Battle for the Stone I

"Ok, so who's all here?" Caretaker began, "Blaze, Earthquake, Cousins of Nature, Medic, Hammeress, Lung Mo. Is that all?"

"And my group!" Soban yelled.

"I know, I didn't forget about you guys," Caretaker said and bowed gracefully.

Soban was waiting for the circus crew to board the Mandjet. Diad was talking to Tesalee in the back of the ship. Anubis was at the helm and was laughing with Achilles. At the bow of the ship, Cerberus was struggling to contain his anger and there was a great heat emanating off his body. Soban approached him cautiously and rested his hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" Soban asked, ignoring the pain from the heat.

"Yeah, I just…don't be friendly with me!" Cerberus snapped.

Soban didn't move and he looked into the eyes of Cerberus. The temperature rose and Soban continued to hold his hand there. After a few seconds of pain, the heat finally subsided. Cerberus calmed down and looked normal again.

"Thank you, weakling," Cerberus said.

"Good enough for me," Soban said and walked away.

Soban saw the circus members that volunteered finally get on the ship. The Juggler was quick to float onto the ship and Caretaker followed right after. Fenrir jumped up onto the ship and sat in his mini house the Juggler conjured for him.

Anubis fired up the Mandjet by putting Ra's sun disk in its slot. He put his hands on the wheel but Achilles quickly grabbed one of his arms.

"Mind if I give it a spin?" Achilles asked.

"Go right ahead," Anubis said and got up from the chair.

Achilles sat down slowly and felt a stream of Egyptian power flow into his body. It was more power than he had ever felt before.

"Whoa, is this what Ra's power is like?" Achilles asked.

"Just a fraction of it, yes," Anubis replied.

The ship lifted off the ground and blasted off towards the destination. It made the several thousand mile trip in minutes. It parked a mile away from the stone and they would hike the rest of the way. They made their way to a large hill that oversaw the stone. Soban snuck over the hill and saw a massive army led by Hercules standing before a person with tremendous white wings. Soban looked closer and saw that this wasn't a man. It was merely a boy, no older than Soban.

"Is that him?" Soban asked.

"Yes, don't take him lightly," Achilles said.

"We were too late," Anubis said with anger.

Hercules began to speak and his voice boomed through everything. All the people behind Soban immediately dropped low.

"Let us destroy the stone, boy," Hercules yelled.

"No, at the same time I do not like watching it. It's not even my job," the boy said.

"Then leave," Hercules said.

"I can't, although my brothers are not very nice to me, making fun of me and always calling me Lucy. 'Lucy do this' and 'Lucy do that'. I'm real tired of it," the boy said in anger.

The boy turned and looked at the stone. Hercules took the opportunity to attack and punched the head of the child. His soldiers quickly stepped back as they saw the child not even move an inch. Hercules too stepped back and his fear grew. The boy turned back.

"But a job is a job," the boy said as if nothing happened.

Soban was in awe. He looked back to find the Juggler but couldn't find him. In a panic he looked at the Mandjet and he still wasn't there.

"Caretaker, where is the Juggler?" Soban whispered.

"I don't know," Caretaker replied after looking around.

The winged boy looked up and smiled deviously.

"I have an idea!" he said with excitement.

He lifted his hand and the whole area turned flat. Soban's group was revealed and Hercules looked confused.

"You shall fight this group for the stone, entertain me," the boy said.

"Gladly," Hercules said.

The soldiers charged Soban's group and Hercules watched closely.

"Change of plans," Achilles said and stood.

"I got this," Earthquake said and slowly walked to the front.

The soldiers closed in faster and faster and Earthquake was moving too slowly. The whole group simultaneously moved to the back. The soldiers were tens of feet away and Earthquake raised both arms. The first soldier swung his sword, it hit Earthquake and shattered. He ran into her and instantly stopped. All the other soldiers that collided with the first stopped and everyone that hit them stopped as well. They all began shaking and collapsed on the ground.

"Incoming!" Blaze yelled.

Blaze jumped into the air and launched a fireball at the ground. Fire exploded everywhere and the soldiers disintegrated.

"Next," Blaze said as he landed.

Hercules looked unamused and took a step forward. He snapped his fingers and several people appeared.

"These are my closest allies, the Demigod Alliance, which I am the leader of, is invincible. We are the top four, Dionysus, Perseus, Atalanta and I will effortlessly take you down," Hercules said.

"Hercules, will Aeneas be joining us?" Perseus asked.

"He is dead," Hercules replied coldly.

"I see," Perseus replied.

"Dionysus, you take Anubis, you are the only one of us who can deal with his shadow techniques," Hercules ordered.

"Understood," Dionysus responded and pulled out a bottle from his side.

"Perseus, you take the traitor Achilles," Hercules ordered.

"Should be fun," Perseus growled.

"Atalanta, you take the group, the hybrids are mine," Hercules ordered happily.

Hercules jumped forward and grabbed Soban by his head and jumped to Cerberus. In a blur of motion he grabbed Cerberus and brought him and Soban away from the main group. Atalanta stepped forward and stretched her muscular arms.

"Stay together!" Achilles barked.

"Achilles, you know I have an order to take you on alone," Perseus said as he crept forward.

"If it's anything like last time you'll be face first and crying," Achilles said.

"We aren't children anymore, Achilles," Perseus said and pulled out a spear.

Achilles chuckled and pulled a spear from his armor. The circus crew behind him prepared for Atalanta's assault. Puffs of smoke dotted the ground as Achilles burst towards Perseus. Instantly, Perseus dropped down and put his spear under Achilles and flung him backwards. Achilles landed with grace and cursed to himself.

"Stand back, boys," Earthquake said and raised a hand.

"You are gonna need more than that, granny," Atalanta said.

"Granny?" Earthquake yelled.

Her eyes were fiercer than before and the ground around her shattered to pieces. She intercepted Atalanta and stopped her dead in her tracks. With a thrust of Atalanta's shoulder, Earthquake was blown away. Caretaker quickly jumped into the air and caught Earthquake.

"Be wary of her," Earthquake groaned.

"Cousins of Nature, it's time for the four o'clock show!" Caretaker ordered.

Dark Storm raised a wall of wind around Atalanta and stopped her from moving forward. Atalanta removed a dark colored bow from her back and fired two arrows that impacted Dark Storm in the chest.

"Even through the wind?" Dark Storm groaned.

Sun Bringer stepped forward and burned the arrows away, simultaneously healing Dark Storm.

"Ready for you anytime!" Moon Seeker said.

He was high in the sky with a massive moon in his hands. Sun Bringer rose up and clapped his hands and the moon began to melt. It dripped over Moon Seeker harmlessly and poured into the wind chamber surrounding Atalanta. The wind picked it up and launched it everywhere around the Greek demigod.

"You think something of this level will stop me?" Atalanta said.

She was slowly covered in molten rock and eventually the whole column of wind was filled to the brim. Dark Storm released his wind barrier and took the heat with him. The lava was instantly cooled and all that stood was a massive gray spire that had Atalanta sealed inside.

"Send it away," Sun Bringer told Dark Storm.

"Got it."

The spire cracked and exploded revealing an uninjured Atalanta.

"Is that all?" she said while brushing bits of stone off of her body.

She raised her bow and nocked three arrows. With a long draw, she pulled them back and fired. The three arrows impacted the cousins and pinned them to the ground. Suddenly, Anubis popped up in front of her and placed his hand on her chest. Atalanta froze and a scale appeared behind her. Her heart appeared on one side and a feather landed on the other. To Anubis' surprise, the feather started to press down and be heavier than the heart.

"You think this level of magic will affect me?" Atalanta said, grunting the whole time.

"Maybe I can help," Caretaker said from behind Atalanta.

He put his hand on her back and attempted to control her. The scale slowly tipped in the hearts favor and it almost hit the bottom.

"Dionysus, what are you doing? Help me out here!" Atalanta screamed.

"I guess," Dionysus said lazily.

Dionysus slowly walked forward and splashed the contents of the bottle he held on the ground. The scale disappeared and Caretaker removed his hand and jumped back.

"No magic will be allowed in this area now," Dionysus said with a chuckle.

Anubis was instantly bashed away by Atalanta and he skidded to a stop in the arms of Blaze. Hammeress charged forward and swung her father's weapon, Mjolnir, at Atalanta. Atalanta blocked the strike with her bow quickly and smirked.

"Don't smile yet, weakling," Hammeress growled.

The ground beneath Atalanta shattered and a hole thousands of feet deep and hundreds of feet wide was created from the force of the blow. Atalanta fell down and grabbed an arrow from her quiver. She fired it and a rope appeared on it. Dionysus jumped over the hole, caught the arrow and landed on the other side. He waited till the rope went tight and pulled it as hard as he could. Atalanta was launched into the air and she had her bow drawn back. She fired tens of arrows and pinned everyone but Anubis to the ground.

"Great," Anubis said.

Dionysus stumbled towards Anubis with a smile on his face. He swung his fist slowly towards Anubis and at the last moment pulled it back, spun around and elbowed Anubis in the side of the head. The black jackal headdress was knocked off, revealing his scarred face. Anubis quickly put it back on and scrambled away.

"I'm warning you, don't attack me any longer," Anubis bluffed.

Anubis looked to the side and saw Hercules slamming Cerberus and Soban into the ground while laughing maniacally. Anubis looked to his other side and saw Achilles and Perseus fighting equally. Behind him, Atalanta was tying up the circus members. They had lost, they only had one hope and he was nowhere to be found.

"That's enough!" a booming voice said.