SUPERGIRLED SUPERWORLD

1) DAWN

 

“Ms. Darrow. The dossier.”

She almost bit her lip at the sudden at the Blue Tie Man’s sudden sharpness, startled out of her pleasant trance watching the clouds fly by outside her little plastic window, and contemplating excitedly what might await her on a whole new landmass.

“Oh, right, the dossier,” she tried to chuckle, but she could only tense up. “Silly me. Better really read up if I want to make daddy proud, huh?”

Compulsively she ran a hand through her messy blonde hair and adjusted her glasses slightly as she picked up the bulging folder of files from up off the low glass table.

“Uh, how do you do that thing with the lights again?” she smiled apologetically.

Without so much as a word, the Red Tie Man snapped his fingers the precise number of times to turn the lights up for reading. “Now, Ms. Darrow,” said the Blue Tie Man. “The dossier.”

“Th-thanks.” She was still a bit astonished a plane this lavish and posh existed, let alone that her dad practically pioneered the airline. She’d always been accustomed to easy money, she rather guiltily admitted to herself – while mom struggled all throughout her entire childhood to make ends meet, Dawn grew up comfortably with just a fraction of her dad’s alimony – but if dad’s secret life was this luxurious she doubted even mom would be so quick to abstain.

“By the way, you can just call me Dawn … if you like.” She didn’t want to know her dad’s closest associates as just the Red Tie and the Blue Tie, but they’d never given their names and she was a tad shy to ask. Or maybe they had given their names, and she’d just forgotten. Apart from the business suits, the pair looked doughy and artificial, not to mention barely distinguishable from each other until now, with the light.

“All right. Dawn.” Blue Tie tapped his foot, perhaps more impatiently than he meant to convey; clearly babysitting his estranged boss’s daughter was not his dream assignment, Dawn thought.

“Wow, dad’s insured my first year in college under every company under the sun,” she said, flipping through reams of paperwork. “You’d think his aim wasn’t to destroy the college. Ah, here we are.”

The file on one Alexandra Majors. Self-made multi-billionaire, prolific feminist philosopher and travel writer, and spiritual prodigy, all at the ripe old age of 24 (and a half). Judging from the particularly revealing photo insert, it looked as though her dad had something of the hots for her too – Dawn didn’t know whether to gag or to laugh. Or it could simply be that Alexandra had already made dressing in skimpy clothing socially acceptable by dint of her sheer popularity, and that photo had merely become the most common and accessible on the internet. Dawn herself wasn’t sure to what to make of her Alexandra’s worldwide cult of personality among girls her age, but if her father had said anything at all during the brief weekend during which they met for the first time (to discuss sending her to college), it was that constant refrain that Majors was brainwashing teen girls into socially irresponsible divas and needed to be stopped.

Which is why he’d promised her half of his fortune – more than enough to ensure she and mom would be happy for the rest of their lives – if she worked to sabotage the newly established Alexandra Majors Academy for Feminine Power from within. A rather unconventional means of securing a living after college, but Dawn was determined to impress her father and leave him the impression that she was not, in fact, a socially irresponsible diva.

ALEXANDRA MAJORS

Appearance: Tall and toned, with voluptuous curves.

Dawn nearly succumbed to a giggle fit, but mastered herself; if she didn’t read everything by the time she arrived she’d hardly be ready to single-handedly expose an entire empire.

Appearance: Tall and toned, with voluptuous curves. A ravishing beauty. Keeps hair waist-length so that she may cover her breasts with it in case she feels like taking off her top in public, which is quite often. Hair color and fashion style change with her whim, the only constant is her piercing green eyes. Even the world’s most powerful potentates have trouble speaking with her face to face.

History: Born in 1996 in Ottawa and raised in rural New Brunswick, it became clear from a very early age she was incredibly gifted. She turned around her parents’ failing forestry business when she was just 14, with time to spare to excel academically in every field and carry her local karate club to the national championship the next year. She was so popular (and drop dead gorgeous) by the time she was 18 (simultaneously enrolled in both medical school and the University of Calgary) there were so many cute boys she was tutoring vying for her attention that started fucking all of them, incorporating them into her mock “harem.” The illicit pleasure of polyamory led her to craft her philosophy and her famous most senior thesis (she submitted a book-length paper for every department at the college) The Ceaseless Sex: How to Keep Sex Magical While Keeping It Real. After graduation her attention turned to the new discipline of “mystic archaeology” (as well as various other pursuits, such as developing her media empire and her political clout).

Personality and parlance: Shamelessly sexually free, uninhibited in every sense. (It seems the only criteria to be a lover in her vast, salaried harem of so-called ‘partners’ are to be human and skilled in bed.) She believes men to be inherently inferior to women, and values men only as objects to please her sexually – even if in her books she takes pains to explain she doesn’t hate men. (Though considering the disgusting number of menwho buy into her philosophy, men may very well be inferior.) Her hippy brand of environmentalism has caught on as well, and she constantly advertises how “sustainable” all of her companies and projects are. She defuses any natural human resentment towards her supposed “perfection” with strategically employed humor and generosity, and her followers lap up her every nugget of wisdom and witty barb. You must be strong, darling, and immune to her wiles.

Intellect and abilities: Possibly the most intelligent individual in the world; certainly thinks it of herself, even if she doesn’t say it in so many words. Claims she flawlessly performed surgery on her own brain at age 17 to amplify her mental capacity, and sold the technique to all her most privileged believers for hundreds of millions. If nothing else, she’s an exceptionally talented con artist. “Spiritually intuitive,” or sixth sense. Claims this, rather than her mega-genius level intellect, is the secret to her success – or else she would have been lonely and miserable instead of “connecting” to people. More hokum, just cashing in on the new age fad. What isn't hokum is her deadly fighting prowess, as she has effortlessly defeated martial arts masters of almost all disciplines, most of whom had every reason to humiliate her in front of the world. She claims her easy victories are thanks to having unlocked the secrets to inner power, but it’s probably just some untraceable drug she invented. (I’d say she was simply using her looks to distract her enemy, but then she’s beaten plenty of other female fighters as well.) In any case, steer clear of joining any fight clubs and never drink or eat anything offered to you which might seem suspicious. Who knows what crippling side effects such a drug could have in the future. Besides, fighting is unbecoming of a lady.

In just over seven years, Alexandra Majors has made half the world her fawning sycophants. If we don’t put an end to her power now, who will?

Dawn buttoned up her dress and gulped. This Alexandra Majors was extremely intimidating. She wondered if it was even possible to stand against her. Then again, she definitely seemed too good to be true. Unlike her shadowy tycoon dad, who was dead set against Majors, and unlike Majors’s followers who worshiped her, Dawn herself was frankly still undecided. But she tried not to project this uncertainty, as she had little desire to disappoint her dad considering he’d provided for her every need since she was two seconds old, even if it was from afar.

Her dad’s idea of proper female clothing, on the other hand … Were neck-to-ankle garments really necessary? Especially on the equator? They would definitely be the first thing she ditched. She didn’t need to be dressed like a skank, just something more sensible.

She wondered if it was as hot in the middle of the Pacific. A whole new island – not previously undiscovered, new. How on earth did Majors manage that? She asked herself for the bajillionth time in amazement. Not a single geology expert on the evening news since it happened last month had been able to answer the question, how it could be possible apart from magic that a sizable chunk of land should spring from nothingness precisely where Ms. Majors predicted? And already it was home to a sprawling state-of-the-art campus for like-minded girls (and assorted sustainable fisheries). Even if his intentions were less than sincere, she was still glad her dad had made sure she got in, just for the adventurous experience.

“Oh my god, is that it!? We’re already here!” Dawn spotted the island and kicked her legs frantically.

“It’s the next one over,” Red Tie corrected.

Dawn squinted and rubbed her eyes under her glasses against the potent mist shrouding the island. Then her eyes reeled open.

“It’s HUGE!”

“Around the same surface area as the state of Iowa,” said Blue Tie. “When we land, the two of us will be scouting out the island for your father.”

“Oh. All right then. By the way, how are you going to find the landing strip – Ah.”

Neon hover-kites shaped like arrows glided serenely by the plane and nudged their pointy noses towards the plane’s destination.

“Well that’s new.”

“Stupendous,” said Red Tie, and he seemed to be smiling sincerely. “Even her technology is impressive.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” said Dawn. “I didn’t even think there was anything like it.”

The plane dipped as directed and she felt giddy with anticipation. She was going to rock this semester. She would take everyone and everything by storm with her insight and audacity. It was going to be suh-weet.

“We’ve touched down,” said Blue Tie.

“I can feel it now,” said Dawn, shunting her shy side for her more ambitious side for the moment. “This is a super-plane, right, don’t tell me it’ll take forever to stop and let everyone out like normal planes.”

Red Tie snapped his fingers and the plane lurched to a much slower crawl of 45 mph. Dawn almost spit up her soda.

“We’ll oblige your wishes, so long as you fulfill your mission. You can count on us anytime. Just consult the shadows.”

“Huh? Oh you mean this doohickey.” Inside her hairclip was a tiny camera and communicator. “Sure, I’ll ‘consult the shadows.’ If I didn’t know better I’d swear you two are Bond villains,” she laughed.

No laughter was reciprocated as the plane came to a full stop.

“Yaaay now open, open, open the door,” she said, pulling futilely on the latch.

“CLEARANCE? ALEXANDRA MAJORS,” boomed the speakers.

“Huh?” said Dawn.

“Granted,” said Red Tie.

Suddenly the door flung wide open, smacking Dawn rather abruptly between the door and the side of the wall while the illustrious Ms. Majors scanned the interior of the plane. “Whoa, whose plane is this? It’s pretty cool.”

“Mine,” Dawn squeaked.

“This plane is the property of Flylight Airlines, Inc., rented by one Dr. Jeremy Darrow-” said Red Tie.

“Oh my god, sorry, did I do that?” said Alexandra. “You must be … Dawn Darrow, right?”

Those eyes. Piercing was right.

And not even her voluminous hair (purple with white streaks) was covering her breasts. This was a woman without fear, and this was her domain.

 Dawn snapped out of it. “Pleased to meet you, Principal …” They shook hands. “Don’t worry about the door, it was my fault. How did you know my name?”

“You know, I was so excited I spent all last night memorizing all my students’ profiles!” she said. “You were sorted in Pamber house, right? C’mon, let’s take you to your dorm! You’re going to absolutely love it, plus you’ve got to change out of, out of that.”

“Agreed.”

“Are your parents with you?”

“No, afraid not,” she said, worried that her parents might have been required to come see her off or something. “Is that bad?”

“Of course not, honey; why just yesterday morning one of my students arrived by swimming from twenty miles offshore, she was so desperate to impress me. No no, here you do whatever’s comfortable for you. That being said …”

She picked Dawn up in her arms and leapt down from the top of the plane’s exit staircase into her waiting convertible. “… The ride might get rough sometimes!”

Alex turned the ignition and stamped on the accelerator, mock-cackling like mad all the while.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Orientation.

The auditorium was actually a bit cramped, and for an island the size of Iowa the campus was still pretty small, but that was to be expected seeing as they only had a month to construct it. The starting class was only just 500 girls, though, so it was adequate. And she had front row center thanks to Majors’s taking a liking to her.

Dawn twiddled her thumbs, pen and pad on her lap in case she needed to take notes. She couldn’t think of anything damning to say about Majors so far – she’d even taken Dawn to the nearby clothes store to supply her a more suitable ensemble free of charge – but wasn’t nearly always the case with these stories that the villain ingratiates herself with the hapless hero, only to stab her in the back at the last moment?

Her fellow students, while not objectionable, were not exactly her crowd. It seemed they were either libertines with much more sexual experience than her, or nerdy types who seemed all for a little action on the side. Dawn had not been aware that her tuition paid for unlimited male “companionship” until earlier that day when one of the (male) maids asked if she would like one of the escorts’ services before she went to bed. Majors’s objectifying view of men was Dawn’s first beef with her. Dawn had two wonderful older half-brothers for whom she had the utmost respect.

Dawn scanned the aisles. Around half of the students were topless, either as a sign of pride or because they were genuinely more comfortable that way. Some girls were comparing breast sizes; some were even making out and sucking each other’s breasts. The atmosphere was nonetheless completely relaxed, even chatty, apart from the thrill of listening to Ms. Majors start speaking.

“Hello and welcome to the Academy of Feminine Power!” began Alex at the podium.

Cheers and fists pumping all around. Dawn clapped politely.

“Hope you’re all psyched for this, our first semester on the Uncharted Island!”

More cheers, and this time Dawn cheered as well. She loved the idea of being one of the first people to explore the island’s untamed wilds.

“Even if it’s only temporary, ‘Uncharted Island’ is kind of lame as a name, isn’t it? That’s why our first exercise as a school will be to name the island – together!”

Dawn had to tip her proverbial hat. Majors really knew how to work a crowd.

“You’re all probably wondering how, exactly, I created this island. An island that surfaced out of nowhere with a working ecosystem and lush forests right off the bat. Well the secret is …”

The audience was rapt with attention.

“… available if you take our Mystic Archaeology course with Professor Heart. Melanie, if you would-”

Professor Heart’s seat was empty.

Alex tapped her mic apologetically. “Technical difficulties. Could have sworn Melanie’d come today …”

As though on cue, Professor Heart emerged from behind the curtains, doubled over and panting. “Alex!” she wheezed, tugging gently on the principal’s hair. “Aleeeeeeeex!”

Far from annoyed, Majors looked positively transported with glee. “You found it? The Shrine!?”

Melanie Heart, Majors’s closest confidante and right hand woman. Bit of a ditz but a fellow self-made multi-billionaire and even younger and more enthusiastic than Alexandra. Melanie’s beauty was more of the girl-next-door type than Alexandra’s, but nevertheless she turned a few heads (of both kinds) whenever she walked by, wiping her pretty brunette bangs to the side and winking with abandon. Dawn had never seen a form-fitting archaeologist’s breathable jumpsuit before.

“I found the Shrine, thank you very much.” Yet another Professor, one Isla St. Laurent, emerged alongside her friend Melanie. Isla was a stoic beauty, befitting a Professor of Fashion. She was smoldering and snarky and supremely confident, poised to enslave men’s hearts with a single forlorn glower. Her huge gravity-defying tits and natural red hair didn’t hurt matters.

“What are we waiting for! Allons-y! Uh, Professor Rabcznski, if you would kindly carry on the orientation speech?” She handed over the mic to the Professor of Environmental Studies.

There was a commotion of disappointed groaning in the audience, and Dawn knew this was her excuse to slip away and tag alongside Majors and her crew to find out what exactly was happening. “Shrine”? That sounded very cultish.

Dawn quickly rounded the corner of the stage and sure enough, there was Majors getting properly dressed for an archaeological dig (the same weird jumpsuit as Isla and Melanie) as fast as she could. Dawn stood frozen at first, not sure if she should try to hold something over them so that they would be forced to bring her with them, or if she should just beg them to be included. She decided instead to be casual about it.

“Hey, can I come? I’ve secretly always wanted to go on an expedition with you guys!” she lied.

“Sure, so long as you won’t regret missing tonight’s booty call,” laughed Alexandra. “To the car!”

“Uuh, no need to carry me in your arms this time,” said Dawn.

“Who’s this, Alex?” asked Isla, cold blue eyes penetrating this rookie.

“Dawn Darrow, pleased to meet you,” she said, putting out her hand, but Melanie took it instead.

“Hiiii Dawn, what house are you?”

“Pamber.”

“Oh my god, I’m Head of that house!” said Melanie ecstatically. “Oh the fun we’ll all have together!”

“C’mon, to the lake we get,” said Isla, apparently satisfied Dawn could hold her own with the big girls. Isla’d seen far too many people seem to cease functioning, star struck, within coming fifteen yards of her, let alone Alexandra.

It was night.

They all got into the car and Alexandra drove like a complete lunatic as usual (“I should offer a course on Driving Awesome,” she told Dawn) towards their destination, the edge of the forest. The professors got to discussing esoteric aspects of “mystic archaeology,” which prompted Dawn to ask what exactly that was.

“It’s, like, super cool. I don’t even know where to begin,” said Melanie.

“… And she made you a professor,” said Isla.

“Basically,” started Alexandra, looking at Dawn behind he, completely neglecting the road, “there are whole segments of the Earth from ancient times that are locked away from view unless you’re sufficiently spiritually attuned to sense their presence. Lost civilizations were able to slip away into these sort-of “pocket dimensions” to commune with the nature gods. We don’t really understand why yet, but around 9,000 or so years ago these ancient civilizations appeared to have gotten sucked into some vortex and literally vanished off the face of the earth. Resurrecting this island from the Void is our first major breakthrough, and Isla just now stumbled upon what we’d all been hoping for, the floating wreckage of a Shrine to tell us more about what happened. We’re thinking it’s specifically a Water Shrine because  the temple seems to have been built underwater, hence the diving suits.”

That was a lot to take in. Pocket dimensions, lost civilizations from before the invention of agriculture? Resurrecting the island from the Void? Nature gods?

“Those are diving suits?” was the first question out of her mouth.

“State of the art,” said Isla. “Instead of needing an air tank, these suits just absorb oxygen directly from the water around you.”

Dawn was instructed to put on a spare from the trunk. The jumpsuit/diving suit instantly conformed to her figure.

“Wow. Comfy,” said Dawn.

“We’re at the forest’s edge. It’s on foot from here on out Dawn, you cool with that?” said Alexandra. “Everyone, flashlights out, but don’t try to disturb the wildlife too much. Don’t forget to secure your diving helmet to your backpack tightly, being able to breathe comes quite handy while exploring.”

“All right, let’s DO this!” said Melanie.

They trudged deep into the forest, following Isla’s lead.

“Does anybody else feel a bit creepy,” said Dawn. “Like, there’s a chill in the air?”

“That’s no ordinary chill,” said Alexandra. “My spiritual intuition isn’t perfect but if I’m right, there are dark spirits on our trail.”

Dawn didn’t know which was worse, that there were actual dark spirits on their trail, or if her principal was a certified nutcase.

“It’s an eerie forest, get over it,” said Isla. “Besides, it doesn’t matter if it’s Satan himself, there’s not a force in the world Alexandra can’t judo throw. And would you look at that, we’re here already. Babies.”

It was a fairly small lake shining brightly in the moonlight, and on the shore by a tree was carefully wrapped an artifact extracted from Isla’s dive. She unwrapped it and showed it to the rest. “Check out this slab, you can clearly make out some sort of writing system, and the symbol for a fish here.”

“Nice work!” said Alexandra. “Shall we excavate the rest as a four-woman operation!?”

They all clicked on their helmets and dived underwater at once. At the bottom of the lake shone a weird little pocket dimension. Alexandra signaled to Dawn it was okay to enter it.

Dawn entered it through the ethereal veil; it was bigger on the inside! Well, either she was hallucinating something fierce or this confirmed everything.

She could see how Isla had only been able to take a single slab of the ruins up with her, they were enormous. Even with the four of them it would take forever.

Unless …

Isla, Melanie and Alexandra were all meditating, synchronized with each other. Dawn supposed she had to follow suit, but she felt pretty stupid doing it.

Suddenly she felt Alexandra’s spirit caressing her spirit, guiding her, calming her. It felt soothing, not a violation of her space at all. With all four of them in sync, the temple started to spring from its prison dimension shooting out into the open air. It then reconstructed itself; it wasn’t an underwater temple, it was a floating temple!

Melanie pumped her fist for victory. Dawn felt gratified she could help.

They surfaced and removed their helmets; Alex and Melanie high-fived and hugged each other. “This is it!” they shouted.

“Was that a ‘resurrection,’?” asked Dawn. “Freeing something from its pocket dimension?”

“A+ already,” joked Melanie.

“I can’t wait to try my hand at deciphering these inscriptions!” said Alex.

“Hey guys, look,” said Dawn. “Some of these slabs are glowing.”

Alex and Mel blinked at each other and rushed like children to fetch their brushes from their backpacks and dust away the inscriptions on the glowing rocks. Isla hung back; “This is their expertise,” she explained.

Alex and Mel hastily exchanged sentences on what it could mean, theorizing, speculating, fantasizing, until after around a minute they both concluded: “Put your hands on the glowy bits!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be archaeologists?” said Dawn. “Didn’t think they were supposed to be loose with the hands.”

“Just go with it,” said Isla. She put her hand on the glowing panel of the eastward wall. A sudden well of energy flared up in her, and Isla moaned, face flush with pleasure. “Oh … oh my …”

Melanie and Alex eagerly placed their hands on the south and north walls. They screamed with pleasure in unison, and Isla’s ecstasy magnified accordingly, eyes rolling in her head.

Dawn supposed it was her turn. She stared resolutely at the glowing panel of the westward wall. Whatever was about to happen, this could very well change her life irrevocably. Maybe it was a trap. A punishment for greedy humans.

“Ms. Darrow, you were told that if you were ever in a spot of trouble, you ought to consult the shadows,” seethed a cold but familiar voice.

A man materialized from the darkness, his figure that of bubbling blackness and two seemingly disinterested white eyes, his only distinguishing feature a … blue tie.

“Your hesitation is correct, Ms. Darrow,” said the Red Tie, dripping down from the ceiling like a being of sludge. “This is indeed but a trick. Once the fourth human falls for the trap, the strongest of the four will proceed to sap on the life force of her other three supposed ‘friends.’”

“What the-”

“Shhh, Ms. Darrow. In this temple we can not take on our human forms; you must stop yourself! Leave, forgo the trap, and the selfish being known as Alexandra Majors will sink to her doom alongside her shameful cohorts,” said Blue Tie.

“Make daddy proud,” said Red Tie. “Expose her for her lies.”

Dawn remembered her dad, how adamant he’d been that Majors was nothing but a fraud with way too much power. But Alex had been nothing but friendly to her. And now her dad was clearly allied with darkness.

“I’m sorry dad!” she cried. “But, but go tell him they’re all great people! And if he’s like you, tell him I’m save him! Somehow.”

“NOOOOO!” the two Tied creatures hissed.

Dawn placed her hand on the panel.

With just one person touching the panels it felt better than sex, but with four people it was absolutely mind-blowing. It felt like a continuous orgasm with thirty, forty, fiftyfold intensity rolling over every fiber of her soul, and with strength coursing through her body to match. The four women’s cries of heavenly bliss mingled into a swelling song as they became super. The panels had ceased glowing and infusing them with energy but still they were writhing on the floor, getting stronger and stronger as their bodies hungrily absorbed the life energy. If the temple weren’t indestructible they’d have torn in to pieces in their throes of joy. Dawn’s glasses dropped forgotten as her dainty hands quivered to wipe the streaming tears. She found she could see with perfect clarity even without them, in fact even better, and the field of her vision was only deepening as her brain and eyes rapidly evolved for superhuman awareness. Even her body was filling out; she was growing taller and more voluptuous, yet toned. Her jumpsuit stretched as her boobs grew to D-size.

“DIRECTIVE: STAMP OUT OPPOSING POWER; TIME FRAME: BEFORE ENERGY OVERLOAD.”

The two sludge-shadows had slunk away and possessed the plane, which was rapidly transforming into a giant flying mech, replete with laser beams and rocket launchers.

“So …” said Alex, her head finally returning to her. “I’d say this was a fairly good plan, huh Melanie.”

“Could have gone worse,” she smiled. “This power might only be temporary so let’s kick butt now and ask questions later.”

The mech hovered above them and attacked them with shadow tendrils teeming out of its every joint, but Dawn and the rest broke free of the shadows’ clutches with little effort.  They then leapt fifty feet into the air and began pummeling every inch of the giant robot, each blow causing massive sprays if inky shadow particles to stain the forest floor.

“Soooo. What’s this about your dad being behind this giant robot attacking us?” asked Isla casually as she ripped out electrical cords from its reinforced titanium shoulder with zero resistance.

“Long story short, I’m guessing he was more evil than I took him for,” said Dawn.

A rocket fired right in Dawn’s face but she didn’t feel any pain or discomfort, or even recoil at all. She watched the white flames dance around her world and time seemed to slow down so she could appreciate the beauty of the explosion. Playfully she sucked in the fire through her pursed lips and spat it back at the robot with super breath, the oxygen amplifying the size of the fiery gout.

Not to be outdone, Alex bent the mech’s wings so that it would spin in circles in midair, and Melanie became engrossed with crushing the steel between her bare breasts, supplying her with acute physical and psychological thrills.

“Oh god,” she moaned as she crushed the robot’s metal between her thighs. “Isla, Alex, SUCK ME!”

“Where?” Alex joked.

Isla and Alex hardly even noticed the missiles pelting them as they lovingly lavished attention on Melanie’s breasts.

“They’re so much more sensitive! Uuhhh GODYES!”

“I’ll just be doing all of the work then, huh guys,” said Dawn, annoyed.

Finally the mech was smashed to bits and they all plummeted back to earth, but the shadow monsters were unharmed, shifting and sidewinding through the night to find any machinery they could possess for another offensive.

“They’re probably going after my car next!” said Alexandra, making to run after them, but Isla held her back by the wrist.

“Think of the students, Alex. They’ll all be in danger – those monsters might even take them hostage and force our hands – unless we find out what exactly is giving us this power and extend the Shrine’s aura of protection back to campus. We have to keep exploring the temple and discover its secret before the shadows reach home base.”

“But … but … My one-of-a-kind custom Lamborghini …” pouted Alex.

“I’m useless for deciphering,” said Dawn. “If I run real fast I can go protect your car!”

“No honey, honestly we’re only slight less clueless at deciphering than you are,” said Melanie. “Besides, you can always just get a new car, Alex. Or run real fast.”

“I can run real fast, can’t I.” Alex perked up considerably at the thought.

“You know for the most intelligent person in the world you’re kind of dumb,” said Dawn.

“’Most intelligent,’ girl where did you get that nonsense, because it surely wasn’t out of my mouth,” said Alex.

“You only insinuated it like a dozen times in interviews,” said Isla.

“Oh.”

“I always say that auto-brain surgery of hers knocked a few screws loose, myself.”

“But that’s how I started seeing spirits!” said Alex.

“See?”

They no longer needed flashlights; their super-eyes were more than sufficient to prove every inch of the floating temple.

“If you’d asked me when I was on that plane that I’d soon be destroying it as a super-powered amateur archaeologist, I don’t think I would have thought it was very likely,” Dawn quipped. “Or that I’d look like Heidi Klum, for that matter,” she said, grasping her breasts … and rubbing.

“Eyes on the prize, dear,” admonished Melanie.

“Still lookin’ …” said Dawn.

“Isn’t it odd how there’s no altar at the center of the shrine, it must have been stolen,” said Isla.

“No, it’s just hidden. It was so important the pocket-dimension was made invisible and intangible, accessible only by password – but it’s still here. I can sense it,” said Alex. “I can almost smell it; the spirits are with me.”

“The shrine definitely has something to do with water, that much we know. Maybe the nature god is water-based as well,” reasoned Melanie.

“Maybe we should go back underwater and do the same weird meditation thing as before, only we concentrate on freeing the ‘nature god,’ instead?” offered Dawn.

“It took around 300 girls a whole day of concentration to resurrect the island, and the nature god’s bound to be even harder to brute-force it,” said Melanie.

Dawn hadn’t been aware synchro-meditating was considered “brute force,” that idea sounded somewhat strange – but on the other hand, absolutely none of this jived with her common sense. And she supposed angering the nature god behind this life energy was not the greatest idea.

“What if we offered to make a pact with the nature god?” said Alex. “I mean, that’s what we think the lost civilizations’ relationship with the nature gods was like, right? And we’re trying to renew that bond for the campus, right? Our having revived the island to begin with might warm the nature god to us.”

Alex outstretched her arms and shouted towards the ceiling, “SPIRIT OF THE ISLAND, COULD YOU SPEAK TO US LOWLY HUMANS FOR BUT A MOMENT OF YOUR ETERNAL LIFE?”

… Nothing.

Dawn patted her principal on the shoulder. “Worth a shot, I-”

“Lowly?” The voice was like the wind over the ocean, and it assaulted their brains. “Absorbing even a negligible fraction of my energy, I’d think you’d be whooping for joy. I can always retract it if you don’t appreciate it, of course.”

An otherworldly beady eyed eel-spirit materialized before them, like a patchwork of the most primordial creatures yet somehow still hauntingly beautiful spirit.

Alex knew she had to tread carefully negotiating with the nature god. “You gave us this power as a provisional defense of the temple.”

“Yes.”

“So that means you can’t defend it yourself.”

“No. I cannot.” The eel began winding between them all in midair, its many fins and feelers tracing ghostly lights. “I am an emissary of life. Life is a web, a three-dimensional web dipping through both flesh and spirit, and always the fluid of life revolves in a grand cycle and the web reformed every time. The shadow creatures would snuff out this process completely and replace it with eternal stagnation, a prospect which I as a water spirit would especially despise, and so I was forced to reroute my energy into you four for the time being to make sure the temple stayed nice and resurrected. I thank you for awakening me from my 9,000 years’ slumber, but if you don’t impress me now, I could always wait a few more millennia for the perfect humans with whom to establish a proper covenant.”

“Our settlement is about to be attacked by the shadow creatures, and without your help I don’t know if we can save everyone. I’m the smartest person in the world, and I’m accomplished in every field of study and fighting style; if there’s anyone who can wield your power responsibly it’s me!”

“Aha. You surmised I have a limited amount of energy to hand out, and so you would I impart all the energy into you, eh? I guess you could defend your settlement if I were to sap your three cohorts’ strength and channel it back into you; after all, you are the brains of the operation, isn’t that right?”

“No no no, that’s not what I meant!” said Alex. “I’m just like you, I can’t do anything without the help of my friends! I’d be the covenant holder, but I only want the covenant so that every girl here gains the power to defend herself! We’re a community!”

The eel gleefully snapped at her ear: “That is the correct answer, human!”

The Water Altar, made of resplendent coral, suddenly appeared at the center of the shrine, and the four glowing panels on the walls re-intensified their shine and snapped into place at the altar.

“The four symbols,” said the eel-spirit, “represent the four divine aspects of water: adaptation, strength, versatility, and life. As long as there are four women who embody those aspects, I can be summoned and my energy can be drawn.”

“Does it have to be women?” asked Dawn.

“Yes,” said the eel-spirit.

“Women are the default sex – everyone starts out as female in the womb,” said Alexandra. “Women are the true stewards of the earth and progenitors of life itself – men are just the seed, we are the soil.”

“That’s more or less the idea,” said the eel-spirit. “You figured that out by yourselves? Humanity’s come a long way! Though the actual metaphysics behind it would fill around 5,000,000 of your most impressive libraries. In any case, hands on the panels again ladies. This time we’re resurrecting a world.”

“Wha!?” said Melanie. “We can do that?”

“In the lost age, each corner of this planet contained its own pocket-dimension, its own world. Think of it as seven whole planets in one.”

“So that’s why every sign the spirits gave me point to the equator,” Alex realized. “There’s four different corners of the world to revive along the equator, along with the two worlds located on the planet’s poles!”

“And now that my consciousness can seep back to this planet, it should be fairly easy to resurrect this node – that’s what they’re called by the way, ‘nodes.’ However, this is just the water node. To resurrect the other corners of the world you must make a pact with their spirits. And many of them will be harder to convince then me.”

“What’s this ‘node’ going to be like?” asked Dawn.

“Same principle as resurrecting this island – it’ll be a fully formed world with a ready-made global ecosystem, there for your pleasure. I’m sure supergirls won’t have a tough time thinking what to do for fun when they have an entire planet alongside the Earth at their disposal!” the eel-spirit offered. “Now concentrate and meditate with me.”

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

It was 2:00 in the morning and some of the girls were hitting the hay already when it happened.

The bodies of every woman on campus, including all the professors, rocked with scarcely imaginable bliss as they transmogrified into insanely sexy supergirls. Their moaning was enough to shatter the windows, and as they mobbed each other for a massive orgy their kicks were enough to cause massive earthquakes, but every time the campus’s buildings collapsed the eel-spirit’s blessing of transformation instantly rebuilt themselves.

The island’s horizons filled with mountain vistas as their world within a world expanded. The ocean surrounding the water glittered; theirs was now a water planet, an aquatic park for supergirls.

The shadow-creatures observed all this and realized they could do nothing to stop it, so the slunk back into the darkness to report to their dark lord and master, Jeremy Darrow.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

The eel-spirit regarded his four disciples.

“A campus, huh? I have split the power according to rank. Students are Level 1, professors are Level 2, and the principal is Level 3. That ought to work well to maintain authority, yes?”

Alex was doubling over with supreme pleasure as her power increased by an order of magnitude. The rest felt no change, so they must have been Level 2 already.

“Now I do have other water nodes on other planets inhabited by intelligent creatures to attend to, so call me if you need me for anything at this very shrine. Bye!”

The eel-spirit skittered back into luminiferous ether.

“It looks like, we’re going to need to revise my plan for the college,” Alex beamed even as she bit on her finger and moaned. “Now that we’re super. And have our own planet!”

Dawn was going to like her first semester of college a lot.