Hercules and the Golden Apples

Mount Atlas

"I can see Mt. Atlas from here, kid!" Phil exclaimed as Pegasus flew through the sky towards Mt. Atlas.

"Yes! We're almost there!" Herc exclaimed.

"Wait!" Phil shouted.

Pegasus suddenly screeched to a halt in midflight, hovering in the middle of the sky.

"What?" Herc asked, a tad bit annoyed.

"I just thought of something." The satyr said. "Atlas is the father of the Hesperides, right?"

"Yeah."

"And Atlas is holding up the earth right now as we speak, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So... maybe we can talk to Atlas himself and get him to bring us the apples!"

"Really? Phil, that's brilliant! Let's do it!"

"But I have to warn you, kid; Atlas can be very tricky, usually trying to trick visitors into holding up the earth for him. So you'll have to be careful."

"Oh, I get it."

"Good. Now quick, to the top of the mountain! We can talk to him there!"

"Let's go, Pegasus!"

The winged horse neighed in delight and flew off towards the top of the mountain. Hades and his minions were not too far behind.

"Where are they going? Nereus said the garden was somewhere NEAR Mt. Atlas, not on it... did he?" Panic asked.

"Yes, he did." Hades said before getting an idea. "Since Wonderboy is going to the top of the mountain... we're gonna go check the bottom."

"The bottom?" Pain and Panic asked before the chariot darted down to the ground to the base of the mountain.

The chariot landed, they all climbed off, and Hades looked around.

"Okay, where to start?" He asked.

"Well, I read somewhere that the best way to find a secret entrance is by accident." Panic said.

"Accident?" Hades asked.

"What do you mean?" Pain asked.

"My friends, you'll find that when looking for the entrance to a magical place, be it a room, a garden, or an entire world, you'll often discover it when you least expect it." Panic explained. "Take this tree, for example. I bet it's not really made of wood. One of its branches could be a lever that will magically open something up, like so."

Panic jumped up, grabbed a thin branch with both hands, and pulled on it as hard as he could, only for the branch to snap and Panic to fall.

"Oh! I get it! How about this?" Pain said, turning his attention to a large boulder near the mountain. "By taking a rest on this seemingly normal rock, it will turn out to be a button or a switch for an underground tunnel."

He sat on the boulder, only for nothing to happen. He bounced up and down on it a few times, but it didn't help; all he got was a sore behind. He got off and looked around.

"Okay, that didn't work." Pain said, rubbing his backside.

"Or how about this stalagmite?" Panic asked, eying an extremely thin stalagmite sticking out from the ground.

"Oh yeah! Who knows what secrets may be hiding—" Pain said as he and Panic leaned on it, only for it to snap in half which caused them to fall forward.

Hades rolled his eyes. "Seriously, guys. You're being ridiculous. I don't see how you can find a secret entrance to a magical garden without lookKIIIINGG—!" He leaned up against the mountain, only for him to fall into a man sized hole in the side of the mountain.