Reading of: An Extraordinary Sage's Not-So-Ordinary Adventure

by RedFistCannon

As Percy and his group return from their quest to rescue Artemis, a mysterious book appears alongside several people. The book promises a way to right the mistakes of their futures and mayhaps, offer some redemption and a happy ending. (Collab work. Crossposted on Ao3. Original chapters will be subject to a slight rewrite)

4. Chapter 4

A/N: Before we begin, I was informed by a kind reviewer of a misstep I made in the previous chapters, and they have been corrected.

The main fic is being rewritten, but since adding so much more content and fixing all my mishaps would take a good amount of time, I decided to mainly update the Reading for now while I finish rewriting everything.

I will apologize for a long time, I realize many of you were eager to see this chapter (my PM inbox has been flooded by y'all) and while it makes me happy to see so much love for my work, I have to ask you to understand the fact I have little free time I can dedicate to writing.

For the first time in the last two years, I'm finally putting my life on a good track. Got a good job, working on my body and socializing with my neighbors.

All in all, I'm swamped and you're unfortunately gonna have to deal with it.

I'm not gonna abandon these two fics but it'll take a lot more effort than I anticipated to put out good work that's up to my own standards. I wouldn't give you guys anything less than the best I can provide.

Many thanks to my co-writers and Betas: SandaiKagami, Mirxaee, and with special guest Issexwithyourcloneincest. You three are Champs!

Without Further Ado!

---

Chaos reigned over the room as everyone reacted to the newest arrivals and the metaphorical bomb they brought with them.

"Finally, some action!" Ares was the first to react, tearing away his shirt and pants to reveal his emergency armor set (Hephaestus Patent Pending). Several Greeks followed his action by unleashing their aura, hoping to intimidate the two goddesses. Zeus and his brothers had even summoned their symbols of power, further inciting aggression.

"How did you get here?"

"Invaders!"

"Oh my!"

In response, the two arriving goddesses, Quetzalcoatl and Amaterasu, flexed their auras, creating a storm of energy in the room. Everything began shaking and flying from one place to another.

"Why's Papa on the screen? You creeps spyin' on him?! Hentai!" The raven-haired beauty yelled, eyes aflame and veins visible all over her arms and face. With but a thought, she summoned some light but durable-looking purple Kikko Gane and pointed a midnight black katana up to Zeus' throne. Her entire form glowed as the temperature in the room began rising exponentially.

"Oh, oh, oh! Please be! It's been so long since I crushed a skull like sandía~" To Amaterasu's side, a giddy blonde goddess jumped from one foot to another in anticipation, the movement generating a tinkling sound from the golden coins and accessories hanging off her clothes and feathered headdress. Though dressed much more skimpily than her sister, the deity was nonetheless just as battle-ready, as evidenced by the large four-foot-long metallic spiked club she carried on her shoulder with no sign of effort.

"You! Shinto! Aztec! How dare you invade this sacred land?!" The King's voice bellowed in the room, his Master Bolt already sparking with electricity.

"And how'd you get your hair to look so good?" Aphrodite glared at Amaterasu enviously. Black hair didn't deserve to be that lustrous. Heck, it practically shone on its own!

The Japanese deity took offense to the god's tone.

"Haaah? D'you think I'd wanna be in this shithole? Whydja pull us here?" She waved a fist up at the Big Three, who grew angry, alongside many other gods, for both the insult and the rude language.

"We did no such thing! And watch your filthy tongue!" Poseidon spat in a rare show of aggressiveness.

"..." Hades, for his part, remained silent, but one could tell he was coiled to spring against any attack.

"Yeah, right! First, you spy on my Papa; then you kidnap us? That ain't right, ya know?!" Amaterasu refused to back down, and her apparent sister wasn't helping matters as she simply gave the gods a vicious grin and spun her free arm around like she was stretching.

"Kahahaha! Fuck around n' find out! Idiota!"

The god of war, who you'd think would be among the instigators, had been silent and frozen with a dazed expression. His eyes focused on the newest arrivals… particularly the brutish blond.

…

A vision of a posing Quetzalcoatl stood in the middle of a veritable carnage, with her drool-inducing muscles on display as she stepped on a downed Ares.

'Fuck around n' find out! Idiota ~ ❤️'

-Neuron activation-

…

Anyone who glanced at the god's eyes behind his sunglasses would swear the fireballs usually present there had turned into a pair of hearts.

'AWOOOOGA'

…

The demigods were the most affected among the audience as the children huddled closer to protect themselves. Percy and Thalia were the only ones keeping a strong composure while the rest began trembling in fright. Luke himself held onto the Hearth and turned his gaze away from the gods to avoid seeing any of them turning into their true forms.

The goddess of Family, meanwhile, had positioned herself protectively in front of the children, her hands alight with Greek Fire.

Only Athena, Hephaestus, and Rhea retained some sense of calm. The former two held calculative expressions as they made sense of the situation. Rhea saw her youngest son and the Japanese goddess' weapons charge up for an attack and acted swiftly.

"Take that ya perverted fre-EEEEEAAK," Amaterasu let out a screech as her ear was twisted forcefully.

The shock made the deity drop her sword while Zeus' Master Bolt dimmed almost immediately at the sight of his mother in the line of fire.

"HOLD IT, YOUNG LADY! I won't have any violence here!" Rhea yelled into the Shinto's ear.

"OW! HAAAA? YA THINK YA CAN ORDER ME 'ROUND YA OLD BAG? YA AIN'T MY MAMA YA KNOW? OWWWWW-UH!" The goddess yelped as the grip on her ear strengthened.

"Who are you calling an old bag, you impolite little girl? That is no way for a lady to act!" The mother doubled down, intent on cowing the rash goddess into standing down momentarily.

"Hey! Let my big Sis go, you bully!" Quetzalcoatl came at Rhea from the side, her spiked club raised in the air for a strike.

"YA THINK I CARE? ADMIT TO YER CRIMES AGAINST PAPA!" Amaterasu yelled her part, her eyes and body getting enshrouded in a dark aura and her fists holding a spinning ball of fire. One that began shifting from orange to an eerie black. The temperature rise in the room was becoming uncomfortable even to the gods, forcing Apollo and Hephaestus to counter it with their own control. Hestia focused on shielding the demigods from the heatwave.

Across the room, Poseidon intercepted the Aztec's charge via trident: teleporting in front of the blonde goddess. The two gods struggled against one another, both gifted with a titanic amount of physical strength. Briefly, the two stalemated before the goddess's features twisted into a sharp-toothed grin. She abruptly let go of her club and used the momentary surprise to grapple and pin the god to the ground.

Like her sister, an incandescent ball of magic formed in her hand, though this one chirped with lightning. She brought it down upon the Greek god of the Seas, but just before the attack connected, Quetzalcoatl was interrupted by a football tackle from the god of war, who rammed his face into the woman's abs.

A slight 'crack' followed by a yelp rang out, making everyone think the war god had broken his neck. But contrary to their beliefs that he was in pain, Ares wasn't suffering. Quite the opposite, in fact.

'Her abs are so hard!' He screamed inwardly. His head felt like it had been split open, but the feel of her naked, sweaty abs on his steadily numbing face made it all worth it. If tackling her was the only way to feel them, he'd fucking do it again!

The blonde simply grabbed Ares and threw him off without much effort, heedless of the lovestruck expression on his face.

She was again interrupted. This time it took both Hades and Poseidon to hold her down. Apollo and Artemis had also come down with their bows ready, each aiming at one of the foreign deities' heads.

Back with Rhea, as Amaterasu attempted to attack her, the Titaness surprised everyone by practically judo-flipping the goddess using her grip on her ear alone. Zeus flashed down with his bolt in hand, intent on finishing the raven-haired goddess with impudence.

His charge was interrupted by his mother's other hand latching onto his ear. Looking at Rhea in confusion and pain, the King's face went ash-white at the sheer rage present in the older immortal's expression.

"ALL OF YOU, CALM DOWN SO WE CAN TALK THIS OVER! CAN'T YOU SEE THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE?!" The room shook from the mother's yell. Even her children looked at her in shock.

'I have rarely ever seen Mother Rhea so angry before.'

"Eh? Niñitos?" the blonde Aztec paused in her struggles against the two Chief gods.

"Huh?" Amaterasu visibly calmed down as Rhea eased up on her ear. The Shinto's features relaxed, and she looked around until she spotted the children in question.

She looked back at the Titaness and narrowed her eyes.

"What's going on?"

The atmosphere remained tense, but nonetheless, Athena explained the situation as best as she could.

---

25 minutes later

"...And that's when you appeared in front of us."

Amaterasu and Quetzalcoatl nodded in contemplation, even as the Greek fighters stood around them with their guards up.

"A way to peer into another world. How odd," the Japanese woman murmured as she rubbed her chin in thought.

Her sister puffed her cheeks and mimicked the action, even if her glazed eyes betrayed her lack thereof.

"And it somehow recorded my Papa's stay in this land…" the goddess trailed off.

Athena nodded in confirmation. "It is mentioned to originate from a being that calls itself the 'One Above All.'" The goddess ignored the many scoffs in the room and continued. "Would you know anything about that?"

The goddess of wisdom had noticed immediately how both foreign goddesses stiffened at the mere mention of the being's name. They turned to each other with a pair of frowns, discussing the issue telepathically before Amaterasu turned back to Athena.

"We… indeed know who it might be." The ravenette didn't pay heed to the many raised brows she got. "But I'd rather not talk about this right now. If what you say is right, it should be divulged in the book anyway. If not, we'll discuss it later."

Her explanation got a reflective look from the King and his eldest daughter as both pondered the proposal. Deciding it to be a wise plan of action, Zeus nodded in agreement as the Greek pantheon cautiously returned to their seats.

Meanwhile, Amaterasu and Quetzalcoatl stood awkwardly in front of the taller Rhea. Both looked at each other before the Shinto gave a slight bow.

"Sorry for calling you an old hag." The ravenette muttered lowly, then straightened and looked at her sister. When the latter didn't get her cue, she elbowed her.

"Hey!"

"Apologize too!"

"Eh? Por qué?"

"For almost frying Fishy-Jiji there!" Amaterasu pointed at Poseidon, who squawked in offense while his brothers snickered.

"She did not! It's not like I haven't taken lightning to the chin before!" The god loudly defended himself. He had her under control!

Percy was discreetly chuckling to himself. As much as he liked his dad, he'd never seen this side of him, and it was an entertaining sight.

The god's plea went ignored as the rest of the room watched the two goddesses get into a dispute in front of an annoyed Titaness.

"Hey, I wouldn't have done that if seeeeeñorita Ama didn't get taken down by an ear pinch!" Quetzalcoatl fired back.

"This isn't about that!" Amaterasu protested with a blush of embarrassment. "And you'd have jumped in anyway! You always do, Quatzi!"

"Nu-uh! I've become more mature! Papito says so! Nyeh!" The Aztec blew a raspberry at her sister.

The action made the dainty Shinto revert back to Yakuza mode.

"Haaaaah? Don't bring Papa into this Baaaaka! I'll send ya flyin'!" Bulging veins reappeared on Amaterasu as she got in her sister's face.

"Eeeh? You calling me a tonto? Daddy's girl!" The blonde rammed her forehead into the ravenette's own, and both began pushing against each other like a pair of rams.

The Aztec broke the stalemate by tackling her sister, and the two became enveloped in a cartoonish smoke cloud.

"Antorcha con patas!"

"Garden hose!"

Meanwhile, the gods sat on their thrones. Some watched the interaction in amusement, others in annoyance.

Dionysus had long since dozed off, not interested in something as dull as siblings bickering; he'd had his fill of the local twins.

On the side, Ares leaned on the armrest of his seat, sighing with a dopey smile as he looked directly at the blonde foreigner. Aphrodite had noticed the feelings her lover was exhibiting and seemed to agree despite the slight irk of jealousy she got, as did Hermes, who whistled at the catfight below.

'Raawwwwr.'

The two before them were unearthly beauties, from Amaterasu's regal and almost innocent features (when she wasn't Hulking out) to Quetzalcoatl's lean amazonian body.

Surprisingly, among the resident playboys, the suavest felt the most reluctant.

Apollo was sweating bullets. It was one thing to flirt with someone else's partner, as he thought of Amaterasu concerning the Sage… he could seduce the girl on his own time. Flirting with someone's daughter, though?

'I'm dead. I'm so fucking dead. Maybe Uncle P will let me babysit Rhodes.'

It wouldn't matter if he were perfect boyfriend material. If Uzumaki cared even half as much about his kids as Apollo did his own, then the Sun god could expect 'Papa' to tear him a new one.

The two Huntresses witnessed the god's panic and snickered conspicuously between themselves. Artemis knew why the blond was so scared and felt it was some much-needed Karma.

'Bonus points if this Sage man ends up knocking the degeneracy out of my brother.'

The Big Three would have shamelessly admired the foreign goddesses as well. However, their fear of Rhea's Pinches of Motherly Fury (TM) overrode their lust.

With the demigods, Percy leaned toward Annabeth. "Hey, Wise Girl." The blonde turned to him. "So, uh, know anything about these two?" the boy gestured to the quarreling goddesses.

His friend, while shaken, was silently observing the two. "Those are the chief goddesses of the Aztecs and the Shinto," she said.

"Huh?" Percy blinked.

"She means they're basically the queens of their places. Kinda like my own dad." Thalia chimed in.

"Umm…" Bianca muttered nervously while looking at the blonde goddess. "Weren't the Aztecs the same people that committed those umm… human sacrifices?" Sweat still drenched her face from the sheer heat that had previously enveloped the room and the things - horrors - she knew about that ancient civilization.

Quetzalcoatl paused mid-fight to glare at the scared girl. "Hey! It's not like I asked for sacrifices! That jerkface Huītzilōpōchtli did! Papito and Me-"

"Papito and I," Athena couldn't help herself.

"Shut it, nerd!" The Aztec whirled at the goddess, who wisely did as told.

The children of Zeus and Poseidon especially snickered while the War goddess glared at them.

"Anyway, Papito and I tried to get them to stop, but nooooooooo, Huītzilōpōchtli wanted his mierda! Huītzilōpōchtli wanted to be a little puta and make excuses! And on top of that-"

Bianca listened in mounting worry as the goddess got increasingly angry, now having begun waving her arms along her rant. Apparently, she was passionate about the subject.

"There she goes," the blonde's sister rolled her eyes as the Aztec continued her tirade.

The other three demigods shivered while Nico continued to sleep in the seat Rhea had tenderly left him in.

"Don't you children worry," A kind voice attracted their attention as they looked at a smiling Hestia. The goddess was posted protectively before them, hands alight with a comforting flame as she looked back at them, "I'm not going to let anyone hurt a hair on your little heads."

The three kids murmured their thanks.

Quetzalcoatl rolled her eyes. "If they think I'm scary, they should've met Tezcatlipoca."

"Right, like any of you are any less brutish," Amaterasu sneered.

"What was that?!"

The smoke cloud reappeared around both sisters as they fought like children.

Luke had remained tense even after things had calmed down. Even with Hestia's promise and his great-grandmother's protection, he still felt his time was trickling down. For whatever reason, someone brought him here. Luke could only hope this book would keep him away from harm at the hands of his so-called "family".

As for the two goddesses, he didn't feel much other than apprehension toward them. They seemed to be the most erratic gods he'd ever encountered. That included Zeus threatening his brothers and the entire country over his stolen weapon.

Did the two have to be so loud, though?

"Llorona!"

"Usuratonkachi!"

"Pendej-"

WHAM

WHAM

"Owwww!"

Both goddesses were abruptly interrupted by an irritated Rhea and found themselves kneeling while clutching their heads in pain.

"WOULD YOU TWO PIPE DOWN?! Aren't you too old for this childish behavior?" The Titaness had her hands stationed on her wide hips and looked down at the two goddesses with a stern and disappointed glare.

"Sorry, Lady!" The two looked up at the woman, eyes wide and lips pouting.

The sight almost made the mother back down, if only because she'd always been weak to that expression coming from her kids.

"Ahem," Athena mimed a cough, getting the two sisters' attention. "If you two are quite done." She ignored the pair of glares she got and turned to her brother, who'd been oddly silent while the commotion was going down. "Apollo, if you could make yourself useful and get on with the reading, that would be great."

Her half-brother snapped out of his funk and glared at her with a pout. He recovered and took the book back in his hands. He cleared his voice, looked down at the Aztec and Shinto pair, and resisted giving them a brief wink, his earlier fears surging back up.

Soon everyone was back in their seats, with the two visiting goddesses sitting in the middle of the room, aside from the group of demigods and closer to the Olympians. When they were all settled, Apollo began to read.

Chapter 4: The Mysterious Tourists

"Wait, chapter four? What happened in the first three?" Amaterasu cut the god off and looked at the goddess of wisdom for answers since she seemed like the smarty pants in the room.

Athena sighed but nodded and proceeded to mentally transfer the information.

Both sisters blinked at the influx of data and nodded.

Quetzalcoatl smacked a fist into her palm with a look of understanding, "Si, sounds like Papito, alright," she nodded with a self-confident look. "Continue reading the Mystery Book señor tamale."

'Damnit all!' Apollo internally cried at the nickname while his half-siblings chuckled at his expense. He began stammering when the raven-haired foreigner turned to him questionably.

"Eh? Don't I know you?"

'NopeNopeNope…' Apollo internally panicked as he hurried to start the chapter.

He wasn't about to attract the ire of every lady in the room!

Chapter 4: The M-

"Hold on," Hades interrupted his nephew, who looked up to glare at the god, only to cringe at the menacing stare he received back.

"...What is it, Hades?" Demeter sighed, having sat by and watched the entire debacle without comment. Not that it wasn't interesting, but she felt slightly more invested in the story itself and knew her mother and older sister had the situation on ground zero handled with the two new guests.

The god of the Underworld gave his sister a flat stare before turning to his Seafaring brother. He pondered what he was going to say, briefly debating whether boarding the issue was worth leaking sensitive information to two foreigners.

Then again…

Poseidon met his gaze and seemed to think the same.

"We believe the issue with Zeus breaking the Oath twice needs to be addressed now," the god glared at his younger brother when he got up to protest.

"Uncle, while I understand where you're coming from, do you believe now is the best time to speak of it?" Athena interjected, only for Poseidon to scoff.

"The book already revealed it callously. Who's to say this is the only sensitive issue it'll speak on?" The god explained, "I think we should come to terms with the fact that our more recent secrets will be revealed."

His older brother nodded and looked back at Zeus, "So, baby brother? I'd like to hear what excuse you have for us this time,"

"I-" the King began, but his brothers cut him off.

"-Couldn't help myself?" Hades made air quotes, mockingly mimicking the thunderer's voice.

"-Couldn't contain the thunderbolt?" Poseidon did the same eliciting hushed laughter from the more childish gods.

"-Couldn't resist that mortal puss-?"

"HADES! LANGUAGE!" Hestia interrupted with a glare.

"Brother, please, I believe you mean the Grussy," said the god of the Seas as the male gods in the room (sans Zeus, who had been getting angrier and angrier) exploded in laughter.

"POSEIDON!" Their now red-faced sister yelled in frustration.

The King, whose head could be a prune from how purple it had gotten, had his Master Bolt out and was using every fiber of willpower he had not to fire it at everyone.

"I won't explain my decision," he gritted out each word, prompting his brothers to stand up again and prepare for another shouting match.

"SIT!" The three were smacked again by their mother's sandal and did as told.

Quetzalcoatl looked at the offending footwear with dread.

'La Chancla,' she shivered.

"Umm… if I may…" Amaterasu interfered, "I know this does not regard me, but I do believe there's an obvious solution to the issue," she began before being pushed by her blonde brute of a sister.

"YEAH! Just punch it out mano a mano! No weapons! No powers! Just some good ol' Lucha!" The Aztec butted in with a large grin.

"Here, here!" Ares cheered on his newest subject of admiration.

To the horror of the family-oriented Greeks, the older two sons of Rhea were considering the solution.

"Quatzi, NO!/You three, NO!" Both the Shinto and Greek older sisters screamed their protests.

Amaterasu cleared her voice as things calmed down and resumed what she was saying earlier.

"What I meant by solution," she glared at a sheepish blonde goddess, "was that maybe this requires a neutral arbiter? Maybe someone liiiiiike… Papa?" Her suggestion came out a tad hesitant. While she still did not trust the Greeks as of yet, she held enough faith in her father.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the three before her.

The Shinto frowned heavily as her veins became more pronounced.

"Haaaaaaah? Why? Ya think yer too good for Papa? Ya shouldn't be solving yer problems with violence!" her voice took on a gruff undertone that made the Greeks tense in response.

Hades scoffed, "Oh? And you're one to talk? What with the spectacle you put on earlier?" the god mocked the Shinto's hypocrisy.

Before Amaterasu could answer back, the blonde Aztecs again interfered, with an angry frown marring her face. "Hey! Me n' Sis might throw some punches, but we never pull out weapons on each other! You gringos act like you ain't even hermanos!"

The ravenette looked at her little sister in surprise before visibly calming down: her face regaining its delicate features.

'Rash as she can be, Quatzi's always a good sister,' the goddess smiled and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Thank you, Sis," the Shinto's answer was a blinding grin from the Aztecs.

Looking back at the gods, she readied herself to make her case.

"Hey! I'll have you know this wouldn't be the first time Papa's done this! He knows how to mediate disputes, be it among gods or mortals!" Rhea watched as the goddess showed an impressive amount of self-control and could not help but smile.

Before the Big Three could answer her, the Titaness decided to throw in her own two cents.

"I agree with Amaterasu here on needing a mediator for you three," the goddess smiled in acknowledgment.

"But!" Rhea raised a finger to add, "I agree with my sons that involving a complete unknown would be foolish!" Amaterasu and Quetzalcoatl both frowned at that.

"So, I suggest reading this book to learn more about the man. I will then confirm to myself whether the man is trustworthy enough to give his Sage-ly advice on the problem!" The mother clapped her hands while her sons groaned at the statement and the pun.

"Mother, please! We can solve this ourselves!" Poseidon bemoaned, only for the tall immortal to shake her head.

"And how will you do so? By blowing up Olympus? What's done is done! Now you must focus on the future, and that can only be done if everyone acts like civilized adults and talks it out!" She said firmly.

While his brothers groaned again, Zeus felt a mix of relief and apprehension. While this dreadful discussion would be postponed, the implication of having to potentially discuss these issues with a stranger, let alone a Pantheonic Threat, was worrying.

"Oh good, just what we needed, our very own blue helmets," Hephaestus chimed in with a drawl, even if he internally agreed with his grandmother. Drama as a whole was both inefficient and annoying, something that people like his 'wife' never seemed to understand.

At the demigods' side, Thalia had been getting more frustrated by the minute, to the point where her Aunt, having sensed her distress, had to abandon her defensive post and come to comfort her. Surrounded by the support of her friends, the demigoddess had felt her worries ebb away gradually.

Even Luke felt his heart go out to his former friend, internally reaffirming his own view on most of the Olympians, even if he needed to acknowledge there were exceptions to his hatred now.

Seeing everyone calm now, Rhea conjured up a pair of comfortable recliners for the foreigners to sit in next to her and the demigods. The sisters shrugged and, with a flick of their fingers, changed their attire into something more comfortable. While the ravenette opted for the more conservative priestess robe she usually wore at home, the blonde had simply shifted her clothes into an open sports tracksuit while removing her ornate accessories and leaving her hair in pigtails.

Apollo, trying not to ogle the casually clothed goddesses and trying to avoid being interrupted again, hastily began reading.

Chapter 4: The Mysterious Tourists

Gyaran no Honkyochi or the "Home of the Gallant" remains one of the greatest mysteries of history. One might call it the eastern version of Atlantis, a city lost to the sands of time.

Poseidon and Percy were both intrigued by this. While the boy had yet to visit his father's Kingdom, he'd hoped it was as grandiose as he had imagined.

The god of the Seas, on the other hand, was mostly curious as to what made this city comparable to his underwater paradise.

Unnoticed by most, Amaterasu frowned, both in anger and sadness.

It was supposedly located in the middle of the East Sea, most probably back when the latter was still a landmass, thus placing it during a period older than the Ice Age.

Annabeth and her mother were both paying rapt attention to the explanation. This was a gold mine for the goddess, especially if it was further expanded upon!

What made this city special were its inhabitants.

As found in the Japanese Kojiki, it was said to be a place for everyone and anyone to live; it presented one of the earliest examples of coexistence between creatures of different origins. As it is written to not only have housed humans, but monsters, demons, and other such fantastical creatures.

The Greeks felt various degrees of surprise at this.

"So the Sage had a city housing different creatures…." The goddess of Wisdom muttered, having guessed its relation to the man from the name alone.

"It sounds amazing." Hestia breathed while her mother smiled as well.

"Hey, Ama, how come I never saw it?" Quetzalcoatl asked her sister, who looked away.

The question garnered some curiosity from the other gods, who turned curiously to the Shinto.

Amaterasu, for her part, looked nervous. This type of information was sensitive, not because it was dangerous, but because it went over a part of her father's life that he didn't wish to speak about much.

She could understand. After all, this was, according to Naruto, the day he had paid the highest price for his trustworthy nature.

So faced with the inquisitorial stares, she could only look to the side, searching for any excuse to give.

"Umm… you'll see…" her answer drew a pout from her sister and several frowns from the rest of the audience.

On the other hand, ancient Taoist texts related to the Tao Te Ching through similar narration chains paint a vastly different picture of the mystical city. For one, it was known as either the "City of Demons" or the "Refuge of Sinners". What was seen as a symbol of peace and understanding for the Shinto was abhorred as a symbol of rebellion against a divine decree by the Taoists.

'Ah,' Some of the gods' minds worked on overdrive, piecing together the pieces of the puzzle and getting a clearer picture of what had occurred. It was obvious that this city posed some sort of diplomatic issue between the Shinto and the Taoists.

'Of course,' Luke internally sneered. He could guess why this city was abhorred if the Jade Emperor's previous behavior was to be taken into account. How typical of a god to feel slighted by anyone demanding their rights!

Rhea also pondered on this. If this was truly the reason for the Heavenly War, then it was honestly disheartening. It simply felt too… petty… Yes, petty was the word, for a reason to start a century-long conflict over.

'Huh,' a thought came to her.

'It really shows gods can be human, for the best or the worst'

Nevertheless, despite their differences, both stories share the same ending: the complete destruction of Gyaran no Honkyochi.

Rhea and Hestia masked a gasp at the revelation.

Many in the room murmured among themselves, but if anyone were to look at the Shinto goddess, they'd see her bite her lips to hold down her anger.

Amaterasu felt like she knew where this was going. It was a given her sister was ignorant of it, as she hadn't been yet born at the time, but the Shinto had been a young goddess at the time. She'd seen her father's dream get built, only to be reduced to cinders by a madman.

Because no ruins have ever been found, even at the bottom of the East Sea, most historians have considered this city as nothing more than a fairy tale.

~~ Excerpt from "Legends and Wonders of the Far East" by Professor Amanda Perkins~~

Athena wordlessly noted down the name. She'd search for the professor when this was all over.

---

National Building Museum, Washington D.C, 30th of June 2000

Zetsu had many siblings over the centuries.

The two foreign goddesses perked up at that.

"Big bro?"

"Zeezee-Hermanooo~"

The Olympians raised a brow at this. You'd think someone like Zetsu would have a colder relationship with his family, but given the tone of admiration both goddesses used, there must be more to the little gremlin.

They weren't blood siblings, of course. He never had any of those. His father, weirdly enough, simply never had any children by traditional means.

Hera was the first to notice something odd and turned to their new guests.

"No blood siblings? But how?" The queen's question caused the rest of the room to look at the two foreign goddesses questionably, only to receive a pair of shrugs.

"Papa found me as a baby," Amaterasu said simply, enjoying a bucket of shrimp chips she had summoned. Poseidon and Percy grimaced as they heard the loud crunches, knowing the poor sea animals hadn't had the time to live out their dreams.

"Papito found me when I was a snake." Quetzalcoatl said while picking her nose, earning herself a glare from Hestia and a look of disgust from the queen.

Ares just sighed dreamily while doing the same, 'we even pick boogers out the same way.'

"I-I mean, you'd think an unattached and powerful man as he would have a few hundred kids over a few millennia." Hera shook her head, still not believing it, given her own experience with the Greeks. Zeus awkwardly looked at everything that wasn't his wife.

"Well, sorry, Papa had better control than that." Amaterasu huffed. The nerve of her to think her Papa would be a loose man! Or that she'd let some hussy sink her claws into him!

He instead either created them, as was his case, or simply took in children that caught his interest and raised them.

"You think any of them were demigods?" Apollo asked.

Hera looked like she swallowed a lemon, something that didn't escape Amaterasu's notice but the sun goddess chose not to comment on it.

"So he just picks up pretty much any kid he feels like?" Bianca asked just as her brother woke up. "And they just go with him?"

"How very 'pied piper' of him~" Aphrodite fanned herself amusedly.

Apollo shook his head, "more like Peter Pan."

Aphrodite pouted at him.

They grew up, achieved their dreams and ambitions, and for some, were immortalized in legends.

As soon as Apollo said that sentence, the screen began showing a slideshow.

Longwang Ryong, the Mighty.

A hulking silhouette with what looked like short antlers appeared on screen, posing in a basic standing punch.

Apollo's eyes widened at this. 'Another reference to the Journey!' he thought before jotting down the name. His twin was simply intrigued by the sight of the antlers. Perhaps someone related to her domains?

Quetzalcoatl heard something strange from her side and turned only to see her elder sister sniffle a tad, dabbing her amethyst eyes with a tissue.

"Big Sis! You okay?" her shout grabbed the attention of the women in the room, who looked to see the Shinto in distress.

"Yeah, don't worry Quatzi… 'is just some memories," the ravenette said with a tremble of her lips, with one hand clutching something under her dress.

'Ryong-kun…' Even several millennia later, she still missed the big lug.

She jumped when she felt a pair of arms envelop her. She felt her head get pulled into a large bosom and guessed it was the tall lady she had quarreled with before.

"Shhhh… it's okay, sweetie…" Rhea soothed the younger immortal. She might have acted rudely, but all the Titaness felt at the moment was a sad woman tugging at her heartstrings.

Aphrodite and Hestia both felt a sad smile come onto their faces, having sensed the goddess' feelings.

'Whoever this Ryong person is, they seem to hold a special place in your heart, huh.'

Many in the room were noticeably puzzled by the lack of details given in the image beyond the silhouette.

Amaterasu-Ōmikami, the Radiant.

A woodblock print was displayed on the screen, showing the scene of Amaterasu emerging from the cave, Ama-no-Iwato, to which she once retreated in one of the Shinto myths.

"Hot."

Artemis rolled her eyes. Of course, her helium-headed brother wouldn't be able to resist the play on words.

Said god's proud smile faded away when he saw the Shinto goddess still down in the dumps. Maybe she wasn't a fan of puns.

Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, the Brave.

A pen and ink drawing appeared, showing the scene of Māui Snaring the Sun.

"Kihihi… Big Broooo," Quatzi smiled widely at her brother while her sister gave a sad smile. Even if they felt melancholic at his passing, at least the man lived and died doing what he loved.

Poseidon raised a brow at the sight of one of the mythical world's sailing legends. This was definitely interesting.

Percy, Thalia, and Nico, for their part, snickered at the weird name.

"Hehe, TikiTiki," the youngest in the room giggled.

"So it's not just Shinto and Aztec," the goddess of Wisdom muttered.

Ehecatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Fierce.

An image of the Codex Borbonicus depicting Quetzalcoatl appeared.

Ares' eye twitched at the unflattering sight. This wasn't his BRICC Queen! Whoever made that abomination better be glad they were dead!

"Look, it's me!" Quetzalcoatl excitedly pointed at her depiction, much to the amusement of most of the gods and demigods.

Amaterasu, who had detached herself from Rhea, palmed her face embarrassedly but still hid a small smile at her sister's antics.

Kwaku Anansi, the Cunning.

The colorful cover of a book appeared on the screen.

Annabeth hissed from her seat at the image, hiding behind Percy and Thalia, while her mother had a look of distaste.

"Really? The Sage really couldn't find anyone else but a damn arachnid?" the goddess huffed. Something which, unsurprisingly, Aphrodite agreed with, shivering at the thought of those creepy crawlies.

The son of the Sea had to stop himself from snickering at the two of Wisdom's reactions.

"So the old man took in the first Spider-man? Cool," Apollo muttered while his half-brother chuckled.

"More like Spidah-ni-'' the Sun god screamed and threw his sandal at the Messenger god.

"Don't you dare, Hermes!"

Miyamoto Musashi, the Honorable.

A Gravure Sur Bois was shown, displaying a depiction of the Samurai from the Suikoden of Japanese Heroes.

Ares, Hermes, and Apollo collectively whistled, knowing of History's Greatest Samurai.

The Blonde Aztec was noticeably excited, as she jumped up and down in her seat, drawing giggles from the children at her antics.

"Sis! Sis! It's Moto-Moto!" the amazonian woman exclaimed, drawing a sigh from her sibling.

"Yes, Quatzi I can see that," Amaterasu covered her face in embarrassment.

"I wanna fight him again!" Her sister continued jumping up and down like a child.

Ares felt a smidge of envy at the excitement in his new crush's voice.

"Quatzi sit down, will you? And you can ask him when you come by Takamagahara," the Shinto said, annoyed.

'He's still alive?' was a shared thought among the few who knew of him. Musashi Miyamoto, to their knowledge, had lived and perished as a mortal. So how could it be? Was his soul conserved in the Shinto's base of operations?

These were but a few of his father's greatest children and students.

Unfortunately, humans typically either exaggerated or twisted their feats and biography into something that was often unrecognizable from the original stories.

But the point was Zetsu's father had made taking in children and disciples into a habit. One that the younger Uzumaki had grown used to, even if he didn't like it.

'Oh please,' Hera internally scoffed and agreed with the little imp. It was one thing to have many children but taking in riffraff off the streets? It sounded unbecoming of someone of the Sage's renown.

She daren't voice those thoughts, of course, lest her more family-oriented relative bear down on her.

So it came as no surprise to the greenette that his father had taken an interest in yet another one.

'I just wish he didn't pick the motormouth.' Zetsu thought while glancing at Annabeth, the subject of his thoughts.

"Hey!" said motormouth, feeling offended while her best friend bit his cheek to stop his laughter from escaping.

"Gotta admit, Annie, but little you never seemed to catch a breath," Thalia teased. Even Luke smirked at the memories of the demigoddess.

Said blonde turned her back to her friends with an embarrassed blush. It felt like people were treating her like a kid again! Ugh!

Her mother simply hid a tiny smile behind her hand. She wouldn't voice it but seeing another version of her daughter comfortable enough in her childhood was filling her with warmth and relief.

The girl was holding onto Naruto's hand as she looked around in amazement at everything around her and pointed at random structures and installations while firing off question after question.

The tiny demigoddess had made a passing comment about wanting to see the exhibit upon seeing an advertisement for the museum a few days ago when they came into Washington.

Upon hearing her wish, his pops proceeded to reserve an expensive suite at one of the best hotels in the city, much to the amazement of Thalia and Luke.

"The benefit of immortality." Apollo nodded alongside many others.

"Oh, he must be a delight in a rendez-vous~" Aphrodite purred. Say what you want about her, but she was a lady who loved getting pampered.

Rhea internally cooed at the father. Spoiling her children and family was practically a hobby for her, and it always gave her warmth to see her relatives happy because of her.

"Does money come with eternal life or something?" Percy asked. Annabeth shook her head teasingly. Why did these things fly over his head?

"In a way, if you have infinite time to live, that means you have infinite time to make money."

"Ah."

Being immortal tends to come with some benefits… as is being related to the Sage Realm's richest businessman.

'Oh?' Aphrodite's interest was piqued by that tidbit. First a DILF and now a potential sugar daddy? This story was building a good roster of Husbandos! Now, if only some smut could be snuck in~

(or businessbeast in that case).

The aforementioned lady immediately went green in the face.

'Ewww… never mind!'

She might be a bit more… open… than mortals, but she wasn't going to do it - with nor as - an animal or monster! She was no Poseidon or Zeus!

'Uncle Shukaku sure didn't skimp on the gold.' Thought the Uzumaki, thinking back to his most chaotic relative. Say what you want about the tailed beast, but Shukaku went to ridiculous lengths in his rivalry with the rest of his siblings. Be it in contests of strength (which he almost always lost), or vying for the title of 'Best Uncle'.

"The more I hear about that Chookaku guy, the less I want to meet him," Demeter admitted. The guy seemed waaaay too random for her tastes.

"Nah, seems like a riot to me!" Ares disagreed, making his blonde amazonian crush turn to him excitedly.

"Oh! You're the war guy, right? I'm sure he'll like ya! Tío Shushu loves violent people!"

Ares' eyes changed back into hearts.

'Eeeeee, she noticed me!'

Aphrodite looked at her lover with a bit of annoyance and just a pinch of jealousy.

'He's never looked at me like that before,' the goddess pouted.

Whatever. Free stuff was free stuff.

"Zetsu N. Uzumaki, ladies and gentlemen, the greatest philosopher of the twenty-first century! Nay, of the millennium!" Apollo jokingly presented.

"Wiser words have never been spoken!" Hermes agreed with a nod ignoring his smarter sister's stare at the statement. "That's why I steal."

Hades sighed. At least the god of thieves wasn't randomly murdering travelers anymore.

But back to the subject at hand, it has been almost a full month since they'd met the demigods, and while Zetsu could see that Thalia and Luke still had some lingering doubts, those feelings were being chipped down daily… as was typical for anyone hanging around his father.

'Pops tends to make people trust him eventually… mostly….' Several sinister figures briefly flashed in Zetsu's mind.

Several images appeared on screen, ones that got many in the room to pale or cower back.

The first showed a white-robed, queenly woman, characterized by a long curtain of stark white hair and a pair of horns on her head, as well as a pair of white eyes with a third red one on her forehead.

The second image showed a robed man with three eyes as well, wielding a ball of red energy.

The third image showed a large obese humanoid clad in dark robes and chains and standing among a slew of different monsters.

The fourth image showed a trio of obscure figures, each having their own characteristics whilst bearing the 'Ying/Yang' symbol on their robes.

The fifth image showed what appeared to be a demon with two faces and two pairs of arms tattooed all over as he sat on a throne of bones.

The sight was menacing to the audience.

"Wh-who were those people?" Annabeth asked Quetzalcoatl, who shrugged.

"Dunno never met'em."

"I have…or at least I met some and heard about the others. They're very powerful," Amaterasu crossed her arms in her chair.

A twisted grin made its way to her sister's face. "En serio? Ooooh! They look like they'd be a puta and a half to fight."

"Can you not?" The eldest Olympian sighed at the goddess' thirst for battle. As if her family wasn't already filled with her type.

"I think it's for the best that you don't," the Shinto agreed, making the blonde deflate, "from the little bits Papa and big bro said about them, most of them were extremely troublesome to fight."

Quetzalcoatl pouted, "that just makes me want to do it moooooore~"

Zeus frowned at the images of people he knew had existed long before any of his siblings, much less he, was conceived. He could almost feel the power each of them had just by looking at them, especially the first woman, who had an eerily familiar feel to her. Worst of all, he couldn't even comfort himself by saying they were dead. With immortals, death was often naught but an inconvenience.

"Oh, calm down. It's not like they're here." Rhea noticed her son's distress. Honestly, of all the faults he could have inherited from his father, why did it have to be the irrational fear of the unknown?

Bah, there was no need for these thoughts right now. This was still a family vacation, extra-company notwithstanding, so Zetsu would do his best to at least enjoy himself.

Looking back at the girl, he wasn't surprised to see she'd had his father lift her up so she could take a closer look at one of the exhibits.

And then the questions came back with a vengeance…

'Damnit, where is she pulling all this energy from?'

"Small blobs of unlimited energy, children are." Dionysus sighed, having woken up from his brief nap. "Makes you wish you could be rid of them, or at least be far away from them..." He sent his father a pointed glance.

"Eighty-seven years, seven months, and five days left. Not a second sooner." Zeus reminded the wine god, his tone making it clear he wouldn't harbor any backtalk.

Dionysus sighed again and slouched further on his throne, trying to get into a comfortable enough position to fall back to sleep in.

Percy smirked at the god's misfortune.

"You know he'll take it out on us during the next games, right?" Annabeth asked her best friend, deflating him instantly.

Zetsu could understand her curiosity, he had once been just like her too…. It didn't mean her non-stop badgering and the never-ending wave of inquiries was any less aggravating. He wanted to tell her off, but every time he held himself back for two reasons.

His father would be unhappy, as he seemed content to humor the kid.

His father also gave him a concerned glance every time the man felt a spike in his negative emotions.

"Wait, he can do that too?" the two local empaths asked in shock.

"Man, at this point, we should make a list of his abilities," Hermes commented, with a notepad in hand.

"I've been doing so since the beginning," Athena spoke up, showing the god a ridiculously detailed notepad and pen she telekinetically controlled.

"Hmph," the Messenger god pouted, "I just wanted to help."

Down by the Hearth, Luke let out a snicker.

While this was happening, Amaterasu's brow lightly twitched. She could guess this book would be revealing a lot of details about her father, and while she'd allow it, it didn't make it any less annoying.

Her big brother, after all, had worked his little keister off to keep them somewhat confined to myths, and this thing here might make his efforts void.

So the greenette kept his mouth shut on the matter and instead opted to entertain himself with the other two. They, like him, seemed to be uninterested in the exhibits around them, opting instead to bicker on their new favorite subject: Pokemon.

"Huh," Thalia's eyebrows shot up at this, as did the son of Hermes.

"Yes! Come to the dark side!" the local Weeb yelled in glee, getting a sharp look from his twin and her lieutenant.

"You better not! I will not have you corrupting maidens with that… filth… you have in your room!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Those are not the same thing!" the god waved his hands frantically. He might fancy himself as the 'CEO of Culture', but he wasn't about to introduce kids to that part of Japanese literature!

It both shocked and hurt him that his dear sister would think him so depraved! What kind of weirdo pulled out porn in front of children?

Across several dimensions and timelines, a certain masked cyclops sneezed.

"Cough-nerds-Cough" Percy couldn't resist the jab, earning himself a punch to the shoulder and a glare from an unamused Thalia.

"At least I can read a full sentence," the daughter of Zeus struck back.

"Hey!"

Naruto had the bright idea to introduce the two teens to pop culture through a couple of Gameboys he had in one of his seals, some old games he carried for him and Zetsu to play, and a few older mangas that he had discretely unsealed.

"Bright idea indeed," the god of the Sun nodded approvingly.

"Only you would think so," Artemis shook her head, "despite the… interesting species, I fail to see how a series about animals being forced to fight is anything but teaching children animal abuse."

"Of course, you'd think that, and how did you even learn about it sis?" Apollo raised a brow at his twin, who simply raised a hand to her face.

"The younger hunters have some… peculiar tastes," the Huntress admitted while her Lieutenant shook her head shamefully.

"It's all a waste of time, my Lady," Zoe provided her two cents, getting a nod of approval from both her patron and Athena.

"Nobody asked you, Nightshade!" the blond god pouted at the nymph, only to dodge a silver arrow from his scowling twin.

"Mind your tongue around my lieutenant brother!" the two siblings devolved into bickering.

"Honestly, you two," Hestia shook her head in disappointment at the two as she made her way over to separate them.

"Apollo, get on with the reading. We're wasting enough time as it is!" Zeus ordered in frustration, still angered by his earlier dispute.

As expected with their age group, Luke and Thalia took to video games like fish to water. Since his father was usually finishing off most monsters they encountered (with the exception of the times Thalia would ask to leave some for them), they had more time to indulge themselves in games and fiction.

Which came down to their present hushed argument.

"I'm telling you, Thals, Squirtle is the best starter!" Luke had his arms crossed and a steely glare directed at the demigoddess.

"Oh damn, that debate again?" Hephaestus groaned, having dabbled in the games and series on his downtime and having heard aaaaall of the Sun god's ravings on the subject at hand.

"And I'm telling you, Luke, that only an idiot would pick Squirtle over Charmander!" Thalia, ever the spitfire, responded back with more heat.

Luke quietly nodded in agreement with his other self, having gotten into the series briefly during his time at camp.

Percy also nodded, but for different reasons. Who wouldn't love a water-spewing turtle?

"I think Bulbasaur is objectively the better option, though," Hermes commented from his side, unknowingly becoming the target of Apollo's weeaboo fury.

"What? Of course not!" the god put his arms in an X before dropping the argument with Zeus looming over him.

"Squirtle breezes through the first two gyms, it gives you the best running start!"

"Exactly. Squirtle tops everything!" Percy nodded to that statement, his bias obvious.

"But Charmander has a better offensive play; Squirtle becomes useless after a while!" Apollo argued from his side.

"Nuh Uh!" Any further arguments from Percy were cut off as Annabeth, unwilling to see her friend turned into an animal, clamped a hand to his mouth.

The god saw this as an opportunity to continue reading.

"Yeah, up until you get to mid-game, and the fights start taking forever! Charmander might take a while to get used to, but that's only for bad players," Thalia argued, her stormy eyes almost shining in frustration.

"Clever girl," the blond god nodded vigorously while throwing Thalia a thumbs up.

Said girl had her head in her hands in embarrassment at the sight of her other self. She sounded like such a nerd! Ugh!

To the side, Nico tugged on his sister's sleeve, "Why're they arguing like it's Mythomagic?"

"Oh, Nico," Bianca simply chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Hah? Remind me again who has the most badges?" Luke smugly replied.

"Ugh! You little-" Thalia stammered, blushing in embarrassment before she crossed her arms and turned her head away to pout.

"Charmander's a dragon, dragons are cooler than turtles, 'nuff said." She concluded.

"Uh huh, very mature, pinecone face." Percy mocked the girl whose hand sparked with electricity.

"You're just mad that a sky beast wins against a sea creature," Thalia smirked at him.

"Ahem?" The demigod's father fake coughed with a smirk, freezing the daughter of Zeus in place.

"Ah- Um… what I mean is," the demigoddess stammered at the smirking god of the Sea.

"What she means is, anything within my domain beats anything within your puny sea, brother," Zeus joined in with a huff and a smug smirk, oblivious to his wife's facepalm.

Thalia's face lost went ash white. Oh no. Oh NO!

"Uh-huh. And how does that help your gameplay? Squirtle even gets the better evolution." Luke doubled down on her.

"Huh? Are you sure you've been playing the same game? I-" the ravenette snapped back.

"Huh? As if any brittle-boned bird could hold a candle to the monsters under the waves!" Poseidon shot back, still bickering with his brother, "your daughter simply doesn't understand the greatness of the vast ocean!"

"And your son doesn't grasp the potential of the skies above!" the King's eyes sparked with electricity, only for the Sea god to laugh.

"Ha! As if! Tell him how stupid dragons are, my son!" Poseidon gestured for Percy, who in turn mimicked his cousin's paler complexion.

"U-u-uh…"

"Thalia! Why don't you educate these kelp-headed buffoons on the irrelevance of fish!" the girl"s father shot back.

"A-ah" the two kids were holding onto each other for dear life, afraid they'd be caught in the crossfire.

To the side, Bianca was praying her father would keep them out of it.

"You two are idiots." the elder brother's insult got the other two's attention.

"Haaah?"

'Oh gods damnit,' daughter of Hades lowered her head.

"Bulbasaur." Both teens whipped their heads to the blasphemy.

"Exactly as my favorite character said," Hades nodded at the screen, acknowledging the younger Uzumaki. "Obviously, a land creature would be more powerful, isn't that right, Bianca? Nico?"

The Big Three thus devolved into bickering among themselves while their children used their Nana as a shield.

Rhea, although disappointed in her sons' childishness, relished in having her grandbabies so close.

"What?" The answer came out of left field, so the two demigods were understandably aghast.

"Stop lying! Bulbasaur isn't any better!"

"What is a Bulbasaur anyway?" Demeter blinked before the image of said pokemon appeared on the screen. "Oh, it's so cute!" the goddess exclaimed.

"I agree, sister," the eldest Olympian smiled warmly at the sight.

"I know! Is there a way to make some in real life? My lions would love a playmate!" the Titaness agreed with an energetic nod.

Hephaestus paused in his scribbles, scratched his chin, then looked at Apollo, "you wanna get in on this? Tech's more my alley, but I got the materials if you wanna bio-engineer something."

Before the Sun god could give a whoop of excitement at the thought of making Pokémon, his twin shot him down. The two proceeded to bicker once again.

"Wait, you guys want Pokémon?" Quetzalcoatl tilted her head at Rhea, Demeter, and Hestia.

"Quatzi! No!" Amaterasu tried to slap a hand to her sister's mouth but was caught by her.

"Yes!" the three ladies nodded at the blonde, with even the Queen listening in curiously.

What? She had a beautiful garden already! Why not some beautiful creatures to decorate it? Her peacocks were getting lonely.

"Well, Tía Kokuō's got a bunch of those," the Aztec said, "or at least, they look like'em," she trailed off, thinking back to the large group of creatures her aunt looked after.

The news drew a lot of curious stares at the two, but the Shinto goddess still got through to her sister and pinched her cheek painfully.

"Quatzi! You know Auntie Kokuo doesn't like people going after her babies!"

"Owiiiieee… Come oooon Ama… Tía's got like a million of 'em," the blonde paused to wrestle out of her sister's grip, "and Papito can help her make more!" that tidbit drew a choke from the Titaness.

"E-excuse me?" Rhea stuttered. Did she get something wrong? Or was the man already taken? With his own sister at that?

"Yeah! Tía knows how they work n'stuff, and Papito creates their huevos and puts em in the ground!'' Thankfully, that soothed the Titaness' worries.

What? She might've stayed single since Zeus was in diapers, but it didn't mean she was opposed to finding a good man to spend the rest of her life with! She just never found a guy who could both share her sense of humor aaaand survive her babies' inevitable tantrums…

But now?

Call her a Lioness because she had her prey in sight! Huhuhuhuhu~

"QUATZI! SHUT YER YAP!" Amaterasu finally lost her temper, and the two goddesses got back into a fight, prompting Rhea and Hestia to once again intervene.

"Oooooh boy," Dionysus, who had been oddly silent, mourned his lack of booze.

"I know what I said. Bulbasaur stomps all." Zetsu crossed his arms, with a smirk so condescending, it wouldn't have been out of place on an Uchiha.

Uchiha? Athena noted down that name as well.

Amaterasu, after having been broken up by the two eldest ladies in the room, looked pensive. This was the last name of her father's late best friend. He rarely, if ever talked about him even if he did once admit he served as a source of inspiration for her name.

"The hell it does!" The two teens spoke in tandem before turning to each other with fire in their eyes.

"Stop copying me!" They spoke again, this time grabbing each other threateningly, while Zetsu watched in amusement.

"Stop it! Damnit!" the two butted heads, and it looked like it was rapidly escalating toward a brawl.

"Awwwww look at the little niños Sis! They're like us!" the Aztec gushed and gave her sister a hug.

Amaterasu groaned but didn't protest the act.

Zetsu didn't seem to care, though. Hell, he wanted to see some chaos.

'Chaos, chaos, chaos!' The War god chanted in his head. Unbeknownst to him, Quetzalcoatl was thinking along similar lines.

"ZeeZee always does this, and it's always gracioso! Kahahaha!" the blonde goddess cackled at the mayhem while even her sister chuckled.

"So he's a little troublemaker, hmm?" Rhea teased from the side and got a pair of 'Eh' back.

"Big Bro is usually well-behaved," the Shinto began, while scratching the back of her head in a manner similar to her father, "but there are a few times where he's caused a lot of issues for everyone because he was bored or uhhhh other reasons," Amaterasu looked to the side in shame, muttering about 'no-good Uncles inciting a nation-wide riot'.

"Oooh! Ohhh! Like that time when his clones sorta founded their own nación and-"

"Shhhh! Quatzi you know Papa hates when we talk about that incident!"

"Ohhh sorry! Yeah, Papito was reaaaaaallly mad after that one,"

Hermes and Apollo exchanged glances and smirked, thinking of the future stunts they might pull, while Ares reevaluated his opinions of the little gremlin. Maybe he wasn't such a stick in the mud after all…

Rhea for her part simply blinked owlishly. 'Huh,' she thought, maybe the little guy was a bit more complex than she initially thought.

His lips twitched into a rare smile, a genuine one, at the almost sibling-like moment.

"Awwwww," Rhea and some of the ladies couldn't resist. The sight was a cute one, especially with the Uzumaki's disguise.

Heh, now to see if he could fan the flames more, they might get kicked out and finally do something fun.

"Oi."

Apollo hummed the Jaws theme.

Zetsu froze at the word, he didn't dare turn because he knew of the horror behind him.

'Oh great, another drama queen,' Artemis rolled her eyes while side-eying the Love goddess and her brother.

They already had two too many of those.

"Err… ain't that a bit much?" Annabeth asked hesitantly. That did seem a bit over the top of a description.

"No…. it is not" both daughters of the Sage spoke as one, each looking ahead in a thousand-yard stare.

The two arguing teens had a similar reaction, with Luke having a tight grip on Thalia's forearms while she rammed the top of her head into his torso in an attempt to push him back.

"Oh you two are adorable~" the Titaness cooed.

"Mother! Don't encourage this behavior!" her eldest daughter commented with a frown.

"Come now Tia dear, kids will be kids! Huhuhuhuhu~"

All three gulped and turned to the sight of the elder Uzumaki, with an oblivious Annabeth standing next to him - still looking around.

His voice soft, eyes closed, and a serene smile plastered on his face.

Yet the sheer monstrous aura he exhibited revealed the exact opposite.

Many tensed at the aura shown before them. Its potency was such that it could almost be felt through the screen.

As for a certain mother in the crowd?

She tugged at her collar.

'Oh~my~'

Luke and Thalia had switched to holding onto each other for dear life while Zetsu unashamedly ran back behind them and hid.

He wasn't above throwing people under the bus, or in this case, the eighteen-wheeler that was his father when annoyed.

'Nope, ain't in a mood for the stick or the chop'

'OOF' thought the more troublesome children of Rhea in sympathy, instinctively rubbing their ears and bottoms. Their mother's brand of discipline, while different, didn't shy away from delivering a good amount of pain for their misbehavior.

Amaterasu and Quetzalcoatl reflexively rubbed the top of their heads.

"Are you three trying to get us kicked out?" he asked, smile still in place, although his question drew shivers down the troublemakers' spine.

"Bu-" Thalia tried to say.

"Apapap!" the man shushed her, "Come on guys! This is onix-eptable! I bayleef we're still in a museum, so let's all have a weedle decency," he said with a straight face.

"Huhuhuhuhu~" Rhea began giggling at the puns while most groaned again.

"Hehe," little Nico was among the few who started to enjoy the jokes, much to his father's concern and his Nana's approval.

Annabeth looked up at him confused.

The other three looked at each other, with Thalia and Luke gaining cherry-like complexions at their closeness, and Zetsu peeking out, his face stony.

"Oooooh~" Aphrodite leered at the two demigods below, already scheming a potential ThaLuke? Lukalia? Lightning Thief? A bit too on the nose there…

Artemis and Zoe both narrowed their eyes at the Love obsessed goddess.

"Really pops? Now?" the younger Uzumaki threw a disgusted look at his father, who flashed him a grin.

"He's such a mood," Hades snorted at the Uzumaki's behavior. His opinion of the imp had been getting better and better as he saw a lot of himself in him.

"Much as I hate to agree with you, the little guy's proven himself to be quite relatable,"

"Ooooh and why is that? Do you find something embarrassing about our dear mother?"

Rhea, upon hearing this turned to her daughter with a pout "Aw… is that true my Little Sunflower?" Her question got a squawk from said goddess.

"Hey hey heeeeey! Don't Pokémon's groove here!"

"Ugh," Zetsu groaned, while the two teens snapped out of their embarrassment, and snorted.

"Ew, who even says groove anymore?" Thalia asked with a smirk.

"Oooooh, Pinecone Face's coming out swinging," Percy playfully elbowed his cousin who reciprocated the gesture with a smirk.

Dionysus internally disagreed but couldn't muster the energy to defend himself. So what if he liked the 70s slang? It was one of the only things Apollo ever did right.

Naruto's smile became brittle.

"Old men, that's who," Luke fired off with an equal amount of sass, getting an over-exaggerated gasp from his victim.

"Well, well, well… how the turn tables…" Hermes trailed off with a smirk.

"That's… that's not… just… just shut up…" Athena held her head while the mischievous god fist-bumped his brother.

"You guys and Nico really need to stop calling people old," Bianca sighed while trying to hide her amused smile.

"But it's true… they're old," the child looked up at his sister in confusion.

"NICO!"

"I-I'm still very well in the springtime of my Youth!" the man rebuked in outrage.

"Thou doth protest too much," Zoe herself couldn't hold back the little dig at the man, eliciting a chuckle from her patron.

"Careful old man, you're swimming in de-Nile" Thalia pulled out her tongue and laughed with Luke.

"Baby's first pun! I'm so proud of yoouuuu~" the demigoddess squeaked as she was enveloped in her Nana's embrace.

"Ack! I'd be so proud if my ego wasn't in pieces!" The man fell to his knees next to Annabeth, grasping his heart tightly. The dramatics started turning heads as people began to whisper.

Zetsu smelled blood in the water.

"He would," the Lord of the Underworld smirked. He was growing fonder of the guy. Might even invite him for a tour of the Fields someday. Punishment obviously: he wants to give a good first impression.

"Look at that Thals, the grandpa's bones are so brittle he can hardly stand," this seemed to be the final nail in the coffin, eliciting a whine from the blond man.

"Damn Herm, your boy's cooking the man!" Ares laughed.

"What can I say? The kids just woke up and chose violence," Hermes whistled while everyone chuckled at the exchange.

"Annie! Save me from the mean kids!" Naruto held the girl in front of him like a makeshift shield.

The youngest demigoddess laughed in merriment at the group's antics.

The women squealed at little Annie while Big Annie hid her rosy head in her hands.

Percy himself had to bite his lips to not do the same.

Tin-abeth was so adorable!

"Using Human shields now? I like the old man's style," the god of War leered.

His eldest aunt certainly didn't approve of that joke.

---

Olympus, Athena's Temple

'Entry five quintillion, four hundred fifty-seven quadrillion, one hundred and two trillion, two billion, forty-seven million, and twenty-two'

"So many useless details… Oh, I wonder who that could be?" Poseidon jabbed at the goddess of Wisdom, only to get a smirk back.

"Oh? Was the location not mentioned a few lines ago? Or did the algae finally leak out of your head?" Athena mocked her rival, getting a harsh glare in return.

If the average man possessed a garden within their mind, and the average god a sizable field, then Pallas Athena possessed a veritable forest within hers.

"You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind~" Apollo hummed the famous quote, much to his smarter sister's approval.

The goddess of Wisdom did not follow many television personalities, but she was especially fond of the ever-famous mortal Mr. Rogers and his efforts to educate young children.

Twin pools of gray shined as countless ideas sprouted, were simulated, applied, practiced, then either saved aside or redeveloped into more effective ones.

Her hands blurred at speeds that would have rivaled her twinkle-toed half-brother, simultaneously jotting down notes and organizing the mountains of documents she was reading through.

There wasn't anything special about that, it was simply standard behavior for her within the confines of her own temple.

Apollo had summoned a pair of glasses which he pushed up his nose with the most condescending smirk he could muster.

"Ah yes," the glasses glinted, "a nerd in their natural habitat."

The blond god had to immediately duck as his sister's spear impaled his head's previous location.

"Sorry, sorry…" the deity shrugged with a grin, despite the bead of sweat on his brow.

He also ignored the glare his twin, her little helper, and Athena's daughter were throwing at him.

'Subject Variables:'

'SV1: Naruto N. Uzumaki'

'SV2: Zetsu N. Uzumaki'

"Ah crap, she's got them in her sight!" Hermes exclaimed.

"Target. Acquired." Apollo replied with his best robot voice only to once again dodge another spear by his angry sister.

"Apollo, I swear to our father, I will hurt you!"

"Ditto," Artemis concurred with her arms crossed and an annoyed scowl marring her face.

In an effort to cope with the insane speed her mind worked, she had developed a peculiar habit over the last few thousand years of her existence. If anything caught her interest, be it a new flavor of her Aunt's treats or a potential armageddon, she would mobilize that same speed to craft an unearthly detailed analysis of her target. Her latest target was something that appeared simple, yet was more worrying.

'SV3: Annabeth Frederick Chase'

'SV4: Thalia Beryl Grace'

'SV5: Luke May Castellan'

"Oh wow… that's cold," Hephaestus blinked, not quite believing the goddess would blatantly say it, or in this case think it. Even with his preference for machines, he never went as far as to slot his own children like automatons.

Annabeth looked up at her mother, a tad hurt at being labeled like a common statistic.

Thalia and Luke, on the other hand, looked positively incensed and glared as one at the goddess, who avoided their stares.

As cold as it was to label her own daughter with a classification, she could be excused seeing as her current work could ensure her safety.

'I… I guess?' said daughter trying to find comfort in her mother's logic. She knew that sometimes the ends justify the means…

But it didn't hurt any less…

There was nothing alarming about SV- her little girl's situation… yet.

Getting called her little girl, however? That gave her a boost of morale.

Athena gazed down sadly at her daughter, disappointed in herself for not doing more for her.

Everyone else opted to remain somewhat silent, not willing to cut off the stream of information.

Meeting two other demigods was not problematic, even if she had doubts about SV4.

Meeting two strangers constituted a first red flag, the circumstances of their meeting a second, bigger one.

What she had sensed in the following days through her daughter only increased her suspicion.

Annabeth smiled slightly at that. Her mother had previously told her she had watched over her, but having that confirmed eased her heartache a tad more.

'SV1: Adult male, age noted as thirty-seven (suspected younger), single father of one, former JGSDF officer, current owner and chef of Ichiraku Ramen in Fukuoka.

'SV2: Adolescent male, age noted as sixteen (no suspicion), son of SV1, high-school graduate (unusual), current sous-chef of Ichiraku Ramen in Fukuoka

"Huh, they expected a background check," Poseidon rubbed his chin. Most beings like themselves would settle for using the Mist on mortals.

'Notable characteristics: Superhuman strength, superhuman speed, energy signature similar to Satyr/Nymph, willingness to help SV3, SV4, and SV5'

"Welp… they couldn't have hidden everything," Demeter drawled. She couldn't imagine someone just suppressing that much power.

Maybe it could fool mortals but certainly no one of their kind.

She had originally thought the two to be demigods, or a demigod and a legacy, based on battle prowess alone, and their willingness to assist the three children, but that theory had been dispelled the second she had gotten a feel of their energy.

While she might not be as good of a sensor as her sister, she could still proudly say that distinguishing a demigod among mortals was an easy feat.

Artemis and Athena exchanged a kind look.

That was not the case here, however.

The energy felt more akin to that of a nature spirit, a little more potent than that of a Nymph or a Satyr.

"Oh…" Artemis said in surprise… that would certainly attract some curiosity from their nature spirits.

But that wasn't enough to raise any alarms.

It was what that classification entailed. The father and son were definitely male, and yet lacked a goat's distinct lower body. This made them an outlier to both species she had initially thought of, and that detail made her so much more invested in their cases.

"Indeed," Zoe nodded. She'd certainly never seen such a case, bar with male demigods of Demeter or some other minor goddess related to nature.

'Suspicion: Hidden Identity'

'Theory 1: Affiliation to an East Asian Pantheon'

"Ooooh she's onto 'em," Percy leaned forward in his seat, while Annabeth giggled next to him.

The demigod smiled. He'd noticed his best friend was feeling a bit sad.

After hearing their stories, a quick search on the Japanese census, surprisingly enough, confirmed their statements.

'Addendum 1a: Affiliation to the Shinto Pantheon'

But then again, if the Shinto were anything like the Greeks in that regard, then she could not dismiss the possibility of fraudulent information. Mist manipulation and all…

"True," Athena admitted to herself. She wasn't above doing the same and knew the ways one would have to employ to perform these feats. It always left a magic or digital signature.

That hypothesis came into question almost immediately when she could not detect any tampering in the electronic or physical files, neither by mortal means nor through magic, and that left her with more questions than answers.

The goddess of wisdom blinked in surprise.

She could be wrong… or she could be dealing with someone more thorough than herself in information warfare.

'How preposterous!' she scoffed at the very notion.

"There's that hubris again," Poseidon mimicked other Athena's scoff mockingly before adding, "you really need to put a leash on that pride of yours," he sneered at her.

Percy put his head in his hands. "Dad, can you just… not?" he pleaded as the goddess scoffed.

"Oh do cover for your father Jackson. Knowing him you might have gotten all your brains from your mother, seeing as he doesn't have any," Athena's rebuttal was swift and angered her rival.

"How dare-"

"Honestly you two!" Hestia's yell shut them up, "and stop bringing your children into your own, frankly idiotic, disputes!"

"But sister-"

"No buts!"

"I do have to wonder though…" Hephaestus began, "how can someone simply become a ghost on the net? It should be possible to avoid mortals but not us…" the smith muttered, before flipping a page in his notebook and beginning to jot down some ideas for potential malware and firewalls.

"Think it's Zetsu?" Hermes asked, getting some to look at him, "What? He looks like the sneakier guy of the two!"

Amaterasu and Quetzalcoatl wisely retained their silence.

'Theory 2: Monsters. Most likely intent - on preying on SV3, SV4, and SV5'

Possible. If they were Shinto monsters their actions might translate to an attempt to hunt in areas far from their gods' detection. They could be banking on the possibility of their natures remaining unknown to the Greeks.

Hades scoffed, "as if I'd let foreign monsters waltz in here as they wish…"

"I can see it," Zeus sneered at him, "with all the work you do in your dungeons, your focus must've slipped."

"Oh like you do whenever you trip and fall in a woman's nether regions?"

"YOU-"

SMACK

"Apologies, mother/mother dearest."

"… Momma's boy."

Unlikely. If not for Athena's network, her Huntress of a sister would surely sniff them out.

Artemis nodded, once again happy her sister thought so highly of her abilities.

"Oh you have a lot of sniffing experience, don't you? Virgin." Aphrodite giggled to herself.

"I'll shave you bald! Harlot!"

'Theory 3: Scouts and/or vanguards'

It was the only other plausible reason. One did not just travel like a mortal when they were involved with the supernatural. There was likely divine influence at play here.

The piling uncertainty bothered the goddess of wisdom. She especially was not proud of the lack of information she had about the more elusive gods of the Nihon Isles.

"That's Japan's ancient name," Annabeth explained to Percy, who had his mouth already open to ask about it.

"I thought it was 'nipple'?" Thalia tilted her head, unknowingly causing Luke to snicker and Bianca to block her brother's ears.

"NIPPON! IT WAS NIPPON!" Apollo shouted in fear of Amaterasu.

Bringing up the piles of books and papers she had on the subject, she was saddened to see the disparity between them and the literal mountains of different literary works she possessed on Western civilization.

"Hmmm…" Apollo briefly considered making a trip to his sister's library.

On one hand, more to read on the East. Yay!

On the other, Missus Know-it-All nagging at him. Nay!

Hmmmm…

After all, while different pantheons might operate with unfamiliar systems, the gods of the East, in particular, were special cases.

They never had to adapt like the Greeks, Norse, or Egyptians to the modern world, by spreading their influence through demigods and subtly directing the progress of humanity in a manner that benefited both their respective domains, and the well-being of mortals.

They never had to work to spread their stories and to prevent themselves from fading. Something that could not be said for some pantheons in Latin America or Africa.

"Harsh," the Aztec in the room pouted.

"I apologize," the goddess of wisdom, applying her namesake, immediately answered, not intent on offending a foreign goddess. Much less so by openly trivializing her entire pantheon's demise.

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it chica, who'd ya think sent the conquistadors to our door?" The goddess said, getting a look from her sister.

"Que? You wanna say something sis?"

"...was this about the sacri-"

"¡POR SUPUESTO!" The blonde threw her hands up, "I tried everything to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen, and that pendejo Huītzilōpōchtli wouldn't shut up about getting his 'juice'!" The Aztec threw some indecipherable curses at the air and then continued, "then I saw some guys in armor and thought 'hey, here's some fresh faces. Let's see if they can talk it out." Her anger faltered, "it ain't like I wanted them to go to war…"

The Shinto, Taoists, and Hindus have retained a large part of their influence over the millennia. The Hindus, especially, have become ridiculously powerful due to the number of followers they had, so much so that the very notion of a war with them was tantamount to suicide, in Athena's opinion.

The Big Three collectively frowned at that statement. Just because it was true, didn't mean they had to like it!

It's not like Brahmâ, Vishnou, or Shiva, were all that more powerful than them individually… It was that damnable fusion ability of theirs that put them at the top of the supernatural world's food chain.

It was almost laughable. The only way they would have a chance at survival if beings like the Trimurti decided to step up to them, is in the unlikely case Zeus, Odin, and Ra managed to put their egos aside and form a temporary alliance between their respective pantheons.

"An alliance? With that old pervert and the senile conservative? Do you truly think I'd stoop so low, daughter?" The King scoffed, not seeing the way most of his siblings' palms met their foreheads at the hypocrisy.

'Something that won't happen anytime soon,' mused the goddess as her eyes roamed over the documents.

"Heh… even Athena's calling you out on your ego pops," Apollo laughed out, only to once again dodge a couple of attacks.

"SHUT UP APOLLO!" Both father and daughter yelled at him.

Hestia simply shook her head.

As for the Taoists and Shinto, while their number of followers had noticeably decreased, many of their old shrines were still being used and many of their practices and traditions were maintained.

Unfortunately, both of those parties had an almost hostile relationship going on that goes back thousands of years. This conflict had apparently started long before the Shinto chief goddess, Amaterasu-Ōmikami, had earned her place at the top of her pantheon. The mysterious "Heavenly War" was said to be the trigger for it and it was an event many scholars, god or mortal, wished to uncover more about.

"Umm… Lady Amaterasu?" Annabeth spoke up hesitantly, getting the goddess' attention.

"I-if you don't mind me asking, but beyond the Heavenly War what other issues did the Shinto have with the Taoists?" The blonde asked her question hesitantly, not knowing whether her curiosity could trigger the deity's fiery temper.

Amaterasu looked at the girl and then raised her head up in thought.

"Well… I don't know what started it, but it must've been beef that Izanagi had," she spat the name like poison.

"But since I can remember, there was always tension between our two pantheons, something about the geopolitics of the region ya know?" she muttered, as both mother and daughter of wisdom listened in.

"The Shinto was noticeably younger and weaker than the Taoists and since we were their closest neighbors…" the ravenette trailed off, as her listeners got the picture.

It was either them or the Hindus. A no-brainer really…

"Plus, Papa maaaay have contributed to it when he indirectly caused the Great Chinese Migration," that tidbit got a raised brow from Athena.

"I've never heard of such an event," the smartest being on Olympus admitted. Sure there were migrations to and from that country throughout history, but nothing so notable so many millennia ago.

"I doubt you would," Amaterasu admitted, "Papa and the family don't really like talking about it."

The two sides kept it under wraps and all she had to go off of, are apocryphal texts and unsettling rumors about it.

She could always consult her grandmother as she was one of the only current Greeks who had been alive at the time.

"Oh you know you're always welcome at my home Thena dear, I would love to have a chat over some tea," said grandmother clapping her hands at the wonderful idea. More family time for her!

Athena let out a small genuine smile, "Thank you grandmother, I might take you up on that offer."

"Splendid!" Rhea once again clapped her hands, "Oooooh maybe we could make it into a girls' day! You can bring little Annie! Ooh and Thalia and Bianca! And the rest of you ladies can come too! Can't forget about you darlings~" she sing-songed at the demigoddesses, who looked surprised but not against the invitation.

"Thank you for the offer Lady Rhea but I doubt Lady Artemis has time for-" the daughter of Atlas tried to excuse them but was cut off by the Titaness.

"I'll even make my special butterscotch piiieee~"

"We'll be there!" Artemis immediately agreed.

"My Lady-" Zoe tried to protest but was silenced by her patron.

"You'll come too, Zoe! Then you'll understand!" There was a manic look in the goddess' eyes, one that her lieutenant didn't dare inquire on.

Zeus smiled fondly at his daughter. Seeing her excited was as rare as it was nostalgic.

"Heeey Nana, what about us?" Apollo and Hermes both gave their grandmother the best impression of kicked puppies.

Rhea's maternal instincts flared up.

"Uhm… Well… we'll make a boy's day too! There's enough pie and blue cookies for everyone!" Her statement was met with cheers from most of the men in the room.

"Sweet!"

Meanwhile, a certain son of the Sea sat with an utterly confused look on his face. 'How in Dad's beard did she know about the blue food?'

Maybe? A thought for another time…

In any case, many in the divine world had secretly feared a second such war would break out during Japan's invasion of China in World War II but not only were the Taoists absent from the battlefield but so were most of the Shinto, barring war deities like Hachiman.

'He's a likely mastermind for SV1 and SV2's infiltration'

A loud snort was heard from the two foreign deities' direction. Athena turned to question them but found a pair of sisters acting innocent.

Perhaps an operation setting the stages for another war? Her violent brother would probably be the only one happy about that one, especially with Hachiman's notorious stubbornness and bloodlust.

Another snort was heard, getting the wise goddess to whirl at their guests.

"What is it?"

"Uuh you'll see… kehehehehe," Quetzalcoatl giggled alongside her sister, both privy to an inside joke.

That idea might have merit, but…

'Hachiman hasn't been heard off since the end of the WWII, almost as if he faded away'

Athena frowned as her mind briefly attempted to analyze the correlation between these facts and the goddesses' reactions to it.

Was she wrong here?

Her leads were turning cold as she pondered them. The lack of valuable and concrete data only made ugly feelings of frustration bubble up in the goddess's being.

She had many questions, and many worries to be addressed, but could not do anything, both because of the ancient laws, and because she simply could not risk an inter-pantheonic war.

Especially one with the Shinto.

"Oh come on!" Ares whined. All he wanted was some conflict! Hell, he'd take a few skirmishes! Iraq and Afghanistan could only get dull after a while!

Regardless of their lower numbers, those gods had connections to several other pantheons in the region which would more than make up the difference.

That, and a suspicious relationship to a particular cryptid mentioned several times in the same texts on the Heavenly War.

Quetzalcoatl suddenly giggled, getting her sister's attention.

"What?"

"Pffft… Papito el Chupacabra," the joke got another snort from the ravenette.

"Snrk… shut up! Don't talk about Papa like that…" the Shinto composed herself quasi-immediately, while her sister rolled her eyes at her.

"Siiii~ siii~…. Daddy's girl…"

Amaterasu's visage once again twisted into that of a delinquent, "Haaaaaaah-?"

"Girls?" Rhea's sugary voice cut the two goddesses off, making them cross their arms and pout like a pair of children.

"Sorry, Auntie/Tía Rhea" the two chorused, making Apollo and Athena choke on their spit, shocked at the awfully familiar honorifics. Just how brazen were those two?

Their grandmother didn't seem to mind, and that didn't sit well with them or her other children.

A being rumored to have stood toe-to-toe with powerhouses like the mysterious Jade Emperor.

Ridiculous as the last notion sounded, she could not help the gnawing feeling that there was more to this story. If in any way, it ended up being real, then that would mean the Olympians would have to face at least a Pantheonic threat, and that wasn't a scenario she wanted to plan for.

It all hinged on the question: Just who was "The Gallant Sage of the East" she kept seeing mentions of?

The screen panned out to show large boards spanning the room peppered with photographs, documents, and writings, all linked together with red string.

Artemis turned to her sister with a frown, "...Do we need to set up another intervention?"

"No sister, we do not," Athena replied coolly, looking straight ahead - not in the Huntress' direction.

Hephaestus hnnned at the sight.

"Amateurs," the workaholic of a god muttered. That looked like one of his more basic projects.

'A question for another time,' thought the goddess, hearing a chime from her office clock, and decided to move over to her other duties for now.

"How dull," Aphrodite couldn't help commenting. Honestly, why did that goddess have to make everything so… bland.

"Excuse us for having schedules," her 'husband' interjected before smirking, "some of us have important roles to play."

"Excuse you! I'll have you know that the next season of the Housewives of Beverly Hills isn't going to write themselves!"

"I should've known you'd be behind that travesty! Do you have any ideas how many divorces I've had to witness since it aired?"

"Hmph! You just don't know quality TV when you see it,"

"Oooh, I've been following that one~" the Titaness clapped her hands, while Demeter nodded with her.

"Ooooh~ I knew you two had good taste!"

"Ain't that the show Tía Matatabi watches a lot?"

"Her and Auntie Saiken, yeah. I never really saw the appeal, it's just full of hussies being hussies…"

"Thank you!" Hera exclaimed with her hands in the air. Finally, someone said it!

She made a mental note to talk to her sister. Hopefully, Artemis can feel the two strangers out and give her a more accurate assessment of their threat level.

She could not act rashly, nor illogically, after all, she is Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and battle strategy.

Failure was not an option.

"Annnnnd we're done! Good stuff, six out of ten, with four points deducted for all the nerdiness," the Sun god nodded to himself.

"Yeah, the chapter was cool and all, but I felt like smarty pants over there was trying a bit too hard to be cool. Came off as cringe," Hermes joked.

"Only thing she can flex is her brain," Ares added mockingly.

Both gods suddenly shivered as they felt an immense amount of killing intent directed at them.

The three stooges turned slowly to see their Wise sister dressed up in full military regalia and her weapons to boot.

"Target Acquired."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"

---

A/N: R&R!

(Also got a Ko-fi, if you wanna give me a bit of encouragement. Might make me write faster… you never know).

P.S: No, there's (probably) no confirmed pairing beyond NaruRhea and Percabeth.