A/N: Better late than never, I always say. I'm just glad I got this chapter out on time. These past two weeks have been filled with me doing my AP English 8 paged term paper, so I haven't gotten around to typing this chapter out till just yesterday. But its break finally, so expect the next chapter to be next weekend. Okay, this chapter is LONG, so I don't want to waste anymore time on the authors note. Enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: Anything Danny Phantom is not mine. Anything else is.
Chapter 25 Olympus Obstacles Part 1
The three looked paralyzed as they just stood there, frozen, and stared up at Vlad who hovered over them. The man had on a confident evil grin as he folded his arms in front of his chest and stared back down at the teens gawking at him. It was a strong change of events.
"W-what are you doing here, Vlad?" Danny finally managed to spit out. It was clear by the detest in his voice that he was furious to find his arch enemy there.
Vlad's grin widened at this question. "Daniel, didn't you get the news?" he asked with fake innocence.
Danny quickly looked to his sides where Theo and Rhodes stood. Theo looked slightly confused, him never knowing exactly who Vlad was before and not knowing a thing about this conversation. Rhodes looked puzzled too, but she looked weary. She knew the power Vlad could hold. She could feel it also.
"What news?" Danny asked, trying not to sound terrified. His heart was slamming against his chest like a drum in a rock show. Vlad wasn't in their plans. It didn't help that he was playing mind games with them. Where was Zeus? Things were going down hill fast.
"I guess Hermes forgot to give it to you," Vlad said. "The gods and goddesses have made a decision."
"Stop messing with us!" Theo barked, losing his patience with the man before Danny did.
For the first time Vlad noticed the half sphinx. His red eyes narrowed as his lips twisted into a mocking smile. "What are you going to do, cat boy?" he asked Theo, "Hiss at me? Yes, flatten your ears in your pathetic anger. Incase you haven't noticed, I'm the one in control here."
"Just tell us what the gods said, Vlad," Danny ordered. He gave Theo a glance, warning him to keep his heated emotions steady. Theo was fine, but steaming.
"Oh, but I like stalling for time," Vlad told Danny with a wicked chuckle. He was enjoying himself entirely at the group's expense. He then changed his focus and set his eyes on Rhodes. "So I was right with the violet eyes, wasn't I?" he asked the fox spirit. "I'll have to admit, I didn't expect you to be a girl, but that doesn't really matter now does it?"
"One touch," Rhodes whispered to Danny with a startlingly cruel smile, "One touch and he'll be a black crisp."
"Take it slow," Danny told her, trying not to grin at Rhodes' eagerness. It wasn't every day he saw her so high strung. She hated Vlad before she even knew him well enough to hate him.
"What are you kids doing here anyways?" Vlad asked them once he noticed his spiteful comments weren't getting him anywhere now.
"Zeus," Theo answered. He was always the one to get right to the point. "Where is he?"
"Not here, apparently," Vlad answered, the pretend concern coming back to his voice, "Aw, poor kitty looks mad."
"If he mocks me one more time, I'm not going to take it," Theo growled over to Danny.
The ghost boy was at his wits ends. The tables had been turned drastically. Vlad was taunting them, wasting their time, but why? Why wasn't he just open firing on them and blasting them away? Why was he playing dumb and trying to rile them all up so all their tempers were at a boil? Something was going on in the background, but Danny couldn't figure it out fast enough. He needed time to think.
"Where is Zeus?" Danny repeated the question sternly.
"I guess I should tell you, Daniel, because confusion might make you go insane," Vlad said with a sigh, "But then again, I wouldn't mind you going crazy. It might suit you quite well."
"And stoop down to your fruit-loop-like level?" Danny said with a smirk, "Please spare me the humiliating demise." Vlad's smile wavered in his flash of anger. "Did I strike a nerve, Vladdy?" Danny asked.
"Ah, our witty banter is always fun, Daniel," Vlad said, "But I prefer the part where I beat you to a pulp."
"So why not cut the chit-chat short?" Danny quickly asked. "Why not blast away?" He got into a fighting stance, slightly crouched and open to the elements around him. "We're all but ready for the kicking of your butt."
"Hm," Vlad said, tapping his chin in thought. "I'd love to see you try, child, but that isn't part of the plan. You see, I'm just here to keep you three distracted. By the confused faces, I see that I must explain." Vlad planted his wicked grin on his face once again as he said slowly, "You only have a few hours until you have to return Zeus' symbol. All the gods and goddesses are at the meeting building waiting for you good, little demigods to show up. Problem is…you three aren't ever going to show up."
"Danny, get us out of here!" Theo quickly ordered as he spun around toward the door. He wasn't going to stick around for anymore of Vlad's pointless talk. They needed to get to the meeting building…now!
They all turned around to go back the way they came but were stunned again by another presence. The person there was huge with attractively toned muscles and towered over the three by at least three or four more feet. His curly strawberry blonde hair sat in a mass on his head. His blue eyes looked faded, as if in a daze and not fully there. Theo knew that stare. Danny had that same stare just two weeks ago.
"Say hello to the mighty demigod, Heracles," Vlad said down to the cornered teens. "He's really a nice guy when you know how to control him. But sadly, on your part I mean, he sees the two of you as the enemy."
"Two of us?" Theo asked, glancing behind to shoot Vlad a confused look.
"Oh, yes, I forgot to add in the part that you're little Kitsune friend is on the other side as well," Vlad said.
Before Theo could register this information, Rhodes attacked. For a second the atmosphere buzzed around Danny and the half sphinx as Rhodes collected the electricity from the very air. She packed it into a small ball in her hands. Time seemed to slow while Danny and Theo whipped their heads over to her. She let the ball explode from her hands, aiming straight at Theo.
The fox spirit's aim was true. The blue ball of sparking energy shot out of her hands and collided with a blast of bright white light against Theo's exposed chest. Theo was thrown off his feet, letting out a short yelp as intense hot pain consumed his chest. Danny watched with astonishment as Theo landed roughly on his back a few feet away and skidded to a stop, smoke from the shot drifting up from his chest.
"You kids have fun," Vlad laughed before vanishing.
"Danny! Look out!" Theo screamed at the ghost boy before it was too late. He had barely any room to speak because Rhodes was already gearing up for another powerful attack.
Danny, confused and dazed from the recent turn of events, was snapped back into reality by Theo's desperate call. He looked straight ahead, eyes going wider when seeing Heracles running toward him. He had little time to react, but he managed to dart to the side before he got plowed over by the Greek Hulk.
Thinking he had outwitted the big guy, Danny was surprised when a large hand engulfed his ankle and better part of his leg in a death grip. The ghost boy had made the mistake of thinking all guys with big muscles were stupid and slow. He was soon going to change his view on that stereotype.
Heracles only had to bring his arm down. Danny's body was forced through a couple of G's in only the matter of seconds. He couldn't even scream as his body smashed fiercely into the stone ground. Danny could literally feel the rock crack and indent from the very force at which Heracles had flung him. If he hadn't been in ghost form, he would have been dead on impact.
For a moment the boy couldn't breathe. His vision darkened for a second as air tapped their feet impatiently at the door to his lungs. Then it all rushed in with a frantic gasp of severe pain.
Heracles didn't give Danny much time to recover. His clouded eyes narrowed as he brought Danny back up and swung him like he would a baseball bat, just that he let go at the end. It was a wonder how the boy didn't get a bone snapped in two. Danny flew into the air, fighting to keep conscious. It was on his way back down toward earth that he got enough sense to stop his fast free fall and use his ghost powers. He stopped in the air just a few feet from Heracles ready grasp.
Meanwhile, Theo was dealing with his own threat to his life. Wincing, he placed a hand on his burnt chest that heaved from his rugged and hard breaths. Rhodes didn't give him time to take inventory of his wounds. She sent another blast of energy his way with a sharp battle cry.
Pushing the pain into the back of his brain, Theo rolled out of the way of the shot just in time. He gathered his feet under him and pushed himself high into the air. Time seemed to go by painstakingly slow as he flipped over the Kitsune as she frantically gathered more energy into her palms. Her clouded violet eyes stayed on his narrowed brown ones as he passed over her.
The second Theo landed, Rhodes shot her ball of electricity. The half sphinx, with his backed turned to the girl, ducked, spun around in the blink of an eye, and blasted his own fireball at his temporary enemy.
Rhodes gave a sharp cry before flinging herself into a duck roll to the side of the fireball. She sprung back to her feet with grace in every step and thrust her pointer and middle finger in Theo's direction. A long arc of blue electric energy blasted from her fingertips with its goal to hurt.
Theo's eyes widened in surprise of the fox spirit's immense power. He threw himself into a set of back handsprings to avoid more of Rhodes' sharp blasts of energy. To catch Rhodes off guard he suddenly changed his direction of momentum and pounced straight for the girl with fists blazing.
Close combat turned into a rigorous dance filled with kicks, punches, blasts of energy, and sharp battle yells. Blasting a ball of fire at Rhodes, Theo was alarmed to see her avoid it so quickly and come in from his side with a roundhouse kick. He ducked, grabbed her recoiling leg, and used all his strength to lift her into the air and throw her down to the ground.
Panting and sweaty, Theo sat on the girl's stomach and pinned her arms above her head. Chests heaving, the two were nose to nose now. Theo could now see for sure that Rhodes was under some spell. Her usual calm and collected gaze had been transformed into one of hate and bitterness.
"Where is he?" Theo snapped into Rhodes' face. "Where is Dionysus? Tell me!"
"Wouldn't you like to know, Theo," Rhodes teased with a wicked and almost seductive smile.
"Rhodes, please, snap out of it!" Theo pleaded with the Kitsune, his harsh tone leaving and one of concern replacing it. "You're smarter than this! You know that this isn't you! Snap out of it!"
"Snap out of what?" Rhodes asked before bringing her head up and brushing her lips lightly against Theo's as if tempting him with a kiss. The sensitive touch caught the half sphinx off guard, and Rhodes managed to get a hand loose from his tight grip. "Sucker," she whispered into his Ra marked ear before blasting him away with her free hand.
Eyes wide in shock, Theo shot across the rock floor of the room. Promptly getting over the betrayal, he desperately tried to stop his projection but was too late. With a cry of dismay and fear, Theo flew over the edge of the floor where the mountain ended and plummeted downward. He disappeared before he even knew what was happening.
At the other end of the room, Danny was having his own troubles with Heracles. That first hit had sent Danny's brain into a whole other dimension. He had never had a ghost or any other creature slam him that hard before. His head spun when he flew too fast, and it was hard to focus on the hypnotized demigod constantly taking a swipe for him. The ghost boy was lucky he hadn't been nabbed again. He wouldn't be able to take another hit like the one before.
"Dude, you need to stay off the steroids," Danny told Heracles. He grimaced before bolting high into the air to avoid the large hands of his adversary. The guy was amazingly quick for his size. "They aren't very healthy and have bad side effects," Danny continued with his banter, which was more out of nervousness than anything else.
"Why can't we be friends?" Danny asked, smiling tensely up at Heracles as he landed a few good yards away from him. Heracles frowned in annoyance at the boy. "Okay, maybe not," Danny said quickly, "But we can still talk it out, right?"
Heracles shoved his bare hands into the rock floor, cutting smoothly into the solid material with his fingers. Danny watched with dread as the young man used little strain to force a large block of rock out of the earth at his feet. Heracles then raised it above his head and threw it at Danny with a grunt.
"Crap," Danny muttered to himself. Setting his mind to it, he turned himself intangible and let the boulder pass right through him. He flew out of the rock surrounding him and had to avoid some smaller rocks being thrown at him by the demigod.
Having enough of this useless battle, Danny caught a rock coming at him with both hands and flung it back at Heracles. The demigod skirted out of the way of its impact. Danny used that little time of distraction to sum up his ice power. Smirking, the young phantom blasted a stream of his cold power from his eyes at Heracles. He flew down to his new ice sculpture to inspect the damage.
"Popsicle in 2.8 seconds," Danny said, mentally congratulating himself for a job well done.
Looking up, Danny's grin faded into a look of horror when seeing Theo fall off the edge.
"Theo!" he screamed, hand out stretched in front of him in desperation. "No!"
Before the ghost boy could get his feet off the ground to fly and save his friend, Heracles burst from his ice prison and grabbed Danny by the neck. The two went down, Heracles on top and in control. Danny's back slammed roughly against the floor, making him wince in pain.
Struggling fruitlessly, Danny fought for his freedom. He could barely breathe with Heracles' giant hand wrapped fully around his throat. The demigod's massive and strong body pinned Danny's tiny one to the floor. And for some reason he couldn't just go intangible and phase through the floor. He wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
Suddenly there was clapping.
Danny stopped his incessant squirming to listen to whoever was there. He couldn't move his head with Heracles' hand keeping his neck in place. It wasn't till the eerie clapping stopped and the echo faded that the person revealed himself to Danny.
A young man moved into the ghost boy's line of sight. His blood shot green eyes had a wicked delight in them as they took in the pleasing sight of Danny's precarious position. Danny would always remember those eyes.
"Dionysus," Danny growled in disgust.
"Danny," Dionysus said with an amused smile, "So nice of you to remember me."
"Remember this!" Theo roared from behind. He had somehow stopped his fall off the cliff and had climbed back up, probably with a lot of help from his cat genes. Now he leaped into the air, drew a fiery fist back, and came down upon Dionysus in a surprise attack.
He was seconds away from getting in a shot of a lifetime when Rhodes knocked him off course by slamming into him from the side. She plowed into him and sent them both to the floor and skidding to a stop.
Rhodes was the first to get up. She was quick and vigorous in her movements as she kneed Theo in the face, wrapped an arm around his throat, and placed her sparking fingertips at his side. Theo, still reeling from the brutal hit to his face, could do nothing but submit to the hold on his body.
"It's amazing how the play works out so well when you put a little planning to it," Dionysus said with a happy giggle. "You're little girlfriend is such a perfect puppet, Theo. I hope you're not too attached to the thing. I'd love to keep it."
"You keep your hands off her!" Theo shouted, struggling in Rhodes' grip. "She is not some toy you can play with!"
"Temper, temper," Dionysus said, grinning at Theo's unnatural display of emotions.
"What are you doing here?" Theo demanded to know. "Don't tell me that you're with Vlad."
"Vlad?" Dionysus repeated with a sharp laugh. "That ambitious god is busy creating chaos all over again. He has the power bug, has the notion to rule the world or something. I only agreed to be in his plan to distract you demigods because I'd get my revenge on you."
Theo frowned in thought. "What have I ever done to you to make you hate me so much?" Theo asked with exasperation.
Silence.
"Whoa! Wait!" Danny yelled in anger. His throat burned from the hand pressing down on it, but it didn't stop him from asking incredulously, "Do you even remember why you hate Theo?"
"Of course I do!" Dionysus snapped back, shooting a cold glare Danny's way. "Shut up!"
"You're freaking crazy!" Danny shouted at the god. "You don't even have a reason!"
"He never liked my plays!" Dionysus blurted out, a little embarrassed. "He hates the theater, so I don't like him."
Theo sighed in frustration before saying honestly, "I never said I hated your plays. Actually, I kind of like them." Okay, so maybe he was half honest.
"Yeah, the one I was in was cool…if you cut out the life threatening part," Danny piped in.
"Oh, thanks," Dionysus said down to Danny with a prideful grin.
"Can you let me go then?" Danny asked hopefully. He put on his cute and innocent smile.
"No," Dionysus answered frostily. Danny's smile dropped and he growled a few insults under his breath.
"I don't hate the theater, I just didn't like you," Theo explained. "I don't like people who think life is just one big game or play performance. All you do is get drunk, have wild parties, and punish people who don't."
"Exactly," Dionysus cut in. "So you need to be punished. Now, puppet, be a good doll and give Theo a little spark that he is sure to remember." He snapped his fingers as if trying to get a dog to do a trick.
Theo winced but said nothing as Rhodes began to gather energy in the hand that she had placed on his side. He narrowed his eyes on Dionysus and waited for the right time to move. He could literally feel when Rhodes had gathered her energy and let it course out from her fingertips.
It was at that second where the collecting stopped and she poured it all forth when he grabbed her hand with his free one, pointed his two fingers in the direction he wanted with his other hand, and let her electric energy flow through him as if he was merely the conductor.
An alarmed yelp came from Rhodes, who knew exactly what Theo was doing. But electricity is a fast one. She had no control of it once she realized that Theo wasn't going to be the one to get hurt. All she could do was watch as an arc of her transferred power blasted out of Theo's fingers and collided with Dionysus' body.
Dionysus let out a loud scream of pain as his body was shocked with hundreds of volts of electricity. His body went rigid as blue sparks zipped up and down the course of it. In seconds the damage was done and he dropped to the ground unconscious.
"Why is my hand wrapped around your throat?" Heracles asked Danny, genuine confusion spread across his face. His blue eyes were clear, the hypnotism on him broken. "I don't remember anything. The past few days are a blur."
"Yeah, about that," Danny choked out. "Can you let me go?"
"Sorry!" Heracles said quickly, not knowing his own strength. He helped Danny to his feet while saying, "I hope I didn't do any permanent damage to you while under that spell."
"I'll walk it off," Danny said.
"Good!" Heracles said, grinning. He patted Danny on the back, almost whacking the ghost boy off his feet and successfully knocking the air out of him for a second. Danny coughed, trying to keep himself together to not seem rude to the giant standing next to him.
"Danny! Help!" Theo shouted in panic.
Danny perked up at the call. He and Heracles spun around in union to see Theo kneeling over a fallen Rhodes. The ghost boy had a flash of terror but quickly pushed it back as he flew to Rhodes' side. Heracles came rushing behind him, a grim look on his face.
"What happened?" Danny asked Theo. He took in the Kitsune's state. She looked fine, just very still. "Is she breathing?" The question scared him half to death.
"No," Theo said, a frantic tone in his voice. "I think when I used her power some of it blocked up in her. The build up must have electrocuted her insides. I think it stopped her heart!"
"CPR, dude!" Danny told Theo. "Do you know how to do it? I don't! I don't!" He had seen it thousands of times in movies, but movies didn't count.
"Give me room then!" Theo shouted at Danny and Heracles. The two moved with blue eyes wide in fear. Theo tilted Rhodes' head back then blew into her mouth using his own. He counted out loud the times he did that, then went to her chest and pumped it, still counting. He was on his second cycle when the life came back to her with a loud gasp.
"Yes, yes!" Theo whispered in triumph. Tears of joy welled up in his eyes. He patted Rhodes' cheek to get a response out of her. "Stay with me, Rhodes. Tell me how you feel."
The Kitsune looked up at Theo with a faint, weak smile. She lifted up her frail arms and grabbed Theo's head in her hands. Her smile widened as she brought his face down and kissed him. Theo, suddenly not aware of the outside world, deepened the passion.
"Okay, not expecting that one," Danny muttered, grinning in pure embarrassment. He turned away to give the two some little privacy. He and Heracles made eye contact and they laughed at the awkward situation.
"Do they normally do this?" Heracles asked him.
"Um…no," Danny answered.
"What, you want one too, ghost boy?" Rhodes asked Danny from where she was at his side suddenly. "Jealous?" Danny laughed before throwing his arms around her neck to give her a hug. He was just relieved to have her alive and well. Rhodes ended up giving Danny a quick peck on the cheek anyways, which made him blush.
"Hey, Theo. I haven't seen you in half a decade," Heracles said to the half sphinx that was close to Rhodes' side with a grin planted on his face. "Where have you been?"
Theo shrugged. "I've been working on that map I've told you about, living a boring life in the country, you know me," he said smoothly. "How has your quests been going?"
"Hard as usual," Heracles said with a sigh. It was like they were talking about homework or something. "Do you know how to knock out Hades' dog, Cerberus? I'm having a problem with that one."
"Am I missing something?" Danny asked, feeling like the third wheel. "You guys know each other? You never told me that you personally knew Heracles."
"Uh…you never asked," Theo said. "But, yeah, I know a lot of demigods. They all get around somehow. We like to keep in touch from time to time." He then frowned as something came to his always racing mind. "We're getting off topic. We only have around an hour left to give Hera and Zeus their symbols. Hopefully Sam and Tucker are doing their job, but I doubt it now with Vlad in the mix. We need to find them then get to the meeting building where the gods are waiting for us."
"I can go find Sam and Tuck," Danny said, slipping his magical sack off his belt to give to Theo. "You go with Rhodes to the meeting building while I go find them. We don't have enough time to search for them."
Heracles stopped Danny from handing the sack over to Theo's outstretched hands. They all looked up at him with question in their stares. "I'll find your friends," he said. "The two of you need to be there to confront dad and the others. I'll take the fox girl with me."
"You sure?" Danny asked.
"Yes," Heracles answered with a firm nod. "You guys have been on this for two whole weeks from what I've heard. All that you've been through was always together. It would just be stupid to split up now. You two know what you want, and you can only accomplish it together."
The three stared up at the big demigod speechless for a moment. It was Theo who broke the silence by saying, "It's a plan, then!" He then turned to the girl beside him and asked, "You gonna be okay with Heracles, Rhodes?"
"I'll be fine," she reassured him. "Besides, I'm still really weak. I guess dying and coming back to life really takes it out of you." Her sarcasm brought a laugh out of the group.
Heracles picked up Rhodes then and put her on his broad shoulders. She chuckled nervously from her new height, but felt safe with the strong demigod in control. She looked down at Danny and Theo and smiled.
"I owe you one, big guy," Theo told Heracles.
"Yeah," Heracles slowly said with a grin, "Remember my problem with Cerberus?"
"Don't push your luck," Theo said flatly.
A/N: Part one of the finale is done. Next part is next weekend. After that is the conclusion. So only two more chapters. I'm gonna miss this fic…but I might not miss it too much…if you catch my drift. Anywho, hope you liked the long chapter, gear up for the next one, and review. Thanks for reading!