The Amazon Combat Arena Story

By noon the next day Mike had his clothes and personal effects in the back seat of his car and was heading out of the city. He soon found himself driving through the affluent suburbs north of the city. It took an additional half an hour for him to leave the developments behind. He almost missed his final turn, taking him off a country road and onto what turned out to be a long, tree-lined, driveway. After a thousand yards the trees thinned out and he entered a clearing. Ahead was a huge warehouse-like building; a large sign over the front door read The Amazon Combat Arena. To his left he could see a large house, which would fit in perfectly on a family farm in Iowa. Looking around the sides of the Arena, Mike could see at least a dozen small cottages.

Mike parked in front of the big building and went inside in search of Karla. Once inside he was overwhelmed. It was brightly lit and had room for three professional sized rings for boxing or wrestling, plus a full-sized octagon. There were also areas with circuit training machines, treadmills and stationary bikes, free weights, heavy- and speed-bags, and matted areas for floor exercising and stretching. To his left, against one wall, he spotted a series of doorways, which he assumed led to offices.

As he approached his assumption proved correct. It resembled a medical office, with a small sliding glass window next to the door. A pretty blond sat at a desk on the other side of the glass, which she slid open to greet him.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to see Karla. My name is Mike Wilson."

"Mike, Karla told us to expect you. Come on in."

When Mike reached for the door handle he heard a buzzing and the clank of a lock snapping free. Entering the office he was again impressed over the crisp clean profession décor of the reception area.

"Have a seat, Mike, Karla will be out in a couple of minutes."

Before Mike took a seat he scanned the rest of the office, besides the receptionist there were two other people visible. One was a small, nerdy looking guy, who was busy pounding away on a keyboard, only occasionally glancing at first one screen and then the other screen perched in front of him. The other person, a cute brunette, sat at her desk. There were two large monitors mounted on a frame on one corner of her desk. A remote keyboard sat in her lap as she leaned back in her oversized chair typing furiously.

After only a minute, Karla emerged and said, "Mike, it's good to see you again. Come on in, I've got some papers for you to sign and then I'll give you a tour of our facilities."

He followed her as she entered her office. He had to chuckle as he read the back of her tee-shirt. It was a picture of a heavily muscled female boxer, standing over an equally strong looking male who had obviously been severely beaten by the female. The quote over the picture read, "A hard man is good to beat".

She went around her desk and sat across from him. Pulling out two copies of an employment contract, she said, "Read it if you want but basically it formalizes the offer sheet we already discussed. You'll be getting the winner's royalty rate, 10%, on all videos you participate in; in those in which you act as referee, you get 1%. Your salary will be $10,000 a month, plus medical coverage, plus two weeks vacation, ten holidays, and room and board."

For Mike it was a no brainer; taking the offered pen, he signed both copies. Karla, in turn, signed both copies, handed him one for his files, and kept one copy for herself.

"Welcome aboard, Mike. I think, for the most part, you're going to enjoy working here. If you keep an open mind, train hard, and obey the rules you'll make a lot of money and be around for a long time. Now come on lets walk around; I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew."

In the outer office, they walked up to each of the employees.

"This is Ira, he's our accountant. He's in charge of payroll and royalties. Ira, this is Mike, he's our new Boxing Instructor.

"Pleased to meet you Mike. When you get done with your tour, please come see me; I have a bunch of employment forms for you to fill out."

"Over here is Cathy; she's our computer guru. She's in charge of cyber-security and her rules are to be followed without question. Our computers are our life blood, and the most vulnerable part of our business."

The small brunette looked up from her keyboard. "Hi Mike, I'm looking forward to working with you."

Mike was impressed with the firmness of her grip. He thought to himself, 'she maybe petite, but she certainly appears to be athletically built'.

"And this is Linda. She's our receptionist and my personal administrative assistant. Linda keeps me grounded and on my toes at all times."

Getting up from her chair, Linda extended her hand in greeting. "It's good to finally meet you Mike. Karla has been telling us all about you; it's good to have a face to go along with the stories."

Mike was a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the woman; she was at least six feet tall, but it was her arms and shoulders that impressed him the most, both of which were much bigger than his own.

Karla took him by the arm and steered him out the door and into the gym.

"Linda is one of our best wrestlers; her videos are best-sellers in that category."

"She's one of your wrestlers?"

"Sure, all of our employees, office personnel included, are also fighters. All except Ira that is; I've been trying to get him into the ring but so far he's refused. Every time I confront him with it, he gives me the same response: 'You need me both physically and mentally at my best. You wouldn't want me paying a vender more than he's entitled to, or an employee more than they're due. If I get into the ring with one of your Amazons there's no limit as to how badly I could get hurt; maybe permanently mentally impaired.'"

"I know he's right; but I'd still like to get my arms around him and just squeeze."

"Wait... not box him."

"Heavens no! I could kill him if I boxed him. Lately I've been doing a lot more wrestling than boxing, it makes for better videos."

By now, they were in the gym and Karla began the tour. "Over here we have several training rings. They are also used for taping purposes. We basically tape all fights, thereby adding to our inventory. By having more than one ring we can tape a fight and still have ring time available for training matches."

As they passed the second of the rings, Mike glanced over to what appeared to be a strength training area. Two women were working out. One was on the bench and one was spotting her. Even at this distance he could come to two conclusions; one, that both women were beautiful and extremely well built; two, that they were unbelievably strong.

"Come on Debbie, concentrate. Last one; you can do it. Push."

The woman on the bench let out a blood-curdling scream as she forced the bar off her chest and, slowly but surely, extended her arms. When she had them fully extended the redhead helped her move the bar back to the rack.

"Way to go Deb! 435 pounds; looks like we're tied again."

'Jeez, that's more than twice my best,' Mike thought.

Karla had continued walking so Mike had to catch up. As he did, he glanced towards the other side of the gym. There was a group of guys working out at a similarly equipped strength training area. This struck him as a little odd; he certainly would have wanted to work out with the women whenever possible. He was just about to bring it up when Karla seemingly able to read his mind stated,

"Those guys over there are who we gals collectively refer to as the "Washington Generals".

Mike gave her a puzzled look.

"You know the basketball team that always plays the Harlem Globetrotters. They always try hard but they never win. They petitioned me a while ago for their own equipment. They explained that they were only slowing things down because they had to keep removing weight when they tried to work in with the bigger of the women. I think there was more to it than that. I think there are a lot of bruised egos among the male fighters. It's bad enough that they almost always lose in the ring; they don't want to compete against the women in the training areas as well. I can understand that."

They were a little more than half way into the gym when Karla pointed to a set of double doors on the left side wall.

"Through those double doors are the locker rooms; the women's room is on the left, the guy's room is on the right. In between is the co-ed sunken hot tub. If I do say so myself, it's to die for after a hard fight or workout. The next five doors are the offices of our instructors: boxing, wrestling, martial arts, mixed martial-arts, and our strength instructor and doctor. "

As they turned to walk the back wall of the building Mike saw two more doors and asked, "Where do those doors lead?"

"In the corner is a storage room and this is a private fight room. It's where we hold our "Light Switch" matches."

"Light Switch..." what's that?"

"It's a wrestling match between a man and a woman that is held in private; no live audience, only a referee... and the cameras, of course."

"I still don't understand."

"The best way for you to understand it is to see one. I'll set you up later so you can watch one tonight if you wish."

Along the other side of the back wall was an elevated ring with seating for about one hundred people.

"This is the main event ring, where we stage the fights we feel will be the best. There are eight remote controlled cameras situated around the ring; our fight director can capture all the action from various angles. Many of the fights are pay-per-view live action; later she pieces together the best of the footage and creates a video for our premium members. After demand for a premium video dies down, it gets posted to the general viewing area. The winner gets ten percent of the gross, the loser five percent, and the referee gets one percent.

"Well that's the end of the gym tour and I've got a lot of work to do. I'll introduce you to Truda, our doctor and strength instructor. I suggest that you listen and do everything she suggests. She really knows her stuff, and she expects complete obedience from her trainees. I'll tell you more about her when you get finished with her."

They walked back past the offices; Karla opened the door and let Mike enter the room. "Truda, this is Mike Wilson, our new boxing instructor. I want you to give him a complete strength and conditioning program."

"Okay, Karla, I understand," she said as she entered the main office through a door at the rear of the room.

Mike was suddenly alone with Truda as Karla closed the door behind her. Truda was the biggest woman he had ever seen. She seemed to fill the doorway as she entered. She was a tall blonde; at least 6'5" with impossibly wide shoulders and thick arms. In less than three strides she crossed the room and stood directly in front of him.

"Pleased to meet you, Mike." His hand all but disappeared as she closed hers around his and gently squeezed, thus establishing her dominance over him.

"Sit; I have to get some information from you."

She asked about a dozen questions about his weight, height, smoking, and conditioning. While she was writing down his information, Mike looked up over her shoulder at some large writing that adorned the entire side wall of the office:

TRUDA: (GER.) - FIGHTING WOMAN

"Tomorrow, we will start your program. I'll quantify your conditioning levels and set up a program for you so that you'll increase your strength and stamina. I'm a hard taskmaster and I expect you to work hard. If you do, you'll last a lot longer around here. I find that the turnover of the guys is a lot lower among those that improve their strength and skills. I want you to follow the diet I give you and each morning I want you to mix a measuring cup of this powder into a liter of water."

She handed Mike a large plastic bottle, which Mike accepted reluctantly.

"Don't worry, it's not steroids. We don't allow steroids or any other types of drugs here. In fact, as part of the contract you signed, you agreed to submit to random drug tests. The powder was developed by my father, who ships it from his estate in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. It has been submitted to every drug-testing laboratory used by all the major sporting organizations in the country. It passes all of their standards." Suddenly, she stood and said, "I look forward to working with you."

Mike gave her a puzzled look.

"I'm a boxer: I look forward to training with you. I hope you can make me a better fighter."

Chapter Three:

Mike left Truda and returned to the main office. Linda the receptionist handed him an ID on a cloth strap to hang around his neck.

"This passkey is used to get into the gym, your office, and most of the areas within the gym. It will also be your house key. Go see Ira, now; Karla will be done in a few minutes."

After a few minutes signing forms for Ira, Linda called to Mike, "Mike, she's off the phone now; you can go in."

"So are you all set up with Truda? What did you think of her?"

"Aside from the fact that she could have been the poster child for the Aryan race?"

"You don't know how close to the truth you are. Her grandparents escaped from Germany after the war, settled in Argentina, and then made their way north to Brazil. I've seen pictures of her parents. They are blond, blue eyed, extremely athletic, and look half their age."

"Truda gave me a vitamin supplement that her father developed. She told me I should take it daily."

"Mike, I would do what she tells you; she really knows her stuff. I'll let you in on a very big secret about the Arena. When I first inherited this land from my grandparents, all that was here was the farmhouse and a large, roofed, open-air riding arena. My grandfather bought this property with the idea of turning what was a riding camp, into a world-class training facility. Unfortunately he never got to see his plans turned into reality. I took his plans and, with the money from my trust fund, completed the basic structure. It was during the construction that we discovered that our only source of water was nearly tapped out. I was told that our only course of action was to drill a new deeper well. We had to drill nearly 1,500 feet before we broke into an aquifer. According to the drillers, the water was the purist that they had ever tested.

"I hired a couple of instructors and opened the gym. At first we attracted only a few members. It was apparent that the gym could not compete with those closer to the city. What I needed was something different, something innovative, something no one else was offering.

I turned the place into a training camp for women. Members stayed here, and trained here, for as long as they wanted. We had the cabins refurbished. We started seeing an increase in interest in the camp, but were still not making a profit. We had some really good people; Truda, Linda, Debbie, and Min Lee, our martial arts instructor, all came on board. Truda introduced her vitamin supplement and her strength-training program.

"After several months we began to see some remarkable results. The women who were staying here began to get physically stronger, more so than those women who only worked-out here and returned home. Later, when we started the Amazon Combat Arena, we noticed that the effects were not as dramatic for the men. Truda and I are not sure what exactly is causing the increase in muscle mass that the women are experiencing. It might be the supplement, or the water, or the camp itself, or some combination of all three."

"What do you mean the camp itself?"

"About two years ago, we had a woman from Sedona, Arizona come here to train. She told us that she felt the same type of vortex energy here that she felt in Sedona. It seems that the Arena is built over a source of electrical energy. She referred to it as a masculine vortex; they tend to be very energizing and are perfect for increasing ones resolve and stamina. I told her not to mention anything about this vortex to anyone; the last thing I needed was a bunch of New Age Hippies hanging around the area.

"That's enough talk for now. Let's get you settled in."

They got into Mike's car and drove up to and around to the back of the large farmhouse. Karla guided him to a parking space under a large free-standing shelter. Besides Karla's Hellcat, there was a vintage Corvette Sting Ray, two late model Porches, a Jaguar F-Type convertible, and a Hummer H2.

"Are all these yours?"

"No silly, just the 'Vette and the Hellcat. The rest belong to the girls. We'll have to do something about your ride; we'll talk about a new company car tomorrow."

Mike reached into the back seat and grabbed his two duffle bags and turned to follow Karla into the house. As he turned back to lock his car he noticed the license plates on all of the cars; VLKYRI 1 thru 6.

Laughing to himself, he wondered what his plate would be. Obviously, not in the same series as these; maybe BTENMAN if the rest of the women were anything like those he had already seen.

Karla led him up to the second floor. There were six bedrooms on the floor. Karla's was at the head of the stairs. She turned to the left,

"This is Truda's room; this is Debbie's, she's our wrestling instructor; this is Min's, she's our martial arts specialist; this is Donna's room, she's in charge of our mixed martial arts program, and this is your room.

They had just walked a complete circle around the center staircase. As she opened the door of his room she continued, "Each room shares a bathroom with the room next to it; your room shares a bathroom with mine. The bathroom doors are kept open unless the room is occupied. If you see the door closed, please respect your neighbor's privacy. When you leave the bathroom make sure the doors are open. You're the first man to have a room here. I'm sure you're going to see some sights that you wouldn't normally expect to see, so try to keep an open mind. This goes for in the gym as well. We all work hard and play hard, and we employ the spoils system; to the victor goes the spoils."

Mike wasn't entirely clear as to what she meant by that last statement, but he was sure it would become clear as time passed.

"We eat dinner at six; after dinner we have a staff meeting, and the rest of the night is free. Oh, yeah, we have satellite TV, including access to our own web site library. After you unpack, come downstairs and I'll give you a quick tour of the first floor."

___________________________

The first floor consisted of five rooms: a large living room; a dining room; a library lined with book shelves filled with books; a large game room with several pin ball machines, a pool table and a card table; and finally a large commercial kitchen staffed by three small women.

As Karla and Mike were completing their tour, three women entered the living room.

"Good, I'm glad you guys are here. It's my pleasure to introduce Mike Wilson; he's our new boxing instructor. Mike this is Debbie, she's our wrestling instructor."

"Hi Mike, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we'll get to work with each other; maybe you can show me how to improve my boxing skills."

Mike was momentarily at a loss for words. Debbie was stunning; about six feet tall, with broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms. Her shoulder-length dark hair framed her face perfectly, accenting her high cheekbones and dark brown eyes. As he felt the firmness of her grip he was reminded of the strength she possessed as demonstrated by her lift he had witnessed earlier in the gym.

"Pleased to meet you, Debbie; I look forward to working with you."

"Mike Wilson, this is Min Lee; she's our martial arts instructor."