STARCROSSED: Anthony LaRusso (ON A HIATUS)

Chapter XXXI: Friendship Fix

Meanwhile, Robby was at the mini-mart near the Cobra Kai dojo, when Daniel, his former sensei, showed up.

"Of course." Robby scoffed.

"This'll only take a minute." Daniel told Robby, who said, "Y'know I can save you that minute. You realized you're training a bunch of wimps and you need a male champion, right? Let me guess, your sales pitch is, "I'm here to rescue you." "This isn't who you are, Robby. I can help." Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Robby quipped.

"I've said all that before. It's time to break the pattern. I heard what you did to Eli." Daniel reminded Robby, who countered, "I just gave him what he deserved."

"I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to tell you what's gonna happen to you next. Terry Silver popped up out of the blue, right? He did the same thing to me. He'll seem decent enough, show you a few moves, and then he'll worm his way in. Chip away at you. And push you past your limits. You'll become stronger than you thought possible, but Silver won't stop there. Okay? This man is sick and twisted, and when he's done with you, you won't be you anymore. One day you'll find yourself with some kid's blood all over your shirt and you'll hope it's not too late to change course." Daniel warned Robby, when Silver, Ellie, and Glenn showed up. "Mr. LaRusso, he's got a lot of things but interest in joining Miyagi-Do ain't one of them." Ellie told Daniel.

"New equipment just got in. Why don't you go check it out?" Silver told Robby.

"It's considered unethical to poach students. You had your opportunity with Robby, now he's with us. You should respect that." Silver reminded Daniel.

"Respect. Res... You are not a sensei. You're a con man. Manipulating people to turn them into something they're not." Daniel scoffed.

"I didn't turn you into anything, Danny Boy. I brought out what was already inside." Silver countered.

"That's bullshit. You tortured me." Daniel was having none of it, but Silver chuckled. "Please. You were a hothead. All I had to do was wind you up and get out of the way. And... if you're being honest with yourself, you know you liked it. You were powerful, free. You just don't wanna admit there's always been a little Cobra Kai in you." Silver told Daniel.

"We'll settle this on the mat. And when we win, Cobra Kai, and you, will be out of business." Even though Silver tortured Daniel when he was a teenager, the LaRusso wasn't afraid of him.

"One of us will be." Silver responded.

"If you're gonna use this place as a conference room, buy something." Nestor, the owner of the mini-mart, told Silver, but said "T-Take your time." when the sensei glared at him, knowing that he was a dangerous man.

Meanwhile, at the abandoned warehouse, which was the Eagle Fang dojo, Johnny and the Eagle Fang students were waiting for the Elswith sisters to show up. "All right, so she's a little late, no big deal. Just a few minutes." Johnny said.

"Uh, 20 minutes, actually." Penis Breath corrected Johnny, who gave him a look.

"OK, uh, look, I-I'll DM her. See where she is. OK." Miguel checked her Instagram, specifically hyper_Piper42, but when he did, he noticed something wrong. "Oh no."

"What?" Johnny asked.

"Uh..." Miguel was hesitant to tell Johnny.

"Sensei, this ain't good at all." Julia told Johnny, as she watched Piper go live on Instagram. "Cool! Nothing but the best for the best. Can't wait to kick ass with Cobra Kai." Piper said while streaming herself.

"She joined Cobra Kai?" Johnny asked in disbelief. "Uh, looks like they made designer gear for all the new students. They got a bunch of new recruits." Miguel said. Suddenly, Julia heard her phone ring, and it was Piper's sister, Stella, calling on FaceTime, which Julia picked up. "Hey, Julia, how's it going?" Stella asked through the phone while looking at Julia.

"Stella, what are you doing there? You need to be at the Eagle Fang dojo with us!" Julia told Stella, who responded, "Sorry, when we said we were joining a dojo, we meant we were joining Cobra Kai. Oh, and follow me on my Instagram, the username's SuperStarStella84." Julia didn't want to hear it anymore, so she hung up after that.

"Yeah, great. That was a big waste of time. I even learned feminism." Johnny complained.

"We can't give up, Sensei. If we want first place, we have to compete in the girls' division." Miguel still didn't lose hope.

"With who? We don't have Cobra Kai's money. We have no chance at finding a champion." Johnny said.

"I wasn't a champion when you met me, and Julia and Katie weren't champions when they started training. Okay? You made me one, saw something in me that no one else did. Maybe you just have to see that in someone else. We just have to think outside of the box." Miguel said, and Johnny sighed. "Alright, everybody start thinking outside the box! Whatever that means."

Meanwhile, Sam had driven all the way to Santa Barbara in her Mercedes Benz convertible, with Katie following her in her yellow Chevrolet Camaro, and pulled up in the driveway of a house. Sam rung the doorbell, and a girl opened the door. The girl turned out to be Aisha Robinson, Sam and Katie's former best friend. Even after Sam drifted apart from her, Aisha and Katie were still friends.

"Sam? Katie?" Aisha said. She was excited that the girls had returned after a long time. "Surprise." Sam smiled and all three girls hugged each other.

"I can't believe you drove all the way to Santa Barbara." Aisha said in surprise.

"I can't believe you live in Santa Barbara." Sam was surprised too.

"I gotta say, your house is beautiful." Katie complimented.

"Thanks. My dad got a job offer from UCSB that he just couldn't pass up." Aisha explained.

"Wait, so the fight at school had nothing to do with it?" Sam asked.

"Oh, it had plenty to do with it. My parents were pissed. I broke a kid's nose. Who knew these things were lethal weapons?" Aisha joked. "You didn't drive two hours to talk about the butts I've kicked. What's going on?" Aisha asked.

"It's just that Tory wants to come back to West Valley. My parents want me to be cool about it." Sam answered.

"That and Angelique, who used to be friends with me, is now a total bitch to me." Katie said.

"We're talking about the same overprotective LaRussos who made me wear a helmet on your trampoline?" Aisha asked.

"She sold them some sob story." Sam told Aisha.

"We just feel like we don't have control of our lives." Katie told Aisha, who started telling them a story.

"When I started my new school, there was this girl in my homeroom, pink for days. Looked like she walked out of a Malibu Barbie beach house. She gave me a look that I'd seen before. I just knew she was gonna be my next bully. But I wasn't gonna let the cycle repeat itself. So I walked up to her, and you know what I did?"

"Is this gonna be another front wedgie story?" Sam asked.

"Did it appear on social media?" Katie asked.

"I introduced myself. I told her I liked her shoes. I didn't, but it seemed like the polite thing to do." Aisha told the girls, and Sam and Katie chuckled. "I told her I was new, asked if she could introduce me around."

"How did that go?" Sam asked curiously.

"She's my bestie. My new school bestie. You and Katie will always be the OG." Aisha made it clear that even though she was no longer attending West Valley High School with Sam and Katie, the two would always be their best friends, which the two chuckled at.

"I attacked my problem head on. I struck first." Aisha reminded the two. "Just like my dad taught you." Katie smiled. "My parents moved here to get me away from the karate drama, but they can't stop me using the lessons I learned from Sensei Lawrence. I set my own terms. Set yours." Aisha told Sam.