Red venom, Cobra Kai.

16. 80s night.

3rd person POV:

Just like she said she would, Taylor still went to karate practice with no regrets at all. But something was different. There was a new student there. He was stretching alone on the mat. It looked like nobody went up to talk to him, so to be nice, Taylor was the first person to.

"Hey," she said as she walked up to the new guy.

The new guy looked up and smiled. "Hi."

Taylor sat next to him to stretch as well. "I'm Taylor. You?"

"Harvey." He said.

"Interesting." Taylor didn't know how to continue the conversation, so it wouldn't be awkward. "What's your last name?" She said, making it even more awkward than it already was. Why'd she say that?

Harvey looked at her, "Walker. You?" He said quietly.

"Jones." Taylor said before nodding slowly, then instantly shaking her head. "I'm sorry for making it awkward."

Harvey chuckled. "No problem. How long have you, uh... been doing karate for?" He asked.

"Just a few weeks. Not long. How 'bout you?"

"Like, a year. I went to a class in another town last year, but then we moved here. I checked out a few websites until I found Cobra Kai. The named seemed pretty badass itself, so I decided to check it out." He told her with a shrug.

"Oh, yeah. At the end of class, you should tell me how much you like it out of 10. I'll give you my score too," Taylor suggested.

"Yeah. So far, I'm enjoying it." Taylor smiled. The shop bell then rung. She turned her head to see Hawk walk in with no black eye, but a minor bruise on his cheek.

Miguel stood up and went over to Hawk after talking and stretching with Tory. They were definitely dating.

"Who's that?" Harvey asked. He thought the mohawk looked kinda cool. It isn't every day where you see a guy walking around with spikes on his head.

"Oh, that's Hawk." Taylor said before turning back to Harvey.

"His name's actually Hawk?"

"Well, it's Eli. But Hawk's his nickname. I think my dad made it up for him." Taylor told him.

"Oh, who's your dad?" Harvey asked.

"That guy." She pointed at Johnny, who just came out of his office.

"Everybody, fall in." Johnny instructed. Harvey looked over at him before standing up. Taylor doing the same. They both lined up next to each other. "Today we'll be learning one of the most important lessons a Cobra Kai could ever know."

Before Johnny continued, Hawk interrupted him, "Where's Sensei Kreese?" Hawk asked.

"Yeah. Shouldn't we wait for the sensei emeritus before we get going?" Stingray asked. Johnny looked at him blankly. "Or not."

"Mr. Kreese will no longer be joining us." There were quiet mutters around the room about Kreese not teaching anymore, but Taylor was glad. In fact, she was really glad. "I made a promise when I became your sensei. To always look out for your best interests. Despite how hard this may be for all of us, he didn't have our best interests at heart." Johnny explained.

"John Kreese may have founded Cobra Kai, but he no longer represents what this dojo stands for. His Cobra Kai was old and outdated. He refused to move forward. What happens when we do that, Mr. Diaz?"

"You get stuck like cement." Miguel replied.

"Exactly. To be a great fighter, you gotta learn how to adapt. This creed on the wall... Follow it to the letter, it'll make you strong. It'll make you formidable. But it will also make you an asshole. 'Cause that's just black paint on a white wall. But life's not black and white. More often than not, it's grey. And it's in those grey areas where Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai... sometimes shows mercy."