"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.
