Hey everyone! SpiderDude back here with chapter 2 of A Personal War! So, what I will do before each chapter is to respond to all your kind reviews, this time all 2 of them! Yay!
Badguthrie: Thanks for the review! Here is your update, and I will try to update weekly for ya J
BlueCookiesForRick: I try to be as dramatic as possible xD And, you guessed it, this will be a PJ Civil War. Thanks for the kind words!
Quick disclaimer before we get going, I do not own PJO or HoO, they belong to the brilliant Rick Riordan. On with the show!
Chapter 2: The Final Hunt
The light was starting to dim as the sun began to set over the dense woods of Muir Woods. As the light began to fade away, Percy ran even faster, tightening his grip on Riptide as he chased down his prey, a small squad of both Greek and Roman demigods followed behind him. Then he finally caught sight of them again once more. The last remaining faction of Gaea's army. For the last year, they have hunted down the remaining forces of the Earth Mother, following them as far as the monsters would flee. They had caught sight of the last remaining group after hearing word from the Hunters of Artemis that here was a disturbance on the edge of Muir Woods. A small faction of 30 Greek and Roman Demigods were sent out to hunt them down, with the help of 20 Hunters. Four hours ago, they attempted to ambush the enemy camp, but quite miserably failed, ensuing the current chase. For the last hour, they have ran after the fleeing monsters, which largely consisted of Earthborn, with a few Dracanae alongside them. It grew darker still, but the Demigods didn't dare to give up now. With this remaining faction destroyed, Gaea's presence from the Earth would finally be eradicated. Percy, with determination burning bright inside him, ran as fast as his legs would let him, his fellow Demigods, excluding Jason and Annabeth, struggled to keep up with him. Percy was never a good runner, but the last year he trained himself harder than he ever had before, to strengthen himself, so that nothing could stand in his way of destroying everything associated with the bitch, Gaea, which had caused him so much suffering. Suddenly, as they reached the edge of the woods, Percy signalled the group to stop, and crouched down. The group followed suite, and Annabeth moved up beside Percy, staying as low as possible in the forest grass.
"Percy, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked inquisitively. For the last year, Percy and Annabeth have rarely left each other's sides, as the only way they could get through the traumas of Gaea's war was together.
"The monsters, they're gone." Annabeth looked around, and agreed with Percy's statement. Jason had now joined the couple upfront, scouting the area, but no monster could be seen.
"Where the hell did they go?" Jason whispered, "They can't have just disappeared, right?" Percy lifted Riptide up in an offensive position, ready to pounce on an invisible enemy.
"They're still here, they have to be." Percy kept searching the open area, but the group had started to get bored of waiting, constantly asking why they had stopped. At that point Annabeth turned around and gave them a look which could kill even a God. Immediately the group silenced. "Gods damn it, we can't have…" Percy was suddenly cut off by the distant battle cry of an earthborn, charging at them from the distant trees, its fellow monsters following.
"Well will you look at that. They were here all along!" Percy rolled his eyes at Jason's sarcastic comment. Percy noticed the Demigod group were extremely startled, and looked as if they were ready to bolt.
"Stand your ground!" Percy commanded, "Defensive positions!" The Demigods moved forward and locked shields, preparing for the enemy attack. The Hunters, who had branched off from the group to widen the search, had regrouped with the Demigods and saw the impending battle, and moved into defensive positions, behind Greek and Roman shields. Thalia was now upfront with Percy, Jason and Annabeth, commanding her forces.
"Hunters! Draw bows!" She ordered. The hunters aimed their arrows and waited for the command. "FIRE!" And with that, arrows flew overhead, and the battle had begun.
Most of the arrows were on target, disintegrating a few monsters, but many remained. Percy waited for the right moment to strike, as the monsters edged forward, raising Riptide in offensive. "Come on you bastards…" He muttered.
"You ready Perce?"
"You know me, Jason, I'm always ready." He responded.
"Ha! Like that time you were ready in Boston?" Percy shivered at the memory of the disastrous battle four months prior.
"You had to bring that up didn't you?" Percy replied in annoyance, as Jason chuckled to himself.
The monsters drew closer and closer, yet Percy still waited, and none of the Demigods knew what he was waiting for. The monsters picked up speed as they grew ever closer to small force of Demigods, yelling out battle cries. Then, Percy finally saw the perfect opportunity. "Greeks! Romans! Hunters! CHARGE!" Percy led the charge , his fellow demigods side by side, preparing for battle, determined t win. They yelled out battle cries, raising their weapons up, and the two forces collided.
Greeks slashed and Romans stabbed at the Earthborn, whose slow and clunky movements were no match for the skill and speed of the Demigods. Gold Dust flew around the battlefield like an atomic confetti bomb, as the monsters succumbed to celestial bronze. Percy slashed his way the Earthborn, until he was knocked onto his back by a rather large club. Percy looked up at his attacker and rolled away just in time as the club came crashing down to where his head was. He kept moving away as the Earthborn continuously attempted to smash his brains out, until he jumped up onto the Earthborn's back and sliced the monsters throat, Gold Dust spraying onto the battlefield.
After successfully defeating his attacker, he ran and dodged enemy clubs and swords, and ducking under the occasional arrow. He met with Jason in the centre of the battlefield, immediately standing back to back, as at least ten Dracanae surrounded them.
"You're dead, Demigod scum!" One of the Dracanae's hissed. Percy and Jason, back to back, readied themselves.
"Just like Texas all over again!" Percy stated, his eyes darting to each of his enemies that surrounded.
"You and I remember Texas very differently!" Jason retorted.
"DIE!" The Dracanae screamed, as they moved in for the kill. They may have outnumbered them ten to two, but they were no much for the sons of Jupiter and Poseidon. They fought together as one, slashing and stabbing, whilst constantly defending each other. One Dracanae, armed with a bow, fired a trio of arrows, and as Percy ducked, Jason rolled over Percy's back, dodging the arrows, landing on his knees and decapitating the archer. It wasn't long until they had cut down every single Dracanae that thought they had the slightest chance of defeating two of the most powerful demigods in history. But not long after, the were bombarded with enemies, but, like the now deceased Dracanae before them, they stood no chance. They had a moment to rest and admire their handy work, before turning to each other, and noticing how neither one of them had barely a scratch on them, aside from the odd cut.
"I think I beat you that time," Jason smirked, "I counted eleven kills" Percy laughed as he began to move away towards the rest of the battle.
"Ha! Thirteen!" Percy shouted, before turning and joining the rest of the battle. Jason's smirk turned to a look of utter annoyance.
The battle was utter carnage, but the Demigods were clearly winning, as monsters kept falling, and, so far, there were no casualties on their side. Percy looked around the battlefield and saw Annabeth decapitate two Earthborn at once with her Drakon bone sword, Jason slashing his way through Dracanae, and Thalia firing arrows in between the eyes of every threat she sees. The other Demigods fought hard and well, sustaining only minor injuries. Percy suddenly saw a young Roman trapped between a trio of grotesque Earthborn, with no escape. He ran across the battlefield, dodging his allies and slashing at his enemies, until he reached the young Roman, who was now weapon less, and frantically trying to avoid the Earthborn's clumsy club swings. Percy impaled the first Earthborn, it's last look of horror evaporated as he turned to dust. The second Earthborn witnessed his ally's demise and threw its club at Percy, attempting to knock his head off. Percy slid under the flying club, and slashed both the Earthborn's legs off, before lodging his sword into its guts. Once that monster had evaporated, he jumped onto the final Earthborn and plunged Riptide into its eye socket, gold dust showering the young Roman, who watched in awe. Percy jumped down, and helped the young Roman to his feet.
"You okay kid?" He asked.
"Thanks man, you really saved my ass back there." The Roman replied, still with shock and awe in his eyes.
"Hey no problem. Just don't try and take on three monsters next time." Percy said, with a smirk. Unknown to Percy, the small remainder of monsters had begun to flee, and the Demigod forces chased them down, managing to finish off most of the runners.
"Looks like we won." Percy inspected the battlefield and saw that the battle was indeed over. He ran towards Annabeth and Thalia, who were finishing off the last Earthborn.
"Is that the last of them?" Percy asked.
"Nope, I got a Dracanae trying to get away over there. I'll take care of that…" Thalia then proceeded to fire an arrow straight into the Dracanae's spine, the Dracane disintegrating as it fell. The battle was truly won.
"We did it. They're all gone."
"Yeah, we did it seaweed brain." Annabeth said as she moved towards her lover, grunting in pain as she moved.
"Woah, Annabeth, your leg!" Percy motioned to her very clearly twisted ankle.
"I'll be fine. You worry too much Perce" Annabeth said, smirking at her seaweed brain.
"That's my job, isn't it?" Percy replied, moving in to kiss Annabeth. As their lips locked, Thalia immediately pushed them away from each other, resulting in complaints and pissed off looks from the couple.
"Now if you two are done with the lovey dovey bullcrap, I'd like to get out of here!"
"Thalia's right. We should get going. It's already dark." Jason responded as he walked towards the trio, cradling his slashed arm.
"Alright then," Percy turned to the worn-out Demigods on the battlefield, who were resting on the grass and helping each other with injuries, "Ok let's move out!" The Demigods got up and proceeded to move back into the forest, homeward to Camp Jupiter.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I do apologise if the dialogue is a but crappy, it's something I'm still working on. Chapter 3 should be up on Saturday (4th of March)! See you all in the next chapter! Oh yeah, and don't forget to review, I'll really appreciate it!