Chapter Title: Enter The Monster King, Part One
(A/N: Here we go! Chapter 38, the part I've told you to look forward to. And yes, the alternative chapter title once again is not lying. This is it, the Monster King is finally being introduced in full this chapter.
No more blurry figures. You get to see his true form before this chapter is over. So believe me when I say, I have been really looking forward to writing this chapter for quite a long while now.
References to TMNT Season Five Episode Twelve "Enter The Dragons, Part 1" in this one - the ending at least. So best you all watch the ending to it first, because basically.. it'll give you a pretty good understanding as to how this chapter ends. Plus a line reference to a small bit of Scooby Doo: Monster Of Mexico, in addition to the near additional reference to Scooby Doo as described at the very bottom of this chapter.
As per usual, shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , Morro11 , TsarinaTorment, TheTimeTraveler24, and others for the usual reasons.
One final warning, prepare to see the great prophecy flipped on its head. While Percy is the one who has to make a choice about saving or razing Olympus, and we still get to hear Luke's words to Percy about not letting the unclaimed happen again, aside from that, prepare for canon to start going out the window for this part of the battle. Like, you have been warned.)
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I don't really remember much of what happened when we went up to Olympus this time. I actually don't somehow.
All I remember is that one moment I'm about to walk out of the elevator onto the bridge with them, and the next after 3 seconds of blacking out is that I'm standing in the throne room with them and Hestia. I shake my head and blink, just as Thalia rushes in, panting and out of breath.
"You all got to get down here.." Thalia said grimly. "The enemy is advancing. And Kronos is leading them."
We all scrambled to follow her, not wasting any time as we all did so. This was it.. the final part of the fight was here.
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Chaos greeted us once we got outside of the building. Kronos' forces stood in a ring less than 10 meters from the door to the lobby, with his vanguard right at the front. There was, however a large gap right on the intersection of 5th Avenue and 33rd Street for some reason. Anyways, the Japanese kid that had stabbed Annabeth back on the 15th stood in the vanguard next to a dracaena with a crown on, while two Hyperborean giants stood beside them. Right in front of them was the Time Boy Kronos himself, with scythe in hand.
Our defenses were gone. Literally, the entirety of camp and the Hunters were basically all on the ground in front of us, too wounded to fight anymore. The centaurs had seemingly vanished. Kayla shrieked in horror at the sight of her and Michael's siblings all laying in a pile. Aruna and Aurora were on the bottom of it, with Victoria and Austin L. splayed out on top of them. Austin M. was lying nearby, while Caeli was on top of Victoria and Alice and Matthias were on top of Austin L., with the rest of the cabin and Lee on top of all of them. Sherman had his body over top of Miranda's, staring at the monsters defiantly to the end. Clarisse was frozen in a block of ice on her chariot along with Chris. It was a similar state for everyone else, however.. meaning that me, Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Grover, Kelli, Kayla, and Michael were now all that's left that could fight, it seemed. Well.. there was one other person.. Chiron, who was standing right in front of us in the doorway, arrow nocked on his bow and aimed right at his father.
"Chiron.." Annabeth said, clearly not at all liking this.
"Step aside, little son.." Kronos said dismissively to Chiron, with his gold eyes fixed on.. me for some reason. Percy honestly looked surprised, to be honest, as did Annabeth.. as I could see both of their reactions to my left and right. Chiron however, refused to move.
"I'm afraid not.." Chiron said calmly, no doubt enraged beyond belief at this point. I just stood there, just observing the scene at this point for some reason. Everyone else was trying to move, but it was like their feet were frozen to the ground. One of Kronos' dirty tricks no doubt. I moved my feet, and I was surprised to find that I wasn't hindered at all, which was odd. Kronos noticed, and he was surprised too.
Kronos' forces, however just like me, had no such hindrances, as the dracaena beside the crown wearing Ethan now charged Chiron.
"Chiron!" Annabeth yelled. "Look out!" She immediately went down after yelling that, howling and screaming in pain as her shoulder somehow dislocated itself even though she hadn't moved. Percy, breaking free of the time spell, ran over to her and hugged her gently.
Chiron, meanwhile, effortlessly dispatched the dracaena with a single arrow, but as he reached behind himself, he realized his quiver was empty. So he drew his sword instead, which wasn't really his style, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"You're a teacher.." Kronos sneered at him, a smug look on his face as he approached Chiron slowly. "Not a hero."
"Luke was a hero.." Chiron said back. "He was a good one too.. until you corrupted him." He was right.. completely right.
"FOOL!" Kronos bellowed loudly. "You filled his head with empty promises. You said the gods cared about me!"
"Me" Chiron noted, and I noted that too. That was Luke speaking now, not Kronos. "You said me."
As confusion crossed Luke/Kronos' face, Chiron struck, striking right to his face. Unfortunately, Kronos now possessed all of Luke's fighting skills, and easily bashed Chiron's sword aside. "BACK!"
White light exploded from Kronos' chest and struck Chiron, sending him flying. Kayla screamed and I could only watch as our teacher slammed into the side of a nearby building with enough force that part of the wall crumbled and rained down on him, burying him under a wall of bricks.
"No!" Annabeth suddenly yelled, despite the pain, but most of us still couldn't move. That's when I noticed Kayla trembling at something to our right. I turned, and I was shocked to see right at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 33rd Street.. the Lydian Drakon, back in the flesh.
I was dumbfounded at first, but then I realized the truth. It was cloned.. so this is most likely the original and real one, I thought to myself. I felt so angry now, I wanted to destroy everyone in front of us now.
Just as I am about to go do something about the Lydian Drakon - hell, the situation in general however.. I.. black out. Seems anti-climatic here, but believe me when I say this.
That's the last thing I remember..
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..BEFORE IT HAPPENED.
- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -
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While Colton blacks out internally, the rest of his body strangely acts on its own now. Upon seeing the Drakon, he draws out the sword that Typhon gave him, somehow moving at normal speed despite Kronos slowing time.
Kronos' eyes go wide and his face pales when he notices Colton pulling his sword, because he recognizes that sword full well. He turns to where Colton is looking, and upon the sight of the original Lydian Drakon being there, the Lord of Time screams in horror.
It's over.
It's all over now for him.
Geysers of water shoot up out of the water at multiple points around Manhattan in the East River, Harlem River, Hudson River, and in the bay as multiple, stationary and somehow harmless tornadoes form on land inside the area covered by the storm. Lightning begins striking in multiple places inside and outside the storm around Manhattan and Long Island furiously and with rapid frequency. The ground rumbles and shakes and trembles as Colton starts to glow brightly in a red glow, his eyes full of rage as he holds his sword up over his head.
"What the hell is even going on?!" Percy shouts, as he holds onto Annabeth tightly.
The effects, while limited to the Manhattan and Long Island area, can be felt by the Gods too as they stand right at the edge of the storm waiting to get in and help their children.. as they watch in horror and shock at what's happening around them.. mainly the lightning and ground shaking.
In an act of desperation to get him to stop, Kayla kisses him on the lips. That's when a bolt of lighting strikes Colton's sword gifted to him from Typhon, which arches off of his sword, even as he and Kayla are enveloped in bright light while they kiss each other, and strikes Kronos and the Drakon, who both begin to holler and scream in apocalyptic pain.
Right before a bright light caused everyone to cover their eyes followed by a loud explosion which actually covered the whole of the streets and alleys in Manhattan - every single one from the northern tip to the southern end of the island - full of smoke, Luke and Kronos are forcibly separated from each other as Kronos' soul is effortlessly ripped out of Luke's body. Both of them are still screaming in pain, much to Annabeth's, Thalia's, Percy's, Grover's and Silena's horror.. over Luke, that is.
Two seconds before the explosion, a piercing loud scream - Kronos' - rings out as he is scattered somehow, his essence scattered so far and so wide from how brutal and violent his end comes that except as a ghost, he will permanently never be able to even try to reform himself.
When the smoke cleared, no damage to the city has been done from the explosion however and everyone inside Manhattan - save for the sleeping unconscious mortals - had disappeared as had the Olympian forces outside the storm surrounding most of NYC and all of Long Island, which now finally disappeared. That wasn't the only odd thing to happen. For now, unknown to the entire world, time was frozen now.. and nothing moved at all, even as the planet kept turning. All that's left is the bones of the original Lydian Drakon, the only sign of what had just happened.
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When Percy opens his eyes again, he's still in Manhattan, but multiple things about the scene in front of him have changed now.
The storm is gone, but the sky and clouds are now red, and the moon is an ominous yellow and orange now. Manhattan was still colored the same, but it sharply contrasted against the.. definitely, not normal sky.
That's not the only thing that's not normal as Percy looks around. His mother and Paul are standing behind him, shocked at what's going on. Annabeth has healed, Clarisse and Chris are unfrozen and off their chariot standing nearby, everyone injured is somehow now healed and backing up towards the Empire State Building without a weapon on them, in fear of the monster horde surrounding them. Chiron isn't buried under a pile of bricks, and every demigods' mortal parents are there, including some that apparently are parents of kids in the Titan Army, that without weapons, break out of the ranks of the army scared as hell, apparently having realized that they were on the wrong side. Parents hug their children in fear, while surrounded by monsters. May Castellan is there, and even dead people are back to life.. Charles Beckendorf who hugs Silena, the dead that they lost from the Battle of the Labyrinth and this battle too, as well as Maria Di Angelo standing with Nico and surprisingly Bianca. Even more surprising is the sight of Zoe Nightshade also alive.. as all of them stare at the horde of monsters surrounding them, as hundreds if not thousands more bunch up on the approach routes to the Empire State Building. Even Rachel and somehow her parents are there too.
Among the hordes of monsters near the front is the Titan Koios, who bellows, "WHERE IS OUR LORD KRONOS?!"
"HE'S DEAD!" shouted a younger, yet familiar voice.
Percy looks on the street, and can hardly believe his eyes.
On the ground, backing away from the monsters out of fear, was a now shorter, younger 15 year old Luke Castellan. He's backing towards.. them. Not Kronos' army, them. The Olympian forces.
"KRONOS IS DEAD!" Luke shouts at them. "Whatever separated him from me killed him. I saw it myself before I had to close my eyes too!"
"ENOUGH! IF KRONOS IS DEAD, KILL THEM ALL!" said another voice, and the monsters all voice their agreement.
Percy's eyes glance upward. Up 5th Avenue, at Central Park, another Titan stands tall. Pallas, the Titan of Warcraft.
The monsters start shouting about how their bellies will be full from, causing many to panic then and there from it all.
That's when Kayla noticed that someone was missing, the one person who meant the world to her more than her own parents, both human and godly. Colton.
She screams for him, her dad comforting her as the monsters all take one step towards all of them.. then another.
Just then, a flash of light nearby forces all of them to cover their eyes, and when it clears.. there are the gods, all of them.. even the ones who betrayed Olympus all standing there, looking at each other.. confused as to what's happening. But just as things were about to get even more chaotic and deadly to the Olympian side..
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The familiar howl of a horse, followed by a deep and very familiar creepy laugh brought everyone to a fear-inducing, paralyzing halt as all of them.. including those that hadn't been involved in this up till now knew exactly what had made those noises. Then, they hear an eerily creepy voice that was also very familiar to all of them.
"It has been fun.."
A chill ran through everyone there. Even the way it said the word 'fun' sounded extremely creepy and unnerving. Athena - and by extension her kids - really didn't want to know what that voice meant by 'fun'. For once in their lives, they didn't want to know at all. No one really wanted to know what that meant. The gods all run over to their children, hugging as many of them as they can alongside their parents, unsure of exactly if that was the voice of the one they all dreaded.
"Please tell that isn't the only person I can think it can probably be.." Percy said worryingly, trembling quite a bit. Unfortunately for him, and everyone else there, what happened next made it clear to everyone that it was the only person they could possibly think it could be.
The sound of hoofbeats - terrifyingly familiar hoofbeats - turned everyone's attention down 5th Avenue towards the south, towards a pair of turned on street-lights and five very unfortunately familiar red and black swirls or blobs of dark energy approaching the lit area from the south - and a pair of completely blood red eyes just above the highest blob of dark energy, just above which sat a pair of purely red eyes, while off to the side was the flaming three pronged tips of an again.. very familiar trident. Everyone's eyes grew wide because they all knew exactly what it was - or to be more exact, what they were.
"Percy.. I hate you so much now.." Clarisse said weakly, terrified now as she hugged Chris tightly and Chris did the same.
All around, both godly and mortal, hug their kids too, all of them equally as scared as the blood red eyes, flaming points, and black and red dark magic blobs got closer and closer.
The sight that came out of the darkness and into the light of the two street lights, just as every other street light from that point up to them now turned on, wasn't blurry at all now. Not anymore, as if to say to them that this wasn't a dream anymore. This was real now. Needless to say, many screamed in horror and terror at the sight that greeted them all. Even Kayla herself couldn't have even barely comprehended - or have even imagined - the reality that had presented itself to her and everyone else right now.
The horse was at least 2.5 times bigger than it had appeared in the vision or any of the nightmares, with a few final touches to enhance the terrifying presence of just the horse, as if the rider sitting on it wasn't already terrifying. This horse reached an impressive ninety one inches tall, taller than even the tallest Clydesdale horse, which was seventy two inches tall at its max. The spiked tail was now on fire though it did not seem to harm the horse at all, and its overall profile looked more menacing and terrifying than ever before.
In terms of fear, while this horse looked like it was made for fear, the rider sitting on top of it could literally be simply described as being created in a genetics lab to be the perfect personification of fear and terror. To all those that saw it - or him, they would agree with that assessment one hundred percent and then some right now.
While this horse was basically just over seven and a half feet tall, the figure riding on top of that was fifteen feet tall with many details that together, made up a figure that would give both Kampê and Typhon a run for their money on being the most terrifying things in existence.
(A/N: A lot of medieval armor related words are about to come up, so if you are not sure what a word means, I advise you to look it up as you read this part of the chapter. Just a heads-up.)
Except for the head and neck, literally every body part about this figure was from a monster. His feet are those of the two Sun Dragons used to pull the sorceress Medea's chariot, although these were twice as big and also mostly covered by specially designed medieval age designed sollerets - part of a Knight's body armor to cover his feet - designed to fit comfortably and flexibly to the Monster King's feet with only the toes showing out the bottom end. These pieces of armor, like the rest of the body armor on his body, were both forged out of the most durable and flexible metals in Tartarus and then infused and strengthened by the strongest metals in Tartarus. All the pieces of armor are also painted in a red and black paint scheme - with white lines mixed in the design - that mostly resembles the blobs of dark magic.
His legs are dragon-like, like those of the Gigantes (the Giants) birthed by Gaea and Tartarus, with again specially designed pieces of armor to cover the wearer from harm, with both greaves and cuisse covering his lower legs and thighs from harm. Another piece of armor, the poleyn, is on over his knees, forged and meticulously worked into the design of the leg armor so as to provide a mostly continuous and consistent layer of protection for the Monster King, with only a few spots showing the dragon-like legs underneath the armor. Likewise, just below his waist, tassets have been welded solidly on to protect the upper legs. Once upon a time, all these pieces of armor would be separate mostly from each other. Now, thanks to modern day mortal machinery and the most advanced wielding and forging methods, this suit of armor is beyond anything any monster or member of the Greek (+ Roman) mythological world has ever seen, with only the head unprotected by armor basically. Everyone can also notice lines of blood - red human blood - running down its legs underneath its armor, dripping drops of blood onto 5th Avenue every so often.
His waist, specifically fitted and armor designs tinkered with before hand so that the armor fades into the waistline from above and below, is that of Kampê.. a mass of flesh that both bubbles and morphs, only this time constantly producing ferocious mutated animal and sometimes monster heads that constantly change shape like a gruesome, monstrous belt. Here, lines of blood run through it too, giving an extra creepy and horrifying dimension to the mutating animal and monster heads.
Although it is hard to see, its chest up to the neck and arms and down to the monstrous belt that is his waist is that of the Minotaur, with brown fur peeking out through the armor. A specially forged and wielded chest plate connecting to armor on his chest and back to armor on his arms and hands covers his middle body, with the upper part of pieces of faulds, plate armor worn below the chestplate to cover the waist and hips combining with the specially designed lower ends of the plackart (extra layer of plate armor covering the belly) and two plates that cover the chest and back called cuirass to create a faded, comfortable, flexible, perfectly fitting lower end for a king's chest armor. Attached and wielded to this (as well as to the upper end of the leg armor) are pieces of culets, small horizontal pieces protecting the small of the back and the buttocks, shaped and fitted to help create this comfortable, faded, flexible, perfectly fitting armor appearance. Like the waist and legs, everyone can see lines of blood going downward underneath the armor in a few spots.
His arms are like that of Tartarus - rippling with muscle despite the smaller size - and are of the same color as that of Polyphemus' arms. With the nicely integrated and welded pieces of the pauldron, gardbrace, spaulder, besagew, rerebrace, couter, and vambrace connected to the chest armor at one end and the pair of gauntlets, the one for his left hand with sharp blades coming out of the top like the Shredder's gauntlet does, at the other end, there are very little points for enemies to attack. Even here, lines of blood run down the arms, which also happen to include lots of purple fur on them like El Chupacabra, giving an extra odd and creepy dimension to this part of his body. His left hand is clenched into a fist off to the side, gauntlet blades sharp as the sharpest sword there, while the trident with the fiery points is held in his right hand.. and even then.. people can see that it has a very long handle for a weapon with incredibly sharp, flaming, and metal points on the end of it.
His neck is where all the blood lines come from. Multiple gashes are on his neck, blood dripping out of them endlessly, and despite that, it doesn't make him hiss in pain or feel discomfort at all. The other weird things about his neck are, most of the other scars are outlined in orange in such a way that it makes them look creepy too, and most of the skin - except for the scars - on the left side of his face like his neck is as dark as Tartarus' skin is.
The head of the Monster King is totally recognizable, for it is none other than Colton Reynolds' head that rests comfortably on top of this freakish body form he has become in turning into the Monster King himself. Even then, his head looks very different, even if his face is clearly recognizable.
As mentioned before, the skin on the left side of his face and head is colored as black as Tartarus, but that's not the only things on his head - aside from the once again orange outlined scars - that make it creepy and dangerous. Streaks of red blood run down his face from his hair, which is literally on fire and yet still illuminating its usual brown color in the flames, while both of his eyes are purely blood red. His lips are blue for some unknown reason with blood streaks going down on either end of them, and his eyes - never-mind them being totally blood red - looked crazed and wild.
On top of his flaming hair, sitting perfectly on top and somehow not catching on fire, is a crown. A crown that looked so similar to the Essen Crown, the world's oldest surviving Lily Crown located in Essen, Germany.. yet looked so very different at the same time.
(A/N: The Essen Crown is an actual crown, by the way.)
First up was that this crown had, like the armor on the Monster King, had been constructed out of metals from Tartarus and painted red and black with purple mixed in this time. The shape of the crown still makes one familiar with Byzantine history recall a Byzantine circlet though. The band and diameter of this crown had been greatly expanded in order to fit the head of Colton, way more than the similar Essen Crown's 3.5 cm wide band and 12.5 cm diameter. The precious stones running along the border which runs around the whole circumference of the crown consists of hard diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and other precious gems intermixed with precious stones found in Tartarus. The main circlet this time is made of metals from Tartarus which have been heavily alloyed with other metals from Tartarus, with the same case for the second circlet soldered on the outside and the reinforcing ring visible on the outside.
Pearls and a few round precious stones with soft edges (all of these on the lower edge of the crown though) have all been welded and soldered onto the upper and lower edges, with the lower edges worked over and over to give the wearer a perfect, comfortable, painless fit when the crow is put on the head of the wearer.
All of this.. horse, rider, crown.. plus the aura of total dominance, uncontrollable rage, and an overwhelming bloodlust.. combined left no doubt in anyone's mind.. that finally.. they were face to face with the Monster King himself. And he was as every bit as terrifying as their nightmares or visions had made him out to be, even if blurry up until now.
Kayla had been one of those that screamed in absolute terror at the sight, and for a very good reason. Never had in a million years had she envisioned that being the Monster King meant that her boyfriend would turn into.. this.
Colton - or the Monster King to be exact - continues to speak now, having let everyone get a good look at its true form now, but everyone is painfully aware now as it does that the voice speaking to them is not the voice of Colton Reynolds. It isn't at all.
"..And it promises to be even more so.."
Nobody liked how ominous that part of the Monster King's grim first message to them was at all. The crowd went deathly quiet at that ominous remark, unsurprisingly.
Luke hugged Thalia, both now fifteen year olds shaking tremendously out of fear.
"..As I end your lives." The demon horse huffed as he said this last part, causing the panic levels of everyone there to spike.
This isn't Colton, Kayla realizes then and there, as she hugs her dad tightly, shaking in fear. No.. technically, this was him, but with something far more darker now expressing itself fully.
Percy and Grover trembled, shivered, and gulped as the Monster King let out a long, creepy growl. "Like, this is going to be bad.. real bad.." Grover said to Percy. Percy couldn't help but hug Annabeth tightly to protect her and nod, knowing full well he's right.
The screaming then started again from the crowd of mortals, demigods, deities, satyrs, centaurs, and monsters alike as the Monster King reared his mount and began to barrel down on them. Some hesitantly raised their weapons, believing the situation hopeless. As the Monster King came towards them, a chorus and familiar - plus unknown - roars and shrieks, plus shouts of "Forward!" and "Attack!" from the heralds on both sides of Manhattan east and west of the Empire State Building, some of those shrieks and yells belonging to the Wardens but many more belonging to other monsters, made everyone aware of the fact that the Monster King had an army which was at this point was charging straight into the Titan Army.
The Olympians - Gods, Kelli, Children, and Mortals - were caught in the middle.
The scene, like a cartoon changes to a street level shot of the front parts of the crowd with the Monster King on his demonic horse getting closer and closer. The screen then changes to a closeup shot with the words "To Be Continued.." at the bottom as the camera pans up and the Monster King laughs in an unhinged, psychotic, malevolent and rapid manner as he gets closer and closer to the screen and the demonic horse roars one more time before the screen turns black just as Colton's face - with the crown on top of it - reaches the screen.
To Be Continued..
— Introducing Scottie Ray (2003 Shredder) as the voice of the Monster King! —
(A/N: I will admit, as to the theme that plays with the Monster King charge cliffhanger ending at the end of the chapter, I was actually kinda divided between either having the theme be the original music that plays at the end of "Enter The Dragons, Part One" before the credits or the theme for the Wakumi, the monster that the Warden Abyssling is based on, from What's New Scooby Doo. Arguably, that track fits perfectly here too. Anyone wanting to hear this, simply look up "New Mexico, Old Monster" on YouTube and click on SCOOBYPALOOZA's video showing a clip from the episode that does feature this music. The music starts at 2:05 in the video and ends at 2:32. Great music honestly. In the end, I stuck with the original music from the episode the ending is based off of.)