#long story short: a parallel universe snc au

[starryevermore]

long story short: the epilogue (25) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: the ending.

word count: 1,168

warning(s): mention of panic attacks; title drop for the series that this fic and future parallel universe fics exist in at the end :); also,,, arden’s real name drop??? y’all being treated tonight 

“Wait!” Colby shouted, reaching out to Arden. He still had more to say. Even though living in this universe had been less than stellar, he had grown to like her. Sure, she had been rough around the edges, but she was a good person. He wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye.

But she said nothing more. She pushed a small leather-bound book and a small device that looked like a cellphone into his hands, before waving goodbye. Then—

All he could see was light. It enveloped them, like a warm hug, until it overtook all of their senses. When it finally faded, they were left standing in the trap house, staring down at Jake’s hunk of junk.

“Hey, brother, what’re you staring at that for?” 

“Huh?” Colby mumbled, still clutching the book and phone-looking thing, as he turned around.

Everything felt blurry. Honestly, he couldn’t even really see straight. His ears were ringing, and his heart was racing. If he didn’t know better, he would think he was having a panic attack. Was he? No. He usually hyperventilated when he was having a panic attack. Was this because he traveled through the universes? Why hadn’t he felt like this before? Was it because he wasn’t ready to go yet? Because he was actively trying to stay? Is that why Sam looked normal? Because Sam was ready to go home? 

“You’ve been staring at thing for, like, ten minutes,” Jake said. “I’m telling you, man, that thing doesn’t work. Total waste of money.” 

Colby wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying when he asked, “Could I buy it off you? I kinda like the look of it, and I don’t wanna just take it from you.” 

Jake shrugged. “I’m not gonna turn down free money. Just Venmo me, and it’s all yours.” 

Colby nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Then he looked to Sam and asked, “Help me carry it to my room?” 

Sam nodded, grabbing an end of the hunk of junk. He couldn’t help but wonder how Jake managed to carry the whole thing on his own. It was fucking heavy. Colby grabbed the other end, shuffling the book and phone-looking thing to be under his arm, and together they carried the device up to Colby’s room.

As they reached the privacy of Colby’s room, Sam asked, “So, why are we buying this off Jake?”

“I’m buying it off Jake.”

“We share a bank account. Technically, I’m buying, too.” 

Colby stared for a moment, trying to find a way to argue. But when he came up with nothing, he explained, “Clearly the thing works. The last thing I want is for one of our friends to get trapped in another universe. If it’s in my room, there’s no risk of that.” 

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” 

They took the device to Colby’s desk, placing it on the corner before shuffling around his computer so the device had more space. 

“So, what’s that book say?” Sam asked.

Colby had forgotten about the book. He took it from under his arm, placing the phone-looking thing on the desk beside the device, and flipped through the book. There were all sorts of weird diagrams and lists and long-winded explanations of things. “I think it’s some sort of manual?” Colby mumbled.

“Why would Arden give us a manual?” 

“I don’t—” Colby got to the front, where a piece of notebook paper had been taped into the book. “Hold on, there’s a note.”

Sam shuffled around to stand beside Colby and read the note with him.

Dearest Sam and Colby, 

I would like to personally thank you for everything that you’ve done for the Multidimensional Travel Division. Because of your courage, tenacity, and ability to rise above the odds, you were able to set the universe back on track and fix any wrongdoings that had been committed. We are forever indebted to you. (I’m legally obligated to say that but, speaking as someone off the clock and not a worker for the MTD, we kindly blame you for having to be indebted to you. But, I don’t think there could be any better duo to owe a debt to.)

I would also like to personally thank you for changing my life. Because of you, I am no longer an agent in training. The MTD determined that my work with the two of you was exemplary of the kind of person they would like in their ranks. I have since been promoted to full agent status. Now I’m the youngest full agent in MTD history. Thank you so, so much for that. You will never understand how much this means to me, and I know that I wouldn’t have been able to earn this achievement so early on in my career had it not been for your mischief. 

But enough with the sappy shit. While we had been trying to fix the Karate Kid universe together, I was also investigating how you managed to end up traveling between the universes in the first place. And you’ll never believe what I found. The device you had inadvertently used to get to the beach? It belonged to my great-grandmother.

Colby’s heart skipped a beat. He knew how much this had meant to Arden. She and her family had been working for decades to find the portal opener. And Arden herself had made it her mission to rectify that mistake. 

I trust that the two of you will keep it out of the wrong hands. Technically, I should be returning it to the MTD so that it can be decommissioned. But, I know of no better pair of people to look after it than the two of you. Do good with it. 

And one more thing before I go: should you ever want to travel the universes again, you can use the device that I gave you before I sent you home. It’s an updated portal opener—much less bulky than the one you currently have. But, before you go around using it, make sure to read that manual I gave you. I fought long and hard to get you licenses to travel (which are under this note—keep them on your person at all times when you travel). Don’t go fucking things up. I don’t need to be forced to save your asses again, even if it would be fun. 

I also know of a few places that could be fun to check out, if you wanted something more lighthearted than having the fate of an entire universe resting on your shoulders.

Long story short, it’s Sam and Colby vs. the Universes. Make the most of it. And don’t be afraid to call—the portal opener you have has the ability to call for me, should you ever need me or just want to see me. I won’t bite too hard. 

Love,

Agent 77

P.S. You can call me Lux, if you’d like. I think you’ve earned that honor. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the best (22) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: the tournament begins.

word count: 1,236

warning(s): it’s fighting time babyyy (that being said, i’m shit at writing fights so don’t judge me), another short chapter whoops

When Daniel and Colby came out of the locker room, Ali was waiting for them with a pair of black belts. Before either could question her, she’d already tied one onto Daniel then did the same to Colby. 

“Where’d we get this?” Daniel asked once the belt was on him.

“Buddha provide,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

Colby couldn’t help but laugh, remembering how Daniel once remarked he thought karate came from Buddhist monks. But there wasn’t much time to laugh or enjoy the moment. They were already calling for Daniel to report to one of the rings to fight. 

“Where’s Ring Three?” Daniel asked after the person on the intercom said he was to report to Ring Three immediately. 

“Over there,” Mr. Miyagi said, pointing as they made their way in that direction.

But, before they could get there, they were stopped by a referee, who said, “Hold it! Only teachers and students are on the competition floor. I’m sorry.” 

Daniel looked panicked for a moment, but Colby was quick to jump in. Clearly, Ali was meant to be on the floor with Daniel. Maybe something about easing his nerves? Colby wasn’t sure, but he knew that he couldn’t let this get fucked up. So, before he could really think about what he was saying, he told the referee, “He doesn’t speak English, and we can’t understand his instructions without her. She’s his translator.” 

Mr. Miyagi was quick to go along with Colby’s lie, saying something that the referee couldn’t understand. 

“What did he say?” the referee asked, looking to Ali. 

Colby could only pray that Ali could think on her feet so that this whole thing didn’t go under. 

“You remind him of his uncle in Tokyo,” she said, giving the referee a charming smile. 

The referee thought for a moment, before saying, “I guess it’s okay.” Mr. Miyagi then said something else, and the referee asked, “What?”

“He says you’re very kind,” Ali fake-translated. 

Colby wondered what Mr. Miyagi was actually saying. He wondered if the man was even bothering to string together sentences, if he was just saying random words that he knew the referee wouldn’t understand, or if he was maybe cracking jokes that only he would be able to appreciate.

“Thank you,” the referee said with a bow. 

“Welcome,” Mr. Miyagi said in English, before turning away from the referee’s confused look and walking out on the competition floor. 

As they walked over to Ring Three, Colby asked, “So, what are the rules here?”

“Don’t know. First time you, first time me,” Mr. Miyagi admitted. 

Daniel looked over at him, bewildered. “What? I figured you knew about this stuff! I figured you went to these before! Great, we’re dead! I am dead. You told me you fought a lot!”

“For life, not for points.”  

“Daniel, look,” Ali quickly explained, “everything above your waist is a point. You can hit the head, sternum, kidney, ribs. Got it?”

“I hope so.” 

“You can do it.” She looked over to Colby. “Both of you.”

Why he always an afterthought? 

As they walked, a group of Cobras jogged past, chanting “Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!” as they purposely knocked into Colby and Daniel.

Ali scoffed, “When are you jerks going to grow up?”

But Daniel kept walking, asking, “Where am I, over here at this one?” 

“Right. Number Three,” Mr. Miyagi said.

“What’s that guy kneeling for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you know anything?” 

“Don’t get hit.” 

Well, that was easier said than done. 

The fights moved faster than Colby could even process. He won a fair few of them, to his surprised. Some were easier than others. Fighters from dojos that weren’t Cobra Kai were easier to deal with. They didn’t have the no mercy, win no matter what bullshit drilled into their head. They were easy to take down. But the Cobras? Oh lord, they were something else entirely. They definitely gave Colby a run for his money. If he was going to take down a Cobra, he would have to give it his all.

But there was one Cobra that he hoped he would never have to fight. One that he hoped he could avoid at all costs today. But, as fate would have it, that simply was not in his cards. Colby’s stomach dropped when he looked up at the board. His next fight would be with Sam. Fuck. Oh, fuck, he was not ready for this. Not ready at all. 

The friends stepped onto the mat, going through all of the formalities to start a fight. Colby tried not to focus too much on the fact that his opponent was his best friend. He knew he’d lose if he did that. But was losing such a bad thing? He could handle losing to Sam, of all the Cobras. But…But wasn’t the point that he and Daniel were supposed to show the Cobras that they weren’t going to be taken down easily? That they could stand up for themselves? And wouldn’t that mean Colby would have to beat Sam?

“Fight!” the referee shouted, and Sam moved faster than Colby could blink. 

Don’t hurt Sam. Don’t hurt Sam. Don’t hurt Sam, Colby repeated like a mantra. He could win, but he couldn’t hurt his best friend. He could never live that down. 

But, God, why was this so difficult? 

He blocked every one of Sam’s hits, trying to ignore the shouting of John Kreese for Sam to take Colby down. God, he could hardly even focus. Why couldn’t everyone just shut the hell up? Why were they all shouting? And why—

Oh shit.

Oh shit.

What had he done? Sam was on the mat, groaning slightly as he clutched his ribs.

“Point!” the referee shouted. 

And then it all began again. And it was just as hard. He tried so hard to focus on not hurting Sam that everything else faded away. He was operating purely on auto-pilot. He wasn’t entirely in control of his movements. He had no real idea what he was doing, not until he seen Sam on the mat again, groaning again, and he snapped out of it.

“Point! Winner!” the referee declared, pointing to Colby. 

Colby gave a weak smile, helping Sam back onto his feet and muttered, “We good?”

“We good,” Sam mumbled back before joining the Cobras while Colby returned to his own side. 

Well, that could’ve gone worse. 

His next fight was less than spectacular. He fought against a guy named Vidal, who pretty much knocked Colby on his ass in two seconds flat. But Colby didn’t care about that. At least he didn’t lose to a Cobra. And at least he didn’t hurt his best friend—not seriously, anyways. He hoped. Everything was going to be fine. 

But, was everything fine? He wouldn’t know until it was all said and done. Not until he and Sam could talk it out. Fuck, why couldn’t he and Sam just talk it out here? Why did he have to wait and why—

Oh shit, were they carrying Daniel off? What the fuck had he missed? 

Pushing his thoughts to the side, Colby raced off to the locker room with Mr. Miyagi, Ali, and Lucille. For now, there were bigger things to worry about. He could worry about Sam later. He just needed to make sure the hero of the story was okay first. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the tournament (21) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: they arrive at the tournament. 

word count: 929

warning(s): another relatively short chapter whoops

It was the day that Colby had been dreading. He was trying to not pay too much attention to the knots twisting around in his stomach, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore. All he could do was keep reminding himself of what Arden had said. That today was statistically likely to go just the way it needed to—no hiccups, no fuck ups. And it was statistically likely that he and Sam would still be friends by the end of it all, no matter what happens out there on the mat. He just had to keep telling himself that. He was going to get through this. He had no other choice. 

Mr. Miyagi, Daniel, Colby, and Ali arrived at the sports center together. Colby wasn’t entirely sure why Ali was there. Daniel said something about her cheering them on? Whatever. He didn’t care that much to question it too heavily. The four of them walked up to the registration table, Mr. Miyagi telling the man working there the needed information to sign him and Daniel up for the tournament. 

“What belt are you?” the man asked. 

“Why matter?” Mr. Miyagi questioned. 

Colby remembered the time when he and Daniel first learned that Mr. Miyagi knew karate, back during the aftermath of that horrific Halloween dance. What had he said then? In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope hold up pants. No, no that wasn’t quite it. No, he said karate here, at the head. Karate here, at the heart. Karate never here, not at the belt. And perhaps there was some truth to that, some sort of nugget of wisdom. Perhaps karate was more than just belt colors, perhaps it was more about the lessons you learned along the way. 

“This is open division,” the man explained. “It’s only for brown belt or above.” 

“Oh. Boys black belt,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

Yeah, Colby thought. Black belt. Yeah, they’d definitely earned that. 

“Okay,” the man said, jotting it down on the form. “You two’d better hustle. They’re starting.” He pointed to the left and said, “Down the hall, to your left.” 

He and Daniel nodded, before journeying down that hall so that they could change into their gis. The nerves really set in for Colby then. This was real. He was doing this for real. This was no longer just some plan. No, this was now his reality, and he was going to have to live with whatever happened today, for better or for worse. 

They reached the locker room and quickly began to change out of their street clothes and into their gis. They had been presents from Mr. Miyagi, ones that had been made by his late wife. Colby felt guilty taking them, like he was stealing some family heirloom. But the man had insisted. Said that the gis now belonged to them. And Colby was beyond appreciative for it. He knew a thing about sentimentality, and he knew that he was going to treasure this for as long as he could. 

Still, putting on a gi proved to be a bit of a challenge for the boys, given that they’d never even practiced in one before. How the hell was this supposed to work? Was putting this on supposed to be intuitive or something? How the fuck did this work?

While they struggled, a group of boys entered the locker room, looking like they were ready to rip the boys to shreds. But they weren’t aware of the others presence until Dutch said, “Well, look who we have here. Our little friends Danielle and Colleen. Hello, Danielle and Colleen. What’s the matter? Mommy not here to dress you?”

Both of the boys opted to ignore him. Giving into his taunts would only bring trouble, they were sure of that. But, so it seemed, did ignoring him.

“Hey, I’m taking to you, punk,” Dutch said, shoving Daniel. 

Daniel stumbled, falling into the cot that was in the middle of the room. He quickly jumped back to his feet, falling into a fighting position. Dutch mirrored the stance and continued to taunt, “Come on, make a move!”

But, as luck would have it, a referee was nearby and quickly broke them apart. “Hey, save it for the ring! Come on!” he said. 

Slowly, Dutch got out of his stance and said, “Alright.” 

“Let’s go,” the referee said. “Come on.” 

But Dutch wasn’t quite ready to let it go. He stalked up to Daniel’s face and said, “You know, points or no points, you’re dead meat.” 

“I said out!” the referee shouted. 

“Dead meat,” Dutch repeated before leaving the room with his fellow Cobras. 

“Way to go,” Tommy chuckled as they left, “I think he’s gonna cry!”

But, still, there remained one Cobra in the locker room, who ignored the watchful glare of the referee. Colby wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed Sam before, but he was glad that he had now. Sam walked up to them, muttering something about how they were supposed to tie the gi. Colby followed his instructions, and Daniel reluctantly did, too. 

Then, before he left, Sam said, “Hey, good luck out there. I think you’re gonna need it.” 

Daniel nodded. “Thanks, man.” 

“And, for whatever it’s worth, I hope that you do well out there,” he added. Then he looked to Colby, “Both of you.” 

“Thanks, Sam,” Colby said. “I hope you do well, too.” 

Then, Sam disappeared, following after his fellow Cobras. Then, after a moment, Daniel and Colby left the locker room, too. 

Time to get this over with. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the dinner (24) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: they go out to celebrate daniel’s win.

word count: 1,266

warning(s): kind of angsty? idk, it’s weird; but the end is almost here!!

The tournament was finally over. Daniel had won, using the crane kick that they had seen Mr. Miyagi practicing on the beach all those months ago. It was a spectacular fight, if Colby was being honest. But he was just grateful that it was over. Now, he could rest. Now, he could go home. Except, he couldn’t not yet anyways. Arden, who’d been watching the tournament from the stands, came down and said that Lucille had offered for him, Sam, and her to join her, Daniel, Ali, and Mr. Miyagi for a celebratory dinner. And well, Arden thought they’d deserved it after everything they’d accomplished. 

After showering, Sam, Daniel, and Colby all met with Mr. Miyagi. Daniel was admittedly wary of Sam joining them, but Colby reminded him that Sam was his step-brother, and Sam had never been cruel to Daniel, anyways. So, Daniel for once bit his tongue and didn’t protest it very heavily. When they found Mr. Miyagi, they all went outside, people congratulating Daniel as he passed them by. 

When they got outside, though, Colby heard the unmistakable voice of Johnny Lawrence saying, “That’s not fair though! I got second place!”

“Second place? Second place is no place!” John Kreese snapped. “You’re off the team.”

“That sucks! I did my best!”

“What did you say?!”

“I said I did my best!”

“You’re nothing! You lost! You’re a loser!”

“No, you’re the loser, man,” Johnny spat. 

By now, the interaction had earned all four of their attention as they looked over as John Kreese and the other Cobras across the parking lot. 

“Oh, I’m the loser, huh?”

“Yeah.” 

Before Johnny could even blink, his second place trophy was snatched out of his hands. Kreese broke it in half easily, before chucking it off to the side. 

“Now who’s the loser?”

“You know, you’re really sick, man.” 

What happened next was so quick that Colby could barely process it. Kreese had pulled Johnny into a chokehold, pushing away any Cobras that attempted to come to his aid. Now, the four of them could no longer be innocent bystanders. Mr. Miyagi began to cross the parking lot, the three boys following closely behind.  

“Let him go,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

“Yeah, Miyagi’s right!” Tommy agreed. “Let him go!”

But that only earned Tommy a swift backhand to the face, easily sending him to the ground. 

“I said, let him go!” Mr. Miyagi said more firmly.

“Beat it,” Kreese sneered. “Or you’re next.” 

Faster than Colby thought he could move, Mr. Miyagi had grabbed a hold of Kreese, somehow loosening the grip the man had on Johnny. He pushed him over, and Kreese struggled momentarily to regain his balance. Kreese fell into a fighting stance, his fists raised, but Mr. Miyagi made no other move. Kreese lunged forward, but Mr. Miyagi dodged him. Kreese’s fist went straight threw the car window that had been behind Mr. Miyagi. He looked down at his bloodied knuckles in horror, before lunging again with a ferocious roar only for the same thing to happen to his other fist. 

Mr. Miyagi grabbed him by his jacket, forcing him to his knees. “Mercy is for the weak,” he said, raising his hand to strike. “We do not train to be merciful here. When man face you, he is enemy. Enemy deserves no mercy.”

But, instead of striking Kreese, potentially killing him, Mr. Miyagi instead reaching down and grabbed Kreese’s nose, saying “Honk!”

Mr. Miyagi released Kreese, who flopped to the ground pitifully. Then, he turned to the boys and gave them a wink before rejoining them. “Daniel-san, Colby-san, ladies no wait forever,” he said, guiding them back to the truck. He looked back over at Sam, gesturing him to follow, too. 

“You could’ve killed him, couldn’t you?” Daniel asked. 

“Hai.”

“Well, why didn’t you then?”

“Because, Daniel-san, a person with no forgiveness in heart living even worse punishment than death.” 

Somehow, all four of them managed to squeeze into Mr. Miyagi’s truck, and they made the trip over the restaurant they were meeting the girls at. When they arrived, they quickly ordered before beginning to talk about the tournament. Colby tuned everything out, instead focusing on…whatever the hell he ordered. What had he ordered? Fuck it, it didn’t matter. It tasted good, and that’s what counted. 

“Oh, before I forget,” Arden said, pulling Colby out of his thoughts. “I think it’s time that we let y’all know that we’re gonna be movin’ this weekend.”

“What?” Daniel said, his jaw dropped.

“Yeah,” Arden said. “We wanted to tell y’all sooner, but Colby didn’t want it to get in the way of y’all’s training or distract you from the tournament.”

“That sucks,” Daniel said. “Where are you even going to?” 

“We’re moving back to Kansas,” Colby mumbled. He still wanted to have some part in controlling the narrative. And sometimes he’d imagined moving back to Kansas, away from LA, and just living a more normal life. At the very least, the Colby of this universe should get to have that (even if it was just a lie). 

“Kansas without books? How will you survive?” Daniel teased.

Sam looked over at Colby. “Did…Did you tell him that we don’t have books in Kansas?”

“And that I can’t read.” 

“Well, I’d believe that,” Sam laughed. “But the books? You’re outta your mind.”

“Well, how can I know what books are if I can’t even read?” 

Everyone at the table laughed, and told the trio that they would miss them. Lucille even ordered dessert for them, saying that they deserved it as a sort of farewell present since it was so close to them having to move that they wouldn’t be able to have a proper “going away” party. And Colby was touched. Really, truly, he was. He would never forget them. He’d never forget what they taught him. And he’d cherish those lessons and those memories forever. 

It felt like a sad send-off when they arrived back at the apartment. As bad as everything was, he almost began to think of the place as home. And it was home, in its own right. He and Sam and Arden had lived here for several months now. It felt weird to just leave it now. But it was time to go, even if he didn’t want to leave just yet. 

Arden didn’t say much when they got back, just disappeared in her room to grab some things. She re-emerged with two small cellphone like devices and a book, holding them tightly as she walked over.

“I just wanna say I’m proud of you,” she said. “You did incredible work here, and not even trained agents could pull off what you did so effortlessly. Your work is extremely valued.” 

“Well, it wouldn’t have been possible without you helping us out,” Sam said. 

“But my guidance still wouldn’t have made a difference if y’all weren’t willin’ to put in the work. And I want to thank you for that.” 

“Well, we should thank you for everything you’ve done,” Colby said.

“No thanks necessary. I was just doin’ what I was trained to,” she said.

“Arden—” he began, ready to argue with her, make her see that she was valuable, but it was too late. She’d already decided she had nothing left to say and nothing she wanted to hear. 

“Goodbye, Sam and Colby. It was nice knowing you,” Arden said, her eyes soft and kind for the first time since they’d known her.

“Wait!” Colby cried out, reaching out, but it was too late. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the talk (20) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: sam and colby talk about the tournament. 

word count: 802

warning(s): okay so i skip a loooot of things but i didn’t see them as being that beneficial to the overall story i’m telling and i couldn’t get enough out of them to do enough chapters sooo oh well lmao, a pretty short chapter whoops

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The tournament was nearly upon them. And to say Colby was nervous would be a horrific understatement. He was fucking terrified. While Mr. Miyagi had eventually taught him and Daniel how to punch, he worried that it wouldn’t be enough. That he would fuck up colossally, and that would ruin everything they had been working towards. And why shouldn’t he be scared? He’d already ruined this universe once. Could they manage to fix it if he messed up again? Just the idea of him ruining things again was eating him alive.

Add in the fact that there was a high chance he’d have to fight his best friend? Yeah, he was fucking losing it, and everyone could tell. Well, everyone meaning Arden and Sam.

The tournament was tomorrow, and the trio gathered together for one last little moment between the three of them. If all things went according to plan, Arden would be sending them off shortly after the tournament ended and all loose ends were officially tied up. So, they were having their own private send-off before things got too chaotic later. 

The whole thing was Arden’s idea actually. She’d suggested ordering in some pizza and just spending time together, and the duo were more than happy to join in. What did they have to lose? It was certainly better than just sitting around waiting for the morning to come. Maybe this would be good for them. Maybe this would ease their nerves. 

“So,” Arden asked as she brought in the pizza that was just delivered, “anything y’all wanna get off your chests before tomorrow?” 

“I’m fucking scared,” Colby admitted before he could really stop himself.

“Yeah? Wanna talk it out?” Arden asked, setting the pizza out on the coffee table before turning to grab some plates from the kitchen.

“I just…I don’t wanna mess things up,” he said. “We’ve all put in the work to get where we need to be, but I just…I feel like so much is riding on my performance tomorrow. Sam could fuck up, and it won’t change much. But what if I mess up? What if that throws Daniel off his game? What if, by me messing up, that makes Daniel lose? Then we’ll just be at square one again.” 

Arden pursed her lips as she sat on the worn-out couch. “If it makes you feel better, the MTD has ran predictions on tomorrow, and they say that there is a less than one percent chance that anything bad happens. So, yeah, you might mess up, but you don’t need to worry about it having some major effect on this universe. You’ll be fine.” 

“But what if it doesn’t ruin this universe per se? What if…” Colby sighed, blinking quickly to try and mask his tears. “What if it ruins everything between me and Sam? What if we have to fight tomorrow, and it just…I don’t know, us having to duke it out makes us realize that we hate each other or something? What if I hurt him, or he hurts me, and it’s just game over?” 

“Brother, you don’t have to worry about that!” Sam said. “It’s me and you versus the world. There’s nothing that could break us up like that.” 

“But what if it does? We’ve never really fought before. You know that. Hell, we’ve never even really had a real argument. We just get passive-aggressive with each other until the thing gets resolved. Is it so crazy for me to think that us having to hit each other might change how we feel about our friendship?” 

Arden reached over and grabbed Colby’s hand. “Listen to me. You have nothing to worry about it. I…I got concerned about that myself. What the two of you have? It’s real friendship. The kind of thing people could only dream of having. When…when I first got this assignment, I looked into the projections of how it could affect your friendship. And I’ve double and triple checked every step of the way. The number’s don’t make sense. Never have I seen projections like this, but I can promise you with one percent certainty that, no matter what happens tomorrow, no matter who gets hurt, no matter who you fight, even if it is each other, the two of you will continue to be lifelong friends.”

“Promise?” Colby asked. 

“I swear it, Colby.” 

And, for some reason, he believed it. Maybe it was the sincerity in her voice. Maybe it was because he just really wanted to believe. Maybe it was the fact that was the first time she’d said his first name since they’d met and that had to mean something. But he trusted her. 

It was still, and would always be, Sam and Colby versus the World. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the beach (19) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: daniel and colby learn about balance.

word count: 1,229

warning(s): just a bit of filler tbh

Colby was beyond grateful that they were no longer learning via chores. While he understood now what the purpose of it all was—building muscle memory and all of that shit—it was still annoying as all hell to do. He’d sooner hire a cleaner of his own before he went around cleaning other people’s stuff. But this? He still didn’t fully understand. Apparently, Mr. Miyagi’s unconventional teaching methods extended far beyond just making students sand the floor or paint the fence. Apparently, they also needed to go to the beach for some reason? Whatever. He was sure that it’d all make sense eventually. 

Except, he wasn’t anticipating Mr. Miyagi to give the lesson as quickly as he did. After Daniel parked the truck and the three of them began to walk down to the water, Mr. Miyagi gestured to the ocean and said, “Lean balance. Go water, make kick. Learn balance.”

Slowly, the two of them went into the water, immediately complaining about the coldness of it. It was so early in the morning that the water was even colder than usual. And considering they were only wearing a pair of shorts? It was fucking unbearable. 

Still, they went into the water and began to practice their kicks. It was excruciatingly difficult. Whenever they seemed to find a way to balance themselves in the water, a wave would come crashing down and swallow them whole. Colby was almost worried that all of the water was going to wash away the balm used to disguise his tattoos, that he would emerge from the water and Daniel would ask how he suddenly had essentially a sleeve of tats that he didn’t have before and the whole jig would be up. He kept looking down at his arms, praying that nothing changed. And lucky for him, nothing did. But that did little to quell his anxieties. 

While they practiced, Mr. Miyagi went over to some stumps and climb on top of one. Daniel and Colby both found themselves watching him, trying to figure out what their teacher was doing. He would stand on one leg, balancing, then quickly hop onto the other leg, almost looking like a crane or something while he did it. It was honestly mesmerizing to just watch it happen. 

Eventually, the training for the day came to an end. Colby, while exhausted as he wrapped himself up in a towel, was just grateful that it wasn’t the dead of night that they were finishing. The boy seriously needed to catch up on his sleep considering Mr. Miyagi was working them half to death in order to train for the tournament. 

As they walked back to the truck, Daniel asked, “What was that you were doing on those stumps over there?”

“Called crane technique.”

“Does it work?” 

“If do right, no can defense.” 

Well, that seems convenient for the plot, Colby mused. 

“Could you teach me?” Daniel asked eagerly.

But Mr. Miyagi only shook his head. “First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.”

“Who taught you?” Colby asked. 

“Father teach.” 

“You must have had some father,” Daniel said. 

“Oh yes,” Mr. Miyagi agreed. 

When the trio arrived at the truck, two men were leaning on it, drinking beers. They seemed the type to think they owned the whole world, and that people should bow down to them or some shit. It made Colby sick to just look at them.

One of the men taunted the boys, saying something that Colby was sure he shouldn’t repeat. The man then said, “He know any tricks?”

Mr. Miyagi responded before either of the boys could, saying, “Excuse, please. Boys cold, must leave. Kindly remove bottle.”

“Kindly do it yourself, Mr. Moto,” one of the men sneered, making a face while he said it.

Mr. Miyagi then raised his hand and with a fierce cry, struck the top of the bottles, shattering them into pieces. He gave a small bow, then turned to get into the truck as the men grabbed their bottles in fear that, if they didn’t, they’d meet the same end.  

“How’d you do that?” Colby asked as he climbed into the truck.

“Don’t know. First time.” 

The next stage of training found Colby and Daniel on a small boat. Mr. Miyagi held onto a fishing pole while Daniel and Colby rowed into the middle of the lake, only stopping when Mr. Miyagi declared, “Okay here. Stop. Throw anchor.” 

Daniel grabbed the anchor and dropped it into the water.

“Good. Stand bow,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

Daniel blinked slowly, then fell into a bow.

“Now bow! Bow!” He pointed to the front of the boat. “Up!”

“What, up front?” Daniel asked.

Daniel slowly climbed onto the bow of the boat and, while he did that, Mr. Miyagi pointed to Colby and said, “Stern.”

Colby, not entirely sure what that meant but sure enough that it meant the other side of the boat, got up and stood on the opposite end of the boat, facing Daniel. Between them sat Mr. Miyagi, and they waited for further instructions. 

“Make block,” Mr. Miyagi said. “Left, right. Up, down. Side, side. Breathe in, breathe out. And no scare fish.” 

Colby and Daniel began to practice making blocks, careful not to tip over the boat. While they practiced, Daniel asked, “When do we learn how to punch?” 

“Better learn balance,” Mr. Miyagi explained. “Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good. Balance bad, better pack up, go home. Understand?”

“Yeah, I understand,” Daniel muttered. 

Mr. Miyagi looked over to Colby. 

“I understand,” Colby said, when he realized the man was wanting an answer from him, too. 

There was a brief moment of silence before Daniel had another question he wanted to ask. “Did you ever get into fights when you were a kid?”

“Plenty.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t like the problem I have—we have—right?” Daniel asked, quickly correcting himself when he saw the look Colby gave him. After all, they were in this shit together. 

“Fighting, fighting. Same, same,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

“Yeah, but you knew karate,” Daniel said, as though that made Mr. Miyagi’s situation any better.  

“Someone always know more,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

“You mean there were times when you were scared to fight?”

“Always scared,” Mr. Miyagi admitted. “Miyagi hate fighting.” 

“But you like karate.” 

“So?” 

“Karate’s fighting. You train to fight,” Daniel said. 

That was clearly not the thing to say. And even Colby knew that. What was that thing his parents had said when he expressed interest in taking karate lessons when he was a kid. Something about karate being used for defense only? 

“That what you think?” Mr Miyagi asked. 

“No.”

“Then why train?”

Daniel thought for a second, before saying, “So I won’t have to fight.” 

Mr. Miyagi chuckled. “Miyagi have hope for you.” 

“So,” Colby asked, “when do we learn how to punch.”

“Learn how punch…when learn how keep dry!” Mr. Miyagi laughed as he rocked the boat, sending both boys into the water. As they climbed back into the boat, he laughed, “Daniel-san, Colby-san you're all wet behind ear!”

“Are you crazy?” Daniel said. “You're crazy!”

Yeah, but when are they gonna learn how to punch? Colby wondered, but decided to not press further lest he want to end up back in the water again.

[starryevermore]

long story short: the date (18) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: the trio makes sure there are no more bumps in the road. 

word count: 1,034

warning(s): okay so technically ali and daniel’s date should have came before the last chapter buuuut i make the rules around here :)

Colby had to admit, there was still a lot of things he was clueless on. He didn’t understand how Mr. Miyagi’s training had amounted to what it did. He wasn’t sure why he had to fight Sam in the tournament, if it came down to it. He wasn’t entirely sure how the portal jumper had even worked. But, even more importantly, he wasn’t sure why Arden had dragged him and Sam to spy on Daniel and Ali’s date at Golf N Stuff. He’d asked probably a thousand times already, but Arden hadn’t given much more explanation other than “it’s what needs to be done”. 

And honestly? There wasn’t that much to do, anyways. Ali and Daniel went from game to game, laughing and having a grand old time while the trio remained close by, trying to remain inconspicuous in case something happened. What that something was? Colby didn’t have the first clue. Arden just said that she’d let them know if it came up. 

But waiting was not Colby’s strong suit. This whole “not knowing” was making him antsy. How was he to be sure he wasn’t going to fuck everything up if he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing? Why couldn’t Arden just give him a straight answer for once? Why must everything be shrouded in mystery? Was Colby so untrustworthy that he couldn’t know anything about the job he was supposed to be doing?

In an attempt to distract himself for the distress he was going through, he turned to asking other questions. “Can Sam and I get to know you better?” he asked Arden.

She side-eyed him while she threw another skee ball, it landing perfectly in the 4,000 point hole. “Why?” 

He shrugged, throwing his own skee ball. It landed pathetically in the 100 point slot. “Dunno. I just…You know so much about us, about what’s going on, but we haven’t got the first clue about who you are.” 

“And haven’t you considered that’s for the best?” 

“I suppose, but you can always just shoot down any questions that cross a line,” he suggested. 

She considered his point for a moment. And, for a moment, Colby was worried that she was going to tear into him, tell him that he was a fucking idiot for thinking that he could just go around asking questions about who she is beyond the kickers agent-in-training sent to deal with his mess. “Fine,” she finally said. “But I reserve the right to hit you for any stupid questions.”

“Fine,” Colby chuckled, but they all knew that she wasn’t above violence. “Where are you from?” 

“Places are different where I’m from. The states and everything…They’re all different. But, I believe my hometown would be somewhere in the Kentucky-Ohio-West Virginia area.” 

“Did you always know that you were going to get in…this business?” Sam asked, hesitating slightly, knowing that they couldn’t reveal too much about the true nature of Arden’s (and their own) presence in the Valley. 

She nodded, a small smile on her face. “Yeah, yeah I did. I told Colby about this before, but everyone in my family’s been in this business. It was only natural that I followed in their footsteps. But, even if it wasn’t some sort of family legacy, I think I still would’ve worked for the MTD. There’s just…You know where you feel like something’s your calling?” 

Colby thought about how he’d always wanted to go into social media, when he first learned about it. “Yeah, we do.” 

“It was like that. It just felt right. Like there was nothing else I was supposed to do.” 

“Are you…” Colby paused, unsure if he should continue the question. But, then he decided the worst that could happen was that Arden would hit him, and he decided he could live with that. “Are you worried that, if this doesn’t go well, it could ruin your chances of becoming a full agent?”

“I’d be a fool not to,” Arden admitted. “But I can’t think like that. When I let the doubt creep in, that’s when things get fucked up. And if I don’t think about it, then things keep going well. And that’s all I can really hope for right now.”

A silence lulled over them as they continued to watch Daniel and Ali’s date. But then, Sam decided he had another question he had to get off his chest. It was something that had been eating at him since…well, since they met her. And he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t at least try to get an answer. 

“Earlier,” Sam said, “when we first met you, you said something about Arden not being your real name…I was wondering, would we ever know what your real name is?”

“You don’t have the honor of knowing my real name,” Arden said.

Colby frowned. Sure, he wouldn’t say that he and Sam were particularly close to Arden, but he didn’t understand why Sam’s question was met with such hostility. He understood that she might not want to reveal her real name in public, when anyone could hear, but was it necessary to snap at Sam like that? Were they not all friends?

“Will we ever know your real name?” Colby asked. 

She looked at him, sizing him up like a predator would do to its next meal. “Maybe. We’ll have to see if you two fuck things up anymore.” 

“Arden—” Colby started. 

“Drop it,” she said. “C’mon, it looks like we can head home now. It looks like the date’s over.”

“Shouldn’t we make sure…I don’t know, that it ends right?” Colby asked. 

She shook her head. “No, sometimes you just gotta know when it’s time to drop something. And that time is now.” 

And, though she hadn’t said anything that indicated otherwise, Colby knew that she wasn’t just talking about spying on Daniel and Ali’s date. A chord was struck tonight, and he wasn’t quite sure if there was anything he and Sam could do to fix it. Not until they fixed this universe, of course. 

But only time would tell if they could even do that. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the purpose (17) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: daniel and colby learn the purpose of their chores. 

word count: 1,912

warning(s): okay so technically ali and daniel’s date should come before this buuuut i’d rather put this first :) 

It was a bright, sunny day when Colby and Daniel arrived at Mr. Miyagi’s house for another day of training. And Colby already wanted it to end. While he understood that this was all probably supposed to lead to some grand demonstration of some crazy karate skills that he and Daniel were developing, he fucking hated doing chores. He didn’t even clean his own fucking house! Needless to say, he hated cleaning someone else’s house even more. 

Daniel and Colby went into Mr. Miyagi’s backyard, and Colby couldn’t help but marvel at the site. It was like an oasis—a beautiful pond, more plants than Colby could even think to identify (and he was a Boy Scout, so he knew a thing or two about plant identification), and a gorgeous bridge and deck wrapped around the yard. 

“This is beautiful,” Colby said while Daniel said, “Mr. Miyagi, this is great! You’ve got real fish in there!”

They approached Mr. Miyagi, Daniel saying, “This is outrageous! I thought Chung Lee’s Chinese restaurant was nice. You beat his act. This is paradise. Did you do this yourself?” When they reached Mr. Miyagi, Daniel took note of two sets of round…things. Colby didn’t know what to call them, and it didn’t seem Daniel did either. He picked them up, asking, “Are these bongos?”

“I don’t think—” Colby began. 

“No, I got it!” Daniel said, beginning to hit them together and singing hare krishna.

Mr. Miyagi laughed. “Daniel-san, you much humor.” 

“What are they?” Colby asked, picking up the other set. 

“Japanese sander,” Mr. Miyagi explained. 

“What do you do with them?” Daniel asked, but Colby already had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with their training. 

“Funny you should ask,” Mr. Miyagi said, grabbing Daniel’s hands and guiding them down to the deck. He kept his hands over Daniel’s and guided him in sanding the deck in large circles. “Right circle. Left circle.”

“Wait, wouldn’t it be easier to go back and forth?” Daniel asked.

“But you go circle,” Mr. Miyagi said. “Right circle. Left circle. Right circle. Left circle. Breathe in, breath out. Right circle. Left circle. Right circle. Left circle. Whole floor. Right circle. Left circle. Right circle. Left circle. Breathe in, breathe out.”  

Mr. Miyagi walked away, leaving the two boys to doing the chore on their own.

“Can you believe this?” Daniel complained, already working up a sweat as they sanded the floor. 

“There’s gotta be a reason for this,” Colby said, remembering his conversation with Arden in the library.

“Yeah, the reason is this guy wants free labor!”

“C’mon, hold out hope. Give it a couple more days.”

“We don’t have a couple of days! We gotta start training for this tournament if we don’t want our asses handed to us!”

Colby realized Daniel didn’t really want to see the larger picture just yet, so he just silently listened while the kid complained. 

The day quickly turned to night. Even with two people sanding the deck, it had become quite evident that this was a monumental task. It wasn’t until the moon hung in the sky and the stars began to make their first twinkle that the job was done. 

Mr. Miyagi walked out onto the desk, a toothbrush in hand. “Very good,” he praised. “Splinters all gone.” 

“We’re finished,” Daniel said, rising to his feet as he got the very last of the deck sanded.

“Mr. Miyagi, I’m beat,” Colby said. “My shoulders ache.”

“Mine too,” Daniel said, alternating between which shoulder he was rubbing. 

“Good. Go home. Get rest. Come morning, start early,” Mr. Miyagi said, before returning inside. 

Daniel cast Colby an annoyed look. “You better be right about this meaning something.”

When the duo arrived at Mr. Miyagi’s house the following morning, they found the man inside his house, sitting at a table. He had chopsticks in hand, his eyes focused on a fly buzzing around in front of him. Every so often, he would attempt to catch the fly with his chopsticks, but every time, he would fail.

“Wouldn’t a fly swatter be easier?” Daniel asked. 

“Man who catch fly with chopsticks, accomplish anything,” Mr. Miyagi explained.

“Did you ever catch one?”

“Not yet.”

“Could I try?” 

“If wish.”

Colby decided to opt out, instead finding enjoyment in watching Mr. Miyagi and Daniel attempt to catch the fly. Then, miraculously, Daniel gasped and said, “Hey, Mr. Miyagi, look!”

And there, between his chopsticks, was the fly. 

Mr. Miyagi hmph’d. “You, beginner luck.”

He got up, and started to walk to the backyard. Colby and Daniel followed, Daniel still marveling at the fly he had caught. 

Daniel said, “I guess that means I can accomplish anything, right?”

“First you accomplish paint fence,” Mr. Miyagi said, taking the chopsticks from Daniel and replacing it with a paint bucket. He then grabbed another bucket and gave it to Colby. Slowly, Daniel took out the paint brush that was in the bucket and began to paint. Mr. Miyagi was quick to correct his stance, grabbing and rotating his arm to the proper position and moving it in the proper way. “All in wrist. Wrist up. Write down. All in wrist. Up, down, long stroke.”

Colby watched the way Daniel was positioned, and copied his movements. Mr. Miyagi watched for a moment before saying, “Very good. Up, down. No look me, look fence. Up…down. Bend the wrist. Downstroke, you bend. See? Good. Long stroke. Up, down. Very good. Bend your knees. Down. Up. Very good. Don't forget to breathe. In, out. Up…down. Up, down. Up…down.”

Then, he left the two of them to complete their work. Today, Daniel didn’t complain as much. Colby wondered if he was just as sick of it all as Colby was. But it wasn’t until Mr. Miyagi came back later that the complaining really began. 

“Ah, very good, Daniel-san, Colby-san,” Mr. Miyagi said. But then he came closer, and seemed less please. “Ah ah! Small board, left hand. Big board, right hand.”

“But we’re almost done,” Colby said, praying that they wouldn’t have to re-do all of their work work.

But Mr. Miyagi shook his head and gestured to the rest of the fence around the yard. “All of fence.” 

This time, when Daniel began to complain, Colby was more than happy to join in. All of this work, and for what? How was this supposed to teach them karate? Should they not be learning defensive moves? Basic stances? What to do when an opponent strikes first, strikes hard, with no mercy? 

But what else could they do? Colby knew they had no choice. If he did anything to mess things up, again, then he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to fix it. And he didn’t want to even begin to think about what would happen if this universe couldn’t be fixed. Was there some sort of prison for things like this? 

And so, when Mr. Miyagi approved their work and said to come again early in the morning, he bit his tongue and prayed that it would all mean something. 

When Daniel and Colby arrived the next day, Mr. Miyagi was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a note taped to the door, explaining that the two of them were to be painting his house and included a diagram of how they were to paint the house. As for where Mr. Miyagi was? Apparently, he’d gone fucking fishing. 

Colby definitely joined in complaining then. This really was fucking bullshit. Mr. Miyagi was supposed to be training them! So how the hell was this considered training!? Sure, Arden had said the man had unconventional training methods, but there was no way in hell this was considered training!

The day turned to night before Mr. Miyagi showed up. And all he had to say? “Missed spot.”

“What spot?” Colby grumbled. 

Daniel jumped down from the ladder, and said, “You didn’t tell us you were going fishing.”

“You not here when I go.”

“Maybe we wanted to go!”

“You karate training.”

“We’re what!?” Daniel said. “We’re being your goddamn slaves! We made a deal here!”

“So?”

“SO?!” Daniel shouted. “You’re supposed to teach, and I’m supposed to learn.” 

“And you’re also not supposed to question,” Colby mumbled even though he knew that he’d also been questioning the methods (but at least he’d done so quietly). But, if Daniel heard him, he pretended he didn’t.

“Four days we’ve been busting our asses, and we haven’t learned a thing!”

“You learn plenty,” Mr. Miyagi dismissed. 

“We’ve learned to sand your decks. We’ve waxed your car. We painted your house, painted your fence,” Daniel scoffed.

“Not everything is as seems.”

“Bullshit!” Daniel said. “I’m going home, man.” 

“Daniel-san!” Mr. Miyagi shouted. Honestly, it kind of frightened Colby. This was the first time Colby had heard the man raise his voice, and Colby wasn’t a big fan of it. 

“What?” Daniel said. 

“Come here,” Mr. Miyagi said. Daniel reluctantly approached the man and, when he was right in front of him, Mr. Miyagi said, “Show me sand the floor.” 

“I can’t move my arm, alright?” Daniel said. 

Mr. Miyagi quickly rubbed his hands together, Daniel protesting slightly, before he pushed on Daniel’s shoulder. Colby wondered if it helped any, but when Daniel didn’t complain any longer, he supposed it did. 

“Now show me sand the floor.”

“How did you do that?” 

“Show!”

“Sand the floor?” Daniel said, slowly getting down to do the movement. 

“Stand up. Show me sand the floor.”

Daniel quickly began to move his hands in circles, but Mr. Miyagi stopped him and grabbed his hands. He moved them in big, slow circles. “Sand the floor. Sand the floor. Big circle. Sand the floor. Sand the floor.”

He dropped Daniel’s hands.

“Now show me wax on, wax off.” 

Daniel thought for a moment, before dropping back to the ground to do the movements. Mr. Miyagi stopped him again, and Daniel rose back to his feet. Daniel quickly did the movements again, saying, “Wax on, wax off.”

“Wax on, wax off,” Mr. Miyagi mocked. He grabbed Daniel’s hands and showed him to do the movement properly. “Wax on…wax off. Concentrate. Look in my eye. Lock your hand, thumb inside. Wax on…wax off. Wax on…wax off. Wax on. Wax off.”

When he was satisfied with that, he moved on. “Show me paint the fence. Up, down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Other side. Look eye. Always look eye!”

Colby was confused whether he should be doing anything, but he was too captivated by what was happening to voice his questions. Instead, he tried to internalize Mr. Miyagi’s teachings so that, when it was his turn, he would know what to do.  

“Show me paint the house. Side, side. Lock wrist. Side, side. Side, side.” Then, he said, “Show me wax on, wax off.”

When Daniel started to do the move, Mr. Miyagi moved to strike him. But Daniel blocked him with the move he was trying to show. They ran through it a few more times, before Mr. Miyagi moved on to the other moves that they had apparently learned. When he was done coaching Daniel, he moved on to Colby, running through the same drills until he was satisfied. 

When all was said and done, Mr. Miyagi said, “Come back tomorrow.”

And, for the first time since training began, neither Daniel nor Colby complained. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the training (16) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: daniel and colby begin their training.

word count: 1,466

warning(s): colby being anxious again

Somehow, they arrived at Mr. Miyagi’s house in one piece. Colby thanked his lucky stars that, for as terrible a driver Daniel turned out to be when they started the day, he had somehow managed to avoid any significant casualties. Still, that didn’t sate his fears. His stomach was in knots about training. He didn’t want to fight. He wasn’t a fighter. He’d spent the last twenty-four years avoiding fights, being the nice guy, the one who kept the peace, and for what? To accidentally fuck up a universe and be forced to play the role he’s always tried to not be cast at? Colby knew life wasn’t fair, but this was just downright cruel. 

As Daniel parked the truck in front of Mr. Miyagi’s house, he asked, “What are we going to do here?”

“Start training. Much work be done,” Mr. Miyagi explained. “Tournament here before you know it.” 

Colby couldn’t stop himself from saying, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Daniel looked over at Colby, almost looking apologetic. Colby hoped that Daniel didn’t actually feel bad about all of this. This was all a cruel sort of torture created by Colby himself. There was no one else to blame. This was all his fault. There was no one to blame but Colby. 

As they got out of the truck, Daniel changed the topic instead of addressing what Colby said. Daniel said, “That teacher was really wacko. You really think we’re gonna beat that guy?” 

“No matter,” Mr. Miyagi said, waving his hand. “Wacko teacher attitude rest in fist.” He curled one hand into a fist and smacked it into his open palm. “Stupid, but fact of life. Win, lose, no matter. You make good fight, earn respect. Then nobody bother.” 

Easy for him to say. He didn’t have the fate of an entire fucking universe resting on his shoulders. 

“Yeah, well, they’ll bury me where I fall.”

“Either way, problem solved.”

Wow, ever the optimist.

“Wait right here,” Mr. Miyagi said, having the two of them stand in front of his row of cars. 

While Mr. Miyagi walked away, Daniel turned, looking at the yellow car. Colby wasn’t much of a car guy—that was more Sam’s thing—but he had to admit that it looked pretty nice. But, even though he knew nothing about cars, he still humored Daniel and talked about while they waited for Mr. Miyagi to returned. 

Mr. Miyagi announced his return, and both of the boys turned to look at him. Before Mr. Miyagi could say anything, Daniel reached into his back pocket and pulled out the cloth that he had used when tending to their wounds the previous night. Were they supposed to keep those? Colby had left his behind when he left the workshop?

“Oh, Mr. Miyagi! I forgot to give this back to you last night.” 

“You keep,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

“Oh! Thanks a lot,” Daniel said. 

Then, Mr. Miyagi looked over to Colby, and pulled an identical cloth out of his pocket and held it out to him. “You keep too.” 

Colby smiled, and took the cloth. “Thank you, Mr. Miyagi.” 

Mr. Miyagi nodded, then asked the two of them, “Ready?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Daniel said while Colby nodded. 

Mr. Miyagi stared at Daniel for a moment before dropping the bucket he was carrying and grabbed Daniel by the shoulder. “Daniel-san, must talk.” He knelt on the ground, pulling Daniel down with him. Colby wasn’t sure what to do, so he also leaned down. “Walk on road. Walk right side, safe. Walk left side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later, you get squished just like grape. Here, karate same thing. Either you karate do, yes, or karate do, no. You karate do, ‘guess so’, just like grape. Understand?”

“Yeah, I understand,” Daniel said. 

“Ready?” Mr. Miyagi asked again.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” 

Mr. Miyagi looked to Colby, waiting for a verbal answer. 

“I’m ready,” Colby said, trying to keep his voice steady and not reveal how absolutely terrified he was of all of this. 

He wasn’t a fighter. He wasn’t a fighter. He wasn’t a fighter. 

Mr. Miyagi rose back to his feet, and Daniel and Colby followed. Mr. Miyagi began to tie the cloth around Daniel’s head. “First make sacred pact. I promise teach karate. That’s my part.” Mr. Miyagi finished tying the cloth around Daniel’s head, and he moved to do to the same to Colby. “You promise learn. I say, you do, no question. That’s your part. Deal?”

“It’s a deal,” Daniel said as Colby said, “Deal.”

Really, he wanted to say no deal. He wanted to tell them all to fuck off, that there was no way in hell that he was going to take part in this. He wanted to sprint all the way back to the apartment and cry until Arden found a way to make some badass clone of him to do all this work for him. He wasn’t made for this. He couldn’t do this. He already knew he’d make a fool of himself at the tournament, and he wasn’t looking forward to that one bit. He would like an idiot and he’d get his ass kicked. How the fuck was he supposed to do this? 

Mr. Miyagi nodded, then reached down into the bucket and pulled out a sponge. He dropped it in Daniel’s hand and said, “First wash all the cars, then wax.”

Daniel blinked slowly. “Why do I have to—”

“Remember deal. No questions.”

“Yeah, but…” 

“Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out through mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don’t forget to breathe. Very important.”

Before Daniel could argue any more, Mr. Miyagi began to walk off, repeating, “Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.” 

Daniel threw an annoyed look Colby’s way before calling after Mr. Miyagi, “Hey, where did all these cars come from?”

Mr. Miyagi turned and shouted back, “Detroit!”

Colby sighed, then bent down to the bucket and picked up another sponge. “Wanna wash the same car or different ones?” 

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Will still a fucking long time either way.” 

“Different cars it is then.” 

Colby learned to tune Daniel out that day. The kid wouldn’t stop grumbling about having to do Mr. Miyagi’s chores instead of learning karate. Colby wasn’t entirely sure if Daniel was just talking to himself or if he actually expected an answer, but when Colby was never prompted to give a response, he figured it was probably the former. Still, the kid got a bit annoying after a while. So, Colby just tried to keep his head down and finished washing and waxing the stupid cars. 

He wondered if this was part of all of the information Arden had dumped on him not that long ago. Was unconventional karate teachings part of everything she said? Or had she left him in the dark on this matter? Or was this another thing that he had fucked up? Should he ask her about this? He didn’t want to bother her, though…She was a bit on the scary side, and he didn’t know how long it would take for her to just go off on him and call him a fucking idiot for not only messing up an entire universe, but also for being fucking clueless on how to fix it. 

Colby got so lost in his thoughts that he barely registered that he and Daniel had finished washing and waxing all of the cars. He looked up at Daniel, who was making the same realization, and said, “Well, I guess we’re done.”

Daniel looked up at the now black sky. “Took us long enough.”

“Nah, these look good. We should go into the car washing business.” 

“I think we’d have to be hot girls in bikinis to even have a chance at being successful.”

“…I could be a hot girl,” Colby said. 

“Oh, sure. You could be the hottest girl, Colleen,” Daniel laughed. “C’mon, let’s go find Mr. Miyagi and let him know we’re done.” 

Colby nodded, and followed Daniel up to the house. Daniel called out, “Mr. Miyagi, we’re finished. You want to check these out? Mr. Miyagi? Mr. Miyagi? Hello?”

When he got no answer, Daniel wandered into the house and Colby followed him. What they found though was Mr. Miyagi sound asleep in his bed. Daniel huffed, looking pissed that the old man had gotten to rest while the two of them were busting their asses. But, before he could start ranting again for hours on end, Colby was quick to lighten the mood.

“Well…Do you know how we’re supposed to get home?” Colby asked. “Cause I’m sure as not getting in another car with you behind the wheel.” 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the compromise (14) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: mr. miyagi tells daniel and colby that they need to talk to the cobras’ teacher. 

word count: 1,363

warning(s): very dialogue heavy

When Colby came to, everything fucking hurt. God, it hurt worse than when he was hit by Johnny at the beach. If he had thought that had been bad, this was the fucking worst. He felt like he could barely breathe and…what the fuck was that smell? What was on his face? He reached up, feeling a damp piece of cloth on face. Confused, he started to take it off and when—

“Leave on,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

Colby frowned, sitting up and propping himself up on his elbows. He looked around. He was in Mr. Miyagi’s workshop, both him and Daniel in cots with Mr. Miyagi sitting between the two cots. Wait. Mr. Miyagi had saved them? No, that’s right. Mr. Miyagi had saved them. That’s what Arden said happened in the movie. Well, as least he knew they were still on track.

“It stinks,” Daniel complained. “What is it?” 

“Smell bad, heal good.”

Wow, what a great explanation, Colby thought as he gained the energy to sit up fully. Well, at least he was right in his terrible explanation. As shitty as he felt, he was at least starting to feel a little bit better.

“Where did Spider-Man go?” Daniel asked, looking around.

Mr. Miyagi, who was beginning to pour out cups of tea, paused. “Who?”

“That guy! The guy who bailed me out! Where'd he go?” Daniel paused and the realization dawned on him. “What, you?” Mr. Miyagi nodded. “No way!”

“Why ‘no way’?” 

“Because…because…” Daniel struggled to come up with a good answer. 

“Because, because old man?” Mr. Miyagi chuckled. He gestured to the cups of tea, and said, “Have tea. Feel better.” 

Both of them reached over to the little table and picked up a cup. Well, Daniel needed to have some more help sitting up. Colby figured Daniel got the brunt of the attack, since it was abundantly clear that Johnny absolutely despised the kid. 

A moment of silence passed between the three of them, as Mr. Miyagi showed them how to hold the cup properly, by putting their hand on the bottom of it and holding the top with their thumb. They drank quietly, before Daniel decided he had another question.

“How come didn't you tell me?” he asked. 

“Tell you what?” 

“That you do karate!”

Mr. Miyagi smiled slightly. “You never ask.”

“Where'd you learn it?”

“Father.”      

Colby frowned, and asked, “I thought he was a fisherman.”

Mr. Miyagi looked over at him and explained, “In Okinawa, all Miyagi know two things: Fish and karate. Karate come from China, sixteen century. Called ‘te’, hand. Much later…Miyagi ancestors call ‘karate’ empty hand.” 

“I always thought it came from Buddhist temples and stuff like that,” Daniel said. 

Colby had to hold back his laughter as Mr. Miyagi said, “You, too much TV.”    

“That's what my mother tells me,” Daniel laughed. As Mr. Miyagi soaked the cloth that Daniel had been using in the medicine or whatever it was, an idea struck Daniel and he asked, “Hey, you ever taught anyone?” 

“No.”

Oh, this was exactly where they needed to be! Colby jumped in and asked, “Would you?”

Mr. Miyagi turned him, then, and took the cloth he had been using and soaked it in the medicine, like he had done with Daniel. As he put the cloth back on Colby’s face, Mr. Miyagi said, “It depend.” 

“On what?” Daniel asked. 

“Reason.” 

“How's revenge?” Daniel asked. 

“Daniel-san, you look revenge that way, start by digging two grave.”

Daniel laughed again. “Well, at least I'd have company, right?” 

“Fighting always last answer problem.” 

Daniel scoffed lightly. “No offense, Mr. Miyagi, but I don't think you understand my problem.” 

“Miyagi understand problem perfect,” Mr. Miyagi said. Oh, so Colby was right. Daniel had been mispronouncing Mr. Miyagi’s name this entire time. “Your friend…all karate student?”

“Friend? Oh, yeah, those guys,” Daniel mumbled. 

“Problem attitude.”

Colby cut in, his feelings overtaking his reasoning for a moment as he grumbled, “The problem is we keep getting my asses kicked.” 

“Because boys have bad attitude,” Mr. Miyagi insisted. “Karate for defense only.”

“That's not what these guys are taught.” 

“I can see,” Mr. Miyagi said. He looked over to Daniel and explained “No such thing bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do.” 

Oh, great, that solves everything for me. I’ll just go down to the school and straighten it out with the teacher. No problem,” Daniel snarked. 

“Now use head for something other than target.” 

“I was only kidding about that,” Daniel was quick to say.

“Why kidding?”

“Because I’ll get killed if I show up there!”

Colby added, “They’re crazy. They’d have our heads on spikes if we showed our faces there.” 

Mr. Miyagi said, “Get killed anyway.” 

A moment of silence passed between the three of them, before Daniel tentatively asked, “Would you go with me?” 

“No, can’t.” 

“Why? You said it was a good idea, right?”

“For you, good idea. For me, good idea no get involved.”

“But you're already involved,” Colby argued, panic rising in him. Was Mr. Miyagi supposed to be unwilling? Had Arden said something about him needing to be convinced? Fuck, how were they supposed to convince him to go?

“Very sorry.” 

“What?” Daniel asked, but Mr. Miyagi said nothing for several moments. “Thanks for nothing then,” he scoffed. He jumped up, and Colby was quick to follow. They started to leave the workshop, Daniel grumbling, “Thanks for nothing. Like we didn't have enough problems already. Now we’ve got to carry your weight, too. Don't do us any more favors, okay pal?” 

“Daniel-san. Colby-san.” 

“What?” they asked, turning around.

Mr. Miyagi got up and crossed the room over to where they stood by the door. “Okay, I go.”

“Oh, excellent! Excellent, Mr. Miyagi.” 

Why was Daniel still mispronouncing Mr. Miyagi’s name?

“Miyagi,” he corrected.

“Miyagi,” Daniel repeated. “Miyagi…Hey, what kind of belt do you have?"

“Canvas!” Mr. Miyagi said, his hands going to his belt to show it off. “You like? JC Penney. 3.98.”

“No, no, I didn’t mean a belt like that—”

“In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope hold up pants.” 

After a second, after Mr. Miyagi began to laugh, Daniel laughed, too. “That’s…that’s funny.”

Daniel began to walk away again, so Mr. Miyagi said, “Daniel-san.”

“What?”

            “Karate here.” He pointed to his head. “Karate here.” He pointed to his heart. “Karate never here.” He pointed to his belt. “You understand?” 

                 “I think so.”

“Goodnight, Daniel-san,” Mr. Miyagi said, bowing.

Daniel bowed, too. “Goodnight, Mr. Miyagi.” He paused, realizing his mistake. “Miyagi! Miyagi.” He started to leave, but turned and asked, “Tomorrow morning?”

“10 o’clock.” 

“Oh, and uh, thanks for helping me out with my…friends out there,” Daniel said before leaving.

Colby hung back there for a moment, before saying, “Thank you, Mr. Miyagi. I…I really appreciate what you are doing for us.” 

Mr. Miyagi stared at him for a moment. “Karate for defense only. That mean defend innocent too.” 

Colby nodded, smiling slightly. He could see why so many people would idolize this man in his universe. He truly was something special.

“Goodnight, Colby-san,” Mr. Miyagi said, bowing.

“Goodnight, Mr. Miyagi.” And, just as Daniel had done, Colby bowed back before leaving the workshop.

It hurt to walk back to the apartment, and it hurt even more to see how torn up Sam looked when he got there. Colby had to wonder how long he had been waiting, and if Sam was just as hurt as Colby felt. He could only hope that Mr. Miyagi hadn’t hurt Sam too bad when he was fighting off the Cobras. But he didn’t have much time to dwell on it, as the blond had thrown his arms around Colby in an instant, apologizing profusely for what had happened. 

But Colby only hugged him back, rubbing Sam’s back as he said, “It’s okay. I know that it’s what needed to be done. I don’t blame you for anything. At the end of the day, even if we have to pretend to be enemies, it’s still Sam and Colby vs. the World.” 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the confrontation (15) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: mr. miyagi goes with daniel and colby to the cobra kai dojo.

word count: 1,717

warning(s): swearing, colby talking bad about himself

Colby felt like throwing up when he got up in the morning. Physically, he felt okay. Perhaps not the best, but okay. He was very aware that his face hurt, and he wanted nothing more than to rip off the nasal strip bandage thing that Arden had put on him, and he just honestly wanted to go back to bed. Why the fuck did he have to go through with this? He wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed, and suffer. Why did he have to take his suffering into the real world? (And, yes, he knew why, but he didn’t have to be fucking happy about it.” 

He met up with Daniel outside their apartments, and they walked down to Mr. Miyagi’s workshop together. At 10:00 on the dot, Mr. Miyagi emerged from his workshop and Daniel greeted him, “Hey, good morning, Mr. Miyagi.” 

“Morning, Mr. Miyagi,” Colby said, holding back a yawn. He was so fucking tired. Tired of having to play this role, and tired of getting the shit beat out of him every other day. 

“Oh, good morning, Daniel-san, Colby-san. How you feel this morning?” Mr. Miyagi asked. 

“A little sore, really,” Daniel said as Colby said, “Like I could sleep for a thousand years.” 

“Ah,” Mr. Miyagi said. Then he gestured to his truck. “You know how drive?” 

“I only know to drive automatic,” Colby said. A half-truth, really. He knew some things about manual, but he figured this might have been one of those things were Daniel needed to be the main character.

“I know how to drive,” Daniel said when Mr. Miyagi looked to him for an answer. Mr. Miyagi opened the door to the truth, and Daniel climbed in. Then, his face blanched as Mr. Miyagi handed in the keys. “No, no I’m not very good at it, Mr. Miyagi.”

Mr. Miyagi gestured for Colby to get in next, and he did. Once Colby was situated in the middle seat, Mr. Miyagi climbed in, too, and said, “Me neither.” 

“I don’t have a license!”

“Me neither.”  

“Alright, I guess it’s okay then,” Daniel said, putting the keys in the ignition and starting the truck.

Holy fuck, Colby should’ve just said he knew how to drive. If he didn’t die at the hands of John Kreese and the Cobras, he was most certainly going to die with Daniel LaRusso behind the wheel.

After a painstakingly long journey to the Cobra Kai dojo, they had finally arrive and, thankfully, were in one piece. The students of Cobra Kai were in the middle of warmups when they walked into the dojo. That same uneasy feeling in the pit of Colby’s stomach resurfaced as he watched them train. That man, their sensei, was absolutely unhinged. And he didn’t think he could ever forgive the MTD for making Sam have to go through this. He could only hope that Sam didn’t come out of this totally brainwashed by the dangerous rhetoric being promoted by Kreese. 

He tried not to focus on the teachings too much. It all made his head hurt, even more than it already was. Instead, he looked at the poster on the wall, advertising the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships. Was this the tournament he and Daniel would have to compete in? And it was in December? Fuck, would they have enough time to even train for that? 

The man was walking through the rows of students, staring them down as they punched the air. He made it to the back row and one student, startled, turned slightly to see who was behind him before turning to face the front again. But that may as well have been a sin in the eyes of John Kreese, because he immediately pulled the student to the ground and, as the rest of the students froze in their positions, he shouted, “You lose concentration in a fight and you're dead meat!” 

“Yes, Sensei,” the student said.

“What?”

“Yes, Sensei!” the student said, louder this time.

“Get up!” Kreese shouted. As the student jumped to his feet, Kreese said, “Give me sixty pushups on your knuckles.” 

The student bowed before going off to the side to do his pushups. To rest of the dojo, Kreese shouted, “Combat!”

The students formed a square as Dutch and Johnny grabbed white and red flags before standing in opposite corners. Once everyone was in place, all of the other students knelt while Johnny and Dutch unfurled the flags. 

“Brown. Robertson,” Kreese said. Bobby jumped up, as did another student. They went to the center of the square and Kreese tied a red flag to Bobby’s belt. They both bowed to Kreese, before bowing to each other. “On guard.” 

They fell in fighting positions and then Kreese indicated the fight begun. In less than a minute, Bobby had kicked Robertson to the ground.

“Point! Round kick!” Kreese shouted. Bobby stared at his sensei for a moment, and growing frustrated, Kreese said, “What are you looking at? Finish him!”

Bobby hesitated for a moment before striking Robertson while he was down.

“Return.”

Bobby bowed before returning to his spot in the square. Robertson pushed himself back up, and returned to his spot, as well.

“Prepare.” 

All of the students jumped up and waited for Kreese to continue.

“We do not train to be merciful here.” He walked in front of his each of his students as he spoke. “Mercy is for the weak. Here, on the street, in competition… a man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy.” When he reached Johnny, he saw that his student wasn’t paying attention, instead focusing on the strangers in the dojo. “What is the problem, Mr. Lawrence?” 

As Johnny began whispering to Kreese, Daniel leaned over to Mr. Miyagi and said, “Come on, let's forget this.”

“Wait, not yet.” 

Kreese faced the three of them. “Class, we have visitors. Fall in behind me.” 

As the students fell into orderly rows behind Kreese and Johnny, who approached them, Colby tried to not look at Sam. If he looked at his best friend, he would crack. And he couldn’t afford that. He still needed to play the role he had been assigned. 

“I hear you jumped some of my students last night,” Kreese said, stopping in front of Mr. Miyagi. He towered over the older man, seeming to use that to try to intimidate him.

“Afraid the facts mixed up,” Mr. Miyagi said. 

“Are you calling Mr. Lawrence a liar?”

“No call no one nothing.” 

Kreese was growing frustrated, and he demanded, “What are you here for, old man?”

“Come ask leave boys alone.” 

Kreese looked over to Daniel and Colby, who were standing together behind Mr. Miyagi. Colby tried to keep his face neutral, to not show his fear, as Kreese asked, “What’s the matter? The boys can’t take of their own problems”” 

“One-to-one problem, yes. Six-to-two problem, too much ask anyone.” 

“Is that what's bothering you, the odds?”

God, the smirk on Kreese’s face made Colby want to throw up. He could feel a fight gearing up, and he fucking hated it. He was ready to run, to say “fuck it” and let the MTD deal with the problem he created. He couldn’t handle this. This was not in his nature. Colby Brock was a lot of things, but a fighter was not one of them.

“Well, we can fix that,” Kreese said. “Feel like matching, Mr. Lawrence?”

“Yes, Sensei!” Johnny said.       

Mr. Miyagi shook his head. “No more fighting.” 

“This is a karate dojo, not a knitting class,” Kreese spat. “You don't come in here, drop a challenge and leave, old man. You get your boys on the mat, or you and I will have a problem.”     

“Too much advantage. Your dojo.” 

"Name a place.”

“Tournament,” Mr. Miyagi said, nodding back at the poster behind them.

The knots in Colby’s stomach only got worse. He had been expecting this. Arden had explained this would happen. But knowing was, perhaps, a worse fate. He liked it better when he was flying by the seat of his pants. He couldn’t handle this. He couldn’t handle this. He could—

“You've got real nerve, old man,” Kreese chuckled darkly. “But I think we can accommodate you. Can't we, Mr. Lawrence?”

Slowly, as if he wanted to protest but knew better than to argue, Johnny said, “Yes, Sensei.”

“Fall in.” 

Johnny bowed to his sensei before joining the ranks of his fellow Cobras. Kreese began to walk away, when Mr. Miyagi said, “Ask one more small request.”

Kreese stopped. “Make it fast.”

“Ask leave boys alone to train.”

"You're a pushy little bastard, ain't ya?” Kreese laughed. And, somehow, his laughter was almost scarier than his shouting. “But I like that. I like that!” He began walking through the rows of students, stopping in the middle of the first row, and he said to his students, “No one touches the prima donnas until the tournament. Is that understood?” 

“Yes, Sensei!” the Cobras all shouted back.

Kreese started to walk towards them again, and he said, “But if you don't show…then it's open season…on them…and you.” 

Mr. Miyagi, never breaking eye contact with Kreese, nodded. Then, he stuck his arm out, pulling Daniel and Colby behind him, started to back out of the dojo. And, as they left, Colby finally looked to Sam. Sam, who was a better actor than Colby could ever be, and looked exactly like a Cobra. Like he fit in. And, somehow, that was worse than the knowledge that Colby would soon be getting his ass kicked in a tournament.

Once they were out of the dojo, Daniel began to shout, “I can't believe this. I cannot believe this!”

They reached the truck and started to get in. Mr. Miyagi asked, “What?”

“What you just got me into! You said you'd make things better!”

“I did.”

“How?”

“How? I saved you two months of beating.”

“Great, now I've got something to look forward to.”

“Yeah,” Colby added, “nothing like putting off getting the shit kicked outta you for two months just so it’ll happen in front of a thousand people.”

Goddammit, he was really fucked in this. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the healing (23) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: daniel decides he wants to continue.

word count: 772

warning(s): this is another short chapter buuuut we’re almost done!!

This…this couldn’t be how it ended, right? Had Arden said something about Bobby taking Daniel out of commission? Doing something to get his disqualified? Was this supposed to happen? This…this wasn’t Colby’s fault, was it? This was supposed to be what happened, right? But…But why did Daniel need to be injured? What did that prove? Fuck, where was Arden when Colby needed all of these questions answered? 

The doctor finished wrapping up Daniel’s knee, saying, “I’ll inform the judges. You did well out there, young man.” 

Colby almost felt heartbroken as he looked over at Daniel. Colby knew how much winning this meant to the kid. How much being able to show his tormentors that he wouldn’t just roll over and take a beating. That he could stand up for himself, and that he would. He wasn’t going to just be someone that could be pushed around. And Colby admired that about Daniel. Colby almost wished he was like that, too. 

Too often, Colby would run from fights. He wasn’t a confrontational person. It just wasn’t in his nature. He was the type of guy to just let things slide. He fucking hated fights. Even if someone hurt him, he likely wouldn’t say anything. The most he would ever do was be passive-aggressive, but even then, that was few and far between. But now? Now he almost felt like he could fight—if he wanted to. At least now he had a better idea about how to find that balance of sticking up for himself and not letting others get hurt.

And honestly? That was a lesson he so desperately needed. 

“Damn it!” Daniel cursed after the doctor left. 

“Honey, forget it,” Lucille comforted him as she ran her fingers through his hair. “You were great. I couldn’t be prouder. It was just bad luck.”

“Daniel, you would’ve won if they hadn’t cheated,” Ali added. 

Daniel almost sounded near tears when he asked, “Just leave me alone for a minute, okay?”

“We’ll be outside,” Lucille said, kissing his forehead before she and Ali left the locker room.

Mr. Miyagi and Colby were the only ones left, now. Colby, who’d been hanging in the corner of the room, walked over to Daniel and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, brother, you did great out there. You did so much better than I would’ve ever thought possible,” Colby said. “You played by the rules, and you showed them that you weren’t someone to be messed with. You should be proud of that.” 

“Do you think I could’ve won?” Daniel asked. “There’s not a doubt in my mind.” 

He looked over to Mr. Miyagi and asked the same question. “Mr. Miyagi…Do you think I had a chance of winning?”  

“Win, lose, no matter.”

But that wasn’t what Daniel meant. He didn’t really care about winning, and Colby could see that. He just wanted to prove himself. To prove that the scrawny kid from Jersey was capable of doing something, of standing up for himself.

“That’s not what I meant,” Daniel mumbled.

Reluctantly, Mr. Miyagi said, “Had good chance.” 

“Well, can you fix my leg? I mean, with that thing you do?” 

“No need fight anymore.” 

But that wasn’t the point. Could Mr. Miyagi not see that? Did he think Daniel only cared about winning? 

Daniel looked over to Colby and asked, “Colby, if you were me…Would you fight?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t even have to think about it. Yes, Colby was against fighting, but he’d also made it this far. He’d gotten to this point. If he could show people what he was capable of, he’d jump at the first opportunity to do so. 

“Why?” Daniel asked.

Colby knew that, by him explaining his own reasoning, Daniel was hoping that it would get through to Mr. Miyagi. To show that more was at stake than a title and a trophy. That this meant something to Daniel. So, he chose his next words carefully, and he explained, “…because I’d never have balance if my tormentors knew they got the best of me.” 

Daniel nodded, then looked to Mr. Miyagi. “Every time I see those guys, they’ll know that they beat me. That they played dirty and I let it happen. I’ll never have balance that way. Not with them, not with Ali…Not with me.” 

Mr. Miyagi was silent for a moment, thinking about what the boys had said, before telling Daniel, “Close eye.”

And now, with his knee partially fixed, it was time for Daniel LaRusso to show everyone just what he could do, and show them he did. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the fight (13) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: the cobras chase down daniel and colby. 

word count: 1,871

warning(s): violence, bullying

Sam wrinkled his nose as Arden applied the paint to his face. There was nothing about this that he didn’t like. The stupid face paint that he wanted desperately to scratch off? Hated it. The stupid tight costume he was being forced to wear? Hated it. The fact that his best friend in all the universes was going to be beaten half to death by the end of the night? Hated it. And the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it? Fucking hated it. 

But, Jesus Christ, if he had to deal with that absolute heartbreak, couldn’t he be in a more comfortable costume? Or, at the very least, couldn’t the MTD provide some sort of magic balm that made it look like he had on skull face paint but it was really just his face? Like how they had that magic paste that made Colby’s tattoos invisible? Why didn’t he ever get the good shit? 

And he grumbled as much to Arden about it. 

She only snorted. “Sorry, sugar, but it don’t work like that. I’ve already made things as comfortable as the MTD would allow. If I asked for one more thing, they’d probably just send back my head on a spike, and then you and Brock would really be screwed.” 

“Better your heard than Colby’s,” Sam muttered. 

Arden paused, her paint brush halfway in the air as she stared at him, both her eyebrows raised. “You wanna say that again, bitch?”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “Better. Your. Head. Than. Colby’s.” 

She ground her teeth together. “Now, listen, I know I ain’t your most favorite person in all the universes. I don’t expect to be. I’m makin’ you and Brock do a lot of real uncomfortable shit to get through this. And I don’t want you to like. But I do expect you to respect me ‘cause, at the end of the day, I’m what’s standing between you and your ability to go back to your home universe. I’m makin’ this process as quick and as painless as possible, but some eggs need to be cracked to make an omelette. Understand?”

“I guess.” 

Arden grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look her in the eyes. “No. I want a real answer. Do you understand? Or is there something else goin’ on that we need to talk about before the dance?” 

Sam almost felt like crying when she let go of the grip she had on his face. He was so fucking exhausted. He hated this. He hated everything about this stupid fucking universe now that he was in it. He hated that he had to practice karate, that he had to train and train and train his ass off at the Cobra Kai dojo and then he’d have to do the exact same thing when he got back to the apartment. He hated that he had to pretend to be a black belt in karate when he didn’t have the first clue what he was doing, just so he could compete in that stupid fucking All Valley Tournament. He hated the lies. He hated the pain. But, most of all, he hated that he knew Colby had it so much worse. All Sam ever wanted to do was shield Colby from the pain and the hurt of the world. And he did a damn good job of it, back in their home universe. He distracted Colby from outright hurtful comments, from the ones that oversexualized him first and treated him like a real person last, from the ones that ripped any woman Colby hung out with to shreds for simply existing in the same time and place as him. He did so much back home, but here? He couldn’t do that. No, instead, he had to directly contribute to the pain and the torment, and he didn’t know how much more of it he could take. 

“I just…I don’t want Colby to be hurt tonight,” Sam said. But, then, he quickly added, “And I know that it has to happen. Colby has to have reason to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi so that he can make sure everything is still going according to plan. I get that. But, he’s my best friend. And I hate to see shit like this happen to him.”

Arden sighed, and set the paint brush down. “I get that. Really, I do. I had to watch so many videos of the two of you before I took this assignment so that I could be best prepared to go about this whole operation. And I know how close you two are, how you’re practically the same person at times. And I know it really hurts to have to do this, and be told that it’s necessary to hurt your best friend. But, believe me when I tell you that I’m tryin’ to make this as easy as possible. The MTD wanted Brock to be more bulled than he is, they wanted him to be on the same level of torment as Daniel. But I knew that could never work, ‘cause I know that neither you nor him could handle it. I’ve done so much, but there’s only so much I can do. If it was up to me, I would’ve had you pulled right after the soccer tryouts. But I still have a boss to answer to, and they just…we don’t see eye to eye on it.” 

“I know. It just, it hurts.” He looked at her, hope in his eyes, as he asked, “Is there any chance I don’t have to take part tonight?” 

Arden shook her head. “I wish I could let that happen. But the MTD has made themselves clear on this. You have to be one of the Cobras tonight. But…Maybe, if it helps, you could be like Bobby? Try and stop Johnny, and never lay a hand on Brock personally?”

“But Colby will still be hurt.” 

“Sam…”

“I know, I know. It has to be done.” 

“If it helps, most of the aggression will be focused on Daniel.” 

“It doesn’t help.” He looked in the mirror, at the half-finished paint job on his face. “Let’s just finish this up and get it over with already.”

When Daniel ran straight into the Cobras as he came out of the bathroom, Sam knew it was all over. He hadn’t had much fun at the dance—he had to watch as his best friend played lone wolf for the night and couldn’t do anything about it, and he knew just how the night would end: with a blood bath. But he couldn’t let his unease reveal itself, so he plastered on a fake smile and pretended to be excited about smoking with the Cobras and doing dumb teenager shit. But, when Johnny came running out of the bathroom after Colby and Daniel, Sam knew it was all over. 

As they chased Colby and Daniel threw the streets of the Valley, it took everything Sam had to fall behind in the group. Sam was a good runner, and he knew it. One of his greatest accomplishments was beating his record in track, and then running a six minute mile nearly six years later. He was damn good runner, but today? He couldn’t be. He refused to get in the zone, to lead the group to his best friend. He was not going to participate in this anymore than he had to. 

So, he stayed the back as Daniel and Colby scaled fences and ran across fields to get to the South Seas apartment complex. Sam wasn’t the biggest fan of showing weakness, of showing his emotions and wearing his heart on sleeve, but tonight might have to be one of those exceptions. 

And, for a second, Sam forgot about the events of the movie, and he thought that Daniel and Colby might be in the clear as they scaled the final fence between them and their respective apartments. But, alas, that was not one of the things that changed when Colby got them into this predicament. Nope, Johnny still grabbed Daniel off the fence, hissing, “You ain’t going nowhere.” The only difference? Dutch was pulling Colby off the fence, too. 

“You little wimp!” one of them taunted—Sam didn’t care enough to differentiate who was who. 

One of the Cobras, Jimmy, Sam was pretty sure that was Jimmy, help a squirming Colby by the arms while Johnny held onto Daniel, hissing, “You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, little twerp? No, you had to push it. Well, now you're gonna pay!”

Johnny punched Daniel in the stomach, and he toppled over. As Daniel heaved, he turned to Colby, and hissed, “And you just had to stick your nose where it didn’t belong, didn’t ya?” 

And before Sam could even process what was happening, Johnny hit Colby square in the nose. Daniel, in the mean time, made the move to leave, but ran straight into Dutch’s arms, who pushed him back and taunted, “Where are you going, sweetheart?”

Johnny kicked Daniel in the face, and he fell straight to the ground. Johnny turned his attention to Colby, next, and kicked in the stomach, and he collapsed to the ground. He delivered another kick to the face, this time, and Sam was sure that Colby had been knocked out cold.

“How about a front kick, Johnny?” Tommy suggested as Daniel was pulled back up, and Johnny was more than happy to oblige.

“Get him up!” Johnny shouted when Daniel fell to the ground again.

  “Leave him alone, man, he’s had enough!” Bobby said. 

“Shut up, Bobby!” Dutch said as he supported Daniel’s deadweight.

“Look at him, Dutch! He can't even stand up!” Bobby said. 

“So what?”

“That don't mean squat!” Dutch snapped. 

Rage flashed in Bobby’s eyes as he turned and stormed up to Johnny. He pointed a finger in the blond’s face and shouted, “Leave him alone, man, he’s had enough!”

“I'll decide when he's had enough!” 

“He can’t even stand!” Sam added, stomping up to Johnny. “And you already knocked the other one out!”

Bobby shot Sam a brief but grateful look, before zeroing in on the blond again. “What is wrong with you, Johnny?!”

“An enemy deserves no mercy!” Johnny shouted. 

“Right!” Dutch agreed. 

“Right?” 

“Right!”

“You're crazy, man!” Bobby shouted as Johnny charged at Daniel again. 

But, before he could strike the kid again, Mr. Miyagi jumped down from the top of the fence, pushing Daniel out of the way and making Johnny kick the fence. There was a brief hesitation before Johnny shouted, “Tommy, Bobby, get him!”

Before Sam could blink, Mr. Miyagi had already taken them out before he turned to him and Jimmy. And he could barely even process the fighting stance he had fallen into before he was flipped by the small men, hitting his head back on the cold ground and groaning lowly. 

Fuck, Sam thought as he heard Dutch and Johnny be taken out too. But, he thought, at least he knew that Colby was being taken to safety. And that gave him enough peace to rest his eyes and succumb to the pain.

[starryevermore]

long story short: the bruises (9) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: sam tries to help colby.

word count: 1,058

warning(s): a little angsty

Every part of Colby fucking hurt. He couldn’t think of the last time he hurt this bad. Had he ever hurt this bad before? God, it felt like he was hit by a fucking train. He might as well have been. What kind of fucking person thought it was a good idea to run someone down a hill? How fucking deranged did you have to be? And all because a little punk kid decided to stand about to your assholery? Didn’t Sam say people would argue that Daniel was the real bully? How the fuck can people see a kid mercilessly torment another kid and decide that the bully was the actual victim? 

He bid his goodbye to Daniel when they reached the apartment complex. He wasn’t entirely sure that Daniel had heard him. Daniel had been grumbling the entire walk back—not that Colby blamed him. If Colby wasn’t still in so much shock from what had happened, he probably would’ve been grumbling, too. 

And, it probably shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did, but there was something about Arden and Sam’s reaction that unsettled him, too. They knew what was supposed to happen. They knew that he and Daniel were going to be pushed down the hill. So why did they look so concerned when he walked through the door? Did he really look that bad? Did he look as bad as he felt? 

Arden immediately forced him onto the couch, telling him not to move while she got that magic first aid kit the MTD had provided. Sam settled beside Colby, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say but didn’t know where to begin. Colby felt the same. But at least he had the excuse of being in too much pain to say anything. 

“How shitty would it be of me to ask if you were okay?” Sam finally said. 

If it didn’t hurt so much to breathe, Colby would’ve laughed. “How about I push you down a hill and see how you feel?” 

“You would never.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Colby paused for a second. “Thank you. For not being there when they did that.” 

Sam shrugged. “It was nothing. I…I know that I have to be apart of that group and torment Daniel and all that, but…I don’t know, this felt different. It felt uncalled for. And I didn’t want to have to hurt you if I could help it.” 

Before more could be said, Arden entered the living room with the first said kit. She sat on the other side of the Colby and set the kit on the coffee table, opening it and pulling out its contents. She found what she was looking for, a bottle of some strange gold-colored liquid medicine and poured out some in the little plastic measuring cup. She handed it to Colby and said, “We have to keep up the appearance that you were hurt. It’d look odd if you came into school all healed while Daniel still looks like he had been pushed down a hill. So, this heals the wounds internally but allows you to still look injured.” 

Colby nodded and drank down the medicine. For, well, tried to, anyways. As pretty as it looked, it tasted fucking disgusting. In all honesty, it tasted like if you had cleaned the entirety of the original trap house with one mop bucket and then were dared to drink the dirty water. So, yeah, fucking disgusting. But at least he could feel like he could breathe again, like he hadn’t nearly died an hour earlier. 

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Sam said.

“Yeah, what d’you need?” Arden said, taking the plastic cup from Colby and setting it on the coffee table.

“Can we, like, go back to our home universe?” he asked. “It’s obvious now that the Cobras have honed in on bullying Daniel instead of Colby. Doesn’t that mean our work here in done? That everything’s back on track?” 

Arden’s shoulders deflated. “I’m ‘fraid not. I got word from the MTD earlier today that we have to stay until the end of the All Valley Tournament. They said that while we’re on track for now, it’s hard to say what residual damage has been done. Plus, it would look too odd for all of us to just disappear as quickly as you came. But, after the tournament, the MTD has it programmed for everyone to believe we just moved away.”

“So we have to stay here for longer?” Colby grumbled.

“I’m afraid so. If I had it my way, I would stay by myself and fix everything. But the MTD won’t allow it.” 

Colby’s jaw ticked and he got up. “I’m going to bed. Night.” 

Sam watched as his partner in crime stalked off to their shared bedroom, feeling like a heavy weight was sitting on his chest. He felt so awful about what Colby was being put through in the name of fixing a universe. Why couldn’t the MTD just let them go? Why did they have to stay? Sure, what Arden said made sense. But, Sam also remembered that when he was in high school, some students really did just leave as quickly as they came. So what harm could be done in letting them go and making Arden stick around?

But then, a worse idea struck him. If they had to stay for the tournament and Colby was meant to be on Daniel’s side, that meant he would have to be trained by Mr. Miyagi. And if he had to be trained by Mr. Miyagi, that meant Colby would have to compete. And if Colby had to compete, that meant him and Colby would have to compete, potentially, against each other. 

But, he had to make sure. So, he asked, “Will he have to fight? In the tournament?”

“More than likely, yes. Why?” 

Sam sucked in a breath. That wasn’t the answer he wanted. “He’s not a fighter.”

And he wasn’t. For all the years Sam had known Colby, he wasn’t sure if he had ever even seen him angry. Annoyed, sure. Frustrated, obviously. But never angry. And he’s certainly never seen Colby get in a fight. 

“Well, for one day, he’ll have to pretend to be.”

And that’s what Sam was worried about. 

[starryevermore]

long story short: the rivalry (4) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: the trio start stoking the flames of a rivalry.

word count: 1,959

warning(s): kansas slander

Colby fucking hated the idea of going back to high school. He wasn’t a big fan of it the first time around. And now he had to do it again? And try to save some fictional universe he didn’t know the first thing about that? Just thinking about it made his head fucking hurt. At least, though, he would be going through it all again with Sam. At least they would be suffering together. 

Except for right now. Now, he had to go to his first class in his new school in his new universe, and he didn’t have his partner in crime by his side. God, he wanted to throw up just thinking about it. He’d have to introduce himself to the fucking teacher, and pick out his seat, and pray that it wasn’t bad. And then? Then he’d have to fucking learn! About English! High school fucking English! Who remembers any lessons from an English lesson? At least in Sam’s biology class, they have the iconic line of “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”. Did English have that? Noooo. There was just pain, tears, too many books to read, and too many fucking papers to write. And Colby fucking hated it with every fiber in his being. 

Eventually, though, he would have to face his annoyances and go to the fucking class. There was only so much getting purposefully lost could do. So, eventually, he reached Room 222 and went inside. A man, presumably Mr. Salyers, was talking to another student. Colby walked up to him, and waited until the man noticed him.

Mr. Salyers turned, and so did the student he was talking to. Colby bit back his shock when he realized he would be in the same class with Daniel LaRusso, the very kid he was going to have to get put back on the right track. “Can I help you?” Mr. Salyers asked.

“Oh, uh, I’m new here,” Colby stammered, trying to stop himself from appearing as anxious as he felt. 

Mr. Salyers raised a brow. “Two new students in the same period? Lord have mercy on my soul. What’s your name?” 

“Colby,” he said. Then he realized the teacher probably wanted a last name, too, so he added after a few seconds, “Brock.” 

“Well, Mr. Brock, there’s two empty seats over there,” Mr Salyers pointed to the back of the classroom, “so you and Mr. LaRusso can go sit there.” 

Colby nodded and he and Daniel went to the empty seats. Colby noted that Daniel was looking at him like the boy was trying to figure out where he knew Colby from, but the bell rang before Daniel could say anything. Mr. Salyers began taking roll, and once he reached the end of the attendance sheet, he began the lesson. Apparently, they were to write some essay about an argumentative topic of their choice, which was due in a few weeks or something. Colby wasn’t paying too much attention. 

But, when everyone started getting up, gathering their belongings, and leaving the classroom, Colby realized he made a severe lapse in judgment by not paying attention. Panicked, he looked to Daniel, who muttered something about how they have to go to the library to start researching. Shit. He was going to have to research? Out of fucking books? Someone just fucking put him out of his misery, stat. 

He and Daniel followed the crowd of students to the library, Colby trying to memorize the layout of the school so he wouldn’t get lost again. While they walked, Daniel said to Colby, “Hey, you were that guy from the beach, right?”

“The one who got his ass kicked before you? Yep, that’s me.” 

Daniel snorted. “Thanks for taking some of that ass-whooping for me.”

“Nah, I should be thanking you, man. You got it far worse than I did.” He eyed the bruise blossoming around Daniel’s eye. “At least I didn’t get a shiner out of it.” 

Daniel laughed, “Eh, it looks worse than it feels.”

“I’ll pretend I’ll believe that, tough guy.”

“Oh, like you’re any tougher!”

Colby raised his hands. “Hey, man, never said I was. I’m the weakest bitch you’ll meet.”

They reached the library, and they followed the crowd to the nonfiction section of the library. Colby glanced around, trying to read the posters to figure out what the hell the Dewey decimal system was and how shit was organized. And, fuck, he didn’t even have a clue what he wanted to write this stupid paper about.

Daniel apparently noticed Colby’s confusion and asked, “You good? You look like you’ve never seen a book before in your life.” 

“We don’t have books in Kansas,” Colby said. 

Shit. Why did he say that? That’s so fucking dumb. Did he just ruin everything? Did he just doom this universe? Fuck, fuck, fuck—

But then Daniel laughed. “You’re funny, man. A real comedian.” 

“You messing with me?” Colby laughed. 

“Nah, nah, you could totally make it in comedy.”

“I’d cry at the first heckler,” Colby laughed. 

“Then you’ll have to get good security to kick them out of your shows.”

“Good security? You available for that?” Colby asked. “You put up a good fight on the beach last night.” 

Daniel shrugged. “Still got my ass kicked.”

“You did better than I did,” Colby said. “And, uh, I just wanna thank you for stepping in when you did. That guy probably woulda killed me.” 

“Well, you hardly fought back! One punch and you were down!”

Colby shrugged. “Sometimes you just gotta take the L.” 

“Take the L?” Daniel asked, his brows furrowing together.

Fuck. Was that not something people said yet? Goddammit, he was really bad at this. He made a huge fucking mistake, and now he couldn’t fix it. This entire universe was doomed because of him, and he couldn’t even do anything about it!

“Yeah, like take the loss.”

“That’s stupid.” 

“Maybe you’re right.” Colby paused, then asked, “Hey, do you mind me asking why you stepped in? You didn’t have to get your ass kicked for me, ya know.” 

Daniel shrugged. “I just hate to see someone get beat down on for doing the right thing.” 

“That’s a good mindset to have,” Colby said. “You should hold on that.” 

Daniel frowned at him. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean, if someone does something wrong by you or someone else, you should absolutely stand up to them. You shouldn’t let yourself be walked all over ‘cause some asshole’s on a power trip.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” 

Hey, maybe Colby wasn’t as bad at this as he thought. Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance at fixing the mistake he made. 

Sam and Colby were, in many ways, one and the same. Just as Colby was anxious about fucking everything up further, Sam was just as worried that he wouldn’t be able to provide any help in the situation they had found themselves in. Add in the judgmental glares from Arden and the woes of high school life, Sam was scared shitless. And that wasn’t even factoring in the fact that he going to have to learn biology all over again! All he could recall was that the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell or some shit and, well, that was it. Was there anything else to even remember? Could he even remember anything while trying to save this fucking universe?

“Hey, Mr. Rayburn!” Arden said, pulling Sam out of his thoughts. Sam realized they had reached Room 213, the biology classroom. “You got a new student!”

Mr. Rayburn, who was organizing water samples, looked up and smiled at the pair. “Hey, welcome to the class. What’s your name?”

“Sam Golbach,” Sam said.

“Well, I’m glad to have you in class, Sam. We’re doing a lab today, so you can just join Arden’s group. They’ll fill you in on what we’re doing. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!”

Sam smiled slightly, thanking him, before following Arden over to one of the stations. When they got there, though, he nearly froze. Seriously? That was Arden’s lab partner? That was his lab partner? Fuck, this universe had a sick way of twisting shit in an uber convenient way. 

“Hey Bobby!” Arden greeted, climbing onto one of the stools to sit. “This is my cousin, Sam. He’s our new lab partner.” 

Bobby Brown, member of Cobra Kai and the very guy who would severely injure Daniel in the upcoming All Valley Tournament, looked up and gave a slight smile. “Hey, man. You new here?”

“Yeah, just moved here from Kansas,” Sam said. 

“Oh, that’s…cool.” 

“I mean, if you think corn is cool, then yeah,” he said. 

“Oh yeah, the coolest vegetable,” Bobby snorted.

At the front of the classroom, Mr. Rayburn was explaining that they were going to examining water samples or something. Sam wasn’t paying too much attention to it. While he was a good student the first time he was in high school, he wasn’t about to give it his all for a school and universe that wasn’t even his own. He’d be here for a few weeks, maybe, and then be jetted back off to his home universe. So why even bother trying here? 

“Oh,” Arden said, “Sam, you were mentioning you were looking for a karate dojo to go to, right? Bobby goes to the best dojo in the Valley, don’t you, Bobby?” 

Bobby’s face lit up. “Yeah, it’s called Cobra Kai! You should come check it out if you’re interested.” 

“Oh, I don’t know—” Sam stammered, unsure what game Arden was playing. Him? Take up karate? No, no, no. He was a runner. He did fucking track in high school. Karate was a whole other ball game, a whole other set of skills that he didn’t have and was not interested in developing. 

“Nah, you should come down one day, man!” Bobby said, grabbing Sam’s notebook and jotting down the address on a blank piece of paper. 

Sam tried to not show his panic and said, “Eh, alright, I’ll consider it.” 

Class seemed to drag on after that. Sam got stuck in his head, wondering what the hell Arden was thinking. Honestly, who even was she? Sure, she was an agent (in training) for some organization that was supposed to fix this shit. But that didn’t give her the right to just push him into a sport he had no interest in participating in! 

When the bell finally rang and Bobby left to go to his next class, Sam grabbed Arden’s arm so she couldn’t run off and abandon him like she did with Colby earlier. “What the fuck was that?” he said.

“What?” 

“Saying I do karate or whatever it is you said!”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, it’s obvious.” 

“Clearly it isn’t if I’m asking!”

“We need a way in with Cobra Kai. Colby has to deal with Daniel’s side of the story, since he’s already on Johnny’s bad side. He can provoke the rivalry from there. But someone needs to be on the other side of the story to egg things on and make Johnny’s aggression specifically target Daniel. Right now, there’s too much focus on Colby and not enough on Daniel. We need to flip that. So, if you join Cobra Kai, you can do that.” 

“Oh? It’s that simple, huh? Why don’t you fucking tell us this shit instead of leaving us clueless?” 

Arden pursed her lips. “I’ll explain more at lunch. You should get to class.” 

And, without another word, she walked off, leaving Sam to figure out what the hell he was doing in a world he couldn’t even begin to understand.

[starryevermore]

long story short: the invisible daniel (12) ✧ sam and colby

long story short ✧ a parallel universe snc au | ao3

disclaimer: i do not own any aspect of the karate kid universe. does not *totally* follow the karate kid canon (i’ve taken a few creative liberties). 

summary: mr. miyagi and colby convince daniel to go to the halloween dance. 

word count: 1,566

warning(s): colby being mean to himself, also this monstrosity

“C’mon, man, you gotta go to the dance,” Colby said as he and Daniel biked toward the South Seas apartment complex. “Everyone’s going. You can’t be the only one to miss it!”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’m not looking to get my ass kicked again, man.”

Colby ground his teeth together. Why was this so hard, now that he knew what he had to do? If he hadn’t known what the stakes were, if he hadn’t known this was what he was supposed to do, he could’ve already said something that would’ve convinced Daniel to go to the stupid fucking Halloween dance. Goddammit, what was he supposed to say? He’d spent the better part of the day trying to convince the kid to go to the dance, but nothing worked. Was it because Colby knew how it would end? That he knew that Daniel could get beat up by the end of the night? Was he unconsciously sabotaging the mission now? By now, he considered Daniel a friend and, just as he would with Sam, he wanted to protect the kid. He didn’t want the kid to be hurt—even if it was for the greater good or some shit. Fuck, what was he supposed to do? 

“You don’t know that you’ll get your ass kicked,” Colby said, praying that his waver in his voice didn’t give him away. He couldn’t screw this up. He couldn’t screw this up. “Who knows, maybe something good will finally happen.” 

Daniel laughed. “Oh, sure. I’ll believe that when I see pigs fly.” 

They reached the apartment complex, and they got off their bikes outside of Mr. Miyagi’s workshop. On the ride home, Daniel had mentioned wanting to talk to the old man, saying something about he felt bad that Mr. Miyagi seemed so lonely. And, Colby knowing how things were supposed to go down, agreed, and said he would join, too. So, that’s exactly what they did. Daniel led the way to the workshop, walking slightly faster than Colby, as though if he walked fast enough, Colby couldn’t catch up and talk to him anymore about going to the dance. 

When they walked into the workshop, Mr. Miyagi was setting up jack-o-lanterns on his workbenches. He turned when he heard them come in, he turned and held up one jack-o-lantern and said, “Oh, Daniel-san, Colby-san! Happy Halloween! You like?” 

“Yeah, that's nice,” Daniel said, smiling.

“That’s really cool,” Colby added. 

Mr. Miyagi set the jack-o-lantern down, saying, “Passed school today. Lots happening.” When Daniel didn’t say anything, Mr. Miyagi asked, “What’s matter? You not going?” 

“I am,” Colby said, and raised a hand, pointed his thumb in Daniel’s direction, “but he refuses.” 

Mr. Miyagi frowned as he took off his bandana. “How come?” 

Daniel shrugged, trying to look as disinterested as possible. But Colby knew the real reason: that at his core, Daniel was terrified of what could possibly happen. And, in a way, Colby understood that, and that only added to how bad he felt about this whole ordeal. Daniel said, “Eh, I'm not into dancing that much.” But you could see his fear peaking through the façade as Daniel added, “I don't feel like it, anyway.”

Mr. Miyagi shook his head slightly as he turned his gaze back on the jack-o-lanterns to light the candles in them. “Oh, Daniel-san, you too much by self. Not good.”

Daniel crossed the room, grabbing two cans of Sprite from the fridge and passing one to Colby. “I'm not by myself. I'm with you, and Colby.” 

“To make honey, young bee need young flower, not old prune.”

Colby frowned. “You’re not an old prune!”

Before Mr. Miyagi could respond to Colby, Daniel was already saying, “I don't have a costume, anyway.”

“If have costume…” Mr. Miyagi paused to blow out the match he had been using to light the candles in the jack-o-lanterns. “…you go?”

“Yeah, maybe if I went as the Invisible Man,” Daniel said with a slight roll to his eyes.

Mr. Miyagi turned his head to look at Daniel. “Invisible Man?” 

“Yeah, you know, so no one would see me.” 

“Oh,” Mr. Miyagi said, and Colby could already see the gears turning in his head.

Fuck the MTD. Why the hell did he have to wear such a stupid costume? Why, of all the terrible costumes in the world, did they have to make him dress as Elvis fucking Presley? Why couldn’t he have had a more subtle costume? Why did he have to wear a plunging necklace and be covered in fucking rhinestones? Or was Arden just being cruel in making him wear this, saying that was all that the MTD had sent for him the wear? Fuck, whatever the reason it was, he hated it. 

And he hated the attention he was getting even more. Well, maybe he wasn’t getting that much attention. A few stares here and there. A couple of girls giggling behind their hands. But he felt like he was sticking out like a sore thumb. He felt like all eyes were on him, like everyone was burning the image of him as Elvis onto their retinas. 

Colby only started to feel at ease when he noticed the shower finally arrive at the dance. He couldn’t see Daniel at all so, he figure that as cringe as the costume was, at least it served its purpose well. At least it got Daniel to the dance. At least it put Colby one step closer to finally getting to go home. And, when he saw Ali go up to Daniel, Colby knew that things were, thankfully, still on track. 

Then the stupid fucking chicken arrived. Colby was quick to leave when the chicken started smashing eggs on people’s heads. He knew that Daniel had to be hit, but that didn’t mean he had to, too. He was already suffering enough, so why add onto it? So, Colby ducked into the bathroom and decided to wait it out in there. He sat in a stall for a minute or so, before leaving once he heard the all-too-familiar voice of Daniel LaRusso grumbling about the egg in his hair. 

Because he was going with the ruse that he had been using the bathroom, Colby started to wash his hands (what? he’s not an animal! not washing your hand is how pandemics get worse!) in the sink next to Daniel, where he was washing the egg out of his hair. “I see you’ve been egged,” Colby said, laughing lightly at Daniel’s frustration.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Better than getting my ass kicked.”

“Hear that.” 

Before anymore could be said, Colby noticed through the mirror one of the Cobras entering the bathroom. Was it Bobby? He wasn’t sure, all the Cobras looked roughly the same with their matching skeleton costumes. But, the Cobra dressed as a skeleton walked behind them, calling out, “Johnny?”

Colby nudged Daniel so he would also see the Cobra, who begun knocking on stall doors to find his friend. 

“Johnny!” maybe-Bobby said. Finally, he found the right stall and Johnny popped his head over the stop, removing his headphones as maybe-Bobby asked, “Got that number rolled?”

“In a minute,” Johnny said. 

“Alright. I’m gonna get the guys,” maybe-Bobby said, turning to leave. 

“Okay.” 

“Hurry up.” 

Maybe-Bobby walked out of the bathroom, not noticing Colby or Daniel as he went. When he was gone, Colby saw the hose connected to one of the sinks behind them and nudged Daniel. A mischievous look lit up in Daniel’s eyes, and Colby already knew was he was thinking. They unraveled the hose, with Colby standing at the sink to hold onto it while Daniel snuck over to the stall next to the one Johnny was in. Once in the stall, Daniel lifted the hose into the pipes overhead where he wove it through so that it hung just above Johnny. He quickly left the stall, taking his place next to Colby. After Daniel nodded his head to indicate it was ready to go, Colby turned on the faucet, and they waited a moment until they heard Johnny curse.

“Damn!” Johnny hissed as water poured onto his head. 

They quickly ran out of the bathroom, running into a kid dressed as Spiderman. 

“Move, man!” Daniel said, pushing Spiderman back a bit. 

“Watch it!” Colby shouted as they moved around him and finally got out of the bathroom.

Colby led the way as he and Daniel ran across the gym. For a second, he thought they were in the clear. That is, until he heard a flurry of footsteps behind him, and he dared to look back to see all five of the Cobras plus Sam chasing after them. His heart ached for a moment, knowing what was to come, but he couldn’t focus on that. He had to keep running. 

As they ran, they passed Ali, who asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It's coming around!” Daniel said, passing Ali the shower head Daniel had been using as part of his costume. 

Colby wasn’t sure what happened next, but he heard the Cobras all stumble and fall, so he could only assume that Ali tripped them. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was putting as much distance between him and the Cobras as possible.