CHAPTER SEVEN
karate shenanigans

____________________

diane looked up from the armchair she sat in, specifically at johnny, who was currently finished assembling this contraption he ordered in the mail.

the concert idea yesterday was a hit. miguel's foot started tapping and that was a sign he wasn't as paralyzed as everyone thought he was. johnny stood miguel up, the straps holding him. johnny controlled the strength as he held the rope that pulled it up. some type of physics machine you'd learn about in middle school.

she leaned forward to scroll on johnny's laptop, peeking at the photos they took at the concert. the bright lights and big smiles radiated happiness from the pictures. diane was content. honestly, it was the best saturday she'd had in a while.

she begged johnny, and after some hard thinking, johnny let her stay another day. just one more wouldn't hurt.

"are you ready, or what?" johnny asked miguel, miguel being attached to the hanger-holding thing that strapped around his whole torso.

"i hate— this is... ridiculous." miguel slouched in the straps. he was stood up, but not by using his feet.

"what's so ridiculous about it?" johnny asked.

"he looks like a baby trying to take his first ever steps," diane peeped.

"i feel like a giant baby," miguel complained.

"The way you're whining and not walking you might as well be a baby." johnny held onto one of the ropes.

"isn't there more of a badass way to do this?"

"you think tapping your foot at a concert makes you ready to do things badass? your legs are still pussys, you ready to stand?" diane watched from the ground, johnny counting upwards. "one, two, three!" he let go of the rope.

splat, and miguel fell down. "alright, better fall. let's take five," johnny said.

"miguel, you okay down there?" diane asked, giving him a hand while johnny went to the fridge. in her mind, she was hopefully making up for the damage robby caused.

"yeah. y'know, my mom mentioned you today." miguel scooted over to where diane was, also turning to looking at johnny's laptop screen.

"oh yeah?"

"she wanted to know why johnny had a teenage girl in his house and then i told her who you were. she said she'd like to meet you," miguel explained.

"um, did she say anything else?" diane asked anxiously. "anything about robby, or...?"

"no. don't worry." miguel turned to look at the screen. he noticed on the side, there was the direct message bar. the text box was taking up at least a quarter of the screen.

"you writing a novel?" he asked.

"it's a message johnny wrote." she tilted her head to look at the text.

"it's a facebook message," johnny corrected. he sat down on the sofa, placing a beer down for miguel. "babe from highschool... ali."

"ali? like... the ali?" miguel asked excitedly.

diane looked at johnny, confused. "the... ali?" she repeated. johnny slowly nodded, a small smile appearing on his face.

"this is huge! this is huge!" miguel grinned, "i-i mean you're not gonna send that right?"

"what? miguel, of course he's gonna send that—" diane said, pointing at the screen.

"he cannot send her that message."

"what why?" johnny asked innocently. diane shook her head.

"he can— he should! it's not bad, I think it's fine. I read some of it earlier," diane reasoned.

"what?" johnny said, a bit embarrassed and trying to lean over the laptop screen.

"it's, like, 80 pages. in... in all caps," miguel mentioned.

"i have 35 years' of stuff worth to say, all right?" johnny defended.

"yeah... yeah, but shorter messages are way cooler."

"no way! how would you know?" diane shouted.

"like, this just looks desperate. and a little creepy."

"girls love long messages— i'm a girl myself. creepy is like... liking all her photos," she said.

johnny coughed when diane finished. the two stared at him, then at each other. they both sighed.

"what the hell man? i enjoyed the photos!" johnny huffed. "and there's a button for that, why wouldn't i click it?"

"because she can see that," miguel replied.

"all right, i got amped-up, okay?" he sighed. he pointed to the screen, "look, she put a smiley face. it's even got little red cheeks— is she gettin' hot? feelin' hot? what am i supposed to do with that?"

"i think that's just a smiley face," diane commented.

"let's see." miguel scrolled up to the message, "okay, she says she wants to know what you've been up to... good. this is good. we can salvage this. let's just make you a kick-ass profile. you'll be sending your message from a position of strength."

"how'll he do that?" diane asked.

"uh... first we need to get some pictures. do you have any photos?" miguel asked johnny.

"yeah, photos?" johnny said. "don't move."

"okay," miguel shrugged. he scooted to sit on his wheelchair that was beside the armchair diane was on.

"i said don't move!" johnny shouted, chuckling.

minutes later, johnny came back with a shoe box containing photos. he gave miguel two of them. they were a paper material, both shirtless and probably from thirty years ago. miguel flipped through them and handed one to diane. she stared at them with slight discomfort.

"those are my only photos. don't have much after high school," johnny described.

"oh. okay, um... do you have any where you're wearing a shirt maybe?" miguel asked. diane nodded in agreement.

"yes." johnny reached into the box, picking one that looked similar to the others except this one had part of a shirt. "here you go. how's that?"

"oh," diane said, trying to hide her slight disgust.

"you know, we're probably just better off going with some new photos," miguel said.

"yeah. like present day?" johnny questioned. diane nodded. "yeah, not sure i want you to grease me up right now... baby oil gets over everything."

"im not gonna grease..." miguel winced. "i was just thinking maybe we could go with something more contemporary. yeah?"

johnny snapped and turned it to point at miguel. "yes! we'll look at what ali's into, take pictures of me doing the same stuff!"

"yes!" diane agreed.

"not exactly what i meant," miguel said.

"i'm not doing yoga," johnny started scrolling through ali's feed, "i'm not getting a dog... think the aquarium will let me get in with the dolphins?"

"maybe?" diane replied, leaning over to see what johnny was looking at.

"all right. let's go, hot wheels. c'mon. diana, you're on props!" johnny stood up and quickly ran to the door.

diane reached up and pulled herself up with the handle of miguel's wheelchair. "let's go hot wheels," she copied, grinning.

after driving around, johnny found an appealing spot. a bench in front of a brick building, one of the windows having some type of modern colorful art.

diane handed johnny the book he picked up on the side of a little free library and miguel started clicking. after the photos finished, johnny tossed the book into a trash can.

the next location was a free art museum. johnny took pictures with the art, diane giving him pose advice. they almost got in trouble after johnny put his hands on the painting.

finally, the last place was a sushi restaurant. ali's posted a photo of sushi said somewhere that she loved it. "euh, what the hell is this shit?" johnny messed around with the sushi, poking the chopstick into it and waving it around. the three of them sat at a table on the outside of the sushi restaurant.

"it's a dragon roll. it kinda screams johnny lawrence," diane said.

"fresh avocado, chopped up cucumber, snow crab, and unagi on top," miguel described. "it's freshwater eel."

"eel? people actually eat that crap?" johnny commented.

"it's very popular," miguel reasoned. "just— just have an open mind."

diane snatched a piece with her finger. she didn't like it very much, but still forced it down. it was probably the only healthy-ish she would consume in a while.

"just take the picture. ready?" johnny held the chopstick up, the sushi poked in at the end of it. he started to take a bite, a messy one at the least, making diane hold in a laugh.

miguel snapped a couple pictures and when he finished, johnny spat it all out. miguel watched in horror as diane screeched "ew!"

"all right, i'm gonna wash my mouth out. diana? miguel? you want that?" johnny stood up.

"that is so..." she trailed off, not even knowing how to reply.

"no. not anymore," miguel sighed. johnny disappeared behind the doors of the restaurant.

diane used a napkin to wipe off some of the crumbs johnny left. "hey, miguel, i'm gonna throw this away," diane said. she stood from her chair and picked up the dragon roll plate.

"all right," he said while nodding. he pulled out his phone as she left. she walked inside the restaurant and started to scrap the sushi off with one of the chopsticks. then she returned the plater.

as she walked out the door, she sat tory sitting with miguel. she froze. this was the first time she's seen tory since the school fight; it'd been almost two months. they were arguing for sure. tory then got up and pushed past diane, heading into the restaurant.

"what was that?" she asked, sitting back down.

"ah, tory. it's no big deal," he reassured. but diane could tell there was a shift in his mood and the general feeling in the air. that got diane thinking.

"um. miguel?" she peeped, looking up.

"yeah?"

"why... why'd you kiss sam?" she exhaled. shit. why did she ask that? she just had to blurt out whatever was on her mind. this habit of hers that she hated so much. never thinking.

"you don't have to answer. sorry. i was just thinking—" she scrambled over her words as a failing attempt to save herself.

well, her question left him a little speechless. miguel swallowed before responding, "i— it's... i just..." he stuttered. he couldn't seem to come up with a coherent explanation.

seems like they both couldn't talk.

"robby, he thought you took advantage of her. and then sam kept saying that it wasn't true, so how did it happen? i mean, weren't you with tory? i don't understand how that kind of mistake could happen," she rambled on.

"diane," miguel started, "i wish i could say it's complicated... but, it was probably the biggest mistake i've ever made. and it hurt a lot of people."

"it also changed a lot of things. for you, for everybody."

"i've had a good amount of time to think about it. truly, i don't know what came over me that night. i wanted to apologize to you. i don't like holding grudges, so i hope you don't over me."

"what?" she could laugh. "how could i be mad at you? it was my brother who almost killed you."

"it was partly my fault. i started the whole thing. i'm sorry."

"no, i'm sorry. for what he did to you."

"thanks. it's okay. i already got his dad," he chuckled sorely. both of them laughed awkward chuckles until johnny came bursting out the restaurant ready to leave.

____________________

monday rolled around which meant school once again. but that also meant seeing devon. in an effort to make it to school on time, she woke up an hour earlier than usual, stole one of johnny's cleaner sweaters and used the same method she uses to get everywhere.

skateboard and phone gps. even with those two very handy tools, she arrived a good thirty minutes late to first period. wasn't her first tardy of the year. she was basically just waiting for the final bell to ring so she could run to the library.

"miyagi-do had a secret meeting and you weren't there," nate said at the lunch table. "why?"

"debate," diane replied. "i'm busy nowadays." she shrugged lightly, sitting back in her chair, ignoring whatever she picked up for lunch.

"like you were busy when hawk beat the shit out of me after the car wash?"

diane frowned. "c'mon, i don't have time for these karate shenanigans. robby has done enough. i don't wanna be dragged into this cobra kai thing anymore— i don't even like karate anymore," she reasoned. "and i'm not sure i ever did."

"so you're out of miyagi-do?" nate asked. "this isn't just a dojo. it's your battle to fight!"

"dramatic, much. anyway, i'm fighting for miyagi-do in debate. come watch my debate speech thing in two weeks, promise it'll be worth your time." she gave a hopeful smile.

"heard from sam that miyagi-do might be reopening. if you ever want to join again, we'll keep your spot reserved." nate nudged her arm.

"thanks. and thanks for doing the science homework," diane replied softly.

demetri looked over to diane. "you talk to robby at all?" he hadn't sat with the miyagi-dos so this was a first in a while, and diane noticed his cast.

someone had told her and the whole table already the whole story of what happened at the arcade. diane was at the concert that day, so, she was unaware of that fight even occurring.

she nodded, "kinda."

"don't- don't tell him i said this, but, i miss the guy. we all do," demetri said.

diane grinned. "aw, meat, that was real cute." demetri grimaced at her response, leading diane to take a quick bite of her lunch and laugh.

the last three periods of the day sped by. finally, she got to debate. she was in the library as usual, with devon.

"the deadline's coming up. we've done pretty good," devon said as she typed on her chromebook.

"mhm," diane hummed, sitting beside her. "did you know if we put our names together, it kinda sounds like divine?"

"divine?" devon asked with a raised brow, not looking up from her typing.

"our d, my i, your v, the i and n and e. divine," diane explained. "so, like, we're divine."

"what does divine mean?" devon stopped her tapping and looked over to her. she knew what it meant, but wanted to hear what diane thought.

diane looked up. she was silent for a moment, thinking. "i dunno. maybe... lovely? heavenly..." she trailed off. "It was just something i was thinking about earlier."

"we can be divine," devon shrugged. "once we kick everyone's ass in the debate!"

"yeah!"diane nodded. she could play off as excited, but she was more nervous than anything. it wasnt the speaking part. she hoped she could send the right message.

"also, alpine's gonna have a meeting with you. he's meeting with all of the people in debate." devon told her.

"about what?" she asked.

"don't know, mine's after yours. something about making sure you like your topic or whatever. The other people were worried 'cause they just chose randomly. good thing we didn't, right?"

"oh okay." diane pulled the folder devon gave her and started to look through some of the contents. a couple minutes later, she was called to the back of the library and the teacher was sitting at a table, waiting for diane.

she dreaded these types of meetings, the same with the counselors. it felt like she was getting interrogated every time. she sat down across from mr.alpine.

"hello diane. i've got a couple of subjects to talk about. firstly, from what i've observed, you've been focusing on the karate topic?" he stated. diane nodded.

"right. devon emailed me what you two have done, and it has been excellent. it seems you're passionate about karate?"

"huh?" diane's eyebrows furrowed.

"most kids are passionate about their sport, either because they think its fun or they enjoy competing. i can tell from the information you gathered that you care."

"why wouldn't i care?" she kept the same confused tone.

"it seems... personal. your points, your research. it's just an observation."

just an observation? then it clicked. she had been running away from karate since that school fight.

she swore she hated it, but soon, in front of a bunch of people she would be basically declaring her love for it. and it was real. she did love karate.

"i have a question," mr.alpine spoke as he clicked his pen.

"yeah?" diane said.

"what is your purpose? why did you choose to fight for this? i understand the culture and deep rooted history, but i want to know why that is significant to anyone. you've argued the facts, but why should i care?"

she took a couple seconds to think. "um, i'm sure you know who my brother is. i think he was a big part of the prompt being made... and i want to prove that just because he did that doesn't mean karate should be banned."

"why?"

"because," she twirled her fingers around under the desk. "he—"

"diane," mr.alpine interrupted. "is this for you or for him?"

"both of us?"

"make it for yourself," he said. "why karate?"

"why... karate?" she repeated with confusion.

mr.alpine nodded. "why karate?"

____________________

for the past couple days, miguel had been training his legs. ever since that run in with tory, he was able to actually stand. and somehow, johnny helped him walk again. it was a crazy rehabilitation story, but diane watched his growth everyday happily.

"what about "johnny lawrence karate"?" miguel suggested, sitting on the kitchen counter. diane had just arrived home from school, miguel had just finished a day of leg work, and johnny was staring into his laptop specifically at his open message to ali while chomping on a beef jerky stick.

"or "strike hard karate"?" miguel said before coming over to sit at the table with johnny who was paying no mind to miguel at all. "come on, i'm trying to think of names for our new dojo."

diane sat in the chair beside johnny. in front of her was a bunch of the notes devon gave her to look over— and an empty sheet for her to do the final draft of the debate.

"how long do facebook messages take to get delivered?" johnny asked, his attention staying on the screen. he turned to miguel, "ali's in colorado, so probably a while right?"

"is the dragon roll picture blowing up yet?" diane asked sarcastically.

"it's instantaneous," miguel answered. johnny sighed and shut his laptop. the photos they took a couple of days ago were up and posted. "okay, what about "all american karate"?"

"it's not good enough," johnny replied. "we need something that tells everyone we're the most badass dojo in the valley."

"american..." diane mumbled. she was listening in to their conversation as one does. "american eagle?" she took inspiration of the giant eagle picture with an american flag on johnny's wall.

"that's a clothing store," miguel told her. he moved to sit on the chair on other side of johnny. "but, we're getting somewhere."

"all right, whatever. we'll figure it out. first, we need students," johnny said.

"it's my first day back at school tomorrow. i could do some recruiting," miguel brought up.

"you're coming back?" diane beamed.

"yeah. the school sorted it out and stuff."

"oh my gosh, that's great!" she cheered. finally, maybe everything could go back to normal. even robby was coming out in a month.

suddenly, the front door clicked open. "hey miggy, i was wondering when you'd finish—" a woman's voice asked.

it was carmen, miguel's mom. "oh, hello there." she smiled once her eyes laid on diane.

"hi?" diane responded as casually as she could.

"you're robby's sister, right?" carmen asked. diane nodded. "everyday i've seen you skateboard to school, and i'm not sure if that's safe. since miguel's going back to school, i was thinking i could take you too?"

diane's eyes widened. "really?"

carmen nodded, "yes, yes of course."

"wow, um, thank you ms.diaz," she said.

"call me carmen. miguel, you have an appointment. let's go," carmen said.

miguel pushed his chair into the table, "okay mom. bye sensei, bye diane."

both diane and johnny waved, carmen saying bye and the door was shut. diane went back to the debate work she was responsible for.

"hey. diana." johnny tapped her shoulder.

diane looked up. "huh?"

"remember you needed to write a school paper on karate? that's why you were here, right?"

shit. she thought he forgot about that, and she could keep staying at his place. "um... yes," she mumbled.

"let's get that over with. first question?" johnny asked. he slid his laptop out of the way and stared down at her mess of piled up debate notes.

"oh right. well, i'm not very prepared—" she searched through the papers to find another blank one. then she grabbed a half sharpened pencil that was off to the side.

"um. first question... what's your purpose?"

"purpose? to teach karate! what type of question is that?" johnny's eyebrows furrowed as he replied.

"why'd you open, or re-open cobra kai in the first place?" She tried to be more specific.

"you go to the dojo to learn karate. c'mon, gimme a real question. in five steps i can teach you a tornado kick. you lift your knee—"

"no, thanks," she interrupted. "i meant why do you teach karate?"

"so kids like miguel don't get their asses kicked. did miguel ever tell you that the first time we met he was getting beat by some guys at the mart?"

"no he did not," she said.

"and then after months of hard work and training, he beat those nerds up and never got touched again."

"so you wanted to teach them self-defense?" diane asked.

"no." he reacted sternly when self-defense was brought up. "at cobra kai we strike first."

"and what'd that get you?" she was getting bored already of johnny's equally dry answers. they were the opposite of what she needed.

"an all valley trophy!" johnny exclaimed. "i know you learned miyagi-do with larusso and robby, but in a real fight you'll need to use some aggression."

"we're getting off topic." diane shook her head. "Is there any other reason you opened cobra Kai? Anything more than surface level?"

"Surface level? Isn't this is for english class?"

"debate," she replied simply. "what's your purpose, johnny lawrence?"

"debate? didn't take you for a nerd," he complained.

"i'm not a nerd," she stated sternly. gosh, did demetri rub off of her this much? she hoped not. "if not for teaching self defense, did you reopen cobra kai to keep... the legacy?" she asked.

"no," he denied again, this time though more sharply. it was different from the other replies.

"oh." diane jotted that down. "so why not?

"you know kreese..." johnny scratched his neck, "he's not the best guy. i shouldn't have ever let him manipulate me like he did thirty years ago, and now three months ago. i was trying to create a new generation of fighters."

"hm," she hummed, writing what he was saying down. "that's what i was looking for. you got anything else?"

"ask diaz. he'll give you that insider stuff you want." he nodded.

"thanks, johnny." at least she could put this in her case, if it fit in with the bullet points devon gave her to go over. having stuff from both dojos would be a great addition too. diane started to tidy up her mess of debate papers when johnny stopped her.

"diana?" The blond chirped.

"hm?" she was filing all the papers to face up.

"how long are you gonna be staying here for?" johnny asked.

the question diane was dreading. "are you kicking me out?" she winced. he didn't exactly reply. "...please don't kick me out."

"look, i know your mom's in rehab but don't you have someone to live with other than me?"

she swallowed, "think of it this way. in a month, robby's getting released. my mom isn't coming out until next year. where will he go?"

"wherever you go?" johnny shrugged.

"where am i right now?" diane asked. he narrowed his eyes.

"i thought you wanted to fix your relationship with robby. or was i thinking of mr.larusso?"

"fine, fine," johnny sighed. diane grinned, bringing her hand out. he shook it.

____________________

"...this is the new dojo?" diane looked around the grassy park, the sunlight shining through the trees and the substantial amount of people taking their daily walks and runs. it wasn't the first time she'd train outside. it was the first time she'd train in public. in a park.

"nice, right?" johnny said, crossing his arms. "fresh, free, and karate certified."

"karate certified, hm." she leaned on a near by tree, "miguel told me you broke into school today."

"got us some students," he replied. "look, i even got these shirts." he softly kicked the brown box that was at his feet.

"shirts? no gi?" diane asked skeptically.

"these shirts were expensive as hell already, gis cost a fortune. i need to see the student count before i start blowing all my money. did you get any?"

well, she had a small circle that consisted of either miyagi-do students and... devon. almost three months into school and still not much, but hey, she was doing fine.

"um. no. nobody was interested." she shrugged. truthfully, she didn't ask anyone. she was reluctant to even tell devon she was gonna go back into karate. did she even tell her she had quit in the first place?

"well, miguel should be here any second with students."

"hey, what's the official name of the dojo?" diane asked.

"that's a surprise. wait 'til everyone else gets here."

"i doubt anyone's coming," she muttered. "did you at least use one of our ideas?"

"i got it, diana," he replied. his gaze shifted to whatever was behind her, making her look over her shoulder. a group of scrawny and one not so scrawny kids were following miguel as they headed closer to diane and johnny.

"i think i've seen some of them," she said, still looking at them.

"this is day one. we've been here before, but things are different now," johnny annocened while he paced around in front of the lined up kids. "they tried to tear us down. didn't work! this park will be our new dojo 'cause you don't need a dojo to be a dojo!  Is that understood?"

"yes sensei!" the students shouted in unison.

"cobras are strong. they may be the king of the jungle, but the world's more than just a jungle. there's only one animal that can kill a snake."

"a mongoose?" a blond scrawny white boy diane recognized as nate's biggest enemy, bert asked.

"a real animal, bert," johnny replied, bert scrunching his eyebrows.

"welcome to eagle fang karate." johnny said as he picked up one of the bright red shirts out the cardboard box. everyone observed the logo in awe. diane was surprised he did all of that on his own seeing that living with johnny for almost a month was very interesting.

"uh, eagles dont have fangs—" the tall curly brown haired boy from nearby blurted, then got met with the t-shirt from johnny's hand to the face. johnny started to toss each student a shirt, luckily there were only seven students.

diane slid the bright red shirt on, rethinking every choice she had made. why did she even go along johnny lawerence's karate shenanigans?

"all right, everyone, fall in!" johnny shouted at the top of his lungs. it caused every "eagle fang" member to straighten up, preparing for weeks of training.

───────────────────

a/n
imagine after that last paragraph kreese pulls up with tory and stuff like the show but i don't feel like writing it bc it doesn't impact diane in any way

every time i publish a new chapter i have to apologize for making u wait so much! i'm so sorry!