[SEASON FIVE: EPISODE FIVE]

Ethan decided to Johnny's offer to go to Olive Garden. However, when he arrived, he was surprised to see a familiar person sitting alone on a table. As he approached a chair, the boy noticed him.

"Let me get this straight, did your Dad invite you too?"

"Yep."

"And did he even tell you that I was coming?"

"No." Robby replied. Not long after he got up from his chair, as Williams did the same. Just then, Johnny came inside and tried to stop them.

"Hey, hey. Where are you going?"

"Hear me out for a minute." Sensei requested, grabbing a chair from a different table. The two boys sat down with him sitting at the head of the table.

"Alright, yeah. I lied to get you here. After what happened at the water park, I knew you two wouldn't come willingly. I know you're both in bitchty moods because you broke up with your girlfriends."

"Since the whole Canada thing felt a small step in the right direction, I figured it might help if we went on another little trip." He explained to them.

"A trip? To a mall in Chatsworth?" Robby questioned, to confirm if he was really serious about this.

But before his father could even answer, their server approached the table, wearing a geeky looking smile on his face.

"Your body might at a mall, my friend, but your taste buds are about to goon a tour of the old country."

The blonde man smiled, looking at the two boys, and gave the guy a thumbs up.

"This guy knows what I'm talking about."

"Yes, I do."

"It doesn't matter where we go. The birthplace of culinary delight awaits. You want an Alfredo? Boom, we're in Rome. Ravioli? Tuscany is it. We gotta come back here for the chocolate lasagna, cause like baseball and Big Gulps, that's only in America."

The waiter stopped when he noticed the glares on Ethan's and Robby's faces. He let out an awkward smile before turning around to look back at Johnny.

"Tell you what? I'm gonna go get you guys a basket of breadsticks fresh out of the oven. I'll come right back. Done and done."

After the man walked away, Sensei sighed heavily, glancing back and forth at the boys.

"Alright guys. Guy gives that kind of effort, and you're just gonna sit there looking pissed?"

"It's not him I'm pissed at." Williams clarified.

"Breadsticks aren't gonna fix this." Keene mumbled, and his father quickly pointed in his direction.

"Spoken like a man who's never had the Garden's breadsticks. One bite and you'll forget why you were mad at each other in the first place."

"Yep, I'm never going to forget that."

"Neither am I." Robby said, getting up from chair and walking out of the restaurant, with Ethan following suit.

When the waiter came back he noticed the two boys were already gone. He slowly placed the basket of breadsticks down on the table, and gave Johnny a sad smile.

"I'll get you a minute."

"Thanks."

After Johnny's unsuccessful attempt to get the boys to coexist in peacefully, he decided to try a different approach by locking them in his apartment and having them work together to 'escape'. He opened the front door, allowing Ethan to enter.

"Relax. I told you. Robby's not home." He reassured him.

Williams observed the apartment and furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed beer cans with boxes taped onto the walls, blocking off the hallway like two doors. There was a piece of cardboard on the wall above with 'jail' written on it.

"What's up with all this?"

"Ah, don't worry about it."

The blonde man walked through the makeshift doors and down the hallway, knocking on a door. He returned a few seconds later, with Robby trailing behind him.

"Dude, you literally just said he wasn't here." Ethan said, looking at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, I lied again. Not my fault you fell for it twice."

"But, you guys are right. Tricking you into lunch wasn't my best effort. So I did some interneting." Johnny stated, before grabbing his laptop from the kitchen counter.

"Found a bunch of strategies for building trust and teamwork through cooperative exercises. There's this one that's the least lamest one is called an escape room. How it works—"

"I know what an escape room is." Robby interrupted his father.

"And I'm not doing it."

"Yeah, me either." Ethan agreed. As he went to the front door to try to open it, it wouldn't budge.

"I reversed the doorknobs. It's locked from the outside. And this is the only key." Johnny announced, holding up a gold key in his hand. The two watched as he dropped it in the sink and then turned on the garbage disposal.

"I glued the windows shut too. No one's getting out of here unless you work together."

"Now, as I was saying, the way it works is, you start with a theme, okay? Our theme is the Lincoln Country War. New Mexico territory, 1878."

"Lincoln Country regulators Jose Chavez Y Chavez and Josiah 'Doc' Scurlock have been arrested to be hanged. You're Chavez, obviously."

"I hope you know that this is the plot of Young Guns 2."

"Shit. You saw it?"

"With you." Ethan affirmed.

"Who cares? Dad, you're missing the point. You could lock us in here forever, and we're never gonna be friends." Keene stated.

"Why are you pushing this so hard, anyway?"

"Because me and your mom...." Johnny replied, hesitating for a second.

"We're all sort of on our way of becoming a family."

"A f-family? What, me and him? Are you serious, right now?" Williams questioned, his voice filled up with anger as he raised an eyebrow.

"Alright. Maybe not the traditional kind."

"No, not any kind. You two have your thing, whatever. But you keep forcing, all you'll do is gotta get his ass kick." Robby said, then the boy took a step towards him.

"Ready whenever you are, runner-boy."

"Name the time and place."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and then it opened. Lois walked in wearing some kind of costume, causing the boys' eyebrows to furrow in confusion when his grandmother stepped inside the apartment.

"I am Billy the Kid, and I have a few riddles for you." She said, while glancing at her hand to remember what she had to say.

As Johnny was using a stick to clean off some glue that was around the windows, he heard knocking on the front door.

"You have to open it from out there." He called out, as the person outside opened the door. It was revealed to be Daniel, who just waltzed inside.

"Hey."

"LaRusso?" Sensei questioned, observing the man's appearance.

"Oh, you look like shit."

"I need your help. I think Sliver paid Stringray to lie about Kreese's attack. He's driving around your old Cobra Kai mobile." LaRusso explained.

"What?"

"He joined Cobra Kai back when it was still your dojo, right? You get him to flip, we might take Sliver down for good. Time to get back into the game."

"Sorry, man. I'm dealing with some family stuff. Alright? I washed my hands of Cobra Kai when we lost the tournament."

"What? Y-You started the whole Cobra Kai thing." Daniel stuttered.

"If you hadn't brought it back, then none of this would be happening. You opened Pandora's Box, not me."

"Listen, I don't know who Pandora is or what's in her box, but I got Robby out of there and Kreese is in jail. That's two wins as far as I'm concerned. Best to leave well enough alone."

"What about all the other kids?" He asked.

"And since when do you ever leave well enough alone? What happened to the 'strike first badass'? Do I need to kick his wake him up or was it just one tournament loss all it took to turn you into a pussy?"

Lawrence took a closer step to LaRusso, and glared straight at him.

"What are you doing? You show up out of the blue, raving like a lunatic, you reek of booze, and now you wanna fight me cause I don't wanna get pulled back into this rivalry with Sliver?"

"What's going on with you, man?"

Daniel let out a frustrated sigh before taking a seat on the couch sofa, while Johnny came back with a beer, and handed one to him.

"What the hell am I doing?"

"If you think I'm off the rails...."

"Way off. Look at ya. Your shirt's not even tucked in." He pointed out, glancing at the man's untucked shirt.

"Amanda let you leave the house like that?"

"She wasn't there to stop me." LaRusso replied.

"Finally pushed past her limit. She's at her mother's in Ohio. She took the kids, too. I left her a bunch of bourbon-soaked messages last night, but she hasn't called me back yet."

"We both know I'm the guy you come to advise on this stuff. Family's never been my strong suit. But is it yours. Always annoyed me."

"I'm sure you and Amanda have your hiccups, but you always get over them. No reason to think you're not gonna get through this, as long as you keep your head out of your ass."

"That's.... A valid point." Daniel stated, and noticed there was 'jail' written on a piece of cardboard attached to the wall.

"Do I wanna ask what's going on here or...."

"Robby moved in. Him and Ethan are at each other's throats again. This is my dumb idea to get them to iron it out. But it crashed and burned."

"So much for 'Goggle's' advice on conflict resolution." Johnny chuckled lightly.

"Hmm. Surprised you know how to 'Goggle' or the phrase 'conflict resolution'." LaRusso sounded very surprised.

"Obviously, you care a lot about them both, so I have a pretty good feeling you're gonna work it out too. Whether it with the computer savvy, new Johnny approach or something more.... Johnny Classic."

"Johnny Classic, huh?" Lawrence questioned, out of curiosity.

"I didn't think you were a fan of his."

"Yeah, well, he's starting to grow on me. Tell anyone I said that, we really are gonna fight again. And, I'm not talking tournament rules."

"Maybe that's how we should have done it all those years ago. If we hadn't had to stop at three points, we might've got this out of our systems."

"I might have. Three points is all you had in you."

"There he is." He laughed.

"Alright. On that note, thanks for the banquet. And.... The perspective."

"That's what I'm here for."

"All right." Daniel said before turning around and making his way out of the front door.

After receiving advice from LaRusso on how to help the two boys get along, Johnny had one more plan: to have them fight each other until they were exhausted. He stood in front of the middle of the apartment complex, raising an air horn in his hand and turned it on.

Within thirty seconds, Ethan walked out of his mother's apartment, and Robby stepped out of his father's, but their next-door neighbor also came out.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Mind your business, dirtbag." He snapped at the man, who slowly retreated into his home. Just then, the two boys began walking away.

"You two stay put."

"Are you kidding me, Dad?"

"Yeah, I have other things to do—"

"Quiet!" Sensei interrupted, startling the two teenagers.

"You two wanna hang on to your grudge? Fine. At least be men about it. Put your fists where your mouths are."

"You want us to what?"

"Fight it out. No points. No mats." The blonde man replied.

"Just keep fighting until you get it out of your systems."

"What, here? Right now?" Williams asked.

"It's a time, this is a place. Unless we'll all just talk?"

"That's definitely not happening."

"Me neither." Keene shrugged.

"All right. Let's go on with it."

The two boys got into their respective fighting positions. Ethan threw the first punch, but it was blocked. They effortlessly dodged and blocked each other's hits and kicks.

"Is that all you got? I thought you guys were sworn enemies!"

Robby seemed angered by his father's words, prompting him to sent a kick toward his opponent. Williams deftly blocked every of the enemy's attempted attacks before spinning around delivering a roundhouse kick straight to his face.

He brought his hand up to his nose, checking for any blood. As he looked down at his fingertips and the redness, he glanced back up at the boy in front of him.

Now realizing that the battle had become somewhat serious, they both got back into their fighting stances.

Keene delivered a series of high kicks, but his opponent dodged them all. Then, swiftly, he got on the floor and swept Ethan's leg, causing him to fall on the ground.

Williams stay on the floor for only a few seconds before rising to his feet.

"Let's go."

They continued to fight, exchanging good hits on each other every now and then. Robby climbed on the air conditioning unit, using it as leverage to deliver a kick to the boy's face.

Ethan's back was pressed up against the stairs when suddenly a kick landed on his chest, sending him flying backward into a door, which broke open. Keene ran inside the stairwell after him.

"Hey! Stairwell's out of bounds!" Johnny shouted loudly, as the two continued up to the second floor, Williams tracked his enemy down to the ground.

"Alright, that's it. Fight's over!"

The boy went to throw a punch, and attempted to landed another one, only for it be countered by his enemy who pushed him into the wall.

They got up from the ground, as Ethan pushed him back, Robby elbowing him in the back, causing him to fall flat on the floor once again. He tried to land a kick, but Williams sent one right back at him.

"Ethan, Robby, knock it off!"

The enemy attempted to hit, but it was blocked a foot. The boy quickly got up from the ground, grabbing Keene and pushed him back against the balcony.

"Shit!"

Ethan sent a barrage of punches, before kicking his enemy down to the floor. Letting out a yell of anger, with his fist raised, but suddenly hesitated and stopped what he was doing.

By the time, Robby slowly rose up from the ground, Johnny was already there behind them, seeing if they finished their beef with each other.

"I can't do it...."

"Why are you holding back?"

"The main reason I got karate wasn't to hurt anyone. I did it because I wanted to stand up to bullies, to show them that I can defend myself, and find balance too."

"Yeah, I understand that."

"But the last time we fought like this, why were you holding back as well?"

"I just wanted to finish the fight. I mean, not like that. I just.... I.... I had tunnel vision and I got so angry that I just.... I mean, I barely knew where we were. I'd take it back in a second if I could."

"I knew it was an accident, Robby. You didn't mean to do it. Ever since we've met, I've felt this brotherly connection between the two of us. I ruined that bond at the tournament. I'm really sorry about all this. So what do you say? You feel like being my friend or brother, again?"

"Always, brother." Robby replied, before they pulled each other into a bro hug.

"That's all in the past now."

"So, is it over? Are you guys good?" Sensei asked, slowly walking over to them. The two looked at one another before nodding their heads with smiles across their faces.

"Yeah, we're good."

"Thank God. If you still hate each other when the baby gets here...." The blonde man paused, realizing the weight of his words.

"B-Baby?" Ethan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Wait, what?"

"What, like you and my mother?"

"Yeah, we're, uh, having a baby." He sighed and nodded his head.

"We're supposed to tell you together, so make sure you act surprised."

"Holy shit!" Williams exclaimed loudly in excitement.

"Yeah, like that."

"Dad, that's.... That's awesome." Keene said, walking up to his father and giving him a side hug. Ethan joined in, waltzing over to be apart of the family hug.

"Alright, dig in." Johnny said, placing a basket of breadsticks down on the kitchen table after the boys settled their beef and became friends again. They all had ordered Olive Garden takeout and gathered at Elizabeth's apartment to enjoy the meal together.

"Wow." Robby exclaimed after taking a bite of the breadstick in his hand.

"You weren't kidding about these breadsticks, Dad."

"He's right."

"I wouldn't lie to you guys three times in the same day." His father said, Elizabeth opened the front door, noticing her son, Robby, and Johnny eating dinner together.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hello, guys."

"Hi, Ms. Jones. I hope it's cool that I'm having dinner here."

"That's wonderful. You're welcome here anytime, Robby." She stated, patting him on the shoulder before setting her bag down and standing next to Lawrence.

"So, are they getting along now? How did you manage to do that? Please don't tell me the bruises on their faces mean you beat them into submission?"

"No, of course not." He shook his head in response.

"They beat each other into submission. Don't worry, it was all supervised. It was actually LaRusso's idea."

"I didn't think you and Daniel would be working together again?" She questioned.

"We weren't, but I think we might need to."

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SEE YALL GUYS IN THE NEXT ONE!!!!

EDITED; 3/22/2024

FIVE DOWN FIVE MORE TO GO!!!!