“I’m sorry Nate, I can't afford to pay the membership fees for any of those gyms.” My father said in a downtrodden manner. His face was red and he was visibly embarrassed.
“It’s alright,” I stated. “I shouldn’t have had my head stuck in the clouds in the first place.” Internally blaming my own selfish greed for my father’s current mood. “Those League-sponsored gyms have so much fancy equipment that I wouldn't even know what to do with it.” I consoled as I tried to keep my own disappointment from appearing on my face. The League-sponsored gyms were the kind of places that everyone bragged about being a member of. They appeared on TV and they always had the limelight, so unavoidably, it was where most people desired to train the most.
“I’ll tell you what!” My father explained, “After lunch we’ll take a look around at some of those independent training facilities. I’m sure they’ll do the trick and they wont cost an arm and a leg!”, he exclaimed with newfound vigor.
“Sure!” I smiled at my fathers sudden mood shift and his newly created plan B. A non League affiliated gym wouldn’t be state of the art, but it would be plenty for our use case.
With a new plan to adhere ourselves to we didn’t continue our discussion and instead focused on enjoying the food laid before us.
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After the meal, I took some time to research the hunter training facilities which we could go to, however information on them was patchy and difficult to find at best.
I spent about thirty minutes searching before I finally found a phone number for a gym called ‘Hunters Paradise’. It was a bit of a gaudy name for an independent gym but I decided to contact them all the same.
I dialed the number and put the phone on speaker mode then I placed it on the table between my father and I. The dial tone sounded 3 or 4 times before the call finally connected.
“What is it?” a gruff and irritable male voice echoed from the device.
I was a bit surprised at his harsh tone and it took me a second to pull myself together but my dad came in clutch at that moment as he greeted,”Hello sir, my son and I would like to train at your gym but we can't seem to find its address. Can you help us?”
“Help yourselves and stop looking.” The man retorted with a sigh. “Independent gyms like mine have been going downhill lately. Anyone that trains here wont be looked upon kindly by any of the Leagues.”
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“That’s fine with me.”My father seemed unafraid of the mans threats.”We don’t want to become hunters, just train a little self defense and work out a bit.”
The gruff man paused for a moment before giving us an address and cutting the call sharply.
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Following the address we arrived at a pretty run down part of town. Some of the buildings featured broken glass windows and the smell of trash was in the air.
We soon arrived outside of a red brick building which had a sign above the door. I could tell that it used to read “Hunters Paradise” however it had been heavily vandalized and was missing more letters than those currently present.
“Charming place,”my dad quipped.
“It’s no Freedom Alliance building, but lets not judge a book by its cover,” I was suspicious about the gym’s quality but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and at least take a look around so I walked forward and knocked to a rhythm on the door.
“It’s open!” yelled the familiar, testosterone infused voice.
“We’re coming in then!” I yelled in response.
We proceeded across the doorstep and went further inside the building. I could see a reception area that might one day have been grand but now featured many battle scars and evidence of conflict. On the wall behind the marble desk there were many gold, silver and bronze medals for a vast array of competitions and dating no later than 2010, the year everything went tits up. There were many pictures of martial artists dressed in iconic and historical clothing.
As we were observing the sights and recent history, a voice sounded behind us. “This place used to train world renowned athletes, now we barely exist” The man lamented.”I’m Kazuhide Miyaji. You will call me Miyaji sensei as long as you are training here” He introduced himself as he explained the pictures.
“I’m Ben Anderson and this is my son, Nathan. We tried to apply for the League-sponsored gyms but they are too expensive. Will that be an issue here too?” My father inquired hopefully.
“200 a month for both of you. You can do what you like here and spend as much time as you want. Just don’t disturb me when I’m in my room.” Miyaji sensei seemed to be very much a ‘to the point’ kind of guy.
My father was excited as he had finally found a gym that he could afford. “Wonderful! That's not even half of what those posh pricks charged me!” He exclaimed as he was on the verge of handing over the money. It had been a long day so I couldn’t really fault him but these things must be done properly.
“Not so fast, dad!” I interrupted. “You’re getting ahead of yourself now. Can we have a look around the place before deciding?” I turned to Miyaji sensei and asked.
“Knock yourselves out,” he replied lazily before walking towards a doorway which I presumed was his room. When he reached the door, he turned and said, “you can pay me if you come back,” and passed over the threshold.
My father and I were a little listless as we were just left to our own devices. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go check it out.”