"This isn't fair, how are we supposed to win when the Athena Cabin has the Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, and all the others from the seven, except for Leo and the Hephaestus Cabin. All I got is the Hermes Cabins, Apollo Cabin and the Minor Gods' Cabins. I'm outnumbered, outpowered, and they have Annabeth." Clarisse complained out loud.
"I thought the Ares Cabin could take out all the other cabins Clarisse," Malcolm teased her.
"Shut it, Owl Face! We can take all the normal demigods, but you guys have all the Seven. There's only so many supercharged and powered demigods we can deal with before we're overrun." Clarisse bantered as she gestured at the currently amused Seven.
"Never thought I'd hear that from Clarisse." Percy piped in with a smirk.
"Shut it, Prissy. I'd beat you in a 1 vs 1 any time. " Clarisse quipped back.
Chiron, who had been standing off to the side, amusingly watching the conversation gently trotting forward, "How about we give the Seven plus the Hades Cabin their own flag? That should be fair?"
"What, and make it a 3-way challenge?" Malcolm questioned.
"Let's do it!" Clarisse jumped in with the support of the Minor Gods' Cabins.
"What, afraid to lead the Athena Cabin without your sister?" Clarisse egged on.
"I could beat you with or without them!" Malcolm jumped on the bait.
"Prove it then." Clarisse smiled.
Annabeth and Percy watched the banter between both of the leading Cabins with amusement as Chiron came over and handed them a flag similar to the other two before turning around and addressing the whole group of campers.
"This Capture the Flag Game will have three flags in play. Of course the Athena Team and Ares Team will each have one flag, but the Seven and Nico will have the third and final flag. With that, each team has 30 minutes to set up, the Seven shall be near Zeus's Fist, the Athena Team shall be in the South Woods while the Ares Team shall be in the North Woods." Chiron announced in a booming, grandfatherly voice.
Nico walked up to Percy and Annabeth, completely ignoring Percy and asking Annabeth, "So what's the plan?"
The rest of the Seven and Calypso quickly gathered around her as she grabbed the flag which had been planted in the ground. It changed into a brown background with a circle in the middle instead of a Cabin's symbol, it showed the Argo II with each of their parents symbols on the side of the ship.
"What's the plan, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, fiddling with his pen as a feeling of nostalgia blossomed in his chest.
The rest of the Seven and Nico followed her as she began leading the way into the forest, her free hand clasped in Percy's.
"Here's the plan." Annabeth began as they trekked through the forest, she was now going into her strategist mode.
"The Athena Team is going to expect that we're going to go for the Ares Team first and the Ares Team will expect us to go for them first so they'll both be setting up for that. Athena will try to surprise us and attack by going around us, avoiding any unnecessary confrantations. They have more numbers after all, and the Ares Team will try to defend against us."
"So Jason, Leo, Piper, Calypso, you'll be attacking the Ares Team, keeping them busy but more importantly making sure that they don't manage to get to our flag, just because Clarisse knows she will be defending doesn't mean she won't try to attack." Annabeth looked at the four as she tried to impress the importance of their jobs.
They had reached their spot and Annabeth planted the flag into the ground and spun to Hazel and Frank a smirk toying on her lips.
"Usually a team is forced to place a flag above the ground in one spot and there's not much we can do to hide it, but thanks to Hazel's skill with the Mist and Frank's Skill with bow and arrow, we have other opportunities available to us. Hazel, I want you to create an underground mini maze, make it hidden, but still visible. We want the enemy team to find it, hide our own flag with the mist and make some non-lethal traps in the Maze. Leo, help her with the traps during the preparation phase. Frank, you're going to guard the flag, make yourself into a squirrel or other wood type animal and hide and shoot at anybody that approaches the flag."
"Percy, Nico and myself will sneak to the Athena Team and take their flag. After this we'll go to the Ares Team and take theirs before sweeping back to our territory."
Annabeth glanced around at everyone." Anyone have any questions?"
The conch horn signifying the beginning of the games rang out as Annabeth and Percy stood up from their waiting places, Nico appearing from one of the shadows of the trees.
In Percy's opinion the plan was a brilliant one, although he would be the first to admit that he thought all of Annabeth's plans were brilliant. Although he would be the first to admit that he was biased considering she was his girlfriend and he thought the world of her.
He followed after Annabeth as they began moving towards the Athenian side, it was across a small creek. They all stayed quiet. They were experienced enough at this point not to make a single noise. They made their way across the forest, reaching the creek in record time.
Followed by Nico and then Percy, Annabeth stopped and waited for just a split second before water solidified under their feet thanks to Percy. They reached the other side when Annabeth seized up, just briefly, making Percy pull out Riptide in its pen form as she motioned for both of them to get into hiding.
Nico melded into the shadow of one of the trees, becoming practically invisible to the naked eye. Annabeth and Percy both reacted on instincts which they had learned in Tartarus.
Annabeth found a root with some branches and leaves around it, pressing herself against the side of it, she pulled the branches over her. Shifting her Drakon sword to rest on her chest, she was ready in case she was discovered.
Percy meanwhile, used Riptide as a grip as he climbed up a tree and held himself on a branch, pressed against the trunk as he waited for the Athena Team to pass by.
Across the forest, Jason, Piper, Leo and Calypso had already begun fighting with the Ares team. A mixture of children from Hermes and Ares cabin were what they came into contact with first. Although the Ares Cabin was the most well versed and trained for formation fighting, the last two wars had made all the cabins quite adept at doing the same.
Their opponents had formed a phalanx while approaching the four demigods, behind them was a group of archers shooting in volleys and mostly keeping Jason from being able to take to the air and fly above them. In total, around 50 campers were presently facing the 3 heroes of the Giant War and a Titaness.
There was a small pause from both sides, the only sound was the wind gathering around Jason and the whistling of the arrows which they easily dodged. Jason took a step forward as he bolted forward with the help of the wind, directly at the center of the Phalanx, he held his Gladius at the ready, the imperial gold reflecting the sun.
The impact shattered the phalanx as the other three quickly followed him into battle. Piper's voice could be heard shouting commands with her charmspeak, resulting in chaos and confusion as campers dropped weapons. She weaved in and out of the crowd, her knife slashing and knocking out campers, left, right and center. Leo used two hammers, rendering shields useless, as he delved into the battle. Calypso followed him using a knife to cover his back, whispering hexes under her breath, she mostly manipulated the winds to make a sword miss or trip them, as her opponents meagerly attempted to try to salvage their position, doing their best to remain vigilant in the face of such opposition from the couple. While she wasn't big on fighting, she still knew how to fight thanks to being the daughter of the Titan Atlas.
Jason knocked out a camper before spinning around and finding a sword that had been aimed at him clattering on the ground. Piper was just behind the now unconscious camper. Within a split second, Jason felt the tug on the inside of his stomach, and pulled Piper towards him, his sword slipping behind her and deflecting a thrust of a spear. Back to back, they continued fighting, a pile of unconscious bodies beginning to form around them.
Leo's hammer hit a shield at full force, a scream erupted from the camper, echoing out as Leo winced, his strike breaking the arm of the opposing camper. Turning on his heel, he let flames out of his hands, forcing some campers back, as he avoided a stab from a nearby sword, which was directed toward his ribs. He riposted, hitting the sword with one of his dual hammers, and making it skitter across the ground far away from reach. Quickly reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a deployable celestial bronze net. Throwing it at the camper, a small tube expanded into the net, wrapping around the Camper and immobilizing him.
Calypso zipped past Leo, having been fighting the whole time she casted spell after spell. Having used only minor spells so far, her magic was weaker than before leaving Ogygia, but her use of them was enough to unbalance her enemies. She hadn't even broken a sweat as she knocked out a camper, whispering a spell to concentrate all the weight of the blade to the tip, making it crash to the ground. Being the daughter of Atlas did have some benefits such as better endurance and strength. She continued to weave in and out between the campers, staying close to Leo both for his protection, and because anytime she would be overwhelmed he would swoop in to help her out.
Hazel watched as the Athenian team entered the cavern she was in and began moving through it. She had refined Annabeth's plan, making only part of the maze; she simply grew the tunnels as they took turns leading them in circles around the area. She eventually ran out of traps, moving her to the next phase of the plan. Hazel had them enter a large room in which she made a false flag appear with the mist. Now standing at the bottom of the small hill, they faced a small company, roughly 30 to 40 campers. This small group was composed of fewer campers now, their numbers having been whittled down thanks to Leo's traps. Pulling out her scimitar, she readied herself for battle, keeping her weapon pointed forward and getting into a combat stance.
Percy, Annabeth and Nico stood at the tree line, watching the 15 campers guarding the Athenian Flag with different assortments of weapons. Readying his riptide, Percy glanced at his two other teammates before giving a nod and exiting out of the tree line in a run. Catching the first Camper with a surprise attack, he whacked his opponent's sword away before slamming the pommel of his Xiphos on his head, knocking him out. Without missing a step he quickly moved onto the next camper.
Annabeth felt her eyes lighting up with excitement as much as she and Percy had learnt to hate the fighting and constant quests, there would always be a part of themselves that loved the thrill of battle. Annabeth loved besting her opponents, partnering up with her Seaweed Brain, and kicking ass together with him. Her Drakon bone sword was a blur to an inexperienced eye as she swiped at the camper in front of her, cutting his wrist before using the flat of her blade to knock him out just as quickly, moving on to the next camper on her path.
A kick to the shins, and a slash at the other leg, allowed her to hit his head with her pommel, knocking him out, cold. She was about to face her third camper, one of the last 7 left, when she instinctively picked up on a hiss from Percy through all the noise of the fighting. It was a hiss of pain, something, she wasn't sure why she had picked up over the sound of swords clashing, the thunder of footsteps and grunts coming from the campers fighting Nico, but she took a glance over to see a cut appear over Percy's leg, and a small trail of blood flowing from it.
Suddenly her body and mind jumped back to the Titan War when they were fighting in Manhattan and even some memories of when they were in Tartarus. She used her shoulder to knock the shield of her opponent to the side, and swiped with her blade, cutting the camper in front of her across the chest and sending him down to the ground without a care to the fact that the camper was an Athenian child. He was stopping her from reaching Percy, she rushed to his side as he deftly blocked the attack and went to disarm the camper before Annabeth arrived, two quick slices brought down a big and burly Hephaestus camper as she cut the tendons of his leg.
In the moment that followed, she stole a glance towards Percy, her frantic eyes checking him over for injuries. Just as she spun around, she felt a spear clip her armour and cut her side, she jumped backward just in time as Percy replaced her, snapping the spear in half with ease and as quick as lightning slashing the camper three times. The flurry of movement and fierceness of his attack sent the camper careening to the ground in a heap. The two last campers backed away cautiously as they recognized the coldness in the eyes of the pair staring back at them, their bodies as if they were back at war all tense and a hair trigger away from exploding into action. Weapons dripped with blood as the last two campers threw down their weapons and continued backing away. Nico came up behind them, knocking them out before glancing at his two friends, there was a hint of worry in his eyes.
"You two okay?"
That seemed to snap them back to reality as Percy grimaced at having lost himself in battle and Annabeth looked around to the moaning and groaning Athenian camper who had been cut across their chest. She rushed over, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small amount of ambrosia that she always carried and fed it to him, healing him while whispering sorry.
"Yeah..." Percy answered, as he reached over grabbing the Athenian Flag.
Frank, who was currently a squirrel, simply sat back and guarded the real flag, as the false flag made by the mist sat underground with Hazel. The only ones that would be able to see the real flag were hecate's children. Frank knew he had the most important job of guarding the flag, but it was boring, and he felt useless as he heard the clashing coming from the tunnel below and the forest. Although he knew Hazel could take care of herself, a part of him did feel guilty not being with her, to help her, an irrational fear that she would be snatched away by their enemies gripping his heart.
Just as he was about to begin running circles in boredom, he saw two hecate kids stop and point at the flag as they slowly walked towards it. They glanced around before nodding to themselves and while one began climbing the tree, the other Iris-messaged Clarisse.
Carefully transforming himself, Frank pulled his bow and notched an arrow, steadying his aim. The arrows were blunt, but one hit from them and you were considered out of the game. Pulling back, he aimed it towards the one talking to Clarisse and released, watching it hit the girl in the back, he quickly pulled another arrow from his quiver and launched it at the other girl, knocking her from the tree and eliminating both of them.
Jason had started getting tired, there was only so much fighting that could happen before you started feeling the effects of combat fatigue, and 20 minutes of intense fighting would do just that to you. Half of the campers and all the archers had been incapacitated in some way, but that still left over 20 campers that were ready to fight. He was currently fighting side by side with Piper, Leo and Calypso, who were standing poised and ready to fight. They were in a circular formation, as the campers surrounded them and began a coordinated push.
Jason could now say, with experience, that five spears being thrust at you were much harder to dodge than a single one. He parried one with his sword and grabbed another one, using it to deflect the rest of them. There were two rows of 10 campers in each forming the circle that tightened its dangerous hold on their group.
"Piper! Superman time!" he yelled.
She only had time to look at him, confusion painted on her face, for a brief second before the wind picked them both up and launched them over the campers to their rear. They quickly knocked out a few more of them as the remaining campers broke their formation and started to frantically advance forward.
Jason continued pushing through the exhaustion, although he was beginning to debate to start a fighting retreat, he saw two flags appear in the horizon, one with a boar and red background, and the other one with an Owl and Grey background. Behind them were two different groups chasing after them, one with blue feathers on their helmet and blue armbands representing the Athena Team and the red plumes and red armbands being the Ares Team chasing after their stolen flags.
Jason poured even more effort into his fighting as he knocked out another four campers in quick succession. By the time Annabeth, Percy, and Nico had met up with him there were only four Campers left. They were quickly knocked out with ease, and the three regrouped.
"Percy, Nico, run for our border, we'll buy you time." Annabeth ordered both of them.
Percy hesitated to leave, he was holding the Owl Flag, and before he did anything Annabeth pulled him down, pressing a chaste kiss against his lips and rolling her eyes at him.
"Don't worry about me Percy, I can hold my own... and it's just capture the flag, it's not like Manhattan or Tartarus." Her voice cracked just slightly at the end.
"You're right... kick some ass for me, Wise Girl." He gave her a brilliant smile as he took off.
She gave him a smile and turned around, barely glancing to see Nico and Percy making it a race, shaking her head softly at their childishness. She picked up a shield which she'd need, considering the amount of campers that were headed her way, she thought to herself.
Readying her Drakon sword, she took a deep breath. They had formed a half-circle as they prepared themselves for the 100 or more campers currently charging at them with blue and red plumes on their helmets, Malcolm and Clarisse must have decided to team up after all, she thought it was a possibility but it wouldn't change the outcome she'd planned for it even if she hadn't told the others.
A darker part of Annabeth's mind, a part that had been making itself more known ever since Tartarus and the Giants' War, bemoaned the fact that they couldn't kill or maim anyone. Something calculatedly brutal enough would certainly pause the fight long enough for them to win.
She stamped that thought down, shaking her head slightly, just as she glanced up and saw Clarisse jump, thrusting her spear downwards towards her face. She raised her shield to block the spear before shoving her shield forward towards her. Clarisse instantly blocked her with her own shield. She then swiped her sword at Clarisse's legs, barely missing, as she stepped back before Annabeth jumped backwards, narrowly escaping another sword strike which swung at her, barely missing her face.
A second camper also tried to strike, but being ready this time, she quickly blocked and swiped with her sword at his hand, cutting his wrist deep enough to force him to drop his sword. Pressing her advantage she swung her shield at him. Her shield strike was barely blocked by Clarisse's own Shield getting in between the two battling opponents. Malcolm, appearing next to Annabeth, swung his own sword at her
Blocking it with her own sword, she was forced to slip her arm out of the shield as Clarisse trapped it between her spear and shield. Deciding to try and take out her brother first, she felt herself slip into survivor mode. Slipping within his defences, she grabbed his arm and pulled him in front of Clarisse's shield bash, hitting him in the back.
Twisting his hand, he dropped his sword, and she was once more stopped from knocking out a camper by another one arriving and joining the heat of battle. Forcing her back with a spear, Clarrise thrust her spear once more, in time with the other camper, and forcing her to roll away. Annabeth ducked their attack, only to come up and find two more campers swinging their swords at her. She barely had time to block them, stumbling back before twisting her body and entering their guard. She sliced one of them across the chest multiple times before the other one swiped their sword at her. She caught it swiftly with her sword and maneuvered her way in till she was holding the arm of her first opponent without a second thought, forgetting that this was just a capture the flag game, she snapped his arm and shoved him away.
The snapping of bone seemed to stop the fighting all around her. This was followed by the yell of pain as all heads turned towards her. She was panting, sword still in hand, and body tight as a coiled snake ready to strike, her eyes looked around with a wild expression sunk deep in her features. They flitted from camper to camper, scanning for the next sign of danger. To anyone observing her, her eyes held a darkness in them which made the less experienced campers shiver. A few beads of sweat dripped down her face as she spun around dangerously but cautiously, as if someone was going to attack her from behind or from any direction.
The conch horn blew in the background, signalling the end of the game, as Annabeth slowly backed away from where the fighting had happened. She lowered her sword as the rest of the Campers gave her room. The seven looked at her with worry as she moved away from the other campers.
Percy had jogged back to her, when he arrived he wrapped his arms around her. She was outside the group at this point, when she finally let her guard down and sheathed her sword.
Everyone's attention was brought to a red haired girl. They quickly realized it was Rachel, their oracle who's eyes were glowing green with pythian force.
"Turn west to the forge of the god of Blacksmiths,
The uncrowned king's Wreath of Victory amiss,
A touch to shatter a tenuous trust,
Return to the son of the sky they must,
Wisdom's daughter and son of the sea,
Shall fall from grace,
Betrayed by those they call family."
Rachel fainted, barely being caught by Chiron who was coming up behind her. A bright flash of light made all the demigods avert their eyes. As it died down, they saw a man shining like the sun standing in the middle, he gave them a blinding smile as his golden hair had a slight shimmer to it.
His eyes looked as if he disagreed with what he was about to say, a ping of sadness hidden within them.
"The gods have tasked Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase with this quest. They may not enlist a third member for this quest. The gods have tasked this quest to help decide on the fate of the two demigods, to prove their loyalty to Olympus." Apollo spoke, his voice having a frustrated melody within it.
He flashed away, giving one last look of pity on the couple who were glaring, barely missing a frustrated "What!" from their defiant looks which were displayed on their faces.
Chiron looked at the both of them with pity as he spoke, "You two had better get ready for your quest, and get a goodnight sleep"
A brief look of anger crossed their faces before resignation replaced it and they trudged off to go pack and rest.
Here's chapter III for you guys, I hope you enjoyed it. It was a change of pace from the other chapters with more action and seeing from different characters view points. I apologize for the late chapter the goal was to post the Chapter last Friday. But due to my beta readers getting sick it delayed the entire process. Their better now thankfully (Idk what I would do without them).
I personally like how this chapter turned out specifically the Annabeth parts of this chapter and writing some action scenes with Calypso, it was fun. I was trying to strike a balance between badass scenes, realistic challenges and the consequences from Percy and Annabeth having gone through everything with the only person truly understanding being Nico. I wanted to write a bit more with Frank and Hazel in the scene but that would of turned this chapter into a 7-8 thousand word chapter, so sorry for the ones that were hoping to see more of them. Let me know what i did right with the action scenes although don't expect future chapters to change POV as much, its a more Percy/Annabeth centric fic so their going to be the focus in future action scenes. Usually I don't talk too much about my thoughts on the chapter itself... let me know if you guys like when I do so or just find it annoying.
Right this part is important, I need you guys to let me know which path/idea you guys would prefer to see. I was thinking of maybe including Apollo's lost of immortality to the book, I haven't actually read the Trials of Apollo but I do know he loses his immortality. Would you prefer if that happens or do you want him to stay immortal. If he stay's as an immortal god he will probably become one of the bad guys of the story like the other gods but if he doesn't have his immortality theirs a possibility of him not joining the gods side. Leave a review/comment on what you would like.
Thank you for all the Reviews/Comments you guys have left on the story I love reading them and my Beta readers love reading them as well. Thank you to both my Beta readers as well S & T for their great work as always.
Irishluck