I think this is more like the length you guys were expecting... XD

Disclaimer: See last chapter. :)

His rescue:

"Where are my cannonballs?" a very angry Laistrygonian yelled out to nobody in particular. "Who took my cannonballs?"

"No one, you idiot," some creepy rhino-snake crossbreed (Travis didn't want to get into details) answered in annoyance. "You probably mistook them for toilet paper and shoved them up your-" Ooh, Travis thought. Katie would definitely yell at that monster for his use of vulgar language.

"What did you say?" the Laistrygonian shouted. "What did you say? You probably stole the cannonballs, Terrictone!" What kind of name was that? Travis had no idea, and really had no desire to find out. "Or maybe you did? Mastric!" He yelled at what looked like a male dracaena. Travis decided not to look too much closer. Instead, he reveled in the glory of how well his plan was working. "Did you take my cannonballs?" He chucked a rock at the thing's head. Suffice it to say, the monster did not appreciate that.

Before long, the argument had escalated into a massive brawl as random monsters started getting involved. There were cannonballs being thrown, ("Are those my balls you're chucking? Grr! I'll get them back! You'll see!"), punches and kicks being aimed, Celestial bronze swords and weapons being drawn, and poisonous saliva being spit. Travis looked down at the bronze cannonballs at his feet and smiled. It was one of his better pranks, if he did say so himself.

But he couldn't enjoy the victory for long. He had work to do. So instead, he hurled one of his stolen projectiles as far as he could, (they were way heavier than they looked, he knew. He was only able to throw it about twenty feet… but it was long enough), disintegrating a monster on the spot; tossed another few to the side, hitting a pile of their weapons and melting them into bronze goo; and sprinted off to look for Katie while they were distracted.

He found her being guarded by three average-sized Cyclopes. She was up to the tops of her shoulders, with one arm lying on top of the mud encasing her, and she didn't see him hiding behind a boulder conveniently placed about three feet away. Luckily, the Cyclopes didn't spot him either… so it was a simple matter to dash back to his stash of metallic spheres, stick three in his backpack (which probably burned all of the mortal money in there, but Travis had more important things to worry about), speed back to Katie, and chuck his burning weapons at the enemy, thanking Hermes for the fireproof gloves he'd sent Travis for his fourteenth birthday present. They'd come in handy for several flame-or-firework-related pranks, and they were proving their usefulness once again. Travis had a feeling that they might have been the best present he'd ever gotten, except for maybe the hug he'd gotten from Katie last year… Focus, Stoll, focus! He yelled at himself angrily. You have a daughter of Demeter to rescue from mud. In the next three seconds, he had dropped his sword behind the boulder and was as close to her as he could get without sinking. It didn't look good.

For one, a few monsters had realized that the fight had all been a diversion and were looking for the pesky demigod that had started the trouble. Also, Katie was submerged up to her chin and was barely keeping her head from sinking. Gaea was speeding up – she must've known Travis was close to reaching her. "Katie!" he cried when he saw her.

She smiled back at him, clearly relieved that he'd made it. "Travis! I figured you were the one getting rid of my bodyguards!" She sunk another inch, and her grin disappeared. "Now could you get rid of all this?" She gestured at the mud with her arm, now only halfway out of the gunk.

Travis's eyes flitted around, looking for something to throw to her. "Sure thing, Katie. Just give me a sec."

She sunk another inch and squeaked slightly. "I don't have another second, Travis! Hurry it up! Please?"

"Um, okay," he said, totally distracted by the spear that had just whistled by his ear. "Er…" A spear had just whistled by his ear! He picked it up, close to the metal point, and held out the other end to Katie… but it fell a few feet short. He cursed. "It doesn't reach, Katie!"

She bit her lip and then dropped a bit more. She could barely open her mouth. Then her eyes lit up. "Your rope, Travis!" she told him… right before her mouth was swallowed by the mud.

Now it was his turn for his eyes to light up. In a quick movement, he pulled the rope out of his backpack. It was slightly charred and smoking and the end was on fire, but he smeared it with mud and the flames went out. "Katie!" he said excitedly. "I think this will work!" He tied the rope to the spear and looked over at her. His hope vanished. Her arm had disappeared into the mud as well. There was no way she could hold onto a rope or spear. He gulped worriedly… and then grinned. It was a good thing he was a son of Hermes. They always had a Plan B.

He stuck the spear firmly into the ground, tied the rope around his waist, and waded into the mud. Katie looked at him nervously as Gaea pulled at him, trying to suck him down too, but he was too determined to let a small obstacle like an angry earth goddess get in his way. He just kept going doggedly, not even slowing or crying out when Katie's nose became hidden. Her eyes were beginning to show panic, but Travis stayed uncharacteristically calm and steady, going as fast as he possibly could. Still though, he couldn't stop himself from yelling, "Katie!" when she sunk so far that her eyes were covered – then he pushed himself even harder and reached her in just three seconds.

"Katie! Katie… Katie… oh gods, Katie, please be okay… I'm here, Katie…I'm here…" He was babbling as he reached into the mud where Katie had been just moments ago and couldn't feel her. He pushed his hands deeper and deeper and deeper, not even noticing as he began to sink to his waist. Then, finally, he felt her shoulders, grasped her arms, and pulled her up as fast as he could (he almost started hyperventilating because "as fast as he could" was so slow) until he'd yanked her out almost to her hips. "Katie! Katie!" he yelled as he saw her face, terrifyingly pale and still. "You're going to be okay, Katie… I promise… I've got you…" He cleared the mud away that covered her face and stared, worried, as she didn't start breathing. What was he supposed to do now? What was he supposed to do? He couldn't lose Katie!

Then he remembered. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, pushing air in and out of her lungs himself. He was a little self-conscious about kissing her without permission… but he thought that under the circumstances, she'd understand. One horribly scary minute later, his efforts were rewarded by a spluttering, gasping, half-conscious Katie. She looked up at his blearily as he hugged her in relief. "Travis…? You… what did you just do?"

He gulped, expecting her to be mad. "I'm sorry… but… you weren't breathing…"

Her mental fogbank seemed to clear a little, and she managed to smile up at him. He almost dropped her, he was so surprised that she wasn't angry… but he didn't. He would never let go of her. "It's okay, Travis," she said happily. "I think… I think it would be nice if you'd do that while I was conscious sometime."

He stared at her in total amazement. "You mean… you… like…?"

She grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Oh, thank gods. I like you too."

"Aw… Travis, I think that may be the most emotional and romantic thing a guy has ever said to me," she laughed. Then she paused and looked down, a strange expression crossing her face.

"What?" he said. "Are you having second thoughts or something? 'Cause, you know, I can deal with the whole just-friends deal if you really want…"

"Huh?" she said as she looked back up at him. Then the side of her mouth twisted up in an adorable little half-smile. "I'm not having second thoughts, Travis. I just think that maybe you should get out of here before you sink any further."

Only then did Travis realize that Gaea had pulled him down up to his chest while he'd been rescuing Katie. He muttered a few choice words, then said, "Yeah. I think maybe I should. Come on, hold onto me and I'll start back."

"No! I am perfectly capable of pulling myself!" Katie insisted.

"Don't argue, Kathryn Alyssa Gardner. You just almost died, plus I'm the one with the rope, plus you can barely breathe right now, plus we don't have time to discuss it. Just hold on and let me take us both."

As he said this, he dropped another two inches. Kathryn Alyssa Gardner decided not to argue. She slipped her arms around his neck, and he started walking.