Like the story so far? Trust me, things are about to start getting intense fast! Enjoy!
For once, things went perfectly. They turned the poodle in, and got the money. Actually, they got 100 dollars more, because Gladiola's owner was a girl a little older than they were who thought that Gohan was cute. So, she convinced her parents to add a little more to the reward. They spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. Gohan spent the majority of the trip with his face pressed against the window, looking at everything.
They weren't attacked once, but no one really relaxed.
Percy tried to keep a low profile because his name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as he got off the Greyhound bus. He had a wild look in my eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.
The picture's caption read:
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.
"This is a problem?" Gohan was the one to say it.
"Don't worry," Annabeth answer. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.
The rest of the day Percy spent alternately pacing the length of the train. Meanwhile, Gohan kept his face plastered to the window, and saw a lot of interesting things.
Once, he spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second- grader on a pony, caught his eye and waved. He looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.
Another time, toward evening, he saw something huge moving through the woods. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.
Between the reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle and what they had from camp, they had easily gotten enough money for tickets to LA. They were all in a good mood, though Annabeth was still a bit wary. They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so they slept their in their seats. Gohan's neck got stiff, and his tail was no better. Now that he had gotten used to it, it felt stiff around his waist, as he couldn't let it loose in the train. Gohan tried not to drool in his sleep, since Annabeth was sleeping next to him. Percy sat across from him with Grover, and didn;t look very comfortable himself.
Grover kept snoring, bleating and waking them up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Gohan, Percy, and Annabeth had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.
"So," Annabeth asked Percy, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"
"What do you mean?" Percy asked
"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?" Gohan leaned in to listen.
Percy looked nervous, but he finally told them. Gohan was shocked by what he heard, about Percy's dream of being in an underground cavern and a voice calling to him. Not by what he heard, but by how similar it seemed to the nightmare that Gohan had had. He could still hear that voice bouncing his head, promising to make him the most powerful being in the universe.
Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs." She looked over at Gohan.
"Are you okay? You have a weird look on your face." Gohan snapped back to reality and blinked.
"I'm fine! Just lost in through." Annabeth had a look on her face that indicated that she didn't believe him.
"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?" Percy asked.
"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?" Percy frowned at that.
Grover snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.
Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time—"
"This time?" Percy asked.
"You mean you've run into them before?" Gohan added.
Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."
"What would you do if it was your dad?" Percy snapped. Gohan was suddenly wishing that he was not sitting next to Annabeth based on the look from her face.
"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."
"You don't mean that." Gohan said with a look of shock
Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on him. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Gohan," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent." Gohan and Percy looked surprised at that.
"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..." Percy asked
"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." She snapped angrily.
Gohan felt pretty awkward, and he was pretty sure that Hennabeth felt the same. He wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but he didn't know how. After all, he couldn't even remember his own family. He wondered if they even knew he was gone.
"My mom married a really awful guy," Percy told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking." Percy said
Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. Gohan wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much.
"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife—my stepmom—treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened—you know, something with monsters— they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."
"How old were you?" Percy asked
"Same age as when I started camp. Seven." she answered
"But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself. Not that young." Gohan frowned.
"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."
Gohan wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So he listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by.
"So, what will you do?" Gohan turned to look at Percy.
"Huh?" he asked.
"If you get your memory back. I mean, if we manage to survive this quest, and you get your memory back, what are you going to do?" Gohan stared at Percy. He hadn't actually thought about it. After all, he had literally jumped from one thing to another since he woke up.
"I guess I'll try to find my family and get back home." He answered. Percy nodded at that.
"Well, whatever happens, I'm sure it'll all work out."
Toward the end of their second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to Percy like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.
"I want to do that," she sighed.
"What?" he asked.
"Build something like that. Have either of you ever see the Parthenon?"
"What's that?" Gohan asked. Annabeth glared at him.
"Only in pictures." Percy answered.
"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."
Percy laughed. "You? An architect?" Gohan gulped.
"Dude!" Gohan hissed as he made a shut-up motion.
Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." Gohan whistled as he watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.
"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."
"Can't we work together a little?" Percy pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"
Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete." She pondered out loud.
"Then we can cooperate, too. Right? What do you think, Gohan?" Percy asked.
"Why are you bringing me into this?" Annabeth snorted.
"I can't believe I thought you were the son of Zeus. I mean, you're nothing like Thalia!" Annabeth cut herself off quickly.
"Wait, you knew Thalia?" Percy asked.
"Girl in the tree Thalia?" Gohan added. Annabeth pressed her lips together and refused to say another word. They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.
"I suppose," she said at last.
We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. Gohan sighed with relief as
Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."
"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."
"Sightseeing?" Gohan repeated.
"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"
The three of them exchanged looks.
"Is that a really good idea when we have to save the world on a deadline? We've got a good thing going, let's not blow it." Gohan was the one to say it. Annabeth glared at him.
"Gohan has a point. Can't we just go to it on our way back?" Percy asked. Annabeth crossed her arms angrily.
"I'm going, with or without you." She stated before whirling on them and walking away. Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters." He followed her. Gohan and Percy looked at each other.
"We can't leave them alone." Gohan said. Percy nodded.
"Come on."
The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. They threaded their way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. Gohan was a little interested by the artifacts, but he really didn't find it all that thrilling. But, Annabeth kept telling them interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing him and Percy jelly beans, so he was okay.
Gohan kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. He couldn't explain it, but he was getting that weird feeling again.
"I'm getting a feeling…" Gohan said nervously. Percy looked nervous.
"You smell anything?" Percy murmured to Grover.
He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."
But something felt wrong to Gohan, and he could tell that Percy felt the same thing. He had a feeling they shouldn't be here.
"Guys," Percy asked. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"
Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"
"Well, Hade—"
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"
"Um, right," Percy said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"
"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."
"He was there?" Percy asked.
She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus—the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true..."
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?" Gohan scratched his head.
"I'm not afraid of the dark." Gohan stated. Grover looked annoyed.
"Well, you're clearly not rational. Add that to the list of weird things about you." Grover answered. Gohan looked annoyed.
"But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked. Annabeth , Gohan, and Grover exchanged looks.
"We don't," Grover said. Gohan really felt uncomfortable now.
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"
Gohan had almost mastered his jumpy nerves when he saw the tiny little elevator car they were going to ride to the top of the Arch. They got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Gohan usually didn't have a problem with animals, but he really didn't like that Chihuahua, which yapped loudly at him.
They started going up, inside the Arch.
"No parents?" the fat lady asked them.
She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.
"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."
"Oh, the poor darlings. What a cute couple you two make." She looked at Gohan and Annabeth, who turned incredibly red.
"He's not my boyfriend! We're not a couple!" she protested, causing Percy to chuckle.
The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.
Percy said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"
"No," the lady answered. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded Gohan of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. Gohan was awestruck by the massive city below him.
Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily, the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.
Percy steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and was about to get in myself when he realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for him or Gohan.
The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."
"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you guys."
But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so Percy said, "Naw, it's okay.
"Yeah, we'll see you guys at the bottom." Gohan added
Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.
Now the only people left on the observation deck were Percy Gohan, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.
"This feels wrong." Gohan stated. Percy nodded.
"Let's just get on the elevator as soon as possible." Percy smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth. Gohan's eyes widened.
"You saw that too?" Percy nodded. Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at them.
"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."
"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!" His parents pulled him back.
The Chihuahua bared his teeth at Percy, foam dripping from his black lips.
"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist." Gohan gritted his teeth
"Um, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" Percy asked
"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."
She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. Gohan snarled.
"So much for a good streak." Gohan smirked
When she smiled, they saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's. The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar. The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster. The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS—IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954.
"That's… a big monster." Gohan stated as he clenched his fists, which started to glow blue.
"Ummmmm… your sword, Percy?" Gohan whispered.
Percy realized that he hadn't even uncapped his sword. His hands were numb. They were ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and he knew that as soon as he moved, the creature would lunge. The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"
"Isn't that a kind of anteater?" Percy asked.
She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you and your little friend!"
The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. He managed to leap aside and dodge the bite. Gohan leaped back, twirling through the air.
Percy ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.
Percy uncapped his sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than he would've thought possible.
Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit.
"HEY!" the chimera turned to see Gohan fire a massive blue blast from his hands, hitting the creature in the face, causing a massive explosion.
Percy dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off his eyebrows.
Where the creature had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges. Gohan grinned as he ran up to Percy, who looked shocked.
"Great, we just blowtorched a national monument." Percy said.
"Ummm… sorry." Gohan laughed as he ran his hand through his hair.
"How'd you do that?" Gohan frowned.
"I'm not too sure. At least that thing is dead." Then, a loud roar made them whirl to see the Chimera glaring at them with dripping jaws.
"Okay, that was fast." Gohan
Riptide was now a shining bronze blade in Percy's hands, and as the Chimera turned, Percy slashed at its neck. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar.
"That didn't work." Gohan stated.
Percy tried to regain his balance, but he was so worried about defending himself against the fiery lion's mouth, he completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around.
"Watch out!" Gohan grabbed Percy and leaped back, sending them both tumbling across the ground. The tail smashed into the ground, cracking the floor.
"Thanks." Percy said with a surprised look on his face.
"I'll distract him, you strike from the back." Percy nodded. Then, they both leaped to avoid the next strike from the tail, tumbling in opposite directions. Gohan roared as he hurled pieces of rubble at the Chimera, which roared in rage. It fired a massive blast of fire from its mouth, causing a massive explosion. While it was attacking Gohan, Percy advanced from behind with his sword held high, and tried to slash the creature on the back. However, the tail whipped around and smashing him across the chest, sending him tumbling across the ground. His blade flew out of his hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.
Percy winched in pain. His entire chest was on fire, and he was weaponless. He remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to him, but there was no pen in his pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form.
"PERCY!" Gohan roared. Then, the ground started to shake, and a massive blue flame surrounded Gohan.
"Whoa." Percy said with wide eyes. Then, Gohan roared as he fired blue blast after blue blast from his hand, smashing into the creature's maw. The beast howled with rage, smoke rising from his coat.
"Come on!" The creature roared as it chased Gohan.
Percy backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced on Gohan, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh?"
The monster growled. Gohan roared at he leaped at the Chimera and slammed his fist across the creature's face. It flew against the glass window, cracking it. However, it rose again and roared at Gohan, fire spraying out of its mouth.
Percy's head felt dizzy. There was no place else to go, so he stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered.
"Percy, get away from the edge!" Gohan yelled before leaping out of the way of the tail. He roared as he fired another blue blast, which simply burst on the creature's fur. He was working on pure instinct, not thinking before doing. Echnida looked fascinated.
"You are a fascinating creature. You look human, yet you possess a tail and attack with techniques I have never seen." She then turned towards Percy.
"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."
"Don't listen to her! Get away!" Gohan roared.
The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast. Gohan hissed as his fist glowed blue. They fired at the same time, both their attacks colliding. Then, they both exploded. The mortals screamed as they were covered in smoke. Percy stumbled, clenching on the side on the hole.
"You have no faith," Echidna told him. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."
Percy hated to admit it, but she was right: He was dying. He could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save him, not even the gods. Gohan didn't look like he was in the state to help him, even with those strange blasts he was doing.
Percy backed up and looked down at the water.
"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face.
"Father, help me," Percy prayed. Then, he turned and jumped. His clothes on fire, poison coursing through his veins, he plummeted toward the river.
"PERCY! NO!" Gohan cried in horror as his friend fell out of sight. Echidna let out a throaty laugh.
"Farewell, son of Posidon." Then, she turned to face Gohan. The Chimera turned to face him, flame sprouting out of his mouth.
"One hero down, one to go." She smiled. Gohan's eyes blazed with rage as his fists clenched, so hard that blood dripped off his hands. The Chimera roared as it fired, enveloping Gohan in fire. She howled with laughter.
"Zeus will reward me greatly for this." Then, the smoke faded, revealing Gohan, standing perfectly fine. Not even his clothes didn't look burned.
"What?" she squawked.
"You killed Percy! You killed my friend!" Gohan hissed with rage. Outside, the sky grew dark and ominous thunder boomed.
"You… monster!" Gohan's head pitched back as his hair glowed. Enchidna's smile slowly faded from her face.
"What is this?" she gasped. The entire building seemed to rumble as Gohan let out another furious roar, his hair flashing from gold to black rapidly. The Chimera snarled, looking at Gohan warningly as blue lightning flashed outside.
Then, Gohan let out a colossal roar as his head pitched back, and a massive yellow light erupted from him, momentarily blinding all present. When the light faded, Echidna let out a furious roar. Gohan stood in front of her, surrounded by golden flame. His hair was standing up and bright gold, and his eyes were a brilliant green. The entire building seemed to shake as Gohan turned to face the Chimera.
You're going to pay." Gohan stated angrily.
Enjoy that? The smackdown starts next chapter! And, for reference, this is NOT Super Saiyan 2. This is the first Super Saiyan form.