"Tonight will never happen again...it'd be a little sad if it just ends with lazing around."
- Suu, Kotonoba Drive
Previously on...The Eightfold Fist: 200 years ago, an apocalyptic event known as the Unleashing splintered the United States and let loose the energy field known as the Rddhi. In the present, more and more members of the current generation as they come-of-age possess the ability to manipulate the Rddhi, leading to the establishment of military academies to study these new superpowers. As the remnants of America prepare for their final, apocalyptic conflict, ordinary high schooler Isaac attends West Narragansett Technical Academy within the New England Confederation. Despite his big dreams, Isaac was unable to manipulate the Rddhi until rescuing fellow schoolmate Esther Adzinoki from the New York spy Alfie, who has been imprisoned since then.
With his best friends Audrey, who can accelerate cell division within plants to speed up their growth, and Reed, who can manipulate sound waves by wielding her Domino Sword, Isaac stormed the Yorkist underground infiltration route. Using the powers of the Eightfold Fist, Isaac punched his way to victory and learned that the world may not be so black-and-white as he previously thought...though he still has a long way to go.
As October begins, as the leaves turn to orange and the sun sets earlier and earlier, the trio have healed from their wounds and are looking forward to a week of relaxation. However, the next war will be a total war, meaning the preparations are never complete...
"ISAAC!"
The moment Isaac took a single step past the door to Audrey's apartment, there she was, jumping onto his back, ignoring Isaac's pleas to not crush the ham sandwich within his backpack that he packed away for lunch that morning.
"Morning, Audrey," Isaac said with his usual school morning sigh that always came with an appreciative smile.
"Isaac, you seem carefree," Audrey observed as she rested on his back. "How could you be carefree with a murderer on the loose?"
"Murderer?"
"Murderer!" Audrey repeated with what was an attempt at an ominous tone, but her cheerfulness made it seem...well, definitely less ominous.
"What murderer?"
Audrey slid off Isaac's back and dusted off his olive green school-military uniform for him. "The Mystic Killer! Haven't you heard the news?"
"I'll have you know I'm a very well-informed citizen," Isaac said. "The radio broadcast this morning talked about gunboats firing at each other on Lake Champlain."
"That's so far away!" Audrey protested. "The Mystic Killer is so much more important. Why, I heard he's right in our neighborhood."
The two started walking down the steps of the apartment complex.
"Did you now?"
Audrey smiled. "Well, right in our city."
"That's what I thought. The victims were all in South Narragansett. In the New York Quarter. Far away from here and frankly, nothing to do with us."
"Isaac! I should tell your mother! Heck, I should wash out your mouth for her!"
The two arrived on the avenue in front of the apartment complex. Trees lined the street, their leaves turning into autumnal oranges and reds. Cars passed them by, off on their way to work. A military blimp floated in the sky above them, two war planes circling it for a moment before heading off on their patrols, their white plumes stretching across the blue morning sky.
"Why? What did I do?"
"New Yorkers are people too, you know!"
"They're not people people. They're New Yorkers."
"They're humans like us! How could they not be people?"
Isaac shook his head. "I didn't say they weren't people. They are people. Just not people people."
"What does that mean?"
"Well...we're different kinds of humans. Us and them. It's why we have to fight them."
"Nobody has to fight anybody, Isaac."
"Of course we do! How else are we gonna avenge the loss in the First American War? They call it the War of Yorkist Aggression for a reason, you know."
"If our reason for fighting the next war is just revenge, then why'd we fight the first war?"
Isaac thought about it for a moment. "It was either us or them. We had to fight because we were gonna fight no matter what."
"It's all BS Isaac, and you know it."
Reed had slipped in among them somewhere along the walk down the avenue. Her steps were always light and her presence just as thin. She was dressed in her own olive green uniform, her hair shaggy and unkempt.
"What's BS?"
"War, Isaac. War itself is BS."
"War's good," Isaac said, remembering what he learned in school growing up. "Rejuvenates the soul. Gives us a national goal. Preparing for war is what keeps us in peace."
"War ain't good," Reed answered. "I'll tell you what war's good for. It's good for the corporations and politicians. The military-industrial complex, Big Finance, Big Chemicals, Big Railroads, Big Maps."
"Big Maps," Isaac repeated dryly.
"Of course, Big Maps benefits the most," Reed explained in complete sincerity. "Every time there's a war, you gotta redraw the maps. That's why you have a lot of border skirmishes. The map changes just a little bit, now everyone has to buy a new one. Same with Big Globes. Gotta buy a new globe every couple of years, and that's just for American conflicts. Don't get me started on the global aspect. I bet Croatia nuked Slovenia just to change the map a little. A billion people buy a new map, that's like five billion dollars if you sell a map for five dollars."
"Fantastic math, Reed."
"This is why we need female leaders," Audrey said. "Me and Reed, only us womenfolk know the uselessness of war and keeping the New Yorkers to a ghetto."
"I don't mind keeping New Yorkers to a ghetto," Reed corrected with a shrug.
"...Reed, you were doing so well," Audrey complained.
"It's not that I don't like them," Reed explained. "Well, I don't like them, but I don't like everybody equally, so it's okay. But I think we oughta keep people in their quarters. Means less lines at the deli and convenience stores. Imagine if New Yorkers came into this district for work. That's a whole new line of people I gotta wait behind. It'd be anarchy, Audrey, anarchy. And I bet they'd get all the new coupons. And there would be less VHS tapes for me to rent. Sidewalks would be more crowded. More kids means there's a bigger chance of me having to rescue one when they chase a ball onto the street right when a truck comes. And bam. I'd die. I'd die from overpopulation. And then I'd have to go on some crazy reincarnation adventure in another world. So we should keep people separated. At an appropriate amount, mind you, and not necessarily by race or whatever. But keep the population down so I don't have to die."
During Reed's rambling, the three had arrived on the elevated rail platform of Kenji Station and awaited the train that would take them to school.
Isaac and Audrey weren't sure what to say, so they kept quiet. Then Isaac spoke.
"If overpopulation inconveniences you, then I'd say tear down that wall and let the New Yorkers out."
Reed looked at him dryly. "Very funny, Isaac. Ha ha. But let me tell you now, you won't be laughing when you're stuck inside a convenience store with a bunch of murderous New Yorkers and ne'er-do-wells, your very life on the line."
They could see the train approaching in the distance.
Isaac looked at Reed.
"...ne'er-do-wells?"
Season 1, Episode 3 – The Ring Dings I
Isaac breathed in a sigh of relief as he put away a few textbooks in his locker. It was after-school, finally! Isaac didn't mind school, sure – okay, maybe he did mind it – because the best part of the day came after: Rddhi training! After completing the sewer mission, the Academy finally authorized Isaac to join in on the training sessions.
Of course, not entirely authorized. To get a better feel for combat, West Narragansett Technical Academy implemented a code of honor regarding the newest members of the Technical Corps: until your first combat simulation against your peers, you weren't supposed to let anybody know what your power was. It made that first contact in the simulation all the more real, since it's not like you know what sort of powers you'd go up against in the real world.
The honor code was just that: an informal social policy within the Academy. There weren't any official rules on it. While you did train in relative isolation until the first combat simulation, there was nothing preventing you from telling your friends and classmates about your power. Nobody probably expected high school students to uphold an unofficial policy, but surprisingly, most of them did. Everybody wanted to do good and prove themselves and have a blast in the first simulation, so you only weakened yourself by letting others know your powers, especially when nobody was under any obligation to tell you theirs in return.
Unfortunately for Isaac, he had been a special case. Not everybody unlocks their powers by punching out a New York spy right inside the school. The story spread like wildfire, no doubt aided by the school newspaper story published by Piper (curse her name!). Almost everyone knew Isaac's powers, while Isaac barely knew anyone else's. Even his closest guy friends – yes, Isaac had more friends than a pair of girls – even they wouldn't tell him their powers.
Audrey was off at remedial classes, while Reed was in detention (she skipped practice once again, was caught at the movie theaters, and claimed that she was actually Reed's powerless twin sister. It didn't work), so Isaac closed his locker and sauntered off toward the Tertiary Building where his guy friends awaited.
It was a nice early autumn day out as Isaac walked across the school courtyard. He smiled, since it was finally October, and October was definitely a top three month, alongside April and August. October was just cool enough for sweatshirts yet warm enough to not be unpleasant. The days were still long-ish, all the trees were changing colors, there was apple cider and jack-o-lanterns. Yep, October was certainly a great month.
As Isaac arrived in the Tertiary Building, he felt a momentary sense of nostalgia. Nostalgia for a very recent time, but nostalgia none the less. It was this building where Isaac worked his heart out after school, mopping floors and cleaning windows every day, hoping to make himself useful to his people and nation, until that fateful day came when he saved Esther Adzinoki from the New York spy and unlocked his superpowers. So much had happened in this building, all in the blink of an eye. Such was the nature of time, Isaac supposed.
He arrived on the third floor, walking until he reached the end of a corridor, because this was where his unofficial club met. Hearing loud taunts and vulgar expressions typical of adolescence from inside, Isaac smiled and opened the door.
"Hey, look who it is," Dan greeted, taking just a momentary glance before immediately giving his full attention back to the Yokohama Homecade.
"Just me," Isaac answered, closing the door behind him. It was the usual sight in the Tertiary Building, Classroom 3-22, home of the Naxtube "Club". Their use of the classroom afterschool was officially allowed by School President (of Presidents) Connie Waters, a third-year Class 5 Rddhi user. Their name was unofficial, since while Connie was willing to let fellow users take over an empty room after school, she was not willing to desecrate the time-honored list of school clubs with an "organization whose primary purpose is the usage of an Asian television".
The words were hers, not Isaac's, but they weren't that far from the truth. The four-man club entirely orientated itself around using the Naxtube V07, the newest television out of the Pan-Asian League (well, newest to American shores. Isaac heard they were all the way up to V11 in Asia itself). Getting the television, done at the end of their first year, required a collective pooling of all their resources, multiple bake sales, one Girl Scout Cookies sale, a donation from school nurse Ms. Mogami – their savior and the target of at least two of the people in the room's love – and an impassioned plea to Mr. Shokahu, who sighed and said only if they passed their finals. After a week of grinding homework and study materials, they all passed the mark, and the television was finally installed in all its glory by the end of the summer.
And glorious it was. Seventy inches across, a flat-screen, not like those chunky things everyone had in their homes, and a beautiful, cutting-edge 240p resolution, a rarity in a country that still primarily used black and white televisions. They carefully mounted it in the classroom where the blackboard would normally go. To seal the deal, they brought in tables, chairs, and a couch. Soon after, as the room got more and more use both before, during, and after school, they brought in a refrigerator, a foosball table they found in a dumpster, Demetrius' weight set – being used by said Demetrius currently – and the Yokohama Homecade. Similar to the television, the home arcade was the newest Asian product to hit American shores, with graphics going all the way up to 16 (16!) bits. It was big and it was grand and they were young and filled with excitement.
Daniel "Dan" Turner and Lionel Coleridge currently sat on the couch, heavily focused on playing the fighting game Ultra Smackdown Viral II on the television. Isaac dropped his backpack and sat down on a nearby chair, watching the two go at it. Dan was far better than Coleridge, and Isaac didn't expect the match to go on for too long, which it didn't.
"Another victory for Dan," Dan declared, setting his controller down in triumph. Coleridge sighed and did the same. "What's up, Ike?" Only Dan called Isaac "Ike", or used a nickname for Isaac in general. Isaac supposed his name wasn't exactly conducive to nicknames.
"Not much. Long day of school."
"You're a little late today," Coleridge teased. "You with your girlfriends?"
"Ah, can it, Coleridge," Isaac said, shooing him off.
"Let the boy speak, Ike. It's tough enough for us to get a girlfriend, and you got two all to yourself."
The fact that Isaac usually palled around with Audrey and Reed didn't go unnoticed by his male friends.
"Well, they live near me," Isaac explained. "Makes sense that I see them a lot. I mean, Audrey's my neighbor, and Reed's my...Reed, I guess."
"You can keep your Reed, Ike. I don't know how you're friends with her."
"She's nice," Isaac said defensively.
"She lied about her father dying to get out of training," Coleridge reminded him.
"...she's nice when you get to know her," Isaac corrected. "And what about you, Dan? We've seen you hanging out with Babs all the time."
Dan shrugged. "Motorcycle chicks are hot, Ike."
Both Coleridge and even Demetrius, in the middle of a hammer curl set, nodded in confirmation.
"Alright, alright," Isaac concluded. He switched seats and sat right between Dan and Lionel on the couch.
"We got half an hour until training starts," Isaac explained. "Now, who wants to get their ass kicked in Smackdown?"
Everyone in the room smiled mischievously at that.
