"Weather!
Are you here?"
"I'm right over here, Buck!
There's no need to shout!
Come and sit yourself down!"
"Golly, Weather!
Where are we?
How do you ever find these places anyway?"
"This, Buck, is one of the Amazon's Winter Quarters!
Don't you think that we girls appreciate and deserve a warm place to hang out as much as anyone else?"
"But - Good Lord, Weather!
What on earth are these women doing?!"
"Now, Buck! Calm yourself!
This is a bout of Amazon Belly-Punching!
And, as you can see readily for yourself ...
Having won the toss,
Victoria has just driven her fist into the belly of her opponent!"
"Chastity, I believe her name is!
Although now that I think of it ...
What could hope to be chaste about any Amazon worthy of the name is quite beyond me!"
"But Weather! Is this brutality really necessary?"
"Brutality, did you say, Buck?
Believe me ... You ain't seen nothing yet!
But to answer your question ...
strictly speaking - it's very likely not!
I suppose that we could have elected to move straight on in to the Main Event!
But the Ladies begged for time to get into the spirit of the occasion!
And besides ... Belly-punching is how the winner is determined in these bouts!"
"But, Weather!
Is belly-punching usually an Amazon activity?"
"These two certainly look like a pair of Amazons, don't they?
And, as I said, Buck ...
This is only a preliminary to the main event!"
"Well, then - yes!
I guess they do appear to be Amazons, don't they!"
"So! Then anything we may choose to do constitutes Amazon activity!
Does it not?"
"But do you mean to tell me that each girl is to simply stand there while the other drives a fist into her belly?"
"That's what belly-punching is, isn't it, Buck?"
"And the Ladies are taking turns after all ..."
"So as you can see, Buck, it is not entirely a one-sided affair!"
"Did you hear the way Victoria gasped just then?"
"I most certainly did!
I can see that you are beginning to get into the spirit of this affair, Buck!
I just knew you would!"
"Victoria must have been hoping to put Chastity down with one punch, Weather!"
"That may well have been the case, Buck ...
But I'm quite sure that Victoriamust have known that it wouldn't be as easy as that!"
"I think Chastity has just invited Victoria to give it her Best Shot!"
"MPFH!"
"Good Grief, Weather! I heard that from here!"
"Yes, indeed!
Chastity took that punch rather well, didn't she?"
"Are they just going to stand there and pound each other, Winter?"
"Do you mean while one attempts to bury her fist in the belly of her opponent?
But isn't that what Belly Punching is all about, my friend?"
"I think Victoria is asking Chastity whether she's had about enough!"
"I expect that you're right, Buck!
In that case, they could declare a draw ...
But unless I miss my guess, Chastity has said words to the effect that,
'Sister ... You ain't seen nothin' yet!'"
"Look at that wind-up!
She telegraphed that punch from a mile away!"
"They both do, Buck!
But isn't that part of the charm of belly-punching?
They see it coming, but then they have to stand there and take it!"
"Charm, Winter?"
"Why, yes! Were the women to offer a defense, it would then become a demonstration of pugilism, would it not?"
"I guess so ..."
"Belly-Punching one another is not so much a test of prowness as it is brute strength and endurance!"
"I see ... I suppose ..."
"GUMFPH!"
"I think Chastity may have reached Victoria's spinal column that time, Winter!"
"I guess Chastity packs more of a punch than Victoria may have thought that she would!"
"But as I was saying, Buck ...
It is entirely typical of any pair of Amazons to stand there and take a blow rather than to seek to avoid them ..."
"That doesn't make sense, Winter! Does it?"
"Certainly it does!
It makes perfect sense, Buck!
Each is saying to the other,
'I can take anything you can dish out! And more!'"
"Man alive! Victoria really socked it to Chastity that time!"
"Yes! She sure did!
Perhaps Victoria feels that it is time to get on with this affair!"
"I think that after that last punch, Chastity is doing all she can to keep from tossing her cookies, Winter!"
"Can you really blame her, Buck?
I can't say that I do!"
"Good Lord! No! Not at all!"
"Well then! Have no fear, Buck!
Chastity has the Heart of an Ox!
See! She's ready to go at Victoria yet again!"
"My God! Who'd have thought it possible?!"
"You don't appear to be overly pleased at the prospect of Chastity being the ultimate victor in this match, Winter?"
"You are of course referring to the fact that Chastity has just delivered a punch
that has all but brought the Amazon Victoria to her knees?"
"Victoria has not gained her name for nothing, Buck!"
"She appears to be calling upon the Goddess to give her strength!"
"It looks to me as though she were simply gasping for breath, Winter!"
"Victoria is staggered, Buck, and she may even appear to be visibly injured ..."
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"All the same, Victoria has a psychological edge in this matter, Buck!
For she knows something that her opponent, Chastity, does not ..."
"And so with that bit of knowledge firmly in mind ..."
"Victoria will somehow summon the inner resources to drag herself to her feet once again ...
Perhaps more determined than ever!
You shall see!"
"But what knowledge does Victoria have that is unknown to Chastity, Weather?"
"Chastity thinks that she is involved in a mere demonstration of Belly-Punching, Buck!"
"What Victoria knows that Chastity does not ..."
"Is that she who loses this preliminary match ..."
"Gets to be on the receiving end of ..."
"The Five Point Process of Pariah the Gleaner!"
"What process is that, Weather?"
"Pariah has never told you of her procedure,Buck?
That surprizes me!
But have patience!
You shall soon see!"
"And who gave Victoria what I take to be an Unfair Advantage, Weather?"
"Unfair?
Oh, come on!
Who said anything about fair play?
Life isn't fair!
And besides, I have a Wager placed on the outcome of this match!"
"And you see? Victoria is not a South-Paw as you may have surmised!"
"For now she has at last brought her lethal Right Arm into play ..."
"And has landed a blow ..."
"That has put the Amazon Chastity down for the full count!"
"Chastity has had more than enough ...
Or at least she thinks that she has ...
But in truth, her ordeal is only about to begin!"
"But Weather!
You gave Victoria prior knowledge of something that Chastity knows nothing about!
Why did you do that?"
"As I said earlier, Buck, I have placed a small wager on Victoria's being victorious ..."
"And obiously, I wanted to hedge my bet!
Someone has to win, after all!"
"And aside from that ... I don't know about you ..."
"But I have no real desire to sit around here all night while these two Amazons beat one another senseless!
Which would certainly have been the case had each of them known what her fate was to be depending on the outcome of this bout!"
"The Amazon Chastity is down, and as far as she knows, that is all that there is to it!
Am I right, Weather?"
"Yes! Other than that she will lie in state while Victoria takes the opportunity to preen over her fallen foe ..."
"But then, that is all just a matter of form, after all ..."
"And so it is unlikely that Chastity will think anything of that ..."
"Yes! She does appear to be taking it all in stride, doesn't she?"
"Ah! But you see, Buck! Victoria is retrieving the knife that was thoughtfully secreted away before the match began!"
"A knife! Good Lord! Weather!"
"Oh, come now, Buck!
Don't wimp out on me now!
What instrument did you expect that the Gleaner would employ in her Process?"
"Pariah would in all likelihood be present to explain the Five Point Process herself except for two things ..."
"The first is that it was I who coined the phrase following Pariah's account of how best to attend to the needs of a dying warrior ..."
"And the second of course is that the Gleaner is not overly fond of the cold weather
she is apt to encounter in travelling here at this time of year!
I can't say that I am particularly overjoyed by it myself!"
"But ... But, Weather! Chastity will be killed!"
"Hmm! Yes ... I expect that she very well may be ..."
"But isn't that what everyone here came to see, after all?
And Heaven Forbid that the rabble be disappointed!"
"Now I feel certain that were the Gleaner here in person that she would no doubt mourn the fact
that we do not find ourselves out upon some battlefield littered with the bodies of the dead and dying ..."
"And, oh! How she would long for the days when there were such vast quantities of warriors waiting to be slain
that she would become arm-weary as she attended to them all!"
"Now while the so-called Five Point Process may of course be applied to any corpse that happens to be convenient ..."
"You will note that as Victoria sinks the blade low and deep into Chastity's gut ..."
"That it is far more agreeable that the Victim remain alive as she is attended to ..."
"So that the Victor may be given the satisfaction of some appropriate response ..."
"As her blade extracts Life itself from her!"
"I have called it the Five Point Process with referrence, of course ..."
"To the number of times the blade is thrust into the body of the Victim ..."
"Now, I will be among the first to admit, as I am sure that Pariah would herself ..."
"That driving a knife into the torso of almost any Warrior five times may seem somewhat excessive ..."
"In Victoria's demonstration today, for example,
the Warrior Chastity will in all probability be dead
by the time the third thrust of the blade is administered to her ..."
"If indeed she has not succumbed even somewhat before that ..."
"But, Buck, I am convinced that even you must agree ..."
"That there can be a certain in the application of five wounds ..."
"As you can see, Victoria is relishing the prospect of plunging her knife into Chastity again ..."
"But then ... Who would not?"
"Ah! Yes! To the navel! And deep!"
"Ritual Slaughter does tend to take on certain aspects of an Art-From
when has been practiced it long enough ...
Wouldn't you agree?"
"Just look at the way Victoria is rocking that blade!"
"Yes! And all the while she has kept it buried deep in Chastity's guts!"
"Wouldn't it be easier if she used a double-edged blade?"
"Perhaps ...
Yes ...
I suppose that it would ...
But we Amazons have to produce most of our own weaponry, you see ..."
"And I'm afraid that our technology is not sufficiently advanced!"
And besides that, there are relatively few individuals who engage in this sort of killing among the Clans ..."
"Is that why we find ourselves somewhere other than in Amazon Territory, Weather?"
"I suppose that the Powers That Be do not see belly punching as being a distinctly Amazonic activity, Buck!"
"And by the way! Did you note how the Victim attempted to suck her belly away from Victoria's intrusive blade?"
"Yes! But of course her effort only served to swell her bosom upward all the more!"
"So that it is properly presented for the next thrust!
Bravo! My dear! Bravo!"
"Note the care Victoria uses as she cuts into the right side of her Victim's chest ..."
"I would have to suppose that Pariah's Process
is but an adaptation of certain rites and rituals
that she has witnessed during the course of her many travels abroad ..."
"Those in which the Heart is ripped from a gaping wound that has been slashed in the chest of the Victim!"
"I suppose that it would make for quite a spectacular display ..."
"But, quite honestly, I know of no Amazon, be she a Gleaner or a Queen, who has any need whatsoever for a heart ..."
"Other than the one that beats well within the confines of her own bosom ..."
"So in the Process, Pariah has taken the liberty to limit the cutting to a simple thrusting of the blade ..."
"As you may observe, the Warrior Chastity is weakening ..."
"Still, there is as yet no great need for Victoria to hurry ..."
"In the land in which Pariah was a Visitor,
she tells of the Victim being laid upon a stone that those who knew of such things referred to as an All-Tar."
"This stone was cunningly carved in such a way that it contrived
to expand the chest of the Victim to its fullest capacity ...
And tho achieve this without any undue effort upon the part of the Victim ..."
"This was to ensure that the incision to open the ribcage
could be effected with relative ease - involving little more than a single slash of the knife ..."
"In this demonstrtion we have no All-Tar ..."
"For we Amazons have never been given to the practice of sacrificial ceremonies of which I have ever been aware ..."
"Human Sacrifice appears to have been a ritual practiced only in the more advanced civilizations!
So ... If the bosom of the Victim is to be expanded at all ..."
"Then it is left to the Victim herself to see to it of her own accord and to the best of her ability ..."
"The sequence in which each thrust of the knife is delivered
will depend entirely upon the environment as well as circumstances at the time ..."
"For if the Gleaner need hurry, then it is likely best
to drive the knife directly into the chest of the Victim with the first stroke ..."
"But then, were there any need for haste,
then there probably should be no attempt to initiate the Five Point Process in the first place ..."
"Through the very nipple of the left breast! Did you see that stroke?!"
"Yes! And quite well executed at that!"
"Deep enough that Chastity has no-doubt received the point ..."
"She's gotten the point several times ere now, hasn't she, Weather?"
"I shall choose to ignore that last remark as being entirely beside the point ..."
"What I intended to say, before being so rudely interrupted,
was that while the breast itself was well pierced,
that I doubt that either the heart nor lung was damaged by that thrust ...
Well done!
Admirable, in fact!"
"Even so, Chastity appears to be in the throes of her death agony, Weather !"
"Well, now! Wouldn't you be so yourself, Buck?"
"Long ere now, Weather!"
"At least in this much, you are truthful, Buck!"
"Do all Amazons cling so fervently to life, Weather?"
"Doesn't everyone, Buck?
In the final analysis, we have but one life to live or to give, after all ..."
"I see that even now, Victoria is not quite done with Chastity, Weather!"
"Ah! You are referring of course to the ceremonial thrust through the center of the chest, are you not, Buck?"
"As often as not, the fifth and final thrust is done more to offer the Victim a measure of Respect than out of any real necessity ..."
"Respect, did you say, Weather?"
"Buck, in the opinion of many if not all Amazon Warriors,
there is no more fitting and proper way to die
than to have a blade driven directly beneath her breast-bone
such that it angles upward to the heart!"
"Victoria will now arise and leave quietly - her preening having been done earlier ..."
"And so now Buck, you and all those gathered here in this place ..."
"Do now have at your disposal both a description as well as a demonstration ...
"Of that which has come to be known throughout all the Lands of the Amazons as ..."
"The Five Point Process of Pariah, the Gleaner!"
"What will become of the Warrior Chastity now, Weather?"
"What will become of her?
Do you mean the corpse?
Why?
Did you have something specific in mind, Buck?"
"Well ... No ... No, I guess not!"
"Buck! Just as soon as that gentleman behind the camera is satisfied with his last shot ...
The lights will be dimmed and the Warrior Chastity will miraculously rise from the dead
and in all liklihood hit the shower before arraying herself in her street clothes!"
"Is that a promise, Weather?
But - How can it be?"
"It had better be, Buck!
Because Chastity and I have another show to do tomorrow night!"
"And now, Buck!
If you will excuse me?
There is the matter of a small wager I have to collect!"
