Ashley Fox - Ninja Babysitter Read online



  “This is a mixed martial arts course, you will be taught many things, and you will be tested. But first, I'd like to know, do any of you have experience in the martial arts?”

  About half the students raised their hands. Ashley didn't lift hers. Despite two previous summers of similar courses, she did not count herself as experienced.

  "Now, how many of you have been hit, hard, in the face?" Sihing Shou asked.

  At first several hands went up, but some were timid, uncertain.

  "I mean hard, bloody nose, fat lip, black eye. How many?”

  Only a few hands remained aloft.

  Shou pointed to one boy and asked, "Who hit you?”

  "My brother hits me all the time," he said, pointing at his brother, standing a few spaces away.

  Shou and several others laughed. Ashley noticed that the boy, however, was not laughing.

  "And you?" Shou gestured to another boy.

  "My father," came the answer.

  Shou pointed again. "A kid in my class.”

  "Has anyone here ever been hit while in the ring?" Shou asked.

  All the hands went down.

  "When you are in a fight, if you are ever in a fight, you must fight for your life. It will be at that moment when you are weak, tired, probably very hurt, that is when you must act to save your life. We will help you get to that place and teach you how to think while you're there.”

  Shou walked along the front of the room. "Someone may come, an outlaw, the government, a king, they may take all of your possessions. They may steal your clothes, eat your food and burn down your house, but you can survive all of that. You may have nothing, but you will never be defenseless. Knowledge is the greatest power; it is something no one can see. It cannot be stolen or broken, and no one can take it from you.”

  ASHLEY FOX – NINJA BABYSITTER

  Ashley Fox Adventures – Volume 1

  by John Carrick

  Copyright © 2011 John Carrick

  ISBN - 978-0-9836916-3-1

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  www.AshleyFox.Ninja

  www.AlphaChannelBooks.com

  © 2011

  Ashley Fox – Ninja Babysitter tm

  Ashley Fox Adventures - Volume 1

  Artist: Jay Arcilla.

  Designer: Liezel Co

  Editors: William Greenleaf, Karl Morgan

  And to Michael at Comics Smash! in Studio City.

  Ashley Fox – Ninja Babysitter Trademarked by Alpha Channel Books

  Acknowledgements and Special Thanks

  My family, my parents, Bill and Therese, my brothers and sisters, Sam, Bill, Megan, Therese, Tom, David, Patrick, Daniel, Edward, Brian, Elizabeth, Mary Kate and Bridget. Uncle Bob and Aunt Lucy, Uncle Dan and Aunt Paula, Aunt Mary Helen and Uncle Larry McCarthy, my cousins, Tim and David, Brandon, Matthew and Amber. Kathleen, Colleen and Brian, and my extended family across the country, I’ve learned so much from all of you.

  I am also deeply indebted to the friends of a lifetime, Patrick, Chris, Frances, Elizabeth, Margaret, Maureen and Alison Tully, George-John, Oscar and Joan Pinz, Charlotte and Dale Finch and their family, Tim Hennip, David Webb, Dan and Dave Wilkinson, Rob McAndrews, Mike Ruemelin, Bob Julian, Jeremy Biggerstaff, Daniel and Michelle Sullivan, Mike and Lynn Stengal, Kim Comstock, Matt and Garth Clewis, Matt Budney, Alec O’Connor, Mark Foppe, Adam Lazaar, Wayne Steinmetz, Frank Mueller, Kathy Shleet, Michael Salgado, Steve Zagraphos, Shannon Coffee, Don Shivers, Patrick Graham, Michael Zager, Katherine Rippy, Max Wicks, Jennifer Golovin, Gary and LeAnn Fidorowitz, Scott, Al, Beau, Wally and the entire G&L Electric crew, the Westfall Family, Angela Battistelli, Lisa Haley, Senator O’Brien, Sean Aldrin, Jayson Arcilla, Rinzi Ruiz, Jay Racelis, Tony Ross, Samantha Tyernik, Carmello Di Bella, The Sweedish Rockers: Daniel Olofsson, Johnan Elfving and Ulrick Zander, Krisakorn Tanitmet, Tim Rush, Ken Yankee, Jennifer Russakoff, Brandi Griffith, Meghan Scott, Julie Choi, Rob Hampton, Doyle Dean, Dan Didsbury, Tony Diaz, Jason Robertson, Deborah Schlaff, Paul and Alison Smith, Mikko Alanne, Karl Monger, everyone at Fan Story, Zach Tyson, Mike Gallagher, Matt Taylor, Brian Dawson, Frank Glacey, Lee Levi, Eli Ramirez, Robert , Keri Simpson, Ronald MacGregor, Shirley Daniel, Nathon Plumlee, Barry Gast, Jeff Carrillo, Jim Borrelli, Doctor Carl Totton, Brett Rushworth, Hashim Thomas, LB, Jonny Blu, Simon Barrett, Roman Varshavsky, Gideon Reuben, Thorne Humphrey, Justin Waggle, Charlotte, Jorge, Keith, Rob Newman and Liezel Co.

  Thank you all so much.

  Special thanks

  Denise Poirier, Peter Chung and Mark Mars. Also Shirow Masamune.

  The Authorities - Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Victor Hugo, Miguel de Cervantes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Richard K. Morgan, James Ellroy, Ken Kesey, Arthur Miller, Elmore Leonard, Joseph Conrad, Phillip Roth, Thomas Wolfe, Joseph Heller, Stan Lee, Robert E. Howard, Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemmingway, William Faulkner, Vladimr Nabakov, Albert Camus, Oscar Wilde, William Gibson, Ray Bradbury, Futaro Yamada, Hiroaki Samura, Thomas Cleary, Fydor Doystevesky, Homer, Gaius Julius Caesar, Publius Ovidius Naso, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Plato, Socrates, Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, John Dee, Dante Alighieri, James Joyce, John Milton, Eliphas Levi, George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ayn Rand, Jun Fan Lee, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, Quentin Tarantino, Kurt Sutter, John Wells, Aaron Sorkin, Oliver Stone, Guy Ritchie, Ben Edlund, Sylvester Stallone, Joss Whedon, Robert Towne, William Goldman, Christopher McQuarrie, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Warren Zevon, Neil Gaiman, Neil Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Terry Brooks, George Orwell, Ralph Ellison, Isaac Asimov, D. H. and T. E. Lawrence, R. A. Heinlein, H. G Wells, J. D. Salinger, T. H. White, Tom Waits, Mary Shelley, Brahm Stoker, Akira Kurosawa, Shimozawa Kan, Grant Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Clive Barker, Alan Moore, Harper Lee, George R.R. Martin, Donna Tartt, Nichola Tesla, Lian Hearn, Nelson Mandela, Gautama Siddhartha, Mahatmas Gandhi, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, Jesus Christ and Hunter S. Thompson.

  Also: Joseph Campbell, Syd Field, Christopher Vogler, Robert McKee, Blake Snyder, Anton Chekhov, Stan Lee, John Buscema, Scott McCloud, Scott McDaniel, J. Scott Campbell, Neal Adams, Reuben Apodaca, Dennis Grigoleit and Frank Miller.

  Dedication,

  This book is dedicated to you, the reader.

  I sincerely hope you enjoy this Legacy of a Mad Scientist, the Adventures of Ashley Fox the Ninja Babysitter.

  Best,

  JC