Percy, Will, Thalia, Jason and Annabeth stuck with the underworld gang. Nico was grateful for that and he need to talk to Mr.D. As Dionysus knew how May was driven insane, Nico wanted to know if he could cure her.
"Mr.D, is it possible to cure May?" Nico asked
Dionysus looked at him.
"I can't do it alone. I'm going to need help. Most probably, it should be combined magic of me, Apollo and maybe your father." He said
Hades nodded.
"But won't that magic be too much for her?" Percy asked
"No, it's the same way we cure insane people. Some magic from all three of us which would combine to not be too powerful for her but be very effective." Dionysus explained
"So after the reading?" Castor asked, who was next to his father
Dionysus nodded.
"Thank you Mr. D." Thalia said
Dionysus gave a small smile.
"I think we should say this Mr. D. I feel like we should've said this earlier but we'll say it now. You do mean quite much to us. Sure, you can be irritating and annoying at times but that's what we're going to miss. You're part of our family. You and Chiron." Percy said
The demigods nodded.
Chiron smiled and Dionysus' eyes widened.
"Th-thank you." He said
The demigods smiled, wrapped a hand around Nico's shoulders and dragged him outside.
"Percy!" Hermes called
Percy grinned.
"What's up?" he asked
"Can we join you?" Hermes asked
"Sure!" Percy called
The Hermes gang grinned and went and joined Percy. So did the Apollo gang.
"Dude, what about the water sports place?" Apollo grinned
"I still can't believe you're serious about that." Percy grinned
"Oh better believe it brother. It's happening." Triton grinned
"I love you guys." Percy grinned happily
They all chuckled.
"So Annabeth, you should get designing." Hermes grinned. He was in a great mood as Castor told him the news about May.
Annabeth grinned.
"I'll show the design tomorrow." She grinned
"No way." Jason chuckled
"Yes way." The Stolls grinned
"Designing reminds me, weren't we supposed to help form divisions and stuff for the Underworld. We decided during the first book." Apollo said
"Wait, you were serious about that?" Nico asked
"As serious as me liking golden." Apollo grinned
Hades stared at his nephews who were grinning.
"Oh yeah, I remember." Poseidon said
"You want to help too?" Hades asked his brother in surprise
"Duh." Poseidon shrugged
Percy grinned widely.
"T-thank you." Hades said to everybody
"No need for that." Hermes chuckled
"I'm thinking Charon should stop wearing Italian suits in specific." Lee laughed
Everybody chuckled.
"Or he could be given some money per, let's say 4 months to buy one Italian suit. So he gets three suits per year and he won't bug Hades for pay raises." Michael said
"That's clever." Hazel said
Michael grinned.
"I have one." Jason said "So Percy said that the fields of Asphodel was very crowded. Maybe instead of letting the souls roam around without doing anything, maybe you could actually make the underworld function like the upper world. Like apartments and markets with some artificial light like we suggested before. Asphodel wouldn't become Elsyium but it would become better than before."
"That's lit." Percy said
Nico nodded.
"Hmm the retelling we're reading has the same concept." Persephone said
"I haven't read the retelling but if you're saying it's similar then it might be." Jason shrugged
"But how will the artificial sunlight be created? Dad drives the sun chariot now but he can't drive into the underworld. Creating a literal ball of energy would be insane." Will said
"I read some books. What about some kind of illusion but it would be permanent?" Annabeth said
"Is that possible?" Apollo asked
"Maybe." Tyson said
"What are you guys talking about?" Leo asked, coming to their table
"Hey Leo, we were talking about helping out in the underworld." Jason said
"Nice. So what have you guys come up with?" Leo asked
"Sit down." Percy said, offering a chair
Leo grinned and sat down. Annabeth quickly told him the ideas.
"Tyson says it might be possible." Percy said
Tyson nodded.
"It might be. Some magic combined with heat." Leo said, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought.
"How would that heat come?" Nico asked
"Fire and one or two gods. Some nuclear material as well. It will be some energy but like Will said, it would be insanity to create a huge one so we would have to use magic." Leo said
"You can arrange the material? Like is it possible?" Thalia asked
"It's possible." Leo nodded
"To make the underworld function like the world above, the combination of magic, robotics and heat or energy would be perfect. I'll look for the materials along with dad and Beckendorf when we look for the shield for the underwater palace, like I said." Leo said
"You weren't kidding about that?" Triton asked in surprise
"No." Leo said.
"I'll be back." He said and jogged to his table
The demigods and gods saw him saying something to his father and Beckendorf. They suggested something and Leo nodded. They had a conversation which the demigods and gods couldn't hear but the three of them seemed satisfied with what they were suggesting. Leo nodded, gave side hugs to Beckendorf and Hephaestus and jogged back to the table.
"What happened?" Hazel asked
"Dad said what I said and Beckendorf agrees. He says it would be a little nuclear so protection would be required. Dad said he'd design that. As for the palace shield, he said that for that it would be robotics and coding with some magic. For the buildings and market in the underworld he says that he would work with Annabeth, Hazel and Nico because of designs. He also said he would need Percy for that for the purpose of earthquake safe buildings. He said that Percy would also be needed for the underwater shield and Tyson for construction and robotics. Jason and Thalia would be needed for helping with construction and maybe some research. As for heat Apollo's help would be needed and Hermes' help for the internet and connections." Leo informed
The demigods, Apollo and Hermes nodded.
"Done." Jason said
"You can do such advance robotics? I mean, you're one of the best mechanics but such advance level coding is hard." Annabeth said
"I know a lot of it but I will have to consider and look through some books of dad and in the library." Leo admitted "Though the waystation was awesome so I've learnt a lot there."
"I love that place. How is everybody doing?" Apollo grinned
"They're doing great and you have visited, Apollo." Leo laughed
Apollo chuckled.
"Yeah." He said
"When are you going to start looking for materials?" Percy asked
"Dad has some but we're gonna look in the breaks. Waiting till the end of the reading is going to be a lot of time." Leo said
"That's great." Will grinned
"Thank you guys." Percy, Hazel and Nico said gratefully
The demigods, Hermes and Apollo laughed it away.
"Any day guys." Thalia chuckled
"You know the funny part is that I'm always going to be available in the underworld." Jason laughed
The demigods and Apollo grimaced.
"Hey, I meant it as a joke." Jason said
The demigods nodded.
The sea gang and underworld gang gods were still surprised. They felt really grateful to the demigods, Hermes, Hephaestus and Apollo. They found it a little hard to believe that all this was happening. Their children and the three gods were very clever and they felt quite emotional about the help. They didn't know what to say because a 'thank you' wouldn't seem enough.
They got up and gave hugs to everybody on the table and went over to give a hug to Hephaestus and Beckendorf who were a little surprised but chuckled. The demigods were grinning so wide that their faces were hurting.
"PAINTBALL!" The Stolls yelled as soon as everybody finished snacking.
The demigods cheered and punched the air.
"Capture the flag paintball?" Nico asked
"Yep." Clarisse said
"What about same soccer teams?" Michael asked
"Sure." Percy shrugged.
"I'll go get the flags." Hephaestus grinned.
He came back after two minutes and had two glowing flags in his hands.
"Here you go." He said and gave a red flag to Percy and a green one to Clarisse.
P- Nico, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Tyson, Triton, Amphitrite, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Castor and Pollux, Will, Katie, Persephone with Percy.
C – Ares, Chris, Beckendorf, Zeus, Apollo, Michael, Travis and Connor, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Dakota, Lee, Silena, Artemis with Clarisse
Zoe and the others decided not to play.
"Here's the protective equipment." Hephaestus said, handing it to everybody who was playing.
"Do not remove it. These paintballs don't hurt but still. No powers." He said
Everybody nodded.
"Ready dad?" Percy grinned at his father
"I guess." Poseidon grinned
"This is gonna be lit." Nico grinned
"You bet it will." Annabeth smirked
"Let's go to our side." Thalia said
Percy's team nodded and they went to one side.
PERCY"S TEAM
P- Nico, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Tyson, Triton, Amphitrite, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Castor and Pollux, Will, Katie, Persephone with Percy.
"What's the plan?" Jason asked
"We scope the place." Katie asked
"They would expect that as that's similar to what Four and Tris did." Castor shook his head
"We make three divisions. Defense, offense and sneaking. Defense will guard our flag, offense will hunt for the flag and defeat the others and sneaking will scope for the flag without being seen." Annabeth said
The demigods and gods nodded.
"Leo, Katie, Hermes, Piper, Rachel and Jason be the sneaking team. Dad, Triton, Amphitrite and Persephone, be the defense and the rest be the offense." Percy said
Everybody nodded.
"Where are we gonna hide the flag?" Katie asked
"In the most obvious place. The tower." Leo said, pointing to the tower behind him
They nodded.
"We're ready." Annabeth said
CLARISSE'S TEAM
C – Ares, Chris, Beckendorf, Zeus, Apollo, Michael, Travis and Connor, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Dakota, Lee, Silena, Artemis with Clarisse
"What do we do?" Frank asked
"Some of us hunt for their flag, some of us guard our flag and the others try to get their flag." Clarisse said
"Who does what?" Hazel asked
"Silena, Dakota, Hazel, Zeus be defense. Dad, me, Artemis, Frank, Apollo and Reyna are offense and the others hunt for the flag and join either offense or defense later." Clarisse said
Everybody nodded. Ares looked proud.
"Where do we hide the flag?" Apollo asked
"Up a tree." Lee smirked
Everybody laughed.
"Wait, that's a good idea. We have a green flag, perfect for camouflage." Hazel said
Everybody grinned.
"We're ready." Clarisse said
The game starts….
Chiron was refereeing as usual. They put some countdown music as the background. The rules were that if you got shot, then you were out. No powers or technology was allowed. Only the special paintball guns and protective gear.
Percy's sneaking team were moving quietly or crawling on the floor and were alert. They scoped the place while Clarisse's team hunting team did the same. For five minutes there was no shot. It gave the spectators a feeling like as if some predators were moving around.
Then there was a sound of a shot. Nico had shot Zeus from behind a tree.
Hermes came back to Percy and told him that Clarisse's flag was hidden in a tree.
"Rachel can climb well. Tell her to get to the tree and ask half the sneaking team to give her cover." Percy told him
Hermes nodded. Just then, Clarisse shot Pollux. Castor shot Dakota.
Chris ran to Clarisse and informed her that Percy's flag was in the tower. Clarisse frowned.
"Go to the tower with Travis, Connor and Lee. One of you get the flag and the others cover you." She said
Chris nodded and ran to tell the others. As the teams started going for the other team's flag, more paintball shots and laughter was heard. Katie had shot Frank. Hazel had shot Castor. Will shot Hazel.
Nico shot Apollo and Artemis shot Triton. Travis shot Amphitirite. Percy shot Reyna and Beckendorf shot Leo. Poseidon shot Chris and Michael shot him. Tyson shot Michael and Lee. Some more people from Clarisse's team went to get Percy's flag.
Rachel reached Clarisse's team's flag. Hermes, Annabeth and Will provided her with cover. Persephone shot Silena. Beckendorf shot her. Hades shot Beckendorf. As soon as Rachel reached the top of the tree, Ares shot Tyson and Travis and Connor raced up the tower. Just as Rachel grabbed Clarisse's flag, Travis and Connor grabbed Percy's flag.
Chiron blew the whistle as he chuckled.
"The game has ended in a tie!" He announced
The demigods and gods laughed. The ones watching cheered.
"Now that was lit!" The demigods whooped
"Why don't you guys change and the rest of us will arrange dinner." Hestia said
"We'll help in arranging dinner once we get freshened up." Percy said
Hestia smiled.
"Then we'll wait." She said
The demigods grinned and they went and took baths.
"That was fun." Hades said
"Yep." Poseidon agreed
"Well would you look at that. The two of them are getting along well." Percy chuckled
Nico and the two gods chuckled.
They all went and helped Hestia arrange dinner. They all sat and ate dinner.
"Hey Nico! Dandelion chronicles part 2!" Lee called
Nico laughed.
"Sure, come on." He said
Everybody went and sat next to him.
"So, part two of my dandelion chronicles aka flower life." Nico started
Everybody snickered.
"So a couple of weeks ago, I walked into the throne room casually. Everybody was sitting there. I had just taken a bath and I shampooed my hair so it was wet. Now the shampoo I used made my head cold so I was shivering when I was sitting. Dad asked me what the problem was and I said that I had just shampooed my hair. He asked me which scent of shampoo I used because his head wouldn't get cold. I told him I used mint flavor and the others in the throne room which was Thanatos, Charon, Hecate and Hypnos, they all groaned and face palmed. Just then my butler walked in and asked me if I wanted something and I told him that I already had some chewing gum and the freaking hilarious part was that the chewing gum I had was mint flavor. As soon as I took it out, the others' eyes widened and the next second I was a dandelion. Charon told me what happened after that. Dad sighed and told Persephone to turn me back. She sighed and turned me back with the most amount of regret." Nico grinned
The demigods and gods had started laughing by the shampoo part but now they were roaring with laughter. Percy was on the floor and Hazel was snickering. The others were clutching their stomachs. Persephone and Hades were chuckling. Nico was grinning. From between his laughter, Percy gave Nico and thumbs up.
"This actually happened?" Leo choked out
"Every part I tell you actually happened." Nico grinned
Leo dissolved into another set of snickers.
The demigods were full and the gods had some hot chocolate and coffee. The demigods snickered.
"You want to sleep right?" Percy asked Poseidon
Poseidon grinned sheepishly.
"Yes." He said
Everybody chuckled.
"Let's rest." Hestia smiled
They all nodded and went to where they would be sleeping. Nico went to bed happily but he didn't know that his night was about to get very intense.