Onwards, Aoshima!
As Piper and Jason trekked along the unkempt forest path, they noticed several oddities about the surrounding woods. When they were passing a nearby creek, they kept hearing splashes, but when they looked, they saw nothing. In addition, some of the surrounding trees looked as though the knots in the wood were in the shape of eyeballs.
"Geez, I've been to some pretty creepy places, but I feel like I'm being watched with these trees on all different sides," Piper shuddered.
"They are pretty weird," Jason agreed.
As they walked along, they suddenly heard talking not too far off. It sounded like small children, so they decided to follow the sound and investigate. They soon came to a small clearing with a felled tree. Two children, a boy and a girl, around twelve or thirteen, were laughing, the girl balancing a log on her head. The boy had curly brown hair and brown eyes and wore a hat with a blue pine tree. The girl had long wavy brown hair and wore a sweater with a mouse and a cat snuggling together.
Jason and Piper watched from the sidelines.
"They must be siblings," Piper pointed out. "Look at their hair and eyes."
Jason smiled as the girl danced around singing, "Blah, blah, blah, I'm Grunkle Stan and I eat glue!" He had no idea what a "Grunkle" was, but apparently it was pretty funny, as the boy snickered and said, "Ooh, now make him say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my brain! I don't have it in my head anymore, which is why I always walk into walls!'"
"It would be nice to have a chance to do my childhood over again," Jason said. "I got raised by wolves and you stole lawnmowers. I wish me and Thalia could have been more like those two." He was about to suggest that they continue looking for the phoenixes, when he heard a loud screech.
The boy and the girl looked alarmed and stepped closer together.
"Oh, gods!" Piper blanched. "Not while there are kids around!" They were startled by a loud whoosh. In a blur of orange and red, two enormous birds each held one kid in their talons.
They were incredibly beautiful monsters, about as big as a ostrich but with longer wings and shorter necks and legs. Their feathers were shiny, almost like they were dipped in molten gold, and an elaborate crest rested on their heads. But it was ruined by the fact that the two children were hanging from their claws, screaming.
"I'll get them with the winds!" Jason shouted, floating a few feet above the ground. "Catch them if I miss!"
He was about to fly towards them and attack, when a large bald eagle slammed into the one holding the boy, who was quickly dropped out of surprised. "DIPPER!" the girl being held by the phoenixes screamed. Jason quickly maneuvered the winds, so his fall became more of an air tumble. It still looked like it hurt when he hit the ground, but not that much.
Piper's look of shock became one of happy confusion. "That's not a bald eagle... It's-"
"Hi guys," said a familiar voice from behind. They turned to see a black girl with beautiful curly brown hair and gold eyes, riding on a honey-brown stallion.
"Hazel!" Piper exclaimed. She noticed that the one phoenix still held the girl, and the other was trying to get past Frank the eagle and snatch the slowly recovering boy on the ground. "We'll catch up later! Jason, help Frank and get the other one! Hazel, keep the phoenix from the kid on the ground, and I'll try to charmspeak the monsters."
Jason agreed and flew up to the one holding the girl, trying to get it to relinquish its hold on her by flying around and trying to stab it in a weak spot. Finally, after dodging it a few times, he managed to get behind it, ready to stab its neck. But just as he brought his sword down, it somehow knew exactly where he was trying to hit it, and twisted its neck to the side. "What the-"
It twirled itself around and smacked him in the gut with its wing. Since it was blistering hot, it burned his shirt before he had a chance to pull away, though he was barely burned at all.
Meanwhile, Frank was having his own problems. While he was faster and more maneuverable, the phoenixes were bigger and stronger and didn't tire as easily. Finally, it slammed its head into him and knocked him against a tree. It raised its beak, about to strike, when the other heckled at it. The one stopped attacking Frank and squawked back. There was a brief fight of nasty bird noises, but it appeared that the other one won this disturbing debate.
The one attacking Frank hissed like a creepy Canadian goose, before flying off, the other one following, girl still clutched in its claws.
...
Falling down from twenty feet in the air probably should have hurt a lot more than it actually did. Dipper had actually survived way more dangerous falls, such as when Gideon had thrown him with his giant robot. He had still gotten a concussion and needed a few days of rest and painkillers, but he had not been too seriously injured.
However, he did know that you could seriously injure yourself falling from that far. Somehow, he had caught a weird wind current and fallen down at a much slower rate, banging himself slightly on the ground. It still hurt, but only gave him a few bruises. As it was, it still took him a few seconds to recover. But by then, it was too late.
He looked around, desperate to see his sister. What he saw was a couple of older girls holding strange gold swords. He looked up... Mabel! She was still being held in the talons of one of the birds, and another teenager, a boy, was... flying around her? Maybe he had another concussion, but he didn't think so. He forced himself to his feet and pushed past the girl, who gave a small noise of surprise. "Wait! Don't-"
He ignored her and ran towards the direction of the creatures, who were squawking and hissing at each other, before flying off. "MABEL!" he screamed, reaching out his hand as if he could somehow grab her from over fifty feet away. (About 18 meters for metric users.)
"DIPPER!" came the faint reply. "HELP ME!"
Dipper was about to charge into the woods in the direction, when he something grabbed him from behind, causing him to fall on his butt. "Oof." He twisted around to see it was the black girl with the sword. He scrambled backwards quickly, gripping 3 inside his vest. "W-why do you have a sword?" he asked, voice trembling.
The girl looked at him in surprise. "You can see it?"
Dipper had met enough crazy monsters to know better than to trust someone with a sword. He edged back until his back touched the trunk of a tree, and glanced around the clearing. There were two paths; one that would follow the direction the monsters had taken Mabel, and another that would take him back to the Mystery Shack. While Ford, Stan, and Soos might be able to help him, it was blocked by the three teenagers who all looked bigger and stronger than him.
The girl with the long braided hair came up next to the one with the sword. "If he can see through the Mist, then we can't just tell him it was a freak eagle attack or something. I'll charmspeak him."
Dipper didn't like that term. "Wha-what's charmspeak?!"
She ignored that question and stepped a little closer. Dipper clutched 3 for courage. She closed her eyes in concentration, then opened them, staring straight back at him. "You were cutting wood and some vultures attacked you. Your sister chased them off and she'll be back. You should go home or your parents will be worried about you."
Dipper's nerves immediately relaxed. That made sense. Mabel loved to chase animals. She was probably going to be back in just a second. After all, they needed to cut wood so that Grunkle Stan wouldn't... wait a sec. Mabel loved candy way too much to waste time chasing vultures. And Grunkle Stan would be really mad at him for losing Mabel. There was no way he could go back to the shack.
He tensed up, remembering something he had read in 2 a little while ago. Sirens are powerful monsters that usually live near the water. They can lure people, especially men, with their enchanted voices and then eat them. The best way not to fall under their charms is to sing or listen to loud music.
Dipper gulped and shifted through his vest, grabbing his mini cassette player. He jammed the ear buds in and turned the music up very loud. 'Disco girl, coming through...' drowned out all the other sounds.
The two girls looked very shocked and confused. They said something to each other, which Dipper could not hear, thanks to the music. Now he just needed to get to the trail.
He took a deep breath and... burst into a full out run. He pushed through the two girls and ran for the dusty trail, just a few more feet away. He had almost reached it when the blonde boy he had seen earlier grabbed the back of his vest. Dipper didn't have time to stop, so he seized his journal from the pocket inside, and wrenched out of his grasp.
'Don't worry, Mabel!' he thought. 'I'm coming!'
...
Jason stared at the vest that he had just pulled from the kid. "What was that?"
Piper shook her head. "I'm just as confused as you are. I've never seen a mortal so alert. Even if he could see through the Mist, not only did he resist my charmspeak, he identified that he was being charmed."
Frank cruised down, turning into a human just as he reached the ground. "Well, from what we know of phoenixes, apparently they like to eat mortals who can see through the Mist?"
Hazel snapped her fingers. "That's why they attacked them! The other girl must be able to as well... Oh, gods." Her eyes widened.
"What?" Jason asked. "I don't like that expression."
"If the phoenixes already realized that that kid could see through the Mist, there's a good chance they could come back for him!" she gasped. "And he's heading right to them! We gotta catch him before it's too late!"
The four demigods nodded. "I'll turn into a crow and look for him. I'll come back to you guys if I find him. You guys search on the ground," Frank said. He transformed and flew on ahead.
"Let's go," Jason announced. And they started down the dusty trail, the kid's vest still clutched in hand.
Sorry for the late update. Work and school was hectic.
Did ya guys see the finale of Star vs. FOE? It was really cute! You should watch it!
Reviews and flames appreciated!