Jimmy

Joanna grinned as she took out her scythe, "Dante." I could tell she was looking forward to this by the sinister look in her eye, and I'll be honest… I was scared.

At this point, Zoe began running back toward the demigod side of the arena.

I looked back at Joanna, who was swinging her scythe, as if she was testing it out.

"Well what are you waiting for, McClure?" Joanna asked. "Hit me with your best shot."

My eyebrows knitted. "Fine." I said as I grabbed a tree next to me.

I ripped it out from the ground and threw it at Joanna. She cut it in half with one stroke, but she didn't have enough time to dodge my next strike as I lunged at her. My fist connected with her face, which sent her into another tree behind her.

I charged at her to deliver another strike, but she saw it coming and dodged out of the way as I punched the tree behind her, breaking it in half. Joanna flipped onto the falling part of the tree and kicked it into my head before bounding away into a clearing. After I tore the tree in half, I followed.

Percy

The fighting had intensified at Zues's fist as we tried to hold off the hunters before they could get to Jimmy and Joanna. We were managing to hold them of, but we couldn't hold them for long, even with the three hunters Jimmy knocked out earlier.

Suddenly, Zoe Nightshade ran toward our ranks, but she wasn't charging or anything. For some reason, she looked… scared. Thalia pointed her spear at her, but I waved for her to lower it.

"Percy!" Zoe called as she stopped in front of me. "Something's happened. Thou need to act now!"

As she spoke, the fighting between the hunters and demigods slowly stopped.

"Why? What's happened?" I asked.

"Joanna… she has the flag."

The hunters cheered as they thought their victory was certain.

"For the love of Zues," Thalia said, "don't rub it in our faces."

"No, thou dost not understand!" She continued. "She is fighting McClure!"

Everyone was silent. A second later, there was what sounded like an explosion in the background. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran towards the noise.

Jimmy

A shockwave rang out as Joanna's scythe and my fist collided, making a crater in the ground under Joanna's feet. She struggled to deflect the blow as she dropped to her knees. All it took was one more strike for her to fall to the ground.

I was about to finish her off, but when I pulled back my fist, her eyes glowed bright red, then in an instant, a bright red ray of energy shot out from Joanna's eyes and hit me in my chest. I flew across the clearing, slamming into another tree.

Before I could react to the blow, I felt a sharp pain in my gut. Joanna's scythe had extended and stabbed me. Black blood covered the wound. Joanna retracted the blade out of the wound and spun it over her head, cutting down every tree within thirty feet and breaking more of my skin.

Joanna charged at me, but I reacted as quick as she moved. I threw a tree in front of me and I used my special technique. My fist glowed with yellow energy and I punched the tree.

"ATOMIC FIST!" I shouted as my fist collided with it.

The tree shattered like glass, sending shards of wood in every direction like bullets. Joanna tried to dodge the projectiles, but they were too fast. I heard Joanna cry out in pain as she landed on the ground. She had shards of wood sticking out of her leg and her arm along with some cuts here and there. Vampires can't bleed, so she wasn't spraying blood here and there.

She tried to get up, but I charged her, grabbed her by the head, and slammed her to the ground. After the second strike, she put her feet on my chest and pushed off, making me fly twenty feet. Before I hit the ground, Joanna shrunk her scythe into a two foot long sword and ran at me with her incredible speed again and again, causing cut after cut on my body.

After a few seconds of this, I noticed her coming from the right and punched her in the face, making her fly into another tree.

I charged her again and she charged me, somehow not more injured. She swung her scythe at me and I punched it with all my strength. The force of the blow caused a shockwave that spanned fifty feet and clouding everything in dust.

After the dust cleared, I looked around at the battleground. Everything in fifty feet from us were either destroyed or bent away from us. I looked over at Joanna, who looked like she was out of breath, and frankly so was I.

"You done?" I asked, panting.

Joanna took a minute to catch her breath, and then spoke. "Yeah… yeah, I'm done."

X

"And the winners are… the hunters." Chiron said. "For the fiftieth time in a row."

After Joanna and I settled down, we realized that we had crossed the creek and gone to the hunters' side, and since the flag was tied to Joanna's waist, the hunters had won.

The hunters cheered as Chiron announced the victory and congratulated Joanna. Meanwhile, I got a special talking from Percy.

"Why didn't you just grab the flag from her? We could have won if you had done that." He said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I retorted, "can you catch someone running about two hundred miles per hour?"

"You did a pretty good job hitting her, though."

"Guys! Stop it!" Thalia said, getting in between us. "Percy, Jimmy did everything he could to stop Joanna. He tried his best."

"Thank you." I said to Thalia.

Percy looked at Thalia like she was crazy. "You're kidding. You're taking his side? He's a monster!"

"Tyson's also a monster, Percy and look how he turned out."

"That's different, he's my brother. He isn't. We don't even know why he's here." Percy looked at me and grabbed my shirt. "Listen to me, I'm going to find out why you're here if it kills me."

Percy released me, then marched off back toward camp. As soon as he took five steps, though, he stopped when he saw something coming out from the woods. A thin, dead-looking figure enveloped in green mist walking towards us. Everyone else was surprised when they saw this, because this was no ordinary person… this was the Oracle!

"Jimmy?" Joanna asked me. "Where's the lends?"

"Don't worry, I hung it up in a nearby tree to tape the battle. It'll get this, I think."

Joanna nodded as the oracle stopped in her tracks. A few feet away from the group.

"I am the Oracle of Delphi, teller of prophecies seer of fate." It spoke in a creepy, old voice. "What do you seek?"

At this time, Zoe Nightshade walked up to the oracle and spoke.

"I had a vision that the goddess, Artemis, is in danger. What shall we do?"

The Oracle's eyes glowed green as she spoke the prophecy.

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

With that, the Oracle's eyes turned back to normal, and it walked back into the woods.

X

A meeting was held after that to determine who would go on the quest. Of course, Joanna and I had to stay behind because of… well if was demigods and hunters only, and Joanna wasn't invited.

Meanwhile, we were in Hermes cabin talking about the project. Unfortunately…

"You left it in the battlefield?!" Joanna shouted.

"I'm sorry, I must have forgot it."

"Oh you forgot it! Like I haven't heard that one before!"

"Well excuse me for being in awe. How many times have you seen an Oracle that sprays green mist?"

Joanna grabbed my shirt. "Think of this, then. Who knows what kind of creature stumbled upon it? If that thing breaks, or worse, is stolen, we don't have a project. And if I fail, you fail and then some. Got it?"

Just then, there came a knock on the door. Joanna and I looked in that direction, then back to each other.

"Probably some Hermes kid who forgot his sword or something." I said as Joanna released me. "I'll get it."

I walked over to the door and opened it, but it was no Hermes kid. To my surprise, standing in the doorframe was Percy Jackson… and he had the Lends.

"Is this yours?" He asked with an angry tone.

I stared at him in shock, not knowing what to do. While I thought, all I could say was, "uuuhh…"

"You two were documenting us… this whole time?" He said, sounding angrier.

Joanna walked over to the door as he spoke. "Who is i... oh, for Chromious' sake."

"How did you know it was a camera?" I asked.

"There's a red light blinking and "REC" in little, red lights on the inside. I'm not stupid."

"Okay, look…" I said, as I brought him inside and closed the door, "the truth is, we were assigned a project to document something that had to do with ancient Greece, so Joanna and I chose to do it on you and your friends."

Percy's eyes widened. "Me? Why me?"

"Duh. You were the one who retrieved the lightning bolt, brought back the fleece, and fought Ch-"

Joanna gripped my shoulder with machine strength before I could say any more. "Cholera." She finished. "We heard you had Cholera, but you don't, so… you know."

Percy crossed his arms and sat down. "So… I'm not hated by monsters?"

"Just the normal ones, but the Greek monsters have a grudge against you since you've killed a Gorgon and a Hydra."

"Wait," Percy interrupted, "a Gorgon and Hydra? You mean there's more?"

"Well… yeah." Joanna said. "You didn't really think there was just one of each monster, did you?"

Percy rested his head against the wall behind him, dumbfounded. "This is unreal. I can't believe there are more of these… things."

"Look, just be grateful they're not on Earth." I said. "They're all on Myria."

"Where?"

"Okay, I think that's enough talking." Joanna said as she took the Lends. "Percy, you gotta go. We have to take care of a few things."

Percy nodded as he got up. He walked toward the door, but before he left, he turned around and looked at Joanna.

"One more thing… I just found out that Anabeth's still alive, so… I'm sorry I blamed you."

Percy closed the door on his way out.

Joanna turned to me and slapped me as soon as he was out.

"Ow! What the Hell?"

"You almost revealed Myria and the fact that we're from the future?" She said quietly through gritted teeth.

"Well… it just sorta slipped out, you know?"

"Shut up. We're leaving. Now."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought Ginger was bringing us back."

Joanna rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a small, black box.

"I swiped this from her. It's a return portal. We go through it, we're back in 2014."

I shrugged. "Whatever, I'm game. I'm tired of getting shot in the foot anyway."

Joanna pressed the button on the top and a portal opened in front of us. It was swirling, black, and looked menacing, but for me, it was the only way home.

Joanna and I stepped through.

X

Once we crossed to the other side, we landed in Ginger's apartment.

"Well that was exciting. We met demigods, got some footage, and now we'll pass for sure." I said.

Joanna smiled. "Yeah. I bet… wait… where's Ginger?"

I looked around. "Yeah, where is she? She should have been greeting us with a million questions by now."

I looked around the room. Now that I had a better look of it, the whole room looked like it hadn't been used in a while, but Ginger's belongings were there.

"This is so weird. I can't believe Ginger's gone!" I said. "What the Hell happened?"

"Um… Jimmy? You're gonna want to see this." Joanna said.

I looked in her direction, and my mouth dropped open. She was looking out a window at what looked like the city of New Rome, but instead of the usual peaceful city it was, it had changed. There were explosions, fire, and gigantic creatures fighting each other.

My home was now a war zone.