Chapter 5: Artemis's Foul
Deciding not to endure the hassle of purchasing new clothes like Aphrodite advised earlier, Goku ultimately wandered off to a forested area near Long Island's easternmost tip. It rested along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, serving as a border between New York and a neighboring state called Connecticut. The ever-expansive patch of woods was filled with many towering oaks and pine trees, each of their respective leaves blocking out the sun from up above. This created a thick blanket of shadow that made the forest much more ominous in nature, making Goku feel as if he was being watched by someone or something of questionable origin. However, growing up near Mt. Paozu's incredibly dangerous wildlife, this slight uneasiness did nothing to deter the Saiyan warrior from his exploring. Well, aside from the biting sensation of boredom starting to creep in.
"Wish Aphrodite gave me a better explanation as to where I should go. This forest is starting to tire me out from just looking at it." Goku grimaced exhaustively, letting out a light yawn as he continued walking along the trail. Unbeknownst to him, an ill-tempered Artemis and her huntresses of the same name sprinted through tree after tree in differing positions. Once she caught sight of her primary target, Artemis raised a hand upwards as an indication for her Hunters to stay put until further instructions. The forever pre-teen girls did as their mistress ordered and scattered across the entire pavilion, some camouflaged on top of trees while others were crouched down behind neighboring bushes. The aforementioned goddess of the hunt squinted her eyes scathingly, golden irises shining brightly in the darkened woodland.
"Thy man doesn't look that impressive. One shot should be good enough." Zoë Nightshade scoffed ignorantly, preparing to notch a silver arrow from her bow. Artemis glared at the unforeseen foolishness of her second-in-command, placing a hand in front of the tan-skinned girl.
"Don't be so sure, Zoë. Lord Zeus told us to track him down for a reason. We should take action when the situation calls for it." Artemis lowly chastised, not even bothering to take her eyes off of Goku's approaching form. Zoë held back a retort of protest waiting to be let loose and begrudgingly nodded while looking down at the grass beneath her feet. Artemis then took a deep breath and inaudibly checked in on the rest of her followers, eyes darting from one side of the woods to the next. Receiving a universal sign of confirmation that each girl was ready to strike, Artemis positioned her trademark bow in front of her and made preparations for firing. Little did she know, Goku was already well aware of the proposed ambush from the get go.
"There's multiple energy signatures all around me. One is noticeably harder to sense than the others. If it's another god or goddess like Aphrodite, I better keep myself distracted." Goku pondered strategically, continuing to act as oblivious as he initially appeared. Meanwhile, Artemis's eyes glazed over with silver energy in an attempt to enhance the impact of her arrow. Once its spearhead radiated with equal levels of divine power, she fired the arrow at point blank range and directly aimed for Goku's forehead. Whistling speedily through the air, Goku's ki-sensing ability allowed him to see and hear the accelerating weapon in slow motion. Just as Artemis's arrow was about to pierce his skin, Bardock's youngest son jerked his head to the side and dodged the incoming attack. The arrow continued moving forward, completely cleaving a tree in half before dissolving into nothingness. Artemis and the other Hunters were expectantly floored by this insanely fast reflex.
"H-he dodged it?! How is that possible?!" Artemis gaped mentally, failing to recall a time when any prey was able to escape her perfect marksmanship unscathed. Goku looked behind his back for a second to inspect the environmental damages and then stood in place to address his would-be opponents.
"Hey! You're Artemis, right? I think I saw you in one of Aphrodite's memories." Goku greeted informingly, placing two hands over his mouth in order to elevate the audibility of his voice. The careless mention of their leader's name absolutely infuriated each hunter, especially Zoë.
"Silence, male! How dare thou disgrace m'lady's name with thy alien tongue?!" Zoë Nightshade snapped disgustedly; her dark brown eyes narrowed in pure contempt. Her fellow hunters refused to reveal their hiding places as well, only deciding to ready their own arrows in case Goku decided to retaliate.
"Huh? What did I do to make you girls so angry with me?" Goku inquired curiously, observing the battalion of feminine archers personally aiming for the head and other portions of his muscle-toned body. Artemis, still reeling back from the shock of her failed shot, stepped out of the woods and commenced a distant stare down with the heavily surrounded martial artist.
"You, Son Goku, have been seen as a threat by all of Mount Olympus. Willingly hand yourself over to Lord Zeus or face the consequences your presence has brought unto this world." Artemis icily threatened with an unwarranted sense of authority. Still confused by why he was being lambasted as a criminal, a concerning thought immediately came to Goku's head in direct relation to Mount Olympus.
"Wait, if I'm being viewed as an enemy by the King of the Gods or whatever, what happened to Aphrodite?" Goku pronounced worryingly, beginning to develop a slight connection with the ditzy love goddess. Artemis, not exactly on friendly terms with Aphrodite from past experience alone, glowered temperately and rolled her glowing eyes.
"That fool's probably being punished by Ares as we speak. Serves her right for blindly worshiping an anomaly like you." Artemis spat venomously, unconcerned for Aphrodite's personal wellbeing or romantic squabbles. Hearing that his new "friend" might be in danger, Goku scowled defensively and crouched down into a battle stance.
"If this Zeus guy had any part in harming Aphrodite, then I won't give myself up that easily. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll definitely get, Artemis." Goku exclaimed determinedly, inwardly excited for his first confrontation with one of this dimension's so-called Olympians. The Saiyan's sudden change in behavior caught the moon goddess off-guard, but even she couldn't hide her building anticipation for what was about to take place. This Goku really was the type of prey she was searching for: a challenging combatant that would put all of her inherited skills as a huntress to the test.
"So be it, Goku. Don't disappoint me." Artemis advised coolly, sporting a competitive smirk. Goku lightly grinned the same way, raising up one of his hands and gesturing for the twin sister of Apollo to come at him. Upon this display of consent for attack, all of the 12 to 13-year-old Hunters of Artemis rapidly nocked arrows at the spot Goku's was currently located. At the sight of over a hundred projectiles coming towards him, Goku surrounded his entire body with a white aura of ki and widely outstretched one of his arms.
"Haaaaah!" Goku shouted powerfully, projecting a stream of condensed energy that disintegrated every single approaching arrow in one fell swoop. Flabbergasted by this unforeseen technique, Zoë Nightshade rolled over to Goku and shot a speedy barrage of her own arrows at close range. Said Saiyan moved his arms around to shatter each one, his skin seemingly hard enough for them not to produce any sort of noticeable wound. This simply ticked Zoë off to even more extreme degree.
"Grrr! I don't care how strong thou art! NO MAN WILL EVER GET THE BEST OF ME!" Zoë screamed defiantly, taking a Celestial Bronze hunting knife out of her pocket. As she full-heartedly charged Goku in an attempt to slice his chest, Goku fazed out of existence and reappeared on the side of said shocked young girl. He then chopped the pressure point on Zoë's neck and looked down at her somewhat apologetically.
"W-what d-did…d-did…" Zoë collapsed knee first before she could finish her previous statement, instantly falling unconscious from Goku's heavily suppressed jab. Zoë's effortless defeat startled the other Hunters, a wide majority too frozen in place from fear to confront Goku any further. Not feeling any sort of hostility for the girl, Goku picked up Zoë's limp body and softly set her someplace away from the makeshift battlefield.
"She'll be fine. She might be asleep for a few hours, but that's all." Goku calmly assured the concerned Hunters, holding up his hands to prove that he wouldn't do anything overtly suspicious. This almost noble behavior from a man like Goku intrigued the overtly sexist Hunters, but their distrust in his gender was still prevalent as ever. Artemis jogged over to Zoë's side for additional confirmation that she was alright, motherly brushing away some bangs covering her closed eyelids. She smiled fondly in relief for a second before turning around to solemnly glare at Goku's present form.
"I appreciate you for doing that, Goku, but it will definitely take more than that to bring me down. Much more." Artemis forewarned the patiently waiting Saiyan as she unexpectantly wrapped the bow around her shoulders. She then did the same as Zoë and pulled out two matching Celestial Bronze blades from her coat pockets. These ones were almost diamond in color and extended up to the length of her own two arms, comparable in size to that of medieval broadswords. Artemis placed one hunting sword in front of her and the other near her backside, auburn hair flowing in the wind as she crouched downward in preparation to pounce Goku like a fierce predator on the prowl.
"Woah." Goku simply stated, awe-struck by the intricate design of her handheld weapons when, say, compared to Future Trunks' from over 7 years ago. Artemis took this as an open opportunity to slash at Goku's face with one blade and stomach using the second, causing the Saiyan to frantically perform a backwards somersault. The goddess of archers then dashed forward to slice at Goku's legs in an "x" formation as he landed, trying not to give him any ample time to breathe. Goku took a page from Piccolo's book and continued dodging, hopping above the double-bladed cross technique. He instantly transmitted himself behind Artemis's and attempt to scissor kick her neck, a method of retaliation which the empowered goddess was able to block with immense difficulty. She held both swords in between Goku's right foot and attempted to use her divine strength to throw him onto the soiled ground. This failed once Goku teleported himself above the goddess and slammed down both hands onto her head in a successfully performed Double Axe Handle! Artemis's eyes popped out of her sockets in response to this sudden move, her beautiful face forcefully buried 6 feet deep in the dirt.
"Oh shoot! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Goku apologized profusely, cringing at the amount of strength he unintentionally put into that attack. Artemis squirmed a bit from momentary discomfort, using both "knives" to prop herself back up. The damage wasn't serious to say the least except for a prominent bruise on top of her head and disheveled clumps of red hair sticking out in several directions. She massaged her aching scalp, baffled to see that small flecks of golden Ichor, the blood of the Gods, were starting to sprout from the cranial wound.
"I-impossible. I'm bleeding from just one hit?! There's no telling how much power he may possess…" Artemis thought in abject disbelief, the droplets of Ichor dissipating as her blemish slowly began to regenerate itself back to normal. She spared a side-glance at Goku, more and more puzzled by his very existence than anything else.
"What is he? He's obviously not a god like myself, but he can't be human either. Curse father for not telling me more! As a hunter, I need to know exactly what I'm up against." Artemis asked herself almost demandingly, unaware of Goku's Saiyan heritage in his home of Universe 7. She was starting to get immensely frustrated by Zeus's vague description of Goku as "dangerous" as opposed to giving out specific details on his fighting style and abilities. But, then again, that made him all the more enticing of an opponent in relation to hunting specifically.
"Impressive hit…" Artemis grumbled under her breath, brushing excess dirt off of the white coat she was currently wearing. Goku, hearing this semi-compliment, coughed nervously whilst scratching the back of his head.
"Uh, thanks. Sometimes I don't know my own strength, so sorry about that. It was uncalled for." Goku respectively admitted, offhandedly pointing to the deep imprint where Artemis's face used to be. Artemis unamusingly stared at Goku's with flat eyebrows, her red lips etched in a prominent frown.
"Don't apologize. That will be the last injury you ever give me anyways." Artemis confidently declared, readying her twin blades for combat once more. Liking the firm spirit of this particular goddess, Goku also entered the trademark stance of the Turtle School and awaited her first move. However, a spike of hostile ki abruptly entered his subconscious mind, steadily getting more noticeable and enormous by the second. Out of nowhere, a gigantic blast of yellow energy headed straight for Artemis!
"WATCH OUT!" Goku shrieked frightfully, pushing Artemis out of the way as said lightning bolt crashed downward in a fiery explosion. The implosion of this inexplicable beam knocked down several surrounding trees, ripping their roots out of the ground without much delay. Revealing itself from the deepest parts of the woods, a larger than average hydra with three pairs of glowing orange eyes stormed into view. Each of its heads had six elongated spines that resembled crowns and a multitude of sharp spikes along their necks. The draconic monster, unlike its smaller brethren, had a massive pair of wings that tore through the entire forest every time they moved a single muscle as well.
"Graaahhghgh!" The ferocious three-headed beast roared viciously, primarily setting its sights on the stunned Goku. Seeing that their mistress and the passed-out Zoë were potentially in danger, the other Hunters sprung out from their hiding places and attempted to fend off the mythological creature as best as they could. Artemis, still being shielded by Goku, blushed in a mix of embarrassment and infuriation, and shoved the Saiyan off of her.
"Get off of me! What gave you the audacity to touch—my gods." Artemis gasped disparagingly, amazed by this hydra's immense stature compared to others of the same species. Each arrow fired by her subordinates did nothing to deter the reptilian beast's rampage, all evaporating in small sparks of static electricity before they could even touch its skin. Hunter after hunter fell from the hydra's immense power, either being sent flying by beam-induced explosions or blown away from the projected wind of its impressive wingspan. Goku, not familiar with a creature like this aside from its slight resemblance to Gohan's pet, Icarus, and maybe Shenron, looked to Artemis for some much-needed details.
"W-what is that?" Goku almost whispered in starstruck amazement, the hydra's yellow gravity beams gleaming along his widened black orbs. Artemis shakily helped herself up and glared at the monolithic creature as it tossed her girls around like ragdolls.
"That is a hydra. It's a dragon-like monster that can grow two more of its heads back if one of them is destroyed or cut off. However, I've never seen one of this particular size in over a millennium. Nor one with wings either." Artemis honestly admitted, recalling the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra that Hercules fought as one of his 12 Labors. Goku was surprised by the sheer rarity of the hydra standing before him, wondering why it barged in without warning. Then, he began to recall a crucial piece of information Aphrodite shared with him after their "date" at Tom's Restaurant.
A few hours ago…
"Anyone you see here has the possibility of being a monster in disguise. And all monsters are attracted to exceptionally high or abnormal levels of power. Meaning the half-bred children of gods like myself and…" Aphrodite whispered in as serious of a tone as she could muster, pointing to various New Yorkers crossing the sidewalk.
"…Me?" Goku hesitantly finished his immortal companion's sentence with a hand gesturing to himself. Aphrodite closed her eyes and nodded softly in dreaded confirmation, somewhat second-guessing the decision to bring her most recent love interest into uncharted waters.
"It's after me!" Goku realized with a resound snap of his fingers. Artemis, adjusting the position of her bow and twin daggers, side-glanced Goku curiously whilst proceeding to size up her next big target.
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked impatiently, ready to come to her Hunters' aid at any moment. The Saiyan warrior motioned to his chest and orange martial arts gi for emphasis on what he was implying.
"It's my power. Somehow my enormous ki is making the hydra feel threatened and territorial. Sort of like you and the Olympians in a way." Goku explained informingly while projecting a small ki sphere in the palm of his hands. Artemis deadpanned at the last phrase, causing Goku to backpedal a bit from guilt-ridden discomfort.
"No offense." Goku quickly added, darting his eyes away from Artemis's piercing gold ones. Said archery goddess sighed irritably and tapped her foot in waiting for Goku to make the point he was attempting to share.
"What are you going to do about it then, Son Goku? My hunters don't have much time left out there. They could die any second now!" Artemis demanded worryingly, peering over at certain girls collapsing from exhaustion or being crushed by the hydra's frantic writhing. Goku, angered by the turmoil he inadvertently caused, steadily built up his ki in an attempt to draw the hydra away from the wounded Hunters of Artemis. This proved successful as all three of the hydra's heads stared at Goku with their reptilian slits, growling profusely.
"Order your hunters to fall back. I'll deal with the hydra." Goku commanded sternly, his energy rising higher and higher in the guise of a flowing white fire. Taking note of this instantaneous power boost, Artemis struggled to retort the martial artist's firm advisement.
"Y-you…you can't tell me what to do! I'm a hunter! I never run away from a—" Artemis attempted to argue defiantly, holding out one of her knives closer to Goku's neck. Goku, however, was unconvinced and grabbed the virgin goddess's wrist at breakneck speeds. His eyes burned holes into Artemis's very soul, causing her to freeze in place.
"NO! This is my mess and I'll clean it up! Understand?" Goku growled furiously, easing the tightness of his hold on her just a bit. Artemis, short of breath at the moment, slowly nodded and pulled away her hand from Goku's larger, combat-oriented one. She massaged her wrist just a bit confusedly before letting out a garbled call.
"G-girls, retreat to the woods! The situation is under control." Artemis cried authoritatively, pointing to the sea of trees located behind her. The girls sprinted away from the currently distracted hydra and followed after their self-proclaimed leading lady, some taking time to both support the severely injured and gather Zoë's still unconscious body. Goku stood in place, keeping the hydra preoccupied with his highly intimidating ki signature.
"Lady Artemis, are you sure trusting this man is wise? We were doing just fine without him." Phoebe, one of Artemis's oldest hunters, grumbled distrustfully while holding a prominent gash on the side of her stomach. She was larger and beefier in size compared to her fellow colleagues, having a full head of ginger hair.
"You know that's not true, Phoebe. Besides, this Goku holds more power than we initially anticipated. Consider this hydra incident a study session of some sort." Artemis advised truthfully, tapping her noggin a few times for analysis purposes. Phoebe grunted in understanding and got to work healing the other hunters as she usually did on hunting incursions like this. Artemis then adjusted the position of her head and inspected Goku's every move from that point forward.
"Bidibidibidi!" screeched the yellow-scaled hydra as it attempted to slam into Goku, its massive wings tearing trees apart as they moved. Goku squatted down and clenched his fists alongside each knee in response, not at all fearful of the approaching monster.
"Kaioken…" Goku chanted lowly through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed dangerously. The aura surrounding his body skyrocketed exponentially, converting into an orangish-red color. Additionally, Goku's bodyweight seemed to increase in sheer pressure alone, the ground beneath his feet beginning to crack apart little by little. As one of the hydra's heads attempted to bite down on Goku, his jet-black hair steadily rose up like that of a Super Saiyan.
"…x2!" Goku yelled powerfully, his reddened body disappearing into thin air. Once the hydra mistakenly clenched its teeth shut, Kaioken Goku materialized from below and launched a highspeed kick at the monster's stomach area. Convulsing from immense pain, the hydra was sent careening into a surrounding mass of pine trees, destroying one after the other in electricity-infused implosions. Not wanting to cause too much devastation, Goku vanished once more by keying on the hydra's ki. Artemis and her hunters were left completely speechless by this display of experienced battle prowess.
"I-impossible! H-he managed to injure it without a Celestial Bronze blade!" Phoebe choked out from reactionary shock, infuriated that Goku was singlehandedly able to outperform every hunter with just one attack. Artemis was even more dumbfounded by this strangely named technique, noting its positive effect on the marital artist's strength and speed.
"If Goku could make me bleed by his ordinary lonesome, there's no telling what he could do in this state. It's…I've never felt this terrified, yet immensely excited at the same time." Artemis thought elatedly, wanting to figure out everything about the Saiyan's home and where his god-like level of power actually came from. Meanwhile, the stunned hydra continued to flail about through the woods, its heads disoriented from Kaioken Goku's rapid-fire kick. Before it could regain control of its wings, Goku shifted below the back area and launched an uppercut that sent the hydra into the skies above.
"Better keep it away from the forest for now on." Goku supposed strategically, using the last of his Kaioken x3 to elevate himself where the hydra was punched. He then dissipated his red aura to alleviate the setbacks of said King Kai's Fist and readied himself for further confrontation once more. Now airborne, the hydra utilized its wings to their fullest potential and floated in place. Every single flap projected small cyclones that almost blew Goku away, lightning bolts surrounding its entire body as it did so. Goku ignored the propulsion of streaming wind and Instant Transmissioned all around the hydra's body to psyche it out. This caused the oversized reptile to twist and turn its heads to nip at the fleeing Goku, growing more frustrated every time they missed. Goku then teleported in front of one head's elongated neck, resulting in it being ripped clean off by the center one as he instantaneously evaded!
"Yikes! Didn't mean for that to happen." Goku yelped disgustingly, feeling a bit queasy from the excess puss and blood spewing out. However, what grossed him out even more was the fact that two forked tongues molted from within the dismembered appendage, reforming cellularly into Chinese Dragon heads identical to the one that was previously lost.
"Graaahghghg!" the hydra roared triumphantly as it regenerated better than it ever was before. All four heads then opened their fanged maws in unison, orange energy building from their mouths and slit green eyes. Wanting to end this fight before it got too difficult to handle, Goku teleported beneath the hydra cupped his hands near the right hip area.
"Ka…Me…" Goku shouted loudly, a sphere of blue ki taking form in between his two palms. It grew far larger in size with the utterance of each syllable, mirroring the hydra's evolving gravity beams.
"Ha…Me…" the Saiyan martial artist continued more aggressively, beams of white-blue light spinning around the ki ball resting in his hands. Orange-yellow electricity was spat out by all four heads, combining to form one giant beam heading straight for Goku and the very planet itself!
"…HA!" Goku screamed ferociously, unleashing a gigantic stream of blue energy known to many as the Kamehameha, or Turtle Devastation Wave in other words. This renowned ki blast collided headfirst with the hydra's gravity beam, a momentary beam struggle taking place in response. However, due to Goku's superior abilities, his Kamehameha immediately trudged through the much smaller bolt and engulfed the hydra's entire form!
"GRAGAGGAGGA!" the unfortunate hydra screamed painfully as it was completely disintegrated by the Kamehameha and sent straight back to Tartarus where it came from. The blue beam continued moving into outer space and beyond, becoming one with the inky black cosmos as it reached closer to the sun. After making sure the monster was vanquished in every single way imaginable, Goku wiped some building sweat off of his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. That was a nice, little workout! Shame it wasn't stronger though. Oh well." Goku beamed in slight exhaustion, floating back down to where Artemis and the Hunters were patiently waiting. What confused him though was that he could sense their respective ki signatures, but couldn't see where they were in the heavily disheveled woods.
"Hey Artemis! I took care of the hydra thing like I said I—Oof!" Goku's casual greeting was interrupted by a small prick in his neck. The source of this stinging sensation was a small needle with pink feathers sprouting outward from its back. He held the small dart in his right hand while scratching the back of his black hair with the other.
"I wonder what this does…Awaaaaa…Why am I sleepy all of a su…sud—" Goku eyes grew droopier until he unexpectantly fell asleep, snoring away like the goofy 12-year-old he used to be. Hiding behind some surviving bushes and trees, Artemis approached the fallen Saiyan with each of her other Hunters aside from the still knocked out Zoë Nightshade.
"Well Goku can be caught off guard when distracted. That's one weakness to take note of." Artemis blandly summarized, smugly patting herself on the back for gaining the upper-hand with her astute marksmanship. Phoebe and some other girls observed the snoozing Saiyan like a frog waiting to be dissected, appalled by his childish expression.
"What now, m'lady? Do we bring him to Lord Zeus as promised?" Phoebe inquired with interest, more so focused on getting rid of Goku as soon as possible. Artemis shook her head negatively, dismissively gazing down at Goku in a different light after witnessing the Kamehameha's star-like glow just moments before.
"Not yet. We'll take him to Camp Half-Blood for further interrogation. I need to find out what that Kaioken and blue beam were exactly." Artemis proclaimed assuredly, wanting to gauge Goku's true power for use on Mount Olympus and, admittedly, more personal reasons. Phoebe and the other hunters, absolutely despising the aforementioned demigod training ground with a burning passion, whined disappointedly.
"As you wish, Lady Artemis." Phoebe mumbled reluctantly, dragging Goku's heavy body along the dirt floor. The other Hunters carefully picked up Zoë's body as well and followed after the overly buff girl. As her followers followed the trail to Camp Half-Blood, Artemis stood behind to oversee the damages done to its forest of the same name.
"Son Goku…What other horrors will he or his universe bring upon this world? I'll have to see for myself I suppose." Artemis wondered tentatively, not even knowing what to think of the naïve Saiyan at this point. She regained her composure and decided to wait until Goku woke up, shuffling through the monster-infested wildlife of Camp Half-Blood Forest.
Hello! Sorry for the late update, but I was really busy with my high school graduation party this week. Thanks to Ascandas for the suggestion to use a King Ghidorah inspired monster for this story. It's was a lot fun to describe its physical appearance and abilities, so thanks a lot! Next chapter will introduce some of the Camp Half-Blood staff and campers, but not Percy just yet since he's at school right now I think. Anyways, leave a favorite, follow, and/or review to tell me what you think! :)
Update (4/27/2020): I deleted the intro and outro that I originally posted here. I'll be placing them on a new, separate document instead to make them less intrusive to the actual story.