Last chapter, Head Commander Prósopsi met with Commander Erucid, where they discussed the crimes of Commander Jaxonite of the Hopian Army. Then, after Prósopsi later apologized to an uncaring Erucid for his informality in their prior talk, he assigned Erucid with taking down the Red Fists. One month later, it seems he succeeded after taking out many of Kodan's soldiers, as well as knocking out Kodan himself...

Kodan's P.O.V.

"..." I start to see some lights around me... ugh...

"The hell happened? ...OH! Right, Erucid beat me up- I'm probably in jail... nah. That's right, Metallica came running after me just before Erucid knocked me out. No way Metallica would've let him take me. Just hope he didn't resort to using the Emperor though." I think to myself as I start to wake up some more as I open my eyes wider, just like I thought-

"P.A.L.!!! Welcome back to the realm of the conscious!" King, who's standing right above me in his royal silver glory, screeches before he dips his creeky chest down to give me a painful but loving bear hug.

"Hah- easy there, don't wanna go back under. ...Oh my. He really did a number on you huh? Erucid I mean." I ask with a frown as Metallica finally lets go of me and bends back upwards. His head has a bunch of dents in it, and his crown even looks cracked.

And through the gape of his stained purple robe, I can see that on the center of his chest is a bunch of scratches, and on his right hip is a super nasty looking dent that forced his metal in. Looks like someone took a chunk out of his chest...

"Pssh! That hit he got on me was S.Q.U.A.T.! I can fix this dent up in no time, and it only took me about a week to fix all my glorious insides with the help of our benevolent Dante." Metallica says which makes me smile in relief- but I open my eyes a bit wide when I realize something he said just now,

"I've been out for a week? Shit man, hah. Have things been ok in the base?" I ask with a laugh but, I legit am a bit worried here...

"Yep, I've been watching you almost 25/7 though so don't worry! And yes things have been just great, although everyone's been too scared to leave the base for a while, wimps. Anywho, don't worry, I made that loser Commander pay for even scratching my crown- and you! Right after he bonked you down onto the ground, I ran up behind him and tapped his shoulder- and FWOOSH! Just as he got another pathetic whack in on my face, I sent him flying with my Catapult!" Metallica explains, well damn!

Just as I start to hear a lot of commotion coming from somewhere, I respond, "Haha! Great stuff ma-"

"Kodan?! Is he awake Metallica?!" I can hear Kolt shout as I can hear a door open somewhere, guess I should try to see where I am now- oh one of our hospital rooms, knew it was worth it to invest into these things!

"He-"

"BOSS!!" Someone else shouts as Kolt runs to my side- well before Metallica smacks him down to the ground at least, he should know to call Metallica by his full name by now.

"Hey! Yeah I'm alive, King Metallica is the one you should be thanking though- he saved my ass and everyone elses too, right?" I say back with a grin as my room starts to get even more crowded- got at least 15 guys and gals in here now, some who look like nurses.

"..." They all go quiet there. Oh boy... there were at least 100 soldiers who got knocked out too...

"How many did we lose?" I ask in a more serious tone,

"...Um... almost all of them, sir. About 112. After King Metallica barely managed to bring you, Kolt, and as many others as he could carry back to base, we- we went back to the scene. And we were too late... we're sorry Kodan. Erucid was already back at the scene from King Metallica's attack at that point. We failed all of them." One of my guys finally say as he can't even look at me. Right Raol is his name, he's a soldier too- guessing he was one of the ones Metallica saved. But more importantly... damn it.

But I can't afford to have our, what is it called again... morals? No, something else... whatever, I can't have our courage lowered here I guess I mean.

"I see. That's a fourth of our soldiers gone right there. Well. You know what? Don't feel bad. I'm your leader, I should've kicked Erucid's ass and saved all of you. But I failed hard. I'll formally announce this soon but, spread the news for me in the meantime will ya? We'll come back from this, don't worry. We can do some heavy ass recruiting to get more troops, and I'll train like crazy to get as strong as I need to be to protect all of you. And I'll prove it. If I don't take out a Commander of the Hopian Army by the end of this year, I'll give up my role as the leader of the Red Fists." I say, with the even larger group surrounding me seeming nervous at first when I make my speech, but by the end of it they seem shocked.

But oh nice some docs are pushing through the crowd around me now- yeah my leg hurts like a bitch so that's nice to know.

"Kodan please- you've done enough, we wouldn't want anyone else to lead but yo-"

"S.I.L.E.N.C.E.! How dare you question the great-but-not-Godly Kodan's orders! He's willing to put his life's goal on the line to boost our spirits, we'd be horrid pals to him if we didn't trust in his skills now!" Metallica backs me up... he really is loyal.

"Guess I'll take out Jaxonite, then. He seems the scummiest from the stories I've heard around here. But... no way would we be able to imprison him, and if we just left him half dead? The army would heal him with all their tech. So... shit. We'd have to kill him. Or maybe Ontarus would be a better bet, but he would be WAY harder to kill... damn. Guess I'll think about it over this year. Still got 11 months left after all." I think to myself as my eyes start to go hazy... I'm feeling sleepy-

A few days of recovering and storytelling later...

🤖👱‍♂️🤖

Restroid's P.O.V.

"Hey pal! Wake up! We're gonna go get a slush." King Metallica attempts to whisper to Kodan from outside of his residence: as he slams on his door at the same time.

"Huh? Gimme a sec." Kodan replies groggily: good. I asked King Metallica to go out for a frozen beverage with me because I knew he would want to bring along Kodan. And therefore: allowing me free access discuss something very important with my master.

Kodan swings his door open, "So you wanna hang out? ...Wait what time is it?" He asks with a miniscule yawn in his underwear.

"2 AM! Restroid invited M.E. out for once so I couldn't help but take advantage of this opportunity." King Metallica replies eagerly as he slaps my back: which almost causes me to fall to the rough metal floor beneath us.

"So Tony's should still be open... yeah sure." Kodan replies with a shrug as he slides a pair of.............. yes jeans. Up his legs.

20 minutes later...

🍓🧊🍓

"Mm- shit this is a good one, Tony wasn't screwing around with the strawberry juice this time around. What do you think Metallic-"

"Indeed! The flavor truly is quite delicate today, my compliments to the chef!" Metallica says as he consumes his red flavored ice by dumping it down his throat: which causes Kodan to "chuckle". However I do not believe King Metallica has taste receptors: so I can not understand why he wishes to consume human food. That is not important. I must speak with Kodan.

"Kodan. I have some potentially negative and urgent news to tell you." I say as I walk alongside the two of them.

"Hm? And what would that be?" Kodan asks me as he takes a "sip" of his drink as well: and so I scan the area around us to make sure that no other humans are nearby. As suspected it is clear.

I have told Kodan what I am about to say multiple times. However every time I have done so: he has entirely disregarded what I have said: even if he was trying to be "nice" about it.

"Your plans will fail. Did you not see how easily Erucid defeated you? And that was with his Blessing being inefficient against you: since you are a true follower of The Five Kings. The other Commanders: Ontarus and Jaxonite should be even more difficult to defeat than he-"

"Look bud. We've gone through this a lot of times now, and I'm praying that this is the last time. I'm planning on getting myself a Blessing very soon, so that should help even up the stakes- plus, I still have 11 months to train like crazy. And, the next time I fight a Commander, it'll be on our terms. Meaning I can get troops shooting at whoever I'm fighting as well, since I'd imagine the Commander would be too distracted by me. We've got 3000 members now even considering the 100 we just lost, and about 300 soldiers still. AND we'll get even more people than that, so don't worry about us losing." Kodan explains... very well.

I believed that causing an encounter between Kodan and a Commander (besides Ontarus to ensure Kodan survived) would be enough to make him rethink his plans. I suppose I was wrong. Plan B it is. It is unfortunate that we had to lose so many assets due to my own miscalculations.

I then continue onto my more unlikely scenario. "Then let us assume that we do defeat the Hopian Army: with Head Commander Prósopsi being executed, as well as his Commanders. That battle will no doubt cause many casualties inside of our Red Fists group. Your plan also consists of taking control of the government: or more so creating a new form of leadership. In theory: it sounds excellent."

Kodan interuppts me: "And when we go through with it, we'll have ex politicians in our group that can make new rules, that I approve of obviously. I'm not dumb enough to think I'm smart enough to lead this place anymore, I'm just taking it down, and finding new and better leaders to do that for me." Kodan replies as he throws his cup into a trashcan near one of our resturants: with his answer being as expected: I suppose.

"Once again: in theory that sounds excellent Kodan. However: as you know I have been studying human behavioural patterns: as well as this continents history. All in order to help you achieve your goal to better this continent. The government you wish to overthrow has been in place for hundreds of years: and the people have lived under it for the same amount of time of course. To completely destroy it is foolish: to put it as lightly as possible." I explain. I can only hope this goes well.

"...Go on. But a warning, I doubt I'll change my mind even a little here. The government has fucked so many people over the years, literally brainwashed a ton of citizens- and screws over the people who don't want to live in those always monitored, lifeless, shitty registered apartments. Hardly any jobs are available now for the people who do want to make an honest and free living. The robot's are taking all of them- no offense to you two though, you guys are awesome." Kodan explains with a smile: and I try to stop him: however he continues on:

"And-"

"Why thank you pal!" King Metallica interuppts Kodan: as he attempts to throw his drink cup at the prison next to us. However just as the cup begins to leave King Metallica's palm: Kodan launches himself forward and up into the air and catches it: then proceeds to use his gravity manipulation to pull himself back down to the ground at a quick pace.

A/N: To be continued in part 2!