Hey all thanks for continuing to read this version of my story. Both versions will be continued but I am really grateful for your continued support in my writing.
Onto the story:
July 6th
Wonder Woman and I spent most of the day flying the invisible jet, it seems that the Amazonian Island was farther than I thought it would be. Most of the time we were over the ocean flying at around 100 mph. Wonder Woman was a pretty interesting person to talk too, she was the princess of the Amazons and had only just recently gotten back into their good graces after being banished for inviting men to come to the island. What had happened was a wizard had managed to sneak on the island and turn almost all of the "sisters" to stone, he changed Wonder Woman's mother into stone right in front of her and gave her a time limit to fetch him some talismans for him. The wizard had promised to change her mother back if she got the talismans in time and he sent her off without help. But Batman and Superman both helped her complete the task. The wizard held up his bargain and returned the queen to the flesh, just in time for the talismans to open the door to the underworld and let Hades out into this realm.
It took a lot of magic but by working together they managed to push Hades back, but not before learning that Hades was the former lover of the queen and as punishment for unknowingly helping Hades try to take over the other gods she was cursed to guard the doors to the underworld forever, never to let man step foot on the island again. Of course after Hades was resealed since Superman and Batman were men they were immediately banished but revered as heroes and the first ever "Brothers" of the Amazonian race, and Wonder Woman, for breaking the law, was cast off the island.
It wasn't until she stopped another Amazonian from killing all men with a drug that only worked on them that she was allowed to temporarily visit the Amazon island, where she was gifted with her magic tools, the bullet proof cuffs which could defect anything without a scratch, the Tiara which allowed her to fly and the lasso of truth which, when wrapped around a foe caused him to tell the truth no matter how much he/she tried to lie. I shuddered a bit at the thought of the lasso being turned on me but it passed quickly. Wonder Woman spent a lot of the time flying telling me of all the exploits the Justice League has done, including saving the world from a massive planet eating alien that wished to know everything in the galaxy and saving Zeus from a titan attack, which earned Wonder Woman the right to go back home and visit her mother whenever she wished.
Her stories were amazing and reminded me of some of my own; when I started to tell her about how I met Pandora she almost stopped the jet mid-air in surprise. We laughed and talked most of the way with me taking a nap around the halfway point (it was a long ride and I haven't slept in two days). When I woke I heard the engines powering down and I felt the small bump of the landing gear touching with the Earth's surface. I yawned and stretched popping my back and twisting in ways that made Wonder Woman wince in sympathy pains.
"Little Sister, we are here." She said. She had taken to calling me little sister since she found out that I was pretty good friends with a god and that I had protected my town for about a year with only the help of my two best friends. She and I walked down the ramp and were greeted by what seemed to be over a thousand female warriors with spears aimed at our aircraft. I wasn't sure how spears were supposed to bring it down but after the stories of the training they do here I wouldn't be surprised if a spear was all it took these women to take any threat down. My mom had taught be a little about the Bo staff and I was sufficient enough to fight with it but I was no means a master like she was. These women carried themselves like masters. I was a little scared that they might attack so I stuck pretty close to Wonder Woman. When we left the jet the crowd of tall, muscle bound women ran to us. Each dressed in a white robe-like dress, Wonder Woman called them tunics, and gold bracelets like the magic ones she had around their wrist.
Wonder Woman was looking around and when she had obviously found who she was looking for she sped into the group of warriors and hugged an older blonde haired woman with a crown on her head, she must be the queen, Wonder Woman's mother.
"Mother," She said "I am so glad to see that you are well."
"As am I Diana," the queen said returning the hug and looking like she was tearing up a little bit "But what brings you back to Themyscira? Are you not well yourself?" she asked worry causing her face to almost age with nonexistent wrinkles.
"I am well, mother. I have come home to train a new sister, whom helped the younger heroes discover a plot and take down a monster." With that everyone's attention turned to me, every head that was listening to Diana suddenly whipped around and sized me up. I had to really resist the urge to go ghost and fly away, of course my ghost half was still having trouble forming in this world. I could still feel it there, the cold sensation in my heart was an ever constant reminder and I could feel my ghost energy buzzing just under my skin but I could not for the life of me transform. Clockwork's letter didn't say anything about it so I guess I will regain my powers "in time".
Diana must have mistaken my inner thoughts on my ghost half to be fear because she slowly walked up the ramp towards me saying, "it's okay, little sister. No one will hurt you here." She held out her hand to me and slowly guided me down the ramp to the women standing with spears; we stopped just in front of Diana's mother. This time Diana bowed and motioned for me to copy her, I bent low a tried to breathe slowly; all this attention was not something I liked.
Diana stood back up with a small smile before she straightened her posture as if saluting and said "I, Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta, do formally ask for refuge for a small time for both my companion and I." all traces of the earlier friendliness was gone, seriousness taken its place.
Queen Hippolyta stepped forward and studied us both intensely. "Do you swear to uphold our rules and live with honor?" She asked.
"I do," Diana said.
"I do," I copied; this was feeling like an initiation rite so if I wanted to be welcomed here I would have to do everything I could to pass it.
"Do you promise to train with us as sisters and swear to our sisterhood? To live with our rules even in the outside world?" Queen Hippolyta asked.
I felt like this question was more directed at me since I was a stranger here, but I figured that I might as well swear to it. They were offering us a place to sleep and it would be rude no to follow their rules while here. So again Diana and I said "I do."
"And finally," the queen said with a sigh "Do you swear to never let any man step foot on this island?" The queen's voice had a little anger in it towards the end and the question was definitely pointed at Diana this time and she flinched beside me but kept her head down saying "I do." With me again, she finally was able to come back to her homeland so I doubt that she would do it again and with me being a girl now it shouldn't get in trouble for bringing me here.
"Then welcome to the island of the Amazon's. I am Queen Hippolyta but you may call me Mother, for we are all sisters and daughters here. Come the sun is low in the sky and we must prepare a feast for the coming home of an older sister and the welcoming of a new one." Mother said.
The group of Amazon's cheered and we were turned toward a massive building with tall white pillars holding up the roof and large oak doors. It was a beautiful place with a lot of art work depicting the gods and their stories on the walls of the dining hall…which we passed… We were heading back outside now through the back door of the temple and into a large forested area. Diana caught up to me and started to explain what was happening.
"On Themyscira, we catch our own food for every meal, the amount of food one sister brings in is the amount of food that sister eats. The queen is expecting a feast so we must not disappoint her; I will teach you how to track down the wild boar that live near here and how to kill them without causing them pain. They will be our nourishment so we must give thanks to them, I am allowed to help you for today but tomorrow morning you will be on your own." She finished quickly. It looked like the other girls were gearing up lacing sandals onto their feet and grabbing some rope. When they were all finished they ran full speed into the forest, without making a sound.
I was doing my best to keep up, but it wasn't surprising that I was near the back of the pack; these women knew the forest inside and out. They knew where to step and how to control their breathing at this altitude and they ran a course similar to this three times a day. It was a miracle that I wasn't scaring the animals away by tripping over every stick that lay in my path. The only reason I was keeping up with them was because I didn't have to breathe as often as a normal human, which meant that it was less stress on my lungs and body to keep moving at this pace and I got more muscle movement out of each breath. Panting, for me, is about the normal breathing rate for a human.
We were running for about 5 minutes before Diana tapped my shoulder and we slowed down, she pointed off to the left where a large boar was eating some mushrooms. "Little sister, you must not go after that boar." She whispered "He is the leader of his sounder, see how he watched the other sisters run by? He did not move because he has to protect them." The boar turned to us and snorted a little stomping in the ground in a clear sign of "Go away." It looked like it was ready to fight with anyone and had dark circular designs in its fur. Diana and I left the area and looked around for something to hunt. The other sisters had also broken off into groups and were hunting things like deer and rabbits.
We wandered a little farther than the others and found a group of wild goats; they were climbing the cliff trying to get fresher greens. One had obviously had a baby since the little thing was prancing everywhere it could and circling the group. One of the older rams, a red coated one with black designs in its fleece, huffed and pushed it back to its mother before turning back to lead the group uphill. I was guessing that was the leader of this group and he should not be hunted, we watched the group for stragglers but the older ram knew what he was doing and kept everyone in line. Everyone except the little baby goat, it ran everywhere it could climbing the side of the mountain and then running back to its mother. It was kinda cute to watch. Diana and I were about to leave and search for new prey when I heard some rocks tumbling off the cliff face. There was a small bleat of panic and the baby looked like it was going to fall, I rushed forward and caught it barely saving it from having its bones crushed and its neck snapped. The kid bleated pathetically in my arms and would not stop shaking.
The other goats were frozen in place, too scared to move. The ram was the first to gain itself; it ran down the Cliffside full sprint towards me and stopped about 5 ft. away, stomping at the ground in a clear challenge. I sent the baby down slowly and it fell to its knees still bleating sadly, the ram tried rushing me but was stopped by Wonder Woman. The ram's horns striking at the bracelets Diana wore, and both of them pushing hard, coming to a standstill. The mother goat was trying to get down the cliff but she was blocked by the ram and Diana's grappling, the poor little baby was still crying and the mother was trying to soothe it with bleats of its own. If I killed it the ram would probably shepherd the mother away and keep his herd safe by letting us have our kill but I didn't want to kill the poor thing so I picked it up again, it letting out another series of panicked bleats and walked slowly closer to the ram and the baby's mother.
The grappling between the ram and Diana slowed as I got nearer and the ram seemed to get more agitated the closer I got. With the baby squirming in my arms I got as close as I dared and set it down, pushing it slightly in the direction of its mother. When it saw that I was letting it go it ran as fast as it could into its mothers fleece. They nuzzled each other as the mom checked for injuries and the baby soaked up the attention, the ram watched them and slowly returned to the fold. Checking over the baby himself and then walking slowly back over to me. Diana had backed away as if knowing that something special was about to happen. The ram stopped right in front of me and lowered its horns; it didn't look like it was going to charge so I reached out and touched them softly.
It flinched at my cold hands and probably its own instincts, being a ghost meant that not a lot of animals liked me. I didn't touch it for long and after I was done something inside me told me to bow back to the ram, it might take it as a challenge and try to head-butt me but something was almost screaming at me to do it. So I did. I bowed low to the ram and felt my hair move as it nibbled them, the ram did nothing more than that and I stood slowly. The ram had let and its group had started up the Cliffside again, this time with the baby sticking close to mother. In the rams place was a very old goat that didn't look like it would make the journey of life for much longer, it had white hairs all over its muzzle and its eyes were clouded with what looked to be blindness setting in. it knelt in front of me and laid down its neck as if offering its life to me. Diana walked up behind me and handed me a small stone-like knife and instructed me on how to kill it without causing it pain. I nodded to the old goat and did what she said, when the last breath left the body Diana let out an amazed sigh.
"Danny, do you know what you just did?" she asked quietly, almost breaking the hush that fell over the forest. I shook my head, still dazed from the experience with the ram. "You were just accepted into the forest by the King of the flock. It's a high honor!" She said.
"That old goat you killed is your welcoming present, no one but you are supposed to eat it." I looked to the old goat that was now still as the grave and swallowed nervously, it was a big goat… Diana looked to the sky and frowned, evening was approaching and she still needed to hunt something for herself to eat at the feast. I slung the goat over my shoulders and we continued hunting until she had caught 2 rabbits, a boar and a deer.
When we returned we were greeted with hugs and handshakes, welcoming us back to the sisterhood. By the time we were sat down my hand felt like it was about to fall off, the feast was huge, every kind of meat one could think of was spread out elegantly. Roast beef, ham, steak and fish, just looking at it made my mouth water. There was also a large amount of vegetables as well, almost everything that Sam grew in her greenhouse was on the table, and the goat I killed was prepared and set out for me. We feasted until there wasn't a scrap left to eat. To my surprise I ate more than the goat and even had a couple of servings of pretty much everything there. "My daughters," The Queen said standing up "let us rest for the night and get ready for training at dawn!" She said and was met by loud rallying cheers.
I have never seen a dining room clear out so fast, in the blink of an eye only Diana and I were left in the hall. "Come little sister," Diana said "Let me show you where we will rest for the night." We walked out and toward a large white tower. When we arrived at the door it looked more like more like a prison hatch than anything else. It was made of metal and had bars over the window; this was a place to rest?
"This door is enchanted to keep men out of our chambers, should they ever managed to get this far on the island." Diana said pushing it open. I walked up to the door but it slammed shut before I could walk through, so was this some sort of test? I rested my hand gently against the cool metal and felt a soft of energy pushing back against my hand, as if greeting me. The energy felt light and airy it also seemed like it wanted to play, it would push against my hand before fading away only to come back and push again. The energy seemed harmless so I let a little of my ecto energy flow into the door, it seemed delighted. The magic source swirling around the new energy and trying to get it play with it. I smiled a little and pushed the ecto energy out and shaped it into a snake, chasing after the magic for a bit until I realized I had been standing and playing with the door for a good five minutes. My energy slowly depleted and I brushed against the magic to say goodbye and then pushed the door open.
Inside was a very worried looking Wonder Woman, she crushed me into a hug and asked if I was alright. It seems I didn't answer her when she called to me and the door wouldn't budge when she pulled against it. She was worried that maybe the door was rejecting me; I laughed and shook my head not giving her an explanation and started walking up the spiraling stair case. We were talking when we arrived at my room; Diana reminded me that I had training with the sisters in the morning so I should get to bed. I lay down and checked my room over it was a small bed room with a bed in the corner under the window and a desk on the other side, it didn't look like much but it was comfy enough to sleep in. I lied on the bed and fell asleep wondering how training with the Amazons would go tomorrow.
July 7th
I swear I had only just closed my eyes. It couldn't be morning; it was too early to be morning…. Right? Well apparently it was morning Diana was trying to wake me up while one of her sisters went to grab a bucket. I woke when the sister dumped the bucket of ice cold water over my face, snorting and coughing up a storm due to the rude wake up call. It seems I wasn't getting up fast enough for them. "I'm up! I'm up! I said in a slightly nasally voice due to the water residing inside my nose. Diana was standing above me smiling; she was holding a candle and urging me to move. I looked out my window and saw that it was still dark outside.
"Doesn't dawn mean when the sun is up?" I asked still trying to clear my sinuses of the water and failing horribly "Why are you waking me up this early?"
Diana laughed before handing me a handkerchief "Training is at dawn, sister." She said "But breakfast is first." I groaned and rolled out of bed, curing Clockwork as I went. 'Ugh, morning people' I thought. It was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep unless I wanted another bucket of water dumped on my head. I found my way to the dresser where Diana stood waiting for me, she handed me a white cloth, tunic thingy and turned to leave the room.
"What's this?" I called after her trying and failing to find the openings in the cloth that would make it clothing.
"It's your tunic you must wear it when you visit Themyscira. Outside clothes are not permissible especially not for training."
"But how do you wear it?" I asked still twisting and turning it around and looking utterly lost as I did. I felt kind of dumb for asking but how long had it been since people wore tunics anyway? It was hundreds of years probably. Diana walked over to me and started stripping me of my clothes, I felt like a five year old again with mommy dressing me for a playdate. Diana twisted the cloth so it covered my chest in an "X" shape and then made the rest fall in a short skirt that came to a stop just before my knees. When we were done we race out the door and into the forest trying to catch the best for today's breakfast, I think I will try my hand at fishing.
We headed toward the river and took off the shoes that were protecting our feet as we ran and slowly walked into the freezing river. Now that I was awake I could deal with the changing temperature just fine. Having an ice core makes me largely immune to cold water (unless it's being thrown in my face.) we both stood still as rocks waiting with baited breath for the fish to come closer to us and to their inevitable end. It took me a long time to master the art of catching a fish bare handed and even longer to hold onto the slippery thing when it decided it wanted to live. Diana caught about 12 fish before I managed to catch one. The sun was about to come up so we needed to wrap things up and eat or we would be left behind in the training. I used my ghost vision to see in the dark and watched a large shadow slowly creep towards me in the river; I waited and stilled my breath as it swam ever nearer.
Just a couple more seconds… got it! Or I thought I got it, I slipped my hand into the water and grabbed its tail as it was trying to dart out of my reach. It was a big fish with a lot of weight behind it, definitely not the biggest I have seen this morning but a pretty good catch… if I managed to keep hold of it. I used my other on to hold it to my chest as it flailed about, using its thick muscles to jerk its way this way and that. Until it finally tired itself out. I relaxed slightly only to tighten up again when the fish renewed its struggles. It was heavy too to my arms were getting tired from preventing its escape; I was going to lose it if I didn't think of something. An idea came to my just as the fist jumped out of my arms and straight into the air. It was sheer dumb luck that I caught it again but I used my ghost ice to bind it to me, and brought it to shore before bashing its head to make it stop moving. Diana witnessed my brutal kill and walked over to weight the fish.
"That's a good 16 pounds." She said she went to the place where she gathered some wood and started a fire using some stones to sharpen the sticks into spikes and stabbing her kill on them to roast over the pit. I walked over and did the same with my big fish and the little one I had caught earlier. It took about 20 minutes for the little one to be done and I started to eat it. Roasted fish tasted pretty good, at least compared to my mom's cooking. I was enjoying the meal when the other sisters joined our little campfire to cook their own meals. I finished the little fish and turned the big one, watching as the other sisters gathered to eat together quietly. Even the Queen joined us, bringing with her a query of 2 rabbits and a small doe. She showed me how to skin them and washed the pelts in the river before joining us again and beginning to eat. My big fish was done about half an hour before the sun rose and I managed to eat half of it before I was too full and shared it with another small Amazonian who hadn't been too lucky that day. Her name was Beth and we became fast friends as we shared my fish.
After we ate everything we collected the bones in a little sack and then walked to a clearing next to the tower that Diana and I had slept in.
"Since we have a new little sister we will start the training with a lap around the island." Said a tall woman with red hair and blue eyes, she and Beth looked very alike and I wondered if they were actually blood related. After the announcement everyone nodded and crouched in a running position near the edge of the clearing, a conch shell was sounded, sounding vaguely like a trumpet and we all began to run.
Note to self: when Amazonians say a lap around the island they me a full out dead sprint with hunting and climbing cliffs along the way, I found myself again at the back of the pack, panting and wishing that Batman just put me in jail instead of trying to test me out with these Amazons. Surprisingly I was able to keep up better today than I was yesterday at the beginning of hunting. We managed to stay in a group and were about two-thirds into the run when a passel of wild hogs rushed right in front of me. I managed to dodge by jumping over one of the big ones in front of me but the hogs being wild were angry that I would dare be in their running path so they started to attack me. There were probably several other Amazons next to me, including Beth but I probably looked the weakest and didn't smell like anything on the island which made them upset.
Three tried to attack from the front, charging at the group with me while two others tried to slow down the movements for the group. These boars were smart! None of the other Amazons looked worried so I guess this sometimes happened on their runs, so now 'What do I know about boars?' I thought 'They mostly travel in groups of female's unless its mating season then the males will drive others off to mate with the sows' But I didn't know how to tell the difference between a male and female so that didn't help. The three in front of me were almost upon us… well me… the Amazonians around me had already managed to get out of the way.
I waited until the Boars were about to hit me and jumped over them again, luckily I managed to jump far enough to give me a gap to run so I should be okay for a bit, I just needed to focus. The boats were coming back around for another run at me so I booked it until I was able to jump and grab a low hanging tree branch and climb up high enough so they couldn't get me. The boars slowed down and walked back to the place where they first came from softly pushing little piglets away from danger and deeper into their nest. We must have run across it and made them angry; the mothers were only protecting their young. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and swung down careful to not make a sound before catching up to the Amazons. It didn't take long, they were watching.
"Well done little sister" one said clapping my shoulder and laughing joyously "Those boar were not ready to be hunted but don't fret we will still be feasting on the meat of our prey. We are now going into deer territory so keep your wits or you will end up on buck's horns!" I nodded and Diana came up to congratulate me on getting though another ordeal at the hands of the Amazons. Deer hunting was fun; it was amazing how easily those big animals disappeared into the forest and how they could sense someone coming from far away. Beth and I managed to corner one but it looked like we had all the meat we needed for lunch and dinner so we let it go, watching as it bounded off into the dense underbrush.
We ended the run sometime around the middle of the afternoon and no sooner than we had finished eating did we head off to a different part of the island to do more training. We were outside another temple looking place but this had a more Roman coliseum feel to it. There was a shooting range for archers and gunners and a track for runners. They also had an obstacle course for the elite and an area that was blocked off with hay. It look to be one bale for every station and then a wall of hay to protect the people walking by, it was a similar set up to the archery range but for some reason I just knew that I wasn't going to like this. Of course I WAS COMPLETELY RIGHT!
The Amazons broke into two groups, one set heading for the hay bales and the other taking up the guns and arrows. Aiming them at their comrades, I was one of the people that were being aimed at. I dodged and hid behind the hay bale to watch what was happening to the others in the line of fire. It was amazing to watch people like Beth and Diana deflects everything that was headed their way.
"Don't gawk sister." One of the Amazonians called out and then started shooting anew at me, a bullet whizzed by my ear. Apparently they thought I could do something like that, goody. On my wrists were the same bracelets that everyone else wore and luckily I was very good at dodging ectoblasts, but they were bigger and I usually just got out of the way. For this I had to deflect, I raised my arm as another bullet came for me and felt my wrist go slightly numb as the bullet ricocheted off the metal and landed somewhere else. Three more rounds were fired and I managed to get them all. I fell into a rhythm while hitting them away and soon other stations turned their attention to me. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, click, reload, repeat. Suddenly the bullets were coming faster as more and more Amazons tried to shoot at me. Only pausing every once in a while to reload and give me a breather. It was during this time that the Queen came out and saw what was happening. To my surprise she didn't stop them she watched as eventually half of the Amazons were shooting at me, arrows and bullets flying before she stepped forward and ended the training.
"It seems out newest little sister has a knack for deflection," She said pausing for dramatic effect "Tomorrow we begin to test her for magic and the next day for full initiation to the sisterhood!" All the warriors cheered and picked me up, walking me to the dining hall before setting me down and letting me eat my fill. Diana and I walked back to the tower together, I played with the door magic again before Diana and I went upstairs talking peacefully until we went our separate ways and I fell onto my bed in exhaustion. Tomorrow was going to be another long day it seems.
July 8th
I woke before Diana even entered my room today. Surprisingly I felt well rested and energetic; I couldn't wait to start hunting and training with the sisters. It felt like my ghost side was brimming with power. I could taste the magic that was flowing through the tower as it ebbed and flowed, sometime coming close enough to greet me. I don't know what happened to change my perception of the magic but I could feel the magic deep in the island as well. Some of it being light and warm feeling while others were dark and almost sickly, keeping back so sort of evil. Which I assume to be Hades and the underworld…. I wonder if it connects to the ghost zone.
I looked out my window and saw that the sun would be coming up soon so if we wanted to hunt I had to get Diana to wake up… smiling to myself evilly I took the bucket from my bedside and filled it with a little ghost ice. The other sisters were not here yet so this will be my only time to get Diana back for my first morning here. I crept slowly and silently up the stair and phased through the door (any noise could wake her and I didn't want to tip her off.) She was still sleeping on her bed but I could tell that she would be waking any minute; her body seemed to regain the tension of being awake as I advanced on her. I willed my ice to melt and filled almost a fourth of the bucket with ghost water (extremely cold), holding my breath I tipped the bucket over her head and backed up to watch what happened. Wonder Woman did not disappoint, as soon as the water hit her face she gasped and shot upright, bringing her sword to an attack stance and looking for any danger. All the while her hair was dripping and she was shivering, it looked like she was wearing a black mop on her head, yet she still managed to look beautiful even in her stupor.
I couldn't hold it anymore, I began to chuckle and eventually full out belly laugh as Diana finally registered that there was no danger and that I was laughing at her. She hummed a little and walked over to me to give me a big wet (ice cold) hug.
"Very well done, sister." She said "I did not hear you enter my room, nor did I feel your presence until that bucket of liquid ice was upon my face." She laughed a bit and turned to change into her tunic. I left to give her privacy and walked into my room right after a pair of sisters. They entered with another bucket that looked suspiciously like the one I just used; I didn't get a chance to stop them when they dumped the bucket on my unmade sheets but had to hold in a laugh when they were as confused as to why "I" didn't move at the feeling of cold water. I smirked a bit and grabbed one on the shoulder, only to have them freak out and scream bloody murder when I surprised them. I laughed in their faces and turned to run outside before they could get back at me, calling to them and rushing to try and get food before the sun went up.
I ran into Diana at the bottom of the tower and was greeted with the news that due to our successful hunting for the past two days the number of prey has been scarce and needs a few days to replenish. (It's a magical island, I don't question it.) Luckily we had left overs for breakfast, fish, boar, deer and weirdly enough duck, were fried over a fire and passed around the group of warriors. When we had finished our meal, we gathered around the queen as she stood in the middle of the training arena where we practiced deflection.
"Today we are most excited to test our new sister in the art of magic, our lives have been supported by the gods this far and sometimes they bestow upon us a child with some of their gifts. I am happy to say that today's training will be canceled until we know of this child's power." She said, and was met with whoops of joy and celebration. "Danny" the Queen said "Please come forward." I walked and was met with open arms at the center of the training hall. The queen handed me a small ball of what looked like glass but as soon as it was in my hands I felt a magic similar to the door come to greet me.
Unlike the door to the tower, the crystal ball's greeting was less curious and more demanding of attention. It fought me for about 2 minutes before pulling away enough to let me concentrate enough to let some ghost energy greet it. The glow of my hand was visible because I had to use more power in order to control the magic that seemed to want to rebel at any chance, the Amazons oohed and awed at the show and watched as sweat dripped down my brow. Finally the magic settled enough to let my ghost power close enough for a cursory once-over; I could feel the magic debating on whether to reject me or accept my powers as magic. The little crystals magic felt like a coarse snake skin, rough to the touch and almost chillingly cold. I had to hold my breath, almost forcing more power into the ball before it finally touched my power. The touch was soft and light but the reaction was so strong it almost threw me away from my spot in the training center. The magic seemed to seep into my ghost powers, drawing from it a piece of the ghostly substance before letting me go completely. I hadn't even noticed that I was trapped in the magical sphere.
When it let me go the queen took the ball from my hands and held it high in the air as I sank down onto the floor, exhausted and really wanting a nap. I looked to the sky and noticed that the sun had passed noon. I had been tested for about 6 hours before I was released. The amazons didn't seem to mind as they cheered in frenzy over the globe floating above the queen's head. It flashed a brilliant green and then faded to a murky gray; it spoke in a voice that echoed with power and boomed with the alto undertones of a fully grown woman. "This sister," it said "Has been through much and will continue to be tested until they achieve their rightful place in the world." The woman sounded like she was smiling but the voice changed to a male voice with a sinister twist in its words. "She is not going to be accepted wherever she goes, and neither will she receive full sister ship in the Amazons." He growled when another voice took its place, this one sounding vaguely childlike before switching midway into an adult sounding voice. "She is an invaluable friend and ally but alas she must leave to accept her fate." All four (the old and young of that one voice sounded together) of the previous voices rang out again loudly through the ball "We find this girl to possess great power, she is not magician but she will go out and achieve many great things in both this and the next world. When she wakes she must leave Themyscira and begin her journey to greatness!"
I remember passing out after this. I slept until I could feel the island waking me, telling me that it was time to go. My eyes opened and I looked to Diana and nodded. It was night now so we will be flying the jet to the motherland till morning; I said one last goodbye to the door, its magic playing with my powers until I had to go. When I tried to separate though the magic circled my thread of consciousness and buried a part of itself there and then letting me leave.
Diana and I said out goodbyes to the Amazons and boarded the jet; we were in the air and headed back to Happy Harbor. I looked at my and Diana's clothes, we were still wearing out tunics. Diana saw my staring and laughed a little, "Worry not, dear sister." She said "I have contacted the other wonder women of the League; we will find some clothes befitting you. I believe you would call it a shopping spree." I sweat dropped and how bad could shopping with some super ladies be? I turned in the chair I was seated in and fell asleep, blissfully ignoring the impending sense of doom.
July 9
Ignorance is bliss. Shopping with the super ladies was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. We arrived at Happy Harbor around 10 in the morning, the League had way more women than I thought. A couple had come to check out the blockbuster incident but that was nothing compared to the sheer number that attended the "shopping spree". Wonder woman had us all meet at the south side of the docks near an oil tanker that looked to have grown roots; the seaweed was so thick that it almost held the tanker up. Surprisingly despite the terrible case of weeds the tanker looked like it was brand new, the top was obviously well cared for so I guess this is just a tourist attraction or some kind of hang out for the teens, I will have to check this out sometime later. It took about 2 hours for everyone to gather together and I was introduced to Hawk Girl, Vixen, Supergirl, Black Canary, Gypsy, Big Barda, Dr. Light (or Hoshi), Ice, Huntress, Maxima, Power girl, Crimson Fox, Silver Sorceress, Janya and Jesse Quick.
Most had to stop along the way to stop some sort of crime and others were just finishing up but finally 15 women (who wanted to go) and myself (who didn't) were lined up in front of the Gotham City Tri-plaza mall, the thing was huge! About 20 stories high with three different entrances leading into a large luxurious space meant for relaxations, there were about 30 massage stations on various floors and so many vending machines and food courts that I lost count. (Sadly they didn't have Nasty Burger) We all walked in the north front doors in our various outfits, I thought we looked like a bunch of circus performers out on the town but obviously the people in Gotham knew what to do when the big guns wanted to pull out their credit cards. I have never seen something so big and so full of people, clear out that fast. The ladies had barely walked inside the double doors when they were handed a master key and told to lock up when they were done.
The civilians even cheered at the thought of their favorite superheroes shopping at their store. (Though that would be a pretty good advertisement.) Diana went into leader mode, instructing 3 groups of 5 women to look on each floor for outfits that might fit me. Afterwards we will meet in the centermost food court for lunch at 2 and then begin the trying of the outfits. Only after that will we go for shoes that will go with each outfit. They nodded and split up, leaving me to my own devices until 2 pm. I wandered around, mainly avoiding the groups of women that had taken over the mall and eventually found my way in an arcade, like all the other stores this one was abandoned but the games flashed and music still played in the background. I wasn't going to be needed until later so I might as well have fun, if these women were anything like my sister they will probably want me to try one a few outfits before they went off to shop for themselves and I was left to shop for myself.
I sat down at the first game; it was a racing game with the steering wheel of a car and a gear shift along with two pedals on the ground next to the coin slot. I didn't have any money but luckily I didn't need any to play; ghost powers are really the best. I formed a quarter sized power disk and slid it into the slot, hearing it drop into the cache of coins already inside before it evaporated and seeped outside and back to me. I could have just phased inside the game but my powers are still not responding fully and I don't know when the others will come looking for me. The game started and I selected a black and white Mercedes F1 model and lined up for the race, the green light flashed and I sped through the lines of cars and shot to the front right before I hit the first corner, I pulled back on the gear stick and slammed my foot on the brakes as I turned the wheel; skidding around the corner and picking up speed and I headed for the next turn. Shifting again I pressed the gas, behind be was a red Lamborghini we were neck and neck until the fourth turn when I bounced against the guard line and slowed down as a penalty. I lost by 4 seconds. I shoved another ghost disk into the coin slot and reselected my car but a different track; this one was in the city at night with cop cars trying to drive you off the course. The countdown started and I burnt rubber and I drove down the night streets, the cop cars came in around halfway through they arrived right behind me and my nemesis the Red Lamborghini, I slowed in front of it, causing it to crash into one of the cop cars and giving me about a 3 second head start.
I heard some sort of harsh laughter behind be but when I paused the game a looked nothing was there, I resumed the game and skidded around the last corner in front of the finish line and crossed it, heading out of town and towards "freedom." The game screen flashed "YOU WIN" and I smirked satisfied that I beat, not only my enemy, but the cop cars and the other racers in the game. Granted they were not supposed to actually catch me but it felt good to win. I looked around the arcade room and spotted a shooting game, it read "Woodland Hunters" Sam would probably kill me if I played but…. She isn't here; I grabbed the gun and loaded it off screen, inserted another disk and began playing. The object of the game was to shoot as many hard to track creatures in the allotted time as they dodged and ducked behind trees and bushes, the smaller animals were higher point value than the larger ones and the birds were the highest. I reloaded my gun about 3 times after running out of ammo and at the end of the game my tally was: 3 skunks, 7 brown bears, 4 ducks, 14 rabbits, 2 deer, and 1 bobcat. The rabbits were what got me a high score, not the highest because that belonged to DICW but close enough that I was satisfied I entered my score as DANY (because they only allow 4 letters)
The other games in the arcade we fun and I began to notice a pattern on the games I got high scores in. DICW was at the top of each one I played…. Now it was a challenge, I picked a random game and inserted the required disks to play. It booted up and a familiar song started to play, huh, so it looks like even this universe has Pac-man guess the good ones are good for a reason. I led the yellow muncher across the maze and avoided the ghosts trying to eat me; Pinky and Clyde were coming from the right while Blinky was just getting out of the restart box. Luckily for me I have had a lot of experience avoiding ghosts so I navigated through the power gems with ease. The strange hoarse laughing came back but this time I figured it was all in my head and besides, as great as this game is… it does not have a pause button (on the arcade machine it does not, I have a player at home that does have one) I cleared about 250 levels before it started to get tricky, the ghosts were getting faster and more random in their patterns and Blinky almost caught me in the corner, luckily I had a pulse point and turn the tables on him and Clyde before it wore off. Just 5 more levels and I would get to the legendary level 256, I just had to make sure I didn't lose a life. Level 251 had no problems, 252 and 253 were close ones but I ate the last pellet before they got me and 254 was almost impossible, it was only by starting out the game with a pulse point that I managed to give myself enough time to finish… and now level 255, if I beat this level I get number 256 and possibly a permanent spot on the high score board (though I probably already do, I doubt any kid stays in the mall as long as I have to play this game) the game started and right out of the gate Pinky and Blinky came from opposite ends. I had to go down first and get the pellets on the bottom row first and then work my way up with the side passages and the pulse points.
I narrowly avoided a close encounter with Inky who surprised me by being inactive most of the levels, but he led in right into the cherry at the center and around the area where they start the game. I jerked the joy stick and avoided Pinky who has gotten more and more aggressive and ate my first pulse point of the game, the music changed to indicate that I was now the enemy and I raced around the board gathering as many pellets as I could before the pulse point ran out. The other 3 were still ready for use but I had to save them for later, in the earlier levels I usually didn't have to use them. Weirdly the ghosts were gathered in a corner and stuck bumping into each other but not leaving I gathered the other pellets when I realized that the ghosts were puppy guarding the last cherry of the game. One that was worth almost triple of the others and I had stupidly eaten the other 3 pulse points to keep the ghosts away from me. I only had 2 pellets and the cherry left… maybe… I got as close to the ghosts as I could and when they started following me I ran for the other pellets, the ghosts are naturally faster than Pac-man so they were gaining on me when I flicked the joy stick up and captured the 3 time cherry. They ghosts were still after me but they had split up and used differing paths to trap me under their starting point.
I squeezed between them and path leading away from the last pellet and used the shortcut path to arrive on the other side of the board. I was so close… Victory! Level 255 was cleared! Now for the long waited level 256… apparently the ghosts learned well, they were on me in seconds and I only managed to get a cherry and 6 pellets before they caught up to me. Pac-man died honorably and I was shown the high score screen again, I was at the top and put DANY as my penname below me the highest score was level 66 by DICW I smirked and turn around to scope out my next game, only to be faced with the 15 women of the justice league, laden down by stacks of clothes and amazement filled their eyes.
"Good show!" Big Barda said though I could tell that she didn't really understand the significance of level 256, the other aliens and members not of this country or timeline also didn't understand but Vixen, Black Canary, Gypsy, Huntress, Crimson Fox and Jessie Quick did. They were shocked and stood with amazed looks on their faces.
"Come," Diana said as she broke through the throngs of women and clothes. "It is time for food after a humorous game like that I am sure Danny is quite hungry." I looked at the clock hanging above the door to the arcade section and realized I was half an hour late to lunch. No wonder they all came to find me. We left together with each person carrying their own stuff and headed to the buffet that is food court! I had a couple burgers and fries while the others tried Chinese, Hispanic, Italian and even some Czech food chains. The food was good but I miss nasty burger, the greasy meat mix with the secret nasty sauce. Mmh, good stuff. I ate until I was full and then was carted to the nearest dressing room by a gaggle of ladies.
About 2 hours later I was getting really tired of the stain that was on the wall next to the mirror, I had tried on hundreds of outfits, some too big, some too small, some not the right style, some that didn't fit with my complexion, some that did, some that were pink, purple, brown and any other color known to fabric and finally, the minority, some that I actually liked. It took me the better part of an hour and a half to convince the women of the league (who will now be known as the Terrible Terrors of Credit Card Transaction or TTCT for short) that I would not be wearing any dresses or skirts or low riding shirts of any kind. They picked out shirts and pants of every style and color and I finally had to put a stop to this, I told them I would find an outfit I liked and they could choose a similar style as long as the color wasn't pink, yellow or brown.
I chose a black sleeveless neck strap shirt that looked sturdy with white trimmings and some dark blue jeans that fit comfortable. Later I will probably print my symbol on it but until then I will have to make sure the TTCT get the right clothes. I was still barefoot but it seemed that I still had about 60 more outfits to try on. I was forced into a dress only once and that was because I needed something for when I was invited to parties in my hero persona. It was a black short sleeved dress with a sweetheart neckline that went down to just past my knees and was covered in dark blue sequins that sparkled in the light. It was ok so I didn't really fight it, especially since I will probably have a mask to cover my face. Though it has always bugged me how people not recognize that it is the same person with their cheeks and eyes covered?
Anyway that wasn't the most horrifying experience in the mall the worst is when we had to match my outfit to the shoes. I shudder to think about how I ended up with a pair of blue tennies, we had eventually left the clothing section and went to the battlefield of the shoe dept. "Oh little sister, these shoes will be most fitting for you!" Wonder Woman said she was holding a pair of black boot-like high heels that matched hers and looked so high that they could take the eye out of someone who was stupid enough to wear them.
"Are you kidding? She would look better in these!" Hawk Girl had stormed over and shoved a pair of white pumps with a black zig-zag design down the side. Vixen decided then to put in her two cents. "Have you seen the shoes she has now? Her poor feet would kill her before she could even get to the first villain! No she should have something like this" She brought out a pair of high heeled sandals that looked like they were made from strings.
Supergirl jumped in to the mounting tension with her own pair that she thought would look best and frankly at that time I couldn't bring myself to look at them. Each pair was worse than the one before it. As the fight over shoes escalated adding in Big Barda, gypsy, and Ice things started to get thrown around and smashed. Wonder Woman, Maxima, super and power girl doing most of the smashing, every time they tried to make a point, they would slam their fists into the nearest object, crumpling it as their voice continued to rise.
'Maybe this is why they shop when the stores are closed.' I thought to myself as I avoided a pair of wedges thrown by Vixen as she expressed her distaste in them. 'If these girl weren't super hero's they would be banned from stores all over the world.' I looked around the mall while dodging various objects heading his way. It was huge! Even bigger than the one in Paris he went to when he and Sam first started dating. This one had a glass room that was shaped into an almost pentagonal point, probably to keep the sun's glare to a minimum. Its walls were concrete painted a light blue color, or at least it looked light blue with all the other stores lights off.
Something soft bounced to the right of me and I turned and saw a blue shoe tip peeking out from under an over turned box. Walking over I decided to look and inside was a black pair of tennis shoes, meant for comfort and strength and thankfully not any kind of high heel. I sat down and tried them on; they were a little roomy but otherwise fit fine.
Dodging another thing that was thrown in my direction, I walked to the register and scanned the price tag on the shoes. After ringing up the purchase I gulped, I don't have any money with me, and while playing free video games is fine by my morals, I will not steal. The only ones who did have money were…currently still fighting about heels. Steeling myself, I walked over to Vixen who, in my opinion, didn't seem super powered enough to kill me with a flick of her wrist.
All in all it was the most terrifying shoe purchase of my life. When I went back to ask for the money it all got eerily quiet, all heads turned to me and slowly as if controlled by a puppet master they advanced on me. I tried to stand tall against the four women approaching me but when they finally got close enough to touch; I let out a small whine. They looked almost possessed, until very slowly Wonder Woman handed me the money. I got out of there so fast that the Red Flash would have been impressed.
We were heading out of the mall at 11 o'clock at night when another argument started up, this time it was where was I going to be housed until Batman came up with a permanent place for me. To be honest I was way too tired to mediate another fight with the TTCT so I left them to their yelling and laid down on a bench near the south entrance (since it was the only place far enough away that I could get some shut eye) trying on hundreds of outfits is tiring, I fell into a light doze and slept until someone got me. Whoever it was picked me up and carried me to a car then sprayed something in my face and I fell into the land of deep slumber, the last thing I heard was the familiar hoarse laugh from the arcade earlier today.
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