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Robby hadn’t won the male section of the tournament, like he had been planning to do. Hawk had beaten him, fair and square. Honestly, Robby thought that it was probably for the best, considering the fact that at least Hawk would be around to enjoy the victory. Robby wouldn’t. So, maybe it was a good thing that Hawk had beaten him in the Tournament.
Besides, Cobra Kai still won the All Valley overall and Robby had done extremely well in the kata section of the skills competition. So, the plan was still on.
Robby went to leave the building where the Tournament took place to go back to the dojo and commit to the final step of his plan when he heard Sensei Kreese call his name. The man didn’t sound happy, but Robby didn’t very much care if Kreese was happy or not.
He turned to face his sensei anyway.
“You lost to the Moskowitz boy, the traitor,” Kreese spat.
“I got second place. That’s not bad.”
“You didn’t win Mr. Keene.”
This seemed to Robby to be just another of Kreese’s verbal lashings, and he was willing to take one last verbal abuse session. He knew how to take it. Except he didn’t. Not really. There was a reason that he was pushed to the point of planning his own death. And it was because he couldn’t handle any more of Kreese and Silver’s abuse.
What Robby wasn’t prepared for was Kreese’s physical attack. Robby hadn’t expected the man to cause any physical harm to him while they were in such a public place, but he felt Kreese’s arm wrap tightly around his neck, pushing so hard against Robby’s throat that the boy couldn’t breathe.
Robby could hear people screaming around him, but he couldn’t make out who was saying what, or even what was being said at all. As his vision began to fade, Robby couldn’t help but feel a little thankful. At least this way, Robby’s death wouldn’t be considered a suicide. No one would ever know about Robby’s suicidal thoughts, or the plan that he had to bring about his own death. Anyone who decided to miss him would blame Kreese rather than anyone else.
Yeah. Robby would have been fine dying right there, held in Kreese’s stranglehold.
But then, Robby felt a loosening of the grasp around his neck. The boy fell to the ground, suddenly able to breathe again. An odd sense of disappointment overwhelmed him. It would have been perfect if not for… who had saved him?
Robby glanced in the direction of the ruckus that he could hear and saw Daniel LaRusso fighting Sensei Kreese. Robby couldn’t feel anything but an unsettling amount of confusion. Why would Mr. LaRusso want to save him? Robby didn’t know, but when the fight between the two men ended with Kreese being dragged away by the authorities, Daniel began walking in his direction, as if to check on him.
“Why did you save me?” Robby asked the man that he used to look up to.
“Because, Robby, you’re still you, despite everything that’s happened, and I still care about you.”
Robby didn’t know how to respond to that. He had been waiting for someone to tell Robby that they love him, but, now that it happened, Robby just felt confused. He didn’t know if Daniel meant it when he said that he cared about Robby. The poor boy had hardly any clue what was going on at all.
One might think that this declaration from Daniel would decrease Robby’s commitment to his suicidal plan, and it did, but not enough to stop it from happening.
“Well, thanks,” Robby said to Daniel. “I’m going to go home now.”
“Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“No. It’s a nice night. I think I’ll walk. It’s not too far. Thanks, though.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
Robby looked Daniel straight in the face and said, “Yeah. I’m fine.” One last lie for the person that he had lied the most to in his whole life. Mr. LaRusso would forgive him, probably. Eventually.
And with that, Robby started on his way to the Cobra Kai dojo, ready to end everything right where all of the pain and torment had begun.