a bag under her shoulder. "I mostly think that's what she wanted everyone to think. Sam's actually a nice person, she just. Has a lot of hate towards your dojo I guess."
"Ironic. Apparently, her dojo was supposed to be all zen and peace and love." Tory turned towards Aisha. "You're doing yoga?" she asked, seeing the mat poke out of Aisha's bag.
"Yeah, it's not my thing at all. But my mom insisted we do it together, bonding thing. Do you, do stuff like that with your mom?"
Tory frowned, shaking her head and speaking quietly. "No, not really."
Sandra Robinson stopped speaking with another woman exiting the yoga room, seeing Aisha and Tory apparently have a very respectful conversation together.
"Plus. I think karate really isn't my thing, yoga seems like a better idea anyway." Aisha shrugged. "Also wanted to get back into Physics or something."
"What? Drop karate? But you're." Tory stopped herself.
"What?"
Aisha saw Tory put her pencil down. "Nevermind."
"Say it."
Tory shook her head and sighed. "You're pretty goddamn good at karate. Your parents are really nice and super influential and stuff, makes me wonder why you'd ever need to take it up in the first place. What would you really have to fight for?"
Aisha looked at Tory.
"I didn't mean it like that-"
"Yasmine used to make fun of me. People would harass me online, make fun of my weight and all that. I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a fighter, to be badass despite what they all said. Sensei Lawrence isn't perfect, far from it. But when I got that trophy and was lifted into the air, I kind of kicked Yasmine's ass without needing to throw a punch. That's what his karate's all about."
Tory smiled. "Yeah. Glad I was there."
The girls laughed together.
"Can I, see you at the party tonight?"
"Of course. Miguel and I were friends since we met, we always wanted to throw a party together, it's gonna be lit. See ya then."
Aisha walked past and left the lobby with her mother.
Tory strangely had no hatred or anger in her face when watching Aisha and Sandra leave the lobby together.
…
Lucas walked towards Johnny's apartment and turned around.
No one was nearby.
"Hello?" he knocked on the door.
It was slightly ajar.
Lucas didn't feel right breaking into his step dad's house but felt a hand suddenly push him in.
"Hey!"
Lucas turned around to see Johnny Lawrence lock his own apartment door. From the outside?
Lucas rattled the doorknob. "Hey, what's going on!?"
Miguel Diaz walked out of one of the rooms in Johnny's house.
"Hey Sensei I was just- The hell are you doing here?"
"Apparently Johnny wanted to talk to me."
"So you broke into his house? Typical Cobra Kai behavior, you claim to turn over a new leaf yet act like a complete asshole."
Lucas felt his temper get the better of him. "Man fuck you."
They both heard an airhorn blare.
Johnny stood in the window speaking through the glass. "Alright listen up! Enough of your whining. It's time to grow up, and move on."
"Move on from what?" asked Lucas.
"From your petty bullshit! It dragged me and LaRusso and all of you into this mess, when it never should've happened. Shake hands and say you're both sorry, and then move on."
Miguel laughed. "I have nothing to be sorry over."
"And I've apologized more times than I can count." Lucas muttered.
"Seriously? Like, that's enough for me to forget about what happened?"
"Quit it!" Johnny yelled. "If you're not gonna stop whining like little bitches! At least settle up like men."
"Yeah we already tried that. I won, it's over." Lucas shrugged.
Johnny squinted with one eye in disgust at Lucas through the glass. "No not a tournament. With rules, and points. You gotta settle up like we used to back in the day, the way LaRusso and I should've done it. No rounds, no refs. Just you two fighting it out until someone wins."
"I'm not gonna fight him Sensei." Miguel shook his head and said simply.
"Yeah, no way." Lucas chuckled. "I learned my lesson last time. Street fights lead to nothing but trouble."
"Then fine. I guess you'll stay in there until you both figure it out."
Lucas turned to Miguel. "You want to help me figure out a way to break open this lock?"
"What? Are you scared?"
"Please. If anything, you should be the one scared of me."
"Because you don't have Hawk or the others to back you up? Because this isn't points? No man. For those reasons, you should be scared of me."
Lucas sighed. "You're mostly Miyagi-Do. A tournament would favor you bud."
"Oh yeah? It's a good thing Sensei Lawrence trained me just as much as Sensei LaRusso."
Lucas turned around. "I don't have time for this."
Miguel watched Lucas draw a hair pin out of the bathroom in Johnny's apartment and try to lock pick the turned around door knob Johnny installed.
"This is so typical of you."
Lucas ignored Miguel as he leaned back on the kitchen table and spoke.
"You go on and on about turning over a new leaf. About being a better person, how you weren't at fault for anything in this. But you turn down a rematch and then pretend like this whole issue isn't worth your time?"
Lucas frowned, putting the hair pin down and kneeling next to the door. "Dude. What would a fight solve?"
"Nothing! But it sure would prove you're not this all star champ everyone thinks you are!"
"So it would prove something."
Miguel tutted and Lucas threw the hairpin to the floor. "Okay first. I am a world champ. And secondly, you act like you were some sort of angel this whole time. You started this whole mess when you hit Hawk on Halloween."
"The guy was beating me up all the time, you would've done the same."
"I sure wouldn't have. I wouldn't have tried to act all tough in front of a guy clearly tougher than me. I wouldn't have acted like I'm some sort of monster. I'm sorry for all this shit, I truly am. But I've already explained myself man. You should do the same, a conflict is only engaged by both sides man."
"Dude you're proving me completely right." Miguel said as Lucas picked up the hairpin again and turned around. "You say you're not selfish and then you do this shit. You want to make peace, but you claim I have anything to explain myself for."
Lucas began to pick the lock.
"You don't even realize you're technically a worse bully than Hawk was. You enabled him, protected him, trained him. Won for him. Twice! Everyone sees you as this perfect Valley boy, the Ace Degenerate, King Cobra or some shit. But you're not!"
Lucas kept picking the lock and Miguel balled his fists. "You're just an arrogant, selfish fraud. A coward who doesn't admit his own mistakes at all! What have you ever lost huh!? While you and your friends shat all over me for almost two years straight by now!?"
Lucas thought quietly of Tory and what he had said to her for a moment.
Two sounds were emitted at the same time.
Lucas' shoe struck the ground hard, and the hairpin had clattered to the floor a second time.
He had hit Miguel cleanly across the face with a backfist.
"Shut the fuck up!" hissed Lucas, seething.
Miguel held his face and Johnny spoke up. "Yeah, there you go."
That woke both of them up for a moment.
Lucas and Miguel got into their stances.
They faked some jabs at each other, a front kick almost Lucas just above his belt buckle.
"Come on is all that you got ladies? Weren't you supposed to be the main rivals in all this shit!?" Johnny egged them on through the window.
Lucas and Miguel started to continue throwing some light strikes at each other, before a single combo drew blood from Miguel's lip.
Lucas slightly moved forward with his guard still up to not get closer to Miguel's jab, and he tapped Miguel's left shin with his foot.
The split second Miguel began to attack again, Lucas' left foot flew up and struck Miguel directly in the mouth.
…
OST: Dynasties and Dystopias - Denzel Curry
…
Miguel reeled back, rubbing the cut on his lip.
He heard Lucas chuckle.
"Come on Diaz, is that all you got?"
Except it wasn't Lucas, not the Lucas Miguel was currently fighting anyway.
This Lucas was different.
Miguel blinked and he could hear the crowd of the 50th All Valley Karate Tournament roar.
The Lucas standing across from him was wearing a black Cobra Kai GI and Johnny's old black headband. There were mats, flags, a ref, and a scoreboard. Lucas was a year younger.
Lucas was bouncing in his stance, staying on the balls of his bare feet.
The tips of his black headband were swaying, the King Cobra was ready for a street fight.
Miguel stood up taller, raised his fists, fixing his jaw. And he answered Lucas' question.
Lucas blocked a round kick to the chest easily, as he began to counter he was forced to dodge a jab narrowly.
Trying to counter into a back kick, he took an elbow to the chest and a headbutt to the chin.
Lucas staggered against Johnny's kitchen island.
He too had been rocked early in the fight.
Lucas threw a random empty pizza box right at Miguel off the kitchen counter next to him. He easily dodged but his vision was blocked for a moment. The second Miguel saw Lucas reappear he started to strike.
Oddly, Lucas' old fighting style showed through.
He kicked far less, punches were his bread and butter, mainly the jab and the reverse punch.
Miguel dodged a punch to his jaw, a punch to his chest and the second he dodged a fake front kick and started to counter he got caught with a punch right on his teeth.
Lucas spun Miguel's head back, finishing the combo with another punch to the chest that landed flush.
With two reverse punches landing right on his ribs and chin, Miguel wasn't dazed though.
He returned fire, soon sending Lucas sprawling over the couch.
He had blocked or dodged all of Miguel's shots but Miguel was successful in driving Lucas back and back until he tripped over the carpet and fell back.
Miguel jumped on Lucas the second he fell.
He buried multiple shots into Lucas' forearms.
As Lucas tried to grapple Miguel off of him, he took a pair of punches right around the eyes. One of them landed clean on his right eye.
Lucas squinted, grunting in frustration and spun with both legs after pinning Miguel's arm.
Miguel's face was shoved directly into the couch, and Lucas ate Miguel's elbow right on the nose.
Both boys were given enough time to face each other, panting.
"You finished?" Miguel rolled his arm backward, stretching it slightly.
"Yeah."
Miguel smirked, but it was wiped clean off his face when he ate another roundhouse kick directly on the jaw.
Miguel's head was rung like a bell, and Johnny could've sworn he saw all the sweat on Miguel's head and a tiny bit of blood fly out of his mouth from the power of the blow.
The world karate champ could've cracked Miguel's neck if he aimed a little lower with that blow and used his shin instead of his ankle and lower foot area.
"Oh shit," Johnny muttered, realizing his mistake and trying to jam the door open.
Miguel was pinned with an arm lock directly to the wall. "You cheating now?" he grunted slightly, his vision slowly coming back to normal.
"It's a street fight isn't it? There are no rules." Lucas muttered with his own blood on his teeth, throwing Miguel over Johnny's coffee table.
Miguel turned just in time to push Lucas away with his feet when he tried to strike.
Lucas punched the wood of Johnny's coffee table so hard his knuckles blew through it.
"Okay, that's enough!" Johnny roared as he entered his own apartment.
He was unfortunate in that Miguel and Lucas were completely unable to be pulled apart by him.
Johnny watched Miguel tackle Lucas through the open doorway and into the apartment complex area outside.
Lucas dodged Miguel's jab punch and elbowed him in the chest, throwing him aside.
Miguel turned around to watch Lucas pull a thick wooden splinter right out from between his knuckles.
With blood on it, Lucas tossed it on the ground in front of Miguel.
Miguel closed the distance, ignoring this, with a strong round kick.
Lucas roared at the top of his lungs, his whole upper body was rattled by the blow. He lowered his arm to block and the entirety of Miguel's upper body shook as well under the power of Lucas' reverse punch right in the stomach.
There was so much adrenaline running through Miguel's body that at this point a clean headshot knocking him out would be the only thing to put him down.
Despite the ferocity of the fight, at their core Lucas and Miguel were mostly just a pair of wild animals trying to rip each other apart but retaining their original fighting styles from the 50th All Valley Tournament.
Lucas punched mostly, dodging and countering whatever was returned to him. And Miguel above all enjoyed kicks with the odd punch combination here and there, still able to grapple and trade blows with Lucas no matter what he threw at him.
Johnny tried to rush forward and pull Miguel away but Johnny took a spinning heel kick to the jaw as Miguel spun.
Johnny was staggered, and was woozy long enough to allow Miguel and Lucas to fight up the stairs of the apartment complex.
His aim was to hit Lucas with it but both of them were hit, but it hit Lucas' forearm instead.
Lucas slipped a jab and a reverse punch combination, trapped Miguel arm beneath his and repeatedly punch Miguel in the jaw.
Miguel headbutted Lucas back twice and then swept his leg.
Lucas rolled away under the stomp kicks that were meant to be buried into his chest, but as he stood up, Lucas took a fully powered back kick and then a backfist right on the chin.
Lucas sprawled backward against the railing of the second floor of Johnny's apartment complex building, narrowly dodging a punch and a round kick.
Lucas panted, rolling his head under another round kick, trapping Miguel's fist by his hip for a moment when Miguel struck, and then he elbowed him directly in the chest and then kneed him in the liver as well.
…
Miguel found breathing impossible now.
Soon, he could stand or see, he was just hit that fast and that hard in the knees and the nose.
Johnny watched from below, and then he soon tried to run up the stairs as fast as he could.
What he saw, instantly brought back a memory of the lesson he could see Lucas almost repeat.
"A man confronts you, he is the enemy! And the enemy deserves no mercy what is the problem, Mr. Lawrence!?"
Lucas gripped the back of Miguel's head, practically tearing the curls of hair off.
Miguel gasped, helpless.
Lucas' hand raised, forming a knife hand, he clearly was aiming for Miguel's eyes.
Johnny considered running forward to tackle Lucas away from Miguel but he knew he would be too far from their part of the balcony to make a difference.
Panting, Lucas gulped, remembering the consequences of Robby's random, erratic, and merciless actions.
"Miguel!" Tory cried from Lucas' memories, of something that technically never happened.
Miguel saw the blurry multiple versions of Lucas' knife hand hovering over his eyes disappear.
Lucas tossed a kneeling and helpless Miguel aside, panting.
He rubbed the blood off his lip. "Happy now? It didn't solve shit."
Johnny was shocked. "Then why'd you do it?" he managed to ask.
"Because I was pretty sure he was going to attack me at some point. Then I was sure he might've tried to kill me or something, he bruised my eye."
Shocked, Johnny reached out to embrace his stepson, but Lucas slapped it away as he left.
Johnny tried to help Miguel up, but by the time he turned around, Miguel stumbled past him as fast as he could, and ran to his house, locking the door behind him.
…
Pops sighed.
I could've stitched myself up any day of the week but gramps had seen me trying to in the bathroom mirror. Said I was 'doing a hack job.'
"So sonny. Trouble on the street? Surprised anyone could hurt a karate champ like this." the patriarch of the Mills family said, cleaning the wounds on my chest.
I didn't wince at any of the antiseptic. Apparently, I had bruises down to my shins too.
"Forced into a fight. Well, the guy forced me into it, didn't know what he was talking about. And things escalated."
"Well, you're not one to start fights."
"He didn't know it but um. He insulted someone, someone I love. Or, loved."
"Loved? Or love?"
I was about to respond but Pops spoke up. "Look that way for me. Don't tilt your head, just your look, son."
I did so and Pops mumbled. "Hmm. I can't see any physical retinal damage externally. Let's do a quick test. Squeeze down on my hands, hard."
I did so.
"Now look at my nose, focus on the tip of it. Do you see repeated versions of it, like multiple mirrors giving the same image. Or can't see the tip of my nose at all?"
"No." I shook my head.
"Well." Pops finished the last few stitches on my chest and nodded, closing his med kit. "You have no damage to your retina."
"And what's the bad news?"
"There is none. This could've been very nasty Luke and you didn't so much as fracture a finger bone. Shame to think about what could've happened to the other guy I bet."
He sighed and shook his head, leaving me.
I decided to work out in my garage with the door open.
I saw Hawk pull up on his bike.
"What's good man?"
He was about to do a clap clap hug snap with me but saw my face. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"Diaz."
I saw the look on his face and sighed. "Forget about it."
"We should go over to Miyagi-Do and trash the whole place man. I'm talking like, leaving nothing sacred in there."
"No dude. Forget it."
"So I'm guessing you're not crashing Diaz's party now?"
"Fuck no." I scoffed, sipping some water.
"So everyone we know is gonna get drunk and have a good time together. And you're gonna stay in your garage eating beef jerky and working out?"
I shrugged. "Might play some X box too."
"Dude come on. Lighten up, come with us. It'll be fun."
I sighed. "I don't think Diaz wants to see me right now."
"Forget Diaz-"
"He's the one who's throwing the party man. Come on."
Hawk shrugged. "Just think about it, it'd be good for you to let loose. When was the last time you partied it out like this?"
"The night I won the fifty first All Valley. So like, five weeks ago."
"Just go anyway man."
"Have fun without me."
"Some hot chicks will be there."
"I already knew that when I declined the invitation. Plus we weren't invited."
Hawk smiled. "Bro. This is the only favor I'll ask of you all summer. Just go dude, please."
I really didn't want to.
"Am I the type of guy to say please when I ask for something?"
Hawk really wasn't.
He smiled when I smiled.
…
Cobra Kai OST: Take you Higher - Rhys Fletcher
…
Devon, Piper, and Sarah chatted with the other Cobra Kais as they walked towards Johnny's apartment complex.
"Holy shit, Luke Schwarber's here!" a girl choked on her beer.
"Who beat him up like that?"
Mitch, Big Red, Edwin, Dieter, Shawn, Mikey, Doug, walked with Lucas and Hawk as the Cobra Kais walked into the party.
"Who the hell invited them man?" asked Chris.
Miguel shook his head. "Invited themselves."
Robby chuckled. "Typical Cobra Kais."
Lucas waved to a few fans who waved and smiled at him as he walked past and then Hawk threw an arm over Lucas' shoulders.
"A few brewskies and some pussy man. This whole summer will seem like a bad dream I promise." he muttered into his ear.
Lucas squinted at Hawk. "The hell are you talking about? I look like shit."
"Dude. Take a look around, you're a rich, uber famous, piece of meat sitting out in the desert." He was right, girls everywhere around the party had their eyes on him when he entered. "Let the vultures peck you to pieces, you'll thank me for it."
Mitch spoke to a few girls from East Valley around a keg. "Hey. Cobra Kai got into the Sekai Taikai, y'all hear?"
"Uh. What, is that?" one of them asked.
"Assface," Hawk said. "Go get them a drink."
Mitch grumbled and walked off as Hawk put an arm around Lucas' shoulders again. "Have you ladies ever been introduced to the Luke Schwarber in person?"
"No. I just follow his Insta." one of the girls giggled.
Lucas sighed, looking aside.
He spotted a few of the cheerleaders from West Valley Highschool boredly talking and sipping beers around Miguel's couch.
Surprised to not see his own bloodstains on the very same couch, Lucas looked over at Yasmine.
"Hey."
The cheerleaders looked over.
"Y'all wanna drink? Could make it fun."
They instantly nodded and agreed.
Hawk instantly ignored the girls from East Valley. "Hell yeah!"
Piper cleared her throat loudly.
Hawk bashfully dipped his head as he walked to his girlfriend's side.
Big Red, Edwin, and Mikey had no such ties to anyone and were happy to join.
Chris muttered to Miguel in his kitchen. "This is some bullshit man."
"This is Luke's way of reminding us he's the only reason we got into the Korea Open." Miguel scratched his ear. "Damnit, where's Sam?"
"She ghosted you lately?" asked Chris.
"Nah think she must just be late." Miguel shrugged, fixing one of the bandages on his arm from the fight he had earlier.
Chris made eye contact with Mitch for a second.
"Problem?" asked Mitch.
Chris shook his head sadly.
"Thought so." Mitch sipped the beer he filled from a keg and was going to give to one of the East Valley girls and joined the drinking game without looking twice at them.
The night progressed a little and Lucas tossed his fourth beer can aside, his tolerance had greatly diminished after needing to stay sober for so many months of top tier training compete globally.
"That's a lie."
One of the cheerleaders, a girl named Lindsay who had her stocking covered legs swung over one of the sofa chairs in Miguel's living room sighed as Mitch, and the others laughed.
"You got caught smoking pot in sophomore year. Not freshman year." Lucas pointed to Lindsay.
Mitch smiled. "You know the price. Drink or strip."
"Okay." she nodded. "I'll do it. If, and only if you make out with Yas."
The Cobra Kais and cheerleaders playing the game laughed and howled.
"That's not how this works." Yasmine muttered.
"I'm ugly now so." Lucas joked.
"A few scars don't make you less good looking." Lindsay shrugged, undoing her bra beneath her shirt.
She tossed it onto the table of other items and clothing people had bet with.
"Quite the opposite really." Lindsay shrugged.
Lucas nodded slowly before nodding understanding the offer.
Mitch, slightly jaw dropped, looked over at Lucas.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah you got it Ms. Martin."
Yasmine didn't need to be told twice, she flopped onto Lucas as if she was pushed by someone.
She wasn't but the two kissed furiously.
Mackenzie Chu chuckled, sitting on Shawn's knee on a nearby chair. "That's enough guys, we got it, Luke won the round."
Lucas and Yasmine didn't stop.
Shawn cleared his throat. "Guys."
Lucas and Yasmine moved off the couch together.
"Well alright then!" Hawk laughed sipping his beer as everyone playing the drinking game moved on.
Yasmine pressed Lucas against a wall in Miguel's house, there was enough alcohol in their systems to make them forget about the first time they made the same mistake.
Tory Nichols was not in the best of moods at all, but least of all when she showed up looking her very best, to be greeted by the sight of Yasmine shoving her tongue down Lucas' throat.
They proceeded to get a room before Tory could do anything. She froze, she wanted to tear them apart and bust Yasmine's nose, do something. Anything.
But she ran before anyone in the party could notice her.
…
I tucked Yasmine into a closet in I think Miguel's grandmother's room while we made out.
Yasmine panted, moaning as I ran my hands past her bare legs.
"Damn!" Yasmine grunted, moaning quickly and quietly again.
I pulled her underwear down her legs and lifted her up onto the wall.
I hadn't been with a girl in just about a month, that wasn't the issue. I had no idea why I just couldn't control myself right now.
I squeezed her chest through her dress, turning Yasmine around.
"Funny." Yasmine gripped my shirt collar as she stretched backward, looking up as I kissed up and down her neck. "They all wanted you back there, I got to be the one to win out."
"Win out?"
"Big time. You're quite the score, Luke. Amazing at this, everyone knows it. I know it best." Yasmine ran her hand past the stitches on my face my grandpa just put in. "Lindsay was right. You're better looking with a few scars."
The sight of Yasmine slightly more naked removed any doubts in my mind of any of this though.
But I stopped oddly half way through. Despite how much I wanted this right now, wanted her, I just couldn't.
Yasmine was still panting, moaning quietly under the tiniest of movements I made.
She looked back at me. "Luke?"
I froze, thinking of something.
Wasn't she supposed to be in love with someone else?
I was long past the time when I pitied others. But I had pretty much stomped the highschool experience of anyone not in Cobra Kai into the dirt.
Empathy. Pity. I thought I wasn't supposed to have them.
Yasmine stopped panting, brushing her blonde hair aside. "Lucas you alright?"
"Do you still make fun of Demetri and his friends?"
She squinted at me through the slight darkness of the closet. "You really want to talk about him right now?"
"Yeah."
Yasmine shrugged. "So what if Lindsay and I and the others don't mind keeping them on a leash to do our homework?"
"I thought you were great at school. Better than I was technically, or even Demetri for that matter."
"Yeah but like." Yasmine shifted her hands over my shoulders. "I like going to the beach more often. To the mall, sometimes just doing whatever."
"So you apparently never changed?"
"Well Luke." Yasmine shrugged again. "You started dating Tory. You made it clear I wasn't good enough."
"What?"
"I needed to change I guess if I wanted to get with you, so I did. And here we are."
"So you wanted to bitch-ify yourself so we could fuck?"
Yasmine looked disgusted. "Where did you get that from?"
"Forget this noise."
I opened the closet door, leaving a mostly naked Yasmine alone in the closet.
"Lucas?" she called out.
I rebuckled my jeans and put my jacket back on. I wanted nothing to do with any of this right now.
I wanted to blow some motherfucking steam off right now.
…
I was ready to tear a hole into a punching bag in the Flagship dojo when I found someone doing the same.
"Tory. Aren't you supposed to be enjoying the party at Robby's place?"
"I was." Tory panted as I walked down the long aisle between the mats. "Then I saw you there."
I knew what had happened.
"You were with Yas."
"Yeah I mean. Look we're taking a break right now so-"
"And I'm supposed to be cool with you making out with other people on that break?"
I frowned. "I wouldn't be cool with you doing the same so. Yeah."
Tory laughed angrily, nodding before looking at me. "You know what? I should've seen this coming. You wanted to be with her the whole time."
"Because we made out at one party?"
"Because I saw you run off with her. Because I saw you at the tennis courts together."
"You were at the country club?"
Tory shrugged. "I see you everywhere together now."
"What?"
"At your mom's wedding. At the party just now, at the country club."
"Tory all our friends are friends with hers. I can't just avoid her."
Tory shook her head.
I sighed. "This looks bad, but I promise you. I still-"
"No you don't. You just don't Lucas. Why can't you be honest with me?"
"I promise you I am," I said. "This looks bad I swear. But I have no feelings for her, none at all. I regret all of this happening, things have gone from bad to worse in no time flat and it's all my fault."
"Well, at least you admit it."
"Tory-"
She shook her head. "I know I'm good enough for you. And then you tell me you need to take some time apart, that you need space. And like two weeks later you hook up with your ex."
"I never dated Yas."
"But you fucked her."
"You were there when that happened," I muttered quietly. "You know nothing came of that."
Tory's words seemed to freeze in her mouth.
"What if I'm not right for you? What if, what if I'm just an idiot for thinking this was good for me? You lie, constantly. You lied to Sensei Kreese since the day you met, and then you lied that you still loved me. What else have you been lying about?"
"Hell Tory I'm sorry if life gets in the way of things sometimes. Where are you getting this idea that things weren't pretty damn hard for me to admit everything huh? I love you, yes. But I'm one of the most famous athletes on the planet and it's the summer before my senior year of highschool." I said in exhaustion.
"And then you make it seem like I'm crazy." Tory laughed in frustration again. "When you know how sick I am of that."
I was going to say more but Tory spoke up first. "I should've said this before. But you can sleep with as many cheerleaders as you want, win as many trophies as you want. Do whatever you want, and lie to whoever you want. But we're through."
My eyes widened.
"But we're taking a break-"
"We were. You wanted to take a break, I broke. You win Luke," she shook her head slowly. "This isn't right for either of us."
She walked past me, and I respected the strength she had to not shed a single tear.
"Tory!"
She didn't say a word before walking out of the dojo.
"Fucking. Goddamnit." I muttered underneath my breath.
"She's the first in this dojo to tell you the truth about yourself." I heard Sensei Silver say.
I looked over at him. He was in his Sensei's uniform, walking down from the office.
"You heard all of that?"
"Enough to realize that she's right about one thing. Your dishonesty will cost you dearly."
"What have I been dishonest about Sensei?"
"Your loyalty."
I squinted at him. "I put Cobra Kai at the top of the karate world. From every corner of the globe, people know our name. And you doubt my loyalty?"
"You let Miyagi-Do return at all. They were finished."
I sighed. "I thought you let it slide that I let them get into the Korea Open."
"I forgave the mess you made with the Sekai Taikai. Yes. That was before I found out you were just partying with Miyagi-Do."
"Now look-"
He tilted his head. "And you gave them their new team name. And you personally reinvited Robby Keene into your group."
"You of all people should know the power of old friendships."
Sensei Silver laughed quietly.
"You and Keene didn't fight a war together. You stopped being friends just a year ago, there's nothing old about that. You don't know age like I do. And you don't know loyalty like I do."
Sensei Silver looked around the Flagship dojo. "You helped my Master, Kim Sun Yung's vision now spread across the entire globe. We're one tournament victory away from it becoming somehow even more legendary. And you want to throw it all to pieces?"
"Destroying the loyalty and trust of our star female pupil?" Sensei threw his hands about slightly, pacing around me next to the mats on the hardwood floor. "Letting our greatest enemy have a chance at challenging us again. And worst of all, you lied to your Sensei."
"Sensei Kreese forgave me."
"Cobras do not forgive." I heard my closest mentor say.
I saw Sensei Kreese and every Cobra Kai Sensei invited from South Korea walk into the dojo.
…
Cobra Kai OST: Closing Minute of Stone Dummy S5 Soundtrack on Repeat
…
Sensei Kreese looked at me. "You will always be my family. This dojo could not exist without you, you've grown smarter and stronger, and wiser and better, than anyone before you through Cobra Kai."
I nodded and listened.
"But I never forgot the fact that this dojo was founded again through Miyagi-Do."
Sensei Kim Da-Eun spoke up. "It's time to ask yourself. Are you of Miyagi's legacy? Or my grandfather's?"
"I'm Cobra Kai. Always." I said instantly.
"Then let us see." she shrugged.
Lights were turned on by a few of the Senseis, and I saw a stone dummy standing on the mats. It was in shape of a person, each limb, and the torso and head were all made of pure rock.
"We can't let you lead this dojo to destruction when you've led it back from ruin." Sensei Kreese said. "Prove you're still Cobra Kai. Or I'll have to forget all we've been through."
"Sensei John," I said quietly. "What is this?"
"I know you have it in you. Strike that board. Strike it like it's your enemy." said Sensei Kreese. "Strike it like it's taken everything from you."
Sensei Silver crossed his arms. "This is how we were taught. It's only right you are."
Sensei Kim spoke up as well. "My grandfather would be proud of you. But if you want his full legacy. If you want everything you've achieved and more. If you truly want to lead this dojo after we've all passed. Strike through that stone like it's murdered your entire family. Like it's everything you've ever hated."
Lucas took off his shoes and bowed onto the mat, as he approached the board he thought of all that truly bothered him to his core.
"You're just an arrogant, selfish fraud. A coward who doesn't admit his own mistakes at all! What have you ever lost huh!? While you and your friends shat all over me for almost two years straight by now!?"
"You wanted to take a break, I broke. You win Luke," she shook her head slowly. "This isn't right for either of us."
The Mills-Schwarbers were all having dinner together and had a quiet laugh.
There, Lucas felt like his mother could never truly recognize him. For more than a single reason, not just because he was born again at fourteen. But because he was Cobra Kai and Ali was marrying Johnny Lawrence.
"All that matters is what you see."
Lucas opened his eyes and saw the proud hissing Cobra on the Cobra Kai logo on the wall of the Flagship dojo.
"Siga-usaaaa!"
Lucas kiai'd at the top of his lungs and with a back kick blew directly through the stone dummy's chest.
Stone flew about on the mat.
Lucas understood the lesson without even thinking about it. He'd need to strike the dummy with everything he possibly had, or break against it.
Nodding with a smile, Kreese watched Lucas tear the dummy's arm off with a knife hand chop, dropping all of his weight onto the blow.
He used a leg sweep to tear through the stone dummy's legs and used a flying kick to run directly through its head.
Panting, the only cuts or bruises upon him the ones from a few hours prior when he fought Miguel Diaz, Lucas was unscathed.
He had the full technique and power to blast through solid stone completely fine.
Kreese crossed his arms. "You weren't afraid?"
"Fear, does not exist." Lucas panted. "In this dojo."
Silver nodded with a smile. "You passed."
"Passed what?" Lucas rubbed bits of stone debris off his shorts.
"You passed the same test all of us had to. To become a Cobra Kai Sensei." Kim Da Eun said. "You have fully mastered Cobra Kai karate. Less could not be expected of a world champion at such a young age."
"What does that mean?"
Senseis Min Jun, Odell, and Hyan-Woo all bowed and presented Lucas with a black uniform, with stronger red outlines, labeled Sensei.
Lucas was confused. "But I'm just seventeen, I just got my black belt."
"Your friends will see this as nothing more than a formality. They'll just have to be a little more respectful in class. But to us, it's the logical next step. Go ahead." Silver nodded.
It felt a little awkward to put it on over his normal clothes, but Lucas tied on his Cobra Kai Sensei uniform slowly.
When he finished, Kreese spoke. "How does it feel?"
"About as confusing as everything else in my life right now." Lucas sighed. "Everything's changing so much. And I'm not afraid of it, but it's all just so odd."
Kreese placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "To have so much happen at so young can be challenging. But I promise you, you will always be able to rely on me."
"You promised the same before Sensei."
"Because I knew you could take this step." Kreese held the new GI Lucas was wearing proudly between his index finger and his thumb. "Welcome Lucas, welcome to truly becoming Cobra Kai."
Lucas smiled, and embraced his Sensei.
Normally this would've been seen as a sign of weakness as they hugged, but Silver allowed it despite seething with anger and jealousy for a moment.
Everyone knew the bond the two shared was all that had brought Cobra Kai back from nothing.
…
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