❛ Don't tell Johnny, but you'll
always be my favorite sensei. ❜

     "Ready? Fight!"

Axel was immediately on defense, putting forward a strong kick. But Robby was quick to defend, not letting Axel gain any momentum.

Ayane stood between Miguel and Daniel as they watched, the girl feeling as nerve wracked as ever. Watching her friends fight made her more nervous than her own fights.

Next thing she knew, Robby had landed a kick on Axel. The first point of the match. Ayane blinked, surprised, but cheered nonetheless with excitement.

Axel seemed very thrown off by this, but did his best to shake it off. He got back to his spot, changing up his stance to one Ayane had never seen before.

"What stance is that?" Eli asked from beside Miguel, Ayane giving a small shake of her head.

Robby seemed equally confused, but did not let it hinder him. Axel, however, began to use moves that none of them had seen from him before. He was scoring points on Robby now like he had been doing before, taking every advantage to land a hit.

The buzzer blared to indicate that the first two minutes were up, Ayane seeing that the score was now 1-6. Axel had come back just that quick.

Robby approached Miyagi-Do, Ayane giving him a pat on the arm.

"Hey," she said, her tone firm. "You're the first person to score on him. That's gonna get in his head more than you realize."

As she said that, Ayane looked over at the Iron Dragons and saw Sensei Wolf rear his arm back, bringing a hand across Axel's face with a hard slap. Her eyes widened a little, knitting her brows. Ayane looked around to see if anyone else had seen what she saw, but it seemed they did not.

In that moment, she felt a lot of empathy for him. Watching that unfold gave her flashbacks of her own, Ayane grimacing and looking away from their opponents at once.

Once Daniel and Johnny were done talking to Robby, he turned and got back to his place on the mat. Ayane could see how Axel's demeanor had shifted, appearing much more aggressive than before.

The fight resumed, and her suspicions were correct. Axel was going harder than ever, but Robby was matching it. They both scored another point on each other, Robby pulling out some familiar moves that Ayane realized were her own.

Axel was having a hard time breaking through Robby's clean defense, now, which gave way for the Keene boy to land more hits. With an aerial spin, Robby's foot came around and made contact with Axel's face just before the horn blared again.

Miyagi-Do was erupting with cheers, along with the rest of the arena. The score was at 11-6 now, with Axel still in the lead, but Ayane thought that the gap could easily be closed with the way Robby was performing.

Robby returned to the team, Ayane grinning at him.

"Using my moves, I see," she remarked, crossing her arms with a knowing smile.

Robby returned her smile with his own, and a small shake of his head.

"Yeah, you got five points," Daniel said with excitement.

"Yeah, but so did he," Robby replied.

Johnny cut in, "Yeah, so what? Now you see he's not a machine, he's human. But if you wanna catch up, you're gonna have to get a knockdown."

"Oi," Chozen interceded, "knock him on his ass."

Ayane smiled once again, giving Robby a knowing nod.

"Whatever it takes."

Robby nodded back momentarily, then turned and got back out on the mat. Ayane looked over at Miguel.

"Think he's got it?" she questioned, Miguel returning her look.

He nodded, turning his attention back to the match. "Yeah. He's throwing Axel off."

Ayane watched with bated breath as the last round of the match began. Axel went forward first, Robby defending. Axel sidestepped Robby's spinning kick, not letting him through this time.

Robby put forward a kick, to which Axel grabbed his leg with both arms, dropping as he took Robby off of his feet.

Slamming him onto the ground, there was a sudden crack. Ayane's eyes widened, Robby crying out in pain.

Her heart dropped to her stomach as Axel stood over Robby, the arena going silent aside from Robby's agonizing screams. Ayane was reacting before anyone else, her body moving before her mind.

She was running up onto the mat, Johnny following behind, but Ayane was headed straight for Axel.

With a hard shove, Axel turned to see Ayane in preparation to throw a punch, but she was suddenly being dragged back by Chozen.

Ayane glared at Axel, who only gave her a guilty expression in return. She knew exactly why he had done what he did. Ayane knew that Sensei Wolf– or Silver– had told him to do it. She was just disappointed that he had actually followed through.

While being detained by both Chozen and Daniel, Ayane was shouting obscenities across the mat to where Wolf, Silver and Zara could all hear her.

"You should be fucking disqualified!" She held up her middle finger as she shouted, everyone hearing her clearly.

"Ayane-san, you must calm down or you will be kicked out," Chozen said to her, still not letting go of her.

Ayane drew in deep breaths, the two senseis finally releasing her. She smoothed out her gi, turning away as the medics came and took Robby off of the mat.

"Robby Keene has fifteen minutes to return to the mat," Gunther announced as they carried Robby off. "If Keene is unable to return, Axel Kovačević will be awarded the win."

Ayane audibly laughed with nothing but anger in her voice, shaking her head.

"This is fucking bullshit," she spat, Miguel approaching her.

"Hey. It's okay, Ayane," he said as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

Ayane looked up at him, beginning to shake her head. "No. It's not. We can not let them win. Not like this, anyway."

She stepped away from Miguel, heading for the locker room where they had taken Robby. Miguel dropped his head with a sigh, following behind her.

Entering the locker room, she saw all of the adults in there, and Robby lying on the table.

"It's broken," Robby informed Ayane and Miguel as they entered the room.

Ayane grimaced, closing her eyes briefly. She wanted to slam her fist into the lockers, to go out there and throw never ending punches at every last one of the Iron Dragons.

"Fuck those stupid fucking cheating motherfuckers," Ayane huffed, leaning back against the lockers with folded arms.

Everyone in the room gave her a look at her statement, Ayane not taking notice as she was too pissed off.

Miguel gave an apologetic smile on her behalf, giving his condolences to Robby. They all began to leave the room at once, Ayane hanging around. Johnny was still there too, but he could tell Ayane wanted to talk to Robby.

The girl finally approached him, looking down over him as Robby laid there and wiped a couple tears from his face.

"Hey," she greeted curtly, Robby giving her a small smile.

"Hey, Ayane. Thanks for being so quick to defend me. I'm surprised you didn't do worse to Axel out there."

She laughed a little, glancing away. "I realized at the last second that I didn't want to risk getting disqualified, so. But trust me, I had a perfect vision of it in my head."

Robby returned her laugh, his smile dimming a little.

"God, I wanted to win," Robby said with a shake of his head, looking away. "I wanted to prove myself, you know? That I could do it."

Ayane sighed, knowing exactly how Robby felt. "Yeah, I understand. That's how I grew up thinking, that I had to prove myself. But– Robby, you don't have to prove anything. We all know that you're an amazing fighter. We all know that Axel clearly pulled an illegal move, but– that's not the point."

Robby smiled a little as Ayane had to keep herself from getting riled up again, the girl meeting his eyes and continuing, "The point is, you already proved that you're one of the best fighters in the world. Everybody is gonna know your name, now. You did do it, Robby."

He looked up at her, his smile growing.

"It's your turn, now," he then said, Ayane raising an eyebrow.

"My turn for what? To break my knee?"

Robby halfway rolled his eyes. "It's time for everyone to know your name. For everyone to know that Ayane Cain is the best there is."

Ayane looked at Robby for a moment, who raised his fist up to her. She realized the amount of faith he had in her, and that truthfully helped her with some of the confidence she had been lacking.

She returned his fist bump, a sly smile on her face.

"I gotta get back out there, but I just wanted to talk to you first," she said. "Hopefully the opportunity presents itself that I can rock Axel's shit."

Robby chuckled softly. "I'll see you later. And thank you, Ayane."

She tilted her head. "For what?"

"For being a true friend."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"As Robby Keene cannot continue, Axel Kovačević moves on to the finals."

Ayane fought the urge to roll her eyes from where she stood, listening to Gunther speak.

"And if Cobra Kai does not name a replacement for Kwon Jae-sung, Axel Kovačević will be named the boys' champion following the conclusion of tomorrow's girls' semifinal round."

Gunther left it at that. Ayane clenched her jaw, giving a frustrated shake of her head. The mention of Jae's name again made her tense up, Ayane trying her best to let it go.

"Well, the only way we can come back now is if Ayane absolutely obliterates both Tory and Zara," Kenny remarked, walking up beside the girl as she stood with the rest of the students.

"I think that seems pretty plausible," Eli added in, giving a small shrug.

Ayane kept her arms crossed, not enthused or interested in making it lighthearted. No– she purely wanted to seek out revenge.

Miguel placed an arm around Ayane as the students began to leave, walking off with the girl while she stared at the ground.

"Hey, guys."

They both stopped, turning to see Tory standing there.

"Hey Tory," Ayane gave a small nod. "What's up?"

The girl glanced around the arena, then back to the two of them.

"I know this may sound kind of crazy, but I've got an idea."

Ayane and Miguel exchanged a look, then turned their focus back to Tory.

"What kind of idea?" Miguel questioned slowly.

Tory took a breath. "Gunther said that the only way Axel wouldn't automatically be champion was if Cobra Kai found a replacement for Kwon. A male captain."

She looked at Miguel as she said that, Ayane catching on and raising her eyebrows.

"Wait. You're saying that I should come to Cobra Kai?" Miguel asked, pointing a finger to himself.

"Not just you," Tory replied, then looking to Ayane, whose eyes grew wider.

"Ayane... it would be pointless for me and you to fight again," Tory admitted. "There's not a single one that you didn't win. On and off the mat. I've gone against you and Zara both, and I can tell you who I've had a harder time with."

Tory smiled ever so slightly, Ayane still standing there in surprise at her words.

She continued, "It should be you, Ayane. You can both rejoin Cobra Kai, it's not against the rules. I think this is how it should be."

Miguel turned his head to Ayane, who looked between him and Tory. He looked like he was just waiting for her to say something, but he was already in agreement.

Ayane thought, considering it heavily before she gave a response. All this time, she had been thinking of how she would fulfill her promise of honoring Jae-sung's legacy. She needed some way to make sure that he would be remembered, especially in the Sekai Taikai.

Raising her eyes to Tory, Ayane exchanged a look with her. Tory was one hundred percent serious about this.

"Come on, Ayane," Tory spoke. "You know you wanna kick Zara's ass as soon as possible."

Ayane cracked a small smile, looking over at Miguel. He gave her a reassuring look, his own smile growing as he could tell what Ayane was about to say.

The girl exhaled slowly, finally bringing herself to nod her head.

"Okay. But... I think there's one other person we should let in on this."

Tory and Miguel both frowned with slight confusion, Ayane looking between them. Finally, they caught on.

They needed a sensei, too.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

There was one person Ayane had been nervous to tell about the plan: Daniel.

But, as they entered the arena, he stopped her. Ayane had a little bit of fear on her face, and Daniel could tell.

"Before you say anything, Ayane... I already know."

She furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth falling open slightly.

"I've already talked to Johnny," Daniel continued, his tone assuring. "I was waiting for a chance to get to talk to you, but now might be the only time."

Ayane looked around, getting a sudden memory in her head. This reminded her of her first All-Valley tournament, when Mr. LaRusso had given her a pep talk in this same spot.

"Mr. LaRusso," Ayane spoke, "I-I wanted to say something sooner but–"

"Ayane." Daniel looked into her eyes, and slowly began to smile. "You were my first ever student. I got to experience being a sensei for the first time with you, and I wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else. You are made for this, Ayane. I've never seen a more natural-born fighter than you."

Ayane looked at him, her face growing warm as Daniel said these things.

"And... I've also never met a more natural-born Cobra Kai."

She raised an eyebrow, Daniel giving a soft chuckle.

"You took to Miyagi-Do well, but your spirit is Cobra Kai," Daniel said. "I could tell that about you the first day I met you. And that's okay, Ayane. Because it doesn't matter what dojo you're fighting for..."

"As long as I'm fighting for myself," Ayane finished his sentence, the words familiar as they came out of her mouth.

Daniel reached out, Ayane walking forward and hugging him rather suddenly. He hugged her back, the girl trying to mask the tears in her eyes whilst Daniel kissed the top of her head.

"Don't tell Johnny, but you'll always be my favorite sensei," Ayane said as she pulled away, Daniel laughing.

"Go get dressed, kiddo. I'm gonna be cheering you on."

Ayane continued to smile, nodding before turning and making her way to the locker room. She unzipped her bag, pulling out the top to a black Cobra Kai gi.

Last night, she and Sam had spent an hour sewing the hole in it. It was Jae's gi. The blood stains were mostly gone now, and it looked almost as good as new.

Ayane took a deep breath, then began to change. She liked the Korean patch on the gi, because she felt it represented her in a way.

Time was drawing near, so Ayane left the locker room and made her way to the entrance she had been told to meet Miguel and Johnny at.

Rounding the corner, both Miguel and Johnny turned and looked at her approaching. Miguel smiled in an instant, seeing Ayane in her brother's gi and her captain headband.

Ayane was equally as ecstatic to see Miguel finally wearing one, and his old Cobra Kai gi from nearly three years ago. Johnny wore his as well, black headband to match.

"That looks badass," Johnny said with approval as Ayane joined them, the girl laughing quietly.

She turned and faced the exit beside Miguel, who couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

"I think I just got chills seeing you," Miguel leaned over and halfway whispered, Ayane laughing once more.

"I'm glad you get to be beside me," Ayane replied, meeting his eyes. "For the first time ever."

He returned her smile, looking straight ahead once again.

They could hear Gunther's voice as they waited to be announced, while he explained that Miyagi-Do was no longer participating in the Sekai Taikai.

"...Cobra Kai not naming a replacement for their fallen captain means that Axel Kovačević automatically becomes our new male champion."

Some cheers erupted from around the room, Ayane bitterly rolling her eyes.

"However... Cobra Kai has named a replacement. Two replacements, as a matter of fact."

The room went quiet, mutters of confusion echoing around.

"Your two returning Cobra Kai members, male and female captains... Miguel Diaz and Ayane Cain!"

They both began to walk forward, the buzz of the room turning electric with applause as they stepped out into the arena side by side.

Ayane was smiling, though Miguel remained stoic. Her eyes immediately went to the Iron Dragons, her smile only growing at the sight of their shocked faces.

"Coached by the two-time All Valley champion, and their new sensei, Johnny Lawrence!"

Johnny followed the two out onto the mat, Ayane folding her arms behind her back and looking out into the crowd. She turned her head to her left, eyes locking with Zara.

Ayane smirked, glancing away.

Zara Malik was in for a rude awakening.

Notes.
i creamed

tbh guys i thought i was okay with ending the fic but now i'm going through the denial stage again and i don't want to accept that it's almost over

ayane and robby returning back to brotp as they should, also i almost cried writing the scene with daniel like that's literally ayane's dad idc

literally been fantasizing about the scene of ayane and miguel and johnny doing their walk out, i think i even dreamt about it one night

now... who's ready to see ayane whoop ass 😈