How This Happened?!

Chapter 19 - Battle Of The Sexs, Part 1

Athena needed to clear his head, after that much work.

He had been working against the clock and non stop to find a way to fix this mess. Hecate was very helpful, giving opinions and suggestions that could make the solution even better. Almost permanent. So far, the only solutions had worked only for a few minutes and basically, weren't good enough.

Which is why he needed to clear his head.

Olympus didn't have much of an arena, because everyone thought that they were already the best for anything, so... why bothering practicing? Athena didn't believe so, so he would created a little space where he could stretch his muscles without being interrupted.

Or, so he thought.

"Looks like we had the same idea today..." A female voice appeared behind Athena, surprising him "Which I don't know if to consider a good or a bad thing..." Athena turned to see Ares dressed in combat outfit and a spear on her hand.

"While we never agree on anything, I'd say this is a good thing..." Athena decided, gathering her stuff "But, I believe that staying here would be a bad idea..."

"What? No desire to face me?" Ares mocked him, smirking. Athena didn't fall for the mockery and kept walking away "Oh, that's too bad... I was so going to beat you this time..." Forgetting about his own impositions, Athena stopped walking and turned to face Ares, curious.

"What makes you think you could beat me this time?" he wondered, taking a few steps back towards her "Every time we face each other, I always come out victorious... You know that Nike always has my back..."

"But Nike isn't here now, is he?" Athena didn't need to look around to know that she was right about something "Besides, I had a secret weapon against you..."

"A secret weapon? That's what would help you win against me? Have you finally lost your mind, thanks to all your concussions?" Athena finally asked, ready to laugh at the ridiculous sound of that statement.

"I'm not insane, if that's what you're asking!" Ares argued, serious "I mean it, this time, I could beat you-"

"Ha! You said 'could', not 'will'" Athena pointed out, making Ares frown "Which means you are not sure about it..."

"Will, could, would... It's all the same to me!" Ares shouted at him, not caring about grammar at that moment "The point is that you're going to be on the floor, asking for a truce!" she sentenced, smirking. Athena rolled his eyes at her.

"Ares, you know I'm a strategist... You can't beat someone who has ten different scenarios running through his mind..."

"Prove it. Prove that I cant beat you and I'll never fight you... again" Athena pondered for a moment, thinking about if he should let pass that great opportunity. On the one hand, if he fought Ares now, and beat her, she would never try to engage a battle against her, which could mean a great ally when in times of war. If he refused, Ares would not stop bothering him about it and he'll end up accepting because of tiredness.

"Alright, I accept your offer" Athena agreed with her. Ares was smirking and decided to walk to the center of the arena "Would you like an audience or would you prefer this to be public...?"

"Though, the offer is tempting, I wouldn't want to hurt your ego when you fail with spectators..." Ares smirked at him. Athena frowned, knowing that she had hit on his ego. Without considering the options, and not even caring about the meticulous and detailed plan he had made in his head, he pulled out a little blade from his clothes and run towards where Ares was waiting for him. When Ares saw that he wasn't stopping, she started to run to meet him in the middle.

Blade against spear soon clashed together. Ares had the advantage of having a weapon that could block the movements and, basically, defend the hight of her body. But Athena had chosen the blade because it was small and easy to change directions, plus it was fast to attack and retreat in the same movement.

Ares wasn't backing up, giving everything about herself in that moment. Athena was as well, or so he thought. After the tenth easily blocked by Ares, she realized that Athena was holding himself back. She smirked, because she knew that her secret weapon was working marvelously and Athena hadn't picked up on that detail yet.

Athena couldn't understand it fully. How was Ares stopping all his blows? Was he hitting the wrong way? Was his aim out of balance? Was he overthinking things? The smirk on Ares' face only made things worst, as he took it as a mockery. Frustrated, he released a war shout and began attacking again. He wasn't tired, gods don't get tired. Not in the physical way of the meaning.

"Tired that I dodge and block all your blows?" Ares teased him, beginning to circle around Athena, who wasn't slow and copied her movements, his fist tightly around his blade.

"You know that I always have a plan, Ares..." Athena reminded Ares, who laughed loudly.

"You don't have a plan now, Athena! You just can't understand how a girl is beating you away!" Ares continued her laugh, not realizing that she had given Athena, without proposing herself, the answer to his failure.

He was holding himself back.

How couldn't he noticed before? It was something instinctive, as women don't endure the same as men. Athena was fighting a female version of Ares, with the mind of a male one. Deadly combination if there's any...

"Oh, Ares... I wouldn't be so sure..." Athena bluffed at her, smiling back. Suddenly, Ares was frowning at him "You would be surprised at how close I am to destroy you..."

Round two, here it begin.

~oOo~

Question of the Day: would you read a new Father's Day Special, if I make one?

Question of the Chapter: easy one. Ares? Or Athena? You choose!