Chapter 35: Campout
Young Amazons
By Ackbarfan5556
Executive Produced By Wanderer D
Chapter 35: Campout
“All right, Sunset, let’s do this one more time,” Zatanna said as she dusted herself off and walked a fair distance away to face off with Sunset once more. The two of them stood out in a large, open field miles away from Gotham and any true prying eyes.
Of course, the protective barrier around them was an added deterrent from any witnesses. Anyone outside of it would still see the field as empty, but anyone inside––like Barbara and Pamela, who were in a smaller barrier to be able to see the two magicians fight while also keeping themselves protected––could see all that was going on.
The barrier wasn’t too big. It was large enough to allow Sunset and Zatanna to spar but small enough not to endure any real stress on Zatanna to maintain it.
Sunset took a deep breath as she got ready once more to fight her mentor. After the fight with Toth, she was using as much time as she could to focus on improving her combative magic. Hand-to-hand training was good for dealing with much of Gotham’s rogues, but when it came to magical threats outside of it, Sunset was lacking in a bad way and that fight proved it.
“Now!” Zatanna shouted before taking out her wand and launching several fireballs at her apprentice. Sunset quickly responded with a shield of flames that grew in strength as the fireballs hit it, before turning the shield into a wall of fire that flew towards Zatanna.
The older magician summoned waves of water to douse the flames and then launched a wave of magic at Sunset. She quickly stuck her feet to the ground and placed a magical aura around her to lighten the impact of the force of magic. The wave struck, but Sunset was barely affected by it.
Sunset countered once more by pulling out her sword and summoning a wave of lightning out of it that went streaking towards Zatanna. Zatanna stood in place before just narrowly avoiding it. She grabbed the lightning with her wand and redirected it back to its sender. Sunset responded to her attack returning to her by bringing up a small energy sphere and absorbing the lightning.
She didn’t stop however as she took her rapier and stabbed it into the earth beneath her. A second later, energy mines detonated beneath Zatanna as the earth kicked up. She moved fast and flew off the ground to stay away from the minefield she had been on.
Sunset flew up herself to meet her and tried to hit her with her rapier. Zatanna’s wand blocked the sword and the two of them parried each other like it was a sword duel while flying up in the air. The two were moving so fast that it almost seemed to be like a blur from where Barbara and Pamela were witnessing.
Eventually, the two reached a stalemate when they were locked against each other. Sunset’s leg then burst into an aura of flames and she kicked Zatanna with a roundhouse kick. Zatanna managed to shield herself from the magical fire but the force of the kick couldn’t be stopped so she went straight down towards the ground. Sunset followed her and dived down until Zatanna landed hard and found Sunset on top of her with her rapier’s tip at her neck.
“You know, it doesn’t help me that much when you let me win like this,” Sunset said as she backed away and took a large breath. Zatanna chuckled, dusting herself off as she rose to her feet before snapping her fingers. The shield then vanished around them.
“Well, at least winning a few would help with your confidence and all. It doesn’t feel as good to lose every single time,” Zatanna explained. “Besides, I wasn’t holding back as much as you think.”
“Yikes! You call all that holding back? I’d hate to see you when you go full force,” Barbara said with a smirk. Pamela had ignored the conversation and was over the mounds of earth that had been kicked up by Sunset’s attack.
“Did you have to be so rough on the local flora, Sunny?” she asked as she kneeled down and used her powers to restore much of the grass that had been devastated by the fight.
“Sorry, Pam,” Sunset apologized. “Sometimes we all forget that the plants have a voice that only you can really hear. It was the heat of the moment and it slipped my mind.”
“It’s alright.”
“That’s not really much of a problem if we were in the city and it was paved stone that was exploding at our feet,” Barbara said. “Perhaps we should’ve done this in a desert. The local plants wouldn’t have been in the crossfire.”
Pamela blushed upon those words. “Hey! Don’t think I’m trying to be rude or anything about what I just said and did.”
“It’s fine, Pam. We’re just being hard on you.”
Zatanna then walked up to the redhead.
“Pamela, if you want, I’d be more than willing to spar with you right now,” the wizard offered. “This field would allow you to be more open with your attacks.”
“Oh, that’s okay, Zatanna,” Pamela respectfully declined. “You’ve been sparring with Sunny for much of the afternoon. We can do this another time.” She smiled. “Besides, this was more for her after our fight with Toth.”
“Speaking of him, I’m sorry, Sunset, but I have really no idea who he is.”
“I thought maybe you had met him once before or something,” Sunset said with a sigh.
“Didn’t you say that he claimed to have been trained by the Lords of Chaos his whole life?” Barbara recalled.
“If that’s the case, that may be why. The Lords of Chaos must have gotten him at a very young age,” Zatanna said.
“I actually feel bad for him, if that’s the case,” Pamela admitted, earning looks of confusion from the other three. “Well, think about it? He’s spent his whole life being raised by evil villains. His whole life must have been one of distrust, pain, never knowing true love that one could get from a loving family. I know, it sounds weird to say, but, I just can’t help but think of that.”
“You have a point, Pamela. If that’s what happened in his life, after all, then perhaps he did have a lonely life.” Zatanna agreed. “Still, none are beyond some sort of redemption. A hero by the name of Hawk I know was the child of a Lord of Chaos and a Lord of Order who fell in love with each other.”
“Zatanna is right. We always like to think things are simply in black and white, but at times, it’s much more gray. I should know that better than any of us here. Of course, unlike myself, some will take any chance of redemption and just simply spit on it.” Sunset added.
“Speaking of another spar,” Barbara returned the conversation to where it was before. “It’s gonna be hard to set up one for a while. This is the last Friday of summer break before we’re in class on Monday.”
“Hard to believe it’s already school time again,” Pamela said. “It’s even harder to believe we’re all seniors now and it’s our last year of school. Well, high school that is.”
“This summer has gone by too fast!” Barbara groaned as she laid on the ground.
“Well, we did spend almost a month in Italy,” Sunset reminded her pouty friend.
“Yeah, but we haven’t had too much time to relax. We’ve spent most of this summer either training or fighting bad guys. Rarely did we ever get time to just be normal.”
“I would like to remind you girls that you all chose this life,” Zatanna said with a slight smirk on her face. “No one really forced you into the life of crime fighting. And you three can easily hang up the masks if you wish.”
“You don’t hang up masks,” Pamela muttered under her breath. None of the other three truly caught what she said.
“I didn’t mean it that way, Zatanna. I was just wishing we had a longer summer break. That’s all,” Barbara said.
Zatanna nodded. “I see. So, you girls all ready for school this year?”
The trio nodded.
“I almost forgot to ask, Pam, but are you planning on trying out for the gymnastics team this year?” Sunset asked.
Pamela blushed. “Uh, no,” she said quietly. “That’s really your thing. Besides, it’s a bit too late for me. Maybe last year, but certainly not this one. Even if I made the team, I’d only be on it for one, and my spot might end up keeping someone off who would really want to be on the team.”
“That is a good point,” Barbara agreed. “Still, if you decide to change your mind, the offer is open right now.”
“Have you girls decided what you’re going to do on your last weekend of summer vacation?” Zatanna asked.
“We all decided that we’re actually going to camp out in the nearby woods tomorrow night,” Sunset answered before her face looked nervous. “We, uh, kinda mentioned to Pam and Barb’s families that you would be chaperoning us.”
“I see. Is it a must that I come along or can we just say that I picked you girls up?”
“The latter,” Sunset replied. “We would be meeting at the apartment so their parents are assuming that you’re driving us from there. Really, we were just going to portal into those woods and spend Saturday night looking up at the stars before coming back home on Sunday morning.”
“All right then. If the question is asked, I’ll say I took you girls,” Zatanna said.
Sunset smiled. “Thanks, Zatanna.”
“Now then, it’s starting to get late. We should probably get back to Gotham before your parents start to worry.”
“Yeah. The last thing we need is them asking questions,” Barbara said.
“Speaking of asking questions, do you think they know? That your parents or my mom know what we really do, Red?” Pamela asked.
“I doubt it. If they even suspected, I’m sure they would have brought it up. At least I’m sure my parents are still in the dark. Why? Did something happen?”
Everyone came to a stop to look at Pamela.
“I’m not sure. Mom was looking over the paper last week and well, she said that Ivy kinda reminded her of me. That’s why.”
“Anything else?” Sunset asked.
Pamela shook her head. “No, nothing. It just concerned me. That’s all.”
Barbara waved her hand in dismissal. “I’m sure you’re just over worrying about this, Pam,” she said. “Relax. If she knew more than you think, I doubt we would even be having this conversation.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you girls are right.”
“It’s now night, we’ve got a bright moon out tonight, and the stars can be seen clearly out here. All that we need now is a fire.” Barbara said as she clapped her hands together on the log she sat on.
Saturday went by fast before the trio left Sunset’s apartment for the little campsite they made for themselves. The last night of summer vacation for them since they were expected to be ready for the first day of school the next night.
“I’ve got it covered,” Sunset said as she stood up. Muttering a spell, she conjured a small ball of flame in her hand and placed it down on the firewood that had been set up as the campfire. The logs began to burn as Sunset took a step back and sat down between the girls. “So, shall we break out the s’mores?”
Barbara smacked herself in the face in sudden realization.
“Stupid Gordon! I knew I was forgetting something!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sunset quickly assured her. “So we don’t have the snacks right now, I can easily portal back over to my place to get them.”
“Doesn’t that somewhat defeat the purpose of camping? If we can easily get back to the comforts of home in less than a minute, isn’t this just more of spending the night at one of our houses?” Pamela asked, much to the bewildered looks of the other two.
“Why does that excuse sound so familiar?” Barbara asked, to which Pamela gave a small shrug.
“Look, it’s fine. We still have some other food to munch on as we enjoy the quiet night,” Sunset said as she sat back down.
“Agreed,” Pamela laid on her back and looked up to the sky above, though many of the trees blocked the view. She gave a small wave of her arm and suddenly the branches and the trees leaned and moved to give an open skylight in the forest.
“I swear, Pam, sometimes you scare me with your powers,” Barbara said with a chuckle.
Pamela blushed. “Even now, I’m still somewhat scared of myself every once in a while. It doesn’t help that I still get some nightmares about what I did and how much further that could’ve gone.”
She sighed as she sat back up. Sunset responded by leaning over and giving her a hug.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past and you’ve more than proven that night will never repeat,” she assured her.
Pamela smiled back. “Somedays I really wonder where I’d be without you two.”
“Let’s not dwell on that though, okay, Pam? Lest we all get bummed out by thinking it,” Barbara said as she now laid down to look at the stars. “Really takes your breath away at times, huh? Seeing all those stars and worlds; a view you really can’t get in the city.”
“It sure is,” Pamela said in agreement. “Though I hear there’s even better views of the night sky from more isolated locations like the wilderness of New Zealand or Africa.”
“Maybe we should’ve had our camping trip out there?” Barbara teased.
Sunset shook her head as she looked up. “I don’t think so. I get the feeling one of us would accidently get our stories mixed up if we did that.” She then sighed as she continued to stare into the sky.
“Something bothering you, Sunny?” Pamela asked.
“Yes and no,” the young magic user said. “I mean, just looking up at it all, knowing and not knowing what’s out there. What we see is the tiniest fraction of the universe. And not only that, but there’s also the whole multiverse with parallel timelines and alternate dimensions.”
“Boy, when you put it that way and really think about it, it’s amazing your mind doesn’t explode,” Barbara said. “Then again, maybe it’s a bit easier to comprehend for a unicorn who’s jumped through multiple dimensions before.”
“Speaking of which, how’s your search been going, Sunny? Any closer to finding Canterlot High or Equestria?” Pamela asked.
Sunset shook her head. “No, I’m still nowhere close. I’ve seen other realities, other dimensions, but nothing even so much as resembling home. I don’t know if I’m just looking in the wrong place, or something.”
She sighed.
“I’ve been actually wanting to ask you about that, Sunny,” Barbara said. “About Canterlot High and Equestria. If you were able to find a way back, would you go?”
“Of course,” Sunset answered without a shred of hesitation. “First of all, I need to check on the human Twilight and make sure she’s alright. Jeez, I just hate the fact that I don’t know what has happened to her since I’ve been here. I mean, she more than likely is blaming herself for what had happened.
“And I know I’ve said that she has Pinkie, Rarity, and the others to help her out. Probably Princess Twilight too if she comes through the mirror, but I know what I saw when I looked into her eyes. That was a girl who had felt almost nothing but loneliness for much of her life.”
“Sort of like mine when I lost it with my powers, right?” Pamela asked.
“Yeah, that’s honestly what gave me the hope that we could help you, Pam. But the problem was that, well, we have all been friends with each other for quite some time before all that happened,” Sunset worried with a frown, unable to enjoy the starlit display above her. “With the other Twilight, I’m just extremely worried about what she might have done afterwards. I hope she didn’t do anything…rash.”
“Hey, Sunny, it’s like you said. I’m sure the girls have been helping her ever since you came here. I wouldn’t worry as much as you’re thinking about it. But that doesn’t actually answer my question,” Barbara said.
“Oh, what was the question then?”
“I guess I didn’t ask it right, but I said if you found a way back, would you take it? I should’ve added, ‘What would you do if it was a one-way trip?’.”
There was a long pause upon hearing that. No one said a word as both Barbara and Pamela looked to Sunset about her answer, while Sunset was busy trying to think of what really would the answer be if that scenario did happen. Ultimately, she could not think of a good answer to that question. Not right now.
“I’m-I’m not really sure, girls,” she admitted with a heavy sigh. “I mean, if I had to choose between staying here or going back to my true home, with no way to come back…”
“I get it, Sunny. That’s probably a really hard question to answer,” Barbara told her softly. “I wouldn’t even know what to say if I was in your position.”
Sunset gave a small chuckle. “It’s almost kind of funny when you think about it though,” she said. “If I had been asked this during that first week I had arrived in Gotham, I wouldn’t have hesitated in saying that I would want to go back. But now, after so much time here, after meeting you two, I’m not sure. It would be one of the hardest decisions in my life, that’s for sure.”
“I hope you wouldn’t think of us as being selfish or anything, Sunny, but if you asked us to choose, we would rather you stay here with us rather than go back to Canterlot or Equestria.” Pamela blushed upon saying that. “Sorry, I know that sounds mean.”
“No, it’s understandable. I just hate having to pick between the two of them after all this time.”
Everything went silent once more as no one could really think of what to say next after Sunset’s answer. Eventually, Barbara spoke up as she opened with a sigh.
“Look, this is obviously a question that shouldn’t be asked right now. Right now, it’s still an ‘if’ about returning to Equestria. And even if there was a ‘when’ to that answer, it’s possible for you to be able to return from there. If that’s the case, then this whole conversation is pointless.”
Both girls nodded to Barbara’s words.
“Right now? How about we focus on enjoying the night, looking up to the stars, and worry ourselves to death about our senior year and what to do next.”
Sunset and Pamela groaned at that.
“Great,” Pamela said. “Way to remind us that none of us really have any solid ideas of what we’re going to do after senior year. Who was it that said a few minutes ago about not saying things that would bum us out?”
Barbara gave a nervous chuckle as she looked back to the sky.
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Is it just me, or are the "Lords of chaos" going to include Discord, and a way back? At least it won't involve a different kind of Chaos.
pm1.narvii.com/7226/ef943a3b86d1987350b628e97ebe98b1130d2793r1-500-500v2_00.jpg
Hopefully.
Well it sounds like Toth might experience some Talk-No-Jutsu by the end of this with that observation they made.
Nice little calm slice of life chapter for the girls.
What is the schedule of the story actually ?
10733964
The Lords of Chaos are an established faction in the DC Universe. It would be kind of odd if Discord was suddenly one of them.
So Pam is Sci-Twi now. Still trying to figure out if Pam and Barb parallel any EQG characters. In a weird way Wonder Woman kind of paralleled Princess Celestia given their both mentors who are millenia-old princesses.
What is it about camping trips that make people become so introspective? 🤔