A/N: Its writer's block times like these that I really have to hang onto my readers. Seriously, if it wasn't for you guys reading and reviewing, this chapter wouldn't be out till like…a month from now. Before you read, I have to say sorry if you think this chapter is a bit crappy. I kind of had to force it out because of my pathetic writer's block. Oh well. At least the fic got updated. Please review!

Disclaimer: If I owned it I wouldn't be typing out this lame fan fiction.

Chapter 20 Selfish Bravery

Reluctant now to face this genetic fear of his, Theo asked the others in a whisper, "Do you guys want to pull out?"

Sam and Tucker glanced wearily at each other before glancing over to Danny who had come down from his hovering to stand next to them. Another low growl reverberated throughout the spacious caves, making the teens look up in tension and fear. Theo almost gasped when he felt Rhodes grab onto his arm and cling onto it as if he was to be her protective hero.

"As scary as this dog monster sounds," Danny said after a thoughtful pause, "I think I can take him." He started to walk deeper into the torch lit tunnel. The others followed right behind him.

"Dude, did you just hear that thing growl?" Tucker asked in surprise. "That thing is like a pit-bull on steroids!"

"Hey, I was able to take care of that other giant ghost dog a few months ago," Danny said, his confidence in his winning battle with Ares clouding his common sense a bit. "This should be a piece of cake."

He turned back around to see the faces of his friends' pale and their eyes staring at something above him. Before the ghost boy could even mutter a faint curse for his stupidity, something feeling like a brick wall whacked into the side of him. The hit from Cerberus's paw was so powerful; Danny was out before he even slammed into the rock wall. His friends watched in horror as Danny turned back into his human form before slumping silently to the floor.

There was a second where the four remaining teens stared up at Cerberus in total shock and panic. The massive animal took up the space of the whole tunnel, at least half a football field long and the same tall. Its three heads had the same narrowed yellow eyes that glowed with a sinister aura. It had black fur that bristled with hostility at the very scent of the living ones before it. A snake tail writhed and hissed from behind the growling canine.

"Get behind me!" Theo shouted at the mortals standing there like idiots. "Now!" he demanded, grabbing their shoulders and shoving them aside just as Cerberus struck. One of the heads made a quick strike for Sam. Theo pulled out his dagger as he jumped out of its reach just in time. With one quick swipe, Theo sliced through some skin of the head's nose.

The head yelped in pain and recoiled. As Cerberus licked his wound, Theo was busy getting Sam and Tucker out of harms way. He shoved them away from Danny against their protests to go help him. Rhodes was working like a clock. She was pulling things out of her and the others' packs for anything suiting as a weapon.

"Protect them if things go wrong," Theo whispered into Rhodes's ear before he threw himself back into battle with Cerberus. Rhodes watched him go with a defiant, cold look. She wasn't going to reveal her secret in front of these people, even if she did have a liking toward them. It wasn't worth it.

Hands bursting into flames, Theo's expression turned dark as he walked boldly at Cerberus. Its heads focused on his small form, low growls escaping from all three teeth barred mouths. Theo's heart pounded hard against his chest. He thought he was going to be sick with fear. For a moment he cursed his high feline genes. It took all of the teen's will power just to stand there with fists blazing. The term scared to death seemed like a literal one at the moment.

It wasn't till the beast struck that Theo got his nerve. All at once, his fear shifted from the beast itself to staying alive. Cerberus's heads snapped at him from all different directions constantly. Theo was all over the place, frantically jumping and running around the giant animal to dodge its sharp jaws. At times, he managed to singe the beast with some fire balls, but he was rarely doing any damage and was getting out of breath.

At one point, Theo slid right under the jaws of a strike and ended up underneath the monster. Thinking quickly, Theo shot to his feet. He blasted the sensitive stomach of the animal with some intense blasts of fire from his hands as he ran under it. Cerberus howled in the burning pain.

Instead of spinning around to snap at the demigod, the monster let its tail do its job. Sensing the strike too late, Theo spun around and held up his arm for some kind of protection. He gave a sharp gasp, squeezing his eyes shut when feeling the thick fangs of the snake sink deep into his skin. Breathing hard, Theo opened his eyes to be staring into the ones of the green skinned snake now latched onto his arm.

"Theo! It got Theo!" Sam yelled as she and the others watched from the sidelines. Rhodes looked up from where she was working and cursed under her breath. They were all going to end up dead at this rate.

The venom was blasting through his system from the second the snake had made contact. Theo dropped to his knees, gasping for breaths now. He could feel every one of his limbs going limp at a stressful rate. The venom wasn't a deadly one; it only paralyzed its victim for a few hours, a half an hour if you were a demigod. The watchers from the sidelines only looked on with despair as Theo dropped lifelessly to the ground just as the snake released its grip.

"Okay," Tucker said slowly, apparently in a brain lock, "What do we do now?"

"Please tell me you have a plan Rhodes," Sam said down to the "kid" kneeling beside her. "You've been working on something this whole time. Maybe it would be best to show us whatever you are making."

"Done!" Rhodes said, suddenly standing up. "Please tell me you know how to use these," she said to the others.

Cerberus, pleased with himself for defeating another demigod, looked around for the other undead beings threatening to pass through. It didn't take the three headed dog long to spot the group in a corner. It could smell the fear on each of them as he took a step forward.

"Take this, ugly butt!" Tucker yelled at Cerberus.

Whack!

Cerberus gave a small yelp in surprise. Confusion spread onto his three faces. Something had hit him in the shoulder. It had been small, but it stung like mad. What were these mortals using?

As the canine was shaking off its first scare, the teens had all split up. The three heads of the beast turned to focus on each one as they ran around for good shooting positions. There was a pause where it looked like the mortals were taking aim. It was hard to focus on them because they were so small.

"Fire!"

Whack, whack, whack!

Cerberus growled in anger of this new kind of attack. He took a step backwards, fighting the urge to yelp from the sting now in his other shoulder, neck, and leg. He lunged for the mortal closest to him, hoping to pick them off one by one.

Rhodes sprinted out of the way of the head of the monster as it snapped its jaws at her. She scooped up a small rock from the cave's ground and put it into her makeshift sling shot while aiming. Sam and Tucker were doing the same from their positions. They all shot Cerberus at relatively the same time, making the canine snort in anger before lunging for another mortal.

Screaming, Tucker flung his body away from the head coming at him. He didn't like this new way of fighting Rhodes was making him and Sam go through, but at least it was working somewhat and they weren't dead yet. If they could hold out till Danny woke up, Tucker knew his friend would easily take care of the beast.

"Keep moving!" Rhodes shouted at the two as she ran around Cerberus. She relentlessly shot at the animal from her close range. Cerberus was too busy with Sam and Tucker to take the time to snap at the fox spirit. It was all Rhodes needed at the moment.

Keeping an eye on the snake tail, Rhodes ran up to the fallen Theo. She skidded to her knees beside him, her face worry stricken for the demigod's health. She checked his pulse and saw it was fine but slow. She was about to try and check his snake wound when suddenly his hand grabbed her, his fingers tightly wrapping around her wrist.

"Don't touch it," he muttered from his very still position. "It's paralysis venom." The words had to be forced from Theo's practically numb lips.

"When will it wear off?" Rhodes asked.

"Too late," Theo answered. He paused before saying, "You have abilities, Rhodes. Use them."

"That means endangering my identity to these strangers," Rhodes retorted harshly. "No way!"

"You're endangering the lives of all of us by not using them!" Theo hissed back. "What matters more? Your well kept human identity or the lives of others?"

"That's not fair!" Rhodes said. Tears of emotion welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them go in front of Theo. "I've spent all my life caring about everyone else. Now I'm free and all I want is to think for myself. I don't want to care for these people. No offense, but I'd rather care for myself than for complete strangers."

Before Theo could respond, a yell came from the other side of the cave. Rhodes looked up just in time to see Tucker drop to the ground from the snake tail that hissed with pleasure for his job well done. Sam had seen the same as Rhodes and got angry. She was pitiless as she used her sling shot. Each rock that she released was fueled by her fear and rage.

"Tucker just went down," Rhodes reported to Theo, who couldn't lift his head to see what had happened.

"Help them!" Theo almost screamed at the girl.

"I am!" Rhodes yelled.

"I'm sick of your selfishness!" Theo growled. Using all his strength, he grabbed the front of Rhodes's toga to bring them face to face. Their narrowed eyes matched each other as their stubbornness prevailed. "Lives are at stake here, Rhodes! Get over yourself and do something! Now!"

"I don't take orders well," Rhodes said coolly, placing her hand on his shoulder. Before Theo knew what she was doing, Rhodes zapped him with a bolt of electricity. Theo gave a stifled yell of pain and quickly retracted the hand. He watched, cursing the Kitsune under his breath, as she ran away from him.

"Dumb half sphinx!" Rhodes said to herself as she scooped up some pebbles from the rocky floor. She took aim at Cerberus as she ranted, "He seemed so cool the first time I saw him. Figures that I get a crush on that boy! Then I was the idiot that revealed myself!" For each sentence, the girl let Cerberus feel her heightened emotions.

"I'm as stupid as he is!" Rhodes continued in a growl. Cerberus came in for her, but the fox spirit was swift and cunning in her moves. Avoiding the beast was second nature to the fox girl. "I wasn't supposed to like him!" she said, shooting a rock into one of the head's eyes. The head reared back in pain. "Curse my emotions!"

"Whoa! You're good at this!" Sam said from Rhodes's side suddenly. Rhodes jumped in surprise of Sam's presence. Sam looked Rhodes over suspiciously before stating, "You look angry, really angry. You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Rhodes exploded in a snarl. "What makes you think I'm angry? As you can see, everything is perfectly under control!"

Eyes wide, Sam took a step away from Rhodes. She had never seen the kid express any more than three words at once. It came as a shock to Sam for her to see Rhodes this emotional. Crazy little kid alert! She thought to herself.

Breathing hard, Rhodes rubbed her forehead as she saw Sam's freaked expression. "I…I'm sorry for – Sam!" The apology was cut short when the snake tail struck, latching onto Sam's shoulder. It didn't take long for Sam to succumb to the venom and fall limply to the ground with a grimace of pain crossing her face.

Rhodes bit her lower lip, her mind racing. She was out of time and resources. Sam and Tucker had fought bravely against Cerberus, but a bunch of little rocks weren't ever going to defeat the thing. Now the only one left standing was her. If she went down, who was there to stop Cerberus from finishing them all off by killing them? This thought scared the girl.

Glancing over to Theo, Rhodes pondered the reckless idea of using her electric abilities. Sam and Tucker couldn't see her. Theo already knew she could produce electricity, so she didn't need to be bothered by him watching. But it was Danny she worried about. He was due to come to any second now.

But what other options did she have?

Turning to face Cerberus, Rhodes looked around with uncertainty. She really didn't want to do this. In her demented and harsh world, people were never nice. Saving a life was something only told in child stories. Being selfless and kind seemed stupid and weak in Rhodes's eyes. She had already shown her pathetic side by giving them all her money. It was foolish to pull a stunt like that again. But then what was compelling her to do what those heroes did in her old bed time stories?

Letting out a pent up breath of fear, Rhodes let energy flow through her hands. From years of practice, she was highly skilled in using her electricity abilities. She could put them on display at just merely the thought. Cerberus was only a few yards away now. It was getting ready to strike. Blue energy currents buzzed around Rhodes's fingers as it collected in her palms.

"Move, kid!" Danny demanded. He shoved the girl behind him while ordering sharply, "Stay behind me…and cover your ears."

Rhodes was suddenly pushed aside. She was forced to her butt, a stunned look upon her face. Her straw hat had come off her head and sat on her shoulders because of the string attached to it. For a second she didn't notice that she was being exposed. All she could do was stare at Danny.

Taking a deep breath, Danny summed up his trump card power. No chances; this monster was going down as soon as possible. It had already done enough damage.

The ghostly wail that loudly sounded out of Danny's mouth put Cerberus into chaos. With sensitive ears, the animal was soon writhing in pain of this sharp sound that pierced all three heads' ears. At the same time, the force the power on him made the monster slam violently into the side of the cave, as if gravity had switched directions.

Theo, with the same high tuned ears as Cerberus, was in misery from the moment Danny let his howl go. Gasping in pain, he tried desperately to move his hands to his ears for just an ounce of some comfort from this noise.

Rhodes found herself like the three headed dog and the feline boy. Wincing, she put her hat back on and put her hands over her ears to try and block the blinding noise that was making all her thoughts scramble. "Please…stop!" she pleaded helplessly to Danny.

Unable to hear the fox spirit, Danny waited till Cerberus was passed out to stop his yell. Falling to his knees from the effort, Danny flashed back into his human form with a satisfied sigh. It was done.

Sweating profusely and gasping for calm breaths, Rhodes took awhile to steady herself. That howl had seemed to take a serious toll on her. "What was that?" she asked Danny in a whisper.

"I call it my ghost wail," Danny said with a grim smile. He frowned when he saw Rhodes panting and shaking uncontrollably behind him. "Hey, you look awful," he said with concern. "What did that thing do to all of you while I was out?"

"Its tail was a snake and had paralyzing venom," Rhodes explained, forcing herself to her feet and to stand next to the ghost boy. "It got to your friends."

Alarm came to Danny's face as he looked out deeper into the cave in search for his friends. His frown deepening, his eyes frantically scanned the bare, foreboding landscape of the tunnel. No one was there!

"Danny!" Rhodes screamed, bumping into him from behind. "What are those things?"

Spinning around to see what the kid was so uptight about, Danny gave a sharp yell of fear when seeing five of the creatures. These creatures were moving skeletons with yellow glowing eyes. They were fully garbed in different styles of primitive clothing, and each had a type of weapon.

Before Danny realized it, he and Rhodes were surrounded. He crouched down, as did Rhodes, both of them ready for a fight from these skeleton creatures. But they weren't there for a battle. The five just prodded the two with their sharp weapons, grunting as their only form of communication.

"I think they want us to submit and be taken somewhere," Rhodes said.

Danny thought about this. "And wherever they want to take us, I'm sure Theo and the rest will be," Danny spoke his thoughts. "Maybe they will take us to Hades himself." Rhodes's only response was a weary glance up at the ghost boy beside her. She tried to take comfort in his optimistic smile, but was failing miserably.

Sticking to his gut instincts, Danny raised his hands above his head in submission to the five skeleton creatures. Reluctantly, Rhodes raised her hands as well even though she rather would have fought off the goons than go with them at the moment. The skeleton men then started to escort the captives deeper into the grim and dark Underworld.

A/N: So…some of the stuff in here I kind of made up. One, Cerberus is usually depicted in myths without a serpent tail, but I decided to put that in besides this. But some myths do say he has one. Two, the snake tail never had paralysis venom. That was made up to make the fight scene better. And Three, those skeleton goons at the end…I have no clue if they are part of the Underworld. I made those up by getting the idea from the awesome book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Seriously, if you like Greek Mythology and don't mind an easy read kid's book, read the first one, The Lightning Thief. They are one of my favorite series even though I'm 17 and the books are made for 10 year olds. With that out of the way…I'll see you readers in two more weeks! Please give a review!