Thalia was looking at the monster, her and her group of hunr were hunting donw in the name of Artemis, as she has been tracking it for a few days.
Thalia looked at her team as she spoke
Thalia: "Keep your eyes Open".
The Hunters of Artemis nodded, their bows drawn as they moved silently through the dense forest. The monster they were tracking had been elusive, and Thalia had the distinct feeling that something weird was about to happen.
Zoë Nightshade (appearing in ghostly form through a dream message): "Thalia, be cautious. This creature does not behave like others we have hunted."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, ominous warnings. Got it. Now, where is this—"
Before she could finish, the ground beneath them opened up like a trapdoor, and suddenly, Thalia and the Hunters found themselves in free fall.
Thalia: "OH, COME ON—"
They landed in a giant, overly exaggerated pile of leaves, soft enough to cushion the impact in a way that defied physics. Thalia blinked.
Hunter 1: "That was… suspiciously convenient."
As Thalia stood up, she noticed something was off. The world around them felt… different. The trees had bold, exaggerated outlines. The colors were a little too vibrant. And then—
BAM! A giant ACME-style anvil fell right in front of them, narrowly missing Thalia's foot.
Thalia: "What. The. Hades."
Suddenly, a ridiculous-looking monster—something between a Minotaur and a Looney Tunes character—jumped out from the trees, cackling in an unrealistic manner.
Monster: "MEEP MEEP! YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME, HUNTERS!"
Then it literally ran mid-air like a cartoon character, leaving a puff of smoke before zooming off at supersonic speed.
The Hunters all turned to look at Thalia.
Hunter 2: "Did… did that thing just Roadrunner us?"
Thalia took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of her nose, and groaned.
Thalia: "I swear to Artemis, if we're in a cartoon dimension, I'm going to electrocute someone."
Hunter 3: "How would that even work? Lightning bolts in a cartoon—"
Just as she said that, Thalia instinctively tried calling down a lightning bolt, but instead of a normal zap, a comically small spark appeared above her head, followed by a tiny "pop!" sound.
The Hunters stared.
Hunter 4: "Oh, this is gonna be hilarious."
Thalia clenched her fists.
Thalia: "I HATE THIS PLACE ALREADY."
The monster had vanished into the distance, leaving behind a dust cloud in its wake. Thalia sighed, trying to suppress the urge to electrocute something—even if her lightning had turned into a joke.
Thalia: "Alright, new plan. We catch that thing, figure out what the Hades is going on, and get out of this Looney Tunes nightmare."
The Hunters nodded, though some of them looked way too amused by the situation.
Hunter 1: "How do we even track something that moves like a Saturday morning cartoon?"
As if the universe had a twisted sense of humor, a giant, flashing neon sign popped up in front of them, pointing in the monster's direction. It read:
"MONSTER WENT THAT-A-WAY! FREE COOKIES IF YOU FOLLOW!"
There was a brief silence.
Hunter 2: "…Well, at least the universe is helpful?"
Thalia: "This is an insult to my intelligence."
Nevertheless, they followed the sign, carefully making their way through the forest. Every now and then, the environment would randomly change—a patch of ground would turn checkerboard-patterned, a rock would suddenly become a talking face, and at one point, an entire musical number nearly broke out when a group of birds started whistling a tune.
Thalia: "If one more thing starts singing, I'm going to lose it."
Eventually, they found themselves in front of a massive comically evil lair labeled "MONSTER HIDEOUT (DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU'RE STUPID)" in bright red letters.
Hunter 3: "Wow. Very subtle."
Thalia rolled her eyes and kicked the door open. Inside, the monster was lounging in an oversized chair, wearing sunglasses and sipping a cartoonishly large soda.
Monster: "Ah, took you long enough! I was starting to think you got lost in my wacky domain! Welcome, welcome!"
Thalia: "Okay, first of all, shut up. Second, WHAT DID YOU DO TO REALITY?!"
The monster grinned, flashing giant white teeth.
Monster: "Oh, that? That's just my special ability! I was cursed by an ancient trickster god to be stuck in Cartoon Logic™ forever! Anyone who enters my domain gets affected too. Isn't it fun?"
Thalia and the Hunters exchanged looks.
Hunter 1: "…So this entire thing is because of a curse?"
Monster: "Yup! Oh, and by the way—"
He suddenly pulled a lever on the wall.
Monster: "TRAPDOOR!"
Thalia and the Hunters immediately fell into a randomly placed pit, screaming as they plummeted into what looked like a bottomless void.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then, the entire scene rewound like a VHS tape, and suddenly, Thalia and the Hunters were back at the entrance of the lair as if nothing had happened.
Thalia: "…Oh Hades, this is going to be one of those fights, isn't it?"
The monster cackled, running off deeper into the lair.
Monster: "Catch me if you can, suckers!"
Thalia clenched her fists.
Thalia: "Alright, Hunters. Hunt's on."
As the Hunters bolted after the monster, their legs blurred into spinning circles like something straight out of an old-school cartoon. None of them noticed—except for one, who briefly slowed down, looked at her legs, blinked twice, then shrugged and kept running.
The chase was ridiculous. The monster kept pulling out cartoon tricks—at one point, it painted a fake tunnel on a wall and ran through it, only for Thalia to try and follow and smack face-first into solid rock. Another time, it threw a random banana peel behind it, and somehow, that single peel sent half the Hunters into an exaggerated, slow-motion slip sequence that ended with them piled in a heap.
Thalia (growling as she got up): "Okay, THAT'S IT. No more playing around."
She reached for her bow, aimed at the monster, and fired—only for the arrow to suddenly turn into a rubber chicken mid-air and bounce harmlessly off its head.
Thalia: "…I hate this place."
The monster giggled before taking out an actual Acme™-branded stick of TNT and lighting it.
Monster: "See ya, suckers!"
The TNT exploded in a comical mushroom cloud of smoke. But when the dust settled… the monster was standing there, completely unharmed, holding a sign that said:
"THIS JOKE'S GETTING OLD, SO LET'S END IT."
Then, with a snap of its fingers, the entire world snapped back to normal reality. The Hunters, now realizing their cartoon antics, immediately stopped running. One Hunter yelped as she faceplanted since she was mid-air when reality shifted back.
Thalia, now extremely done with everything, stomped forward.
Thalia: "You. Are. Going. DOWN."
The monster sighed, cracking its neck.
Monster: "Alright, alright, fine. You win. Let's get this over with before Artemis finds out and turns me into a fur coat."
Thalia blinked.
Thalia: "Wait… that's it? No last-ditch escape plan?"
The monster shrugged.
Monster: "Nah. Honestly, I just wanted to have some fun. This cartoon curse sucks when you're alone."
There was a long pause.
Hunter 1: "…So we went through all that for nothing?"
The monster gave a sheepish grin.
Monster: "Pretty much."
Thalia rubbed her temples.
Thalia: "I'm too tired for this. Let's just take him in."
And so, the Hunters dragged the laughing monster back to Artemis, with Thalia muttering under her breath about never wanting to deal with cartoon physics ever again.
Of course, she knew deep down…
This wasn't going to be the weirdest thing she'd ever have to deal with.
As then reality's broke like glass, as everyone woke up and saw Artemis.
Thalia hold her head, as she fully woke up
Thalia: "what happened".
Artemis just trye not too laugh, as she on the dead monster which was turning into dust.
Artemis: "all of you were caught up guard, and put in a illusion all this time".
Thalia: "Wait… you're telling me… that entire chase… all the cartoon nonsense… was just an illusion!?"
Artemis nodded, clearly amused.
Hunter 1 (groaning): "I knew my legs shouldn't have been spinning like that."
Hunter 2: "Wait, does that mean we never actually ran into a wall? Because my face definitely feels like I did."
Artemis chuckled as the monster fully disintegrated into dust.
Artemis: "It was a rather well-crafted illusion, I'll admit. The creature used your minds against you, trapping you in a realm of nonsense so it could escape. Unfortunately for it, illusions don't work on gods."
Thalia rubbed her temples, trying to process everything.
Thalia: "So… we just made absolute fools of ourselves… in a fake world… for days?"
Artemis nodded again.
The Hunters collectively groaned.
Hunter 3: "I knew I shouldn't have questioned why the monster had TNT. That should've been the first red flag."
Thalia let out a long, suffering sigh.
Thalia: "Okay. I'm gonna go lie down for a week and pretend this never happened."
Artemis smirked.
Artemis: "That's fine. But… should I tell the satyrs to not spread the story around camp? Because I think Chiron would find it very amusing."
Thalia's eye twitched.
Thalia: "…You wouldn't."
Artemis: "Also it wasn't days, it was 30 minutes in the real world".
Thalia: "You're joking."
Artemis shook her head, clearly enjoying herself.
Artemis: "Nope. While you all were running around like cartoon characters, it was only about thirty minutes in real time."
Hunter 1: "So we thought we were suffering for days… but it was just half an hour?"
Hunter 2: "That's even worse! I mentally aged years in there!"
Thalia groaned and flopped onto the ground.
Thalia: "Please tell me at least no one else saw us acting like total idiots."
Artemis tilted her head.
Artemis: "Well… only me… and maybe a few nature spirits… and a couple of minor gods."
The Hunters collectively groaned again.
Hunter 3: "I don't know what's worse—being caught in a ridiculous illusion or knowing that some random dryad is probably laughing her branches off right now."
Thalia just covered her face with her hands.
Thalia: "That's it. I'm never living this down, am I?"
Artemis patted her shoulder, still smirking.
Artemis: "No, but look at it this way—at least you provided entertainment for the gods. That's a rare honor."
Thalia: "...I hate everything."
Meanwhile, back at Camp Half-Blood, that same satyr was now dramatically reenacting Thalia's illusion adventure, complete with sound effects and impersonations.
Percy, Leo, and the rest of the campers were already crying with laughter.
To be continued
Hope people like this ch and give me power stones