Campers vs Campers: Capture the Flag, Part 1: Preparation

The campers gathered in front of the forest, waiting patiently as Percy, Chiron and Dionysus stood in front of them, eying the gathered demigods. Percy shook his head at the memory of his student springing the idea to him.

-Flashback-

"A capture the flag game? Why do you want me to referee it?" Percy asked, perplexed at the campers' request, the son of Ares may have asked it but he knew that it was the collective idea of the counsellors.

"Well, we want to have some kind of final training, so we decided to capture the flag will be good," James said sheepishly, something that didn't sit well with the son of Poseidon. He decided to ease the boy.

"Sure, but do you have any ways to separate the teams?" he questioned them, the demigods shifted uneasily before Matt replied.

"We just used the same way we do with the other capture the flag," Percy merely hummed at the reply but inwardly he slapped his imaginary hand on his imaginary forehead.

"If you planned for a normal game without Celestial energy, then yes, the normal way will make more sense, but if you wanted to use Celestial energy and innate power, you need to use a different way to split the teams up. You do want to use them in the capture the flag game, right?"

The question was answered by a collective 'YEAAH' from the demigods causing Percy to look at them with a deadpan face. He continued speaking, "If you want to have a capture the flag game, you should make it more balance for your own sake.

For example, if you have Ares Cabin on one side, that team will be more prone to attack while on the other side, say they have Hephaestus Cabin, they will be more on the defence. If you want a more balanced fight while having a better struggle, you should split the campers more evenly.

Besides, all of you need to step out of your comfort zone. Constantly fighting side by side with your sibling, while I understand it, should be done less. You should all team up with others once in a while. If you are used to teaming up with other demigods, it will mean you are at least prepared for the monsters outside."

As he finished speaking, he looked at the campers, all seemingly in deep thought. For a while, silence blanketed the night's atmosphere before the sole member of Dionysus Cabin raised his hand. Percy motioned to the boy, allowing him to ask his question.

"So, how do you want us to split up the teams?" Stephan asked, the surrounding demigods making sounds of agreement at the boy's question.

"Well, that's for me to think about and for you to find out tomorrow. Get to bed, you hooligans. There won't be any official training from me for tomorrow, and the rest of the week. If you wanted to train suit yourself, just I won't be holding them. If you have any questions, it will be the last for tonight."

The campers talk silently among themselves until finally, one person raised their hand. To the son of Poseidon's surprise, it was not one of the counsellors but a random demigod, a daughter of Aphrodite to his amazement. They were notorious for avoiding training, from the stories he heard, but after his 'little' outburst, they no longer tried to skip training, yet.

He motioned to the girl, causing the girl to hold her tongue for a bit, seemingly thinking about what she going to say, before saying, "Why you won't train us next week?" the question while not surprising, he is sure someone will ask him about that sooner, he never thought children of Aphrodite will ask the question.

He had to compose himself before answering it, "Because I want you to train by yourself, so you won't depend on me much. If you have any questions though, you can always ask me. Besides, I want you to train with your team for the game next week."

His answer caused the demigods to be in deep thought. A loud (fake) cough from him and Chiron, however, sends them running to their respective cabin. He shook his head, before walking to his cabin, preparing for tomorrow's little team selection.

-Flashback ended-

Percy mused to himself. While the talks about the capture the flag game are fun, he wanted to know why they wanted to do it, the splitting of the demigods into two teams is even more so, especially with the method he used, both entertaining for him and training for his students.

-Flashback-

Percy looked at the gathered demigods, eying them with a serious look. The look lasted for about 10 seconds before he burst his gut out, laughing at the anxious looks plastered on his students' faces.

"I'm not going to eat you," he said mirthfully, his students let out relief sighs, "yet," the word caused the demigods to stiffen, causing him to stiffen too, from trying to hold his laughter. Yet, while he wished to mess with the kids, (ignoring the fact he is the second youngest of them all) he needed them at least a bit ready for their teams' selection.

"Alright, first thing first, I want all of you to split into groups I made. Thalia, Luke, you will be in one group. Annabeth and cabin counsellors in one group. Then, the rest of you will split according to your cabin. Now go!" he yelled a bit at the last sentence when they slow to take action.

It took them some time, some of them a bit shocked, making their movement slow. He didn't want to threaten them, but if they forced him, he will make them do 5 laps. Around the camp and he means laps following the border.

After they were done with that, they remained still, waiting for his order. He smirked at that. He, a kid, is able to instil the fear of gods into a bunch of experienced demigods. (He conveniently forgets the fact that he himself is an experienced demigod, and he is probably more experienced compared to others, and far stronger too.)

"If you wondering why I split you guys into groups like this, it's mostly to balance the teams." He raised his hand, stopping any possible questions from coming out of his students' mouths. "Let me explain,"

"Each group will be split into two, meaning that Luke and Thalia will be in different teams, and the same will be for the other groups. I did this to make the teams as balanced as possible. Each group was even given a nickname befitting of their speciality.

Luke and Thalia are the aces of their group. That doesn't really mean that they will be the leader of their group, but they will definitely be the strongest fighter in their group. They like the tactical nukes, only for last resort and will cause great harm to their opponent.

Annabeth and the counsellors are the elites. All of you are powerful but they are the strongest after the two. They have different sets of skills, but overall, they are the strongest in their cabin. They like special force, used to cripple the enemies while not having the same power as the 'tactical nukes'

Lastly, the others. I put all of the demigods in the same cabins in one group because, as I said earlier, I want to make the teams balanced. While you guys are not as strong as the people I mentioned earlier, you are still powerful.

Each cabin has its specialities. Demeter Cabin is an attrition specialist, with a lesser skill in support and healing, Ares Cabin is a combat specialist, with a lesser degree in strategy and planning. Athena is the mastermind and strategy specialist, with some combat skills.

Apollo is mismatched of ranged specialists and healers while Hephaestus Cabin is logistics, mainly weapons, and defence specialist, making fortifications. Aphrodite is distraction makers and spy experts, with some stronger ones being illusionist experts and Hermes Cabin is the jack of all trades, with a bit of raiding and skirmish mastery."

The demigods couldn't help but thought that their teacher's assessment of them was correct. He listed the main skills that average cabin members have. There are some outliers but they knew he focused on what most of the cabin specializes on.

"Now, it's time to split the teams," the savage grin on their teacher worried them a bit. It was usually the ones reserved for when he trained them. Based on what happened when he has that grin, they knew he will, no, he makes the teams with some training laced into it.

They watched as Percy snapped his fingers, causing water to gather into huge orbs, enough to fill the lake. Their thoughts were stopped when they heard something moving in the water. They looked to see a bunch of fish-, no, familiars swimming inside the orbs. They could also see a mysterious object inside every familiar. Before they could think about it, Percy explained.

"Each familiar has a container inside them, with marbles with either black or white colour inside it. As you can guess, the colour will determine which team you are on. With some exceptions. Considering how much firepower Thalia can unleash, in the orb for the elites there will be a grey marble.

If you get the grey marble, you will be put in the team opposing Thalia's. Now I will explain the rules. No attacking others when trying to get the marbles. No trying to change marble so you be on a different team, though if you are not sure you want to pick a marble you can release the familiar back, even if you already holding it.

Each group will have different orbs. For the unranked demigods, you will get normal orbs. You just pick a spot to grab the familiar, if you wanted to switch spots, that is also fine. Then the elites. You will have to enter your orb. In there, you have to channel Celestial energy so you won't be kicked out.

Then for the two aces. Your orb will be split into two parts, the standing part and the collecting part. The standing part is where you need to be for the starter and where there is less tough for you to remain still. In that part, it can be considered the same as the orb for the elites.

The collecting part is the tougher ones. That is where the familiars are. They will be the fastest, and the water in that part will constantly push you out, as opposed to not kicking you when you channel Celestial energy.

Now I want the regulars to grab their marbles first. Go on. The first one to get a marble will get private advice from me and a 'gentle' training session," the last sentence is the one that spurs the demigods into action, not enough to shove each other, though that could be from what he said earlier, but enough to show their desperations.

Surprisingly, the first person to grab their marble is one daughter of Aphrodite. While he didn't believe in stereotypes, the person that achieved that is the child who yelled at him, the one that he scolded. Maybe the scolding made her see reasons. Whatever it is, he hoped the reason she trying so hard is to better herself rather than to avoid harsh training.

Soon, the others also started to grab their marbles. It took 20 minutes for everyone to grab the marbles. He nodded at them, their progress in using CE already leap and bound of what he thought they could achieve in such a short time.

"Open the case and go to your groups, the left is for black and the right is for white," he said, causing the demigods to move to the spots. He looked at the elites before gesturing for them to start.

The elites quickly did the same thing as the others did. With one exception. They are much faster. He was not joking. Even the counsellor of Aphrodite Cabin is much faster compared to her sister. Of course, to make it challenging for his students as he said earlier, he made their familiars faster. And even with that, it took them 15 minutes to clear the orb of familiars.

He didn't need to speak as his students already know from the previous group, walked according to their marbles, with Matthew walking to Percy's side, no doubt his marble is grey. He merely nodded at the son of Athena before shifting his gaze to the final group, the powerful duo themselves.

He nodded before the two jumped into the water orb, eyes looking at the familiars. The familiars he used for their team selection are the fastest ones they have seen yet. Not to mention, they reside at the centre of the 'collecting part'. With the collecting part actively pushing the two demigods, it will likely take longer than they thought.

He watched as the two swam into the collecting part, swimming, though it is more appropriate to call it fighting, through the water. It had been 5 minutes yet the water barely pushed the two demigods. They already formed a CE coating on their bodies, with more focus on their faces to give them some breathing bubbles and the sight needed to capture the familiars.

They moved at the same speed as the familiars, blurs moving through the water, their hands moved at lightning speed, trying and failing to capture the faster familiars. They spend another 5 minutes, trying and failing to capture the familiars before they caught each other eyes. And then they moved.

Thalia spun around, creating a small vortex, pulling the two familiars close before Luke appeared behind them, hands moving fast enough to catch the familiars, before throwing the one at his right hand to the daughter of Zeus, who caught it expertly.

While some gapping at the fact of the duo working together, Percy hides his smirk. Besides him, Matthew seems to notice before offhandedly saying, "You never told us that we couldn't team up, right?" he was answered with chuckling.

They looked at their cases, before opening them. Thalia has the white marble while Luke has the black one. They both walked to their teams, with Matthew walking to the black team. He looked at the gathered team now that everyone is in a team.

The white team has Thalia as their ace, Annabeth, Kerry, James and Caleb as their elites, with 5 Demeter, 6 Ares, 6 Athena, 6 Apollo, 5 Hephaestus, 6 Aphrodite and 10 Hermes members. The black team has Luke as their ace, Matthew, Jessica, Leslie, Billy and Stephan as their elites, with 5 Demeter, 5 Ares, 6 Athena, 7 Apollo, 4 Hephaestus, 6 Aphrodite and 11 Hermes members. Overall, a balanced team.

"Now, Chiron will take over from here," Percy said, before walking to the back while the centaur took his former place.

The centaur cleared his throat before speaking, "For this capture the flag, we decided to make some adjustments, namely, all of you will be sleeping according to your team." The response was loud and full of disagreement. Only the glare of a son of Poseidon made them quiet.

"The reason we did this is that we want you to spread as little information to the other team as possible. You still meet with each other though if you don't want your team information to spread then talk as little as possible to the other team or just don't talk to them at all.

You will not sleep in the cabin. Instead, we will make several makeshift camps for you to sleep at in the forest near your flags. Percy will also make several bathing areas with hot water if you are worried about those things. Food will be served as usual though we will split the tables according to groups.

There will be several areas divided. The centre is where your flag will be put. The inner territory is where your camp and supplies will be at. The area outside it but still considered your territory will be called outer territory while the place between the teams' territories is the border. Percy and I will show you the division of the land tomorrow.

During the time before the game, which will be held on Friday, you can build defences, traps, anything to defend your camps. If you wanted to build them, however, you will need to have your own resources, mostly your own stuff.

Also, we will hold some activities for you to get the resources your need. Namely, we will hide some items, Celestial bronze ingots, weapons, and anything that will be useful though only specific items will be put at any time.

Of course, to make things more interesting, we decided to allow raiding the enemy base before the game began. But there will be rules. First, the teams will have 10 slots of 1 hour raiding time. You can pick any time you want but you need to decide the time you wanted to raid the enemy team. The duration will be from tomorrow to two days before the game itself. You will not be allowed to raid the day before the game. You must give the list of times to me by the end of the day.

Second, every regular must participate in the raiding. That means, the aces and elites will not be the raider. But they can play a defensive role. Though they can only participate in one raid defence and aces are only allowed to use their familiar to assist the defence.

Third, you can destroy enemy camps, break their defences and steal their supplies, but you can't be anywhere near their flag. Fourth, the defender can only have 20 people defending their camp at any time. They won't know when the enemy attacked but they can try to sense their opponent.

Fifth, if you capture the raiders, you must give them back to their team, though they have to pay a price for the captives. It is non-negotiable and we already set a price for the captives. The only thing you can do is choose what type of stuff you want to exchange them with.

That's all for the info regarding the raids. For the actual 'capture the flag' game itself, there will be some additions that we will add. We still discussing it, but for your information, it will be to make the game more challenging and exciting.

Now you should g back to your cabin and pick up the stuff you want to use for the game. Then if you have any questions, you can ask either Percy or me in the Big House. Dismissed." As Chiron finished his briefing, the campers dispersed to their cabins. Likely to grab their belongings to use for the game. He smirked. The week will be interesting.

-Flashback ended-

Percy smiled. While it was awkward for his students to wake up without their usual cabinmates, overall, it was a smooth transition. Some complained about the lack of bed and the woe of sleeping outside (cough Aphrodite Cabin cough) but they become used to it after he glared at them.

He thought about the most interesting (read: funny) raid he had ever seen. His thought flies to that moment.

-Flashback-

Chiron and Percy looked at the raiding time that each team had sent. They have a perplexed look, something that Dionysus noticed and decided to stop them from looking at the pieces of paper.

"Alright! Would any of you give me that piece of paper so I can know what makes the both of you like statues!" he yelled, causing Percy and Chiron to give him the paper. It took merely 10 seconds for the god of wine to read the paper before falling to the ground laughing.

"Oh boy," he managed to wheeze out between the laughter. "This will be interesting," he finally stopped, snickering a bit at the two papers with the time the teams wrote the planned time for their raids. Each has different time slots, with one exception, at 9 in the evening on Thursday, both teams make a plan for a raid, at the same time.

"This will be an interesting disaster," Chiron and Percy couldn't help but agree with the camp director's assessment.

Percy and Chiron remained on the lookout, with Dionysus at the back. The two formers were present to watch the raids, making sure nothing went wrong, while Dionysus, had a less important reason; to watch the undoubtedly hilarious scene that will be unfolding. Case in point, a bucket of popcorn was placed beside the god.

"So, what do you expect will happen, Percy?" Chiron asked, for the sake of starting a conversation.

"Well, I think they will be confused before the raiding teams either attack each other or just pass each other," Percy answered, though his main reason is to watch his students, he still wanted to see the chaos that will definitely happen.

Soon, the two raiding teams met up with each other, though what happened next is something that the teacher and trainer couldn't believe, while the director merely laughed on the ground due to the ridiculousness.

What happened could be described as a game of tug of war, but instead of pulling ropes, the campers pulled each other to the other's camp. Whenever one escaped the pulling from the other person, usually from their opponent's team, they pulled the person to that person's camp.

It happened so many times that even Percy doesn't know which is from which. The confusion is even worse due to the lack of lighting, obscuring the faces of everyone in the darkness. It happened for a long time until Chiron and Percy looked at the time to see that 1-hour already passed.

"Should we do something?" Chiron voiced out, causing Percy to be in deep thought. On one hand, they really should do something. On the other, this is really funny. The centaur question was answered by the only god among them.

"Nah, let those brats keep going." As much as Percy wanted to do that, they still need them to be well-rested. He concluded.

"5 minutes, then I light up the area."

30 minutes, and the campers still doing the game of tug of war. The demigod and the god that was supposed to be watching them are currently on the ground, laughing their ass off while the centaur just shook his head. Finally, he had enough.

"Will you please stop them from doing this pointless game?!" Chiron shouted, getting the attention of the two children. At least one fit the bill completely, while the other had no excuse whatsoever.

The two are about to object but the 'uncle glare' that Chiron gave them makes them change their mind. With a reluctant sigh, Percy created a huge fireball before throwing it into the sky, lighting up the area. The campers slowly stopped, before looking at each other in confusion, clearly not knowing what happen.

"Children, the raiding time for both of you is over. Now go back to your camps while I deal with the people leaving you in this mess," Chiron said, before levelling his glare at his two nephews. The two at least have the decency to look away.

As the campers walked away, still confused, the centaur looked at the two with a stern face, "Now let's talk shall we,"

The scolding they receive is legendary.

-Flashback ended-

Percy shook his head. Never again. Surviving Chiron's scolding once is more than enough for him. Though, he and Dionysus couldn't really help themselves, considering how funny it actually was. Not to mention the bewildered looks on the defenders when it was informed that the raid ended without even fighting anyone.

He looked at the forest, in the morning of tomorrow, the campers will fight with each other. He couldn't help but wish for time to quicken, to see the progress his students made, what they can actually do in real-life combat. Sure, it was both a training and game, but it is still the closest they will get to real combat for now.

He is most interested in the growth of the counsellors, their potentials the greatest among the campers, after the trio of course. Not to mention the campers themselves, they might not possess the abilities and powers of the counsellors, but they no slouch themselves. He estimated that they were even stronger than the Huntress of Artemis and capable of killing powerful monsters like Cyclops and Laistrygonian in 1 on 1 matches.

Though, the person he believed to show the greatest growth is Layla Steward, the daughter of Aphrodite whom he scolded before. He never thought she could change that much. Remembering the time he trained the girl, his mind wandered off.

-Flashback-

Percy looked at the person in front of him, the daughter of Aphrodite, who currently squirmed, most likely from his gaze. He remembered the girl, one that tried to skip his training and complained about it. He had scolded her for what seemed like a long time but it seems like the girl still remembered it. And he didn't talk about the yelling he did during the training.

He had pulled her out of training three days after the reaction training. She tried to get out of training again, but this time, he will not put up with it. So, he scolded the Hades out of her. She looked traumatized after that. She probably still remembered that event. Good.

"So, why do you want to do for today?" he asked her, a part of him thinking she probably tried to request a break. It took some time but she soon answered, "I want to practice everything," to his surprise.

"Everything?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Yes, from reaction training to endurance training to Celestial energy training, I wanted to practice everything," he raised his brow at the request but complied with it anyway.

Soon. the day was spent with him training the girl with every exercise he could come up with to meet her demand. By noon, the girl lay on the ground, her breathing heavy from the exertion. Percy looked at the girl with pride. Even though she could ask to stop, she didn't, even when he reminded her that it was an option.

He snapped his finger, vapour-travelling a bottle to his hand before giving it to the girl. The daughter of Aphrodite accepted it without any hesitation, gulping it like she tried to consume the bottle too.

He merely shook his head. He wanted to ask her why she was so adamant about the training but stopped himself. Why she wanted to do it might be private or something she didn't want to tell him so he didn't ask.

"Ok. Now, take 20. After that, we will train your innate power and Celestial energy. In the evening, after lunch, we continue the physical exercise, got it." he was answered with a groan.

He walked away before stopping by a voice, "Teacher, didn't you want to know why I ask for more training?" He turned to see the girl standing, still panting. He has to give it to her; she can actually stand after the intense training is something to behold.

He nodded before creating stone stools for both of them to sit on. He sat on his stool; the girl soon sat after him. He motioned the girl to continue. She seemed to be in deep thought before she finally speaks, "I wanted to thank you for scolding me before,"

He raised his brows. Rarely anyone would be grateful for receiving a scolding, much less thanking the one that scold them. Realising her teacher's confusion, she continued, "Your scolding made me realise that my desire to skip training will cause great harm, to me and others."

"I want to ask you for more training but I am unsure how you react, so I just remained silent. When the opportunity came, I took it. And here we are," she slapped her lap to emphasize her point.

"So, you did some extra training but mostly your inner power and Celestial energy, am I right?" the girl surprised nod answered his question.

"I see your progress, in the familiar making you one of the fastest, even beating some of the counsellors. Not to mention you're the one who captured the first familiar. It all points that you trained in that aspect." The girl merely nodded; a bit shocked at how sharp her teacher really is.

Percy soon stood up. The girl soon followed but was pushed back by hand on her head. Before she could ask anything, she felt it patting her head. It was surprisingly soothing, she thought to herself. Soon, it stops. The girl looked at Percy, who smiled at her, the one that is reserved when he showed his pride for his student.

"Keep up the good work kid," the girl stuttered before replying to him, "I'm not a kid! You're the kid!" Percy just laughed at the girl.

"I don't know your name, so kid it is," the girl spluttered again before collecting herself.

"Layla," Percy looked at her in confusion. "Layla, my name is Layla Steward," the girl finished. The son of Poseidon nodded.

"Keep up the good work, Steward," The girl, Layla nodded, looking at the time seeing there sometime before resuming her training decided to lay down. Percy just shook his head before looking at the horizon. Another seedling with good potential. He wondered what she would achieve.

-Flashback ended-

Percy smiled. The campers seemed to be unease by his smile. Considering he smiled multiple times in a short time, they ought to be wary. Nevertheless, he's proud of his students. He looked at them, ready for the final briefing from Chiron.

So many good seedlings with good potential will carve their name in the future. He just knows it. Such a pity he cannot see it for himself. The capture the flag game will be a good gauge though. He wonders how they will perform.

"Let's wait and see then,"