𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧

All-Valley Arena

Eleanor stood outside with Aisha, Eli and Miguel. Miguel was practicing punching the air and Eli decided to speak up "Ease up man, save some energy for the tournament"

In return, Miguel side eyed them and continued. Aisha nudged Eli "Don't even bother. He's been super aggro since the breakup"

"Wait, they broke up?" Eleanor questioned and Eli nodded "It happened just after we left, apparently he started a fight with this Robby dude and Sam got hit in the process"

Eli looked around "Where's Sensei? The tournament will begin soon"

"He'll be here" Aisha replied

"I don't know about that" Bert said hesitantly "I saw him last night at the mini mall, I was buying a carton of milk when I heard him in the parking lot yelling" He proceeded to explain what he saw, including some images that Eleanor would want to burn out of her brain

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Aisha questioned and Bert shrugged "I don't know, I guess I'm used to seeing him drunk that it didn't seem like a big deal at the time"

"Well, we're here and he's not, so it's officially a big deal. What if something happens to him" Eli scolded

"Like what?" Bert asked

"Like he drove his car off a cliff, or bought a gun and blew his brains out" Eli named ways of suicide

"Real nice Eli, right in-front of the kid too. He's going to be traumatised" Eleanor scolded

"No way. Sensei would never kill himself, it's too pussy of a move" Aisha defended

"Whatever, we're here without him. We're going to do it without him" Miguel shook his head in disbelief, after all this training why would their sensei let them down?

Johnny walked up to the group "Do what without me?"

"We didn't think you were going to show up" Eli revealed

"I may not always win but I never back out of a fight" He looked around his students "Before we sign up, I have one more lesson to teach you"

...

Whilst inside, Eleanor blocked out the speaking telling teams to sign up. Johnny looked around his students "You've all learnt how to strike first, be aggressive, to not be losers. I've got you to strike hard and to put every ounce of your power behind everything you do. But I haven't taught you the third rule of Cobra Kai" He looked around them, focusing on the three he knew were the strongest. Miguel. Eli. Eleanor. "No mercy"

"The older you get, the more you guys are going to learn that life isn't fair. You wake up one morning feeling great, then life takes a spinning heel kick to your balls, takes a big steaming shit in your mouth."

Eleanor was confused, how was this a pep speech?

"You get an F on your test, you get suspended. You fall in love with a girl and some other dude comes along and steals her away. Car gets set on fire" Eleanor and Eli gave a quizzical look to each other "Just when you think things are going good, everything falls apart. That's how it goes. Life shows no mercy and neither do we."

"We do whatever it takes to keep our heads above water. We do whatever it takes to keep on going. We do whatever it takes to win." He looked around the group "Remember who you are, you're badass. You don't give a shit. You kick ass. You're Cobra Kai!"

They cheered "Let's go kick the shit out of everybody!"

...

James was at the mall charming a woman when he felt his phone buzzing with an incoming call, when he looked at it he excused himself and walked outside "Hey, what's up?"