Chapter Text
Robby’s POV
The scrape of my knuckles against the wooden practice dummy usually grounded me, but today, the rhythmic, hollow thump felt too much like the pounding in my own chest. I was supposed to be grabbing more ice for the boys' pads after practice, but I froze in the shadows of the dojo hallway as I heard her name.
"I just don't know if we can trust her, Chozen," Mr. LaRusso’s voice drifted through the paper-thin walls, laced with that familiar, frustrating weight of caution. "We’re going to the global stage. One misstep, one flash of anger, and the committee could disqualify the entire Miyagi-Do squad. I know she’s trying, but given her history with Kreese and Silver... is she really a good fit for the Sekai Taikai team?"
No.
My breath caught in my throat. He was talking about Tory.
I pressed my back against the cold concrete, my stomach dropping. After everything she'd gone through—the hell at Cobra Kai, her mother sickness and actively choosing to walk away from Kreese to be with us—he still saw her as the enemy. As the girl who couldn't control her temper.
I could hear the shuffling of feet in the room. Another voice murmured something low—probably Chozen or maybe even Amanda. But the silence that followed felt deafening.
He doesn't want her on the team.
A sudden, hot rush of anger flared behind my ribs, a dark, familiar ghost of my old Cobra Kai days. For a second, I flashed back to my own time jumping from dojo to dojo, constantly feeling like the outsider who would never truly belong at Miyagi-Do no matter how hard I tried to earn Daniel’s approval.
But this wasn't about me.
Tory was putting everything on the line to be better. She poured her sweat into that mat every single day, trying to find her balance without the poison of Cobra Kai in her ear. And Mr. LaRusso—the man who preached mercy, second chances, and balance—was ready to cut her loose just when she needed support the most.
I gripped the strap of the duffel bag, my jaw clenching so hard it ached.
How am I supposed to walk in there, hand him the ice, and pretend I didn't just hear the man I look up to dismiss the girl I love?
How can I ask her to trust this dojo when they were already planning to leave her behind?
I backed away down the hallway, the sound of my own quiet footsteps masking the turmoil in my head. I had to go find her. And whatever Mr. LaRusso decided, I wasn't letting Tory face this alone.
The hot, prickly burn of betrayal wouldn't leave my chest. I sat in my car, staring at my phone, the screen casting a harsh blue glow on my steering wheel.
Daniel LaRusso’s voice kept looping in my head.
Is she really a good fit?
A liability.
They were never going to let her win. They were never going to let us win without conditions. At Miyagi-Do, you had to be perfect. You had to have a clean past, or spend the rest of your life begging for forgiveness. Tory didn't have time to beg. She was drowning, and they were arguing over whether she'd ruin their reputation.
My thumb hovered over a number I never thought I’d look at again.
John Kreese.
The phone rang twice. Then, that low, gravelly voice cut through the speaker.
"Robby. I wondered when you'd realize the peace-love-and-balance routine was a lie."
"I don't care about your philosophy, Kreese," I said, my voice sharper than I intended. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white. "But I need to know something. If Tory and I come back... what's the deal?"
A low chuckle echoed from the other end. "The deal is simple, Robby. At Cobra Kai, you earn what you get based on your strength, not your pedigree. No LaRusso rules. No keeping you down because of your past."
Kreese paused, letting the words sink in. He knew exactly what buttons to push, but the worst part was, he wasn't wrong about Daniel. Not this time.
"I have two captain slots open for the Sekai Taikai," Kreese continued, his voice dropping into that smooth, confident tone he used when he knew he had you trapped. "One for the boys, one for the girls. No qualifiers. No biased judges. You and Tory. You take what's yours, and you show the world what happens when you stop letting weak men dictate your worth."
My heart hammered against my ribs.
Captain.
No fighting against Miguel or Sam just to prove we deserved a spot to people who already judged us.
"Tory doesn't know I'm calling," I muttered, a wave of guilt hitting me. She wanted to change. She wanted to believe in Miyagi-Do. But I couldn't let her walk into a trap where she'd get her heart broken by LaRusso's rejection.
"She will understand," Kreese said softly. "You're protecting her, Robby. Like a leader should. The door is open. Bring her home."
The line went dead. I stared at the phone, the silence in the car suddenly suffocating. I had just taken a step back into the dark. But looking out at the Miyagi-Do dojo in my rearview mirror, I knew one thing for sure: I would go to hell and back if it meant protecting Tory.
…
I kept my hand on Tory’s shoulder as we sat on the hood of my car, the distant sounds of the Miyagi-Do students warming up for the captain’s match echoing from the backyard.
When I first told her what Daniel had said, her reaction wasn't tears. It was a cold, sharp stillness that scared me more than any outburst. Her jaw had clenched so tight I could see the muscle twitching under her skin.
"A liability," she whispered, her voice dangerously quiet. She looked down at her taped knuckles. "After everything. I survived my mom dying, I survived Silver, I came here and bowed to LaRusso... and I’m still just a thug to him."
"We don't need his permission to prove who we are, Tory," I said, leaning in so she could see the absolute certainty in my eyes.
"I called Kreese."
Her head snapped up, her eyes wide with a mix of shock and betrayal. "You did what? "
"He’s offering us the global stage," I argued fiercely, grabbing both of her hands. "Listen to me. Kreese has two captain spots open for the Sekai Taikai. One for you, one for me. No qualifiers, no LaRusso second-guessing your every move, no dealing with Sam or Miguel getting preferred treatment. We walk in, we take the gi, and we show the world what we can do. On our own terms."
Tory stared at me, her breathing ragged. I could see the war raging inside her head. Part of her wanted to fight Daniel, to prove him wrong on the mat today. But the bigger, exhausted part of her was done begging for a seat at a table that didn't want her.
She looked toward the dojo gates, then back at me. A dark, resolute spark ignited in her eyes. "The captain's match starts in ten minutes," she said, a grim smile finally breaking through. "They're expecting us to walk out there and fight Sam and Miguel."
"Let them fight empty air," I said.
Our plan was formed in less than sixty seconds. There would be no dramatic confrontations, no screaming matches with my dad or Daniel. That’s what they’d expect from 'troubled kids' like us. Instead, we were just going to vanish.
We quietly grabbed our gear bags from the side entrance while the rest of the dojo gathered in the backyard around the canvas mat. I could hear my dad’s loud voice calling out the rules, and Daniel clapping his hands, rallying the team. They were totally oblivious.
Tory and I didn't say a word as we threw our bags into my trunk. We didn't look back at the Miyagi-Do sign. As I turned the ignition, the engine roared to life, masking the sound of our quiet escape.
By the time Daniel called our names for the first round of the qualifiers, we would already be miles down the highway, heading straight for John Kreese.