Chapter 8.2 – Remarkable Fighters Only

Riley and Noah worked tirelessly for a whole year on the new house project managing it together.  They fought over style but in the end Riley won with her request for a neutral modern house with Asian accents.  She even had her own martial arts training room installed.

By the time the family moved back in, Mia had aged into an old woman and Sienna had aged into a young adult developing the great kisser trait.

Since aging up and finishing school, Sienna had dedicated all her spare time to her music and her boyfriend Nikko.  Their two piece band had grown to a four piece and they had decided to go on the road to try to make a real go of their music careers.

Saying goodbye to her family was tough for Sienna.  She knew she would miss them all like crazy especially her sister and best friend Riley.  The two girls hugged so tightly before Sienna left that they could hardly breathe. 

Riley hated watching her sister walk away but at the same time could not tear her eyes away.  She wondered if you would ever see her again.

After Sienna left, Riley felt a big void inside her like she had lost an arm or something.  She had never had many friends as her and Sienna had been so close. She cried to her mum about it one day.  “I miss Sienna so much mum,” she wept.  “She was my best friend and now she has gone.  What am I going to do without her?”

“Riley darling, you will be fine,” Mia replied.  “Why don’t you take this opportunity to get closer to Piper.  Maybe the two of you can be best friends too.”

“But Piper hates me.”

“No she doesn’t.  Why don’t you give her a chance. She might surprise you.”

Riley thought about it for a while and then realised her mother was right.  She had never really given Piper a chance.  She headed up to her room and knocked on the door.  “Come in,” Piper called through the wall.  As Riley entered Piper was preening herself in the mirror as usual.

“What’s up,” Piper asked spinning round to face her sister. 

“Err… I was just wondering what you were up to and if you fancied going out together later?  Maybe to the shops or to see a movie?”

Piper stared at her sister hard.  “What do you want Riley?  You never usually want to hang out with me.”

“Yeah well that’s the thing Piper.  I would really like us to be closer.  I know you are still upset that I got the legacy and all, but we are sisters and I would really like us to be friends.”

A smile spread across Piper’s face. “I would like that,” she replied. 

Riley was so pleased that she threw her arms around her sister.  “That’s brilliant Piper.  I am so happy.”

Piper hugged her sister back and held tightly onto her with one hand.  With the other she moved it down to the pocket on the back on Riley’s dress and slipped out her wallet tucking it into pocket when Riley had left the room.  Yes, she thought to herself.  It would be a good idea to be closer to Riley.

Meanwhile Riley had been training hard with her martial arts and winning matches left right and centre.  She was now onto her green belt and was fighting harder and harder opponents.

The mysterious man still attended most of her matches.  He watched her from the ring edges these days not shying away from his obvious surveying.

It had been four years since the man had last approached Riley. And even though they had not spoken since then, she did feel like they had an unspoken connection.  Then one day after winning a match, the man left his viewing point and came towards her.  “Hello Miss Seraphine,” he said in his exotic accent. “It would be my pleasure if you would accompany me for a coffee?”

He did not have to ask twice, Riley had been waiting for this day for too long.  They decided not to travel too far and headed to the diner next door. When they were seated, the man started talking.

He introduced himself as Joe – just Joe – and said that he owned an academy on the other side of the island.  He explained that his academy was not like a normal training centre and specialised only in expert fighters.  He said that he only taught ancient Chinese techniques that you could not learn anywhere else and how he would be honoured if Riley would join his academy.   “You have a gift Miss Seraphine,” he said.  “But you are repressed.  I can teach you things you never knew were possible.”

Riley listened to Joe quietly taking in every word he said.  Excitement built inside her along with apprehension and doubt.  She had to bite her tongue to stop her accepting Joe’s offer straight away. “Well Joe, firstly please call me Riley.  Thank you kindly for your offer but do you mind if I think about it?”

“Of course Riley,” Joe replied handing her his card.  “Here are my details and the address of my academy.  If you are unsure you are welcome to come by at any time and have a look.”  As Joe left Riley stared and the card he had given her: SIM FU EXPERT ACADEMY, it read.   FOR REMARKABLE FIGHTERS ONLY.  Riley knew she needed to think carefully about this.

She decided her first step was to speak to her teacher about it.  Johnny had trained Riley all these years and trained her well.  But she knew that he was no expert and probably could not take her talents much further.  “Hey Riley, what’s up,” Johnny asked when Riley arrived at his academy unexpectedly that evening.  “How was the fight?”

“Yeah really well thanks Johnny, I won.  But that was not what I wanted to talk to you about.  I wanted to talk to you about this,” Riley said handing Johnny Joe’s business card. “They have offered me a position at their academy.  What do you think?”

Johnny looked down at the card in his hand and then handed it straight back to Riley.  “I would stay well away if I were you,” Johnny replied looking very uncomfortable.  “I have heard things about this academy and they are not good.  Their fighting technique is very violent and goes against everything Sim Fu stands for that it is a defence only sport.  These guys fight to hurt.  If I were you I would throw this card away and never think about it again.”

It was not what Riley wanted to hear but she had to respect Johnny’s opinion.  When she left Johnny’s she was certain that she would do what he said and throw the card away. But as the days rolled by she could not get Joe out of her head and decided it would not hurt going over to the academy to check it out.

The academy was at the corner of Angel Falls in the depth of a forest.  As Riley approached she could not help but marvel at the building, it looked ancient but was not in the same style as the rest of the ancient buildings in Angel Falls.  It looked like someone had lifted it right out of China and dropped it in Angel Falls.

Riley knocked on the door a few times but there was no answer.  Then she heard some voices coming from the back of the building and decided to be brave and go and check it out.  As she walked around the house the voices got louder.  Soon she found an opening in the gate with a small staircase and climbed on through.

What she saw on the other side made her stop in amazement.  There was a sparring ring with the blond girl and the cowboy she had seen with Joe many times, sparring.  But it was not like any sparring she had ever seen. They moved so fast and with such grace that it was almost like they were dancing not fighting.

Riley stood in awe, rooted to her spot.  She knew at that instant that she wanted, no needed to do what they were doing.  Eventually she looked down to find Joe looking back up her.

“Riley you came,” he pronounced.

“Yes,” Riley replied making her way down to him.  “This is amazing Joe, what they are doing.  Do you think you could teach me how to do it?”

Joe smiled and nodded his head.  “Does that mean you are in?”

“I am in,” Riley replied.

“It will be hard work, harder than you can imagine.”

“I’m in, I can do it.” 

“Well then,” Joe continued.  “You had better come and meet the rest of the gang.” As Joe led Riley over to the fighters they both stopped and looked over at Riley.  She had never been so intimidated in all her life.

“Right guys,” Joe started looking at the fighters.  “I would like you to meet Riley.  As of today she is a member of our academy and part of our team.  Riley I would like you to meet the other two members.  Here we have Gia,” he said pointing at the blond girl.

“Bonjour,” she replied in a thick French accent.

“And over here is Rex, but we like to call him Sidewinder.” Rex said hello to Riley and she told herself to ask someone later why they called him Sidewinder.

As Gia started chatting away to Riley about how great it was to have another girl around the place, Riley looked at her surroundings and drunk it in.  This was the place she was meant to be, she thought to herself.  It did not matter what Johnny had said, she knew that if she wanted to be a Martial Arts Master, she had come to the right place.