Hunter looked up at Philippa who stared blankly back at him. She finally tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Philippa! Are you okay?” Hunter said as he stepped onto the platform. Something felt wrong. There was something odd about her. “Philippa? What’s wrong?”
“Philippa. You care for this one?” She asked in a distorted voice. “Hunter. This one cares for you greatly.” Hunter drew his bow and notched an arrow.
“Who are you? What did you do to Philippa?” He asked quietly as he took aim. Philippa looked at him and laughed.
“I am your Philippa.” She said with an evil smile. “Come, Hunter. Bed me.” She said with a vicious cackle. “No? I’m not fooling anyone, am I? Sisters!” She shouted. 2 girls appeared beside her. Hunter’s eyes widened.
“Lily? Odessa? What is going on?!” He shouted as he moved his aim between the three of them. They looked at each other and then broke into a cackle that made shivers run up Hunter’s spine.
“Were these your friends, child? Did you care for these?” Lily asked quietly. “Fire then. These are lost to you. You will not get the bow without killing the ones that you care for so dearly.” She stared at Hunter for a moment before scoffing and turning to her Philippa and Odessa. Hunter stared and hesitated before finally releasing and firing his arrow straight at Lily. They disappeared with the sound of cackling hanging in the air.
“Kyle. Get the bow. We need to get out of here.” Hunter said quietly as he scanned around for his targets. Kyle nodded and hurried over to the groundhog.
“What do I do?! Do I talk to it or something?!” Kyle asked frantically, arms waving.
“Try something! Figure it out!” Hunter said turning around to see Philippa standing right in front of him. She smiled and let out a short giggle before slamming her hand into Hunter’s chest, propelling through the air and landing with a thud. He groaned as he stood up and drew his knife. Marina ran over, sword drawn.
“THAT’S Philippa? You sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t you, Hunter?” She said looking around.
“No, that’s something else using her body.” Hunter said quietly. An evil laugh rang through the air. He turned around to see Odessa floating over a group of mortals. She smirked at Marina and Hunter before landing and changing her smile into a frightened scowl.
“Help! Help! Those two are attacking me! KILL THEM!” She said waving her hands around them. They turned toward Hunter and Marina, eyes glowing red. They stared for a second before charging. Hunter switched to his bow and touched his quiver.
“Boxing glove.” He whispered quietly. He drew an arrow with a boxing glove as an arrowhead. “Thank you, party ponies.” He said with a chuckle as he fired into the first mortal. “Marina! Net! Run to the platform!” He said before firing another arrow and turning and running. Marina pulled a small makeup case and pressed a button on it. It grew into a large hand cannon covered in buttons and levers. She flipped a green one and turned around and fired. A large net came flying from the end with a loud THOOM! Hunter didn’t look back to see if it did anything, but he hoped that it did. He finally reached the platform and jumped onto it. “Kyle! Status update!” Hunter said as he fired another boxing glove arrow, knocking a man on his back.
“Yes, hold on.” He said quietly to the groundhog before turning to Hunter and Marina. “We need to-Marina! Look out!” He said as Philippa appeared behind her. Marina turned around and gasped. Philippa seemed to tap her forehead.
“We’ve grown bored with this. Goodbye, Hunter.” Philippa said with a grin. She waved and laughed before disappearing. Marina stood there, seemingly frozen. She suddenly whipped around with glowing red eyes. She drew her sword and charged at Kyle who let out a short scream before ducking under her blade.
“Kyle! Focus! What do we need to do?!” Hunter shouted before notching another arrow and firing. Hunter turned briefly to see Kyle blocking Marina’s attacks with his scythe.
“Umm…We…uh…We nee-AH! We need to name the 12 Labors of Hercules! In order!” Kyle said between blocks. Hunter rolled his eyes.
“Are you serious?!” He shouted as he fired another arrow. “Dang it. Dang it. Dang it!” He said as he kicked a hand away from his leg. “Uh…There was…Crap….”
“That is not correct.” A voice spoke. Hunter turned to see the groundhog looking up at him.
“Does he…”
“Talk? Yeah. I know. It freaked me out, too.” Kyle said as he blocked another attack. “Okay! Labors. Labors. La-What the-“ He said as Marina kicked him in the ribs, knocking him onto his butt. Hunter quickly aimed and fired a boxing glove that hit Marina in the back. She stumbled forward. She turned with glowing red eyes to Hunter and charged. Hunter cursed under his breath and blocked her attack with his bow.
“Kyle! Take care of them!” Hunter shouted as he quickly switched to his knife and blocked another attack. Kyle nodded and ran over to where Hunter had been standing. He waved his hand and vines sprouted up from the ground and started entangling the mortals who ripped out of them and continued their assault. Kyle waved and more vines grew. “Okay! Let’s think! The Nemean Lion was first, right?!”
“That is correct. You have 11 Labors left.” Philoctetes said calmly. Hunter nodded and ducked under Marina’s sword.
“Then the Hydra!” Kyle said as he kicked a hand away and summoned more vines to entrap the army of crazed mortals.
“That is correct. You have 10 Labors left.”
“Oh! I know this one! The Ceryneian Hind! And then that uh…What was it? The boar! The Erymanthian Boar!” Hunter said as he dodge and swept Marina’s legs out from under her.
“That is correct. You have 8 Labors left.”
“He had to clean some stables, right? The uh…Augean Stables! He had to clean them in a day!”
“Then the Stymphalian Birds!”
“Cretan Bull! Mares of Diomedes!
“Then…Crap.” Hunter said as he blocked an attack. “Are we all out of animals?” He said frantically.
“No, there were Geryon’s cattle still.” Kyle said, as he elbowed a mortal off the platform.
“That is incorrect. Please start over.”
“CRAP!”