Okay I might miss some things in this chapter but I don't know if I will remove parts of canon or not so… eenie… Meanie… miney… not! So I won't be removing canon parts - well some of them anyway. So this will have to be the entrance to the Underworld.
Reviews:
thehearne97: The Raijin no Ken will be used at some point but I have my reasons why Naruto hasn't used it yet. It will be shown later in this story maybe near the end of this so read and wait.
narutouzumaki9718: Do you mean the police? Probably after the fight with Ares or not. Depends really.
Autismguy593:Thanks for the idea. Thanks for the support and understanding.
On to the story!
Percy, Annabeth and Grover ran - or in Grover's case fast walked with a limp to avoid suspicion - away from the police as their friend distracted them.
"Do you think Naruto will go to Juvenile Prison?" Grover asked worriedly which made Percy laugh.
"I don't think -"
"Well that ain't a surprise," The daughter of Athena commented which Percy ignored.
"- Naruto would get caught cause I believe that Naruto will just give them a parkour exhibition. He'll lose them until he has his fun with the police," he continued as if he hadn't heart Annabeth's taunt.
Their running slowed to a walk and started to look around as they waited for Naruto to come back. As they walked, they passed by an appliance store and saw an overweight man on TV being interviewed. Percy and Annabeth didn't put to much attention but Grover did a double take.
"Uh Percy? Gabe's on TV," he called to the son of Poseidon.
"Well good for him," was the dry reply.
"Okay but bad news, he's painting you a delinquent that needs to be sent to a mental hospital and kidnapper of your mother and charging Naruto for assault and theft on him," the satyr informed warily.
"HE DID WHAT?!"
Annabeth jumped hearing her companion's sudden shout and followed him to watch the TV broadcast its news report.
Just as Grover said, Gabe was on TV and was painting Percy and Naruto as delinquents that needed medication and discipline while pointing out the bruises - which were clearly fake to the quest takers - he got from Naruto. He also put out a reward on catching the two boys to anyone who saw them.
"Look," Annabeth pointed to their right and they saw another TV but this time there was a photo of them along with Ares. The headline was titled 'Adult accomplice of troubled and disturbed children'. Gabe even commented that the man with them in the photo was their source of getting drugs.
Percy's hands clenched into fists as he watched Gabe milk all the attention. "That bastard," he snarled quietly.
"Hey Perce, don't worry. As long mortal police don't catch us we'll be fine," Grover said assuredly.
"Yeah but we gotta go and find Naruto," Annabeth spoke up. "He probably already lost the police."
"Right," the two boys nodded. All three started to walk to a bus station and got on a bus. They told the driver the address they needed to get to but the driver cast a suspicious gaze at Percy.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" The driver asked.
"Uh… Nope. I think you got me confused for someone else, I'm just a stunt double," Percy replied trying to hide his nervousness as did Grover and Annabeth. The driver looked at him, gazing up and down before shrugging and gestured for them to sit down.
Luckily they didn't have another monster-bus incident and got off the bus soon. They went through the alleys avoiding police cruisers whenever they saw one. It looked like the news of Naruto being chased had been reported from the station and the group was lucky enough since they didn't know what they looked like and who to look for.
Just as they were about to get out of an alley, a teen with a gangster style looks and clothes came out.
"Where do you think you're going kiddies?" the gangster asked though it sounded more like of a demand to Percy and the others.
"We w-were just passing by," Grover stammered out as Annabeth and Percy looked warily at the teen.
"Well this alley is our territory and you have to pay to get through," He said this with a smirk on his face as Annabeth caught on what he said.
"'Our'?"
A snap of fingers, other 10 teens came out from their hiding places. Most wore similar clothing to the first teen who seemed to be the leader and were holding various objects such as bats, pipes and one was holding a handgun.
The three quest takers gained nervous looks as they were completely surrounded.
"Now pay up," the leader demanded.
"We don't have any money. Just let us pass and we won't tell anyone about this," Grover pleaded but it fell on deaf ears of the gang, now knowing they couldn't rob them for money.
"Hey boss," the gangster with the handgun spoke up. "How about we just beat the two guys and show the little lady some good time, yeah?" This started a murmuring agreement around while Annabeth gulped in fear. Percy and Grover knew what they meant started glaring at the gangsters and put Annabeth between them.
"Come on sweet cheeks -" A teen holding a bat didn't get a chance to move closer to them when Percy made his move. The son of the sea kneed the gangster in the gut then hit him in groin making him double over as he quickly took the bat and smashed him in the face.
Grover was quick to disarm the teen with the handgun. He struck him in the knees using his crutches then smacked him across the face knocking him unconscious. He took the handgun, aiming at the gangster teens who took a step too much for their comfort. Annabeth was took out a normal dagger that she had hid in her pants.
"Let us go!" Percy demanded as he held the bat up, similar to the stance a baseball player would do when hitting the ball.
"You're gonna pay for messing with my gang boy!" was the leader's retort. He took out a pocket knife and swished it around him trying to intimidate Percy, but for someone who already met the god of war it was if comparing the gangster to Ares like a normal puppy to a Nemean lion.
Two gangsters charged at Percy. The son of Poseidon sidestepped the first one while kicking him in the back sending him tumbling to the ground. Percy rolled to his right to avoid the bat that struck the space he was at, before smashing the bat to his opponent's knees which let out a cracking sound and eliciting a scream of pain that the sea green eyed boy silence when he let out punch across his jaw. The demigod put the bat down on a bunch of trash and swinging it towards the last one while throwing a bunch of trash towards his face. This had the teen blinded when a stick baby diaper attached itself to his face. Percy had to hold in a grimace when he saw this but he swung the bat up catching the blinded teen on the chin and launching him into air before he landed on an open dumpster, which later closed itself when the gangster landed inside.
Annabeth was facing down two teens. The girl stepping in between the gangsters and lashed out with a punch while kicking the space behind her. Both attacks struck as the gangster teens were dazed and caught off guard by the girl suddenly attacking them. The daughter of Athena capitalized on their dazed states, she did a sweep kick knocking one to his back and did a two kick combo to the others one's torso before hitting him on the head with her normal dagger's hilt. Grover took out the gun's magazine and threw it at the teen closest to him, striking him in the middle of his forehead. Grover then used his crutches to whack another in the gut and using the point to of his crutches to smash their feet. As the teen hopped around on his good feet, the disguised satyr balance himself on his crutches and double kicked - much like a goat would do - his opponent on the chest sending him flying into a bunch of trash bins.
The leader and other two gangsters were terrified. A bunch kids just a few years younger than them took out nearly of their gang and one of them was a conditioned cripple! They took a step back when the three kids turned towards them.
"Boss… I think we done fucked up," one of his lackeys said.
"What do you think you idiot?!" the leader snapped dryly at what he thought be stupid lackey.
His other lackey had the best idea to turn and ran with metaphorical tail between his legs. Something the leader noticed. "LEON! Get back here you pussy!"
Leon, the running teen had no intentions on doing so but he slipped on a conveniently placed banana peel. Though that was sort of expected when fighting in an alley where most of the trash weren't thrown properly and just scattered everywhere. Leon got up to his hands and knees but something snagged his foot and started to drag the teen back.
"AH! BOSS! SOMETHING GOT ME!HELP - ! Guh!"
SMACK
Something hit the side of the dumpster before silence erupted as everyone stared at the dark spot of the alley where Leon was dragged into. A car passed by and its headlight gave a brief time to light up where Leon was dragged to. Everyone's eyes widen while the two remaining gangsters took a few steps back horrified and shocked. Lying beside the dumpster was Leon who was tied up in thin wires and had a paper stuck to his mouth and unconscious.
The remaining gangster decided to book it before things got worse and whatever tied up Leon wouldn't catch them. Unfortunately had they looked down they would have seen their shadow getting bigger before something landed between and dragged their heads down smashing it to the ground and their were knocked out.
A figure was crouched between the boss and lackey and the tense quest takers could see he was wearing some kind of cloak that reached around his ankles. But the most interesting feature of the cloak was mix green and silver and had an arrow marked on the back of the cloak.
Grover immediately connected the dots and sighed in relief. He hobbled closer to Percy and Annabeth and pushing their weapons down as they gave him a confused look. "Its alright guys, its just Naruto."
At his words, the cloaked figure twitched before his shoulders slumped.
"I knew I should have left quickly or used a blank cloak," the three heard the shinobi mutter making them laugh. Naruto turned to them and took of his cloak then sealed it away.
"I still would have smelled you Naruto," Grover reminded as he tapped his nose making Naruto rub the back of his head sheepishly.
"Right I forgot about that."
Annabeth giggled slightly before turning to Percy and Grover. "How did you fight so well? You haven't been in camp more than a week but you fought so well and you don't really fight much Grover, so how?" her question prompted the two in question to point at the older blonde.
"Well the last school we studied at had lax rules about bullying and such so we were always targeted even though Naruto chases the bullies away with pranks." Cue shivers from the boy and satyr. "Anyway I asked Naruto to teach me a few moves and been fighting off bullies for almost a year now."
Grover nodded in agreement. "The same. I asked Naruto how I could fight someone when they won't stop bothering me. He said I just hit them anywhere with my crutches then another for me to hit them in the head to make them stop or unconscious."
"And it looks like those lessons paid off," Naruto remarked as he surveyed the scene. The gangsters were spread out, some were groaning and some were knocked out. Others were just laying in the middle of the alley, others were taking a nap beside some trash bins or inside the trash bins and dumpsters.
A siren pierced through the air and the group snapped their heads to see flickering lights of red and blue slowly approaching.
"δεκάρα," Naruto muttered out earning a chastising look from Annabeth and look of surprise from Percy, who understood what the older blonde said and realized that it was in Greek.
"Naruto, language."
"Whatever! Just run!"
The group turned and ran at the other end of the alley. They ran passed many places to hide but most were obvious spots. They turned down the street and around the corner.
"Over there!" Percy exclaimed as he pointed at a open store. It had neon lights for a sign and written in cursive that made it hard for Annabeth and Percy to read while Naruto struggled before reading along with Grover.
"Crusty's Water Bed Palace," they read out loud. The group of four shared a look but they didn't have a choice. They opened the door and slamming it shut when they were all in. They ran behind a water behind and got down. A few seconds later, a police cruiser drove. Its flashing lights illuminating the area.
One of the cops on the driver's seat had his flashlight out and was pointing it out the window. The quest takers ducked when the beam of light passed above their heads. A moment later the light was gone as well as the police cruiser.
"What are you brats doing here?" a voice behind them spoke and all of them jumped from hearing it before turning to see who it was.
Standing behind them was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold reptilian smile. He moved toward the group slowly. His suit looked like something from the seventies. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down a hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing stripes and he was wearing multiple silver chains around his neck.
"My name's Crusty, owner of the fine shop," the man introduced with yellow tar filth smile. This had the demigods and one satyr to hide their disgust at the sight.
"Sorry to bust in here," Naruto started. "We were just -"
"Hiding?" Crusty interrupted giving them knowing looks at their surprise expressions. "Those punks hang around these part at night. Still if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have gotten many customers." He said grudgingly. A second later he seemed to brighten up, "Would you like to browse what I have?"
The fours just shared another look before shrugging at the man. They followed after him to the back where multiple and a variety of water beds were displayed. There was one that was modeled after an aquarium, spooking the fish whenever the bed was moved and then there was one that looked like a lava lamp.
"Its quite a… collection," Annabeth said slowly causing another bright grin to form on the man's face.
"Yes. And I'll be happy when I sell them so go ahead try them out," he said eagerly. The teens looked at each other as Crusty waved them forward. Grover was the first as he hobbled and jumped onto the aquarium like water bed while Annabeth followed in a more sedate pace and sat at the edge of the library themed water bed. Something that Naruto and Kurama couldn't help but silently snort at. "As expected of the daughter of Athena," was the fox's comment.
Percy would have followed his friends' action but the man's eager and anticipating face made him wary, even when the man's face started to have a calculating look when Grover and Annabeth sat down. "Hmm… It seems that there needs to be some changes." he muttered before snapping his fingers and shouting out, "Ergo!"
Ropes appeared at the sides, head and foot of the beds that were occupied and wrapped around the two campers, restricting their movement with a tight hold.
"Hey! Let us go!" the two shouted as the man cackled before turning to the other standing teens.
"Alright boys, get into the bed so I can measure you up," he ordered.
"Like we'll do what you say just after you tied up our friends," Percy retorted as he brandished his sword while Naruto had his bow out and an arrow aimed at Crusty.
"Now I remember why your name sounded familiar, you're the monster called the Procrustes the Stretcher. You lure people into beds and kill them by stretching them until they rip apart or chop them whenever they're too tall for the bed," The blonde said as he remembered one of the monsters he read during their stay in Camp.
"Ha! You've got brains kid. Not surprising since you're that son of that bitch, Artemis." the monster in disguise sneered making Percy scowl while Naruto withheld a snarl. "Unfortunately, I only have a cage to accommodate your kind. What would your friends think when they realize that you're just a monster as well?" he cackled.
"Jokes on you," Percy jeered as he leveled his sword towards Procrustes. "We already know what he contains and he acts more like human than any of you monsters."
"And we - OW! - had the pleasure of talking - Grr, let go damn it! - to the Kyuubi," Annabeth chimed in, wincing and struggling to get out of her binds.
"I think you should listen to them," Naruto spoke next glaring at the monster as his eyes flickered red before turning back to normal. "You know the power that I hold, its destructive when I can't control but too bad for you, the Kyuubi is a friend of mine and is willing to lend me power and I can control myself. "
This got Procrustes nervous as he regarded the blonde shinobi more cautiously. He and other monsters who were intelligent and capable of speech had heard about the Jinchuuriki and the other world, even though they couldn't cross it. They dared not to face any person with those destructive and almost god-like powers, but there was one in front of the monster and he would now realize how in deep shit he is.
Naruto glared at the monster as he tried to think of a way to save his friends without making the monster feel threatened to kill them. He glanced around to see what they could use to distract the monster. At that moment, his eyes passed over the water bed and Percy before he heard a growl inside his head. "Of course… the water boy…"
Naruto looked confused as his brows creased before his eyes widened in realization. He grinned under his mask and lowered his weapons, earning surprised looks from Percy and Crusty. The monster shook out of his surprise grinning sadistically at them.
"Oho! It seems the son of the Huntress is surrendering and afraid to fight," he taunted but Naruto just shook his head as he signaled Percy to drop his sword.
"No," the blonde answered. "I'm merely letting the leader of this quest handle this. After all, you are at a disadvantage compared to him."
The prompted confused looks to appear. "Huh? What do you mean about that?! I'm holding your friends hostage and you aren't holding any weapons and I can kill you any second," Crusty argued.
"Lemme ask you this: What are you selling here?" Naruto asked as he calmly stared at the monster, who found those eyes unnerving and reminded him of the Goddess of the Hunt herself.
"I'm selling water beds here! Are you deaf or just plain dumb?!"
Naruto ignored the jab. "And who is he?" he pointed at Percy who now realized what his friend was planning and hid a smirk. The sea-green eyed teen reached out to anything liquid as he focused his hydrokinetic power to help out his friends plan.
"Perseus Jackson," Crusty spat out. "Demigod. The son… of… Poseidon…" his early venom filled voice faltered as he paled and realization dawned to him. Both unrestricted demigods gave a grin before Percy spoke.
"Go drown yourself you piece of shit."
The water beds around them burst as the water inside them floated and surged towards the frightened monster, encasing in him in an sphere of water. The monster tried to screamed but all the two demigods could hear was gurgling as bubbles escaped Procrustes' mouth.
"Now, I wonder what does a person look like when they get electrocuted in water?" Naruto wondered out loud as he held up his right hand which started emitting blue sparks and a few arcs of lightning over his arm. The monster's eyes widened before the masked blonde touched the water prison, shocking Procrustes who let out more gurgled screams.
Percy would have thrown up his lunch if he knew the figure being electrocuted wasn't truly human and was just a monster who was preying on innocents. Still he ignored the screams and just held the sphere in place with one hand and the other gestured towards his other friends, the water beds they were occupying suddenly deflated as the water flowed out and squeezed their restraints until it broke freeing Grover and Annabeth.
Percy glanced at his friends worry visible on his face. "Are you guys alright?"
"If you call being stretch to the limits and nearly die from it 'alright' then I'm alright!" Annabeth snapped, rubbing her arms to lessen the aching feeling in her limbs. From beside her, Grover was doing the same though his seemed more comical as he was stumbling around like he was drunk.
Making sure their two friends were fine the son of Poseidon and son of Artemis offered to help heal them via water healing or medical ninjutsu - which Naruto was forced to learn by Yugao while Percy discovered the water healing by accident. Grover and Annabeth declined, saying that they'll get better as they move. The group then left, making their way through L.A, avoiding any gang or groups since they were on a bit of tight schedule before they found themselves at their destination.
They looked up at the building in front of them and saw gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.
Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors were the words: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.
'How cheery.' was their shared thought before they walked inside.
"A great sign. Its like the 'No Refund' thing!" Kurama said cheerily and Naruto's eye twitched hearing the fox acting so delightful.
'Shut up Kurama.'
It was almost midnight when they arrived and the sun had set hours ago. The lobby was full of people who were both queuing up and who were standing by the walls to the sides looking very miserable. Then again they would be since they were dead.
"I guess this is the place," Percy muttered. "You guys ready to kick some Underworld butt?" he asked getting a nod from his companions. Though Annabeth and Grover gave an uneasy nod and no one noticed the fang like grin Naruto gave thanks to his mask.
As they walked forward they got a brief look at the place and it gave them the creeps. The carpet and walls were dark gray. Pencil cacti grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken, the place was like a gothic or emo themed room. There were people - a closer look revealed them to be ghosts or spirits sitting on couches, standing up, or staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator.
No one spoke and the only sound that could be heard was the dull lobby music and the sound of their footsteps.
When they got to the security guard desk, there was a tall elegant looking man with chocolate coloured skin and with bleached blonde hair that was shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.
"Chiron? Are you Chiron's twin or something?" Percy tried to read the name tag that immediately caused the others to sigh or in Naruto's case to while the man looked at Percy a little annoyed. Naruto wondered whether Percy actually knew anything about Greek mythology. Percy was very quickly becoming the most clueless demigod around.
"Do I look like a centaur to you?" he asked heatedly Percy who quickly shook his head. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."
"Er my bad," Percy said avoiding the mans stare.
"I hate being confused with that old horse." Charon grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest.
"We need to go to the underworld." Annabeth said speaking up making Charon roll his eyes.
"Well that's new." he said sarcastically. "I doubt your here for a holiday."
"I can think of a hundred other places to go holiday then the Underworld." Naruto thought.
"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. 'No There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.' "He looked them over."How did you die, then?"
Percy nudged Grover.
"Oh," he said. "Um ... drowned ... in the bathtub."
"All of you?" he asked skeptically.
"Sigh. You're just gonna somehow know that we're not dead at all. All four of just are alive at the moment we're merely seeking entrance to the underworld." All three of his companion looked at Naruto in shock while Charon had a half impressed look on his face.
"Kid I don't know whether to kick you all out or be impress and let you kids in."
Charon eyed them curiously before looking bored. "However, you will have to try better than that." he said as Percy dug into the back pack and got out a small bag full of golden drachmas.
"Well now it's been a while since I have seen real drachmas" Charon said, while greedily eyeing the bag. "Get out or get in line." he said about to grab the bag of drachma's before Naruto quickly snatched it away.
"If you get us to the underworld the bag is all your. Along with interest." Percy said getting a nod from Naruto who juggling the bag in his hands.
"Do you think I can be bought, godlings? Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"
"A lot," Percy said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."
"We could mention a pay raise while we are talking to Hades" Naruto added getting a glint in his eye that would have made Hermes proud.
Charon sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."
He stood and took the pouch of drachma from Naruto's hand along with some added drachma's Percy handed to him, and said, "Come along."
The group pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things they couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."
They all stood inside an elevator as they felt themselves going down.
Then they all felt a little dizzy and before long felt themselves going forward instead of down. They all noticed that Charon's clothes had now changed to long black robes and his appearance turned gaunt.
"I don't know how but I think I'm getting seasick" Grover mumbled, a hand covering his mouth.
They all blinked and then found that the elevator they were in was now a wooden barge and they were sailing in some kind of oily looking river.
"This is the-"
"River Styx." Annabeth said looking over the side, finishing after Naruto.
"It looks so polluted" Percy whispered. His connection to liquids gave had him looking green. The river was so polluted that he could now understand what Grover said to him about nature a couple of days ago.
Charon looked at them and let a creepy smile from on his face at the others looked at his completed black and lifeless looking eyes.
"Here we are. Welcome to Underworld children." Inside Naruto's seal, Kurama started to hum the Jurassic Park theme song.
All it did was to annoy Naruto if his vein pulsing on his forehead was any indication.
Hey guys!
I'm very sorry for updating for this long but I have very valid reason for it. Again got held up by my school with many activities and now with the COVID 19 virus going on we've been having a few problems. That I can't always get my laptop before my mom or sister gets it before I do.
I might also post a new story or I might just save it for now until I finish this one and continue Fairy Jinchuuriki - which I will have to update soon.
Hope you like this chapter, leave a review. That's all and SOAR HIGH DRAGONIANS!
