Out of Place [Cobra Kai OC x Robby Keene]

136 - Overloaded

Captain's War... and of course Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do are in the same group. I was hoping we'd be able to avoid each other for a little longer than this... it doesn't matter. It would've happened eventually. It's time to show them, and everyone else, what we're made of. Our team huddles up. We need a strategy if we want to last longer than ten seconds. Luckily, Robby and I are good at staying on our feet after all that training on the balance board, the tree, and our skating backgrounds- and show choir for me. We just need to make sure we don't get swept or flipped.

"We should go for other dojos," I say, "Cobra Kai thinks they're the biggest threat. If we treat them like they're not, it'll mess with their heads."

You're going to learn to get inside the heads of your opponents and throw them off balance...

"Right, let them come to us; protect the egg," Miguel adds on, snapping me out of my thoughts, "make sure Parker and Robby are safe. You just stay back and stay focused."

"Why wouldn't I be focused?" Robby asks. He is the one who lost the boys a room... but we have bigger fish to fry here.

"He's not the one who stormed out yesterday," Demetri mutters. What's his problem? This is the second time he's made a comment like that in the past twenty-four hours. He's like a brother to me. Why is he being such an ass?

"Hey, I know it hasn't been pretty lately, but no one could ever count us out," Mr LaRusso says, putting a hand on my shoulder, "you hear me? Do it for each other."

I appreciate his words and the small act of his hand on my shoulder. Makes me feel like I'm actually supported after that comment.

"And wipe the smirks off their ugly faces," Mr Lawrence adds. We all nod. I've seldom been more excited to do just that.

"Ready?" the announcer calls out, "begin!"

Tory immediately comes rushing towards us, the other Cobras not far behind her. Shit...

"Protect the egg!" Demetri calls out, then he promptly goes down.

"Robby stay back!" Miguel calls as the fight truly begins. Funnily enough, I find myself in front of Yoon. He grins when he sees me.

"Nice to see you again, Parker," he says. I fight back a smile. This should be fun.

"Yoon," I greet in return. Unfortunately, because this is karate tournament and not a meet and greet, we have to fight. I let him come to me, and right off the bat, I know I have a massive advantage over him. It's not skill wise, no, god no, he's incredibly skilled, it's currently taking all of my focus to block his hand techniques. My advantage is the same that I had yesterday in our game of chess: he plays traditional. And he plays predictable. Though we've had different senseis, there's such a strong sense of familiarity in his attack that my defense is second nature. And just like my mamá taught me in chess, subverting tradition can and will give me the upper hand.

I duck under one of his punches, slipping around to his backside. As he whips around, he runs right into my sidekick. Unfortunately, the force isn't enough to knock him over.