As soon as she gets home, Tory drags off her Miyagi-do gi and throws it on the floor. She pulls on the first shirt and pair of jeans she can find. Well that's it, she's lost any chance of being the team captain. That's what they all wanted, right? Her playing second fiddle to everyone's favourite, Samantha LaRusso. So much for not playing dirty, Miyagi-do.
She sits down on her bed. She can't face being in the living room right now, she can see her mom's room from there and it's bad enough that she keeps replaying the memory of finding her in her head without having to look at where it happened. Lucky that Brandon's staying with their aunt so he doesn't have to deal with any of this. Tory could have gone too but she didn't want to be so far away from the dojo at such an important time.
Taking out her phone, she sees a message from Robby, asking if she's all right. She feels her anger rise again. What does he think? Stupid question. She doesn't answer.
Instead she opens the instagram app and starts scrolling. She feels a stab of fury when she sees a post from Hawk. He's posing with Miguel, Robby, Sam, Demetri and Devon. The caption says Barcelona here we come!
Wait, what?
Her phone almost slips out of her fingers. She grips it tighter.
The picture was only posted ten minutes ago but already there's a bunch of comments congratulating Hawk on his place on the team.
They'd replaced her already.
Tory breathes heavily, feeling a void open up inside of her as that sinks in.
She told them she was done, but she didn't expect them to accept it and forget about her, just like that. Nobody ran after her to stop her leaving the dojo. Robby's message wasn't even asking her if she was sure. She'd expected phone calls and messages begging her to come back.
Well, that just shows how much they think about her.
Tory gets up and grabs the Miyagi-do gi from the floor and balls it up. She goes into the kitchen and throws it in the trash can, then kicks it hard enough to leave a dent.
That's it, she's lost everything. The thought of the Sekai Taikai was all that was keeping her going. Now what? She has no future and no-one on her side.
She screams and lashes out with an arm, sweeping everything off the kitchen counter onto the floor.
Then she sinks down to the floor and holds her head in her hands. Now she's alone she could cry again. But tears don't come. She's too angry to cry.
After a while she gets up. She can't take being alone any more. She needs to get out of here. Her first thought it Robby, but just thinking about him makes her heart ache. He's going to Barcelona and she's not. And all of her friends, at least the people she thought were her friends, are also in Miyagi-do now, either going to the Sekai Taikai or cheering on those who are.
But there is one person. She takes out the flimsy piece of cardboard she shoved in the back of her wallet. Twin Pines Motel is printed on it, along with a phone number and an address. Across the top is written ask for John Smith.
Tory picks up her phone and is about to dial the number, but then decides that she needs the walk anyway.
The motel isn't far. Did he deliberately choose the closest one to her apartment?
The clerk at the reception desk doesn't look much older than her.
"I'm here to see John, uh, Smith," she says.
The clerk frowns slightly, looking Tory up and down. "Did he not give you the room number?" she says coldly.
Now it's Tory's turn to frown. She doesn't like what the clerk is implying about her. "Look, I'm just here to see my grandpa, would you call him for me?"
The clerk leans on her hand and stabs a few keys on the keyboard. "There's three John Smiths staying here right now, which one?"
Tory blanks on how to describe Kreese at first. "He's, uh, this kinda heavyset old military guy," she says. "Like, a guy you wouldn't wanna meet in a dark alley."
"Oh, the cigar guy? God, why can't he vape like a normal person?"
Tory has only ever met two guys who smoked cigars, and the other one is in prison. "Yeah, that'll be him," she says.
The clerk picks up the phone, and Tory goes to sit in one of the armchairs on the far side of the lobby. It's deflated and has seen better days, just like her. She picks at a loose thread on one of the arms as she waits, and replays the humiliating scene from earlier in her head. She tries to imagine if there could have been anything different she could have said to make them see sense. It's too late now, but the thought of it drives her mad. Kreese sure is taking his time. It would just be the end of a fucking perfect day if he knew she was there and just left her waiting.
It gives her a tiny bit of validation when she hears footsteps and looks up to see that he has come down to see her after all.
"Well, well, well. Look who's back."
Tory would usually be ready with a retort, but this time she doesn't know what to say. Endless images of her mother and all those looks of fake concern and pity on the faces of everyone at Miyagi-do keep playing in her head. All the LaRussos stopping her from fighting, pretending it was for her own good. As if they'd know!
She gets to her feet as Kreese stops a few feet away from her. Here is the one person she can trust not to pull that kind of bullshit on her. She doesn't expect him to care, but at least he'll be real with her and not treat her like a child.
"What made you change your mind, Nichols?" he asks after a long silence has passed.
Tory feels her eyes filling with tears. No, no, no, this wasn't supposed to be happening. She doesn't want to look weak in front of Kreese of all people. But when she opens her mouth, her voice comes out thick, barely holding back a sob. "My mom-" is all she can get out.
Kreese closes his eyes, and nods slowly in response. It's the only reaction she's got from anyone that hasn't made her want to scream and punch them.
Before she can stop herself, she's hurling herself at him and throwing her arms around his neck. He doesn't say anything, just curls an arm around her and pats her back a couple of times as she sobs uncontrollably.
"Sorry," she says, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
Kreese gives her a bit of a smile, and glances at the reception clerk, who is still standing at the desk but looking away pointedly. "Should we step outside?"
They find a place in the shade where they can lean against the wall. Tory tries to get her breathing under control while Kreese lights a cigar.
"Did you find her?" he asks without looking at her. He finally gets the end to light and sticks the cigar in his mouth.
Tory nods a few times. "Yeah," she says, clenching her fists as she tries to hold it together. "She was… on the… f-floor."
Kreese takes a drag on his cigar and blows out the smoke slowly. He nods. "I found my mother too," he says, bowing his head. "Fifty years later and I can still see her there, lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling."
Tory clenches her teeth, determined not to start crying again. "It sucks!" she says forcefully.
"Yeah," Kreese breathes. "It really does."
"My mom would have wanted me to fight, and now they won't let me!"
Kreese looks up at her. "They didn't choose you for their team? I knew Lawrence and LaRusso were misguided, but I didn't think they were stupid."
"No, they did, at first. They wanted an independent judge, so they brought in your old friend, Mike Barnes, and-"
"Oh, Barnes isn't my friend. That was all Silver, I had nothing to do with him. Besides, he lost the All Valley back in eighty five to LaRusso. Karate's bad boy? Too right he was bad, just, heh, not in the right way. He was never really Cobra Kai material."
Tory side-eyes Kreese. He seems to have a lot to say about Barnes for someone who had nothing to do with him, but whatever. "Barnes was tough on us, but that was fine. I got through to the final six, I was on the team." She takes a breath. She's breathing so hard it's a struggle to get her words out. "But then we had to compete for the roles of boy and girl captains. It was me against Sam LaRusso. But then, my mom..." She pauses and swallows. "As soon as they all found out and wouldn't let me fight! The way they looked at me. Ugh! Like they thought I had no hope. Like they thought I should go into mourning for the rest of my life. To think, I actually thought these people cared about me!"
Kreese is quiet for a few moments, smoking his cigar and looking out into the distance. When he breaks the silence he speaks softly. "I didn't much care for the way people treated me after my mother passed. People had little sympathy for those who took their own lives back in those days. Nobody expected anything of me after that. I guess they figured I'd go the same way as her. They expected me to just give up." He turns to meet Tory's eyes. "But I didn't have to accept that. And nor do you. From the first moment you stepped into my dojo, I could see that you were like me. You're a fighter. Are you really gonna let them stand in your way?"
"But what can I do?" Tory says, waving her arms in frustration. "That was my only chance!"
Kreese shakes his head. "Not so. Why do you think I'm here?"
"Well I don't know, John Smith, why are you here?"
Kreese snorts. "I'm here for you, of course. You see, I'm not like them. I would have never made you fight for the honour of a place on the team. You've always been my first choice of a champion. I will accept no other."
Tory still resents Kreese for what she went through because of him, but it does feel good to hear him say that. It's good to have one person who believes in her. "Well that's nice and all, but so what?"
"You're forgetting. Silver may have done a lot of things, but he did secure Cobra Kai a place in the Sekai Taikai. It would be foolish not to seize this opportunity."
Tory smiles. She feels her anger and sorrow subsiding as she considers the idea. "Okay," she says. "So what's your plan? Everyone from Cobra Kai's joined Miyagi-do now. The only one who's not on the team already who I might be able to convince is Kenny."
Kreese looks thoughtful. "Kenny was Silver's protege, yes? Well, we can't really hold that against him forever. Not a bad idea. Certainly something to think about," he says. "But as it stands I have a team of three. While you've been jostling for recognition at Miyagi-do, I took a trip to Korea to visit my old sensei, Master Kim Sun-Yung. I have been assessing his pupils for suitability for the competition. He teaches them tang soo do, the way of the fist, the same as he taught to me. They are Cobra Kai, as much as you and I."
"So we have four, maybe five of us? We're supposed to have six."
"Six is the maximum. A smaller team which is strong and trustworthy is much better than a bigger one including those who may fail or turn against you. Nowhere in the rules does it say that there is a minimum, just that we have a girl and a boy to serve as captains. I have already selected a boy captain, and with you, I have my girl captain."
Tory leans away and holds out her palm. "Wait, I didn't say yes."
Kreese cocks his head to one side. "Oh? I thought that was implied when you started talking about us assembling a team."
Tory smirks. "Okay, you got me."
"So you will represent Cobra Kai? My Cobra Kai?"
Tory rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine."
"I expect better than that from you, Nichols."
Tory stands up straight. "Yes, Sensei," she says with conviction.
"Better."
A silence falls between them, Kreese smoking his cigar, Tory leaning back against the motel wall again. Finally, there's a glimmer of hope for her. She can see herself at the Sekai Taikai representing Cobra Kai, where she belongs. She never really fit in at Miyagi-do anyway.
"So what's with the fake name?" she asks after some time has passed.
"I was acquitted of the charges against Stingray when he finally decided to do us all a favour and tell the truth, but there is still a warrant out for my arrest." He chuckles to himself. "A few people got in my way when I was making my way out of jail."
"And you'd risk getting caught by coming back here?"
Kreese nods. "It was worth it," he says. "For you."
"Wow. If only I knew all of that before," Tory says. She smirks. "Well, I'd've probably still turned you down, but I'd have at least been nicer about it."
Kreese laughs. "Never change, Nichols."
Tory feels a swell of emotion and her eyes fill up with tears again. "I wouldn't if you told me to," she shoots back.
He smiles at her. "And that's why you're my champion."