Atalanta's Return: Chapter 4

Mary's P.O.V

It would just take a while to complete this quest, and then after we beat Atalanta to her sense, then I can find a way to replace Josh.

To be honest, I want Josh to hold it as long as he can because if he doesn't he will be conscious enough to not become my warm pillow.

I went to the stadium again, and Atalanta was racing other men again, and this time, Atalanta won again, but she noticed something uneasy going on Mount Othrys. I hope my plan goes as well, because I don't want Atalanta running up to Mount Othrys, finding Josh holding up the sky and kill him.

But what made me sigh in relief is that Atalanta isn't going up to Mount Othrys. She is rallying the losers to some kind of chamber, and they're wearing the same necklace I saw when they're up in Mount Othrys.

Melody taps her index finger onto her forehead, as if using one of the prisoners mind as a robot so she could see what are they doing to him.

"Melody, what's happening there?" I asked.

"Atalanta is leading them to a chamber." Melody told me. "Wait..."

Melody's P.O.V

As I focused more on one of the prisoners mind, I can see they are led through complex sets of hallways and alleys. Then they arrive at a chamber. The ceiling is made of steel, and as the last person enters the chamber, Atalanta steps out and the door closed itself and the necklaces in their necks splits in half and they begin to realize where they are. Once they realize, the ceiling slowly drops on them. They tried pushing it off, but have no effect.

Just before the ceiling hits the ground, I snapped out of my vision and gasped, shocked at what I have seen.

"Melody!" Mary said as she helped me when I was about to collapse. "What happened?"

"It's.... cruel." I told her. "Atalanta was crushing the runners in a crushing room!"

Mary's P.O.V

If I were in that chamber, I am more than confident that I am able to break that crushing room. I'm sure that it couldn't have weighed more than 10000 tons, since that's about the maximum weight I could handle.

We take the path where Atalanta took earlier, and we kept running, hoping to catch Atalanta off-guard.

We ran to the left, right, and finally to the same chamber used to kill the workers. It was already clean.

Just then, something behind us opened up, and it looks like a brick wall about 6 feet tall. Unfortunately, I was crouching, so everyone was swept into the chamber and the door closes.

"This is all your fault, Melody!" I screamed at her. "You didn't tell me there's a brick about 6 feet tall!"

"How am I supposed to know?" Melody retorted. "It was hidden real good!"

Just then, the same thing happens to us. We were about to get crushed. Fortunately, when the mechanism started working, I was able to keep the ceiling up. The immense strain placed by the steel ceiling started to shudder violently as I fight to stay up. Then, the next thing that came up is poison gas. Fortunately, Melody anticipated it since her awareness developed after she made a mistake of missing a trap. She used magic to fan out all of the poison gas and it's working very well. Strangely, this felt really light, despite the fact that 20 mortals are unable to hold the ceiling and getting crushed to death. The strain of the ceiling began to increase, and I began to feel a very slight increase in pressure. The ceiling began to shudder very violently, and I figure that the ceiling must be close to breaking. Just then, the pressure eases, as Atalanta senses that she must not use this method to kill us.

We looked at the door, and we smashed the door open and get out of there. I could tell that the mechanism must be steaming, since it's stuck on getting the steel ceiling to retract back to its original place.

Atalanta stood there, furious. "You may have destroyed one piece of my death machine, but you will never stop the stadium from opening!" With that, she ordered the runners of the previous race, wearing a yellow necklace, to attack us.

15 men are coming to get us. Melody uses her magic to shield us from those men, while Jarren is on pursuit of Atalanta. I got to admit Jarren is fast, but he will never be able to catch up to Atalanta.

Just then, something unbelievable happened. Jarren glows silver, and he ran faster than before. Atalanta looks back, and her eyes widened, and she ran faster. Then she ran to the back of a building and Jarren is closing on her. Atalanta emerged on the other side and just at the right time, Jarren caught her by her shoulder. Atalanta turned around with such torque that Jarren slipped away from his grasp and Atalanta quickly knocked him out. I stood in her way, and when she saw me, she turned around very quickly, but when she did turn around, I was just 4 feet within her, so I just stepped forward and grabbed her. Atalanta writhed and struggled against my grasp, but I didn't let her go. I looked around, and apparently there is a torture chamber. I know it because it was clearly imprinted on the building. I brought her there, and put her inside, carefully ducking through the door since it's not big enough for me.

So, I shoved Atalanta in first, and there goes my biggest mistake. Atalanta was shoved in, and she quickly recovers on her feet and ran outside through the other door. I went outside, sprinting in hoping to catch Atalanta. The ground went THUMP THUMP THUMP with every step I take. Unfortunately, Atalanta was able to stabilize, but Melody and Jarren cannon, so they fell.

This is just tantalizingly close, and yet I am not able to properly handle Atalanta yet.

I glanced at the mountain, and remembered something.

"Ohh... Josh!" I yelped.

"What is it?" Melody asked me.

"I'm worried about Josh." I told her. "I'll go visit him while you both go after Atalanta."

Melody nodded, and I sprinted towards Mount Othrys.

I got to admit that I was very fast, since it didn't take me too long to reach Mount Othrys due to the distance between my steps.

Right there, was Josh on his knees. His whole body sweating like crazy. I peeked at his wristwatch. It says 11:20, which means it's about 1 and a half hour since he held the sky.

"Mary!!" Josh screamed. "Wha... what are you doing here?"

"I'm just here to look after you." I told him.

Josh's P.O.V

Look after me? Take my burden seems a better comfort. My hands, legs, knees, chest, and body felt they were burning. I can barely speak since I have to take in air in short gasps of air.

"Please, take it!" I wailed. "I..." I sank further from the sky.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Mary said sadly, looking at me with what I suspect is fake sadness. "And besides, I don't want to waste my energy on this burden when I have to chase after Atalanta."

Hearing that makes me feel the sky much much heavier. "Wh.... B-b-but..... you don't chase h-h-her. She's t-t-t-too fast."

Mary sit beside me and touched my skin. I trembled more. "Mary! S-s-stop that!"

"What makess you think I will stop?" Mary asked me. "I've been waiting for this moment, to hold your warm body in my embrace."

"No!" I screamed, and felt the sky infinitesimally lighter. "You're not using..."

Then I realized that I have to conserve my energy so I don't end up dying. "I think you're not in the position to fight now."

I could see Mary's hand feeling my back and my chest. I groaned in pain, in discomfort and in disapproval. I cannot do anything because if I tried to fight it off, I would be dropping the sky to myself.

"Ohh..." Mary rubbed my tummy. "It felt so warm!"

"S-s-t-top!" I tried to scream. It's obvious that my body is heating up due to the strain I was putting to prevent myself from being crushed by its immense pressure.

"Why should I?" Mary mocked me. "You're so very warm to the touch!"

Jarren's P.O.V

We walked towards the nearest building. Wow, not only Atalanta built the stadium in just 2 days. She also built the cafes, traps, control rooms in great detail.

Atalanta moved so fast that we can barely catch up with her, but Melody is using this sonar/radar magic in order to detect where Atalanta emerges, so we decided to stay in one spot.

I looked around, looking for possibilites of where Atalanta could be. We keep walking until we reached the same running track as before.

Just then, from the far corner of the running track, emerges a battle robot 8 feet tall, and it's very wide also. It then releases a couple of drones at us and it flew.

"Jarren! Follow me!" Melody said. I followed her, and it turns out that there's another building. We were about to enter when one of the drones were just right behind us. Melody uses her tractor beam magic to levitate the drone up and smash it into the ground. The drone's remains are scattered in a high velocity shrapnel heading towards every direction. I use my laser hands to destroy the other drone.

After a while, all of the drones and robots have been destroyed, and I glanced at the control tower, and caught a glimpse of Atalanta pushing some buttons.

I was waiting for Mary to show up, but I guess she might want to spend time with Josh much longer. Besides, she's going to waste time if she kept going back and forth.

Just then, an army of monster came stampeding from outside the stadium towards us. I thought they're going to ruin the grass and the running track, but it turns out Atalanta has put another plastic platform made from ETFE. There are 5 layers of ETFE that can stretch over an entire stadium. As the army of monster ran towards us, the platform made of ETFE plastic stretches, but what I heard about this type of plastic is that it can stretch up to 3 times its size without stretching permanently.

I unleashed a moon beam at the monsters, and they were dazzled by it because it's fascinating. I then fire a concentrated moon beam, this time incinerating the monsters. The monsters that formed a line then scatter around to avoid the beam. Then Melody rushes forward and use her magic to kill every monster she can find by her tractor beam magic and smashing it to another monster.

I got to admit that Melody is a fiercesome mage, as she is able to demonstrate a wide variety knowledge of magic. I then joined the battle as soon as the number of monsters dropped drastically and finished the battle.

Mary should be around here anytime by now, and I'm getting worried.

Mary's P.O.V

It's been fun teasing Josh that's under the sky. I love how he moans and screams for pleading.

"Mary!!" Josh pleaded as his whole body turns redder than before. "Stop!!!"

I stopped what I was doing, which was rubbing his chest and back, since I know that I have to go on my quest.

"Hey Josh, I will be returning to my quest now, alright?" I told him. His face turned much redder in disapproval. "I'll find someone to replace you."

"So that's.... i-it?" Josh stuttered. "You..... you..... *gasp* came here *gasp* j-j-just to.... *gasp* m-m-molest me, then you go *double gasp* back to your.... quest? Is that it???" Josh looked like he was about to faint when he said those words.

"I'm sorry Josh, I can't help it." I told Josh. "But I will be back, I promise." I touched his cheeks with my fingers, and Josh let out a scream of disapproval, especially after what I have done to him. Now I have to make sure that Josh didn't tell this to any of his friends.

I sprinted back towards the stadium, to find that the floors of the running track were layered with 5 large plastics, and as I stepped onto the plastics, I am surprised that it didn't break or losing its elasticity. I looked around and find Melody and Jarren going to a building. I raced there and fortunately I was able to get there in time.

"Melody! Jarren!" I yelled. They both turned towards our direction, and I jumped from that plastic to the floor a few meters from Melody and Jarren.

"Mary, how's Josh?" Melody asked, obviously concerned about her father.

"Josh is doing well. It's about 15:00 now, so we need to get back to him." I told Melody and Jarren.

"Ohh, you're not going anywhere...." Atalanta said behind us, and as soon as we're about to make a run for it, a cage drops from the sky and when I looked up, apparently a crane has dropped the cage.

"You're going to the dungeons." Atalanta declared, as the floor below us opened and we fell to the darkness, and we black out.

The next thing we know is that we were in a chamber. The room was earthern, which tells us that we're underground. The room is very big, which is about 60 meters in length, 50 meters in width and 6 meters in height. It seems impossible to escape, but I have learned an important lesson from my friend, Hippolyta, to always check the ceiling. I stood up, pushing against the ceiling, and it's not that heavy, which told me that this is very close to the surface.

"Melody! Jarren! Good news! The ceiling is just a few centimeters thick!"

Melody and Jarren is delighted, but when they are trying to remove the earthern ceiling, a steel ceiling is present. This makes the job a lot harder.

"Well, I guess we're stuck here until we can break the ceiling." Melody told Jarren.

"I'm hungry." Melody said. "Let's eat." Melody took a handful of burgers from her pack. She is lucky to bring it so she can share it with Jarren. But if they are not having enough, then they can ask more from me.

I opened my backpack and got out my steak.

Josh's P.O.V

I wonder where Mary and my children went. It has been quite a while, and it's 18:00. My pack was right beside me, and yet I couldn't touch it. I wished soneone would open it for me since I am very hungry. All of my muscles are hurting like hell right now. Even though if someone relieve me of my burden I can barely get to my pack because I would be very exhausted by then. My entire skin had turned red from the heat and the immense blood flow rushing through all my body, and I don't want my skin to get any redder because Mary once told me that I look ready when my skin is red.

"Do you think your friend will be here in time?" A voice said behind me. I didn't have the strength to look back so I kept my posture forward, but nevertheless I know it's Atalanta.

"Atalanta...." I spoke while muffled. "Let..... t-t-t-them..... *triple gasp* go please!"

"Ohh, I will let them..." Atalanta began, but is cut short when she glanced behind her. It was Mary, Melody and Jarren. "H-how did you..."

"Ohh... it's quite easy." Mary told Atalanta.

"But the ceiling was encased with...."

"4 meters of steel block, yes. I know." Mary told her. "Why can I escape? Let's just say that I should not be underestimated."

Atalanta gasped, and she knew a fight was going to erupt, so she ran and escape the scene.

Mary's P.O.V

Atalanta left Mount Othrys, and yet I have the feeling to not go after her. Something tells me that New York isn't the only place Atalanta has built this stadium.

I was once told that there will be about 6-7 stadiums built for the purpose of rewarding and killing people. I bet there's about 6 or 7 stadiums built identical to this one directed for the same purpose.

I looked at Josh. He cannot go with us, because he will end up screwing up on our quest. But it's now late in the night. I looked at Josh's wristwatch, and it says 21:00. Josh's body is also redder, and touching him is tempting, but I cannot do that since Jarren and Melody are here. Maybe later in the night, we can camp here, and I can molest him more when Melody and Jarren are sleeping.

Unfortunately, we did not bring sleeping bags, so we were forced to sleep around the mountain in this soft rock. I looked at Josh and told him, "Josh, We will be sleeping now."

Josh grits his teeth and cringes his face. I'll take that as a yes.

Then, Melody and Jarren went to sleep first, as I pretended to sleep. After it's about 2 hours since we fell asleep, I looked left and right and tried to move as slow as possible to avoid waking up Melody and Jarren. I grabbed my flashlight from my bag in order to see Josh better. I started walking towards the sky and shined a light on Josh's body. Since this flashlight is big, I could see Josh's whole body even from close.

Josh's eyes were closed as he endures the pain from the sky, his skin very red and sweat drenching very much on his body. I lifted the bottom part of his t-shirt up and looked at his body. I grabbed him, and started feeling his tummy, chest and back. They're very hard since all of his muscles are in constant contraction.

Josh began to open his eyes. "Uhh.... wh...."

"Ohh... Josh!" I say, my voice between a whisper and not a whisper. "You're still awake!" I feel his body more. Josh's voice began to diminish as he is unable to scream anymore since the sky has taken the better of him. Now I should be able to do it without any resistance from Josh. Josh is ready, but I need someone...

It doesn't matter right now. Now I have to satisfy my desires of molesting Josh. I touched his thigh, working over down and up. I focused most on his chest, where his t*ts and rib bones are contracting furiously to support the sky.

Josh trembled in disapproval. All he is doing is just spending more energy by just moving. I worked up to his head and felt his cheeks. I had no idea his cheeks are actually puffy and stiff, and yet soft. Josh made a sound of protest but I wouldn't leave him alone.

Finally, after 1 hour, I am afraid that Melody or Jarren might notice, so I went back to bed.

Dreams found me, and I was at the stadium, looking straight at Atalanta's living room.

"This stadium has been compromised..." Atalanta said to herself. "It's time to get back to my other stadiums, see what the losers in those stadiums are doing. I'm sure they are going to rot to death."

Just then, a shadow begin to appear inside her room and when the shadow cleared, it turned out to be Nadine.

"What is it, Atalanta?" Nadine asked.

"I'm going back to the stadium back at London." Atalanta told her. "They will miss me. Besides, I can't wait to kill off the other men, torture them to their deaths."

"I'm sure you will, dear Atalanta. Now, I'm going to find someone to replace poor Joshy..."

"Joshy?" Atalanta looked confused, then her expression calmed. "Ohh, you mean that short golden boy."

"Yeah. It's kind of a pity to see him like that. If Josh dies right now, then I can't have fun by torturing him..."

"Well, you do that." Atalanta said, as she got to her bed and sleeps.

Then my dream changed to the olympic stadium in London. It was a massacre, because the losers of the race, any kind of race gets killed.

But however, they don't get killed right away. The losers are put in the losers bunk, and at precisely midnight, they were forced to go to this chamber to get crushed.

But however, I saw that the losers have a chance to rematch with the other losers, and that lowers the amount of bodybags needed to carry the deceased people.

I was the first one to wake up. I looked at the clock in my backpack, and it says 05:30. The sun is already up, and Josh's strength started to return to him from the light. I reckon this would be a good time to interrogate him for this hormone scandal so that I could get a better explanation.

I walked up to Josh, and knelt beside him. "You feeling okay?" I asked him.

Josh shook his head as he grits his teeth and adds more thrust to the sky. "N-n-no."

"Very well," I told him, as I started to grab his shirt. "Now, I have some questions to ask you. If you don't answer them correctly, you're going to be left here to rot."

Josh began to struggle in protest even further, but struggling here won't do any good.

"Now, first question. Who published the research paper back when I was a child?"

I kept staring at him. It's up to him to answer the questions correctly because if he doesn't, I'm going to molest him, and further more, I'm going to let him die there because not only he has made permanent changes to me, but also he had made me and Hippolyta kill the wrong people. I'm sure if I can prove that Joshy here is guilty, then I and Hippolyta can punish him severely.

"I..... d-d-did." Josh admitted. That was one point for him.

"Next question." I looked at him more sternly. "How did your research paper ended up on our parents house?"

Josh's body get much more red, and he whimpers in discomfort. "They...... they took it."

I smiled, because he just gave the wrong answer. "Wrong answer." I told him and I ripped his shirt off and started touching him.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!" Josh screamed as he strained not only from the sky but from the molesting I gave him.

"No, please!" Josh pleaded. I didn't pay any attention to him. "B-b-bu...t.... It was really t-t-t-them who.... took...... it!"

"LIES!!!" I looked at him, and his face showed sadness, like he was already busted on using his research paper on me.

"Please!!!!" Josh pleaded to me. "It's...... TOO HEAVY!!!" His body keep streaming sweats. I wonder when Josh is going to be honest with me. Or.... Josh might be already honest.

"Not until you answered my questions correctly." I said to him. "Now, how did your...."

Just then, something erupted from below the earth beside me and Josh. It was Hippolyta, and she is still 15 feet tall.

"Hippolyta!" I said, stepping forward to embrace her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Hippolyta said, and she looked at Josh. "Oh gosh! What did you do to him?"

I looked at Josh, who is straining under the sky. He can't take it anymore. But I figured he deserved it.

"I'm interrogating him." I told Hippolyta. "I'm going to find out the truth after this interrogation that Josh was the one who did...."

"Mary..." Hippolyta placed her hands on my shoulder. "Josh didn't conduct an experiment on us. It was our parents who did."

"And how can you be so sure about it?" I asked her, still skeptical. "Surely you can't travel back in time, can you?"

"No, but I have analyzed his house, and when I check the soil, I can see the past. I can see that Josh was actually asleep when our parents took his research paper. This experiment was originally designed for Josh so he can be tall like the other guys."

"Oh no..." My heart immediately feels guilty. "What have I done? Joshy??" I shook him. His chest was bare and fortunately, someone else was present.

Apparently, it was Atlas, and he had Nadine in his right hand. Atlas threw Nadine towards Josh, which stopped right beside Josh, and as Nadine was about to get away, Josh dropped the sky and he fell limp and unconscious.

"Josh!" I rushed towards him, worried about him, but at the same time felt happy because I can molest him further. I started sleeping again and this time I hugged Josh. Oh gosh his body felt so very warm to the touch.

I went to sleep again, holding the now exhausted Josh. I placed him between my bosom and pressed him there gently. This feeling is even better compared to when I had him in my tummy. I grsbbed Josh and startee using him to rub every inch of my body. The more I touch and molest him, the more satisfaction I have.

I started licking him, putting his legs in my mouth, and it felt like suckling a lolly pop, except this lolly pop has no taste, only the sensation of warmth.

"Mary! Do you mind sharing?" Hippolyta asked me.

"After this." I told Hippolyta. I rubbed and kissed him. I hope that Jessica wouldn't know about this because if she finds out she can be very angry.

"Alright, your turn." I told Hippolyta.

Hippolyta took Josh, and she begin to do the same thing that I did to Josh. She began touching Josh and moved her way to his tummy. Hippolyta's hand is too big for Josh's tummy, but that doesn't stop her since she had seen me doing it to Josh. I looked at Josh closely, and his red skin began to turn back to his original skin color.

"Hippolyta, look!" I told her, pointing at Josh who is gaining his colors back.

"Well, I have to assist Jessica and Stella controlling the riots in the underworld, see ya!" Hippolyta said as she melted through the earth.

I sighed, because it's still 06:30 in the morning, and Melody and Jarren hasn't woken up yet, and that gives me time to molest him more. I grabbed him, and rubbed him against my face, hands, and chest. I gave him pulses of gentle squeezes and as I rubbed against his body more, his skin gets redder, but only the part where I rubbed his skin against.

I kept playing with Josh, and he didn't seem too well aware what I am doing to him, since he is very exhausted and tired. After a couple of minutes, I decided to stop and carry him, then I went to wake up Melody and Jarren.

Melody yawned. "What time is this?" She asked.

I looked at Josh's wristwatch. "06:45 AM." I told her. "But we need to hurry, because Atalanta seemed to have more than 1 stadiums on her watch."

That seemed to explain the uneasiness Melody might have been experiencing, as if she was wondering if there were more than one stadiums that Atalanta owns.

"Melody, you might want to carry your father..." I told her, placing the unconscious Josh on the ground.

"Father!" Melody and Jarren rushed towards Josh and they both hugged him. They have the right to be worried because Josh is their father. But then again, it's really hard to believe that Josh had children.

I really wished I could have children, but wait....

I'm sure that I could have one with Josh, except Josh will be holding the sky while I seduce him. That might make our child much stronger than both of us.

Melody carried Josh as she slung Josh over her shoulder, she, Jarren and I went to the stadium again.

Now, the stadium appears to be empty from the outside, but if you take a closer look, it's crowded, not because of the visitors, not because of the athletes that are training there, but because of the former workers that worked here are trapped in this very stadium. They are forced to run, and the losers will be killed.

I watched at a match, and there can be only one winner, obviously. The winning runner is left alone, while the losers are not so lucky.

As I watched, there's about 18 half-necklaces shot up from a tube at one end of the stadium, and it began to move up and up until it targeted the losers.

The losers ran for their lives, trying to avoid the half-necklaces, but the half-necklaces move so very fast. One half attaches to his back of the neck, and another half attaches to his front of the neck, and once they're together, they bind together, and the necklace glowed gold, and the workers, somehow in a trance, are going to this death chamber that we previously have been.

Melody looked stunned, and momentarily she had forgotten that she was carrying Josh on her shoulder, because she suddenly dropped into a crouch and Josh fell down, and he would have fell down to the ground, if I had not caught him.

"Melody, be careful next time." I advised her. "You almost dropped your father."

"Ohh, sorry father!" Melody immediately rushed towards Josh and hugged him. The event that we just saw is far from believable. This is just a death trap for everyone who is in this stadium, including us. At least we're not running a marathon.

As I watched, the winner is forced to run again with the other contestants. They ran, and the people from the second until the last place had the necklaces attached to them again, making them trapped.

After the 3rd race or so, we decided to step into the arena, but something is blocking our way.