The carnival bustled with happy laughs from families alike as the Family Fun Day commenced. Every family seemed to be having a great time... but there was only one without a family.
Crusher glanced around with a sigh. He wished his Grammy was there, but she was still travelling too far for her to make it. Guess he was alone today.
"Crusher...?"
He turned to see Pickle glance up as he noticed his face.
"Are you doing okay? I know today can't be easy."
"Grammy is just 10,000 miles away, Pickle," Crusher rolled his eyes sarcastically. "The only family I have, gone. How should I be acting?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry," Pickle sighed. "If you want, you can hang with my family for a while?"
"That'd be nice," Crusher smiled as he pecked Pickle's cheek.
"Hey, Crusher," Blaze greeted as he and AJ approached, all alone. "Pickle told us that Grammy was gonna be gone for a while, so we wanted to see if you were okay."
"I'm fine," Crusher shrugged.
"Do you wanna hang out with us?" Pickle asked. "Me, Crusher and my family were going to get cotton candy."
"Sure!" AJ exclaimed happily. "Sounds great!"
"I think the others are hanging out over that way too," said Blaze. "We can all get some together."
"I think that would be cool," Crusher let a weak smile through.
They all went over to the cotton candy stand, and found all of their friends conversing with Pickle's grandpa, Baby Gherkin and Pickle's cousins.
It was all happy and peaceful between the friends. Crusher thought the day was turning itself around in a good way.
Until, he felt a familiar presence.
"Hey, Crusher, something wrong?" Stripes asked.
"Yeah, just… I need to check on something real quick!" Crusher excused himself away from the group.
He soon made it to the entrance of the Family Fun Day to find a black and blue truck with flaming blue hair at the entrance. He smirked at Crusher.
"Surprise,"
"Dad? What are you doing here?" Crusher hushly asked.
"Come on, it's Family Fun Day, Syntrívon," Hades chuckled, stating Crusher's Greek name.
"If people see you hear, they're gonna freak!" Crusher said worriedly. "They're not supposed to see you!" He then rolled his eyes. "And I really don't like my other name. I just wanna be called Crusher."
"Sure thing, Syntrívon, sure," Hades teased with a laugh.
"Daaaad," Crusher hissed. "I love you, but you can't be here!"
"Come on, that's nonsense, I fit in the word family, after all," Hades laughed.
"Okay, okay, fine! But you're not gonna look like… that. We need you to change and not look like you're about to kill someone." Crusher insisted.
"Fine, fine," Hades shifted his form for his hair to calm and his appearance to look more blue. "Is that better?"
"Okay... that looks better," Crusher said. "But... if you're here, shouldn't your unicorn be here too? Where is he?"
"He's here, but he's hiding with yours," Hades shrugged. "You really need to hide yours better,"
"I try, okay? My friends really like unicorns, and would go CRAZY if they knew I had one of my own," Crusher exaggerated. "Especially one as unique as my girl. Okay... let's go introduce you."
Hades followed after Crusher, grinning at some of the kids and families they passed by.
"Excuse us... pardon us-- coming through!" Crusher smiled. "Oh, hey guys! I want to introduce you to someone! My dad!"
"Your dad? I didn't know he was coming," Watts said with a smile.
"Dad, meet my friends. Guys, meet my dad... Hades," Crusher said.
"Oh!" Blaze smiled. "You're named after the Greek god of the Underworld!"
"Yes… totally…" Hades chuckled at the obliviousness of the mortals. "So you're all… Crusher's friends, I assume?"
"Yes, sir," Starla nodded. "He's a mighty good racer too... even though he cheats."
"So, we've never seen you here before-- where did you come from?" Darington asked.
"Somewhere," Hades waved the question off. "And cheats, hmm?"
"Just a few cheats that you taught me, Dad," Crusher sighed.
"Well, good to know that my lessons aren't a waste of time," Hades grinned.
"You taught him all you know?" Blaze asked.
"Oh yeah! Dad is... quite the influencer," Crusher giggled.
"So... how much do you all know of the greek gods?" Hades asked curiously.
"Not a lot, but we do know about the God of all Gods, which is Zeus," Blaze answered.
"Posideon is the god of the seas, Hades is the god of the Underworld, and Hera is Zeus' wife. There are too many for us to keep up with though," AJ nodded. "No offense, but Hades always scared me with that hair of fire."
"Well, I say that his hair is pretty… hot, right, son?" Hades chuckled at Crusher.
Crusher rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Dad…"
"But... those guys are just stories, B," Darington said. "They're not real."
"Yeah, listen to your boyfriend, red boy," Hades smirked. Stories, huh? These mortals are too hilarious.
"My mom did always tell me stories about them when I was little," Blaze said. "I do believe they're out there somewhere, but... I don't think they'd care enough about us. I hear they only protect Earth for their own gain. Hades... well... he kinda wants to destroy it."
"I agree-- that guy is a bit of a hot head," Watts nodded.
Hades hummed at what Blaze stated. Crusher choked on his breath but didn't comment.
"Well, his hair is pretty hot," Hades laughed.
"His attitude isn't much better-- keeping poor souls in the underworld against their will? Too cruel!" Gabby crossed her arms.
"If I were to meet him, I'd give him a piece of my mind," Starla huffed.
Crusher was trying not to laugh at her statement. Hades shook his head and patted Starla's head.
"Don't think a mortal like you can take down a god, your soul might get stolen,"
"But... maybe he'd need a good talking too-- maybe it'd help change his attitude... so he's not so... hot headed!" Darington joked.
The group laughed loudly, finding the pun hilarious. Hades laughed with them, taking note of them and who they were. Crusher chuckled but nervously nudged him, with a motion of 'don't you dare'. Hades sighed but didn't promise anything.
"I know we're not gods, but I think we could stand up to Hades if we wanted to," Blaze said. "As a team."
"Zeg think so too!" the dino truck agreed. "Hades be so scared of Zeg and Zeg friends when we done with him!"
Hades turned to Crusher, who still shook his head. Hades huffed and motioned to Blaze with his eyes. Crusher's eyes widened with a silent 'NO', causing Hades to sigh and grumble under his breath.
"You know, you're all complaining about… Hades, why not about Zeus?" Hades huffed.
"Well... I think he's actually pretty cool," AJ said.
"How? He's all almighty and stuff like that, but what has he done for the mortals?" Hades scowled.
"Well... he brings storms when we need it," Gabby hummed in thought.
"Who needs storms?? Storms kill more than fire does," Hades insisted.
"True, but storms are good when you think about it," Blaze said. "They bring rain and life."
"Nope, I hate storms. Never liked one bit of them." Hades snarled. He was more than tempted to steal Blaze's soul right there and then.
"But... isn't fire more a killer?" Darington piped up. "They kill and hurt a lot more people. Only 1 in 4 people are electrocuted in storms."
Hades was really holding himself back as his eye twitched. Crusher coughed and pulled his Dad back.
"Uh, hey, Dad, um, can we talk?"
"Gladly."
Crusher pulled his father aside. Hades snarled as soon as he was far.
"I wanna take their souls and make them SUFFER."
"Dad, they don't know about us-- their talking is harmless. If they knew, they wouldn't have said it."
"Oh no, no, no, they mean every word, and I'm going to make sure they PAY." Hades snarled.
"Dad, please!" Crusher begged.
But his pleading did no good. Hades's hair was flaming and stretching out again. Some families noticed this and gasped, screaming.
"What the huh?!"
"It's blue fire!!" one girl screamed.
"Dad, calm down! Getting mad won't do anything!!" Crusher said, trying to stand in front of his friends.
Hades hissed but took some deep breaths to calm himself down. Unfortunately, his flames had already reached the streamers, causing it to catch on fire as the fire began to spread out more.
"Fire!!" Blaze gasped. "Stripes, get the fire department! The rest of you, evacuate the city!"
Stripes immediately called the fire department as the others led the families to safety. Blaze turned into a firetruck in attempt to out out some of the fire.
"There's only one way this fire could be blue!" Blaze said. "Hades is the actual greek god of the Underworld!"
"Crusher is a god too?" AJ asked in shock.
"I guess so, but we'll need to ask questions later-- fire the hose!"
They blasted the fire as much as they could. Crusher stayed to out out the fire too. Hades tried as well, but his touch just caused more fire.
"Well, this day certainly can't get any worse…" he grumbled.
"HADES!!!!"
From above, the clouds parted, and they all looked up to see a white and golden truck descend down, yellow lightning bolts at his tires.
"Zeus..." Blaze's eyes widened. "It's really him!"
"More fire fighting! Less looking!" AJ exclaimed.
"Brother..." Hades' eyes narrowed.
"Uncle Zeus! I-I can explain!" Crusher said with a gulp.
"No need, I can see that this menace has caused enough trouble." Zeus glared at Hades.
"The only menace around here is your mouth and your lightning bolts." Hades scoffed.
"Please don't fight!" Crusher begged. "My friends never meant this! It's a misunderstanding!"
"Hades, best if you leave. Or do I need to battle you to do so?" Zeus scoffed. "What are you doing here in the mortal world anyway?"
"I'm visiting my son, something a good father would do, unlike someone who gets sons just to fight his own battles that he created." Hades shot back.
"I don't care! You put your son and his friends in danger! Even if they are mortals! Leave!"
"You can't make me." Hades growled, his body flaming. "You'll have to battle me first, brother."
"STOP!!!" Crusher cried as he watched Zeus's lightning bolts spark up.
"If that's what you want, brother, I will happily comply." Zeus smirked. "Been a while since we last battled. The last battle sent you straight to the Underworld!"
"Not this time." Hades gave a smirk as well.
"Crusher, what do we do?! We have to stop them before they destroy the entire city!" Blaze cried.
"I… I don't know… I…" Crusher whimpered. He knew how to control his father fine, he grew used to it. His Uncle Zeus? Nope.
Hades glanced at Crusher and noticed how he shook. He sighed.
"You're lucky that my son is here, Zeus, or I would've ripped you to bits."
"Going soft on your son, are you?" Zeus mocked.
"Because unlike you to your children, I actually care for Syntrívon." Hades huffed before disappearing a burst of flames.
"Syntrívon?" Blaze looked confused.
"That's my greek name," Crusher sighed before looking up at his uncle. "Uncle Zeus, I'm so sorry..."
Zeus huffed. "You should've shooed your father away when you had the chance. He's a menace."
"He's your brother, Uncle," Crusher tried to reason. "I know Dad can be a pain sometimes, but I know you still care about him."
"No, I'd rather not, he could rot in the Underworld for all I care, that's why I put him there." Zeus snarled before glancing to see the fire cease while the other mortals watching. "Don't worry, everyone! The danger has passed, Hades will not hurt any of you anymore,"
The other trucks became relieved and came out of hiding, while Blaze and AJ could only stare up at Zeus with wide eyes.
The king of all gods... right up above them.
"Shocked, as much?" Crusher winked.
Blaze could only nod as he pushed his jaw up.
Zeus chuckled. "Ah yes, you mortals still love me, don't you?"
"I... um... M-Mr. Zeus, sir, let me just say, it's an honor to be in your presence," Blaze said as they bowed low. "I'm just sorry I caused this whole problem to begin with."
"No need, everything you said about Hades was spot on!" Zeus laughed. "He really is a hot head! He better stay in the Underworld because he belongs there!"
"Well... he is our friend's dad. We never meant to insult him," AJ shook his head.
"We wouldn't want him to never come back and see Crush-- I-I mean Syntrívon," Blaze corrected himself.
"No, no, I see it better if he didn't, don't want you mortals panicking because of his flames again," Zeus only laughed off the issue.
"W-What...?" Crusher felt himself tremble in hurt. "Uncle... he's my dad..."
"Yes, but look at the mess he's caused," Zeus motioned to the ashes the flames created. "He's a menace and a danger."
"No he isn't!" Blaze exclaimed.
Zeus sighed. "You mortals are just confusing. You side with one, you side with the other… you switch sides so quickly that it's confusing,"
"He may have caused a lot of damage to the park, but he cared enough about Crusher to come to see him," Blaze said calmly. "Isn't that enough?"
Zeus shook his head. "No, to come here to the mortal world is dangerous enough for your mortals. I, for one, would never do such a thing,"
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I mean, I would never visit the mortal world for something as petty as visiting a child." Zeus huffed. "I'm here to be rid of my brother from the mortal world."
Crusher felt himself tremble with tears and drove away at a rapid speed. Blaze was in disbelief by the words of the God of all Gods.
"You know... I'm leaning more toward Hades than ever now. You may be the leader of all gods, and Hades may be kind of scary, but he's a way better being than YOU will EVER be."
With that, he and AJ raced off after Crusher.
