CHAPTER 2

"Welcome back!" Daniel announced, smiling widely at the entire dojo, who were all standing in the back garden of the Miyagi-Do facing him and Johnny. In that moment, all of the bruises, all of the marks on the students from their recent brawl, had all been concealed by the massive smiles on each Miyagi-Do's face. They had done it! They had won! At long last, after years of sacrificing so much, this ruthless Karate war was finally over. Cobra Kai was no more. With Silver behind bars and all of his students quitting, the constant threat of a Cobra Kai attack that had been plaguing them for an eternity had finally come to an end. "I… uh… I'll be honest, I really don't know what to say right now. No words truly capture just how proud of you I am. The past two years… they haven't been easy. We've had to fight tooth and nail, not to win, but to merely keep each other safe. We've taken hits, sure…"

They had indeed taken hits. Chozen was still staying with the Larussos, recovering from the nasty wounds he had received at the hands of Silver's sword. Almost all of them also had lingering gashes and scrapes of their own from their respective fights.

"We've lost people due to conflicts within the dojo."

Mitch was one of them, the only one as of now who had left and still not returned. The other loss they had taken amongst them was Robby, but standing front and center of the line of Miyagi-Do students, he couldn't be happier to be back.

"We've also made new friends in this fight. Made new alliances, with people we never thought we would ever do so."

All eyes in the dojo flickered over to the two girls standing awkwardly at the end of the line of students. Neither Tory nor Devon really knew what to do or say right now. It was their first time at the Miyagi-Do dojo, and it was pretty clear that as Daniel was addressing the group, he was referring to his old students and not them.

"Thanks to every single person here, Cobra Kai has shut down once and for all. I think everyone in the Valley can sleep a little easier tonight, thanks to the sacrifice each and every one of you made. I cannot tell you how proud I am of all of you. I don't know what is to come next, but I want you all to stop and remember how you feel in this moment." Daniel told them. "Even when it looked the most bleak, we didn't faith in ourselves, lose faith in each others, and look what happened now… we finally won."

The sound of clapping and quiet cheers rang through as the students all celebrated the end of the eternal nightmare they had all been facing for so long. Suddenly though, the clapping drew to an abrupt halt when a deafening bark filled the air…

"QUIET!"

The students all immediately shut up, and their heads turned from Daniel to the blonde man standing beside him.

"Now… while I'm enjoying this circle jerk more than anyone, let's get on with why we're here. I've got a pregnant girlfriend waiting for me at home who wants me to help her find a doula, whatever the hell a doula is."

Daniel nodded.

"Right. The reason Johnny and I asked you all to come here…" Daniel said. "First thing was to congratulate you all on helping us bring down Cobra Kai once and for all. The second… is about the Sekai Taikai."

Quiet murmurs began to erupt through the group, as they all stared at Daniel, intrigued. They had all completely forgotten about the World Karate Championship Tournament in the midst of everything that had just happened, but now that Daniel had mentioned it, they were pretty curious. Were they even still going to compete?

"Before what happened last week, I know our plan was to go to the Sekai Taikai and upstage Cobra Kai to prevent them from expanding any further. But now that Cobra Kai is no longer, they aren't going to be at the tournament, which means that we don't even have to compete in the tournament if you don't want to. It's completely up to you guys."

A brief silence overtook the group, the teenagers locking eyes and silently communicating, before one of them finally spoke up.

"We still want to compete, Sensei." Miguel said. The rest of the group chimed in with nods and exclamations of approval. Daniel smiled.

"Are you sure? I know you guys are going into your senior year, so you probably have other things you want to do more than Karate right now."

"Um… like what? In case you haven't noticed Mr. L, none of us really had such incredible lives before Karate. That's what got us all here in the first place." Demetri pointed out.

"Besides, most of us have aged out of the All Valley so we can't compete this year. This could be our last chance to compete in a karate tournament… ever." Sam stated. Daniel nodded.

"Alright! It's settled then! We're competing in the Sekai Taikai!"

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After that, the group kind of dispersed. Johnny and Daniel didn't have a training plan for the day, as they knew that everyone was still trying to recover fully after the brutal war that had just occurred. Most of the dojo left immediately, as they only had a couple of days left of the summer, and wanted to spend as much time as possible recuperating before they were dragged into the most unpredictable rollercoaster of all: senior year. However, there was one person who remained in the dojo after hours. The person who, from the moment they had announced that they'd be competing in the Sekai Taikai, had been filled with drive and determination like never before. A two time Runner up, the only person in the dojo who had made it to back to back All-Valley finals, and yet he hadn't won a single one. And although Robby knew that there was more to life than Karate, and his life wouldn't change whether he won this tournament or not, that didn't change the fact that he knew this was his last chance to win a trophy and he was desperate to win something. Karate had become such a huge part of his life. It had contributed to him reconciling with his dad. It had contributed to him meeting his mentor. Contributed to him meeting his girlfriend. If he could add some hardware on top of that before he finally closed the door on that chapter of his life… it would be perfect.

So Robby stood on the sparring deck, silently working through one of the many Miyagi-Do katas. While back when he was in Cobra Kai he found beating up one of the punching targets to be the best way to clear his mind, nowadays he found meditating and doing kata to be more effective in relieving him from his troubles and recentering him to his roots. He truly was back home, and it was an indescribably amazing feeling. Robby breathed in. Breathed out. Waxed on. Waxed off. He sanded the floor. He went through all of his kicks. The movements flowed so effortlessly, it was like Robby had done them a thousand times. Because at this point, he probably had. Time flew by and almost an hour and a half passed before Robby was finally pulled out of his trance when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Robby?"

Robby turned around and when he saw who was standing there, he smiled widely at him.

"Mr. Larusso. What are you doing here?" Robby asked, surprised to see him there.

"Forgot my phone." Daniel replied, before raising an eyebrow as he looked his student up and down. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, uh… nothing. Just doing a bit of training. Needed to clear my mind." Robby said. Daniel continued to stare at him, suspiciously, before he realized what this was about.

"This is about the tournament, isn't it?" Daniel remarked. Robby forced a level expression on his face and shook his head.

"Um… no. No, it isn't." Robby lied. That wasn't entirely a lie. His need to win the Taikai was only part of the reason he was here. There were so many troubles in his life that his brain was just too jumbled to process. He had a girlfriend who had gone through unspeakable horrors in the Cobra Kai dojo over the past few month - the bloodied and swollen hand she had received in a "training accident" demonstrated as much - and yet she refused to say a word about what had happened. He had Miguel, with whom their relationship was in a bit of a limbo. On one hand, they trusted each other and were not actively at each other's throats. But on the other, now that the dust had settled and Cobra Kai was no more, they had truly managed to reflect on everything that had happened and although they weren't enemies anymore, they certainly weren't yet at the stage of being the family that Johnny and Miguel's mom were pushing them so hard to be. Even in Miyagi-Do, things were far from perfect with the group dynamic. Robby had been a former Cobra Kai student only recently. And paired with the fact that Robby had made it clear he still cared a lot about the Cobra Kai students - well, one of them anyways, the bully who had tormented Anthony for months and had wreaked havoc on Miyagi-Do when Robby tried to do nothing but help him - it was clear that although Robby was no longer a Cobra Kai, the other students hadn't fully accepted him back into Miyagi-Do. Now that Tory had joined Miyagi-Do too at his implorement, with the history she had with the entire dojo, they probably wouldn't be fully accepted anytime soon. And on top of ALL of that, Miguel's family had signed a form allowing Robby to return to school, so he had a whole senior year and future post-high school that he needed to worry about. Needless to say, having the opportunity to clear his mind of these troubles, even if it was temporary, was something Robby was extremely grateful for. And being able to win the tournament, that would be even greater.

Daniel sighed and sat down on the edge of the sparring deck, Robby moving to sit down beside him.

"Okay, fine, maybe it is a little bit." Robby admitted. "It's just… I've had to try to be the bigger person my whole life. Rise above everything. With my mom. With my dad. With Miguel. With Cobra Kai. I was told it was the right thing to do, so for the most part, I did that. And what did it all leave me with? 2 runner up trophies. It just… it sucks never getting to win."

"You never got to win, huh?" Daniel chuckled. "I beg to differ."

"Huh?" Robby grunted, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Look at where you were two years ago, Robby, and look at where you are now." Daniel told him. "Look at the amount you've grown as a person in that time. Look at the people you yourself have helped. Look at the relationships you've built in and out of the dojo through Karate. From where I'm standing, that's a bigger win than any piece of painted plastic."

Robby sighed and nodded.

"I know. And I don't want to sound ungrateful for everything you've done for me and everything you've helped me with." Robby said. "But it's just… I really want to finally win."

"I know you do." Daniel said. "Despite sometimes feeling like my life's been going on forever, I was a teenager once too. I remember how badly I wanted to win. How badly I desired to have that referee raise my arm in the air and declare me victor. To listen to the sounds of an entire arena cheering for me as I lifted my trophy. And as you know, I managed to get there, fulfil that dream. Twice in fact. Can I tell you something though?"

"What?" Robby asked.

"The happiness I get when I see my family, the happiness I get when teaching all of you… whatever satisfaction I got upon winning the tournament pales in comparison." Daniel said. Robby sighed, knowing in his brain that his sensei's words were true. It was just difficult to truly come to terms with them, and Daniel noticed. "But… that being said, if you want me to train you extra on the side for the tournament, I would be happy to do so. Just let me know when."

"You would really do that for me?" Robby asked, taken aback in surprise. He figured he was one of the last person Mr. Larusso would want to teach extra, with all of Robby's continuous links with Cobra Kai and his short tenure as Cobra Kai's male champion. Daniel chuckled.

"Come on, Robby. Of course I would." Daniel replied. "I love every one of my students, but I haven't forgotten the fact that you were my first student. You were the one who helped me open Miyagi-Do in the first place! If not for you, right now there wouldn't be a Miyagi-Do to help protect kids from Cobra Kai, and they would've run rampant through the Valley. If anyone deserves that moment in the spotlight, even though I truly believe that you don't need it to realize what a champion you are, it's you Robby."

"Thanks, Mr. Larusso." Robby smiled at him and nodded. Daniel slowly stood up.

"Anytime." He replied. "Now… you haven't happened to see my phone around here somewhere, have you?"

Robby shook his head.

"Sorry. I can call it though, if you want." He offered.

When Daniel nodded thankfully, Robby walked over to the other side of the sparring deck and picked up his own phone. When he turned it on, he was immediately greeted by tens of notifications all flashing on his screen, desperate to be read. The one though that stood out the most was a news article at the very top…

"Holy shit!" Robby shouted. Daniel turned around and ran over to him, seeing that his student's face had gone deathly pale.

"Robby? What's wrong?" Daniel asked, concerned. Robby stammered and stuttered quietly, trying to regain the ability to speak, but it felt like his mouth had been completely frozen. He managed to do so a few seconds later.

"It's… it's Kreese." Robby stammered. Daniel's heart stopped. What now? They had heard a few days ago that Kreese had broken out of jail, and from that moment, Daniel had been very much on edge. He knew exactly what he had done to Kreese in their last encounter, so knew that Kreese would undoubtedly be on the warpath for revenge.

"What?! What happened?!" Daniel demanded. "Is somebody hurt?!"

Robby shook his head.

"No… he's… because they found Silver guilty of beating Stingray, they've dropped all charges on Kreese."

Daniel slowly nodded.

"Yeah, but he's still a fugitive though, so they're still looking for him, right?" He asked. Robby shook his head once more as his flabbergasted eyes met Daniel's.

"No… Mr. Larusso, they've dropped ALL charges on him. Including him breaking out." Robby stated.

"WHAT?!" Daniel shouted.

"Kreese is officially a free man…"