One of the hardest things in the world is getting over the death of a child. Especially for mothers, this task is not made to be done in their lifetime. It is the law of nature that a mother will die before her baby, that her baby will have other babies and then the mother could die. When this order is disturbed, the mother is left with a hole in her heart. It does not matter if the mother is an inmortal, the death of a child always hits hard.
This was especially true for Artemis, who had just lost her first child forever. Her son, faded from existence, not even to be reborn. And all because he decided to sacrifice himself for his family. A family that had abandoned him, yet he didn't mind. He would be gone forever just so everyone else could live.
That was what hurt Artemis the most. Her son had died for her despite how little presence she had in his life. She knew that spending more time with him in the past would've not made a difference in his death, but at least she would've had better memories of him. At least one time in which he was laughing or just being happy with her.
The goddess of the hunt decided to not make the same mistake she did with Hector with her next baby. This baby would be raised by both her and Percy. Wherever it was, she would not forgive herself if her second child had to pass though the hardships that Hector went through. This child would have a happy life, at least as happy as she and Percy could provide.
Percy and Artemis were on a silent agreement to live in Northern Idaho for a while. The extent of their stay was never formally discussed, but they both knew that it would be a long time. Artemis would not have her residence up on Olympus for another year, and being in the middle of nowhere actually served the both of them as a therapy, especially for Artemis, who hated being surrounded by a lot of people. Since it was she who was pregnant, Percy took it upon himself to do everything in his power to make his wife happy.
It had proven to be a difficult task. Between the death of Hector and her raging hormones, Percy had found that making Artemis happy was near impossible. He tried to cook her favorite meal, but one second she liked it and the next second she was throwing it all up. If he made a joke, Artemis would end up crying because he had offended her. It didn't matter if it was a simple knock knock joke, the goddess of the hunt was too sentimental to engage in such banter. It was much worse than her first pregnancy actually, like her hormones had increased tenfold.
Winter came by just as Artemis approached her second trimester. Her pregnant belly had begin to grow significantly, and her laziness had nearly tripled. The goddess of the hunt did not want to hunt. In fact, she didn't want to get out of the couch for anything. She took very few showers, only doing so when Percy tricked her into taking one.
With winter came the winter solstice, the mandatory meeting for all Olympians. Due to its status of mandatory, Artemis was required to go. But the goddess didn't want to.
"Artemis, you have to go to the meeting" Percy said as he gave her the fifth cup of yogurt of the hour.
"I'm not going to a stupid meeting. I want to stay here" Artemis stuffed her face
"Arty, it's a mandatory meeting. It'll just be a few hours and then you can come back."
"Percy, I already told you. I'm not going even if Zeus himself comes here and drags me there. "
Percy sighed. "Ok Arty, listen to me. If you don't go, then the Olympians will think that something happened to you and they will begin to search for you and, eventually, they'll find us here and begin to bother us. Is that what you want?"
Artemis snorted. "You think they will look for me just because I don't go to one meeting? Seriously Percy, get your head out of your ass"
"Last time you went missing there was a quest issued."
"Yeah, because the Oracle began to walk towards my lieutenant, and I was captured. Before that I went missing for 200 years and nobody came looking for me."
"I find that hard to believe" Percy stood up, taking the now empty cup of yogurt to the trash can.
"It's true! I don't even have my hunters now, so nobody will come looking for me"
"What about your brother?"
"Apollo's all talk. The last time he did something himself was when he fought Python"
Percy came back from the kitchen with another cup of yogurt, which he gave to Artemis. Sitting down on the couch, he put Artemis legs on his lap and leaned back.
"I'm just afraid that something will happen to you if you don't go there" Percy said, looking straight to Artemis eyes
"I know how you feel, but trust me, not going is for the best. Imagine me going there and they see my belly? Zeus will throw a fit and then next thing I know I'm in Tartarus."
"Nothing will happen to you under my watch" Percy growled
"Wow wolf, chill" Artemis laughed. "What I mean is that, if I don't go, I can just stay here with you forever, or at least until we raise the baby. I want out baby to be raised as a normal child."
"But wouldn't it be better to raise him up on Olympus?" Percy asked
"The Olympus environment is toxic with capital T. No child of mine will grow up there"
"Right...so there's no way to convince you to go?"
Artemis shook her head. "Nope."
Percy sunk back, putting his hands on his face.
"Why are you so sad? You know that if I stay here, you can do anything you want with me" Artemis smirked, sitting up and inching closer towards Percy.
"I don't want to do anything now" Percy muttered
"What is THAT supposed to mean?!" Artemis screamed
Percy put his hands up, "Nothing! I didn't say anything!"
"You said that because I'm fat right?! I'm not pretty now?"
"No! I never said that Arty" Percy defended himself.
The days passed and Artemis did not change her mind about her presence on the Winter Solstice meeting. Once the goddess of the hunt had her head set on something, it was near impossible to change her thinking.
The day of the Winter Solstice, Artemis woke up just like any other day. She woke up on the bed next to her husband, got up, walked to the couch, and laid there for the rest of the day. Even as night came, Artemis made no effort to get up the couch. Time passed and passed, but it really seemed like the goddess of the hunt was not going to go to Olympus.
"So you're really not going?" Percy asked as the clock hit 8pm
Artemis shook her head. "Nope. If they treated me and my family like we were disposable, then they don't deserve my oh so important presence."
"I don't approve of this, you know that right?"
"I know that Percy. But think it in this way. I'm saving our unborn child from not having a good childhood. Isn't that what you want? For a second child to live happily?"
"I think this is called manipulation" Percy said, furrowing his eyebrows
"I'm not manipulating you, I'm simply making you see my reason. My valid reason" Artemis smiled
Up on Olympus, the meeting with eleven of the Olympians (plus Hades) was about to take place. All the gods sat on their thrones bickering about different stuff. From never-ending wars on the Middle East to the marriage of Khloe Kardashian, each Olympian had a different topic of conversation. The only two thrones who were empty were Artemis and Apollo's.
The doors of the throne room flew open, revealing an angry Apollo. All the gods stopped bickering, turning their eyes towards the impuntual god of the sun.
"Why are you late?" Zeus asked
"I was waiting for Artemis, but she stood me up" Apollo replied with his face flushed in anger
"Did you talk to her before this?" Athena asked
"No...but it's tradition. We always come to the meetings together"
"So you expected Artemis, who we haven't heard from in six months, to come here and follow your petty tradition? You're stupider than I thought" Athena sneered
"Hey, watch it! One more comment like that and I'll tell everyone your little secret." Athena instantly recoiled at Apollo's threat.
"Apollo, do you know of the whereabouts of your sister?" Zeus asked
"No father. I have not been able to exchange any type of contact with her"
Zeus nodded. "Very well. We can't wait any longer, so let's start this meeting with the members present. Are there any topics which we should discuss in this council meeting?"
Apollo, Athena, Hades, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysius, and Hera all raised their hands.
"Very well. Hermes, what is it you want to discuss?"
"Iris has told me that there has been an overflow of Iris messages, so many that she can't keep up. So, I was going to ask the council if you would allow me, with the help from Iris and Hephaestus, to create some sort of cell-phone that is monster-proof" Hermes said confidently
"That sounds ideal, but very hard to do, almost impossible...but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. Hephaestus, are you up to create this device?" Zeus replied
Hephaestus nodded with a smile. "Of course! It sounds like a great challenge, and I'm always up for one"
"Dionysius, what did you want to discuss?"
"Do I have the council permission to kill some of the demigod bastards? They've been a pain in the ass lately"
"No Dionysius. You are not allowed to kill, maim, or injure any demigod" Zeus replied in a bored tone.
"But dad-"
"My decision is final." Zeus said with finality, making Dionysius slump back on his throne. "Now, Aphrodite, what did you want to discuss?"
"I just want to say that you should ALL watch The Proposal. It stars Sandra Bullock without her botox, and the hunk of a man that is Ryan Reynolds. It is a story that will make you all laugh, cry, and want to re-discover you love life. It is an AMAZING movie, fun for all the family-"
"And it only has 44% on Rotten Tomatoes" Hermes said looking at a cell-phone
"Fine! You don't watch it. Don't come crying to me later when your crush is already married to another man and pregnant with his child just because you couldn't say your feelings millennia ago" Aphrodite humphed
"What are you talking about?" Hermes asked clearly confused
"No, you don't want my help. I won't tell you what I meant"
"Tell me!"
"Silence! You can both settle your little argument after the meeting is over. Apollo, what is it you want to say?"
"I think we should look for Artemis. She has been missing for six months now, and although she isn't the most social out of all of us, it isn't like herself to not be in contact in such a long time." Apollo proposed clearly distraught.
"Why can't you just leave the poor girl alone? She's clearly saddened by the death of her only child and her husband. It's normal that she wants to have some time away." Ares said, surprising everyone.
"As much as I hate to agree with him, Ares is right. Artemis just needs some time alone." Athena agreed
"But that's the thing. My sister has never needed time alone, or at least not this much time. Even when mom was killed, she was just a week away from everyone" Apollo tried to explain.
"I must agree with what Ares said. Artemis is simply coping with her losses" Zeus said, shutting any hope Apollo had of finding his sister. "Now, Athena, what is it that you wanted to say?"
"The Troopers have found no trace of Hector Troy, the son of Artemis. They have searched all the US, yet there is no sign of him ever being on any place." Athena said
Zeus stroked his beard. "Has anybody else found some trace that can potentially lead up to my grandson?"
All the Olympians shook their heads, telling Zeus their results without the need for words.
"Keep looking then. Hades, brother, what is it you wanted the council to discuss?"
"Yes umm, after the war I was checking up on the souls and the beings down in Tartarus. From my information, Kronos is not found anywhere on the Underworld or Tartarus. Same goes for Hector, their essences are just gone. I've checked with other sources, but they don't seem to be anywhere on the Earth" Hades explained
"They're not, anywhere?" Poseidon asked bewildered
Hades nodded. "Yeah, that's what I said. They're just gone"
"That's not normal. Something unnatural must be at work here" Athena pondered
"No shit owl head" Poseidon snorted
Athena glared at the sea god but refrained from commenting. She knew that if she replied she would be playing straight into his trap.
"That is very serious. Keep monitoring the dead as you have and report to us if you have any further news. And thank you brother" Zeus thanked a grinning Hades. "Now the last person is Hera. What is it that you wanted to say dear?"
Hera looked around the room, scanning the face of everyone. She saw how Poseidon looked at her in indifference, how Apollo looked at her with hate, and how Ares looked at her with love. Even if he was the most savage of the gods, he was always a momma's boy. Ares, for some reason, always loved the idea of having a family, and that's how she knew that her next few words would break his heart.
"I want a divorce."
The Olympians all stared at the goddess of marriage as if she had just grown a third eye. Most of them had their mouth open, others couldn't comprehend exactly what was happening.
"You what?" Zeus asked after his shock
"This really can't come as a big surprise Zeus. You cheat on me around four times a week, and with different mortal women."
"But-but you're the goddess of marriage!" Zeus yelled
"This isn't a successful marriage. I refuse to be a married woman in such a condition, it isn't what I should represent"
"And you couldn't, I don't know, tell me in private instead of telling the whole council?!"
"Did you keep quiet when you cheated?" Hera asked, leaving Zeus speechless. "That's what I thought. So, it's fairly simple. I did you the favor of marking where you need to sign." Hera conjured some papers which appeared on Zeus lap.
The King of Gods sighed, conjuring a black pen and signing the papers. "This is so fucking embarrassing" he muttered.
After three minutes, Zeus had finished signing all the papers. He sat defeated in his throne, feeling all the gods and goddesses eyes on him.
"If there's nothing else to say, I declare the meeting adjourned" Zeus said, flashing away instantaneously. The other members of the council soon followed, leaving only the goddess of marriage and the god of the seas alone in the throne room.
"Poseidon, can we talk?" Hera asked, coming down to her mortal size.
"Um, sure. What's up?" Poseidon said casually
"Well, you were obviously there for my divorce..." Hera began to say
"Right, yeah. That was unexpected" Poseidon chuckled
"I was thinking about doing it for such a long time, but I only mustered the courage to do it now."
"That's cool."
"Yeah, I was reminded because of someone. He told me stuff I hadn't thought about. Certain feelings that were never buried away."
"Feelings?"
"Poseidon," Hera inched closer. "I want to be with you"
"W-w-wh-what?" Poseidon stuttered.
Instead of repeating herself, Hera got closer to Poseidon and locked her mouth with his. She kissed him ferociously, grabbing his neck and pulling him closer to her. Poseidon wasn't kissing back, he was in shock over the actions of the previous Queen of Olympus. After a few seconds of her kissing, Poseidon got a hold of his senses and pushed the goddess of marriage away.
"Hera, we can't do it."
"But I divorced Zeus."
"I never asked you to do that." Poseidon sighed. "Look, I'm happily married to Amphrite. Even if we didn't marry out of love, I still grew to like her. We were in love long ago, and I won't lie and say that I never think of you, but I'm married. And she's a good wife despite everything, I'm the one who has been unfaithful. I'm sorry for your divorce, but I can't do the same for you" and with that the Sea god flashed away, leaving the previous Queen of Olympus with a broken heart.
Years passed as everything went back to normal. The gods kept on monitoring their domains. Aphrodite was messing with love lives, Apollo was driving the sun chariot while simultaneously looking for Artemis, and Athena ordered the troopers to look for the lost souls. However, in those years there had been no trace of Artemis in Olympus. The gods had believed that after the three-years-of-no-property ban that Artemis had was over, the goddess would've returned to Olympus and forget everything. They had not expected a goddess daughter of Zeus to hold a grudge, but that seemed to be just what happened.
Five years after the titan war ended, Zeus ordered the search for Artemis. He was afraid that something had happened to his favorite daughter. That, and he also wanted to apologize for the way he had reacted to her marriage with the sea spawn. The King of Olympus knew that he was in the wrong, and as proud as he was, Zeus knew that an apology was in order. But in order to apologize, he would need to find Artemis.
Every god, with the exception of Dionysius, was put on search duty. Some accepted very reluctantly, but none dared to oppose Zeus decree. The Troopers were ordered to search for their previous mistress, and they did so with great fervor. After some time away from her, and after Hector talked to them, the troopers got to see the whole truth behind Artemis. It was true that she had lied to them, but when they analyzed what had happened when she told the truth, the Troopers understood the reason behind the lie. Artemis had lost the hunters soon after the truth was uncovered, she had lost her properties, and she had lost her entire family.
However, seven years passed and none had found any trace of the goddess of the hunt. It seemed as if the only person who would be able to find the lost goddess was the goddess herself. Nobody knew if Artemis was hiding or if she was captured, but after long years of searching, Zeus called the search for his lost daughter off. Many of the Olympians were relieved when the search was called off. They had been spending seven years in search for someone who didn't want to be found.
The only ones who continued the search were Apollo and the Troopers of Athena. Athena herself did not want to continue the search, but each and every one of the Troopers wished to carry on, and the goddess of wisdom needed to have them on their good side. Both Apollo and the Troopers continued their search individually. Sometimes they met each other, but most of the time they just wished to be apart. Apollo hadn't completely forgiven them for the cold shoulder they had given Artemis, and the Troopers simply didn't want to be with Apollo for a long period of time.
One day, both groups felt a huge surge of power in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They moved quickly to the place of the power surge, finding it to just be a normal hotel. The hotel was packed with adults and pre-teens, whom were mostly boys.
"How many rooms do you think you'll need?" Apollo asked the lieutenant of the Troopers
"Four rooms should do." Thalia Grace replied
Apollo nodded, moving towards the counter. "Hi, can I get five rooms please?"
"Do you have a reservation?" the receptionist asked
"No."
"Sorry, but the hotel is full. The Little League World Series Tournament is this weekend, and all the players, parents and spectators are staying here."
"All these people are here to watch little kids play baseball?" Apollo asked
"Yes sir. One of the teams supposedly have the best players Little League has ever known. Many of the people here actually came to see them."
"Well that's interesting," Apollo muttered without really caring. "are there any other hotels in town?"
"Yes, there is a Quality Inn a few minutes down the road. That one may be full, but it's your best shot."
"Bet. Thank you for your service" Apollo said handing the receptionist a 100 dollar tip.
"So, did you get us the rooms?" Thalia asked the god
Apollo shook his head. "No, the hotel is full. Apparently the Little League World Series"
"The what?" a trooper asked
"The world championship of baseball for kids aged 12 and under."
"What's baseball?" Another trooper asked
"It's a sport."
"Is it like wrestling?"
"No. It's complicated. All you need to know is that there are bases and a ball. The rest you can figure out yourselves." Apollo said, not wanting to talk to the troopers any more.
"So where are we staying?" Thalia asked
"I'm going to the Quality Inn. You, on the other hand, can make camp nearby. Where? I don't care. Let's just agree to meet in the entrance of the Howard J. Lamade Stadium tomorrow at 9am. The power source must be coming from one of the spectators. For now, I take my leave" and with that, Apollo flashed away from the troopers.
The Troopers of Athena made their way to the few trees that surrounded the town. In about five minutes, the troopers had set up their camp and went to hunt for their food. They spent the night in solitude, only to be awaken by the sound of a conch. Atalanta, the trooper who had been keeping an eye on the perimeter, had blown on the conch to alert an intruder. As soon as the conch was blown, all the other Troopers got out of their tents and prepared themselves for an attack.
The troopers had their bows out, with the exception for Thalia who had her spear and shield ready to use. They were waiting for whatever danger they might've encountered. However, it was their surprise when a girl of around 12 years stumbled upon the camp.
The girl had black hair, green eyes, and was very beautiful in a non-pedophilia way. She stood around 5'5 and had an athletic figure. She wore some athletic shorts and an Adidas white shirt. As the girl saw the Troopers and the camp, her eyes widened and she began to walk away.
"W-Who are you?" the girl asked
"Troopers, stand down" Thalia commanded. "What's your name?"
"Why do you guys have bows? And why do you have a spear?! Are you guys terrorists?" the girl was terrified.
"Wait, you can see the weapons?"
"So I'm not hallucinating..." the girl muttered.
"No, you are not hallucinating" Thalia replied
"Then who are you guys? If you are going to be carrying weapons, I would suggest you take an AK-47, or at least some type of gun."
"We are the Troopers of Athena. We serve Lady Athena in any mission she sends us on. But right now, there is something more important we must know"
"I'm the one who should have questions! Who the heck is Athena? What types of missions does she send you on? Are you Russian spies?!"
Thalia rubbed her head. "Do you have dyslexia and ADHD?"
The girl looked Thalia with a blank expression. "What a random question. No, I don't have dyslexia and ADHD...and you still haven't answered any question I've asked you."
"Chloe! Where are you?" a boy asked from behind the woods.
"Can't he just leave me be for one minute?" the girl muttered
"Your name is Chloe?" Thalia asked, earning a nod from the girl. "Is that boy looking for you?"
"Yeah. I've told him to leave me alone so many times already, but he still comes and follows me..."
"Chloe! There you are! And who are these girls with you?" the boy came out of the forest and into the clearing. He had brown hair that could be confused with red while under the sun light, and green eyes. He wore some blue shorts and a white T-shirt.
"Don't come near her boy!" a trooper sneered. "If you even touch a hair on her head you will wish you had never been born."
"Chloe, who the heck are they?"
"I met them here on the forest. All I know is that they serve someone named Athena." Chloe responded
"Ok, whatever. We need to go before someone notices we're gone." The boy went to grab Chloe's hand but was kicked in the chest by one of the troopers.
"I told you! You don't touch her with your filthy hands!" the trooper who had warned the boy before said.
"Yo wait!" Chloe got between the fallen boy and the trooper. "He's harmless"
"But you told us that you told him to leave you alone"
"Because he annoys me, not because he's harmful. Honestly, he's so stupid that he can't tell a lagoon from a lake."
"By insulting my intellect, you're insulting yourself" the boy said from the floor
"Shut up Milo!"
"Don't talk to your older brother that way!" Milo screamed
"I'm the older one! You know that, I know that, mom knows that, it's common knowledge."
"That's not what it says on our birth certificate. You check the hospital, it will say that I was born before you."
"Yeah because of daylights savings!" Chloe yelled. "How long do we have to argue the same thing?"
"Until you admit that you're wrong." Milo said, getting up from the ground and rubbing the dirt off of his dirty shirt.
"But I'm not wrong! You know that I'm never wrong."
"Oh that is soooo not true! You said that it was Yanny instead of Laurel, you said that the dress was gold and white, and you said that Turkey was in Asia!"
"But it is! It's mostly in Asia!"
"Do Turkish people look like our friend Andrew Yang? No, right?"
"But that's east Asia moron. Asia is ginormous. I mean, it has a population of-"
"Will you both shut up?!" Thalia yelled annoyed by the bickering of the siblings. The rest of the troopers were also pretty annoyed, not having heard such a sibling quarrel since Apollo came to visit back when Artemis was in charge of them. Those discussions could go on for hours. Literally.
"Right, we have company" Chloe muttered
"Anyways, we have to leave now. Coach is going to be so pissed off if he doesn't find us in our rooms" Milo said grabbing Chloe's hand.
"He can go to hell for all I care. But it was nice to meet you Russian spies of Athena! Hope to see you never again!" With that, the siblings ran off to the direction of the town. The troopers were left confused over what had happened. The girl seemed to be just a clear-sighted mortal, but it was common knowledge that no-clear sighted mortal was a twin. There was no reason behind that rule, it was just how things were.
"I guess, we have to get ready to meet Apollo in the stadium." Thalia muttered, retiring herself to her tent. The troopers ate their breakfast in silence and packed up their tents by 8:30, giving them half an hour to arrive at the stadium.
And half an hour it took them to get to the stadium. There were many people from all ages, loud music blasting through some speakers, and some vendors selling baseball Jersey's of the two teams who would be competing. Kids were running around with foam bats and their parents were laughing, discussing how the game was going to be like. The two teams who seemed to be playing were Northwest and South Korea. It was pretty obvious that the spectators were rooting for Northwest, as their merchandise was selling out at rapid rates.
"You're on time" Apollo said from behind the group. He was wearing some khaki shorts and a striped Yankees baseball Jersey. "I bought one ticket for each of you. Unfortunately, only one of you can sit behind home plate with me. The rest of you will have to go to the Low Rows on the Upper Level. So, who will sit with me?"
"Atalanta, you go with Apollo. I need to keep an eye on the rest of the troopers." Thalia ordered
"Sounds good! A little father-daughter bonding time with the classic American tradition of baseball!" Apollo smiled as he distributed the tickets. "So, I guess Thalia knows how these things work, sorta, so I'll leave you to it"
The sun god turned around and walked towards the entrance of the stadium with Atalanta trailing right behind him. After giving the tickets to the security guard, they headed towards their top-tier seats. They were on the second row right behind home plate, the best view in all of the stadium. Well, second best view. The first row still had a better view.
"Remember, we're here to find the source of the power surge" Apollo whispered as they sat down.
"How do we do that?" Atalanta asked
"Once the game start, whoever the source is will surely forget about concealing its power. Therefore, it will allow us to locate him, or her, or it, on this stadium. We will work a plan to trap whatever it is afterwards." Atalanta nodded at the explanation.
After both National anthems were played, the game started with the Northwest team batting. As soon as the first batter came up, Apollo and Atalanta felt a very powerful being nearby. The power was very close to them, and whoever it was could be potentially very dangerous. The first batter was a strike out, the second batter got to first base, and the third batter was able to go to first base while the second batter got to second base.
"Batting now for Northwest is Milo Jackson. Milo is twelve years old, 5'7, loves to go camping, and his favorite player is Masahiro Tanaka." The announcer said on the speaker
"Does he have to do that for everyone of those kids? It's getting old." Apollo muttered
"Dad, I think we should watch out for him. He came across our camp earlier this morning with a twin sister. They seem to be clear-sighted, but I'm not sure." Atalanta whispered to the sun god.
"Alright, we'll keep an eye out for-" Apollo said before being distracted by the huge power surge. If the power was big before, then it had just turned into something inexplicable. The sun god and the trooper exchanged looks, both looking straight at the twelve-year-old boy with brown hair and tanned skin. The boy looked to behind the plate and smiled at their direction, but not at them, he seemed to smile at the couple right in front of them.
"They must be his parents" Apollo told his daughter.
The boy positioned himself to bat as a leftie. He looked straight at the pitcher as all the boys before him had done. He looked just like every other twelve-year-old baseball player there, yet there was something that came off of him, like a different aura. Apollo tried to know what it was, but his mind was clouded by another aura very close by.
"Let's go Northwest! Let's go Milo!" the woman in front yelled
"Come on Milo! Hit it out of the park! Those Koreans got nothing on you!" the man besides her yelled.
Apollo groaned. Just what he needed, overexcited parents in the middle of his mission.
Usually in baseball, a batter lets the first pitch to be a strike. This way, he can observe the style of the pitcher, how fast his ball moves, if it has any curves, and then he can hit the ball more effectively the next pitch. This boy, however, just swung on the first pitch. And hit it. Out of the park.
"MILO LET'S GO!" the man yelled. "What did we tell you? Right out of the park!"
"MILO SHOW THESE KOREANS THAT THE GREEK-AMERICANS MAKE THE BEST ATHLETES" the woman yelled.
Apollo was getting pretty tired from these white-trash people yelling. He could understand that they were excited, but couldn't they show it in a less loud manner? And worse of all was the fact that they seemed to be part greek, an abomination for their whole culture.
The scoreboard now showed 3-0 in favor of Northwest. The stadium was filled with people screaming. It was the first inning and already Northwest had three runs.
"Batting now for Northwest is the only girl in this Little League World Series. Chloe Jackson is twelve years old, 5'5, loves going to the lake with her friends, and her favorite player is Javier Baez." the announcer said.
"Come on Chloe! Show them boys who's boss!" the woman in front yelled.
"So, this is the sister?" Apollo whisper/asked Atalanta, who replied by nodding.
The girl did the same thing as her brother had done previously, with the exception that she positioned herself as a righty, not as a leftie. She hit the ball on the first try, just as her brother had done, and hit it right out of the park.
As soon as the girl went out of the vision of Apollo, the power surge began to diminish. It was still very much present, but its intensity was not nearly as much as it had been when she or her brother were playing.
After around five more batters, the South Koreans were finally able to bat for themselves. However, much to their surprise, the pitcher seemed to be Milo Jackson. Almost none of the batters were able to bat, and those who did were easily taken out by Chloe Jackson on second base. But Apollo didn't care about that. He cared about the power surges, and the weird relation they had to Milo Jackson and his sister. Each time they came out to play, the power surge increased dramatically.
But, even worse than the mystery of the power surge, were the annoying screams of the couple that sat in front of Apollo and Atalanta. Each time either Chloe or Milo Jackson stepped foot on the field, they seemed to scream their asses off. Apollo could put up with the screams for a few innings. But after the fifth inning of the constant screaming, the sun god just wanted to blow his brains out and then burn his brain remains.
It was the sixth inning and Apollo had had enough. The couple kept on screaming without caring about his precious eardrums.
"Excuse me, but could you please scream less?" Apollo touched the man's shoulders.
"Let me enjoy my kids game man." the man replied without running his head.
"I'm not telling you not to enjoy it, I'm telling you to lower your voices just a little bit. My eardrums are going to explode thanks to you and your wife"
The man didn't reply, he simply ignored the sun god...and Apollo took full offense to this. He tapped the woman's shoulder a couple of times. At first the woman ignored him, but after constant nagging, she turned around to face the god of music.
"WHAT?!" she screamed before taking a real look at who the man touching her was.
The woman looked around 29, but Apollo knew she was not that young. She was wearing a baseball cap and a baseball jersey. There was no make-up on her face, yet she didn't need it. Her face was not super pale, but she was still very white. The silver eyes that represented her held no change whatsoever.
"Artemis?" Apollo asked in shock
"Lady Artemis?!" Atalanta asked by his side
Artemis stared wide-eyed at her brother and niece. She had spent twelve years on the shadows of Olympus, living her best life, and they just had to ruin it the moment her kids were going to win a World Title!
"Artemis, what are you doing here? Where have you been? How are you? Who's this guy?" Apollo began throwing questions.
At his mention, the man turned around to face the annoying people sitting behind widened his eyes when he saw his brother-in-law sitting right there next to...someone he didn't recognize.
"P-percy?!" Apollo asked in even more shock
"We'll talk after the game is over." Artemis said, turning back around to see her children play their favorite sport. All she wanted was for her children to reach their 18 years without any sort of abnormality, but it just seemed to be impossible. No matter how much she tried, the plans she made for her children never worked out.
A lot of things happened in this chapter, I know, but it's all essential to make the story come to an end.
Some of you guys wanted a girl while others wanted a boy...well now you have both. I honestly always wanted Artemis to have twins. It just makes sense for a twin to have twins, like she would have a greater probability of having twins irl because she's a twin herself (I'm pretty sure).
Thank you all who have followed this story for so long. It really means a lot to me.
Please review if you can, I always read them :)
A special thanks to Georgehunt for always reading my stories and reviewing on them. Also Mr. Salvos, I've seen you have reviewed since such a long time and never thanked you for it. Sorry if I missed someone who always reviews. I'll send you a PM if I notice I didn't mention you.
Also thank you all of those who have either followed or favorited this story. I really appreciate it.
Be expecting the last chapter soon, because I finally finished my last year of high school, so I have nothing else to do.
Again, thank you all so much for reading.