CHAPTER 95

Tory promised to keep her word and not tell the adults about Robby's decision to enlist, not until he told them himself, which is why Robby was so taken aback when he walked home the following afternoon and as he walked into the apartment, found himself staring at Miguel, Tory, Johnny, Carmen, Daniel and Amanda, all sitting at the dining table and all staring at him as he walked through the door. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened, and he groaned as he took a seat at the table beside Tory.

"Really? You couldn't have kept it a secret for at least 24 hours?" Robby grumbled to her. Tory sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just… I thought they had a right to know if this was what you were really serious about doing. Miguel agreed with me." Tory replied. Robby shot him a look, sighing in defeat.

"Right. Thank you for your loyalty." He muttered.

"Thank God she did tell us! What the hell are you doing, Robby?!" Johnny exclaimed in a harsh, fuming tone. "Do you want to get yourself killed?!"

"I know it's dangerous. But so are a lot of other jobs. Fishermen have a higher death rate than the military." Robby replied. Johnny scowled at him.

"You know it's not the same, Robby." He snapped. "Look at the two most psychopathic men in the Valley. Do you want to know how they became that way? The fucking Army, that's how!"

Daniel held up a hand to stop Johnny's enraged yelling for a moment and he turned to Robby, a much more calm expression on his face, even if he was still really concerned.

"I think, Robby, what Johnny is trying to say is that it's not only dying or getting physically hurt that you're going to have to worry about. There's also the risk of mental trauma, that can completely change you."

Robby nodded.

"I know. And that's definitely a risk I'm going to have to take." He said. "I've actually spoken to my recruiter about this. There are support systems in place, both overseas and here at home, to help combat this. Those who go through what Kreese and Silver went through quite often either didn't have access to the help back then, or they chose not to seek it out. I have an entire life that I want to live even after enlisting, so I can guarantee that I'll make sure that doesn't happen to me."

"How are you supposed to know that from now though? How can you say that you know what's going to happen after you go overseas?" Carmen asked him, as concerned about Robby as she would've been had it been her own biological family. Because that's what they had become by this point: her, Johnny, Miguel, Robby and the new baby on the way had all become their own weird kind of family.

Robby shrugged.

"I can't. I have no idea what's going to happen in the future." He admitted, causing Johnny to slam his fist down against the table in frustration. "All I know is that whatever my mental state is coming back from overseas, it's not going to be much worse than what it would be if I'm trapped here in the Valley for the rest of my life, wasting away, making nothing of myself, having to live pay-check to pay-check, dead-end job to dead-end job. The military can help me. The benefits for post-enlistment can help me so much."

"Robby, if money's the problem, you're more than welcome to come work for us like Tory's doing." Amanda offered. "It's a steady paycheck, and it'll give you time to figure out what you want to."

"Thanks, but I already know what I want to do… this." Robby responded. "It's not just for the benefits or anything like that. You could offer me a 5 figure paycheck and it wouldn't make me change my mind. Enlisting allows me to get out of the Valley, do something truly meaningful, something I'm proud to do. My whole life, I've never known what I'm good at. I struggle academically with almost everything. But what I can do, and can actually do well, is fight."

"So become a professional fighter then! You probably stand a better chance at that than joining the military!" Johnny snapped. Robby sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not doing that. Not only is there no way I'm actually making it at that, but I don't want to. I don't give a shit about fighting for the sake of fighting. I care about fighting for other people, fighting for the people I care about. Doing that for the past few years here in the Valley, fighting Cobra Kai, with every new enemy that seemed to come out of nowhere and pose a massive threat to us, it made me realize just how many bad people there are in this world. It started with your and Miguel's Cobra Kai. Then came Kreese. Then Silver. Then Kim. Then Marcos. All of these people… they're harmless guinea pigs compared to some of the truly horrible people out there, and these people are causing harm to the innocent. I can't live in a world where this is happening without anyone fighting back to protect them. I can't work a 9-5 office job when there are people, innocent boys and girls all over the world, who need help but aren't strong enough to fight for themselves."

It was a passionate speech, one spoken right from Robby's heart. Tory hadn't even heard half of this yet after their conversation the afternoon before, so she was just as shocked as everyone else to hear this. And Robby telling them all of this, the adults seeing the pure determination he had for this next chapter in his life… it was enough to soften the concerned expressions on their faces. Well, most of their faces. Johnny still wasn't convinced, and he shook his head vehemently.

"No. Look, I don't care about whatever fairytale bullshit your recruiter told you! Fact is the Army is where people go when they have no other choice, nowhere else to go, for a reason."

Robby raised an eyebrow.

"Um… have you seen the list of colleges knocking at the door, asking me to commit. After I've been out of school for a year and a half and am legally a juvenile delinquent, it's not exactly a long list. I don't have that many options."

"You have plenty of other options, Robby!" Johnny spat. "The dealership! The dojo! The…"

"No! Look, stop!" Robby snapped back. "I'm not staying right here in the Valley, exactly where I am right now, for the rest of my life! I'm just not, dad!"

"Well you're not enlisting in the fucking military either!" Johnny shouted. Robby glared at him.

"I'm 18 next month, you remember that right? If I want to enlist, I'm legally old enough that I don't even need parental consent." Robby replied. "I'm telling you all of this as a courtesy, because I want you all to know, because I care about you. But if you don't like the decision… I'm sorry but that's your problem. I'm doing this anyway."

"No! You're not!" Johnny shot back. "As your dad, I forbid you from doing this!"

"Johnny, stop." Daniel tried to tell him, but Johnny wasn't in the mood to hear it. He was beside himself with a combination of anger, worry and shock at the decision, unwilling to budge even a little. This caused frustration and anger to begin to build up inside Robby towards his father. Robby slowly stood up, facing his father and shaking his head.

"Really? You're going to play the father act now? You're about 17 years too late for that." Robby remarked, his words dripping with sting and menace.

"Robby, don't." Tory murmured quietly, but just like his father had, Robby had also lost his temper, and was in no mood to hear this either. Like father, like son.

"No. He needs to hear this!" Robby stated. "Dad, things have been way better between us these past few months. It's been great. But let's not get something mistaken… that doesn't change the fact that you haven't been there for 17 years! Without you around and with mom being mom, I had to raise myself. I had to figure out what's best for me all by myself, because you weren't there to help me. So who are you to now sit here and tell me what I can and can't do?"

With that, Robby turned on his heel and stormed out of the apartment, Johnny doing the same a few moments later, a massive fracture suddenly having appeared in the seemingly improving yet still extremely complicated relationship between father and son…