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Robby Keene had decided to continue attending Karate classes at Cobra Kai now that he had moved out of the dojo and back in with his mother. He wasn’t sure why. There was no real reason for him to do so. He didn’t truly care about getting revenge on his father anymore, and that part of him that desired extra punishment for harming Miguel Diaz was mostly satiated.
He mostly hoped that he would be able to participate like a normal student now. No extra classes, no sleeping in the dojo, and no extra abuse. But that turned out to be far too much to hope for.
The class was already there when Robby had arrived. And it seemed like they all knew something that he didn’t. He looked questioningly at Kenny, who had the nerve to look uncomfortable and glance away.
Robby walked up to Tory and asked her, “What’s going on?”
She looked at him in the eyes and responded, “Sparring today. Make sure you protect your shoulder.”
Robby had no clue what Tory was talking about, but she walked away before he could ask.
Then the senseis entered the room and class began, so he didn’t have the opportunity to ask what she had meant.
Kreese stated that today the class would be sparring. The first combination that Kreese chose was two kids that Robby honestly wasn’t familiar with.
He was in the next fight. It was Robby and Piper, because the senseis wanted to encourage their students to fight people of the opposite gender. The two teenagers were doing their sparring match, and both were fighting well. The score was 2-2 when it happened.
Robby hadn’t been expecting it when Piper to aimed for his shoulder, the one that had been displaced by Hawk during the last All Valley. It had never quite healed fully. It usually didn’t hurt at all, even when he was doing Karate, but the direct hit to Robby’s shoulder causes overwhelming pain. He collapsed to the ground. Piper gave him another kick to the chest in order to gain the last point that she needed to win.
Then they were off the mat and another pair was sparring. Robby wasn’t even paying attention to who it was at that point. Robby was rubbing his shoulder, which was just sore now, rather than actually painful. He glanced across the room at Kenny, who was giving him a look of concern. Robby rolled his eyes at the other boy in an attempt to convey the message, “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.” Kenny nodded as if he had received the message and looked away, but the tension didn’t leave the kid’s body.
Then Robby was called back in to spar again. This time, he was fighting Kenny. It was a fair, clean fight, though Robby could sense some tension between Silver and Kenny. He just hoped the kid wouldn’t get into too much trouble for whatever it was that Silver was upset about. Robby won the fight 3-1.
Robby and Kenny both went to return to their places around the side of the mat, but Silver called out, “Not you Keene, stay on the mat.” Robby was confused, but he did as his sensei requested.
“Nichols, your turn to fight Mr. Keene,” Kreese called out.
Silver said quietly, “I hope you fight better than Mr. Payne just did.” The way that Tory looked at the man, Robby could tell that there was some sort of hidden message in the phrase, but he had no idea what that message might have been. He simply stood on the mat, ready to spar with the girl that he was starting to have feelings for.
The fight was intense, but not particularly violent. There was no malicious intent from either competitor, despite each person’s desire to win. The score was 2-2 once again. Tory and Robby both took a breath, and Tory glanced at Silver. Silver gave a slight nod and Tory turned back to Robby and the fight. Robby threw a punch, which Tory quickly dodged. This movement left Robby’s shoulder unprotected. Despite the fact that there are no points given for making contact with the shoulder, Tory hit Robby’s weak spot. She quickly hit him in the stomach to take the point.
Tory hadn’t hit Robby as hard in his weak spot as Piper had, so he didn’t collapse to the ground like he had the last time.
By this point, Robby was pretty sure that he knew what was going on. What with Tory’s warning before class and all of the glances towards the senseis and the tension between Silver and Kenny.
Silver and Kreese had ordered any kids that fought against Robby to aim for his shoulder, to cause him pain. Why? Robby didn’t know. You never could know with the two of them, but Robby was sure that he had it right. That would explain why Tory had kept looking at the senseis before she hit him there. It would explain why Terry Silver was so angry with Kenny. That must be it, the senseis requested that students who fight Robby hit his weak shoulder.
But why would they want their best fighter injured days before the All Valley Tournament? Robby didn’t know. He didn’t know much of anything anymore.
He had moved to the side to let another pair of fighters take their place to spar. Multiple pairings went through the motions of a fight, but Robby was not called again. It seemed like he may have been in the clear.
Then he heard his name. His name and Kyler’s. “The last fight of the night, students,” Kreese informed them.
Kyler. There was no way in hell that Kyler would go easy on his shoulder, not like Tory did. If anything, Kyler would do everything in his power to displace it again.
But Robby stepped onto the fighting mat. It was the last fight of the night, like Kreese had said. All Robby would have to do is defend his shoulder and land points as fast as he could. End the fight as fast as possible to give Kyler less opportunities to hurt him.
What Robby didn’t expect was for Kyler’s first move to go to his shoulder. He wasn’t prepared for Kyler’s immediate attack on his weak spot. Robby had been expecting the other boy to at least try to get a point first, but no, Kyler went straight for Robby’s shoulder. Robby didn’t have the time to block the move, so Kyler’s kick went straight to his shoulder.
There was a loud pop followed by a scream of agonized pain as Robby’s shoulder popped out of its socket. Robby curled on the ground, pain overwhelming him. He thought that he could hear Tory and Kenny’s concerned voices overhead, but that soon went away as well.
The moment Robby’s shoulder was displaced, Kyler backed off, looking proud of himself. Kenny and Tory rushed to their friend’s side, but were quickly sent away by Kreese.
“Class is dismissed. There is no need for you to be here anymore,” Sensei Kreese told the two of them. They didn’t particularly want to argue with the other man, considering the danger that he seemed completely willing to put his students into, so they left as well, casting concerned looks over their shoulders all the way.
After a minute, Kreese addressed Robby directly. “We better pop that back in place.”
Robby was hardly even aware of what was going on, so he didn’t really respond to the words. Before Robby was even clear on what was happening, Kreese popped Robby’s shoulder back into place. Robby let out another howl of pain and curled in on himself again. As the pain began to dull slightly, Robby could make out Kreese telling him to go home and rest up for the tournament.
When Robby stood up, Kreese was already gone.
Robby went home to deal with his injury, hoping that it would be healed before the tournament.