All In
Everyone sat around the mat as they watched the two sensei's fight. "A little rusty, sensei," Johnny taunted. "Okay, pay attention. He's got my neck, I've got his elbow. If I try to break out -" "I dig in, and I put him to sleep." Cherry gulped. She knew Johnny wouldn't get hurt, but she cares about the stubborn man. "If I go for his ribs -" Johnny elbowed John in the ribs. "He completely exposes his chest." They went back to their position. "Two difficult choices. What do you do?" No one answered and Johnny kick his leg back, hitting John's knee and they both fell.
"You damn the consequences and you power forward."
"You may get hurt, but nobody wins by doing nothing."
"You make a choice. You make a move. You go all in." Miguel slipped his hand into Cherry's and he squeezed her hand. Cherry squeezed back.
× × × ×
"Hey, Sam invented me to the mall. I'll see you later tonight, yeah?" Cherry had changed back into her mom jeans and a loose, thin grey shirt. Miguel nodded and Cherry kissed him before heading over to Aisha. "I still don't trust the twins - especially Tory. Watch her for me?" "You know Miguel will push her away, but yeah, I'll watch her." Cherry pulled her into a hug before getting into her car and driving off.
Aisha, the twins, Hawk, Moon, a few other guys, and Miguel are going to a diner. Cherry wanted to attend, but Sam had invited the girl to go to the mall and she agreed because she wanted to restore their friendship. What she didn't expect was to see Robby and Demetri with her. "Hey, I hope you don't mind," Sam said upon seeing the redhead.
"No, it's cool. How are you Demetri?"
"I'm okay. You?"
"I'm good. Robby, I know we started off good but then everything went down. And I'm sorry." "It's cool. Still want those skateboard lessons?" "I'm good, actually. I've been practicing on my own and I can skate now."
Robby nodded in respect, then they started walking around.
After a while of shopping, they got food and Robby, Sam, and Cherry sat at a table. "Oh, sweet man bun." Robby laughed at Cherry's sarcasm. "I told you guys it was a horrible picture." "You know, if you were friends with us at the time, we could've warned you that this was a fad." "Yeah, well, I'm stuck with it for five years still. No biggie, right?" Cherry chuckled and Sam gave her the card. "Wait. Robert Swayze Keene?" "My mom was a huge fan of Patrick Swayze. He was an actor in the 80's."
"Yeah, like we haven't seen Dirty Dancing 100 times."
"My mom made me watch it all the time." Cherry noticed the excitement in his voice. "Made you?" "Okay, maybe I liked it," Robby admitted and the girls laughed. Demetri joined their conversation and Cherry felt her phone vibrate.
From: Miguel🔥😍🤤😘💞
To: Cherry🍒😍🤤😘💞
Want to go all in tonight?
Cherry blushed and replied.
Demetri asked if they wanted anything from the comic book store and the three said no. Demetri nodded and he left, telling them to make sure no one throws away his chicken. Cherry laughed at her friend and so did the others.
The three finished their food and wanted to walk around. So, they put Demetri's food in a bag and began walking around. Cherry dragged them to Tilly's, but when they heard commotion outside, they quickly left the store.
"Oh shit," Cherry muttered.
"What?" "It's some of the kids from Cobra Kai. They're going for Demetri!" Cherry found a safe spot to put Demetri's food and she hesitated. "Cherry!" Sam turned and sighed. "Look, I know that you're in karate together, but this isn't right." Cherry sighed. "No. It's not." She bolted where the fight was happening and she tackled Mitch, who had a hold of Demetri. "Cherry? What the hell?" Cherry turned and saw Eli. "Eli -" "It's Hawk." "Fine. Hawk. What the hell is going on?" "He disrespected Cobra Kai. And now, he's gonna pay for it." "This isn't you. This isn't my friend."
"Cherry, I don't want to hurt you. Move." Cherry bit her lip and sighed. "No. I won't let you hurt Demetri." "What about Cobra Kai?" Chris asked. "Cobra Kai is my family, but Miyagi-do started my love for karate." The boys all looked at Hawk. He hesitated, but nodded.
They ran towards Cherry, but she fended them off. Sam and Robby watched before they got in as well.
Chris and Hawk went for Robby, Mitch went for Sam, leaving Cherry with the remaining two. "Trust me, you guys don't want to mess with me." Both boys were hesitant, giving Cherry the opportunity to strike first. She yelled as she kicked them, but shrieked in surprise when someone picked her up.
She saw Mitch going for her, but she kicked him away. Robby punched the guy holding her, causing him to drop Cherry.
For a moment, she watched in awe as Robby and Sam fought. They were doing the same moves, moving in a circle, as if they were one.
She got back up and went back into fighting. Almost everyone was down except for Hawk and Robby. Hawk jumped, aiming for Robby, but Robby kicked him, knocking him out.
"We saved your chicken."
Demetri thanked Sam and turned to Cherry.
"Cherry -"
"Don't worry about it. Any of you."
They watched as she sighed and rubbed her neck.
"I'll deal with this tomorrow."
They called it a day and they all went home.
× × × ×
Luckily for Cherry, her parents weren't home when she arrived. They left a note saying that they won't be back until around 2 in the morning. Cherry sighed and was about to head upstairs when there was a knock on her door. She opened it and smiled. "What the hell happened?" Miguel asked as soon as he saw her bruised cheek.
Cherry lead him upstairs and she began to explain. She took off her shirt, looked at her full length mirror, and noticed that she has a bruise forming on the left side of her stomach. "Eli has changed, Miguel. And not in a good way." Miguel watched with sad eyes, his eyes locking on the bruise. "Anyway, what did you mean by going all in tonight?" Miguel stood up and wrapped his arms around Cherry from behind and he left butterfly kisses all over her neck.
"Do you understand now?"
Cherry blushed and turned in his arms, facing him.
"Yeah. I definitely understand."
Miguel smiled down at her and leaned down, capturing her lips. He deepened the kiss and he began to walk backwards. As soon as he hit her bed, he layed her down and crawled ontop of her.
"Are you sure?"
"3,000 percent sure. I love you."
"I love you too."
× × × ×
Cherry woke up ontop of Miguel's bare chest. She looked up at him, smiled, and sighed a content sigh. "Morning." "Morning love." "Love?" Miguel asked and Cherry chuckled. "Yeah. I find that cuter." Miguel smiled. "I like it." He then kissed the top of her head and watched as she got up. "Sore?" He asked, a shit eating grin on his face.
"Oh, shut up." Miguel laughed and watched his girlfriend as she grabbed a towel and clothes before heading to her bathroom.
When the time came, Cherry drove them to the dojo in her car, too sore to drive her motorcycle. Johnny ordered everyone to put on their gi's and they did as told.
"Okay. Today, a few of you are going to be fighting. Let's see. Hawk, Diaz. You're up first." Cherry kissed Miguel's cheek and wished him luck. They bowed to Johnny, then to each other. Hawk was the first to strike, but Miguel blocked his attack. There was still tension between Hawk and Cherry, so when Miguel saw the slight glare Hawk sent toward Cherry, he got angry. Miguel punched Hawk in the stomach. "Nice work, Diaz. Bow, go again." The door opened and Daniel walked in. Everyone stood up and Miguel went with Cherry.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" Johnny asked.
"Oh, you don't know?" Daniel asked sarcastically.
"Take your shoes off the mat, you're disrespecting my dojo." "You're seriously gonna talk to me about disrespect dojos after what you just did to mine?" "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, I didn't do anything to your dojo."
"Just like you didn't slug one of my employees, huh? Ya know, part of me actually felt bad for you at one point, but you make it so easy to remember who the bad guy is in all of this. You call yourself a sensei, you don't even know what a sensei is! A sensei mentors. A sensei elevates! He doesn't teach destruction and disrespect!"
Cherry gripped Miguel's hand.
"I already said I don't know what you're talking about, LaRusso. And you don't know what you're talking about either."
"Yeah, well I know you don't. You don't earn a Medal of Honor by stealing it."
Cherry gasped.
"Let me tell you something about your sensei. He might teach you how to fight, but he doesn't know a thing about what it takes to truly win at life. If you want to help yourselves before it's too late, the doors of Miyagi-do? Wide open." "You come in here and poach my students?" "And what are you gonna do about it? You know I'm not gonna strike first." Everyone watched in anticipation. "I'm gonna be a bigger man," said Johnny and he stepped back. "Yeah. We'll see about that."
Daniel looked around and locked eyes with Cherry.
"Think about what side you're on."
And just like that, he walked out, taking half the students with him.
Those who remained turned to Cherry. Miguel stood protectively infront of his girlfriend, Aisha by his side, and Eli was hesitant before looking toward Cherry. No matter what, he'll always protect her, so he stood by Miguel.