Battle of the sexes, part two
By tasslehoff
Two friends get an unexpected surprise.


Mark was a good-looking, athletic guy who was happily married for three years
now. He excelled at work, was successful in almost everything he did, and most
men were jealous of him. Often, women turned their heads and looked at him
when he passed them by, smiling, flirting, hoping to get noticed. He usually
liked the attention women gave him but he had never crossed the line; he never
cheated on his wife. People often came to him for advice because usually he
knew how to help them. He never turned his back on those in need and that 
made him a much-respected person. He liked being in control of his own life, his
own destiny, and his motto was "act instead of whine." But now he felt very
frustrated, very frustrated indeed because he had absolutely no clue where he
was and how he got there.

'Where am I,' Mark thought as he looked around. The sun was shining bright,
birds were singing and a soft breeze ruffled his hair. He was lying at the base 
of a tree and everywhere he looked he saw the surrounding trees. He stood up, 
trying to figure out what might have happened, how he got here, or wherever 
here was.

Suddenly he heard a soft moan behind him and he quickly looked around. Not far
from him another man stirred, he had apparently been unconscious too, but now
he slowly came around. Mark looked closer and then recognized him; it was his
best friend Michael. Michael opened his eyes, moaned, rubbed his face and then
looked up.

"You here... what are you doing here? And where is here anyway," Michael said 
as he looked around. "What happened?" 

"I don't know. All I know is one minute I was in my bed trying to get to sleep, 
and the next minute I woke up here." Mark helped his friend to get to his feet and 
then looked up staring at the sky. "Look at that; have you ever seen such a bright 
blue sky? Or look at those trees; they look so, so, well they look so green."

"Trees are supposed to look green, pal," Michael smiled. "Have you ever seen a 
blue tree? But I know what you mean; the leaves are so dense I can't look through 
it."

"And something else," Mark took a deep breath. "The air is so fresh, so
unpolluted." 

"Then we must be far from the civilized world otherwise we would have smelled 
industrial progress," Michael stated. "Did someone kidnap us?" All I know is that 
I turned off the lights and tried to get some sleep too. Maybe they drugged us and 
dumped us here."

"Maybe," Mark said. "But why, and why the two of us?"

"We won't find out if we stay here. Let's try to find out where we are. Come on, 
let's walk this way." 

Mark looked at the direction indicated by his friend and shrugged. "Alright let's 
go, one way is as good as another I suppose." 

Both men started to walk through the dense forest, but after a half hour the forest
floor became almost impassable. Michael looked at the thick thorn bushes that
blocked their path and then looked back at his friend. "You don't happen to have 
a jungle knife on you, we can use to cut our way through this underbrush and 
thorn bushes." 

"No I haven't, and I'm not going to let those thorns tear up my clothes. Maybe 
we can get around it somehow," Mark replied as he started walking to the east. 

They had walked for almost 15 minutes when they reached a small river. "I think 
we can cross over there." Mark pointed to several stones sticking out of the 
water not far upstream. He stepped onto the first stone, tested his footing 
before he put his full weight on it.

Carefully he proceeded. He had almost reached the other side when suddenly he
heard a big splash behind him. Quickly Mark looked around and saw Michael
lying spread-eagled in the water. "Slippery little fellow," he murmured as he
stood up again, his clothes now soaking wet.

With one step Mark reached the other shore where he held out his hand to help
his friend out of the water. "Do you think you can go on or should we wait for
your clothes to dry?" Mark smiled.

"A little water won't stop me. Come on." Michael grabbed his friend's hand and
clambered onto the riverbank. "Let me know the next time you want to take a
swim, will you," Mark laughed.

"Yeah I will, but now I want to find out where the hell we are."

Both men continued clambering for an hour through the underbrush and were
totally exhausted when they finally reached a small dirt road. "Left or right?
I don't see any difference either way," Michael panted as he looked up and down
the road. 

Mark took a coin out of his pocket. "Let's flip a coin, heads is left, tails is 
right." He tossed the coin and let it fall onto the ground. "Alright, to the right 
it is," Mark said cheerfully.

"Listen, do you hear that?" Mark said suddenly when they had walked for 20
minutes without meeting anybody. "It sounded like a car. Come on let's find
out." They walked with renewed energy but after 5 minutes of steadily climbing
both men panted. Suddenly the path took a sharp bend and both men looked out
over the valley.

"What village is that?" Mark and Michael crouched behind a bush on top of a hill
and looked at the village located at its foot. "I don't know why but I have an
eerie feeling about this." Mark couldn't explain why he wanted to turn around
and run, but his instinct told him not to set a foot into that village.

"What's the matter, everything looks fine to me. Look there is a woman walking
her dog and there, on that bike, I think she is going to shop for groceries."
Michael stood up and started to follow the path towards the little town. Mark
looked at the activity below but couldn't help feeling that something was wrong, 
was terribly wrong. He grabbed his friend's coat and yanked him back
behind the large bushes.

"Hey! What the...?"

"Ssshh, be quiet. I don't know what's wrong but it doesn't feel right." He didn't
know why he had pulled his friend back, only that it was the right thing to do.
The scene below looked normal and peaceful, a woman walking her dog, another
woman shopping for groceries. As he continued to look he saw two women 
walking hand in hand through the park. A car approached, took a left turn and 
stopped for a little girl crossing the street with her mom. The girl was holding a
balloon and waved at the woman behind the wheel. She waved back and Mark 
could see her long blond hair dancing in the wind before she drove off again.

"Listen, we won't find out anything hiding here behind a bush," Michael stated.
"Maybe we can find some answers down there. Look, this trail seems like it is
running towards that little town."

"Alright." Mark sighed and both men got up and started walking downhill. They
had walked for about five minutes when they heard a young woman singing 
somewhere up ahead. Tall trees were blocking the view, but when they rounded 
another bend they saw the young woman carrying a basket, plucking flowers. The 
trail ended in a clearing and different kinds of flowers were bathing in the rays 
of the sun. The young woman hadn't seen them and slowly both men retreated in the
shadows. 'She must be around 21, 22,' Mark thought as he looked at her. She had 
a ponytail, and was surprisingly busty. Mark took a step forwards to get a better 
view when he stepped onto a little twig.

The young woman immediately looked up and stared into the trees trying to
locate what had made the snapping sound. When the two men stepped out into the
clearing the young woman didn't seem to be afraid, the look on her face was
rather puzzled. As Michael approached her, she took a few steps back,
seemingly not knowing what to do.

"Don't be afraid; we're not going to h--." 

"What are you?" she interrupted him.

Her question puzzled him. 'What are we? Isn't who are we a more logical
question?' Michael thought as he looked at her.

"You are men, aren't you?" she said suddenly, with such disdain in her voice that
both men momentarily didn't know what to say.

"Eh? Yes, we are but--." Her next action took both men completely by surprise.

"MEN! MEN!!" she yelled furiously as she charged them. She drove her shoulder
into Michael's chest sending him flying and within seconds she stood in front of 
Mark who looked perplexed at her. The young woman immediately drove her 
knee into his stomach and, as he doubled over in pain, she hip tossed him onto
the ground. Mark crashed onto the hard rocky surface and was stunned by the
force of her throw.

Meanwhile Michael was back on his feet. "Hey, stop that! There is no reason for
this, we only want to talk," he said to the beautiful young woman, who whirled
around and looked with loathing at him. "Why are you doing this, we did nothing
to you," Michael continued. 

In the meantime, Mark crawled away from her until he reached a big tree with 
several low hanging branches, which stood there not far off. He grabbed one of 
the branches, hoisted himself up, looked around and saw how the young woman 
raised her leg and kicked his friend into his face. Michael crashed to the ground 
like a sack of potatoes and Mark saw how the young woman raised her fist to 
deliver the final blow. He couldn't let that happen and with a mighty roar he 
stormed at her.

She turned around and stood still, waiting for her opponent. To Mark's
surprise she didn't show any signs of wanting to flee or beg for mercy, she just 
stood there, waiting for him. When he got close, the young woman simply
grabbed his arm and pulled, she quickly grabbed one of his legs with her other
hand and hoisted him with ease onto her shoulders. Then she twirled around and
after a few spinning turns, she threw him off her shoulders and again Mark
crashed onto the hard rocky surface, bruising his back.

He didn't get the chance to regain his breath as the young woman kicked him
into his stomach and then sat on his back. She wrapped her arm around his
throat, locked her fists and started squeezing. Immediately Mark felt how air
was cut off and he started to feel light headed. Michael was still down, so no
help could be expected from him. He grabbed her arm but couldn't break her
hold, and in panic he searched the ground until he found a piece of rock. If he
could hit her over the head with it he would be saved but she was out of reach. 

He reached behind him with his other hand and felt how his hand brushed
her long hair. Her ponytail must have been messed up during the fight and
some of her hair was now hanging loose. 'A man grabbing a woman's hair, not
very sporting,' he thought, but he didn't have time to fight fair anymore. After
a few attempts he managed to grab her hair and he immediately yanked.

The young woman yelled in pain and he felt her hold loosen, he rolled over,
throwing her off his back. Immediately he hit her over her head with the rock
and to his satisfaction he saw her falling to the ground. He hit her again and
this time she fell down and didn't get up.

Meanwhile, Michael was back on his feet and helped his friend back up. "What 
got into her, why did she attack us," Michael wondered as both men looked down 
at the now unconscious young woman. 

"It doesn't make sense," Mark replied. "We didn't stand a chance against her. She 
is athletic all right but she lifted me with such ease, that you would expect her 
to have more muscles."

At that moment another woman emerged from the forest, she was in her late
30s, had long curly dark hair that she also wore in a ponytail, a very pretty face, 
and also large breasts. She apparently had been running because she was gasping 
for breath. 'Probably the girl's mother,' Mark thought as he looked at her. The 
woman looked at them both and then she saw the young woman lying 
unconscious at their feet.

"What have you done," she shrieked, "You killed her!"

"Listen, she is only un?" Michael wasn't able to finish his sentence as the
fierce woman buried her fist into his stomach. Michael doubled over immediately 
but was send flying as she kneed him in his face. Blood splattered everywhere as 
she broke his nose. 

'Not again,' Mark thought as he stepped in and threw a punch aimed at her head. 
She ducked under the punch and drove her shoulder into Mark's chest driving him 
backwards. The impact was so great that he smashed into the tree standing behind 
him and fell forwards onto the ground next to Michael.

In shock he looked up at her. How is it possible that she is so strong?

The woman walked over to her daughter and kneeled down in panic. Relieved she
took a few breaths when she checked for signs of life. Then she turned around,
facing both men, who managed to get back on their feet again.

"You filthy pigs couldn't leave us alone, now could you," she spat at them. "Now
you are going to pay the price." With a confident pace, she approached the two
bewildered men.

Michael and Mark looked dumbfounded at the beautiful woman standing before
them. Suddenly her leg flew up, and with a roundhouse kick to Marks face, she
send him crashing to the ground. That brought Michael back to his senses and
he grabbed the woman, whose back was now turned, in a full nelson. He could
smell her perfume and was a bit intoxicated by it. Michael too was surprised
by her strength as it was very hard to subdue her.

"Listen lady; we are not here to..." Michael couldn't finish his sentence as the
woman crashed her arms down onto his, breaking his hold. She immediately
followed up by driving her elbow into his stomach, then she reached backwards,
grabbed Michael by his head, and hip-tossed him onto the ground knocking his
breath out of him.

With a determined look on her face she again approached both men.

"Please no more, please," Mark pleaded but the woman pretended not to hear him.
He tried to ward her off but she grabbed him by his collar and yanked him up to 
a sitting position. Immediately she wrapped her left arm around his throat and, 
again, Mark had trouble breathing. He looked sideways and to his shock he saw 
that she had Michael in a similar hold with her right arm.

"Now you two are going to pay," she said as she started choking them.

Both men were frantically trying to break her hold, pushing and pulling at her
arms, pounding her arms with their fists, and elbowing her. But she held on tight
and soon both men were slowly drifting into unconsciousness. As a last resort,
Mark reached backwards and grabbed the woman's long hair. 'She can't hold 
onto both of us when I yank her hair, she must let one of us go,' Mark thought. 
He pulled with all the strength he still had left in him and to his satisfaction
he saw that she let Michael go.

"I'll hold on, grab her!" he yelled. But to his horror, Michael fell backwards on 
the ground and didn't get up. 

"For your plan to work your partner should still have been conscious." The 
woman had grabbed her own hair to counter the effect, and continued squeezing. 
"You will soon join him."

It didn't take long, for his arm dropped and Mark felt himself falling. His body 
went limp and he fell onto the ground -- but somehow he continued falling as if 
the ground wasn't there. It seemed as if he was falling through misty air until 
he felt his head hit something solid.

Mark opened his eyes and saw he was in a room, a room that looked somehow
familiar; he knew that room. 'It's my bedroom,' Mark realized suddenly. He 
looked around and saw that he was lying on the floor beside a bed, his head 
resting against a nightstand.

"What's the matter, honey," he heard a woman ask sleepily. In panic he wanted 
tocrawl away but hit his head again against the nightstand. He wanted to get up
before the woman started to beat him up too, but sank backwards as his hurting
ribs prevented him to stand up. Mark heard the woman sit up and then her head
appeared over the side of the bed.

"What are you doing on the floor?" she asked surprised. "Did you fall out of 
bed?"

Mark looked up in panic, but the woman didn't look like she was going to tear
him apart any time soon. Then he realized that she looked vaguely familiar too; 
he knew her. He shook his head and slowly his brain got less foggy, and
suddenly he realized who she was. How could he forget, they were happily
married for years.

"Just a bad dream; go back to sleep," Mark said as he pushed himself up. "I'm
going to take a drink." He walked towards the bathroom, turned on the light and
looked back at his wife who was already back to sleep.

'I must have bumped my ribs harder than I thought, they are really hurting, it's 
as if..." a sudden picture of a woman slamming her shoulder into his chest loomed 
up before him. 'No that can't be; it's impossible,' Mark said to himself as he 
looked up in the mirror.

There were several bruises covering his body and parts of his face were very
painful. He looked closer but there didn't seem anything broken. An image of a
woman kicking him in his face loomed up and unwittingly he touched the part
where in the dream her foot had crashed into his face. He winced in pain and
immediately let go. "It can't be, it can't be..." he murmured.

He splashed water in his face and looked at himself in the mirror again. 'Well,
you've looked better,' he thought. What was going on? How was it possible that
his chest hurt exactly where that woman smashed her shoulder into it? Was it
just a dream or did he witness the future, or a parallel world maybe? Whatever
it was, Mark decided, it was a world were women were a lot stronger than they
were today.