Chapter 6: Game Time

Annabeth left the boys for her cabinmates, leaving Ben and Percy to train at the arena. No one else was there, and the two practiced as the hours went by. Ben was greatly excelling at using the twin dao blades, and his one-handedness wasn't bad either. By the time the conch horn for dinner sounded, both guys had been disarmed more times than countable. Dinner was an amazing pig roast, with the head being burned for the gods. Afterwards, the teams for Capture the Flag were assembled. On his team were him and Percy, Annabeth and her siblings, a bunch of guys with bows, some campers who appeared weaponless, though Ben was sure they had come out of the cabin with odd lettering inscribed in the stone, and another twenty some campers.

On the other team was the blond guy from breakfast, a bunch of girls in pink armor, a handful of kids with grease stains on their clothes, and some thirty other campers. About a dozen of the campers looked ready for blood, hopefully not Ben's. That hope was lost when one girl, buffer than most of his own team, growled at him.

"That's Clarisse," Percy told Ben. "She a daughter of Ares, the war god. Since you're new and she hasn't seen you somewhat vulnerable till now, she's kinda miffed. She likes to run new campers through an initiation. Just try and stay away from her tonight."

"Gotcha. Is it too late to get armor?" Ben had opted to not put on some armor when he, Percy, and Annabeth agreed to make a three person mini team. He'd figure he'd be safe enough with those two with him.

"Sorry man but-"

"Hey kid, take this." Ben looked over and a curly haired guy with tanned skin stood next to him. He was a little shorter than Ben. In his hand was a necklace with the yin and yang symbol on it. Ben grabbed it and studied it.

"Um, thanks? I don't know-"

"Put it on and tap it. Trust me." The guy seemed to have a major impulse going throughout his body. It was a nervous kind of energy that Ben had when he was really hungry. Ben looked over to Percy. He nodded.

Ben slipped on the necklace and tapped the symbol. It expanded all over his body, wrapping him in a thin layer of metal. Ben tried moving around and found the metal was really light. He hit it in a multitude of places, even the groin area. None of that affected him.

"Wow! This is pretty freaking sweet. Thanks." He extended his hand in thanks.

"No problem. Name's Leo, son of Hephaestus," Leo said coolly. "I was the guy Beauty Queen told to shut up last night." Something hit him in the back of the head. Both Leo and Ben looked over at a girl who had choppy brown hair and hazel eyes. Ben thought "Beauty Queen" was an actual descriptor of the girl rather than a nickname. Except, she seemed pretty miffed. "Fine, Fine. You made your point, Piper." Leo rubbed where the projectile hit him. "I'll catch you guys after the game." He walked back to his team.

"Is it just me, or am I just a magnet to people who act nothing like you'd expect?"

"You get used to that after a while," Percy said, like he wasn't done meeting the crazy kind of people he could get along with. Ben shook head and turned to Chiron as he called for everyone's attention.

"You all know the rules: the forest is fair game, the river is the boundary, and no maiming. Red team gets the east, Blue to the west. Good luck." The two team went in opposite directions to start the game. Percy and Annabeth had a great co-captain thing going. They found a great place to set the flag, easy to see, hard to get. Our defense was looking solid, a lot of the bow kids climbing in trees as look outs and snipers, and a good chunk of our team creating a perimeter around the flag. The remaining campers on our team made two offensive teams, one for a head on attack, and one swinging in on the right. That left Ben, Percy, and Annabeth to take the left.

They walked around the leftern side of the woods. Ben's armor was an interesting shade of grey that blended nicely with the flora-a bit too nicely. He was found at the end of the couple's blades quite a few times. Then he heard something.

"Stop," He hissed. He drew his dao blades, one in each hand. Two burly kids came out from out of the trees.

"Go!" Percy shouted. He and Annabeth took them on while Ben ran in the direction they had been going. He found himself crossing the river and didn't stop until he was sure he wasn't being followed. He took his time to catch his breath before continuing on. He walked for a little bit before he found the flag. He looked around for any defenders. No one, he thought. Booby traps then. Then he considered that Leo kid may have made the traps. He looked around and found a low hanging branch above the flag. He sheathed his swords and climbed up a nearby tree and started to climb across the branches. Once he was over the flag, he climbed down to the lowest branch. He reached for the flag, it just being out of his reach. He cursed, wrapped his legs around the branch, and drew his sword, one in each hand, for extra reach. He managed to cut the flag free of the post it was on. Problem: it fell to the ground. He was debating on how to get down when he heard some cracking. He panicked and tossed his swords away from him as the branch snapped. His shoulder clipped the flag post and he started rolling into the surrounding area. When he finally stopped, the ground started to rumble beneath him. He dove forward as a jail cell popped out of the ground. He rolled as a second one emerged and he got up and ran, scooping up the flag and his swords he ran