[SEASON ONE: EPISODE EIGHT]

"You've trained hard. You've gotten strong, faster, tougher. You've done your best. You're ready for this tournament, am I right?" Johnny screamed, standing on the back of a pickup truck as the Cobra Kai students stood in the middle of a big junkyard.

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Wrong!" He yelled, before throwing his beer can down at Bert's feet, making some of them flinch back in fear.

"Your best ain't shit! If your gonna win the All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament, you've gotta give me better than your best. Which, is why from now, you're gonna get my worst. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Are you losers?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Are you nerds?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Are you sure?"

"No, Sensei!" They shouted, as their Sensei frustratingly put his hands on his face.

The group practiced running through drills until Aisha tripped. She struggled to get up quickly, and soon, the other students started falling on top of each other.

After the incident, Ethan assisted Johnny in setting up a long wooden plank across the large bin of scrap metal. They took turns walking across it, with Williams being the first to attempt.

The activity was going smoothly until Hawk's leg slipped, and he teetered on the edge of falling into the pit of rusted metal. Fortunately, he managed to land safely on the floor as he was close enough to the end.

And completing the activity, Sensei distributed granola bars to everyone.

"You guys hungry?" He asked, and they nodded their heads.

"Good, cause they are." Johnny said, blowing a blow horn from behind his back and could immediately hear something or someone running towards them.

"Oh, shit!" Aisha let out a loud scream and immediately sprinted away. Ethan rushed to a truck and leaped over the back. Meanwhile, one of the dogs approached Hawk, who was struggling to find a safe spot, and unfortunately, the dog ended up biting him.

Meanwhile, at the LaRusso's house, Daniel invited his mother and cousin Louie over for an outdoor family dinner.

"You know, it's bad enough that this monster is teaching kids. Now he's somehow convinced the whole All Valley broad to let Cobra Kai back in the tournament." He mentioned, as he grilled four pieces of smoked sausage.

"Oh, that's horrible. They can't let them back. They're nothing but a bunch of bullies."

"They can't all be bullies, right?" Sam asked, glancing over at her grandma.

"Trust me, sweetheart. You don't know half of it. Those cobra jerks made my little boy's life miserable. Tell them how they pushed you down that hill." Lucille said as Amanda walked over to the family table with a blow of pasta salad.

"Well, they already knew that, ma." Daniel answered, pointing at his wife and kids.

"You want pasta salad?" She asked.

"Oh, no. Thank you. I-I don't like that prepackaged stuff from the store. It's....."

"I would've had made some, but I got home late from the dealership." Amanda said, taking a seat at the table.

"Where's that boy Samantha used to run around with?"

"I invited him over for a day at the pool, and he had to be back home."

"It's tough being a working mom, but you've got a partner. Remember how I would come home from work and be cooking from scratch?" Lucille asked as Daniel and Louie stepped over to the table with the other food items.

"Yeah, ma." He said, sighing, then sat down beside Amanda.

"Dad, what if Cobra Kai has changed?" Sam asked.

"I mean, there's some kids from my school who are in it, and it doesn't automatically make them bad, right?"

"Please, Cobra Kai will never change. Promise me, you'll stay away from the kids who are associated with it. All right?" Daniel asked peacefully as she sadly glanced over at him.

A few hours later, Johnny and Ethan were the only ones who were in the dojo, practicing for the All Valley Tournament. Williams kept punching the dummy, aggressively.

"Okay! Okay! That's enough. Save some for the tournament." He said, and the boy stopped to catch his breath.

"Why am I the only one, here?"

"Cause let's face it, you're the only chance I have at winning this thing." Sensei answered.

"So, you're saying, I'm your best student?" Ethan asked, smirking in amazement.

"Don't flatter yourself, kid. Have you seen the others?" Johnny asked as the boy walked over to his bag, pulling out his phone to check a text message from Sam. He lightly chuckled while looking down at the photo.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, just this funny picture my friend posted." He said.

"Wait a second." Sensei said, grabbing Ethan's phone out of his hands and was scrolling through the photos.

"Is that Daniel LaRusso's daughter?"

"Yes, you know Sam?"

"You're dating a LaRusso?" Johnny asked, curiosity, as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What? No, we're not dating, that's for sure. And why are you firing all of these questions at me?" Ethan asked, worryingly, taking a couple of steps backwards.

"We need to talk."

Johnny and Ethan went outside the dojo, onto the cement floor, enjoying some coda cans.

"It was the summer of 1982. Rocky III had just came out. My buddy Dutch was a huge Mr. T fan, so we went to the local theater to check it out. Sitting in front of us was this beautiful group of chicks, eating popcorn. Dutch started throwing milk buds at them." He explained to him.

"And, why would he do that?" The boy asked and laughed.

"Because it's an alpha move, man. Babes love it when you treat them like crap. Anyways, the girls got so pissed off, that one of them stood up and started yelling at us. That's when I saw her for the first time." Johnny said, before looking off into the distance.

"Saw who, exactly?" Ethan asked, as a wave of nostalgia and longing crossed over on the older man's face.

"Ali. She dumped popcorn all over, Dutch. Even got butter on him too." He answered, as they both started laughing.

"I could tell right away, man. This chick was a firecracker."

"So, did you like ask her out?"

"Yeah, I hit on her a few times, till she finally gave me a chance. We went to Golf N' Stuff for our first date. Kissed on the Ferris wheel. We were madly in love. Dated for two years. For Valentine's Day, instead of rings, I gave her this pink jelly. She gave me this." Sensei said, and pulled out a black headband for his back pocket.

"Then, what happened?"

"Summer before my senior year, we got into a fight. I figured we'd work things out eventually. But then, Daniel LaRusso came to town. Next thing, I know, he's hitting on her. I saw them two flirting with one other." Johnny continued on with the story.

"What did you do?"

"Well, I walked over to have a civil conversation with her. But LaRusso kept butting in. I told him to get lost, mind your own business. Out of nowhere, the guy sucker punched me."

"What a total weirdo." Ethan said, jokingly, and scoffed.

"I know, man. I did what anyone would've done to defend himself. You know, I figured that was that. But LaRusso wouldn't leave it alone. At the Halloween dance, I was sitting there minding my own business, he doses me with a water hose. I hadn't seen the guy in a few months. And then, skip to the All Valley Tournament, we both made it to the finals. It was two to two...." Johnny started, but took a sip of his drink.

"What happened? Who won?" He asked, leaning forward.

"LaRusso won, I lost. But what's worse.... Is that I lost Ali."

"Yeah."

"All right, the reason I'm telling you this is because you gotta watch out for the LaRussos." Sensei said, and Ethan looked at him with a confused look on his face.

Later, Johnny parked his car in the parking lot. They got out and walked towards his apartment.

"How was training?" Elizabeth asked, looking over to noticed her son and the blonde.

"Your son's going just great." He complemented his student, padding him on his shoulder.

"Okay, Ethan. Go get clean up, and help your Grandma make spinner." She ordered, pointing over to her apartment.

"Yes, ma'am. Bye." Ethan said, fist bumping and stepped over to the front door. As the blonde began walking back to his apartment, someone stopped him.

"Do you have any dinner plans?"

"Me? Uh.... Yeah, I got a couple Hot Pockets. I'm good."

"That sounds like the opposite of good." She retorted.

"Wanna join us?"

"Thanks, but I wouldn't wanna, you know, bother you guys."

"It's no bother. We have plenty." Elizabeth pleaded.

"Well, I would, but—" Johnny started.

"No buts. My dojo, my rules." She demanded.

After Ethan's grandma gave the prayer, the four of them dug into the food. Johnny took a small bite and tried his best to resist groaning in delight.

"So, Ethan had told me all about the tournament. I really hope he doesn't get hurt." Elizabeth said.

"Mother, I've told you before, there's referees." Ethan said, with a tone in his voice that sounded a little annoyed.

"At least not permanently." Johnny said, as she immediately glanced over at him with a worried look on her face.

"He'll be fine, I'll make sure of it."

"So, have you always lived in reseda?" She asked, moving on with the conversation.

"No, I grew up in Encino."

"Really? they have really nice houses down there."

"Yeah. Well, just because you live in a nice house doesn't mean nice things are going on inside."

The tension around the table suddenly became heavy, making everyone feel a bit awkward. Johnny bit into a plantain and let a moan of amazement.

"I really like these bananas."

"They're called Plantains." Elizabeth corrected him, with a little smile.

"In English, we call them bananas." He said, making everyone chuckle, and he looked confused.

"What's so funny?"

And before anyone could respond, Ethan's phone started buzzing. He pulled it out of his pocket and his face lit up.

"Oh, my. Sorry, about that."

"Good ahead, answer it. It's fine. But, don't take too long. Your food will get cold." She said, and he nodded his head, while heading towards his own bedroom.

"I'm so glad, Ethan's finally making some friends. It's been very difficult for him. We've had to move around a lot."

"So, where are you guys from original?" Johnny asked.

"Canada."

"Oh. Why'd you leave?"

"Because she fell in love with a shithead." Her mother shouted, making herself laugh.

"Mama!" Elizabeth scolded, as he looked between the two very confused, on what was going on.

"I got married at 18. After I was pregnant with Ethan, I learned the truth about my husband's job. Let's just say he is very bad man." She explained to him.

"I'm sorry." He said, sincerely, looking down.

"Don't be sorry. I moved on long ago. You can't let the mistakes of the past determine your future." She stated, smiling at Johnny.

The next day, at the LaRusso's house, Sam invited Ethan over to spend the day together in the big pool in the backyard. She lounged on a pink beach chair while he played around in the water.

Suddenly, something grabbed both of their attention.

"Oh, hey." She said, noticing the boy, and stood up from the chair. Williams quickly got out of the pool, and stood next to her, and wanting to meet this boy.

"Hi."

"Sorry, I was.... I was looking for Mr. LaRusso. He's been training me back here in the dojo."

"Then we both should thank you, he tried roping me into it." She said, and he smiled.

"So you must the two people he talks about all the time." Robby said, glancing over at both Ethan and Sam.

"I would really hope so."

"I'm Samantha."

"Ethan."

"Robby." He introduced, as Daniel stepped in the backyard, with a baffle bag, over his shoulder.

"Oh, would you look at this. My current student and my two former students."

"You know, if you wanna join us, Ethan or Sam, there's still time." He said, not giving up trying to convince them.

"I'm actually going to the mall with Mom and grandma." She said, nodding her head.

"My mom wants me home in a few of minutes."

"Oh, that's good. Just text me if there's any bloodshed." Daniel said, jokingly and made her laugh.

"Robby, give me a hand with this. We're gonna take the SUV." He said, as he turned around and walked towards the car.

"Bye, guys."

"See you."

"It was nice meeting you two." Robby said.

"Nice meeting you, bro." Ethan said, and placed his elbow down on Sam's shoulder in a joking matter.

"And, uh.... Good luck with the tree." She said, as they kept staring at one another.

"Robby." Daniel said, getting his attention, as he stepped closer up to him.

After the two of them left, Ethan noticed Sam was staring at Robby too much decided to tease her about it.

"Oh! You have a crush on—" He started, she shoved him backward in the pool.

"Okay, I deserve that, but not as much as I do this."

"What are you—" She started, and Williams grabbed both of her feet, pulling her down into the pool.

"Ethan! Now, I am all soaking wet because of you!" Sam yelled, splashing water in his face, as he laughed loudly. He moved over closer to her, caught her up in his arms.

"Oh, come on. You gotta admit, this is actually kinda fun."

"Okay, it's fun having you, over at my house." She said, and placed her small head onto his neck, as they stayed like that for a few more minutes.

"I know and we enjoy it."

A few hours later, Ethan, Aisha, and Hawk were at the movies. The two of them were discussing about his and Sam's friendship.

"Jesus Christ, you're such a nerd." He groaned, ready to throw another piece of popcorn at someone random.

"Dude, I'm telling you, Sam was acting a little weird the other day, when her dad walked by."

"Listen, I've known Mr. LaRusso since the third grade. He's a really nice guy. You just gotta talk to him." She suggested.

"Dude, just go over there, man. It's the alpha move." Hawk said, encouragingly, and threw a piece of popcorn on a man's head.

"Who the hell, did that?" The guy asked, angrily, then stood up from his seat.

After waiting almost all night to decide, Ethan finally gave in and rode his bike up towards the LaRusso's house, hoping to have a conversation with Daniel, about him being Johnny Lawrence's student. That was all he needed right now for them to accept it. 

He threw his bike down on the ground and started hearing laugher coming from the backyard.

The LaRusso sat down at the table eating dinner together and sharing stories. Sam was giggling at something that Robby was telling everyone.

Ethan suddenly felt his own heart slowly break down in sadness, as he saw his best friend sitting with another guy. He turned around and walked away in disbelief.

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EDITED: 2/15/2024

SEE YOU GUYS IN THE NEXT ONE!!!!