─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
back upstairs, eli and mickey were growing visibly stressed. they paced back and forth, hearing the commotion coming from downstairs. "dude, it's madness out there." eli sighed. "when can we leave? how much longer?"
"i'm almost done." demetri reassured him, aggressively typing on the computer. "i just need a few more minutes. i need to log in to their youtube channel and upload the clips."
"yo, check upstairs."
"oh, shit." eli hissed. "they're coming. be ready to go mobile." he ordered.
"okay. screw it! we're gonna have to upload and publish via wi-fi." demetri groaned. "this second video is really putting up a fight."
kyler let out a maniacal laugh as he and his friends made their way into the office. "yo, man. it's just yasmin, moon and gioia's bitches."
"bitches." his friend echoed.
mickey scoffed, placing her hands on her hips. "nah, i'm not a bitch."
"uh, yes you are." kyler told her, turning his head to eli. "you heard kenny when he dropped your ass. you just a faux-hawk now, boy."
"you know what? that's life." eli shrugged. "you win some, you lose some, but you gotta move on. you never did. you're still pulling the same old bully act as always. even though everyone you bullied has kicked your ass."
"i haven't." demetri spoke up from behind the desk.
eli looked back at him with a smirk. "you'll get your turn. kyler's too stupid to ever learn his lesson."
"i mean, he never bulllied me." mickey spoke up. "but i would like to kick his ass."
"trust me, mick-- you will." eli said, tauntingly.
kyler wore an irritated look on his face as he hurled a punch at eli. it was quickly blocked and eli fought back, pushing kyler to the side before moving on to his two friends. he effortlessly fought them, managing to beat them one against three. one of them was able to crawl away and stand to his feet, his next target was demetri.
but mickey had noticed his movement and as much as she didn't like demetri, and wasn't too good at karate- she knew she had to do something. the girl stepped onto the table and jumped right onto his back. the two went crashing down onto the ground and she tugged him over onto his back and punched him right in the gut.
the girl got to her feet, a smile of pride on her face as she dusted her hands. she turned around to see kyler dragging eli's head across the table as demetri held up the computer. mickey watched as eli quickly got the upper hand, her lack of concentration was what gave another boy an opening to swipe her off her feet.
she groaned out in agony when her back slammed on the ground, laying there for a few seconds to catch her breath. once she believed she was okay, mickey attempted to do a kick-up to get to her feet. she miserably failed to push herself up, but luckily managed to kick one of the cobra kais in the process.
"i'll take that as a win." she shrugged, scrambling to her feet.
eli and demetri had swapped places, eli now behind the desk which enabled demetri to side kick kyler onto the ground. "man that felt good!" demetri exclaimed as he pointed at the fallen boy. "bitch!" demetri glanced over at mickey, "go on."
she smiled, trekking over to the boy and booting him in the chest. "now who's the bitch?" she taunted.
"we got it. all right, it's uploading to cobra kai's channel. let's get the hell out of here." eli slid over the table and the two boys nodded at one another. together, they struck down the remaining cobra kai members before rushing out of the door.
∙ ~εïз~ ∙
"wyatt, you do not want any part of this." gioia told the boy who stood in her way of helping robby with kenny's brutality.
"wyatt man!" a boy from cobra kai scolded the boy's hesitation. "get over your stupid crush and attack her—she's the enemy."
"shit... eli was right." gioia sighed to herself.
wyatt listened to the advice, lifting his leg to kick the girl. gioia groaned at his blind obedience, using her good right arm to seize his foot and twist it around. wyatt's body pivoted and she pushed him onto the ground. "i am not the enemy, wyatt. why are you listening to them?" gioia asked. "you k-knew me before you joined cobra kai."
"barely." wyatt shook his head from the ground. "and why would i listen to you? you're a traitor."
"yeah sure, i am a traitor." gioia nodded in acceptance. "i joined cobra kai to find out what cruel things silver was planning, and look where it got me!" gioia exclaimed, holding up her injured arm.
wyatt was visibly confused. "what are you talking about?"
before she could answer, the same boy from before came over and swept her off her feet. he was growing irritated with wyatt's lack of attacking. "what are you doing bro?"
gioia huffed, using her arm to push herself back onto her feet. she glanced between the two boys. "i could take you both." the girl shrugged, her voice laced with vanity.
"two against one?" he scoffed. "in your dreams." he pounced forward, throwing a punch to her head and gioia didn't have any time to block it. her head whipped to the side and wyatt gasped.
ignoring the temporary dizziness and slight ringing in her ear, gioia leapt up and harshly double-kicked him in his neck and then his stomach. as his friend tumbled to the floor, wyatt tackled gioia and her body collided right back onto the mat.
she could see the other boy was getting up for another attack so she had to move fast. she twisted her way out of wyatt's hold and shuffled onto his back. the girl stood on him, stomping down as he strived to get to his feet.
once he stopped resisting, his friend made his way over to her, a threatening look on his face. gioia acted quickly, she jumped up into a flying sidekick, her foot landing right in his chest. making the boy crash onto the ground as gioia landed on her feet, returning onto wyatt's back.
"told you i could take you." she shrugged, blowing her blonde hair out of her face. gioia shifted off the boy, aiming to reach her friends.
"how did the girl with an injured arm kick both of your asses?!"
"miguel, we got it!" eli yelled, rushing down the stairs.
"okay." miguel nodded, "here we go."
kyler barged his body into eli and the ipad flew out of his hands. it slid across the floor and landed by anthony's feet. the boy paused before reaching down and picking the device up. kenny's rage intensified at the sight, "get him!" he yelled.
"protect the egg!" miguel screamed.
gioia had no idea what that meant and she wasn't sure what to do. but mickey took her good arm and gently guided her into position. she got into a fighting stance and gioia mirrored her. she wore a smile on her face, she never thought there'd be a day when mikayla omar taught her karate. miyagi-do and eagle fang formed together, their bodies acting as shields to protect anthony and the ipad. "ais!"
∙ ~εïз~ ∙
fred was scrolling through his phone with one hand and cigarette in the other as he leaned against his car. a vehicle pulled up, the engine revving loudly, and the yellow stripes of cobra kai shining on its hood. the man huffed, not wanting to encounter anyone from the dojo. he had been taking a nap when the students snuck into the dojo and woke up when they had all entered.
"fred." bianca sighed in relief, making her way over to him. fred was confused as to why she was there, he tossed the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it before he pulled her into a tight embrace. "what are you doing here?"
"marie and the kids needed a ride." he shrugged, "something about taking down cobra kai? hey, carm." fred welcomed his friend, pulling her into a side hug.
daniel didn't even have time to greet the man as he began charging up the staircase leading to the building.
"not so fast." big red stepped out of the foyer, three of his accomplices behind him.
"that's just great." daniel groaned as fred snickered, he and the other two women walking forward. "listen to me. we just came to get our kids out of here."
"so come and get 'em." big red threatened.
"all right, that's it. i'm calling the cops." amanda shook her head, pulling out her phone.
"go ahead." big red shrugged. "we're not the ones that broke in."
"look. i'm not gonna fight a bunch of kids." daniel shook his head.
"you don't have to, mr l." stingray stepped forward. "i'll take this trash out." fred didn't even realise this guy was there. he glanced over to his wife with an incredulous look on his face, but bianca was just giggling to herself— she found stingray amusing.
he began to crawl up the stairs and fred just watched in utter disbelief. "i should be sleeping right now." he complained.
"just take tomorrow off." daniel patted his back, his focus fixed on stingray.
"can you believe this guy?" big red grinned to his friends. he was quickly humbled when stingray punched him in his face. one by one, the man knocked the students onto the ground, leaving them groaning with agony.
"come on!" stingray ushered. they all quickly ran up the staircase and into the dojo. the room was filled with teenagers, yelling at one another. "oh, that's a lot of kids. and that's not the b-team either."
"now i'm calling the cops."
"all right." daniel tried to make his way through them all. "knock it off. knock it off!"
"i need to talk to you."
the video began to play on the main screen. everyone ceased what they were doing to look over at the screen. anthony wore a satisfied smile on his face, glad he had finally done something right.
...
"nichols. what's on your mind? excited to take things to the next level?" silver questioned.
"what's the point? " tory challenged. "you'll just pay to make me champion again."
"so you know about the ref. have you told anyone else?"
"not yet." tory half-lied. "so you don't deny it?"
"not at all. i paid him off to make sure cobra kai won." silver shrugged. "it was an insurance policy. you still won the fight."
"did i?"
...
"that's it?" silver dramatically stepped into the room. "that was your big plan, larusso? breaking into my dojo to steal some footage that changes nothing?"
"it wasn't his plan. it was ours." tory told him.
robby was by her side. "and it changes everything."
"our enemies think they can keep attacking us with no repercussions." silver spoke to his students. "and what does the enemy deserve?"
they didn't reply.
the man looked shocked at their disobedience. "you think i'm the only one willing to go to these lengths? their senseis broke into my home tonight. my home! attacked me, unprovoked. but here i am. the only one left standing."
his words brought a feeling of fear to gioia, she noticed the only people missing were sensei lawrence and sensei toguchi.
"they think they're entitled to victory because their way is "right" and our way is "wrong." but that's not how it works. there are no morals to the story, no happy ending. life isn't a fairy tale. it's a competitive sport!" he exclaimed. "right and wrong, there's no such thing. there are only winners and losers. cobra kai builds winners, because we're willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top."
"you said you're willing to do whatever it takes?" tory asked him, taking another step closer to him.
"you know that more than anyone else ever could." silver spoke.
without hesitation, gioia walked to the other side of her. "yeah. we do." she nodded. "anthony, play the next clip." the boy looked perplexed, but he followed her demand either way. he pressed the next button and a new video was displayed on the screen.
...
"fear does not exist in this dojo." silver spoke to the girl, who stood before a stone figurine.
the camera angle was focused on gioia and silver, but they could still faintly see tory and sensei kim's interaction in the background. the quality was poor and the audio wasn't as clear as the other video shown.
"well then— don't you try to fucking— it?!" gioia screamed after another attempt to strike the stone.
but he ignored her. "pain — not exist in this dojo."
she struck it again.
"just as master kim said before, your hand breaks? — you've always preferred using your feet anyway." silver said to her. "so what's — you back? if it's not your emotional ties, it — be something mental, — physical?"
gioia looked up at him, "w--?"
"it's the diet --, isn't it?"
her right fist flew forward as the man swiftly moved to the side. the thick stone completely shattered, and the girl screamed. gioia fell back into the mat, holding her bleeding knuckles in her hand. she sobbed, tory in the same state beside her.
"that must have been a -- decision." silver spoke. "but you two made the right choice. let's hope you keep making them."
they all exited the room, leaving the two girls there sobbing.
...
everyone in the dojo either displayed utter shock, complete heartbreak or compassion for the two girls. all but one.
"you sick fuck!" fred didn't hesitate before he strode forward and swung a vicious suckerpunch into silver's face. while the barbusca man knew he couldn't match sensei silver's martial arts, he had served his time in jail and had a lot of pent-up aggression.
especially if it came to defending his daughter.
silver stumbled back at the hit, his nose had cracked and was now trickling with blood. but the man just laughed, fredrico barbusca was not the person he wanted to fight.
"baby, i am so sorry." bianca achingly sobbef into her daughter's arms. "i am so sorry i missed this."
"mama, it's not your fault." gioia shook her head, as silver and daniel intensely spoke to one another.
"give it to me okay?" bianca spoke, cupping the girl's cheeks. "you give all that pain to me. i can handle it."
carmen moved over and joined in, pulling them both into a tight hug. bianca glimpsed up, her eyes on the other blonde that was in the video. she held her arms open, waiting. "come here." tory's lip began to tremble as she staggered to her, bianca enveloped her into their own hug, comfortingly stroking her hair.
as his wife embraced tory nichols, fred drew gioia into a side hug. the man himself was sniffling back tears. "i love you so much, you know that right?"
"i know." gioia nodded as he pressed a kiss onto the side of her head.
"everything you did to try and stop me amounted to nothing but pain. you got your ass kicked, danny-boy. now, you can either accept that or i can kick it again right now."
"we're all with you, daniel." amanda reassured her husband. "do what you have to do."
"first, i took care of chozen. now you. this is where miyagi-do ends."
"miyagi-do existed before any of us. it'll be around long after we're gone." daniel told him. "the roots are strong, so the tree will survive."
as much as eli wanted to see silver get his ass kicked, the only thing he could focus on was his girlfriend. she quietly mumbled to her mother, not even realising his stare. eli's eyes flickered between her arm and her solemn face, his heart crumbling completely at the sight of her tears.
but gioia had been watching the battle, silver picked up the all valley trophy, ready to use it against danny. the miyagi-do sensei was quicker-- he leapt up into his famous crane kick, his foot striking underneath silver's chin. silver flew back into the trophy case, his body smashing onto the ground with the glass shards following.
one by one, the students of cobra kai yanked off their branded clothes and harshly threw them onto the lying man, some of them even kicking him. tory sauntered forward, seizing the trophy from the ground. she gave one last disgusted look at silver before taking the trophy over to gioia. the blonde girl smiled, noticing everyone was now watching her.
"no... fuck this." she shook her head, using all of her power to throw the trophy onto the ground. she watched as it smashed into pieces, a sense of catharsis overcoming her.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
gioia sat in the back of her ambulance, her legs dangling over the edge as she watched everyone reconcile with their families. while she had done a mediocre job, the paramedics rewrapped her injured hand.
"hey." eli walked over. he had allowed everyone else to comfort and speak to her first, being too scared to make her situation worse.
"hi." gioia spoke, shifting over to make room for him to sit. seeing him gave her an odd sense of calm in that moment, despite everything that had happened.
"hey, i'm really, really sorry." eli started. "i completely understand if you need time or space or--"
"eli, i don't need space or time." gioia shook her head, "yes, what you said wasn't nice. but you weren't wrong. i don't even know why i was still at cobra kai. i just wanted to help— i wanted to make you guys proud."
"we are so proud." eli reassured hee. "trust me. you are one of the like... strongest people i've ever met."
"eli—"
"i'm serious. i spent all this time scared you'd leave me because honestly, you're so amazing, and so out of my league--" he stopped his ramble. "i wouldn't know what it do if you did."
she held up her hand to display her ring. "this means always."
eli took the hand and placed his lips against the ring. "i love you."
"i love you."
"do you wanna talk about it?" eli questioned.
"not right now." gioia shook her head.
they sat in a comfortable silence, just watching everyone else. gioia turned to his boyfriend, her eyes drawn to the bright colour in his hair. "hey so, why did you go with the blue?" gioia questioned. "as much as i feel betrayed that you let demetri help you, i really like it."
"because..." he cleared his throat. "because it's the colour i had when i first fell for you."
gioia face completely softened, she felt as if butterflies were fluttering all over her body. her face grew warm and her nose began to tingle, as her eyes welled up with tears. "that's incredibly sweet, eli."
he timidly shrugged, putting one arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a side hug. "i'm not going to let anything bad happen to you again." eli whispered to her, gently wiping off a stray tear from her cheek.
⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
they absolutely kill me. they are so cute UGH
i'm actually so surprised i managed to complete this book, especially with the year-long break i took when writing season 3... thank you everyone for reading and all the support you've given me.
THANK YOU SM FOR 190K!!! see you on july 16th!! (you guys can check out my miguel book or my robby book while you wait!!)
- jania xo