Sorry to nag but, I haven't heard from you guys in a while. :( It makes me sad.

P3rcyxAnnab3th: Thanks, and no, I'm not copying off HG. I've noted that in other chapters. If it really seems that similar, my apologies.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Day one, around late afternoon.

Percy slowly backed away, making a small berth between him and the beast. It lunged forward, and Percy slashed for one of its arms. The mud…thing laughed once again, while the empty socket was quickly replaced by a new limb crudely shaped out of sludge. Percy kept hacking away, chopping off more limbs and bits of its body-only for them to be reformed at a moment's notice.

"As you grow more tired and weary, I simply grow back my body." The monster cooed. Just as Percy was about to give in and run away deep into the maze, he saw a faint, greenish glow in the center of its chest.

"Oh yeah?" Percy walked in a half circular motion.

"Yes, and-Wait a minute…you're stalling!" It lumbered over to dice Percy up.

Percy launched himself up, before it could slash and him and jumped as high as he could and thrusting Riptide into the spot, "That is the correct answer, sir!" He smirked at his handiwork. He set his other hand on the sword handle, as the mud man began to collapse. It collapsed and melted in with the rest of the mud, its wail it had been letting out fading with it. Percy let a small laugh out,

"Nice try." Now he needed to decide which way to go, now that the monster was out of mind. He chose a random cavern and began to walk down it. He continued to scan the floor, walls, and ceiling for any potential places that the maze could conceal traps in. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and he couldn't see the end of it from where he was. While he was walking, he kept thinking about what time it was.

Time had gone by differently in the real Labyrinth, but what about here? Percy decided to take a break, and sat down against the wall. He took a more thorough look in the pack, now that he had his hands on a source of light. He felt twinges of hunger here and there while he was searching, and built high hopes for some food.

There was only one compartment he hadn't looked through yet, and the high hopes began to crumble. Digging around, his hand grasped onto a box. Percy kept digging, and found that there were many boxes, of many sizes. He examined one, and noticed the one he was holding read, Spaghetti Dinner Ration. This was definitely a good thing, but he had no idea how to cook rations. But for now, that was the least of his worries-Percy had just found a piece of folded paper in his bag that looked like a map. He unfolded the dainty paper, it was just what he needed, a map. The only catch was that he had no idea where he was on that map. Percy needed to find a landmark where he could work from.

After about another hour or so of walking, he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He went for a jogging pace out of the narrow confinement. He felt himself lean over the edge, and felt his heart crawl up into his throat. It was a dead end which led over a great cliff into a black pond. Percy flailed his arms, desperately clawing for the walls. But he was too late, his foot slipped down. He clamped his eyes shut, but didn't feel like he was going anywhere, even though he felt he was caught on something. Percy opened his eyes and turned, and saw a trembling hand holding onto the strap of his backpack. It yanked him back and he tumbled onto his back. Breathing heavily, he turned to get a look at his savior. It was the buff, brown-haired girl from the Ares cabin he had known for the longest time, Clarisse.

"Clarisse? Thanks, I guess." Percy said.

"Don't mention it-ever." She grumbled.

"I wasn't planning on it, anyway." He said while leaning out of the dead end, searching for the pond on the map. But that thought still lingered-whether or not the chambers revolved, the map could turn from a tour guide to a worthless piece of paper. Her beefy hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back again,

"Watch it. I don't need to go and save you again." Clarisse said, not even trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.

He scoffed, "Whatever you say, Ma'am."

Percy sat down on the edge and re-examined the map, lightly kicking his feet against the stone wall. Clarisse leaned on Maimer, standing guard in the opposite direction.

"Is that thing even-"Clarisse started sniffing the air, "What's that smell?" She continued to sniff; she could've easily been mistaken as some sort of dog girl. He had his nose too deep in the map that he had tuned her out. He began to feel concerned when he heard her collapse and fall to the floor.

He began to stand up but immediately sat back down, "Ugh…you're right. What is that smell?" Percy covered his nostrils with his shirt sleeve, and his eye sight began to blur.

Once again, he heard the automated voice, "Error, it appears the contacts are malfunctioning. Error, error, error-"

"Arrgh! Shut it, Robot Lady!" Percy roared.

"Can it, Jackson!" The man's voice snapped into his headset, "La Rue just tripped off something. Some sort of gas, it looks like."

"It looks like? You mean-"

"That I can see what's going on? Your eyes are my eyes." He replied frankly. Just then, Percy heard a hysterical giggle beside him. Clarisse was sitting up now, and was starting to hiccup. And then she eyeballed Percy, and a grin that spread ear-to-ear appeared.

"Percy!" She slid over and hugged him around his neck; he was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Just then, she smacked a big, wet kiss full on his lips.

"GAH! What in the Hades was that?" He demanded.

"What do you mean?" She said dreamily, "I love you, Percy Jackson!" She leaned in to try to devour his face. He kept shoving her off while staggering to his feet. They switched places, and Clarisse now had her back to the edge of the tunnel. Percy used all his might, half for defending his face, and the other half for pushing off. Clarisse's heels were on the edge now.

"Sorry Clarisse." Percy said apologetically, and pushed her off.

Thank you to all of you NOT saying anything about the Octavia thing. I thought a little deeper about how much my story is similar to HG, and you guys are right, partly. I promise I won't make it anymore Hunger Games like than it supposedly already is, if that makes you happy. If you have and helpful, not hurtful, recommendations, than I'm open to them.

By the way, I heard Clarisse's name pronounced on a movie. It was on Lupin the 3rd Castle of Cagliostro. It's a funny animated movie from 1979, and I liked it a lot, enough that I watched it about three times in the same week. It's made by the same guy (Hayao Miazaki) who made Spirited Away, Tortoro, etc. So, personally, I may have been a little late on this, but her name in the movie was pronounced more like Claire-eese; but I thought that it was like Claire-is. If you already knew that, you're welcome to tell me…it would save me the space in my brain wondering if I'm a complete idiot or not.

Yours truly,

~iGwyn12