Chapter Two
Birds Of A Feather

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"You're not even paying attention. Try again." Sam said, redoing the Miyagi-Do technique again for Izzy. But, she had been checked out ever since this morning. Ever since she saw that stupid little Cobra Kai patch on Carson's backpack.

Both of Sam's arms went out in a firm straight line, palms up, and then in a sharp movement one arm went down while the other went up to curve at her head. Izzy inhaled and tried it herself, but somehow still got it wrong. She didn't even know what she was doing wrong.

"No, Izzy, your arms are weak." Sam sighed, her eyebrows knitting together. "Are you okay? You seem out of it."

Izzy tucked her thick dark hair behind both of her ears and nodded. "I'm just... a little overwhelmed with school right now."

Sam stifled out a laugh. "It's only the first day."

"Exactly, and it didn't really go that well. I don't know how to explain it." At that same moment, Izzy remembered she never told Tory about her nightmares like she said she would. Glancing behind her shoulder, she saw Tory on the other side of the Miyagi-Do at a punching bag. "I'm gonna go get some water."

Sam nodded and Izzy walked off, grabbing her water bottle before heading over to Tory who had just sent a punch to the bag. "Hey. Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure." Tory nodded, following Izzy to the wooden deck where less students were lingering.

They both sat and Izzy's right leg began shaking out of anxiety. She glared at all of the Miyagi-Do students laughing and practicing together. "What I wanted to tell you this morning... I've been getting nightmares recently, about Cobra Kai. Or I guess reliving things that were caused by Cobra Kai."

The bloods drained from Tory's face. "Like what?"

"The other night it was about prom and last week I had one when they made me break the stone with my fist. They feel so real, Tory, like I'm back in that moment with those feelings, and pain, and not knowing if it'll be okay. I don't like how it makes me feel. And then in first period, this kid had a Cobra Kai patch on his bag and it just... feels like it's never going to go away." The words poured out of Izzy's mouth, her hands coming up to rub her face.

"When did it start?" Tory asked, her voice soft.

"Uh..." Izzy dropped her hands and huffed, crinkling her noise as she tried to remember. "A few nights after the fight at Cobra Kai?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" If anyone had been a genuine friend to Izzy through everything, it was Tory. Not to mention Cobra Kai had a funny way of ruining both of their lives. She really should have mentioned it to Tory sooner.

Izzy shrugged. "I don't know... I've only told Miguel. I should've told you, though. You and Miguel are the probably the only ones who know how much Cobra Kai meant to me... and how much it destroyed me."

"Hey, don't sweat it. Is that why you looked like you were about to puke all of first period?" Tory grinned, trying to make the situation more light-hearted.

"I thought I was going to." Izzy let out a laugh. "It's just... a lot."

"I get it." Tory reassured her. "Cobra Kai was where you started. It helped the anger. You didn't have Mr. LaRusso or Johnny, just Kreese and Silver who put you on a pedestal and it made you feel good. I get it. What we both had with Cobra Kai... it's hard to shake off."

That's the thing, Izzy doesn't think they ever put her on the same pedestal as they did other students. Even if others think they did for her. She wanted them to put her on a pedestal, she worked her ass off for them to see the potential in her. She knew she was their best fighter and she wanted them to see that, but it felt like they never did. So she would just try, and try, and try. She let them tear her apart in hopes it would help them see. And as much as they claimed to know her worth, their actions always spoke louder.

"Yeah." Izzy sighed, staring down at her shoes and how the grass crushed underneath them. She looked up at Tory, looking past her to see Miguel and Robby walking into the dojo. "I'll let you get back to what you were doing."

Just as Izzy stood up, so did Tory. "Hey, you know I'm always here for you, right? If something happens, I always got your back."

     "I know. The same goes for you."

Tory smiled and nodded as well, and Izzy maneuvered past her. She kept her head low and set her water bottle down, contemplating going up to Miguel or back to Sam. She found herself avoiding looking at Miguel, making her way back to the back fence.

"Izzy." She looked up and turned around, seeing Miguel with a hesitant smile on his face. "Hey. Not gonna say hi?"

Izzy grinned, walking over to where Miguel and Robby were standing. "Hi. I'm sorry, it's been a long day."

His smile faltered. "Are you okay?"

Looking from Miguel, to Robby, and back to Miguel, Izzy nodded. "I'm okay. I promise." She hoped they couldn't see right through her.

"How was your first day?" She then asked Robby.

Robby let out a sigh, grinning to himself. "It was... actually really good. What about you?"

"Uh, it was okay." Izzy shrugged.

Evan then came jogging into the back of Miyagi-Do, acknowledging the three standing near the entrance and made a b-line for Sam.

"So that's a thing?" Miguel asked.

"I'm not sure." But Izzy saw how Sam's face lit up when Evan approached her. She looked back at Miguel who turned his attention to her at the same time, seeing his eyes fall from her eyes to lips and he smiled at the sight of the smile she didn't realize she had on her face.

There was an urge in Izzy to just pull him away and spend the rest of the day with him—–just him. As much love as she had for Miyagi-Do, there was something inside her that didn't want to be here. At least not right now in this moment. But before she could even impulsively take Miguel away, Hawk and Demetri called for everyone to gather around, because it was time to show their senseis the new name for their conjoined dojo.

While the two boys went to get their senseis, everyone stood around the covered canvas. Hawk and Demetri returned, with Johnny, Mr. LaRusso, and Chosen following them, and the boys took their place on either side of the canvas.

Hawk sucked in breath, "It's been a long road, but we're finally all on the same side. And as a reward? The toughest test any of us have ever had to face..."

"The Sekai Taikai is the most prestigious karate tournament in modern martial arts history. For over a century, fighters from across the globe have gathered every two years to compete for the title of World's Best." Demetri explained and the those last four words formed a hopeful knot in Izzy's stomach.

"If the All Valley is March Madness, this is the Olympics plus the gladiator games and the minute from Bloodsport all rolled into one." Hawk summed up, earning a fist bump from Johnny.

"If we win—" Demetri said, and Hawk cleared his throat at his friend, "Excuse me. When we win, the spoils will be life-changing."

Izzy bit down on her inner cheek to hide her smile. This was something she needed. Bad. With the Sekai Taikai, it would help her with UCLA, or even a better school, and she could probably help Kayla get a place somewhere nicer. She had been taking care of Izzy all these years, all Izzy wanted was to take care of her sister at least once.

"But it's gonna take all of our focus and all the wisdom our senseis have to offer." Hawk grinned at the three.

Demetri nodded. "Yes, which is why we decided to take at least one thing off your plates. Coming up with our new dojo name."

"Yes! After some spirited brainstorming and ad hoc focus-grouping, and also a dojo-wide vote, we have a winner." Hawk announced. Izzy looked past Miguel at Johnny, and then she looked at Mr. LaRusso, and then Chosen. And then back at Hawk, "We give you... Miyagi Fang Karate!"

They pulled back the cloth covering the canvas to reveal the logo, Mr. Miyagi with two fangs above a line of fire. Izzy was against it, she just thought it looked too tacky and people wouldn't take it seriously enough, and she cringed at the reveal while others cheered and clapped.

Being together did feel nice, though. To look over and see Tory and how she smiled at Robby, and then catching Miguel's eye and it seemed like all he cared about was her—–nothing else. It was a feeling that outweighed all of the Cobra Kai haunting her.

She tried her best to cherish it in that moment because she knew once she left to go back home, and away from Miguel and her friends, Cobra Kai would come back and continue to eat her alive.

✹

Izzy never thought she'd be grateful for Golf N' Stuff as she was in this moment. Even if the air was thick with awkward tension in the group, she'd rather deal with that here than her own thoughts alone in her room. They stood around the punching bag in the arcade, watching Robby's score go up to the eight hundred's.

          Robby smiled like he saw it coming. "It's all in the legs."

          "Yeah, well, congrats on your rather average leg strength, sir." Miguel said, leaning against the machine and Izzy stood between him and Sam, both Tory and Evan on the other side of the LaRusso girl.

          "All right, who's next?" Robby asked, eyeing the group.

          "I'm good." Tory passed.

          Sam nodded. "Me too."

          "Izzy?" Robby raised his eyebrows and pointed at the girl.

          "Oh. Sure, yeah." She shrugged, sharing a look with Miguel and he watched her walk in front of the punching bag. Izzy smiled at Miguel, watching him hold two thumbs up as if he was telling her she could beat Robby's score.

          Izzy looked at the punching bag, making sure her legs were firm and she stood at an angle that would help her. Balling her hand into a fist and drawing back her arm, Izzy sent her fist to the punching bag, but instead, her hand collided with thick stone and her knuckles exploded with blood. She was no longer in the arcade, now standing back in Cobra Kai with Kim Da-Eun mocking and ridiculing Izzy.

          Wincing in pain, Izzy held her fist in her hand and looked down at her hand expecting to see it covered in blood, but it was fine. No blood, no Cobra Kai. She looked back up, the punching bag out of the way and revealing her tallying score. A deep breath left her mouth as it reached 888, just barely surpassing Robby.

All three of the boys erupted in excited gasps. "That's my champion." Miguel beamed.

"I guess you are better than me after all." Robby joked from behind her.

Izzy let out a scoff, looking over her shoulder at Robby. "Please, you're just realizing that?"

He laughed at the question, playfully rolling his eyes before turning to Tory. Evan mentioned the batting cages and wanting to check them out, but while the other four began making their way throughout the arcade, Miguel and Izzy lingered around the punching bag.

"Did it hurt?" Miguel furrowed his eyebrows, gesturing to the hand Izzy was still holding onto.

"Um..." Izzy let go of her fist and had the choice to either tell him what just happened or let it go. She already knew he was worrying so much about her with the nightmares, she couldn't bring herself to mention it. "A little, but I'm okay."

He took the hand she had used to punch into his own, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "How are you feeling?"

Izzy smiled at the touch, holding onto his hand. "In general or about this weird triple date?"

Miguel crinkled his nose. "I felt like I was the only one thinking it felt a little off." He let out a laugh that Izzy copied.

"Yeah, did you ever think you'd go on a double date with two of your exes and your girlfriend... who was also your ex at one point?" A teasing smirk on her face as she asked.

Miguel looked taken aback at the realization that that's what this actually was. "Not really, no." But then he had his own smirk forming on his lips. "And who was also my fake girlfriend at one point too."

"And look where it got us." Izzy's smirk turned into a smile as she pulled Miguel along by his hand, walking to catch up with the rest of their friends.

They caught up to them just as Robby wandered off by himself, Tory telling them that he went after Kenny to try and talk to him. Izzy had to bite back a comment, only nodding her head when Miguel suggested they grab a snack in the meantime.

Finding an empty table, Izzy took a seat next to Tory but Miguel kept standing. "You want ice cream or anything?" Miguel asked Izzy.

"Sure." Izzy smiled, watching him stand up from his seat. He asked if anyone else wanted anything, but neither Sam nor Tory did. Evan went with Miguel and Izzy watched them until they disappeared in the sea of people.

She looked between Tory and Sam, both of the girls looking anywhere but each other. Izzy let out a deep breath, trying to think of a way to make this a little less awkward.

"So, Sam... you and Evan?" Izzy asked, the LaRusso girl's eyes meeting hers.

"We're just friends. He was really sweet to me after what happened with Cobra Kai and he seems to really appreciate Miyagi-Do. But..."

Izzy raised her eyebrows. "But...?"

Sam shrugged, clearly fighting a smile. "There's obviously something there. I don't know."

"Just give it time. I don't know Evan that well, but I do know he's really cool." Izzy told her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Izzy saw Tory shift uncomfortably in her seat. Izzy couldn't believe she was trying to be the middle man right now. She didn't know if it was better to sit in silence or try and hold conversations. Maybe silence was just better.

Miguel and Evan returned after another few minutes, a cup of ice cream in Miguel's hand and slushee in Evan's. Grinning as he set the ice cream down, Miguel handed a spoon to Izzy.

"Thank you." Izzy felt her heart soften. It was the bare minimum, to share ice cream, Izzy knew that, but it was Miguel. Every little thing he did for her made Izzy realize how much she feels for him. He always thought of her——always.

"So... it's our senior year, right? College right around the corner, it's kinda crazy." Miguel said in attempt to lift the mood, taking a bite of the ice cream.

"Yeah, I mean, it does feel just like yesterday that we were dissecting fetal pigs and now we're planning our futures between training every day." Sam sighed. "There are just so many good schools to choose from. I'm just a little overwhelmed."

Izzy looked between Miguel and Sam. She hated when she remembered they also have history. "You'll hear back from Stanford soon." Izzy told Miguel, taking her own bite out of the ice cream.

"Yeah, fingers crossed." Miguel held up his two fingers crossed over each other. "And you'll hear back from UCLA." Izzy smiled at the words, her gaze falling.

"Wait, UCLA?" Evan questioned.

"Yeah." Izzy replied.

"I'm thinking about going there too. Isn't it like five hours from Stanford? Would that work for you guys?" Evan seemed to be too curious for his own good, and there was nothing wrong with that, but it was something Izzy never thought about and it was now a new thought to suffocate her when she ends up alone in her room.

Her and Miguel would talk about college, but they would never think to talk about what they would do with their relationship when the time came. They had bigger things to worry about, now this was something they knew they had to talk about.

"We haven't really talked about it." Miguel answered quietly, quickly changing the subject, "What about you, Tory? Any colleges you're looking at?"

Tory shrugged slightly. "It's kinda hard to get in anywhere when you spent almost a year on probation."

Miguel just stared, blinking. "Right..."

The table fell back into a silence and it made time drag on, but they eventually decided to get up and find Robby again after both Izzy and Miguel finished their ice cream. Walking aimlessly around, Izzy spotted him from afar talking to another boy none of them recognized. And Kenny too. The other boy seemed a little bit older and towered over Robby. He must know Kenny, or be related to him, because they walked off together.

"You know that guy?" Miguel asked as they approached Robby.

Robby turned, a look of defeat visible on his features. "It's Kenny's brother. Met in juvie. He told me to leave Kenny alone."

"You're not gonna listen to him, right?" Tory inquired.

"Yeah, I wouldn't." Izzy shook her head.

"Do whatever you need to do. We'll have your back." Sam said.

Miguel looked at Izzy who gave him a reassuring look and he glanced back to Robby. "Okay. We're there for you, man."

"All of us." Izzy encouraged, earning a nod from Evan.

✹

The California humidity lingered in the air even a few days into September, causing Izzy to pull her thick curled hair into a loose low ponytail. They followed Robby to the batting cages when they couldn't find Kenny or his brother anywhere inside.

They spotted the two boys in one of the cages and Robby told the group to stay put while he tried to talk to them, but if shit went south then they knew when to step in. Izzy leaned against the metal fence, keeping her eyes on Robby. It seemed to be going okay... at least for the first few seconds, and then the fighting began.

Kenny's brother swung first but Robby dodged it and sent a punch straight to his brother's stomach. Izzy pushed herself off the fence, "Oh shit." She breathed out, the others looking in the direction of the fight.

Without saying a word, Miguel took off to help and Evan followed after him.

"What should we do?" Sam asked.

"Let them handle it for right now." Izzy said, her eyes glued to Miguel now and how quick and precise his movements were compared to Kenny.

They knocked both Kenny and his brother down, a sign that they didn't need anymore help but Izzy found herself rushing over just as Kenny hit the ground. Walking through the open batting cage door, Kenny went to reach for the baseball bat on the concrete, but Izzy kicked it away before he could get his hands on it.

"What the hell were you gonna do with that?" Izzy questioned, watching as Kenny scrambled to his feet.

"Back up, Izzy. I don't wanna hit a girl." Kenny threatened.

"You won't touch her." Tory entered the batting cage.

He must have took that as some sort of challenge and went straight for Izzy, but Sam had appeared out of nowhere to grab him by the jacket and spin him away from her.

"Kenny, you have a place at our dojo. Everybody has a home at Miyagi-Do. It doesn't matter what happened in the past." Sam told the boy, earning a look from both Izzy and Tory.

Kenny clenched his jaw. "It matters to me."

He went to walk between Tory and Izzy to return to his brother fighting the three other boys, both of the girls grabbed onto each of his arms to stop him, but Kenny used his strength to pull his arm out of their grips.

"We're just trying to help you, Kenny!" Sam raised her voice as Kenny pushed Izzy off of him and sent her falling to feet and colliding into the fence of the batting cage.

Izzy winced at the pain in her back while Sam and Tory took it as their opportunity to try and stop him. They both used a sharp technique, sending their hands into Kenny's chest and made him tumble back into the fence on the opposite side. Kenny tried to move past them, anger visible on his face and he let out a yell, charging between them and both Tory and Sam pushed him toward Izzy.

Sliding out of the way and sticking her leg out, Izzy swiped it under Kenny's feet that caused him to fall to the ground and roll into the fence.

Izzy pushed herself to her feet just as Kenny did and his brother entered their batting cage, putting an arm out in front of Kenny to stop him from continuing the fight.

"That's it, little bro. Let's go."

"What? No, no, I'm not going anywhere." Kenny spat.

His older brother nodded. "Yes. You are. Security's coming." He pointed in the distance to the sound of approaching walkie talkies beeping. The two brothers scurried off, leaving the other six teenagers in the batting cages.

"Are you okay?" Robby asked Izzy who nodded as an answer. He let out a sigh, "That could have gone better."

Miguel shrugged and smiled, "It could've gone worse."

"You picked up Miyagi-Do pretty fast." Sam said to Tory.

The blonde clearly tried to hold back a smile. "Yeah, well, I fought you enough. I guess some of it must have rubbed off."

Izzy smiled at the interaction, tucking loose strands of her hair behind her ear just as Evan spoke up, "Now that that's over. Anyone wanna go mini golfing?"

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Authors note.
Pls ignore any grammar errors cause this was kind of a long chapter and I got lazy halfway through editing 😞

Writing Izzy's PTSD is killing me so much I want to write her happy but it's just so hard. I love writing sad characters too much... 💔

Also while watching the ep and writing this I couldn't stop laughing at Miguel punching that baseball when he could've just moved out of the way DDKFJDHSHDJS