"Hey! Gohan! Wake up!" Gohan let out a shocked scream as he shot up.

"Wassit!" he blinked several times before realizing that Percy was in front of him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the expression on Percy's face.

"I just had a dream. It was about Annabeth." Gohan's face immediately became hard, his eyes darkened.

"Tell me." When Percy finished, Gohan was silent, mulling over Percy's words.

"Luke. I should have torn him to shreds. Any idea where Annabeth is?" Percy shook his head.

"It looked like some type of cave. I couldn't see much besides that." Gohan clamped his hands together in frustration. He hated this. He probably would have mulled on it longer if the conch horn hadn't blown, signaling breakfast. And causing his stomach to take over.

"Food!" A second later, Percy was staring at a Gohan shaped- cloud.

"Of course." He rolled his eyes.

After breakfast, Gohan stormed off with several dummies, dragging them to an outcrop that overlooked the sea. Frankly, Gohan was pissed, and felt that he really needed to be left alone. As he looked at the rising sun, he pulled out Ascension. It gleamed and sparked in the sunlight. Frankly, it was still a stunning thought to him that the sun in this world was a chariot driven by a god. Krillin would have thought that was crazy and hilarious. Bulma would have immediately trying to explain the scientific reasons why that was impossible. His dad and Vegeta would have wondered if they could still throw villians at it. Probably would have wrecked Apollo's car. Gohan couldn't help but laugh, a brief distraction from the anger and frustration he felt.

The sword felt different in his hands from the others he had held. Gohan wasn't a sword person, and had never really used one in his world besides the one Piccolo had given him the six months he had wandered in the wilds. Frankly, no one in the Z Fighters had used a sword except for Future Trunks, and even he had abandoned using it after arriving in their world. Using fists and ki blasts were different than swords and shield. Different strategies, stances, positions.

But the principles weren't too different. Fight and defend. And sometimes the two could mix to create something now. The sword seemed alive in his hands somehow—as if something inside it were simultaneously focusing his strength and guiding his thrusts and parries.

His father and Piccolo had taught him how to focus his ki, and manipulate the elements around him. However, his senses seemed to get getting… muddy. Like, it was getting harder to manipulate ki than before. But, he forgot that for the moment as he continued to swing. The dummy was no match for him, being torn to shreds. The blade seemed to almost sing with the currents of the air surrounding him, twisting around him.

Gohan poured his anger and frustration into his blows. He was mad. Mad that he had made such a careless mistake. Mad that he had been forced to attack the people he considered his friends. Mad that Annabeth was gone, and now in Luke's treacherous hands.

He no longer noticed the sweat running down her face, or the fatigue weighting his arms and legs. Gohan should have been confused about why he was getting tired so easily from a bit of sword training, but all he could focus on was the motion of his body and the sword, moving as one. Thrusting and parrying, wheeling and weaving, until the distinction blurred between weapon and wielder.

"Not bad," Thalia said.

The sound of Thalia's voice jerked him out of his trance. Turning to look at her, he stumbled slightly, his slash continuing and slicing clean through a nearby rock. It toppled off the cliff, tumbling down the cliff into the ocean with a loud splash. As Gohan nervously looked down, he saw several nayiads poke their heads up from the widening ripples and look up at him with annoyed expressions, clearly pissed that he had just disrupted whatever they had been doing at the time.

"Sorry!" Gohan waved down below before glaring at Thalia.

"Can I help you with something? Or do you want to pick another fight?" Thalia rolled her eyes.

"What, we can't chat? I'm hurt."

"Chat? All you done since we've met is insult me, belittle me, start fights with me, and try to steal my sword!" Thalia rolled her eyes. Gohan caught this, and it did not help his mood.

"What? WHAT? What is your problem with me?" Thalia scoffed.

"You know what? Fine. My problem with you? You are an egotistical, overconfident, brooding, airhead who thinks that just because he's super-powerful and has every girl fawning over him, you can do anything you want! And no one does anything about it! What does Annabeth see in a person like you?" Thalia knew immediately that she had just hit a nerve, given the expression on Gohan's face.

"What did you just say?"

"You. Heard. Me. You're nothing but trouble for Annabeth, look what's already happened to her! She doesn't need a poser like you!" Gohan snarled as he raised his sword. A grin came across Thalia's face as her spear seemed to materialize in her hands.

"Finally. Let's see those moves of yours up close." Then, she thrust at Gohan. Instinctively, he ducked as he swung upwards, deflecting Thalia's spear. A smile danced across Talia's face as she countered and parried, forcing Gohan to stumble back towards the cliff. A determined look came over his face as his sword's vibrating intensified. Gohan then trust forward, grinning with delight at the look of surprise on Thalia's face as she was forced back. Gohan let the blade weave in his hand, countering Thalia's spear. He couldn't help but grin, his heart pumping. Sparks danced in the air between them as the air heated. Thalia took one step back, then another, sweat rolling down her face. Then, she jumped back and fired off a bright bolt of lightning from her spear. Gohan jumped, allowing the lightning to pass beneath him, though his hair was completely standing on end. It looked like Vegeta's. Then, as Thalia thrust at him, he spun out of the way and trapped her spear arm under his free arm. He then flipped her over his head, slamming her on the ground. The breath rushed out of her body as Gohan jumped in front of her and pointed his sword. The air was silent, save for their heavy breathing as they looked at each other. Finally, Gohan lowered his sword and held out his hand. Thalia stared at him in surprise, but reached out and took it… and then flipped Gohan over her head, sending him flying off the cliff. A second later, Thalia heard a loud splash, and smiled.

Meanwhile, Percy and Grover sat in the meadow watching the satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow. The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but they hardly ever did. Usually the nymph would let the satyr get up a full head of steam, then she'd turn into a snow-covered tree and the poor satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him.

When Percy told Grover about his nightmare, he started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur. "A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" he asked. "Yeah. What the heck does that mean?" Grover shook his head. "I don't know. But after what Zoe dreamed—"

"Whoa. What do you mean? Zoe had a dream like that?"

"I... I don't know, exactly. About three in the morning she came to the Big House and demanded to talk to Chiron. She looked really panicked."

"Wait, how do you know this?" Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin." "What for?" "Just to be, you know, near them." "You're a stalker with hooves." Percy countered with a grin.

"I am not! Anyway, I followed her to the Big House and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. She got real upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene.

"What did she say?" Percy asked.

Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout... I think that's a bad thing. And then he called her—"

"Whoa, wait. How could Artemis be in trouble?" "I... well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and—" "He wears curlers in his tail?" Grover covered his mouth. "Sorry," Percy said. "Go on."

"Well, Zoe said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. Chiron refused. He reminded Zoe that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from Artemis. And she said..." Grover gulped. "She said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs directions?"

"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Percy tried to get my mind around that idea. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone."

"But she was like, the goddess of flowers."

Grover looked offended. "Springtime."

"Whatever. Artemis is a lot more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"

Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?"

"He can't be that powerful already. Can he?"

The last time we'd seen Kronos, he'd been in tiny pieces. Well... they hadn't actually seen him. Thousands of years ago, after the big Titan—God war, the gods had sliced him to bits with his own scythe and scattered his remains in Tartarus, which is like the gods' bottomless recycling bin for their enemies. Two summers ago, Kronos had tricked Percy and his companions to the very edge of the pit and almost pulled them in. Then last summer, on board Luke's demon cruise ship, they'd seen a golden coffin, where Luke claimed he was summoning the Titan Lord out of the abyss, bit by bit, every time someone new joined their cause. Kronos could influence people with dreams and trick them, but he didn't see how Kronos could physically overcome Artemis if he was still like a pile of evil bark mulch.

"I don't know," Grover said. "I think somebody would know if Kronos had re-formed. The gods would be more nervous. But still, it's weird, you having a nightmare the same night as Zoe. It's almost like—"

"They're connected," Percy said. Before they could continue, they heard a loud scream, followed by a loud splash.

"What the?" Percy frowned in confusion. A minute later, he saw his answer, as Gohan emerged from the ocean and trodded up to them, soaking wet. Several nymphs waved at Gohan and giggled at his current state. Gohan blinked at them, a baffled expression on his face.

"Thalia threw me off the cliff after I beat her in a swordfight." Percy groaned.

"Of course she did." Grover snorted in amusement.

Over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a redheaded tree nymph. She giggled and held out her arms as he ran toward her. Pop! She turned into a Scotch pine and he kissed the trunk at top speed,

"That's love for you." Grover said amusingly. Percy and Gohan goggled at him.

"Man, girls are confusing."

"You don't have to tell me." Then, Gohan grunted as he clenched his fists together. He started to glow, causing the air to heat up around him. Steam rose from Gohan's clothes as they dried off, sighing in relief.

"Show-off." Percy muttered. He then filled Gohan in on Grover's new information about Zoe. Gohan, of course, had the same reaction Percy had.

"Who the heck could kidnap a goddess?"

"Another god, Kronos…"

"You?" Grover interrupted. Percy gave Grover a scathing glare.

"Grover!" But, Gohan shook his head.

"He's right, technically. I could beat Artemis in a fight if I wanted to."

"She kicked your ass." Percy joked with a grin.

"I wasn't trying. If I was in my ascended state, I would have won easily." Gohan countered. He pondered over this new information.

"We've got to talk to Zoe," he said. Grover snorted.

"More like get an arrow stuck in your face."

"Grover!"

"Um, before you do..." Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a three- fold display like a travel brochure. "You remember what you said—about how it was weird the Hunters just happened to show up at Westover Hall? I think they might've been scouting us."

"Scouting us? What do you mean?"

He gave Percy the brochure. It was about the Hunters of Artemis. The front read, A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE! Inside were pictures of young maidens doing hunter stuff, chasing monsters, shooting bows. There were captions like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW!

"I found that in Annabeth's backpack," Grover said. Percy stared at him, while Gohan simply crossed his arms and glared. "I don't understand." "Well, it seems to me... maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining." Then, Percy blinked in surprise, as the brochure had vanished from his hand and was now being studied by Gohan.

Percy was nervous at Gohan's reaction when he looked at the brochure. He had a… calm expression on his face. Almost like the expression of someone who was trying to hide his tell in a game of poker. Not that Percy had ever played, but he had seen a few games that Smelly Gabe had done back then.

"Gohan… are you okay?" Percy visibly winched when Gohan closed his fist around the brochure, which then burst into ashes.

"I'm. Fine." Gohan stalked off, leaving Grover and Percy staring after him.

"He'll be okay. He's had a bad day." Grover gave Percy a blank look.

"Stop it!"

Gohan spent the rest of the afternoon darting across the climbing wall. For him, it was a way to burn out his frustration. Plus, he was trying to beat his previous record of climbing the wall, 1 second and 6 milliseconds. Gohan had already shattered the climbing wall record when he had first arrived(even with his amnesia), though no one really counted his time as the official record, since Gohan was part-alien and had far superior abilities to even the demigods. Surprisingly, Annabeth of all people had been the one to claim that Gohan's record was invalid. It seemed so fickle now.

Gohan sprang up the wall, bouncing off one ledge to the next, until landing on the top. To be a bit of a showoff, he landed on his right hand, stiff as a board.

"How'd I do that time?" Gohan yelled down at Beckendorf, who was looking up at Gohan and holding what looked like a large gold stopwatch with gizmos sticking out of the sides. Beckendorf gave him an annoyed look.

"Uhh… one second five milliseconds? I think?"

"You think?" Beckendorf snorted, shaking his head in frustration.

"Once again, I don't know! You're so fast that it can't record your time exactly! Why do you even do this?" Gohan rolled his eyes before pushing off, flipping through the air and landing in front of the taller, burly boy.

"So, how's that thing I asked you for going?" Beckendorf grinned.

"That's the other reason I'm here. Let me show you." Gohan followed Beckendorf up to the forge. The forge itself was largely empty, as the rest of Beckendorf's cabinmates were away. Yet, heat still radiated from the cabin and smoke rose from the top, giving off the impression of many more working than there actually wore.

"I'm not gonna lie, this is a bit tricky to make. You still sure you want to do this?" Gohan nodded.

"I am. I'm going to be here for awhile, it seems. I think I need to upgrade if I want to keep surviving." Beckendorf laughed at that.

"I remember what you were like in that… ascended state."

"Super Saiyan 2."

"Right, that. You wiped out that entire fleet of killer birds by yourself. Birds the rest of us couldn't even dent. You defeated Ares in battle. Actually, more like demolished him. Someone like you doesn't need armor. Wouldn't it just slow you down?" Gohan shook his head.

"I wear heavy things all the time. It's just part of my training. But, it's more than that at the same time. If I'm the hero, I might as well look the part." Beckendorf nodded.

"Okay, I guess. So, you want a fully-body set, right?"

"Yeah. Top to bottom. I'm still working on the breastplate, steady progress. It'll take a few months longer to finish the set in the best quality." Beckendorf gestured towards a large table. On it shone a brilliant breastplate. It seemed to glimmer in the flickering light of the forge.

"Cool! I like!" Gohan grinned.

"Stand still." Beckendorf held the plate up against Gohan's chest, making several measurements.

"I was hoping you could make this symbol in the center." Gohan pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Beckendorf.

悟

"What does this mean?" Beckendorf asked with a curious expression on his face.

"Go." Beckendorf nodded, placing the symbol inside his pocket.

"Remind me to ask you more about this world of yours some time. Sounds like quite the place."

"You'd like Bulma. She runs this huge company that makes new things all the time. If I ever get back, I'll toss her your name." Beckendorf snorted.

"So, is it true that Thalia threw you off a cliff?" When Gohan nodded, Beckendorf roared with laughter.

"Stop it!"

"I'm sorry! But… that is hilarious! You sure have a way with the ladies, dude."

"You mean that they keep trying to stab me with sharp objects? Then sure. I swear, the craziness of girls is something that doesn't change on any Earth. What the heck is their problem?" Beckendorf rolled his eyes at that.

"Women are a mysterious bunch, Gohan. Fun fact, if they try to hurt you, it's because they like you. Like, like you." Gohan cocked his head in confusion.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, dude. And we're demigods. So it's a bit more violent. Except for the Aphrodite campers. They'll just flirt with you and pour on the magic charms." Gohan rolled his eyes.

"That… actually explains a lot. Why Annabeth…" Beckendorf paused, an awkward silence between the two.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Sorry to hear it, I've known her for a heck of a long time. She's one hell of a camper." Beckendorf paused at the expression on the young saiyan's face.

"Whoa, I didn't mean it like that. She's definitely still alive. No question. If there's one person in this camp who can survive on her own, its Annabeth. I'm sure she'll make it back." Then, to Gohan's surprise he reached out and paced a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Look, Gohan. I know it's not my place to say this, but… look, there's a reason most demigods don't have really long life-spans. So… holding things back isn't the best thing, if you know what I mean. You gotta say what you feel. You get it?" Gohan cocked his head in silence as he looked at Beckendorf, they were interrupted by the sound of a large banging on the forge door.

"Expecting someone?" Gohan asked. Beckendorf shook his head, turning and pulling the doors open.

"Hello boys!" they both stiffened in surprise as it was no other than Silena Bulregard, standing impatiently with her arms crossed. Beckendorf turned red and sputtered.

"H-hey Silena." Gohan noticed this, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's up?" he asked, causing the pretty girl to glare at him.

"I hear you're one of the captains of capture-the-flag. I want to know what the plan is to beat those… those… stuck-up Hunter bitches!" both boys were stunned by how angry and vocal she was. Not to mention, the Aphrodite campers practically never did anything during capture the flag except admire themselves in the mirror. In fact, he had been so focused on mulling over Annabeth that he had forgotten about it. But now… he remembered the brochure. And it ignited that burning rage upon him. And at the same time… an idea.

"Guys… I've got a plan."