Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 13: The Battle for Gaea, Part 1

Mount Taranaki, New Zealand

Annabeth's POV

I watch as Percy flew into the sky toward the enemy camp. I waited until I saw him disappear behind some trees before I proceeded into the woods with Luke and the others. I could see Theseus and the gods off to our right as everyone proceeded through the woods slowly. We walked for at least an hour and a half before Theseus signaled everyone to take cover. We all hid behind the trees. I could see Theseus and Athena concentrating as I felt my skin tingle as if someone was hitting me with a static electric charge. I looked beyond where Theseus and Athena were to see monsters of many varieties walking through the woods. They were heading toward our camp they were trying to surprise us. This would either work in our favor or stab us in the back if they attacked us as we fought the enemy titans and demititans. After about twenty minutes all of the monsters had passed us Luke and I hurried over to Athena and Theseus who were still concentrating hard. When they saw us approach they stopped concentrating and the tingling sensation ended.

"What do we do, these monsters are heading to camp?" I asked.

"We proceed on as planned. Athena and I used our powers to mask everyone's scent the monsters had no clue we were here." Theseus said.

"What if the monsters attack our flank as we are fighting at the enemy camp?" I asked. I saw the worried look on Theseus's face. "What's going on mom?" I asked adamantly. My mother looked at me with concern in her eyes and then I saw her look at Theseus who nodded reluctantly.

"We left a secret weapon back at camp to take care of the monsters. We won't need to worry about them again." Athena said. I couldn't believe her answer.

"What secret weapon?" Luke asked before I could.

"We promised not to tell anyone, but we are far enough away and the monsters can't hear us now." Athena said, my mom looked straight into my eyes and I could see her reluctance. "Percy is taking out the monsters." My heart almost stopped beating and my face grew red. I was so mad I was shaking.

"Whose idea was this?" I asked trying to control my temper.

"Percy decided that his emotional outburst last night was felt by Crius and that with the drakon attack the clearest assumption would be that we lost many fighters. He felt that Crius would try to finish us off with a surprise attack. That's why we hurried with our plans and left so early. Percy decided to pretend that he was leaving and then return to camp and face the monsters." Theseus said.

"You let him do that even after what happened last night?" I yelled incredulously. I saw my mom's expression she was starting to get mad now. Theseus placed his hand on my mom's shoulder and she instantly calmed down.

"Annabeth, I understand your anger, but I talked to Percy and I could tell that this plan was not reckless. He knew he would be able to take down the monsters. He also thought that Crius would leave some more powerful monsters in reserve, like the last drakon." Theseus said. His voice was calm and I could tell that he believed Percy that made me feel a little better. My anger subsided, but I would continue to worry until I saw Percy.

"I was just worried I apologize for getting angry with both of you." I said sincerely. My mother looked at me sympathetically now.

"Don't worry Percy is going to be fine." Theseus said as he motioned for us to continue. We walked for another thirty minutes until we finally reached the edge of the titan camp. We spread out as planned; Theseus with Athena, Hermes, and Herakles taking the right flank, Artemis with the rest of the huntresses, Apollo and Ares taking the left flank, and Luke with all of the demigods including yours truly. We would wait until the monsters attacked our camp and then the huntresses that were riding the Pegasi would attack with Greek fire. I could see that the only monsters remaining in camp were the ten griffins and the earth drakon. The huntresses on the Pegasi would hopefully handle the griffins, while we hoped that the Greek fire would take care of the drakon.

We waited for at least ten minutes until we heard a loud roar in the distance that almost sounded like a freight train, but it was too loud for that. The roar increased until we noticed everyone in the titan camp looking toward the direction of the noise. Then we heard and felt several crashes. It sounded like small explosions echoing through and around the mountain. The noise finally died down until we heard one extremely loud scream echo through the forest, it sounded like a beast in pure agony, then the noise stopped and all sound within the forest ceased. Luke looked at me and smiled then he whispered, "Percy." I couldn't help, but smile as well. Then I felt the mental signal from my mom and we all jumped out of the forest and attacked the enemy as the huntresses and the Pegasi dive bombed the camp and connected with several large hits on the earth drakon, which screamed in agony as the Greek fire hit it setting parts of its body on fire. As an earth drakon it couldn't breathe fire or fly, but it was incredibly strong and its hide was tougher than steel. I knew it was wishful thinking to expect the Greek fire to do much damage to it.

The demigod forces led by Luke and I attacked the demititans. I fought a young girl who was probably only twelve, but she fought like a demon. She almost cut off my head with her first strike. I concentrated as hard as ever and stood my ground. These demititans weren't pushovers. I fought the girl until she made her error, she swung to the side to try a quick attack on my unguarded left, but I expected this. I turned quickly and kicked the sword out her hand while bringing the hilt of my knife down onto the back of her head. I heard a sickening crack as the celestial bronze fractured her skull sending her into unconsciousness.

Theseus's POV

Annabeth and the others were holding their own against the demititans, so I concentrated on the titans before me. I watched as the other gods and my friend Herakles fought the titans. I watched until I saw a titan come up to me brandishing a gleaming celestial bronze sword.

"I am Astraios, son of Crius." He said. This was the titan of dusk. He had black hair and dark reddish brown eyes. He stood twelve feet tall the same height as me in my full godly height.

"I'm Theseus, god of heroes and son of Poseidon." I said proudly. Astraios eyes grew wide when I told him whom I was.

"It is an honor to face you in battle." Astraios said. He swung his sword at me and I was impressed by the quickness and power of his strike. He was better than Ares, so I had to use my full concentration, this might actually be a challenge I thought. We faced off as our swords met sparks flew as the blades collided. As our blades slid off each other Atraios tried to kick forward with his right leg, but I turned and brought my blade down cutting a small gash on his thigh. He howled in pain and stared at me with anger in his eyes. He was angry now and I knew this fight would be over soon. He charged forward not thinking of a strategy. He lunged forward and I moved at an incredible speed. I spun to my left and kicked his knee to the side. I heard a satisfying pop as I dislocated his kneecap. He fell to the ground screaming in pain. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. I brought the hilt of my sword down between his eyes knocking him unconscious and cracking his nose open in the process. He fell to the ground breathing softly.

I heard a scream from behind me and I saw another titan charge toward me with a large bronze spear in his hands. This titan had blond hair and his eyes were almost black in color. At the last moment I stepped aside from his thrust and tripped him sending his body flying into the air and crashing into a fire pit. He rolled on the ground putting out the fire that had engulfed his clothes. He stood up and looked at me warily.

"You hurt my brother, I am Perses titan of destruction." He said. I felt the ground shake beneath my feet as I knew Perses had some control over natural disasters. With my father's powers diminished I could not stop this earthquake. I concentrated and flew into the air with the orange and gold aura around me. Perses's face was one of pure surprise. He threw his spear at me, but I sliced it in half with my sword. Before he knew what hit him I flew toward him at full speed I saw him pull out a shield to block my sword strike, but instead I took out my celestial bronze club and landed a massive strike to his shield. The shield broke into a hundred pieces with a few piercing Perses's skin. The strike from the club was so powerful that it sent Perses crashing into the forest knocking down a large swath of trees. He was unconscious in a large crater surrounded by broken trees.

I noticed that all of the Pegasi had finished their bomb runs and had landed just outside of the fighting area the huntresses left their mounts and added to the attack against the earth drakon. I felt a presence behind me and realized that one of the griffins still remained alive. I barely avoided its massive claws as it tried to slash my back. I flew straight up into the air with the griffin on my tail. I closed my eyes and used my senses to focus on the creature behind me. I flew towards the sun at a steep angle and I knew that the griffin couldn't see me. I came to a complete stop and as I felt the griffin pass me I jumped onto it's back. I grabbed onto the creature's feather and held on for all I could. The creature flew violently and tried everything to throw me off its back. It finally leveled off after tiring itself. I let go of its feathers and in one quick motion I snapped the neck of the creature. It disappeared into gold dust and I flew back toward the fight. I reached the battle and I saw the earth drakon throw several gods into the air. Apollo, Artemis and Area landed hard into some trees and I could tell they were unconscious. The drakon ran towards Athena and Herakles. I flew as fast as I could, but the last thing I remember was a sudden massive blast hitting me in the back and sending me flying into the ground hard, then I heard the mad laughter of someone and I just knew it had to be Crius.

AN: I hope you like this start to the battle for Gaea more to come.