MARIA LAY SOUND ASLEEP in her bed. This time, her sleep schedule had gotten back to normal, and was sleeping the perfect amount instead of too much.
She had been dreaming of the unknown woman almost every night. It was of her and Maria, either as a baby, or as a little girl. This time, was no exception.
"What's this one, mama?"
In her dream, Maria was standing in a beautiful garden back in her home country, Ireland. In front of her, stood the same woman, but this time, there was someone else. It was her, except she's a little girl, around 4-5 years old.
They were in the garden, looking at different types of flowers. Despite not knowing who the woman was, Maria felt like she was witnessing a true mother-daughter moment.
Young Maria was wearing a dress of pure white, symbolizing her youth and her innocence. The woman was wearing a dress that had a mix of red and black, flowing behind her. Her hair was let down, the curls cascading down her shoulders.
Young Maria pointed to a beautiful flower that was in bright shades of yellow and pink. It was yellow in the middle, and the pedals were pink.
"That is the Primrose." The woman replied with a smile. "It's quite beautiful, isn't it?"
"It's so beautiful!" Young Maria exclaimed. "I think it might be more beautiful than me."
The woman turned to her, her smile remaining as she cupped Young Maria's face in her hands. "No flower, no matter how beautiful it is, will ever outshine you, bambina."
Young Maria's smile grew. "Really?"
The woman's gaze never wavered. "Really." She leaned in and placed a tender kiss on her forehead.
Young Maria threw her arms around the woman and hugged her tightly. "I love you, mamma."
The woman's smile grew as she wrapped her arms around her and hugged her back just as tightly. "And I love you, mia dolce ragazza. Always."
Maria, who had been watching the interaction from a distance, felt tears flood her eyes. Mama? Could she be...her mother?
"YOU GOTTA UNDERSTAND THAT Mogadishu in the '90s was a hellhole." At training the next day, Kreese was telling Maria, Aisha, and Hawk some of his stories from when he was at war. "Warlods controlled whole swaths of the city. My team and I were charged with cleaning the place up."
"How many warlords did you kill?" Hawk asked, interested. So were the girls.
"You keep track of every ant you stomp out?" Kreese asked back. Miguel quietly scoffed as he was stretching.
"Woah." Aisha said.
"Badass." Maria added with a smirk.
"They were outgunned, we were outmanned. I tell you...Rwanda was no joke."
Miguel got up. "Don't you mean Somalia?" He asked Kreese. "Mogadishu is in Somalia, Rwanda's a whole different country."
Kreese turned back to them. "Of course, Somalia." He chuckled. "I've spent so much time in the sandbox, it all kind of bleeds together, you know?"
Johnny walked into the room. "Listen up! I see we've got some new recruits. Everybody fall in. In neat rows and lines." They all got into their spots. "Time to see what you're made of." He walked around the room. "Straighten up, ginger twins." He walked over to where a man with a beard was standing. "Sorry, parent's can't stay for class. It's an insurance thing." He said to him.
"I'm not a dad. I am here to kick some ass, sir!" He replied. Maria quietly chuckled and shook her head.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Johnny asked him.
"Oh, yeah, the, um...I sold you the mirror. We kind of bonded, talked about rock bands." He replied.
"Look, you're a little old, this is a class for teenagers."
"Well, I...I can take them." He chuckled. "I'm not afraid of kids, sir. And my mom, she doesn't charge me rent, so I just...I got a lot of cash to burn." He held out money to him. Johnny, being Johnny, took the money. "We'll consider this a trial run." He walked back up to the front of the room.
"I thought my last group of recruits was pathetic. But if you do what I tell you to do, you'll at least have a chance of becoming a fighter. But to do that, you gotta fight. So, which one of you has the balls to take on the champ?" They all looked at Miguel.
"I'll take him on." They heard a voice. They turned and saw a girl standing by the door.
"Oh, you will, huh?" Johnny asked her. She nodded her head.
"I saw your little demo at Valley Fest. You guys can put on a show. Can you actually fight?"
"That sounds like a challenge." Johnny said.
"I like a challenge." She replied back.
"Mr. Diaz, show what Little Miss Hotshot here what Cobra Kai is all about." Everybody moved out of the way.
"Look, are you sure about—"
The girl cut Miguel off by kicking him in the stomach, which made him back up, but didn't knock him down.
"All right. Bring it." Miguel replied as he got into fighting position. The girl punched and kicked Miguel, but he dodged her moves.
"Close the gap." He said. The girl ran to kick him, but he grabbed her leg and threw her on the ground. She got back up and started to punch Miguel again and pushed him. "You're telegraphing." He said and kneed her in the gut. "Don't let me see it coming." He looked down at her. She then knocked him to the ground.
"Did you see that coming?" She asked Miguel. He swept her leg in response.
"Maybe." He replied. He held out his hand to help her up. "Miguel."
"Tory." She then grabbed his hand and flipped him over. "With a Y."
MARIA AND AISHA WERE at the gas station. Aisha sighed at her phone. "Let me guess. Dick pic?" Tory asked. The three of them laughed.
"No. My mom wants me to go to the beach club with her." Aisha replied.
"Oh my god, that sounds so miserable." Tory said sarcastically.
"No. It's just...this girl Sam's probably gonna be there, and she and I are not on good terms." Aisha said.
"Another spoiled Encino brat." Maria informed her. She nodded in understanding.
Aisha rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm Aisha, by the way." She introduced.
"Tory."
"Sick bracelet." Maria complimented as she noticed a white bracelet on her wrist with black spikes on it.
"Oh, this? It's not just for show. Some creepy guy at the mall tried to grab me once, but I managed to blocked him and give him a gift he won't ever forget."
Maria smiled at her. "I can tell that we're gonna be good friends." Tory smiled back.
"Wow. You seem like you already know how to kick ass pretty well." Aisha said.
"Yeah. What do you need Cobra Kai for?" Maria added.
"I've had a couple kickboxing lessons, but I've always wanted to smash boards blindfolded." She replied.
Aisha chuckled. "Oh, you saw that." Tory nodded. "The secret is poking tiny little holes in the blindfolds."
"Cool." She responded.
"Hey. You wouldn't wanna go to the beach with us, do you? It'd be nice to have more backup." Aisha asked.
"Guess I could suffer through a day at the beach." Tory replied with a smile.
THEY WERE NOW AT the beach club, and to say that Maria was suffering was an understatement. She was wearing a red bikini top, with black ripped jean shorts, and a black jean jacket over it.
"Okay. this is not the beach. Where are the homeless dudes on rollerblades and the guys shoving shitty hip-hop demos in your face?" Tory asked. The other two laughed.
"No, don't worry. They'll come out after they pass out the hors d'oeuvres." They chuckled again. Aisha then left to grab some food, and Maria and Tory were talking about random things, when Tory looked at the bar and said, "We should totally steal some of that."
"Couldn't we get in trouble?" Maria asked.
"Come on. Let's have some fun." Tory replied. "They won't notice."
"Okay, let's do it." Maria said with a smile after a moment of thinking. What does she have to lose?
"Yes!" Tory whisper-shouted. She then snuck behind the bar, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and ran back to Maria. They both laughed as they walked away from the bar.
"You seem like a pretty cool person, Tory." Maria said to her with a smile.
"You too, Maria." She replied, smiling back.
They then saw Aisha talking to Sam. "That's Sam, aka 'Encino Brat'." Maria said to Tory. She chuckled in response.
They walked over to them. "Hey. look what we got." They showed her the bottle of vodka.
"Where did you guys get that from?" Aisha asked them.
"We swiped it from the bar." Maria replied with a smile. They saw the looks on their faces so Tory said, "Oh, relax. All the adults are getting wasted. No one's gonna notice if we have a little fun."
"You should put that back. You'll get into big trouble." Sam said.
"And you are?" Tory said with a chuckle.
"Oh. Sam, this is Tory. And you know Maria."
"Oh, the Sam." She joked and looked at Maria. She smiled back and nodded her head. "Come on. Like anyone's gonna miss one bottle of vodka."
"Yeah. I could swipe half the silverware in this place before anyone would notice." Maria added with a chuckle.
"You guys shouldn't steal anything." Sam said to them.
"What are you, a nun?" Tory asked.
"Pffft." Maria stifled a laugh.
Tory then turned to Aisha. "Come on, are we gonna drink or not?" She asked her.
"Okay, one drink." She accepted with a smile.
"That's my girl." She said as they walked away. They were walking around with their arms around each other shoulders laughing. Aisha was telling Tory about what happened with Yasmine at the party.
"Wait, I'm sorry. You gave her a front wedgie?" Tory asked.
"I split that bitch in two." Aisha replied with a smile.
"Oh my god."
"Hey!" They heard Sam. They turned around. "My mom's missing her wallet."
"Sucks for her." Maria said as they laugh again.
"You guys wouldn't know anything about that?" She asked them. Maria and Tory's smiles dropped.
"Wait. Wait, what are you saying?" Aisha asked her.
"Just give me the wallet, and I won't tell security."
"Are you freaking kidding me?" Tory asked.
"Sam, they didn't steal your mom's wallet." Aisha defended them.
"Right. And they didn't steal a bottle of vodka, and wouldn't steal half the silverware in here." Sam retorted back.
"Listen, we didn't rob your mom, bitch. You know what? Let's get out of here." Tory said. They turned to walk away. That when she felt Sam grab her bag.
"Get off of me!" She pushed her, and she fell onto the table and onto the ground, covered in food. They gasped, and Tory started to quickly walk away.
"This only proves my point of why the LaRusso's are assholes." Maria said to Aisha before catching up with Tory.
"THE BACK THRUST KICK works like this." Johnny was showing then a new kick. "You step, pivot...throw a side kick." He demonstrated.
"What about if your opponent attacks you from behind?" Maria asked.
"Excellent question. Sensei Kreese, you wanna take this one?" Johnny asked.
"Certainly, Sensei Lawrence." Kreese replied.
"You sure about this, Sensei?" Miguel asked.
"There's nothing to worry about." Johnny responded.
Kreese walked to the front of the room. "The key to this move is making your enemy think you are retreating. But just as they let their guard down, that's when you strike the hardest." Maria and Hawk were smirking.
"Aits!"