MAYOR ANNOUNCEMENT:
Chapters 1-5 have been revised and rewritten.
Also peekodemeeko12 is now co-writing this story wholly as much as we are co-writing a couple other stories. We highly suggest you check in her account 'ALWAYS READ THE FREAKING CONTRACT' and ' Duty of the Red Hood' in her account or 'Wonderful Wonderful Science' in mine. We'll be rotating between those mainly for updates.
.
.
text
-"Dialogue"-
("Inner thinking")
.
.
CHAPTER 5
.
.
The next morning the gods were woken up VERY early and were having breakfast at the canteen, all still sore from the electrocution that would have probably killed them where they mortals. None of them escaped unscathed and all of them were miserable without their quick regeneration abilities; not to mention their stomachs were clawing at their guts as the signs of hunger began to attack them.
"How can humans bare this pain? And it's just caused by not eating?!" - SOMEONE growled in annoyance, rubbing their stomach to try and heal the unseen injury.
"Humans truly are the pitiful species … no wonder they desire deals with gods, just to make their lives less miserable if a missed meal or two causes this." SOMEONE complained.
"Ugghhh It's such a pain not being able to regenerate" - Dionysius complained, failing to crack his wrist as he stretched his fingers out. "Not even delicious wine and snacks are enough."
"Then hurry up and graduate" - Thoth appeared, grabbing a cup of coffee and turning away. -"And Apollo, Dionysius… Zeus wants to see you now. So go."
The half-brothers looked at each other and then, with agitated sighs they nodded, standing up and telling everyone they would meet them at the entrance before heading to see their father.
Once they were in the room designated as the principal's office they saw Zeus waiting for them, giving them his back. He did not speak as they came in, making them all wary as to what he wanted from them.
"Ok, what is it?" - Dionysius asked straight away with Apollo nodding in support of his brother's question.
"Must you always do things like this?" -The sun god reproached. -"Why did you really brought us all here?"
Zeus turned around and took a side step to let them see a pastry stand with some fine pastries that looked absolutely delicious, stacked to the top of a large silver platter. Pastries and sweets of all kinds, just like the ones back home, all piled together in one drool inducing heap.
Apollo's eyes glowed for a second as he immediately identified his favorite snacks. -"Ambrosia!?"
"Yes. And this deliciously fresh Ambrosia desserts are all yours if you give me one of your augury crows." -Zeus said with a knowing, amused smirk.
"Alright." -Apollo found himself accepting immediately in return for some of his favored treats.
"Excellent. The pastries will be sent to your room and will be ready for when you returns from your field trip." - Zeus tapped the floor with the base of his scepter
Dionysius crossed his arms, not surprised at his brother's response but not willing to buy this so easily. - "Ok, what is up?"
"Oh, I want your cooperation too." Zeus looked at Dionysius as if he had forgotten he was there too. - "I need the Teumessian fox*. I of course, in all my power, can easily turn it back from stone, but given that you, Dionysus, was the one who sent it to ravage the mortal lands in the first place, the fox will only listen to you or run off to continue its mission. And since that creature is impossible to catch if hunted, then it would much easier to merely use your cooperation to prevent that from the start while it is still casted in the sky."
"If you want a beast of that size, why don't you take Laelaps?" Dionysius wasn't so easily convinced.
"Because it isn't as cute. Consider it a lesson on the human heart." -Zeus answered with a chuckle. Of course, he didn't mention that being a magical creature that couldn't be caught if hunted, it would be impossible for the woman to catch it if she decided to try and kill it. - "The poor puppy the human representative rescued is dying and that would surely make the human extremely sad. " -He dramatically said as lights turned down in intensity to evoke a somber look that matched his now more stern expression. "I am using the augury crow and the puppy to keep that constellation up, given humans have come to depend on it for navigation, while also having a living cute and adorable puppy for your poor human representative. " - He said, but as always, his words sounded skew and he seemed to keep much information to himself.
"Is that so?"- Dionysius looked at his father with a twisted lip, but finally he exhaled, knowing that once Zeus got something stuck in his mind he was the most stubborn god out of them all. -"Very well, but let us use at least some of our powers." He flinched. "We need to at least be able to regenerate."
"Very well. I accept such request."- Zeus agreed and stopped his staff on the floor. The echo of its sound extending through the corridors and buildings to reach each of the gods in the place and causing their jewels to shine for a moment before some of their powers were released.
In just a few short moments, Dionysius had no trouble healing up from last night's shock as did all the other gods.
.
MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWM
.
Not so long after, the gods were gathered at the front door.
"So are we going off or not?" - Loki complained. Everyone had agreed to be here early in the morning to go on this field trip Balder had spoken about.
"As soon as Minx co… oh, Minx is here." - Apollo looked at the slightly tumbling person approaching from the bushes and then adjusted his backpack. - "Finally we're all here, so let's go to the field practice!"
Aria let out a groan. -"Must you be so loud and cheerful?" - If anyone could see her face under the mask they could see her eyes were red, her skin pale but slightly swollen, and her lips dry from her hangover. Last night after the bath she had quickly dried off and suit up before searching around the school for a place to camp; and while doing this she had stumbled on the canteen and store, although it couldn't be called a store because anything was going to be provided for free according to the guy there. That sounded too good to be true, so she asked for a few things for this trip that were from common to farfetched and the guy said they would be here by morning. In the meantime, she asked for a bunch of liquors from different countries, and to her surprise, she got them. She had done a small test to ensure they weren't drugged or poisoned, and then she had happily barricaded herself in a storage room and drank them all, thus her current condition.
The student council was pleased that the missing expedition member had arrived, Loki and Takeru looked at the newcomer in annoyment, Hades appeared to ignore the person, and Dionysius laughed at the obvious hang-over that had caused such tardiness.
Without any more delay they set on their way, the student council at the front and Hades quite behind, which Aria found suspicious but for the moment she didn't care. It was relatively nice walk if one didn't count the heat of the sun, and given that Aria was wearing her full armor and then field clothes over it plus a big backpack, it wasn't exactly preachy for her. Maybe the Aegis prototype was designed to allow the skin of the user to breath and provided thermal insulation that kept her fresh, but the amount of equipment and gear she was carrying wasn't exactly helping her. At least she wasn't the first one to complain aloud. That debut belonged to Loki and Takeru. Why the guy called.
"Ugg, I'm sweating like crazy"- Loki whined loudly, his steps beginning to drag on the floor.
"My legs are tired"- Takeru dragged too by Loki's side in the middle of the group.
Balder dedicated them an apologetic smile. - "Apparently that's how human bodies work"
("Duh") - Behind her mask Aria rolled her eyes, now the annoyed one was her, however, she took the chance to observe everyone again now that she was not so hungover anymore. Looking around she noticed that men's choice of style in their uniforms said more about them, and instead of uniformity in their uniforms there was merely a general line in them. Apollo, Balder and Takeru were wearing their white uniforms while the rest wore black shirts. Some guys were wearing their ties nicely tied like Tsukito, but Loki had it in complete disarray while Dionysius and Takeru didn't even bothered wearing one; but if she had point at the more noticeable men, those were clearly Loki, with his pink shirt under the one black uniform shirt, and Hades, with the only long sleeved shirt under a black vest and his apparent determination to remain behind and away from the group. -(And what the hell with their color of their hair? )
"Seriously?"-Takeru groaned.
"It's so gross" - Loki tossed his hands in the air and then used them like megaphone - "Hey! how long till we get there. Surely not all the way to the beach?"
Apollo turned his head to look but didn't stopped his pace- "Yes. To the beach all the way"
Loki and Takeru stopped at the same time, their faces full of incredulity. Takeru stood stressed and Loki dropped his shoulders looking completely unmotivated, neither of them wanting to take a step further. Since Loki didn't spoke more, Takeru did so. - "Isn't there an easier way to go?"
Aria placed her hand over her hip and leaned her weight on one leg.- "The journey is important too, you lazy complainers"- Aria raised her other hand and waved around to point at everything. - "We need to research this place during this field practice" - As if it was obvious the importance of such, she didn't elaborate more.
Takeru set the back of his palms on his hips and leaned a bit forward. - "That should happen when we get to the beach"
Aria crossed her arms. - "No. A field research last from when you get out from your base and until you come back; sometimes even until you present the results of the research"- She had no idea why the guy was complaining. They were carrying practically nothing and the beach wasn't even that far away.
Tsukito stood nearby and took out his notebook to scribbled diligently on it. -"...It lasts until we return…"- He then solemnly nodded - "A wonderful old saying passed down through the ages."
Ari tilted her head and pointed at the purple haired guy, her digitally distorted voice calm despite the antics of this weird guy. - "Actually no. Just standard research procedures"- She then tilted her head at the other side to crack her neck; at least the purple haired guy seemed serious.
While Loki dropped himself on the floor, Takeru closed the distance toward his brother, his arms extended and his palm straight forming a stopping sign.- "Brother, you don't need to write that down" - His demeanor then took an 180° turn when he turned towards the merc. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned forward with a menacing posture; his voice an angry tone towards the armored person. - "And you, stop saying nonsense you… you… you ghost in a shell"
"Ghost in a shell? Ha, A stand alone complex would be then" - Aria chuckled and shrugged,- "Are you trying to insult or compliment me?"- her voice distorted and indistinguishable, which bothered him more.
Takeru blinked.- "What was your name?" - With every passing second he looked at the stranger, this person became more bothersome and suspicious.
She waved her hand in a dismissing way.-"I never told you my name, but I told you that you can call me Aria Hadron Scherzi"
Takeru was weirded out. - "What characters are in that name?" - He could not put pictograms to that name at all, although maybe it was because it wasn't a name.
"None." - Her gloved hand was placed in between their faces and she snapped her fingers. -"Try alt+65,114,105,97 just for the first part. If you don't know the alphabet you can use UTF-8 or ASCII* " . - At his baffled expression she extended her forearm and on the tactic screen, and after pressing some keys pretty calligraphy appeared to show the words that composed her current 'name'. -"Now please stop complaining so that we can keep going."
Before anything happened the group continued the march, but after a while and when they were passing through the forest, Aria finally got irked enough about Hades staying behind the group all the time. It was suspicious as hell and she decided to confront him.
"Stop. Stay back"- He set his palm forward to make her stop when she approached. His expression super serious.- "Do you want to be miserable?'
"More than I am already?"- She took another step forward and the man comically took quite many steps back.
"I accepted Apollo's invitation to this sunny seaside trip"- He dramatically hugged himself and she felt an urge to sack him - "But I'm staying farther away than usual."- He hugged himself even tighter, with so much melodrama that the acting could have been from some latinamerican soap opera - ".. So as to not ruin it with my misery"
Aria turned around and ignored him again. He either had some traumas or was a melodramatic diva, maybe both. In any case, as he didn't interfere or try anything because she didn't give a damn.
Halfway through, they had passed by some waterfalls, fields and meadows. Now they were on a hanging bridge that crosses over the sky.
A few floating islands appeared amongst the clouds below them, and even some ducks passed by flying under the bridge. Most baffling was the guys lack of reaction about this. Except for Loki who was leaning over the edge to get a better view, everyone seemed to be enjoying the picnic, once again as if there wasn't anything strange.
After another hour of travel they left behind a mini canyon full of encrusted crystals where Aria had insisted on taking samples and now they were finally at the beach. While everyone else wondered at the sight, Aria set her gaze on the horizon, where at the distance and probably situated on an island, a sort of earthy spherical structure that held itself at impossible - 45º of inclination, and even more strange was that from its top sprout an identical but smaller structure that also held itself inclined at 45º. Aria set that place as her next objective.
"The beach sure is great!" - Takeru's extended his hands to the sky to stretch as his smiled formed upon finally arriving to the seaside.
"Loki, aren't you glad you came?"- Balder's voice joined.
Aria turned to see the guys, already making plans on how to get to her objective. They seem happy and relaxed, even Hades had joined the group.
Loki leaned his weight on one leg, set one hand over his hip and then 'casually' expended his other palm upward as if he wasn't excited. - "Yeah, it's not bad"
Apollo took off his backpack and let it drop on the sand before cheerfully addressing everyone- "Well, let's start enjoying this seaside trip"
Aria shrugged and set down her heavy backpack, taking the chance to stretch herself and crack her bones. - "This trip is not about enjoying. It's about research"- However, inadvertently she let out a couple small happy groans that were almost lost into the digital distortion of her neck speakers.
"C'mon Minx, we can have fun while researching" - Apollo took off his coat and shirt at the same time, and dropped them on the sand, turning around and showing that he actually had a six pack.- "Let's start by swimming" - He then began unbuckling his belt without any regards for modesty.
"I can't argue with that"- Aria rose an eyebrow, more weirded about they been so careless as to expose themselves so easily than at the fact that Apollo's pants hit the floor to reveal his well shaved legs and the blue and white swim-trunks he had been wearing under his clothes all the time.
The blond noticed that he was being checked out, and his pose naturally modeled with one hand over his hip- "I read about it in a book. When humans go to the beach or pool they wear their swimming attires under their clothes"
"That is practical, I suppose"- Aria didn't need more clues to determine how evident it was that they have come only to play instead of research, which set her scenario pretty straight forward. The question was how to use the guys and/or how to prevent them from getting in her way.
Dionysius discarded his clothes too and showed a very small speedo that left nothing to the imagination.- "At Apollo's recommendation we wore our swimsuits under our clothes"
All the guys threw their clothes up in the air at the same time, and showed their eye candy appeal. Besides Dionysius and Apollo, Hades ported a black and purple wetsuit while practically hugging himself in embarrassment despite having nothing to envy the younger males. The nordics naturally posed too; Loki in front and Balder at the back. Loki was wearing a long sleeved white shirt above his trunks, balder a loose gray vest and black trunks. But they weren't the only ones posing. As if it was natural and reflective, even the japanese brothers posed side by side and showed their contrast. Tsukito was wearing a black fitting shirt over his gray trunks while his brother was posing with his back up front to show his rounded butt by using just a white loin cloth.
With a raised eyebrow Aria saw the herd of muscle packed male meat, and although under other circumstances she would perhaps consider hitting some of that, at the moment she was wondering if they were posing on purpose, if it was casual or if it was a conditioned action.
"Minx, you change too!" - Apollo urged and began rummaging on his backpack. Everyone turning to look curiously at the armored stranger whose real gender and appearance had remained a mystery so far.
"I didn't bring a swimsuit."- She honestly said. Not only had she been busy 'examining' alcoholic beverages, but all her preparations had been regarding research. Going swimming had not even been a thought for her, not to mention that just taking off her gear would leave her exposed and in disadvantage should some dangerous situation occurred. - "I only prepared for researching."
"You can just take off your armor" - Apollo encouraged, but before the merc could answer, from out of nowhere and all around a school bell sounded, and before it even ended, wind force increased and the sky got cloudy while temperature began dropping.
"Eh! What is this!?" - Loki looked dumbfounded to the sky.
"It cold" - Yukito, captain obvious, pointed out.
In matter of moments the small plants around started to wither while the trees changed their leaves from a lush green to golden, yellow and orange shades. Aria activated all her sensors, even going as far as activating her primary synchronicity mode to get a direct connection to all her devices. As the connective needles dug into her spinal cord and her neural system, she tried looking for the source of such a change, to record everything from every input she had, looking around through all her optic lenses modes, infrared, electromagnetic, deep field, radiation… everything. But nothing was conclusive. There were no outer heaters that could have been turned off in the vicinity, there was no chemical rain to wither the plants at this rate. There existed no giant fans to push the wind and the land certainly had not rotated to cause such wind either. The only thing she could do at the moment was to gather samples and analyze them later, so she got down and began collecting some of the smaller plants.
Tsukito walked near Aria, who was now looking the bark and foliage of the closest tree -"It seems to be autumn"
"What's all this!?" - Takeru demanded and looked around searching for a culprit, angered but not worried.
"It's cold"- Dionysius hugged himself in an attempt to get warmer.
"It's because of me"- Hades looked at his hands as if they were blood drenched after a dramatic accidental murder and crouched down over the sand. - "I brought everyone misery by coming here."
"No, Uncle Hades"- Apollo quickly reassured his uncle, but for once the blonde's expression was not a cheerful smile. He had an actual angry look on his face - "It's him. 'He' did this!" - Apollo growled and then did an effort to form back his trademark smile, and once he achieved it he turned towards everyone with his energy apparently all back. - "Don't let the seasons beat you. I'm going to swim. Who's with me?"
Only Tsukito raised his hand as volunteer.-"I'll swim too. I decided to come swimming and that's what I'll do. One should follow through with decisions" -He and promptly received an euphoric hug from the blond and immediately was dragged across the shoreline towards the water.
Aria was busy looking at the vegetation and taking samples. Some plants were brownish, a few were withered, but the rest actually seemed fine, possibly the sudden change in the weather had yet to affect them. Since there was little else she could capture in this phenomena she finally turned off her syncing and for a few seconds closed her eyes tightly to lessen the stinging sensation on them. This was beyond freakish, but most freakish was that none of the guys was freaking out at all this. Zero reaction from them.
The sound of water splashing made Aria turn. Waist deep into the sea Apollo and Tsukito seemed to be really cold and fulfilling most conditions to get hypothermia, plus looking incredibly stupid by trying to coach the other into joining them. She approached and despite her eyes still hurting slightly she activated her thermal filter in her optics and saw how the water's temperature dropped while the two idiots were freezing.-("How can temperature drop so suddenly?")
"Aniki!" - Takeru screamed before dragging his brother out of the water.- "The ocean is too cold now!"
"This is not the ocean"- Aria moved to the shore and lowered to get a sample of the water in a test tube.
"Like you know that!"- Takeru growled while tending to his shivering brother.
"Look at the water, by the wind intensity the waves should be higher. Also consider the drop in temperature."- She pulled back on the beach. - "The ocean's surface can vary in temperature from a 30°C in the tropics to -2°C near the poles. In the ocean, most of the light energy is absorbed in the top 50 centimeters. At 2 meters depth, 98% of the energy has been absorbed and transformed into heat that is released slowly at night. "-She pointed at the water while looking at them. -"And yet the water here lost temperature almost immediately. Normally such drop in temperatures can take up to 2 months. In some places the average summer water temperature is around 22 degrees Celsius, while in winter they sink to about 16 degrees. " -She set her hand over her hip and leaned her weight on one leg. -"That is 6° drop during various months, not minutes."
Takeru had a very visible pulsing vein on his forehead and his firsts were tight already. This person really pissed him off.- "You trying to tell me how the oceans work!?"
"I just did."- She accommodated her stuff back in place - "Water does not change temperature so fast, at least not in a big extension or quantity. This is not the ocean. It's a big artificial lake, perhaps it actually has different separate zones in giant bowls of different deeps to be able to heat or remove heat from them as fast as we just saw. "-Aria shrugged and walked towards where the cabin was supposed to be, barely turning around once more. - "Regardless of that, you should take these 2 fools to the cabin before hypothermia occurs."
Takeru looked at the retreating armored core. He was finally fed up and he was gonna take care of this person as soon as he made sure his brother was alright.
Back in his throne room, Zeus in his child form seemed pretty amused.
"You are merciless" - Thoth, standing by Zeus's side, seemed equally amused and even on the verge of laughing.
"Through trials, both gods and humans grow." - Zeus lame attempt at justification held just the vaguest of truths.
"I hope you are right" -Thoth hoped so, because so far and however amusing this was, it was a disaster.
.
MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
.
Once all the guys were installed in the wooden beach cabin and accommodated near the fire with Apollo and Tsukito had blankets over their shoulders and were holding onto mugs of warm beverages.
"I came because Balder insisted this would be fun. But it's BORING" - Loki complained from over a couch.
"Loki, there are plenty of fun things to do besides swimming"- Balder tried, but everyone was in low spirits; all looking annoyed, bored or disappointed. Everyone except for Takeru and the human representative who weren't at the cabin. The human representative had mentioned something about research and Takeru had gone out of the cabin as soon as his brother was warming up near the fireplace.
Susanoo, japanese god of the sea currently known as Takeru Totsuka, was more than fed up with the armored stranger, and it was time he settled things with this person, and no matter what, he would find out who really was the stranger. Hearing some noise behind the cabin where there was a small wooden shed where he saw the back of the armored stranger. The ghost in the shell was playing with some small tubes and some strange machines. With his sword in hand he approached. - "Ore!"
"Si? What is it? Shouldn't you be tending to your brother." -The stranger didn't bother to turn around and was holding some kind of stakes and poles while holding a container.
As the person moved, Takeru saw the most imperceptible metallic glint running along the entire length of the stranger's forearm. A hidden blade.- "Who are you really?" - Now he was even more suspicious. For all he knew this was a spy for Zeus.
"Is not my fault if you didn't pay attention during introductions" - At best the voice Aria used was bored. - "If you don't have a reason to be here then leave me alone. I do plan to do some basic research here unlike you lot. So far no strange results have been obtained, which is strange in itself. Go and play with the others, I have questions to answer."
Takeru pointed his sword at the person's chest- "I challenge you to a duel! When I win you'll tell me everything I want to know, spy."
"The statement in the last part of that line is a fallacy. " - Aria looked at the fireworks she was holding in one hand, since asking for gunpowder straight out from the store would have been too obvious, she had asked for fireworks instead and she was just about to extract their powder when Takeru came- "First, there may be things you want to know which I don't know; second, it's not assured you'd win; and third, I have no intention of engaging in an unneeded fight where there's nothing for me to gain"
"So you're too afraid to fight?"- He smirked.- "If you win I'll go to this stupid classes. Now accept the challenge"
"I'm not interested. The sports festival is coming anyways." The mercenary remained performing her movements, but she settled into a more cautious stance. This guy was the hot headed type.
Takeru growled and then smirked. - "If I add a godly promise once we get out of this place?" - No way was that going to be denied.
"I told you. I have no interest in wasting my time in useless fight. Your promise is equally useless. You think Zeus didn't try to trick me the same way?"- Aria turned around and saw the sword. The blade was real and thus was his threat. Getting her lighter ablaze with her other hand, she held a big rocket in his direction.-"Go away or I'll set this on you"
The vein on Takeru's head almost popped. HIs patient had reached the limit. - "Remove that mask and face me!" - He attacked, and when the stranger dodged, the flame lit the rocket.
"Shit!"- Aria dropped the rocked and jumped away from Takeru's next attack, the rocket shooting towards the rest of the fireworks and setting off in a colorful spread of flames and sparks that soon took into the sky and the surrounding landscapes to provide a colorful display.
Upon the first explosions, the guys inside the cabin came out to see the fireworks, but their attention was distracted towards the fighting figures that came from under the bungalow stairs. Takeru was throwing slashes with his sword forward while Aria dodged or moved back to evade, occasionally parrying the blows with the blackened blades that protrude from her forearms sides, and slashing towards Takeru, who easily parried the attacks or stepped aside while getting more frustrated at being unable to cut his opponent down.
"Take-take! Minx!" -Apollo shouted.
"Nii-san!" -Tsukito exclaimed with just the slightest of surprise.
For a second Takeru eyed his brother through the corner of his eyes, and that was enough distraction for the mercenary to kick forward the sand right into the bluenette's eyes, and then, while Takeru performed a side slash, Aria lowered down on the floor to swipe her leg and make him fall, which he did, but not before he managed to grab onto whatever was in front of him, her face, or rather her mask, and ripping it off her face as he rolled aside while his opponent pulled back from his grip. However, while he was taking back his stance the mercenary was already kicking his sword, but as the expert swordsman he was, he didn't let go of his weapon, which costed him a slash in the chest from the merc's own hidden blade, a wound he accepted in order to punch the merc's jaw and get a chance at glancing at this obnoxious opponent.
With reddened eyes Takeru twisted, smirking knowing he had unmasked this dishonorable fool.- "Now let see who you… ONA!?" He was stunned, and she took the new chance to jump and kick more sand into his eyes before stumping over his stomach, making him gasp out of the impact and her amazingly heavy weight; but that wasn't the worst, her unsheathed blades were up and ready to impale his head had it not been because of a firework heading her way and causing her to jump away before it zigzagged over Takeru's body and then went up in the air to explode in a flower of golden sparks that were followed by the rest of the lit fireworks shooting up into the late afternoon sky.
"Minx! Take-Take!"- Apollo exclaimed as he and Balder tackled the human representative while Tsukito stepped in front of his brother to prevent him from attacking again.
"Ha,ha,ha that was fun" -Loki exclaimed, surprised at the fire in the sky and then looking down at the interrupted fight that would have started again where it not for Apollo and Balder grabbing the odd person by the arms while Tsukito held back his brother. Of course, curious as he was he jumped down too. While Takeru was still trying to get the sand out of his eyes, Loki crossed his arms behind his head and looked at the other attacker.- "A Valkyrie? I didn't expect that."
"Minx fights like a fury, right" - Apollo smiled a bit nervously while massaging her shoulders, which of course she couldn't feel because of the armored plates. He slowly loosened his grip and she at least refrained from attacking.
Balder looked at the representative. She was pale and fiery. Her face, although not astoundingly beautiful like a Valkyrie, held an air of defiance if not of total impertinence in spite of her lip bleeding from the punch she just received; her olive green eyes shone with calculated guile and clear determination, although most of that determination was probably focusing on cutting down the blue haired god that had attacked her. In general she looked rash and on edge, ready to flee or fight, but if she were to fight she looked more than willingly ready to strike down whatever she faced, god or not.
"I win"- She said. Her voice still unnatural and coming from her suit at the neck rather than from her lips. She eyed everyone, accepting she was at a disadvantage if she kept fighting in case the rest decided to enter the fight in Takeru's side, which they probably would give he was one of them.
Takeru exploded once again, barely containing himself. -"That wasn't a clean fair fight! You tossed sand in my eyes, you coward!"
"A fight is a fight and I drew first blood."- She said all too calmly, pushing things further on this hothead. If she managed to make him accept his defeat, maybe he would stop bothering her. He seemed that type of guy. -"No rules where stated, so nothing was unfair."
"I wouldn't call it a full fight."- Loki said, trying to get the fun going again. -"Since you were stopped during the middle of it then it should continue, right?"
Takeru looked crossed on what to do for a moment but his brother gave him a small squish on his shoulder, shaking his head no, after which he forced himself to relax his posture.- "Very well. I accept this defeat, but I demand a fair duel."
"Not interested." - The woman declined with a sneer.
"Hey!" -Dionysius interrupted, still looking at the sky. - "What were those fires that flew in the air and explodes in shards and petals?"
"Huh?"- Aria was distracted by the question. -"You mean the fireworks?"
The previous altercate was immediately forgotten by the guys as they looked at her with eyes glowing with curiosity.
This time she did facepalm before answering. - "fireworks are a low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes based on gunpowder and other substances like metals or minerals to give the fires different colors that produce which produce intense light, sound or smoke when ignited."
"That sounds fun"- Loki finally seemed interested in something.
"Do you have more, Minx?" - Apollo asked her, noticing the chance.
"I do."- She said as her greediness tuned mercenary instincts kicked in. -"I can sell or trade them to you"
"Alright!" - Apollo agreed immediately with a smile.
The merc found herself willing to take the payment later once she thought of something while taking the rest of the surviving fireworks from her backpack, which was overly heavy majorly from these and not just from her normal equipment. Having carbon nanostructure super latticed and graphene implants in the joints, and producing spider silk in her tissues to hold them together certainly helped when carrying heavy stuff. All the pain and cost for getting such test modifications sure had paid her off.
"This is all I have here. I should last for like 30 mins of fun if you shoot them up one by one."- She said, presenting her stash to Apollo.
"Do you have more? It's a shame that these will last only so long." -Apollo said with a hopeful puppy look. -"It would be best if they could last all night."
"That would cost you more."- She said before crossing her eyes. -"I did ordered more at the school. But unfortunately we don't have any vehicle to go and retrieve them fast enough. I remind you that we walked all the way here."- Payment aside, she was curious on what they would propose.
"We can use Pegasus!" - Apollo quickly grabbed her hand and wristed to call forth the flying horse, which arrived almost immediately, making the woman wonder if the pegasus has been following them or something.
She took the change to examined the changes to the landscape from above, confirming it looked like summer, and not so later after they were back the school, walking into the canteen.
"Oh? You sure came back sooner than … Apollo?" - The guy in charge of the canteen's store, a curly haired brunette looking younger than Apollo said while looking at the blond god up and down. With ripped baggy shorts, sandals, a sun hat with a patch of some wings at the side, and wearing a necklace with a Caduceus* he himself had all the appearance of the most stereotypical backpacker dude during hot summer weather; except for the school uniform which jacket was ripped and made into a shirt with folded up sleeves over a T-shirt with a winged sandal print.
"Hermes." - Apollo greeted with a happy look that seems strained.
"I take you know each other, then." - She pointed out the obvious while Hermes jumped over the counter, barely passing in front of Apollo to greet her. Her eyes shone for a fraction of a second.
"Well, yes. He is sort of my half-brother." - Hermes then grinned towards Apollo, holding the aforementioned man's tie in his hand and twirling it around in circles. -"And he is as clueless as always it seems."- He laughed. -"For all your clairvoyance, you surely can't see in front of yourself."
Apollo placed his hand over his chest and sure as it was his tie wasn't there. For a moment he looked surprised an even angry, but he quickly retrieved his tie and put it back on. - "What are you doing here, Hermes?"
"Didn't you foresee that either?"- Hermes laughed at the blond. "-I mean, after all those hundreds of times you don't need to predict the future to even expect it. And I'm doing part time job here as clerk." - He pointed at himself.
"You are brothers with him too?"- Aria interrupted. Hermes thieving skill had been superv and she got the feeling he had done so slowly on purpose but Apollo hadn't noticed it. In fact, she had barely caught on all the detail due to her sensors being activated in auto. She had in only spoken with him once, but now that he was besides Apollo she could also see that, like Dionysius, the similarities could be easily seen in their face shape and skin tone. (If there are any more then that Zeus dude lives to the name...and should get some condoms or a vasectomy)
"Di-di, is here too, right?"- Hermes nodded at her, winking. -"I assume you are here for the 'other stuff'?"
She leaned forward.- "Yeah. "
"We are here for the rest of the fireworks." - Apollo interjected, not stepping closer to his younger half-brother.
"Only those?" - Hermes got down behind the counter and then got a couple big bags before addressing the female. -"Do you want the other stuff later, then?"- He then looked at her face for some prolonged seconds before getting down to get something else.
"Yes, I'll get the rest later." - She shrugged, this 'Hermes' guys was more like some of the more mild people she was used to interact with every so often in certain bars where mugging was tasteless but pickpocketing was an art and where you needed to be on guard. However, he was also funny enough as he might be a regular traveler. In any case, he was here and was doing a job apparently like Thoth, so he probably had info she could use.
"Here, take this too."- Hermes came out with a little bottle of ointment that he tossed to her. -" Since Apollo here did nothing this will help instead with that bruised lip."
Aria caught the bottle in the air and then touched her face, noticing it was swollen while Apollo looked at her with wide guilty eyes.
"Anything else you need, just tell me and I'll get it for you. No matter what."- Tapping his hat, Hermes winked again.
"Thanks." - The merc placed the ointment in her pants pocket and then grabbed one of the big bags of fireworks. -"Maybe some cigars would be nice for later."
Apollo didn't say anything more. He just grabbed the other bag and stepped outside while she said goodbye and followed after him.
Once outside, Apollo sighed while securing the bags over Pegasus.- "Hermes has always been somewhat difficult but ultimately he is a guy that loves fun and travels." - He smiled.- "I didn't expect him to be here too; anyways we better head back to everyone."
"I pass on going back to the beach." - Aria took a few steps behind.- "I'm tired and not in the mood to deal with that idiot Takeru or anyone's antics." - She grumbled. -"It would be better if I go get a bag of ice for my jaw."
Looking guilty and apologetic again, Apollo approached to place his hand over her jaw with care, but to his surprise and dismay, he couldn't heal her. -" I'm sorry I didn't foresee you'd get hurt in the trip, minx."
"You didn't foresaw an unstable hot-headed idiot trying to pick a fight with someone?"- She rolled her eyes, moving his hand away from her face. The gentle gesture had been so unexpected that she hadn't foresee it either.- "I did. I merely got a bit careless into being considerate enough try and reason with a guy like that first instead of shot him in the knee first or something. " -She growled at her own mistake.- "Instructions for the different fireworks are written in each box of them."
"I'm sure Take-take didn't mean it." - Apollo tried. -"You can still come and have fun with everyone."
"No." She said again and then turned to lean against a tree to protect her back in case this idiot tried pulling her or something, but he merely exhaled in disappointment and got on the pegasus back before grinning at her.
"Minx, once we get back everyone can become friends during the sports festival."- He grinned, riding off.
She watched him fly off and then turns around, stopping short.
"Wait! I forgot to charge him for my fireworks!"
After a long string of curses that only made her jaw hurt more she stormed back to the compound. She didn't care if her jaw would hurt more with the heat but she was at least determined to finish that bath in the hot springs now that she is sure she won't be bothered. Perhaps she would raid the guys room for snacks and hopefully some more wine first. That was the least she could get as payment for her precious gunpowder source.
.
.
MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM
.
.
NOTES:
*Teumessian fox: In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox was a magical monstrous giant fox that couldn't be caught. Dionysius sent it to prey upon the children of the city of Thebes as a punishment for... something (probably for preferring beer to wine or whatever he considered as crime while being utterly wasted). Anyways, the dog Laelaps from Crete was a hunting hound that would always be able to catch whatever it hunt and that was used to try and stop the fox, but since that let a paradoxical eternal chase, Zeus got tired of it and turned both animals to stone before setting them up in the sky as the constellations of Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (the Teumessian Fox).
*ASCII CODE: is a character-encoding scheme to represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text. Most modern character-encoding schemes are based on ASCII, though they support many additional characters. Later it evolved into UTF-8, which includes ASCII plus a bunch of other characters, like the wonderful Ñ letter
*Caduceus: The traditional symbol of Hermes and features two snakes winding around an often winged staff. It is often mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, especially in the United State as a result of documented mistakes, misunderstandings and confusions.
.
.
Chaos-dark-lord: Yes, this is not dead. Although working on my PHD has certainly reduced my time to work on fics.
Anyways, this story is going to keep going. And yes, it will tackle on the manga, anime and game as much as touching the topics and concepts you've asked about.
Peekodemeeko12:Enjoy the chapter and leave 5 reviews :D
.
.
