You have every right to want to murder me, but things have gotten busy. Danielle moved away, and directly after that I took midterms, then the teachers started giving me homework up to our knees, and then I lost the draft for this chapter that Danielle gave me. Now before Danielle appears in my room and scalps me- you're laughing cause you think it's a joke- IFOUNDTHEPAPERDONTKILLME!
Anywho, on with the chapter. This one actually leads to the plot! Woo!
Chapter 7
Like Always, Jason dreamed. He saw Coach Hedge standing aboard the Argo II, tugging on his beard and looking lost and upset.
"Coach!" Jason called, wondering if he would be heard. Fortunately, the satyr turned.
"Pan's pipes!" he yelled, scowling. "Where have you cupcakes been? I've tried everywhere!" He stomped toward Jason, fidgeting with his baseball bat.
Jason cleared his throat. "Yeah, um… about that, I'm dreaming. I'm not really here." Jason began telling Coach Hedge everything. When he finished, Hedge's eyebrows had nearly reached his horns.
"There must be some serious magic going on here," he muttered. "I'll tell you what, cupcake, I'll-" the dream shook, and Jason snapped awake. He realized the shaking wasn't just a dream. The air was disturbed. Jason looked up and his jaw dropped. A giant fleet of red airships was descending on the temple.
One of the ships turned, firing a large ball of flames at him. Jason summoned the winds to knock the fireball to the right. As it flew by him, he could feel the heat of it blistering his arm. It collided with a stone column, breaking it to pieces and knocking part of the roof down. Debris flew everywhere, hitting people and waking them up. Leo shot to his feet, sending an unhappy Momo sprawling. Momo chittered and hid behind a column.
Zuko ran up to Jason. "What's going on?" he asked. Jason pointed at the airships.
"Started firing on us. Came out of nowhere." Zuko followed his gaze and rage crossed his face. Before Jason could ask why- or more importantly who- another fireball came streaking at them, too close to blast away for risk of hitting the others instead. Jason tried to back up, grabbing onto Zuko.
. . .
Leo ran. He wasn't going to let that fireball hit Jason. Leo reached into his newly repaired tool belt, but he was distracted. He came up with a tin of breath mints. Man that was embarrassing. He dropped the mints, deciding to fight fire with fire instead.
He jumped in front of Jason and the scarred dude (these people had such weird names. They're hard to remember) and let a jet of flames loose from his palm. A giant arch of fire shot from his hand and hit the fireball, overheating it and detonating it early. Unfortunately, it exploded right in Leo's face.
KA-BLOOOM!
Leo flew backwards and hit a stone column. Those things were everywhere! His head smacked against the rock. A sharp ringing noise masked all of the other sounds, and his vision was blurred around the edges.
It took him a few seconds to figure out how to move. Once he could, Leo got up and scanned the area. Toph was shielding Piper and Hazel. Annabeth was pointing up and saying something to Percy. The other girl- Katesomething- was healing a burn on Scarred Dude. Frank had turned into an eagle and was flying with the monk, circling the airships. Jason was still redirecting the fireballs. Sokka threw a boomerang.
Annabeth and Percy ran up to Leo. "Leo," Annabeth started. It was hard to hear her voice through the ringing. "We have an idea. We're going to fly up there on Appa, but we need you. Those are firebenders. You can face them and distract them while Percy and I find a way to deactivate their airships." Leo nodded and followed them to the giant bison. They clambered on top and sat down. "Yip-yip!" Annabeth cried.
Appa roared and took off, leafing Leo's insides behind. He still couldn't believe this thing could fly. Leo wished Appa was a machine so he could put his hand on him and tell how he worked. Another fireball came sailing toward them, so Leo blasted it. This was strange. Normally Leo would be completely drained of energy by now, firing off such large amounts.
All three demigods had to hold on tight as Appa swerved to avoid an airship. Leo barely caught a glimpse of a black-haired girl staring at them in disbelief. Then she started shooting lightning.
. . .
Frank nearly ran into the flying bison. He had tilted, trying to avoid the blue lightning. At the last second, he heard Appa roar and ducked, missing the big guy by maybe an inch. Blue lit the sky again.
If only Frank could see… He imagined what his grandmother would say. Fai the eagle, blind as a bat! Despite his heightened eagle vision, Frank had no idea where he was going. He didn't see that he was headed toward the lightning until it was too late. WHUMP! Thunk. "Aah! Guards! Get this crazy mutation off of me!" Hands grabbed at Frank, and he morphed into human form. There were gasps and cries of shock.
A blue light ignited beside Frank. With a start, he realized he had landed on the cause of the lightning, quickly scrambling back as she lobbed a ball of blue flames at his face. He ducked and pulled his bow out. The girl standing before him had black hair like Zuko's. She wore a topknot with two little clumps of hair hanging on each side of her face. Her outfit was nothing but red. This girl was pretty. And she was unhinged. Frank's inner animal instincts told him to run and hide from this girl.
Frank knocked an arrow and aimed, but guards in matching red uniforms surrounded him, trying to jab him with swords. He jumped over a swinging blade and turned into an eagle again. Frank recognized this girl as an important authoritative figure. If she was running this attack, Frank wanted to make sure she was distracted and couldn't give too many orders.
He dodged another burst of fire and flew at her head. She started to duck, so Frank made a compromise. He grabbed the clip from her hair, raking his talons through the topknot. The girl now looked like a black-haired Cousin It. He couldn't see and ended up blasting some of her own guards. The poor men fell, knocking everyone but the girl down. Frank turned into a snake and wrapped around her legs, tripping her too. More guards then swarmed into the room.
. . .
Percy got Leo's attention when he saw their chance. The blinding blue lightning had stopped, and men were disappearing below deck (is that the term if it's an airship?). He ducked as Aang and Momo flew overhead. (Seriously, how did that lemur's parents meet? They couldn't have exactly bumped into each other at the supermarket.) Annabeth managed to guide Appa up close to the main airship, which held all the commotion. Percy and Leo hopped aboard, and Annabeth veered away before she could be hit with fire.
The two demigods were immediately noticed. Percy looked at the reinforcements pressing in on them, and wondered where they came from. They didn't seem to have come from Target. He had to stop thinking about that, though.
One eager crew member came at Percy with his sword. Riptide was out in a flash, sending the opposing blade spiraling down into open air. Leo backed to one side, splitting the soldiers down the middle. He drew hammers from his tool belt and lit them on fire. Percy slashed and rolled, ducked and sidestepped. Leo smashed armor with flaming metal.
Percy noticed when soldiers from other airships began pointing their cannons at them. He decided to try out a new trick, one taught to him by Katara. Percy pushed his senses outward, searching for water. This time he paid more attention to details, and found what he needed. He raised his hand, making the air around the ship condense into a thin layer of shimmering water. He had no time to thicken it any, since he was still holding the crowd of armored men at bay.
Many soldiers on Leo's side began to panic hen they found out he couldn't be burned. Several were already bound by duct tape or rope. Swords flew from the airship. Defiant yells echoed around the water bubble. Percy slammed his sword hilt into the last guy's head, making him collapse.
FOOOM!
The watery sphere bubbled and broke apart, liquid raining down on the temple. Grabbing Leo, Percy dragged him along as he raced towards the sounds of eagle screams.
. . .
Frank knew he was in trouble. One guard had smacked him with the flat of his blade, sending Frank flying (no pun intended) into a wall. Pain covered his left wing like a heavy blanked. Frank turned to human and drew his sword, trying to see through his red vision. He dodged a blue fireball and stumbled, ramming into a guard. They fell to the floor, Frank's vision going black around the edges.
BAM! The metal door flew open, hitting the wall behind it. Percy and Leo charged in, the former jabbing with Riptide and the latter throwing flames. The strange fire girl immediately noticed Leo, and shot a fireball at him. It hit him in the chest, pushing him backwards. Frank heard a small gasp of surprise come from the girl when she saw that Leo wasn't hurt.
Frank used his right hand to draw his sword, determined to do his best to help Percy, though Percy was already doing a thorough job.
Slash! Soldier down. Clunk! Soldier out.
Frank put his sword away, resolving to drag guards out of the way. He had to dive to the side when Leo and girl, now engaged in a fight, came too close.
A painless window was placed feet away in the wall. Frank knew that this was how the girl shot lightning at them. Forgetting his arm was hurt, he leaned on it to look out the window and clenched his teeth together. When he did this, he felt something metal in his mouth. Frank spat it out on his hand and saw the clip he had had in his beak. He noticed the fire girl watching him in disgust.
"What?" snapped Frank. "Want it back?" The girl gagged. Leo used the distraction to knock her aside with a monkey wrench.
Footsteps pounded toward the room, sounding like heavy metal boots. A whole crowd was rushing toward the commotion. Frank looked out the window again, and saw Annabeth flying under with Appa. Everyone but Jason and Aang were on board. The other two were flying separate. Annabeth came up to the window.
"Get Percy and Leo and come on!" she cried. "We have to get out of here!" Frank relayed the message and, one by one, the demigods jumped out the window.
. . .
They weren't going fast enough. Leo watched as the airships swiftly gained ground (or air?) on them. He turned to the others.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" he demanded. They grimly shook their heads.
Frank was pale. His arm sat limp in his lap. "Dude, what's wrong with your arm?" Leo asked. "It's swollen."
Everyone looked at frank, who gritted his teeth. "Just busted it a little, I think," he said. Annabeth moved over to look at it.
"Yep," she said. "Possibly broken. Lets make you a sling. Leo?" They fixed Frank's arm with gauze, duct tape, and a cut-up tarp. Annabeth pulled some ambrosia from her pack and handed a square to Frank. As he chewed, Sokka picked up the baggie.
"What is this?" he asked, breaking a piece off. Leo lunged and snatched it before Sokka could eat it, and placed it back in the baggie.
"Dude!" Leo said, relieved. "Be more careful. I probably just saved you from spontaneous combustion, but how about be don't take that chance?" Sokka looked confused.
"Then how can he eat it without dying?" Zuko asked, pointing to Frank.
"Perk of being a demigod. We're only half mortal," Leo responded, still thinking of what he had just told Sokka. To be able to get away they needed another trick. Frank couldn't turn into anything at the moment, Percy was too tired to control the air's water again, Jason was barely able to fly, Aang had no free hands, and Appa was slow from carrying so many people at once. Leo looked at Zuko. "I have an idea," he said. When he finished explaining, Zuko shook his head.
"I'm not sure I have that ability. It's too dangerous to risk burning the group."
Percy looked up. "I can do the water shield thingy one more time." He stood. Katara stood with him.
"I can help," she said. "I'll focus on Aang and Jason, because they're harder. You focus on the rest of us, but leave Leo and Zuko outside the shield so they can do what they have to." Percy nodded.
Leo rose to his feet. Zuko sighed and followed. Katara and Percy summoned the water from the air and created spheres covering the group, leaving Zuko and Leo outside. Their hands filled with flames. Zuko looked at Leo. "I told you, I can't aim that far!" he said, motioning towards the advancing airships. Leo shrugged.
"Go back with out friends, if you want. I'm at least gonna try."
Zuko's nostrils flared. "Excuse me?" When Leo said nothing, he huffed. "Fine. What do you want me to do again?"
"When they shoot the fireballs, blast them with more flames. They detonate not because of impact, but because of the friction caused when they collide with something. The slightest amount of extra heat could cause them to explode early. We just have to provide that extra heat, but we'll have to make sure it detonates before it gets too close, or it may kill up." Zuko nodded.
"Makes sense."
Leo's eyebrows rose. "Huh. Normally when I launch into long explanations like that, all I get is a bunch of blank looks." Zuko elbowed him.
"Looks like we're the smartest ones here," he joked, smirking. Leo was about to grin in return when the airships launched their first fireball. Zuko threw a handful of flames, but it fell short. Leo hit the fireball and tried not to inhale the ashes. He looked at Zuko.
"Throw the fire like you're throwing a ball. It helps." With this tip, Zuko detonated more fireballs than Leo. Suddenly, the firing ceased. "What are they doing?" Leo murmured.
Zuko's face tensed. "It's almost like they're waiting for orders.." Leo and Zuko stood still and watched. Then, as if they had received their cue, the airships began to cluster together, pointing their cannons at Appa. Simultaneously, they fired. All at once huge balls of fire arced toward them. Leo glanced at Zuko, who's face was growing pale. Leo knew that Zuko had realized something: they couldn't stop this one.
As Leo stood there watching the wave of destruction hurtle toward him, he felt his body begin to warm. Pressure filled his gut, and Leo doubled over. His insides felt heated, like his hand did when he summoned fire. Leo looked up and saw that it wasn't too lat to detonate a bomb or two, so he was going to try.
He straightened with some difficulty and shot flames from his palm, but it wasn't the normal burst. Giant tongues of fire traveled from his hand up to his chest, and exploded outward. Leo's knees gave out and he crumpled. He raised up on his hand and looked over Appa's saddle (if that's what it was). The fire hit the bombs and every one of them exploded, vibrating the world as Appa roared in defiance and Momo chittered nervously.
Leo blacked out as a dark shape flew at him.
. . .
When Leo began to resurface, he noticed the now familiar rushing feeling of flying on Appa, so maybe he hadn't been out long. He opened his eyes. Zuko was leaning over the edge of the saddle, watching something. He faced the group. "Welcome to Ember Island," he said.
Leo realized he wasn't on Appa. He looked at what he was riding and gave a star. It was Percy's Pegasus, Blackjack.
. . .
I am sorry to say that updates will be coming fewer and farther between. I have more homework that words on this page, and I need to find a way to get chapter 9 from Danielle because she is now half a state away.
Ehem. Hint hint, Danielle.
I would like to thank the guest who reviewed on 2/16 for inspiring me to drop whatever I was doing and looking for the chapter, thank you SO MUCH!
If I don't update soon, here are three excuses I MEAN POSSIBILITIES as to why. A) I have too much school work. B) I have writers block (been getting a lot of that lately). C) Danielle has come and murdered me in my sleep.
Read and review!
