In the Cobra Kai dojo, the air was thick, almost suffocating, as Robby emerged from behind the partition, his muffled footsteps thumping against the worn wood like a war drum. His green eyes burned with raw anger as he glared at Jack, who stood in the center of the room, his bandaged arm hanging at his side, still throbbing from the fight two days ago. Gray morning light filtered through the dusty windows, casting long, flickering shadows that danced across the scarred floor. Tory, Kyler, and Hawk stopped mopping, their buckets forgotten as they looked up, surprise etched on their faces. John Kreese, their icy-eyed sensei, watched from the corner, the sadness of losing Jack hidden beneath a mask of ruthless control.
"Everything," Robby said, his voice thick with anger as he pointed at Jack, his finger shaking with fury. "I want to know what the hell is going on, why all this!"
Jack was silent for a moment, his green eyes fixed on Robby as he tried to decipher the storm before him. Confusion swirled in his mind, but a hot frustration was building in his chest—he hadn't asked for this confrontation. He took a deep breath, his shoulders straightening as if bracing for a blow, and began to speak, his voice calm but firm, filled with a certainty he struggled to sustain. "I'm leaving because this place doesn't make sense to me anymore. This place has brought me nothing but trouble since I came in. I came in to find out who my real father was, who Johnny was, and also to pass the time. I saw that everyone here is looking for something to hold on to, something to seek in their messed-up lives. That's why I joined Cobra Kai. But now I don't see the point in staying in a place where I'm not finding myself." He paused, his green eyes hardening as he stared at Robby. "And Sam… she's my girl now. You see, I knew Sam long before you came into the picture. We had a thing, but it took me too long to realize it. You came into play, and all these problems happened. I am to blame for all of this, for being negligent, for being weak and not understanding what I really wanted. I'm still confused about a lot of things, but I'm sure of one thing this time: I'm not going to give Sam away to anyone."
Robby felt his anger explode like a wildfire, his chest burning as he heard those words. Each sentence Jack said cut like a blade, as if he were rubbing in Robby's face everything Robby had lost. He felt like Sam had abandoned him without explanation, that Johnny was a void in his life, and now Jack was admitting guilt, but still seemed to justify it all with that annoying calm. "You're with her, and I was thrown away like it was nothing!" he shouted, his voice rising as he pointed at Jack, his hands shaking with fury. "My father is an unscrupulous asshole, Samantha dumped me, and you think you can go around talking like this is normal?" Without waiting for an answer, Robby stepped forward quickly and shoved Jack hard, his hands hitting his chest with a sharp impact that echoed through the dojo.
Jack, caught off guard, lost his balance and fell to the floor with a thud, his bandaged arm hitting the wood, a low moan of pain escaping through clenched teeth. He lay there for a moment, his brown hair falling over his wide green eyes as he stared up at Robby, confusion mixing with anger that was beginning to boil in his veins. Robby stood there, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling at a rapid pace, his eyes filled with fury and raw pain that showed in every feature of his face. "You don't understand," he shouted, his voice shaking as he pointed at Jack on the floor. "You're with her, and I've lost everything! Don't give me that guilt trip if you're not going to change anything!"
Tory stepped forward, her narrowed eyes glowing like embers in the dim light, her jaw clenched as she stared at Jack on the floor. Rage was consuming her, an impenetrable barrier that masked the jealousy that burned at the thought of Sam with him—a feeling she refused to let out, buried beneath layers of contempt. She would show nothing but fury that Jack was leaving, that he had chosen to abandon Cobra Kai, and worse, that he was with Sam. "Get up, Jack," she said, her voice hard and sharp as a blade, laced with venom that hid everything she couldn't say. "You're not going out like this, not after everything."
Kyler laughed loudly, the mocking sound filling the dojo as he rubbed his chest where Robby had hit him the night before, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Look, the two fatherless bastards are going to fight on the ground now. This is going to be so much fun!"
Hawk crossed his arms, his mohawk swinging as he gave Robby a sarcastic look. "Nice entrance, Keene. Are you going to finish what you started or are you just pushing?"
Kreese raised his hand slowly, a simple gesture that cut through the taunts like a blade, his eyes fixed on Jack and Robby with the intensity of a predator assessing its prey. "Let them figure it out," he said, his voice calm but icy with interest. He was sad to lose Jack, the greatest fighter he had ever molded, but he saw in Robby's anger a raw fire, an opportunity to forge something new.
Jack stood up slowly, his bandaged arm throbbing as he rested his hand on the floor, the cold touch of the wood contrasting with the heat of anger rising in his chest. He took a deep breath, his green eyes fixed on Robby for a moment before looking away at Tory, who was staring at him with that cutting fury. Frustration exploded inside him, mixed with the confusion of their confrontation, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. "I'm leaving, Tory," he said, his voice firm as he stood, his green eyes meeting hers with a hard gleam. "You can stand there saying whatever you want, but I don't owe you or this place anything." He took a step back, his body still tense, his gaze returning to Robby for a moment before fixing back on Tory, his tone full of a challenge that didn't hide his exhaustion. "If you think I'm going to stay stuck in this, you're wrong."
Robby was silent for a moment, his green eyes flashing as anger and pain collided inside him like a storm. He felt like Jack was a symbol of everything that had been ripped from him—Sam, a life he couldn't hold on to—and that push hadn't erased the emptiness that consumed him. "This isn't over," he said, his voice shaking with fury before he turned and stalked out of the dojo, his boots hitting the ground like thunder, leaving Jack standing and the others in heavy silence.
Tory stood still, her narrowed eyes fixed on Jack as he adjusted his bandaged arm, her disheveled hair falling over her sweaty face. Anger was building inside her, a wall that hid the jealousy that burned at the thought of Sam with him, but she let nothing show but icy contempt, her fists clenched as she stared at him in silence.
That morning, the LaRusso kitchen was quiet, the morning sun streaming through the window and warming the white tiled floor. Sam held a cup of tea, her hands cupping the warmth as her blue eyes stared blankly at an invisible spot on the wall. Her shoulder still ached from the attack the night before, a throbbing memory of Tory's punch, but what really weighed on her was the memory of Robby—the fight in the dojo, his words cutting like knives, the guilt that consumed her for abandoning him while he was in prison. Daniel walked in, his face serious, picking up his car keys from the counter as he gave her a worried look.
"Are you okay, Sam?" Daniel asked, his voice soft but full of care as he approached, stopping beside the table. "What happened yesterday with Robby… it was intense."
Sam nodded slowly, her blue eyes dropping to her tea, the steam rising in thin tendrils that disappeared into the air. "I'm fine, Dad. But Robby… he's so angry. I don't know what to do." She felt guilty and sad, her heart tightening as if it were caught in a knot she couldn't undo.
Daniel sighed, running a hand through his hair as he leaned slightly against the counter. "Johnny told me yesterday that he got out of juvie early. I didn't expect to see him at the dojo, especially in the middle of that attack. I'll talk to Johnny today. This is getting out of hand." He grabbed his keys in one decisive motion, the metal jingling in his hand, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Sam standing there, the weight of guilt still weighing down his shoulders as the sound of his footsteps echoed down the hallway.
That same morning, the gray sky covered Reseda, the heavy clouds hanging low like a veil over the city. Daniel pulled up in front of Johnny's apartment, the roar of the engine dying to a whisper as he knocked on the door with restrained force, his knuckles ringing on the worn wood. Johnny opened it, his eyes tired beneath his messy hair, his leather jacket hanging over his arm as he stared at Daniel with a mixture of confusion and exhaustion. The smell of stale coffee and stale smoke seeped out of the apartment, enveloping the air around him.
"What do you want, LaRusso?" Johnny asked, his tone dry as he opened the door wider, leaning against the frame with a heavy sigh, as if he carried the weight of years in every movement.
Daniel walked straight in, his firm footsteps echoing on the worn parquet floor, his voice full of controlled anger as he glared at Johnny, his brown eyes sparkling with an intensity he couldn't hide. "What's going on, Johnny? You told me yesterday that Robby would be getting out of juvie early, and he showed up at the dojo that same night! Cobra Kai attacked Miyagi-Do, hurt Sam, and he's in the middle of it! Did you know it was going to happen like this?"
Johnny took a deep breath, rubbing his face with his hands as if trying to ward off the tiredness and guilt that surrounded him, nodding slowly as his shoulders slumped. "I knew he was getting out yesterday. I picked him up from juvie. He got out early, just a few weeks, for good behavior. I had no idea he was going to your house."
"And you didn't do anything to stop it?" Daniel shot back, his eyes wide, his voice rising as he took a step forward, his body tense like a spring about to snap. "Cobra Kai is out of control, Johnny! They broke into my family's dojo, and Robby is all over it! He got into a fight with Sam yesterday—of course, after everything that happened, it was only natural that this would happen! His two sons getting involved with my daughter… what kind of strange life is this? I don't understand anything anymore!"
Johnny froze for a moment, his blue eyes widening as Daniel's words hit him like a punch to the gut. He knew Jack was his son—a fact that was no secret to almost anyone, a truth that weighed like an invisible chain—and now Daniel was throwing it in his face like an accusation. Anger exploded in his chest, mixed with a frustration he could no longer hold back. "Both my sons?" he snapped, his voice rising as he took a step forward, his fists clenching at his sides, his jacket flapping with the movement. "Yes, I know about Jack, LaRusso! Everyone does! But I have no control over what he does, and Robby is beyond my reach! Cobra Kai is no longer mine, I've told you a thousand times! They destroyed your precious dojo, and I had nothing to do with it! As for Sam, I don't know how Robby and Jack ended up in your daughter's life, but don't throw this whole mess in my face like I planned this mess!" He pointed at Daniel, his finger almost shaking with anger, his face red as his voice echoed in the cramped space. "You want to blame someone? Blame Kreese! But stop looking at me like I'm the villain in this whole thing, because I'm just as fucked up as you are in this whole thing!"
Daniel was silent for a second, his eyes hard as he stared at Johnny, their heavy breathing filling the small apartment like a contained storm. The anger of years of rivalry pulsed between them, now mixed with a confusion they both felt but neither knew how to resolve. "Then do something, Johnny," he said finally, his voice low but sharp as steel, cutting through the air with precision. "Because this is getting worse, and I'm not going to stand by and watch my daughter get caught up in this war your sons are waging." He turned abruptly, his shoulders rigid, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, and he left, the door slamming behind him with a crash that made the walls shake, anger and worry weighing like lead as he walked to his car, the sound of his footsteps echoing on the silent street. Johnny stood in the doorway, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his eyes fixed on nothing as Daniel's words— "your two sons" —spun through his mind, a truth he recognized but which left him lost in a sea of frustration and helplessness.