1- Bad Kid, Mad City

Gehenna is a city in the southern part of Third Republic and it's also a city that's ridden with gang violence and poverty. It's in this city nicknamed Mad City that Nikko Thamiel Simmons is born and raised.

Nikko was initially living as the child of an asian mom and a black dad but they both died before he turned five, his fathers death was a result of his gang affiliation and his mom was a suicide a few months later. Nikko remembers non of this and lives happily with his Uncle Dionne Simmons and his girlfriend Alisha and their two children Tyrone a boy one year older than Nikko and a girl Sherane, who is two years younger than Nikko.

Today Nikko, fifteen years old is beginning a one month sentence in juvenile detention for assaulting and beating another child to unconsciousness with a wrench and it wouldn't be his first time in juvy.

During cafeteria as Nikko approached the bench he regularly ate alone at he noticed that another kid was there so the thought to make an example of the person that had ignorantly sat on his table but when he got close enough he noticed the boy looked a lot like him, half asian half black. After seeing another half asian like himself for the first time who looked to be around the same age as himself he became a bit curious and decided not to indulge in his urge for violence so he sat directly opposite the boy and stared directly at him.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" The boy said, feeling uncomfortable with how intensely Nikko was staring at him.

"You're sitting on my table, I'm the only one that sits here. Also, You're half asian."

The other boy burst into laughter before replying "I'm sorry I'm new here so i didn't know the tables had owners and aren't you half asian too?"

The cafeteria had gone quiet everyone knew something was about to happen, especially those who had made the mistake of looking down on Nikko because he was one of the younger kids in juvy but happened next left them shocked. Nikko actually laughed instead of hitting the boy.

"I'm sorry I assumed you would have known about me but now that I think about it, I haven't been in here for a while. Hi, I'm Nikko I'm fifteen and I'm in here for assault, I beat someone with a wrench, probably cracked his skull or something. It's kinda why they avoid me here, I beat people, it's my thing. Oh and I've never met another half asian it's actually why I didn't hit you immediately."

"Nikko, that's a cool sounding name. I'm Tyler, I'm actually fourteen and I'm in here for drug possession, and no, I didn't actually do anything, wrong place wrong time kinda situation you know. I'm a good kid"

Nikko gave Tyler a puzzled look, he had heard about cases where people were in prison for crimes they didn't commit only on the TV in mad city everyone was a criminal by default. He thought Tyler was trying to be funny by saying he was a good kid so he asked him directly "You're kidding right? This is mad city, we're all bad kids."

Tyler instead thought Nikko was talking about how it actually didn't matter to the police if you were good or bad, this elevated his opinion of Nikko. In actuality the other kids had warned him about Nikko's table but he stubbornly decided to sit just to find out what would actually happen. Tyler wasn't a bad kid who took pleasure in doing crime and was genuinely in juvy on charges that he was mostly not guilty of, the only matter was that he was a stubborn person with a sense of justice. He actually wanted to start a fight with Nikko but now found himself enjoying a peaceful conversation with the boy he was told was just a trouble maker.

"You're right, whether or not it's mad city. Hey, which part of mad city do you stay in?"

Nikko again was taken a back this time by how casually Tyler had asked about where he lived, he immediately assumed this was a challenge. The way he saw things its street code for minors not to ask about where each other lived because they more than likely would never use that information outside of when they actually met. Typically you'd join a gang in the area where you live and they very rarely had free time to have friendly visits as kids, so asking where someone lived was like wanting to know if they were talking to a potential rival.

Of course this was all rubbish and Nikko was just too invested in living in the streets. Tyler was actually asking to know if he could pay him a visit, they were just fifteen year olds, not gangsters.

Seeing that Nikko froze up, Tyler assumed he was afraid to say anything about where he lived because he could be homeless or just a runaway different people had different situations. Himself was actually living with his grandmother and a lot of other cousins, only one of his parents was alive but they were not available.

"Sorry, I think i asked the wrong question...um. What i meant to say was, why do you like sitting alone."

Seeing that Tyler corrected himself before he could answer made him like Tyler, he thought Tyler had realized he broke street ethics for juniors and corrected himself. In his head any person who respected street ethics was a respectable upright person so with this he had completely buried any intent to assault Tyler, unless he was provoked obviously.

"Why do I like to sit by myself? It's because I don't have any reason to sit with anyone else and most kids here are different from you, they lack ethics and just try to bully whoever they can."

"Nikko, but aren't you doing the same?"

"Nahhh, don't compare me to those unethical b*stards. I don't bully, I'm setting a standard for myself by making sure everyone treats me with respect. I don't go looking for kids to beat up for no reason."

"That's bullsh*t" Tyler yelled back at Nikko's reply.

Nikko was confused becuase he thought Tyler would understand street ethics but more importantly he felt insulted, for someone to say his way of life was bullsh*t was an insult no matter how he looked at it. He stood up, prepared to fight but the gaurds came over, cafeteria was over.

Nikko didn't see Tyler again until recess the next day and after having a lot of time to think about the insult at the cafeteria he came to the conclusion that he was right but because he was right didn't mean Tyler was wrong either, maybe Tyler had his own reasons for saying that street ethics was BS.

Again the other kids avoided Nikko like he was a plague, making it easy for him to wander around till he found Tyler.

Tyler was with another boy this time around, the two of them were talking together when they noticed Nikko approaching. The other boy looked very distressed when Nikko approached but Tyler appeared calm, as if he had forgotten that he and Nikko were almost going to fight the last time they talked.

"Hey, Nikko what's up?" Tyler said when Nikko finally got close enough, he even presented his hand for a handshake.

Nikko smiled and took his hand, to him it was just proper etiquette this reminded him why he felt Tyler was different. "I'm aight. Who's this though?" Nikko said while looking at the boy next to Tyler.

"Oh, this is Carlos. He's mixed like us, clearly not half asian though." Tyler said and laughed a little.

Nikko shook hands with Carlos after, actually he was familiar with Carlos because of how frequently he got into juvy and other rehab centers it's just that he never cared to talk to him. So now finding out that Carlos was mixed race too he thought it a bit comedic, Carlos looked like any other hispanic person to him, so he didn't bother to ask about Carlos's situation and just shook hands with him.

The three of them got to talking, but it was mostly just Tyler explaining to Nikko that he was a bully and it's a bad thing while Carlos used his own experiences with Nikko to explain Tylers points.

It looked like they were getting along smoothly when all of a sudden four older kids came over

Tyler completely ignored them but Carlos and Nikko felt something was about to happen, especially Nikko, his hood senses were tingling.