Natasha was running. Running as fast as she could, but the monsters were catching up. Ever since she had left China, she had been running. She had made the mistake of fighting an Amazon. Unfortunately, she had won and been given the kiss of death. She fled to America, hoping to escape the Amazon there, but ever since she had arrived, she had been chased by monsters more terrible than her worst nightmares. She carried nothing with her as she ran, hoping as she had before to rely on her wit and cunning to carry her through, as well as her mastery of the martial arts.
She couldn't run for much longer. She was tired. She hadn't eaten for days. She had only survived as long as she did because of her strong chi, developed over years of practice. But now, her store of chi was starting to run low. She started to slow down. In the distance was a strawberry farm, but even if she yelled for help, nobody would be able to get to her in time to do anything. She turned to face her pursuers. There were three of them, large, wolf-like creatures that bared their teeth at her as they got closer. Suddenly, there was a roar and a motorbike skidded to a halt in between her and the wolf creatures. One rider drew a crossbow and shot one of the wolves. The second withdrew a hammer, holding on to her companion with her other hand. The front rider shot another crossbow bolt at one of the wolves. The back rider removed her helmet and dismounted, coming towards Natasha as her companion continued to shoot. She withdrew a second hammer as she approached.
"My name's Hayley," said the girl "Are you hurt at all?"
Natasha shook her head.
"Take this," said Hayley, handing Natasha one of her hammers "Stay behind me, watch my back, we gotta get back to the bike." Natasha nodded again, spinning the hammer in her hand. Then both of them ran for the bike. One of the wolf creatures made a beeline for them, jumping to sink it's claws into Natasha. She jumped higher than it had, hitting it once on each side of the head landing on top, then jumping onto the back seat of the motorbike, behind Hayley and the driver.
"Let's go," said the driver, kicking the bike into gear and skidding round and towards the strawberry farm. Natasha could barely keep from flying off the back of the bike.
"Hayley, take the wheel," said the driver, pulling out her crossbow with one hand and continuing to drive with the other as she prepares to move back. Hayley takes the free handle and Natasha, sensing she would have to move forward, did so, allowing the driver to get behind her, aiming the crossbow at the wolf creatures chasing them, she fired again. As Hayley grabbed the handlebars, she accidently hit a small button on the side and a loud sound came from the exhaust. It sounded like a horn. Natasha felt a surge of hope and determination surge through her. She turned back to the advancing monsters. They did not scare her now. It was time to use one of her techniques from the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.
"Fierce Tiger Blast!" A ball of energy appeared in Natasha's hand and fired at the three wolf creatures. All three were disintegrated. Having spent almost all of her chi, Natasha fell into unconsciousness.
When she came too, she was in an infirmary. She seemed to be uninjured. Was what she had just experienced a dream?
"You're awake," said someone from a chair next to her. A girl with jet black hair and piercingly green eyes sat in a chair at the bedside "My name is Jane, I drove the motorbike that saved you earlier, I wanted to make sure you were O.K."
"I'm fine," said Natasha, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed "What happened?" I remember the rescue, but I don't remember getting here."
"You destroyed the creatures chasing us," said Jane "I'm still not quite sure how."
"I studied for a while in the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts in Japan," said Natasha "I left because I didn't get along well at all with my master, so I moved to China, where I hoped to find a home, instead, I found myself wandering around the country, extremely hungry, tired, I collapsed in the centre of the town."
"What happened then?" asked Jane
"I trained," said Natasha "Trained against my adopted family, but I had to be careful never to beat them, then, one day, there was a tournament, I tested my skills fighting against Shampoo, one of my sister, and I won."
"How is that a bad thing?" asked Jane, a little confusedly.
"It is an old Amazon tradition that if an Amazon should lose to an outsider, and that outsider is female, they must give them the kiss of death, and hunt that outsider down to destroy them or die trying," said Natasha "So I ran from the people I had once thought of as my family and made my way to America, where, once again, I was chased, this time by creatures I thought to be from Greek Mythology."
"I'm afraid all of the old Greek myths are true, Natasha," said Jane "The gods, the monsters, they're all real and they're all in New York, this is Camp Half Blood, a place where the children of the Gods can be safe from the monsters out there."
"You guys are demi gods?" asked Natasha, amazed
"I believe you are too," said Jane "You would not have been able to get through the barrier that protects this area if you weren't, allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Jane Kingsley, daughter of Nike, the goddess of victory."
"So who's my godly parent?" asked Natasha "I don't know either of my parents, I've been in an orphanage almost my whole life, until I started travelling."
"You'll find out soon," said Jane "After the Titan War, the Gods agreed to claim all their godly children so that nobody here feels isolated by being here and not fitting in with their siblings."
"What do you do here at this camp?" asked Natasha "What sort of activities do you have?"
"Why don't I show you around," said Jane, with a smile "Show you the different activities, see what your strengths are, then bring you to the Hermes cabin."
The camp was dangerous, there was no doubt about that. The climbing wall was the most dangerous rock climbing area Natasha had ever seen. In the weapons arena, she managed to hold her own pretty well, causing Jane to praise her, saying she must be the daughter of one of the gods of war, Nike, Athena or Ares. Natasha hoped that she would turn out to be a daughter of Nike, like her friend. While she trained, she asked Jane about the other girl who had rescued her, Hayley. Jane told her Hayley had been her friend for a few years since the two of them had both done their first quest together and they had remained friends. They had retrieved the horn of Nike, a magical horn that could inspire confidence and hope in even the weakest of warriors, while devastating enemies.
"Was that the sound I heard last night when Hayley took the wheel?" Natasha asked
"That was it," said Jane "And by the looks of how things turned out, it must have worked, what was that attack you used on the hellhounds?"
"It's called the Fierce Tiger Blast," said Natasha "It's an advanced technique of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, it can only be used with a confident chi, a confident state of mind."
"Can you teach me how to do it?" asked Jane "I can see the combat advantages of having such a move."
"I can't teach you it right away," replied Natasha "To a person untrained in the Martial Arts, it would be too dangerous, I must train you in Martial Arts before teaching you the technique."
"O.K," Jane agreed "I'll train hard and try my best, who knows, perhaps Martial Arts training will help me in combat."
"I'm sure it will," said Natasha "Let's start with the basics…"
Jane was a really fast learner. Over the next few hours, the two of them trained hard against each other, neither of them giving the other any ground. Natasha knew she could just beat Jane quickly, but then what would have been the point of training? If Natasha used her full arsenal of attacks, she wouldn't be fighting fair against Jane, who knew none of these attacks. They had attracted quite an audience by the time Natasha called a halt.
"You learn fast," said Natasha, panting slightly, and wiping sweat off her brow "Thanks for the workout."
"You're welcome," said Jane "Thanks for the training, I think I learned a lot."
"You did," replied Natasha "Those techniques I taught you normally take a few months of training, but you learned them in a few hours."
"Am I ready to try the advanced techniques?" asked Jane
"You are," said Natasha, just as a gong sounded.
"Time for dinner," said Jane, grabbing Natasha's hand "Come on."