Angelo

Mortal

Age: 17

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: Chocolatey Brown

Hair: Messy Black

Skin: Light Caramel

"Thanks!"

Angelo waved to the kindly stranger who had just given him directions to the new pizza place that had recently opened up. The woman smiled and waved back. "No problem, kid. Be careful!"

Angelo rode away on his bike. He saw the ad for the place and saw their signature dish, the Red Blaze Pizza, with pepper jack cheese, pepperoni, a bit of hot sauce, and some spicy sausage. His mouth began to water at the thought of having a delicious slice of this new pizza. He pedaled faster.

Riding his bike always put Angelo in a great mood. He liked how the wind felt in his hair. His bike was also cool to look at, with a mainly black frame and red accents. If he wasn't inside reading, drawing, or playing games, he was on his bike. It was also how he got around most days. When he went to see his friends, he would always take his bike.

As he rode down the street, the light breeze felt pleasantly cool against his face. The sound of cars honking and people talking echoed between the buildings, but Angelo didn't mind the noise. He'd grown used to the soundtrack of New York City and preferred being in loud places anyways.

Up ahead, he saw the pizza place way down the street. He could see the fiery red neon sign from a distance and he got more and more excited. He wondered if his friends had gotten a slice already and if they were waiting for him at the moment. He wanted to pedal faster but decided against it. He was approaching a busy intersection. He would hate it if his about-to-be- amazing day got halted by a truck flying out of nowhere while he rode at potentially unsafe speeds on his bike. That would be mildly annoying.

He was still a good distance from the pizza place when he heard a roar. A savage roar, an inhuman roar. Not that humans tended to roar, but Angelo immediately knew something was wrong and he skidded to a halt on his bike. Roars usually meant bad, as Percy would always tell him, and this was confirmed when Angelo saw a gigantic black dragon fly in. People screamed in terror and ran from the beastthat was descending on the street. It let out another roar, shaking the ground and causing Angelo's eyeballs to vibrate in his skull (which was not unpleasant at all, nope) and exhaled a long jet of fire, blowtorching a bus stop and some streetlights.

Angelo stepped off his bike and examined the creature. Its black scales looked like hardened pieces of metal and its claws were extremely sharp. It also had a mouthful of fangs and jagged horns in its head. Its wingspan took up the entire street. Not to mention the fire breath. The flaming breath was definitely an thing was dangerous and it appeared to be hostile. Angelo figured that out real quick when he saw the beast whip its tail around and crush a city bus, which, thank goodness, was empty. The thing's tail was rounded at the end and spiked, like an oversized mace. Angelo needed to take it down before it caused more damage.

He found the nearest bike rack and pulled the bike chain and lock out of his pocket ,then secured it to the rack. He didn't want his bike to get stolen, obviously, but he also wanted to make sure he could find it again when he took care of the dragon. After making sure the bike wasn't going anywhere, he walked away from it and approached the dragon.

At first, the monster didn't notice him. It was too busy grilling up a parked car ,extra crispy, with a side of the crumpled streetlight that was right next to it. Angelo pressed a button on his watch (the time was 2:46, the ideal time for dragon slaughter), and it began to transform with a series of clicks and beeps. Finally, the watch was no more, and Angelo was now holding a sword in his right hand. He grinned as he held his weapon in front of him, examining it. The crimson blade reflected the afternoon sunlight like a mirror and the hilt fit Angelo's hand like an inverse glove. The ruby set into the sword shone with a dozen different shades of red as the light hit it just right. One of his friends, Leo, had forged the sword for him as a gift. Angelo loved it. He was exceptional at swordplay,and this very sword had gotten him out of many scrapes. Now ,he was trusting it would help him get out of this one.

The dragon noticed him with his sword. It zeroed in him and let out another roar. Angelo's nose curled up and his eyes watered as a hot, moist tidal wave of funk washed over him. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting the stench out of his poor nostrils anytime soon.

Ignoring his nose as it cried out in agony, he shouted,"Hi!" to the monster. The dragon titled its head, confused. It probably wasn't used to a human talking so calmly to it.

"Ever heard of mouthwash?" he said. "You could seriously use it, my sir."

Apparently the dragon didn't like that. It growled and shot a stream of crimson burn-you- till-you're-nice-and-golden-brown death at the spot where Angelo was standing about two seconds ago. Now he was on the other side of the street, having barely escaped unscathed. His clothes smoked slightly and he smelled burning hair, the scent strong. He realized why and quickly patted out his hair.

"Alright, alright," he said. "My bad. Didn't know it was such a sore point for you. But still, your breath is not okay. You should go see someone about that., though I'm not sure if you'd fit in the dentist's offer"

The dragon roared and charged, ready to snap up the boy in front of it. Angelo waited until the last second, then vaulted straight up into the air. He cleared the dragon's head (and its horns, thankfully) and landed on its neck. He barely managed to avoid falling off as he ran across the monster's back and jumped off at the tail.

The dragon looked around, confused as to where its meal had gone. Angelo touched down on the ground and backed up, panting hard.

Angelo had a feeling his sword wouldn't do much damage to the dragon as he watched it carefully. The scales felt like he was running on top of multiple iron chestplates hammered together into a smooth, impenetrable surface. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to hurt the dragon much, unless he had some help…

As if on cue, a voice called out to him from behind. "Don't tell me you were gonna try and take that thing on without your boy!"

Angelo grinned. He knew that voice. He turned around and saw his friend, grinning like a maniac. His curly black hair framed his face in a complete mess. His red shirt and jeans were stained with oil, as had his tool belt around his waist, which he never went anywhere without.

"Leo!" Angelo said. "Thank goodness you're here, man! I think I may need some help taking care of this dragon. Mind giving me a hand?"

Leo laughed. "I could do you one better," he said as his left hand went up in flames. "How about a hot hand?"

"Leo, you're an absolute legend," Angelo said as he faced the dragon, which had turned around to find that one annoying boy had somehow multiplied into two. The monster breathed another stream of red blast-of-heat-coming-from-the-oven-when-you-try-to-check-on-the-pizza flames at the two of them. Angelo dodged to the side while Leo just stood there, grinning as he was bathed in flames. When the dragon stopped, the son of Hephaestus was still standing in the same spot, completely unscathed. His clothes weren't even scorched.

Dragons don't really have the most expressive faces,but Angelo was pretty sure he detected a mixture of surprise and fear in the thing's eyes.

"Sorry, mi amigo," Leo said. "Fire's my thing."

He pulled something out of his tool belt. Before Angelo could see what it was, Leo pulled the pin off of it and hurled it at the creature. The grenade hit the dragon in the face and exploded in a burst of fire so intense, Angelo shielded his face from the heat. The beast roared and thrashed around, the left side of its face now blackened and burned.

"So, what's the situation?" Leo asked, keeping an eye on the dragon.

"Well, I was heading to the new pizza place and this thing came flying out of nowhere, started burning stuff and destroying things," Angelo explained. "It's pretty big, so I wasn't sure if I could take it down without help."

"Please," Leo said. "I've seen bigger. You remember my dragon?"

"Oh yeah, Festus," Angelo replied, recalling the mechanical dragon Leo had tamed. "You think he could help up with this?"

Leo gasped and feigned extreme shock, placing a hand on his chest. "Are you saying you don't think your best friend can help you with this problem?" he said in mock surprise. "How dare you!"

Angelo laughed. "Sorry, it's just that this thing's hide is incredibly tough."

"Nah, it's cool," he said. "Besides, Festus is taking a nap, and you know how he is when I try to wake him up."

"Agreed," Angelo said, shuddering. "Although it would've been awesome to see a dragon vs. dragon smackdown. So how are we going to take this thing down, preferably without getting taken down ourselves?" he asked as the dragon recovered its wits and roared at them.

Angelo could almost see the gears turning in the demigod's head as he searched for a solution. Then his eyes lit up. "The Archimedes Sphere could probably help us," he said.

"Great, but…" Angelo's voice faltered as he looked Leo up and down. "I assume you don't have it on you?" he said.

"Yeah, it won't fit in my tool belt," he explained. "You know how it is; nothing too big or complicated, despite the thing being magic. But hey, I can call it to me," he said. He reached into one of his tool belt's pockets and pulled out something that looked like a detonator: A gray rectangular box with a big red button on it. Leo pressed it, and the thing emitted a small beep.

"It'll be a bit before it gets here," he said. "For now, let's soften this puppy up, shall we?" he said as both of his hands caught fire.

"Let's do this," Angelo said, brandishing his sword.

They both charged at the dragon. The dragon charged to meet them.

The monster reared up and slammed down using its claws. Angelo and Leo dove to the side, ending up on either side of the dragon.

Angelo ran up and stabbed the beast in the leg. It didn't make a big puncture, but the creature roared in surprise and stepped back. At the same time, Leo chucked a piece of metal towards the dragon's mouth. In a flash, the thing's snout was wrapped in a metal cord that kept it snapped shut.

Meanwhile, Angelo ran around the side of the dragon to the tail, which was whipping around wildly. He ducked as it swung around,nearly taking off his head and almost getting blown over by the breeze whipped up by the rogue appendage. Angelo jumped as it swung back around and climbed on top of the beast. Struggling not to fall off, he began making his way across the back of the creature. Leo was throwing his specialized grenades at it, keeping it distracted with bursts of ice, light, fire, and, for some reason, cheese.

That one made Angelo pause. "Cheese?" he asked.

Leo grinned like a madman. "Why not? It's keeping him distracted, at least!"

He was right about that. The dragon got splattered in the face with cheese, and it was trying to get it all off. It shook its head, but the cheese stubbornly stuck to its face and wouldn't come off. Angelo imagined that having a bunch of cheese stuck to your face probably wasn't the most pleasant experience ,but if it works, it works.

He finally managed to reach the neck of the dragon. He planted his feet, raised his sword, and brought it down in the thing's neck.

Angelo's sword sparked against the beast's neck like he was hitting a metal wall. Before he could try again, the dragon reared up and shook its head, causing Angelo to fall off of its back. Somehow, he landed on his feet and ran to avoid getting stomped.

He ran up to Leo, whose expression was one of concern. "What do we do now?" Angelo asked him.

The son of Hephaustus looked up to the sky and grinned. "Our help is here. Finally!" he said.

Angelo looked up as well and saw that he was right. A mechanical orb was descending towards them with helicopter blades spinning on top of it. The blades retracted and the Archimedes Sphere landed in Leo's arms.

"With this baby, we'll be able to take the dragon down with ease," he said. "Now, how should we do this?"

"Well, we can't just leave it here, and I don't want to drive it somewhere else, because it could still cause more trouble," Angelo said. "We need to kill it. Got any 'Kill Dragon' buttons on that thing?" he asked.

Leo laughed. "Please, give me a real challenge," he said, then turned a few dials on the Archimedes Sphere. The sphere began to grow and elongate, growing a barrel and a handle that sprouted a trigger.

Leo's grin could not possibly get any wider. "How's this?"

Angelo's jaw just about hit the floor. "The Archimedes Sphere can turn into a grenade launcher?!" he said. "Uh, I mean, yeah, sure! That'll work!"

"What should we hit this thing with?" Leo asked.

Angelo looked over at the dragon still struggling with its snout bonds. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"What would be the deadliest combination if we were to, say, fire the grenades down its throat?" he asked.

Leo's eyes lit up again. "Ooh, I look the way you think, hombre," he said. "Let's see...We can try a fire grenade, but if it breathes fire it's inside might already be immune to it. Acid? Eh, probably not. Oh, how about electricity and water?" he offered.

Angelo liked that idea. "Zap it from the inside. That's not a bad idea. Let's do it."

Leo reached into his magic tool belt and pulled out a black grenade with yellow streaks on it. He popped it into the grenade launcher, then pulled out another one with blue streaks and put it in as well.

"Fire on my mark, okay?" Angelo said.

"No problem," Leo replied. He readied the grenade launcher and awaited Angelo's signal.

The dragon's bonds were about to break. It continued trying to open its mouth, making more and more progress.

"Wait for it…" Angelo said.

With one last desperate burst, the bonds snapped, and the dragon's snout was free. It glared at the two boys and roared, its fang-lined open mouth pointed directly at them.

"Now!" Angelo shouted.

Leo fired the two grenades. They disappeared down the beast's gullet.

The dragon abruptly stopped. It stood up straight and looked mildly confused. Then, Angelo heard a faint boom followed by a splash coming from the dragon. Then, BZZBZZBLZRT!

The dragon had a brief spasm as it was electrocuted from the inside. It stopped and dropped to the ground, dead.

Angelo let out a shout and jumped into the air with joy. "THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

Leo grinned even wider. "Now that was awesome," he said as he pressed a button on the grenade launcher. The contraption shrunk back into a mechanical sphere in Leo's arms.

All around them, people were starting to come out. They began to notice the dragon carcass and the two boys standing in front of it. They began to cheer. The dragon was no more and everyone was safe now.

"Thanks, Leo," Angelo said as he clapped his friend's shoulder. "I couldn't have done this without you."

Leo smiled. "No problem. Now, I believe you owe me a slice of Red Blaze Pizza for my troubles?"

Angelo grinned back. "You're on. Let's get out of here. I've been dying to try this pizza."

Angelo found his bike, took it from the bike rack, and they both walked towards the new pizza place, the dragon no longer a problem.

Did I mention Leo Valdez is my favorite demigod?

I so very badly wanted to have Festus in here so he could smoke the dragon, but I realized I would have to incorporate the others shenanigans like the Mist and all that, so I decided to keep it between Leo and Angelo.

Thank you so much for reading, and remember to Stay epic, Demigods.