Molly didn't think anything would really happen at the party after she and Eli headed upstairs, but the next morning, Sam texted the group-chat and forced everyone to meet at Miyagi-Do to discuss it.

So now, Sam, Miguel, and Bert all stood around the backyard of Miyagi-Do, filling Demetri, Molly, and Eli in on what happened at the party the night before.

And to say the three were shocked was an understatement. Apparently, Tory had shown up and told Sam that not only had she been working with Kreese while he was in jail, but Kreese actually never hurt Stingray, Silver did.

And that Silver cheated in the All Valley.

Molly felt her stomach twist at those words. She hadn't spoken up since Sam said it, the girls eyes glued on Molly as she did. Sam wanted to step forward and pull Molly into a hug or hold her hand—just find some way to comfort her, but before she could, Eli wrapped his arm around Molly's shoulders and pulled her into his side.

While Molly stood with her eyes on the ground and her arms wrapped around her stomach, Demetri frantically looked back and forth between the group.

"W-w-wait. Okay, so Sensei Silver paid off the ref at the All Valley and framed Kreese for a crime he didn't commit?" Demetri asked and when Sam, Miguel, and Bert nodded, he groaned.

Demetri turned to Eli and Molly on his right, his eyebrows furrowed and his face scrunched.

"Where the hell were you two?" He yelled.

Both Molly and Eli's eyes widened. Eli's face paled while Molly stared down at the ground, pulling her lips into a line.

"We were just busy, dude." Eli said, hoping his voice sounded as casual as possible and his face wasn't turning red.

A snicker from across the circle made everyone's heads turn. "Yeah, getting busy." Miguel muttered through his giggles.

Sam and Molly both smacked Miguel, Molly having to lean across the circle to hit his arm, only confirming Miguel's words.

Demetri groaned, shaking his head in disgust. "I did not need to know that!" He complained as Molly moved back into Eli's embrace. Eli shrugged, pulling Molly further into him. "You asked."

"What are they gonna do? We saw what happened to my dad when he confronted Silver. I don't want him getting hurt again." Sam asked, pulling the focus off of Molly and Eli.

Just like Molly, Sam nervously crossed her arms over her chest and looked between the group with wide eyes.

Molly sighed, shaking her head in annoyance. "If this ref and Stingray are on Silver's payroll, they'll never admit anything."

"I'm not so sure about that." Bert blurted, taking a step further into the circle. All eyes turned to him as he continued. "I know he's in Cobra Kai and I'm in Eagle Fang, but Stingray's still my friend. He wouldn't lie to me. At least, I hope he wouldn't."

Molly squinted at the shorter boy. While keeping her eyes on Bert, Molly leaned towards Eli.

"Why is a grown man his friend?" Molly whispered and she could see Hawk shrug from the corner of her eye as Miguel smirked, an idea coming into his head.

"Think you can you get him to talk?"

...

Hawk, Molly, Demetri, Sam, Miguel, and Bert all stood at the wall against Stingray's front door. Bert stood at the door while everyone else stayed against the wall so Stingray wouldn't see them when they ambushed.

About a minute after Bert knocked, the door finally opened.

A handful of people trailed out of the apartment, cursing under their breath and glaring at Stingray over their shoulders as they left his apartment.

"Bert! What's up, dude? Wanna play some D&D?" Stingray cheered before he nervously cleared his throat. "These, uh... Oh, there they are. These noobs were entering the light and exiting night." He laughed out, trying to look cool in front of Bert.

Molly frowned, turning to Eli next to her. "I can't believe Sensei Lawrence let him stay in Cobra Kai..." She whispered. Before Eli could respond, Molly was elbowed in the rib. She turned to Sam on the other side of her and Sam nodded her head as a cue to go.

Slowly, they all walked out of their hiding spots to reveal themselves and Stingray's jaw dropped at the teens standing in front of him.

"Miyagi-Fangs? Oh, this is a trap." Stingray yelled, finally realizing why Bert was at his apartment.

The teens turned back to Stingray as his eyes fell on Bert, a betrayed look taking over his face. "You Admiral Ackbar-ed me. Et tu, Bert-tay?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Knock it off. We know Kreese never hurt you." She spat.

Stingray turned to Sam, a big smirk on his face as he shook his head. "According to my testimony in a court of law, he did. So... read the transcript."

Sam glared at Stingray, her arms crossing over her chest as she took a step closer to him, her feet touching the edge of the doorway.

"You lied to the court. And you lied to my dad. But you're not going to lie to us." Sam said as she walked into the home, pushing Stingray out of the way.

Stingray watched Sam walk into his home with wide eyes. He turned back around to the kids at his door with a dropped jaw.

"You're just gonna let her—" Instead of letting him finish his question, Molly started to push her way into his home, the rest of the kids following after her. "Now you're all walking in."

...

Stingray wouldn't budge.

The six had probably been at Stingrays for an hour to try and get anything out of him, it it was pointless.

Bert, Demetri and Molly sat at Stingray's coffee table across from the man while everyone else stood behind the three.

"Okay, okay. All right. Let's try this one more time, okay?" Demetri asked, trying his absolute hardest to stay calm, but he was getting aggravated with Stingray. "What happened that night? Who hurt you?"

"Hey, Bert, how does it feel?" Stingray asked the younger boy, his voice quiet and shaky. Molly rolled her eyes at Stingray's attempt to guilt trip Bert.

"Oh my God..." She muttered as Hawk clenched his jaw and leaned forward from behind Molly.

Stingray's eyes started to water. "To stab a grown man in the back between his shoulder blades and stare at the blood as it trickles down his back?" Stingray asked.

"God, enough!" Hawk yelled, slamming his hands down on the table on either side of Molly since he was standing behind her.

Stingray's eyes snapped to Hawk, who still had his hands on either side of Molly, leaning over her to look intimidating. "No more games."

Stingray gulped, his eyes nervously looking down at his game as Sam started to speak. "My dad went through a lot of pain because of you and Silver. Now a lot of other people will too if you just sit back and do nothing." Her words were like venom—even Molly flinched at how harsh her tone was.

Stingray shook his head, biting his lip to stop it from quivering. "But if I tell you what really happened, you know, he-he'll find out. I can't. It's not that easy, you guys." Stingray cried,

As everyone else's faces dropped, Stingray's started to light up, an idea popping into his head. "Actually, I've been working on this new D&D campaign—" Miguel's groan cut him off. He rolled his eyes from the back of the group. "I don't think we have time for this." He muttered, but staring at the board game in front of her, Molly's eyes widened and slowly, she started to catch on to what Stingray was insinuating.

Molly raised her hand up toward Miguel as she leaned toward Stingray. "Wait a minute. What happens in the campaign, Stingray?" Molly asked and Stingray's eyes lit up as he looked at Molly. He had to hold back a smile as looked back down at the board.

It didn't take long for Demetri to catch on too and he smiled, nudging Molly beside him. "You're a genius. How did you even catch that?" Demetri whispered. Molly did a joking, nonchalant shrug and hummed.

"I've been around you and Eli's nerd talk for so long, it's finally caught up to me." Molly tried to find reason. Demetri's smile dropped and from behind her, Eli scoffed at her words, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, so, once upon a time, there was a Dwarven monk..." Stingray announced. Molly turned back to the man just as he put a character piece on the board. "And he was a member of the most badass guild in all the land. Uh, he was banished for a time. You know, typical PC crap." Stingray scoffed as he acted out what he was saying through the game.

Molly understood that he was talking about himself and Cobra Kai and even though she didn't know why he got banned from the dojo—Molly honestly forgot he was in Cobra Kai after she left—she nodded along to his story.

Stingray cleared his throat and licked his lips, starting to get a little tense. "But, um... once he paid his penance, he returned. Only by then, the guild was under new leadership. And the monk was denied reentry into the guild. And quite unceremoniously, might I add." Stingray said, barely looking up from the board to side-eye the teens across the table from him.

"What did the monk do?" Demetri asked. Stingray gave Demetri a grateful smile before turning back down to his board. "The monk, he made a pact with a silver-haired king who would usurp the leader." He put another piece on the board, this one a tall wizard with silver hair.

It actually really resembled Terry Silver so much, Molly pursed her lips and nodded her head in approval.

"And it was early one morning, before any of the warriors had arrived, that the king struck the monk down." Stingray slammed the silver-haired figurine down onto the small character that was being used to reference himself.

"Again, and again, and again."

Molly suddenly felt her stomach churn at the man's words and Stingray paused, his breathing starting to become heavy as he remembered his attack.

Molly felt a chill go down her spine and bile rise up her throat at the thought of what happened to Stingray.

For a second, her mind went back to the laser tag place. When Tory knocked her to the floor, and sprained her wrist, and broke her ribs.

Again, and again, and again.

Stingray slowly tried to catch his breath and pull himself together before continuing. "It was then that they framed the leader for the assault, and the leader was put in chains, and the silver-haired king took over the guild." Stingray slowly revealed another character, this one playing Kreese's role in the story.

The room was silent for a moment; no one dared to speak, but after a few beats, Demetri cleared his throat.

"And you were—" Demetri stopped, realizing his wording and quickly corrected himself. "The Dwarven monk was let back into the guild?"

"Yeah. With benefits." Hawk muttered, but Molly barely heard him. All of her attention was on the poor man in front of her. Her heart broke as she leaned forward in her seat, her eyes filled with sympathy and an understanding. "So why can't the monk just tell everyone what really happened?"

Stingray opened his mouth to speak, but before anything could come out, Sam scoffed from the back of the group.

"He doesn't wanna lose his benefits." Sam spat.

Stingray immediately started shaking his head, his eyes watering as he desperately tried to get the six to understand.

"No!"

Stingray gulped, still shaking his head. "No. I would—the monk would give it all back if he could, but the silver-haired king, you know, he... He almost killed the monk." Stingrays voice broke and he let out a humorless laugh.

"And why? To get power."

Stingray blinked back tears, looking at all of the students in front of him. "So, yeah, the monk fears what that king would do to keep that power. I think the monk just... The monk just wanted reentry into the guild because he thought that he could be like a... proud and noble warrior."

His eyes moved from Molly, who Stingray felt like was the only one really listening to him besides Demetri, and turned to look up at Eli behind her. "Just like you, Hawk." Stingray breathed out. His eyes traveled across the table to Sam.

"Sam, all you guys. The monk has always been a fan of you guys." He breathed out before he focused back on the rest of the group. His head hung low and his shoulders slumped as he shook his head in defeat.

"But the monk is neither proud nor noble. Definitely not a warrior. He just sits around playing with them all day. The monk's just scared. I just can't. I'm sorry." His voice broke by the end of his words and Mollys frown deepened from across the table.

"That's great. Thanks for nothing." Sam spat, turning and walking out of the room.

Mollys eyes followed Sam, her back straightened and her eyes wide. "Sam, wait!" She called out after her, not leaving her seat as Miguel ran after Sam.

emily speaks...
ONE CHAPTER LEFT AND THEN WE ARE OFFICIALLY ONTO SEASON 6‼️
i'm still trying to figure out what i want to happen to molly and her story but im excited😌