Twisted Wonderland

A Mystifying Case

You hear someone yelling. You open your eyes, taken aback by what you see. You're on what appears to be a large balcony. Hades throws a blast of fire at a vase that was launched into the air. You dart behind a pillar. You notice two, demon looking creatures and a girl is there as well.

The girl shoots a finger gun at Hades. "Nice shooting, Rex."

Hades starts to pace. "I can't believe this guy. I throw everything I've got at him. And it doesn't even-"

Hades stops and looks at the red demon, pointing at his feet.

"What are those?"

Looking down, you see the demon is wearing kid sized sandals. The demon shrugs. "Um, I don't know. I thought they looked kinda dashing."

Hades slowly approaches the demon, his blue hair turning orange and fire forms on his arms and back.

"I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for eighteen years goes up in smoke and you are wearing his merchandise!"

Slurping interrupts Hades. He slowly turns to the blue demon who is drinking out of a cup. The demon notices and sheepishly laughs.

He holds out the drink. Thirsty?"

Hades yells, almost entirely consumed by fire. You hide behind the pillar as fire explodes from Hades. You cautiously peer over to see Hades breathing heavily. The two demons pressed flat against the wall from the impact. They fall to the floor and their silhouettes remain on the wall.

The girl smirks as she walks past Hades and stands at the balcony's edge. "Looks like your game's over. Wonderboy is hitting every curve you throw at him."

Hades watches her with a grin. He walks over to her, smoke billowing behind him. "Oh yeah. I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him. Meg, my sweet."

She glares at him. "Don't even go there."

"See, he's gotta have a weakness, because everybody's got a weakness I mean for what?" Hades conjures up shapes from the smoke. "Pandora, it was the box thing, for the Trojans, hey, they bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy's."

"I've done my part. Get your little imps-"

"They couldn't handle him as a baby. I need someone who can..." Hades slyly grins. "handle him as a man."

Meg steps away from him. "Hey, I've sworn off manhandling."

"Well, you know, that's good because that's what got you into the jam in the first place, isn't it?" Hades creates shadow figures in front of Meg. "You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg? Huh?"

"Look, I learned my lesson, okay?" Meg waves the smoke away.

"Which is exactly why I got a feelin' you're gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down wonder breath and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos."

Hades whispers in her ear. "Your freedom."

You feel yourself getting pulled away, everything going dark. The last thing you see is Meg's wide eyes and Hades devilish smirk.

You open your eyes to see a boy with flaming blue hair holding you close. Your eyes widen, thinking Hades somehow caught you in the real world.

"Seriously, guys." The boy groans. "This isn't a video game. You don't respawn IRL."

You breathe a sigh of relief, realizing it was just Idia. You also see Ortho examining you curiously. Idia helps you to your feet. You still feel wobbly from the shock those troopers gave you. Idia keeps a steady hand in your back as you regain balance.

"Remember that the next time you wanna do something so boneheaded. You're lucky I'm the one in charge right now. If it were anyone else, you'd be gone."

You look around in awe at the underwater city. A large, crystal like dome encases the entire city. The buildings are structured like the temple you were in before.

"Wow..." Epel says in amazement. "It's a whole underwater city!"

Rook nods. "Yes. We have truly arrived at our destination. The Island of Woe."