TW !: mentions of physical punishment from a teacher to a student

FORTY FIVE.
( they say these are the golden years, but I wish I could disappear. )

Watching Myagi-Do and Eagle Fang walk into the Cobra Kai dojo was something that Emmy would never forget. 

Her eyes never left Robby, even when his met hers and looked away a split second after. Her heart hurt knowing that her actions led to the two of them being pulled apart, and she didn't know if there was anything she could do to fix it. 

"Emmy."

Her head looked over her shoulder at the sharp, female voice that called for her. Sensei Kim looked at her fiercely, arms crossed over her chest. "Come here."

And Emmy listened. "You've fought your sister before. And you've won against her in battles outside the All Valley. Now is the time to redeem yourself after running from the All Valley. I hope I've had enough lessons with you for this fight to be quick. Don't make me waste my time and energy."

Kim looked down at Emmy's covered legs, and the younger girl thickly swallowed. "Yes, Sensei."

Emmy stepped away from her, releasing a shaky breath before inhaling a deep one. From the corner of her eye, she could see Kenny step next to her. "You ready?"

"Never been more ready for anything else," Kenny replied, looking straight at Eli, who was his competitor. Eli scoffed as he looked at Kenny, smugly smirking to himself. "I don't get how you were friends with him."

Emmy glanced at him and Eli. "Yeah, well, he wasn't always like that."

Her eyes then went back to Robby, who was now joined by Anthony and he was teaching him a move. Her heart clenched seeing her favorite two boys so close, yet so far. 

"Keene!" Emmy jumped at Kenny's sudden shout, seeing him stomp up to Robby. 

"Kenny!" Emmy's eyes widened, quickly following after him. 

"Now that's some messed up shit," Kenny told Robby. "You training the kid who bullied me."

"Heard you're the one doing the bullying now," Robby nonchalantly said, sneaking a glance at Emmy. 

"Oh, he deserves everything that comes to him," Kenny said. 

"I don't think you actually believe that," Robby was quick to say. "Look, I know how things can start out from nothing and get bigger and bigger until all you feel is hate. I've been there. But I'm telling you, it is so much better to let that hate go. You and Anthony might actually get along if you got to know each other. You just gotta hash things out."

"Yeah, right. He made my life a living hell," Kenny creeped up closer to Robby. "He's the reason I came to you in the first place. You know what? You're lucky you're not on the mat today. Especially after what you did to Em ⎯ "

Kenny was cut off by someone grabbing his arm and forcefully turning around. Emmy stared down at him. "That's enough. Go warm up."

Kenny just smirked at Robby before walking away, and Emmy sighed. "Sorry about him. He didn't get any sleep and was training all night."

"It's all good," Robby nodded. "I understand."

Emmy felt selfish for wanting him to say those words to her. 

Robby watched her carefully. "How've you been?"

Her eyes snapped up to his, and she pulled a small smile. "Could be better. But fine all things considered."

It always amazed her how perfectly she could lie about how she felt. 

"Good. I'm happy you're okay."

She nervously bit her lip. "What about you? I see you've joined Miyagi-Do again."

"Uh, yeah," he lightly chuckled. "I wanted to give myself a second chance. And your dad was nice enough to give it to me."

"How nice of him," she said flatly. 

Robby sighed. "Look, Emmy... You are still the person I care the most about. And not speaking with you or seeing you has been torture."

"You made your terms clear, Robby," Emmy shrugged. "I can't be in Cobra Kai and be with you at the same time."

He shut his eyes. "Emmy, the waterpark ⎯ "

"It's fine, Robby," she weakly told him. "None of it was your fault."

"But you deserve a second chance too," he passionately said, wanting nothing more than to grab her hands and hold them close. 

Emmy gave him a sad smile and shook her head. "No I don't."

His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak again, but Emmy walked away, leaving him standing there speechless. 

"Thank you, Sensei Silver for offering to host these matches in your dojo on such short notice."

"Offering or demanding?" Daniel wondered out loud. 

"Well, we do have actual tournament regulation mats here, so it really was the only option," Silver told him with a slight smirk. 

"We'll begin with the boys' fight," Gunther, the man with the Sekai Taikai, spoke. "We have invited a local referee to ensure impartiality. First to three points wins. Time to begin."

Everyone got to their spots, the Sekai Taikai people sitting in their seats while the dojos stood on opposite ends of the mat. "Eli Moskowitz and Kenny Payne, please take the mat."

"You got this," Emmy whispered into Kenny's ear as her eyes were on Eli. It was anyone's guess to who she was really saying it to. 

The two boys stood across from each other, determination in their eyes. "Face me. Bow. Face each other. Bow. Fight!"

Kenny shouted as he aimed his kick for Eli's chest, charging forward but Eli stepped out of the way. Kenny quickly spun around, swinging his fist at him before sending two more strikes that Eli blocked, and then sent a kick to his side. 

"Point! 1-0, Payne."

Kenny and Eli glared at each other as they walked back to their original spots. Emmy held her hands tightly together, feeling anxious from the fight in front of her. 

"Don't worry," she looked up at Silver. "Your kid's got this."

"Ready? Fight!"

The two bounced on the mat for a bit before Kenny struck first again, giving Eli a kick that the latter quickly blocked. Eli then began to fight, stepping forward a sent a kick that Kenny shielded away from. Eli then sent a fist that Kenny blocked, before turning him around and struck his side. Emmy flinched at the sound Kenny made, knowing that the hit must have been rough. 

Eli then spun a kick into Kenny's chest, the boy scrambling back. 

"Out of bounds. No point."

"What? What, are you serious?"

"Come on, ref, that's horseshit. He made contact in bounds."

"No point. Back on the line."

Emmy suddenly felt a wave of nausea as she was struck with the memory of Silver paying off the ref to make sure that Cobra Kai. That was something that she wanted to take to her grave, feeling guilty just thinking about it. She couldn't help but glance at the older man, suddenly get a dry mouth. 

She watched as the ref and Silver made eye contact, and Silver gave a subtle nod. Emmy almost gasped, immediately turning to Tory, who was already looking at her. She had seen it too. 

"Ready? Fight!"

Kenny immediately charged forward, giving Eli three kicks that he bare managed to dodge. Eli then responded with striking with his fists, Kenny quickly backing up while shoving them away. Kenny then backed away from a strong kick Eli sent before lunging forward and giving him a combination of kicks and punches. 

Emmy almost felt sick when Kenny caught Eli's kick and jabbed his elbow into the inside of his knee. The sound of Eli's cries almost made her tear up, but she quickly shook it off, not wanting Silver or Kim to see her. 

"Illegal strike. That's a warning. Turn and kneel."

"Warning? He should be disqualified," Daniel grunted. 

Eli went to his sensei while Kenny kneeled down in front of Cobra Kai. Emmy immediately kneeled down in front of him. "What the hell was that?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her. "What do you mean? You taught me that."

She huffed. How could she forget? "I know. Just... get it together."

She lightly smacked the side of his head. "Get back on the line."

Eli and Kenny then faced each other again. "Ready?"

Emmy watched as Kenny formed his hands into a cross position, and slowly curled his fingers in. Her breath hitched, and her eyes widened. She immediately looked at Silver. "I thought you said he wasn't doing that."

Silver smiled smugly. "Well, I had to have one of you do it."

She let out a small gasp of air as she turned back to the fight, watching Eli strike a punch that Kenny blocked, and then Kenny slammed his hand into Eli's chest. 

Emmy's lips parted, watching Eli pant as he tried to catch his breath while squirming on the floor. 

"Point! 2-0, Payne."

Everyone then seemed to realize that Eli physically could not get up, and Johnny rushed over to him. "Hawk. What's wrong?"

"I can't... Can't... Can't breathe."

Emmy placed a hand over her mouth in horror, face contorted with concern. "Can you continue?"

Eli tried to get up, but he only flopped back down onto the mat. "Where's the medic?"

"That's a forfeit. Winner, Payne," the ref grabbed Kenny's arm, raising it up in the air. 

Cobra Kai immediately began to cheer, Kenny rushing over to them and relishing in the proud pats and shouts from them. 

Emmy turned to Tory. "You saw that right? The ref and Silver?"

Tory nodded, gulping. "They just did it again."

Emmy let out a subtle noise of distress. "Why the fuck is this happening again?"

"Hey," Tory grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows at her. "What? But I still have my ⎯ "

"You don't want to win like that, Em," Tory gripped her hand tighter. "I won't let you."

Emmy let out a shaky breath, looking over at Sam who was busy talking with their dad. "Then don't. Come on."

The two hurriedly and subtly backed away from Silver and Kim, before rushing out before anyone could see them. 

✸

Emmy sighed as she flopped back onto Tory's bed. "I just don't get it. Does he really not have any faith in us to do this twice?"

Tory laid on her stomach next to her. "Clearly. Otherwise he wouldn't have even done it in the first place."

Emmy rolled her eyes. "God, I hate psycho rich people. And he might just be the worst of them."

"Definitely the worst," Tory agreed and nodded along. "What do you think's gonna happen? If we go back?"

"If?"

"I don't know if we should go back," Tory said. "I mean, you were only staying because of Kreese and Kenny, and I was only staying because of you and Kreese. Kreese has left us for dead and Kenny is clearly a lost cause. We don't have anything to go back to."

Emmy pressed her lips together. She knew Tory was right. She often was. But she didn't know if she was ready to admit that to herself yet. "I don't know, Tor. I'm kinda scared."

Tory looked at her sympathetically and placed a hand on her leg. "I know. I am too. Which is why we'll do it together. Even if we're scared."

A genuine smile formed on Emmy's face. "You know you're also one of the reasons I stayed right?"

Tory smiled back at her. "I know."

✸

Emmy felt her hands start to get sweaty and clammy as she and Tory approached the apartment party. They could hear the sound of the music coming from inside, and their eyes widened as Sam stormed out of there in tears. 

Emmy instinctively wanted to check on her, but she held herself back. 

"LaRusso," Tory spoke. 

Sam let out a gasp and spun around, immediately getting to a fighting position when she saw Emmy and Tory. "What are you doing here?"

"We're not here to fight," Emmy stepped up. "We came to talk."

"About what?" Sam asked, getting out of her defensive pose. 

Tory and Emmy glanced at each other, each taking a deep breath. "You didn't lose the All Valley."

Sam furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"Silver..." Emmy began. "He... he payed off the ref so that Cobra Kai would win. And we have been trying to knock him off of his high fucking horse but Kreese backed out and now we don't know what to do."

There was a beat of silence before Sam let out an angry shout and grabbed Emmy's shoulder, angrily trying to fight her. But Emmy didn't want to fight her, only shoving her off. "Sam! Listen, please!"

"I can't believe you!" Sam exclaimed, charging at her again, but this time, Tory pushed her away. "You knew that all along Silver cheated at the All Valley and you did nothing?"

"You don't know what it's like in there, what we've had to deal with," Tory defended herself and Emmy. But Sam didn't care. 

She charged at them again, Emmy ducking out of the way and heard the sound of Tory being slammed into the dumpster. She gasped, rushing forward and grabbed Tory, putting her behind her. 

"Our entire family has suffered because of you!" Sam shouted, charging at her sister, but Miguel and Robby stepped in between them. "They've been working with Kreese this whole time."

Robby turned to Emmy in disbelief. "What?"

"Why did you only come forward now?" Sam angrily asked. "Huh? Because you're a coward."

"A coward?" Emmy looked at her sister in disbelief. "I spend everyday with the two that I fear the most and you have no fucking clue what it's like to be in Cobra Kai. I would love for you to spend one day with them and act the way you are right now."

Emmy grabbed Tory's hand and the two rushed off, Sam doing the same in the opposite direction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

i honestly love how much tory and emmy we're getting