Annabeth and I discussed our strategy. She would turn invisible and try to reach the enemy flag. When she reached it, well, if you're a demigod, planning ahead more than about 5 minutes tends to not work out. "Percy, that makes no sense. Not making a plan would be stupid." "Annabeth, remember, if it's not stupid, and it doesn't work, it's stupid" "Percy, that's not even how the saying goes" "I don't care, just put on that cap and win the dam game." And so she did.

I decided to go to the border, to assist whoever got the enemy flag, or stop whoever got ours. Also, I would be strongest there. After a while, I saw Hazel about to cross the border. She was about to step into the river, when she noticed me. Probably remembering our first encounter, she tried to jump over the river, but I just made it move a bit to the right, and she fell right in. I manipulated the current to pull her over to me. What she said next surprised me. "Percy, we both know I'm gonna win this, and I don't want to hurt you, so could you, like, let me through and pretend I defeated you?" So, Hazel thought she could beat me? I wasn't so sure. "Bring it on, uh, I can't think of anything, just attack me" "I pulled up a wall of water, hoping it would block her attack. "Well, if you insist." The world around me started changing, the ground turned black and the trees turned to weird hair shaped things. I was back in the forest with the Arai. The mist disappeared, revealing Hazel running towards the flag, but the damage was done. I was pulled into a flashback.

Annabeth

I put on my cap and made my way to the other side. I reached the border without complications, the teams hadn't mixed yet, so only Greek demigods were on our side. That was good until I crossed the border, but once I did, I was in Roman territory. And I was on my own. Just like my solo quest. 'Stop Annabeth' I told myself. 'You're not in danger, you're just playing capture the flag. Also, this really isn't a good time for a flashback'.

After a few minutes of being a good target (well, not really, I was invisible), I calmed myself down enough to continue my quest for the flag. I walked up the hill where I suspected they'd have their flag: the poo- I mean Zeus's fist, which now was probably Jupiter's fist. I was able to sneak past everyone easily and reach the pile of rocks. At its peak was, as I had suspected, the roman's purple flag. I thought I could just sneak past the guards as well, but they had come prepared. There were ten guards situated around the flag and around them they had a thin, almost invisible, rope, probably nylon, which they moved up and down. I noticed that this would be useless in stopping anyone except, well, me. How did they even know about my cap? I noticed that Frank or Hazel had probably told them. It was super weird to think that these two, which were definitely among my closest friends, were now the enemy. Of course, it was just a game, but it was still weird.

Anyways, I had to find a way to the flag. Maybe I should just make a run for it and try to jump over the rope. Worst case scenario: I touched a rope and they noticed me. But here's the thing: people often think they're prepared for something when really, they prepared so much to definitely notice when the thing happens that they forget to actually plan out what to do when it does. Maybe the surprise element would give me enough time to escape with the flag, but I decided not to take that risk. As a daughter of Athena, I should be able to come up with something better than 'run into the enemy camp and hope it works'

I looked around the trees growing here. One had been damaged badly by Gaia's awakening, at one point the stem was reduced to only about two centimeters. I pushed again the tree and was actually able to bend it down to the ground. I found a heavy branch and put it over the bent top. I knew there was a battle of forces going on, between the force of gravity pulling down the tree and the branch, and the elastic forces coming from the stem. And the stem was about to win. I quickly made my way to the opposite side of the guarded area and waited. After about half a minute, the tree snapped back up, only for the force to break the remains of the stem, causing the tree to fall over. I just hoped I hadn't just killed a dryad. But even if, given the condition of the tree, it would probably have been a mercy.

Whatever the case, a tree falling over caused enough of a distraction for me to leap over the rope without them noticing. I reached the flag and was about to pull it out of the fist when I realized something. Even if the cap made me invisible, everyone could still see the flag in my hands, so once I tried to leave the circle, I'd have to face ten roman legionnaires, who would now know where I was. It looked like I would just have to wait for someone to help me. While waiting I might as well try to figure out why the Hades I had acted like a first grader this morning and why I didn't remember it.

I noticed that this was a problem where my wisdom would not help me, I simply lacked facts. But before I could plan who to ask for help, I saw someone moving through the trees. It was Will Solace. A plan formed in my head. I took off my cap and, when I was sure he had noticed me, I pointed at the flag and then mimicked throwing a ball. I put my cap back on before any of the guards would notice me. During all of this, the guards had been talking quietly. One of them said something about another camper giving him something and pulled out a yellow rock. I grabbed the flag from the rock pile and, after making sure will had noticed it, prepared to throw towards him. When I was just about to actually throw the flag, the smell of the rock hit me. It was a penetrating, sulphuric smell, just like the air in Tartarus. This wasn't good at all. I threw the flag towards Will and, with the other hand, took off my cap, as my vision faded over to this horrible wasteland.

So, our main characters somehow both managed to get themselves stuck in a flashback. But at least the flag is on its way to the Greeks. Now, I just have to find a different character whose POV I can write from. Who will get to see the end of this game?