Bellerophon didn't make out what Annabeth was screaming until it was already too late. He barley had enough time to urge Pegasus into barrel-rolling out of the way of the gigantic column of fire that was launched toward him. A few of the Riders weren't as luck as he was, however. Four of them were incinerated instantly and another five were set on fire and their screams filled the sky as toppled to the earth below.
The dragon's roar was as loud as a hundred fog horns put together. It caused Bellerophon to cover his ears with his hands. Every time it flapped it's wings, it sounded like the Earth had it's own heart beat. This dragon was the biggest dragon that Bellerophon had ever seen and he had seen a couple. This dragon was twice the size of Peleus, the dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece at Camp Half-Blood. He heard stories about Festus the dragon, who weighed fifty tons, but this dragon seemed a much heavier than that. It had a wing span of at least sixty-five feet, dozens of razor sharp teeth in it's mouth like a shark, a mix of black and red scales, and gleaming gold eyes of hate. The thing had huge spikes jutting out of it's spine and the scales that were scarred and bruised, as if someone had beaten it and hurt it intentionally. The thought came to Bellerophon, this dragon was in fact injured on purpose. It was abused and tortured like a rodeo bull or pit fighting dogs, making them even more violent and belligerent. This dragon was furious and there was no doubt about it. It needed to take it's anger out on something and it's scapegoat was the Riders.
"What are you waiting for?" Bellerophon asked looking to his Riders expectantly. "Shoot it!" he ordered as he knocked an arrow into his bow string and fired. "Keep it away from the ship!"
The initial shock passed over the Riders and the archers in the group fired their arrows hoping to stop the beast but their projectiles merely bounced harmlessly off the dragon's diamond hard scales. Javelins ad spears were thrown but the over-sized reptile just kept on coming. Thalia and Jason tried blasting it with lightning but that didn't even leave a dent.
"Aim for it's eyes, aim for it's eyes!" Bellerophon shouted. "SCATTER!"
Before the dragon was fully on them, the Riders dispersed and zig-zagged in different directions. They zoomed around it trying to get a clear shot at it's eyes. It was too fast though. It twirled and looped around the Riders. It would breathe fire to keep them at bay and sometimes it would score a hit and ignite the flammable tail hairs of a Pegasus. Butch tried to take the dragon from behind but it's tail swatted him away. Reyna tried going for it's underbelly with her sword but the dragons claws pushed her back. They couldn't return back to the ship because then they would lead the dragon right to it. They couldn't kill it because it was too strong and too fast.
In the words of Grover Underwood, "They're screwed."
"Shoot it with the cannons!" Octavian suggested.
"No, you'll hit Jason," Piper shrieked, "and the others!" she added quickly.
"Mrs. McLean is right," Achilles coincided.
"We have to do something!" an Argonaut shouted out.
Frank saw the dragon nearly hit Hazel, who was riding Black Jack, with a column of fire. It made his heart rate quicken and caused his stomach to do a backflip.
"I have an idea," said Frank.
Without really thing ahead he jumped over the railing and then turned into an eagle. He bravely but dumbly he flew towards the dragon.
Frank swerved through the Riders, dodged a fire ball from the dragons mouth, flew high above the dragon and then turned back into a human. Quickly, before gravity pulled him down, Frank knocked a rocket arrow into Oriens, he took aim, drew back on the string, and let the mega arrow fly. The arrow struck the dragon square in the back and it exploded, causing the mushroom cloud effect. Before Frank fell too low he transformed back into an eagle. He looked through the smoke hopefully but when it cleared his heart sunk. No dice, the arrow only made the dragon grunt in pain and then scream in rage. The only damaged that seemed to be done was a small bruise on it's back.
"No way," Frank said but it came out as a screech due to the fact he was an eagle.
The dragon turned to look at Frank, the one who shot him in the back, hate filled it's golden eyes. Then it flew directly at him. Frank realized that he was now the primary target. He let out a panicked shriek befogging turning and flying away. His mind buzzed as he zoomed around the clouds while dodging columns of fire. He couldn't keep this up all day but if stopped then the dragon would get him.
There must be a way to kill this thing, he thought. Frank searched his mind for answers which resinated with the stories that his mother and grandmother used to tell him about his ancestors. Then it hit him, 'He was the greatest dragon of all...You can be anything Frank...literal truth,' his Grandmother said in his mind.
Frank concentrated about the nights after Grunt Training. He spent everyday of that week with Hazel, next to Thalia's Tree, where the Golden Fleece hung; but not just the Golden Fleece was there, but so was it's protector. Frank opened his eyes and felt his body shift. He grew a tail, his eagle wings expanded twenty times larger, his talons extended and practically transformed into razor sharp blades, his beak turned into a reptilian snout, and his feathers morphed into iron-hard scales.
Frank had turned into a mirror image of Peleus, the dragon! After letting out a roar of triumph, Frank turned to face the giant dragon that was chasing him. The hateful eyes of the dragon widened in surprise at what Frank had become. It's surprise was quickly washed over with rage. It opened its mouth and set a column of fire at Frank but it was intercepted with Frank's very own column of fire. The fire columns pushed against each other, fighting for dominance. Frank knew he couldn't win this battle. The other dragon was way more experienced and powerful in the art of breathing fire. Frank closed his mouth, rolled out of the way, and flew straight at his opponent. The two collided and began snapping at each other with their jaws. Their necks tangled and their claws scratched at each other. Frank opened his mouth again and doused his dragon opponent with fire. It screamed in pain and tried to give Frank a taste of his own medicine. Frank was too quick however and wriggled free from the entanglement. He rolled out of the way of more fire breath, swooped down, then up, and closed his jaws around the other dragon's throat. The huge red and black dragon looked toward the heavens and screamed in agony as Frank bit down harder and harder every time it tried to wriggle free.
"This our chance," yelled Bellerophon. "NOW, ATTACK, ATTACK!"
The Riders flew in and began to pour arrows, spears, and javelins into the dragon's mouth which was wide open. Jason hovered as he flipped his gladius causing it to morph into it's javelin counter-part. He pointed it's tip at the humungous dragon's open maw, summoned all the strength he could muster from his father's kingdom, and sent the biggest lightning bolt down onto the tip of his javelin. Jason's arm vibrated as the lightning bolt arced down the shaft of the javelin and hurled it's self from the tip of the weapon. The lightning bolt soared straight at the dragon's mouth and down it's gullet. The electric shock flooded through the dragons veins and after a few moments of violent convulsions it exploded into a million little bits of dragon nuggets.
In exhaustion, Frank slowly turned back into a human and fell down to the Earth. Bellerophon and Hazel glided under him and caught him gently.
From Hazel's lap, Frank looked up said, "I did the best I could, how did I do?"
She pecked him on the forehead with her lips. "Not too shabby, not shabby at all my dragon."
Back at the Argo II a mob swarmed Frank and began to pat him on the back, gave him have fives, and congratulated him.
"That was amazing," they would say, or "That was awesome," or "Can I get your autograph?"
"Frank, we should change you nickname from 'Babyface' to 'Dragonface,'" Leo suggested.
"That's pretty badass," Jason agreed.
"Hey, aren't we forgetting something?" Frank asked incredulously.
Achilles answered for everyone: "Mr. Valdez, takes us down to the cliff. I assume Percy Jackson, Theseus, Clarisse La Rue, Tyler Horace, and Leonidas will need our help."
"Holy crap, have they forgotten us?" Percy asked as he cut down another dracaena, "Because I'm pretty sure they have and my arm is getting sore," he whined as he used a wave from the ocean to sweep a squad of cyclopses to sea.
"Stop complaining, save your breathe, use it for killing," Theseus recommended while he slid like a baseball player under a line of Earthborn, hitting every single one in the groin with his cudgel.
"I hope they never get here because I'm having way too much fun," Clarisse cackled as she thrust her electric spear, Maimer, through five Empousai.
"Aye," Leonidas agreed after leveling an Earthborn with a shield bash and bending down to cut it's throat with his sword.
Tyler continued his stony silence as he hacked away with his trench knife.
Slowly the monsters began to back away deeper and deeper into the mountains. There were only about a hundred left to due the barrage of cannon balls, machine gun fire, arrow volleys, a tsunami, and now these five Argonauts cutting them to pieces.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A giant cyclops suddenly shouted from behind the monster ranks.
"No way, it's that blind Geezer from that one quest we had in the Sea of Monster, remember Jackson?" Clarisse exclaimed.
"WHO SAID THAT? WHERE ARE YOU?" Polyphemus roared.
"They're over there," Minos snarled accompanied by another two-thousand monsters. "I'm going to end you Theseus!"
Minos and Polyphemus decided to peak out of their safe little cave and they had even brought reinforcements with them.
"You may have gotten this far, you may have killed my pets, you may have destroyed my dragon-" Minos began.
"You had a dragon?" Percy asked in disbelief while searching the sky in amazement.
"Silence," Minos barked, "your time ends now."
"YOU DIE NOW HALF-BLOOD, WE MONSTERS EAT WELL TONIGHT!" Polyphemus cackled.
"Not if we anything too say about it!" called Odysseus from the Argo II which seemed to materialize from the clouds and land directly behind Theseus, Percy, Leonidas, Tyler, and Clarisse.
The giant warship loomed threateningly behind the five Argonauts. All the guns were trained on the Minos and his army of monsters. The archers stood at the ready and the Riders hovered in the air above them.
"Do I hear Nobody?" Polyphemus asked. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He roared as he picked up a giant boulder and prepared to throw it.
"Shut up," Odysseus bleated as he notched an arrow into his bow and shot it at Polyphemus.
The arrow whistled as it streaked through the air. It hit Polyphemus straight into his single eye. Polyphemus screamed, sunk to his knees while cupping his hands to his face, and then exploded. The boulder he held, fell from his hands, and dropped onto a pack of Hellhounds.
"How dare you," Minos roared. "Prepare to attack," he ordered his monsters.
"Mr. Valdez, blow these putrid insects to Tartarus please!" Achilles ordered him.
"With pleasure," Leo grinned as he pressed the 'B' button on his Wii-mote.
"LIGHT EM BOYS!"
The cannons boomed to life and sent rounds into the monsters' ranks while the archers fired volley after volley. After a few seconds of explosions, the cannon fire ceased and the archers fired their last arrows. When the smoke cleared all that was left of the monster army was the crumpled and defeated body of Minos. He laid there coughing, his clothes covered in dust and tattered, and the blood flowed freely from various wounds.
Theseus slowly approached him, grabbed the evil king by his hair, and lifted his head to the sky.
"King Minos, you will die like your sacred Minotaur!" Theseus growled with no remorse.
"Please, please, I beg you! N-n-n-no! NOOOOOOOOO!" Minos screamed.
"For Ariadne," Theseus whispered menacingly into his ear.
With Minos's mouth wide open, Theseus shoved his sword down the evil king's throat. Everyone aboard the Argo II, even Tyler, grimaced at the gruesome sight they were witnessing. After the dirty deed was finished; Theseus picked up the limp body and threw it off cliff edge. He watched the corpse hit every rock on the way down before it splashed into the ocean.
"Prepare to unload!" Achilles ordered the Argonauts after recovering from the initial shock of Theseus's brutality.
"Check you weapons, armor and ammo. We will enter the ravine ahead of us. That will be the new Thermopylae Pass. That is where we will make our stand! There, we will thin out their numbers and then we will assault Death's Doors!"
"This is a good start," Hercules smiled. "Seven-thousand monsters gone and only thirteen-thousand left!"
"FALL OUT!" Leonidas ordered.
The Argonauts unloaded, gathered their weapons, resupplied their arrows, and marched forward through the ravine. The day had only begun. This was going to be a long one.
"NO!" The female Giant, Pallas, screamed. "Minos and Polyphemus, those incompetent fools!"
"Don't worry, My Lady," Hector reassured her. "That was only the beginning. We will wipe out these so called new Argonauts soon enough."
"No, I want you to attack now!" Pallas roared.
"Be patient, let Achilles bask in his victory. Let him become overconfident. He will eventually make mistakes and that, My Lady, is when we will crush him. Besides, only a few thousand of our army can fit on that cliff at one time, they would be destroyed in a matter of hours. We will destroy them when they advance on Death's Door. There, they will be in the open, we will surround them, and finish them. Do not fret though, we will give them a few surprises along the way. Eventually our extra forces from the Underworld will arrive and we will outnumber them even more. My Lady, everything is going as planned!"
"Your plan cost me over a quarter of our forces!"
"As I said, be patient. Achilles will die soon enough!"
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