As he walked towards Hephaestus, Poseidon was thinking about the situation, ' 100 years have passed since I came here. That's a long time for mortals, but I hardly felt the time pass. So much has happened already...'

'The situation with Kratos is worrying. Laufey's history was something that would have taken at least 300 years, but it is happening too soon. Something has changed the course of everything... but what and how?'

Even though he had a lot on his mind, Poseidon eventually arrived at the forge of Hephaestus. He was about to enter but heard a discussion inside and decided to wait, ' They are probably discussing Iris' decision... I'm not going to get into that.'

After waiting 30 minutes, the discussion ended. Poseidon wasted no time and knocked on the door. It was a mere formality since Poseidon was not hiding his presence.

It didn't take long before Aphrodite opened the door, "Come in. Hephaestus is waiting for you.

Poseidon nodded and entered the forge/house. He noticed that there was a lot of stuff scattered on the floor as if someone had thrown it all up in the air, 'Maybe they are packing for the trip...?'

Poseidon ignored the mess and followed Aprodithe to Hephaestus' location. Arriving there, Poseidon noticed that Iris was not on site. ''Should I ask where she is...?''

Love, Poseidon has arrived. After saying this, Aprodithe left the place and left them alone.

Poseidon noticed that Hephaestus' forge was very hot, 'He's creating something.'

Poseidon approached Hephaestus, who was quiet from the beginning, '' What are you doing?''

Hephaestus didn't even look back, '' I'm making some armor and weapons for our trip... I'm fine, don't worry.''

Poseidon sighed, '' You're obviously not in a good place mentally... Talk to me.''

Hephaestus finally stopped hammering the iron and looked at Poseidon, '' A lot has changed in these last few years... Aphrodite is much more loving to me, I have another wife besides her, and my life is filled with good things. I should be happy but...''

'' But what?''

'' All this situation with Pandora made me remember what I put her through... I feel that I have failed her. Especially now that she might be in danger.'' Hephaestus looked defeated.

'He feels guilty for not doing more for Pandora before, and now she is in danger... complicated.' Poseidon thought hard about what to say.

Poseidon sighed before he spoke, ''It wasn't your fault what happened to Pandora. Zeus was much more powerful than you, and you still managed to make Pandora survive.... that's something.''

Hephaestus shook his head, '' She may have survived, but she didn't have a normal life. She spent most of it locked up.''

'' But now she's free. When I spoke to her on the communicator, she seemed... peaceful and happy. You did what you could for her.'' Poseidon patted Hephaestus' shoulder.

The news that she was normal and happy cheered Hephaestus up, ''Are you sure? You're not lying to me?''

''Why would I lie to you? In a few months, you'll visit her yourself... and you better cheer up, you still have two more kids to raise.''

Hephaestus finally seemed to be recovering emotionally. He looked at Poseidon, '' What do you need?''

''A few things.'' Poseidon passed Hephaestus some prototype weapons.

Hephaestus looked at the blueprints and then tilted his head, '' These weapons are... strange. Are you sure you want me to make them?''

Poseidon nodded, '' And make them out of the best metal you have, they'll be useful in the future... And go talk to Iris and Aphrodite. Spend some time with them, you'll be away for a few years .''

Hephaestus knew Poseidon was right, ''I will.''

'' And one last thing... prepare your children. We'll spend the week training them, and then we'll leave.'' Poseidon said to Hephaestus and started to leave the forge.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

''Wait!'' Hephaestus looked like he had seen a ghost, '' I don't know if I will have time to do all this...''

Poseidon smirked at him, '' Good Luck!''

The God of the Sea left the forge with a grin, ' Now, let's talk with the others who were going.'

------------

After personally visiting each of the members of the trip and talking to everyone, it was finally time for the training.

The children were already in place, just waiting for the rigorous training to begin. The Gods looked at Poseidon, who understood that it was time to start talking, "As you already know, one of our people is in trouble in another realm. So, we decided to assemble a team and go help him.''

'' However, that would leave our realm unprotected against any attack. So, as you already know, we will train you personally for a week. There will be no breaks, so prepare yourselves well. You have 5 minutes to prepare before we start our attacks... I expect you to come out of this training stronger.''

The children ranged in age from 10 to 7. Some who liked to fight were excited, while others who were not so powerful in combat were afraid.

Looking at their reaction, Poseidon regretted not having started earlier, '' Do you think we should have started their training earlier?''

The gods looked at Poseidon and their children. Aphrodite began to speak, "All of us here are Gods, and we have powers beyond the comprehension of mortals. But that doesn't mean we can't be defeated. I think the training started at the right time.''

Aphrodite's daughter, Luve, was one of the most excited about the training.

Poseidon noticed that all the other gods agreed with Aprodithe, that this was the best time to start training them, ''I hope that after the training's over, they will be more powerful than us.''

Looking at the children, they were clearly strategizing, with Neptune and Sunmis, son of Apollo and Artemis. The two were giving instructions. While Minerva and Luve were with Hia (Hestia's Daughter), Thans (Demeter's Son), and Oepthus ( Iris' son), physically preparing for battle.

The Gods looked at the scene with affection, '' They grow up so fast.''

For the Gods, it was normal to lose track of time. But they felt that those 10 years seems to have passed much faster than usual.

Poseidon, seeing that five minutes had passed, said, "Are you ready?''

The children stopped what they were doing and looked at Poseidon and the rest of the Gods, who were smiling. Minerva, the child most excited to fight, began to have second thoughts, '' ... Can you give us some more time to prepare?''

The gods laughed, '' No.''

Not wanting to give the children any more time, Poseidon began the attack, followed by Athena and the rest.

Poseidon focused on the strategist group, while the rest of the Gods went for the more physical ones. Attacking Neptune with his trident, Poseidon smiled, '' Hello, son! This time you don't have your mother to help you.''

Neptune, with a replica of his father's trident, repelled the attack easily. Afterward, he smirked at Poseidon, '' Old man, you're already getting too weak!''

Father and son were exchanging blows. Poseidon was not fighting seriously, but Neptune was. In the middle of the exchange, Poseidon noticed that Sunmis was going for his blind spot, 'A joint attack... clever, but it won't work.'

Proving Poseidon right, Sunmis attacked the Sea God's back with full force, but what he hit was merely an afterimage that Poseidon left behind.

Poseidon wasted no time and swung the trident in Sunmis direction, which sent the young God flying away.

'' Sunmis!'' Neptune shouted and was going to follow his friend, but Poseidon wouldn't let him.

"Calm down! He is fine! Remember that this is training, and your attitude now could have put everyone at risk! Focus!'' Poseidon then attacked his son.

Neptune, who had lost his temper earlier, began to analyze the situation, 'Take it easy. They're not fighting seriously...'.

Although the current situation might look bad for the younger Gods, in the end, this was a training session, so they could go full force.

'But we can't lose our heads as I did earlier! We have to be smart.'

Slowly, Neptune began to think of various strategies to use against the others. 'The training I did with Mom, Dad, and Minerva made me realize something... I know his attack patterns! But I don't know about the rest of the Gods... I need to think of something!'

While father and son were exchanging blows, the situation with the other Gods was about the same. The older ones were holding back and giving advice to the younger ones, while the younger ones were fighting with everything they had.

Luve, Hia, Minerva, and Oepthus were fighting Dionysus, Apollo, and Artemis. The adults were avoiding hitting the children, but that doesn't mean they weren't doing anything.

'' ... Too slow.'' Apollo said this to Minerva, who tried a joint attack with Hia. Apollo deflected easily and the two of them hit each other head-on.

After they went to the ground, the two quickly got up and looked at the 'battlefield'.

Minerva started to analise the situation, ' Thans is fighting Athena, Oepthus against Artemis, Hia came to help me but she was fighting Dyonisus... we are already weaker than them and they still have the numerical advantage... this is going to be difficult.'

To get an idea, Hestia, Demeter and Iris had not entered their training yet and the situation was already bad for the younger Gods.

Minerva looked for her brother in the middle of the training and saw that he was fighting with Poseidon. 'Our strategist is fighting the strongest God! We're screwed!'

Apollo, who had been waiting for Minerva and Hia to do something, finally got tired, '' ... Are you done talking? The training has barely begun!''

Minerva, just as she was about to attack Apollo again, noticed that Sumnis was getting up off the ground, 'We have another strategist!'

'' Sumnis! Come here!'' Minerva shouted and then attacked Apollo alone, leaving Hia to talk to Sumnis.

Sumnis, who had heard the scream, went to talk to Hia, '' What happened?''

"Do you have a strategy?'' Hia asked.

Sumnis looked around and saw the training situation, and shook his head, ''... We're lucky that this is training.''

Just then, the Gods that were standing still came towards Hia and Sumnis, '' Have you rested yet? Good, now get ready!''

The Gods broke into a cold sweat, 'This is going to be a long week...'