The Next Generation

Chapter 16 - Zara

Have you ever heard of that trick where you roll your wrists to make someone let go? Well that didn't work when I tried it. Their grasp was like steel. There was no way we could be able to get away. I screamed and shouted as I watched in horror as my friends were being tortured.

My captor kept trying to cover my mouth to stop me from screaming. That didn't work. I just bit him over and over again and shrieked. This was the first real fight I had ever fought. I always had Satyrs around to protect me. Usually, two to three at a time. As I said before, I'm dangerous.

The Astra Planeta next to me chuckled like this was in act of a play. The blood in me boiled. How dare someone attack my friends. Huh. Friends. I kinda like that. We had to think of a plan, and fast.

Ha! You only need common sense to know that if you stand behind a girl with a waterfall of hair, you're gonna get whacked. The Astra Planeta flinched, and let go of me.

I raced into the fight, my sword, glistening in Apollo's wrath of heat and sun.

I slammed the butt of my sword into the chuckling A.P.'s stomach. Hmm, I kind of like that. A.P. Anyway, the A.P. Wailed and held his midsection. I took that moment of his weakness and kicked him flat on his back. I took a breath, then shuffled over to the others.

I had Kas on my left and Emmi on my right. I concentrated and stared straight down at the pavement under the Disney character's feet. Hoping a big spike of power doesn't come, I made a two foot hole. A one way hole to Tartarus.

"Phainon, Phaethon, Pyroeis, Eosphoros, and Stilbon." Emmi said calmly. Even though she couldn't charmspeak, her voice was strong and commanding. I guessed it was just her battle strategy. " Please, give us a chance to talk." She smiled nervously.

"Why do we need to talk," Snapped the one wearing the Mickey Mouse costume, which I guessed was the leader. "When I could just kill you right now? You are some of the most powerful demi-dummies in the world. And believe me, we have been around the world-hmm-" He counted his fingers and then finished speaking while holding up six fingers, "twelve!"He said proudly. I look over to Kas who facepalmed. Sammy snorted. I tried my best not to laugh.

"What is it," Goofy snarled. None of us had the nerve to answer, "Ah, that's right. Now where were we? Oh yeah, about to kill you!" He laughed. Honestly, he must have been practicing, because he had the most perfect Goofy-laugh imitation.

"Wait!" I yelled, well, I tried to yell, but it came out a squeak instead.

"What are you going to do about it?" Asked the Minnie Astra Planeta. Surprisingly, a male voice came out. I guess I wasn't the only one surprised, because I looked over at my leftover friends. Kas had raised her eyebrows, and Sammy, who stood next to her, put his hands by his sword on his belt.

Before I had to say anything else, Emmie spoke up,"Um, as the oldest, I will volunteer to die first!" she said cheerfully, "But first let me say a few words to my friends privately." The Disney characters shuffled their feet. Daisy nodded.

Few, Emmie spared us some time. She uncharacteristically giggled when she walked up to us.

"That trick always works," She whispered as we gathered in a huddle. The sun was starting to rise higher in the sky. Beads of sweat were building on my face. I wiped it off with the back of my hand.

We all waited for a plan. Then, surprisingly, Kas spoke up, "So, somehow, we had to find our friends, free them, defeat the Astra Planeta, and get back on the road. Have any ideas?"

Emmi and Sammy's eyes raised. We were lucky to get the battle strategy siblings. The both shared glances, and then Sammy spoke, "Well, we don't have much time, and the Astra Planeta are starting to get restless." I glanced over to the mascots. They were eyeing us and they were smirking. Ha! They really thought we gave up. Not a chance. '

We all nodded when Emmi went over the plan once more.

"Got it?" She asked worriedly.

"Uh huh," said Kas. She glanced around the area, keeping watch. I inhaled. We charged.

I went for Minnie Mouse. I ran at him with such force that the grass around me shriveled and died. I stopped four feet away. He pulled out a celestial bronze sword, like mine, but ginormous. He grew in size. From a six foot, ten mascot, to a fifteen foot giant god. My gut told me to run away screaming, but I knew that wasn't any better than fighting the god. I held up my sword, and stared the oversized Minnie Mouse down.

He gave me a sly smile and chuckled.

"You think you can defeat me daughter of Hades? I, one of the gods of the sky?"

"No," I said with a shrug. His smile turned into a frown.

"Why don't you try like all the other heroes?"

"Why don't you try to be the best of the Astra Planeta? The leader?" I look back and smirk at my friends. They were all doing the same thing: outsmarting the Wandering Stars. I heard a bit of a conversation from Kas about how she had read books about other stars. She asked why they weren't the gods of those stars too. Smart girl! She was riling him up so they were too mad to think about us.

I concentrated on my god, and asked him another simple but maddening question.

"So which are you?" I ask, scrunching up my nose, pretending to think.

"Who am I?" He howled, "I am Stilbon, of the wandering stars."

"Or the Astra Planeta," I smile sweetly.

"Yes, that too."

"But not the most powerful right."

"Yeah, I-What!" He screamed.

I continued talking, "As I recall, Phainon is the strongest. So it can't be you." He groans and stomps his feet like a child. I tried my hardest to not laugh. I winked at my uncaptured friends: the signal. They gave me a thumbs up.

At that moment, C.J.'s disney character/god scrunched up his face, and charged. Not at us, but at his godly friends.