The Last Amazons

By Dixxy

Chapter Six: The Story of the Amazons

(Rona)

It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day. A perfect day to take a ride on my bike to the Cape in a little bikini and go guy watching. To go get an ice cream from an ice cream truck. To sun tan at the pool. The typical August summer day.

To do anything but sit in Mike's hot, sticky living room with the broken air conditioner waiting for the next meeting to start. The nine of us were sprawled out in the said room, all dying from the one hundred degree weather. Most of us were soaked in sweat and none of us were up-to-par.

Though, in a way, it wasn't too bad. I mean, for one thing, Sage, Kento, and Cye had all opted to take off their shirts to try and beat the heat. And they were all sweaty. Not at the point of smelling really bad, but at the glowing point that you see in those exercise machine commercials. Given Kento was taken (In fact, Keisha was zoning out while using his chest as a pillow), Sage was almost Sam's, and Sara was beginning to mark off her territory around Cye, but it was still a good show. Probably for them, too, since most of us girls were in sport bras, bathing suits and shorts, or tight tank tops.

Finally, Anubis came in. He had his long hair tied back in a ponytail and was wearing a tank top and pair of shorts. Surprisingly, he hadn't even broken a small sweat yet. "You all look sick. Perhaps you should have something to drink."

"It's almost over hundred degrees outside," Sage complained.

"Yeah, it's hot," Sara whined in response.

"I wanna go outside!" griped Sam.

"I wanna get ice cream!" Ria moaned.

"I need to jump in a pool!" cried Cara.

"I wanna go to the beach!" I added.

"OKAY!" said Anubis, looking irritated. "We'll go outside and jump in the pool, okay?"

We all cheered as we darted outside (Sage and Kento got jammed in the doorway on the way out) and jumped in Mike's in-ground pool. A super-sized tidal wave was the reaction of the water. Anubis walked outside and barely missed getting splashed. The lot of us, now soaked to the bone, looked up at him with nine stupid grins plastered on our now very pleased faces. "You know, you're all accomplished Ronin Warriors and Senshi, yet you tend to act like a bunch of five year olds."

"And you do, too," said Keisha. "I have four words for you: McDonald's and Orange Julius." This got a laugh from the rest of us and a growl from Anubis, who was standing by the edge of the pool.

"Could we please get on with the meeting?" said Anubis.

"You jump in the water, too!" said Cye. He was treading water and looking up at his father with a boyish smile. He dunked his head, came back up, and whipped her head around, spraying most of us in the process. "It's great!"

"But, but, but. . ." Anubis started.

"He can't swim!" Ria concluded. "Oh my God! His son is the Child of Destiny and a bearer of a WATER armor and he doesn't know how to swim! Oh the irony! Oh the agony! THIS IS SO DAMN FUNNY!"

"There IS a shallow end," said Kento, proving his point by wading over to the shallow end of Mike's pool. He extended his arms out over the water. "See? It's waist deep for me, and you're taller than I am. You'll be fine."

Anubis looked at the water, then at Kento, then slowly made his way to the steps leading into the pool. We all cheered him on as he pulled off his shirt and slowly walked in. "Very amusing," he mumbled.

"So, what's today's meeting about?" asked Ria, who'd gotten on one of those big donut float rings. I tried not to laugh when Sara tipped her over and back into the water. "EEEEE!!! SARA!!!"

"If we can get into the meeting, it'll be about Nether Realm races and civilizations," said Anubis. He was beginning to get annoyed with us, which I didn't blame him for. We could be quite a handful if we wanted to be. And at that point, the combination of a pool and a heat wave made us all pretty hyper.

"Okay, we'll calm down," said Sage. He pulled himself up onto the edge of the pool. "So, what do you have to tell us about Dynasty civilizations?" Around that time, the rest of us also opted to climb up onto the ledges of the pool to listen to Anubis' lecture.

Anubis smiled, climbing into a floatie ring. He began to drift back in forth in front of us as he began to speak. "As you all know, Sage is one of the last, if not the last, of the Flitteree, a Nether Realm race. What you might not know is that there were other species in the Nether Realm as well."

Sage seemed to take a particular interest in this. "So, there were other people in the Nether Realm aside from the Flitteree?"

"You bet," said Kento. "Celeste mentioned one of the races to me and Keisha when she rescued us back in the Under City. Amazons. They were the other dominant species in the Nether Realm before Talpa and Trulpa came to take it over."

"Precisely," said Anubis. "Amazons were a very dangerous breed of humanoids, something of a distant cousin to humans, if you could call them that. However, they got along slightly better than Sage's ancestors after the Nether World was invaded."

"Why?" asked Sara.

"They were evil and swore allegiance to both Trulpa and Talpa. See, the Amazons and the Flitteree were sworn enemies. The Flitteree preferred a peaceful life and only hunted for food and only killed when necessary. The Amazons, on the other hand, were a vicious, war like people who hunted for game and killed whenever they had the chance. They flourished after Talpa and Trulpa came to power," said Anubis.

"You keep saying 'were' instead of 'are'. Did they get killed or something?" I asked.

Cara nodded. "Yes. A few Amazon teenagers decided it would be funny if they broke into Talpa's castle to break stuff about thirty or so years ago. Well, Talpa was NOT amused and sent over half of his army to destroy them. Trulpa didn't find out about it until it was just about too late- over ninety-nine percent of the Amazons had been killed. She was able to save about two dozen of them and placed them in the Under City for protection," said the former Warlady. "That only fueled their feud, as you can imagine."

"Why did she save them?" asked Kento.

"Easy. Amazons are hunters by nature- it's part of their instinct. Their five senses are all heightened and they're easily as agile as any of you. Imagine being like that from birth. None of you could do any of that until you received your armors. They also possess a very unique power," said Cara.

"What's that?" asked Cye.

"They can stop their own breathing and heart rates for a full hour," said Anubis. "When Talpa sent myself and the other Warlords to kill the Amazons, he warned us to always stab one in the chest or cutting its head off before proceeding. Amazons used this skill as a hunting tool, making their prey think they were dead."

"Fascinating," I said. "A creature like that would be a force to be reckoned with."

"No kidding," said Sage. He looked at Anubis. "How did my ancestors deal with them? You said the Flitteree were a peaceful people, but they were enemies of the Amazons. Were they forced into wars?"

"You could say that," said Anubis. "But you shouldn't have to worry about it. Most of them are dead and I doubt that any of them would attack a Flitteree who also happens to be a Ronin Warrior. THAT would be suicidal."

"Going after ANY of us three would be suicidal," said Kento. "We can all use magic in addition to our sure kills, plus we're in the Age of Legends. I can see whatever they're going to throw at me, Sage is their natural enemy, and Cye is the Child of Destiny. I would say they would have to be pretty stupid to go after one of us."

"What else is there to know about the Amazons?" asked Sara.

"Well, their evil is NOT passed on by nature. You could raise an Amazon child to be a good person just as easily as you could raise a Flitteree or a human to be a good person. It's the parents that push their evil ideas on their children, making it a vicious cycle that didn't end until most of them were wiped out. Even now I bet there are a few small Amazon children in the Under City who will continue to carry on their race's hatred," said Anubis.

Keisha sighed heavily, looking at her watch. "Well, I gotta go," she said. "Sorry I have to leave so early, but my mom needs my help at home with something." Hardrock of the Senshi sighed heavily as she stepped out of the pool and went to grab her jeans. "I wish I could do more to help her."

Kento laughed. "I got a job interview, now that I think of it."

"You're getting a job?" said Ria.

Kento nodded. "I'm taking Driver's Ed this year and I would like to be able to purchase a car sometime. The only way to get that kind of money would be to get a job. Fun, isn't it?"

"That's a wise investment, Kento," said Anubis. "Cars are fun."

"And you can barely drive them," Cye mumbled dryly.

"Something wrong, Cye?" asked Anubis, not quite hearing what his son had said.

Cye shrugged. "Nothing important."

Anubis didn't seem to believe him. He opted to ignore his son and started talking again. Cye breathed a sigh of relief, getting a few giggles from some of the other Senshi. "Anyone else needed elsewhere?"

"No, but I've owed my little sister an ice cream for the past few weeks and I have to put my money where my mouth is or else she'll get mad," said Sara, shrugging. "I'll see you guys later."

"I could use some extra time to work on my latest collage," said Cara thoughtfully as she climbed out of the pool and went to find a towel. "It's a nice piece. It's a collection of toaster pastries I've photographed over the past few weeks."

I laughed uneasily. "Heh, I told my dad I'd help him with the new menus for his restaurant, and I might as well get home early to help him with that," I said. "He'll be happy I'm coming home early."

Anubis sighed. "Fine, meeting dismissed."

We all got up, said our good-byes, and left the meeting. Kento immediately got a ride with Keisha to his interview, Cara retreated to her room, and Trevor picked up everyone else but me and Sam. I was giving Sam a ride home, so I expected that much. The two of us went outside to my motorcycle and grabbed helmets.

"Rona, what would you say if I said I might be getting a boyfriend?" asked Sam.

I thought about that. "I'd assume that cows flew, Hell froze over, and Sara suddenly grew a foot and a half," I said. "Sam, you practically REPEL guys. You scare them all off."

Sam frowned. "Seriously, Rona," she said. "You're my best friend and I want an honest opinion. What would you honestly say if I might get some sort of a significant other?" I looked at my friend and saw she really WAS serious.

"Well," I said, putting one leg over the bike. I grinned, already knowing who she was considering. "I guess I'd have to say that it's good you're finally coming all the way out of your dating shell and wish you and Sage the best of luck."

"How'd you-"

I snorted. "C'mon! It's obvious the two of you like-like each other. I say go for it and at least START playing the field," I said. "Sage is a good kid, you'll be all right around him."

Sam smiled as she joined me on the back of my bike. "Really?"

"Really," I said. "Let's get you home now, okay?"

"All righty, mate!"

~

Question time!

Musou Misora: Yes, I go through a crisis from time to time, too.

Winter: Kento learns a lot about football by the time Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds rolls around. One of the first scenes involves him and the other men of the group (minus Cye) watching football on Thanksgiving.

Thanks, as always, for reading and reviewing! GIMME REVIEWS!!!! GIMME, GIMME!!!

~Dixxy