CHAPTER 11
"You end up finding Tory last night?" Miguel asked Robby, as the pair of them walked into Miyagi-Do that morning for training. Judging by the exhaustion etched on Robby's face, Miguel knew the answer to the question already, even before Robby shook his head.
"She wasn't answering her phone, so I went by her job. She wasn't there. I went by her house twice. She wasn't there. Hopefully she comes to training today. If not, I'll swing by her house again. I really don't know where else to go." Robby murmured.
"Hey, I'm sorry we caused this mess between you guys." Miguel said. Robby shook his head.
"Wasn't your fault. Just some bad luck." Robby quickly replied. "She'll come around."
"You seem pretty sure." Miguel commented. Robby shrugged.
"It's just what she does, every time she has any kind of strong emotional feeling: anger, sadness, whatever. She did it after she won the tournament and found out Silver had bought the ref. She's doing it right now. And, um… I think she um… she did it with you too, right?"
Their prior relationships with Sam and Tory were a topic Robby and Miguel completely steered clear of talking about. Although things between them and their rivalry were all but buried under the bridge by this point, they couldn't ignore the fact that they had been bitter enemies at one point, so it wasn't like everything in the past had been forgotten. The best they could do was try their best to ignore it, and one of the ways they did that was not mention the fact that both of their current partners had been exes of the other guy at one time or another.
However, Robby did have a point. After Tory had seen him and Sam kissing at the party, over a year ago at this point, this had been exactly what she had done. She had disappeared that night, and hadn't returned until two days later, when…
"Yeah, she did. And if I remember correctly, that day didn't end very well." Miguel remarked. Robby winced in memory of that fateful day, the day that had been far and away the worst day of both of their lives. Robby shuddered as the flashbacks came flooding back.
Noticing the silence that they had both descended into, Miguel forced them to change the subject.
"Do you have any ideas what might've happened to her in Cobra Kai to cause all of this?" Miguel asked. Robby's face became even more troubled. As all of this had unfolded, Robby couldn't help but feel regret starting to creep in about quitting Cobra Kai when he did. If he had stayed longer, or done more to try and convince her to leave with him, none of this would've been happening.
"That's just it. That's the worst part. I have no idea." He muttered. "I mean you know Cobra Kai as well as I do. You were with them longer than I was. You know what they're capable of."
That, Miguel understood. Even though he had only been in Johnny and Kreese's Cobra Kai, so knew nothing about Silver, he knew just how extreme some of their lessons could be. It physically pained Robby to think about what they had put Tory through, how they had rendered her so physically and mentally damaged, and even the mere thought of it all made Robby's blood boil. That was another reason why Robby was training so hard right now. Although he knew that Cobra Kai was 'done', he had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't the end. Things were quiet amongst both the former students and former senseis. Too quiet. He had a feeling that they weren't really gone, but instead in hiding, plotting and devising a new wave of assault that would hit them harder than ever before. And when they inevitably did so, Robby wanted to be ready to hit back.
Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the rest of Miyagi-Do began to file in. Sam, Hawk, Demetri, Chris, Bert, Nate, and then finally… she walked in. As Robby laid eyes on her as she roughly pushed through the gates, his entire body breathed a massive sigh of relief. She was okay. Robby tried to walk over to her, but she made it pretty clear from the second she decided to stand on the opposite side of the dojo, that she had no interest in talking to him. Robby groaned. This was not going to be a fun afternoon, that's for sure.
Just as Robby was about to try and approach her again though, they heard raised voices coming from inside the Miyagi-Do dojo.
"9 months?! That's horseshit!" A voice they all instantly identified as Johnny, shouted through the door. The Miyagi-Do students, who were all standing outside, looked at each other, confused.
"Is he aware we're out here?" Demetri quietly murmured to Miguel. Miguel chuckled.
"Sensei? Aware? You tell me the answer to that." He replied. Meanwhile, inside the dojo, they also recognized Daniel's voice inside.
"Yeah, well I guess that's what happens when you can afford to spend millions of dollars on hiring a lawyer to defend you." Daniel replied tiredly.
"Bastard probably paid off the whole fucking jury too!" Johnny snapped back, before the pair rolled open the doors and saw all of the students who were standing just outside, staring at them expectantly. Although they had only caught snippets of the conversation, they instantly understood exactly what it was about, and the fact that 9 months was the amount of time given was extremely worrying for all of them. 9 months, and he would be out of jail and back in the Valley, hungry for revenge.
Daniel stared at the students, his face blushing slightly in embarrassment, and he cleared his throat.
"Oh, uh… hey, guys. I didn't realize you were all here yet." He stammered. "Did you catch any of that?"
The looks on the faces of the Miyagi-Dos told him the answer to that. Daniel sighed.
"Right, well I guess there's no harm in telling you all then." Daniel said. "I just got off the phone with my friend down at the courthouse. Apparently Silver just finished getting sentenced. He's only doing 9 months in a minimum security prison. He was found innocent of most of the charges against him. The only one he was found guilty of was the attack on Stingray, and even that one he managed to get a very short sentence for."
A collection of murmurs echoed around the group. 9 months? That meant that by mid May, Silver would be out again, and the nightmares and horrors would begin anew. They wouldn't have graduated by then. They wouldn't have even gone to the Taikai yet. It really wasn't the deserved sentence for a man who deserved to rot behind bars for the rest of his living days.
"But I want you guys not to be afraid because of this." Daniel instructed. "I'm sure as time goes on, all of the rest of Silver's crimes will be exposed, and so I very much doubt he'll ever see the outside of his prison again. That being said though, even if he does, that's 9 months away. There's so long until then. We can cross that particular bridge when and if we get to it, but until then, I want you all to relax and not be afraid. We won. Cobra Kai is no more. We have absolutely nothing to worry about."
As if on cue, all of a sudden, the gates of Miyagi-Do swung open once more, and they all walked in…
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It was a sea, an army of jet black and crimson. They entered the dojo from all angles: from the side gate, from the front dojo door, from the back. Many familiar faces were among them: exes, former mentees, former teammates. Seeing all of them again, and in the eerily familiar gi, it made Miyagi-Do fill with rage at the mere sight of them. Led by Kenny, student after student filed into the dojo, causing Miyagi-Do to immediately ready for a fight. But little did they know that Cobra Kai wasn't there for a fight. They didn't lunge at the Miyagi-Dos upon entering their dojo. Instead, they formed 3 inch-perfect rows that they lined up in, all of them standing behind two senseis, both of whom caused shivers to run up and down Miyagi-Do's spine.
With one of them, absolutely everyone in the dojo was flabbergasted to see him there, donning the Cobra Kai gi once more. But with the other, it was Tory who had the biggest reaction. Upon seeing her tormentor face to face for the first time since the massive brawl in the dojo, during which Kim had stomped on Tory's injured arm repeatedly, Tory's face had gone deathly pale. She could feel all of the anger, courage and every other emotion drain from her body, leaving her with nothing but a mere childish fear. Discreetly, Tory moved sideways in the long line that Miyagi-Do had also formed, so she was standing beside Robby, and he turned his head slightly to look at her, alarmed by the facial expression he saw staring back at him.
"What the hell is going on?!" Johnny snarled, making a beeline for Kreese, and squaring up to the man so that their faces were mere inches apart. Kreese chuckled, completely at ease, and not making to defend himself from any oncoming attacks. He knew Johnny wouldn't attack him. Not now. Not in front of all of the students.
"I'm sorry to interrupt. We just thought we'd pay you all a visit." Kreese remarked. "Cobra Kai is officially back. Back to how it used to be. Back to how it's supposed to be. And we just thought, with so many former Cobra Kais here, there's nobody better to celebrate with."
"I don't know how you managed to weasel your way out of prison, you son of a bitch, but you have 5 seconds to get off my property before I call the police, and you get your ass shipped right back to where you belong." Daniel growled. Kreese couldn't help but laugh. This was exactly what he had wanted, exactly what he had hoped for. He had rattled both Johnny and Daniel with his mere presence, the best way to get Miyagi-Do off their game during the road to the Taikai.
"Relax. We're not here for long. Just to deliver a message." Kreese told him. "So I was on the phone with the Sekai Taikai committee a few days ago. They said in light of Cobra Kai's recent… 'controversies', they didn't want us competing in the tournament."
"Good. Maybe that'll mean scum like you can disappear again and not come back." Daniel snapped. Kreese smirked at him.
"Not exactly. I gave the committee the whole speech. You know, about Cobra Kai, about our history, about my wrongful conviction… the whole nine."
"You deserved every second you spent behind bars, you piece of shit." Johnny spat. Kreese continued, ignoring that remark.
"Well, the committee then came to a decision. Because Cobra Kai is still the same dojo, with the same philosophy, with the same students, the only thing different being one of the senseis, we are still invited to compete in the Taikai. We just wanted to let you know, as we're surely going to see you all there."
Johnny chuckled as he inched ever closer to Kreese.
"Okay, old man. Go ahead. Compete in the tournament." Johnny challenged him. "Because in the senseis' division, I'm going to make sure you and I fight, and after that happens, you're going to wish to God you didn't compete. You and your pathetic group of shitheads you call students don't stand a chance."
Kreese chuckled again, noticing fury flash in the eyes of some of the Cobra Kai students, and relishing in the fear that he saw on the faces of the Miyagi-Dos'.
"Is that so?" He remarked. Daniel nodded.
"It is. With the students Miyagi-Do has now, Cobra Kai doesn't even stand a chance." Daniel responded. Kreese raised an eyebrow.
"A very confident statement, Mr. Larusso." Kreese remarked. "You know what they say about confidence… it very often leads to downfall."
"That's not going to happen." Daniel stated, not a shred of doubt in his voice. Kreese nodded.
"You seem very certain that we don't stand a chance in the Taikai. I beg to differ. So how about this? A friendly challenge. Right here, right now." Kreese challenged him. "Pick any student in your dojo. Your best student. We'll pick one of ours. Standard rules, first to three points wins…"