"HEY DYLAN, I GOT your number from Hawk. Listen, I don't know how I feel about Kreese anymore. I don't really think he's so bad, to be honest. I just think he's . . . " Dylan's eyebrows furrowed as she listened to Miguel's voice message. "I just think he's been through a lot. Sensei Lawrence told me that. I know you don't like him, but . . . " Miguel trailed off again as Dylan listened to the bullshit he was saying. "I don't know. I don't know how to feel. Call me ba—"

She paused it and immediately pressed the call next to the number she had yet to make a contact for.

"Hello? Dylan?" His muffled voice came through her speaker. She set her phone on the dresser as she continued to fix her leggings and the sleeves to her long-sleeve athletic top.

"What's this about Kreese being 'Not that bad,' Diaz?" She tightened her shoe laces in anger.

"I guess he was in the war or something. It gave him ptsd. It's probably why he lashed out on Demetri," He said nonchalantly. She could hear the part of his voice that wanted her to understand that his other Sensei wasn't that bad.

"So that gives him a free ride when it comes to assaulting teenagers? Demetri could probably press charges if he wanted to, Miguel."

"I'm not saying it was okay, I'm just saying to listen to how it all sounds. Give him a break Dylan. I heard him talking to you when you confronted him and he didn't do anything bad then," He defended. "He's helping us get better. We're stronger than ever before."

She thought back to how Daniel LaRusso described Cobra Kai. They certainly all felt like they were at the top of the food chain. They felt powerful.

"Are you really? One day you're gonna get too prideful and it's gonna cost you. Honest to god, Miguel."

"You're really not gonna give him a chance then?" He seemed upset. "I'm not saying he's all good, okay? I'm just saying he's not all bad either. Johnny likes him."

"Johnny likes shitty beer too," She teased in annoyance. "Is this all you were gonna talk to me about? Because otherwise I have to go. I haven't practiced my punches all week because of this karate shit," She complained to the boy on the other end, rolling back her shoulders.

"I forgot you box." There was a pause on the other end and she heard rustling in his room. "Wait, Dylan, before you go, I have a proposition for you."

"Really, Diaz? This is how this is gonna go?"

"This is how it's gonna go," He confirmed. She thought she heard him smile. "Sensei Kreese wants us to go for extra training today at Coyote Creek. Something about new training exercises?"

"Yeah, seems like heaven." He heard her sarcasm and he laughed at it.

"I'm serious Dylan . . . you should come with. It would give you a chance to see what things are really like, you know?"

"I told you I was about to practice, Miguel. I'm not sitting around in some forest while you guys do questionable team-building exercises," Dylan criticized the thought.

"What if you could still practice though?" He even seemed unsure of himself as he asked the question.

"What do you mean?" Her voice came through on his end and he knew he was at least getting somewhere.

"What if I talk to my Senseis and they let you do some of it?"

"You're asking me to work on my karate when I've specifically told you I hate it," She told him, sick of it already. "Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work."

"Kreese told me it's not like normal practice, okay? You can work on your punches!" He tried to convince her.

Dylan thought about ending the call right then and there, hanging up on the boy and going to do her normal routine for the day. But the offer was unfortunately, really tempting. And she had to admit to herself, there was something alluring about seeing how these kids were training. She wasn't going to back down this time.

"Fine. Where do I meet you?"

He grinned on the other side.

EVERYONE IN THE dojo gaped at her as she walked in, crossing her arms and taking off her cheap sunglasses. She looked at them. Aisha and Hawk looked both confused and frustrated, in that respective order. Her old friend didn't look overly fond of her in that moment. Tory looked especially confused. The girl nodded at her in acknowledgment when she took her water out of her bag.

Miguel was the only one who looked at her like she was supposed to be there. She walked over to him, flinging a folder into his hand.

"Please don't tell me this is more Spanish homework," He said worried. He opened the folder with an anxious expression.

"Relax. It's my geometry," She winked at him. His shoulders slumped.

"I barely even know geometry!"

"Guess you better learn," She chimed happily. "I'm getting something out of this, considering you called me practically begging on your little knees for me to come here on this little youth group trip of yours." She looked around at the other members of the dojo, unimpressed.

"Wait, you asked her to come? Why the hell would you do that?" Johnny confronted Miguel. "Her? Really?"

Miguel looked from him to Dylan.

"I don't beg, Dylan," He maintained dryly. She made a 'hmph' sound under her breath as she looked him up and down. She smiled at everyone.

"You do now."

Johnny and Kreese were having an intense conversation with each other. Dylan and Miguel looked at each other.

"I'm not sure they're ready for that," Johnny told the older man quietly. He took extra care to look over Dylan.

"We're ready, Sensei. We wanna prove ourselves," Hawk stood up straighter, eager to begin the training.

Johnny kept his eyes on Miguel, who looked at him pleadingly. He finally relented, shooing them out the door.

That was how Dylan ended up in a horizontal line in the middle of a forest, staring at Aisha and the other kids opposite her. She was in between a pair of boys she didn't know very well. Kreese welcomed them all, pacing down in front of both sides and holding in his hand a number of bandanas.

"You've been split into two teams. Red," He held up his own bandana to match the color of the team she wasn't on. "And black." Johnny held up the black, as the leader of her team.

Some of the kids she didn't know on the other team mumbled to themselves about how the black team had both Miguel and Tory, while they really only had Hawk. Aisha glared at them when they left her out of that. Dylan could admit though, it seemed a bit unfair. And with her on team black as well, the red team had two less people.

"The goal is to capture as many headbands as possible from the other side," Kreese explained to them. Tory looked over at Aisha, who held her gaze evenly. "Today, the people across from you are not your friends. They're not your brothers." Hawk smirked at Miguel, clearly the both of them being the heads of their respective teams. Miguel stared down at him with a sly grin of his own. "They are the enemy."

"The last team standing . . . wins."

"How do we get the headbands?" Miguel nodded at the bands in Kreese's hands.

"By any means possible," Kreese answered sternly. He looked between Hawk and Miguel, and Dylan knew that he was eager for a fight. "No rules," He summarized.

"Use your judgement. This is just a training exercise," Johnny doubled back on what Kreese had said, making sure that everyone on both teams knew that he would appreciate more fair fights, despite the violence.

"Correct, but remember, this is your life. You lose it . . . you die," He spoke dramatically. He treated this game of his like it was real war.

An older guy she didn't know strolled up out of breath, wearing a jean jacket vest and a pair of sunglasses.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Traffic on the 118 was a real bitch. Put Coyote Creek into the nav. Nothing came up," He shook his head at them as he explained. Aisha and Dylan locked eyes, both thinking the same thing.

Apparently Johnny had as well.

"What have you done to yourself?" He criticized, motioning in disgust to the outfit and the braided beard.

"Oh, the . . . yeah, you know what, I just decided to flip the script. Hawk style," He nodded appreciatively at the boy with the mohawk. Hawk stared at him like he was crazy. "Respect. Heretofore, you can refer to me as Stingray."

"Yeah, alright Chubs, he's on your team," Johnny told his friend. Kreese's smile turned into a small frown, already annoyed with having the guy in his dojo and now on his team for the game he over glorified.

"Terrific."

"Sensei. We still have one less person than they do," Hawk spoke up in irritation. "Shouldn't Dylan just sit out?" He asked, referring to the girl who stood on the opposite side as him, further down the line.

"No need. We're going to add in a new rule. I think it'll be to your liking," He said cryptically briefly looking over at Dylan before focusing on the group again. He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a piece of fabric with velcro on one side of it.

"What's that?" Miguel asked him curiously.

"This is what our team black wildcard is going to wear," He held it up so they could all see it clearly. "If this is ripped off of the headband, not only is she out, but you will get to choose a player of your choice to be out of the game as well."

Hawk grinned to someone next to him, and Aisha looked less upset with their odds. Tory stood up straighter, expecting the title to fall to her. But Kreese wasn't looking at her, and Dylan felt suddenly a lot less ready for this game.

"Oakes," He said slowly. Johnny looked over at him in shock, before nervously looking at Dylan. "That's your wildcard," He told the rest of the group, sure of himself and his decision.

Tory's shoulders slumped, and she, as well as much of their team stared at Dylan, wondering what was so special about the girl that Kreese would make her the wildcard. Dylan knew why he did it. It would make things a lot more interesting, and she felt the weight of Hawk's gaze on her as he grinned triumphantly.

The red team's confidence grew, and Dylan could have disappeared. Why wouldn't the red team be happy? No one thought she'd be able to last.

Hawk traded glances between Dylan and Miguel, as did the rest of them. If they could get her out of the game, they could get Miguel with that simple rule of Kreese's. Then only Tory would remain as the one to watch out for.

Dylan felt Miguel's eyes on her, but she didn't look over. He was probably thinking their odds of winning over in his head and wasn't liking the conclusion he came to.

"So, are you ready?" Kreese asked them all.

"Yes, Sensei!" Most of them cheered in determination. Hawk and Miguel's loud voices stood out amongst the rest as they stared each other down competitively. It all rang through Dylan's ears.

"Then by all means, begin," Kreese told them finally. He let them go and many of them took off into the trees.

None of them were faster than Dylan Oakes, however, who took no extra chances sizing up her competitors. She didn't even risk a glance back.

They wanted a fight?

Later, maybe. But certainly not now. Dylan was well into the forest before she looked backwards.

authors note —

I decided to split this up into two chapters, because I wanted to make sure the wildcard idea was fleshed out. I've been thinking about doing that for a while to spice things up. I've literally had that idea for like a year and a half. Also, the fight scenes I wrote in next chapter for when the episode gets really good are genuinely great (in my opinion) and I'm so excited for you to read it. Like I made them a lot longer than in the show and more violent so have fun. I'm so excited to make the major fight scenes in this show even more intense than they already are.