DESPITE THE FACT that he was shaken up so much he was nearly in tears, Demetri seemed to be fine, for the most part. He had come over to her place the next day, once he'd checked in with the LaRussos. Injury wise, things weren't looking bad at all. Emotionally, Dylan suspected he was contemplating how the rest of his friendship with Eli was going to go.

"I'll kill him. I swear I will, Demetri," Dylan said in worry as she paced her living room. He looked back up at her in fear.

"It's Cobra Kai, Dyl. It's not him. Listen—Maybe he isn't so bad," The boy tried to defend his friend. Dylan watched him carefully. He had his arms wrapped around his chest with one of Dylan's old hoodies over his t-shirt.

It was a yellow zip up that had belonged to her father years ago.

"Demetri . . . " She trailed off, unwilling to finish her statement. She didn't want to be the one to tell him that Hawk was going down a path quickly diverging from their own.

"No! You don't get it, Dylan!" He said to her loudly. His voice was cracking. "He's my best friend! The three of us are best friends." Her eyes softened. She'd always been closer to Demetri than Eli when they were younger.

Even when it was just the three of them against the world, Demetri and Dylan had always gotten along better than Eli and Dylan. Maybe it was because even though Demetri was still a total loser to the Valley's standards, he definitely wasn't quiet when it came to his opinions. He didn't exactly stand up for himself, but he wasn't as quiet as Eli.

She and Eli had been close, sure, but she got the feeling he couldn't tell why she would ever talk to them willingly. In his eyes, Dylan was choosing not to be popular when she easily could be. Demetri accepted her presence immediately, and they could both deal with each other's snide comments. With Eli, it hadn't been as easy.

Clearly now that the boy had become hot shit all of the sudden, he was burning bridges with everyone that used to know him for who he was.

Starting with Dylan and Demetri.

"I just don't understand why he would do all of this over a yelp review." She rubbed her arms. Things were only going to escalate. "Did you tell anyone besides the Miyagi-Dos?"

"No," He answered her softly. He rubbed the cut on his forehead.

When she asked him how he got it, he'd just said that he tripped while running away from them. She wasn't so sure that was exactly what happened, but if he didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't pry.

"Are—Are they helping you? The LaRussos?" She questioned him. She hoped that even if Sam and her weren't on the same page, at least she was kind to her friend. "Here. Keep this and make sure you keep that covered." She pointed at the band-aid on his face. She handed him a box of strawberry shortcake bandages. "It's all I got," She admitted.

"Great. Now they have another reason to kick my ass into next week," He remarked. "For someone who's on my side you sure do like to give me more reasons to get thrown in a dumpster."

She laughed at that, even though she probably wasn't supposed to. Brucks and Kyler had shoved Demetri in a dumpster outside of a Taco Bell one day. He was scarred from the smell of what he called 'suspiciously smelling burritos.'

"It's just your nerd shit, dude. Like, you rant to me about dungeons and dragons almost every day," Dylan cracked herself up sometimes. "Besides, just use LaRusso's dance moves, Dem. They have been helping right?"

"I got in a hit, so if you count that as helping then sure. I guess," He said unamused with his own ability. Dylan looked at him surprised.

"Really? You got in a hit?" He nodded in response. She chuckled lowly. "Son of a bitch. Listen, that doesn't sound great, but against Hawk it's pretty decent. Like there was definitely a 99 percent chance you'd get your ass beat and you lowered it to a solid 95."

It was true. Eli was definitely getting better. But maybe so was Demetri.

He sighed at her statistics.

"Listen, I know you said you're done with karate, and I don't really know your reasons," She was ready to get on the defensive when she figured out what he was going to ask. "Which is fine!" He rushed out. "But will you please come with me today?"

"Why? You've gone before and things have been fine," She said, confused.

"I didn't tell you this, but someone from Cobra Kai--Maybe more than one, destroyed the dojo. Spray painted over the cars, trashed the place," He counted off on his fingers. "And they stole Mr. Miyagi's medal of honor."

Dylan's jaw dropped. The paint and the toilet paper that most likely adorned the place given their track record wasn't terrible. In fact, it was fixable. But stealing a medal of honor was a whole other level of low. There was no way to know for sure if they'd get it back.

"Why?" Even Dylan was shocked at his revelation. "What does anyone gain from that? Hell, do they even know what a metal of honor means?" Dylan felt her face heat up in anger, and Demetri had known why.

A friend of Dylan's father had been awarded a Purple Heart in Afghanistan. While her father hadn't even made it out alive, his friend certainly had and it meant a lot to the girl who had been directly effected by the aftermath of something so terrible. He deserved it considering his team had been involved in rescuing captives and they'd succeeded.

It was also the same mission in which Michael Oakes had lost his life.

His friend had given away the award to Dylan's mother to honor the man who'd lost his life and apparently 'deserved it more than him,' and Dylan herself had it kept nice and safe in her bedroom.

It was safe to say that stealing anything along those lines was completely over the line.

"Don't know. But Mr. LaRusso went over there and confronted them. Dylan, come on," He pleaded. "We could use the help. It's probably just cleaning stuff up anyways."

She contemplated it. She didn't have much to lose anyway. It was just doing a favor for a friend and helping them out.

"Fine."

"Oh thank god. I don't wanna get jumped, either," He admitted. She rolled her eyes at that.

That was how she found herself sipping a lemonade while watching Sam and Robby attempt to lift a rock over with Demetri's weak arms helping with the other side.

"You're just standing there?" Robby struggled to speak.

"You just said you didn't want my help. Something about, 'She's with Cobra Kai!' even though all I did was get forced into helping Miguel with a demo," Dylan retorted with a cheeky grin. "I won't give my help when it's not wanted. I know my worth, dipshit."

"Dylan!" Sam breathed out in shock. "It's not his fault he doesn't know if he can trust you. I'm not sure I can either," She said honestly, glaring once she remembered the day at the beach club only recently.

"Good. Don't trust me. Then you won't be disappointed," She stared between them cynically.

"What Dylan means to say is that she's a very trustworthy person who will absolutely help you," Demetri attempted to sway them. He motioned wildly for her to help him. She finally relented, setting down her lemonade with a sigh and helping her friend lift the other side.

"How'd they even knock it over?" Sam asked.

"It's a lot easier to knock something down than it is to lift it up. Don't worry. We'll get it up again," Daniel said while he tried to trim the bushes.

"Uh . . . Is this Miyagi-Do?" Dylan recognized the voice of the guy who spoke up.

"Yeah."

"Come back for another beating," Robby threatened, ready to strike the kid. Daniel stopped him before it could go that far.

"This is one of the guys who was beating on Demetri! Probably trashed the dojo!" He began to accuse.

Dylan got up from her spot. She and Chris locked eyes, and he looked away from her. He was definitely guilty of at least one of those things.

"Listen, we didn't have anything to do with that. But I am sorry about what happened at the mall," He explained with a frown. Dylan shook her head.

"You terrorized a kid for a yelp review," She pointed out to him with a snarl. She pointed at Demetri who looked away from the approaching kids.

"We just wanna learn Miyagi-Do karate. Hawk wanted us to do that, okay? We take it back."

"I—I'd be careful about this Mr. L, letting the Cobra Kais into Miyagi-Do. It's like letting the wildlings behind the wall," Demetri commented angrily.

Daniel LaRusso welcomed them in regardless, after thinking about it. He shook their hands. Demetri and Dylan stuck together. Neither Robby or Sam seemed too happy about the situation either.

"This a part of your plan too, huh?" Robby came up and accused her. "Letting the Cobra Kais into our dojo to terrorize us?"

"What the hell are you going on about now? You can't be fucking serious," She laughed in his face. "What, you think I'm a big fan of the people who were this close to giving my friend a beat down?" She put her fingers together. Robby stood in front of her, glaring down when Sam joined.

"I've seen you around."

"Excellent observation skills, Sherlock," She mocked.

"You're not like us, Oakes," Robby tried to say. Daniel seemed to take notice of the situation, watching them carefully as he continued to welcome the ex-cobras. "You hang with the wrong crowd and you're rude. We don't want you here," He gritted out.

"Well that's too damn bad. You don't seem to want your dad around, but he doesn't seem to be going anywhere either," She looked around for dramatic effect. She watched him clench his fists and she tilted her head to the side. "What're you gonna do, Keene? Strike first?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Daniel jogged up to them. He hadn't said much to Dylan when she showed up the first time, not even really knowing much about her. "Robby, what's gotten into you?" He asked the boy seriously.

"She insulted me Mr. LaRusso," Keene defended his actions. "I'm sorry."

He looked to her, waiting for what she was going to say. She looked at the older man carefully, thinking about her next words.

"Your students aren't exactly welcoming me with open arms, Mr. LaRusso," She stated blankly. He looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "I'm sorry for this honest opinion, but I'm not so sure that everyone here is truly ready to give up their anger." Her eyes flickered over to Sam and Robby.

She walked away from them, choosing to stand over by the koi pond. She felt eyes on her, and noticed Sam staring at her, irritated. Daniel started up training again with the new Miyagi-Dos and his old students.

Chris and Demetri were no doubt arguing once again, with Mr. LaRusso trying to explain to them that they needed to set aside their differences. If Dylan were Demetri, she wasn't sure she'd be overly happy with forgiving the other kid though either.

"Admit it! You don't really want to joing Miyagi-Do! This is all just some scheme!"

"You calling me a liar?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Demetri continued to argue with Chris, until the bigger boy shoved him down to the grounf. Dylan stood up, ready to come to his defense when she heard the commotion.

"Demetri! Demetri, are you okay?" Sam and Robby got to him before she did. Dylan turned on Chris.

"You do that again and I'll give you a front wedgie too," She threatened. Chris took a step back, remembering the story about Aisha and Yasmine.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Daniel came out again, frustrated his methods weren't taking. "We're on the same team now!"

"Once a Cobra Kai, always a Cobra Kai," Robby sneered. Daniel looked at him carefully. He surveyed the group before him. Dylan about to attack Chris, Sam and Robby unwilling to trust them, and Demetri awkwardly getting helped off the ground.

"That's not true. I know it's not true 'cause . . . " LaRusso trailed off, almost unwilling to come clean. "I, used to be a Cobra Kai."

Dylan stopped looking at Chris like she was about to kill him, instead focusing in on the man that looked ashamed of his past. Robby looked at his Sensei like it was the most shocking thing ever.

Daniel made them all follow him inside. Even Dylan, who explained that she wasn't interested in karate anyways.

"When I joined, I was, well, weak. It was 1985. I had just won my first All Valley, and Mr. Miyagi didn't want me to compete anymore." Dylan noticed the pictures of the man who'd now been brought up in conversation more times than she could count. "He never really liked the idea of fighting for trophies in the first place. So, he and I . . . we got into this big argument. And what did I do?"

"Ditched him for Cobra Kai because you got too big of a head?" Dylan spoke up without warning. Daniel laughed, caught off guard by her statement.

"Yes, Dylan. I joined Cobra Kai. I learned to strike first, strike hard, show no mercy. And it turned me into an angry and violent kid," He continued honestly.

Dylan could think of multiple kids just off the top of her head. Hawk for sure, as well as many of her other classmates. Hell, she heard Sam say that Miguel was ruthless in the finals. It was still hard to imagine the man before her who seemed so against violence and set on honouring his old Sensei being a violent teenager.

"It changed me."

"You never told me about any of this," Sam said.

"It's not something I'm proud of, Sam. But my point is, anyone can be seduced by Cobra Kai," He took the opportunity to look at each one of them. Taking special care to look at Robby and Sam, Demetri and Dylan — the people who had never even thought about being in the rival dojo.

It wasn't long before they all continued to help fix up the dojo. Chris and Demetri were able to use their combined strengths to help get the rock facing upright again. Dylan was finally able to see the writing etched into it.

"Dylan?" She turned around to see Mr. LaRusso walking towards her. "Do you have a minute?"

"Uh, yeah," She said, confused. He motioned for her to follow him, which she obliged.

"Are you thinking about Miyagi-Do? Or is this just a one time deal?" He smiled at her so she didn't feel as bad about turning him down.

"I have a lot on my plate right now. Honestly, if you want my opinion I don't think karate's doing anyone much good right now," He frowned, but motioned for her to continue. "My friend—ex-friend, is the one I think trashed your dojo. Hawk. I just—I don't wanna be a part of this if it's going to make things worse between the people I know on both sides," She explained, for the first time today not making sarcastic jokes. "The people I care about," She emphasized.

He nodded his head, understanding her.

"I get that. if you ever want to though, you're welcome here," He smiled. "I'm sure Robby and Sam will come around." He tapped her on the shoulder as he walked away.

"Oh, Dylan?" She waited for him to continue. "We're just going to be doing some exercises. It'd be nice if you joined."

She thought about it, before eventually agreeing, ignoring Sam's stares as she took up her stance next to Demetri, who smiled gratefully at her appearance.

Maybe things would get better.

authors note —

Sorry it's been a few days since an upload. I've been busy and then trying to figure out how to write the coyote creek scene (can't wait for you to read it by the way). I'm still trying to figure that out but hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday it'll be up. I'm so sorry if the fight scenes aren't written well too. I've never written any before so I'm nervous to do it.