Chapter 5: Prepare for Battle
Cronos' picture had shown up on the television, and was now grinning evilly at them. "Are you all snuggled up and happy?" he taunted, red eyes glinting with some fraction of his hate.
"What d'ya want Cronos?" Archie spat, his own hatred burning into his words.
"Now, now Archie. Calm down. I see dear Atlanta survived." His grin hadn't dissolved. "Pity. Now to answer your question. What I want is for you all to fight me one by one. If I can't get rid of you in five minutes then you shall all be able to leave and I will leave you alone till I find a suitable…. plan."
Jay glared at him. "That's not fair Cronos." Cronos seemed mildly interested and cocked an eyebrow at them.
"Who ever told you I was a fair god Jay?" He asked, grin still in place. "Alright. I'll make it fair. You like vacations, well if I don't get rid of each of you, in turn, under six minutes then I'll leave you all to rest and New Olympia and the world will be safe from me for six months. If, like Atlanta, you are seriously injured while fighting me then I'll move on and consider you dead." Jay scowled angrily at Cronos.
"And we should agree to this why? Why not fight in a group!" Odie stated, knowing their weakness was being alone. "Because I know your weakness Jay." The god smirked evilly at their leader, "And I don't just mean you all fighting alone." He laughed at Theresa.
Jay jumped away, 'How could I be so stupid to let him see me with Theresa! … he knows now. Just hopefully not about Archie and Atlanta.'
"Next week Saturday or not at all." he replied angrily. Cronos laughed victoriously, at the expressions on the others faces for Jay to agree. "I look forward to it." With that, he left them. The movie came back on. No one, however, aside from Herry, was even mildly interested in the movie. "Why?" Theresa cried gently, "Why did you agree?" But Jay remained silent. 'She doesn't even know that Cronos knows. Even she doesn't know how much I care for her.' Then Neil piped up, "We can't win on my god looks and luck alone. Let's train! I don't even care that I was the one to mention it. I just really hate that guy!"
"SWITCH!" Archie yelled, grinning. Ares had given them each an appropriate sized sword they were to learn to use in addition to their specialty items. He was face-to-face with Herry, who was easily annoyed with taunts, but wasn't someone he'd especially like to bug. It was funny to watch however. A few minutes went by, the clanging of swords against shields echoing loudly in the room. It continued like this for several days. When Saturday came that week, they took a break before the week would begin and they would train everyday. Archie was glad to get outside where he jogged easily around the pond. Of course he was a safe distance away.
His white muscle shirt was bouncing slightly when he ran. Atlanta watched him calmly from her skateboard; riding two laps in the time it took Archie to jog one, even with her relatively healed injury. But she kept slow so she wouldn't hurt herself, or miss Archie. Theresa stood leaning easily against a pillar while Odie sat at her feet on the stairs, clicking furiously at his laptop. Jay had settled himself on a bench; book in hand, flipping through the pages occasionally, while Neil, sitting next to him fussed over his appearance in his mirror. As for Herry, he had disappeared to his Granny's place. The day passed quickly and it was Sunday. They went back to practice. Once again they found themselves versing each other in various pairs.
"Switch" Jay called, turning to Theresa. Archie turned to face Atlanta grinning playfully. Herry turned to face Odie and Neil turned to face a mirror. Half an hour passed and no one had called a switch yet. Finally, Jay stopped and wiped his forehead. "Alright guys, you can stop if you want to." He glanced at the clock, then back to the group. Only Archie and Atlanta continued. Odie shook his head, laughing. "Ever wonder if those two would kill each other? Or how much pleasure they get from attempting it at least?" He asked, to anyone listening.
Jay shrugged. "They're both twice as eager to fight as any of us are. They wouldn't practice if they didn't get at least some pleasure from it. I can't really complain. With the amount of extra practice they put in they're able to keep most of us from harm." He reasoned. He was glad to; if Cronos knew about him and his feelings for Theresa he wanted to keep her extra safe. "Good point. I can't even begin to count the times they'd saved me." It was around two when Archie and Atlanta were spotted outside.
This continued until Saturday, when the Titans loaded themselves into Herry's truck. Jay glanced at each in turn, knowing how confident and nervous each of them felt. His own mind was racing with possibilities, running over the techniques and maneuvers they'd been taught. They stopped at a forest, dark and gloomy. "Jay, why did you agree to this?" Odie asked as he stepped from the truck and landed on the hard, compact dirt that trailed away into the thick forest growth.
It was around six, and the sun was beginning to sink lower in the sky, casting eerie shadows across the trees and the faces of the friends. "Alright guys, stick together until we find Cronos. Even then, until he shows himself and doesn't attack till we're ready, keep up your guard." Jay instructed, double-sided xiphos glittering in his hand. The others nodded. "Odie, make sure we don't get lost and see if you can track Cronos." He added as an afterthought.
The Titans had been walking for at least forty minutes, trying to locate their foe in the dense foliage, however no one had come across him at all. Finally Jay stopped as the light died away. "Odie?" The brains of the group pulled out a handful of flashlights and Promethean fire sticks. "Alright, we'll camp out tonight. We shouldn't be too far from Herry's truck, and I was expecting something like this to happen. We'll go back there and grab the camping gear. There was a clearing not too far from here." He half muttered half ordered. Odie led them back to Herry's truck with ease then back to the clearing Jay had mentioned. However, Theresa was the first one to say what they were all wondering. "Jay, What about Cronos. He said Saturday and technically it still is Saturday. At least until 12:00 tonight." Jay sighed. "I know, so we'll take turns guarding the camp. I'll take first watch… Theresa you next." Jay hesitated at putting her in danger, "After Theresa it'll be Herry, Odie, Atlanta, Archie and by then Neil shouldn't have to guard camp. Odie, do you have any matches? We really should get a fire going." He added.
'At least with people guarding the camp we won't have Cronos bursting in on us unexpectedly.' He thought as Odie handed him a book of matches and Herry piled wood for the fire. Not only did the descendant of Hercules grab the firewood, he pushed over two fallen logs for them to sit on around the fire. "Thanks Herry. All right guys set up your tents and make sure we have some food for tonight. Atlanta?" he knew Atlanta had the unique talents of a hunter, and would be the best to depend on when they needed food.
"Sure thing Jay. You did bring a bow right?" She glanced questioningly at the leader. "Course. If we end up camping I'm not forgetting it." He replied. "Good, Archie, you coming?" she was already on her way, flashlight in hand, when she asked. He glanced at their leader before getting up and following her into the bush. "Well, that's two down, who else feels like tramping through the forest?" Odie asked grinning. No one replied. It was about half an hour later when Atlanta and Archie returned. Between them they had been able to take down and carry back a fair amount of rabbits and a young fawn.
"Bout time you guys got back! " Herry exclaimed, grinning. "Now, why do we have rabbits? You could have just brought back the deer." "We could have gotten a stag instead, but it was too heavy and large for the two of us, so we took the fawn down." Archie replied quickly, dropping the animal slightly away from the fire. "Now to get to the meat of this thing. But before that, I need something to eat. Anyone have food already cooked?" Jay chucked a sandwich encased in a zip lock bag to him. There was only one and it had a strange burnt smell, no wonder they needed food. "Oh yum this will really help." Was the sarcastic reply.
"Well can you see why we've been waiting? Sandwiches, though made by Athena and taste great, they get pretty boring after the second one. Yours is the only one left… and I'm afraid the only bad one." He laughed as Theresa pushed him off the log, sending him backwards. "Oh go help them. You've sat around the fire long enough." She scolded. He only laughed harder, the others joined in. Finally he stood up, helped Archie and Atlanta skin the deer, and remove most of the useless things. When it was done, most of the Titans were roasting deer meet over the fire. Archie had disappeared into his tent, complaining that his ankle was hurting, and hadn't come yet. In fact he hadn't come out in a while.