Best Friends For Never - Part 3
Archie Fan  betty_cooper72@yahoo.ca 
Betty uses the final wish on the wishing ring. 


Veronica woke up on her sleeping pallet. She had just had the strangest of
dreams, that the Goddesses had once been normal human girls like herself and
that she had been friends with them. She almost laughed at that thought, but
to enjoy it would have been blasphemy.

Veronica knew the scripture well, as a temple slave she heard the stories told
by the high priestesses every day.

As the scripture said the Goddesses had literally formed the Earth with their
bare hands billions of years ago before moving on to form other planets around
other stars. But Earth had been different because it was on this planet that
they had decided to cut their hair. Over the eons those hair follicles had
grown to become the human race. The Goddesses had no knowledge of the humans
they had created as they were preoccupied with their work amongst the stars.
But when humans had developed the radio they first learned of their creation
as a distant broadcast reached them.

They had made their way back to Earth arriving 17 years ago, the year that
Veronica had been born. The Goddesses were dismayed with the life that had
accidentally spawned on this planet, particularly at how the world was
dominated by male members of the planet, despite the females being the ones
who most resembled their creators.

The Goddesses had made their presence known to the people of Earth, and had
given them an ultimatum. Accept the Goddesses as their leaders or face total
annihilation. Only a small few women had believed the Goddesses and not a
single man did, to them they were just a group of twelve-foot tall

aliens that looked like beautiful muscular women.

The Goddesses had transformed their few believers into the high priestesses
who began forming the temples to the Goddesses. The Goddesses decided that the
people of Earth could be brought to accept them, however there was great
resistance.

One of most resistant areas to the Goddesses' ultimatum was the Middle East,
where centuries of Islamic law had indoctrinated them not to believe in
anything but their own God. They did not believe that the Goddesses had the
power to strike them down. One of their spiritual leaders, the Ayatollah,
dared the Goddesses to try and kill them.

What happened next was what the scriptures called the Holy War. The twelve
Goddesses had suddenly appeared in the Middle East and began killing its
people indiscriminately. The people of the Middle East had tried to fight
back, but their weapons proved useless against the Goddesses who proved to be
invulnerable. Their resistance only seemed to strengthen the Goddesses'
resolve and in a matter of weeks the almost 360 million people that lived in
the region were dead.

Veronica recalled seeing images of the destroyed cities of Cairo and Tehran.
Huge cities which had been reduced to nothing but rubble. Yet the Goddesses
used no weapons but their own sheer strength to cause all of this destruction.

Afterwards a large portion of the world decided to fall in line and accept
them. However two countries, the United States and Russia, both pretended to
accept them while secretly moving their own soldiers into the now wiped out
countries in an attempt to take their oil fields.

But there was no keeping such things secret from the Goddesses and they
punished these countries by destroying their armed forces and then destroying
their governments. In a last desperate measure both countries decided to drop
nuclear weapons on their capital cities while the Goddesses were occupying
them. Washington D.C. and Moscow were both obliterated as every nuke in their
arsenal was used to make sure the Goddesses were dead.

But the Goddesses had emerged from the devastation completely unharmed with no
a scratch on them. They had used their power to neutralize the radiation from
the fallout to protect the innocent. Following that the entire world had
subjugated itself to the Goddesses' rule.

The Goddesses had taken away all technology saying that humans no longer
required it. Cities were torn down and rebuilt around grand temples to the
Goddesses which were run by the high priestess who were the leaders of the
temples and thus the cities.

The Goddesses gave the high priestesses the responsibility of judging the
remaining living humans and determine their fate. Women were left with one of
two fates, workers and slaves. Workers were often given jobs farming or as
supervisors for construction jobs in the rebuilding of the cities. Slaves were
given far more menial labour. For women it was about a fifty-fifty split in
slaves and workers. Men's fate was not nearly as favourable. Very few became
workers and most became slaves. The male slaves were either worked to death
doing heavy labour or else they were sent to the fighting pits. The fighting
pits were basically the Goddesses' recreating the gladiatorial arenas from
Ancient Rome where men were forced to fight each other, animals or more
frighteningly one of the monsters that the Goddesses had created like a dragon
or an ogre. Occasionally one of the high priestesses, or even more rarely one
of the Goddesses themselves would enter the fighting pits. When this happened
it was a guaranteed death for whichever men were left to fight.

Veronica finished her daily prayers to the twelve Goddesses before setting
about her daily tasks. Veronica had been named a slave because her father had
been one of the men who had conspired with the American Government to try and
take over the destroyed Middle East. However as she had been a child at the
time if she could prove herself worthy by her twentieth birthday she could
earn the right to become a worker.

What Veronica dreamed about was one day becoming one of the priestesses,
although because she had been a slave that was not possible at least not with
the current laws but perhaps the Goddesses might change their minds. All she
could do was her best to be loyal and faithful and hope that she would be
rewarded.

Veronica was working with two other slaves today, Nancy and Cricket. Their
task was to polish the twelve marble statues of the Goddesses in the Great
Hall of the temple. Each of the statues was a life size perfect replica of the
Goddesses. The statues were nude to show off their godly physiques; although
the three times that Veronica had seen one of the Goddesses in person they had
been clothed. They worked together on each statue. Cricket made sure they had
polish and clean towels and held the ladder; Nancy polished the base while
Veronica went up the ladder and polished the top of the statues. After
finishing each statue they said a prayer of thanks to that Goddess before
moving on.

The final statue that they had to polish was the Goddess Betty. Veronica
wasn't sure why, but Goddess Betty was her favourite and yet also the one she
despised the most. As she polished the marble of the statues muscular arms she
imagined Goddess Betty destroying the Pyramids, structures that had lasted for
thousands of years, with nothing but her sheer strength alone as she had read
in the scriptures. Veronica envied such power, but it had also been what had
killed her father.

Veronica's father had been a business man and he had decided to invest in the
newly available lands in the Middle East after the Goddesses had wiped the
people of the Middle East out. After the Goddesses had defeated the United
States they had rounded up all of the collaborators with the government's
attempt to take over the Middle East and had put them to death before their
families.

Veronica had only been about four years old at the time, but she still
remembered her father having his head torn off of his body, like a child pulls
the head off of a doll, by Goddess Betty. She had not seen Goddess Betty
since.

"If I did not love them so much myself I would scold you for how long you are
taking to polish those breasts," a loud booming voice said from behind
Veronica.

Veronica realized she had sort of lost track of what she had been doing and
she had been polishing the breasts of the statue for almost two minutes. She
turned around and nearly fell off the ladder after seeing who it was.

Behind them stood Goddess Betty herself. She looked exactly the same as when
Veronica had seen her thirteen years ago, save for the outfit that she now
wore. At least twelve feet tall she towered over the three slaves. She stood
with her right fist rest on her hip while her left hand was down just beside
her thigh. The outfit she wore was some kind of skin tight red and black body
suit. It had a high tight collar that covered almost all of her neck and a
single sleeve on the left arm leaving her right arm bare. She had a pair of
spiked bracers on each forearm. She wore matching red and black boots, the
left boot was only calf high while the right boot went all the way up to
mid-thigh.

Veronica scampered down the ladder and the three slaves prostrated themselves
at Goddess Betty's feet.

"You can stand," Goddess Betty said. "And get back to work; if the High
Priestess is satisfied with your work then you will be allowed to see me in
the fighting pits today."

The three girls' eyes went wide at the prospect of seeing one of the Goddesses
in the fighting pits. The Goddesses only entered the fighting pits for two
reasons, first to reward a particular city or temple or second because they
wanted to personally punish a particular individual. Veronica wanted to ask
which it was but she knew that it would only earn her the wrath of Goddess
Betty so she remained silent.

Betty turned and walked out of the Great Hall. The final wish had turned out
to be the best one of all. The strength to move and destroy planets coursed
through her powerful body, but it was more than that. She was a Goddess, she
was immortal and indestructible, she could travel vast distances in the blink
of an eye, her senses were so keen that she could hear every conversation on
the entire planet if she so chose and so much more.

Betty had come here for her first actual experience with the fighting pits.
While she had been in the fighting pits in the past that she created with her
wish and she had memory of that but it was a little foggy because it wasn't
real. She was excited for her first real chance at the fighting pits.

Betty walked through the temple, enjoying the fact that there was a building
built specifically for people to worship her. As she was taking in the grand
architecture she became aware the High Priestess was looking for her, having
learned of her presence at the temple. Betty decided to wait where she was and
meet with the High Priestess who was one of her most faithful followers.

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The High Priestess made her way through temple to find Goddess Betty, her
large robe billowing behind her. The large loose fitting garment hid her form
from view. Standing nine feet tall the High Priestess was blessed with the
power of the Goddesses. Beneath the robe her body was the epitome of power and
beauty, however to use it for any reason but the will of the Goddesses was
sacrilege. As such she and all other high priestesses kept their bodies
covered in the robes except when they were leading prayer service or when they
were dealing out the justice of the Goddesses.

As her long strides carried her through the halls of a section of the temple
under renovation she passed by dozens of male slaves who fell to the ground in
respect. One slave who was moving a large slab of stone with a wheelbarrow
pushed the wheelbarrow out of her way just in time. The slave however was not
so luck and he was knocked down and trampled to death by the High Priestess
with a single step. She could hear the other slaves rushing to removing the
crushed corpse as she continued on her way.

The High Priestess reflected on how much she owed to the Goddesses as she
walked along. Before the arrival of the Goddesses she had been a model named
Katy Keene. When the Goddesses had arrived and made claim that they were the
creators of the Earth she had been one of the few who had believed them. She
had not been very religious before but she felt the need to meet the Goddesses
who had taken up temporary residence in New York City where the UN was
located.

She was amongst a thousand other women who had gone to meet them, a
surprisingly small number she had thought at the time. She had remembered the
Goddesses telling them of their plans for Earth and how they would reward
those faithful to them. They had asked all the women present if they would
give up their old lives to become a high priestess of great power to help them
usher in a new world. Several women had left, unwilling to give up their old
lives, but Katy had not been one of them. After meeting the Goddesses she was
willing to do anything to serve them. The Goddesses had used their power to
transform her and all of the others who had remained into their High Priestess
forms. They had been tasked with the founding of temples for the Goddesses,
anything beyond this was punishable by loss of their new form or if the
offense was egregious enough, death.

When the Goddesses began their campaign of destruction in the Middle East,
Katy had been one of two High Priestesses to represent them at the UN. Much of
what was said to them was clearly lip service, meant to try and appease the
Goddesses. When Russia and the USA attempted to take the Middle East for
themselves the Goddesses set out to punish them. The UN had been temporarily
disbanded and the High Priestesses had returned to their temples

As the military was being wiped out by the Goddesses some right-wing Christian
civilians who considered the Goddesses a blight on humanity and a blasphemy
against their God and Jesus had decided to attack the temples. Katy recalled
the attack on her temple, the first time she had used the power granted to her
by the Goddesses.

A group of twelve, nine men and three women had entered the temple armed with
automatic weapons. They had opened fire on the worshipers who had gathered for
a prayer service killing dozens. However when the attackers had gone after her
all they had succeeded in in doing was destroying her robes. Moments later she
had torn the attackers apart with her bare hands as though they were made of
paper.

That had been the first time she had killed in the name of the Goddesses, but
it would not be the last. After the Goddesses had succeeded in subjugating the
world she had been put in charge of a this temple which was built upon the
ruins of New York City. Along with overseeing the reconstruction of the temple
and the surrounding city she was also in charge of determining the position of
the survivors. She had killed thousands and sentenced to death either by
gladiatorial combat or slavery thousands more.

The High Priestess found Goddess Betty waiting in the prayer hall. She bowed
deeply waiting for her Goddess to acknowledge her.

"You may rise," Betty said.

The High Priestess stood and smoothed the wrinkles out of her robe.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your most holy presence my Goddess?" the
High Priestess required.

Betty smiled, enjoying the flattery.

"I have come to use your fighting pits," Betty replied.

The High Priestess was a little taken aback by the news.

"Well it is such short notice," she said. "We don't have the usual supply of
criminals and slaves that we usually do for you."

"That's understandable," Betty said. "Just do the best that you can, I'll have
some of the other cities send you slaves to replenish yours."

"As you wish my Goddess," the High Priestess said bowing. "I shall go ensure
that the fighting pits are prepared for you arrival."

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Were it not for the fact that her body was no longer capable of feeling the
effects of exhaustion the High Priestess would have been feeling dead tired
after all of the work to get the fighting pit ready for Goddess Betty. Now she
stood in the middle of the vast arena as 100,000 pairs of eyes looked down
upon her.

"Faithful subjects," she began her voice booming loud enough for the entire
arena to hear her. "You have been gathered today for something very special.
One of our divine creators has decided to bless you all with her presence here
in the fighting pits to remind you all of the vast powers she has at her
command. Now it should go without saying that you will all show the utmost
respect for Goddess Betty."

On cue Betty suddenly appeared in the Arena next to the High Priestess. The
crowd was in awe at her size. Even the huge High Priestess looked like a child
next to the enormous form of the Goddess. The High Priestess left the Arena
floor and went to her own private box which was up close giving her the best
view in the entire arena.

"Let the combat begin!" the High Priestess declared.

All around the Arena were eighteen gates which were for pens to hold either
men or beasts, one of them opened a huge bare chested muscular male slave came
charging out brandishing a huge axe.

Archie Andrews watched in awe and fear from his pen as the huge slave charged
suicidally at the

Goddess. Archie wasn't sure what exactly possessed the man to run to his
death, but he suspected that the meal they had been given before being stuck
in these pens had been laced with something that made them mad with rage.
Archie however wasn't affected as he'd barely been able to eat and had thrown
up after being placed in the pen.

He knew that he was going to die, the crude iron sword that he had been given
wouldn't even leave a scratch against the Goddess. This was all just for the
entertainment of the Goddess, her High Priestess and the chosen faithful who
were in attendance.

He wasn't a gladiatorial slave he was a labourer. Earlier in the day he had
seen his friend and fellow slave Kevin get killed while they had been building
more to the temple after Kevin had been unable to get out of the way of the
High Priestess. She had stepped on him as if he were nothing but a cockroach.
Archie and the other slaves had been trying to clean up their dead friend's
remains when several of the High Priestess' acolytes had come by and accused
them of not doing their work and dragged them down to the fighting pits. They
had been given a meal and then stuck in the pens. The rush to find slaves for
the pens had led Archie to realize that something was up, and he had
immediately gone to the worst case scenario that it was for one of the
Goddesses. He silently wished that he had been wrong.

Betty watched in amusement as the slave came charging at her his two handed
axe held high over his head ready to strike. If she had been a normal human
this man would have been very frightening. He was close to seven feet tall and
immensely muscular, but compared to Betty he was a child.

He swung the axe at her with all his might, Betty made no attempt to even
block it, just letting the axe strike the exposed thigh of her left leg. The
axe bounced off of her indestructible skin, the blade bent and now useless.
The slave tossed the ruined weapon aside and went to strike her with his fists
but Betty flicked him in the chest with her finger.

Betty slowed down time for herself to watch what happened to the slave. He
flew back about three feet before his body started to disintegrate. His entire
body seemed to bubble and liquefy before spraying all over the place like a
giant water balloon exploding. To the crowd however it just appeared as if she
flicked him and he exploded in giant spray of blood and bone fragments.

Betty was amused at how easily she had just killed the slave. But she was also
a little disappointed, no matter how many slaves came at her she could not be
harmed and it would require almost no effort on her part to turn them into
puddles of death.

Two more slaves were released from their pens and they charged towards Betty.
Betty ran her hand through the chest of the first one coming out from his back
holding onto his shattered spine as well as the crushed remains of his various
organs.

The other slave had a large two handed sword and he swung it towards her arm.
She grabbed his arms just before the sword hit her and squeezed crushing his
wrists and causing his hands to fly off leaving the slave with a pair of
bloody stumps.

She then picked up the huge sword out of his hands with one hand. As the crowd
watched in interest she drew the blade across her hand and blood came out. The
crowd was in shock, they did not think one of their Goddesses could be
injured. Betty then tossed the sword at the High Priestess up in her box who
caught the blade.

"Prove your devotion," Betty said. "You will protect me from the rest of these
slaves."

Katy was in shock. She had expected to see a display of the Goddess' absolute
power, but instead she had seen that Goddess Betty could apparently be harmed.
But now she had been given the task of defending her Goddess. This is what she
had dreamed of since she had been made a High Priestess. To have to fight to
defend her Goddess.

The High Priestess tore open her robe and threw the damage garment aside
revealing her nude muscular body. She leapt down from her box to the arena
floor, landing beside her Goddess. She handed the sword back to Betty.

"This body that you have blessed me with is all that I need to defend you,"
she said.

Betty just smiled and then motioned for all of the pens to be opened.

The remaining fifteen pens opened up and fourteen men came charging out. The
High Priestess knew that she needed to move quickly and she ran towards one
man and tore his head clean off throwing it at another to stun him
temporarily. She grabbed another man by the arms and hurled him at in the path
of three more men sending all of them to the ground. She then moved back
towards her Goddess to protect her from the other slaves. They arrived en mass
but the High Priestess put her large body in the way knocking half of them
down.

One of them swung a flail at Betty who made no move to stop it. The High
Priestess was able to grab the chain and rip the weapon from the slave's
hands, the slave being sent flying across the arena where he landed on his
head snapping his neck. She used the weapon to massacre two other slaves
before it broke apart from the force she had put behind her blow. She stepped
on a slave crushing him as she intercepted a slave trying to strike Betty with
a sword. The blade struck her and shattered against her indestructible skin.

She grabbed the slaves arm and forced him to stab himself in the neck with the
broken hilt of the sword. Her huge fists the finished off two more slaves
giving her a moments reprieve before the slaves that she had stunned before
came charging at her and Goddess Betty. She grabbed the first two by the necks
and squeezed, their necks shattering in her grip with a sound like a person
walking on gravel. She kicked her foot forward at the next slave sending him
sailing into the splattered against the wall as if he had just taken a 100
foot fall off a building. The final two slaves were so lost in their rage that
they went after the High Priestess.

She took their attacks with no effects and finished them off by driving her
hands into their chests and tearing their hearts out.

She thought she was done when she saw the final slave right beside the goddess
a crude iron sword in his hands. She flung herself at him tackling him to the
ground a crushing him with her weight. The High Priestess picked herself up
and then ensured that all of the slaves were dead, which they were.

"This one was more cowardly than the rest," Goddess Betty commented indicating
the final slave's corpse. "Smaller too."

"As I said before we were short on gladiator slaves," the High Priestess said.
"This one was likely a labourer."

The Goddess sniffed the air.

"I take it you put something in their food to make them rage and forget their
fear?" Goddess Betty inquired.

"We do, why do you ask?" The High Priestess retorted.

"This one threw up in his pen," the Goddess replied. "It likely never made it
into his system."

"I am sorry my Goddess, my carelessness almost lead to you being injured." The
High Priestess apologized.

"I was never in any true danger," Goddess Betty said. "And I don't deal in
almost, I deal in results. And you provided the result I expect and so you
shall be rewarded."

The High Priestess fell to her knees in front of her Goddess.

"You have already blessed me with so much; your mere presence is a reward in
and of itself," the High Priestess said.

"You modesty and humility are appreciated, however the other Goddesses and I
have decided that we need to appoint a Grand Priestess, to oversee the other
High Priestesses for when our own personal duties take us elsewhere." Goddess
Betty said. "Today you have proven yourself worthy of that role. You have
shown that you will do whatever it takes to fulfill a mission given to you by
one of us." Katy looked up at Goddess Betty, not believing what she had been
hearing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said bowing down at Goddess Betty's
feet. "I will do whatever it is you want of me."

Goddess Betty lowered a hand to help her to her feet. As she arose from the
ground the crowd watched in amazement as the former High Priestess was
transformed into the Grand Priestess. The people however only could see her
grow from nine feet tall to just under eleven; they had no idea about huge
increase in power and abilities that she was receiving.

The new Grand Priestess revelled momentarily in her new power. She had been
strong before, but now it was on a whole new level. She could tell there was
nothing in world she could not lift, crush or destroy if she so desired. But
beyond that she had gained powers almost matching those of the Goddesses she
served.

"I shall now take my leave," Goddess Betty said. "Do as I would do."

With that she vanished leaving the Grand Priestess standing in the arena with
one hundred thousand eyes on her.

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Betty floated in space above the Earth her powerful eyes scanning the stars.
She was looking for another world to test her strength. As she floated in
space she became aware of another presence next to her.

She turned to see Cheryl next to her.

"A Grand Priestess?" Cheryl asked defying the fact that sound shouldn't travel
in space.

"She earned it," Betty replied. "Besides she is by far our most devoted
follower."

"You know you look good for being over thirteen billion years old," Cheryl
commented.

"One of the advantages of being immortal," Betty stated.

"So what are you doing?" Cheryl asked.

"Looking for somewhere to truly test my strength." Betty replied. "And I think
I found it, care to join me?"

"It would seem I've got some time on my hands," Cheryl joked.

The two Goddesses appeared next to a planet that was more the twice the size
of Earth. It was orbiting a blue star that was four times the size of the sun.
The planet's orbit as well as the far greater heat given off from this star
meant that the planet's surface was extremely hot to the point that it was
molten. As Cheryl watched with interest Betty flew towards the planet. With
one hand Betty pushed on the planet's hot molten surface, the high
temperatures having no effect on her. The planet itself moved as Betty
remained where she was drifting to a further orbit. Once the planet was
roughly where she wanted it Betty flew back up to join Cheryl.

"Just what are you doing?" Cheryl inquired.

"Just watch," Betty replied.

Betty then flew towards the star. The heat given off was more than twice that
of the sun. As Cheryl watched Betty literally punched the star. Almost half of
the stars mass suddenly flew away at hyper speed off into the distance
eventually slowing to a stop over five light years away.

Having lost half of its mass the star underwent so rapid changes, cooling down
and becoming a yellow star like the sun. The drop in temperature had an effect
on the planet as well as its surface began to cool. Betty plucked a few hairs
from her head and went down to the surface and planted them in the ground.

"So you're creating another Earth?" Cheryl asked.

"Maybe," Betty replied. "We'll see what happens and if I don't like I'll
destroy it and start over."

"We'll check back in a few billion years," Cheryl agreed. "Let's go throw
stars into Black Holes."

The two Goddesses then vanished to go cause stellar destruction.

THE END...?