Week 13: Storytelling - An Unwelcome Reunion

"Why do I have to go down and catch the bounty? I'd rather stay and tune up the ship's weapon system. Maybe clean my room..." Penny-Nichole wasn't convincing anyone. She never cleaned her room.

"You know the area. And we're getting too old for capture missions." Gregor gave a pointed groan as he placed himself in a chair with his cup of coffee.

"As far as I know, my brothers still live out there. If they do, then I have no interest in seeing them. They could be dead and I wouldn't care." Penny-Nichole crossed her arms, turned up her nose, and faced away from Sarah and Gregor.

"Pen, that's not true. You may hate them, but you don't wish them dead. You're not heartless." Sarah walked over and placed her hand on Penny-Nichole's shoulder.

Penny-Nichole let out a deep sigh, dropping her arms.

"Sarah, I haven't been home in fifteen years. The land's probably changed, I won't know my way." Penny-Nichole knew she was going to have to track their mark, but she wanted to at least try to get out of it if possible.

Sarah gave a warm smile. "You'll be alright, dear. Here's your pack. You better get a move on before you miss your target."

With another heavy sigh, Penny-Nichole left the ship and headed off. They had parked the ship in the same place she'd been picked up all those years ago. The same rock Penny-Nichole used to cry on when her brothers beat her, still stained with blood from her small wounds, was sitting quietly by the forest. The sight of it filled her with anger and disgust.

After a few hours of surveillance, Penny-Nichole spotted her mark. She followed the target for another hour until he entered a shabby, rundown motel. It didn't appear like the mark was going to be leaving, so Penny-Nichole went to wander around. She walked up and down the streets, looking in the shop windows and meandering past the market stalls. It was a little past noon and the streets were buzzing.

Penny-Nichole stopped at a stall with several nice looking jackets. "Penny? Little Penny? Is... is that really... really you?" Penny-Nichole spun on her heals, hand already gripped to the hilt of her flame-sword.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Penny-Nichole locked eyes on a small crouched man with a scraggly beard.

"It... it's me! Travis Bellmer? I... well I..." His words faded off.

Penny-Nichole scowled. "You were that wretch that hung out with my brothers and laughed at their side as they beat me!"

"Yes... I am sorry about that. We were all young and stupid. But I am sure your brother would be happy to see-" Penny-Nichole held one of her smaller daggers up to Travis' throat.

"They are still alive? Where do they live?"

"P-p-please Penny! Please, can we just put the past behind us and be friends?" Travis stuttered.

"I'd rather die than ever befriend you. Now where are my brothers?" She pressed the dagger closer to his stubbly throat.

"Well, you see, we were all playing once a couple of years after you disappeared and, well, I was hiding up in the Crystal Cave! Cameron forgot where the entrance was and when he tried to run at me, he smashed his head... he didn't make it... Jaden found Cameron and I got too scared to come out and tell him where the entrance was because he just got so angry! One of his rampages. He ran straight into the crystal and smashed his head in too. It was hours before Quinn found me... I couldn't stop crying. He... he still lives in your old house alone. I think you should go and see him, Penny. He's not the same as he was when you left. You look good thought. You look like you've taken care of yourself." Travis' voice was soft and sincere.

"Is there a problem here, you two?" A gruff voice broke the moment. Penny-Nichole sheathed her dagger and turned to the police officer. She had forgotten where she was and hadn't realized that they were making a scene.

Travis quickly grasped Penny-Nichole in a hug. "I am terribly sorry for all of the pain I caused you." With that, Travis disappeared into the crowd.

Penny-Nichole knew she needed to check in on her mark, but she felt that seeing her brother was more important.

A short walk away from the market, Penny-Nichole made it to her old home. The sight of it reached into her chest and gave her heart a painful squeeze.

She walked with determination to the front door and, with a small hesitation, burst through it. Unlocked as always.

"Quinn! Hello? It's me! Penny!" Her voice echoed through the house. It was so empty compared to how she remembered it.

"Penny? No... it can't be... You disappeared. We lost you." A broken voice snaked its way to Penny-Nichole's ears. It was Quinn. A skeleton figure turned the corner and Penny-Nichole sprang back, battle ready.

"Quinn?" Penny-Nichole couldn't believe the frail figure cowering before her. Quinn began to cry like a small child as he draped his arms over her shoulders and sank into her shoulder.

"I am so sorry for how awful we were to you, Penny. We were so angry at our parents leaving and then you left. We didn't know that to do with ourselves. Please, sister, I am so sorry. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness and I don't blame you for leaving." Quinn wailed into her shoulder for a long time. Once he seemed out of tears, Penny-Nichole grasped his shoulders and held him back at arm's length.

She looked him in the eyes, searching his soul. "I forgive you, brother."

"Also, the Strike siblings are real.That's who I've been with for the past fifteen years." Penny-Nichole and Quinn chuckled happily.

Author's Note: This story is loosely based off of "The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go" by W. H. D. Rouse. In the original story, there is a group of lions made up of three brothers and one sister. The sister would always stay home and clean and the brothers would go out and hunt. A jackal that lived in a crystal cave nearby fell in love with the lioness and eventually asked her to marry him. She was disgusted and turned him down. Saddened, the jackal went home. The brother lions returned one at a time and offered food to the sister. When she refused and told them of the jackal, the first two lions ended up going to try to kill the jackal. But they both broke their skulls on the crystal walls of the cave. The third brother was smarter and found the entrance and scared the jackal to death. He went back to his sister and they lived happily. Penny-Nichole is a less dramatic version of the sister lion, and her brothers represent the lion brothers. Travis is supposed to be the jackal but asking for friendship instead of marriage and just disappearing instead of dying. While the lions were protecting their sister, P-N's brothers were just being stupid. I mostly used this story because I felt it would be a good way to end the stories of P-N and the Strike siblings. It would give more back ground to how long she had been away, how old the Strike siblings were, as well as give some closure to P-N and her brother. Hope you all enjoyed the adventures of the bounty hunter Strike siblings and Penny-Nichole!

Bibliography: "The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go" by W. H. D. Rouse

Little Penny's Rock

Week 12: Storytelling - Only a Girl With the Moon at Her Back

Penny-Nichole snuggled down for bed one night, flipping through her old journals. She liked to read some of her oldest entries as bedtime stories to herself sometimes. As she flipped through one of her very first journals a large grin spread across her face. 

"I remember this one." Penny-Nichole spoke softly to herself as she started reading the tale of how she used the moon to fend off hungry murderous giants.

Entry (the date had been long since smudged off),

I have been traveling with my heroes, the Strike siblings, for about six months now and I couldn't ask for anything more in this great universe. They have taught me so much and have never shown me an ounce of meanness. 

Sarah and Gregor bicker a lot, but I can tell they still care for each other a great deal. Gregor likes to push Sarah's buttons even though he knows Sarah will win. I like it most when they are bickering and Gregor is smiling the entire time. It drives Sarah mad! I think he does it just to make me laugh sometimes. Sarah will come down and read me bedtime stories every few days, which makes me so happy! It's like I finally have the family I always wanted. Ma and Dad tried their hardest and I loved them for it, but with so many kids, it was hard to give us all the time we needed. 

Penny-Nichole's smile grew. Her handwriting had been so atrocious when she was younger, and the page was covered in strange little doodles that easily gave away her age at the time of the entry.

She continued to read on.

Entry (some time a few weeks after the previous entry)

We have been on this strange planet for a couple weeks now and I really like it here! The natives we found are so adorable. They are small and fluffy with long ears that stand straight up usually! They have these giant hind-legs that they use to hop around on and squishy little tails. They have been ever so kind to us as we fix the ship up but a few nights ago a horrible thing happened. Apparently a family of giants decided to move into the patch of woods that lined the fluffy creature's land. When they made it to the land, there was a horrible sound that is still stuck in my brain. When we went to investigate we found three whole families had been squished to death by the giants! It was awful. Although, I remember everyone getting so sad and crying but I just got really angry. I think it reminded me too much of my brothers.

Penny-Nichole saddened a little at the thought of her brothers. She hadn't seen them or spoken to them since the day she left Earth. Pushing the thought aside, she continued on.

I couldn't understand why the fluffy creatures didn't seem to want to do anything so,when everyone started heading back to the village I turned right back around and walked into the middle of the giant's family! I think I scared Gregor and Sarah just a little when they realized where I'd gone. In fact, everyone seemed startled! They shuffled up behind me and watched. I remember I yelled out to the brutes to go away! I told them that I was a goddess child from the moon come to vanquish them if they did not leave the land of the fluffy creatures! They just ignored me though, which just made me more angry! I remember looking over and seeing the large full moon reflected in the lake they were splashing in. Haha, I was so excited! I had formed quite the plan in no time at all. I wanted so badly to avenge the squished fluffy things! 

"You see? My lady, The Moon, has come down from the heavens herself to make you leave! If you don't leave soon and she manages to get a hold of you,she will surely drag you back up to the sky with her so that you can never smoosh one of her little creatures again!" When I yelled that to the giants they finally looked down and became so scared of the moon they they ran away! the fluffy creatures cheered and bounced all over the place! I remember we had a sort of party that night to celebrate the giants leave but also to celebrate the poor squished fluffy creatures. It was a lot of fun! I got to stay up way past my normal bedtime. 

I can't wait to see what adventures I will get to have tomorrow! 

Penny-Nichole giggled to herself as she closed the journal and set it beside her bed.

Author's note: This story is based off of The Hare in the Moon by Devi Shovona. In the original story, a herd of elephants moved into an area that was already inhabited by hares and so, when they settled in, they trampled and killed a lot of the creatures. One hare in particular stood up to the elephants and used the moon's image to help drive them away again. I kept the same premise of the story but instead of elephants I have giants and instead of the hare saving the day, I have my little Penny-Nichole! I thought this story would be a really cute way to start going over some of the earlier stories with young Penny-Nichole and the Strike siblings. It also gets to show that P-N was just as much a little spitfire when she first joined the siblings as she is in the other stories. I noticed, with this story, that I am not particularly good at doing journal entry like stories, nor do I particularly like doing them. That may stem from all of the horrible journal entries I had to do when I was younger. I now respect those who's entire storybook or portfolio is in this style! 

My take on the giants

 

Week 9 Storytelling: Off With His Heads

The mighty monkey and bear army that had traveled to Lanka with Penny-Nichole and Gregor put up a valiant fight. However, as Penny-Nichole searched the battle field, she could not locate many that were still standing. Some had retreated back, lying in wait as they recovered some stamina as well as some courage. Others had completely run from the battle. Penny-Nichole didn't blame them. This was a battle that should have been fought between gods, not a battle to be fought by animals and men.

"Gregor!" Penny-Nichole cried out. She could barely see from the blood and sweat that poured across her eyes. She tried to stand from her kneeling position but quickly dropped back to the earth, gasping for the precious air that her lungs burned for. She assessed her wounds to see if there was anything that she could patch up with the scraps of medical supplies she still had on her. The large gashes that scored her body were not going to be fixed with just simple gauze wraps though.

"Gregor! Sarah!" she cried out once more. Penny-Nichole prayed to her own gods that the Strike siblings had not met their death.

Stand up, small one. Stand and let me strengthen your bones with my fires. Let my blood flow as yours and give new life to your muscles so that you may destroy Rava. A powerful voice boomed through Penny-Nichole's mind. Her eyes fluttered as she tried desperately to remain conscious.

Stand, Penny-Nichole of Earth! Stand and fight for the justice you so crave! A dam broke somewhere deep inside Penny-Nichole's soul. She felt fire race through her veins and cool water wash the blood and sweat from her brow. She bowed her head as the power of the gods flowed through her body and healed her of her wounds. She could feel the skin and muscle from her legs and arms as they knit themselves delicately back together. Slowly, the quiver and bow she broke in battle reappeared on her back, the quiver full of deadly arrows. The daggers she had thrown to save some of her men reformed on either side of her hips. Breathing deeply, Penny-Nichole stood. She lifted her head to the sun and let out a mighty and vicious battle cry that stopped all who were still fighting. All heads turned and stared at the now glowing form of Penny-Nichole. With her right hand extended, a new weapon took shape in her palm. She glanced down at it and took in all its fiery wonder.

This blade is my last help to you. I, Brahma, the lord of all knowledge and the universe itself, gift this sword so as to aid you in your victory against Rava. Use it well, my child. With his final gift clutched firmly in her hand, Penny-Nichole felt Brahma's presence slip from her mind.

Penny-Nichole stared at the sword for a moment, flipping it back and forth as she examined its details. Flames engulfed the entire sword as well as her hand but she felt no burn from it. Replacing the sword in the sheath that had formed on her hip behind the daggers, she scanned the field until she found who she was looking for. Gregor had Sarah back safe and sound and the two were rallying the troops that remained to prepare for another strike against the rest of the smaller demons. Penny-Nichole smiled. Gregor was always the wise and level-headed one of the group. He was always able to remain calm in even the most stressful of situations.

"You may have gotten your pet back, but I will still slaughter you all like the germs you are!" Penny-Nichole snapped her attention to Rava as he strode towards her. The great and gruesome Rava had remained a nonexistent part of that battle up to the moment that Penny-Nichole was healed by Brahma and even then he only sat back and watched. It was about time for him to show his ugly face. Penny-Nichole thought to herself. Rava's ten grotesque heads chuckled and laughed as his twenty arms swung their horrid weapons dangerously through the air.

"I have been gifted by your gods in ways you could not fathom, you disgusting creature. Feel my wrath as well as all of the pain and suffering you have caused these people! Die, Rava!" In one swift motion, Penny-Nichole nocked a flaming arrow and sprinted towards Rava. As she loosed the arrow towards him the fire grew into a mighty lion. Penny-Nichole released several more quickly behind her first arrow and soon there was a pride of flaming lions charging towards Rava.

A few of the arrows managed to sever some of Rava's heads, but that didn't slow him down. Penny-Nichole growled low in her throat. She stood her ground and nocked three arrows at a time, letting loose a flurry of flaming animals towards Rava. More of his heads were severed but still he stalked slowly towards her. Once Rava was close upon her she returned her mystical bow to her back and moved to grasped the flame sword on her hip. The arrows would do her no good if the demon's heads continued to regrow after she severed them.

"Now you die!" She pulled the sword from its sheath and, with a spin for momentum and unerring aim, Penny-Nichole sank the god's fire sword deep through Rava's heart. With his faces only inches from hers, Penny-Nichole could clearly see the smile on all the demon's ten faces fall and the color rush from him.

"No..." Rava's voice trailed off quietly. The last breath of the mighty demon god fled from his body and Rava crumpled to the blood-soaked earth.

It was finally over. The last of the smaller demons were easily demolished by Gregor and Sarah. Penny-Nichole sheathed her sword and sent many prayers and thanks to all of the great gods that had aided her on her journey. Gregor and Sarah rushed up to Penny-Nichole and the three embraced in a much needed group hug, shedding many tears of happiness at being reunited.


Author's note: This story is actually based on two stories. In Rama and Ravana, Rama is met by one of the gods chariots. Using it, he fights Ravana some more. Agastya tells Rama to send prayers to the sun god, which he does, and this in turn rejuvenates Rama. In the original story, Rama's arrows are said to each be like a flaming lion, which is why I described mine as such. This is also the story that shows that Ravana's heads regenerate. In the second story I used, Ravana's Death, Rama realized that the heads are regenerating and so, using the flaming weapon from Brahma, he pierces Ravana through the heart, killing him. I didn't use the very last part of this story because it brings in characters that I hadn't introduced and I didn't feel like I had the story in a place to bring them in. I don't remember where Sita actually comes back into the picture, but I chose to bring Sarah back here because I knew it would give Penny-Nichole more fuel to get back up and fight. I was also able to use it as another spot to work in some descriptions of Gregor's character. I really had fun adding in how Penny-Nichole got the divine flame sword. I don't remember when Rama got it, so I improvised! I hope you all enjoyed! This will probably be the last adventure with the stories of Rama.

Bibliography: Rama and Ravana by Sister Nivedita and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie

Rama and Lakshmana attack Ravana

Week 7: Storytelling - Madam Moo the Planet Guru

Once upon a time there was a young planet named Earth. She was home to many creatures of many sizes. There was one particular species that seemed to think that they were in charge of all other species. Earth called these creatures, humans. She had a love hate relationship with the humans, see, they were fascinating to watch but they weren't the brightest of beings. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure how they had managed to become rulers of the other creatures. The were able to build some very impressive structures, but they would also constantly engage in meaningless squabbles that would result in many of them dying. One day, while Earth was enjoying her time observing the humans as she often enjoyed doing, a particular baby was born to a particular family. This baby, Kansa, was the reincarnation of a great demon that had once plagued Earth while she was still very young. Earth didn't know that it was the same demon, but she knew that nothing good would come from this child. She had been watching its family and she'd never had a very good feeling about them, but since they had never posed any actual threat, she'd let them be. Not too long after the baby Kansa was born, Earth started to notice many more creatures appearing on her surface that she knew she did not want. These creatures quickly began picking on the weak humans and causing tremors through to her core. The demons were upsetting the balance of her generally peaceful residents. Earth knew that the only way to rid herself of these parasites was to speak to the great planet guru, Madam Moo. Earth sent out distress signals across the galaxy for Madam Moo to come to her aid. She called for years and years until finally, the great guru appeared before her.

"What is it yoooooou need my dear child?" Madam Moo asked softly. The great guru shifted between different forms of an animal that the humans would call cows. Earth wasn't really sure why the amazing and all powerful guru was named after such a humble creature, but she didn't pay the detail much heed.

"Madam Moo, oh please help me! I have these creatures appearing on my surface that are causing quite the ruckus! I need to be rid of them as soon as I can. They are making quite a mess of my fascinating little humans and if I am not rid of the creatures soon, they are sure to wipe out all other life on me. I am worried that if they finish with all the other life, will slowly start to take mine as well. I am too young to die! Please. What must I do, Madam Moo? Please, you must help! I'm not sure how much longer I cant take these trembles that are constantly stretching across my lands and seas." Earth wailed helplessly to her great guru.

Madam Moo smiled and continued in her soft and gentle tone, "My dear, you must take the shape of the noble cow, as I have chosen to doooo, and travel to Mount Meru. There you will implore the help of Brahma Deva. He will tell you what needs to be done. Goooo now, and you will find peace in due time. Stay strong, young one." With her final words, and moos, Madam Moo disappeared into the endless universe. Off to aid another planet in need or assist a helpless spaceship stuck in her web of existence.

Earth focused her energy and slowly transformed into a brilliantly golden cow. Her horns and ankles were adorned with simple silver cuffs and a small crown of lapis topped her head. She drifted through time, desperately trying to find the mountain. When she felt that she would just succumb to the creatures torment, she finally found what she was looking for. Earth found this Brahma Deva and from his help, a divine pair of children were born unto her surface. These were not like any ordinary humans that had been born on her lands. No, these children were as strong as thirty men by the time they could walk. Their skin never burned from the sun or was ever marred by scratches or scars. They were righteous and brave and any creature that dared stand against them was instantly put to death. As the two grew they extinguished the plague of parasitic demons. First they would just take them on one by one and then slowly hoards of the creatures would throw themselves at the children. Earth had a marvelous time watching the two destroy the infestation. After many years of the children fighting and hunting and destroying the creatures, Earth was free from their horrible deeds and balance was right on her world again.

Author's note:
This story is based on the story "The Coming of Krishna" from the C. A. Kincaid version of the Mahabharata, Shri Krishna of Dwarka. The begin of the story tells of how the earth takes the shape of a cow and goes to Mount Meru to seek the help of Brahma Deva to be rid of the demons that were tormenting her. The help resulted in the god Shiva and his serpent being reborn onto Earth to slay the demons. I found it confusing and hilarious that the Earth took the shape of a cow to seek help so I thought I would make a comedic story from the Earth's point of view! And as soon as I knew which story I wanted to use, the name Madam Moo popped into my head and I found it so funny I just had to use it. This isn't a story that goes with my usual characters, but it is a little refreshing to give the bounty hunters a day off and just tell a background story!

Bibiography: "The Coming of Krishna" by C. A. Kincaid. from Shri Krishna of Dwarka.

The Worship of Vishnu at the Birth of Krishna

Source

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 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

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 1 Story: Cast Out

Little Penny-Nichole sat alone one afternoon, crying quietly to herself on a large rock still warm from the summer sun. It was her favorite place to go whenever she was sad but on this particular day she felt she would never leave the rock again. Her small elbows and knees were scraped up and bloody from the beating she had received, once again, from her three elder brothers. Penny-Nichole never liked her brothers. They were dumb brutes who only like to flaunt their strength to anything that dared exist too close to them. If anything thrived too much or was too lively near them for too long, they smothered it into desolation. After their parents died, the brothers had become even meaner to her. They beat her nearly every day if they could, but this day they had gone too far. The thought of her brothers caused little Penny-Nichole to weep louder. She clutched her tiny arms close to her chest and threw her cries into her bleeding knees.

"Why is a child as small as you crying louder than a wounded jackal?" A crackly deep voice broke through Penny-Nichole's wails and thoughts. She sprang from her rock, fearing it was her brothers returned to inflict more damage. She looked frantically around to locate the source of the voice. A pointy stick that she usually used to draw doodles in the dirt quickly became her trusty sword.

"Honestly, I thought you were obnoxious, brother, but this takes the cake!" This voice was higher, more like a woman's voice. It reminded Penny-Nichole of her mother's soothing voice that had always caressed her to sleep. Two people tromped out of the woods that lined the backside of Penny-Nichole's rock.

"Who-who are you? Did my brothers send you to me? I'm not going back!" Penny-Nichole sniffled and trembled as she slowly backed away from the two. She tightly clutched the pointy stick and held it at the two strangers. As Penny-Nichole looked between the two, she slowly felt at ease. The two strangers looked oddly familiar.

"Gregor, she's just a child." The woman spoke softly to the man and then turned and spoke to Penny-Nichole. "My name is Sarah Strike and this is my brother, Gregor Strike. We won't hurt you, young one. But, if you don't mind my asking, why are your brothers after you?" Sarah and Gregor sat on the warm rock.

Penny-Nichole hesitated for only a moment before dropping her stick sword.

"Did you say... Strike? As in the famous Strike Bounty Hunters who fight all over the galaxy?" Penny-Nichole's voice was a squeal of excitement now. She sprang over to the siblings and sat at the foot of the rock in front of them.

"Actually, I was reading one of your stories when it all happened. My brothers always like to take my things, you see, and your stories are my favorites. They tried to take my most favorite story, the one where you two helped save the tiger cubs of the cat clan Leonum from the evil wolf tribe. They told me the stories were fake and stupid... It made me angry so I told them that they were stupid dumb-dumbs. I told them the stories were real! They just had to be! But they stole it anyway and beat me up worse because I talked back to them. I ran away and came here where I always go to be sad. I don't want to go back, ever. They will just beat me up again." Penny-Nichole started to cry more, though she was clearly trying to hold her tears back in front of her childhood heroes.

"Well, what will you do now?" Gregor asked in a kind voice, patting the girl's small head.

"I don't know. I just know I can't go back to them. Ma and Dad are both dead now too, so they can't protect me from my mean brothers anymore. I'll probably just run away and try to live on my own in the forest."

Gregor nodded his head and then turned to Sarah. The two spoke to each other in a tongue that Penny-Nichole couldn't understand.

"Alright," Sarah finally said. She stood from the rock and went to kneel by Penny-Nichole, "Seeing as we are the reason you've been cast out, or at least refuse to go home and your parents aren't around anymore to protect you, why don't you come with us? You can be our apprentice!We could use a new pair of hands around the ship." Sarah smiled down to the little girl sweetly.

Penny-Nichole's eyes brightened and she leapt into Sarah's arms, embracing her in a hug. The three shared a happy moment before heading back to the Strikes' spaceship. Many adventures awaited the three. The three would now become intertwined in the lives of creatures the Strikes and Penny-Nichole themselves do not even realize exist.

Image by Mimzy

Author's note:
This story is based off of the Indian Fable The Fox and the Crabs by Ramaswami Raju. The original story tells of a fox who is sitting and crying from shunned from his kin because he didn't want to go and kill the crabs. He thought they were pretty creatures but the others still wanted to kill them. The crabs asked the fox what he would do since he couldn't go back to his family and when the fox didn't know they decided that since they were the cause for the fox to be shunned, they would employ the fox as their protector. Although, at the end of the story the fox ends up tricking the crabs and leads them into an ambush but I chose to leave that part out because I forgot to read it at first and because it very much doesn't fit with my story at all. I used my characters from when I took Myth & Folklore and recreated the fable so the girl, Penny-Nichole, is like the fox, the Strikes are like the crabs and the brothers are the fox's kin that cast him out. This story was really simple to recreate so it gave me a lot of freedom to create my new character, who will be used in many more stories in the future! While Penny-Nichole's backstory is kind of sad, she will have a much brighter future with the Strikes! Though, they will get into all sorts of trouble, but what fun would it be if they didn't?

Bibliography: "The Fox and the Crabs" from Indian Fables by Ramaswami Raju.