Alyssa's PoV:

Gah, why did the idiot have to suggest that we fight them, we're supposed to be allies for Zeus' sake! It looked like I was the only one thinking sanely at that time however, because everyone else around me had to be smiling, or cheering, or both. Even my mother looked as though she didn't mind the suggestion and se was supposed to be wise! Why didn't anyone understand that fighting was not a good way to build a friendship from scratch, let alone pitting yourselves against the people who were potentially the strongest warriors in the universe, this was mental.

I glared at Chiorin as she sat down, but she just smiled at me in a way that obviously conveyed the fact that she had won. As if I wouldn't noticed that for crying out loud, I'm not an idiot! Deciding to keep my thoughts to myself as I knew they would do no good, I remained silent and returned to my food. At least the savages had decided to eat first, but it looked like the Assassins had already slipped away, saying they wanted to go check out the sword fighting arena and set a few things up. For once, dinner actually finished quickly as everyone was excited to see the promised fight, even the gods were smiling evily, though I wasn't even going to ask what that was about.

Before long, we had all gathered and walked down to the arena but, for some reason, the kids at the front were refusing to go in, deciding instead to just stand there and stare at the door. Grumbling about why it was me who had to do this, I pushed my way through to the front of the crowed so that I could see what was causing the hold up, to my surprise, it was two of the kids from earlier, Ice and Karma, standing with swords crossed against the entrance and grinning back at the crowd. I found that last part the most disturbing. Earlier, in the pavilion, it had been impossible to see their faces, but now we could see their mouths easily. Just what the Hades did that mean? Saving me from having to think my way through everything, the boy spoke.

"Okay, you want to see how we fight right?" There was a general murmur of consensus amongst the crowd and I fought back a sigh, idiots! "Well, we set up a little demo in the arena, a test so to speak so we can assess your abilities while you assess ours, but we're gonna have to ask the Olympians to fight us cause we don't really want to kill anyone so close to a war."

That intrigued everyone, Ares in particular looked as though he was brimming with excitement, he was even bouncing up and down which was weird, but then, he was the god of war so I guess this was his element. Finally having enough of not knowing what was going on (and probably intrigued by the thought of a test she had yet to take) my mom stepped forwards.

"You say this is a test child, so do you mean that there are rules? What is it that you wish for us to do?"

The girl, karma, grinned at this and I'm pretty sure that I got glimpse of golden eyes underneath her hood which was more than a little unsettling, but when she spoke, she sounded sincere and… respectful? I have to say, I was not expecting that!

"But of course, Lady Athena, there are rules which is why we are out here. There are 6 gods allowed to compete, but you are going to have to fight one at a time, if you agree of course. Shade, Rogue and Gypsy are hidden somewhere in the arena and the second one of you steps into the fighting area, the battle will begin. Everyone else has to remain in the stands. You are allowed to use powers, pets and weapons and… errr I forgot the last one."

Ice sighed, but he did not seem really annoyed. Instead he simply pulled her to his side and finished for her. "As everyone fighting is immortal, once you are touched in the place with a weapon that would kill you if you were mortal, then you lose. Other than that, you can go all out and do whatever you want."

I stared at him in shock, what the two of them just proposed was that three people were going to take on 6 of the Olympian council (admittedly, only one at a time, but still!) and they were letting them do practically anything they wanted… either these guys were insane, or they were ridiculously powerful. I shot a look at the gods, wanting to see what their reactions to this would be, but they were all deep in counsel… one that was getting quite heated by the looks of it. Finally, they broke apart and Ares cheered.

"Alright, you punks got yourselves a deal, but if we win, you have to show your faces!"

I really didn't like the look on Ice's face at this, and the way he spoke the next words spent a chill down my spine. Surely he could have guessed that the god of war would be one of the contenders and so they could never win, but he didn't seem scared, instead, he appeared to be laughing.

"Okay, that's good for us. So, everyone else, would you like to go get a seat in the arena and the person going first will have to stay here until everyone is settled. Oh, and does anyone want to be the referee?"

He talked like this whole thing was a football game, nothing big, or dangerous at all. If it really was arrogance, then that would soon be sorted, no matter how strong they are, there was no way they would be able to take down the gods, the only person I had seen to ever scratch Ares alone was…

Again I cut off my thought as I followed the capers into the arena, looking around to see that most of the gods were following us and I grinned at the one going first. No matter what they had planned in that arena, they were never going to win. Still smirking, I took a seat near the front, right next to the fighting stretch and finally looked around to see what they had done, but the sight that greeted me was nothing short of a surprise. Feeling slightly dazed, I leaned across to Taralan who was sitting next to me as Chiron walked onto the field (he had volunteered to referee.)

"Is it me, or have they done absolutely nothing to this arena? I don't even sense any traps?"

She shook her head and went back to surveying the area as though she expected a mountain to suddenly bloom out of the earth, but then, these kids did work for Chaos, so it wouldn't be all that surprising.

As all the seats began to fill up, I started scanning around for a completely different reason, no matter how hard or often I looked, I still couldn't find a single trace of the three who were supposed to be in here already… was this all a trick or did they really have something planned. Behind me, I felt Zeus begin to grow inpatient.

"When is this blasted thing going to start, we've been sat in here going on half an hour, look the sun is even going to go down if they don't hurry this up!"

With a start, I realised that he was right, we had been seated in here for much longer than I thought, but before another second could pass, I felt someone appear on the bench next to me and I turned to find Ice leaning against the rail.

"Oh, not much longer now, I expect, but we were kind of waiting for the sun to go down, Shade said that we needed to show off our true powers and he is strongest at night, so is Gypsy… and me for that matter, but that's for a completely different reason."

I gave him a weird look when he finished and began reclining on the bench as though this was the best thing in the world. He just looked so calm it was unreal. I was about to turn away when another thought struck me.

"Aren't you going to be fighting, and Karma. Why are you just leaving it to those three?"

I noticed that everyone around us had been listening in to the conversation when they all jumped at his laughter and glared at him until he answered, clutching the girl beside him closer to his side.

"Nah, three against one is a bit much, though I expect they will only go one at a time for as long as possible. We were tired and not needed so we are here as narrator thingies… um, what are they called again?"

"Announcers." Came the clear voice from his side.

"Oh yeah, we're the announcers, so, if you have any questions at any time during the fight, don't hesitate to ask!"

At that, I saw my mom's eyes widen as she was about to take him up on that offer, but before she could even begin to utter a word, the boys head spun towards the door that had just been opened at the other end of the field and he cheered.

"Whoooooo, let the games begin!"

We all sighed and leaned back as the first to fight entered the arena and I pulled out a notebook. Might as well make a record of this for future reference and anyway, this could be a good game… possibly.

*Important, please read before killing Author!*

A/N: Okay, please don't murder and/or torture me for ending it there *hides under table* I know you were all expecting a fight scene, but this is where I decided to end it, I thought it was more interesting. Anyway, the next few chapters are going to be completely dedicated to the competition (but I'm not sayin how many cause some are longer than others) anyway, first person to guess who the first god up is, I will dedicate the next chapter to you and create you an OC in the camp to look out for so, good luck!