SmackDown: MadMike's Revenge!

Round 6: The Variable - @Reffster

The Variable

by Reffster

"Order will be restored to this once great country. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Democratic Republic of Amerana will once again be a shining beacon to all those who value the virtues of strength, character and purity of blood. Power shall be restored to those who deserve to wield it, while peoples of lesser worth will be relegated to their rightful place on the fringes of our restored nation.

"Yes, that's right. Might may be our watchword, but there will still be a room for mercy in our brave new order. Streets will need to be swept, rubbish will need to be removed and fields will need to be tilled. There will be roles for even the lowliest citizens of Amerana.

"With one obvious exception. There will be no place for the lowest of the low. The most miserable scum. The sub-humans whose very name I can hardly bear to have sully my lips. The samurai. Now that power has been wrested back from these beasts, we must ensure that they are never again in a position to threaten their betters.

"Rest assured, as Amerana is rebuilt, these monsters will find no place in our glorious republic. They will be registered, they will be imprisoned and they will be. . .dealt with.

"The process is already underway. All samurai are required to report to their local processing office. Republican forces have been tasked to locate and capture those who refuse. Harbouring samurai is a treasonable offense. If you know the whereabouts of a samurai, your civic duty is to report their location to the authorities. Failure to do so is also a treasonable offense. If you-"

Ishida's father switched off the audio-box. He turned to his family. "The day we feared has finally come. Gather your belongings, but only the most bare essentials. Tonight, we flee."

His mother and two sisters bowed their heads and scurried to obey, but Ishida remained where he stood. His father glared at him. "You heard me, boy. Go! Do as I command."

Ishida turned dark eyes towards the man who had raised him, the man he loved and admired and had one day hoped to emulate. The man he had always obeyed without doubt, without question. Until this day. "I am no boy."

His father snorted derisively. "Then do not act like one. Go, collect your things."

"I will not. I will not flee, like a criminal. Our forefathers won this land from the Chinese, just as they won it from the Americans. We have earned our right to stay."

"Bah! Pretty words, boy. But that is all they are - words. Once the world trembled at our might, but those days have passed. The samurai's time has passed. Now, we must run."

Ishida smiled. "We must? No, Father. There is always a choice. I choose to stay."

"Then you are a fool. You will die!"

"As will you, father. I hope it will be peacefully, lying in your bed, many years from now. But for most of our people, it will not be that way. They will die in their thousands, before their time, afraid and forsaken, all in the name of the Republic." He almost spat the word. "All to satisfy the whim of the power-crazed madman who has seized control of what was once our land."

His father scowled at him. "And what can you do? What can one boy do to stop the might of the Republic? What can one boy do to save our people?"

Ishida drew himself up to his full height, and looked directly into his father's face. Behind the bluster and the anger, he could see the shame in those haunted eyes.