He was able to keep his secret from his parents.
But he couldn't keep his secret from his cousin?
Jay couldn't believe his younger cousin was actually here, in the middle of the battle. She even managed to stop a snake monster from eating him by shooting a stone down in his throat.
"Cronus never mentioned an 8th hero." Kekrops hissed.
Zana shot a stone at Kekrops, but the geminus was ready and caught the stone swiftly in his hand.
The geminus scoffed as he flicks the stone away, "Pathetic."
"I wouldn't think so."
Kekrops turned around, only to be knocked out when Herry hitted him with a large rock, causing him to let go of Jay in the process.
Jay landed on his feet and managed to kick one geminus on the stomach while Theresa knocked out the other with her nunchucks. Both gemini released their hold on the hero in the process.
"Zana thanks, but you have to get out of here now." Jay advised his cousin.
Instead, Zana crossed her arms, and gave him an expecting look.
Jay groaned and turned to his friends, "Guys, Zana. Zana, Theresa, Neil, Odie, Archie, Herry, Atlanta. Gemini, Zana. Zana, humanoid snake monsters who are trying to destroy us."
Kekrops hissed at the heroes as he and his fellow gemini slowly slithered towards them.
"I can't believe you sneaked out on me to beat up monsters and didn't even bother asking me to tag along." Zana voiced out her annoyance as the group slowly backed away.
Suddenly, more gemini appeared, outnumbering the heroes and one girl.
Jay grabbed Zana's hand and led the group away from the gemini.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Zana exclaimed as the group were being chased.
"Taking you somewhere safe!" Jay replied as he tried to find a way to lose the gemini.
Zana didn't want to be safe. She wanted to fight back.
"Can you at least tell me why you guys get to fight monsters and I can't?" She demanded.
"Well we were chosen by the gods to defeat this evil god named Cronus..." Neil began, before screaming when a geminus almost bit him from behind.
"Look Zana;" Jay reasoned while the group threw various objects at the gemini, "If we survive... Which we will... You can't tell anyone about this. Not even Mom, Dad, or Auntie."
Jay looked back. Somehow they managed to lose the gemini.
The group stopped to catch their breathes in front of a large tree.
"So let me get this straight;" Zana pointed out, "You guys are all descended from those heroes grandma told us about in her Greek stories, and you're suppose to send this god Cronus back into Tartarus before he destroys you and takes over the world."
"Yeah." Herry confirmed, "That pretty much sums it up."
"Okay." Zana grinned excitedly, "I'm in."
"No. No you're not." Jay shook his head.
"Come on." Zana complained, "I'm descended from a hero too, right? Maybe that warrior princess, Xena."
"First of all; She's just an actress." Jay pointed out, "Second; You weren't suppose to be here."
"Yeah. And the Prophecy clearly states that Cronus was going to be defeated by 7 heroes." Neil added, "And you're a bit too young for that."
"Hey I saved your butts." Zana argued.
As the cousins argued, Theresa sensed a threat approaching them.
Her senses were proven true when Kekrops and the gemini emerged from the shadows.
When the heroes saw the gemini approaching them, they brought out their weapons. But when one gemini scratched Archie on the arm, they slowly backed away due to being outnumbered.
Zana wanted to shoot another stone at the snake monsters, but soon found herself backing away too, until she touched the bark of the tree.
When Zana's finger made contact with the tree, the tree glowed, filling the forest in its golden light.
It was so bright, the heroes and the gemini had to shield their eyes.
Cronus grinned triumphantly as he gazed at the object the giants and gemini have unearthed;
A large sword, crafted from bronze, silver and gold. Black chains of unknown elements surrounded the mighty weapon.
Ouranus' sword...
"It's mine..." Cronus chuckled triumphantly, "It's finally...!"
She touched his hand, their fingers interlocking. A perfect fit.
She smiles...
Cronus groaned as he clutched his aching head. The pain subsided, but then he saw a familiar glow from afar.
"It can't be..."
"Don't mind me." Persephone teased Hades, "Pretend I wasn't even here."
The gods stopped when they sensed a disturbing force.
"Could it be...?" Hestia muttered.
Meanwhile, a goddess was tending to the plants when she sensed the same disturbing force the other gods felt.
The light was too bright for the gemini that they had to slither away.
When the light died down, the heroes and Zana unshield their eyes, only to find the tree gone. All that was left of it was a pile of leaves.
And an unconscious woman with long, silver streaked golden hair that almost reaches her feet. She was also wearing a white sundress with flower decals, and white shoes.
"So... Who wants to give her mouth-to-mouth?" Zana asked as the group gathered around the woman.
"I do!" Herry, Odie, and Neil excitedly raised their hands simultaneously.
However, the woman began to stir, much to their disappointment.
Jay didn't know who the woman was, but he knew they just couldn't leave her here. Especially with the gemini hot on their trail.
"We have to go." He told the others.
Atlanta carried the woman on her shoulder, and the group fled the area.
They may have not noticed this, but before the tree transformed into the woman, there were two other trees behind it. When the tree glowed, the two shorter trees transformed into two piles of leaves.
From the piles of leaves, emerged two lions; One male with pure white fur. The other female with golden fur.
The two large beasts sniffed the ground. They gazed at the direction the heroes went and growled at that direction.
"So the stories about the gods are true?" Zana asked.
The group found a safe place by a stream to hide and formulate a plan.
Now if they could do something about the... interruptions.
"Yes." Jay replied, annoyed. This has been going on for a while.
"Zeus?"
"Yes."
"Hades?"
"Yes."
"Poseidon?"
"Yes."
"Santa Claus?"
Jay looked blankly at Zana, "You do know he's not greek, right?"
While Jay had a, long talk with his cousin, Atlanta and Theresa were tending to the mysterious young woman they found while the others kept watch for the gemini.
She was still unconscious, so they wrapped her up in Odie's hoodie, gently laid her against a tree, and waited for her to wake up.
Theresa wondered how she became a tree in the first place. And for how long? Her family must be worried sick about her.
Wanting to help the woman, Theresa reached out to touch her shoulder. But then she stopped, afraid that her powers might hurt the woman.
Just like what it did to her friends.
After a few seconds of hesitating, Theresa finally touched the sleeping woman. For some strange reason, all of the teenager's nervousness disappeared, and was replaced by a warm, gentle feeling the moment she touched the sleeping woman.
The images were blurry, but she could see her running away from six monsters.
She was scared, and confused. When one of the monsters attacked her, the vision ended.
Theresa removed her hand from the woman. She felt sorry for her. Either the monsters turned her into a tree, or she managed to escape them and turned herself into a tree.
Either way, she must have been a tree for so long, she must have missed a lot. Especially her family.
The woman softly moaned and shifted, earning the group's attention. They gathered around her, just as she opened her bright blue eyes.
The woman looked at the group curiously before giving a gentle, "Hello."
"Hi Miss Tree." Zana greeted back with a wave, only to earn a raised eyebrow from Jay, "What? We just saw her changed from a tree."
The woman stared at the little girl curiously while her friends groaned.
"Sorry about her, Miss...?" Jay paused.
"Ray..." The woman looked up as if considering, "Ray?"
"Well," Neil smiled as he approached the woman, "aren't you a Ray of sunshine in this beautiful night."
The girls, including Zana, rolled their eyes at the compliment.
"Thank, you." Ray-Ray replied sincerely, yet awkwardly.
When she smiled, the group swore they saw the Sun shining above the night sky.
When Ray-Ray saw Archie's scratched arm, she got up and held it in her hands, "Oh dear. are you okay?"
"Nah." Archie shook his head, "Nothing to i...?"
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise when Ray-Ray's hands began to emit a warm, golden glow, and healed Archie of his scratch.
Archie gently pulled his healed arm away and examined it, "How, did you do that?"
But Ray-Ray looked surprised as he was, "I didn't even know I could do that."
"Are you a sorceress?" Zana asked, "Or a fairy? Or a nymph? Or a goddess? (Gasp) You're not a demon, are you?"
"Zana." Jay scolded.
"I," Ray-Ray looks uncertain, "don't know. I don't even know how I got here."
Blurry images of shadowed creatures flashed before Ray-Ray's eyes, leading her to clutch her head in intense pain. Theresa and Atlanta quickly rushed to her side and gently laid her back under the tree.
"Maybe the gods can find her family?" Zana spoke up.
"I'll call Hera right now." Jay agreed as he took out his phone.
"So..." Neil slyly grinned at Ray-Ray, "You remember not having a boyfriend?"
"Come on Neil." Odie scoffed before whispering to Ray-Ray, "Do you?"
Annoyed, the girls had to drag them away.
"Don't even say it." Atlanta warned Herry.
Theresa once more sensed danger approaching. The others noticed this and braced themselves for another gemini attack.
The bushes before them start to rustle. Seconds later, two lions, one female and one white-furred male, emerged from the bushes, growling at the heroes.
"I got this you guys." Herry approached the lions, "I wrestled one of these when I...!"
The lioness jumped on Herry, pinning him down to the ground. Herry tried to pull her off him, but to his surprise, found that he was unable to do so.
He was even more surprise when the lioness grabbed the back of his collar with her fangs, and then flung him several feet away, crashing him on a big boulder that splitted into two upon impact.
Archie attempted to hold the lion back by striking him with his whip while Atlanta aided him by shooting laser beams with her wrist crossbow. Unfortunately for him, the lion kept charging at the group, swiftly dodging the whip and laser beams with quick leaps, twists, and/or turns.
Just as the lion was about to pounce on his prey, a beam of golden light emitted from Ray-Ray's hand, knocking him down in the process. The lioness quickly rushed to her mate's side and gave him a comforting lick.
Ray-Ray was shocked, "I didn't know I could do that either."
"Okay. You're not a demon." Zana remarked. She heard large foot-steps behind her, "Those aren't lions are they?"
She turned around and shot Agnon's eye with a stone. The giant was temporarily blinded enough for Neil to get on all fours and trip him.
Ray-Ray was caught by surprise when Kekrops wrapped his tail around her and pulled her towards him. Jay attempted to rescue her, but the lioness beat him to it by tackling the geminus and pinning him to the ground, allowing Ray-Ray the chance to free herself from his tail, only to leave Odie's hoodie in the process.
As the heroes and Zana fought the lions, gemini and giants, Ray-Ray ran until she almost bumped into a two-headed giant. She tried to retreat at the opposite direction, but was stopped by another giant.
Ray-Ray soon found herself surrounded by giants. She was confused, and afraid.
Blurred memories flashed before her eyes. Six shadowed beings surrounding her. Glaring at her... Closing in on her...
Ray-Ray clutched her head and screamed, a ring of golden light surrounded her.
Zana had never had so much fun in her life!
If only her summer vacations were like this.
The monsters attacked her from all directions, but she kept dodging their every attempts. When she has a chance, she would grab a stone and sling it at a monster. Sometimes, it just irritates the monster. Other times, it would distract them long enough for the her friends to knock them down.
Jay had to admit; He was impressed by the way his cousin was taking care of herself. She even jumped on one giant, and made a gemini punch him on the face.
Suddenly, a ring of light blinded him and everyone else. It knocked down the monsters and forced the lions to flee.
Once all the monsters were incapacitated, the light died down and Ray-Ray collapsed on her knees, panting heavily.
Jay stared in disbelief at Ray-Ray's power. He didn't know what kind of powerful being she was, but he knew this was their cue to leave.
Once Theresa and Atlanta helped Ray-Ray back on her feet, the heroes fled the area.
The giants and gemini awoke only to find the heroes gone.
This was not good. If Cronus found out they failed to retrieve her...
Kekrops picked up Odie's hoodie just as a portal materialized, and Cronus emerged from it.
"Well?" The god demanded, scowling at the monsters.
The giants, even the gemini, cowered before the god's dark scowl. Fearfully, Kekrops offered Odie's hoodie to him.
Cronus roughly snatched the hoodie from the geminus and sniffed it. It reeks of Little Odie. And...
"Sun rays..." Cronus sighed, surprisingly in bliss. For a moment, before scowling once more, "Where, is, she?"
