Indy woke up to see himself lying face-first on some sand. Getting up, and shaking the sand off of him, he examined the area. He saw that Jack and the kids were beginning to wake up too. He also noticed the familiarity of the place. It seems to be an arena of some sort, but a bit more ancient. After looking around for any other noticeable things, Indy concluded that they were in a gladiator arena. Which meant….
"Good morning Dr. Jones, Mr. Shannon, human, and things," a man bellowed out.
Everyone looked up to see a man in white and gold robed standing in the Emperor's box. The kids and Jack regrouped with Indy as they saw people in similar robes begin to file into the arena. The kids were scared as Jack and Indy were shielding them.
"We are glad that you are able to be our entertainment for tonight," the man bellowed out.
"Who are you?" Luz shouted.
"Ahh human, human, human. I have many names, but you may call me Phoenix," the man introduce himself.
"What are you planning to do with us?" Amity asked.
"Ahh nothing, except use you guys as our little plaything," Phoenix said, as the gates began to open.
"Indy, I have a very bad feeling about this," Shannon said as he and the kids began to back up.
"Me too, Jack," Indy said.
As soon as the gates were opened, out jumped two very hungry lions. They eyed Indy, Shannon, Luz, and the witches as they began to run towards them, with the gang jumping out of the way, and falling on the ground.
"Jack, take the kids to safety!" Indy shouted.
Jack nodded as he started to push the kids away from the lions and Indy. Indy, grabbing his whip, began to crack it toward the lions, making the animals back away. "Stay back, stay back," Indy ordered.
As the lions were backing away, another cage opened this time revealing a tiger. "You have to be kidding me," Indy muttered as he saw the tiger.
Trying to get the lions to back off, Indy had to leave the tiger to Jack, who was shielding the kids away from the tiger. The tiger was crawling around, waiting for an opportunity to pass. Jack took out his pocket knife, holding it in front of him. The tiger lunged forward, striking Jack. Jack and the tiger were in a struggle as they were both attacking each other. Jack managed to strike the tiger a few times with his knife, but the tiger was overpowering him.
Trying to get the tiger off of him, Jack notices something wrapping around the tiger. Something green, almost like vines. The tiger then was lifted off of him, being held in midair. Standing there in shock, Jack looked around to see the source of that and saw one of the kids, the chubbier girl's eye glowing yellow. Looking at the ground, he notice that vines were growing around her.
"Interesting," Jack muttered. Jack stood up from his spot and ran towards the kids.
"Are you okay, Mr. Shannon?" Gus asked.
"Yeah, just a little shaken up is all," Jack said as Willow threw the tiger to the side, "Neat trick, mind explaining to me after we get out of this mess."
"Yeah, sure," Luz said, "But first we need to go help Indy."
Looking toward where his friend was, Jack saw that Indy was starting to feel overwhelmed. Amity was able to conjure up some mud monsters to fight against one of the lions as Willow captured the other lion with her vines, knocking them both down. Indy turned around to see the help he received and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Glad to see you guys safe," Indy said, walking towards them.
"Same to you, Indy," Jack said.
As they regrouped, the group heard Phoenix laughing aloud. "I see you are able to survive the beasts of this world, but tell me witches, do you think the great Indiana Jones can defeat a beast from your land?" Phoenix asked.
"What does he mean by that?" Indy asked the Boiling Isles kids. They just shrug as they were confused.
The middle gate began to open up and tumbling out was a large griffin, which was trying to escape from its restraint. The group stood there in shock as Indy and Jack couldn't believe what they saw was real. Not only that but the witches were confused about how this creature came into the human world. The beast was charging toward the frozen group, barreling towards them. In a split second, everyone jumped out of the way, causing the griffin to hit its head against a pole.
Observing this, Indy thought of a crazy plan and started running towards one of the poles. Using his whip, Indy managed to latch it onto the top of the poles. He climbed up the pole, using all of his strength. Wrapping the whip, Indy saw that the griffin was chasing Luz and Amity down. The archeologist put his hands towards his mouth and whistled loudly, catching the attention of the beast. The beast saw Indy and started charging towards him. It ended up hitting his head on the pole stunning the winged beast into a daze. Using this opportunity, Indy jumped onto the griffin, grabbing a hold of the chain.
Like a bronco, the griffin was trying to buck Indy off of its back. "Woah, girl, calm down, I have you, I have you," Indy said, trying to calm the beast down. He managed to soothe the beast down, using the opportunity to control it like a horse.
"Kids, Jack, c'mon!" Indy ordered. The Boiling Isles kids and Jack ran towards Indy, getting on top of the Griffin. With a yank of the chain, the griffin started running around the arena.
Observing this little game, Phoneix was not happy as he ordered his fellow cult members to take care of the humans and witches. The cult members did as they were told as they were jumping off their seats into the arena.
"Indy, whatever you are planning, please do it now. We are about to have company," Luz said.
"Ok, like a horse, this creature can be tame. So let's see what new tricks you are able to do," Indy said to the beast. He then reared the Griffin, making it face straight. With a quick whip of the chain, he was able to command the Griffin into going forward. Grabbing his pistol, Indy aimed it in front of him towards one of the cult members.
But before he could pull the trigger, the Griffin began to run faster. It then spread its large wings into the air as it was about to take off. Flapping the wings, the Griffin flew off from the ground, with bullets and bolts firing at them.
"Indy!" Jack shouted as he felt the rough take-off of the Griffin.
"Sometimes nature can have the most interesting animals," Indy commented.
Watching the humans and witches escape, Phoneix was none too pleased. Turning to one of the cult members, he said, "Report to Belos and Henrich that Jones has escaped with the human and the witches."
The cult member nodded his head as he left to do his duty.
After reaching a comfortable altitude, Indy relaxed his grip on the reins, allowing the animal to lead them to safety.
"So what do you folks call this creature?" Indy asked.
"We call them griffins. Beautiful creatures. But be careful, cause they do spit out spiders," Amity shouted over the air.
"Interesting, this creature was able to help us in our time of need," Indy said.
"Yeah, one of my friends, Viney, actually has one as a pet," Luz said.
"Well, this is great and all, but how are we supposed to land?" Jack asked.
But before anyone answered, and with the griffin somehow understanding Shannon, it made a steep dive, descending towards the ground.
"Oh shit!" Jack shouted.
Indy pulled onto the reins. Holding his hat, the archaeologist was trying to slow the animal down. The attempt was not in vain as the animal was slowly descending as it got close to the ground.
Landing on top of a hill of some kind, everyone got off the creature a bit shaken. Jack was on the floor kissing it, grateful that it was land. As Indy was getting off of the beast, he heard a voice.
"Thank you," the voice said.
"Hmph, kids did you say anything?" Indy asked, trying to figure out the voice.
"No," the kids said confused.
"I said it," the voice said.
Indy turned his head and saw that the creature was speaking. Backing up, Indy said, "Hey Luz, you never mention that these creatures can talk."
"Cause they don't," Luz said.
The creature then transformed itself into a serpentine of sorts, which made Indy jump back in fear. "I'm not a griffin. I am what they call…," the creature said before Luz piped up.
"A basilisk," Luz said.
"So you know what I am, huh? I guess you want to kill me now?" the basilisk asked.
"No, not really. I actually know one from my time. She calls herself V. She is actually pretty chill," Luz said, walking towards the serpent.
"So what do they call you?" Hunter asked, feeling a bit relaxed, seeing Luz comfortable with the creature.
"Don't really have a name. Just a number," the basilisk answered.
"How about Tina?" Luz said.
"Tina, Tina,Tiinnaa," the basilisk kept on saying, trying to spell it out, "I like it."
"Then you should be named Tina," Luz said, cheerfully.
Jack, noticing Indy hasn't said anything and is very stiff, whispers, "You okay Indy?"
"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting this. This must be some sort of nightmare,"
"You don't need to be afraid of a basilisk, Indy, they are pretty harmless," Luz said.
"It's not the basilisk I am worried about," Indy said.
"Then what is it?" Luz asked.
Jack, realizing why Indy is very tense, said, "Indy here has a fear of snakes,"
"Oh, if it's my form, I can change it. But I only have some magic left," Tina said. She then transformed herself into a young beautiful girl with blond hair, and light skin complexion. "Is this better?"
Indy relaxed a bit and said, "Not really, but at least it doesn't remind me of a snake."
"Um, Dr. Jones, so now what? These Nazis as you call them have the tablets and are probably on their way to the location of the blood of the gods," Willow said.
"We need to rest up a bit and afterward, we are taking the first train to Greece," Indy said.
"No, we need to beat these Nazis and go to Greece now!" Hunter shouted.
"Kid, look, I know you want to go back home. But, the Nazis won't even know where to dig first," Indy explained.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked.
"Looking at the tablets, they don't really tell us an exact location. Just the area of where the blood of the gods are. The exact location is hidden in riddles on the second tablet," Indy explained.
"So the Nazis will be delayed in finding the treasure?" Luz asked.
"Yeah," Indy said, "Chances are they are trying to find a translator for the Latin. Anyways, I think after the ordeal we had to deal with in that gladiator ring, we should at least rest up a bit."
"I have to agree with Indy on this one," Luz said, "Seeing as how we barely survived those animals, we need to at least catch our breaths."
"You sure, Luz?" Amity asked.
"Yeah, plus on the bright side, we can at least explore Rome a bit. Never actually visited this place before," Luz answered, "If that is fine with you, Indy?"
"I don't see any issue with that, so long as Jack can join you guys. He knows more of this place better than any of you kids. Plus, I have a feeling that we won't be seeing the last of the Cult of Belos," Indy said.
"Um, Dr. Jones?" Tina called out.
"Yes, Tina," Indy replied.
"Would you think I can join you with looking at the tablets?" Tina asked.
"Sure, I don't mind. But are sure you don't want to go with Luz and the rest of the kids, exploring Rome?" Indy asked.
"I…don't really feel comfortable yet, exploring the human world," Tina answered.
"I see, well, I don't mind. That just means we might be able to solve the riddles faster," Indy said.