AN: So, this happened.

Chapter 29.1: Marvelous Mega Moo

A delicate yawn split the air as Sonja awoke from a much needed rest. The blond powerhouse sighed gently afterward then sat up on her quilt. It was still the middle of the night. Her rest, as badly needed as it was, had been fitful.

Sonja listened to the absolute quiet for a moment then lowered her eyes. “It’s been a while...”

She stood up then stretched a little to loosen her muscles. Her powerful, yet exquisitely feminine, frame twisted and turned in a slow and casual rhythm. She unleashed a light moan of appreciation then stood up straight once more. What did she do now?

The Valkyrie left her room and headed out into the hallway. Hopefully someone else would be awake. She hated to be alone recently. There was a time when she enjoyed it most when no one else was around. At that time the people most likely to be around were weak-minded men with more money than self-restraint. She considered their activities to be a sort of bridal training, but ultimately it had just been to earn money her freedom.

The problem now, as far as she would admit, was just how much she actually wanted to be free. Sonja thought about her current life and could not help but smile a little. Things had definitely improved. It was hard to know what her own thoughts were on the matter most of the time, but she did know that she felt happiest when Scott was around. Who would have thought that she would ever feel so much joy when simply in the presence of a man? She had thought that such a thing was a myth, just a story that the Valkyrie elders told to young girls to make them train harder. If you work harder, young one, you’ll one day find someone worthy of you!

Thoughts of home, of her people, made Sonja’s mighty heart hurt a little. She wanted to return home almost desperately, but if she did... What then would happen to her current life? Would she ever see Scott again? What of Shara or even Ashton? She missed her family, but in a way these people were her family as well. That realization had been the strangest of all. She barely knew any of them, but she had strong feelings for all of them. The other girls were now like her sisters of battle and blood, and Scott...

A slight pink tinge came to Sonja’s cheeks as she thought of Scott. Her slight smile widened and became something sweet, something gentle. She thought of everything that had happened lately and that small, sweet, smile shifted to something hard and dangerous. Though, after a moment even that hardened expression did soften back into something tender. It was hard to think vicious thoughts when her dark and brooding master, occasionally silly, master came to mind.

Sonja, after a time of randomly shifting expressions and complex thoughts had passed, finally voiced her thoughts on a safer topic regarding her feelings for the man. “He makes me want to be a better warrior...”

Her eyes widened at the realization. Perhaps the old myths about men and women were true after all? The slight pink tinge on her cheeks darkened considerably. These thoughts were dangerous! What Valkyrie wanted to become a better woman to protect a man? Such a silly notion! If he was worth a damn, he would be stronger than her! And yet...

The gentle smile on her lips widened to one of mild amusement. She could not help but unleash a tiny little chuckle at the idea of protecting him. A feeling of warmth, of joy, bubbled up within her. “Become a better warrior... That’s what I should be doing.” she said with soft amusement.

She was at a loss, however. How did one become a better warrior in this world? She knew of things like swordplay and the reverse suplex, but how did warriors from Earth train? She would be here frequently, at least for now. Should she not learn of the ways of her master’s people?

Sonja tilted her head to the left then gently bit her lip. Her eyes acquired a faraway gaze for a brief moment then she nodded. Perhaps she should ask one of the other girls?

She chose to do just that. Considerations regarding her future training as she searched the apartment building in order to find one of the girls. She found Ashton on the roof, but chose to leave her be. She was watching for incoming threats while remaining as inconspicuous as possible.

After another short search, she discovered Shara in the communal area on the second floor of the building. She called out to the red head, and Shara turned to her quickly.

“Hey! Shouldn’t you be in bed, young lady?” admonished Shara with a smile and a shake of her finger.

“Yes, I suppose I should. But...” said Sonja.

“Hmm? Is something bothering you?” asked Shara softly. She stood up from her seat on the counter; her hot-pink silky pajamas shimmered slightly in the light of the electric LED lantern that she had been using for light.

“Well, I had thought to ask you a few questions.” said Sonja.

“Ah, girl talk? I’m up for that. I have another hour or so until I need to relieve Ashton.” said Shara.

“Girl talk? Yes, you could call it that.” said Sonja.

“Alright! What ya got for me?” asked the redhead, before she trotted over to Sonja.

Sonja smiled at the enthusiastic girl then said, “Do you know anything about the warriors of earth?”

“Warriors of Earth? You mean soldiers?” asked Shara.

“I suppose, but I mean the grand warriors. The best among your people, your heroes. What sort of people are they?” asked Sonja.

Shara’s eyes lit up. “You want to know about our heroes?”

“Yes! If you would please tell me about them?” asked Sonja with a warm smile.

“Oh, they’re just super. I’ll tell you everything that you need to know!” Shara’s eyes began to sparkle slightly in the LED light.

***

A screech of pain echoed through the underground environ as Blackthorne smashed his fist through the carapace of another oversized scorpion. As strange as it seemed, his fists did more damage than a sword. Something about the nature of these beasts made them resist sword strikes to a degree, but blunt trauma worked just fine.

A barbed, venom laced, tail shot down toward him out of the darkness. Blackthorne instinctively leaned to the left and let it deflect off of the side of his chest plate. His armor, forged from the carapace of the boss of this area, was stronger than anything short of a solid and direct hit from these beasts.

The tail whipped down again, and once again he deflected the strike. However, this time he gripped it tight under his armpit, and hopped forward onto the back of the beast. It was not nearly as large as the Big Daddy Scorpion boss, but it was still about the size of a small car. There was plenty of leg room on its back.

Blackthorne pulled a sword from his bag and began to hack at the base of the tail now that he had it pinned down. The beast hopped and raged, but it could not dislodge its would-be dinner from its back. It took several hard strikes to break through the carapace, but once he did, the tail was completely severed after only three more strikes.

Robbed of its most potent weapon, the monster screeched in pain once more and went berserk. Blackthorne made a few attempts at stabbing down at its armored back, but without the tail for support he could not stay on top of it.

He was knocked down and ended up rolling sideways off of the beast. As he did so, his head slammed against the rocky wall and he lost hold of his wits. It took him two precious seconds to regain coherence, but that was two seconds too long. The scorpion had whirled around and snatched him around the waist with its claws.

Blackthorne felt incredible pressure on his chest, nothing like what he had felt from the Big Daddy, but enough to have killed him if he had not been wearing armor. He was restricted to the extent that it became hard to breathe. He did not have the leverage to strike out properly at the beast, but unfortunately for it, difficulty breathing did not mean that he could not speak or breathe at all.

On the verge of desperation, he began to draw on the energy of the world around him. He could feel his vitality dropping with every squeeze of the monster’s claw, a thing that doubled in intensity when the other claw came around and began to work on his armored thighs.

He fought down a scream and instead turned it to enraged fury. He slammed his right hand forward then practically shouted out his chant.

~Oh, burning flame darker than midnight black. Come forth with hateful vengeance and consume my enemies. ~

Motes of red and black light streamed toward the space before his open palm. They converged at a single point in a space of time that passed in the course of only a few brief seconds and soon something very similar to what happened when he breathed out his dragon fire occurred. A basketball sized sphere of shadow and fire formed before his hand then compressed down to something the size of a tennis ball.

Once the pressure built to a point that he could not contain it, he shouted, “Shadow Flare!”

A cone of darkness and flame shot out from the sphere before his palm and engulfed the monster. The scorpion screeched in agony and shook him like a ragdoll. However, in its pain and rage it released its hold on him just enough for

Blackthorne to risk shifting his form. He had learned a painful less over the course of the several hours that he had fought in these mines. When a powerful monster caught you in its claws, don’t try to transform to escape.

The one time that he had tried it, the thing had done terrible damage as his transformation took time. Changing to shadow form when held by an alert enemy could spell his death since it weakened his physical structure while he shifted. He had been forced to flee into the rocks and wait while his vitality regenerated.

However, now was the perfect time to transform, the beast was distracted by the fact that it was on fire! Blackthorne concentrated on his shadow form and escaped the clutches of the beast. He immediately engulfed it in his shadowy mass and began to use his aura of terror to frighten it further. Burning and terrified of the angry darkness the creature whirled around and began to ram into the walls of the mine in an attempt to find any way to escape its torment.

It was not long before the fire died down. Blackthorne flowed away from the monster and took his time reformed as a dragon... He had transformed a little too often in the last few hours, so he chose his natural state in order to rest. This would be the last scorpion that he killed before he went back to the surface and summoned Sonja to his side.

Blackthorne took a few deep breaths then repeated his previous attack. This time, he used his true dragon breath instead of the magical knock-off version that he used in human form. It was stronger in this form, anyway.

The vital forces gathered into a sphere and were then compressed into a smaller ball. The shadow and flame raced outward and washed over the terrified beast renewing the burning effect in the process. Screams, shrieks of agony, echoed through the mine but it was not long before the beast fell to the earth. Between the shadow flare spell, the constant barrage of physical attacks, and a blast of dragon flame, it was thoroughly prepped and cooked!

He waddled forward until he came within range then began to repeatedly whip the thing with his tail. He continued to do so until he had smashed its armored head in, and he could see the tender flesh beyond. He wanted to be certain that it was dead.

“Man, that was intense.” said Blackthorne lightly before backing off a little. He opted to take a breather for a moment before he regained his human form. It was much easier to cut things apart when he was human.

He had noticed the variable uses of his three current forms. His dragon form seemed to have the most raw destructive power, but less utility than his human form. His stats remained the same, but it was much easier to just use his breath weapon than to chant a spell. Though, his human form had many uses and it was comfortable. His shadow form was almost a cheat to be honest, but he loved it because of that fact.

Blackthorne rested for a moment then slowly shifted back into human form. He then proceeded to carve up his new kill and stuffed what he could into his bags. He ended up tracking all the way to the surface, unloading his chunks of meat and carapace, and then heading back down to get more. Each scorpion produced a large amount of meat. At this point, he had several small mountains of the stuff heaped around at the entrance to the mine. It was surprising that wild animals had not tried to run off with it yet.

He finished dragging his loot to the surface then organized it into the piles he had previously arranged. He has six piles of meat higher than he was tall, three piles of carapace about the same height, a pile of oversized claws, a tail pile, and a pile separately for just the barbs.

“Note to self, get a truck and a pull trailer then bring it over here.” said Blackthorne seriously. If their plans worked out, they might even be able to do that eventually. Though, he was sure that making something like that possible would cost a small fortune.

He finished up then assessed the damage to his armor. “Man, cracks everywhere. I’m going to have to go hunt some weak monsters just for the blood splatter.”

He looked up at the sky and thought that it was nearly noon. “Time to call her...”

Scott smiled softly then called out, “Sonja!” with willful intent.

Just as she had on many occasions before, Sonja appeared before him in all of her glory. However, unlike before she was wearing something that made Scott lean back in surprise.

Sonja gazed at him with a serious expression then leaned slightly to the left and back. She raised her right foot up in such a way that he could only see her thigh, knee, and part of her booted foot clearly. A gentle breeze began to blow and her bright red cape swirled sideways despite the fact that her luxurious blond hair did not seem to move at all.

Scott blinked then shook his head. Sonja wore a bright red cape, a white one-piece spandex body suit that did not cover the legs, or a rather wide section of her chest. Her belt buckle, and the buckle of her cape placed on the upper right portion of her chest above her breasts, were both made of either gold or burnished bronze. There was a large letter M emblazoned on the front of both.

AN: Here’s a badly drawn rendition and you’re welcome for the nightmares.

“Sonja.... what?” asked Scott.

“Is this not a warrior’s armor?” she asked lightly.

“Why are you dressed like Power Girl?” asked Scott slowly.

“Ah! Shara was right; you do recognize the uniform of one of your world’s great heroes. Good.” said Sonja softly before standing normally. Her cape continued to flutter in the breeze, however.

“I don’t even...” began Scott.

“Though, I do wonder at the practicality of having no armor in this area.” Sonja raised her hands then moved them in a circular manner around the rather large hole in her top. The legendary Power Girl boob window was in full effect and heavily emphasized by her moving hands.

Scott coughed once, but he could not look away. “Well, she’s practically invulnerable so armor is useless for her...”

“Ah! A great warrior indeed! I would love to meet her someday.” said Sonja.

“I think I just did.” murmured Scott. He had never seen anyone who looked that much like a superhero. “Though, what’s with the two M’s?”

“My M’s? Do you like them? Shara said that since my hero name was Mega Moo, that I needed a trademark even if I was wearing the armor of another warrior.” said Sonja.

“Ah yes... I would say that I really like your M’s...” said Scott before he turned away. What the hell was he saying?

“Good! Shara assured me that this warrior’s garb would be most appropriate.”

“Well... How did she know to choose that one?” he asked. Though, he honestly had never seen a more convincing Power Girl cosplay in his life.

Sonja raised her hand then grinned. “She said that when she logged onto your computer the day of our gathering, you had an inordinate amount of pictures of this warrior. So, you no doubt thought that she was an amazing warrior.”

Damn it Shara... She had found his one weakness, a hot blond superheroine with an open window to her... soul.

***