Saving Thalia Part Two: Hard Decisions (Thalia, Inferno)

Kyle looked at her with shock on his face. Had she really just started to admit that she liked him? This would have been the best day of his life, if it wasn't for the fact that was about to betray them all. He decided he had to know, though, but first he had to clear something up,"No, I'm not mad at you. I don't know how I could ever be mad at you, you are too sweet and wonderful of a person for me to, uh, be mad at. I'm just in deep thought, and I'm angry that Kronos has been manipulating you."

He paused, and then asked, his face red,"Were you just about to say that you like me?"

"Mother," Odie exclaimed,"I thought you, gods, couldn't help heroes directly. I thought it went against your ancient laws." He jumped up really fast, and wiped himself off. He looked at her. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She had a shield with the head of Medusa, most likely the real Aegis, which really freaked him out, a sword, and a spear which she carried in her hand.

The goddess smiled, and said,"Zeus allows us to help from time to time, my dear. I'm afraid, however, this is the last time I will be helping you for a very long time. I actually came to advise you, and bestow upon you a gift, which you will use very soon."

She turned reached out her arm, and the spear she was holding appeared in his hand. He looked at it, and she smiled. "Thank you, mother, but what is this, and how am I getting my memory back? I didn't think I could."

The goddess sat across from him with her shield beside her. The goddess sat patiently though his questions, and then replied, still smiling. "Well, my son, your memories were never truly gone, they were just covered up so that you could not access them. It was easy for me to uncover that which Hecate covered. You still have many memories to regain before you can defeat Pallas. Remember, however, that though Pallas has sided with Kronos this time, he was originally on the gods side during the war. We fought over who would fight for Zeus, and I won. Being my friend, I took his name as my own, and that is why throughout most of later history, I was known as Pallas Athena. You need to know this if you are to defeat the Titan Lord."

She paused, and then added,"I, also, came to give you some advice. The end is still not near. Decisions have to be made, Odysseus, before the end. Though, you have made your decision, your friend Kyle has yet to make his. That is why you must wait for your friends when you reach Missouri. There you will go to Table Rock Lake, and run into your friends. I will meet all of you there, and advise you on the final leg of your journey, just as I did for your namesake in the days of ancient Greece. As for your spear, it is called Shockwave. It is a magic spear that when jabbed into an enemy, it causes a shock wave that will kill the enemies surrounding the target as well as the target itself. However, if it is used incorrectly, it can even kill it's owner and his or her allies, but I am certain that as my son you will know how to use this."

She smiled one last time, and then said, as she left,"I will be seeing you very soon, son. In the meantime, remember the shield arm."

"What do you mean, mother? I don't understand."

"You will soon, my son. Until then, I have something else for you."

She touched his forehead, and he passed out. He started dreaming, and in his dreams, he began to see the events that had been eluding him for weeks, now. He was beginning to remember.

Samuel was too mature to fake-gag at the increasingly mushy conversation taking place next to him. However, he did roll his eyes.
"It's not that I don't like you, Solania. It's that I don't like romance," the son of Morpheus explained. "I believe that it is unreliable, irrational, and generally worthless. Therefore, if you and Kyle like each other, and you certainly seem to, you'd best not let those feelings get in the way of our quest. Our mission takes priority over that."
Unlike most people, Samuel had no problem taking an awkward subject such as two people liking each other and pulling it out point-blank if he needed to do so in order to make a point.

Kyle looked at her with surprise, and said,"What makes you think I like someone else?" Before any replies could be made, something slammed into the side of the bus, and caused it to roll over. People and bags went flying everywhere. Kyle heard a roaring sound, and climbed up to the other side, since the bus was laying on it's side. He looked up, and saw one of the largest Drakons he had ever seen. It was circling around the bus trying to crush it. He looked over, at Solania, and said,"We need to continue this conversation, later."

Kyle rushed to the front, climbing over people. He busted the door with his ax, and pushed himself out. The Drakon looked up and when he saw Kyle, he released his grip of the bus, and moved with amazing speed for his size to attack him. He put on his helm, and rushed in brandishing his celestial bronze battle ax.

Odysseus watched the Illinois scenery go by, as he hung his feet out of the freight car. It was nearly dark, and he was enjoying the beautiful trees an land as long as he possibly could while he thought about all the images he had seen when his mother restored his memory. Everything had come back, and he was still slowly digesting it all, from Thalia, his love, to Pallas and how to defeat him. His heart had really started to hurt when he remembered the breakup. He had been tricked by Kronos into dumping her, so she would join the Titan Lord's forces. He sighed, this was hard.

Samuel bolted out of his seat and rushed outside to the drakon's rear. Opening his backpack, he pulled out the M249 light machine gun and raked the monster with a burst of gunfire. As expected, the beast's scales were too durable to be penetrated by bullets, but it did turn around to hiss at Samuel. The son of Morpheus took care not to make direct eye contact--that could paralyze a demigod.
"Kyle, I'll keep shooting to keep it distracted! You sneak up from behind and see if you can get to the thing's head and stab the eyes out! That's the weak point!" Samuel exclaimed, firing again.

Kyle had been avoiding the eyes, but was still trying to get to his weakest spot. It was hard to do, when he had to be careful where he looked, but he knew he could do it. He was grateful when Sam got out and started helping him. Of course, things were made worse by the fact that people were starting to climb out of the bus in a panic. A few were on their phones calling 911 most likely, while the rest ran and scattered in all directions, screaming.

Kyle rolled to the side, as the Drakon tired to strike. He was knocked on his rear, but was otherwise unharmed. He jumped up, and when the Drakon tried to strike him again, he threw a small bronze knife into its right eye. The blade cut through the eye like butter, and stuck. The Drakon roared in anger, and tried to strike with even greater force.

Kyle took his celestial bronze sword he rarely used, and rolled through the next strike. It was starting to get annoyed at the fire coming from Sam. It was about to strike at Sam, but before it could, Kyle launched his celestial bronze sword towards the right eye like a spear. He watched as it sailed and hit right on target. The Drakon roared and shook his head in anger.

He yelled to Sam,"Sam keep it distracted with fire. It cant see, so it will follow where it's being attacked from. There's a chink in it's scales right at the back of the neck right below the head. If I hit it hard enough, I should be able to sever the head.

He started running as fast as he could, and started running up the body of the Drakon. Brandishing his Celestial Bronze Double-Bladed Battle Ax, Smasher, he kept running, so as not to be thrown off while the monster was throwing a fit and trying to kill Sam. Reaching the spot with the chink, and swung with all his might.

Hitting the right side of the neck, the Drakon head came off, but before it did, the monster had convulsed violently, causing Kyle to go flying through a building to the other side in an alley where he landed, leaving a crater. He was knocked unconcious, and the Drakon turned to golden dust which blew away with the wind. Police and Emergency Vehicle sirens wailed in the distance, no doubt coming to the scene of the crime.

I saw what was going on outside. I was about to run and help when I saw that Zoey had been hurt. Her leg had been cut open. I ran to her and hoisted her up. Crawling out the back door, I sliced my stomach on a broken shard. I breathed in deeply and contnued to get her out."Sam! We have company! Where is Kyle?" I sat Zoey down beside Sam and turned around. When I did, a cop grabbed my arm and started to interrogate me. I told him I had distracted the driver and he had lost control. I took full blame. Blood seethed from my stomach. The cop looked down and spoke into his radio. He started to pull me to an ambulance and I started to resist. "Your cut will be taken care of. Once you heal, you will be sent to Juvie." I started to panic. I tried to run but he had my arm in a death grip. I mean, his grip was so tight that it left marks on my demigod arm.

I was aware of being pulled out and sat down. My head hurt so I layed back and passed out.

Putting the machine gun back in his pack, Samuel started towards the spot where Kyle fell. However, glancing back at the bus, he saw that a cop had grabbed Solania by the arm. No doubt she'd been forced to take the blame for the accident and was about to be put into custody.
That is, unless I have something to say about that. The son of Morpheus jogged briskly over to Solania's side.

"Officer, are you feeling a little tired? It seems that you've not been sleeping well," Samuel said, using his powers to induce fatigue in the cop's mind.
"I..." The cop rubbed his eyes. "Um, yeah. It's been a pretty hot day, and my week's been rough. Thanks for asking."
"Maybe you should go back to your cruiser and take a breather," Samuel advised. "I'll make sure she doesn't go anywhere."
The cop nodded. "That'd be great." He lumbered off towards his car.

"That drakon threw him off. He landed somewhere over there. Let's see if he's good," Samuel replied. He ran over to the alley where Kyle had fallen with Solania in tow. The son of Morpheus crouched beside Kyle's body and did a quick once-over.
"He's got at least some level of concussion," Samuel pronounced. "Various cuts and bruises. I'm not finding any broken bones."

Samuel raised an eyebrow at Solania's wound. "I'll get both of 'em. You need to go sit down and get your wound bandaged. You're in no condition to be hauling anyone around."
The son of Morpheus took hold of Kyle and slung the unconscious boy over his shoulders.

"Where are you going?" Samuel asked. He was having little trouble, despite Kyle's added weight on his shoulders. "We need to get off the streets and keep heading towards Missouri. Have you seen something?"

Odysseus finally got off the train at a junction in the northwest from a town called Joplin,MO. He took the map his mother had given him, and headed south towards a lake called Table Rock Lake. He'd never heard of it, but that was probably because before he learned that he was a demigod, he didn't travel very much.

He traveled for hours on foot, staying far enough away from the road to keep from being seen. He had to avoid monster, who would most likely expect him to use the road. After hours of walking and stopping only once for a short break to eat, he finally made it to an uninhabited part on the bank of Table Rock Lake. He set up camp, and began making a fire. He wasn't sure what he should do, so he sat down and ate, watching the stars.

As the others got to safety, they saw a lady in a EMT's uniform waiting for them. She smiled, but her gray eyes looked cold. She said walked over to Solania, and sat her down on a bench, she went back for Kyle and laid him down at the end of the same bench.

"You seem to be having some trouble without your leader, son of Morpheus. Here, I will take care of the injured. Here, you will need this." She pulled a map out of her pocket, adn handed it to him. She turned to the others, and touched them. She healed them, and then stood up.

She turned to Samuel, and said,"The path has been clearly marked for all of you, Samuel Anders. You must meet my son at Table Rock Lake in Missouri. There, you will find him waiting for you."

She walked over to his bag, and took this guns. She said,"You will not be needing where you are going, son of Morpheus, after all, you have the gods on your side. My son has the only weapons you will need, but I forsee that you will have a huge roll to play in the upcoming battle. Here." She threw him a celestial bronze sword, and shield.

She smiled, coldly, and said,"Think of these as a gift from the gods. After all, you can consider it a gift, not only from the goddess of wisdom, but also the goddess of warcraft, as well." With that she disappeared, and Kyle woke up, looking around.

Samuel snorted in annoyance, glaring at the sword and shield.
"Oh please. She says the gods are on our side. And yet she robs us of our most effective weapons, replacing them with, voila, a sword and shield. Amazing gift, milady. I could've easily picked both of these up at the camp armoury. I tell you, gods are cheap on weapons. Except Ares."
That wasn't to say he was complaining. The son of Morpheus had experienced enough hardship to believe that life wasn't fair, and would never come close to being fair. Rather, he found himself significantly peeved that he was on a vital mission, but that mission's success was now hampered by his lack of modern weaponry.

Well, almost. Samuel's Sig Sauers were still in their holsters, and the extra magazines for them were still in his belt. He roughly shoved the sword and shield into his pack, as though they were cheap toys, not weapons. However, he treated the map more seriously, studying it for several moments.
"Okay, guys, how you feeling? You'll be happy to know, our lady Athena confiscated my guns and replaced them with a pair of very exotic and powerful weapons. Now that we are so much better prepared to fight hordes of monsters, one question remains. Are you ready to move?" Samuel's voice was dripping with sarcasm and contempt as he mentioned the part with the weapons.

Kyle looked up weakly, and said, just as weakly,"No, don't leave her. She...she's on our side, now. We...need her." He laid his head back down, it would be a while before he could walk again on his own, at least another hour or so. He rolled over in the bench, and vomited. That was the concussions doing, being stage 1, it caused nausea.

He sighed, and rolled back over moaning, and he asked,"What the hell happened to me? I don't remember anything." He moaned again, and waited for someone to answer his question.

What Athena hadn't mentioned that demigods should already know that Pallas could manipulate modern weaponry. Sam was going to have to figure that out for himself, though.

"I'll use sarcasm when I want to," Samuel retorted. "And Kyle, pray tell, why do we need Zoey? She's done nothing except try to make out with Odie and insult Solania. By the way, the drakon threw you into an alley. You don't seem to have any permanent injuries, but your head may be a problem."

Kyle looked up, and said,"We need her...because she is...a different person..." He stood up and then fell. He wasn't ready to walk, but he kept trying anyway. He got up and fell, got up and fell. This continued until he tired himself out. He passed out.

Samuel rolled his eyes. He went over and propped the unconscious Kyle up against a bench.
"We can't go on when one of our own can't even walk. Take a break guys, but stay alert. We'll move as soon as Kyle wakes up and gets his strength back."

OOC: This thread is dead, thanks to Thalia wanting to kill of Thalia at the end anyway, So there is no point in saving her. This is the end of the quest.

:x OOC: Oh, Odysseus. I am sorry. God. I am so stupid..