The Greek city of Thebes was having quite the rocky day. Citizens ran away from the main plaza, statues of ancient heroes and gods flying all around. But it was to be expected when Cerberus, the hellhound of Hades in person, decided to come and destroy everything in his path. The only reason Thebes hadn't been completely destroyed by now was because three heroic figures were standing in his way.
"Maybe we should've called Jacob for help!" Logan remarked as he jumped back to avoid getting stomped by the black canine. "Thunder!"
Right after her boyfriend's elemental attack touched his head from above, Destiny followed up by sending jets of water at Cerberus' head. Well, heads. Unfortunately, it seemed to have as much effect as a kid shooting at his friend with a water pistol. "It didn't work!" Destiny exclaimed, while Cerberus growled.
"Don't worry, Destiny; we still got this!" Hercules exclaimed and tossed a piece of rubble at one of Cerberus' heads. Far from fazing him, the hellhound roared and started spitting fireballs that forced Hercules to run away.
Logan, meanwhile, used his Fenrir Keyblade to deflect the incoming fireballs, sending them back at their owner. When Cerberus attempted to snap him with his fangs, Logan used the superior strength granted to him by the Anubis Khopesh to block his jaw with his bare hands. The giant canine growled while trying to close his jaw, almost making Logan vomit. "Hades must not have cleaned your teeth in a while!" he remarked.
Ever since becoming Anubis' disciple, Logan always left his khopesh in his living room to make sure he wouldn't accidentally forget it again. A decision he definitely wasn't regretting at the moment. It was currently strapped to his back in a scabbard designed to hold a khopesh sword. Even then, he wasn't sure how he could break out of his current predicament, as his two hands were occupied whilst Cerberus still had two heads to help him.
"Leave him alone!" Destiny exclaimed and whipped the hellhound from the side with her huge tail. However, it barely fazed him, again, and one of his heads bit the whale into her shoulder. "ARGH!"
"DESTINY!" Logan exclaimed in horror.
Thankfully, Hercules arrived in time to push the monster away with a good shoulder tackle in the side, saving his two friends. "Destiny, are you alright?"
"Don't worry; I'll survive," the whale assured, holding her injured shoulder with her fin. "For now, let's wash that bad dog away!" With a flip, she smacked her tail on the ground and sent a huge wave that directly hit Cerberus. Unfortunately, he barely moved and simply shook the water off his body, causing Destiny to groan in annoyance.
Cerberus pushed a loud growl and stood on its back legs before smacking the front ones on the ground with force, creating a shockwave that knocked the trio back. Logan was the first to recover and got back on the offense, delivering a few strikes of his Keyblade to Cerberus' heads. In response, the hellhound used his Dark Breath attack, which forced the young man to continuously run as jets of darkness erupted from the ground, wherever he stood.
While fighting the Keyblade Wielder, Cerberus failed to notice Hercules sneaking behind him and grabbing his tail. "Logan! Come here! I have an idea!" Logan managed to out-run the Dark Breath and reached Hercules behind Cerberus, also grabbing his tail. The two of them used their combined strength to spin Cerberus around (Super Mario 64's Bowser style) until they gained enough momentum to throw him far away, the dog comically disappearing in a star in the sky.
"You think that'll be enough to take him out?" Logan asked, feeling a bit tired after swinging a giant hellhound beyond the stars.
"Yeah; he will be out after landing down," Hercules assured. "I'm gonna inform my father on the situation. By the time that big dog recovers, he will already have been sent back to Hell. My father's gonna give a good scolding to Hades for not watching over his pet... again." He wrapped an arm around the young man. "Thanks for your help, Logan! And you, too, Destiny!"
"You're welcome...," the whale replied with a lack of enthusiasm.
"Tonight, we shall hold a feast to celebrate our success! You two are welcome to join us," Hercules said.
"That's not necessary, Hercules; we were only doing our duty," Logan modestly assured. However, his tummy seemed to disagree as it released a growl worthy of a bear. "... On second thought, saving the world does make you hungry. We'd be happy to join you."
That evening, the city of Thebes held a huge feast on the main plaza for their heroes' glory. Logan and Destiny (in her human form) got to sit around a gigantic table decorated with pretty flowers and covered in plates of meals from the Ancient Greece era. Logan didn't even know it was possible to have so many types of bread in a single feast! Nonetheless, he dug through the food with appetite, sometimes accepting fruits offered to him by passing kids. He also tried to convince the civilians that he did not want to drink wine and just stick to water, seeing as how his last (and first) experience drinking alcohol did not end well. Unfortunately, not drinking wine during a feast held for heroes was considered disrespectful, so Logan had to make and effort and swallow the strong beverage. But not too much.
"Ha, ha, ha! For a mortal, you sure have an appetite worthy of a god!" Hercules exclaimed with a good laughter. "Are you sure you're not a half-god like me?"
Logan finished chomping on a meat drumstick before answering. "Nope. I'm a lot of things - a wrestler, an artist, a coach, and a Keyblade Wielder... But not a demigod. Well, unless you count being Anubis' disciple." He lifted his shirt to show the Anubis tattoo on his right hip and side.
"So the rumors were true; Anubis really did take a new disciple under his care," Hercules said, looking at the tattoo.
"Yeah; it's been about two weeks, now," Logan explained. "He's always training me in my sleep. While I do miss having sweet, relaxed dreams, at least I no longer have to fear having a nightmare. He taught me a lot of things already, and I can't wait to learn more!"
"Good for you...," Destiny mumbled, resting her cheek against her hand.
Turning his attention to his girlfriend, Logan pulled his shirt back down. "What's wrong, Destiny?"
"Nothing; everything's fine."
"Destiny, you barely have touched the food in front of you. Usually, when we go eat something after a mission, I have to restrain you from swallowing everything in one go, so there's clearly something bothering you." Logan reached his hand to touch her arm. "Come on, tell me, please?"
Remaining silent at first, Destiny ended up sighing. "It's just that... You can do all these amazing things, like throwing fire, thunder and ice, swinging a giant sword, lift giant enemies like it's nothing, and do all these other magic tricks I'd take forever to list. But me... All I can do is throw little jets of water and swing my tail around. That's not very helpful..."
"That's not true, Destiny," Logan affirmed, trying to comfort his girlfriend. "You don't just shoot jets of water; you can practically create giant waves! And your tail whips are strong enough to take out twenty Heartless in one go! That's not my definition of useless."
"Thanks for trying, but my point is... You're special, and I'm not...," Destiny continued, looking at the food in her plate without interest. "My Water Magic and tail whips were practically of no use against Cerberus... If you and Hercules had not been there, who knows what he would have done to the people of this city. I just... I wish I could help you more in these missions, like Jasiri always do with Gabriel..."
"But you ARE helping me, Destiny," Logan insisted. "There's no way I would be able to cross the ocean and visit our friends at the Great Barrier Reef without you - y'know, because of my fear of huge open spaces of water. Plus, nobody knows how to cheer me up the way that you do. There's no way I would've been able to defeat Virtual Roxas on my own if you hadn't been there."
The human whale gave a faint smile, actually eating some of her food at last. Suddenly, she widened her ice-blue eyes and smiled. "I got it!" Her sudden exclamation caused Logan to jump and almost choke on his wine sip. "Logan, what's the one thing you always had but not me?"
Logan blinked his eyes. "A baseball cap?"
"No."
"A beard?"
"No."
"Amazing drawing skills?"
Destiny slapped herself on the forehead. "No! A teacher, Logan! Ever since you arrived in the Magical World, you always had somebody to train you so that you could always keep progressing. That's not the case for me: everything I know about my Water Magic, I had to figure it out on my own. Maybe I could get better if I had somebody to teach me."
Logan rubbed his chin. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea. When I first came here, Master Yen Sid took me under his tutelage to help me master my Drawing Magic. After that, Rachel helped me to develop my swordsmanship and Sora and Riku helped make me a Keyblade Wielder. More recently, I became Anubis' student so that I could become a better wrestler and also get spiritual powers. I'm sure a teacher could be of great help to you!"
"Amazing! Do you think Master Yen Sid would let me train with you?" Destiny asked.
"Huh..." Logan awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "I'm afraid Master Yen Sid isn't an expert in Water Magic, Destiny. Unless you count that time he saved the Mysterious Tower from the flood caused by Mickey Mouse. Neither can I; the only elements I can use are fire, thunder and ice - and even then, it's pretty limited. Sora does know some Water Magic, but not much."
"Oh? So, you don't think anybody at the Mysterious Tower can help me?" Destiny asked, disappointment in her voice.
"No, no, I'm sure there's someone, somewhere who is an expert in Water Magic and can help you!" Logan assured. "Look, after the feast, I'll go see Master Yen Sid at the Mysterious Tower and ask him to find you a teacher. Is that okay with you?"
"Sure. Thanks, Logan." Feeling better, Destiny started eating the delicious food on the table, reminding Logan he had to stop her from swallowing everything in one go.
Two days after Cerberus' attack on Thebes, Logan invited Destiny's to his place so that the two of them could travel to the Mysterious Tower. They were currently on the train getting to their destination, sitting in one of the cabins whilst looking at the beautiful world outside.
"So Master Yen Sid has finally found a Water Magic expert?" Destiny eagerly asked with a smile.
Logan nodded. "Yup; that's what he said in the message he sent me. Apparently, it's someone that he's not personally familiar with, but someone who knows a lot more about Water Magic than most of the characters in the Magical World."
"That's so exciting!" Destiny beamed, struggling to remain seated. "I can't wait to meet my new teacher!"
The train soon reached its destination; Logan and Destiny got off to enter the Mysterious Tower. After climbing the endless steps, they reached the room on the tower's final floor, where Master Yen Sid was seated behind his desk. "Master," Logan said and respectfully bowed.
"Logan, it is good to see you again, my young pupil," the ancient wizard said with a smile. He turned his attention to Destiny. "You must be Destiny, correct?"
"Yes, Master. Usually, I'm a whale shark, but I decided to take this human form to avoid destroying everything in your tower," Destiny sheepishly explained.
"I appreciate it," the wizard mused. "Logan told me a lot about you. Noticeably, he said that you are from his favorite Pixar movie, that you help him deal with his fear of the ocean, and also that you are the love of his life." This last part caused Logan to blush and try to hide his face with his cap, whilst Destiny giggled. "He also told me you had trouble with your Water Magic?"
"Exactly," Destiny confirmed. "I feel like I can much more with it, but I don't know how. Logan said you found someone who can help me with that?"
"Indeed," Master Yen Sid said with a nod. "Lucky for you, I had the chance to meet an expert in the art of Water Magic, a few months ago. I cannot say that I am very familiar with him, seeing as he is a character who did not originate from the Magical World. That being said, I have no doubt he will be of a great help to you. Isn't that right?"
Right after Yen Sid said this, somebody walked in the room. A young man with tan skin, sea-green eyes, and jet-black hair swept to one side, as if he had just returned from a walk to the beach. He was very lean, muscular and fit - even more than Logan. His current attire consisted of an orange T-shirt, jeans, and battered white leather Reeboks. This man smelled like the sea and had the aura of a troublemaker.
It did not take long for Logan to recognize this man. "P-Percy Jackson?!"
"We know each other?" the man named Percy Jackson asked.
"Not officially, but I know who you are!" Logan exclaimed. "Huh... Actually, I didn't read your books, but I did see the first movie adaptation. It wasn't that great, in my opinion, but the Dream Keeper, one of my closest friends, is a huge fan of your books!" he tried to explain. "I'm not exactly familiar with your character, but I'm fascinated by the myth surrounding it! It's cool to meet you in person!"
"Same here," Percy said with a troublemaker smile. "What did you say your name was?"
"It's Logan. Logan Jindrak."
Destiny couldn't help but giggle a bit at her boyfriend's enthusiastic reaction. "So? Do you intend on telling me who your new friend is, Logan?"
"Oh, right, sorry. Destiny, this is Percy Jackson, Demigod of the Sea and son of Poseidon. He's the protagonist of a series of books created by author Rick Riordan," Logan explained. "What I don't understand is what you are doing here, in the Magical World. I don't know what edition house published your book series, but it wasn't Disney, was it?"
"Yeah, but there's a reason why I'm allowed to be here," Percy said. "You probably heard of it, but there will soon be a Percy Jackson series on Disney+. It will be a different interpretation of the story and characters, but it's still the same material nonetheless. As such, characters from the book series are technically allowed to come to the Magical World." He placed his hands on his hips. "So? Master Yen Sid told me one of you was in need of help with Water Magic?"
"That would be me," Destiny said. "Hi, I'm Destiny, Logan's girlfriend."
"Destiny... I think Dory mentioned that name when I trained her," Percy mumbled.
Logan widened his eyes a bit. "Y-You trained Dory?! Of course!" He slapped his forehead. "When talking about her trainer, she said that she thought his name was 'Perry Pearson or something'. I knew that name sounded familiar!"
"So you've met Dory?" Destiny asked with a smile.
"Yup!" Percy rubbed the back of his head. "It was a bit hard to train her Bubble Magic, y'know, with her memory problem and all, but the girl has a lot of potential. That's why I made a notebook that can remain intact underwater for her." He looked at Destiny. "I'm sure you can do a lot, too, Destiny. Are you ready to start?"
"Yes, please!" the human whale beamed with a smile. She and Logan followed Percy toward the training room, where Logan would usually train with his teachers. Master Yen Sid, however, stopped his pupil.
"Wait, Logan. I think it would be better to leave Destiny alone for her first training," he said. "You would be more of a distraction than help. You can fill me in on your latest adventures and progress while she is training."
"If you say so, Master," Logan replied. He turned his attention to Percy, giving what almost looked like a glare. "I'm warning you: don't even think about flirting with Destiny while I'm gone, got it?"
Percy gave a troublemaker smile. "I can't make any promises... Just kidding, I already have a girlfriend, pal."
A few moments later, Destiny and Percy were standing in the large training room with nothing but white space all around. "Before we start your training, I need to know your level of experience," Percy explained. "Tell me everything you can do with your Water Magic, Destiny."
"Not much, honestly. All I can do is send jets of water by swinging my flippers around or waves with my tail." Destiny performed the aquatic attacks in question as a demonstration for her teacher.
Percy rubbed his chin, analyzing everything he just saw. "... I see. While the moves may be basic, I can say that your water powers are all but normal, Destiny."
"What do you mean?" she asked with a curious look.
"Most of the time, having Water Magic only means that one has the power of Hydrokinesis - or the ability to move water from ponds, rivers, waterfalls, or any other source around. There are others who are blessed by an ability called 'Hydrogenesis' which lets them create water from their own power... Like me." Percy raised his hand and created a trail of water that he danced around in the air for a bit. "However, in your case, it seems like things are different."
"Different? How?" Destiny asked.
"I analyzed your moves and came to this conclusion: your ability to make water appear out of nowhere isn't Hydrogenesis, but water vapor condensed right out of the air," Percy explained. "All this time, you were unconsciously taking water vapor and used it to create your attacks. But even then, only 1% of the earth's atmosphere is water vapor, so using it as a source should only produce small water attacks. Yours are pretty big. Have you ever noticed a weird change in the air when using your Water Magic?"
Destiny looked up, thinking about it. "I'm not sure... To be completely honest with you, Percy, I've spent most of my life living underwater, you know, being a whale and all. Breathing air over the surface is something I'm not exactly familiar with. But now that you mention it, it's true that I always felt better with my magic when underwater."
"With the size of your attacks, the air should have been sucked dry by now. I don't know if it's because of this world's magical properties or something," Percy said. "Anyway, it's time for your first exercise." Leaving the room for a moment, Percy returned with a giant bowl filled with water that he pulled down in the middle of the room. "I want you to push and pull the water in this bowl, Destiny."
"How is this going to help? I already know how to move water around," the whale pointed out.
"No offense, Destiny, but your attacks lack precision and fluidity. Just swinging your flippers around without any strategy will reduce your aim and chances of hitting your target - I think that your attacks succeeding so far was due to their sheer size. A boxer needs to learn how to punch correctly before moving on to jabs, swings, and other combos. That's why I want you to get used to properly pushing and pulling water in front of you. It will also help you to use water from sources other than water vapor. Oh, and before starting, turn into your whale shark form; it'll be better to begin in your natural form before implementing your experience to your other ones."
Destiny followed her teacher's advice, assuming her whale shark form once again before reaching her fins forward and beginning to push and pull the water inside the bowl. She did so for the entire before noon under Percy's watchful eye, the demigod giving the occasional advice to get better. At first, she found the continuous gesture mildly amusing, then long and boring, before it ultimately became natural to her, like breathing.
When noon rolled around, Percy announced it was time to take a break and brought Destiny to take a good snack with Logan. They had a good time together, but it was then time to return to the training room. "Must I continue to push and pull the water?" Destiny asked.
"No; you've done it enough for the day. It's time for the next exercise," Percy replied. "I'm gonna teach you the phase change of water."
"The phase change?" Destiny asked.
"Yes. No need to be a scientist to know that water has multiple states: liquid, solid, and gas. When in solid form, water is known as a different element called 'ice'," Percy continued explaining. "As a Water Magician, you have the ability to alter water's form at will. Like this." He turned the water into the bowl into ice to prove his point.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Destiny beamed. "With that trick, I'll be able to freeze all the mean fishes who'll want to try and eat my friends at the Great Barrier Reef. How can I do it?"
"Reach to the water, feel the presence within it, and slow it down," Percy instructed. "You need to use your power to make it completely stop to solidify it into ice."
The whale shark nodded and closed her eyes, holding her fin forward to reach the water in the bowl. It took her a lot of concentration, but she managed to feel that presence Percy talked about in the water. It was moving. Destiny did everything she could to take hold of that presence and prevent it from moving. When she opened her eyes, Percy was smiling at the bowl that was half-water, half-ice.
"Well done, Destiny. Now, I'm gonna unfreeze the bowl and ask you to try and freeze it again - in its entirety, this time."
Destiny tried (and failed) many times to turn the water into ice. But through patience and determination, she eventually succeeded, now having a good grasp on how to change water's phases. Of course, that was only the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended), and Percy made her go through more complicated exercises, such as using her Hydrokinesis to change the water in different shapes - cube, sphere, pyramid, etc, - and then freeze it while in this form. Naturally, she struggled with this task, but Percy made sure to let her know whenever she was doing progresses.
After around two hours of practice, Percy decided it was time to move on to the last exercise of the day. He brought five machines designed to throw training discs and made Destiny float in the middle of them all. "So, what do I have to do, this time?"
"It's simple; these machines will throw discs at you, and your goal will be to block them all using your Water Magic," Percy explained.
"A-All five of them at the same time? Won't that be too much?" Destiny worryingly asked.
"Just use your creativity alongside all the tricks I taught you, and everything should be alright."
With everything she had learned that day, Destiny was certain this final exercise would be a piece of cake. How wrong she was. The machines were shooting discs at a rather elevated speed, making it hard for her to block them, regardless of if she used water from the bowl or water vapor from the air. Her whale size did not help for that matter, as she could not swing her jet of water around her figure fast enough to protect herself.
"It's no use!" she whined while rubbing her aching sides, where the discs had been hitting her nonstop. "Those discs are too fast for me, Percy! I can't get the water around me fast enough!"
"I never said that swinging water around was the only way to deflect those discs," Percy replied, his arms crossed. "Of all the elements, water is the one that represents adaptation the best - if you put your mind to it, water can be used to get you out of practically any situation. If something doesn't work, find another angle to approach the problem."
These words sounded familiar to Destiny. If she didn't know him better, she could swear that Percy was talking like Dory. Her little blue friend never planned anything ahead; she always improvised through every situation she found herself in, no matter the danger. Some might say that it was just crazy, but "I'm okay with crazy," like Hank liked to say...?! Wait a minute... Hank...?
"That's it!" Destiny beamed with a smile. "I know the solution!" Taking once again the water from the bowl and condensing the water vapor around her, she created a water bubble around herself, performing a few moves with her fins to turn them into a set of seven water tentacles that covered every angle around her. "Alright, I'm ready to continue!"
Destiny's strategy proved to be effective, as the launched discs could no longer reach her. Swinging her flippers around, she controlled all seven water tentacles at the same time, making them whip the discs as they were shot. Before long, all the machines ran out of ammo, and Destiny hadn't been touched a single time.
"Well done, Destiny," Percy praised with a smile as he approached his student. "If you don't mind me asking, can I know what gave you the idea to use this strategy?"
"It's because one of my friends in the ocean is an octopus, he's called Hank. I was thinking about him, and then I just had the idea of turning my water into tentacles to hit from everywhere, just like he can," Destiny explained, making her water tentacles disappear. "Actually, he's a 'septopus'. He lost one tentacle; that's why I only made seven water tentacles."
"Okay. You still have a lot to learn, but trust me when I say you have the potential to accomplish a lot, Destiny," Percy said. "Remember: a Water Magician's greatest gift is their ability to adapt to anything and get out of every situation."
"Right!" Destiny nodded.
"Training's over for today. If you wanna continue, here's my training schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays and weekends are off," Percy explained. "Now, let's go see your boyfriend, so you can tell him everything you learned today."
As she floated out of the training room with her teacher, Destiny couldn't help but feel a lot of excitation. "Just you wait, Logan. Soon, I'll be one of the greatest Water Magicians in the entire Magical World!"
Author's note: Destiny has officially begun her training as a Water Magician! A detail I want to make clear: the version of Thebes that Logan and Destiny saved at the start of this chapter was from the 1997 Disney film. Just in case people confused it with the Hercules from Marvel.
While I'm satisfied with the way this story is turning out so far, a detail that have been bothering me lately is that I haven't done much with Destiny's Water Magic despite it having been introduced not earlier than TheDragonSaver's 'Challenge of the Sorcerer's Arena'. Those of you who have seen Avatar: The Last Airbender know that water is a powerful element with which you can do a lot.
The only problem was finding someone who could help Destiny controlling her powers. While Master Yen Sid would have been the logical choice, I was starting to find that the old wizard was getting too much work on his hands (watching over the Magical World, training Logan, Rachel, etc), so decided to cut him some slack. That's when I remembered that Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series was scheduled to be adapted for Disney+ soon. Who better to teach Water Magic than the Demigod of the Sea himself? Since the show isn't out yet, I guess the original Percy Jackson has the right to come to the Magical World as a special guest. What Logan said in this chapter was a reflection of my perception of the books: while I've never read them, I did watch the first movie, thinking it was fine at first, before later on realizing it wasn't that great (and it was made by the same director who made the Harry Potter movies!). However, I did hear about the books and how unique they are. I might read them one of these days, but for the time being, I had to use a wikia to get Percy's personality, looks, and powers accurate.
Next time: Another sleepover at Manor McDuck turns into a fun adventure for Logan and his friends.
