╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter forty-six
this is the last chance to
make our mark, history
will know who we are

╚════════════════. .❀.╝

UNFORTUNATELY FOR THEM, Cobra Kai never fucking died.

They had cut the head off of the snake — or so they thought.

Alyssa honestly felt a little sick seeing Kreese, seeing Kim, seeing Tory, all with that God forsaken snake. Ever since the fight at the dojo over the summer ended, she had felt nothing but peace after feeling nothing but dread for so long. Yet, now, that feeling of dread was back.

"Welcome competitors, Sensei's, sponsors, and esteemed guests to Barcelona, this year's home of the world's greatest karate tournament, the Sekai Taikai," Gunther, the announcer, stated, and all of them clapped. "The Sekai Taikai boasts a rich and proud history. And if you are here, it's because you embody all that the Sekai Taikai stands for. Leadership, respect, sportsmanship. Captains, step forward and tie on your headbands."

Alyssa took a deep breath. She shared a quick glance with Robby before stepping onto the mat. Alyssa then lifted up the white cloth that was in her hand, which she still felt undeserving of, and tied it to her forehead.

"Captains, you will have the honor and privilege to compete in our televised tournament of champions. But that is only if your dojo does well enough in our team competitions to make it to the final four. Once the tournament is over, we will then tally all the points your dojos have earned. The dojo with the most points wins the Sekai Taikai. Team events begin tomorrow."

"I take it you had no clue?" Alyssa asked quietly, leaning in slightly to Robby as her eyes flickered to Tory.

"Each event counts," Gunther continued.

"No," Robby answered.

"They will all be a surprise."

"I swear."

Alyssa nodded. "Okay. I believe you."

"But today, it's about enjoying our host city and making new friends," Gunther announced. "Or enemies. We have a field trip arranged for our competitors. And for our Sensei's, a cocktail mixer with our distinguished sponsors, some of the world's finest martial arts brands. It's a beautiful day to make a first impression. And I suggest you enjoy it, because tomorrow, your lives change forever. Good luck, and welcome to the Sekai Taikai!"

Everyone in the room clapped. Alyssa did as well, although she felt more anxious than excited. Especially with this whole Cobra Kai thing, she didn't know how all of this was going to play out.

Nevertheless, they were all dismissed to enjoy their day. Alyssa got changed back into her regular clothes — a white cropped sweater with jeans — and let her hair fall from her ponytail. They all went back to the hotel where the teams would be staying at. Alyssa had gathered the room key for her, Sam, and Devon and waited, waiting for the boys to get their keys so they could all go up together.

Robby came back to the boys with the room keys. "All right, which room do you guys want?"

"Uh, I'll — I'll — I'll go with you," Demetri said, taking one of the cards from Robby.

Miguel looked confused. "Really? I figured Robby and I would—"

"No, no, I'll bunk with El Serpiente," Eli offered, slinging an arm around Miguel's shoulders. He then looked at Demetri. "Besides, you fart in your sleep."

"Erroneous," Demetri argued. "And he who observed it served it, by the way."

"Whoever said the rhyme did the crime."

"You just rhymed."

"You said the rhyme first."

"Okay, but you also rhymed."

Alyssa rolled her eyes, looking back at the girls. "Oh my God." She pushed some of her hair back with her fingers. "I'm not sure how much longer I can take of them arguing."

"Thank God we aren't boys," Devon added over Eli and Demetri still bickering in the background. She then noticed Sam's expression, which had been conflicted practically all day. "You okay?"

"How could Tory go back to Cobra Kai?" Sam questioned. "I thought things had changed."

"Woah," a new voice said in a very mocking tone.

Alyssa turned, only for annoyance to run through her veins again. She crossed her arms, watching as the Cobra Kai's walked up to them. More particularly, the one in the front who had spoke, who was the same boy who had smirked at her earlier from across the mat.

"So you're the famous Miyagi-Do. We have heard about you, but I do not know why. You do not look like much."

"Yeah?" Eli countered, stepping forwards with his eyes narrowed and his jaw set — classic. "You'll see a lot better when you step on the mat tomorrow."

Alyssa walked up to her boyfriend, grabbing onto his shoulder. "Enough, E." She felt him relax underneath her touch, even though he was still glaring at the boy harshly. "They're not worth it."

"Ally's right," Miguel agreed, patting Eli's other shoulder to get him to turn around. "Forget about them, okay? They're just any other dojo here."

Eli didn't look particularly happy about it. Nevertheless, he fully turned around, slipping an arm around Alyssa's waist. She grinned slightly at the feeling, only for the smile to completely melt off of her face when she noticed Tory brush past all of them, much like she was trying to stay hidden.

"Tory," Robby called, rushing after her. "Hey, wait."

The boy then completely pushed himself past Eli. He paused for a second, still with that infuriating smirk on his face, flicking his eyes up and down Alyssa's figure. Alyssa scoffed, moving slightly closer to Eli — who in turn tugged her in tighter with his arm. The boy then jumped towards Demetri, causing him to flinch. Him, along with the rest of the Cobra Kai's, continued on, and Alyssa watched their figures closely.

"Should we be worried about him?" Eli inquired, his gaze on Robby.

"No," Miguel replied. "Robby's gonna be fine."

"I wouldn't be fine," Demetri admitted. All of them turned to look at him incredulously. "What?"

Alyssa rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day. "Fork found in kitchen." She then looked back to Robby's figure. "If anything gets really bad, I can talk to him."

Demetri looked confused. "Why you?"

"Because I think out of all of us, I can relate to him the most. Watching someone you love fall into the grips of Cobra Kai? I have a ton of experience. You can do a lot with a broken heart. Trust me, I would know." She patted Eli's shoulder. "Thanks."

"I'm not sure if you should be thanking me for that," Eli told her.

"Well, I did anyways."

After settling into their rooms, they freshened up a bit before going on the buses for the field trip. They were taken to an aquarium somewhere in town, and upon arrival, the captains of each team were ushered in front of a camera to take a giant group picture. Alyssa wasn't really in the mood — in fact, none of the captains seemed to be in the mood — but she got up there with Robby and plastered a smile onto her face.

"Now, everybody smile and say Barcelona," the cameraman instructed. "One, two, three."

"Barcelona," they all chorused, none of which held any excitement.

"Louder. Barcelona!"

"Barcelona," they repeated, although it didn't sound any more enthusiastic than the last.

Alyssa leaned in closer to Robby as the photographer took more pictures. "Am I the only one feeling stupid right now, or?"

"Not just you," Robby reassured her.

"And one more," the photographer insisted after a lot more instructions Alyssa couldn't be bothered to follow. "You there in the back, smile. Show some emotion. Okay, let's get one more."

Tory then huffed out a breath, completely walking away from the group. She looked completely done, probably more than how Alyssa felt.

"Okay, never mind. We're done."

Alyssa watched as Tory walked away from the main area, where they were all gathered, down a more secluded hallway. Without a second thought, Robby followed after her, patting Demetri's shoulder as he passed by. Alyssa sighed, her arms crossing across her chest as she slowly walked up to the rest of the group. She vaguely felt Eli put a hand on her back, but she couldn't tear her eyes off of the hallway Robby and Tory had gone down. Besides, this main area was loud, filled with a bunch of fighters. She could use some peace and quiet.

"Don't do anything stupid," Alyssa said, looking up at Eli. "I'll be back."

He looked down at her, his eyes filling with concern. "You okay?"

"Fine." She gave him a tight smile and kissed the underside of his jaw. "Just need to clear my head."

Alyssa then walked away, instantly missing the way Eli's hand served as a grounding mechanism for her. She walked down that same hallway, her mind spinning with an endless amount of thoughts.

Eventually, she ended up in a room that resembled a tunnel with glass as the walls and roof that was tinted blue because of the water. Fish swam across, causing ripples to appear on the floor. It was quite peaceful there . . . except she ended up where Robby and Tory were clearly sharing a moment. Alyssa paused, suddenly feeling very very awkward. She looked up at the fish, trying to focus on them swimming. However, it was too late — Tory already saw her, and had completely walked away despite Robby following after her.

"Sorry," Alyssa voiced quietly. "I didn't mean to . . . I just wanted to be alone."

Robby nodded and approached her. "I get that. You okay?"

She shrugged. "Depends on your definition of okay. My mind kind of feels like a mess. Tory has it worse, I know she does, but seeing the girl who told me my mom killed her mom after weeks of radio silence to see her on Cobra Kai's team isn't exactly the easiest thing to deal with." Alyssa continued staring at the fish swimming. "Me and Tory fighting each other wasn't supposed to be some big thing. I'm not Sam — we haven't had this huge rivalry for months. But . . . it's a lot more personal now. Still trying to process it, really. I'm scared I'm going to be off my game."

"I know the past few weeks haven't been exactly easy for you, either. Just . . . make sure you're taking care of yourself."

"You, too."

He squeezed her shoulder gently before walking away, presumably to go join the others. Alyssa let out a deep breath, looking at the water. God, she wished she was just a fish, mindlessly swimming without a care in the world. It would be a lot better than whatever the hell was going on right now.

"Ally," a new voice called, and she snapped out of her thoughts to see Devon walking towards her. "Remember when you told Hawk to not be stupid?"

"Let me guess," Alyssa deadpanned. "He's being stupid."

Devon nodded. "They're holding a contest to see who can kick the highest by putting chalk on their shoes."

"My misery is never ending, I swear to God."

She laughed a little before wandering further down the hallway into the next room. Alyssa tucked some of her hair behind her and followed after Devon after a moment. If what Devon said was true — which, Alyssa had no doubt it would be a lie — than it would be better to get out of there rather than instigate any more. When she entered the next room, which was the same tunnel-like thing, she saw Devon sitting and talking to Tory.

"C'mon, Devon," Alyssa began, catching both of theirs attentions. "Before my dumb idiot boyfriend decides to make our lives worse."

Devon gave Tory a small smile before getting up. Together, her and Alyssa started to walk back to where they came from.

"Alyssa," Tory called, making the girl pause in her tracks and turn to face the blonde. "Wait."

Tory got up from her seat as well. Alyssa hesitated for a second, and she met Devon's gaze. Well, fuck it, honestly. Alyssa nodded to Devon, beckoning her to go on without her before stepping closer to Tory. She absentmindedly twisted one of the rings around her finger to give her hands something to do.

"I thought I would be the last person you wanted to talk to right now," Alyssa admitted.

Tory shook her head. "That's not true. But, I just . . . I'm not going to say sorry. I — I didn't want things to be like this."

"Losing a parent is something that I don't know about. I've grown up without a dad, but I never knew him. My mom . . . she's everything to me. Which is why it really fucked with my head when you told me she killed your mom and than ran away. I'm — I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with that information, Tory."

She was silent, her eyes flashing with an emotion that Alyssa couldn't quite place.

"You made your decision under a lot of pressure," Alyssa continued. "And as much as it hates for me to admit it . . . I don't blame you for going back to Cobra Kai. I understand."

Tory blinked. "You . . . understand?"

"I mean, not really. I was in Cobra Kai for, like, two days. But I've seen what it's done for others. It takes people at their lowest and turns their pain into anger. Considering I'm dating someone who probably had it the worst, I've seen what it can do first-hand. Tory . . . I'm sorry that you never felt home at Miyagi-Do. We could've done so much more to help with that, but we didn't. That's on us. You felt like you had no other choice . . . especially with me there, considering everything that happened." Alyssa paused on fiddling with her rings, instead placing both of her hands in the back pocket of her jeans. "That doesn't make it hurt any less, though. I thought — and Sam thought, too — that we were finally becoming friends. Friends don't abandon friends is something that I always say, and that's true in this instance. You could've come to us, or even Robby."

"I did go to Robby," Tory announced, making Alyssa blink in shock. "Back when Kreese first came to me. But this was a decision I had to make on my own, knowing what it would mean to him, to Sam, to you, to everyone."

Alyssa's eyes trailed across Tory's face. "I can respect you owning up to your decision, even if it's not something I agree with. But the second you and me meet on that mat, which we're going to at some point, I'm not holding back."

"Maybe it won't come to that."

"It will," Alyssa stated gravely. "Good luck, Tory. And, for whatever it's worth . . . I'm so sorry about your mom."

She turned herself back around and walked away. It wasn't very hard to find the rest of the group — in fact, all of them were walking towards the exit of the aquarium, looking rather defeated. She joined their side, taking Eli's hand and interlocking their fingers together. Alyssa could only assume that something about the contest Devon was talking about hadn't gone as smoothly as they hoped.

And it hadn't. When they got back to the hotel, the boys and Sam filled her in. Thanks to a stupid bet Robby made with that one guy from Cobra Kai, one of their rooms was now Cobra Kai's. Which meant that all four boys would be staying in the same hotel room together, and with the tension between Eli and Demetri about MIT and Miguel and Robby about the captainship, Alyssa was sure it wouldn't turn out great.

All of them gathered in the boys' hotel room. Miguel sat on the bench at the end of the bed while Eli sat sprawled out on the end. Sam sat upon the table in the corner, Devon standing next to her. Alyssa leaned against the wall by the window, watching as Demetri and Robby walked into the room with their suitcases.

"Well, this sucks," Miguel commented.

"Not a very smart gamble, boys," Sam said.

"Yeah, somebody said it wasn't gonna be a gamble," Demetri replied, giving an accusing glance to Robby.

"I didn't wanna get involved, remember?" Robby argued. "I told you to stay away from Cobra Kai. It's so simple."

"Well, if it's so simple, why don't you follow your own advice?" Eli countered.

"What are you talking about?"

"We all saw you talking to Tory."

"Come on," Devon cut in. "I mean, she's his girlfriend."

"Yeah, he's dealing with her decision," Miguel agreed. "Same as the rest of us."

Alyssa looked up from the ground. "Robby, you knew about Kreese coming to Tory."

"What? You did?"

"Yeah, I — I mean, I knew that Kreese went to Tory, yeah, but it was before her mom died," Robby responded. "I mean, he was trashing Miyagi-Do, saying she wasn't gonna have a fair shot. She told him to get lost. Come on. I didn't know she was gonna do this."

"Really?" Sam asked. "This is what Kreese does. He played her, and he played you. And you lied to us about it."

Robby looked around at all of them. "Come on, guys. That's not fair. I didn't lie." He gave a pleading glance to Miguel. "Miguel."

Miguel shook his head and looked down at his lap.

Alyssa pushed herself off of the wall and walked up to Robby. "Captain to captain, get your head in the game. No more secrets."

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

IT WAS OFFICIALLY fighting day, and honestly, it felt like doomsday to Alyssa.

She stood at the edge of the mat with Miyagi-Do, her red hair put in two braids with her captain's headband across her forehead. To be honest, last night she hadn't slept to well — in fact, she wasn't sure if any of them had. Her brain wouldn't allow her to stop thinking, and anxiety about the tournament was running through her veins.

"The time has come," Gunther said into a microphone. "Welcome to our first event. I hope you're all well rested and ready for a new and unique competition. We call it the Captain's War. We told you how important your captains will be. So let's see how well you protect them. Four dojos will take the mat. Only one will be left standing. If you hit the mat, you're out. If one of your captains hit the mat, your entire team is out for this round. Check the boards to see your group, decided by random draw. Group A, you're up."

Alyssa turned to the board. Group A was Falchi Della Notte, Iron Dragons, Miyagi-Do, and Cobra Kai. She inwardly sighed. Wow, go figure.

Sensei LaRusso scoffed. "Cobra Kai, of course."

"Seems like fate," Alyssa muttered.

Sensei LaRusso and Sensei Lawrence stood off to the side. Meanwhile, the rest of them gathered in a circle for a huddle in their corner of the mat. Alyssa put her hands on her knees and bent down, practically feeling the adrenaline running through her veins.

"Okay guys, we've faced this fight before," Alyssa began. "Us versus Cobra Kai. Same old, same old. Just hold onto your defense like we've learned."

"And let them come to us," Miguel added. "Protect the egg. We need to make sure that Ally and Robby are safe."

"I can be on the front line," Robby insisted.

"No, no, no. You just stay back and stay focused."

"Why wouldn't I be focused?"

"Well, you did leave the hotel room last night," Miguel responded plainly.

Alyssa shook her head and stood back up straight. "Robby, just listen, please. I've been the egg before — they can handle it, I swear." She turned back to their Sensei's. "Any advice?"

"I know it hasn't always been pretty lately, but no one could ever count us out," Sensei LaRusso told them. "You hear me? Do it for each other."

"And wipe the smirks off their ugly faces," Sensei Lawrence ordered.

"Ready?" Gunther called, and Alyssa turned to him. "Begin!"

Before any of them had a chance to even do anything, Tory ran at them with alarming speed. Alyssa's eyes widened.

"Protect the egg!" Demetri shouted.

Well, fuck. Okay. Alyssa raised her fists, backing off slightly. Demetri was the first one to go by that one boy from Cobra Kai jumping up in the air and kicking him straight in the chest. Another boy from Cobra Kai approached Alyssa. So much for being an egg — she had no choice but to fight.

"Demetri's out!" Miguel called. "Robby, stay back!"

Alyssa blocked all of his advances and spun herself around, kicking him straight in the chest. He didn't fall, however. Just a stumble back.

"Guys, protect Alyssa," Sensei LaRusso instructed from the sidelines. "We can't have her go down."

She punched and jabbed, which the guy easily blocked.

"Sensei, I got my hands full," Eli responded.

"I got Tory!" Devon announced. "Need some help."

Alyssa jumped up in the air, kicking hard. Her foot landed against the guy's chin, and while he was distracted, she kicked his stomach. Instantly, he fell to the ground, luckily at the same time as Miguel also taking out someone else.

"Lee's out," Sensei Lawrence stated. "Hawk, protect the captains."

Didn't work out too well. Alyssa turned just in time to see Eli fall to the ground from a kick. She sighed. Sam also fortunately took down another person and joined Miguel in his own fight. Alyssa then saw that the only person left available to fight was none other than Tory. Her eyes narrowed as she raised her fists.

But the second you and me meet on that mat, which we're going to at some point, I'm not holding back.

Alyssa ran forwards, beginning to attack. Tory dodged all of her blows, but Alyssa did manage to get a couple of hits in. Despite not getting much sleep, she thought she was doing pretty good.

And then it all went downhill. Gunther said that if a captain hit the ground their team was out, and Robby had been taken down by that one guy from Cobra Kai. The only ones left standing for Miyagi-Do were Alyssa, Sam, and Miguel.

"Captain down," an announcer voiced. "Miyagi-Do is out."

Alyssa stared at Robby's figure on the mat. "Fuck." She walked back towards the side of the mat, extending a fist to Sam. "You did good."

Sam fist-bumped her. "You did good, too."

"Falchi Della Notte captain down," the announcer stated. "They are out. Only Cobra Kai and the Iron Dragons remain alive."

Alyssa watched as Cobra Kai faced off a team in deep sage green gi's. All seven of them were left, which was incredible, honestly. Just as Cobra Kai went to attack, four of the Iron Dragons' members knelt to the ground, making them stop in their tracks. Alyssa's eyebrows knit in confusion as she watched five of them stand up one by one and go back to their side of the mat, leaving just one boy and one girl for their team. She watched, both impressed and a little scared, as the boy and the girl took down Cobra Kai in a matter of fucking seconds.

"Both Cobra Kai captains go down. The Iron Dragons win."

She raised her eyebrows, turning to slowly make eye contact with Robby. Yeah. They definitely had bigger things to worry about than just Cobra Kai.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

HIIIIII WELCOME BACK EVERYONE :)))

I can't believe it's been three months :') it's been so long I'VE MISSED THIS

yeah that pretty much sums up the watch I did NOT know what I was in for (creds to lucy for pointing this out LMAO)