“I know that she was angry but did she really need to go so hard?” Asher was winning to them as they headed to their philosophy class. “I would hate to meet whoever she fought that was able to butt heads with her.” Asher could only shudder in fear.
“She even said that someone was able to beat her and her rival. They must be super strong. I hope we can train with them one day.” Jane was overly optimistic for the possibility.
“A second coach Winters to train us? Nope I would switch classes that very day. I wouldn’t survive a second” Art was shaking his head so much that it could have been spinning.
“With how i feel right now I don’t think I will ever be able to properly match coach Winters.” Asher was still stretching his arms slightly trying to get rid of the newfound soreness.
“But you are so lucky you got to train with her. She was able to fix even the smallest errors in your form so now you can attack and defend even better than everyone else.” Jane did have a point but Asher was more in the mood to wine than appreciate his opportunity.
“I am just glad she was happy with our progress. I have been doing fifty of each jab and kick I know before bed every night.”Art tried to stretch his arm a little while walking.
‘I have been out training in my own home.’ Asher realized that Art had started to take a lead right under his nose. “Then you should come to the back yard and practice with me before bed. I think we can go through the reps better looking at each other’s flaws.”
Asher’s sneaky attempt to get Art on the same level as him was taken, hook line and sinker. “That’s perfect. I didn’t even realize you were doing the same thing.” Art was more than happy to have Asher there to push him. “We can also use it for a little sparing practice.” However he was also thinking about how they could use each other as real life testing dummies.
The two looked at each other with fire in their eyes as they walked into the philosophy class. Before they had even sat down they heard that Mr. Richards had already started to speak. “..Then today after you have handed in your journal entries I want you all to have an open debate about Justice, What does it mean and how does it pertain to society.”
The students perked up hearing their topic. They all had string views on the topic of justice and were always ready to speak on it. The influence of heroes in society had made sure that every citizen had some understanding or view of justice.
“Justice is purity in morals and strict teaching.” One student raised a fist and yelled this instantly starting a loud discussion through the entire room. Mr. Richards just smiled enjoying the moral dilemmas that started to surface. This was exactly his intention. The super heated battle of morals was the best way to find new meanings and understanding.
“Well that’s just too broad. I could tell you all day that justice is following the laws and being a good citizen. But would that really cover everything?’ Jane was unhappy to hear that this was the subject.
“I think he meant to get us with that. Look he is just over there smiling like the devil.” Asher pointed out the look on Mr. Richard’s face which more than showed that he had done it all on purpose.
“Well he might just be as evil as coach Winters.” Jane smacked Art’s arm when he said this since she still believed that coach Winters was an outstanding person pushing for their improvements and not at all trying to torture them.
“Not to mention justice is down to perspective. Some people run around stealing things to donate to homeless shelters. To them that is justice.” Asher continued on with the subject realizing that the word justice was more of a trick question than anything.
“Well stealing is never justified, it’s wrong. They should find another way to help. Find someone that would donate instead.” Jane was the opposite, she could not fathom that someone could feel justified stealing from another.
“Wait but aren’t there the villains that go around trying to take down other villains since they fight for tru justice? They will even fight heroes since they don’t think that they can properly deal with them. Sure they are more brutal but it could be argued that they are doing more in the name of justice. How many villains come back again after they are dealt with by another villain?” Art was making a very edgy point.
Jane was visibly agitated by this but she was not in a place to argue. The logic was surprisingly sound. Some in the world even advocated that it was a better way to deal with some of the worst lawbreakers. “I can see how that works, but they often use violent means without worry for anyone in their way. Wasn’t there a whole city block caught on fire once?”
Asher had seen a newspaper clipping mentioning a psychokinetic super power user that went after a corrupt insurance agency. Things had gone very poorly when the fire that was meant only for the offices spread to every building on an entire block. Many people were injured and it made world news sparking a huge debate over these kinds of hero villain hybrids that went out on their own rules.
“They are villains though, if they’re not conforming to any of the rules that keep people safe then they are just running around causing harm. Justice is not about hurting others.” Jane came back in to things with this statement.
‘She isn’t completely wrong.’ Asher immediately had this thought. “I think you’re right, justice is not about harming others. In some cases it is unavoidable but most of the time it is the pursuit to better the lives of others. I think the term justice is not so small that it can be put to just one situation. It should arch over to many. Justice can be found in many places.” The pensive look of his face made Art and Jane stop arguing in their debate and start to think on it.
“That does make sense-” Art was going to add to his point when a commotion broke it in the middle of the room. Two male students were yelling at each other in a heated manner. One was yelling something about how justice could even be done with evil ways if there is a good reason. While the other was yelling about how justice always had to be good.
“Oh man are those two going to fight?” Art changed what he was going to say while staring at the two who were now in their own circle of onlookers. The one kid had started to grow scales all over his skin in his irritation. The other was yelling and making spikes out of his hair. The long quills that were formed looked way too sharp and dangerous for a classroom.
Mr. Richards was nowhere to be found when Jane went looking for him to try and get him to break up the fight. ‘How could he have disappeared so quickly. He was just here watching us a moment ago.’ She was about to yell out when the two students that were getting ready stopped.
“Ummm what is going on with those two now.” The two students that had looked to be angry and ready to fight a second ago were now all smiles and retracting their super powers. The emotions that had caused them to get all up in arms completely gone from them.
“Well as you can all see there is a very serious amount of debate that can take place over such a topic. There is always also a huge amount of stress that comes from different opinions and could end up this way. I expect to find essays from everyone with at least five thousand words on the topics discussed today. You two will be giving me an additional two thousand words on to what drove you to your current state. By the way, my power will wear off in an hour.” Mr. Richards had somehow gotten right next to the two students who were about to fight.
“What was that!? How did he get there and how did he make the two of them so calm and collected?” Jane was the one at a loss here. She was the only one able to get the word she was thinking out of her head.
‘I didn’t even see him move. And he was able to change the actions of two angry people. What super power can let him do this?’ Asher was trying hard to decipher these clues but everything he came up with seemed wrong.