Who: Leo Valdez and Ty What: Demibats in Madison, RIP Festus (for a while) When: Afternoon Where: Park Rating: low
Leo wasn’t exactly the best of fighters, but he knew that there were strange openings around town and they were no good. Strangely enough he was reluctant to call them portals since these seemed weirdly more sinister than most portals and that was saying something.
He was roaming Madison with a Greek sword in his hand while atop Festus, the large Celestial Bronze dragon. That was when he caught sight of some weird bat monster things heading for someone in the park.
Festus dove down like he could read Leo’s mind. “Hey! Watch out!”
Ty, upon hearing someone yell, teleported about ten feet away, long enough to get his bearings. He hated these new creatures and decided to do his best to fight something. These portals reminded Tyrone of the Dark Dimension and not in a good way.
“Oh hell no!” Ty screamed at the bat monsters. “I don’t think so.” Without thinking, Ty punched one in the face, which seemed to anger it more than anything. This wasn’t something he usually fought, but at least Mia’s training helped. “I don’t think I was prepared for this.”
When Festus got low enough, Leo jumped off. He landed with a roll and it was the coolest dismount he’d managed in a long time, but of course no one like Jason or Piper were around to see it, not that Ty was no one. Leo spoke in Greek to Festus, telling him help from the sky, which was helpful since there seemed to be a lot in the sky and Festus could breathe fire.
“Hey.” Leo said a little too casually as he swung his sword. It wasn’t very impressive since he missed the first swing, though he did managed to slice one of them with a second swing of his sword. “You okay?”
Ty actually applauded the dismount. “If I had a sign it would say 10/10. I stood up and cheered.”
He watched as Leo managed to slice one of them with a second swing of his sword. When another one lunged for Ty, the teen allowed the Portal to the Dark Dimension to open and it sucked up one. But only one, since the others weren’t close enough.
“I don’t generally feel useless, but my powers are more of the defensive than offensive variety.” If they wanted offensive power, Tandy was the better choice. But it didn’t keep Ty from teleporting and bringing them closer to the one carrying the sword.
Leo grinned. He was proud of the dismount even if it was short lived. The demigod managed to catch what Ty did with the whole dark portal thing and his eyebrows lifted. “Cool!” He had no idea what that was, if it was magic or something else, but he thought it cool nonetheless.
Leo ducked from a swooping demibat, then looked at Ty again .”Maybe defensive is what we need.” He was spitballing here. Jason and Annabeth were the tacticians usually, but neither of them were there. “I think they’re anticipating fighting.” Or maybe they had no brains, but they at least fought like animals.
The Dark Dimension Portal was one of Ty’s powers, but he still didn’t know much about it or how he could access it easily…by which he meant he became the Dark Dimension. “Thanks.” When they swooped towards Ty and Leo, the Portal opened again and sucked in some more.
“I’m always happy to provide some defense.” Ty was the one who made plans, but usually he knew more about his opponents. Not these creatures. “Think you and the dragon can guide them towards me?”
“Oh, I’m really good at making things want to chase me.” Leo said it casually though it was true even if maybe he wished monsters back home wouldn’t try to kill him so often. This was like an old familiar feeling, fighting theses whatever-they-were. The creatures were almost a little too ‘normal’ for his world, ironically.
“Hey Festus!” Leo shouted up in the air. The bronze dragon turned its head as it grabbed a demi-bat in his claws. “Let’s play sheepdog!”
Did that make any sense? Who knew, but Leo and Festus knew what it meant. The demibats didn’t seem to have any interest in attacking Festus, but they did see the dragon as a threat. Leo was a much more meatier and interesting target. They used that in tandem where Festus kept the demibats from going too far away, frying some whenever he could - sorry to those it was raining fried monster on. Leo made a good target waving his hands and shouting and once he had enough coming his way, he started running right toward Ty. Leo would duck out of the way right at the end as he had no interest in being sucked up with the creatures.
Ty watched as Leo and Festus did their best sheepdog impression, which they did quite well. The demi-bats seemed to be super fond of Leo and they certainly didn’t seem to mind flying towards Ty.
He did have to duck twice when it rained down monsters, but mostly they weren’t too near him which he preferred. Ty had the Dark Dimension open and ready for business, as more and more of them got sucked up by his power.
“Look out!” Ty cried out as a demi-bat dove, as though to claw at Leo.
Ty tried his best to warn Leo, but Leo wasn’t fast enough. The claws almost made him reminiscent of home. He hadn’t been in a fight like this in a while and certainly hadn’t felt claws digging into him. It wasn’t that he missed the feeling or anything, but it was a familiar one.
Leo let out a shout of pain before he pulled the bat off, threw it to the ground, and drove his sword through it.
“Are we even making a dent?!” They were, in fact, though maybe it wasn’t as obvious to Leo who was now focusing on Festus who was being attacked.
“Festus!” He watched as his dragon friend was surrounded, then fell to the ground in a big crash.
That was enough to make Leo hot. Hot enough that fire formed in his palms. He rushed toward the bronze dragon and essentially through fireballs at the demibats around him, carving a path.
The teen ran over to where Leo and Festus were. He originally planned to try and teleport the three of them, but given Festus’s size, Ty wouldn’t get very far.
Instead he watched as Leo threw fireballs, and followed sucking in demibats as well as he could. With so much movement, he didn’t want to accidentally suck in Leo or Festus.
“Shit. Shit!” Ty caught up to Leo.
The unfortunate state of Festus was apparent as Leo got close enough. One of the dragon’s wings lay detached on the ground and Festus’ head was off of its body. Festus’ gears were slowly down and making an unhappy grinding noise. Leo’s expression grew sullen. He should have been rejoicing since most of the demi-bats had been dealt with and the ones that were left over seemed to have retreated, but his focus was completely on his friend.
He went up to the large head and ran his hand over Festus’ head. “Aw man… I’m sorry buddy.”
“Oh Leo. I’m sorry.” Ty assumed Festus could be fixed, but he had no idea. He knelt down beside Festus. “You did well. I’m really sorry, Festus.” The teen looked at Leo. “Can he be fixed?”
"Yeah…" Leo sighed. "This isn't the first time." Part of Leo liked working on Festus, but he also didn't like to see his friend destroyed either.
He looked at Ty. "He'll be good as new in no time. Thanks for helping with those flying monster things." They had made a good team.