[SEASON ONE: EPISODE TEN]

Outside the tournament arena, the students of Cobra Kai had all gathered around one another. They kept staring at a furious Ethan, who repeatedly punched into the air as if something was wrong. Nobody tried to stop him, expect for his closest friends.

"Yo, Ethan, calm down, man. Save some for the tournament." Hawk called out.

Williams did stop, only to send him a sharp glare. Then he continued what he was doing without saying anything, and it really obvious that he was stilled upset about last night. He lost his best friend, and maybe even broke a new friendship.

"Hey, don't even bother. He's been super mad since the thing happened between them." Aisha said, poking the boy beside her.

"Where's Sensei?" Eli asked, looking around for a certain blonde with a permanent frown on his face.

"The tournament's gonna start soon."

"He'll be here."

"I don't know about that." Bert spoke up, making the taller kids turned to face him.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I saw him last night at the mini-mart. I was buying a cart of milk. When I heard someone yelling in the parking lot."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Aisha exclaimed.

"I don't know. I guess I'm used to seeing him drunk, it didn't seem like a big deal." The boy said, nervously.

"Well, we're here and he's not. So it's officially a big deal." Hawk said, exasperatedly.

"What if something happened to him?"

"Like what?" Bert asked.

"I don't know. Like he drove his car off a cliff, or maybe he brought a gun and blew his brains out."

Ethan finally stopped what he was doing and overheard their conversation about Sensei. He turned his attention towards them, wearing a deep frown.

"No, Sensei would never himself. It's too pussy of a move." She said, disbelievingly.

"Whatever, I mean, we're here. We're gonna have to do it without him." Hawk said, as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Do what without me?"

All eyes turned towards his voice. Johnny Lawrence came strutting out of nowhere and approached them with a black bag slung over his shoulder. His students looked at him with mix of surprise, bewilderment, and relief.

"Sensei."

"We didn't think you were gonna actually show up."

"I may not always win, but I never back down from a fight."

"Finally, let's go sign up." Ethan said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Not yet, there's one more lesson I have to teach all of you."

"You've all learned how to strike first, to be aggressive, not be losers." He said, circling around them and looking at them straight in the eyes.

"I've taught you to strike hard, put every ounce of your power behind everything you do. But, I haven't taught you the third rule of Cobra Kai." Sensei stated, as he stopped and turned towards his students direction.

"No mercy."

They all nodded their heads.

"The older you get, the more you're gonna learn that life isn't fair. You woke up one morning, feeling great, and then life throws a spinning heel kick to your balls, takes a big streaming shit in your mouth. You get an F on a test, you get suspended." His blue eyes immediately landed on Ethan, as he continued.

"You fall in love with a girl, and some other dude comes and steals her away. Your car gets set on fire. Just when you think things are going good, everything falls apart. That's how it goes. Life shows no mercy, so neither do we."

"We do whatever it takes to keep our heads above water. We do whatever it takes to keep moving forward. We do whatever it takes to win! Remember who you are. You're badass. You don't give a shit. You kick ass. You're Cobra Kai."

"Yeah!" Williams cheered loudly, and the others followed after his voice, as they nodded their heads.

"All right, guys. Let's get down there and kick the shit out of everybody." Johnny said, and clenched his jaw with determination in his eyes. Ethan started taking the white gi out of the black bag, when someone stopped him.

"No, you're not wearing those."

Meanwhile, at the LaRusso's house, Sam was sitting in the living room with her phone in her hands, and Daniel was seated, watching something random on TV.

Amanda walked towards the living room and quickly noticed her husband and daughter were not even speaking to each other.

"So is the plan for the whole day? Cause I was thinking we could swing by the DMV or maybe a funeral. Put a little pep on our step." She said, as they completely ignored her statement.

"Come on, guys!"

"So, Ethan turned out to be a very big fat jerk."

"And yours turned out to be the son of your mortal enemy. You can't expect me to go to this tournament all by myself. You know how I get creep out by karate moms." She said, crossing both her arms over her chest.

"Nobody's making you go." Daniel said, slightly glancing at her and turned his attention back down to his phone.

"LaRusso Auto group is one of the main sponsors. One of us has to be there!"

"You know what? Fine, fine. I'm gonna be looking at boots on Zappos if anybody needs me." Amanda said, giving up and walked away from them, then stepped into the kitchen.

"I'll go if you wanna go." Sam pleaded.

"I didn't say anything."

"I know. I just know it's your thing."

"Not this year." He scoffed.

"Everyone I know, is gonna be there."

"Yeah, it is the 50th anniversary."

The area was starting to get packed. Everyone from parents to kids were quickly filling up the seats. The LaRusso family took the front row of seats, as Elizabeth, and her mother sat down in two empty seats back up against the wall.

"I'm so nervous about Ethan. What if he gets hurt? What if he loses?" She asked, unsurely.

"Don't worry, honey. He'll be fine. He knows what he's doing."

"How can you be so clam?"

"Because what happens to him, he'll learn from it." Lola answered.

"Welcome, everyone to the 50th annual All Valley Under-18 karate championship!" Ron stood in the middle of the mat, as they cheered and capped loudly.

"All right, let's start by welcoming all the local dojo's competing today. Fighting out of Topanga, we have Topanga karate!" He announced, as a lady stood up from the stand and started cheering.

"From Reseda, returning to the tournament, we have—" The man was cut off, by a group of people chanting.

"COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI! COBRA KAI!" The students of Cobra Kai were chanting their dojo. Instead of wearing traditional white gis, they were now sporting black ones with a gold trim and a big cobra snake printed on the back.

The group stopped in front of the LaRusso's and the crowd cheered. Johnny followed after them with a serious look on his face.

"That's what I call an entrance! And a badass name for a dojo! Let's hear it for Cobra Kai!"

Ethan firmly stood his ground, and glanced to the side to see Sam and her family. But there was something missing. She avoided his gaze.

Williams merely turned away. He turned his attention back towards the tournament, and Hawk instantly noticed it, looking straight at his friend but didn't say anything.

"And finally, fighting unaffiliated from North Hills, we have Mr. Robby Keene."

Johnny furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he saw a familiar long-haired boy walked up to the side, wearing a white gi. He watched him with uncertainty.

"All right, folks. Get ready. It's karate time."

Elizabeth fiddled with her hands nervously, watching her son, standing next to his Sensei. The latter was probably whispering some technique to him. She'd never felt like this before, but who wouldn't? Her son was out there on the floor. He could get injured or even worse.

She clapped loudly as Ethan stepped into the blue mat. His opponent was wearing a red karate gi. They did the ritsu rei, bowing to the referee, then to each other. The match had begun.

Her eyes widened when she noticed a very familiar kick that Ethan was going to execute. She had read about it from a newspaper, the All Valley Tournament that happened 35 years ago.

She pursed her lips shut and watched in silence as he kicked the boy in the face, causing him to fall down, resulting in her son winning.

The tournament went on and on, with different teams completing against each one until one of them loses. Everything made Elizabeth more excited than she had planned to be.

Ethan exchanged looks with his mom and his smile finally grew. Then glanced at a certain brown-haired LaRusso. He wanted to apologize to her, but mainly Daniel because he was his original mentor.

However, when Williams looked over there, they avoided him, obviously still very mad at him. He sighed underneath his breath, and walked back over to the rest of Cobra Kai.

"Over on mat two, Ethan Williams makes the semis."

"There can only be one true winner and he is standing on this stage right now. Will it be Ethan Williams from Cobra Kai Karate? Or will it be Hawk from Cobra Kai, will it be Robby Keene unaffiliated? And last but certainly not least, last year's champion fighting out of Topanga karate, Xander Stone?" The announcer asked, making everyone cheer crazily. Then, Xander flip up in the air, landing in front of the man. He took the microphone from him and turned towards the crowd of people.

"I just wanted to say, even though I love to fight, we all need to fight together against hatred. And I pray for every race, religion, gender that we all can live together in peace. Please join me in a moment of silence as we strive to end intolerable in our time."

Everyone closed their eyes and hung their heads, patiently waiting for the minute to end.

"Kick that pansy bitch in the face." Johnny muttered, as Ethan nodded his head.

"You got it, Sensei."

The announcer snatched the microphone out of Xander's hand and resume talking.

"All right! First up, Stone versus Williams! Let's go!"

The fight was one of the closet ones anyone has ever seen in the whole tournament. They started throwing punches and kicks, dodging each one. Xander flipped backward as Ethan lunged forward, both of them narrowly missing the other.

Finally, Williams was able to get his opponent defenseless and kicked him in the face, sending him down to the ground. He yelled in triumph as Xander got up, caressing his irritated cheek.

"Let's go, Ethan!" Elizabeth shouted, cheering loudly.

"That's 2-1, Williams."

The boys circled around one another, not even bothering to strike. Ethan lunged forward again, throwing punches with Xander blocking almost every one.

He began to attack him with his own punches, which Williams quickly blocked. He went to strike again, but his opponent flipped backward, making him miss the opportunity to attack.

Xander stood up and went towards Ethan, incorporating fancy dodges and flips to throw his opponent off balance.

"You got this, Williams!" Johnny yelled.

This seemed to motivate him. As Xander flipped forward, Ethan quickly dove underneath him, then jumped up, and spun around on his heel to deliver a kick to his chest, making him fall down to the ground.

"Ethan Williams is headed to the finals. Next up, Hawk versus Keene."

After Hawk had injured Robby's left shoulder and was disqualified, Daniel led him back to the lockeroom, and waited for the female medic to arrive.

Ethan sat down on the mat, warming up, while waiting patiently for his next match. Suddenly, he looked up hearing the sounds of Sam and Aisha's voices. He felt his throat tightened. She was with her side by side. He stood up and walked over to them.

"Sammy!"

"Hey, I'll see you later." She said, sending her a small smile before leaving her alone with him. Sam send her a happy smile, then the smile faded, as a frown replaced it. She crossed her arms, and looked at him, almost impatiently.

"Look, I'm so sorry about what happened last night." He said, carefully.

"You mean when you suddenly attack Robby and hit me. You're in Cobra Kai, now?" She retorted.

"I wanted to tell you from the beginning, but things just got complicated. I'm just trying to protect you." Ethan explained, sounding a little frustrated and Sam clenched her jaw and raised her voice.

"You should know that we both agreed on to never keep secrets from each other. And you shouldn't have been trying to hit anyone."

"Well, you were never complete honest with me. Did your father even knew I came back in the Valley?"

"Yes. He knew. I told him the moment when you first entered high school. And I've always expect you to act like a normal person. You don't even know Robby that much, but that doesn't mean you should try to start a fight with him?" She asked in disbelief.

"If you keep talking about Robby, so much, why don't you go marry him? And besides, you shouldn't wait for the enemy to attack." Williams said, as his eyes looking like they've been completely taken over by rage.

"The enemy? Do you even hear yourself? It's like I don't even know you anymore." Sam cried out.

"Well, just wait. Watch what I do to your future husband in the finals. You wouldn't wanna to miss it." He declared.

She marched back towards her seat, grabbing her purse, and then informed her mother that she was leaving. Amanda had also decided to go, and they all walked out with her.

"This is it, folks. The moment we've have all been waiting for. The final match to be determine who will be victor and champion. Will it be Ethan Williams from Cobra Kai Karate? Or Robby Keene unaffiliat—" Ron was cut off as a woman walked over to him and whispered something. His eyes widened; it seemed like someone just told him something really controversial.

"I'm sorry, folks. There has been a change. Robby Keene will now be fighting for Miyagi-Do karate with former champion Daniel LaRusso, as his Sensei! How about that? Good luck, gentlemen."

Ethan watched as Johnny and Daniel had greeted one another, preforming the ritsu rei just as they did all those decades ago with the spotlight down in their direction.

The boys walked onto the mat and stopped in their spots, waiting for the referee to start. Elizabeth was beyond nervous and didn't know what to said to describe how she felt.

"Fighting positions? Ready? And fight!"

Williams moved forward, striking first, just as Johnny had taught him. He threw punches and kicks, with Robby dodging each one. The boy continued with a hook punch to which his opponent went underneath and shoved him down. But not before delivering a kick to his chest, making him fall straight down to the ground.

"And stop! Point!" The referee shouted as Ethan immediately slammed his fist down towards the mat in frustration. Elizabeth mainly took this by surprise and was shocked to see how her son was acting.

"Keene and Miyagi-Do get the first point!"

The boys got back into position. Robby suddenly rubbed his shoulder, causing concern for Daniel, as it could put him could have a disadvantage.

"Positions! Ready? And fight!" The referee yelled as Ethan quickly rushed forward again, throwing punches.

Robby luckily blocked each one, being cautious of his shoulder. Williams noticed this and threw a punch at the boy's shoulder, making him drop his guard.

Ethan went down and swept his opponent's leg, causing him to fall, but before that happened, he had delivered a final blow to his left shoulder, earning the point. Robby was laying down on the ground, in pain. Daniel called time.

"Time? What do you mean?" He scoffed as the referee pushed him back towards Johnny, snatching his arm out of the man's grip and stormed over to his sensei. Daniel stepped off the mat as Robby stood up, cradling his bad arm up against his own chest while keeping his eyes closed.

Ethan, who was now more angry than ever, walked back to his spot. He only needed one more point to win and to prove himself. Williams rushed forward with an arm raised, ready to strike. Robby quickly moved out of the way, but his opponent was anticipating this.

He sent a kick to his chest, making him fall over and attempted to stomp on the boy, but they backed away. Then, Robby pushed himself up, favoring his injured arm, and delivered a two legged kick straight to his chest.

Daniel clapped loudly, while Keene went over to help Ethan up. He grabbed his arm and jerked him up, but the referee pushed him back.

"That's one warming for unsportsmanlike contact." The man said, as Robby stepped back over to his teacher, and Williams stormed over to Sensei.

"I found his weakness. It's in his shoulder." He said, and breathed heavily, as the blonde man was tensed for a second.

"Look, I know we wanna win, but it's gonna be the right way." Johnny said, carefully, because he didn't want him going down the same path, he once took.

"We don't have to fight dirty."

"What do you mean, dirty?" Ethan asked, as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion incredulously.

"There's nothing dirty about winning. You taught me that lesson." He nodded his head knowingly.

"Don't worry, I'll finish the fight."

Ethan stepped back over to the mat, and Johnny didn't want to say anything, but deep down inside, he was worried that Williams would end up like himself.

He ingrained that mindset into their heads and was the one to blame for his actions. He knew that he was the who could correct his mistakes.

"Whoever wins the next point will be the champion. It's 2-2."

They got into fighting positions, staring at one another intensely. They advanced at the same time, and Ethan got the upper hand, courtesy of Robby's injured shoulder.

But somehow, he still managed to kick him back and was about to do a roundhouse when the boy caught his foot. The audience gasped, almost too dramatically. Then he kicked Robby's already left hurt shoulder.

It surprised almost anyone. Elizabeth wasn't expecting that, but it didn't mean she agreed with that foul move. Ethan made one last spinning kick, and it sent Robby down to the floor.

"Stop! Point! Winner!"

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

SEE YOU GUYS IN THE NEXT ONE!!!!

EDITED; 2/19/2024