The Base

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King Cigaredstumpoj led his daughter through the Olympus Mons military base, to show her where she'd be working now that she was a general of the Martian army. He would pull her out of Phobos Military Academy, so she wouldn't have to worry about school and being a general. He hoped at least one of the other generals would be there to show her the ropes. The king entered the area where the generals usually meet, but he was not greeted by them.
Instead, there was a girl, who appeared to be older than Skarlazya, but still fairly close to her in age, sitting in the desk, feet up, reading a fashion magazine. The girl had an undercut, the kind where half her head was shaved, and the other half was long. As was typical with Martians, she had red hair, though it had a slight pink tint to it. She was wearing a hoodie with the sleeves ripped off, that was cropped so it showed her slight abs, and belly button. She hd bandages wrapped around her upper arms and one of the pant legs of her jeans was ripped off. She had three birthmarks on her face, and this seemed strange and unusual to Skarlazya, but she had really light, jade green eyes, that contrasted with her dark skin very well. This was unusual, because usually Martians had black, colorless irises.
The king sighed.
"Mærisza, I see you're slacking on the job again. You're brilliant at creating weapons, yet you seem to lack focus..." Cigaredstumpoj commented, and he girl got knock out of the trance of deep reading, she'd been in.
"Sorry, your highness." She set the magazine down. Her eyes turned to Skarlazya, and she got a slight sly smirk. "Who's the girl?" She asked, her smirk only getting wider.
"This is my daughter, Skarlazya. She has become a virus warrior, and now she is a general of our great army." The king explained. "Where is your mother? I have come to deliver the other battle balls."
Upon mention of the mother, she happened to walk out. She was a woman, probably in her Martian twenties, and like Mærisza, she had pink-red hair, however her hair was short, and had ringlet curls, that were pulled back with a metal head band. She had birth marks on her face as well, and wore more shiny metal jewelry, along with a dress that had various pieces of armor worn with it. Her eyes were the typical Martian black irises.
"General Coronae, I am here to deliver the other six battle balls. Also, if you would do me the honor of showing my daughter the ropes, since she is now a general." King Cigaredstumpoj handed the big black box, containing the other six battle balls to General Coronae.
"Choose wisely, as when you bond with it, it is eternal." Cigaredstumpoj pointed out.
General Coronae opened the box and assessed each one, before deciding she wanted the green ball, stating that she chose it because of her daughter's eyes. She mounted it upon her chest and activated it to see what he powers were, and she found herself floating off the ground. General Coronae deactivated her ball, and stood upon the ground.
"Luckily, there's a big meeting tomorrow, so I guess I'll hand out the balls then." She said, as she put the box of battle balls in a safe place.
"Mærisza, will you finish showing Skarlazya around? I must talk to the king about arrangements to prepare her for being a general."
Mærisza stood up, and walked over to Skarlazya, getting her hand in a tight grip. Skarlazya blushed a little and avoided eye contact, as to not make things more awkward. Then Mærisza tugged her, indicating that they were to go.
Mærisza showed Skarlazya the rest of the generals area of the base, and then took her to the roof. "Honestly, THIS is the best place in all of Mars." She said.
"The roof of the Olympus Mons military base? Hmm..." Skarlazya found it kinda weird.  There was two chairs, and nothing else, on the roof. She didn't quite see the appeal.
"Well..." Mærisza climbed up onto the ledge, perching herself in a squat. Skarlazya looked worried. "Don't worry." She stuck her hand out, and a blue wave surrounded the roof in a dome shape. "There's a force field, I can't fall." She laughed. Skarlazya blushed a little more. "Anyways...I pretty much grew up here. And the roof is like...almost like being queen of the planet. I can see everything from up here!" Mærisza hopped off the ledge, back onto the ground in front of Skarlazya, in a battle pose.
Skarlazya wondered, was Mærisza going to challenge her to a duel? It was a Martian custom to duel those you had interest in--whether romantic or platonic. She'd assume Mærisza was going for platonic--however, Mærisza's actions did seem a little flirty...though Skarlazya wasn't sure how to know for sure.
"Skarlazya...uh what's your middle name?"
"Padmé" she replied.
"Skarlazya Padmé Miltiades! I challenge you to a duel for your hand in friendship!" Mærisza shot up into standing position.
Skarlazya got into her battle pose. She pulled out her battle ball when Mærisza stopped her.
"Whoaaaa bro that's cheating! I don't got a ball, remember?"
"Oh...sorry..." Skarlazya put her battle ball away.
"Okay...on the count of three...1...2...3..." Mærisza lunged at Skarlazya, who dodge and kicked Mærisza in the back. Mærisza grunted but then turned around, did a cartwheel, and grabbed Skarlazya's leg, and wrapped her body around it. Skarlazya tried to walk, but Mærisza was very heavy, and eventually, Skarlazya was tired and gave up. "Okay you win." She panted.
Mærisza let go, giving a chuckle. She put her hands in her hips, and gave another smirk. "That was a good duel."
"You clung to my leg."
"Only cause I knew you'd kick my ass, which means we couldn't be friends."
"...fair enough." Skarlazya stretched.
"Anyways, see ya 'round, General Princess." She smirked again, and ushered Skarlazya back to the generals area, where she met with her dad.
When Skarlazya returned home that night, she ran into Bürunarkus in the hall.
"Hey Bro, how's it going?"
Bürunarkus stayed silent, almost as if he was ignoring her. He entered his room, slamming the door behind him.
Skarlazya frowned, and then entered her own room.
In Bürunarkus's room, he was looking at an intricate holographic star map of the solar system, as he made small tweaks, using satellite pictures he'd collected. He stared at the Earth.
His father said that the planet had no use for them, since Martians relied on the iron in their soil for nutrition. (Yes, they eat dirt).
But Bürunarkus was determined to prove his father wrong, as he felt that if he conquered the earth, he could prove he was a superior leader. He just needed to formulate some kind of plan. The only problem? He was drawing a bit of a blank.
But he was going to do it regardless.
........................................................................
MARTIAN HISTORY LESSON #1: The Rules of The Royal Throne Part One
About 300 Martian years ago, there was a pair of twin sisters named Nældythe and Masakøre. As Nældythe had been birthed first, she was crowned queen of Mars at age 10.5 (approx. 21 earth years), as per Martian tradition. Masakøre was jealous. She let her jealousy get the best of her, however, and one snowy day, Masakøre brought an end to her sister's reign prematurely.
Masakøre crowned herself queen of Mars. For 15 Martian years, she was a tyrannical ruler, and she demanded a statue so large, be made of her, that it could be seen from other planets. Said statue took much manpower to build, and many died in the process.
Her cousin, Sir Yëthes of Mare Sirenum could not take the tyranny any longer, at this point, as he watched his fellow Martians dying all around him, and facing terrible punishment if they didn't do as the queen asked. So Yëthes rebelled.
He and Masakøre dueled, and Yëthes used  Masakøre's statue against her, as the workers had been so weak and tired, the statue was poorly constructed. Yëthes toppled the mountain sized statue, and it crushed Masakøre to death. The body of the statue turned to dust over time, but the head remained. It stayed a reminder of Masakøre and her jealousy. The head, the size of a small mountain, was still visible from space, and earthlings dubbed it "the face on Mars". But it's true name is Masakøre Mons, or "Masakøre's Mistake".
After Yëthes was crowned king, he made a new royal rule.
If twins were born, they are to rule the throne together, as to prevent another Masakøre from happening.

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