Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Kickboxer nor any of its characters. I only own my original character Cali and anything else that seems out of place.


Early morning sunshine flows through a window onto the face of a young man in his twenties. He sits up in bed blinking, trying to focus his eyes. He raises a hand and wipes the sleep from his eyes, then runs his hands over his face as he tries to wake up.

He slides out of bed and moves about the small room getting dressed in a loose sweatshirt and sweatpants. Pictures line the wall as he moves through his place. Two particular photos have three guys side by side posing for the camera, they look almost identical, the young man is in both photos. The second photo has a caption in the top right corner, written in marker it says 'Sloan Bro's are #1', the year 89' is written on the bottom.

The young man is David Sloan, youngest of three Sloan Brothers, Eric the oldest and Kurt the middle. All three of them world class kickboxing Champions. Both of David's older brothers were killed by a fighter they had beaten, Tong Po. Consumed by dishonor, the fighter tracked down Kurt and Eric, shooting them both in cold blood. David inherited the Sloan Brothers gym, which was where he currently lived and taught future fighters.

David did his usual morning workout routine, Kurt and Eric's faces watching from the wall above him where they had been painted in a mural. After his workout, David walked past them holding a trash bag, looking at his brother's faces he sighed.

"I'm trying, guys. Just not making it easy."


He stepped out the front doors of the gym and took the garbage out to the trash cans dumping the bag inside. It was then he ran into one of his teenage students Joe, she was all but dragging a teenage boy by his shirt collar.

"Hey Mr. Sloan!"

He looks up, "Hey Joe. Don't you guys have school today?"

"Summer vacation started yesterday. This here's Tommy." She releases the boy's collar giving him a final shove.

"Hey how you doing Tommy?"

David steps forward holding out his hand which Tommy refuses to shake.

"Doesn't look like a Champion to me." Tommy scoffs.

Jo stares open mouthed at Tommy before she grabs him by the shirt and pulls him over behind David who had started for the doors.

"So are you new in town Tommy?"

"No he just got out of juvie." Jo answers.

"Aw he can't talk for himself?"

David says looking back at the two teenagers.

"Na, he's too bad to talk. I told him about that thing you do with your eyes closed."

"Oh, the rock and the river?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Later Joe." David turns and goes back inside the gym.

"Chicken-shit."

Tommy mouths off and Jo smacks him across the chest. David pops his head back out the door before stepping out in front of Tommy. Joe smiles at him, pulling a worn bandana from her back pocket she hands it to David. He places it over his eyes tying it behind his head.

"I tell ya what, Tommy. You take your best shot."

David bends at the waist sticking his face out towards Tommy, his hands rest behind his back. Jo smiles as Tommy laughs thinking this will be easy. Tommy swings with his right missing David by a mile, then a left and another right both missing. Tommy ducks around to David's other side trying to kick him and David blocking it. Tommy swings again with his right, David blocks it spinning Tommy around pinning his arms behind his back.

"You know Tommy sometimes when you're blind, and times seem darkest, you often see things more clearly."

David lets Tommy go and takes off the blindfold, he winks at Joe as he hands the bandana back to her.

"Come by the gym sometime. I'll show you how its done."

David heads back inside the gym as Joe smirks at Tommy.

"He looks like a Champion to me."


Later inside the gym David is getting geared up, Joe is putting his boxing gloves on when David's friend Jack walks up to them.

"You didn't put that tape on too tight like you used to do all the time did ya, Janelle?"

"Shut up!"

Jack holds up a paper in front of David. "Electric notice. K, second time."

"So pay it."

"With what?"

"Aw come on, will ya, Jack?"

David gets up climbing through the ropes into the boxing ring.

"We gotta talk Dave."

David turns to his students sitting outside the ring.

"The most dangerous weapon in the universe is a focused mind. Your mind should be like a still, calm pool. Tranquil. Relaxed. One violent emotion is like taking a rock and dropping it into that smooth pond. Everything's chaos. Concentration is lost."

David turns away from the kids towards the other side of the ring where his student/friend is geared up waiting for him. Since David has his back to the door he doesn't see the redhead that slips into the gym and stands just inside the doors watching.

"Now Brian here, is gonna show us how to lose with dignity and grace. You ready?"

"Any time, old man."

"Haha. See, he's trying to throw a rock into my pond. Hey, knockdown ends the lesson."

They both put in their mouth guards and touch gloves before circling each other. The door opens and the redhead watches two men walk in, they're dressed in suits, one bald, one with long blonde hair. They screamed trouble.


Back in the ring David and Brian trade kicks and blows back and forth.

"Not even close," Brian tells David after he misses with a punch.

Next as Brian goes to kick, David sweeps his leg out from under him dropping Brian to the mat.

"What are you doing?" Brian says as he gets up pissed off.

"I told you, knockdown ends the lesson."

"That was a slip! Had it been a real fight, I would've won. But what do you know about real fights?"

Ouch! The redhead felt the sting of that comment across the room, as did Joe by the look on her face. David scowled as he looked over at Brian.

"Lessons over."

David and Brian get out of the ring, taking off their gear. The two men standing by the door move towards David. The redhead knows these men are trouble, the figure moves along the backside of the ring till they're just behind the two young men, neither who have noticed the redhead yet.

"Listen I'm sorry, I just want to be as good as you." Brian says.

"It's alright. You're gonna be better."

"You're a hell of a fighter kid." The bald man says addressing Brian. "A hell of a fighter." He then turns to David. "And David Sloan… the last of the great Sloan Dynasty. I saw your exhibition this summer. It was sublime, a religious experience."

The redhead mimics David as they both roll their eyes.

"Justin Maciah, sports visionary."

The redhead straightens up, they have heard this name, but never put a face to it until now. They were right, bad news.

"I've created the United Kickboxing Association. This one of your future champs?" Maciah gestures to Brian.

"Yeah someday. He needs a little bit of work, but he's pretty sharp."

The blonde speaks up, "He took you apart Sloan. That last move was a woman's bullshit move my friend."

The redhead scoffed at that statement, 'I take that personally,' they thought to themselves.

"He has his problems with the Sloan's. Both of your brothers beat him in the ring. Neil Vargas."

"Yeah, heavyweight kickboxing champ." Brian points out.

"Can we talk business, David?"

"I have a business, Justin." David motions around at the gym.

"How long can you hold onto this place. A month? Two? Come on. It's a dinosaur. I'm gonna take a small time sport and turn it into an international commodity. And I need a spokesperson, someone the fighters and the corporate sponsors respect. Cable contracts, product endorsements, merchandising… the word is…"

"I think the word you're looking for is "hype". David says.

"This is something people wait their whole lives for. This could be your last chance to be somebody."

Maciah hands David a business card.

"I am somebody. You see, I'm a teacher." David eyes the card before he hands it back. "I don't think I want any part of your little three ring circus."

The redhead smiles, David never disappoints.

"I'm very disappointed, David."

"You should learn to live with disappointment, Maciah. It builds character."

"Come on Neil. Call me when you're ready, Brian." Maciah slips the business card into Brian's left glove that he hasn't removed, before they head back out the door.

"Some of what he said makes sense." Brian says looking to David.

They make their way to where the redhead is standing behind a pillar, the redhead makes their way back over towards the door, not ready to be seen.

"Come on, Brian. That guy's a con man. I've seen people like him all my life. He's gonna take a sport that we both love, that we'd die for, and destroy it."

"He said I'm ready to turn pro."

"So, you think I'm holding you back, huh champ?"

"Nah… You coming over for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, what's cooking?"

Brian half-smiles, "Mom's pot roast."

"Ouch," David says clutching his chest while they both chuckle.

"Listen, she thinks everybody likes it."

David holds up his hands. "Not a word from me. I promise… Listen why don't you go hit the weights."

Brian walks into the weight room, glancing back out at David he pulls the card out of his glove staring at it.


Back out in the gym Joe is shouting. "Stop harassing the fighters, you little punk. Get outta here."

Joe's pulling a small boy by his arm but he shrugs her off as she yells at him, "Hey!"

"So who's the wise guy?" David asks walking out of the office.

"Name's Joey D'Angelo. I came here to fight."

Joe speaks up, "This lowlife is in here challenging our students."

"So you wanna fight, huh Joey?" David asks holding a towel around his neck.

"Yeah, what about it, asshole? I wanna train."

"You uh, you got money for lessons?"

"If I had money do you think I'd be in this crappy dump? I heard you give freebies."

The redhead suppresses a laugh, this small boy couldn't be more than 10 years old, but certainly has guts. The redhead smiles again as David whips the towel over his head in both hands wrapping it around the small boy under his arms and yanks him up off the ground to his face.

"Yeah, well you heard wrong. You wanna train here, you've got to prove yourself. You'll clean the bathrooms. When you see me you smile, you say, "Good morning, Mr. Sloan," like you enjoy it. If I catch you not smiling one time, I'm gonna throw you out on the streets. You got that?"

Joey fakes a smile before David puts him back on the ground.

"Now, what makes you think you're good enough to train?"

Joe butts in, "He's not. I mean, look at the kid. He's small. Obviously he's weak-"

"If you wasn't a chick I'd rip off your damn head. Get what I'm saying."

David covers Joey's mouth as the redhead smiles again.

"You know something? You talk too much. And you shouldn't swear all the time. When you swear all the time it loses its meaning. Got that?"

David takes his hand off Joey's mouth just long to hear, "Go to hell."

He puts his hand back over Joey's mouth, looking at Joe who is trying not to smile. He grabs Joey by the back of his shirt and leads him over to a punching bag.

"Okay, here's the deal- you kick this bag 500 times and I'll train you, you got that?"

Joey nods as David releases him, "I could kick that bag five billion times."

"500 times will be just fine."

"You still have such a way with kids Davi," a melodious voice teases.