"WHAT THE HELL?" Dylan yelled into the phone. Devon had been in Topanga karate since the showdown between Miyagi-Do, Cobra Kai, and the short lived Eagle Fang Karate dojo they'd both been a part of. Apparently, Silver was taking over and turning Topanga into another Cobra Kai location.

Dylan had been avoiding her relative, but she figured if there was any time post-tournament ( the last time he had seen her publicly ), it was now. Devon was an unlikely but welcomed friend.

"You can't be here." Tory stood in the doorway, whisper-shouting at Dylan. Two instructors that Dylan had never seen before watched their boss lecture the students. Topanga and Cobra Kai karate were merging, and Devon was caught in the middle. "He'll confront you."

"Hell's he gonna say? 'I have the high ground?'" Dylan laughed, but her hands shook nervously. Tory glanced down at them, watching Dylan pick at the torn skin around her cuticles. The girl had picked up the bad habit as a child and regained it when Terry Silver came back into the picture.

"Listen Dylan, I don't know why you're here right now, but you should make it quick. You have a lot more to worry about than just Silver," Tory said cryptically, nodding towards an Asian woman that was clearly new. Without another word, Tory left to rejoin her team.

"You have used your strengths to train each other," The woman said, a slight accent to her English vocabulary. "Now, you will use your strength against each other. Nichols, get them ready."

The instructor was commanding, and there was something besides her clear violent teaching that made Dylan wary. She didn't know what Daniel LaRusso was planning, but she was hoping that he'd come up with something fast.

"Kid, if you're not joining then you're out," Another man told her, the same that stood as Silver's annoying guard dog.

"You force me out and I'll call the cops. Child endangerment is not a joke," Dylan warned, wagging her finger. The man glared at her. She felt her phone buzz, looking down to see that a call from Johnny had come through two minutes ago and she'd missed it.

"My students are determined. I will see how determined you are." The woman had them all seated in a large circle, pacing back and forth with a comically small stick in her hand. "You two, up." She pointed at Tory and Devon who stood next to each other.

Dylan watched from behind the glass window as Tory beat Devon with ease, who angrily got up from her place on the ground with shame and humiliation. Devon had a lot of pent up anger and nothing to do with it.

"Class dismissed." The woman turned when the class scattered to glance at Dylan. Dylan opened the door, watching blankly as the Korean instructor whispered something to Silver, beckoning his eyes to where the girl stood. "You don't have to hide."

"I wouldn't exactly call that hiding, but to each their own," Dylan spoke dryly, hoping to mask her fear. "My grandfather hired you to beat them."

The woman lifted her chin high, glancing quickly to where Terry stood, remaining silent. Dylan knew in that moment that his relation had been kept quiet.

"Sensei Silver brought me to teach them to win."

"With who? You only have one good student and she's too good for this," Dylan exclaimed, pointing outside where the unknown kids piled into other training rooms.

"That's enough, Dylan." Her grandfather's voice was soft, catching her off-guard. She could tell her wasn't impressed with her appearance. "You're smarter than this. Showing up just to pick a fight." He motioned towards the otherwise empty room

"That's what you do." They stared at each other. Dylan could think of so many ways to assault him with her words, and yet she still felt like there was nothing she could ever say to him that could truly get to him. There was nothing that could hurt him.

And there was nothing that could make him understand.

His face was all she saw when she fought someone else.

"You may leave, Da-Eun," He murmured quietly, looking towards the woman who seemed unsure. It was a look that Dylan did not expect to see often from her. The ridges along the corners of her mouth pursed as she frowned. She hesitated, but left the room.

Dylan watched Terry roll up a mat on the ground. She watched him move a practice dummy from one side of the room to the middle, setting it down softly.

"Do you remember this?" Terry looked at her, gauging her reaction, waiting for something. Dylan stared into the piece of wood that was supposed to resemble a human head.

"No."

"Interesting." Silver walked closer to the dummy, ignoring Dylan. He hit the metal that connected each wooden board to the next. Dylan blinked. He looked back over, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.

"And this?"

She looked at another dummy that he had brought out, made entirely out of glass and plaster. It was awful, was what it looked like to her. A punch would get shards of glass stuck in your skin. It had been used over and over, reformed for the next use.

"I don't remember you ever using it. Only looking sometimes. You were curious." Silver looked at her carefully. "You showed more potential than your mother at that age."

"If I was a boy I'm sure I'd end up in an asylum. Everything you would have done and said to me--It would have been so much worse." He stared at her before shaking his head.

"If you had been a boy you would have gotten cocky, like Lawrence." Silver's face turned grave. "Always thinking he was the best. Or better yet, another LaRusso, who couldn't keep his emotions together." He looked back over at her, almost proudly. "No, I learned after LaRusso."

"What, that you had ideas in the back of your head that were even more cruel that you could use on some unsuspecting kids?" Dylan exclaimed sarcastically. Her grandfather waved her off with a serene smile on his face.

"I learned what I needed to look for in a student."

"Obviously you didn't, considering you failed trying to make me your weapon."

"You were promising then. It's a shame you don't remember, Dylan." He looked at her again and she felt like a child under the weight of his gaze.

There were a lot of things that Dylan felt were missing from her memories. She remembered the things about Terry Silver that angered her -- that made her draw away from karate in the first place. She remembered practicing blindfolded, practicing techniques that she should not have been ready for, and wading through freezing water as a "conditioning" exercise. Everything else was in pieces.

She remembered coming back from school and seeing Terry waiting for her after her mom had gone to prison. There was a time when he acted like he cared.

He had never once visited his daughter.

"You hit me," She whispered. Terry glanced up in surprise, paying closer attention. He seemed confused, before his face returned to its normal look.

"You know better," A younger version of her grandfather scolded a frail version of herself. "I have taught you years above your level because I know this to be true." He crouched down, staring at her with something dangerous in his voice as he spoke. Dylan stared at him with wide eyes, more innocent than they were now.

"Maybe you shouldn't have," Her meek voice answered him, fiddling with her clothing. He pursed his lips and shook his head.

"I've made many mistakes, Dylan. But I know that you're different. Everything that has happened to you is going to shape you into something tough. I'll make sure of it," Terry told her passionately. In a twisted way, he had decent advice for her.

"What did you tell my mom?"

In a flash, Dylan instinctively held her hand against her cheek. Her lips quivered at the stinging sensation. Even her grandfather seemed surprised at what he had done. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it to the skin of her cheek that would soon morph into a yellow and purple bruise.

"We'll ice it later," He told her robotically, looking at the mark from how he had backhanded the child.

"I don't like you very much," She whispered in between wavering cries. Terry held her awkwardly pressed into his side, patting her on the back without warmth.

"I know."

Dylan learned then that her grandfather had never learned how to love.

"I didn't try to, you know," Silver told her defensively. "It was on instinct. I remember being upset that day." You always were, she thought. She didn't deserve his abuse then, and she didn't now.

"You have a visitor." The female instructor from before re-entered, pulling Dylan out of her confrontation. Tory Nichols stood next to her, demanding to be seen for something.

Dylan walked out without another word, upset with herself and overwhelmed, unable to process what she felt. She practically skipped down the stairs, and was met with the surprised stare of Johnny and a man she didn't know coming through the front door. From the look on their faces, they didn't expect to see her either.

"Dylan . . . " Johnny trailed off, eyes softening immediately when he saw the look of anguish on her face.

"It's okay," She tried to reassure, putting on a small smile. Dylan could feel that the stares of the instructors that lined the halls and flanked each entrance had moved on from her. She hated that a small part of her felt glad to evade their attention.

"Adult classes are on Wednesday," An instructor tried to tell Johnny and the unknown man.

"We're not here to take lessons. We're here to teach you one." Johnny refused to look away from Silver, making sure to place his hand on Dylan's back for a moment when they walked in, hiding her from view as he did so. It was comforting for her to experience.

"Where is Terry Silver?" The other man with Johnny asked. Dylan noticed his accent immediately.

"What do you want with Sensei Silver?" He responded carefully. The blond circled Johnny and his partner warily.

"We have a message."

"We're gonna beat his ass," Johnny added. The blond man scoffed in response.

"Not possible."

"You don't think I could beat him?" Johnny asked, offended. Dylan wouldn't have dared answer, but with each day that passed she felt more and more that he might not be able to.

"I don't think you could beat me," He laughed.

"Oh yeah?" Johnny and the man began to fight. The Asian man that Johnny had come in with turned to Dylan, moving her out of the line of fire wordlessly, though he smiled her way.

Johnny and his opponent continued to fight, and though Dylan could see that Johnny was trying, the other man -- Hyan-woo was better . . . until he was pushed off of Johnny who tried to get off the ground. The older Asian man was quicker, with cleaner and more efficient hits.

"How long you train at Kim Sun-yung dojo?"

"My whole life," Hyan-woo gritted out angrily, trapped in the man's arms. He managed to break free and throw him down, but Johnny kicked him before he could do anything more.

Two against one, Johnny and his partner ended Hyan-woo by sending him hurtling towards the ground.

"Enough!" Dylan sighed at the familiar voice. "You must be Chozen Toguchi? Far from your pathetic little island, aren't you?" She taunted the man Dylan now knew the name of. "And I'm surprised to see Daniel LaRusso has healed from his injuries so quickly."

Johnny recoiled in offense, while Dylan tried to hide her laugh at his misfortune. Johnny looked around angrily, ignoring Dylan's pointed stare.

"What? I'm not Daniel LaRusso," He bit back. "I look nothing like him."

"Silver must answer for what he has done," Chozen interjected. The woman tilted her head mockingly.

"You bark like your blond dog. Like the girl," She said insultingly. Dylan showed her teeth in response, rolling her eyes.

"We do more than bark, trust me."

"You wish to fight?" She asked jokingly, before turning around so quickly Dylan got whiplash. "Joon-bee!" The men readied themselves before her to fight.

"Too much advantage. Their dojo," Chozen whispered. "Besides, she needs to go." He pointed at Dylan, who held up a hand to wave them off. "We fight when time is right."

Johnny looked around again, weighing his options before agreeing.

"We're not gonna let you take over the Valley."

"We already did."

"You think you did. Come on, Dylan." She stood up, jogging to catch up with them, and throwing up an obscene gesture on the way out to the woman.

Dylan knew she needed to talk about what had happened to her. There was a lot to get off her chest. And when Johnny looked at her with concern in his eyes, she knew there was no one better to tell.

author's note —

yeah so i said i was gonna post a double update but imma just have to do that next time. i forgot about episode seven and just realized i gotta write that in. i really wanna write a training scene with dylan and chozen!

but yeah, next update expect two chapters in one go.

since last update i posted a darry jenner/jeepers creepers book that only has one chapter but imma work on that ASAP. i also updated my johnny lawrence fic with chapter 1 so if you haven't and you're interested, go check it out! it's not connected to fight club sadly but i'll try to make some cute lil references cause i'm chill like that.

have a great day/night!