CHAPTER 12: THE ROBBY FACTOR
POV: Ivyn Mikaelson
March comes with Santa Ana winds that make the Valley feel electric. Restless. Like reality's holding its breath before something shifts.
I've been tracking a problem I know is coming.
Robby Keene. Johnny's estranged son. Currently spiraling through truancy and petty crime. Destined in the original timeline to become Daniel's student. The spark that ignites the dojo war.
But foreknowledge provides opportunity.
If I can connect Robby to Johnny before Daniel intervenes, maybe the love triangle over Sam never forms. Maybe the school fight's catalyst is defused.
It's manipulation with good intentions.
I'm becoming uncomfortably skilled at both.
[QUEST AVAILABLE: ALTER MAJOR CANON EVENT]
[TARGET: Robby Keene's Path]
[DIFFICULTY: EXTREME]
[REWARD: Significant timeline divergence, relationship complications]
[WARNING: Butterfly effects will escalate]
I accept. Because preventing tragedy is worth the moral complexity.
Finding him takes surveillance I justify as necessary. Three afternoons watching a convenience store near Echo Park where he's been seen.
Finally, he appears.
Lanky. Guarded. Johnny's bone structure visible in his face. Chip on his shoulder evident from across the street.
I manufacture the encounter. Drop my wallet deliberately while entering the store. Appear to search frantically.
Robby watches for a moment. Then picks it up.
"You dropped this."
His voice is carefully neutral. Testing whether I'll assume theft or offer thanks.
"Thanks, man. I'm Ivyn."
"Robby."
I buy drinks for both of us. Make small talk. Feel out this kid who's so much like Johnny it's painful.
When he mentions looking for work, I see my opening.
"What kind of work you good at?"
"Anything that pays and doesn't ask too many questions about age or paperwork."
Red flags. But also desperation.
"You know anything about martial arts? I train at a place that's looking for someone to help with maintenance. Cleaning mats. Equipment upkeep. Pay's not amazing but it's legit."
Robby's suspicious immediately. "Why are you offering this to some random guy?"
"Because you helped me when you could have walked past. And because you look like you could use a break that's not contingent on compromising yourself."
Direct enough to be honest. He appreciates directness.
"What's this place?"
"Cobra Kai dojo in Reseda. Karate school."
The name means nothing to him. He doesn't know his father reopened the dojo where he once trained.
"Sure. When?"
"Tomorrow. I'll text you the address."
We exchange numbers. I walk away knowing I've just set dominoes falling in new directions.
[CANON DIVERGENCE INITIATED]
[Robby Keene: Early intervention successful]
[Outcome: Unknown]
Robby shows up after school hours. Only Johnny and I are there.
Johnny reviewing finances. Me organizing equipment.
The moment Johnny looks up and sees his son standing in the doorway, time compresses.
"Robby?"
His voice breaks on the name. The tough sensei persona evaporates. Just a man staring at the child he failed.
Robby's face cycles through confusion, recognition, and rage in three seconds.
"You? This is your place?"
He turns to leave. I intercept physically.
"Wait. Just listen for thirty seconds."
"You set me up." His voice is acid. "This whole thing was to get me here?"
Betrayal sharp because for a moment he thought someone offered kindness with no agenda.
Johnny's standing now. Approaching carefully. Like Robby might bolt.
"I didn't know he was bringing you. I didn't..." He swallows. "Robby, I know I don't have the right to ask, but please don't leave. Not yet."
The standoff is excruciating. Father and son. Years of abandonment compressed into loaded silence.
I speak carefully. "I knew he was your dad. Yeah, I engineered this meeting. Because you both needed it even if you don't think you do. You don't have to forgive him or train here or do anything except maybe talk for five minutes."
Robby's jaw works. Could go either way.
Then: "Five minutes. But I'm only listening."
What follows is painful. Halting. Johnny trying to apologize for years of absence in sentences that are inadequate to the task. Robby's responses a mix of anger and buried hurt.
I mostly stay quiet. Just present.
When five minutes stretch to twenty, I quietly leave them alone.
[MAJOR CANON DIVERGENCE ACHIEVED:]
[Robby Keene introduced to Johnny Lawrence (3 months early)]
[Outcome: Uncertain]
[Relationship Status: Father-Son (Hostile but Communicating)]
That evening, I tell Sam about Robby. Complete honesty, as promised.
Her reaction is complicated.
"So you manipulated a situation to force a father-son reunion?" She tilts her head. "That's... I don't know if that's sweet or concerning."
"Probably both. But Johnny's a better man than he thinks he is. And Robby deserves a father who's trying. Even if trying looks clumsy."
Sam processes this. Empathy warring with concern.
"You have this habit of seeing several moves ahead. Arranging things like we're all pieces on your personal chessboard." She pauses. "It's effective. But it's also kind of controlling."
The observation is accurate. And stings.
"You're right. I do that. And I don't know how to stop seeing patterns and opportunities to make things better."
"Maybe sometimes things need to unfold naturally. Even if the outcome's messier."
It's wisdom I know is correct but struggle to accept when I have foreknowledge of disasters.
Her father calls. Something about a new employee at the dealership. Could Sam pick up files from the office?
My stomach drops.
In the original timeline, Robby becomes Daniel's employee before becoming his student. If that still happens despite my intervention, the triangle I'm trying to prevent forms anyway.
Later, Miguel texts about the new kid at the dojo. Robby accepted Johnny's offer to hang around. Try some training.
The complexity multiplies. Miguel doesn't know about Ivyn and Sam. Miguel's developing a friendship with Robby. In three months, all these relationships collide at the All Valley Tournament.
[WARNING: BUTTERFLY EFFECT ESCALATION]
[Minor changes cascading into major unpredictable variations]
[Foreknowledge reliability: 82% → 75%]
[Canon timeline increasingly unreliable]
[RELATIONSHIP COMPLEXITY:]
[Robby Keene: Acquaintance (Wary but Curious)]
[Johnny Lawrence: Student (Trusted for Judgment)]
[Sam LaRusso: Girlfriend (Questioning Methods)]
[STRATEGIC MANIPULATION: 420/1000 XP (+420)]
[EMPATHY: 58 → 53 (-5)]
[STRESS: +10]
Late March, and the dojo has a new dynamic.
Robby's presence changes everything in subtle ways. He doesn't fully trust Johnny yet. But he shows up. Tries techniques with natural athleticism that makes Miguel visibly jealous.
Johnny's different around him. Softer edges. More patient explanations. The version of himself he wishes he'd been fifteen years ago.
I watch these changes with satisfaction and anxiety in equal measure.
Because I'm steering the story into uncharted territory. Can't predict every consequence.
Sam continues to question my methods. Daniel continues to watch with suspicion. The All Valley looms ten weeks away.
Training intensifies to obsession. Two-hour morning sessions. Full dojo class. Midnight solo work.
The System logs every repetition while my body transforms into something capable of protecting people if—when—everything goes wrong.
I fall asleep reviewing footage of the original timeline's tournament. Memorizing fighting styles of opponents I'll face.
Wondering if knowing the future is a gift or a curse when every intervention creates new uncertainties.
The answer, I suspect, is both.
And the cost is a loneliness I can't share with anyone.
Not Sam. Not Miguel. Not even the System that tracks everything except the weight of secrets too big to speak aloud.
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