Campers vs Campers: Capture the Flag, Part 2: Battle Begin
Percy looked at the campers through the 'Observation Pool', watching their movement. It was just the crack of dawn but the demigods were already awake. He was not surprised. Yesterday, Chiron already brief them about what will happen, when the game will begin and what to expect.
Chiron also told them about the surprises lying around the forest, something that will help them. He wanted to keep it like that, surprise, yet the centaur was firm with his decision. He accepted it, though he compromised with the trainer to hide what kind of surprise it is, something Chiron agreed with.
Several familiars already flying above the forest and its surrounding area. It's something he talked about with the centaur, to make the area for the game bigger. He, with permission from the dryads and nature spirits of the forest, did some landscaping at the 'border', along with the edges of the forest. If the campers were smart, they will use the new area to avoid traps, though the other sides could spend the time between yesterday and today building defences.
He shook his head, his mind started to wander off again. It keeps happening lately. He looked at Chiron, a horn in his hand. They looked at each other and nodded. The centaur placed the tip in his mouth and blow. The sound shocked the forest but the campers were ready for it. After all, the horn blowing means one thing.
The game has just begun.
Luke looked at the gathered demigods behind him. Besides him, Matt spouting several different strategies, most of them in the regard to putting down Thalia, something that he understands. In combat with no power, she already can match with him. With her power, she is most likely the strongest demigod after their teacher.
However, he needed to get the son of Athena back to reality. The counsellors and he already came up with several different plans to handle Thalia, Annabeth and the other counsellors, though most of them require them to overwhelm them with numbers. Not ideal when a single counsellor can school an entire cabin easily.
"Snap out of it!" he yelled to Matt, the older boy looked at the son of Hermes in surprise, like he didn't expect him to be next to him. Luke let out a sigh. Unfortunately, this is a common thing to happen to the son of Athena. But he has to get the boy into the game.
"We know you are nervous, we all are, considering who we going to fight. But we need to be ready, preparing so we can stand a chance to win. Do you get me?" he asked, Matt, nodding to him.
"Luke let out a sigh of relief, "Good, now we sho- " he was stopped by a massive horn blowing. Luke looked at Matt and nodded, the son of Athena barking orders, while Luke went straight to the frontline to support the others guarding there.
The game has begun.
Annabeth looked at the other demigods from a treehouse created by the children of Hephaestus. She currently monitoring the progress made by the others on making traps to slow down Luke. She knew it might, no, it won't even stop the boy but at least they can slow him down.
She jolted a bit when she felt a hand on her shoulder before turning her head around to see Thalia's blue orbs. Thalia smiled at the girl and ruffled her hair. The little girl just pushed the hand before exclaiming, "Thalia!"
"That's me," the girl that got yelled at replied before looking at the other demigods working around. "So, anything bad happening?" she asked the blonde, who puffed her cheeks before answering, "Well, nothing interesting happening except a little accident that made the mess earlier,"
"Yeah, the automaton suddenly going rouge is definitely what Caleb doesn't expect to happen. At least it got destroyed," Thalia said, remembering the accident that happened an hour ago. The only thing answer she got from the person involved in an experiment went wrong and James already handled it. Not much but at least the automaton met its end.
Though, Thalia couldn't help but wonder when she started to begin an amicable friendship with the counsellor of Ares Cabin. While she had some trouble with the son of Ares, she can safely say doesn't hate the guy.
Any musing was stopped when she heard a loud blowing, like a horn. She looked at Annabeth, who looked back at her, a serious look on her face, (read: adorable). "The game just starting," she might say in a quiet tone but to Thalia, it was like a loud yell.
She grabbed the girl before jumping from the treehouse, using the wind to fly her to the frontline. She might scare some other demigods but she couldn't really care. Now she just needs to lead the others.
They are going to win this.
Percy looked at the 'screen'. Every demigod was caught off guard by the horn. Which is to be expected, he did plan with Chiron to wait until they lowered their guard to surprise them. Looks like he had to make them go through another awareness training, though he going to leave it to the trainer.
He focused on his CE sense, locating all of his students and where they running to. Look like even getting caught with their pants down, some literally, reacted quickly, some already in formations while others in small but specialized groups.
Looks like they even move according to the plan the unofficial leaders concocted. He wonders how they going to perform. He knew though, he is going to find out.
The campers already mobilized, some moving quickly to the frontline, others moving slower and heading to the rear of the groups, protecting the important members like the archers, healers and builders.
When they reach the border of their territories, their mouths were wide open. They knew that Percy will do some 'renovations' to the forest, to both train them and make the game more interesting. But they never thought that the changes will be this great.
What was once a forest is now an area with multiple biomes, deserts, lakes, and rocky terrains, to name a few. The demigods clear their heads quickly though. Any questions will be asked later. Now they should try to win the game.
Thalia flew under the canopy, flying high enough to see the black team while low enough to not attract attention. "There are about 7 people at the front. The rest are spread out." She reported, causing the others to nod their heads.
"We should try not to engage yet. Get the surprise that Chiron said. The surprise might help us. At the very least, the black team can't use it against us," the other agreed with Annabeth's plan.
"Then what are we waiting for?! Get the others to move and find the surprise!" James roared. The cabin counsellors followed soon, barking orders to the other campers. The campers soon split into several groups, with the counsellors, Thalia and Annabeth remaining behind. As much as they wanted to join the fight, they could not overextend themselves, less they fell prey to the enemy.
The other campers were divided into 5 teams, 4 being the scout teams while one is the main team. It's a decent strategy, conservative enough that they will not use too much demigod power while enough people in the field collect information.
The scout teams are mostly made up of Hermes Cabin, two in each team to be precise with different demigods to help them. They ran past the trees and biomes, avoiding the other teams, which seemed to be in bigger teams before they spotted a building in a makeshift desert.
A single scout team walked into the desert while the others searched for other similar constructs. As they walked closer, they caught their breaths. The building is formed to look like a temple and while unlikely to be as big as the original in Greece, it is still impressive. Still, they have to investigate quickly.
They entered the temple before they spotted a bunch of statues. Before their training, they would have dismissed it as decorations, and aesthetics for the owners but now, as they concentrated on their CE sense, they could make out the presence of CE, which meant that the statues could only be one thing.
"Familiars," the lone daughter of Ares spoke, the humming agreement from her companions agreeing with her assessment. Still, the presence of familiars mean that the temple has the surprise Chiron speak. They were about to search for it when all three sense the presence of other demigods, one that is hostile to them.
They quickly move into the deeper part of the temple, hoping to find something that will help them. However, the only thing they could find is a suspicious-looking tablet sitting atop a pedestal. Before they could leave, they heard a chuckle from behind them.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here," an Ares Cabin member said, flanked by other demigods. The scout team of the white team froze like a bunch of deer in the headlights. Well, not without one daughter of Hermes making a quip.
"Someone who likes wells?" the answer/question caused everyone to stop and looked at the brave/foolish person. Her siblings, both on the white and black team, look at her with pride, while the last person on her team looks at her like she just screwed out her loose screw.
The son of Ares laughed again, but this it promised pain and suffering. "Look like we have a bunch of dead meat to bring," as he said that he walked to the trio.
In desperation, the son of Hermes grabbed the tablet, before infusing it with CE, loudly shouting, "Protect me, tablet!" Surprisingly, it actually did something.
The statues, one they already discerned as familiars began to move. The statues merely took one step but it's enough to cause everyone to freeze again. The son of Hermes soon came to a realization, looking at the tablet in appreciation. He smiled at the opposite team.
"Look who has the last laugh now,"
The desert temple that had just been entered by the teams suddenly filled with commotions, which ended with the team that recently enter to run away with fear etched on their faces. Before the other parties from the black team could ask anything, a bunch of familiars ran out of the temple, chasing after the running group.
Realizing what just happened, the lead demigod, a daughter of Demeter quickly sends a message to the others, "Everyone, prioritize the temples and any other structures in the created environment. There, contain some secrets that will get us a bunch of familiars to fight for us,"
After sending the message, she ordered the rest of her teams to converge with the fleeing group. She jumped at the familiars and created a bunch of plants to restrain the familiars. The white team members, realising the presence of a powerful opponent began to run the other way.
She didn't try to stop them. It wouldn't really matter. Even if they didn't send any messages to the other teams, they could have realized something wrong. Besides, even if she wanted to stop them, the familiars are in the way.
She looked at the familiars heading toward her, already starting to break the restraint. She yelled at her team members. "What are you idiots waiting for? Come and help me destroy these things,"
Her shouting seemed to knock some senses to the others. They quickly charged at the familiars and started to systematically break them down. The daughter of Demeter let out a sigh. She wonders what others are doing though.
Across the area called the border, heavy fighting occurred, each biome filled with demigods trying to win and claim their prizes. At first, the black team are winning, their numbers greater than the opposite team, allowing them to win more battles and pushing the white team out. It didn't help that only three teams of three were on the field, with the rest being in one huge team.
By noon, however, the exchange had developed into a stalemate. While at the start the white team had the trouble of organizing and sending new teams, thankfully they had a backup plan, one to help form new teams.
With stronger teams created, the white team started to win more engagements, until the fighting developed into the brutal grinding it is now. Though the advantage is in the black team's hands, as they had sent more teams in the beginning, allowing them to gain more familiars and tools to help them win the fight.
Now with the battle developing to such a point, both teams decided to opt for a more defensive strategy, mobilising the familiars they created days before with the familiars they 'recruited' to a better position. The only thing that will break the stalemate will be an attack.
The question is, who will be the one that sparks the keg powder.
"We should focus on defending!" One yell could be heard.
"We should be on the offensive!" Another yell could be heard.
The two arguments above could best describe the situation that happened in the white team's main base. The two persons behind the argument are none other than the ace of the white team and the counsellor of Ares Cabin.
It had devolved to the point that everyone else in the near vicinity is wearing earplugs so they won't go deaf by nightfall. Unfortunately, for the others, they need to intervene, if not, they stand a risk of getting caught with their pants down.
The other elites looked at the person with the best chance of getting the two stubborn persons working together. The said person, none other than the blond-haired daughter of Athena grumbled when she caught the other staring at her, muttering about how teenagers are useless.
She stomped her foot, creating a shockwave that interrupted the bickering duo. "Now that I have your attention, how about we discuss it like a civilised people?" her words stopped the two from continuing their argument. Instead, they go for the method of glaring at each other before taking a seat.
"Now everyone is settled, we should talk about the proper strategy, instead of shouting the ideas like a bunch of maniacs," Caleb said, eyeing the 'maniacs' in question, before letting Annabeth to take hold of the meeting.
"Right now, we should prepare our defences and ready our forces to counterattack when the black team attack us," her strategy telling is stopped by the counsellor of Demeter Cabin.
"What makes you sure they will attack us first?" Kerry asked, which is a valid question, one that Annabeth easily answers.
"Simple. They have more forces. Sure, by the end of the fight we got a draw, but they still win more fights in the created environment, meaning they got more prizes to help them. They will use their advantage in number sooner or later.
Now we should focus on our defence. Create more traps for the familiars. While the familiars they created should not be much of a problem, it's Percy's familiars that will be the issue. His familiars are stronger than any of our familiars by a lot and can hold their own against an average demigod.
If we want to stand a chance to win, we need to make them waste their familiars, especially the one they got from the biomes. If we do that, our chances of winning will be greater,"
Her explanation received nods from the others. They agreed with her. The familiars from the biomes are a bunch of tough cookies. They already fight a bunch when the black team send a skirmish team made up of Luke and the familiars, and while they can destroy the familiars, it's much harder than they thought it could be. The only person that even can remotely destroy them with ease is Thalia.
So, to no one surprise, everyone agreed with the daughter of Athena's plan. Even James agreed begrudgingly. Making sure there is no more question, she opened her mouth to speak-
"Everyone! The black team is attacking! I repeat, the black team is attacking!" a demigod shouted, his/her voice echoing through the camp. The surprised demigods stood up at the announcement before without even talking ran outside, only to meet with a horrible situation.
Their camp is on fire, with several flames dotted the area. By how some attempt to put it out didn't even work, it was most likely Greek fire. The others are currently fighting the invaders but they are being pushed back, with some getting knocked out and pulled into the enemy's side, no doubt to be imprisoned.
Thalia is the first to move, blasting the enemy's familiars with Lightning Blast, destroying most with one shot. The other soon followed, supporting their crumbling lines and stabilizing them. Unfortunately, they couldn't go all out as they might be targeted by Jessica and her terrifying aim.
However, with Thalia supporting them, the fight slowly shifted to their side, familiars being destroyed left and right with some demigods being captured. The raiding force realising they bite more than they could chew started to flee.
When they run away from the fights, leaving the familiars to be destroyed, the white team quickly realised it but when they tried to chase after them, they were stopped by the familiars and several remaining demigods. Well, almost all of them.
When the fleeing demigods came close the line between their enemy's territories and the border, they were stopped by a small figure. Although the figure's size is not menacing, her identity is.
Annabeth looked at the fleeing raiders with a single glance before making her move. "Thread Obstacle," countless threads shot out from her hands, surrounding the demigods. She jumped at a seemingly empty space, before stopping there, looking like she could float. It took some time before the raiders realize that she was standing on a thread.
Before they could do anything, Annabeth used the thread like a trampoline, jumping on it before angling herself and blasting herself to the raiders. They could barely react when Projectile-Annabeth shoot toward them and taking out one of the raiders with ease.
When they get themselves together, she already sent two other demigods to the realm of Morpheus, one with blow at the back of the head, another at the temple. The lead demigod allow himself coated in CE before unleashing Slash at the girl, who avoided it with mere ease.
Realising they need to do something to escape, the rest of the demigods did the same as their leader, unleashing multiple CE techniques, some at the girl, some at the threads, to no avail. Neither target was harmed during the desperate attacks.
Annabeth waited patiently for her opponents to become exhausted before attacking them. Soon enough, another one joined her teammate on the ground. With another member knocked out, the leader signalled his teammate to form a defensive formation, protecting each other back so she cannot take them down, not realising they walking into a trap.
The daughter of Athena let out a smirk before focusing her CE on the threads she laid out. "Thread Restraint," she shouted, making a pulling motion with her arms, causing the threads to ensnare every single person, making them trapped in one big cocoon.
The trapped demigods struggled before stopping, accepting that struggle is futile. Annabeth frowned a little. They surrender too quickly. Before she could do anything about it though, she heard the rest of her teammates coming to her position.
She about to shout when she spotted at the edge of her sight, a blinding light shooting towards her! She quickly created Shield and Barrier, but it wasn't enough as the light pierced her defence and striking at her crossed arm, an attempt to mitigate injuries she could get from getting hit at the chest.
The force pushed her until she hit a tree, with the tree breaking to two on impact. Dazed by both the hit and hitting the tree, she tried to stand up, only to fall on her front, her back hurting from the impact. She tried to remain conscious, but soon lose the battle, darkness creeping into her vision.
The last thing she heard before closing her eyes is the shouting of "Annabeth!".
Jessica looked from her position. She already spotted the fleeing demigods, all according to plan. While she knew that the plan will only be done in games or if the camp is in a desperate situation, she still didn't like it.
She focused on the enemies moving to intercept the fleeing demigods before stiffening. Out of all people, why did the youngest in the entire camp have to chase down the bait?! She shook her head, focusing on her task. Even if she had to shoot little Annabeth, she will do it, though she will held back.
She willed the CE that she gathered earlier to her pulled arrow, sunlight slowly pulled to the arrow, turning it into a blinding stick of light. She readied herself, calculating everything before waiting for the perfect moment.
Soon, the daughter of Athena stopped moving. It's kind of a miracle she isn't spotted yet. She inhaled and released.
The girl seemed to spot the target but was only able to jump backwards, too surprised to completely dodge the shot. She likely created defences to protect herself, judging from her movement, but it's not enough to even slow down her arrow.
The shot slammed the girl and even broke the tree behind her. She wanted to observe and maybe even take down the other elites, but as the voices get closer, she decided to book it and get away as quickly as possible.
Jessica winced as she looked at her victim's condition. She didn't want to badly harm the daughter of Athena. She was hoping for any older elites to intercept the fleeing demigods and snipe them with undoubtedly one of her strongest non-lethal attacks.
Unfortunately, the one that acts the fastest is Annabeth herself. She already weakened the shot enough to not maim the target, but enough to knock it down. From the look of the thing, she needs to tone it down more in the future. If she is still alive by then.
It's no secret that Thalia Grace, the strongest demigod in the entire camp, barring their overpowered teacher, doted the girl, treating her like a little sister. It is also a known fact that Luke Castellan also doted on the little girl, the boy that held the title of second strongest demigod. With the strongest and second strongest after her life, she will be more dead than a corpse.
Besides, she didn't regret it much. This is a game that requires you to use everything you can to survive. She's certain that Percy wanted the game to be as realistic as possible so that when they leave the camp, they can protect themselves and not fall into any strange habits.
Using Sunbeam Shot might be a bit too much but she was already in a perfect sniping position while gathering CE and sunlight to make the shot, though to be honest, he wanted to take down James. Losing one of the strongest elites will hurt the white team greatly.
Still, taking down the enemy's main strategist will greatly help them. She will still suffer retribution from an enraged Thalia most likely, because long-range attack is her cabin speciality, along with the fact that the attack is literally too bright, more than enough to point out who did it. Being the strongest in her cabin means that she is the most likely suspect.
Well, time to face Luke. Yippee.
Luke looked at the daughter of Apollo with a conflicted look. On one hand, she did a great job of taking down an elite. On the other hand, she did send his little sister to Morpheus's realm, so there is that.
He shook his head. This is a game, one where they need to do their best to win, especially with their enemies being powerful, though it is mostly on Thalia. He looked at the girl before finally speaking.
"I don't really like you shooting Annabeth with that much power, but we need to get as leverage as we can, so I won't hold you on it. Unfortunately, that also means we have to deal with an enrage Thalia, which will definitely not be fun, at all."
While saying things as vaguely as possible might be a better option, he learnt from Percy that being blunt and truthful sometimes is the better option.
"Well, that is something we all figured out. The only question is how can we beat an angry daughter of Zeus? One that is far stronger than any other in the entire history, except for maybe Hercules." Matt's question caused the son of Hermes to grimace.
"We have to make some adjustments to our plan then," Luke let out a sigh.
"Things about to get dangerous for us,"
'Thalia, I know you are angry but you need to be calm,' is the collective thought inside every elite though they didn't voice it out, which shows how good their survival instinct is.
The daughter of Zeus currently pacing in front of the healer tent, whose occupants are currently trying to heal and awaken Annabeth. After what seems like forever (to both Thalia and the elites), a son of Apollo, the best healer of their team emerged from the tent.
"How is she?!" it is undoubted at the time how calm the healer can be, considering he didn't react to Thalia's treatment, being yelled at and shaken like a doll. Instead, he just fake-coughing to get the girl calm before telling her about her beloved little sister.
"She will be fine, but it will be unlikely for her to wake up anytime soon. And even if she woke up, she shouldn't be sent to the front line." The rest just nodded, understanding of the reason.
"Why she didn't wake up sooner?" Caleb asked something the healer quickly answer, "It's likely protecting herself from the arrow took precedent and made her focus most of her defence to her front. Unfortunately, that didn't really help protect her from blunt-force impact when her head hit the tree. In short, she currently suffers from a concussion."
Unsurprisingly, Thalia reacted the worst to the information. Surprisingly, she reacted rather well. "When I get my hand on the bastard that did this, they will regret being born," Relatively speaking.
While the daughter of Zeus spewed out curses that will make a sailor blush, Kerry asked another question, "Can't you heal her with your power?" the healer shook his head. "If I'm stronger or have better control I probably can, but as of now, I'm unable to wake her. Head injuries are no joke and shouldn't really be messed with."
"Damn it. Even if Annabeth is out of commission, at least having her brain will help us a lot," surprisingly, James was the one that voiced out what every single elite thought.
He then let out a sigh. "It doesn't matter. Annabeth is out of the game. Right now, we should come up with a plan to win this,"
Thalia, after done planning her torture plan, nodded, "He's right. We should come up with a plan of our own. Besides, Annabeth already prepared several plans and data books that we can use. Though we should make plans somewhere we can react if the enemies decided to unleash another assault."
Everyone near her nodded. They should get their act together if they wanted to win the game. Unbeknownst to the white team, a familiar suddenly moved, not enough to consider it functional, but enough to make it look like it was already there, destroyed during the fight.
On its face, a smile plastered.
Percy looked at the screen, one showing the white team, another showing the black team. Besides him, Chiron silently watched, the only noise coming from him is a hum from his throat. The loudest noises came from Dionysus and he didn't even try to be loud, though his sipping often sound louder than it was due to the silence.
Finally, Percy spoke, "So it comes down to the final hours," Both Chiron and Dionysus nodded, agreeing with his statement.
"The only thing that both teams can do is launch the final assault. The question is who will be the one striking first?" Chiron commented, and the other two merely hummed, showing they agree with the centaur statement.
"Whoever attacks first, it will make things chaotic, well, more chaotic. Whatever happens though, it will be fun to watch," the only god among them exclaimed, causing the other two to raise their eyebrows. Never in a thousand years would they imagine for the god to sound excited about something besides his interest.
"What?" Dionysus exclaimed, seeing them eyeing him in such a manner. "Of course, I'm excited. This is more exciting than the regular gladiator matches. Not as fun as Pac-man though." He finished causing them to withdraw their judgemental gazes, for now.
"Yeah, things will get hectic soon," the son of Poseidon said, looking at the screens once more. He sees the leaders of both teams discussing some things though he cannot hear anything. Well, he makes due.
He created several familiars and send them flying to treetop. Their creation is for both observation and rescuing, if the battle gets too intense, though he likes to think his students can control themselves.
He looked at the screen one more time before looking at the other two, "I'm going to the battlefield now, better that I get to them quickly if the fight gets too intense," he said, the other two just nodded, indicating they agreed with him.
"Who's going to win, I wonder?"