Hear My Heart

5x08

Cobra Kai received some important guests and some uninvited guests at their next class.

"You led us to believe that your dojo had all the titles."
"Honesty isn't exactly Cobra Kai's strong suit." Daniel informed the board. In her head Tory nodded as she flicked her eyes over to Silver's panicked expression.

"This thing's gonna be on TV. There's corporate sponsors. We're gonna make a fortune." Devon rambled excitedly as she practiced her kicks on the pads Tory held. "I don't think we're getting paid." The blonde corrected.
"I mean, not directly, but we're gonna be Insta-famous. Gonna get me one of those branded partnerships. You can put yourself through college with one of those."
Tory faltered slightly saying "I never even thought about college before."
"As long as we do everything we can to make sure Cobra Kai wins." Tory lost herself in the memory of her asking Kreese how long she would have to stay at the dojo. "What's wrong?" She heard Devon ask bringing her out of her thoughts. Tory shook it off "Don't worry about it. Elevate your kicks. Aim higher." She instructed.

/ /

/ /

"We have to prepare to fight. This is bigger than the All Valley. Much bigger. So we need our best." Silver announced to them after the Sekai Taikai committee had given their decision. Many heads turned to look at Tory, including Devon. "Nichols." Silver called as everyone expected "Looks like you're gonna have a rematch against LaRusso. You ready?"
"Yes, Sensei." She said confidently. Tory was thrilled actually, she would be able to fight Sam again and this time it would be fair.
"Good." Silver smiled. "Payne. You ready to take on whomever they pick as their top fighter?"
"Yes, Sensei."
"You better be. Because the fate of this dojo rests in your fists." Tory looked over at the boy sympathetically, having felt that pressure at the All Valley, after Robby lost his match it was down to her to claim that one victory Cobra Kai needed to be the Grand Champion. She nodded at Kenny in encouragement but the younger boy looked away (he was in that awkward phase were he thought he was a man and didn't need help).

Despite her initial excitement at fighting Sam again, the more Tory thought about it the more she realised that this went against her plan to tear Cobra Kai down and went to see Kreese for a late night counselling session.

"I've been helping you this whole time. Keeping secrets from everyone I know. And what? Now you're just done?"
"I've put you through enough. The best thing you can do right now is look after yourself."
Tory leaned back in shock, shaking her head "Screw this. This is what I get for putting my trust in anyone. In the end, I'm always the one picking up the pieces." She sighed storming out of the visiting room while Kreese watched her leave sadly.

First, Robby, now, Kreese. The two people Tory thought would never betray her. She was so mad at her former sensei, because of him and his stupid plan she had lost Robby for nothing. Now what? Tory asked herself. Did she go back to Robby and admit everything? She wanted him back but that kind of thing wasn't in her nature. He would never understand anyway so she might as well fight for Cobra Kai now, maybe she could get one of those branded partnerships Devon was talking about and then she would have enough money to deal with her problems and even think about college.

/ /

Tory got the shock of her life when Robby walked in the next day with Miyagi-Fang dressed in a Miyagi-Do gi. She scoffed and wanted to scream at first but then she just found herself looking at him wishing he would look at her. Trying to distract herself, tory returned to her stretches but then she caught Samantha LaRusso's eye who looked like she didn't want to be there as much as Tory did. Tory watched Sam walk over to the rest of her team and was soon drawn Robby again amongst the crowd. Despite her thoughts last night about how she couldn't simply admit everything to him, Tory found herself opening her mouth ready to shout across the mat to her ex.

"Nichols." Sensei Kim's voice was like a bucket of ice cold water to bring her back to reality. "Come here. You beat the LaRusso girl before. Make this fight quick." Nodding once Tory returned to looking at Sam getting into the mind frame to fight her but something drew her attention back to Robby.

"Kenne!" Kenny screamed storming over to his former mentor. Tory actually couldn't watch this and went to Kyler for a distraction.

During the match, tory caught glimpses between the referee and Silver and her world shattered for a second time. It was happening again. Only this time she knew it beforehand.

When Tory saw Kenny use illegal moves on Hawk she was so glad Robby wasn't the one fighting him, especially with how mad Kenny was before the fight. She even felt bad for her former friend.

As Kenny celebrated with the rest of Cobra Kai, Tory looked around in horror and saw more confirmation of her theory from Silver and the ref. Tory could feel herself panicking again and during the celebration and concern she slipped out unwilling to win like that again.

"We'll begin our girls' fight. Samantha LaRusso and Tory Nichols, please take the mat." Gunther announced.

Cobra Kai looked around in a panic not seeing their champion anywhere. And they weren't the only ones.

"Tory Nichols?" Gunther called again.

"Tory's not here. Something happened." Robby said quietly to Miguel. Dammit, he had barely taken his eyes off of her the whole time and just when he did she disappeared, Robby cursed himself.

/ /

"Hey. Come to party with us 'cause we got into the Sekai Taikai?" Mitch bragged to a group of girls.
"I have no idea what you just said. We came to drink." One of them relied smiling at the three hotter boys.
"The Sekai Taikai—"
Hawk cut him off "Penis breath, grab the girl a cup." He snapped sending him on his way and flung his arms over Miguel and Robby's shoulders. "Anyways, let me introduce you to the baddest badasses at the party."
"What the fuck?" Robby threw Hawk's arm off and stormed away.
Placing a hand over his heart Hawk stage whispered "He's still heart broken." And received a subtle elbow to side from Miguel. Thankfully, the girls seemed to be more interested in him anyway.

Tory had unblocked Robby willing to reach out to him now and saw that Miyagi-Fang were hosting a party at his dad's place to celebrate qualifying for the Sekai Taikai and she went to speak to him but she found someone else first who she thought should hear the news from her:

"LaRusso."
A teary Sam spun around quickly getting into a fighting stance "What are you doing here?"
"I'm not here to fight. I came to talk."
"About what?"
"You didn't lose the All Valley." Tory revealed.