Nyte's Point of View
Her aggression echoed off the fleshy walls of Stinger HQ, every stomp of her boot a challenge.
Who the fuck hurt Rich and made him hate us? She cast an examining eye about the hall. Soldiers flinched away, making small noises of obeisance at her approach.
"You," she singled one out. There were sergeant stripes on her arm so she might be presumed to know something. "There was an attack at the Blockbuster on North Street several months ago. They encountered Future Hero, our first such recorded encounter, I believe. Find me those who participated," she ordered shortly.
"My lady Spider Queen," the sergeant was quivering, struggling to meet her eyes, "that operation suffered significant casualties. It was before we understood how powerful Future Hero was."
"Then find me the survivors!" Nyte boomed.
The sergeant was appropriately motivated by her tone, at least, and went to a console to look up personnel records. Some minutes later, she returned with two soldiers.
Only two? "The others?" Nyte demanded. Stinger usually operated in teams of four, and big targets like that Blockbuster would necessitate two teams of four plus a squad leader, making nine.
"Dead, my lady," reported the sergeant. "In either that operation or subsequent ones. Our casualty rates have exploded since Future Hero came on the scene. Attrition is bad. I'm not sure what these two could tell you that you don't already know. You've fought Future Hero yourself, yes? You're one of the few to live to tell the tale."
As ever, the sergeant had completely misjudged Nyte's purpose. Not for the first time, she cursed her mother for getting her caught up in this mess in the first place. "I don't want to hear about Future Hero," she sneered. "A woman was killed in the Blockbuster attack, medium height and build, blonde hair, name of Karen Rice. I want to know who did it."
"You want to hear about a random dead civie?" one of the soldiers asked incredulously. "We knife randoms for resisting us all the time. After a while, they all sort of run togeth-"
Nyte shot out one of her wrist webs and pulled the soldier's feet out from under her. "Wait!"
She didn't wait. With one strong pull, she yanked her web back, sending the soldier flying. Once the woman was airborne, Nyte pulled in the opposite direction to "crack the whip", the abrupt change of direction snapping the dumb grunt's neck via whiplash. The other cringed away from here.
"No, no, please!" she begged.
"If you want to live, answer me!" Nyte said coldly. "Who killed Karen Rice?"
"Whoever did it, she's dead now! Please, you've got to believe me! Future Hero nearly wiped us out by himself. We were totally helpless, never seen anything like it. The only thing I remember is Future Hero showed up right after the woman died. Yeah, that's exactly what happened."
Nyte raised an eyebrow. Did Future Hero personally know the Rice family? No, she dismissed the idea, just an odd coincidence. Without a word, Nyte reached out and snapped the girl's neck without ceremony. Even if she wasn't directly responsible, it felt good to punish someone for hurting her boyfriend.
"And let that be a lesson to you!" the Spider Queen called out threateningly. "The Rice family is absolutely off limits. Am I clear?"
The gathered soldiers shivered in their formation. "Crystal," replied the bravest.
Clap! Clap! Clap! She turned around to see Jellyfish Hitler looking entirely too pleased with herself.
"Fufufu, bravo, Spider Queen Nyte! Disciplining weak and careless soldiers is absolutely within your rights! Stinger is no place for the weak. Future Hero has exposed a weakness in our ranks. We must train! Ape Mutant Argento, come forth!"
In walked a bipedal ape man wearing athletic shorts. The creature smiled, or sneered, showing off its sharp teeth with prominent canines. "Just bleed!" it growled. "Don't worry Jellyfish Hitler, I'll turn these soldiers into Ultimate Fighters or they'll die trying."
Some of the rank and file shifted from merely cringing to openly crying.
***
Rich was about to register for his first karate class when he noticed an MMA gym had opened in town.
This is about the time when the UFC became popular, he remembered. Alice-sensei was strong, but maybe this was worth checking out. After all, why not try to be well-rounded?
"No boys allowed!" was what he heard at the door of Silverback Fight Club.
"You tell him, Silverback Sarah!" one girl yelled. She looked like the douchiest genderbent version of a 2000s MMA bro he could imagine, with a Tapout shirt and everything.
"Yeah, boys can't be silverbacks!" another added.
Rich was almost positive that was false, but didn't really understand the biology of this world. Maybe animal gender roles were also reversed? "So you aren't letting boys train here at all?" he asked, disappointed.
"Definitely not," Sarah, er, Silverback Sarah replied emphatically.
"And you're all silverbacks?" He was almost afraid to ask.
"Hell yeah! I'm Silverback Sarah, and she's Silverback Lindsay," she said, pointing out the douchebag, "and she's Silverback Ginny! You've got to earn the silverback title. Not any geek off the street can make it! Being a silverback is a mindset! A boy wouldn't understand."
Just this once, Rich was happy not to understand. This sounded like a cult. "I'm sorry for wasting your time." He turned to leave, but they had other ideas.
"Hey, baby, wait a second," Silverback Sarah sprinted around behind him. The others moved to box rich in.
"Yeah, just because you can't be a silverback doesn't mean you can't have fun with us!"
"We'll take good care of you!"
Moron that he was, Rich realized he'd let him be surrounded by three bigger, stronger women, women with some level of hand-to-hand combat training. His only way out of this was the Pureheart ring, but could he really transform into Future Hero to fight non-Stinger people? It was hardly fair.
"Leave him alone," commanded a stern voice. Alice-sensei!
Up close, Rich was amazed to observe that the city of Plano's local karate master was even bigger than Julie. She had to be 6'6" or 6'7", or roughly two meters for you readers outside the United States.
"Buzz off, mcdojo bitch!" Silverback Sarah threatened. "That karate bullshit doesn't work. This is the MMA era!"
Alice-sensei didn't take the bait. "I think you'll find my style more than a match for your vulgar cage fighting," she said confidently.
Whatever the silverback girls saw in Alice-sensei's eyes, they must not have liked it. With a few insolent words, they backed off and retired inside Silverback Fight Club.
"Richard-chan, a boy ought not walk the streets alone. It's unsafe," she said chivalrously. Her blonde hair flowed in the breeze cinematically. What right did anyone have to be cool like that?
"I was just checking out the new place in town," he defended himself. "There was no way to know they'd be like that."
"Perhaps," Alice-sensei allowed, "but these are evil days. Stinger proliferates, and their tentacles extend into many things. In the future, it would be better to be escorted by your sister or young master Cohen if you wish to wander abroad and observe curiosities."
They walked along side by side in the direction of Alice-sensei's dojo. "I want to get stronger, too," Rich admitted.
Alice-sensei smiled down at him. "A noble sentiment. There are strong boys in this world, you know."
"Like Future Hero!" he couldn't resist saying. Rich watched Alice-sensei for a reaction. Would she approve, disapprove?
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "So that one is already inspiring the masses, eh? His technique could use some work, but his heart is in the right place. Come! A boy's karate-gi in your size won't be easy to find, but I'm sure I've got something in storage!"
***
"Ichi! Ni! Ichi! Ni!"
The class called out the cadence together, running through the basic movements, again and again, dozens of times, hundreds of times.
Alice-sensei paced the gaps between their rows and columns, observing and correcting. "Widen your stance a bit, Grace-kun." She physically took hold of a boy's elbow and guided him through the motion of the high block, making him repeat it until she was satisfied. That same boy was blushing as she walked away.
The male version of Alice-sensei was probably Dolph Lundgren or something, Rich decided. She was tall, powerful, with striking blonde hair and blue eyes. With all that, she spoke like a philosopher.
"Kihon, gentlewomen! That is, basics. One thousand punches is just the beginning! One thousand before breakfast, I say! Every movement may be isolated and repeated until mastery. With this, we build our style, for we are the Kyokushin-kai! This is our karate-do!"
Rich was already sweating. The old building this class took place in had no air conditioning, or perhaps Alice-sensei disdained to turn it on. After nearly an hour, the class had run through all the basic movements of Kyokushin-kai, every punch, kick, block, and stance, practicing one thousand times for each movement, left and right.
The real training didn't begin until the class started to visibly tire. "Only when you are weak can you become strong!" Alice-sensei instructed them. "Your body's energy can make a poor punch hit strongly. But when energy is lacking, strength must come from good form!"
She walked right up to Rich, adjusting his shoulders. "You are too open, Richard-chan. Stance is the foundation of all. With a correct stance, you protect your center line. With a correct stance, offense and defense come more naturally, allowing fluid transitions. You're strong, especially for a boy, but strength is not enough! Skill decides the outcome of combat!"
This was actually just what he came here for. Rich had been relying on the Endram Armor, making him stronger and faster than a normal human. With the skill to go along with it, he could really take Stinger down for the count.
"Kata is next!" Alice-sensei called out. "Divide yourselves by skill level and practice in small groups. Beginners, come with me!"
Richard was the only one who was here for the first time, so he got a little private instruction from Alice-sensei herself.
"Kata, or patterns, integrate several movements in a predetermined sequence. To the untrained eye, kata may appear to be a dance, but it is anything but! Kata is simulated combat, Richard-chan! I shall teach you the movements for the first kata, the fundamental kata, called Sanchin. Sanchin contains within it all of Kyokushin-kai!"
Alice-sensei led him along, moving up and down the floor of the dojo in a figure-H, with a short sequence of blocking and counter-attacking at each point on the "H". "You must visualize each sequence as if you are fighting a real opponent!" She took a fighting stance in front of him. "Hit me! High punch!"
"AH!" he cried, releasing his internal energy, or "ki" as he had been taught, in time with the punch. Swiftly and smoothly, Alice-sensei's arm swept up in the high block, deflecting his blow.
"Osu! Richard-chan! That was excellent! Put your energy into every move! I will stand in front of you for the entire kata, and we will engage as if this were a real fight. This is the true visualization!"
The first time Alice-sensei punched him, that same block he'd practiced one thousand times came to him without conscious thought. They completely ran through Sanchin about ten times with increasing intensity. The last time felt like a real battle against Stinger!
"Osu! You learn quickly, Richard-chan." She bowed to him.
"Osu, Alice-sensei!" Rich bowed back in mutual respect.
"Now you no longer need me," Alice-sensei told him. "Join that group over there." She pointed out a low-ranking group with white belts and a few with yellow, blue, or orange. "That is the low-kyu group. 'Kyu' is like a rank. Remember, every time you perform Sanchin together, you must visualize an opponent in front of you! Without that, kata really is a dance."
They ran through Sanchin about twenty more times. As tired as he was now, it seemed to Richard as if the underlying reason for the movements was becoming clear. The style felt natural, and his body wanted to "snap in" to the groove of it, responding on instinct. Each time, he imagined a Stinger soldier in front of him.
"Enough!" called out Alice-sensei. "Now that my cute little students are nice and tired, too tired to hurt themselves or others, the time has come for kumite! Kihon, kata, and kumite, the three K's of karate-do! Say it with me, KKK!"
"KKK!" the class said back.
Rich didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said.
"Line up, and we'll start sparring. Focus on technique, not power! One strike, Ippon! One blow can turn the tide of battle. Don't allow yourself to be hit if you can help it. Richard-chan!" she singled him out. "You will spar the girls, not the boys. You're too big to hit a boy without hurting him."
So he was one of the girls, huh? That was nice, in a way, that she respected him that much already.
His first opponent was a girl with a blue belt, one of the ones he was running Sanchin with. She was actually shorter than he, but quite strongly built. Rich was faster, though. His blocks flowed like water, not allowing a single hit, or ippon, through. In one moment of clarity, he saw an opening and nailed her with a kick to the gut, driving her back.
His other opponents were much the same. Perhaps he was in good shape from training with Becca, but it seemed they tired much faster than he did. The lower-ranked girls couldn't hit him, but he could hit them. At last, Alice-sensei dismissed the class. They bowed to the American flag, the Japanese flag, and the Kyokushin-kai charter on the wall in turn.
"Osu, class! See you next Tuesday!"
"Osu, Alice-sensei!"
Despite the early summer heat, Rich felt cool when he walked out into the parking lot. That enclosed dojo was sweltering; small wonder they liked to take the class outside, weather permitting.
Maybe he was a natural, or maybe Alice-sensei was just a really good teacher, but he felt like he really learned a lot in just that one lesson. After a few months of this training, Stinger would be in serious trouble.
Rich was about to get in his truck to go home when the silverback girls from before decided to make an entrance, only this time they were dressed like Stinger soldiers!
"This is the last thing I need right now," he said to nobody in particular. "Can it wait, ladies? I'm tired."
"No waiting! Argento says we have to take you to make up for our cowardice earlier!" Silverback Sarah said aggressively.
Who the hell was Argento? Well, no matter. If they wanted an ass beating, he was happy to deliver:
"From a future dark
To a post not set,
Stinger hasn't won just yet,
With Pureheart Power, a noble mission,
Come forth! Future Hero! Henshin!"
The Pureheart Power from the ring seemed to burn hotter than usual, wrapping his body in angry purple light that flashed brightly once and left the Endram Armor in its wake.
"Oh shit!" said one of the Stinger silverbacks.
"Oh shit indeed." Future Hero could only laugh at how outmatched they were. Still, they attacked.
It was nothing like before. The Stinger soldiers were slow, but not just slow, predictable. He was moving to avoid their attacks before they'd even come near. Just for practice, he let one get close, only to easily block her impotent punches and kicks. A new world had opened up to Rich now. He wasn't relying on the armor, just using it. Rich was the one really fighting.
"Stand still!" Silverback Lindsay, the douchiest one, tried to gut him with her combat knife. Just for that, he punched her right in the throat. Lindsay didn't move much once she hit the ground.
"Our training is still incomplete!" the one Stinger soldier still standing said in dismay. "Argento, help us!"
"Stand and bang, Future Hero!" snarled a muscle-bound monkey man dressed like an MMA fighter. Rich should've known Stinger was about due for some kind of new monster.
"Gladly," Future Hero snapped back, settling into his fighting stance.
Argento the ape circled, but Future Hero's stance left no openings for the creature to exploit. Seeing as how they were now in a quarry, the ape picked up a rock and threw it at him.
"Hey!" he said in annoyance as one hand snapped up to bat the rock away. The ape used his momentary distraction to close the distance.
"Karate is no match for my dirty boxing!" Argento claimed, but Future Hero's guard remained strong. Argento's long arms swung at Future Hero in wide, looping punches. Rich dodged some, deflected some, and fired back punches of his own. Mr. Monkey was no slouch, though. That guard of his was tight.
Future Hero might've taken the upper hand had he been fresh, but tired as he was from the karate class, Argento was able to drive him back to the edge of the rock wall.
"Double leg takedown!" the beast called out his attack. Those long arms locked under his legs, and Argento tackled him to the ground. In sudden panic, Future Hero realized Alice-sensei hadn't trained him on what to do in this situation!
"Haha, now you're mine! Ground and pound!" Stinger's new monster mounted Future Hero, landing devastating blows that struck sparks on the Endram Armor. Rich squirmed and struggled, but the ape's massive bulk pinned him in place. Defending himself from this position was next to impossible. What should he do? Each punch that thudded against the Endram Armor sent pain lancing through his whole body. The ring on his finger flashed, and Future Hero knew he couldn't take much more!
"Ippon!" the memory of Alice-sensei whispered in his ear. Ippon, one strike! Rich lacked the leverage to punch well from the underside, and kicks were impossible, but there was something he could do.
Forming a knife hand, Future Hard charged it with Purple Pureheart Power.
"What? You think a little boy's magic trick will save you?" Argento taunted, lifting its heavy paws to maul him further.
'Future Chop!"
Future Hero brought the blade of his hand down right on the ape's snout. Argento clutched his face, rolling off Future Hero and moaning in pain.
With one last burst of energy, Future Hero vaulted to his feet and took a running leap. "Future Kick!"
The heel of the Endram Armor's right boot struck Argento's barrel chest like dynamite, setting off a chain reaction.
"That's...against...the rules..." Argento stumbled for a few seconds before exploding in a kaleidoscope of color.
Future Hero dusted himself off and summoned Future Roller to take him home. "Not a moment too soon," he said happily. "Julie is taking me to a movie tonight!"