Sorry for the delays, I was sleeping a lot but here I am...
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag. Naruto and Percy both were all but trembling with excitement, both boys were far stronger then the majority of their peers and this would be a chance to really focus on that. To showcase what they were capable of against people that should be near them in skill and power and experience. Percy especially as he lacked the chakra that made Naruto so much stronger.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
Percy turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"
"Yeah."
"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," he said. "But often."
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do- repaint the flag?"
He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."
"Whose side are we on?" Naruto asked. "Let me guess, Team Grey?"
He gave a sly look, as if he knew something they didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you two are going to help."
'Somethings wrong, he feels like Mizuki did... I didn't listen then but now... now I know better. There is something wrong with him.'
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what they'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters neither boy was too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
"Whoa," Percy said. "We really get to use these?" His tone was just a little cocky, but Naruto let it slide, knowing that he deserved it to some degree. Percy was a rarely gifted warrior, when trained properly. Naruto knew he would be a monster with Chakra...
"Just don't kill anyone, Perc." Naruto chuckled a little. "I mean accidents happen but try and keep Ares' kids alive. Their Dad might be pissed if you murder them."
Luke looked at them as if they were crazy. "You both are delusional if you think you can take the entire cabin yourselves... well Naruto might be able to... anyway, Here-Chiron thought these would fit. Percy, You'll be on border patrol. Naruto, I assume you want to just use your sword so I'll leave you be. Oh, by the way, your on flag Guard. "
Percy shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. He could have snowboarded on it fine, but he hoped nobody seriously expected him to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
As one, the Blue Team cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.
Percy and Naruto, with their stronger bodies, easily managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over their equipment. "Hey."
She kept marching.
"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"
Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid he'd stolen something.
"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"
"Border patrol, I know what to do. Don't let any reds past me. Naruto taught me all about battle tactics. He used to suck at them so his Godmom made him really study them hard. He's memorized them like crazy, Greek and Japanese ones."
"Oh, really... remind me to ask you about those Japanese battle plans." Her eyes twinkled with curiosity that left her kind of beautiful to Naruto's eyes. "Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."
She pushed ahead, leaving them in the dust.
It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed Percy next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees. Naruto was the last to leave, giving Percy a big smile and a hushed finger. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Six clones appeared and flew around him. "Just in case you need help."
"Thanks Naruto, but I think I got it." And with that, Naruto left the clearing entirely.
Standing there alone, with his big blue-feathered helmet and his huge shield, Percy felt like an idiot. Still he had the sword they stole from Chiron, Riptide, which felt perfectly balanced in his hands. He knew how to use it too, so that helped a lot. He was ready for any and all attacks that may come his way.
Far away, the conch horn blew. He heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past him like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.
Great, He thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.
Then He heard a sound that sent a chill up his spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. He turned towards the sound, falling into a low stance with his own growl, as Naruto had taught him and the other growl faded away entirely. The other presence faded away, but on some level he felt it near him. He kept his senses open and, naturally, he was able to hear a bombarding company of others coming from across the river. He sensed their presence, like he could with whatever had been stalking him.
He wasn't shocked to see five idiots from Ares' cabin explode from the brush, with Clarisse at their head.
"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.
Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords-not that they were that threatening to him.
They charged across the stream. He easily managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded him, and Clarisse thrust at him with her spear. his shield deflected the point, but he felt a painful tingling all over his body. His hair stood on end. 'Damn it's electric.' He thought, growling as his shield arm went numb, and the air burned.
Another Ares tool tried to hit Percy with the butt of his blade, but Percy was too used to Fighting Naruto and used his sword to knock it to the side before lashing out, kicking the side of his knee then kneeing him in the face all within the span of two seconds. Without waiting he ducked underneath Clarisse's spear and used the maneuver Luke had taught him to force the Spear out of Clarisse's hand. He kicked it into the water before rushing forward and headbutting her chin just as she screamed at him.
"You stupid maggotARH!"
She fell back, stunned as he turned and launched himself at the idiots staring stunned at him. He had them beaten in about a minute while Clarisse watched with a dumb look on her face.
"I hate people like you, sociopathic bullies that can't help being challenged. Pathetic is what you are." He had no time for sass, he was angry, not amused or in the mood to taunt anyone. He was pissed. He was tired of bullies, tired of people like Nancy and Gabe and Clarisse... he was just tired. "And here is your reward." Percy walked into the water, his senses expanding like he had a bag of his mom's double-espresso jelly beans. He felt like he and Naruto were right on who his dad was. Reaching down, he picked up the spear Clarisse had attacked him with.
"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" There was a pained look in her eyes, a pained look that he relished in. Naruto was right, there was something in beating your abusers.
Then he heard yelling, elated screams, and he saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.
"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."
They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Their side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. They'd won.
Percy was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to him in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."He looked, but she wasn't there. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
He decked her again, knowing what had happened. "You set me up," You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."
Annabeth shrugged, nursing her cheek as she stood. " I guess I deserved that... anyway, I guess I should have told you. Athena always, always has a plan."
"A plan to get me pulverized."
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."
Percy was about to retaliate and insult her, or hit her again, when he heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.
The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which he would realize, only later, that he had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"
Annabeth drew her sword.
There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
It was looking straight at Percy.
Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"
She tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth- only to go flying as an orange blur rammed into it, screaming. " RASENGAN!" The monster went flying away, just as Naruto landed by Percy's feet. Actually five other Naruto's all appeared at the same time, each having hit the beast with a rasengan.
Across the river, the thing landed, rolling across the dirt before dispersing into shadow.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."
Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"
"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her but before he could say anything else, a Naruto clone had donkey kicked her unconcious. "Or you could do that... well talk about you doing that later Naruto."
"Bite me old man." Naruto said.
Some of the campers gasped, but oddly not at Naruto's disrespectful words. Percy felt their shock too, and he looked at his best friend hard. "Naruto, I know who your godmother is."
Naruto frowned at him, all of the clones did, but finally one noticed it... and gasped as well. "Where's the boss, he needs to see this."
"What do I need to see thats-' Naruto, the real Naruto, burst out of the woods and jumped across the woods, landing next to Percy only to gape at the clone... just before above his own head, a symbol appeared. The same symbol that was over the heads of his clones.
It was silver, and had the chariot of the moon flying across the sky with a women riding in back. An archer's bow clear on her back.
"It is determined... "Everyone kneeled, in shock and amazement. "All hail Naruto Uzumaki, Godson of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, Chasity, the Wild, the Moon, and Maidens..."
"Have you looked at Percy then?" Naruto spoke up and they all turned to him, a gasp on their lips once more. Percy looked up and he saw it too.
The sign was already fading, but He could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around me, campers remained kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.
"My father?" Percy asked, without any real shock.
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was fun, interesting and different.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.