All right, this is my first fanfic. Reviews are really helpful, but NO FLAMES. I don't own any of the places, except some that I made up. And I don't own Greek mythology; making ALL that stuff up is a little intimidating. I just own my characters.

Prologue

At the bottom of the tallest mountain in Greece, Zeus was worried. He had just found out that a strange force had started penetrating Mt. Olympus. At first, he wasn't really worried about what the force was, but soon got a feeling that it wasn't good. He tried asking Apollo to find what he could about the force, but all he could get from him was a few confused mumblings about "darkness". He had sent Hermes to his brother, Hades's place, to find out if he knew anything, but Hermes came back empty. So for now, Zeus knew nothing about the strange force, and that was why he was keeping it a secret.

However, there was one piece of evidence that might decide whether he would tell the other Olympians or not. Apollo had said that the gods did not have the power to destroy the force. He had mentioned using mortals if they wanted to annihilatewhatever it was. But what kind of humans would they use? Would they be war veterans, martial arts freaks, or technological nerds? The choice was unclear. He would have to discuss this with the other Olympians.

Two weeks later…

Zeus had called a meeting of all the Olympians to discuss something that he mentioned in a letter simply as "a grave matter". All the Olympians were to come. Zeus would discuss whatever plan he had there, and would take suggestions.

At the High Temple, all the Olympians were gathered. They sat in a circle, with Zeus and Hera on the highest level with the highest chairs. Poseidon sat on Zeus's side, while Hades sat on Hera's. On the bottom level were the other Olympians. On the left sat Artemis, Apollo, Athena, and Ares. On the right sat Demeter, Hermes, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. They're eyes were all pointed to the stern face of Zeus.

"Hello everyone. I'm pretty sure you guys are all wondering why I gathered you here. Let me begin first by saying—"

"Come on! Get on with it! Ow! What the hell, Athena!" That was Ares speaking, apparently with his impatience running low even after a few seconds. Athena had clobbered him on the back of his head. She motioned for her father to continue with whatever he was going to say.

Zeus sighed. His son had a patience span of two seconds. At least this wasn't one of those violent bursts that Ares got when he was fighting with Hermes.

"Erm, anyways, back to what I was saying." Zeus took a deep breath. The other Olympians' reactions would not be pretty. He wasn't worried about Hades, Hermes, or Apollo, though. They already knew. And some of the others would handle it with a sense of calmness. But even the reassurance from the fact that the others would be calm didn't prepare him to say the next words. "Olympus is being penetrated."

"What! What do you mean penetrated?" (We all know who this is). "Are we going to die or something? Is some mortal in Olympus? Let me kill them!"

"Somebody calm him down, and let me explain." Zeus waited for Athena to, once again, clobber Ares. "What I mean by penetrated is that something is destroying us. Now, I don't know what exactly is penetrating us, but I do have enough information to know that this isn't something good." Zeus let the words sink in.

"Then how are we going to plan to find out the penetrating force? And when we do find it, how are we going to kill it?" Athena asked.

Hera turned up her nose. "Were you listening, you dimwit? Zeus said that he doesn't know what the force is, so I don't think we are going to find anything soon. I say that we don't do anything at all."

Demeter spoke up. "We're immortals. We can't die. Hera is right. Besides, I don't want to fight."

"Hem! Actually, I know exactly what to do." All eyes turned to look at Apollo. "A few weeks ago, Zeus told me about the penetrating force, and asked me if I could find anything about it. I didn't find a lot, but I did find some stuff." He paused for dramatic effect. "I was able to find a few bits about darkness, but I don't know how it's supposed to relate to anything. I also was able to see something really important." This time, Apollo seemed to be nervous to speak.

"Well? What is it?" asked an anxious Artemis.

"We can't defeat the force."

"NO! NO, NO, NO! We're the Olympians. We're the top twelve. We can do anything! Now let's stop talking and get on with the fight!"

"ARES!" This time it was Poseidon who spoke……or rather yelled. "Control yourself. No everyone is as bloodlusting and arrogant as you are." Hades snickered unobtrusively in the background.

"ANYways, I was saying that we wouldn't be able to defeat the force. But that doesn't mean that mortals wouldn't be able to." Letting the rest of the Olympians decide what would happen next, Apollo sat down.

"So you're saying that we're supposed to train some humans and send them to battle?"

"That's' right, Hephaestus." Zeus spoke again. "It's a good way to keep the danger off ourselves."

"Whoa, wait. This doesn't make sense. First, how are we going to make sure that the strategy will work? Mortals don't even believe in us anymore. They might not even know who we are." Hades looked at his brother quizzically.

"This will work guys. I see the advantages in this. We choose twelve mortals, bring them here so they won't escape, train them, and send them off to fight. They'll be able to have abilities similar to ours, so it'll be like us finding and fighting the force." The queen of strategic planning looked around, daring anyone to challenge her plan with a cold, hard stare.

Zeus nodded, pleased with his daughter. He stood up. "Ok, here's the plan. You guys have one week to choose your mortals and come back here. Choose carefully, because you'll be with them for a while. And find teens. They are the most vulnerable and most likely to believe this kind of stuff. I'll leave the strategy of how you tell them up to you. Is that all right?"

"EEEEEEEK!"

"What NOW, Aphrodite?" Hermes, who had the good luck to be permanently placed next to her in official meetings, was obviously annoyed when she screamed in his ear.

"Humans! The one you choose for me better be pretty!"

Eleven hands slapped eleven foreheads in unison.

Hermes whispered something in Aphrodite's ear.

"Oh! Ok, then! That's a good plan. Let's carry it out."

"Well, now that we have everyone's approval, let's begin." With an implied dismissal from Zeus, all of the Olympians left.

OK, so this was the Prologue. The next 12 chapters will be how the Olympians choose their Apprentices. What else...oh! Review, please.