this is it. this is the first chapter in which I'm including Archie liking Atlanta as more than just a friend. it'll be a real hoot of a chapter. unfortunately, this chapter also includes unrequited feelings of love the warrior of the team has towards the huntress. yes, I call Atlanta a huntress instead of a simple hunter. I know how she feels about women's rights always having been completely ignored in many, many, many, many, many previous centuries gone by. I'm so glad to be living in the twenty-first century, like any self-respecting and non-submissive girl would be should they ever wanna have women's rights. sorry, got a little carried away, right there. just really excited about what today is, at the time. I look forward to it so much, I love it. anyway, in this chapter of 'The Warrior of the Friend Zone and the Oblivious Huntress', I promise that Archie's feelings towards Atlanta are gonna be returned in the end, eventually. I'm still keeping this fanfiction, itself, in with the show, especially the rating of this fanfiction. I'm just writing then posting the chapters I wanna publish onto this blog, as in publishing chapters that are from only certain episodes. this entire chapter of my fanfiction is a whopping eight-thousand-seven-hundred-forty-four words long, give or take a comment or two from yours truly written as an author's note and hidden somewhere within the storyline of the chapter, itself. it's a storyline that doesn't include this explanatory headnote, right here. it also doesn't include the (mandatory) disclaimer which makes up the paragraph following said headnote. anyways, enjoy reading the fanfiction I enjoyed writing.
disclamation: I don't own the 'Class of the Titans' series in any way, shape, or form any more than I own the characters from this fanfiction or even my own fanfiction's storyline. only Teletoon, Nelvana, and Studio B Productions of my proud United States of America's neighbors to the north, Canada. I only own this fanfiction, itself, though not the storyline. but I'm beginning to wonder if I should do what the television companies who own 'Class of the Titans' had never done, if any of my readers would know what I mean.
I know I said before that I did not have a crush on my strawberry redheaded, spiky-pixie-cut-styled girl teammate, but the thing about when I said that was that I was kinda, more or less, telling a little white lie. I guess I lied even to myself when I said that, as surprising as it would sound for a Greek hero's descendant, least of all for a descendant of the Great Achilles that was I, Archibald Khiles. My friends called me 'Archie', though.
The present days, however, I think I was finally even a little more accepting towards the part of me that seemed to have a crush on Atlanta… for two reasons, that is. My first reason for finally accepting that I had a crush on her was because I had recently noticed her giving me all the right signals that she liked me in return. My other reason was just because I was pretty sure that what I had originally hoped would be just a small passing infatuation had turned into the first time I have ever fallen into real love.
So here I was in front of my locker mirror, practicing what I would say to ask Atlanta out on a date.
Yours Truly: I know we're friends, but there's something I've been meaning to ask you; would you like to go out sometime?
It was then that I heard a voice from behind me respond to what I originally hoped would give me a chance to rehearse my 'asking-out-of-Atlanta' in peace.
Voice: Uh, depends. Where do you wanna go?
Then, I heard four collective chuckles following the voice from behind me. The voice that responded to my question belonged to Jay, and the chuckles that joined in were the rest of the guys; Herry, Odie, and Neil. I closed my locker as soon as I saw them making me the butt of their joke.
Neil: So, uh, tell us. Who's the lucky girl?
I just could not let it out, especially not to the rest of the guys and definitely not to Neil, of all my 'friends'. I just sighed out in weariness before responding with…
Yours Truly: There is no lucky girl, OK?
Surely that would bring an end to their teasing and taunting, but no such luck because Herry just refused to let it go.
Herry: You mean you've fallen in love with yourself?
Odie: I thought that was something only Neil did.
Neil did not sound too amused by Odie's comment, however, despite what he had responded to it with.
Neil: Very funny.
Herry just continued to try to get it out of me, and under the guise of telling me that I could tell the rest of them anything.
Herry: Come on, you can tell us. What are friends for?
Of course, there was no way I was just gonna let it out to the rest of them just so I could get taunted further over it. Not that long afterwards, however, I did not really have much of a choice but to let the other guys know because almost instantly following that kind of taunt in disguise from Herry, I heard a girl's voice call out and greet all of us. It was none other than my tomboyish angel, Atlanta.
Atlanta: Hi, guys.
She waved at me upon passing us on the way to her own locker. She waved at me! She waved at me! That had to be yet another signal from her that she liked me the way I liked her. I just waved back at her, wearing a crooked, but goofy grin on my face. I just could not help myself with the look on my face, because she actually waved at me first. Her greetings as of late had gotten my normally 'down-to-Earth' disposition to fly up into the sky and even to outer space.
Unfortunately for me, that little smile of mine and my hand waving at her turned into the only thing the rest of the guys needed to understand just which girl it was that I was so into at the time, though.
Jay, Herry, Odie, and Neil (altogether): Atlanta?!
Yep, I was definitely caught in the act with that little smile and wave at my crush. When they all called out her name, I was brought back into my usual 'down-to-Earth' demeanor. Neil was the first of the other guys on our team to say anything to me about it.
Neil: Dude, you're makin' a big mistake.
I still looked over at her as I firmly believed that Neil's comment was just him being his usual narcistic, air-headed self and just would have preferred for me to like him better than Atlanta, especially when considering his bloodline had compiled of Narcissus, the most self-absorbed one of our ancestors.
So, I decided I would try reasoning with the rest of the guys about me like, liking Atlanta with the one thing that no guy could ever resist hearing about regarding the ladies.
Yours Truly: No, listen; I've been pickin' up signals.
And boy, was I ever picking up on her signals.
Yours Truly (continued): I think she likes me.
I had hoped that the other guys would back me up on the whole thing, but Herry quickly proved otherwise.
Herry: She may like you, but she's totally unavailable.
If Herry taking Neil's side did not hurt my confidence enough, Jay, the leader of our rag tag team of Greek heroes' descendants, followed Herry's lead in backing up Neil's argument against my crush on Atlanta.
Jay: Arch, don't take it personally, but no guy has a chance with her.
I could not believe that even Jay, of all my friends, was taking Neil's side over mine. What was even worse than that was his smile while he said I had no chance with Atlanta. I really thought that Jay would have understood how I felt at the time. I suppose that I was just another loser in love for expecting that from him, too.
That was when someone new came walking down the hall towards us all. The guy wore mid-range tan cargo pants, a white shirt with dark purple, mid-length sleeves and a shirt collar to match, and black sneakers. He also wore a royal blue hat and had auburn dreadlocks for hair.
New guy: Check it out! Biggest party of the year, music by yours truly…
He was handing out flyers for this party of his which he was throwing. Then, he approached a random group of girls and continued his advertisement.
New guy (continued): … half price for the ladies. Just tell 'em Phil invited you.
I saw this new guy, Phil, and the looks that all of the girls from within just that hallway were giving him.
Yours Truly: What's with that guy?
Jay: Uh, he's the new kid that just arrived; goes by the name of 'DJ Panic'.
The looks which these other girls were giving this 'Phil', however, were not even close to being what had me worried about the new guy. What worried me about him was if Atlanta were to ever look at him the same way these girls were looking at him.
Meanwhile, Neil just wondered…
Neil: How can a guy who looks that bad be such a chick-magnet?
A/N: I don't know. I kinda like the dreadlocks haircut.
Odie, of course, had a response right away to Neil's question.
Odie: Because in case you didn't know, girls are interested in more than just looks. They prefer someone who radiates excitement.
Neil: Oh! Like you, for example?
Phil finally approached all of us about his supposed party.
'Phil': Party time, gentlemen.
He handed his flyer to Jay, most likely because Jay even looked like he was supposed to be our leader.
Jay: Thanks.
'Phil' then sent a pointing gesture to Neil with his right hand.
'Phil': See ya there?
Neil almost looked a bit unsure of how to respond to being on the receiving end of a pointing gesture.
Neil: Uh, sure!
Then, 'Phil' began walking away to hand out more flyers. Neil actually sighed about receiving a hand gesture instead of giving one for a change.
Neil: OK, I give! He's cool!
I, on the other hand, was flabbergasted at the narcissist, of all people on our team of heroes' descendants, calling anyone besides himself 'cool'. Neil was also calling another guy 'cool', no less.
Yours Truly: Neil! Didn't you just call the guy an eyesore only a second ago?
Neil, however, actually did have a response to my question; a fast response, too.
Neil: I admit he's not that good-looking, but he invited us all to that party of his; and how could I ever say 'no' to an invitation to a party of any kind, especially when that party is basically a concert?
That was when all five of us heard 'Phil' talking to our girls just a little ways away from us in the hallway.
'Phil': Ladies, consider this a personal invitation to my concert.
He handed his flyer to Atlanta, while Theresa was the one who spoke to him.
Theresa: Atlanta and I were just talking about how this school could use a good party.
After looking over the flyer the guy gave to her, Atlanta began talking to him in Theresa's addition; and worse times a million, she had a smile on her face directed towards him. It was the very same kind of smile as those other girls had from before.
Atlanta: Hey, this is a benefit for the Green Alliance? I volunteer for them all the time.
'Phil': Really? You know, of all the environmental groups, it's the one I respect the most.
Atlanta just chuckled in agreement right before agreeing with the guy.
Atlanta: Me, too.
They spent a good a several seconds just staring at one another. I just hoped that it meant nothing to Atlanta, but I guess that I hoped in vain, especially when I saw her get a lovesick look in her eyes. If that was not bad enough about it, the lovesick look in her eyes was the same kind of lovesick look that was in my own eyes when I tried using the mirror in my locker to practice asking her out.
'Phil': Would you mind helping me hand out these flyers? The more people who know about this show, the more money we can raise for the Alliance.
I knew that Atlanta volunteered for that Green Alliance stuff, but I also knew that if I really did have no shot with her whatsoever, then no guy on Earth would ever have a chance with her. Just wait and watch! Based on what Jay said about her alone, I just knew that she was going to decline his invitation to help him pass of flyers, of all things to do on what I remember her telling Theresa would have been her first date.
Atlanta: Yeah, sure! Absolutely.
Say what, now? Atlanta, of all the girls at this school, actually agreed to a date… with a guy? This could not be real. It had to be a hallucination of some kind, or I was still asleep in my bed and having a really, really, really bad dream. That had to be what was going on. I never actually got out of bed that morning and I was having a nightmare that Atlanta had finally agreed to go out with someone, against her own principles as our team's more chaste heroine of course, and the guy just happened to have not been me. As soon as I would have closed my eyes and opened them back up, everything would be back to our team's brand of normal and Atlanta would still be next to Theresa.
So I took my own words to heart and shut my eyes as tight as a drum. When I opened them back up again, however, I looked in Theresa's direction to find Atlanta was gone. I looked around for the chaste huntress of our team only to find her grabbing onto Phil's arm and walking away with him.
The other guys from our team approached me as soon as Atlanta and Phil had gone off to finish passing his flyers out. All of them except Neil, that was.
Jay: Hey, Archie? If it'll make you feel any better, we all still like you.
Odie: We're all here for you, Archie… for real, this time.
Herry: Let the healing begin, dude.
Yours Truly: Thanks, guys. Where's Neil?
Odie: Still busy thinking about Phil's way with the girls while looking at himself in his mirror.
Neil: I know he seemed to have the swag, but I could easily bring the looks to back him up with this party of his; especially if I teamed up with the guy.
Yours Truly: Nice! Real nice!
Neil: What? The new guy's got a ton of charisma for someone so lacking in looks. I bet if he looked like me, he could take it so many steps further.
Yours Truly: You know, Neil, you're shockingly not helping me feel any better about that guy basically stealing Atlanta from me.
Neil: I'm no expert on this sorta thing, but wouldn't you actually had to have already been dating her in order for our new friend to steal her from you?
I was ready to punch his face in at the mention of having to had actually been dating Atlanta in the first place. That was when I realized that what Neil said about it was true, no matter how much it hurt me.
Later at our lunch hour in the cafeteria, all five of us noticed that Theresa was waiting for us at our usual table but not Atlanta. Jay was the only one to ask why.
Jay: Hey, Theresa. Where's Atlanta?
Theresa: She's eating her lunch with Phil.
Jay, Odie, Neil and I joined Theresa at our usual table, and sure enough, Atlanta was on the first level of the cafeteria, sitting together with Phil, the new guy.
Neil: Huh, I always figured Atlanta would have higher standards.
A/N: what exactly did you think she always looked for in a man? someone like you, Neil? yeah, right. that would be such a laugh.
Of course, I had my own input on what Neil said about Phil being up to Atlanta's standards, as he called it.
Yours Truly: They're just sitting together. It doesn't mean they're dating.
A/N: I'm confused, because wouldn't that be exactly what it means?
Theresa had her own argument for the case of Atlanta actually liking the guy, if she really did like him, that is.
Theresa: Hey, we should be happy that Atlanta's finally met someone.
As much as I hated admitting to it, Theresa made a pretty darn good argument with those words escaping through her lips. I guess I just wished that I was in this Phil's place and that Atlanta liked, liked me, instead. I just sighed in both defeat and depression at that remark being made by Theresa.
That was when Neil just had to feel the need to direct our conversation back to him, per usual.
Neil: Yeah, well, I think I'd make a better DJ than him. I mean, just look at me; I'm handsome, personable, and coordinated beyond belief.
Neil then used the plates on the table and his own voice to imitate a DJ's turn table.
A/N: handsome sounds like it's a bit exaggerated; personable sounds a bit off, too; as for coordinated beyond belief, that could wind up being true one day… with many, many, many lessons, that is.
We could not help but to all laugh at Neil spinning plates on our table and pretending that they were a DJ's turn table. At least, it made me feel better about Atlanta basically ditching the rest of our team for Phil and leaving me in the dust like a loser.
Then, Phil came up to us to leave his own comment on Neil's improvisational 'turn table' spinning. Only thing about his input about it was that he seemed to like it, better than we had, at least.
Phil: Hey, check it, check it, check it out! Way to scratch, DJ Neil.
That was when I noticed that Phil had brought Atlanta back to our table with him. My Atlanta was finally back with me… and the rest of our team. I even sighed happily at her presence. Now was finally my chance to ask out the girl of my dreams.
Yours Truly: Uh, hi, Atlanta. Uh, listen, I've been meaning to ask you something. Uh…
That, however, was as far as I got just before Theresa had interrupted me.
Theresa: Uh, Atlanta, conference call.
I had hoped that she would ignore her female friend on our team for once, but once again I had hoped in vain.
Atlanta: Alright. What exactly is this about, Theresa?
Theresa: I promise to ask you once we're out of the cafeteria.
As much as I hoped the two of them would stay with the rest of us in the cafeteria for their conversation, I also did not want to come off as some kind of stalker. It would not have looked good on me.
Not long after the two of them left to talk, however, three other girls came up to us all giggling like their lungs had laughing gas in them. Then, one of them held out a book of some sort towards the new guy.
Girl #1: Hey, Phil, can you sign this for me?
For Phil's sake, I just hope that he rejected this other girl's request like any good love interest for my Atlanta would.
Phil: Sure, no problem.
Well, there went any hope I had that Atlanta's new guy had any sense of loyalty towards her. He signed the other girl's book for her and then gave it back to her.
Phil (continued): Here you go.
That was when Phil turned his head back towards our direction.
Phil (continued): Guys, I gotta run.
He turned his eyes back towards the random girl who had asked him to sign that book for her which she had handed to him only a few seconds before.
Phil (continued): Maybe, we can hook up later.
Those six words only further proved that this 'Phil' guy was a slimeball. My Atlanta deserved better than that. Neil, however, was the only one to comment on the way Phil left us like that.
Neil: That dude needs to work on his exits.
Odie noticed something on the table and alerted the rest of us to the knowledge of what it was.
Odie: Hey, he left his CD.
Surely enough, a CD with Phil and his DJ name, 'DJ Panic', on its cover had been left on the table just as Odie had said. I picked the CD up, thereafter.
Yours Truly: I'm gonna give this a listen. You know, see what he's all about.
If I could find any possible way to inform my favorite girl on our team of Greek heroic descendants that her new boyfriend was basically a two-timing sleazebag, than this would have been the perfect place to start. I did not know at the time, but I supposed that any way to prove it would have done.
Odie and Jay had a couple of their own things to say about my plans to listen to Phil's CD.
Odie: Come on, Archie. Do you really need to listen to the guy's CD out of nothing but jealousy?
Jay: Yeah, no offense to this strategy of yours, but you just might come off as some kinda stalker if you're listening to this guy's music just because you're jealous of Atlanta liking him.
I guess I got a little too defensive thereafter, even though getting defensive about how the rest of them thought I had felt was the last thing I wanted to do.
Yours Truly: I'm not jealous, OK?! I just think it's weird how popular the guy already is, especially since he's only just showed up at school. You guys know that there's a natural order to this sort of thing. No one shows up and becomes a school star that quickly.
Jay: You might be right about that, Arch. We'll go with you to check out the CD.
Odie: You're really gonna go along with this, Jay?
Jay: No!
Yours Truly: What?!
Jay: I'm just going along with this to make sure that you don't do anything to crazy, Arch.
Odie: When you put it that way, I guess I should go along with this, too.
Jay: Herry? Neil? You guys coming with us?
Herry: Count me out. Archie's basically just begging for trouble, now.
Neil: Yeah, and I've got more important things to do than act on my jealousy of someone becoming popular over the course of a mere few minutes. Besides, as sure as I am that there's something wrong with that, I don't wanna get too involved in something that could get me into fast trouble. This all seems too dangerous, anyway.
I was just disgusted at their refusal to listen to the CD with the other three of us.
Yours Truly: Whatever. We'll just listen to this CD, with or without you two.
Jay, Odie, and I brought Phil's CD to the Olympian Gods to get a good listen to of the disk, more specifically we brought it to Apollo to listen to it on his stereo. As soon as we began listening to the new guy's music, however, all it did was get Apollo dancing to it like he liked it. The Greek sun god moved himself around in rhythm with the music. Jay, Odie, and I were all just really confused by it.
Yours Truly: Thanks for the use of your stereo, Apollo.
Apollo, the god of the sun: No problem! Hey, what is this? It's got beat, and it's definitely dance-able. Who did you say it was by?
I almost did not want to speak the guy's name even, but I guess I picked the wrong person to just not like. I saw that I had to remind Apollo of the guy's name anyway, a bit bitterly I might add, though.
Yours Truly: Phil!
That was when I removed my hands from the pockets of my hoodie for the use of air quotes for just one more little word from my opinion.
Yours Truly (continued): I mean, "DJ Panic", a new kid at school.
Then Odie input his own opinion on how I felt about the guy.
Odie: Archie's jealous because Atlanta really likes him.
I admit that I got a bit defensive on that claim of my green-eyed jealousy, too.
Yours Truly: It's nothing. I just think it's weird, that's all. The guy shows up, and everyone thinks he's the coolest thing that ever lived.
Apollo looked as though he were pondering this for a moment, but then went right back to digging the guy's music.
Apollo, the god of the sun: Well, he's obviously a talented moo-sician.
Suddenly, we all were dancing along to the guy's music.
Yours Truly: True enough. I'll give him that.
Then, everything went completely and totally blank for every single one of us until something or other turned off Apollo's stereo just by opening it up. Jay then began to rub his hand against his forehead.
Jay: Whoa! OK, what's that all about?
Odie walked over to Apollo's stereo and removed Phil's CD from inside its player slot.
Odie: Music shouldn't grow on you that quickly.
As for yours truly, I started rubbing my forehead just as Jay had been just after our joint recovery from blacking out with Apollo thanks to the CD's music.
Yours Truly: Aw! That's crazy. I haven't danced since I was five.
Apollo then picked Phil's CD case back up from where he had left it before popping it into his stereo.
Apollo, the god of the sun: DJ Panic.
Then, the god of the sun looked as though he were pondering about his face.
Apollo, the god of the sun (continued): He reminds me of someone I haven't seen in a while.
Jay: Who?
Apollo, the god of the sun: No, no, it couldn't be. You say his name is 'Phil'?
While Jay was genuinely curious as to who Apollo thought DJ Panic reminded him of, I just became slightly confused after the god of the sun's more recent comment, just slightly, anyway.
Yours Truly: Yeah.
I said it a bit hesitantly, though.
Apollo, the god of the sun: I wonder if your friend, 'Phil', knows the true meaning of panic.
Jay just wanted to know what the brains of our little team could do regarding this issue.
Jay: Odie?
Odie: No problem, I'll deal with this.
I, on the other hand, was just a bit doubtful of exactly what Odie could do about the matter at hand.
Yours Truly: You sure you got this, Odie?
Odie: I know what I'm doing, Archie.
The next day, the school was covered in vines like it was a jungle of some kind. Jay and I walked up the stairs in the front of the school. Even the front stairs were covered with vines.
Yours Truly: Man, this is strange.
We both noticed Atlanta when we reached the courtyard beyond the front steps. She was with 'Phil'. Perfect!
Jay: Atlanta, have you seen Theresa or Neil? I've been trying to radio them, but no answer.
Figured that Jay would be concerned about Theresa most of all and what she was probably doing with Neil if she were with him at the time. Atlanta, however, seemed as unhelpful as she had been recently, thanks to a certain 'DJ Panic'.
Atlanta: Sorry, we've been kinda busy with other things.
I almost did not even want to know just what those other things really were.
'Phil': Yeah, real busy.
Then, the worst possible thing to happen happened when 'Phil' kissed Atlanta square on the lips right smack in front of Jay and yours truly. Worse than even that times infinity, Atlanta looked like she really enjoyed their kiss.
'Phil' (continued): Come on, we've got a concert to set up.
Of course, I was enraged by the fact that they just had to swap spit in the courtyard with everyone to watch it happen. I almost went after them, too, if Jay would not have interfered and stopped me dead in my tracks.
Jay: Arch, take it easy.
Unfortunately for Jay, there was no possible getting through to me whenever I became like how I was at the time, I was so angry about it.
Yours Truly: Oh, I say we put a stop to his show.
I did not care anymore about the right thing to do at the time. I was just ready and completely willing to go after Atlanta… until Jay stopped me cold again, with the old 'we-would-be-the-jerks-in-that-situation' argument.
Jay: The guy is raising a pile of money. If we do anything to sabotage that concert, we're the ones who are gonna look like fools. Come on, let's see if Odie's found anything on that CD.
That was about when Herry walked up to the two of us, and Jay asked him about the two members of our team of heroes' descendants who seemed to be missing in action.
Jay (continued): Hey, have you seen Theresa and Neil?
Herry had his own answer which was…
Herry: Not since yesterday.
Jay: Hmm, let's check inside.
We were greeted to the sight of Miss Persephone's solarium in shambles when we finally met back up with Odie. Jay, Herry and I all gasped collectively at what sight the brains of our team had presented to the rest of us upon our entry into the room.
Odie: Hey, guys. Guess what?
Yours Truly: Well, I'm guessing Persephone is gonna lose it when she sees this.
Herry: No kidding.
Then, Herry acted like he had stepped on what were probably flowerpot shards. Jay walked over to Odie to ask him what he could find out about Phil's music, I bet.
Jay: Whatchya got, Odie?
Odie held out something small and incredibly light.
Odie: Our first line of defense.
Odie handed what he had to Jay, but Jay just looked at him in disbelief.
Jay: An earplug?
I could barely believe that was the only thing he could come up with after all of this, myself.
Odie: Jay? A little more credit, please.
Herry: I think that's been invented already.
Of course, it had already been invented.
Odie: There's definitely some hypnotic frequency embedded in Phil's music. I spliced a subsonic filter into these earplugs that'll keep us from becoming dance partners.
There was the impressive part of what Odie had for us to defend ourselves from the hypnotic effects of Phil's music.
Jay: What about the plants? How is that happening?
Jay was right enough about the side-effects with the plants in Miss Persephone's solarium having suddenly gone wild for one reason or another.
Odie: Still working on that one.
Jay: I'm more worried about Theresa and Neil, right now. Herry thinks they went to Phil's house last night. Come on, let's track down Phil and find out what's goin' on.
We all tracked Phil down, alright… all the way into the party he was throwing that night in the forest.
Jay: Go find Atlanta. Herry and I will try and find Theresa and Neil.
Of course, I was already all over that. Odie, however, had something to say about him and yours truly going after Atlanta.
Odie: Here, I brought some subsonic filters for Atlanta to counter the neural effect of the music.
I accepted Odie's 'whatever-they-were-called' to give to Atlanta once I found her.
Yours Truly: I'll just tell her they're earplugs, OK?
I walked throughout the crowd followed by Odie until I finally found Atlanta in the midst of the crowd, looking like she had been effected by the music at the present concert the longest.
Yours Truly: Atlanta, are you OK?
I reached for the earplugs Odie gave me for my Atlanta and placed them into her ears. Odie joined us thereafter.
Odie: Listen, you won't believe this, but your boyfriend's music is causin' a lot of bad things to happen.
I mentally cringed at the mention of 'Phil' basically being Atlanta's 'boyfriend'. Atlanta, herself, however, just kept dancing in tune with the music.
Odie: Hello?
Odie was concerned, while I tried to just snap Atlanta out of whatever trance she acted like was in… literally, I might add, since a snap of my fingers was all that was needed to wake her up. Snapping my fingers had to be enough to wake her up from her trance, since Atlanta's eyes fluttered open shortly afterwards.
Atlanta: What? What's going on? There's something wrong with Phil. He's got these…
Atlanta then seemed like she felt a bit dizzy while telling Odie and I just what she had to say about 'Phil' after snapping out of the trance she was in. She also looked like she was ready to faint. She fainted alright.
Atlanta (continued): Whoa!
Luckily for Atlanta, I caught her before she could get the chance to hit the ground upon fainting.
Yours Truly: Come on. Sit down over here. It's OK. I'll take care of her.
Odie called out to the two of us, wanting to ask Atlanta about 'Phil', I guess. It was too bad for Odie that finally holding the girl in question in my arms was just distracting enough for me to ignore him completely.
Atlanta: I was working with Phil at his turn table, when I started to finally see a side of him that I didn't like one bit.
Yours Truly: Why? Did he turn out to be a rubber-necking jerk like I saw him act like?
Atlanta: What? No, that's not what happened. I saw a side of him I didn't like when he started to use logging and pollution as the theme for saving the environment.
Then, we heard a voice join us from beyond the crowd of people at the party.
Voice: That sounds like an 'interesting' theme for a save the planet concert.
It was Odie we had heard. I also could easily tell that the brains of our team was being sarcastic when he called the theme for Phil's party 'interesting'.
Atlanta: The theme Phil was putting on for the party felt a little unnerving to me. I also started to hope that Theresa would have been there to help me deal with it. I even started to miss everyone else.
Well, that gave me new hope of Atlanta accepting a possible future invitation to go out on a date with me.
Atlanta (continued): Phil was just indifferent about the whole thing.
If the guy were ever going to be worth her time, I was pretty sure that he would have been there for Atlanta and treated her like the jewel she was.
Odie: What happened after that?
Atlanta: I tried to let him know that I was gonna go take a walk, but he just ignored me. The rest of that is kind of a blur.
Yours Truly: A blur? Are you sure there wasn't anything else, at all?
Atlanta: Yeah, actually. I remembered trying to remove Phil's DJ headphones, that was around when I saw them.
Odie: 'Them' what?
Atlanta: It's starting to come back to me. Yeah, I tried removing his headphones, and then I noticed that he had these horns right on his head.
Odie and I grew confused by this insight from Atlanta. Odie stayed confused, anyway.
Odie: Horns? That makes no sense.
I, on the other hand, began to better understand just what my Atlanta was talking about at the mention of the horns when I remembered what the god of the sun had said about 'Phil' not long after I had brought him the CD.
Yours Truly: Wait! Didn't Apollo say he thought he recognized him?
Odie: Yeah, but how would he know DJ Panic?
I pondered it for a second or two, myself.
Yours Truly: He said something about Phil knowing the true meaning of 'panic'.
Odie: 'Panic'?
Odie then seemed to reach a conclusion of some kind.
Odie (continued): The word's Greek. It comes from the Demigod, Pan.
Atlanta: You mean, as in Pan, the god of the forest?
Then, we heard a voice from up on the DJ's turn table stage speak to everyone in the party's audience, despite the fact that they were all in a tranced state.
Voice: I hope you're all enjoying the party…
It was 'Phil'; and just as Odie said about him, 'Phil' revealed himself to be none other than the satyr-like demigod, Pan.
Phil/Pan (continued): … because it's the last one you'll ever see!
Suddenly, plants came out of the forest and started attacking the partygoers. They even tried to get their vines on us.
Phil/Pan (continued): That's right, nature lovers. Tonight, 'nature' strikes back!
What the heck was going on with this guy? Was Pan insane or something? He had to have been if he was sicking his attack vines on people who were just like Atlanta. Just why was 'Phil' or Pan or whoever he was called attacking Atlanta's brand of person who constantly try to fight off pollution instead of thanking them all like I was pretty sure he should have been?
It was not long before Jay and Herry joined back up with Odie, Atlanta, and yours truly.
Jay: We've gotta get them out of here, away from the music!
We noticed a blonde girl being dragged away by several of the vines, screaming. Herry grabbed onto the vines and ripped them all in half. The blonde girl got up just before Herry could tell her to…
Herry: Cover your ears and run!
Jay turned to Odie, hoping he would do what he had been told to prior to the party getting this out of control.
Jay: Odie, you've gotta turn this music off!
Odie: The generator. I'm all over it!
Jay: Can we still get to it?
Odie: I'll deal with it. You going to take on Pan?
Jay: Pan?
Phil/Pan's voice: It's so nice to have a captive audience!
That was when I heard my Atlanta up on the stage.
Atlanta: Phil!
Was she really going to try reasoning with him, of all people? A psychotic goat man who was abducting people at the time?
Atlanta (continued): Pan! Why are you doing this?
Two points for me! Phil/Pan had his own response to my Atlanta's question.
Phil/Pan: Because you did this.
With his response, Pan gestured to the pictures from his theme for the environmental awareness benefit party. Was he really blaming people like my Atlanta for the destruction of the environment? She and her 'Green Alliance' friends did nothing but fight for the environment all the time.
I hoped she started to understand that there might just be no getting through to the forest god when he was in such a state of mind, for whatever reason.
Atlanta: Some of us are trying to change things.
There went any hope of mine that she could have learnt by now that he was not on her side as much as he made her believe.
Phil/Pan: It's too late!
Just give up on the guy, Atlanta. Pan clearly did not even want to listen to you about your trial to change things.
Atlanta: No, it's not! Please!
Try as she had, Pan only shot his finger-vines at my Atlanta and attempted to push her off the stage. I, myself, jumped off of one of the bigger vines to catch Atlanta.
Yours Truly: Atlanta!
I had suddenly noticed Pan was ready to whack me off the stage, myself, which he did. I heard Atlanta call out to me as soon as I hit the ground.
Atlanta: Archie!
I landed in the vines of one of the goat man's attack plants. Gee, did I really need to get killed to get her attention? Pan began howling like a wolf, while I struggled to get free from the vines. Herry and Jay then showed up to help me, I guess.
Herry: That's Phil?
Jay unsheathed the sword from his gravitational blade.
Jay: It's Pan.
Then, Jay used his sword to cut me loose before he began talking about Pan's personality.
Jay (continued): But this isn't right. He's not an evil god.
Herry doubted him.
Herry: Yeah. Right.
Jay: No, he's supposed to be like, a… a hippie.
If Jay thought that could encourage even my tolerance for him, our leader was dead wrong.
Yours Truly: I don't like hippies.
Atlanta just continued trying to reason with Pan.
Atlanta: Pan, listen to me! You don't have to do this!
But the goat man still would not listen to her. He just shot her with more of his finger-vines and wrapped them around her. Luckily, I had managed to cut my Atlanta loose when I used my Hephaestus whip on the demigod of the forest. Considering the goat man knocked me off the stage the last time I tried to save Atlanta's life, I could easily say that slicing through the guy's vines was the more sensible approach to stopping whatever it was that he was trying to do.
But then, Pan, the goat man who was also a supposed 'hippie', smirked at me with his own remark.
Phil/Pan: Archie. You don't look scared of me.
Of course, I was not scared of him… not as long as Atlanta was in danger at his clutches. Herry and Jay joined me as I unleashed my Hephaestus whip on him once more. Pan dodged my whip the second time, however, by jumping off the stage and onto the grass below.
Phil/Pan (continued): It's time you learned the true meaning of panic.
Well, what do you know? Apollo was right about 'Phil' knowing the true meaning of panic, especially considering that Pan summoned a gigantic flytrap-looking monster plant from the Earth below us all just after he slammed his fists against it. Herry, of course, did not think much of it.
Herry: I've seen worse. Come on, it's just a plant.
That was about when the so-called 'just-a-plant' spat something at us that burned the ground at our feet. Atlanta approached us and exclaimed in disgust. It really was a flytrap-type of monster plant.
Herry (continued): And… it spits acid. OK, then.
The giant, evil flytrap just continued to spit its acid at us. Herry banked right, while Jay dragged Atlanta out of the way from the monster plant's acid spit to the left. Meanwhile, I ran back towards the stage. I could hear what Jay had asked Atlanta as a comment about Pan's attack plant, but just barely.
Jay: Why couldn't he just have pyro effects like other musicians?
Not long afterwards, we continued to fight the acid-spitting monster plant, and we heard a crash from on the stage. Odie was probably responsible for it. I guess he finally unplugged this party gone out of control.
Atlanta was in the way of the monster plant and seemed refusing to fight. We needed her help to fight against this giant flytrap with multiple horns.
Herry jumped between her and the acid-spitting flytrap monster, only to get lifted off the ground along with the head onto which he grabbed. Needless to say, it was a pretty big mistake on his part to grab onto a monster that could easily get him with its acid spit and wrestle the monster plant like it was just another schoolyard bully.
Jay was doing better at fighting off our plant enemy. It spat acid at him anyway, though, and he had to dodge it.
I, however, was doing what was probably the best against the monstrous flytrap… if I could have said so, myself. I had my Hephaestus whip on me after all. I could even spare some self-defense for, ahem, Atlanta. That was exactly what I did when I whipped at the freaky flytrap we were all up against.
Then, another one of the monster flytrap's heads went after me. Jay defeated that one with his sword, though. The flytrap head onto which Herry had latched himself for the sake of wrestling it had finally been defeated, only to almost land on Atlanta had she stayed put instead of leaping just out of that flytrap head's way in time. She landed on the grass below, though.
That was around when Atlanta got a better look at Pan's DJ record and noticed a familiar face on the disk.
Atlanta: Cronus? Now, it all makes sense. Pan's been hypnotized by Cronus somehow.
That was when Atlanta stomped on the record and smashed it to pieces. Pan started screaming thereafter.
Atlanta (continued): Pan!
Then, Atlanta began running towards the satyr-like god. I then noticed one of the flytrap heads come back to life and still go after her on her way to help the demigod of the forest. Luckily for her, I sliced that carnivorous plant head with my whip just like the other head that went after her, while Jay stabbed his sword into the mutant flytrap's base. Then, our leader jumped off of the base just in time to be caught by Herry.
I noticed Atlanta with Pan again. He looked like he was still struggling to break free of Cronus' control.
Phil/Pan: The music, still in my head.
Odie rejoined the rest of us afterwards, followed by a recently escaped Neil and Theresa. The two escapees were talking, but I could barely hear much of what they said because I was so focused on Atlanta and Pan.
That was around when the Earth began rumbling beneath all the rest of us and swallowed the monster plant's base back up. It was just loud and tectonic enough for me to look away from even Atlanta… just for a moment, though. The rest of us turned our attention back to Atlanta when Pan starting groaning in desperation to get free, himself, from the control over which the evil god of time and space had placed onto him.
Atlanta: Are you gonna be OK?
Pan did not answer, but just continued to groan in desperation to get free from Cronus' control. Just how and when did Pan and Cronus even cross paths, much less Cronus actually getting the forest demigod to do his dirty work?
The following morning, Pan was all dressed up back in his former disguise as 'Phil', the environmentally aware DJ. Jay came up to the goat man in disguise to tell him how things went after his out-of-control party had been destroyed for the benefit of mankind.
Phil/Pan: How did it go?
Jay: Good. Those guys that were up in the vines with Neil and Theresa are home safe. It's strange, they don't remember much.
Odie: Might be from prolonged exposure to the music.
Pan then put the fingers from his left hand to his temple.
Phil/Pan: I don't remember half of what Atlanta has told me.
The satyr in disguise then removed his fingers from his temple.
Phil/Pan (continued): It's certainly something I'd like to forget.
Then, Pan turned his head to face Atlanta. For his sake, he'd better have ready to apologize.
Phil/Pan (continued): Again, I'm sorry.
Just like I had hoped he would. That satyr guy definitely owed my favorite girl on our team an apology. Atlanta turned her own head away from Pan. That had to be a good sign that she was over him.
Atlanta: I made a few mistakes as well, you know…
My Atlanta then turned her head back towards Pan to explain just what mistakes of hers she had made. I did not understand what she had to explain to this goat man, though. What could she have possibly done that was all that bad?
Atlanta (continued): … like falling for the wrong guy, alienating my friends, and helping someone almost destroy mankind.
Yeah, I guess that all of those mistakes of hers were pretty bad, too. Just as soon as Pan grabbed his duffle bag to and was finally ready to depart, however, Atlanta started walking after him.
Atlanta (continued): Where will you go?
There went any hope I had that she was already over the guy. Pan responded back to her, though.
Phil/Pan: Don't worry. I have things to do, and places to go where Cronus can't find me. What's to say we won't meet again.
Pan then had the nerve to tip his hat to Atlanta, my Atlanta, like in the hero to the damsel in a western movie, all while riding off into the sunset on his horse.
I would have been lying if I said I was not even the least bit jealous of this gesture from the goat man in human's clothing, until I heard him continue talking to my Atlanta.
Phil/Pan (continued): I'm sure Hera would like to have a few words with me about all this… which is another good reason to get outta here.
With that, the goat man in disguise just chuckled, going on his way. Atlanta still tried to go after Pan. That did it. It was time to work my 'cheering-the-girl-up' magic. Ironic as it sounds coming whenever I'm the one performing it, it had always been reliable to me before. My only issue was just what to tell the girl of my dreams to cheer her up. And then, I finally had just the answer for it when I remembered that she had always been so caring towards the environment.
Yours Truly: You know, all this talk about nature got me thinking. Maybe, I'll drop by one of those 'Green Alliance' meetings.
It was the perfect way to spend extra time with my Atlanta. I smiled at the very idea of spending more time with the girl of my dreams. That was about when I suddenly heard Atlanta talking to me about it. I decided to pay the closest attention to her I had since I first met her. She only chuckled at me for it, however, before saying…
Atlanta: Really?
Then, she pointed her finger onto my nose.
Atlanta (continued): I don't think they'll let dorks like you join.
Atlanta then laughed at me for trying to cheer her up. There went sweeping the love of my life off of her feet. I was not willing to give up that easily, though. I was determined to have more time with her. I was just a little rusty in my skills of being a catch to the ladies. If Achilles could charm the life out of any girl in his day, there was absolutely no reason his descendant AKA yours truly would not come with the same skills in being a Casanova.
Yours Truly: I'm serious. I'll support your fight against pollution and such since it means that much to you.
I knew I just wanted to go to the 'Green Alliance' meetings for the sake of a girl but come on. It was Atlanta, after all.
Atlanta: Alright.
'Alright'? That was it? That was all it took to get Atlanta to let me come along with her to those 'Green Alliance' meetings and rallies? Well, who was I to complain? I was completely and totally all for it being that easy to win over the love of my life.
Yours Truly: You mean it?
When she turned around to face me, however, and we both stood nose to nose, and I blushed up a perfect storm of red while Atlanta was still very calm about our noses touching.
Atlanta: If and when you prove to me that you're that committed to the environment and really wanna join the 'Green Alliance', I think my other friends and I just might just think about letting you join for the sake of saving the Earth from pollution. Might.
Oh, so there really was more to that 'alright' from Atlanta. I guess I should have known that it would not be as easy as all of that. Well, as long as I got time with Atlanta when we were the only ones who knew one another at least, I could not complain even if I actually tried.
Yours Truly: Oh, anything you say, 'Lanta!
Atlanta: 'Lanta?
Yours Truly: I-I mean, Atlanta.
I guess that I needed to wait for our 'interactions' amongst the Green Alliance to go a lot smoother if I should have wanted to call my Atlanta by a nickname of any kind.