Riley Nyt and The Mortal Order

Chapter 12 - Training

Riley and Katherine circled around each other, tired eyes darting feverishly as they tracked each other's movements.

"Are you sure you're feeling up for this?" Katherine asked.

Riley nodded, "No who's attacking me is going to care if I'm tired or not."

"You died."

"Temporarily."

Katherine shifted her front foot before lunging forward and Riley dodged, slapping her fist away.

"No one expects you to be in full fighting form," argued Katherine.

Riley let out a short laugh, her feet aching as the brushed over the rubber mat, "Yes they do."

"Screw them, since when do you care about what they think," her foot shifted before she swung a hook punch and Riley dodged under and around her.

"I'm useless to Ava if I'm out of shape and out of practice."

"You held your own against Hammerhead and the simulation, no on can deny that you have natural talent."

Riley gritted her teeth, "Being trained to fight as a child is not natural talent."

"Come on," Katherine let her arms drop, "It was awesome!"

Riley lunged forward and Katherine nimbly stepped out of the way, tripping Riley as she stumbled past.

"We were children, Kat. We shouldn't have been bandaging each other up after playing tag with knives."

Katherine held out a hand to pull her up, "Grayson said you used to love knife tag."

"That's not a good thing," Riley accepted Katherine's hand, gripping it hard as she wrapped her legs around Katherine's and sent her slamming into the dojo mat.

"Riles," Katherine twisted around as Riley did her best to keep her trapped between her legs, "what could be better then being raised to fight and use powers and be heroes?"

"Therapy."

Katherine sat up, levering Riley off the ground before slamming back down again. Riley gasped for breath as Katherine rolled free and got up. She was frighteningly strong.

Katherine shook her head as Riley struggled to her feet, swaying slightly, "Mortals would do anything for our lives, heck, half the realms people would too. Our team used to be heroes. Don't you want to be a hero again?"

Riley raised her fists as Katherine eased back into a fighting stance, "You're remembering it wrong," Katherine frowned, "I was never the hero of our group."

Katherine rolled her eyes, her front foot shifting left. Riley stepped forward, slapping Katherine's hand away, jabbing her throat and hooking her ankle. Katherine hit the mat coughing hard.

"Nice one, Riles!"

Riley turned around to see Grayson and Cassidy walking into the training room, past the dojo section and towards the climbing ropes.

"Thanks, Gray," Riley replied in a bored voice, feeling the weight of the mat shift under her feet. She quickly dropped into a squat, jabbing her elbow back into Katherine's hard stomach and snapping her fist up. Katherine yelped and stumbled backwards, clutching her nose. "But Katherine's going easy on me."

Katherine glared at her, pinching the bridge of her nose and Riley limped to one of the surrounding benches, tossing her a towel.

"You died," Katherine muttered, "I didn't want to kill you for real."

Riley sat down, "Dying won't stop me."

Katherine shoved her and sat down too, "Whatever, loser."