Chapter 5: The Big Games
"Athletes…" Cassandra said with a mean glare.
"Jocks…" Icarus stated with a slight growl.
"Muscle-heads…" I added with a disgusted look.
"The enemy." the three of us said in a cold unison as we watched the Prometheus Academy's varsity team practice for the Big Games.
It's been about two weeks after I was discharged from the Spart-OTC and was back at Prometheus Academy. And everything seemed like they were going alright so far. That is, until a few days ago when Hercules decided to watch some of the school jocks practice for something big that sparked his interest. You may be familiar with the biggest gaming event of the world that occurs every four years, right? And how the very first one was held In Olympia, Greece? Okay, well, you should know what they are, but apparently due to legal reasons in this world, I can't actually say what they are -don't ask me, I don't know why- but we just call them the Big Games around here. And it's something Prometheus Academy has been a part of for years now. Only problem is that they've played against the Spartan Military High School every time, and as you and I know how Athenians are against Spartans…
"Don't you feel kind of sorry for them?" Hercules asked the three of us as he looked at the struggling varsity team. "I mean they've lost 12 big games in a row."
"I show no sentiment for anyone who thinks with their javelin, if you get my drift." I stated.
"I don't." Icarus stated dumbly while Cassandra and I rolled our eyes.
Hercules then got an idea as he watched the struggling athletes. "Hey, maybe I could help them out!"
"Like Aria says: Show no pity, Hercmeister. Jocks are our natural enemies." Icarus said before turning towards Cassandra. "Right, sugar plum?"
"Actually, you're my natural enemy." Cassandra told him. "Jocks are a close second."
Hercules ignored them and turned towards me. "Were jocks ever an issue for you back where you're from?"
"Ha! Issue is putting it lightly." I began. "This one guy, Damien, was the worst of the worst."
Herc gave a concerned look. "That bad, huh?"
"If the continuous gloating of his wins of both games and girls didn't count, he was a straight up bully!" I folded my arms. "He's like if Adonis was a jock."
"Eh! Who needs them?" Icarus pushed the topic of jocks to the side. "Sure, they're more popular, and more successful than us, but we're the ones with the good looks."
"And the winning personalities." Cassandra added with her usual frown.
"Yeah, but they're the ones with the cheerleaders." Hercules sighed as he ogled at the cheerleaders -one of them being Helen.
I rolled my eyes at him cynically. "Yeah, lucky them."
"Bet they feel like heroes all the time." Herc said.
"Jocks are not real heroes." I told him. "They just think they are."
"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow. I've got a training session with-" Herc stopped mid sentence when a stray discus hit him in the gut and knocked him down.
"You okay, Herc?" I asked as I helped him up.
"Yeah, thanks." he grunted as he picked up the discuss and threw it towards the jocks. "Hey! Here you go!"
And that little act went about as well as Herc's usual acts of kindness unfortunately mixed with his strength went. When Herc threw the discus, it flew right into the guy of an unsuspecting archer, who was then sent hurling backwards into three other guys, and the four of them hit a practice target square in the center before they all went tumbling down onto the school track. Actually, now that I think about it. This was probably a tamer outcome than Hercules' usual accidental bursts of strength. And it seemed like it pleased our gym teacher, Mr. Phys-Oedipus, when he saw that direct hit on the target.
Herc gave a nervous smile at the varsity team. "Sorry!"
"Never apologize for who you are!" Mr. Phys-Oedipus assured him as he approached Herc. "Who are you again?"
"Hercules." Herc answered.
"Of course! The inconceivable strong hero-in-training." our teacher then pulled Herc to the side. "Why haven't you tried out for the team?"
Herc struggled to find an excuse. "Well, uh, I'm pretty busy with my training, and, uh-"
Icarus stood up from his seat on the bleachers as he glared at Phys-Oedipus. "And he's not falling for your siren song of the jock's life, are you, Hercaburger?"
Hercules struggled to find the right words. "Well, I don't know. I-"
"You know, being on the varsity does have its advantages." Mr. Phys-Oedipus told Herc as he waved a hand towards the cheerleaders.
"Hi, Hercules." Helen waved at Herc.
And the infamous Zeus gene kicked in the moment Hercules started to get all blushing and giggly at Helen and the other cheerleaders. I gave an annoyed eye roll as Icarus folded his arms and gave a pout at our friend's inability to act cool around girls. Well, that's what I thought I was doing. I'm pretty sure Icarus' disapproving pout was more put towards Phys-Oedipus buttering Hercules up to join the varsity team for the Big Games.
"Ugh. Those girls put the 'pep' in 'peposterous'." Icarus gagged at the cheerleaders.
"That's 'preposterous', dummy." I corrected him.
"That's what I said." he gave a slight shrug.
Hercules rubbed the back of his neck as he kept looking at the waving cheerleaders. "I guess I could give it a try."
"No!" Icarus started screaming dramatically as Herc went off to train with the jocks. "He's become one of them!"
"It's okay, Icarus. He's only at Tier 1 of Athleticism: The butter-up stage." I did my best to calm him down so he wouldn't cause a scene. "It's Tier 5 we have to worry about."
Icarus' head snapped up towards me in worry. "What happens at Tier 5?"
"That's when he's fully ascended into jock." I gave a nervous gulp.
Later
"Hi, honey," Mom greeted me as I walked into the tea shop after coming home from school. "How was school and your friends?"
"Good." I told her as I hung up my satchel on the coat rack by the door. "Hercules is going to be in the upcoming games."
"Good for him." Mom said. "But won't that affect his training with Phil?"
"I dunno. Probably." I gave a shrug as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm gonna head over to the Underworld for a visit. I'll see you later tonight."
"Did you get your homework done?" Mom asked me.
"Yes, Mom." I answered.
"Okay, you can go." she told me as she finished up handing somebody their order. "But be back by dinner."
"Oh! Almost forgot." I ran back behind the counter and gave my mom a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you!"
"Love you too, sweetie." Mom said back. "You tell the guys I say 'hi'."
"Can do!" I gave her a thumbs-up right as I walked out the back door into the alley, making sure nobody would see me.
Now, I know what you're thinking. How is Aria supposed to get into the Underworld? Isn't the Underworld entrance miles away from Athens and in a spooky forest? Well, that last part is true, but I did have a way to get into the Underworld. You see, when the imps started coming up to visit me topside after Mom and I moved there, they gave me a little gift. That gift was a special potion that would teleport me to anywhere in Greece I wanted to go to if I put a single drop on my person. However, me knowing that I would accidentally break said bottle of potion because I can be that clumsy, I made a little experiment by putting drops of the potion into some glass pearls I made. I was a little inspired by one of my favorite book series to make them, and now was the perfect time to test them out.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a single glass pearl full of turquoise liquid. I placed the pearl on the ground and stomped on it. An apple scented mist swirled itself around me, and the next thing I knew, I was being transported from Athens to the Underworld. Most specifically, Hades' throne room. Just exactly where I wanted to end up in. My experiment with the pearls was a success, and I was excited to tell that to the imps when I saw them!
Speaking of which…
The moment I realized I was in the throne room, I found myself getting tackled and I was sent falling over onto the floor. I sat myself up to see Pain and Panic hugging me tightly as large and excited grins were on their faces.
"Hey, you guys. Miss me much?" I greeted them as I hugged them back with a smile. "You guys really need to start going easy on me with the tackle-hugs."
"Sorry, we just haven't seen you in- Whoa!" Panic stopped himself when he saw something new about me. "What did you do to your hair?"
Pain did a double take and noticed something else too. "And what's with the new fit?"
Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention that thing about my outfit, didn't I? Well, long story short, I decided to update my look to compliment my new haircut. So, I ditched the infamous single-strapped sapphire blue dress and replaced it with yet another blue dress. But this one was different. This one, while bearing a more cobalt shade of blue, was an ankle-length dress with a black chest that had four citrine beads down the middle, and a black neck-strap that held it all up. I also had a black belt around my waist, kept my most favorite pair of black sandals, and of course had my black spandex on underneath my dress. For my hair, I decided to wear a headband to keep my bangs out of my face. Not too bad an upgrade, if I do say so myself, but I do admit it was missing something.
"Oh, all this?" I showed off my haircut. "Just a new style I had to get after I was in the Spar-OTC."
The imps' jaws remained dropped and that's when we stopped hugging.
"You went to the Spar-OTC? And lived?" Pain asked.
"Well, yeah." I nodded.
Panic blinked. "But why?"
"Remember when Achilles told me that a girl's place wasn't on the battlefield?" I asked them.
The imps responded with them saying both yes and no, so I just took that as them saying that they think they remember, but they just forgot about all that. I'm pretty good at picking up that vibe from them. Remember, I lived with them for an entire year and they're my best friends in the entire cosmos. I know how they work by now.
"Well, I took that as an insult, and wanted to prove just how capable I was at fighting and that I could be more than some pretty face." I explained to them. "So, I enrolled in the Spar-OTC, became lieutenant colonel after a week, and then I got kicked out after they found out I was a girl."
Pain gave an amazed smile. "Wow, that's somethin'."
"Something's putting it lightly, bud." I tousled his hair. "But I'm glad I'm back. It means I get to spend more time with you two."
"Aw, go on." the imps beamed happily.
"So, how are things down here?" I asked them.
Pain shook his head. "Not so hot."
"Yeah, the Underworld's suffering a bad case of low soul index." Panic explained. "This is the second year in a row this has happened."
"Holy crap, seriously?" I asked in surprise. "And I thought last year felt deader than the dead here."
"Boys, call up the souls of some construction workers!" Hades' voice rang out as he walked into the throne room. "We've got a sack-of-Athens wing to build!"
"What'd you do? Get mad at one sorry Grecian and blow up the entire city-state?" I cynically asked.
"Nice to see you too, Aria." Hades said before he went on with his excited tangent. "And no. Nothing got blown up. But Athens will be going to war very soon."
And with that, my ex-boss went to his war table and started placing soldier figurines on the map. Whatever he did to start a war in Athens, I knew it couldn't be good. But if this was just a cheap tactic just to boost up that low soul index, then why have a war in Athens? Athenians aren't all about war, they have the most esteemed philosophers, educators, inventors and -sadly yes- politicians in all of Greece, so why was Hades starting a war with them?
"Oy." I rolled my eyes before turning towards the imps. "Give me a minute, okay, boys?"
The imps nodded as I stood up and went to talk to Hades about what he was planning.
"What'd you do?" I asked him.
"Excuse me?" Hades gave me an arched brow.
"You said that Athens was going to war soon." I restated what he had said earlier. "So, what'd you do?"
"As you can see, my little fox, the Underworld is dead -well, actually not even that- so, I figured a war would get me like 15 maybe 20k souls to liven things up." Hades explained to me. "So, I buttered up my man Ares to go to war with his brainiac sister. I still can't believe the yutz actually believed that I had a Hadean Shield of Invincibility."
I thought about that last part for a moment. "There's no such thing as a Hadean Shield of Invincibility."
"Yeah, duh." Hades rolled his eyes. "You and Hermes think alike, ya know that?"
"Don't know why Hermes has to do with this conversation, but I wasn't finished." I continued. "I was going to say that there is such thing as a Helm of Invisibility. Why not just give Ares that?"
"Whaddya, nuts?" Hades asked. "The Helm gives its wearer complete control of the Underworld, and I don't plan on letting some yutz like him take control of it."
"Well, it was just a suggestion." I folded my arms.
"Suggestion noted but won't be used." Hades said.
I rolled my eyes. "All right, learn it the hard way when all this blows up in your face."
Hades scoffed in an irritated way before putting his hands on his hips. "Then whaddya suggest I do to get new customers, little miss future-girl?"
"Hey, I work in tea selling. Not soul collecting." I shook my head before realizing something. "Ooh, which reminds me, I gotta bounce. My mom's wanting me back home soon."
"Hey, aren't you gonna say 'goodbye'?" Panic whined when he heard me say that.
"Of course, you little cutie-pies." I smiled at them before I kissed his and Pain's heads.
"Hey, fox, before you go." Hades stopped me from leaving.
I turned towards him, and he handed me two small, thin pieces of paper. I looked at what Hades gave me, and the pieces of paper had the exact same date and time as the Big Games for tomorrow, but they couldn't be what I thought they were, were they?
"What are these for?" I asked.
"For you and your mom." Hades explained obviously. "Consider them the best seats for the Games."
Yep. These were exactly what I thought they were.
"No way!" I felt my eyes pop when I where Mom and I would be sitting at. "You're letting Mom and I come with you to the Games?!"
"What? Just because I don't show sentiment doesn't mean I don't care about you or your mom." Hades jokingly said before patting my shoulder. "Consider it a generous gift."
"Thank you!" I beamed before a particular question came to mind. "But how'd you manage to convince Zeus to let us come?"
"I have my ways, and you know it." Hades said.
"That's true." I agreed before I waved him and the imps goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow, and by the way, Mom says 'hi'."
And with that, I pulled another glass pearl from my pocket and stomped on it to get to the mortal world to tell my mom the best of best news as I held the tickets tightly in my hand.
The Next Day
Well, today was the day! The start of the Big Games. After I got back from the Underworld, I told Mom the good news over dinner and she was so excited about it. This was the biggest sporting event of the year, and Mom loves sporting events. She used to play soccer in high school and got so excited whenever she played or if there were other schools playing, so me telling her we were invited to the Games, well, it was the fastest I've ever seen her eat dinner and rent a chariot. We spent most of the night taking turns sleeping and driving to Olympia since we knew there would be an enormous crowd getting there. We slept the rest of the night at the coliseum parking lot under the stars, like when we used to have sleepovers on our roof back in Salem.
Anyway, when we woke up the next morning, hundreds of people started pulling in. We were lucky we managed to get inside the coliseum to find our seats for the Big Games. Oh, did I mention Hades got us primo seats for the Games? Because they weren't just primo, dear readers, these seats were supremo!
"I can't believe your ex-boss got us seats in a luxury box." Mom said in amazement when we looked around for our seats in the coliseum.
"Not just a luxury box, Mom," I corrected her with an excited grin. "We'll be sitting with the gods! Isn't that exciting?"
See? Supremo seats.
Mom gave a shrug at the thought. "Well, I suppose…"
"And we'll get the perfect view of the field too! I might actually give Hercules a high-five from where we'll be sitting!" I marveled at the thought before my attention caught something. "Oh! There's the luxury box!"
"How can you be so sure?" Mom asked me.
"I can see the gods' glows from here." I told her as I started speed walking towards the box.
After a few 'slow downs' asks from Mom, we eventually made it and the two of us saw the gods talking amongst themselves before the Games were starting. I could hardly contain my excitement any longer! This was like, the biggest honor of biggest honors. And I got a medal from serving in the freaking Spartan military, so that's saying something! However, before we could go in and mingle amongst the deities, Mom pulled me aside to make sure I looked presentable.
"Okay, remember, these people are like kings and queens." Mom told me as she fixed my hair. "Don't say anything to offend them, be polite, and make sure you treat them all with respect."
"I know, Mom. It wouldn't be my first rodeo being amongst the gods." I assured her.
Mom gave a sigh and a smile, and we entered the box. I kept the tickets in my pocket in case we got found out by either the gods or security, but the gods were chill. Most of them know me by now, I mean, Hades was there and he's practically a decent guy -I said decent, readers. Don't fight me with logic I already know- and I even helped a few of them out of bad situations. So, I knew they'd be okay with Mom and I spectating the Games with them.
"Dig the luxury boxes, babe." I heard Hermes say as he sat down.
"Ha! Corporate sponsors- you've gotta love them." Zeus said to him as his gaze turned towards the playing field.
Mom and I walked up to a pair of empty seats before we were noticed and greeted by one particular goddess and her pet owl.
"How nice to see you again, young Ariadne." Athena greeted me.
"Nice to see you too, my lady." I told her with a respectful bow.
Athena's owl, Ibid, then gave a happy hoot as he flew off his mistress's shoulder and onto mine. Nuzzling my cheek with his soft and feathery head. Friendly reminder for those who forget, but Athena was my tutor when I first arrived in Greece. She taught me how to read and write in Ancient Greek, and I also helped save her city -Athens- when Hades redirected the River Styx towards it. So, we were pretty good friends. And as for Ibid, I used to bring him dead mice and other little dead rodents I found in the Underworld as treats when I came to Athena for tutoring lessons, so he likes me for giving him attention.
"What are you doing here in the luxury box?" Athena asked me before she noticed my mom. "And is this your mother, I'm assuming?"
"Yeah, actually." I began to say before returning the owl back to the goddess. "You see, my mom and I were-"
"Hey! Only immortals are allowed in this section!" Ares interrupted me before he realized who he was talking to and became cynical. "Oh, it's you. Agamemnon's ex-lieutenant colonel."
Shoot, I didn't think Ares would recognize me.
"Lady Athena, Lord Ares." Mom addressed them with a respectful bow. "We were invited to spectate the games with the gods."
"Strange." Athena raised a skeptical brow. "I wasn't aware of any god inviting my pupil and her mother to sit among us."
Hades sat up from his seat in an attempt to lie to his niece. "Well, actually, Athena, babe-"
"I invited them, Athena." a familiar voice interjected.
All heads turned towards the one person I least suspected to lie about why mom and I were here. Hera sat up from her seat and turned towards all of us. Never, and I mean never, in the entire year I've been in this world would I ever see the freaking queen of Olympus cover for me. Then again, I did help save her son time and time again, so I guess it would make sense for her to like me enough to lie and say that she was the one who invited my mom and me and not Hades.
"My lady?" Athena questioned.
"After all this girl has done for us in helping my son, I thought it was best to reward her and her mother." Hera explained, giving Hades, my mom, and I the slightest wink before turning her attention back towards the playing field.
Hera winked at Hades? What was that about? Hercules told me that he never told his mom that I used to work for his uncle, so why was she okay with lying for him when it came to me? Something was definitely up, but I didn't have time to wonder why. I had to watch my friend play in the Big Games while sitting pretty with my mom among the gods. I guess things were starting to look up for me.
"Uh, yeah. I was just gonna say that." Hades added onto Hera's lie before he offered a hand towards Mom and I. "Ladies, if ya would."
"Thank you, Hades." Mom said as she took his hand and sat down in a seat next to him.
"Y'know, Ms. Plousios, you look kinda familiar." Hades flirtatiously asked her. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"
"I don't know." she answered back, just as flirty. "I don't hang around gods much."
The two of them snickered as they started to flirt more with each other. Now, as an asexual terrified of falling in love, I actually don't have a problem with couples showing love to each other. It's the one thing that gives me hope that I'll someday find someone who'll love me and not use me. But when it comes to witnessing people flirting in public or doing PDA, especially when it's your own mother and ex-boss, yeah, that's not wholesome or encouraging whatsoever. It's actually kind of gross and awkward seeing your mom flirt right in front of you.
"Ew, seriously?" I asked them both disgustedly.
"Hey, I can't help it." Hades butted in with another flirty smirk at my mom.
Mom giggled at him once again. "And neither can I."
"Well, you, I understand." I told her before I turned back to Hades. "But how you managed to woo her when you can't even woo Aphrodite is way beyond me."
"Hehe. Very funny. You're a funny girl." Hades said cynically before something caught his attention. "Be right back."
Hades then left to talk to Ares about something, my guess was how his little 'War on Athens' plan was working out between the two gods. I gave a disgusted groan before sitting down in a seat between my mom and Hermes. I have never felt so embarrassed about seeing something in my entire life, and I had to watch a sex-ed tape when I was ten so that's saying something.
"And I thought my mother could be embarrassing." Hermes muttered to me.
"Well, mine means well, but it's just so weird seeing her and Hades flirt with each other." I explained.
Hermes then looked back towards Hades and my mom. "Still can't believe a guy like him got a gal like her."
I gave him a mean look as he realized his mistake.
"Yeah, that wasn't meant to sound weird." Hermes nervously rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
I couldn't help but laugh a little. "It's cool, really."
Later
The Games were turning out a lot more fun than I expected. By halftime, Hercules had completely dominated the Games and pretty much promised total victory for both Prometheus Academy and for Athens, with the score being 20 laurel wreaths to 0. This was actually the most fun sporting event I've seen in a long time, especially since they don't really play soccer, sorry football, in this time period quite yet. So, it was fun to watch the Games while kicking it easy in the gods' luxury box.
However, the only thing that caught my suspicions was that Hades was nowhere to be seen. My guess was that after he found out that Athens and Sparta were really participating in the Games and not going to war like he had hoped, he must've been pissed at the fact that he wasn't getting all those 20,000 soul that he wanted for the year's soul index. But, honestly, that shouldn't have been enough for him to ditch the Games, so I just assumed he did his usual socializing for a few minutes before returning back to the Underworld for work.
"20 to zip?!" Ares worried when he saw the score. "Even if my Spartans win every event from now on, we can't catch up."
"We are actually going to win this year!" Athena clapped her hands excitedly.
"Ha! Sorry, Ares, but my little demigodling is kicking your keister!" Zeus laughed proudly.
"Who knew sports could be so fun to watch?" I asked aloud.
Mom gave me a smirk. "Well, maybe if you spent less time in your room and more time attending a sports event, you'd get into them."
"Mom!" I whined in embarrassment.
"Well, I, for one, just love these human athletic endeavor thingies." Hermes said before turning to me. "Maybe you could come with me for the next one."
I froze at his words before finally blinking. "I-I'm sorry. W-what?"
Did I just get asked out on a future date? Did Hermes just ask me out on a future date?
"Well, you seem to be pumped about the games," Hermes explained to me. "So maybe when they come around again, I could slip you and your mom personal invites."
Okay, good. Not a future date. Just a kind invitation.
I gave him a little relieved smile. "You know, I'd like that."
Just then, Ares started yelling at someone. Hermes and I turned around to see the god of war yell at some drink server about something involving identification to prove that Ares was a god. Like, was the bright red aura and the fact that Ares was in a god luxury box not proof enough that he wasn't human? Anyway, during his little tangent, Ares stopped himself after he mentioned the word 'human', and he left the box with a large grin on his face. Whatever he was planning, it couldn't be good.
Hermes adjusted his glasses at that scene. "Now, where's that cat off to?"
"Wait a minute." I said with wide eyes before turning to Hermes. "You said that the games were a human athletic endeavor, right?"
"Yeah?" Hermes asked me before realizing what that meant. "Oh no."
I knew what Ares' plan was too late. You see, the Big Games were a human endeavor, alright. A human only endeavor. Most of the players out on the field were human, but Hercules was only half human. Which only made problems for the Athens team worse when a couple of guys from the Games' athletic association did a blood test on Hercules and confirmed that he had demigod blood. Since he was only half human, Herc was immediately disqualified from competing further in the Big Games, which in return made him half of the victories for the Prometheus Academy team.
"Oh, poor Hercules." Mom sadly said when we watched Herc sadly sit on the sidelines.
"Maybe having that decree wasn't the right call." I heard Hermes mutter about something. "Especially if Zeus knew Herc was gonna be in the games."
Just then, I noticed my mom rubbing the side of her head. Almost like she was in pain or something. It had to be another migraine. It's happened once in a while when we first started living in this world, like before I went to the Spar-OTC, but this time, it looked different than the others. Like stronger, more painful. And like I said before about it, this was something that was really making me worry for her. I don't like seeing my mom in such pain.
"Are you okay, Mom?" I asked her.
"Yeah, just a… little headache, is all." she assured me.
"Might wanna check that out with Apollo, babe." Hermes suggested as he pointed a thumb towards the sun god. "He could fix that up for ya."
"I might just go do that." Mom said as she got up from her seat "Thank you."
No sooner after Mom left to talk to Apollo did something else happen. At first, a strange noise sounded low, but as it got closer to the arena, it grew louder and more threatening. I stood up from my seat to see what was happening, but when I did, the strange noise got very loud and started shaking the whole coliseum. I lost my balance and nearly fell out of the luxury box, but thankfully, Hermes was there to catch me from doing so.
"Feels like an earthquake." Hermes stated as he helped me up.
I glanced over towards the playing field for a second, and my eyes widened from what I saw. "Looks more like a chimera to me!"
Hermes looked, and surely enough, a chimera was climbing onto the coliseum and into the arena. And after the chimera, a cyclops, a giant lion, some white four-armed monster that looked like a yeti, and Ladon the dragonet all came into the coliseum and started terrorizing the spectators, fortunately most of them escaped even if some became lunch for the monsters. It didn't take a genius to know what was going on. I figured out that they were here because when Hades couldn't get his Athens-Sparta war, he went to Echidna and convinced her to let her kids help him get some souls because they're good friends after he hired some of her kids to work for him. Typical, but admittedly clever.
And when the monsters came around, you can bet that someone else came to try and stop them. That's right. Since Hercules was no longer participating in the Games and was no longer a jock, he went right into the field to do what he was born to do: Be a hero and fight some monsters. Herc first pinned the yeti-looking monster to the wall of the coliseum with javelins, then he knocked the chimera unconscious and used her tail to fling her right at Ladon -knocking them both out, punched the giant lion until he-too was unconscious, and finally, Hercules got the cyclops to trip over the pole vault jump and knocked him unconscious.
"Ha! I knew my boy could handle those little creeps." Zeus assured us after Hercules defeated the monsters.
Hermes' face nearly turned white as he started backing away from the window. "M-m-mother!"
"Hermes, don't call for your mother." Zeus scolded him. "It's ungodly."
"No!" Hermes exclaimed as he pointed towards something. "The mother of all monsters!"
Everyone looked at what Hermes was pointing at, and sure enough, in the midst of the chaos of the other five monsters, a familiar green draconic looking one stomped towards the field. Great. Echidna was back. And here I thought we've seen enough of her after that Titan Smitin' festival about a month ago. Guess she this time she wanted a family outing. The outing in question, obviously, being a picnic Hades had most likely suggested, and the spectators and players were the main course.
"Oh, I see." Zeus said in realization. "Hercules may be in a little over his head here."
A little? Last time I checked, Hercules couldn't even handle Echidna by himself the last time she came around, and here he was in the middle of a sporting event thinking that he had to fight her all by himself? I think not, my dear readers! I glanced over at my mom as she watched Hercules get his butt whooped as Echidna tossed him around like the Hulk tossing Loki around before watching the scene myself. I took a big gulp, knowing that I was so gonna get grounded for what I was about to do.
And what exactly did I do? Well, I grabbed the side of the window of the luxury box and jumped right out of it and fell onto the sport field.
"Ariadne Michelle Plousios, get back here!" Mom yelled at me.
"Can't right now, Mom!" I told her as I started running towards Echidna. "I've gotta help my friend!"
When I ran towards the mother of all monsters, I snatched a spare javelin from off the field and held it like a spear as I kept charging onward. It wasn't much, but like Phil's little hero rule says, use what you got, and what I had was a battle strategy and a javelin. A perfect combination for this fight. And when I finally reached Echidna and right before she could put Hercules in her mouth to eat, I stood my ground, just as I learned from my training at the Spar-OTC and gave a sharp whistle to try and get her attention.
"Oy, scorpion-butt!" I shouted up at Echidna.
"Excuse me?!" Echidna roared offendedly before she scowled at the sight of me standing before her. "Oh, you! I remember you from that faulty festival!"
"Put my friend down!" I ordered her.
"Or what?" she laughed as she leaned over to see me at eye-level. "What could a measly mortal morsel possibly do to me? The mother of all monsters!"
I'll kick her giant butt, that's what I was gonna do. I took the javelin and jammed it right on Echidna's nose. She howled in pain right as I climbed onto her fist and tried prying it open to free Hercules so we could fight Echidna together, but my efforts weren't enough. I almost had Echidna's index finger removed from her fist when she quickly opened up her hand, dropped Hercules and I, then caught us both, and brought us both back to her mouth once again. At least I tried something, even if it wasn't enough.
"Hey, at least we'll die together." Herc said encouragingly.
I gave him an annoyed look. "Why do ya have to make it sound weird when we're about to be eaten?"
Hercules gave a shrug. "Dying alongside a friend on the battlefield sounds more like a hero's death."
"I'm no hero." I shook my head.
Just then, and to our surprise as Echidna was just about to eat Hercules and I, Athena and Ares came and started fighting the mother of all monsters. They were actually working together to help save us and everyone else. I guess they realized that they were still, after all, when everything's said and done, siblings. And even when siblings fight, they still have to be reminded that blood is thicker than the feuding waters of city-states, and they must work together to save their people.
Echidna gave a nervous gulp as she eventually dropped Hercules and I, and when we sat ourselves up after falling onto the field, we watched in amazement as Ares picked Echidna up by her wings and held her on his foot like an American football while Athena ran towards her and kicked the mother of all monsters as far away as possible. And when Echidna's kids finally came to and saw the two gods preparing to give them the same treatment as their mother, the five of them ran way -tails between their legs.
Athena and Ares exchanged nods of approval before they both came towards Hercules and I.
"Are you two alright?" Athena asked as she helped us to our feet.
"Of course, they're alright." Ares said. "These two were some of my finest soldiers, after all. They can handle anything."
"Something like that, yeah." I stated.
"Thanks for the assist guys -uh gods." Herc thanked the immortal siblings.
"Yeah, you guys really saved us back there." I added.
Athena gave me a smile as she patted my head. "You're quite welcome, young ones."
"The games were called on the account of monsters!" Mr. Phys-Oedipus cheered as he ran past us. "It ended in a tie! We didn't lose!"
A tie? That means Athens technically won the Games! I gave Hercules a big hug as Athena and Ares presented us to the crowd of cheering, and still living, spectators. And yeah, I wasn't a player, but I was the first one who stepped up to help Hercules, so, you're welcome Athens and Sparta. Anyway, the whole coliseum erupted in victorious cheers. Not just for the Big Games ending in a tie, but for Hercules and I saving everyone and driving the monster family away. Laurel wreaths rained down as spectators threw them onto the field, one of them landing perfectly on Herc's head, as several of our classmates came and thanked us for saving them.
In the midst of our classmates, I saw my mother make her way through the crowd with a relieved look on her face when she saw me. I immediately ran up to her and gave her a hug, to which she was more than happy to hug me back. Even if what she said next was a little bit of bad news on my part.
"You are so grounded!" she laughed.
I gave a nervous gulp at that, but then again, I definitely deserved that. But I couldn't just let Herc handle Echidna and her kids all by himself. Hero-in-training or not, he needed help. Besides, you guys really thought I'd let Herc fight Echidna, the same wife of the monster who tried to destroy my mom's shop? HA! Then, no offense, but you readers must be dull to think otherwise. Sure, I'm no hero, but I'm not gonna stand on the sidelines while Hercules has all the fun.
Anyway, after I got grounded and while I basked in the greatness of Herc and mine's shared victory against Echidna, I felt something land on my own head. I felt around and found out that I had my own laurel wreath on my head. I turned around and saw that Hermes was the one who had given it to me.
"What's this for?" I asked him in confusion.
"You jumped in to help save Herc. You deserve it." Hermes told me.
"It was nothin'." I brushed it off modestly. "I mean, Herc would do it for me, right?"
But Hermes thought otherwise. "Look, I know ya don't like to admit it, but with all the stuff you get into and helpin' to save people, you kinda are a hero, babe."
"I doubt that." I shrugged with a small smile. "But thanks, I guess."
"And, y'know, if it's any consolation," Hermes said. "You look good in a laurel wreath."
I felt my face blush when he said that to me. And with the slightest wink, Hermes flew off to join the other gods as they returned back to Olympus. While I was left with my usual stunned and blushed face, this little encounter with Hermes felt different. What he said to me about being a hero did stick to me. Sure, I've done some bad things -okay, a lot of bad things- but hearing him remind me of whenever I risked my own life to save people whenever I helped Hercules save people did make me realize something. I can be a hero, even if I don't see it myself. Well, at least Hermes believed I could. Also, him complementing me looking good in a laurel wreath made me feel kind of good too. But that does not mean I'm having a crush on him or anything.
Mom gave me a smirk. "Well, looks like you might be Hermes' type after all."
"MOM!" I yelled as I felt my face turn red from embarrassment.