Ryan's alarm goes off, waking him up for a moment. He turns it off and goes back to sleep. Soon water is then thrown in his face, waking him back up. As he wipes the water out of his eyes, he sees Bill smiling.
"Rise and shine, young wolf!" Bill tells him.
"Sensei, how did you get in my house?"
"Emily let me in. Come on, we have work to do."
Ryan starts his training with fifty push ups on his knuckles. He then gets baseballs shot at him, not being able to block or dodge any of them. Next, he tries to run five miles, barely making it to one. He then struggles to lift two buckets of water. Finally, he tries to chop a cinderblock in half, hurting his hand.
After an exhausting disaster of a workout, Ryan hunches over against the wall, face dripping with sweat. He thinks to himself that this isn't working and that maybe he was in over his head. Ryan then thinks about his mom, and how she encouraged him to do karate and her faith in him. He then gets back to his feet, ready to go again.
"Round two." Ryan tells Bill, making his Sensei smile.
Ryan stands in the middle of the dojo, facing the baseball launcher. As baseball's are shot at him, he easily blocks and dodges them all. As the last two are fired at him, he quickly cartwheels to dodge one and catches the other. Next he does squats with the two buckets of water on his shoulders. He then steps up to the cinderblocks again and just stares at them for a moment.
"Focus." Bill tells him.
Ryan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He then slams his hand into the cinderblocks, shattering them in half. Ryan and Bill cheer and celebrate the accomplishment. Ryan then starts running, getting faster and faster, running more than five miles. His mind starts race, he thinks about Cobra kai, the tournament, his friends, Emily, his mother, why he's fighting at all and let's out a loud roar of emotions.
Later, Bill and Ryan talk in the dojo.
"Welp, you're as ready as you'll ever be."
"Thank you, Sensei."
"You've been through a crucible, with moving here, dealing with Cobra kai, your mom's passing. But you've become stronger for it. And, I am proud of you."
Ryan smiles and bows
"That means the world to me, sensei."
The two share a smile, then Bill pulls out a board with a picture of a Cobra on it. He then puts it up high.
"You know what to do." Bill says.
Ryan stares intensely at the board. He then takes a fighting stance and takes a step back. Ryan then lands a flawless corkscrew kick, shattering the board into pieces.
Meanwhile, after Ethan finishes training, he is approached by Baron.
"Ryan Larusso. What is your view on him?" Baron asks.
Ethan doesn't answer for a moment
"He must be good, if he took down long."
"Is he better than you?"
Ethan is taken back by the question.
"No."
"You sound a little unsure."
"He's not, sensei."
Baron circles his student
"With people like Larusso and my brother, Bill, Skill isn't the only thing you have to worry about. It's will. That annoying thing inside of them that keeps them going." Baron tells him.
Ethan is visibly frustrated by this, seeing first hand that this is true.
"Then I guess I'm gonna have to break that will." Ethan replies.
Baron nods and walks away as Ethan punches a wall.
The next day, Ryan, Johnny, Emily, and Olivier sit in class, doing schoolwork when a student walks in and gets the teacher's attention.
"Mr. Garber. Principal Manalo wants to see you."
Mr. Garber walks out, telling the students to keep working. The kid then smirks and turns around to reveal a Cobra Kai shirt, catching Ryan by surprise. Ethan, Derek, and two other Cobra Kai's walk in. Ryan gets to his feet and face them.
"I'm only going to say this once." Ethan tells him.
"How bout nonce." Ryan replies.
"Pull out of the tournament. Call in sick, fake an injury, leave town, I don't care what you do, just don't show up to the tournament, or we will literally crush you."
Ryan smirks.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."
"There's no way you'll win. You're not tournament material."
"See I'm confused, if I'm not a threat to you guys, then why do you care about me being in the tournament? Scared that a newbie like me is gonna kick your ass? Or is it that you're just pissed off that someone is standing up to you guys now?"
Derek steps up to Ryan
"Well, we don't have to wait for the tournament to destroy you." Derek says.
Ethan chuckles
"You know Derek, you're right. I mean, there is five of us, and only one of him."
As they start surrounding Ryan, Oliver jumps out of his seat and stands by Ryan's side. Ryan smiles as the two share a fist bump.
"You miss counted, Ethan." Oliver says.
"A loser and a traitor. Doesn't matter, two won't be enough."
Zack takes big gulp and slowly stands with his friends.
"Three." Zack says, nervously.
As the Cobra's laugh, Emily gets up and walks to Ryan's side, grabbing his hand, angering Ethan.
"Four." She says with a smirk.
One, by one, each student that has ever been bullied by Cobra Kai stands with Ryan and his friends, surprising the Cobra's. Mr. Garber then returns to the class.
"What is going on here?"
Ethan and Ryan stare each other down for a moment longer
"We were just leaving. Come on fellas." Ethan says.
Cobra kai leaves as Ryan turns to everyone who stood with him, even more motivated to win.