Chapter 3

Gary's POV

Munchkin children were about to be crowned immortal. Funny, I always thought I'd be immortal by the age of 3 due to my utmost inability to attract everyone to listen to my every whim. I saw as they hesitantly jumped in. I was a little surprised they trusted us so much; after all we had only met them not long ago.

They jumped, Leaf stepped back when the backsplash happened. I merely waited for what was going to happen. Was it painful or was it just like a bath? I watched as the two children's bodies disappeared from my sight. It was a bad time, but I said, "Do they even know how to swim?"

"Oh, god. Gary, what if they don't?" Leaf looked like she wanted to jump in to save them. So much for miss-know-it-all. She peered into the glowing river's murky water to catch sight of any children.

"They know how," Paul grunted. I caught an eye roll, but I didn't ask. He usually knew what he was doing. It was probably why he had to talk to the munchkins for a second before we left. I would've stayed for their little one-on-one (two?), but Leaf was getting ready at the time. I couldn't resist.

Watching as Leaf debated to go swim in the river and become immortal herself, I just watched for any sign they were alive. It may have been cruel, but I wasn't feeling any guilt. I didn't have time to worry about being a heartless monster because a blast of light came from the river. Falling onto my hands and butt, my eyes went temporarily blind from the toxic green light.

What happened next was unsettling. Two bodies shot up from the river and hovered while their eyes and mouths shot out rolls of memories. Instinctively, as one flew too close for comfort, I lashed out with a sword slash. I'm sure my dazzling eyes and irresistible lips went through the same as the two kids.

A woman in her early 20s at most made her way to her house. Her dark hair made her look like Austen. The messy talking while she made lots of unnecessary steps to get to the front door of a trailer home made her current situation obvious. The smeared mess on her face made it apparent she had regurgitated more than just once didn't make it any less obvious. After uselessly rummaging through her purse, she pounded on the door while a few things dropped from the bag onto the ground.

After a moment a little boy with lots of freckles answered, "Momma do you need to eat?"

"Not right now Laura. Draw my bath, I'm not in the mood," she said slurring her words with the occasional hiccup. She went in and Sarah ("Laura") was left to pick up her dropped lipstick, change, and tampon…

Meanwhile, a younger version of Austen was making dinner the best she could. A few bandages were wrapped around her hands. Using a baking glove to use a wooden spoon to scoop out fried rice slightly charred in some parts. Giving two big helpings without any scorched parts, she served them onto the table. With the two smaller plates she scooped the rest on the plates, mostly burnt seeing as there wasn't enough to eat without eating the overcooked parts as well. Taking the two plates she went to go get Sarah.

Sarah had already drawn the bath and was allowed to eat. He had gotten the forks, so they could enjoy their food as much as one could enjoy a plate of mostly burnt rice. After finishing, they went to clean up the kitchen.

"Get me a can!" A man who used to have bright red hair lit a cigarette. Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled the deadly chemicals into the air. Sarah jumped and rushed to the fridge to get a chilled, Budweiser.

I felt a pull at my arm. Blinking, I realized it was Leaf. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Thank god. You were just standing there after touching the things flying out everywhere. I got a little worried, you were just staring into space – not that you don't usually do that anyway. But-"

"So, you were worried about?" I teased. She looked away. I laughed.

"If you go any farther with what I think you're going to do, I'm going to kick you in the river," Paul threatened. Jeez, it wasn't like I was going to have a make out session when two children could die. I'm not that willing to let my hormones rampage.

"So, what should we do? Do we just wait here, or what?" I asked while Leaf flushed by trying to think about what Paul said. After all, she was a bit on the perverted side. I guess someone finally decided to follow in the steps of someone great.

Ash's POV

Dewford's ice cream was delicious. Pikachu licked a cookies 'n' cream cone in my hand. It really was peaceful, almost enough to lull me to sleep. The summer rays were calling, though. Finishing my cone I went to go back to the beach. My Pokémon at my side, I spotted Misty and Dawn as they were sun tanning.

I really didn't get it. What was so great about getting tan by lying in a plastic chair when you could go play volleyball at the beach? Getting a newly blown beach ball I got ready for a game of intense volleyball. Misty saw my Pokémon assembling into teams and joined us; at least she got the waste loads of energy at the beach thing. Dawn gave a halfhearted cheer as we started. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Quilava, Gible, and I were on Team Ash. I released out my team.

On Misty's team was Starmie, Politoed, Corsola, and Azurill were on Team Poseidon. Letting Pikachu serve, we begun.

The score was 16-10. I was on the losing side. Water-type Pokémon were a lot better at beach volley than I thought. I got into the position of serving when an arrow whizzed past my hand and popped the multi-colored ball.

About four girls approached us with weapons. It was a lot scarier than it sounded, but they were in their swimsuits, too. In a rhythmic walking pattern, they marched up to us.

"Where is she?" the first one asked. I half expected her to blow a bubble with chewing gum, but she only folded her eyes and crinkled her brow. Oddly enough, her hair was shorter than mine. I felt kind of feminine.

"She?" I questioned.

"Oh, sorry, were we talking to you? I believe I was talking to the smart one." She made a crude expression. Whatever she woke up to this morning, it was probably a lot of butt hurt.

Misty gave a wary facial expression. Dawn joined us short after seeing four girls make their way to us like they were in some kind musical. She was starting to look a little sunburnt, too. Ignoring my presence as if I was some kind of foot fungus, they greeted Dawn. But if I were fungus, it'd be tree fungus.

"Anyway, before this thing interrupted, we need to find her." The sort of leader of the pack gave an impatient tongue click.

"Who?" Dawn asked.

"Lisa." It sure was nice being ignored, even though I asked the question first.

"Um, I'm pretty sure she's in that labyrinth place," Dawn replied.

"Take us there," she harrumphed. If she didn't have many friends, I wouldn't be surprised.

"Um, we can't-" She put a hand up to my face. It kind of smelled like a wet dog.

"Be quiet. What part about that do you not understand? Next time, this hand might make contact with skin," she hissed. I cowered away, she was scarier than Misty.

"So, let me guess. You're a hunter along with Lisa."

"You got it. Artemis sent us to go fetch her," she nodded in confirmation.

"That's a problem because-" Her other hand came up this time. It smelled like the time I accidently singed off Paul's eyebrows. I almost hurled, Paul really was cruel in the most efficient ways.

"I give you one more shot. You. No. Talkie. Okay?" I nodded and she released her burly hand.

"As much as we appreciate the Ash beat down, he's right. They went into Daedalus's labyrinth and we have no idea on how to get them in or out." The she-beast growled. She kind of reminded me of an angry Ursaring the size of a Snorlax.

"Then I guess we're staying here until she arrives," she stated. As much fun as vacationing with someone that wants to grind my intestines into a sea infested with Sharkpedo, I think I'll just pass this one time.

"Uh, I don't know…I mean…we don't have room, right Misty?" Dawn gave a pleading look to the redhead.

"Yeah, yeah! That's right; our rooms are too small to fit all of you. Bummer," I wasn't the brightest in the light bulb department, but they're excuses sounded as flimsy as soggy paper.

"Nonsense. We're just going to rent our own rooms. We'd prefer camping in the wilderness, but seeing as there is none. This is a make-do shift." Dawn gave a panicked look, which I should've been doing.

"Um, that's awesome! I'm Misty," she introduced in an enthusiastic voice. I'm not sure the gorilla girl got any of this because they started introducing themselves.

"I'm Rylee." Rylee looked average compared to her leader. Her muscles were lean, sure, but they weren't big enough to be chairs. Her hair was darker and longer than mine. She carried a quiver complete with bow.

"Chizu," another said. She was so unbelievably small, her muscles didn't look impressive, but the sledgehammer in her hand was more than enough. The head of the weapon looked bigger than my last meal. Her hair was in ponytail that reminded me of squirrel tail.

"'Sup my name's Leslie." Out of the four, she looked the most harmless. Her green eyes made her look like a doe. The Jigglypuff ribbons in her pigtails didn't make it any more threatening. From what I could see, her only weapon was a salmon ribbon twirler.

"And I'm the temporary leader until Lisa comes back, Mary." So, she was literally Scary Mary. Whoopee.

Simon's POV

After following a long cavernous walkthrough, I made it to what looked like a kitchen. It was your average one, something you'd expect to see in a home. Sink, dish washer, pantry, cupboards, table, trash can, and fridge. It was rather plain; it lacked any personal feel to it. The only thing that stood out was a yellow sticky note posted onto the fridge, but I didn't see why they didn't put a magnet on the fridge to complete the look.

Taking the note, it said,

I like disgusting things, so surprise me.

Taking a quick looksee around, I found a glass display case. I lifted the glass handle and found a circular ring hidden by the glass, simple enough. I was supposed to make something gross and feed it to a kitchen counter. Fair enough.

Taking a peek in the fridge and cupboards there wasn't much to work with. A few preserved cans of peaches, a Coke, and some shrimp-flavored cup ramen. Seeing as I didn't have any choice, I started to prepare it all. Adding lukewarm tap water to the ramen I let it sit for a bit before adding the Coke and peaches. Mixing that with the plastic fork I found in the ramen, I added the three packages of seasoning from the container. One, fair enough was just dried green spices of some sort, floated at the top.

Taking a whiff, I couldn't say when was the next time I would be ready to eat another meal. I added the other two packages, one was a clear oil and the other was a gooey mess of brownish red. I didn't bother mixing it, seeing as it looked plenty disgusting. Taking a bit of dirt from the cavernous walkway, I sprinkled it on as if it were salt.

"Yum?" Putting my masterpiece in the display, I watched as the counter sucked it in. Waiting for a bit, nothing happened. Then, the entire room started shaking violently, I had to hold on to the counter until it stopped and I may have yelled for my mom a few times. When it was over, a new opening was there and I talking no precaution I walked through it.

I saw everyone crowding an entranceway and went to go see. It was Mary…Marlene…Marie… (I haven't known her for that long)Marina. Jimmy was pounding on what seemed like nothing and she couldn't get through. It really was a strange sight.

"Simon, help me would you?" Lisa asked. I was there in less than a second…

"Sure." I ignored the fact that no one's acknowledged my existence at all.

"I know they're all trying to get Marina, but Jimmy left this running, so here I am trying to serve a crap load of food," Lisa explained. I nodded. I really was too much like an obedient dog. Fetching everyone their serving of what Jimmy made –he wasn't the best of cooks. Crowding around Marina as we ate, occasionally tossing her a piece of food. Apparently the invisible barrier let through inanimate objects, but we couldn't let her in and she couldn't let us through.

A note drifted down and Drew caught it while flicking his bangs. Typical sarcastic egoist. Reading it out loud, he said,

"Dear Ugly Demigods and Marina,

Since none of you know what's going on. Let me explain, we're playing a sort of game. You've all passed level one, well, except the small one. She's injured, that automatically gets a disqualification. Don't worry, I won't kill her. I'll only kill her if all of you are disqualified. Then, you all die. It's pretty simple, so I guess this isn't really a game. It's more of survive or die. Oh, well. So, seeing as no one's been able to pass all ten levels, I wish you the worst of luck, and Happy Hunting! Oh, but here's a lovely hint. Ask Marina what kind of frivolous adventure she went through today. Bye now!" It would've sounded a lot more evil, but Drew read with such a monotonous voice, I almost fell asleep.

We figured we'd go through all of it the next morning and we set off to go sleep. Finding an extra blanket in Lisa's bag, we gave it to Marina.

So, I still need that editor. Oh, and if you haven't answered my poll, please do. I have a tie in the top two and I can't write my next story if the two are still tied…so, REVIEW!

~TDF~