(Unum Village)
Zeko just finished explaining the story to Hunter who had multiple facial expressions throughout it, from anger to sorrow he understood what happened quite clearly. “That’s the situation, so what do you know about Mjoll?”
“What I was told is that she’s a crazed, gender biased leader of the Amazonian mares. If you need to know why she went off the deep end then you’re asking the wrong stallion because it’s what made her use some kind of age delaying spell so she could keep her place in power.”
“Celona, you said your grandmothers knew about Mjoll.”
Celona looked down in thought before she answered. “They could’ve helped but they stayed at the village. They believed that males were evil to their very hearts.”
“Maybe one of the village elders knows more than we do.” Hunter pointed out
“Where are they at? If they know then we need to ask.” Zeko questioned Hunter who lead the group to a large clay hut by the tree line.
“This is elder Kesh’s hut, he was around when Mjoll went into power over the Amazons.” Zeko was elated by the turn of luck but his happiness would be taken quickly
“There’s just the problem of his age.” Zeko’s smile dropped immediately. “He’s almost one hundred years old so he’s a bit... out of it.”
“Damnit! Nothing comes easily does it?” Zeko asked rhetorically while he walked into the shockingly well kept hut. “Hey Kesh are you in? Oh hell, don’t be dead before I get some answers.”
“I ain’t dead yet you whelp! I’m trying to nap in peace!” Zeko looked and saw an old stallion with a grey fur and mane with a long white beard
“At least he looks like an elder.” Kesh fumbled around with a walking stick trying to swat at Zeko but wasn’t close
“What’d ya want anyhow youngling? Nopony comes to visit the elderly out of the kindness of their hearts anymore.”
“You’re not wrong about that one. I need to know about Mjoll-“
“Of the Amazons... the Berserk Tigress.” Kesh interrupted Zeko to finish the nickname that he knew Mjoll by. “I think I still get terrors of what happened when she lost it.” Kesh looked upwards as if remembering something truly horrifying but was cut off by voices from outside
“LET ME IN! I’M HIS COUSIN!”
“Kotetsu, why do you always do things like this?” The door opened and Kotetsu stepped inside and directly behind him was a taller shinobi that Zeko knew all too well
“Rei? Why are you here?” Zeko asked with sincere surprise
“Well Kotetsu told me about how you were off training somewhere, and I wanted to know more so I asked further and he let me know that you were in a different world. I didn’t believe him but...” Rei looked around and shrugged his shoulders at their surroundings
“Where are all you youngsters coming from?! I just want some peace and quiet!” Kesh broke the conversation between the teenagers and reminded Zeko of his intention
“Ok you’ll get peace but tell me how Mjoll came to be the way she is.”
“That’s quite the story, grab a chair all of you... You see I was born in the Amazon village when it wasn’t tough on stallions...”
==============================
(Amazon Village)
(90 years ago: Kesh’s PoV)
I was only ten years old at the time-
“You’re a hundred years old?!” Kotetsu questioned before receiving a hard smack from Kesh’s cane
Like I was saying I was only ten years old when it all happened and I still count my blessings as of today that I got out when I did. I was down by a creek when my sister called me back for something important. “Do I have to go? I want to play with the fish.”
“It’d be easier if you just come now, father says that Mjoll the Huntress called a meeting and since he had to attend, I have to watch you.”
“Ok Cienna.” I walked away from the water and back to the hut where I stayed for about half an hour before there was an explosion that came from the gathering place. “What was that?!” I asked Cienna and she ran out to see but I followed her and saw a purple dome slowly covering the village
“Both of you get away from that now!” My father came running, picked us both up and ran back to the river. By the luck of Celestia our hut was on the farther edge of the Village and the dome didn’t reach us but when we came back mares and stallions of all ages were writhing on the ground and Mjoll was in the center of it
“Looks like you three didn’t get caught but that won’t matter now.” The mares started to get up and I saw that their eyes were red. “Get them!” At Mjoll’s command they started running to us, if my father wasn’t so quick to grab us and run... He ran out of that village with us in his arms and he kept running until he collapsed by the river to the Unum and here I am now.
==============================
“As oddly investing as that story was, I don’t think it had the answers that Zeko wanted.” Rei pointed out the problem with the story but Kesh decided to clear up the issue
“I know what I said! You see it wasn’t until a stallion managed to escape and make it here that we found out that Mjoll was the oldest of four kids and her father never let her take part in important issues because she’s a mare and he wanted her to stop being a warrior and prepare to be a caregiver for kids.”
“So that’s why she subjugates every male that enters her village territory?” Zeko questioned
“It is, of course I don’t agree with what her father did but taking her anger out on stallions like that isn’t right.”
“How’d she control everyone in the village?” Kotetsu asked
“Some sort of artifact that changed the memory of all the mares and nearly killed the stallions, so if you’re planning on doing something you need to be careful.” Kesh warned right as Zeko decided to stand up
“Can the effects be broken?” Zeko inquired but was dejected by the response
“No. When she first did it you could have tried but now there aren’t any of them under the effects, they’re under the effects of her words rather than some form of magic so there’s no spell to break kids.”
“Before we go we need to figure out a way to save those captive stallions. I can tell if things go bad they’ll get killed.”
“Well you have a decoy expert right here.” Rei gestured to himself. “So I have a plan to get them out and so they won’t notice.”
“Before you boys go, I have a request...” The trio looked back to Kesh who was sitting again. “I’m old and I could never take revenge on what she did to the old way of life but if there’s any way that I could be there, even in spirit, can you grant me that?” Zeko thought before looking to Kotetsu who pulled out a small blue crystal
“We can help but you’ll lose your physical form and be sealed into that crystal.” Kesh nodded prompting Zeko to take the crystal and walk over...
==============================
(Amazon Village)
(An hour after the escape)
“Lady Mjoll...” Karmiah said dizzily due to her intense headache. “The breeding fields... the stallions are gone, and that... thing is there...” Mjoll fumed and got up from her throne and walked outside telling Karmiah to gather everymare to fight the imminent threat
“Where is my armor? Wait I remember where.” Mjoll rushed to her home to don her battle gear before dealing with the massive thorn in her foot. She met her warriors and Karmiah at the breeding field where Zeko and Kotetsu were waiting for her
“Look who showed up... some bitches ready to die!” Kotetsu cracked his knuckles while Zeko stood with his arms crossed and Samehada not on his back
“Unfortunately our only option is to do this, that’s the only reason why you get to go crazy.” Zeko clarified to his cousin. “Remember leave Mjoll to me.” Kotetsu started to walk towards the horde and slowly picked up speed, unsheathing his sword and activating his Sharingan.
(Play Me)
The mares let out a raucous battle cry and charged at Kotetsu who met them head on, he chopped the first one to meet him in half and deflected a slash from another before chopping her arms off and flinging her to the crowd. Three ran up to him with spears and tried to stab him but ended up losing the speartips to his blade and before they could process it he managed to cut one’s head off and stab the other two simultaneously. “Is this all you ‘warriors’ can do? My pet turtle’s more dangerous!” Kotetsu taunted prompting an even taller mare with a battle axe to shoulder bash him backwards
“This more like it whelp?” She asked before trying to chop Kotetsu in half and barely missing. Two other mares ran behind him and nearly stabbed him in the back but they were stopped by an outside source, that being Zeko
“KOTETSU!” Zeko yelled and threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached to the end at his cousin who caught it and stabbed a mare with it then threw her into the axe wielding warrior as he jumped back
“What is this?!” She made the mistake of touching the paper bomb...
*BOOM*
The explosion ate every mare nearby and launched Kotetsu into a duo allowing him to snap one’s neck instantly and break another’s leg and toss her into a small oncoming group. “This is what I needed! A reason to kill something in this world, didn’t even need to be good.” Kotetsu looked at the number of fighters left and saw that a good deal got taken down with that paper bomb and decided to thin the rest for Rei. “Let’s see if it works; Ox, monkey, bird, serpent, dragon, rat, ram, dragon, tiger!” Kotetsu finished his self made jutsu and pictured what he wanted before launching it. “Fire style: Scorching serpent!” Kotetsu opened his mouth and exhaled a large flaming dragon that rushed to the army and horrifically burned many who were there. He decided to do something that would confuse them entirely, he pulled his pants around his ankles and kept a blank face; “Alright who’s next?” None stepped forward but he had to Kamui himself to avoid a dagger aimed at his groin
(Now Me)
“Alright that disturbing vision aside, it’s my turn.” Rei said from beside Kotetsu, seemingly appearing out of nowhere with a large wrapped item on his back. Kotetsu went back to Zeko while Rei pulled a polearm from a scroll and charged into the remainder of the army who followed and came to him only for the ones leading to end up on the end of his weapon and flung behind him to the charring masses. Two came from his sides and nearly took his head off but his movements had no delay and he dodged the swipes as he delivered his own to their Achilles’ tendons forcing them to the ground where he speared them quickly
“Lady Mjoll, let me go down there and stop him.” Karmiah suggested and received an approving grunt from her leader as she made her way onto the battlefield where Rei had managed to execute a dozen more warriors until he was face to face with Karmiah. “This is where your path ends.” Her hands began to glow yellow and spikes of the same color formed in the air around her
“I have to disagree, I have a goal here so you can either submit and leave happily or I’ll have to kill you.” There was silence until the spikes flew forward, Rei deflected most but one ended up in his rib cage, knocking him down immediately to Karmiah’s pleasure
“It seems you’re the one to die here scum! No surprise a male was so overconfident and couldn’t keep his word.” She brought up another spike. “Next is your pale friend and that red maned one.” The spike impaled Rei’s forehead and he fell onto his side like a puppet with cut strings. Mjoll was laughing to herself wondering how strong these boys really were when Karmiah killed one without more refined magic from her horn
“Maybe their strength was over exaggerated, or they’re like a glass arrows...”
“Well that’s one now for the other-“
“So are the jokes over?!” Rei asked suddenly to Karmiah’s horror but she was more confused when she saw his face become sand and fall off while the wrapping on his back was cast off revealing the real Rei. “They say we look alike but I don’t see the resemblance.” He made his puppet pick up the polearm and sprint to Karmiah, who hadn’t recovered from shock enough to attack and wound up bisected vertically. The remaining warriors stopped and considered their options but couldn’t make a decision before Mjoll walked down to Rei, clad in her metal reinforced leather armor with a bow and sword on her back
(End Theme)
“First there’s one of you and now there’s three? I suppose I’ll have to tear your spines out myself... or use you to repopulate my dying tribe.” She smirked and pulled her bow out
“Your tribe isn’t coming back, there’s nothing left of what you had.” Zeko came down, signaling Rei to jump up to Kotetsu
“I still have warriors left and some gatherers... I WILL NOT LET YOU RUIN MY WORK!” She fired a volley of arrows that Zeko dodged but her assault was short lived because Zeko changed to offensive as soon as the arrows missed
“Lateral Bolt of Pain.” He sprang forward and tried to chop Mjoll with his hand but met a glowing red shield. “What the?!” Zeko jumped back once spikes came from the shield
“This is the power of my amulet! The unyielding targe is mine! Try as hard as you want, it can’t be broken and if you can’t hit me you can’t win.” She jumped at Zeko with her sword in hand to cut his head of but was unable to make an incision through his sudden lightning armor
“You aren’t the only one with defense. I might not be able to dent that shield but I’ll just move faster than you can protect yourself with it.” He vanished and appeared behind her with a hand cocked back but when he punched he met the shield again and dodged a slice that was backed with red energy
“The shield moves itself to protect me, I don’t need to know where the threat is for it to defend my life.” She tried to chop Zeko’s arm off and didn’t notice the sand beneath her until it encased her body
“Perfect! Sand burial.” Zeko closed his hand but didn’t hear a crushing and when he opened the sand casing he saw that the shield changed into a barrier and coated all of Mjoll. “I know it’s kinda stupid coming from me but that’s unfair.” He was distracted long enough to miss the arrow laced with energy come from behind him and he was hit in the back and ended up kneeling on the ground
“The power you had meant nothing compared to me... I’ve lived far longer than you could have ever hoped so now you-“
“Let me stop you there and just let you know that I got every child out of your village and got them to the Unum tribe where they’ll learn that just because their leader is bitter over a bad father, it doesn’t mean they can’t get to have one.” Zeko turned into a cloud of smoke making Mjoll look around and see that Kotetsu was firing fireballs into the clouds over her village, making them larger and darker
“My TRIBE!” Mjoll and the remainder of her warriors ran out of the field and back into the village where huts showed no sign of life and the only one there was Zeko who had Samehada
“Just in time hang on a second...” He vanished in a blur of red and dark blue and came back with Kotetsu and Rei who rewrapped his puppet. “Kotetsu.” Zeko looked to his cousin who raised his hand and made a dragon appear from the darkened clouds above the village
“You think you can just walk into MY village and disrupt MY way of life then slaughter MY followers?!” Mjoll asked
“Yeah.” Zeko responded quickly
“NO! You’re going to die like the scum you are!” She sprang at Zeko who activated his Rinnegan. No one saw what happened next but Mjoll was stopped in her tracks and hunched over from pain
“It worked!” Zeko exclaimed happily. “I have something unique for my Rinnegan.”
“The hell did you do?” Kotetsu asked
“I sent my soul out and used it to hit hers in the lung directly. I’ve been going over how to use that path better and I found a way.” Zeko continued a personal celebration before being broken off by a mare
“What are you going to do to us?”
“Do you still believe what Mjoll’s fed you for all these years?” Zeko inquired which made the mares nod
“After what you’ve done I don’t see a reason not to!”
“After saving those captive stallions and defending ourselves against your warriors who wanted to kill us? We’re complete monsters.” Zeko sarcastically stated
“It doesn’t matter! You’re monsters all males are!”
“Then we’re done here. We’ve gotten your daughters somewhere they can realize that they can get along with stallions and this village... let’s just say that won’t leave a real trace.” Zeko pointed up at the Kirin
“I’m about to do this so maybe-“ Zeko took Rei away and left Kotetsu only to come back immediately
“I just figured this out, I can only do one at a time.” Kotetsu brought his hand down fast and was taken away by Zeko to the Unum tribe
“Maybe I could’ve been father’s favorite if my brothers were girls instead. No who am I trying to fool? I guess I just didn’t try hard enough...” Mjoll thought for the final time as Kirin came down onto her remaining tribe.
When Zeko and Kotetsu made it to the Unum they instantly turned around and saw Kirin crash into the forest, anyone who went in that area would see a massive crater the size of a town and glass around the edge of it from sand that was to prevent fire from spreading. “I didn’t think I could call Kirin here. And here’s that old guy’s crystal.” Kotetsu handed Kesh’s crystal over which Zeko turned and gave to Hunter
“If there’s some kind of memorial hall then you can put him then you should, he got to see the one who ruined his life have what she had taken so let him rest.” Zeko said to Hunter who walked off. “That was a fun time though boys!”
“I still wanna kill something...” Kotetsu looked around for something to sate his thirst for blood but Zeko’s hand on his shoulder stopped him
“You can go find a deadly rogue ninja to kill, this world is protected by me remember.” Zeko’s words fell on deaf ears as Kotetsu stared at his hair
“You need to cut your hair... that’s way too long for you to be able to fight.” Kotetsu grabbed Rei and sent the two into his Kamui
“After all of that he manages to realize my hair was long... it’s not bad looking is it? I can see just fine so it’s not impractical...” Zeko messes with his hair as he left the Unum village but was stopped by Celona who was now wearing tan leather clothing and had a bag slung over her shoulder
“Hey Zeko! I’m going with you.” She caught up to him letting him see that she really was just taller than him
“Why are you tagging with me?”
“You helped the Amazons and I want to try to return the favor by helping you on your adventures.” She responded with a smile
“If you think you can handle it then fine but if it’s ever too much you can go back...”
“I think love can get me through any trouble I have...”
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