⌁

     "Strike here, you bloody his nose.  Strike here, you break his teeth.  Strike here, you could severely damage his trachea.  Obviously, that's only for extreme situations," Johnny Lawernce relaxed his fists at his sides as he took a step back, motioning to the boy behind him.  "All right, line up.  Focus.  I want you to practice."

     "Hyah," the tanned young boy took a step forward, jabbing the prototype weakly.

     "Keep practicing.  Punch through the dummy," he ordered before realizing his phone was ringing, and he answered it while letting the boy continue throwing punches.  "Hello?"

     "Is this Mr. Lawrence?"

     "Yes."

     "This is Carla Jenkins, the vice principal at North Hills High.  I have you listed as an emergency contact for Robby and Gwen Keene."

     "Uh, yeah, I'm their father.  But you're supposed to call their mom."

     "I already called her.  She's not picking up."

     Johnny sighed, he knew all too well where this was going.  "Right, big surprise.  All right, what did he do this time?"

     Carla Jenkins also sighed, an unspoken agreement that Robby was always the one landing himself in trouble — if not with the principal, then with someone else — and Gwen was always the one who was quiet and kept to herself.  She wasn't a saint, but at least she didn't have problems with her teachers, for the most part.

     "We found him with Molly."

     "Who's Molly?" Johnny asked.  "Is that some chick he's hooking up with?"

     "It's an illegal drug, Mr. Lawrence," Carla Jenkins said calmly.

     Johnny licked his lips.  "All right, put my kid on the phone."

     She did as she was told, handing over the corded telephone to the other side of the desk and allowing Robby to grab it with his hands.  Robby looked no happier to be talking to him.  "What do you want?" he grumbled into the phone.

     "Robby, what the hell?  You're doing drugs?  You want to flush your life down the toilet?  What about your sister?  What the hell kind of example are you setting for her?"

     "Like you're one to talk," Robby spat.  "Don't try to play dad now.  You're a pathetic loser.  And Gwen is a lot better off without you anyway," he said before handing the telephone back over to his principal.

     With that, Carla Jenkins grabbed the phone back from Robby and brought the microphone back to her chin.  "Um, I think maybe I should keep trying his mother."

     "Yeah, good luck with that," Johnny replied before closing his flip phone and hanging up.

⌁

     "Hey, Sensei, is there any particular way you want me to wash these windows?" the tanned boy from earlier asked, except now it was darker outside and he was almost ready to be leaving for the day.

     "No, I don't give a shit," Johnny replied.  "Whatever's easiest.  You know what?  Just go clean the toilet, and we'll call it a night."

     "Okay."

     "And do that one on your hands and knees," Johnny snickered to himself.  Upon hearing the bell for the front ringing faintly, he then turned his attention to the front door.  "Welcome to Cobra Kai."

     "Some things never change," insert Johnny's long time enemy standing with his arms at his sides as he took in the appearance of the studio turned karate dojo.  Larusso...

     "Yeah, what are you talking about?" Johnny asked, obviously confused.

     "I heard you beat up a bunch of teenagers in that parking lot out there."

     "Oh, that.  No, I didn't beat up any teenagers," Johnny paused.  "I kicked the shit out of a bunch of assholes who deserved it."

     "Wow, Johnny Lawrence calling someone else an asshole.  That's rich, man."

     "Yeah, what's that supposed to mean?"

     "Look, I'm not here to rehash the past.  Just stay away from my daughter's friends."

     "Your daughter's friends?  Yeah, that makes sense.  Nice company she keeps," Johnny briefly thought about his own daughter, how she was always so picky about her own friend group, he couldn't imagine why other children could be so reckless.  But alas, they weren't talking about Gwen.

     "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

     "It means those friends of hers were wailing on a kid half their size.  Now, maybe you don't know your daughter as well as you think you do.  Get your house in order, LaRusso."

     "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Daniel stepped forward, getting angrier by the second, but was cut off by the tanned boy walking into their conversation.

     "Bathroom's clean!" he exclaimed rather happily.  "Is there anything else you need me to do?" he asked before taking a lot at the other man in the room and deducing that Johnny was busy.  "I'm sorry, Sensei, I—" 

     "Sensei?  Really?" Daniel tilted his head in disbelief.  "Oh, my God, kid, I don't know what he's told you, but you shouldn't believe a word this guy says, or you're going to end up exactly like him.  You and I — this — we aren't done," he eyed Johnny.

     "I'm right here, man," Johnny held his arms out, half-heartedly expecting Daniel to throw the first punch, but instead he just left.

     Finally, after a moment of silence, the boy spoke up.  "I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, Sensei.  Should I do 20 push-ups on my knuckles?" 

     "Right, like you could," Johnny remarked.  But still, the argument had his head spinning, and he was now determined more than ever to get his dojo off the ground.  So the next morning, with new paint on the walls, Johnny gave his first student a very important lecture.

     "You've all learned to strike first.  I've taught you to strike hard.  But I haven't taught you the third lesson of Cobra Kai.  No mercy.  The older you get, the more you're gonna learn that life isn't fair.  Things are going good.  Everything falls apart.  That's how it goes.  Life shows no mercy.  So neither do we."

⌁

     Now while Johnny was busy trying to get Cobra Kai up and running again, Gwen was back at home, groaning whenever her brothers' stupid friends came over just to take up space, rot on their couch, and eat whatever remaining groceries that they had.

     She made the excuse that she was going to go for a walk to the corner store to buy herself a soda (seeing as Robby and his friends had pretty much downed whatever tasteful drinks they had) with her skateboard in hand.  But still, she left her apartment with an anxiety-filled stomach.  Robby's friends did that to her, she knew what kind of people they were and what they did for fun.  Robby played it off cool, trying to hide their true colors in plain sight, but Gwen had hyper senses.  She could see the truth from a mile away.

     The last thing she expected to see from stepping outside, was her father's face printed on a bright yellow poster for a karate studio.  Gwen slowed down as she neared the post it was nailed to, squinting a little as she read the flyer.  Super surprisingly, not that far.  And it wasn't like her brother was her keeper, they wouldn't notice the girl was gone even if she'd been kidnapped right in front of them.

     She swore they were the most stupid people she knew.

     When she arrived near the mini-mall where Johnny was setting up Cobra Kai again, she slowed her pace across the street so she could get a good look at it while still being as far away as possible.  Her mom used to mention the dojo and how important it was to her father when she met him and even when she was pregnant.  Shannon Keene would still mention Johnny sometimes, but nothing good about him ever slipped past her lips.

     "I just need you to bring attention to the dojo.  All right?" Johnny told the homeless woman outside as he handed her a large piece of cardboard.  "I want everybody to see this sign."

     "Do you want me to flash my bits?" she asked.  "That'll cost you extra."

     "No, that's the opposite of what I want.  Nobody wants to see your bits.  Just take the sign, hold it up in the air, and spin it around, all right?  Do that all day, and you'll get your money," Gwen could barely hear what was being said, but Johnny was always loud and had a coarse voice that traveled far.  She chuckled lightly as she strained to overhear the conversation.

     "Well, I want meth and a burrito."

     "You can spend it on whatever you want.  That's how money works.  Just do your job, spin it around.  I'll be back later, you got it?"

     "Got it."

     "Hold the sign up," he ordered, seeing how lazily the woman was holding it.

     "Hmm," Gwen hummed to herself as she watched Johnny walk back inside the dojo.  She didn't know what to think, but she knew one thing — she didn't want anything to do with it if it were to get her caught in the middle between Robby and him.  Which, knowing her family, it would.  There were not very many things in this world that were simple and uncomplicated for the young girl.  Family was not on that list at all, so she threw her board back on the ground and started sliding back home.

⌁

when she has a bit of a rebellious streak >>

thank you for reading the Prelude!