Disclaimer: Everyone knows I'm not good enough to own PJO, lol.
Author's note: I really, really need pairings finalized. At the speed I'm writing this, things will be set in stone sooner or later.
Maybe if I get more reviews, I'll jack up the speed even further? ;)
Enjoy chapter 3!
Chapter 3:
Thalia Grace was in trouble.
And that was the understatement of the decade. Thalia Grace was not just in trouble, she was in some deep, deep shit right now.
Waist high, actually.
She had to admit, it was her own fault too. She was the one who ran off on her own. She was just trying to prove that she was the better leader.
As the daughter of Zeus, she had many gifts. From a young age, Thalia was stronger and faster then any other child her own age. This was proven many times.
From gym class to after school sports, she always excelled, even more than the boys.
Thalia may not have been the smartest, but she made up for it with hard work. She struggled many years with her learning disabilities. Her tutors spent hours explaining concepts.
Despite Thalia's frustrations, she never gave up and eventually she raised her bad grades to slightly (slightly mind you) above average grades.
Thalia's greatest talent, however, was leadership. Even when she was a small child, other children had looked to her for guidance. Self-confidence and charisma rolled off her in waves.
Other demigods admired and always looked to her as a leader. She believed that it had something to do with her dad being the King of the Gods.
However, Thalia gladly took this role, and enjoyed leading the other demigods.
Or atleast until she was zapped into a tree by her own father to save her from being slaughtered by her homicidal uncle. Like seriously, each time that Thalia was chased by monsters it felt like he sent the entire army of the Underworld just to deal with her.
Sighing, Thalia admitted that leaving camp ever again would be a very bad idea.
However, young demigods were everywhere, and Satyrs were literally meat biscuits being offered to the monsters as they couldn't fight worth a damn (Grover).
Lately, however, someone was trying to take her place once she was revived. Whether it was intentional or not did not matter to her. Someone, cough Annabeth cough, was trying to take her role.
That did not settle right with her.
So, to prove that she was better, Thalia decided to save the demigod siblings by herself. In her mind, it would be easy. Find the siblings and Dr. Thorn. Defeat Dr. Thorn. Prove he was the best warrior and leader.
Simple, right?
And to do all this, Thalia decided to ignore the safer plan Annabeth had made.
Annabeth's plan was more stealthy than Thalia's plan. Her plan was to distract Dr. Thorn by moving around the dance court. Then, when he wasn't looking, they would take the siblings to safety.
Of course with demigods, such a simple plan could never work.
Dr. Thorn had quickly figured out their plan. So, while Grover and Annabeth were talking to other mortals and Thalia was trying to avoid being trampled by the crazed teens, Dr. Thorn took the siblings and ran.
Annabeth, quickly realized what happened, immediately went to look for Grover. This was when Thalia realized her opportunity. Saving the children on her own would prove her better once and for all.
"This'll be easy." She thought aloud.
As if.
There was one thing Thalia did not think about. Her naïve brain did not think it was a possibility, and yet it happened anyways.
Thalia did not count on Dr. Thorn using the siblings as hostages.
In addition, Dr. Thorn had used some kind of weird knife to cut open her shoulder and poison her. So now Thalia was poisoned and captured. Great.
She was being pushed along like some kind of wild animal.
Thalia could only pray now. She prayed that her friends would come save her. She prayed that a god, any god, would help him.
Yes, because right now, help would be very nice.
One Mile Outside of Bar Harbor, Maine:
The forest was calm. Too calm, really. No animals were moving. No water could be heard running downhill. Even the wind wasn't even blowing.
However, this did not fool Percy, though.
Things were never calm. Everything had to be moving. If things were quiet then that means death was near. Living meant that noise and movement were necessary. Even if humans trained themselves to control said noises and movements, they could never be truly still and be alive.
To be truly still meant that you were dead.
As such, the quiet meant that someone was going to die. This was certain. The only question is who?
That was why they were here. To ensure that the thing that died tonight was not mortal or demigod.
Percy and Perry sat on their bikes with their eyes closed. They were feeling for them. If they were anywhere within a five mile radius, one of them would sense the group.
"There. One mile north-west." Perry opened his eyes.
He leisurely took off his helmet and climbed off his bike, with Percy following suit. Before they turned around, they put their helmets on their seats. There was no reason to worry about the motorcycles.
It would return to them when they needed it. Just like Hephaestus promised. Of course, that still didn't stop them from using the Mist to hide it from mortal eyes.
The twins began to walk. There was no need to hurry, as they knew they'd make it there on time.
Annabeth was angry. Why was she angry? Two words. Thalia Grace. That moronic bitch just had to run off on her own.
Annabeth understood that she and her best friend felt tension lately, but that was no excuse. She stupidly went off on her own to face an unknown enemy alone.
What was she thinking? Did she want to prove her superiority? Did she want to impress Annabeth?
Stupid goth.
Trying to prove that she was the better warrior and leader by fighting alone. Yeah, that totally made a lot of sense.
Did Thalia realize what would happen if she died? Grover would die too, because of their empathy link. Annabeth would be heartbroken from losing two of her best friends.
It was lucky that Thalia was turned into a tree, so she technically didn't die. When Grover had first heard that Thalia nearly died and was now transformed into a plant by her father, he cried like a baby as well as shit his pants.
Repeatedly, for an entire gods damned week.
Finally everyone at camp began to complain of the smell. Dionysus had to personally talk to Grover in order for him to shut up as well as control his bowels.
Of course, they decided to save Thalia the idiot. Unfortunately, they lost the element of surprise by doing so, but atleast they saved the lightning rod.
Now, they were fighting desperately for their lives. Yeah, it's an everyday occurrence for the children of the gods.
Thalia groaned as another wave of thorns hit her shield. This fight was annoying. The spikes kept her from getting in close to finish the monster.
Grover was having a hard time too. His wooden shield was not as strong as hers, so he had to keep moving while trying to support them with his pipes, which was was not working well.
Anything he did was merely a nuisance to Dr. Thorn. After all, Satyrs weren't created as warriors.
Luckily, the now visible Annabeth was keeping the new demigod siblings away from the fight. If Dr. Thorn turned his attention to them, then they would not be able to do much to protect them.
Then things got really bad. A helicopter (armed probably) was heading their direction.
Yep, that was certainly all that they needed.
Now they were officially screwed.
Suddenly, a loud horn rang through the clearing. Then young girls appeared. Each was armed with bows and arrows.
The Hunters!
"Okay," Thalia deadpanned. "I take it back. Now we are completely screwed."
Zoë Nightshade observed the scene before her. Four demigods, one satyr, and one monster were all on the cliff. Three of the demigods were girls. She could tell even if she was so far away.
Maybe by the end of the night, she would have more sisters in the Hunters.
The monster was a manticore. A rare beast to hunt, that was for sure. Fear was evident on the beast's face. It should be afraid.
Because the Goddess of the Hunt was here to slay it.
"Permission to kill, my lady?" Zoë would never begin the hunt without her goddess's permission.
As the manticore began to yell about direct interference laws placed by the gods, Zoë rolled her eyes.
The beast was stupid and ugly.
Her goddess spoke to the beast. As if she really needed to answer. They were Hunters. That meant that they hunt. Whether it was animals, monsters, or even men didn't matter.
Anything within Artemis's domain was merely prey.
"Zoë, permission granted." Artemis answered her previous question.
Just as Artemis uttered those words, the manticore lunged. Not at them, of course, that would only be suicide.
No, he lunged at the weakened demigods. He knew that was his only chance. Take captives and maybe he would live.
However, before she got there, one of the demigods, a girl of course, grabbed onto the beast. While this was brave, it also got in the way of their line of fire.
As Zoe yelled at the young girl, the Hunters readied their bows. She hesitated for a mere moment, but then she yelled a command to fire at the beast.
"No!" The Satyr yelled. He was distressed.
"Stupid Satyr, as long as Artemis is here we will never miss or accidentally kill the girl." Zoe mentally scowled.
An arrow hit the beast in the neck. Then another hit the monster in the chest. That didn't kill the monster, but it caused him to retreat. That was bad. The girl was still on its back.
"No!" Zoe shouted.
As the beast dove to the edge of the cliff, it yelled curses at her goddess. Yeah right, what could a stupid monster ever do to Artemis?
Right as it was about to go over the edge, something strange happened. The snow, which was disturbed during the battle, suddenly jumped up around the beast and girl.
Oddly enough, the snow formed what looked like arms. Then the snow arms pulled the pair away from the cliff.
One arm took the beast and dropped it away from both the cliff and the demigods. The other arm carried the girl over the edge of the clearing where the trees began again, yet not anywhere close to the Hunters.
The snow from the arm began to fall more and more as the girl was carried. Soon, only momentum was keeping the girl flying through the air.
As she began to scream as she fell, a person jumped out of the shadows of the trees and caught the girl.
Annabeth was surprised. This was to be unexpected of course. First, she was on a monster about to go over a cliff. Now, she was being held by a stranger. Granted that the stranger did not seem to intend any harm.
The gentle yet firm way he held her told her that.
"Are you alright?" The young man (she could tell by his voice) asked her.
Annabeth blushed as she stared into his unusual heterochromic eyes. "Yes."
"That's good." Was all he said with the hint of a smirk. Then he gently put her down.
His eyes never left the monster. He stance suggested he was ready to fight.
An identical man appeared beside him, except that he had deep sea green pupils instead. A sword was already unsheathed in his hand. Annabeth realized that they were twins.
The sword was unusual. The blade was a katana. Most of the sword was black. The bloodline, however, was blood red. Crimson red cloth also wrapped around the handle.
The most distinct feature was the chain. At the end of the handle was a black chain. The chain was rapped around the man's arm multiple times. The chain was tight, yet loose enough to not hinder movement and not restrict the blood flow.
"Stay behind me," The second brother with the sword commanded. Annabeth felt compelled to obey those words.
"You!" Dr. Thorn had finally realized what happened. He looked furious and yet completely terrified at the same time. "Why are you two here, Immortal Inquisitors? What reason do you have to interfere?"
"We need no reason." The first teen who caught her (What did Immortal Inquisitor even mean?) simply shrugged.
Then, out of the blue, the Hunters shot arrows at the monster. Annabeth was sure it was dead. She gasped when the snow suddenly shot up in the form of a wall to stop the arrows.
"This is my fight now. Do not interfere." The twin wielding the sword commanded. His words rang throughout the clearing.
Then he spoke directly to the manticore. "There would be no honour if I killed you with help."
"Don't get arrogant!" Dr. Thorn shot multiple poisoned thorns at the man. Annabeth dropped to the ground. The brothers did not.
Instead, the other man also drew a sword that seemed to be made of celestial bronze as he blocked them all with only one controlled swing.
Everyone was in awe. How was that possible?
The katana wielding brother began to walk towards the monster. In response, the manticore fired more and more thorns at them. Each one was blocked between them both as the twin with the dual colored eyes stayed back to protect Annabeth.
Dr. Thorn sent an almost countless amount of thorns at the approaching warrior. His red katana was a blur. Annabeth could have sworn that more than one blade was moving.
Sometimes Dr. Thorn would fire at the weakened demigods. The snow always reached up and stopped them, though.
Soon, the teen was standing almost in front of the manticore. The monster roared as it swung its tail at the him.
That did nothing to Percy as he swung.
His sword cut through The manticore's tail with ease. As the tail hit the ground, Dr. Thorn screamed in pain. The pain filled scream was cut short when Percy positioned his blade to the monster's neck.
"Until the next battle manticore." Then, he chopped off the monster's head. All of the body parts soon turned to golden dust.
Then Percy turned to the helicopter. By the sound of it, the copter was about to shoot at them.
It never got the chance.
A large pile of snow formed into a giant ball in mid air and launched itself to the helicopter. It hit the copter dead on, and causing it to lose its blades and fall into the water below.
Silence. That was all that could be heard. Some stranger single handedly took out a monster which Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover could not beat together.
Then he took out a freaking helicopter! He even made it look easy!
That fight could not be called a battle. It was merely an execution. They realized.
Then the silence ended.
"How dare you!" One of the Hunters yelled, causing the twin protecting Annabeth to wince and cover his ears. "That monster was our prey! What gives you the right to steal our kill?"
"You took too long." Were the twin's answer in unison.
Annabeth was at a loss for words. She didn't know who these men were, but she was glad that they were on their side. At least, she hoped they were on their side.
"Okay, somebody tell us what the hell is going on?" The girl, Bianca, shouted.
She was ignored.
The men were looking at only one person, and that person was standing in front of the hunters.
She looked like a young suburn haired girl, but Annabeth knew better from the power radiating off her. Annabeth also noticed the teen who saved her look away shyly before speaking up.
"Hello, Lady Artemis." Both of the brothers greeted the goddess in a respectful tone.
"Hello again, Perry and Percy Jackson." Artemis smiled.
Author's Note: I'm exhausted. Three chapters in the span of less than 24 hours.
Remember! Still need pairings! And I don't know why my story wasn't on the top of the updated list when I uploaded chapter 2. If this chapter doesn't make my story on the updated list, I'll be pretty mad. =(
Review or PM me with ideas and thoughts! See you all next chapter!