Saving Thalia Part Three: The Beginning of Something Permanent (Thalia, Excelsior)

Odysseus sighed, and shook his head. Sam getting straight to business was even irritating for a person like Odie. He just said,"Let's the task at hand first, then we'll talk about the specifics of the rest of the trip, later." He yawned, and then rolled up the tarp. He placed it in the bag, and grabbed the rope, doing the same.

When Solania came out all chipper, at first, he grinned, but didn't say anything. His blue-gray eyes darkened, turning into pitch black storm clouds as he realized that her smile reminded him of Thalia. It was amazing how best friends could sometimes be so alike, and yet so different. He sighed, and moved back inside his tent to grab his bag, and put the sleeping bags away, and then began taking down the boys tent.

Kyle was ecstatic to see Solania, which for a son of Hephaestus was pretty pathetic, seeing as they did better with metal than they did with flesh. A love life was not something that most of the Lord of the Forge's children had the luxury of. They spent most of their time in the forges, and were usually always very dirty. It didn't really matter to Kyle, though, he loved Solania and she loved him. That was all that mattered.

When she came up and hugged him, he was a bit on the happier side. He held her tightly for a moment, and then gave her a brief kiss. When she went back to the tent to check on her stuff, he assumed, Kyle turned back to his work, whistling cheerfully.

"Yes, she does, but it's not the fact that I miss her that upsets me. I just keep being reminded of the break up. I really hurt her, and I will never be able to forgive myself for that. I was just trying to protect her, and now I have this feeling that she fears me, and I don't know why. Solania's keeping it from me, so I'm not going to ask. You are right, we will get her back. Even if I have to sacrifice my life to do it."

He rolled up the last of the tent, and began stuffing it into it's bag. He sighed. He knew that today was the day they would assault Mount Othrys and rescue Thalia.

"No, Zoey, that is where you are wrong. You are still one of Thalia's best friends. Maybe her life won't feel worth living, but someone may have to die, and if it comes to it I will be the one to do so, because a good leader always sacrifices his life for his troops, not the other way around. So, that is the end of that discussion, because we don't even know if someone will die."

He walked back to the group, and said,"Whenever everyone is finished loading up the equipment we will gather around and talk about tactics for our assault on Mount Othrys."

Odysseus also heard the scream, but when he saw Kyle run after her with Zoey in full body armor, he decided to get his armor on and hang back. He needed to check their route back to the road for monsters. He was sure there would be some nearby, he just didn't know if they were close enough to be in a full battle. Putting on his full greek armor and his carrying his spear, Shockwave, with Redemption in it's hilt, he turned to Sam and said,"I'm going to check our exit, it sounds like we're gonna need a quick one, you stay here, and take up the rear guard when they retreat. The Zoey and Kyle can both handle whatever's goin on in there. The bags are already set up on the road. Just be prepared for anything."

He rushed off toward the road where there supplies were waiting for the final trip to assault Mount Othrys.

Kyle already had all of his armor on his body when he heard Solania scream. Luckily he already had her bow and quiver of arrows waiting for her. He grabbed them, along with his celestial bronze battle ax, and clelestial bronze sword. He rushed after Solania, and that was when he saw the problem, a Chimera. Oh, gods, he said to himself, why of all creatures...

He yelled,:"Solania, here, quick, grab this." He tossed her the quiver and the bow. And then readied his shield and battle ax. He lowered his helmet on his head and rushed toward the monster.

Charging into the fray, Samuel pulled out his pistol and fired 4 rounds into the Chimera's head, shoulders and body. All his bullets deflected off the monster's skin, as anticipated--it had extremely tough hide.
"Remember, the weak spot is the mouth!" shouted the son of Morpheus, readying his sword as the beast turned towards him. "Keep it distracted and off balance until somebody can go for a mouth shot!"

Odysseus got more than he bargained for by going off by himself to secure their stuff. He was now staring at the open mouths of twelve of the largest hellhounds he had ever seen. He sighed, and readied himself for battle. The others might be fighting one monster, but he was fighting twelve. That was when he realized that his spear was the key, as his mother had said that it created a shock wave when it hit, it could destroy anything.

He raised his shield and lowered his spear as he charged into the fray with the twelve very hungry looking beasts from the Underworld.

Kyle kept dodging and striking the Chimera with his battle ax. Every powerful blow he landed was only making the beast angry, and barely scratching it. He sighed, but tried to keep it occupied. When he realized Solania's plan, he knew what he had to do.

Getting right in front of the creature, and in Solania's line of sight, he swung as hard as he could, hitting the creature. It was angry, and knocked him down; he pretended to be hurt. His plan worked because as soon as he fell, the creature opened its mouth giving Solania a perfect shot.

"I'm fine. Didn't really get hit," Samuel replied, before he turned to Solania.
"Hey, that was a nice shot," he said matter-of-factly. Then, the son of Morpheus checked his weapons and dusted himself off. He looked around.
"Where did Odie go?"

Odysseus continued slaying hellhound after hellhound. The power of his spear actually frightened him. It was weird. The spear itself generated a shock wave, so powerful, when stabbed against something that any monster unlucky enough to be near the creature that got stabbed also disintegrated. He was tired, but the beasts were beginning to back off as their numbers thinned to three.

He continued pressing them back, and finally the giant hellhounds retreated. Odie sank to his knees in a momentary exhaustion, but he remained alert. He, finally got up, and walked to the bags, and checked on them. Fortunately, they were fine, but things could have been worse.

Odie took a knee by the bags and waited for the others arival, looking at the giant hellhound footprints in the mud.

Kyle got up, but quickly fell, again with a wince. The creature must have stepped on his ankle when he fell. He looked up at Solania, and said,"I'm fine, just give me a moment here. I think the creature fell on my ankle when I fell. I'm pretty sure I sprained it."

He sat up, and then slowly easing himself up, he limped to where his shield and battle ax were. He picked them up and continued to limp back to the group. Then he thought of something. Odie would never deliberately go anywhere without having at least told somebody where he was going or what he was doing. Realizing that Sam had been the last one to arrive in the fight, he turned to him, and asked,"Hey, Sam, did maybe Odie talk to you just before you came here to fight. He would never deliberately go anywhere without letting one of us know where he was going and what he was doing. It's not in his nature."

"He said something about getting our supplies back in the clearing," Samuel replied. Then a possibility hit him. "If Odie's on his own, and we got lured here by this Chimera, he might be in trouble. Let's get back there!"
The son of Morpheus turned and sprinted back the way he had came.

Kyle leaned on Solania, but still kept most of his body weight to himself. He limped all the way there, as fast as he could. He knew that Odie would be okay, because if there were one thing that Odie was talented at besides giving advice, it would be warfare. The guy always had the perfect strategies, and he had never lost a battle, even in training.

"Hey, Odie," he said,"the others were needlessly worried about you. I knew you'd be fine. So what happened, and why do I see a whole bunch of massive dog tracks all muddled around here?"

Odysseus nodded as each person arrived, and began saying their thanks to the gods. Apparently, they believed he was in danger. They would have been correct a few moments ago, but now was not the case.

He chuckled, and said,"I'm fine everyone. I just had a run in with twelve of the largest hellhounds I have ever seen. I killed all but three, which retreated with their tails in between their legs, so that's what the tracks are for. So, anyways, did we take care of the monster, and are we ready to board that bus right there?"

He pointed to the nearby bus that said, Olympian Fleet Services. He smiled, and said,"My mother can provide a lot, even that which isn't really in her job description. I hope you guys are ready, because from here, we are traveling the rest of the way to Mount Othrys/Tam. I hope you guys have everything you need, and if you have any injuries, come over here and let me check you out and get you going again, because I need every single one of you in perfect condition for the final assault."

Looking at Sam, he said,"I, also, need to talk to you about something in private before we leave. It won't take long at all, and the rest of you can wait in the bus."

Samuel nodded. "Sure. Go ahead guys, we'll only be a minute."
As the others headed towards the bus, he approached the son of Athena.
"Alright Odie, what is this about?" he asked.

OOC: Sorry for my absense, Guys. I was unexpectedly put in the hospital.

BIC:I smiled and sighed in relief as Odie explained he was fine. I helped Kyle sit down and winced in pain. I smiled bravely at Kyle. I turned to Odie and nodded. "Hey, Kyle, I am going to wait on the bus while he gets your ankle fixed." I kissed him on the cheek and started to walk to the bus holding my arm. I tried to hide the green blood oozing from my arm.

I nodded at Odie and walked to the bus. I took a seat near the back and propped my feet up. I looked out the window and saw Solania walking toward the bus holding her arm. I looked more closely and saw something green and liquidy between her fingers. "What the..."

OOC: I am so sorry that I have been gone for so long. My cousin is dying in the hospital and I haven't had the muse to post anything, but I have been thinking about you both a lot. You two are like my second family...lol.

BIC: Odysseus turned to Sam, and said,"Sam, we are soon about to arrive at Mount Tam, should something happen to me, you are going to have to make sure everyone returns to camp safely. I may not be able to defeat Pallas, it all depends upon Jacen whether I live or die..."

He was interrupted whenever Kyle yelled for him to come over and take a look at Solania. He rushed over, and grabbing Solania, set her down on one of the bags. Taking her arm, he looked at it and said,"So, Solania, tell me what happened, and I'll see what I can do. I need all of you at the top of your health when we face the Titan of Warcraft. He will not be easy."

Kyle watched as Odie began asking Solania questions about what happened. He was actually wondering the same thing. He had been directly attacked by the Chimera, and he hadn't had such a wound. He was wondering what was going on, but he sat quietly and watched the whole thing.

Samuel nodded. Before Odie was interrupted by Kyle, the son of Morpheus mouthed a reply to the son of Athena.
You got it. I'll bring them home.

Odysseus said, as he rummaged through his bag.,"You were only hit from the tail? Do you realize that that is the deadliest part of the Chimera. You are lucky you are still alive, must have been a graze. I'll do my best to take care of it, then you will need your rest. I need all of you in perfect condition for facing the Titan Lord Pallas."

He reached into the bag, and pulled out a tab of some kind, without saying a word, he pullled out a match, and after lighting it, he put the tab on the flame, it unraveled and he continued to burn it. After a moment, he took Solania's arm, and said,"Now, this is going to hurt, but it's the only way to take care of the wound at this point, you are lucky someone saw it, because you are near death."

He placed the flaming hot rag on her arm, and you could hear the sizzling of flesh as he pressed it on her skin. After a moment, he took off the rag, and the green goo was gone, the wound closed up, and looking as it did before she had been wounded.

Kyle, rushed over, and helped Solania up. He kissed her, and said,"Why would you try to hide your wound like that? Do you know what would have happened to me if you had died? I couldn't stand living in a world where you didn't exist. I love you, Solania, but next time you're hurt, please say something so we can help you."