can you keep a secret??-tory nichols

ii. back in black

A/N

Again, not much to write this episode, but hope you still enjoy

-J

"What do you think?" Hawk questioned Isabella and Aisha rhetorically, staring at two of the new recruits for Cobra Kai. "Shithead one and Shithead two?"

"I was thinking more Mary Kate and Asshat." Aisha disagreed.

"Well, I'm Chris-" The taller of the two spoke up.

"Did I say you could speak?" Hawk yelled forcefully, making Isabella grin widely.

"Guys, look, they're just messing with you." Miguel assured them, joining the group. "Besides, everyone knows your names are Assface and Douchebag."

"Dibs on Assface." The shorter one told his friend. From the door came a bulky man, carrying a forest green duffel bag. The face was unfamiliar, as Miguel and Isabella quickly noticed, the siblings deciding to approach the man.

"Can we help you, sir?" The man, who was a solid eight inches taller than Isabella, only smirked as he looked down on the teenager.

"No. But maybe I can help you." Before the two could grasp a better sense of what he was talking about, Johnny peered out of his office.

"Hey." Miguel and Isabella moved out of the way, letting the unknown man make his way to their sensei.

XXX

"Class, we have a visitor." Johnny announced to his students. "This is Mr. Kreese. He's just an observer. Pretend like he's not even here. Mr. Diaz, warm them up."

Miguel made his way to the front, bowing to his fellow students. "Fighting positions." Everyone followed his lead, getting into their fighting positions. "Front kick. Yuh!"

"Yuh!"

"Forward strike. Yuh!"

"Yuh!"

"Side dab. Yuh!"

"Yuh!" All the returning students laughed with one another, giving each other high fives and talking amongst themselves.

"What the hell was that?" Johnny angrily questioned his star student.

Miguel's laughter filled face disappeared, realizing that his sensei was upset with him. "We were just messing around. We have 11 and a half months until the next All Valley."

"Yeah, besides, we already know how to kick ass." Hawk chimed in, getting his fellow students to chuckle in response.

"Oh yeah, really, huh? So you know everything. There's nothing left to learn, huh?" Isabella couldn't contain herself giggling in the crowd of students. "What's so funny, Miss Diaz?"

"I'm sorry, Sensei. You wouldn't understand."

Johnny rolled his eyes at the teenager's arrogance. "Try me."

"It's a snake-do."

"What's a snake-do?" In response to his question, Johnny then had a group full of teenagers hissing at him. "Quiet!" He screamed suddenly, silencing every single one of his students. "5 AM tomorrow morning. Corner of Fulton and Raymer. You don't show, and you're off the team. Class dismissed." He left, his guest following right behind him.

XXX

Johnny had brought his team down to Earth with some manual labor-moving dry cement and mixing it was tedious, but still physically demanding. It wasn't as bad as Isabella expected it to be, in all honesty. But, there was still more to come. Out of nowhere, came a cement truck, whose owner handed the keys to Johnny. That's when Isabella knew they'd really stepped in it.

"You think giving you the All Valley gives you the right to goof off?" The group stayed silent, knowing their sensei wasn't quite done. "Well, I got news for you. Winning one championship doesn't mean squat. A true champion never stops training. You gotta keep moving forward...or else you could get stuck exactly where you are. It's like the cement in this truck. That drum doesn't start turning, the cement inside will harden and get stuck. Is that what you want to happen to you?"

"No, Sensei!" The students responded.

"Good. Then climb up, get inside, and make it spin." Every single student's jaws dropped to the floor. Everyone there knew it was extremely dangerous.

"Sensei, we're sorry for messing around." Aisha apologized.

"We learned our lesson." Hawk agreed.

Johnny didn't listen, but instead he put down the ladder for the drum. "Get in!"

"Sensei, this seems dangerous, I mean the fumes alone-" Isabella cut her brother off quickly. Her mother would never approve, which only made the ore deal sound more enticing.

"I'll do it."

"Atta girl." Johnny smiled proudly at Isabella as the ladder climbed in. Right behind her was Hawk and her brother, then followed by a few other students.

"This is weird." Miguel commented, just before Johnny peeked his head in.

"Don't just stand there. You wanna get stuck? Move!"

"Come on." The five angled themselves against the wall and started to push. Slowly but surely, the cement drum started to turn. They slipped and spilled until they could steadily stand there and push the wheel. Though they couldn't see, Johnny stood outside, prouder than ever of his kids. More specifically of Isabella and Miguel, both of whom had learned their lessons.

XXX

"You should all be proud of yourselves." Johnny told his students as he hosed the cement ridden teenagers down. "I know I'm proud. Your parents would be proud too, if you told them what we did here today, which we won't. You pushed forward like champions. Never stopping. Never being satisfied. Never giving up. And if you keep pushing and keep moving forward, you're gonna go to places you never even dreamed of." Miguel and Isabella nodded at the last bit, knowing it was directed towards them. It was a great moment between two kids and their father figure.

XXX

"Sensei, you home?" Miguel called out into Johnny's seemingly empty apartment.

"We used your spare key to drop you off some food." Isabella said at the same volume as Miguel. "Our mom doesn't want you eating slim jims for breakfast anymore." The two made their way into Johnny's apartment kitchen where Miguel placed the container in their sensei's fridge. As the fridge closed a picture caught Isabella's eye.

"What's that?" Miguel pulled it off and examined it closer.

"It's Robby Keene."