[SEASON THREE: EPISODE ONE]
[PART ONE]

In a dream world, Ethan opened his eyes quickly, gasping for air. He blinked at the white ceiling and slowly sat up, recognizing it's the space from the LaRusso house, when he would come over to spend time with Sam.

"What in the world?" He whispered, getting out of the bed, and looking around at the pictures and posters on the wall. The blue curtains and the light grey walls.

"Okay, this is definitely weird."

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking into the living room. His eyes landed on a familiar figure standing there next to where the living room is.

"Hi, Ethan." Daniel said, slowly turned around, and smiling softly at him.

"Mr. LaRusso?"

"I'm not really Sam's father, but we thought you'd be more comfortable with someone you knew."

"Who is 'we'?" Ethan asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"It's a little hard to explain." He replied and sat down on the arm of the sofa next to him.

"Have a seat, please." His subconscious repeated, the tone in his voice sprinkled with annoyance, and pointed to the large chair across the room.

Williams walked towards the chair and sat down, attempting to piece together where he was.

"Where—"

"How much do you know about Miyagi-Do Karate?" Daniel asked, clapping his hands together on his lap, raising his eyebrows at the teenager.

"Um.... it's where I learned how to defend myself and use karate for defense only." He replied, nodding his head, and cleared his throat.

"Yes and no."

"What?"

"A long time age, Miyagi ancestors fought Japanese invaders. And the only way to survive was to kill. So Miyagi instructors came up with special techniques designed to kill their enemies." Daniel said, pointing to his chest.

"You're my subconscious."

"So, I'm talking to the source of my brain? Isn't that saying like I'm having a conversation with an
imaginary person?"

"You need a minute. Process it all, lose the attitude, and hopefully then we can talk professionally." The subconscious said, shrugging his shoulders. He scoffed, then stood up from his seat.

"I'm going crazy, right? Or am I dreaming? The impact from went I stumble over the railing at school, and that caused me to be put in a coma." Ethan said, squeezing his eyes shut, hoping it would wake him up from this hellhole. A second later, he opened his eyes again and sighed because it was the same place.

"Look, I'm.... not sure why you brought me back to this place, but you really need to send me home. My friends are in danger from Kreese." He said, then suddenly there was a shadow flying around by the window.

"Did you see that?"

The black flying thing passed by the front door.

"You're not going back until...." Daniel started.

"Until what?"

"You catch that." He said, pointing outside, and Williams ran to the door, then went after it. He opened it to be a shadow running down the street. The boy quickly acted and started chasing it.

Back in the real world, Johnny has been drinking for the past few weeks, blaming himself for what happened to Ethan.

"It was two weeks ago day at West Valley High, where what can only be described as an all out karate riot caught students and faculty off guard, sending shock waves throughout the Valley."

He looked up at the TV and leaned forward to get a closer look. He kept drinking after beer after beer until the manager came to his table.

"Sir, it's time to settle your tab and move on."

"Light beer is for pussies." The blonde stated.

"Do I need to call the cops?"

"I don't know, do you?" Johnny asked. The man stepped away from the table. He looked up at the TV again, and the news was showing a photo of his son, Robby Keene.

"Police are still looking for Robby Keene, who ran away after kicking former student Ethan Williams off a second floor balcony, landing right here on this staircase. Keene has been expelled. Meanwhile, Williams, remains in a coma at West Valley Hospital."

The TV got switched to a baseball game, making Johnny drunkenly glare at the man holding the remote.

"Hey! I was watching that." He slurred, but the man rolled his eyes and started mocking him, with his buddy joining in, talking about how no cared about some stupid kid in a coma. Despite being nearly blacked out drunk, the blond thought he could take on both guys.

Now here he was, with a beaten-up face, bruised body, and a hangover in a jail cell, with some weird guy with a disgusting foot. Not exactly how he wanted to spend his evening. Johnny got up from the bench where he was sitting and stepped over to the bars.

"What is it with you and shitty chain restaurants? You know, happy hours supposed to be happy."

"Wait a minute. Your son's the one that kicked that kid off that balcony. Guess the garage doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Robby's nothing like me. He's a good kid."

"He's a fugitive." The officer retorted.

"Yeah? Then why you sitting around here talking? Shouldn't you be out there looking for him? Robby made a mistake. That doesn't mean his life is over." He snapped at him.

"Tell that to the kid he killed."

Johnny's eyes widened, tightening his grip on the bars, and he pushed his face forward.

"Killed? What do you mean killed? Something happen to Ethan?"

"I ain't a doctor. But after two weeks in a coma, the coma usually wins." The policeman answered before turning around and walking away.

At the LaRusso house, Sam was in her room getting ready for her first day back at school after a two-week suspension.

She put all of her stuff in her backpack and looked at the Valley News website, with a headline that read KARATE CHAMP FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE.

It was obviously refereeing to what happened to Ethan two weeks ago. Then, she glared up at the mirror, peeling the bandage off her upper arm.

Flashes of memories from the fight with Tory ran through her mind like lightning striking the grass.

She quickly placed the bandage back on her arm and grabbed a white jacket, wrapping it around herself to cover up her scar so no one could see it.

After the big brawl fight that happened at school, the principal had decided to add metal detectors at the front entrance. So, the security guards would check kids' backpacks for any kind of metal inside them.

Bert had his bookbag checked out, then walked over to Hawk and Mitch.

"Hey, guys."

"There's the man." Hawk said, pulling him into a bro hug.

"This is the day. Day one, round two. Let's get it, boys."

"Freshmen babes, eleven o'clock." Mitch stated, getting their attention to notice the group of girls walking by them.

"Hey, ladies. I know freshmen year can be kinda scary. If anybody gives you any trouble, just come to me, I'll help you."

"Aren't you the guy who wets the bed and got kicked into that trophy case?" One of the girls asked, as his smile suddenly faded away, and he stepped away.

"Hey, Demetri." She said, tapping him on his arm, while walking past him.

"Someone knows who I am. A human female!" Demetri cheered, excitingly.

"You're famous now, 'Met." Chris congratulated him, patting his chest. The three Miyagi-Do students turned around and came face-to-face with Cobra Kai. They all individually stared at one another.

"Got something to say?" Mitch asked, waving his hand of the man in front of him.

"Yeah. Check out my new Lit book. A lot of hard-hitting shit in here." He nodded his head, showing his new book. Flashes from their fight that happened two weeks ago appeared in their minds.

"All of this security isn't enough to protect your scrawny ass." Hawk said, looking dead straight at Demetri.

"I don't need security." The boy stated, with confidence, remember when he kicked him into the trophy case.

"Everything all right here?" Blatt asked, coming out of nowhere.

"Oh, we're all buddies here." Demetri said, wrapping his arm around Mitch and Hawk, who both gave him fake smiles.

"Isn't that right, fellas?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you all have somewhere to be?" She questioned, with a raise eyebrow.

"Yes, Counselor Blatt." Nathan mumbled, as Mitch ripped Demetri's arm off of him and walked to class. The rest of them had wondered off to their classes, and Sam stepped inside the building, where the security guards checked her bag.

"Thanks." She said, getting back her bookbag and looked around to notice everyone was secretly staring and talking about her.

The brunette remained quiet, as she made her way towards the stairs. She placed her hand on the railing, and immediately got memories of Ethan toppling over the balcony. Her breathing became heavily.

Her eyes flickered, as he slowly fell all the way down, and his back landed on the railing with a loud crack popped.

"Robby, what did you do?"

Suddenly, someone placed their hand on her shoulder, and Sam gasped in shock, to notice it was only Demetri.

"Oh. Easy there, Captain Marvel. Same team, remember?" He asked, confusingly.

"I have to go, I can't be here." She said, stepping away and letting a few tears drop from her eyes. She quickly got out of the building.

Meanwhile, at LaRusso Auto Group, Louie was showing Daniel and Amanda, on a laptop that they were missing one of their cars scheduled to be out on display.

"At first I thought it was just a blip on the screen, but no." He stated, holding a sandwich in his hand and pointing at the screen.

He pressed a key, as it popped up all the records of their vehicles and the tracking devices that were placed inside, just incase they were ever stolen.

"What am I looking at?" Daniel asked, sounding a little confused.

"It's the trade-in lot." Louie answered, glaring up at him.

"I made a spreadsheet. Those numbers, they don't match up."

"Are you sure this is right?" Amanda asked, taking a closer look at the computer screen.

"One thing I know, it's inventory. I had worked at this place called Fat Sal's all summer, and inventory's everything over there." He nodded his head.

"It's not like cars here, but you know, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, onions rings, Russian dressing...."

"Those little jalapeños—"

"Okay, I get the gist. We're missing a car?" Daniel asked.

"You're actually missing a...." Louie tapped a computer key, and an image appeared of a 1993 Dodge Grand Caravan.

"93 Dodge Caravan. Looks like it's been gone a couple weeks."

"Would Robby steal a car?" She asked, looking at her husband.

"He did have the gate codes." He confessed.

"But why would he steal that shitbox?"

"Because he knows we wouldn't notice." Daniel stated, figuring out this whole thing.

"Oh my God. We gotta call the police." Amanda said, refereeing to the stolen vehicle.

"No, no, not yet." He shook his head in disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"We have GPS in all the cars. They can use it to track him."

"The lawyers said if the cops find him on the run, they'll throw the book at him. He's a dropout with a juvenile record. But if we can find him first, get him to turn himself in, then we can make a better case." Daniel reasoned with her.

"We could still help him."

"Okay." Amanda agreed.

"All right, find the VIN number, text me the GPS." He said, and immediately walked away from them.

"You know, not for nothing. If it were me, I'd have take a Ferrari."

"Would you?" She asked, sounding like she was joking.

Johnny hopped out of the Hammer he had taken and stopped in front of the hospital. After he was released from jail, he knew there was one place that he needed to go, and that would be West Valley General.

"Don't miss your court date or I'll hunt you down like a dog in the street, bruh." The man said, handing him a piece of paper.

"We'll see about that, bruh!" He mocked, snitching it and stepped inside the hospital.

Back in the dream world, Ethan was still chasing after the shadow. When he stopped and decided to take a break, he looked up and found himself in front of the LaRusso's house. Then, sees a familiar person sitting on the steps.

"Sammy."

"We're glad you made it." Sam said.

"Not her It's just you again." He sighed in frustration.

"Sit, Ethan. Sit. You're always on your feet." She stated, and Ethan sat down next to her.

"You remember this place, when we first met each other?"

"Yeah, of course, I do. That memory will always be special to me." He replied.

"We thought you'd find this place and our appearance less upsetting. Yet, you seem upset." Sam said, sounding concerned about him.

"My friends.... the whole valley is in danger. Kreese is planning to teach kids how to do fight dirty, I can't let that happen and you're keeping me here."

"You were given a rare and precise gift, just like Samantha and you rejected it."

"No, I didn't do anything. I stopped myself from breaking someone's arm, but he was just too angry and frustrated to listen. Now, I'm stuck here or whatever here is exactly." Ethan stated, angrily.

"That's not what we meant." She retorted.

"Okay, if you would rather give someone else this gift, then why give it to me?" He questioned, with a raise eyebrow.

"Because.... you are the only hope of finding inner peace in this world."

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE AND LEAVE ANY FEEDBACK YOU GUYS HAVE :)

EDITED; 2/29/2024

SEE YOU GUYS IN THE NEXT ONE!!!!

A/N: Now, I will say you guys will see someone who's related to Ethan in the next chapter.

Is it his father or someone else?

Let me know what you guys think in the comments.