Hey! Here's the battle you've all been waiting for! Ready? Enjoy!
Gohan glared at Echidna and the Chimera as he glowed, all thoughts wiped from his mind except for one thing: Fight. Kill.
"Mommy! That boy's glowing!" the little boy peeped out with wide eyes.
"You're done. It stops here. Now." Gohan stated.
Echidna clenched her purse and backed up with wide eyes.
"Incredible." Then, she smiled, before howling with hissing laughter.
"I don't know what you are. Even if you are the son of Zeus, you will be destroyed!" she looked at the Chimera.
"Slaughter him! Let him join the son of Posidon in the Underworld!" the Chimera roared and fired a massive fire blast at Gohan. Gohan stared calmly, before thrusting his arm in front of himself and roaring. He smashed the fireball aside, sending it flying out the window where it exploded in the air harmlessly.
"What?" Then, Gohan vanished. A second later, the Chimera howled as Gohan slammed his feet into the monster's side, sending it flying into the window, which cracked. Gohan lowered his foot as the monster staggered to its feet. Then, Gohan vanished, and reappeared next to the terrified mortals, who backed away in terror.
"D-don't hurt us!" the ranger stammered. Gohan was silent. Then, he whirled and smashed the emergency doors open. He silently pointed.
"Cool!" the little boy said with wide eyes. The mortals quickly rushed out. Then, Gohan turned to look at the Chimera.
"Come on." Gohan sneered and made a gesture. The creature roared and swung its tail out. It flew right through Gohan, causing Echidna to hiss with delight. However, Gohan then shimmered, and then dissolved. She frowned in confusion, and then whirled to see Gohan standing behind her.
"An illusion!" she hissed with rage. Gohan roared and slammed his fist across her face, sending her flying into the adjourning wall, which cracked with the impact. She slid to the ground, shaking with rage as her tongue darted across her mouth.
"Slay him, my son! SLAUGHTER HIM!" The Chimera roared as it leaped at Gohan and tried to slash him with his claws. Gohan easily dodged it, leaping over the creature's head. He kicked it in the neck and landed behind it. The Chimera roared with rage as it again lashed out with its tail. Gohan sidestepped it easily. The Chimera roared as it swung out with the tail over and over. Gohan easily dodged it all.
"Seriously? Now I'm bored. This isn't fun anymore." Gohan snapped. Then, he lashed out and grabbed the tail. Echidna hissed as the Chimera roared and tried to pull its tail back. But, Gohan didn't budge.
"Now the poison will finish you!" Gohan smirked.
"Nope. He grabbed the tail with his other hand and let out a roar. He started spinning in a circle, taking the Chimera with him, which let out a roar of rage as it spun. Then, Gohan swung upward, and hurled the Chimera straight up through the ceiling, sending it flying high into the sky. Gohan then held his hands up. He let out a massive roar, causing the ground to shake as a massive gold flame surrounded him. The entire building seemed to rumble as Gohan glowed. Then, he fired a massive blue blast from his hand, flying high into the sky. The entire sky seemed to light up in a massive explosion. After several second, the Chimera's collar fell from the sky and clattered at Gohan's feet. Gohan turned and looked at Echidna, who stepped back with wide eyes. Her forked tongue darted all over her face.
"You're talented, boy. Excellent work." Gohan was silent.
"You defeated my child, and appear none the worse for wear! Very impressive. You have won. Congratulations, hero." Gohan was silent.
"I will take my leave. Even if the son of Poseidon survived, I am no threat without my child." Gohan was silent. Echidna hissed with delight as she slowly began walking around Gohan. Then, his foot lashed out, sending her slamming against the elevator doors. She let out a shocked hiss as she looked up to see Gohan with his hand out in front of her.
"No." Then, a massive blast erupted from his hand, incinerating Echidna. When the smoke faded, all that was left was a smoking purse. The air was silent except for the sound of the aura pulsing around Gohan. He smiled. Then, his ears picked up at the sound of a gun clicking.
"Freeze!" Gohan turned to see about six armed police officers pointing their guns at him. He had an annoyed look on his face.
"Get out of my way. Now." Gohan stated. The officers kept their guns trained on him.
"Peh." Then, Gohan vanished, reappearing in front of the officers. He swung out, smashing the first officer across the face, sending him flying into the elevator doors . He slumped unconscious. The other officers opened fire. Gohan's hand was like lightning, catching every bullet. When they finally stopped firing, Gohan smirked. Then, he opened his hand, letting the bullets fall on the ground. Gohan roared as he crossed his arms, letting the yellow aura surround him. Then, he roared as he thrust his hands out, sending out a shock wave that slammed the other officers into the wall, causing them to fall unconscious.
"Pathetic." Gohan paused to pick up the collar and stuff it into his pocket, before Gohan shot out the window, clipping a police helicopter. Then, Gohan vanished in a yellow flash, reappearing above the river. He looked around, until he felt a familiar energy.
"About time." Gohan smirked before plunging into the water. A second later, Gohan shot out of the water with a very surprised Percy, landing next to a floating McDonalds. To his surprise, Percy wasn't the slightest bit wet, and had somehow found Riptide. He let out a surprised yelp as Gohan dropped him. He groaned as he rubbed his head.
"You know, you didn't have to…" he trailed off when he saw Gohan. His jaw dropped.
"What the hell happened to you? You're blonde! And glowing." Gohan simply looked down at Percy.
"You're not wet. And not dead." Gohan stated. Percy quickly got to his feet.
"What happened to the Chimera? Are those people safe?" Gohan nodded as he pulled the collar out of his pocket. Percy's eyes widened with disbelief.
"You killed it?" Gohan nodded.
"Without a sword?" he nodded again.
"How?" Gohan simply looked at him. Percy looked around. A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead, although one was rapidly descending with smoke trailing from its rear. The crowd of onlookers reminded him of Times Square on New Year's Eve.
A little girl said, "Mama! Those boy flew out of the river!"
"That's nice, dear," her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.
"But he's dry! And the other one's glowing!"
"That's nice, dear."
A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."
"... a pair of adolescent boys," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show a pair of adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. One of the boys also assaulted several officers, several of which are in critical condition. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities ..."
Percy backed away, trying to keep his head down. He whirled to glare at Gohan, who simply looked at him.
"You attacked cops?" Percy hissed.
"They were in my way." Gohan answered. The sky rumbled above him. Percy let out a groan as he looked at the reporters.
"That's gonna be a problem." Gohan smirked.
"Not anymore." Then, Gohan held up his hand.
"Wait, what are you…" Percy began to ask. Then, the Channel 5 camera exploded. Actually, all of the camera exploded. Cameramen and reporter let out shocked screams as the ground was littered with dozens of camera pieces.
"Whoa." Gohan smirked.
They had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere. Thankfully, many of them were distracted over their destroyed cameras. Many of the reporters were screaming at the cameramen.
I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated,
"Perrr-cy!"
He turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug—or goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"
Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see Percy. Then, they looked at Gohan, and both their jaws dropped.
"What in the gods happened to him?" Percy shook his head.
"Your hair, your eyes! Your body! It all changed!" she gaped in disbelief.
"I'm not sure." They stared at him in disbelief.
"We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"I sort of fell." Percy admitted.
"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?" She then whirled on Gohan.
"And you didn't help him, flying boy?" she demanded. Gohan simply looked at her.
"I was busy." Gohan answered flatly.
Behind them, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. Percy recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua— and that boy! He was on fire!"
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy! This boy was on fire and ripped doors open with his bare hands!" Then she saw Gohan. "There he is! That's the boy!"
They quickly disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
Percy told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, his high-dive act, and a message from an underwater lady.
"What happened to the Chimera?" Annabeth demanded. Gohan pulled out the collar and silently handed it to her. Her jaw dropped.
"You defeated it? Unarmed?" she demanded.
"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad." He stated to Percy. They ducked as a female reporter screamed at her cameraman in a raged fit, who was trying to repair the smoking camera.
"What happened to their cameras?" Grover asked.
"Gohan destroyed them. With a flick of the wrist." Annabeth and Grover stared at Gohan, who simply looked back at them. Before Annabeth could respond, they passed another reporter doing a news break. Despite the fact that his camera was broken like the rest, he was speaking into a microphone.
"Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."
They ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!" Annabeth whirled to glare at Gohan.
"Time to talk. You beat the Chimera. How did you get like this? And your whole attitude" Gohan looked at Annabeth Then, a bright gold aura surrounded him, causing all of them to take a step back.
"Simple. I…" then, in an instant, the aura surrounding Gohan vanished, and his entire body changed. His hair turned black and shrank down, his muscles all softened, and his eyes turned to black. He stared at them for one brief instant before collapsing, unconscious. All three of them stared at Gohan. Annabeth swore angrily in Ancient Greek.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Percy and Annabeth grunted as they picked up Gohan and slung his arms over their shoulders.
Somehow, they made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. They got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver, plopping a snoring Gohan into a seat. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them. Percy was silent, while Annabeth glared at Gohan, who snored softly.
"He kinda looked like you, Annabeth." Percy commented. She glared at him.
"He's not a son of Athena. Now I'm starting to think he's not a son of Zeus." Grover bleated.
"Told ya." Percy frowned.
"I'm not sure what to think anymore." Annabeth answered.
Enjoy that? More action next chapter, get ready!