Apollo, God of Light

Terra and Delta followed Hephaestus and Persephone through an underground tunnel. They walked into a place that looked much more civilized. It was an armory of sorts. People were sparring with swords and spears, and practicing shooting with bows and arrows. Persephone looked around anxiously. She smiled like she never had before when she saw Hades walk out of one of the sparring cages. He took off his helmet. She ran into his arms.

Hades: Hey babe.

Persephone: I've been looking forward to this moment.

They kissed, and everyone looked at them.

Hephaestus: They don't see each other very often. Separated by fate. But lovers nonetheless.

Terra: Wow…

Delta: That stuff is cheesy. Not for me.

Terra: Oh, come on. I saw you making goo goo eyes at Persephone at first.

Delta ignored Terra's comment and looked at the weapons.

Delta: Terra. You need something long-ranged.

Terra: Why? I don't really like using guns.

Delta: Olympus doesn't have guns anyway.

Delta backed up from Terra and leaned on the wall.

Delta: Your spear only gives you so much range. And your armor is too slow.

Terra: I've never had a problem with range.

Delta: Until you fought me.

Delta pulled her gun and pointed it at Terra.

Delta: I could pull this trigger and blow your head off in seconds. And I don't hesitate.

Terra: I would've dodged it!

Delta: In a place like this, the second shot would land. Try your hand with a bow. I used to use them. Maybe you could use a gun later.

Terra: Guns are really violent...and loud.

Delta: Destroying a bulk of San Francisco and the Brooklyn Bridge is very violent too. Wonder what city you'll destroy next? New York?

Terra: Hardy har har. Very funny.

Terra picked a bow off the wall. She walked over to a shooting range.

Delta: Let me see.

Delta took the bow. There were three targets. Each getting smaller the further down they went. All the bullseyes were lined up. Delta pulled the string back, and shot straight down the range, her arrow moving at ridiculous speeds, it broke through each bullseye.

Delta: In some ways, bows are better than guns. Much less loud for a start.

Everyone who had been shooting looked at Delta in astonishment.

Delta: What are they looking at?

Hephaestus: Isn't it obvious? You are a helluva shot. Still, they rely on you to be the next Artemis.

A man came up to Delta. He was short and frail.

Little man: Artemis, can you teach me how to shoot like that?

Delta: Can I what? Your kind shouldn't be blessed with my power.

Persephone: She means yes!

Delta: No...I don't.

Persephone: Come on Delta! For me. Show this young man.

Delta scoffed and took the bow and arrow from Terra. She got in a stance.

Delta: Examine my stance. Stand like me.

The little man took Delta's stance. It was a little off.

Delta: No! Your foot has to be out! Not in!

Terra: Hey, look.

Terra came to the man. She adjusted his foot.

Terra: Don't even hold the bow. It's like your about to punch someone. You pull the bow back with all your might, and let the arrow fly.

He got in a stance that was closer to Delta's example.

Delta: Like your about to punch someone? It's nothing like tha-

Terra: That's it! You have it! Now take the same stance, and fire. What's your name?

Little man: I'm Zagreaus. I think I have it now.

Delta gave him the bow and arrow. He got in the stance Terra refined. And pulled back an arrow. And shot it down the range. With good accuracy.

Terra: Good job! That was really good accuracy!

Zagreus: Really? I thought it was alright.

Terra: This your first time shooting?

Zagreus: I watched my father before. But this is my very first time.

Persephone: Nice shot son! You've grown so much since the last time I saw you!

Delta: That's your son?

Persephone: Yeah. He's come such a long way. And he's just as handsome as his father. Wouldn't you agree?

Delta: I wouldn't know. I hate men.

Persephone: hopefully you can learn to hate women just as equally as men.

Persephone walked away. And grouped up with Hades and Zagreus.

Hephaestus: Come on, let's go. Fights are starting!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hades ferociously slashed the foot off of a flying horse. It fell to the ground and slid.

Bellerophon: Come on! You can still fly!

Hades walked up to the horse and sliced off it's wing.

Terra, Delta, Persephone and Hephaestus were watching from the stands.

Persephone: SHOW HIM WHO'S BOSS! GO HADES!

Bellerophon slashed at Hades with his shortsword. Hades blocked it with his gauntlet and sliced Bellerophon's hand off. He took the horse's wing and beat him to death with it.

Hades: Still undefeated!

Everyone chanted Hades name.

The announcer, of course. Was Dionysus.

Dionysus: aaaaand this battle's a wrap! Hades stands 57 - 0! The next battle is a newcomer, Delta. Artemis's named predecessor, and the slaughterer of man! Versus Apollo! The God of the Sun!

Delta: Apollo…

Terra: Be careful. He has to be on Artemis's level.

Delta: I'm going to tear him to pieces. Apollo changed my orders on a whim. He's just another obstacle in the way. I'll show the Olympians that the new generation is even more powerful than the last.

Terra: That's not what I expected you to say.

Delta: I dunno. Zeus kinda pisses me off.

Delta walked down the stadium, and jumped into the arena. Apollo walked in, bow on his side.

Apollo: Delta. It's been a while. Let's make this fight easy.

Delta: You were a pain in my ass when I was on Earth, you know that right?

Apollo: I was only giving orders.

Delta: Seems like Zeus doesn't care whether me or Terra gets the role.

Apollo: Oh he does, trust me. Me and Artemis were born just after the first attack on Olympus.

Delta: And?

Apollo: I was created with the ideal that I would spread knowledge to all human beings. Artemis was created to spread hope to all human beings. Clearly she failed in that mission. There's still a chance Artemis can bring unity to the people here.

Delta: I don't want to hear any of that bullshit. I want to kick your ass!

Delta quickly drew one of her pistols and shot right at Apollo. He was hit square in the head. His upper body lurched back. He held the bullet in his hand.

Apollo: I'm a master of my craft. You are a novice.

Delta: Don't sell me short. I've trained my entire life.

Apollo: I've trained for hundreds of years!

Delta: Your training must not serve you well!

Delta threw a kick at Apollo and shot her gun at his chin. He blocked the kick and jumped back. Delta shot her pistols into his stomach. Where the bullets bounced off. Apollo teleported far away. And shot his bow into the air. Delta snapped off the back of her armor, and blocked all the falling arrows. She ran at Apollo. He shot even more arrows made of light. Delta blocked and threw a punch at him as she ran up to him.

Apollo: Seriously?

Delta flipped off one of her gauntlets and grabbed Apollo's foot. She flipped him in the air and swung her axe into his stomach. He barreled back, and slammed into the wall. Making a huge dent.

Dionysus: And a big hit on Apollo there! The crowd is going wild for Delta!

Everyone cheered in excitement for Delta. Delta forgot about the crowd. And focused on Apollo in front of her.

Persephone: Looks like she learned from me. She used my technique.

Hades: Why didn't you go to fight?

Persephone: I'm not a fighter myself. I just wanted to see you tear people to shreds.

Hephaestus: Most of us Olympians aren't even very skilled. Many of us cheat our way to victory. Apollo isn't one of those people.

Terra tapped Hephaestus's arm.

Terra: Look.

Hephaestus: I wouldn't expect anything less from Apollo.

Delta took out her gun and shot at Apollo over and over. He summoned a shield and covered himself. Apollo fired a blast of light from his shield.

Apollo: You must realize that this fight hasn't even started.

Delta: Because it's about to end!

Delta dodged out of the way from Apollo's blast. She emptied the rest of her clip at Apollo. He did a back handspring and shot a flurry of arrows at Delta. She was hit by a couple. But her armor took the blunt of the damage. Apollo teleported behind Delta and slammed his gauntlet into the side of Delta's head. She violently fell to the ground.

Apollo: Do you see it? Death?

Apollo stood above Delta, with a blinding light shining above him. The thing Terra was astonished at was a huge bright red ball in the sky.

Apollo: This is the red sun. There is a reason not all of my arrows I shot in the air earlier didn't hit you.

Delta summoned her power into her gun. She shot a bunch of shots into Apollo's face. He was forced to back up. Delta stood up. A vine came from the ground. She wrapped it around her leg, and dragged herself underground. Burrowing herself. Delta clicked on something around her ear. A cool-looking mask appeared over her face. Seemingly obscuring her vision. But she could see everything she wanted.

Apollo: Funny, you think you can escape this attack by hiding underground?

Apollo unleashed his ultimate attack. The sun slowly started coming down on the arena. The audience shielded their eyes.

Delta came out of the ground. With the boots she had worn when the fought Terra. With wings on them. She ran at Apollo with blistering speed. Apollo dodged a kick. Delta jumped over him and kicked Apollo in the face. She felt the crack of his face as her heel hit his nose. He fell on the ground.

Delta: This armor had better be powerful enough.

Delta removed all her armor. Leaving only her bra, her sweatshirt and her tights. She covered the red ball with her armor. While her armor didn't cover it all, it covered enough for Delta to be able to control where the ball went. Delta covered Apollo in vines. He kept burning them off. As fast as he could. But Delta just replaced them.

Apollo: Dumbass! You'll kill both of us! Dammit! That's enough!

Apollo released some sort of poison from his hand. Delta was hit with a wave of nausea. She felt so sick, she fell on the ground and nearly collapsed. The ball of fire was close enough. Delta covered herself with her armor once again. And the ball hit the arena. Exploding. Smoke was in the air for what seemed like forever.

Terra: Holy shit!

Persephone: Delta really has a brain on her shoulders, doesn't she?

As the smoke cleared. Delta was standing. She collapsed on top of an unconscious Apollo. She weakly raised her hand in victory. The crowd went wild.

Dionysus: I don't think I've ever felt that much excitement in all my time in the thunderdome! This will be a fight to remember! Delta, a newcomer! Who was clearly the underdog of this fight, just barely brings it back around!

Terra, Hephaestus, and Persephone were seeing Delta in the combat room from earlier. Delta was sitting on a bench. She was extremely pale.

Terra: Hey, got you a bucket.

Delta: Thank you.

Delta threw up into said bucket. She wiped her sleeve.

Terra: Ew. What'd he do to you?

Delta: Probably the same thing you can.

Terra: Transmit diseases?

Delta: Explains why my head throbs and everything's aching.

Terra: Um. You also fought a fucking olympian god! I saw him deck you in the head,

Delta: Everyone in Olympus knows I am not to be trifled with.

Hephaestus: You did very good Delta. Be a bit more careful with my armor next time, please.

Persephone: Hey, she also used my technique. You're learning, Delta.

Terra: How'd you come up with a plan like that on the spot?

Delta: It wasn't that smart. I planned on going underground again. But he crippled me. Technically my plan failed.

Terra: Guess it is about time I used my head.

Delta: Your what?

Terra: My brain, duh.

Delta: You probably have an IQ of like, ten.

Hephaestus chuckled and so did Persephone.

Terra: Hey, if you can take down Apollo, I can too.

Hephaestus: Do you truly think that?

Terra: Yeah, She can do it, so can I!

Hephaestus: You two are close in power. You two are very different fighters. Delta fights with her head. And uses her brute force as a last resort. A perfect example was shown in her fight just now. We've seen you fight Terra, you are the exact opposite. Which is a weakness. You can't expect to shake off every hit that comes at you.

Terra: Right. What should I do to get better?

Hephaestus: What you think is right.

Terra: Maybe I should work on using my head more. Like with mind bogglers, Like a rubix cube!

Hephaestus: Just, open yourself to all your options during a fight.

Persephone: That's my Hades! He just destroyed Achilles!

Terra: Maybe I'll get Polybus. He did cut off my arm.

Dionysus: Next up is Terra Lorenz! Another candidate in the running to join the Olympians! I like to call her Terra the Terrorist! You want destruction, you call her! Versus Phobos! Ares's son with a flame in his heart! The god of fear!

Terra: Phobos…? Of course!

Hephaestus: Right. Phobos gave you a hard time.

Terra: He fucking branded me!

Delta: Doesn't matter how much trauma he caused you. Don't waste your time dwelling on what he did to you. Track him down. And tear him limb from limb.

Terra: Uh...Thanks Delta?

Delta: I'm talking about you, by the way.

Terra: Yeah. I caught that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Terra went into the arena. It was made flat after Delta's battle with Apollo. Phobos had his cream suit on as usual. He looked very out of place among the other Olympians. He was standing about ten feet from Terra, adjusting his suit.

Terra: Phobos… Remember me?

Phobos: What kind of question is that? Of course I remember you. Artemis. But you like to be called Terra. Your speedy friend ruined my plans. It is possible I could've saved all the men that Delta slaughtered. Quite a shame I'm fighting you, and not her.

Terra: You saw what she did to Apollo, right?

Phobos: And? Apollo is weak.

Terra: To my knowledge, most of the gods' children are weaker than the gods themselves.

Phobos: Let us find out. I have been thinking fondly of you since we last met. Saving moves for you.

They both stood off. Terra got in a fighting stance. Phobos put his hands behind his back and stayed standing up tall. They slowly walked in a circle. Staring each other down.

Delta from inside the battle room, watched Terra through some sort of window.

Delta: I have a feeling this will play out very different compared to my fight with Apollo.

Terra remembered, she never fought Phobos. So she had a chance. But Delta was right. Something had to change about her fighting style. They said it was bad to tank everything. But for Terra. It could work. Terra stood still instead of going in a circle.

Phobos: Standing still? You could very well get hit with a strategy like that.

Terra remembered Kai. He had very attuned hearing. Just like Stick. Terra's senses were improved. But not by a lot. She needed to draw on that power. Phobos scoffed and threw a punch straight at Terra. She felt it coming. And lifted up her arm and blocked with her gauntlet. She countered with a kick to Phobos's gut quickly.

Terra: Nice.

Phobos: You've become stronger since we last fought. Good thing I can show my true power her-

Terra punched Phobos in the face and flipped out her spear. She spun it around, and slashed Phobos across the chest. Cutting his suit.

Phobos: Now you messed up.

Terra stabbed Phobos from long range, and kicked off her spear with a back kick. Phobos hardened his arm and blocked. Terra's foot burned.

Terra: Fuck! Hot!

Phobos reached around and threw a punch. Terra ducked under and punched Phobos in the face. And shot an energy blast out of her hand. She flipped off one of her gauntlets, it smashed into his face. It sped around for a second time. Phobos grabbed it out of the air and slammed it on the ground. Terra started to feel the ground shake under her.

Phobos: We are barely even going half speed.

Terra called her gauntlet back. She could feel the ground much better with her feet. And felt the rumbling much more prominent under her. She jumped out of the way, just as soon as tons of lava fired from under the surface like a lava geyser. Turning the arena into a pool of lava. With bits of land floating atop it.

Terra: Maybe Delta was right when she said I needed a long range weapon.

Phobos threw rocks of lava at Terra. She slammed them down with her armor. Or blocked them. The last one he threw, Terra caught in her hand and threw straight back at Phobos. But it did nothing.

Phobos walked in the lava. His suit somehow not burning. He walked towards Terra overbearingly. He sank in the lava. Terra could do nothing but wait.

Terra: Come on...come out.

The land under her broke into pieces. Terra jumped off, onto another piece. She couldn't let Phobos take her down like a shark. Terra remembered when she fell into the old man's fire. The old man pushed her into his fire. Terra screamed out from the pain. A red aura quickly flashed around her. The old man turned around to face his attention to Kai. Terra got up, her eyes red as if she had hit destruction form. She activated her destruction form. And stuck her hand in the lava. It burned. But only for a second. It was like swimming in really hot water. She took her hand out. And then felt the piece of land under her break into pieces. She jumped over to another piece of land. There were only two left including the one she was on. She touched the lava with no destruction. It burned like regular fire. But she felt a rush. She knew what she had to do. Phobos broke the piece of land Terra was on.

Terra: Please god don't burn my hair off…

She turned on her destruction form. And jumped in. It was burning. But she wasn't burning to death. That was a plus. Delta watched Terra jump into lava.

Delta: Why the fuck did she just jump into lava?! What's wrong with her? Shouldn't they stop the fight?

Hephaestus: I think she knows just what she's doing.

Terra saw Phobos standing in the lava like it was his natural habitat. She also was delighted to see her hair was still intact. Maybe thanks to her destruction form. Terra trudged through the lava slowly. Phobos walked towards her at normal speed. He punched her in the gut. And then uppercut her in the face. He grabbed her by the neck. And held her up. She could shake him off. It would hurt though. She turned off her destruction form. It was like igniting a spark. Some of her long hair was burnt off. She turned on destruction immediately. Blasting Phobos off of her. He went barreling through the lava. She went up to him and did a huge uppercut. So hard he went flying out of the lava. Terra jumped out. Lava splashed everywhere. And took out her spear. They were high into the air.

Terra: Why do you even stick out in my mind? You tortured me for a little while. That's it. Guess it's the mystery. What did you even want? Doesn't matter. You're just a memory. Doesn't matter the trauma. Can't waste time thinking about you!

As Phobos fell at her she went to stab through him. But he turned into his rock form. And slammed onto Terra. He broke into pieces. But like when he was killed by Amelia, he was fine. The ground had magically been turned back to normal. Terra was banged up from Phobos slamming into her. She hit the ground hard. And sat up slowly. She felt her hair. About half of it was burnt off. Now it fell just a bit past her shoulders. It wasn't long until it was revealed who changed the ground. Hera floated down. She looked down at Terra, she looked pissed.

Hera: Child. Where is Delta?

Terra: The battle room. Or whatever it's called.

Hera grabbed Terra's arm and brought her to the room.

Terra: Did I do good?

Delta: Your hair almost looks like mine now.

Terra: Hah, even lava couldn't burn my hair as short as yours!

Hera: It seems you two have gotten along very well.

Terra: Oh no no.

Delta & Terra: This is temporary!

Hera: Yeah. Whatever. I hate what Zeus is making you two do. He wants you to go on a quest. Probably so Homer can write a shit book about it. I would rather Poseidon be dealt with quickly. But you two decided to play in the slob pen. Both of you are from the middle of the woods anyway.

Delta: Just get to the point.

Hera: Yes. You two need to go to the library. To gain the knowledge about Poseidon.

Delta: From who? Apollo?

Hera: No. you made sure about that. He is alive. But you did a number on him. He doesn't want to show his face around here for a while. Zeus is impressed.

Delta excitedly raised her hands in the air and yelled:

Delta: Yeah! Ahem, thank you Lady Hera.

Hera: Go to the Olympian library. I don't want to ask again.