Jason / January 10th / 2:15pm
Sometimes I ask myself: Why can I just be left alone for once? Me and Piper walked the streets of Augusta, Maine, where we were decided to go to for a small vacation, away from any demigod duties. It was our second day here, and we were currently on our way to a late lunch, when a terrible smell began to seep out of one of the vents in the ground in front of us.
"Give me a second, demigods" A voice from inside the vent said
Piper raised her eyebrow. "Who are you?"
"You demigods sure do like to ask questions" the voice complained as black goo began to spill out of the vent
I groaned and pulled out my golden coin, flipping it so that my sword dropped into my hand. Piper unsheathed Katoptris just as the black goo began to form a shape
The black goo contorted and formed a cubical box. "Perhaps you demigods will give me the fun I've been searching for"
"Or you can just leave us alone and find something else to entertain you" Piper suggested, filling her voice with charmspeak
The voice laughed. "Your charmspeak is of no use here, Piper McLean. I nearly killed Aphrodite once, for I was born of her mistake"
"Her... mistake?" Piper questioned
"She may be the goddess of love, but all gods have their flaws. Once upon a time, Aphrodite took interest in a particular love story, between a prince and a princess. The two came to know each other very well, and over time, the princess began to fall in love with the prince. However, the prince did not reciprocate these feelings, much to the goddess's disappointment. She tainted his thoughts so that he would fall in love with her. Through a string of events, their love became their downfall, and the two died a fatal death - resulting in the fall of their kingdoms as well"
"What are you?" I demanded
"My name is Toxicus - the bane of love, toxicity incarnate, and one of seven supreme Shadow-Dragons"
Chloe / Earlier
Sometimes I'd rather be out slaying monsters than attending school. College was tough, and during my tests, I tend to daydream about slaying a Hydra or some kind of exquisite and rare monster Hera sent me after. But here I was, in Biology, when my phone buzzed with a text. Check the news.
I pulled my phone out and went to Google where I found nothing but stories about natural disasters happening over to the globe - toxic pollution in Australia, which was one of the least polluted countries in the world, earthquakes in Vietnam, where Earthquakes were pretty rare, and others things like tsunamis and forest fires in places that shouldn't be having those problems.
"What's going on?" Kelsi, my partner and best-friend, asked
I shrugged. "Nothing"
"Who you texting?" She questioned with a mischievous grin
"No one" I muttered miserably
A strange scratching sound began to come from my desk, and letters were being inscribed into my homework I was about to turn in, like someone was writing with an invisible pencil.
I need you, it's an emergency
I wrote back, I was about to turn this in idiot
Without hesitation, a rubbing sound came from my paper and the letters were being erased perfectly by an invisible eraser, and I had to try and hold back a laugh. I sent a text back to the sender, detailing to meet me at lunch which was just after this period.
I got another text back: Thirty whole minutes? We're talking about the world here
Sorry, I have to pass this class
Part time biologist, part time monster slayer. Fine.
Under my breath, I giggled and Kelsi raised her eyebrow at me. "Come on, who are you texting?"
"Uh... a friend" I lied
"Is it a boy?"
"...Maybe" I said
"Do those two words happen to go to together, or...?"
Against my own will, I blushed. "It's just a friend from work"
"You mean from that job you can't tell me anything about?" Kelsi asked
"Yes" I blinked at her nonchalantly
After an eternity of going over the anatomy of different plants, I told Kelsi I'd see her tomorrow because I had to attend to "stuff". By now, she was use to my sudden exits so she just shrugged and waved goodbye. Once I walked out the exit to my school, something jumped off the roof and landed next to me.
I jumped back. "Gods, don't scare me like that"
"School's softening your senses" Layton muttered
Today, he was wearing his original suit of armor that Hera had given him. The crescent moon on his chest stood out as ever, and his eyes looked dark red beneath the hood and mask.
"Hey, at least you don't have to go to school" I retorted
"I think I'd rather go to school and work then kill people for a living" Layton crossed his arms
I sighed. "Ok, whatever. What's up?"
"If you didn't already put two and two together, Syn and the other Shadow-Dragons are causing all sorts of problems around the world. They're feeding off of it, and it won't be long until they have enough power to challenge the Olympians" Layton explained
"So you're promoting me from part time biologist and part time monster slayer to full time god-slaying-Shadow-Dragon slayer?"
"Sure" Layton said and there were a few moments of silence. "What happened to your hair?"
I blinked at him for a couple of seconds. "I dyed it"
For whatever reason, I had woken up today and dyed my hair so that about past my eyes, it was pink, which contrasted nicely with my blonde hair. Of course I had gained some attention from the boys, at least more than usual, but they knew how I was so they didn't make any moves.
"Come on. Mortals can see me you know" Layton brought me out of my thoughts
"Oh, right"
After a short ride on Asperox, we ended up in an Australian desert where the sand was a bright red and puffy bushes dotted the area. The surrounding trees were small, and the area looked like it would be beautiful on a good day, but the clouds were dark grey and even just catching one whiff of the air made me cough and cover my nose with my arm. I tapped my wristband and my Vibranium armor covered me, including my mask which had its own oxygen supply (thank the gods).
"This would be caused by Toxicus, a Shadow-Dragon born from one of Aphrodite's mistakes in medieval times " Layton said
I hummed in response and we began to make our way through the desert, and there seemed to be no signs of other life. As the wind passed my ears, ghostly whispers were carried with it that tried to convince me to turn back. I was a bit tempted at first, because as we got closer to our destination, the dark presence was getting heavier and heavier. But, I held my ground and we continued on our way until we reached a swamp which definitely shouldn't have been here.
Thunder crashed in the clouds above and I flinched at the sudden movement. The swamp's dark black gooey water began to mush up and fold until something began to slowly rise up from it. A disorientated body of a dragon-like humanoid with dark purple eyes glared at us, and their body constantly shifted as if it couldn't decide on one position.
"Ah, demigods. I suppose you've come to thwart my plans" Toxicus said. "I think it's honorable you'd fight for your world, but it will fall to us"
"Sorry, but when I could smell you all the way from New York, I kind of had to come" Layton replied
"If demigods insist on wanting to stop us, then I don't mind. It saves me the trouble of going to look out for good myself"
Layton's suit melted off of him into dark smoke, and his new silver Vibranium armor covered his body instead. Vibranium had a special ability that allowed it to act as nanotechnology, so an entire suit of armor could be stored inside something like a wristband. He held out the handle to his sword and the two blades jolted out from each side.
I concentrated hard on the wind until I felt the familiar grip of a sword - Funem Celer - or as I liked to call it: Pistris, which was just latin for shark. Toxicus's shape began to solidify and outstepped a bulky green dragon. His fangs were sharp but they were kind of ruined by the goofy look on his face. His tail was thick and moved around lazily, and he was also kind of chubby - his arms and legs looking a bit too small for his big and round belly.
"I wonder what you taste like..." Toxicus said, slowly marching towards us
I swung Pistris and the blade extended out about fifteen feet and curved, hitting Toxicus's belly like a whip. The blade bounced off and the Shadow-Dragon laughed. Layton lunged and swung his sword, but Toxicus blocked it with a single index finger.
"Vibranium I see. An interesting choice in weaponry, but not nearly enough to harm me" Toxicus pushed his finger forward and Layton stumbled back
Toxicus's arms began to wobble as two arm-blades bursted from his forearms and extended out a few inches past his knuckles. I kept my distance and swung Pistris again, the blade wrapping around his leg. I tugged and the Shadow-Dragon tripped, falling on his back. He goofily and quickly got up and brushed dirt off his legs before lunging forward at me. I sidestepped to avoid his arm-blade and slashed Pistris upwards, severing his arm off.
"Unimpressive" Toxicus yawned as his arm regenerated
Layton tossed his dual-sided blade and it went flying like a helicopter blade; the blade hit Toxicus's arm and severed it again. Black goo exploded from out of the swamp and wrapped itself around Layton and I's waist, dragging us in. The goo was extremely cold and it felt like it was sucking the skin off my body as the two of us struggled against it.
"One of you tastes like cotton candy, and the other like death" Toxicus said as the black goo began to swallow us up
The Shadow-Dragon held out his palm and a blue orb appeared in his hand. He motioned his hands like a fortune teller, and smoke filled it.
"Did you know that I stole this from Athena and Hecate? I used this orb in the old days to find the most delicious demigod for my tasting" Toxicus informed. "Tell me, orb, who is the strongest demigod of them all?"
Inside the orb, the smoke contorted around until the image of Percy Jackson came up. Toxicus frowned and shook his head disappointingly.
"Percy Jackson, been there, done that. Give me the second strongest then"
The smoke shifted around again until an image of Jason Grace was now presented. Toxicus grinned, satisfied. Just before Toxicus could speak, the swamp exploded again and Layton stood up. The color of his armor flickered in-between silver and black as his silver sword flew back into his hand. I found myself able to move again as Toxicus waved his hand - stopping the swamp.
Toxicus gazed with interest as Layton's armor continued to flicker between the two colors. "Tell me again orb, who is the strongest demigod"
Cracks began to appear in the orb as the smoke presented Layton's black helmet with the red dragon insignia.
"You must be one of Syn's pawns, considering his power-up has raised your combat skills exponentially" Toxicus said and stepped forward
A pair of bright red glows shone out of Layton's visor where his eyes were, and Toxicus staggered around as a fury of invisible punches attacked him. The Shadow-Dragon collapsed to one knee once the attack finished and glared back up with rage.
"Fight first and talk later, dragon"
Toxicus stood back up and his form began to shift again. His body slimmed down and his arms buffed up as his arm-blades grew in length. The breeze blew heavily as his nails grew into longer claws. In moments, his goofy look had turned into one of the most menacing things I've ever seen.
"You've got audacity to use that attack on me" Toxicus growled
The two lunged at each other in sync, but Layton dropped his sword and hit him in the gut with an unexpected hook. "Our weapons may not hurt you, but my fists will"
The Shadow-Dragon jumped back and threw his fist forward. It collided with Layton's and the ground shook as they did. Thunder up above boomed and the wind began to blow heavily, making me put effort into keeping my feet on the ground. When I looked back up, the two were going at like there was no tomorrow.
Layton swiped his fist and smacked Toxicus across the face. The dragon retaliated with a hard gut punch, and sent Layton crashing into the wall of a nearby cave. He quickly recovered and hit Toxicus with a hard uppercut before sending his other fist forward. Toxicus grunted as he stumbled back a couple of feet and nearly lost his footing.
"You'd dare fight me with the power of a Shadow-Dragon. Without it, your power is nothing in comparison to me" Toxicus said as he wiped black blood off the corner of his lips
"Then Syn should have kept me dead"
I watched as they jumped at each other again, trading blows and causing the surrounding trees to break from their roots. The wind's force accelerated and thunder crashed heavily. In order to not get blown into the wind, I summoned Pistris and stabbed it into the ground, holding it for grip.
"I've killed many demigods. You'll die the same!" Toxicus declared as he slashed his arm, knocking Layton down and sending him skidding across the ground
The color his armor flickered again until it returned back to its normal silver color. Toxicus laughed mockingly as he stood over his defeated opponent.
"You can only control that power for so long. If I wasn't about to kill you, it would corrupt you again within time" Toxicus raised his hand to deliver the final blow
Quickly, I fetched out an anti-gravity arrow and aimed it with my hand. After finding a good angle, taking in both the force of the wind and the distance, I threw it and it hit the ground directly behind Toxicus. It went off and pinned him to the ground.
Layton wasted no time in jumping back up to his feet and summoning his sword back to his hand. Once it reached, he stabbed it through Toxicus's heart and his form contorted back into black goo.
"You can kill me temporarily, but I'll be back" Toxicus promised as the goo that made him up crawled back into the swamp