Stories & More

Eventually the time came for Alexander the Great Perkins, son of Betty & Jackson Perkins, to move.

There were two ways to transfer to this island. One was by boat, the other was by plane.

In the end, most people chose planes in fear of people shooting the boat because they assumed it was a trafficking operation when it was not.

And so Alexander chose by plane, and by playing he went to the settlement of Tailson.

When Alexander the Great Perkins landed in the settlement, he saw a whole bunch of children, men, and women with Tails whereas most of the people in his hometown didn't have tails and so he felt kind of at home and wanted to explore what he could do here because they had a lot of accommodation for the tails; trying to make it useful because they saw it as a vestigial organ and thought "how can we use these Tales? Because they have blood, they have muscles, they have nerves; what can we do to play around with them?" And thus, they built entire businesses off of these tails.

Once they had been moved on to little Saint James they had been taken by car and bus to a little location across the dirt roads and grass as the tires were actually built to accommodate for dirt and grass and such

After doing so they gave Alexander the Great, named after the historical figure by his mother out of her sheer, undying love, his luggage and told Alexander to "Go and head to the local landlord, Marina," who's over the entire settlement and legally cannot evict anyone who lives in the settlement. No one has rent here.

Marina Jenkins, being the local landlord of the settlement, often called a lord as a Noble medieval title revived officially for her work, met him as he trotted into her office and said "Hey, I'm... Um... I need a new house... Hmmmm..." Nervous as Alexander didn't know how to do all these official things as his parents always did the official stuff for him.

"There's always a house here. This place has apartments to accommodate people like you," said Marina Jenkins.

He smiled and said, "Awesome!" Excited that he has a secured home! Unlike many other humans In America! Then he asked, "Which apartment is mine?" Awkwardly, he felt like he was doing something wrong the whole time, all while knowing he wasn't doing anything wrong, making zero mistakes.

After Being assigned the apartment building literally titled "Apartment Building 11," granted the Apartment room "222," He's given a map and is told "Go to the local Map Training center. They'll teach you how to read a map," in the most condescending way possible by Marina Jenkins.

Alexander had already felt like he had done something horribly wrong, and apologized: "Sorry, I must have said something embarrassing..." And she replied "You were fine," Fiddling with her blue green-striped glasses, saying "It's normal for the youth to have no idea what a map is."

Alexander felt extremely embarrassed and left with the map and asked "Directions?" She then pointed to the map center next door to her office, leaning her body out the office door.

She's clearly bored of her job, but does it nonetheless, seeing it as vital to the way of life here.

Alexander entered the M.T.C. (Map Training Center) Where you learned how to read maps, all maps have addresses on them and are quite large to accommodate the addresses printed onto them back in Vernice's Great Saint James' Printing office.

Once Alexander learned how to read a map, and was given a pamphlet on how, he was directed to a chamber where they taught you different martial arts for self-defense.

Everyone here is officially enrolled until they reach black belt level, where they are let go and will have to rely on independent martial arts schools in Tailson like all the other humans with black belts in Tailson. All the individuals with tails in Tailson are humans with archaic DNA that is not dormant in those specific individuals leading to true vestigial tails.

Many people here had either growths or true vestigial tails. True tails were inheritable, and often passed down to their children, making the population of those with tails increase exponentially.

God looked down at this and was baffled by how many people had tails due to the sheer fact they were all packed into one area together.

During the class, Alexander met Eriel, a man who was an inventor who worked on a gig-by-gig basis, a newspaper printer on every day but weekdays, and a weekly martial arts teacher. He had three jobs, and all paid well.

Since most children had tails, and people feared that rapists could grab them to trap them, many pants and clothing had compartments to strap the tails to the leg to make them inaccessible to attackers. They often made members of this class wear these.

However, there is a portion where you must learn how to defend yourself while having said tail out in the open. For this, karate pants often have dips in the back as well to accommodate the tail.

Eriel, a Caucasian human with a long 20 inch tail, a noticeable one that had him shipped here due to the government's embarrassment and one that gained him as well as all saw it as both impressive and dangerous as it was long enough for enemies to catch, but long enough for him to use to catch himself if he felt.

Eriel had been to this class, as he's not the first teacher of this class, he's the second. His master, a brown belt, was a black man named Jackson O'Donald who had a modest 10 inch long tail.

Jackson O'Donald was not proud of his tail because back in America when visiting with his parents as a child and teen, whenever he'd visit, he would be called a monkey as a racist slur because he was black and had this vestigial organ.

Jackson O'Donald moved here and saw all the Caucasian people with tails here, as well as people from India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Saudi Arabia, France, Sweden, and Africa, etc.  Jackson O'Donald was flabbergasted because he didn't know how there could be so many humans with tails.

Jackson O'Donald was often told that "Your tail's not long enough for fighting, use it to carry bags instead," by girls and boys he met here. Jackson O'Donald enjoyed it here because no one made fun of his tail.

Now in his dojo, Alexander walks in looking just as awkward as Jackson O'Donald was. Jackson O'Donald sat in the corner while his brown belt student-to-master, Eriel, was training the students to become black belts.

Jackson O'Donald is now training students in Jujutsu while Eriel focuses on Karate.

Jujutsu (or Jujitsu) and Karate are distinct Japanese martial arts with different focuses, though they share roots in self-defense and discipline. Karate primarily focuses on long-range striking (punches, kicks, blocks), whereas Jujutsu focuses on close-range grappling (throws, joint locks, submissions).

Jackson O'Donald went to teach Jujitsu while Eriel was teaching karate in the same class he learned it. "Karate Originated in Okinawa, it centers on developing speed and power through strikes, kata, and kumite," said Eriel.

During the training, he ended up teaching them fight moves, fromations, blocks, etc. Until it was time that he had two complete beginners spar; This was to see if they absorbed what he taught them.

Eriel stood between Alexander and Karia, a Caucasian woman with long bluish black hair and fair skin, she's skinny with no muscle whatsoever and is a beginner like Alexander, in the dojo’s open training space, feet planted in a zenkutsu-dachi front stance, showing the balance point they would need for controlled fighting. “Remember, use your kihon basics — strikes, blocks, and controlled contact only,” he reminded them before the spar began.

Zenkutsu-dachi (front stance) is a foundational Karate stance characterized by a long, deep, and stable posture used to project body weight forward for punching and blocking. It typically features 60-70% of body weight on the bent front leg, a straight back leg, and a width of one shoulder-width.

Alexander, eager but calm, shifted his weight into kiba-dachi horse stance, preparing to move as Eriel demonstrated a gedan-barai downward block with his forearm, sweeping it toward the lower body to deflect a low strike. Karia mirrored him, awkwardly but with determination, legs wide and rooted.

Kiba dachi (horse stance) is a fundamental, wide-stanced martial arts posture designed to build leg strength, stability, and core power. It requires standing with feet parallel, slightly wider than shoulder-width, and knees bent deeply over the ankles while maintaining a straight, upright back. It is frequently used in Karate for training and in kata (like Tekki/Naihanchi) to develop internal force.

Gedan-barai (lower-level sweep) is a fundamental Shotokan Karate down block used to defend against kicks or low-level attacks. It involves bringing the blocking arm across the body to the opposite shoulder, then sweeping it down the outside of the front arm, finishing with the forearm roughly 45 degrees in front of the knee while pulling the other arm to the hip.

The match began. Alexander stepped forward first with a choku-tsuki straight punch aimed at Karia’s mid-section, his front foot sliding forward and hips rotating to add power. The punch connected, snapping her head slightly — not hard, but enough to accidentally give her a black eye. She blinked, surprised, not hurt.

Choku-tsuki (straight punch) is a fundamental karate technique (kihon) involving a direct, 180-degree rotating punch launched from the hip, usually from a natural stance (shizentai or heiko-dachi). It focuses on power, speed, and accuracy, utilizing hip rotation, a relaxed shoulder, and a tight kime (tension) upon impact, with the fist rotating from palm-up at the hip to palm-down at the target.

Alexander was shocked as well; he couldn't believe that he accidentally hit a woman so hard like that.

Karia responded by shifting her stance and dropping her body, driving a knee upward in a controlled hiza-geri — a  front knee kick — into Alexander’s right knee as he backed off, twisting his body to absorb most of the impact. The momentary sharp pain left his knee bruised and slightly gashed.

They circled again, both breathing steadily. Karia raised her arms into an uchi-uke inside block against Alexander’s forward punch, but his second strike — a swift gyaku-tsuki reverse punch — grazed her right arm hard enough to bruise it.

Uchi uke (内受け), or "inside block," is a fundamental mid-level (chūdan) block in karate designed to deflect incoming attacks, such as punches or grabs, away from the body's centerline using the forearm. It typically moves from inside to outside, starting near the opposite hip and circling up to shoulder height.

Gyaku Tsuki (reverse punch) is a fundamental, high-impact karate strike delivered with the hand opposite the forward leg (e.g., right leg forward, left hand punches). It utilizes powerful hip rotation, a grounded stance (often zenkutsu-dachi), and linear forward motion to drive through a target, frequently used for counter attacking in both kata and kumite. 

Alexander pressed on, lunging with another choku-tsuki straight punch, but Karia rotated away and raised a defensive age-uke rising block to meet his strike, absorbing the blow without harm.

Choku-tsuki (straight punch) is a fundamental karate technique (kihon) involving a direct, 180-degree rotating punch launched from the hip, usually from a natural stance (shizentai or heiko-dachi). It focuses on power, speed, and accuracy, utilizing hip rotation, a relaxed shoulder, and a tight kime (tension) upon impact, with the fist rotating from palm-up at the hip to palm-down at the target.

Age-uke (rising block) is a fundamental upper-level (jōdan) karate block designed to deflect attacks away from the head by moving the forearm upward. The arm is bent, with the fist stopping just above the forehead, often palm-out, to deflect strikes. It can also be used as a striking or choking technique. 

Karia then stepped in, aiming another hiza-geri to Alexander’s left knee. He shifted just slightly, avoiding full contact, but still felt a bruise form.

Alexander countered with a quick mae-geri front kick that grazed Karia’s left wrist, earning her a similar mark of contact.

Mae-geri is a fundamental, high-speed, and powerful front-snap kick in karate, typically targeting the stomach (chudan) or face (jodan) using the ball of the foot. It is executed by chambering the knee, extending the leg to strike, and retracting before landing. Proper technique ensures a strong strike and avoids injury.

Unbalancing briefly, Alexander was swept off his feet by Karia’s sidestep and light ashi-barai foot sweep, bringing him to the ground with controlled impact. He rolled back up. Karia moved in, her momentum carrying her into a fast roundhouse kick that flicked Alexander’s right calf against his shin, leaving him bracing. 

Ashi-barai (foot sweep) is a fundamental, versatile, and highly technical sweeping technique used in Judo and Karate to disrupt an opponent's balance (kuzushi) and throw them to the ground. It specifically targets the ankle or foot just as the opponent is moving or shifting their weight.

Back on their feet, Alexander unleashed a quick oi-zuki forward lunge punch that caught Karia on the head. She raised her guard but still felt the focused impact to her temple area, a bruised sensation forming.

Oi-zuki (chasing or lunging punch) is a fundamental karate technique (primarily Shotokan) where the same-side leg and arm move forward simultaneously, landing in a front stance (zenkutsu-dachi) at the moment of impact. It maximizes power through hip rotation and forward momentum, acting as a key technique in kata and basic training (kihon).

The exchange continued this way — steps, blocks, controlled punches, front and roundhouse kicks — both learning to keep balance and respect distance. Karia aimed another hiza-geri, but it only brushed Alexander’s right foot, leaving a subtle bruise.

Then Alexander used his front kick again directly into Karia’s left knee, making her pause with a new bruise forming. Karia came back immediately with a roundhouse into Alexander’s right arm, which he met with a soto-uke outside block that stung but held firm.

Soto uke (outside block) is a fundamental middle-level (chudan) karate defensive technique, primarily in Shotokan, designed to deflect punches inward across the body using the forearm. It involves bringing the blocking arm from the ear down and around while rotating the hip.

Despite these marks, neither used their tail; both struck only with hands and feet under Eriel’s watchful gaze. There were wide swings and reckless kicks — but also controlled technique, taught from fundamentals designed to build into black-belt-level skill. Remember, these are beginners.

As the class bell rang, Eriel stepped in to guide them gently out of the sparring stance, complementing their balance, use of stance, and attempt at proper application of strikes and blocks. Both Karia and Alexander bowed, proud, awkward, and aware they still had much to learn.

Eriel then told them: "You two... Are new. You probably haven't learned karate before... But remember, we don't intend on our members leaving bruises."

Both of the newbies said in creepy sync: "It was an accident, sir."

Eriel sighs, but says "So... Too much force?" Then he looked at them as they nodded, embarrassed. The noobs backed up one step, then looked at each other. Karia pointed at her black eye & said "Yeah, too much force, bro," laughing at Alexander who felt ashamed that he'd hurt a girl with zero muscle mass so badly. They were both 18-year-olds.

Eriel said "Well, we're going to work on that. You... Can't just do that to other students. We don't allow it. Neither of you," clapping his hands together once, awkward. Eriel clearly disapproved.

To Be Continued...