Fenris Perrywinkle: The Great Galactic Duel

Sparks rain down on us as I pull a beautiful woman behind me deeper into the woods. Bolts of energy strike the earth all around us and she screams. I cry out to her not to give up – not to be afraid. More energy bolts. Above our heads, two enormous alien space ships trade fire. Sirens sound in the distance and powerful spotlights illuminate in the small town in the valley. All at once, unmarked military craft swarm the air above us. The sounds and lights are overwhelming. The woman following behind me screams and is lifted into the air. I grip her hand as hard as I can, but she is torn from my grasp. I watch in horror as her silhouette is vacuumed up into one of the craft above.

I awake with a start. Machinery whirs to life in the darkness. There is something heavy on my chest. A moment later, the room becomes its usual fuzzy white. Amanda’s head and chest lie on top of my own. Her tired eyes flutter open and we gaze into each other without speaking. They slowly close again and she softly moans.

“Fenris...”

I reach up and softly brush the hair from her face. I feel so happy right now.

“Why did you reject me last night?” she whispers.

I continue to stroke her hair, confused that she’s still on the topic. I had been noble. I had been a gentleman. I thought I made this clear last night.

“When a girl offers, you’re supposed to accept it,” she continues and tugs at the collar of my shirt. “Are women not your thing? You constantly flirt with me, and then when I finally relent, you go cold shower on me? What did I do wrong?”

“No, it’s not like that. I made you feel sorry for me. I didn’t think you’d actually want to. I was just trying to tease...”

Amanda presses her lips to mine and I immediately forget what I was trying to say. Her lips are just as soft as I had always imagined them to be.

She breaks the kiss and raises up by pushing on my shoulders. The look in her eye tells me to shut up. I decide to do so. Everything goes slow motion as she straddles my waist and begins unbuttoning that blouse of hers.

The wall opens and Little Green floats in. “Good cycle, Champion Fenris! I trust you and your follower enjoyed your rejuvenation time together?”

I’m going to murder that fat-head-little-green-interrupter.

Little Green looks Amanda up and down. “Ah good, I see the two of you are just getting dressed. Please be swift as we have much to accomplish before the tournament in 8 of your earth hours!”

Red-faced, Amanda hops off my body and quickly does her blouse back up. Words cannot adequately describe the extreme depth of my savage disappointment.

Desperate to regain some composure, she clears her throat and tosses me my medication. “Take your pill, Fenris.”

“Yes, by all means!” Little Green chimes in. “One final pill before we give you a jump start!”

The capsule gets stuck as my throat suddenly goes dry. “Jump... start?” I don’t like the sound of that.

Little Green gives a sharp little clap. The wall behind me opens and a mechanical arm yanks me out of bed. The last thing I see is the panicked look on Amanda’s face as the wall closes and I disappear into the darkness beyond.

I can’t adequately describe what happens next. All I remember is floating in nothingness and being continually shocked by alien energies. I feel like I’m being turned inside out, cooked, and then turned right side in again. Rinse and repeat that process a hundred times, and you’re coming close to understanding what I’m going through.

The next thing I know, I’m back in the white room. Amanda is kneeling over me again asking over and over if I’m ok. Later on I’ll have to tell her to just try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Doesn’t matter if I stubbed my toe or got shot in the head. The answer should always be mouth-to-mouth.

Bubbles Benson and Little Green float into the room. “Excellent results, Champion Fenris! And I see your battle garb fits like a glove as well.”

I hold up my hands to see that I’m encased in some sort of skin tight bodysuite. Ribbons of energy pulse through my veins and show up on the exterior of the costume. I’d think this was pretty cool if not for the uncontrollable urge I have to vomit at the moment. I dry heave a few times. Seems I’m running on empty. When was the last time I ate anyway?

Amanda is on point, as usual. “Do you have any of our earth food? We haven’t eaten in many hours!”

The question seems to catch Little Green off guard and he stares off into space for a moment. “Yes... yes, of course. Please excuse my oversight, Amanda Perrywinkle.”

“My name isn’t...” She sighs and drops her head a little. “Never mind. Can you obtain food for me and...” She looks over at me as I continue to brim with alien power. “...Champion Fenris over here?”

Benson beings to whirl in a little cyclone. Little Green nods. “Have no fear, Benson says he can obtain food for the two of you with 83% certainty!”

Amanda nods. “Great. Hopefully sooner than later.” She turns back to me and sits on the end of the bed object I somehow ended up back on. She runs the back of her hand gently down the side of my bare cheek and tugs a little at the neckline where my new bodysuite ends. “The Champion is hungry.”

I’m not sure how long I lie on that stupid bed thing. The energy tremors continue for what seems like forever. Luckily, Amanda lies beside me the whole time and plays with my hair. I feel like I could happily keep shaking for the rest of forever.

Little green floats back into the room and makes a grand gesture. “Dinner is served, Champion and follower!”

“Finally,” Amanda murmurs as she sits up.

A hole opens in the roof and a large lizard falls onto the floor. The impact stuns the creature and it lies still.

Amanda gently slaps her forehead. “Advanced. These beings are supposed to be advanced,” she whispers.

“Eat well! Enjoy!” Little Green declares, so far unaware of Amanda’s disgust.

“You call this food?” she shouts angrily and motions to the stunned reptile.

“I... I got... this...” I say as I rise off the bed object. Before Amanda can protest, I stretch out my hand. A bolt of alien energy instantly disintegrates the poor, innocent creature.

Little Green and Bubbles Benson seem quite pleased. Amanda and I are horrified. She kneels down and inspects the little pile of dust that was once the noble desert lizard. She looks at me with disbelief.

“You did it. I can’t believe you just did it.”

I manage a little smile and nod at her. “I can feel the energy inside of me now. I feel connected to it.”

Bubbles Benson excitedly begins bouncing in place in the air.

Amanda picks up a pinch of the lizard dust and lets it slowly sift through her fingers. “Maybe you’ve got a shot after all,” she murmurs.

I lay back on the bed again. “Mind you, I didn’t actually mean to vaporize the poor thing. I’m still absolutely starving.”

Thirty minutes later, a rather stunned looking Italian man stands in the fuzzy white room with us. Amanda steals the pizza he carries in the insulated bag slung over his shoulder. She tells him not to bother telling anyone about this, as no one will believe him anyway.

The pepperoni supreme tastes amazing, just so you know.

I ask Little Green to return us to the desert for a few hours so I can better get a handle on the energy inside of me. He and Bubbles agree that that would be a good idea and a few minutes later, Amanda and I find ourselves once again standing together in the dry wastes of New Mexico.

Things are different now though. For one, Amanda’s become extremely touchy-feely. She still gives professional feedback on how I perform each time I lift into the air or send a bolt of energy into one of the distant bushes, but now she does it with her arms wrapped around me in some fashion. I’ll have to spend some time thinking about how odd it is that people act so differently so quickly when they decide that they’re with someone. It’s like flipping a switch. No time for those thoughts right now though – that rock a half mile away needs to be pulverized.

Energy bursts out of my eyes this time and the rock is reduced to dust. Amanda nods in approval and snakes her arms around my waist. “The other guy doesn’t stand a chance, Champion Fenris.” She can barely keep a straight face every time she calls me that. I smile back and look into her eyes. I press my lips to hers, and we enjoy a moment together.

She lingers, then gently pushes me away, breaking our lip lock. “Later,” she whispers. “Blow up something big for me this time.” I consider making a crass joke about blowing up something big for her, but decide it’s too juvenile.

I concentrate on a large rock formation that’s several stories high about a mile away. A moment later, my energies punch a hole right through the center.

Amanda hops up and down clapping her hands like a little girl. She moves to me again, and we kiss some more. A lot more, actually. Things are getting hot, and I’m not talking about the desert. I wonder what having sex in the sand would feel like? I’d probably be finding dirt in all the wrong places for several days, but I also think it would be totally worth it.

Amanda breaks our kiss again and stares at something over my shoulder. “What is it?” I ask and turn to look in the same direction.

“You tell me,” she murmurs.

Something hovers in the sky several miles away. It looks human in shape.

Amanda clings to my back, a sense of urgency in her voice. “That’s got to be him.”

I nod. “The Deepdarc champion. The other guy.”

“What do we do?”

“I dunno.” There it is again.

She slaps my shoulder. “Stop saying that! It drives me insane!”

“Sorry. I meant to say that I’m not sure what to do next. He’s not attacking or anything. He’s just watching us. Maybe he’s trying to get a feel for my fighting style? Yeah, that would make sense. That’s probably it.”

Just to prove me wrong apparently, the figure in the air starts flying toward us.

“He’s coming! He’s coming at us! Has the duel already started? What’s going on?”

“I dunno! Sorry! I mean, just stay behind me. I’ll protect you as best I...” I trail off as the figure comes closer. That’s no man, man. A fabulous blonde woman alights on the desert in front of us. My heart begins to beat in my ears and I start to hyperventilate.

The woman places her hands on her shapely hips and looks Amanda and I up and down with a disapproving expression. “I see you’ve moved on. That didn’t take long.”

I move my lips, but no sound comes out. Flashes of the past assault my mind and I feel like my brain is going to explode.

“Fenris?” Amanda prods, “Fenris? Do you know this woman? Is she the Deepdarc champion?”

The blonde woman crosses her arms in front of her large chest and cocks an eyebrow at me. “Yes, honey, I’m the Deepdarc champion alright. And yes, Fenris definitely knows me, don’t you sweetheart?”

“J... Jennifer?” I finally manage to sputter.

Amanda white knuckles my shoulder and hisses into my ear. “Who is she, Fenris? How do you know her?”

Jennifer gives me an expectant look.

I turn to look Amanda in the eye. “She’s my fiancée.”