CHAPTER 14

"Sensei, either you tell me the full story or I'm leaving this dojo and I'm not coming back." Marcos demanded, not showing any signs of fear or hesitation as he challenged his sensei. Kreese forced his face to become a wall of stone, and not express any kind of emotion. He knew that Marcos had the upper hand here, they both knew it. Although Marcos needed to be in a dojo to win the Taikai and gain whatever sponsorships he wanted to try and realize his dream of being a professional fighter, that dojo didn't have to be Cobra Kai. There was another dojo in the Valley that he could take his skills to if things didn't work with Cobra Kai, and if he did so, Kreese's Cobra Kai didn't stand much of a chance of winning.

So Kreese didn't have much choice to tell him the full story, the real story this time. Or at least, it was closer to the truth than before. He didn't paint Cobra Kai as the clear-cut heroes, nor did he paint them as the villains. He illustrated the fact that this situation was not black and white, but instead the grey color that it was. And by the end, although Marcos still looked a little torn, he didn't look to be storming out the dojo after all.

"Look, Mr. Oliveira, I know that this dojo has made mistakes in the past. But that doesn't change the fact that we are a championship winning dojo. And I can assure you, those mistakes we've made before, we will never make again. No matter what happens in the next year between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, I can assure you that it won't distract me from training you to win the Taikai. That is our goal, and we are fully focussed on it."

Marcos and Kreese locked eyes, and Marcos stared deep into them for several moments, trying to gauge whether Kreese was being serious or if he was still lying. His mind raced as he debated what his next move, but eventually he came to a decision. Truth was, even if Kreese was trying to drag him into the war with Miyagi-Do, if Marcos wanted the opportunity to compete and win the Taikai, he would be part of the dojo rivalry either way. His options were only about what side of it he wanted to be on, and because Marcos' only priority was receiving the best training possible, he decided on the state-of-the-art dojo rather than the grassy hut they had visited earlier that day.

Marcos nodded at Kreese.

"Okay. I'll stay." Marcos replied.

"Excellent." Kreese smiled, the grin still secretly calculated and malevolent. "Now… put on your gi. It's almost time for training…"

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"SHE DID WHAT?!"

Robby paced up and down the living room of Tory's apartment that afternoon. After the chaotic events of that morning, most people retreated to Sam's house to the recent shocking developments - Cobra Kai was back, with John Kreese at the helm, and a terrifyingly good champion who had dispatched Miguel without batting an eye leading the team. However, Robby and Tory had gone back to Tory's apartment to talk. Upon seeing Kim and Kreese again, she was well-reminded of how they had used and manipulated her. How none of them actually cared about her. The sad truth was that outside of her immediate family, there was only one person in the world who genuinely cared about her, and she had spent the past week pushing him away, risking losing him and causing her to be completely alone again.

Even after all of that though, Robby had been nothing but patient and caring. That was until Tory had told him everything, the whole story, all of the horrors that Kim had put her through, that Robby had finally erupted. As she finished telling him about how she had damaged her hand, all of the color had drained from his face. He could feel any semblance of calmness and collectiveness immediately die inside him, burned to a crisp and replaced by a fiery wrath that threatened to overtake his entire body. He had shot up to his feet, and began to pace around the room, his hands trembling with rage and clenched into fists so tight he could feel his nails digging into his palms. He had felt anger his whole life: towards his mom, towards his dad, towards Miguel, towards the world in general. But not like this. Nothing like this. Everything that made Robby who he was nowadays - his kindness, his compassion, his sympathy - had disappeared and all that was left was a soldier with only one mission: to get even with those who had done this to her.

Tory noticed Robby's sudden change in reaction, and she watched as he stormed over to the other side of the room to grab his jacket, starting to put it on. Her eyes widened, knowing exactly what he was planning to do, and she rushed over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tory asked, alarmed. As she looked into his eyes, it was extremely concerning the way that all of the life had drained from them, and only left behind soulless orbs.

"They need to pay for what they've done." Robby spat in a quiet, yet menacing voice. All of his anger, not just about what had happened to Tory, but also in general about everything that had happened today, had come bursting through like a broken dam, and he was surely unable to calm himself down now. Tory's concern level rose, as she grabbed him tighter by the shoulders to hold him back.

"Robby, stop! You're not going down there to start a fight!" Tory snapped. Robby, truly unhinged now, shook his head.

"Yeah? Watch me." He shot back, shaking himself out of her grasp and finishing putting on his jacket, before making his way towards the door. Tory had to sprint as fast as she could over to the door, and barely made it in time, throwing herself in between Robby and the door.

"Robby, you can't do this!" She shouted at him.

"Move." Robby growled. It was Tory's turn to shake her head.

"No. I'm not gonna let you do this!"

"They broke your hand, Tory, for God's sake! And you expect me to just accept that?!" Robby yelled.

"Yes! Because what else are we supposed to do about it?! You want to start a fight with her? All that's going to do is put you in the hospital yourself!"

"No. I won't get hurt." Robby snapped, at which Tory scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Did you see what her student did to Miguel today?! Her student! Not even her! If you go storming into that dojo right now challenging a sensei to a fight… you're going to get seriously hurt! No doubt about it!"

Robby shrugged.

"What happens, happens. Now get out of the way." He demanded. Tory, who was standing directly between Robby and the door, shook her head adamantly, and remained planted on the ground.

"No." She responded hotly.

"Tory…" Robby growled. At this point, Tory raised both of her hands and got into a fighting stance. She realized that Robby was going to stop at nothing to get out that door, and she needed to stop him at all costs.

"You're not going after her, Robby!" Tory shot back. As Robby took another step towards the door, that's when Tory attacked. She quickly unleashed a combination of three punches, trying to force Robby to back up and away from the door. However, this "fight" very quickly ended, as Robby easily blocked all three punches, before grabbing onto her arm and using it to drag her away from the door. He didn't hurt her at all, but he successfully pulled her from blocking his way, and he took advantage of the moment before Tory regrouped and attacked again, to yank the door open and storm out. Tory tried to chase him out the door, but as soon as Robby managed to get onto his skateboard, it was a lost cause. Before she knew it, Robby had retreated away from her complex and completely out of eyesight. Tory ran her hands through her hair anxiously, and then pulled out her phone to dial a number. After a few rings, the person picked up.

"Hello? Tory?" Amanda said.

"Are Mr. Larusso and the others there?" Tory immediately asked, desperation evident in her voice. She could almost hear Amanda's confusion over the line.

"Um… yeah. Everyone's here. Johnny, Daniel, Miguel, Hawk, Sam and all of the others." Amanda replied. "Why?"

"You need to tell them that they need to come pick me up and then we all need to get to the Cobra Kai dojo NOW!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's Robby. He's on his way over there, looking for a fight. He wants to attack one of the senseis, so we need to get there before something bad happens to him…"

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Cobra Kai training that afternoon was long and arduous. If anything, Kreese and Kim were pushing them harder than ever before, not wanting this new confident going to their heads. Not that Marcos could tell though, as this was shockingly still his first day in Cobra Kai. It felt so incredibly packed, like he had lived 5 days in just this one, and like he had been in Cobra Kai for a lot longer than he actually had, but it was true. This was only his first session training with the dojo. During the exercises, he got to know some of his other teammates. They were all thrilled to have him, all thrilled to have another extremely competent fighter within their ranks. Well, all except one boy, one of the smallest members of the dojo, but from what Marcos gathered, he was formerly their best fighter. Marcos caught the boy scowling at him several times while his back was turned, jealousy and envy both evident in his eyes as he saw Marcos claiming his spot as the King Cobra on his very first day.

After training, most of the students went home, all of them dripping in sweat and barely standing. The session had been absolutely brutal, with Kreese and Kim forcing them to train until they couldn't lift their limbs any longer, and they were on the brink of passing out. None of them could even train for a second longer, so they all left the dojo, except Marcos. At the request of Sensei Kreese and Sensei Kim, he was told to stay longer, so Marcos didn't shower and change like the rest of the students. He remained in his gi, and lightly trained his kicks on one of the kicking targets as the Senseis waited for everyone else to leave so they could train him privately.

Finally, the last person in the dojo left, and there was silence in the dojo once more, apart from the sound of Marcos grunting in the effort of practicing some jump kicks. Kreese and Kim were both in the back office talking, and a couple of minutes later, Marcos watched the two of them emerge and walk over to him.

"Good. Finally, the others have left. Now your real training can begin." Kim remarked. Marcos raised an eyebrow.

"My real training?"

All of a sudden, the doors of the Cobra Kai dojo were roughly kicked open as a figure stormed inside. Kreese, Kim and Marcos, all of whom had their backs turned to it, spun around to see who had just entered the dojo. Confusion overtook all three of their faces.

"Mr. Keene." Kreese greeted him. "What can I help you with?"