CHAPTER 47

Ding! Dong!

As Robby rang the bell, he shifted nervously from foot to foot. It was midday, and Robby had finally managed to resurface. He had spent the night away from everybody, away from everything, and it had allowed him to completely clear his mind. It had allowed him to think about what was next for him without emotion clouding his judgment. He had thought long and hard for the entire night, and he had ended up coming up with, in his opinion, a pretty good next step. Because while he was a proud member of Miyagi-Do and didn't want to betray that style of Karate, he wasn't sure that he really wanted to go back to training with all of the others just yet. Not only that, but there was something else that had been revealed to him yesterday that he needed to take into account, and this could give him the opportunity to mitigate that.

Despite him ringing the bell once or twice, nobody came to the extremely familiar door in Encino. Little did he know that Daniel, Amanda, Anthony and Sam were all out in the city looking for him, so the house was mostly empty. After giving up on the bell, Robby decided to just go ahead and walk in, as although the front door was locked, living an entire summer there and even spending a bit of time here over the past few months meant that Robby knew another entrance around the side of the house that was bound to be unlocked. Sure enough, it was and Robby was able to walk into the silent, empty house and over to what he was looking for: the guest room at the back of the house.

He wasn't a stranger to this room at all. After all, he had lived an entire summer in it. However, there was a new tenant now. And as Robby knocked on the door, that very person faintly called for him to enter. Robby walked into the guest room and he immediately saw Chozen on the far corner of the room, packing a suitcase. That's when Robby remembered… he was leaving today, finally going back to Okinawa. That wasn't good for Robby at all, especially not with what Robby was about to ask him.

Robby watched from behind him as the man folded each and every article of clothing in the pile inch-perfectly, before delicately placing them in his suitcase. Chozen did this with his final t-shirt before finally turning around, his face expressing immediate shock to see him there.

"Hey Sensei Toguchi." Robby said as he walked deeper into the room.

"Robby… everyone is out looking for you. They are very worried about you." Chozen said. Robby's eyes flickered downwards, unable to meet Chozen's for a moment, in shame. While he did have issues with some of the Miyagi-Dos, hearing this, he still felt bad for the worry that he had probably caused them.

"Look, sensei, I came to talk to you about something." Robby hesitantly said.

"Okay. But first you must send a message to your father and tell him that you are okay." Chozen ordered firmly. Robby nodded.

"I will. Just one thing I wanted to talk to you about first." Robby said, but Chozen shook his head.

"No. Message first." Chozen demanded. There was no chance he was going to let up, so Robby pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Johnny. He didn't tell him much, he didn't even tell him where he was. Just that he was safe and he would be around soon to prove that. Once Chozen was satisfied, he nodded at Robby. "Good. Now talk. What is going on?"

Robby took a deep breath, gathering the courage to ask what he was going to ask.

"Sensei, I know that you're leaving tonight and everything, but I was just wondering if there's any way that you'd be able to stick around for longer. To train me."

"Why? You have Daniel-san and Johnny. They are very, very good senseis." Chozen said. Robby nodded.

"I know. But I don't think they're going to be enough for us to win the Taikai." Robby admitted quietly. "I found out last night that Cobra Kai's champion has been watching past recordings of me fighting. He's figured out how to counter all of the techniques Mr. Larusso and my dad have taught me."

"The Oliviera boy?" Chozen asked, and Robby nodded. "He was excellent at Coyote Creek."

"This guy's too far ahead. And he's only getting better too. For as long as he's in Cobra Kai, if we continue the way we are, we don't stand a chance against them at the Taikai, and that means that we'll have to shut down and all of Miyagi-Do will suddenly be at risk."

Chozen shook his head.

"You are over dramatic, Robby. You are overthinking it. You stand a much better chance of winning than you think. I guarantee that Daniel-san and Johnny can train you to beat him. I have trained them a bit myself, so they are incredibly skilled."

As Chozen saw the crestfallen look on Robby's face, he realized that there was more to Robby's plea than just because he wanted to be able to match Cobra Kai's champion. He asked Robby about this, and Robby decided to be brutally honest. He told Chozen everything. He told him about how he was beginning to feel used by Miyagi-Do. Treated like shit. How he had spent the past year being walked over by all of them, without so much as an apology. Because God forbid anyone but him took responsibility and apologized about anything that had happened between them. Chozen listened silently to all of this, and at the end, he had only one question.

"If all of this is the case, Robby, why are you still trying to help them at all? With all of this trouble, why not quit Karate completely? Or transfer to another dojo?"

Despite being the one asking the question, Chozen already knew the answer to it. Although it was Tory who he felt most resembled his younger self, of everyone in the dojo, Chozen felt that Robby was the most similar to his older self. Him and Robby were so similar, it was like their souls were crafted by a mirror. Despite whatever issues had come before, the reason why Robby was still trying to help Miyagi-Do was the reason that Chozen had flown all the way to the Valley on a day's notice in the first place: to regain lost honor.

Chozen knew that no matter how much Robby did for the dojo both in the past and present, he would always strive to do more, partly out of the goodness of his heart, but partly to try and resolve himself of the everlasting guilt for the things he had done in the past. For Chozen, it had been the fight-to-the-death with Daniel in Okinawa all those years ago. For Robby, it was joining Cobra Kai, and even teaching them Miyagi-Do to help them beat them in the All-Valley. Chozen could sense just how desperately Robby wanted to atone for his past mistakes, despite how rocky things were between him and the rest of them. And all of this caused Chozen to feel a soft spot for the boy.

Chozen had said from the very beginning: the reason he had come to the Valley was to assist Daniel-san AND all of his students. He would stay in the Valley for as long as any of them needed him, and he would leave as soon as they didn't. Fearing that the war he had traveled to the Valley to fight would run a lot longer than it did, he had enlisted long-term help in running his dojo back in Okinawa - a whole year his close friend would be running things in his absence, and if he managed to get back to Okinawa before a year's time, that was just an added bonus. Well Chozen had figured that Miyagi-Do no longer needed him here, which is why he had made the decision to leave. However, the fact that one of the students genuinely needed his help changed everything. It made him hesitant about leaving. His mission here in the Valley wasn't over, and for that reason, he knew that he needed to stay.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of deliberation, Chozen made a decision and nodded at Robby.

"Alright. I will train you. I will be your sensei, Robby…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Robby looked up to see Tory storming through the gates of Miyagi-Do, almost ripping them off their hinges in the process. After his conversation with Chozen, where Chozen had decided to become Robby's new sensei, Chozen had decided on an impromptu training session as a way of judging a baseline of Robby's ability. Chozen invited Robby to message anyone else that he thought would be interested in training with them. However, he only mentioned one person. At least today, he didn't think he was quite ready to face anyone else. He knew he would be soon though. Now that Chozen had officially agreed to train him, it was strange: Robby no longer felt so much anger at everything. Hope and optimism were instead the overwhelming emotions inside him. He felt genuine belief that with Chozen as his sensei, he had a real shot at winning the Taikai. But more than that… with Chozen as his sensei, he had the opportunity to do what he loved and grow as a human being, without all of the drama and trouble that used to come with being in Miyagi-Do.

Given that Miyagi-Do training had been cancelled for the day, the dojo was completely empty and they decided to take advantage. They decided to have their training there, so when Robby had sent a message to that one person, he had told them to meet them at the Miyagi-Do dojo.

She arrived pretty quickly indeed, forcing her taxi driver to break almost every speeding law known to man, and she burst into the dojo. Upon seeing him in the backyard, she charged over to him and shoved him so hard that he nearly fell backwards onto the grass behind him. No, never mind. As she shoved him again, he really did fall into the grass. Robby slowly pulled himself to his feet.

"Look, Tory, I can explain…" He began, but Tory cut him off before he could.

"Are you insane?! Disappearing for nearly an entire day?!" Tory exclaimed. Robby sighed and nodded.

"I know. And I'm sorry. Look, I…" before Robby could finish his sentence, once again, he was interrupted. This time, however, it wasn't by words or a shove to the ground. He felt Tory's arms being tightly wrapped around his neck and pulling him into a crushing hug, one that Robby slowly raised his arms to reciprocate. Tory herself didn't realize just how worried she had been until she saw him standing there, safe and sound. Worry and concern about others wasn't something that Tory let herself ever feel about anyone except her immediate family, but that had been completely undone when it had been Robby missing. With all of the time they had spent together in the past 6 months, he had all but become family himself. Seeing him safe provided her with an intense relief that outweighed any possible anger.

Still in a tight hug, Robby glanced over his girlfriend's shoulder and saw Chozen enter the dojo. He slowly entangled himself from the hug and Tory and Robby both turned towards him, bowing deeply as the man walked over to them, already fully dressed in his gi. Although Chozen wasn't surprised to see Tory there, he was slightly surprised to see that she was the only other person there, and not more of Miyagi-Do had shown up.

Robby explained himself pretty quickly, and Chozen understood. He knew very well the power of anger, and how sometimes it took an extra few seconds to be able to face those you were angry with while still having full control over your emotions. He was more than okay with letting the rest of the Miyagi-Dos know another time that he was offering an optional side-training, and was more eager than anything to begin.

Robby. Chozen. Tory. The only three people there, the beginning of a new chapter of Miyagi-Do in the Valley. After bowing once more to his students, his students bowing back, Chozen began the first lesson in this new generation of Miyagi-Do…