❝ only you can define yourself. ❞

―

NATHALIE HAD MADE UP HER MIND.

She wasn't going to the All Valley tournament. She didn't care if she had spent months training. She didn't care about proving the people who doubted her wrong. None of that mattered anymore. All that mattered to her was staying as far away from Eli Moskowitz as she possibly could, even if it meant missing the tournament all together. She hadn't even wanted to join karate in the first place, so it really didn't seem like much of a loss.

Nathalie lay in her bed, scrolling through social media on her phone. It seemed like everyone she went to school with was raving about her interaction with Hawk at the canyon party. There were clips of her hitting him posted to numerous stories and as videos posted to actual accounts that wouldn't disappear after a few hours. Nathalie scrolled through the comments. People were calling her all sorts of things.

Crazy. Psychotic. 'In need of some major therapy.' Nathalie really hated social media. Sometimes, she seriously considered deleting it entirely. Nathalie clicked the power button, turning off her phone. She wanted to throw it across the room. Instead, she tossed the side of her pillow and groaned. She grabbed her pillow and placed it over her face. Nathalie let out a scream.

She removed the pillow from her face as she heard a knock at her door. Nathalie turned her head, watching as her bedroom door opened, revealing Marisol on the other side.

"Hey, we're about to head out. Are you ready to—" Marisol cut herself off when she noticed Nathalie still lying in bed. "You're still in bed. Nattie, why aren't you dressed?"

"Because I'm not going," Nathalie responded as she sat up straight.

Marisol walked into the room and shut the door behind her. She walked over to Nathalie's bed and took a seat.

"Why not? Are you feeling okay?" Marisol asked as she placed her hand on Nathalie's forehead. "You're not sick, are you?"

Nathalie shook her head. "No. I just decided that I don't want to go."

"But I thought you were enjoying karate," Marisol replied. "You know, proving everyone wrong and sticking it to the man?"

"And what good is proving everyone wrong and sticking it to the man when everyone still thinks you're the same messed up, crazy girl as always?" Nathalie asked. "And you heard what happened last night. Do you seriously think anyone even wants me there?"

"And since when do you care what other people think?" Marisol asked, placing her hand on the side of Nathalie's head. "Nattie, you've made mistakes. That part is true. Should you have tried to get Eli to drink with you? No, you shouldn't have. Should he have told you that mom and dad left because of you? No. You both made a mistake. Should you have lashed out at him? No. But Nathalie, none of that—nothing that people say about you—defines you. Only you can define yourself."

Nathalie sighed. Marisol was right. She hated it when Marisol was right.

"I'm not telling you that you have to go out there and fight, but you should at least come and support your brother, Flora, and Oliver," Marisol told her. "It would mean a lot to all three of them to have you there."

Nathalie nodded. "You're right."

"I know I am," Marisol smiled, followed by a laugh.

Nathalie laughed along with her.

"Come on now," Marisol said as she tapped Nathalie's cheek. "Get dressed so that we can get going. We don't want to be late."

Marisol stood up and walked toward the door. She put her hand on the doorknob and looked over her shoulder to smile at Nathalie one last time before she left the room. Nathalie sighed as she pulled her blanket off and got out of bed. She got dressed and grabbed her phone, tucking it in her back pocket before she left the room. She brushed her hair in the bathroom before walking into the living room.

Her siblings, Flora, and Oliver were waiting for her. They each sprang up as she entered the room.

"So?" Sebastian asked.

"So what?" Nathalie asked him.

"Are you going to fight or not?" Sebastian asked.

Nathalie shook her head. "Nope. I'm just going to support you guys."

"That sucks," Sebastian replied. "I kind of wanted to see you kick some ass."

"Sebastian, language!" Marisol scolded him.

"Sorry," Sebastian apologized. "I kind of wanted to see you kick some butt."

Marisol sighed as she opened the door and started to wave her arm, telling them to go get in the car. The four teens did as they were told.

After Marisol had locked the front door and gotten in the car, they were off to the sports arena, where Nathalie had to break the news to the others and Johnny that she wasn't going to be fighting in the tournament.

────────────

The Cobra Kai students were waiting outside of the arena when the Torreses and the Brooks arrived. Marisol went inside to find a place to sit while the teens joined their karate-mates as they waited for Johnny to arrive.

"Yo, Miguel, calm down, man," Hawk said as they began to approach where he stood with Aisha and Bert. "Save some for the tournament."

Miguel turned his head, glaring at Hawk before turning away and continuing his jab punches. Nathalie stopped walking and turned to Miguel instead. She didn't want anything to do with Eli.

Sebastian stared intensely at Hawk; his eyes narrowed at him. Hawk furrowed his eyebrows at him, confused by the look on his face. Oliver placed his hand on Sebastian's arm, causing the boy to turn and look at him.

"Hey, don't even bother," Aisha told Hawk. "He's been super aggro ever since the breakup."

"Hey, where's Sensei?" Sebastian asked, looking around.

Oliver nodded his head. "Yeah. Shouldn't he be here? The tournament's gonna start soon."

"He'll be here," Aisha responded.

"I don't know about that."

Aisha, Hawk, Flora, Sebastian, and Oliver turned their heads to look at the small boy.

"What are you talking about?" Aisha asked him.

"I saw him last night at the mini-mall. I was buying a..." Bert trailed off, "...carton of milk...when I heard him in the parking lot, yelling. He was pissing on a car, and I tried asking him if he was okay, but he kept yelling something about how we're all gonna die."

"Well, why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Aisha asked.

Bert shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I'm just used to seeing him drunk. It didn't seem like that big a deal."

"Well, we're here and he's not," Hawk raised his voice at him. "So it's officially a big deal. What if something happened to him?"

"Like what?" Bert questioned.

"I don't know like he drove his car off a cliff or bought a gun and blew his brains out," Hawk responded.

Aisha shook her head. "No. Sensei would never kill himself. That's too pussy a move."

Sebastian nodded his head. "She's right. He's probably hungover somewhere. Like, on his living room floor or something."

"Or in a ditch..." Flora mumbled.

"The point is, we're here and he's not," Hawk spoke. "We have to look at the possibility that we might have to do it without him."

"Do what without me?"

The group of teens turned their heads to see Johnny standing behind them or in front of them.

"We didn't think you were gonna show up," Hawk said.

"I may not always win, but I never back out of a fight," Johnny responded.

"All right," Miguel said. "Let's sign up."

"Not yet," Johnny replied. "There's one more lesson I have to teach you."

The group exchanged confused glances with each other before they followed Johnny inside. Nathalie told him that she had something that she needed to talk to him about, but he told her that it needed to wait until after the tournament. Nathalie rolled her eyes in annoyance and crossed her arms as he turned and walked away from her. He joined his students in the hallway, where they waited for him to give them a pep talk. Nathalie stood off to the side behind Flora, curious what he was going to say and so that she could tell Johnny the news afterwards.

"You've all learned to strike first, to be aggressive, not be losers," he began. "I taught you to strike hard, put every ounce of your power behind everything you do. But I haven't taught you the third rule of Cobra Kai. No mercy. The older you get, the more you're gonna learn that life isn't fair. You wake up one morning feeling great, and then life throws a spinning heel kick to your balls, takes a big steaming shit in your mouth."

Nathalie's face scrunched up in disgust. She glanced at Flora, who had the same expression on her face when she turned around to look at her. Sebastian and Oliver turned to look at each other, more confused than disgusted.

"You get an 'F' on a test, you get suspended. You fall in love with a girl, and some other dude comes and steals her away," Johnny continued. "Car gets set on fire. Just when you think things are going good, everything falls apart. That's how it goes. Life shows no mercy, so neither do we. We do whatever it takes to keep our heads above water. We do whatever it takes to keep moving forward. We do whatever it takes to win! Remember who you are. You're badass! You don't give a shit. You kick ass! You're Cobra Kai."

"Cobra Kai!" Miguel shouted at the top of his lungs.

The students, including Flora, Sebastian, and Oliver, began to cheer. Nathalie just sighed.

"All right, guys. Let's get down there and kick the shit out of everybody!" Johnny told them.

Miguel unzipped his backpack and started to pull out his white gi.

"No," Johnny shook his head, causing Miguel to stop. "You're not wearing those."

Johnny pulled a black gi out of the duffel bag at his feet and handed it to Miguel. He started giving one to each of his students. Sebastian and Oliver gave each other a high-five. Johnny grabbed the last gi out of the duffel bag and looked around the circle of students. Flora stepped out of the way, revealing Nathalie behind her.

Johnny tossed the gi in her direction. Nathalie held her hands out, catching it before it had the chance to fall to the floor. She stared down at it, seeing her name written in red inside a circular logo right above a fist.

"What do you say, Nattie?" Flora asked her. "Are you going to fight?"

Nathalie stared down at the gi in her hand and nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah?" Flora asked. "You will? Seriously? You mean it?"

Nathalie nodded. "I mean it. Prove them wrong, right?"

Flora smiled at her and nodded. "Prove them wrong."

Flora linked her arm with Nathalie's and started skipping toward the locker room so that they could get changed. When they were finished changing, they waited out in the hallway for the tournament to begin. Nathalie kept her head held high, ignoring the intense stare that Hawk was giving her. He might have thought that he had managed to get under her skin, and for a while he did. But Nathalie was a fighter, and she was going to try her absolute hardest to prove that to everyone in the arena.

The announcer began to announce the other dojos. Nathalie got into position, ready to make their entrance onto the mat.

"From Reseda, returning to the tournament, we have—"

"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"

Nathalie chanted in unison with the other Cobra Kai members as she ran out of the hallway and onto the mat. They stopped once they had reached their mark. Nathalie stood with her hands behind her back. She scanned the bleachers for Marisol, smiling when she found her. Marisol was smiling back at her proudly as she gave her a thumbs up. Sometimes, Nathalie could not form the words to describe how much she loved Marisol. She truly was the only mother Nathalie had ever known.

"Now that's what I call an entrance!" the announcer said. "And a badass name for a dojo! Let's hear it for Cobra Kai."

"And finally, fighting unaffiliated from North Hills, we have Mr. Robby Keene!" the announcer said. "All right, folks. Get ready. It's karate time."

The audience began to applaud and cheer, ready for the fighting to begin. The dojos dispersed, preparing for the first match.

"First to three points wins," the referee said. "Step on the mat."

Nathalie stepped onto the mat, staring at her opponent. She narrowed her eyes at him, her mouth curling up in the corner as she smiled. The boy's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"And face me," the referee said. "Bow."

Natalie and the boy from All Star Karate bowed.

"Face each other." Natalie turned back to the boy. "Bow."

She kept her gaze focused on him as she bowed. She could hear her teammates cheering her on from the sidelines. Flora, Sebastian, Oliver, and Miguel were the loudest.

"Ready?" the referee asked.

Nathalie got into her fighting position, her gaze as intense as ever. The fight had yet to begin, and the boy standing in front of her was already intimidated.

This is going to be fun, Nathalie thought to herself.

"And fight!"

— EMILIA'S NOTES

soooo how many of you did i trick into thinking that nathalie wasn't actually going to fight?? anyone??

also even chapters are a must for me soooo cliffhanger it is. i promise i wont leave y'all hanging for too long. tournament chapters just take me so much time to write for some reason...

also ik ik this chapter is kinda short