Sam texted everyone that the dojos were open again after they were able to get Johnny and Daniel on the same page. One of their assignments was to strengthen the bond between the two dojos, so they were to hang out together. Anthony and Lee were walking to the cat cafe in the mall. Unfortunately, they had to walk past Cobra Kai's new location there. They were handing out shirts and had a signup table. "Hey, have a free shirt." A girl moves to stand in front of them.
"Oh, I just burned all my Cobra Kai shirts, so I don't need another." Lee declines and walks around the stunned girl.
"She said take the shirt." Kenny shoves the shirt into her chest. She grabbed his arm and bent it behind his back. "Nah…Nah…Stay there or I'll break it." She tsk when Kyler and Red tried to charge her.
"We're in public" Anthony whispers to her.
"They didn't care about that when they kicked the shit out of you the last time you went to the mall." She bent it back a little more, making Kenny cry out. Everyone was on edge because she had the same feral look in her eyes that she had when she beat Piper's face in.
"What's going on here?" She looks to the side to see a Korean man with bleach-blonde hair.
"Who are you?" She asks.
"I'm Sensei Hyan-Woo. You must be one of the few students that I didn't meet yet. You can't be sparring out here." He narrowed his eyes when she didn't move. "Let him go!"
"They're not Cobra Kai," Kyler told him.
"Eagle Fang." She winks.
"Miyagi Do." Anthony waves. Kenny tried to swing his leg back to kick her. He missed kicking Anthony who was trying to convince her to let go. He grabs his leg while hissing in pain. She uses that moment to slam him into the ground. She put a foot on the side of his face to keep his head down while keeping his arm in a tight hold.
"I recognized you." He nods to Lee. "You were in the All Valley."
"Yeah, I won the skill competition." She had been recognized for that before.
"Yeah, you also got eliminated when you wouldn't let up on your opponent. That hit to the solar plexus was skilled." He remembers that match. "You have the warrior spirit. You could thrive in Cobra Kai."
"I thrive anywhere I go." She smirks.
"Presley Cole, what are you doing?" She went stiff when she heard her grandma's voice. She dropped Kenny's arm.
"Nothing, just a friendly spar. I told you I'm doing karate now." She steps on Kenny's back to walk to her side. Anthony made sure to be at her heels. "What are you doing today?" She grabbed the shopping bag from her hands.
Kyler helped Kenny up. They watch Lee turn on her charm to greet her grandma's friends. "We're going to knit at the cat cafe. Make the little sweaters to help them get adopted." She told her granddaughter.
"Oh, no way. I was going to have lunch there." She led her grandma past Cobra Kai.
"Hi, ma'am have a shirt." Kyler held out a shirt.
"Oh, free shirts." Donna grabbed it.
"Sure, maybe a cat can give birth on it." She glares at him for approaching.
"Presley." She tugged on her hair.
"What? It's just friendly competition." She gave a tight smile. "Come on, these cats aren't going to dress themselves."
Miguel, Demetri, Eli, and Lee were stretching before practice. "So, you and Sam are back in the dojo. Game on, right?" Eli nods to Miguel.
"Yeah, game on for karate." He rolled his eyes.
"Come on. I see you staring at her." He gestures to her.
"I thought you decided to keep things platonic?" Demetri thought the breakup was mutual.
"Well, she did… he didn't." Eli teased.
"You know what they say, put a box of matches near some fireworks soon enough." He imitates an explosion. "Sparks will fly." His smile was taken off his face. "Something tells me it is about to be the fourth of July." They watch Robby walk across the yard to talk to Sam.
"Can't believe that piece of shit on our team." Eli was having a hard time with him being here.
"Alright, relax. He wants exactly what we want. So… we should be fine." He reminds them that he is not the enemy.
"Besides, he has major feelings for Tory. The whole reason he wants to stop Cobra Kai is to save her and Kenny from the darkness." Lee touched her toes.
"What's his deal with Kenny?" Demetri asks.
"He made friends with his older brother in juvie. When Kenny was getting bullied, his brother sent him to Robby. He feels like he failed Kenny." She explains.
"Did you two talk about everything?" Eli sneers.
"Do you know how long we were in the car together? A long time. Johnny's radio was busted." She couldn't sit in the silence.
"Line up!" Sensei Chozen, Daniel's friend from Japan, orders them to gather in front of the sparring deck.
"Where's my dad and Johnny?" Sam asks.
"Not here." He didn't give any more information. "Today, you train with me." He yelled something in Japanese. When only Lee stood up straight, he translated. "Attention. Ojigi." Lee bows, making the rest follow her. "Cobra Kai gaining ground. We must prepare. Come." He beckons them on the deck. There was a table of weapons.
"This is going to be badass. Check out the throwing knives." Mitch was excited.
"Now, we learn about Yanbaru Kuina." He told them.
"What is that? Like, some top-secret karate move? Like a throat rip." Chris pretends to choke himself.
"No, it's a bird." Lee laughed.
"Do you know everything Japanese?" Bert wonders.
"No, but it's a nickname for a character on Ro-Kyu-Bu!" She explains why she knew that.
"In English, it is called Okinawa rail. Endangered. It cannot fly." He told them.
"Hence, endangered." Demetri shrugged.
"So, they can run fast and climb trees. It endangers for the same reason a lot of animals are, humans." She crosses her arms.
"I didn't realize these birds were dear to you." He scoffs.
"Now, you know." She gave him a fake smile.
"Are they mad at each other?" Robby asks Chris.
"Oh no, that's Demetri and Lee. They are snarky nerds so they're going to snip at each other." He let it be known that it was nothing to be concerned about.
Chozen took a cloth off a carton of eggs. "Are those the real eggs?" Miguel asks.
"He just said they're endangered. We couldn't legally have those eggs." Lee sighs.
"I got them from trader joe, 3.29. Take an egg." He waves to the cartons.
"What do we do with them?" Sam asked after they all got an egg. Lee took the extra egg when she saw one was left over. She put it in her jogger's pocket. She was wearing a zip-up tank top, joggers, and sneakers.
"Yanbaru Kuina must protect eggs from Kume Kinma Habu, a poisonous snake. You do the same." He turned over the hourglass. "Begin your preparations."
"What are we protecting it from?" Robby asks.
"From me." He took out two sai and twirled them around. "Go! Go!" They scattered. Lee ran behind the boulder. She looked around her to see that no one was near before unzipping the top halfway and putting the egg between her breasts. She zipped it up slowly to make sure she didn't crush it. She looked down to see that no one could see the egg between her breasts.
Chozen yelled out to them. "I see many little birds spread in the wind! Many dead eggs!"
She took out the decoy egg. She walks by the koi pond to drop it in there. It made a small splash catching the sensei's attention but he didn't say anything. She walks over to the boys. "So, you're gonna sit there. Not even hide the egg." She tilts her head.
"Why leave it unprotected?" Miguel wasn't willing to risk it.
"Look at him trying to move in on her. If you want, I'll kick his ass." Eli nods to Robby laughing with Sam and Anthony.
"No, you don't need to do that. Robby and I are cool. My mom is pregnant with Sensei's baby so I'm not going to make unnecessary waves. I don't think he would either." He wasn't going to put stress on his mom.
"Congratulations." They high-fives each other.
Chozen let out a whistle. "The hunger games have begun." Demetri stood up.
The older man jumps into the koi pond and grabs Lee's egg. He climbed out and made a show of crushing it. "Good hiding spot but you made too much noise." He told her before walking off.
"So much for your hiding space." Eli laughed.
Lee faked a pout. "It was a small splash."
"Luckily, I have eggs-ecuted the perfect plan. When I win, everyone will have egg on their face. They'll be shell-shocked. The yolk will…" Demetri's smile grew with each joke.
"Enough with the puns." Lee put her hand up.
"What's your plan?" Eli asks.
"I'm glad you asked. I have a protective covering." He pulled out a paper cover that went over the egg. "I made it out of a college prep book for blunt force impact, and I tied the whole thing together with an old spool of dental floss and my left shoelace." He lifted his foot.
A small throwing knife flew past them and penetrated his egg making yolk soak the pages. Miguel and Eli ran.
"Bird loves to hear himself sing. You sing a lonely song and now you are dead." Chozen took his knife back.
Demetri and Lee went to the sparring deck. "Let's watch this play out." She took the bag of taro chips out of her backpack. They eat while they watch.
"Oh shit." He cursed while Lee laughed at Chozen knocking Chris out of the tree onto Mitch, who had the bright idea to sit on his egg. "Welcome to the party." He nods to them when they join them.
Chozen giggled when he knocked Bert and Nate, who was on the pond platform, into the water. "Oh, no, get the pieces of the broken egg out of the pond." Lee didn't want the fish to get sick if they ate it. After they pulled out what they could they joined them on the deck.
Robby tried to bury his egg but Chozen caught him and his egg got speared. Robby pouts as he stands next to Lee. Having gotten all the teens in the backyard, he moved to the front. A few minutes later Eli and Anthony walk onto the sparring deck. Eli pushes his way to stand between Lee and Robby. "How'd he take you out?" Robby asks.
"Shut up. Don't talk to me." He side-eyes him.
"If this is about the mohawk, I'm sorry. But, if anyone knows how Cobra Kai can turn you into an asshole, it's you." He thought Eli would have understood him.
"Oh so, I'm an asshole?" He points at his chest
"Let's see, you attacked me and Sam at the mall." He pointed up one finger.
"I didn't attack you at the mall. You jumped in on my fight with Demetri." He corrected.
"You broke Demetri's arm." He points at the guy.
"And you almost killed Miguel." He countered.
"You trashed this entire dojo." He went on with his list of crimes.
"Half of the people here trashed this dojo." He couldn't hold that against him. Lee's eyes went back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.
"You lead the charge and I bet you were the one that stole Mr. Miyagi's medal." He thought that was Eli's fault more than anyone else.
"And when Miguel returned it you lied to Sam that you found it. So, you were an asshole long before you joined Cobra Kai." He was going to make his case that Robby had a worse history than him.
"Enough, you're both ex-assholes," Demetri yelled. "Can we focus on the problem at hand? There is a maniac attacking us with weapons."
"Who even left?" Chris looks around.
"Miguel and Sam." Robby noticed the missing people.
"Does that make you worried?" Eli smirks.
"Eli. We are trying to defeat Cobra Kai, we don't need the added drama of a love triangle." She sighs.
"Off Deck. Stand in front." Chozen came out of the house with Miguel and Sam. The teens dropped down to the ground. He took out a hot plate and pan. "You lost." He turns it on.
"Actually, Eli covers me." Lee took a step back from the group.
"Cover you?" He was confused but stood in front of her. His eyes widened when her hand went to the zipper between her breasts. "Woooaaahhh…. Wait." He took off his jacket to spread it out in front of her. "Get a few feet behind us." He yelled at the guys that were on the side. "Okay, now you may continue." He nods to Lee. He watches her unzip her top halfway to pull out an egg. He waited until she was zipped back up to put the jacket down.
"Huh?" Chozen tilts his head.
"The other egg was a decoy. I did the splash on purpose so you'd go after that one and I could keep this one safe." She held it like it was a golden egg.
He took it from her. "Okay, you win the game but you fail the lesson."
"Huh? I do not fail." She shook her head.
"Tell me." He put the egg down by the pan before grabbing Anthony and putting him in a chokehold. "Who would you sacrifice to save him?"
"Sam, it's her brother." Miguel nudges her. She looks at him to see his pointed stare. "Oh, I get it. I'm solving this like a Slytherin when I need to do it like a Gryffindor…. Which plays into the snake thing… okay, I would sacrifice myself." She nodded when she was happy with her answer.
"No…. no sacrifice." He pushed Anthony away from him. "You are not good, Yanbaru Kuina." He cracked the egg into the pan. "Snake will take you down one by one. I have tried to tell you what you must do. But you do not listen. You must learn to adapt or soon you will be extinct. Take new eggs… one egg and try again." He brought out another carton. He figured they wouldn't get it on the first try.
Sam grabbed the carton of eggs to bring it over to them. They each took one. "Sensei Toguchi's real cryptic like Sensei LaRusso, but aggressive like Sensei Lawrence," Demetri noted.
"It's like the hardest of both styles." Chris nods.
"Can't wait to get our asses kicked again." Mitch turned to walk away. Everyone was about to follow his lead.
"No, no, wait," Anthony called them back to the huddle. "He said that the snake will take us down one by one. Right? Just like he took us down one by one but what if we weren't a bunch of ones? Like what if we were…"
"Together?" Sam helped him out.
"Exactly… Like, a raiding party in Dungeon Lords." He uses a video game example.
Demetri caught on right away. "Yeah, even if you're level 85 you can't mount an attack on the grand realm alone."
"You need a team. Everyone had a special role." Eli nods.
"The only way we win is teamwork if you work together as one," Anthony tells the group.
"Is it always teamwork?" Lee rolled her eyes.
"Being a bad team player is your worst quality." Eli knew this was going to be hard for her. She put a hand on her chest while gasping. "It's not your fault you're traumatized from being put in group projects with assholes."
"If I'm bad at teamwork then why did my paintball team win and I'm asked to come along on all your Dungeon Lords raids." She put her hands on her hips.
"You did take two guns and found a hiding spot to take out most of the targets yourself." Robby thought of how she went rogue.
"And you used me as a shield." Mitch still had bruises from that.
"You're level 110 and know all the cheat codes so even though you act on your own, it's still good to have you in the raid party." Demetri cleared up why he begs her to be in his party.
"Fine. I'm willing to learn teamwork. Tell me my role and I will play it." She turns to Anthony.
They put all the eggs into a bucket hat and put it in the middle of the sparing deck and made a circle around it. "So, we're sure we want to put all our eggs in one basket? That is the thing you're always told not to do. Lee, put one in your bra." Demetri orders.
"No, if I have to cross my arms at all then it will be a mess." She wasn't going to do that when she had to fight.
"This is going to work," Anthony reassured them.
A whistle pierced through the air making the teens jump. "Oh no. oh no. Oh god." Mitch started to panic.
"Get it together, Penis Breath." Eli rolled his eyes.
"Can anyone see him?" Lee didn't spot him.
"Oh shit." Miguel pointed at him running around the koi pond to get to them. He had a bo with him. They work together to get the bo from him. They attack him in two to wear him down. Anthony picked up the egg and moved to the side so they wouldn't get smashed in the chaos. They made a group in front of the eggs and moved as one when he would move. "Snake concedes." He bows to them. They bow before cheering. Eli pulled Anthony into a hug while everyone patted his back for making up the plan. "This is what we have that Cobra Kai does not. Their movement is a mile wide, but only an inch deep. But our movement, inch wide but a mile deep. Now that you have learned to work together, I will teach you how to master your defense." He yells in Japanese. They stood at attention and then bowed when he gave that order. He used the eggs they protected to teach them to make tamagoyaki. The teens were enjoying it over rice.
Robby walks over to Eli. He held out a water bottle as a peace offering. Eli stared at it. "You have no reason to trust me. My word means nothing to you. There isn't anything I can do to prove myself to you this second. With time you'll see that I don't have an allegiance with Cobra Kai."
"What happens if you have to fight Kenny or Tory? Even though he was wrong at the water park, you stood up for him." He grabs the bottle. He didn't know if Robby would be able to do what needed to be done.
"I'm going to do what has to be done. It was a reaction to save Kenny. If I have to knock him out to show him that Cobra Kai is not the answer for everything then I will." He nods.
"And Tory?" He tilts his head.
"Tory can handle herself." He wasn't worried about hurting her.
"I'll lay off but if you slip, I get a free shot." He smirks.
"Sure." They shook hands.
