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Class at Cobra Kai had just let out. Kreese and Silver had told Robby that they wanted to work with him privately. The boy had been having difficulty with the move that they had been working on in class. They were probably just going to give him some tips, at least that’s what Robby hoped would happen.
He should have known better.
As the boy followed the men into the backroom, Robby felt his anxiety spike. If they were just going to work on the move that the students had been working on in class, they could have done it in the front part of the dojo, where there were windows, and anyone could see what was happening. Moving to the back room, where there was no window, Robby’s brain screamed at him that it was dangerous.
Robby ignored the scream. It was just his anxiety. Anxiety made him weak. If he ignored it, maybe he would be able to be strong.
So, he followed the men into the backroom.
He found there was a punching bag set up for him. Maybe they were just going to work on the kick, but Robby didn’t really trust that.
Kreese looked at Robby and said, “Do the tornado kick, Robby. Show me you can do it.”
But Robby couldn’t do it. For some completely unfathomable reason, Robby’s body would not allow him to move in this way. He couldn’t very well say that to his sensei, though. So, he tried to do a tornado kick. He couldn’t even get the first part of the motion correct.
He had expected to get screamed at, told off for doing it wrong. He maybe even expected to get hit. What he did expect was electricity running through his body. He fell backwards in shock and pain. He looked at Kreese with an expression that screamed, “What the fuck?!” Then he saw the taser in Kreese’s hand.
Kreese had just intentionally electrocuted him. For doing a move wrong.
“Get up and try again,” Kreese said. And Robby stood and got in position to attempt the move again. What else could he do?
But Robby still got the movement wrong. He felt the electricity again, just as stunningly painful as the first time.
But when Kreese requested that he get up and try again, he did. Every fucking time.
After thirty or so tries, Robby couldn’t get back up. His body was shaking far too much due to the strain of being electrocuted so many times.
“Get up!” Kreese shouted.
Robby’s voice was barely a whisper when he said, “I can’t,” as he struggled to get up again. He was shocked to feel the electricity again at that moment. He collapsed back onto the floor.
Kreese knelt next to his head and Robby was terrified of what he knew was coming. He would honestly rather have been tasered again than hear the words that he knew that Kreese was about to say.
“You are weak, Robby Keene,” his sensei told him. Robby knew it was true, after all, who would be this stunned by the shock of a taser. He could see now that it wasn’t even on full power. So yeah, it was true, but that didn’t mean that he liked to hear it. “You are worthless,” Kreese said, hitting Robby with the taser again. Robby knew this was true too. After all, the closest person he had to a friend was either a child that he had dragged into this mess, a girl that was helping him cope with Cobra Kai in not so healthy ways, or the man with a taser right above him. No one else wanted him at all. So, he must have been pretty worthless. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow. And you better know this tornado kick, or we’ll be doing this all over again.”
Robby heard the lock slide into place. He guessed that he was stuck in here for the night. Robby knew that he should have gotten up and practiced the move to avoid future pain, but he was in too much present pain to even stand. Robby couldn’t feel his arms or legs, and he honestly didn’t know if that was a response to the massive amounts of electricity that was pumped into his body, or an anxiety response.
Probably both.
Robby was so fucking afraid.
But he couldn’t stand up, not even if he were to just go to his cot and lie down.
So, Robby stayed there, sprawled on the floor, in severe pain all night, knowing that he will just have to go through it all again tomorrow, no matter what he did.