Week 6: Storytelling - We Shall Pass

"Lark has been gone for way too long, Gregor. We have to get the bridge built to Lanka or we will never get Sarah back! Is that what you want? Do you want her to sit there and rot?" Penny-Nichole was pacing quickly on the stones in front of their tent. Not long after the three had made it to Vedos, Rava had come and attacked and stolen Sarah from them. He claimed it was revenge for his brother, Kellan, whom they had destroyed just before making it to the planet they were currently occupying.

"How did he even find us on this planet? We went alone! There is no way, out of all of the ships, that he could have singled just us out. And why just us? What did we do to him, it was a group effort to kill his horrid brother!" Gregor stood and grasped Penny-Nichole by the arm. She spun furiously around and glared at him.

"Penny-Nichole, now is the time to be calm. I know this land and I know what we must do to have the bridge built. But we can't go until tomorrow so for now, sit, be still, and breathe. Let me tell you a story of the last time Sarah and I visited this planet." Penny-Nichole firmly pulled her arm from Gregor's grasp but she did also take a deep breath to calm herself and plopped cross legged on the ground. Gregor smirked and settled down onto his makeshift seat.

"This is the planet Mauku. A planet that is filled with things that our people consider to be magical and mystical but are perfectly normal to the Maukuns. There are clans of shape-shifting cat people and jackals and wolves, there are monkey-men, there are demons and goblins, there are creatures of such power that all across this planet they are considered to be deities, as you have seen with some of our adventures here already. One such god-like creature here on Mauku, considered to be a god of seas and oceans, holds the power to create a bridge for us. Tomorrow we will journey there to pray to him and ask for his assistance but we must be gentle about it. We don't know all of the practices of the people here and we don't want to offend the balance of this world." Gregor continued to tell Penny-Nichole stories of his adventures with the clan of Leonum and the fierce battles he had been through. Over time Penny-Nichole relaxed entirely and began to enjoy the stories. After hunting for dinner and one last run through of the plan, Gregor and Penny-Nichole settled down for bed.

Morning came and Penny-Nichole sprang from her bed.

"Pops, come on, Pops, we need to leave. Come on, old man! It's time to go! We have to save Sarah!" Gregor grumbled his way up and soon the two left.

It wasn't a long journey to the ocean deity. It took exceptionally less time than it should have mostly because Penny-Nichole walked like a cheetah ran and cut their travel time in half.

"Let me do the talking. I would like for you to stand guard." Penny-Nichole nodded and stood back as Gregor sat by the edge of a large crystal clear lake. He folded his hands together and began mumbling under his breath. This continued for what seemed like several hours until Gregor let out a heavy sigh and stood.

"There seems to be no answer... I wonder if there is something else I should be doing." Gregor scratched his head and took an old book out of his satchel and flipped through it.

Penny-Nichole let loose a fearsome growl and walked to where Gregor had just been sitting. She looked out over the water and called,  "We will not be ignored. Not at a time like this. Water god, can you hear me? My name is Penny-Nichole of Earth and we have come to seek your aid! We have gifts from several other gods of your world as well as other worlds. Do not dare to ignore us or you shall feel my wrath!" Penny-Nichole bellowed out over the water. However, while the waters trembled in fear of her anger, the water god still did not respond.

"Alrighty then. I guess we are doing this the hard way." Penny-Nichole reached behind her and, out of thin air, pulled a slim, gleaming bow. A matching quiver with wicked-looking arrows formed around her torso. She pulled an arrow and nocked it to her bow. "Last chance!" she called to whatever was listening. After waiting a long moment she released her mighty arrows into the water. Gregor thought to stop her, but he didn't know any other way to get the water god's attention, so he stood back and simply observed.

After releasing about twenty arrows at the lake and watching them disappear into the darkness, a great being rose from the water and hovered in front of Penny-Nichole, "My young child, I have heard your cries and I have felt your arrows fly through my kingdom." The being lifted his hand and the water beside him rumbled eerily. Penny-Nichole nocked another arrow and aimed it at the being while Gregor ran to her side with his sword at the ready. The being chuckled and grasped the scepter that had risen from the water. Grasping it longways so that it was parallel to the surface of the lake, the being held the scepter out to Penny-Nichole.

"Take hold of this with me, small one. I will assist you in building the bridge to Lanka to find your beloved friend." Penny-Nichole stood there for a moment longer before putting the arrow back in her quiver and, just as the bow and quiver appeared, the weapons disappeared from her body. She walked forward and grasped the scepter. The being smiled, lifted its head and spoke a few words before a beam of light shot from the scepter, forming a great bridge to Lanka. The light blinded Penny-Nichole and Gregor so they didn't see it leave but when they opened their eyes the great being was gone.

Author's note:
This story is based off of the story "The Bridge" from the Ramayana. The original story is very short. Basically Rama tries to give sacrifices to the king of the ocean but gets no response so he gets pissed and starts shooting arrows into the water. The king of the ocean appears and is very kind and gentle to Rama and helps him create the bridge. Really he calms the waters so that the monkey army (that I accidentally forgot to add) can create the bridge. It was the most logical next step after my last story and I really feel like it does the best job of showing Penny-Nichole and Gregor and even Sarah a little as the different parts of Rama. Penny-Nichole is the fierce warrior side and Gregor is the curious and wise and experienced side of Rama. Sarah is supposed to represent Rama's. It was easy to do this story but it was also a lot of fun. I really can't wait to unleash Penny-Nichole's kickass skills when they actually make it to Rava (who is clearly Ravana). I realize they don't have the giant army that Rama did, but I can create that later.

If you would like to read a little more about some of Gregor and Sarah Strike's adventures you can go to my old storybook here: Planet of the Cats
If you want to read even MORE of their exciting adventures, here is my old blog: Old Myth & Folklore blog

Bibliography: The Bridge by Donald A. Mackenzie

Kind of the bow I imagined Penny-Nichole using.

Source

Week 6: Reading Notes - Part D

THIS IS NOT COMPLETE. Obviously. I just accidentally hit publish instead of saving it as a draft.

1. Bhisma Falls
So wait... Arjuna was actually born a girl?? I am so confused...
Donald A. Mackenzie
2. Drona in Command
Romesh C. Dutt
3. Abhimanyu and Jayadratha
I can only imagine the pain of losing a child. I am not surprised that Arjuna wants revenge.
Donald A. Mackenzie
4. Ghatotkacha
This story and the last are both about two of the Pandavas losing their children. I feel like this, and possibly the last story, would be good to use for my storytellings.
Donald A. Mackenzie
5. Death of Drona
The trickery used here and the image of the kuru's soul is pretty cool. I feel like this could also be a good story to use for my storytelling.
Sister Nivedita
6. Bhima and Duhshasana
As gross as it is that he drank the guy's blood, I am impressed that he kept his vow and it makes me happy that he avenged the wrong done to Draupadi.
Donald A Mackenzie
7. Arjuna and Karna
I would really like to use this story as another one of my storytelling stories.
Donald A. Mackenzie
8. Duryodhana in the Lake
Donald A. Mackenzie
9. The Raid
This would be an excellent story to use since it is not what one would expect to happen at all! The gods seemed to always help the Pandavas but then shiva just let the guy in!
Donald A. Mackenzie & Romesh Dutt
10. Ashwatthaman's Jewel
So I could also use Ashwatthaman as one of my celestial beings. I want to use the story of his amulet somehow.
Donald A. Mackenzie
11. Mourning
As sad and painful as this story would be, I can completely see a retelling of this story to be super useful in my portfolio.
Donald A. Mackenzie
12. The Pandavas and Bhishma
The idea of being able to chose the moment of ones death is a SUPER cool idea! I feel like it could be easy to misuse, but it could also create an excellent was to forward a plot.
John Mandeville Macfie
13.  Parikshit
John Mandeville Macfie and Sunity Devee
14. King Yudhishthira's Horse
This ritual is still fascinating to me.
Donald A. Mackenzie
15. Horse Sacrifice
Its about damn time.
Donald A. Mackenzie
16. The Mongoose
I like the idea of switching narrators and having the actual narrator be an animal!
Annie Besant
17. The Forest and its Ghosts
This would be a really cool story as well.
Donald A. Mackenzie
18. Death of Krishna
This reads like a Shakespearian tragedy where EVERYONE dies at the end...
Donald A. Mackenzie
19. The Pandavas Depart
Donald A. Mackenzie
20. The Afterlife
I LOVE the idea of him going through a test and, after succeeding, becoming a celestial. I also really like how it is explained how each brother is basically paired with another god.
Donald A. Mackenzie

Yudhishthira's Journey to Hell

Bibliography: Since each chapter is written by a different author each author, link and title are provided above.

Week 6: Reading Notes - Part C

Reading Notes Part C
1. Life in the Forest
This chapter reminds me of the story of Sugriva I think it was? Where he was told that his kingdom would be restored to him, probably after he met Rama, because that was the theme to all things in tha epic. I like the idea of having an all powerful diety that wont necessarily spek for itsself, but will send messangers for it.
Donald A. Mackenzie
2. Krishna's Visit
The seeds of deception are planted early in this story it looks like.
Donald A. Mackenzie
3. Arjuna and Shiva
I like that even though Arjuna is incredibly devout, he cannot fight his warrior instinct. I also like the imagery of his devotions. I would really like to use Gandiva, the divine bow, in one of my stories.
Sister Nivedita
4. Arjuna and Indra
Indra - King of Gods, Varuna - God of Waters, Yama - King of the Dead, Kubera - Lord of Treasures, Swarga - the celestial city, Apsaras - heavenly brides of gods and heros, Kama - God of Love, Daityas and Danavas - demons and giants, the ancient enemies of Indra. The image of Arjuna fighting the giants and demons is really cool. He basically parts the ocean and then calls forth his celestial weapons and kicks their butts.
Donald A. Mackenzie
5. The Himalayas
What is the Deluge?
Donald A. Mackenzie
6. Bhima and Hanuman
Okay, so I need to remember that Bhima is also a son of the wind god Vayu. I'm so excited that Hanuman is back! He was one of my favorite characters in the Ramayana. The story of bascially how the religion came to be was very interesting.
John Mandeville Macfie
7. Duryodhana and the Gandharvas
Donald A. Mackenzie
8. Karna and Indra
Based on this chapter I am very interested to see what happens should Karna and Arjuna ever get into a battle.
Sister Nivedita
9. Jayadratha and Draupadi
These men need to stop leaving their women in the forests alone...
Donald A. Mackenzie
10. Riddles a the Lake
This would be a good chapter to get some ideas from if my characters ever needed some riddles to deal with! Which I think is a good stepping stone in stories.
Donald A. Mackenzie
11. The Court of the King Virata
I guess it is a good fit for Arjuna to become the dance teacher since he became so skilled in it at the celestial city.
Donald A. Mackenzie
12. Bhima and Kichaka
I don't understand why her husbands cannpt depend her. Or why they have to do so in secret.
C. A. Kincaid
13. The Cattle Raid
I bet having to fight those brothers would be a surprise.
Donald A. Mackenzie
14. Preparations for War
War is going to happen no matter how hard even the gods try to stop it. I like it. :)
Donald A. Mackenie
15. Krishna and His Army
I love the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna. I think it is so cool and I would love to use it in some stories.
Annie Besant
16. Krishna's Mission to the Kauravas
This isn't even my final form is the only thing I keep thinking with this entire chapter. But I like the idea of it.
Donald A. Mackenzie
17. Krishna and Karna
That has to be an awful intense reaction to learning that your lifelong enemies are actually your brothers.
Donald A. Mackenzie
18. The Armies at Kurukshetra
Donald A. Mackenzie
19. Bhagavad - Gita
As much as I love battle scenes, I am more interested in the celestial character from these stories.
Edwin Arnold
20. The Battle Begins
This will be a pretty epic fight.
Donald A. Mackenzie

Karna

Bibliography: Since each chapter is written by a different author each link, author, and titles are given at the top of the page.

Week 5: Storytelling - Meet the Vanars.

"Where are we?" Penny-Nichole inquired. They had been walking for what seemed like days. After the battle with Khara, everything seemed like it was going smoothly. Until Kellan's brother, Raxus, had come to seek revenge and took over our mothership. All of the crew members were still aboard when he stole it, so now it was up to Penny-Nichole and the Strike Siblings to get them all back. Penny-Nichole had made many friends since joining the Strikes and many of those friends were aboard the mothership, along with many supplies for the sick on the surrounding planets. It made Penny-Nichole's blood boil thinking of all of those who would die because they never received treatment. She couldn't wait to get her hands on Raxus and save all of her friends and all of the people she could with the medicine he had stolen.

"We are in the forest of the Vanars. We are looking for a very powerful Vanar to see if he will help us in the upcoming war." Sarah informed the girl. Penny-Nichole seemed content with the answer.
"Shh, shush ladies. Here comes a vanar now." Gregor slowed their walk to a crawl as a creaky old man made his way up to the three.

"Good morning three travelers, where are you off to on this fine fine day where the sun surely shines bright up in the great sky up above us?" The vanar chattered on to them about many things before the three were able to speak.

"We are Gregor and Sarah Strike and Penny-Nichole. We have come looking for Vedos, do you think you could take us to him?" Gregor spoke calmly to the creature and the more he spoke, the more the creature's face lit up. Once Gregor was finished the vanar jumped in to the air with great ease. His rags fell away and turned into beautiful garments of turquoise and rich purples and when he landed, the old vanar was no longer there. In his place stood a tall, lean man with the face and tail of a monkey.

"I am Lark, close friend to our leader, Vedos, and son of the wind lord Mayu. My people and I have been waiting for many days and many nights for you all to arrive to us and seek out Vedos! We know of your story and have a story of our own that we seek your assistance with as well. Like you, our great ruler has lost one he loves dearly and he, like you, has been cast from his home." Penny-Nichole perked up as the vanar spoke. She wasn't sure what he meant when he spoke of being exiled. She had joined the Strikes on her own terms but she had never heard anything about the Strikes not being able to return home.

The four walked along the winding road and spoke of many things. Well, mostly Lark chattered endlessly to the three about the story of their leader as well as his own lineage.

Authors note: I know this story is short and seemingly meaningless, but I was running very short on time and I felt that it was a good transitional story to introduce some new characters and some new plots. This story is based off of Sugriva and Hanuman. I still have my three bounty hunters as Rama, I am missing the Lakshmana character, but Lark is supposed to be Hanuman and Vedos is representing Sugriva. I tried to provide some recap between the last story and now that went along with the actual story as well.

 

Rama and Hanuman

Bibliography:
Sugriva and Hanuman, written by Geraldine Hodgson

Week 5: Reading Notes B

Part B
Authors: C. A. Kincaid (1, 4, 11)
Donald A. Mackenzie (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20)
V. Venkatachellam Iyer (8)
John Mandeville Macfie (14, 15)
Romesh Dutt (18)
Reading Notes:
I think I want to incorporate the image of the bow somewhere into my story. Almost all of the main heros seem to have a celestial bow and I personally like to do archery so I like the feel of bows as well. They are very powerful but also sleek and seemingly harmless. I also like that the five brothers are such a force to be reckoned with. I kind of want to incorporate that group family sense as well. Which I kind of do with the Strikes and Penny-Nichole.

I think it is sweet that the rakshasa and Bhima can be happily in love!

Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi are two more that could fit into my theme of celestial beings for my stories. I haven't read too much about them but it seems like they are both warriors. I like the idea of brother and sister warriors, as one can tell by my bounty hunter siblings. So if the daughter is actaully a warrior also, then I could easily use these two.

Nalayani is an interesting character because of the amount of sexualization that surrounds her character. And how she is reborn to be the wife of five men. I'm not sure I'd use her as a character, but she is interesting to me.

Iravat, the son of Arjuna and naga princess Ulupi, is another character that could be used as a celestial being. I don't know anything about him yet, except for his lineage. And Arjuna gets a new cool power from having a child with the princess of the nagas. It is a neat little quest that he goes on to turn all the water nymphs back to their original forms. It reminds me a little bit of a video game.

Maya is also an interesting character but that is probably because she/he is a god, or a worker of the gods.

Draupadi and the Pandavas go into exile.

Bibliography: Since each chapter has a different author the links to each chapter are listed with their respected author at the top of the page.

Week 5: Reading Notes A

Part A
Authors: John Mandeville Macfie (1)
Donald A. Mackenzie (2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,18,19)
Sister Nivedita (5,6)
Elizabeth Seeger (11,12)
Romesh Dutt (17)
C. A. Kincaid (20)
Reading notes:
I generally like origin stories for this very reason, they are so strange and creative that it couldn't possibly ever be true. I think the idea of a river goddess becoming human so she can save the cursed celestial beings is pretty cool. Even more so neat that the beings then granted her human son an either each of their power. It made me laugh that she agreed to marry the king so long as he treated her well. It makes sense! Thats what anyone wants in a relationship! But I can imagine that after watching your wife drown seven sons, that would be a lot of rage pent up not saying anything. I don't know if the river goddess character will come back into play, but I like that she came, had her story, and then was no longer needed. Unnecessary characters are frustrating.

The story of Satyavati is an interesting one. I like the line, "If ever thou hast need of me, think of me, and I shall come to thine aid.". That idea of her son being so devoted to her even though he wasn't there for very long is sweet to me. I also appreciate that Shantanu didn't disinherit his own son just to wed the other beautiful maiden. Thats pretty noble of Bhishma to basically disinherit himself so that is father could marry the woman he wanted. It was already his destiny to not marry or bear children of his own, but it was still a very noble thing to do for one's father. This is a pretty cool dude. Hes going to fight to seize bride for his younger brother who is on the throne that he should have. He is making such an effort to secure the throne for his half-brother. I think so far he is my favorite character!

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and in this case Amba is the woman scorned and she is going to get her revenge on Bhishma it sounds like. The set up of this plot it very intriguing and I would definitely use it somehow in my stories! It sucks that the younger brother died before he could have any successors. I really liked how they bring back in the slightly forgotten actual first born child to Satyavati. While it is sad that Vyasa was so horrid to behold, I find it interesting how the sons came to be and how their names relate to their characteristics.

The play fight turning deadly is another image that I really like and feel like it would be fun to use in one of my own stories. Arjuna would be another celestial being, seeing as he is the son of the Sun God.

I feel like I could do a cool story with all of the celestial born characters in this epic. So far we have Kunit, who's mother was a nymph, Vyasa, who was gifted an eighth of power from eight celestials, Vidura, who is the reincarnation of the god of justice, and Ganga, who is a river goddess. And any of the sons of Vyasa and any of his son's sons are all technically celestial beings by being related to Vyasa. I also like the idea of having omens surrounding the birth of certain characters, I feel like that is something I could easily add into my stories.

I am not surprised that there is competition between the sons of the two kings. I am excited about the ideas of the nagas though and how they give Bhima supernatural strength. I could use that in a story with the other celestial beings! I like the relationship between the sons and their teacher Drona. Starting with friendship and turning to disdain is an interesting relationship that could lead to many different paths.

 

Amba, Javanese Shadow Puppet

Bibliography: Since each chapter has a different author the links to each chapter are listed with their respected author at the top of the page.

Week 4: Reading Notes

1. The Bridge
The amount of pain and anguish that can be felt from Rama in this particular chapter as he desperately tries to make it to Sita only to be ignored is a very powerful image that I feel like I could easily use somehow to make a very gripping story. I also liked the image of the god of the ocean who would seem as though he would be horribly angry, but instead he was incredibly gentle with Rama.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
2. Rama Attacks
I like the image of haivng the spies "in monkey shape". I could use that word choice to come up with something cool. I also still like that there is such a strong level of emotion coming from Rama as he goes off to save his love.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
3. Indrajit
Ravana is a very trickster-y character and I really like that he doesn't completely fight fair! It gives him another element as a character that I really feel I could use to build a better main villain in my story.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
4. Kumbhakarna
I think it is hilarious that the only way to wake up the great giant warrior is by the caresses of women. This guy is almost scarier than his all powerful brother though... He is huge and devours basically everything and still isn't satisfied. I don't know a lot about Ravana's size or really all of his power, but his brother seems to have more raw power than him.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
5. Hanuman and the Mountain
This is an interesting little story and I think its funny that Hanuman returned the hill after he uprooted it to heal Rama's warriors. At least I think thats who he healed...
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
6. Lakshmana and Indrajit
I like all of the deception that is going on by means of illusions. Then no one is actually getting hurt but it messes with people's minds enough that it causes serious damage. Then if they see that the person is still alive, it could make for an interesting character change.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
7. Ravana's Lament
This is pretty similar to several of the other chapters with Rama's father lamenting over having to exile his son.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
8. Ravana and Lakshmana
Near death experience of the close and glorious brother would make for an EXCELLENT attention getter for a story! Fighting scenes are my favorite and I feel like death or near-death scenes are so much fun to write.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
9. Indra's Chariot
Having the Gods themselves step into the picture for Rama to win is interesting. Rama already has celestial weapons so I am surprised that he needs help from the Gods at all.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
10. Battle of Rama and Ravana
Its a pretty bloody image of Rama cutting off all of the heads of Ravana, but it reminds me of the final boss battle of a video game. You have to get the special object and find the certain weakness of the boss before you can actually defeat it.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
11. Ravana's Death
That was kind of anticlimactic how Ravana died, but I guess they did spend several chapters tellingo of how Rama had to get close to Ravana and get all of the aid from the Gods. It was also anticlimactic because you already knew that he was going to win all along.
Written by: Donald A Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
12. Mandodari's Lament
I think it is nobel how Rama acted towards the death of Ravana.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
13. Sita and Rama
Well... that was definitely not what I was expecting to happen... He fought so hard to get Sita back only to unclaim her because she resided with another man for so long. I like the interest it brings to the story but I think its a little harsh!
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
14. Sita Tested
I'm glad that she was proven to be worthy of him still otherwise this whole story would have been completely pointless!!!
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
15. Pushpaka
This is a cool thing to have the main character telling all of the adventures to the woman he went through the adventures to save.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
16. Rama and Bharata
Its nice that his brother held his place for so long and that Rama made it back just in time.
Written by: Donald A Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
17. Rama Crowned King
This is a pretty straight forward chapter.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
18. Valmiki's Hermitage
OOOOHHHHH!!!! He banished his wife because his people didnt trust his word on her purity and then he has to go and fight his sons!!! vThe plot thickens.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
19. Sita Departs
So she had to die in order to prove her purity? That seems dumb but I like the twist it gives to the story.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
20. Rama Departs
After all of his loved ones die I can understand that he would be tired and ready to return to the heavens.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)

The Earth Takes Sita

Bibliography: Since each of these has a different author the title, author, and links to each chapter are included in each section.

Story Week 4: Protect the mother spaceship!

"Sarah! Get in touch with the other ships and tell them to protect the mother ship. We will go out and take out the rest of Kellan's forces!" Gregor roared back to his sister as he swerved in and out of debris and missiles.

Sarah did as her brother said and went to urgently contact the other ships. Not too long after she'd finished the other ships moved formation and formed a tight wall around the larger ship.

"Penny-Nichole, I need you up here now!" Gregor hollered through the intercoms this time.

Penny-Nichole darted around the ship's weapons, tweaking things here and there. When she heard Gregor's call she rushed up to the cockpit.

"What's up, Pops?" She planted herself into the co-pilot's seat and ignored his irritation of her nickname for him.

"I need you to hack into the ship's weapon's system, override the limitation setting, and get us past max power. We can beat them, but damn it we may need a miracle." Gregor was slowly managing to make it towards the enemy, but they were going to need more power fast. The closer he was getting to Kellan's forces, the closer Kellan and his army was to reaching them and they were not as ready for another attack as Gregor would have liked for them to have been.

"I'm on it." In mere moments, Penny-Nichole had the weapons system open and was overriding the limitations. In almost no time at all she had completed her task. Gregor looked at her from the corner of his eye. The girl had done a lot of growing over the past eight years and, though he wouldn't ever tell her, she was better at hacking systems than he was. He was proud of the way she held such a righteous sense of justice, no matter what bad the world threw at her. She knew what good and what evil was in the world but she never let it bring her down. She only ever let it drive her more towards their goal.

"Good. Now I want you to man the lasers and aim for Kellan. This gun should now be strong enough to sweep them out. You go for it, girl, but remember: we only have one shot." Gregor held up his hand for her to shake.

Penny-Nichole gave him a smile and grabbed Gregor's fist before turning back to the laser. Her face went from happy and smiling to dead-set and determined. Penny-Nichole focused the gun, took a deep breath, and flicked the little red trigger to fire.

A brilliant blue and purple light shot through space and directly into the engines of Kellan's ship. The spacecraft exploded, the debris catching and destroying the smaller brother ship next to Kellan's.

The Hunters had won this round. The mother ship was safe. Cheers and excitement rang through the transmitters from the other crafts.

Gregor turned and gave Penny-Nichole a victory fist bump, Penny-Nichole jumped with excitement and hugged Sarah who came rushing in to see the aftermath.

"I knew we could do it! Nothing is going to take our dear mothership from us! Scoundrels, thinking they could take her for their own stupid ideals. Pops, don't they know how much good she does for everyone? I still don't understand why they are trying so hard to take her from us." Penny-Nichole sat back down looking more determined than ever.

Author's note:
This story is based off of the chapter "Battle with Khara." My bounty hunters (Sarah, Gregor, and Penny-Nichole) are all supposed to represent Rama, while the other ships are Lakshmana and the mother ship is representing Sita. It sticks pretty true to the story. They fight the bad guy and end up killing him and his bad guy brother. The weapons Rama uses are special godly weapons and the bounty hunters manage to make their weapons pretty godly. The only main difference was the setting and the names of the characters as well as their relationships between one another. After my revisions I tried to start building the different characteristics of Rama into the different characters. I think it will take a few more stories to be apparent, but I wanted to at least start getting the idea into people's heads that Penny-Nichole is the righteous warrior side of Rama while Gregor is the wiser, calmer side of Rama. None of my characters much fit his devoted lover side so I may start to transform Sarah into Lakshmana, but we will see how things turn out. The end of the story doesn't fit much with the original story that this is based off of, but it sets me up better to create my characters more as well as easily lead into a new adventure!

If you would like to read a little more about some of Gregor and Sarah Strike's adventures you can go to my old storybook here: Planet of the Cats Storybook
If you want to read even MORE of their exciting adventures, here is my old blog: SageCastle21 blog

Bibliography:
Battle with Khara
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie

Source

Week 4: Reading Notes (Extra Reading) C

Somehow I missed this section...
1. Sugriva and Hanuman
I like Hanuman's character. I like that he can change shape and that his original form is a monkey. I don't know what it is, but the way he is portrayed in his particular chapter is very friendly but also protective. I just like him.
Written by: Geraldine Hodgson
2. Sugriva's Story
I can understand where Vali is coming from, it would have looked very much like his brother had betrayed him for the kingdom but it would also be frustrating to have waited for your brother for so long and to believe him dead and then have him show up again to only exile you.
Written by: Geraldine Hodgson
3. Sugriva and Vali
A fight scene between brothers is always a good attention getter.
Written by: Romesh Dutt
4. Vali's Death
With Rama allied Sugriva, I wasn't expecting Vali to end up alive from this battle.
Written by: Romesh Dutt
5. King Sugriva
The main thing I get from this chapter that I really like is the idea of the Vanars. The word is translated to "monkey" in english, but it means more than just monkey, according to the preview of the chapter. I like that the people of Sugriva are considered monkeys, but not really. They can be more than just monkeys.
Written by: Romesh Dutt
6. The Rainy Season
I can imagine it being hard to just sit and wait for a whole season to pass while your wife is in the hands of the demon king! That would be awful! But I think it is nice that Sugriva is willing to help out Rama. I mean, I don't see why he wouldn't, but its still nice.
Written by: Romesh Dutt and Arthur William Ryder
7. The Armies
I wonder what significance it has that there are bears fighting with the monkeys. Why bears and not some sort of cat or wolf or something?
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie
8. Sampati
I wonder why the monkeys of the south search party didn't want to return to Sugriva but all of the other ones did, even thoough they had all failed. I think it is neat that Jatayu's brother also helped Rama in his search for Sita.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
9. Sampati and Jatayu
The image of the two brother birds nesting so close together that they could hear each other's heart beats is so sweet to me! And the fact that Sampati burnt his wings in order to try to save his brother is a valiant story, and though it has a sad ending, it gives me more respect for Sampati. It makes sense that Rama is the one that Sampati is waiting on so he can get his wings again. Rama seems to be the turing point in a profecy for many creatures.
Written by: Frederika Richardson Macdonald
10. Hanuman's Leap
Hanuman keeps becoming one of my favorite characters the more I read about him!
Written by: Sister Nivedita
11. Hanuman in Lanka
The comparison of the city being like a woman was very interesting... I kind of understood it, but I felt it may have also been a little much. It was a very effective imagery.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
12. The Askhoka
They make the demons sound so completely horrible. I like that they stick to that kind of image for demons. Sometimes people try to make them in a prettier image, which isn't a problem, sometimes that can be even scarier, but I like the traditional idea of the ugly and gruesome creature.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie
13. Sita and Ravana
It seems like the entire time Sita is around Ravana, she truly is never tempted by Ravana. I mean, he seems to be pretty terrifying, but he does try so hard and she seems to be there for so long that it seems like something would happen for him to succeed in tempting her.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
14. Hanuman and Sita
She is even so devoted to Rama that she refuses to touch any other male! Having read the last section before this one and knowing that Rama shuns Sita because he does not believe her to have been faithful to him, it makes me even more mad at him! I know he has no way of knowing how faithful she was to him, but still...
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie
15. Hanuman Captured
Crap... He was so close to getting away and letting Rama know that Sita was alright... Dang it! This does make the story more exciting though.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
16. Hanuman and Ravana
This story is so short, I want to know why it is such a bad idea to set Hanuman's tail on fire, other than the reason that it would royaly piss off Rama and Sugriva.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
17. The Burning of Lanka
This is a pretty cool chapter. Since Hanuman is the son of the wind (which is interesting that a monkey is son to the wind), his "father" kept his tail from actually burning and it allowed Hanuman to flee his captors and set Lanka ablaze. At least he checked on Sita first.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
18. The March on Lanka
I can get Rama being afraid of the Rakshasa's but I already know, with some help, he will kick ass and lay waste to them! But I guess it is their magic that lays him low a couple of times.
Written by: Sister Nivedita
19. Ravana's Court
It would have been much smarter to have just given back Sita... But she is supposed to be very beautiful and he is trying to piss off Rama, so whether it would have actually been a smart thing to do or not, I'm sure he wouldn't care. I feel like when he took Sita he was ready to battle the the death (that he thought would be Rama's).
Written by: Romesh Dutt
20. Vibhishana 
There has to be one voice of reason among the family of craizes. He made the smart decision to leave and go with the obvious winning side.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie

Image Source - Rama and Hanuman

Bibliography: Since each of these has a different author the title, author, and links to each chapter are included in each section.

Week 3: Reading Notes B

1. Bharata Returns
I like how Rama's mother is shown in this chapter. She seems to be one of the few sane people in this entire story.. I understand a little now why she is the one who had Rama. But I do really like the queenly air that she does such a good job of holding, even when her son has been banished, she maintains her composure.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
2. Dasharatha's Funeral
The image of the funeral is pretty powerful and could easily be used to make for a big scene in one of the chapters of my story.
Written by: Manmatha Nath Dutt (1891)
3. Rama and Bharata
I like how commited Rama is to keeping his promise to his father and the discussion made between the wise man and Rama. The point Rama makes is very powerful.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie
4. The Sandals
The image of Bharata guarding the fancy shoes for his brother is interesting to me. The fact that shoes are seen as the royal authority.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
5. Anasuya
I wonder how Sita is doing living in the jungle while wearing such fancy clothes. She went in with her silk robes while the brothers wore bark robes. It must be pretty difficult.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
6. Viradha
Of course she gets abducted! Wearing shiny clothes in a demon infested forest is kind of asking for it. The idea that the demons are all really just humans who were cursed and must be defeated by Rama is a cool idea that I may try to translate into my stories.
Written by: Manmatha Nath Dutt (1891)
7. Agastya
Shiny new weapons to kick butt with? I think I can use that.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
8. Shurpanakha and Rama
For soem reason I find it hilarious that Rama is passing the demon sister off to his brother. I don't know if I would do anything with this chapter, Maybe use the shape shifting idea, but that would be it.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
9. Lakshmana and Shurpanakha
Is the number 14 important for some reason in the culture? I don't think I would use anything from this chapter. I have some ideas already and I feel that this adds in too many characters.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie
10. Battle with Khara
Fight scene! Of course there will be an epic fight scene in my story! What good is a story without a good fight?
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
11. Shuranakha and Ravana
Ravana is a little terrifying... He would make for a really great bad guy for sure. The idea that even his laugh being caught on the winds and terrifying even the demons is quite scary.
Written by: Frederika Richardson (1886)
12. Ravana and Maricha
Because you're definitely not going to piss off the human god by trying to steal his woman. Again. That worked so well the last four times you tried.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
13. The Golden Deer
...Okay a pretty golden deer with jeweled horns and silver spots would totally enchant me too. Not surprised that this plan to steal Sita actually worked.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
14. The Chase
Sita is so incredibly dramatic. I feel like it would be fun to have character that is a parody of her. I wouldn't even really have to try that hard. Just make everything slightly more ridiculous that how she already is.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
15. Ravana and Sita
At least Sita is devoted to Rama. She should have gone with the brother, But she didn't get all weapy and scared when Ravan revealed himself to her.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
16. Jatayu and Ravana
Another good battle scene! And with a giant bird. How fun.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
17. Sita in Lanka
I laughed a little too hard at the fact that Ravana is cursed so that he can't rape Sita. I won't use any of this in my story, but for some reason it struck me as funny.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
18. Rama and Jatayu
Short story, I can't do much with this one.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
19. Kabandha
I'm amazed that they still haven't managed to save Sita yet. I still like the idea that the demons are just cursed humans waiting for the one person who can save them! Even if they have to die, they are being saved from being demons.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
20. Shabari
This is a cool story but I don't feel that I could do much with it.
Written by: Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870-1874)

Ravana Abducts Sita

Source

Bibliography: Since each of these has a different author, the title, author and links to each chapter are included in each section.

Week 2: Reading Notes Public Domain Ramayana Part A

1. King Dasharatha:
I don't know a whole lot about the idea of those of the Solar Race, but the fact that they exist makes me very excited. I could do something with my characters meeting creatures of the solar race and either befriending them, or making some new enemies. I could keep the image of the "stately palace surrounded by strong walls and thousands of fierce warriors that were as fierce as flames consuming fire and ever watchful like to mountain lions which protect their dens."
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
2. Dasharatha's Sons:
I kind of want to use the image of the horse returning from it's year long wander in my story somehow. I may not use a horse, but I like that image and I can picture some adventures around it. Depending on how the characters are in their friendship with the Solar Race, the horse thing could be handled well or not well at all.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
3. Avatar of Vishnu:
Demon kings always make for good stories. The questions is, will the demon king in my story actually be bad?
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
4. Vishvamitra:
I still like the idea of using the sons as the actual bad guys and the demons and demon king as the actual victims of the story but I am also trying to find other motifs that I might be able to go along with. I like all of the imagery they use for the brightness and glory that seems to come with the Solar Race.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
5. Thataka:
The idea of legendary weapons is also a cool idea to play with. Maybe I could actually have it so that my characters are actually fighting against each other but they don't actually know it and one side gets magical weapons.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
6. Bhagiratha and Ganga:
This story is cool but I don't see a whole lot I could do with it. Maybe I could use the image of having to use a god to rain down and complete a task that ended up taking a really long time. Or the commitment of the rulers to their prayers in order to honor their fallen ancestors.
Written by: John Campbell Oman (1894)
7. Ahalya:
I'm also playing with the idea of taking all of these deeds that Rama and his brother are going through and going for a comedic tone where my characters accidentally are getting there just before Rama or everything keeps mistaking them for the lord Rama.
Written by: Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870-1874)
8. Sita:
Still going along with the more comedic theme, my character could totally come along and steal the princess before Rama gets thee, completely on accident. The character may not actually even like Sita, he would just be stumbling around and just keeps happening to ruin things for Rama!
Written by: F. J. Gould (1911)
9. King Janaka:
This story could be a good lead in to my character messing with the Rama and Sita marriage. Somehow my character pulls back the bow before Rama can and so my character gets to marry Sita instead.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
10.  Rama Wins Sita:
Something else that could be fun could be having Rama's brother Lakshman be the hero of the stories, or the one who keeps messing it up for Rama. Or, I could go off and tell things from Lakshman's point of view.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
11. Parashurama:
I wish we knew a little more about Lakshman. Why is he the one out of the three other brothers that was chosen to go with his godly brother? I feel like if I used Lakshman I could make up a cool background for him.
Written by: F. J. Gould (1911)
12. Rama and Sita's Wedding:
Well good for the other brothers for getting wives too! Rama can't have all the fun. I'm not sure if I would do anything with this chapter, but I did enjoy it, I suppose.
Written by: Romesh Dutt (1899)
13. Rama the Heir Apparent:
Also not sure what I would do with this chapter but I like how they give a detailed description of why Rama should be their lord.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
14. Manthara and Kaikeyi
I can use a lot from this one! The evil witch figure sending wicked thoughts into one of the smaller character's head. I could use this as an end to the comedic aspect of the story and begin with a more serious tone.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
15. Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
This chick needs to calm down. But she makes a great all around bad guy! I could go from both sides and have both the demons and the good guys actually be good and then have her come along and get the Maharajah to exile Rama and have both sides be like, man this chick is pretty crazy...".
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)
16. Rama is Banished
This is a pretty straightforward episode. I'm not sure I could do much other than show the craziness of the witch figure.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
17. Rama goes into Exile
I feel like if Sita was willing to share in the sorrows of her husband as she said she would, then she would have taken the bark robe, as uncomfortable as that sounds...
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
18. Crossing the River
Another idea crossed my mind as I read this chapter. I could just take my characters and make it so that they are going through the same situations that Rama and his brother and wife are going through. It could be a pretty cool back story for my characters. I feel like I work better with following stories, not necessarily finding motifs. Though if I did find some it could be funny to have my character notice it and make a point to address that the same thing seems to be happening to them over and over again.
Written by: Sister Nivedita (1914)
19. Dasharatha's Karma
Well then... This could be used elsewhere in a story I suppose, or it could just make for another really cool backstory for a character.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)
20. Dasharatha's Death
This could make for a pretty epic scene change in the story. It leaves a good cliff hanger as well as an opportunity for Rama's mother to grow more as a major character.
Written by: Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Romesh Dutt (1899)

Image source : Dasharatha's aswamedha

Bibliography: Since each of these has a different author, the title, author, and links to each chapter are include in each section.