The sun over the monster world savannah was bright and warm.
All seemed quite until a roar thundered across the land.
"Hurry, they're catching up to us!" Kirby shouted. There was a pack of six, massive lion-like monsters with saber teeth, spines lining down their backs and quills rustling in their manes chasing after them.
"Hand me the Q.I.R.P.L.R.," Jake shouted behind the others.
Cadence threw him the laser ray; he tried to fire at the lion monsters, but the blasts just bounced off of their hides.
The blasts just made them angrier, and they sped up and roared some more.
Zeon noticed that they were running toward a plant with the stem all nobly and with thin red leaves on top.
"Jake!" Zeon shouted. "When you run pass that red plant, fire a blast at it."
"Why?" Jake shouted.
"No time to explain, just do it!" Zeon shouted back.
Once Jake passed the plant, he stopped and blasted it.
Suddenly, a massive trap plant closed with two of the lions in it.
Jake kept running while the other lions ran around it.
The Troop made it to the vehicle, and they took off before the lions could catch up to them.
"I told you not to get too close to that pride of Nemean lions, Kirby," Cadence said, catching her breath.
"I had to get some shots of the cubs with their mothers," Kirby said.
"Why didn't the Q.I.R.P.L.R. work on them?" Jake asked.
"Because the hide of a Nemean lion is much stronger than the hide of any other mammalian monster, almost like the hide of a repticore," Zeon said. "No weapon can pierce through it."
"You said before that a Nemean lion was killed before, right?" Hayley asked.
"Yeah, by none other than the famous Greek monster hunter, Hercules," Zeon said.
"But isn't Hercules supposed to be a part of Greek mythology?" Jake asked.
"He was real, alright," Zeon said. "I actually knew him for years."
"How?" Kirby asked.
Zeon then stopped the vehicle and put it on hover mode. "Perhaps instead of just telling you about the monster hunters of ancient Greece, I'll tell you the full story of the connection with the monster world and the human world."
"A history lesson about monsters," Jake said. "This I gotta hear."
Zeon activated a machine in the middle of the vehicle that created a holographic screen for the others to see what Zeon will be talking about.
"Like I said before, I programed the dimension mites to open up portals that led from when the first living organisms appeared in your world all the way to the 21st century, and the machine that created them later malfunctioned which caused portals to randomly open up to the human world," Zeon explained. "They first opened up to the Devonian period, when the first amphibians evolved, and have been opening ever since."
"You did mention that before when you showed us the machine," Cadence said.
"So, anyway, millions of years passed since monsters first came to your world, and then came the rise of Earth's top dominant species before humans, the dinosaurs," Zeon kept going. "Monsters didn't really bother the dinosaurs that much because they had some characteristics similar to some monsters, but by 65 million years ago, volcanic monsters began to cause volcanic activity which poisoned the atmosphere and slowly began to kill the dinosaurs."
"At that same time, an asteroid slammed into the Earth, which wiped out all the dinosaurs, and a small number of monsters, although most escaped to the monster dimension."
"That's why anyone hardly finds any fossilized remains of monsters."
"Okay, so continue," Jake said.
"When humans rose as the new dominant species, monsters came out from hiding and have grown an urge to destroy humans every time they sense one," Zeon continued. "Humans didn't have a lot of smarts back in those ages, they couldn't even tell the difference between a rock and food, and they were of course terrified and ran off every time they encountered a monster."
"Humans eventually learned that they had to find ways to protect themselves against monsters, so they invented weapons and hunting plans and began to gain more intelligence."
"So, you could say that humans would probably still be living primitively without monsters."
"I know some humans who still live primitively," Cadence said, looking at Jake.
"What?" Jake asked, like he didn't know why she was looking at him.
"Eventually, around 7,000 BCE, humans became more civilized and invented culture," Zeon said. "Monsters were still at large, and that was when monster hunters formed the first Troops to hunt them down."
"That was also the same time when most Troops needed to warn all other humans about monsters, but they didn't want to tell them about the monsters or it would've caused a worldwide panic, so they invented 'Fake' stories about monsters to let other humans know about them; those stories are what you call myths and legends."
"Around 1,500 BCE, more monster hunters became legendary and stronger, especially in ancient Greece, the time when monster hunters were more well known for their adventures and techniques of monster hunting."
"There were many famous heroes who fought monsters to save Greece."
"For example, Odysseus, who after fought in the Trojan war, encountered and fought against a whole island of sirens."
"Perseus, who beheaded a gorgon called Medusa and used the head to kill a sea monster named Cetus."
"Bellerophon, who rode on the back of a winged horse named Pegasus and killed a chimera."
"Theseus, who slayed a minotaur in a labyrinth."
"And then there was Hercules," Hayley said.
"Yes," said Zeon. "He was the bravest and strongest of all those heroes, and people said that he was a demigod son of Zeus, born with incredible strength. But that wasn't really true."
"Then what was?" Cadence asked.
"I said before that I knew him very well; I actually use to help take care of him when he was an infant because his mother, Alcmene, granddaughter of Perseus, was a Troop leader of the Peloponnese Troop in the Greek branch," Zeon said. "I'd suggested to her that if I knew how Troops can develop much better ways to stop monsters, it would help me with knowing how to help stop them too without anyone knowing. The only way to earn Alcmene's trust was to look after Hercules for some time."
"The legend goes that his other mother, Hera, sent two serpents into his room when he was a baby to kill him, and it was he who strangled both of them. But those serpents were actually Vercis that took the form of serpents, and it was actually me who strangled them; Hercules was merely just playing with them when they saw him."
"Been there," Jake said.
"Since when?" asked Hayley.
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," Jake said.
"Anyway, I secretly and personally trained Hercules to become a tough and brave monster hunter, and I made him this special armor that increased his strength," Zeon said.
"The legend of Hercules also states that Hera struck him with madness that made him kill his own family. He really did kill his own family, but it was actually the work of a mind leech that made him do it for an unknown reason."
"He was able succeed in twelve labors that he was assigned to do, including killing monsters like a Nemean lion, a hydra, and an Erymanthian boar."
"Who knew that Greek mythology was so inspiring?" Kirby said.
"Around 900 BCE, a large tribe of humans from Greece decided to sail the seas. They noticed that there were monsters living in the oceans, so those people decided to build an outpost on an island in the North Atlantic to keep sailors safe from sea monsters. The people called that outpost Atlantis."
"I thought Atlantis was supposed to be a lost, legendary city," said Jake.
"They built it and lived in it like a city," Zeon said. "But it was really a monster hunting defense base with advanced technology used to fend off sea monsters."
"Atlantis protected sailors from sea monsters for centuries, but a tribe of merfolk felt like they had enough with Atlantis, so they summoned a pod of leviathans and a kraken or two to destroy Atlantis."
"Around the 5th century came the Middle Ages, or as most humans and all monsters call it, the dark ages. Those times were well known for hunting monsters like dragons, demons, and unicorns."
"During the 9th century, there was one medieval kingdom with a king who was famous for monster hunting along with the Troop back in those ages; the name of the kingdom was Camelot, and the king was King Arthur."
"Isn't Camelot supposed to be a legend too?" Jake asked.
"Yes, but it was definitely real," Zeon said. "The times of monsters invading Camelot was much more common, so Arthur needed a weapon that would help him slay monsters more easily."
"He met the legendary wizard known as Merlin. Merlin took him to a lake that was the home of monster 1,205, an Aqua Fairy, or as most people refer to as The Lady of the Lake."
"The fairy was guarding a magical sword known as Excalibur, which has powerful magic properties, powerful enough to slice an Eris fairy in half while it's making its fast movements."
"But the fairy wanted to see if Arthur was worthy enough to wield its power, so she set up a trial for Arthur."
"She placed the sword in a stone, and if Arthur was able to pull it out like a toothpick, he is worthy enough to wield it."
"I didn't know that there was actually magic," Kirby said.
"There are actually some monsters that use magic instead of physical abilities," Cadence said.
"Anyway, Arthur used the sword to slay and fend off many monsters; he even almost drove monster 833, the Vrog, to extinction but some managed to escape to the monster dimension."
"Eventually, Arthur fell in battle, so Camelot fell too."
"So, to this day, many legendary cities such as Atlantis or Camelot have been forgotten."
"During the time of the end of the Middle Ages, humans at first believed that their world was flat, but monsters knew otherwise."
"There was one human who decided to explore the seas and see if there was more beyond the old world, his name was Christopher Columbus."
"Around 1492, he sailed over the seas with three ships."
"He and his men sailed for weeks and found no land, so they eventually decided to give up."
"But there was a sea serpent tailing those ships, so they were forced to keep moving forward to escape the serpent."
"When they made it to safety on land, that was how they discovered America."
"Another great event in history that was done by a monster," said Jake.
"As soon as presidency in America began, more humans were starting to get suspicious about monsters, so the government set up an organization for the Troops in America just like in all other nations in the human world," said Zeon.
"Like I said before, George Washington was once a monster hunter and was then elected to be the first president of the United States, so he set up a program to convince all humans that monsters were just stuff of myth and legend back in 1790."
"So, it's the presidency government that keeps monsters a secret and assigned the Troop to prevent monsters from exposing the secret?" Jake asked.
"Exactly," Zeon said. "The secret was passed down from president to president for almost three hundred years."
"I'll bet that you probably haven't read about a lot of historical events that were caused by monsters in the Troop manuals."
"Mostly Jake," Hayley said. "He doesn't read a lot."
"For one, there was the Liberty Bell," said Zeon. "You were told that it cracked because the metal was too brittle, and it cracked with just one hit."
"But how it really happened was the work of monster 737, Gremlins."
"They dropped the bell from a tower which caused it to crack when it crashed."
"They even did the same thing when they made the second mold."
"In fact, gremlins were responsible for many of human histories greatest tragedies such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, The Hindenburg disaster in 1937, and also the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003."
"I hate gremlins," Cadence said. "They've caused a lot of trouble back in my old school before it was destroyed."
"Moving on," Zeon said. "There was also monster activity with Franklin Roosevelt."
"He had to come up with his first inauguration; he could've added monsters into it, but he knew that he wasn't allowed to mention monsters."
"At that same time, a wraith snuck into the white house and made him see his worst fears."
"He managed to break out of the wraiths power and confront it."
"After that experience, he came up with "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"."
"So, you've seen monsters on land, in the sea, and in the air, but what about in space."
"Did you say space?" Jake asked.
"Yes, another historical event involving monsters involves being in space," Zeon said. "The 1969 moon landing that was performed by Neil Armstrong."
"The president actually warned Armstrong not to take the risk and go up there because there could've been monsters up there. But Neil didn't listen to him, so the president sent a Troop member up there with him just to play it safe."
"The moon landing was being recorded, but while the two of them were exploring the moon, they encountered monster 028, a Void Menace, a squid-like space monster that's almost as big as Earth's moon with 25 tentacles, an armored body, and a single eye."
"They were lucky to get away alive, but it scared Armstrong so bad that he had to be snarked about the moon landing, an actor working for the Troop had to use a cyber cloak to disguise himself as Armstrong while doing any interviews, and the footage showed the void menace, so it had to be replaced with fake footage."
"I knew it," said Hayley.
"And that leads to you guys," Zeon said.
"Us?" they all said at the same time.
"You're the very first Troop to have a monster on your team and eventually to document the monster dimension," said Zeon.
"Yeah, you're right," Jake said. "That lesson about the history of the connection with the monster dimension and the human world was pretty cool."
"So, shall we keep going with our journey?" Kirby suggested. "We'll go down in history once it's over."
"Okay, I hope you all grabbed your snow gear," Zeon said.
"But its summer," Hayley said. "There's no snow in the summer."
"Not where we're going next," Zeon said. He started up the vehicle and shot off towards the horizon.
I hope you like this chapter. I know I do. Send your reviews please.