Chapter 2: Go the Distance
While everyone at Disney Academy was having fun at the Festival of Fools, Meg was running away from a Centaur with black hair and blue skin alongside the river that ran through the city. As she tripped over the purple heeled shoes she foolishly wore, though they went well with her purple one-strapped top and ripped blue jeans, the Centaur picked her up with one massive hand.
"Put me down!" Meg demanded.
"Not until you agree to be mine," the Centaur insisted.
Then just as the Centaur leaned close to Meg for a kiss, another splash was heard. Looking in front of her, Meg saw a chestnut-haired young man with large muscular arms and legs walking towards her with a sword at his side and a shield on his back. His clothes consisted of gold armor and a blue tunic. Beyond him stood a white horse with wings and a small goat-like creature with curved horns and a hairy chest.
"Excuse me," the muscular young man said, staring up at Meg awkwardly. "Are you…a damsel-in-distress?"
"Well, I am a damsel," Meg replied, struggling against the Centaur's grip. "I'm in distress, but I've got this situation covered. Have a nice day!"
"Fear not!" The young man proclaimed. "For I have this!"
As the young man reached for his sword, it slipped out of his hands and fell into the water.
"What're you doing?" Shouted the goat-like creature. "Get your sword!"
"Sword, right," the young man muttered as he leaned down and picked something up. "This weapon will surely save you, Miss!"
Instead of the sword, the young man accidentally picked up a confused fish causing the Centaur to laugh while Meg groaned in irritation. While the fish slipped from the young man's grasp, the Centaur punched him into a nearby rock. Though the rock cracked, the young man managed to get up unscathed and ran towards the Centaur picking up his sword in the process. Then he sliced the Centaur's chest, causing him to drop Meg into the water. Fortunately, the young man picked her up before she got swept down the river and placed her on a smaller rock by the shore.
"Are you all right?" The young man asked.
"Yeah," Meg said, parting her wet brunette hair that was tied up by a purple ribbon.
The sound of hooves distracted the young man, as the Centaur came charging at him. While the young man met the Centaur head on, Meg squeezed the river water out of her hair. "Is this guy for real?"
"Oh, he's real all right," responded the goat-like creature, who now stood beside Meg. "And sweet cheeks, I'm real too."
Disgusted, Meg pushed the goat-like creature into the river while she continued to dry herself. By the time she got the water out of her shoes, the young man had punched the Centaur so high into the air that his horseshoes came off and conked him in the head till he passed out.
"By the way, I never got your name, Miss," the young man realized, cleaning his sword of the Centaur's blood before sheathing it.
"Megara," Meg answered, putting her shoes back on. "My friends call me Meg, though I don't have too many of those."
"How come?" The young man asked.
Instead of answering, Meg walked up to the young man. "So what's with these rippling pectorals, huh? Got a name attached to them?"
The young man cleared his throat. "My name is Hercules."
"Hercules…" Meg pondered for a moment. "Are you from out of town?"
"Yeah, I just got here," Hercules responded. "I've been training for the past year with my coach Phil, who's a Satyr, and my best friend Pegasus."
Nearby, the goat-like creature huffed at Meg while the winged horse neighed grumpily.
"Interesting friends you've got," Meg remarked. "Any particular reason you've come to this city, Herc?"
"To attend Disney Academy," Hercules stated. "While I may have reached peak physical condition thanks to Phil's training, he says attending this school will further my education and get me closer to becoming a true Hero."
"A true Hero," Meg repeated, smiling in amusement. "Well, go the distance, Wonder Boy. I'm sure you'll do great things here."
Then as Meg walked past Hercules, he called, "Will I see you around?"
"Maybe," Meg shrugged, looking over her shoulder. "Depends on which crowd you run with."
Leaving Hercules to ponder over that, Meg went under a bridge that was nearby and saw two creatures approach her. One was a rabbit with magenta fur while the other was gopher with turquoise fur.
"Aw, how cute," Meg said sarcastically. "A little late, much?"
"Excuse me, but I am a bunny!" Responded the rabbit.
"And I'm a gopher," said the gopher.
Then in a flash, the creatures changed into a pair of teenage boys with magenta and turquoise hair shaped like devil horns. But while the magenta-haired boy was short and fat, the turquoise-haired one was tall and skinny.
"Surprise!" The two boys said in unison.
"Very funny, Pain and Panic," Meg frowned and turned away from them.
In front of her stood a tall figure with blue skin yellow eyes and blue flames spouting from the top of his head. His clothing consisted of a black toga with trailing mist.
"Hi, Meg," the figure said snidely.
Meg folded her arms. "What is it, Hades?"
"I thought I told you to persuade the River Guardian to join my team for the uprising," Hades explained, making a chessboard appear in one hand that had a statue of the Centaur on it. "And now I'm River Guardian-less. Need I remind you of why we're doing this?"
Sighing, Meg said, "Because we defected from the Pandemonium Gang when you failed to persuade that green-skinned girl Maleficent to join you."
"Correction!" Hades objected. "She betrayed me by threatening to tell the Pandemonium Gang's leader the Emperor who I was when I said I'd blow her cover as a Disney Academy student, when she was really an evil Fairy who was trying to kill a student named Aurora, if she didn't join me."
"Why would it matter if the Emperor knew you were not a regular guy that happened to be skilled at magic but the literal Greek God of the Dead?" Meg asked. "That would make him fear you more than anything else."
"Because it would only be a matter of time before my brother Zeus found out, and I can't let him know anything about to my plan," Hades insisted. "Now what happened to the River Guardian?"
"I talked to him like you asked, but then he got all fresh with me," Meg explained. "Then this kid named Hercules showed up and—
"Wait," Hades interrupted. "What was that name you said?"
Rolling her eyes, Meg repeated, "Hercules."
This caused Hades to walk past Meg and grab Pain and Panic by their necks. "Care to explain yourselves, boys?"
"We're sorry," Pain whimpered, choking as he spoke. "I know you told us to kidnap Hercules when he was a baby, make him mortal with that stuff you gave us, and then kill him—
"But he didn't drink the whole bottle," Panic interjected, coughing. "So he retained his godly strength and sent us flying, before he got adopted by a farming couple."
"And where does this farming couple live?" Hades demanded.
"On the other side of the country," Pain said.
"So what is he doing here in this city?" Hades' blue flames turned red as he spoke.
"To become a true Hero," Meg said abruptly. "That's what he told me, after he said he'd been training with a Satyr named Phil this past year."
"Phil?" Hades paused and then grinned. "Ah, you mean Philoctetes."
"Who's he?" Meg asked.
"Just an old goat who trained all the worlds' greatest heroes," Hades said nonchalantly, letting go of Pain and Panic who landed on their rear ends. "But if he's trained Hercules, that means Zeus must've told Hercules that he's actually a God and the only way to restore his immortality is by becoming a true Hero which is going to complicate my plan."
"What's your deal with Hercules, anyway?" Seeing Hades glare at her, Meg flinched briefly.
"Eighteen years ago, there was a prophecy told to me by the Fates who said my plan would be ruined by Hercules," Hades reluctantly said. "So I ordered Pain and Panic to kill him, but now knowing that they messed up I'll have to deal with Hercules myself."
"What're you going to do?" Pain asked, getting to his feet.
"We won't screw up this time," Panic assured, standing up as well.
"You'd better not," Hades replied, causing Pain and Panic to move closer to him by manipulating the mist to grab them like tendrils. "And you're going to help me too, Meg. After all, your soul is mine."
Unable to move, Meg was pulled closer to Hades by the same mist-like tendrils as he told her Pain and Panic about his new plan to eliminate Hercules.
End of Chapter 2