Chapter 6: Nemean Lion

Percy

"Cover me!"

Percy jumped in and reacted accordingly. With a downward slash, Percy sliced through the monster's left arm which was holding a simple wooden shield. It was a clean-cut, followed by a soft clunk of rotten bones as it fell on the concrete pavement.

"Nice, seaweed brain!"

"Thanks, wise girl!" Percy leaped back a distance away.

Everything went exactly according to her plan. Now the monster can't use his shield anymore. His defense could easily be penetrated if they worked together.

From the elbow down, the monster lost his left hand and now only had his right hand holding a massive cutlass; the outrageous size easily outgrew his thin skeletal body.

But in fact, their first monster was a skeletal mob that resembled all the undead pirates in movies. Of course, it didn't matter how nor why it came into existence, all that mattered was them defeating it together and showing their friends what they were truly capable of.

Upon realizing his left arm had been cut right off, the skeleton seemed furious as his teeth clanked repeatedly like he was cursing at the top of his lungs.

"Annabeth! Watch out!"

Percy sensed a powerful attack incoming. He rushed from the monster's left side and raced to help his girlfriend, but instead, he stopped halfway in his track and watched in awe.

After successfully blocking the skeleton's first attack with her small knife, Annabeth's celestial bronze blade creaked loudly under the pressure of the unfathomable dense and heavy cutlass. Percy was surprised because Annabeth held her own against something so huge for so long.

Of course, it was bait so Percy could slice off the skeleton's left arm. Now he roared in anger and lifted his heavy cutlass to do a heavy wide arc attack. It would have knocked Annabeth back if she decided to block or deflect it in any way.

But Percy was worrying for nothing.

With a refined elegance to her movements, Annabeth gracefully leaped back from the monster attack range with more than enough distance to be comfortable away from the crude and dull cutlass blade edge. It was a breathtaking sight to behold.

Without faltering, Annabeth landed back on her feet with perfect balance and shouted, "Hey seaweed brain! Don't just stand there!"

Percy regained his senses. Giving him an opportunity for a wide-open attack, Percy didn't waste Annabeth's effort and bull-rushed the skeleton who was too distracted to be focused on him.

"Haaauh!"

With his sword raised high for a diagonal swing, Percy wasn't paying enough attention to have a target in mind. That carelessness cost him. The skeleton noticed his attack at the last second and instead of dodging away, he slammed his whole body against him. In mid-rush, it was too late for Percy to stop and retrace his steps. The skeleton body-slammed him away. Percy flew backward and landed on his back a good five yards away.

"Percy!"

Percy groaned. Admittedly, his efforts was pretty embarrassing so far. Defeated on his first attack, it was such a pathetic display he put up since the fight began.

"Are you okay?"

Annabeth rushed over and immediately check him up and down. Luckily, they were wearing lightweight armor; Thalia had helped them with a titanium plated chest guard, a pair of leather bracers, and knee pats just to be safe. It all fits comfortably over their school uniform.

"I am okay." Groaning a bit from the hard impact, Percy looked at the skeleton again who was at least five yards away, "Wait, what is he—"

The skeleton mob struck his cutlass into the stone pavement effortlessly. He picked up his detached left arm with his right, the shield still firmly held in his left hand, and he pushed it back in place over his hanging elbow.

"Huuhh?! That's so unfair!"

With a nasty twisting sound, his left arm was back in place as good as new. He moved it around seemingly to adjust to having his whole body again.

"This is bad! We need a new strategy."
Annabeth grumbled beside him, "Of course we do, seaweed brain!"

The skeleton turned back to look at them. He was at least five to six yards away but his menacing stare despite having two empty eye sockets was terrifying, to say the least. He was pissed off, no doubt after they cut off his skeletal arm and left him in a state of vulnerability.

"What do you think, Annabeth?"

She bit her lips in contemplation, "We should focus on defense for now, but when I give you the signal, I need you to do the same thing again."

"Huh? But wouldn't that end up with the same result?"
She smirked, "Trust me, seaweed brain. I need to see what he would do if we cut off his arm again."

If there was one thing Annabeth was beyond good at, it was her obsessively detailed observation skill and her ability to quickly make a plan for anything that seemed remotely impossible to beat.

Percy gulped and looked at the skeleton, "Got it, but this time, let me be the bait."

Annabeth tilted her head to the side in a cute way and looked at him questioningly. A teasing smile moved across her cuteness soon after, "Are you worried about me, seaweed brain?"

Percy scoffed defiantly, "Don't mistake it! I don't want to look too bad if you keep doing so much better than me, okay? Let me get his attention this time."

"Okay, fine." Annabeth agreed and pulled her short dagger back in her phantom stash, then she released a one-handed long sword exactly the same as Percy's, "I'll protect you this time, okay?"
Percy blushed, "Just don't get too close, wise girl."

"Aha! I know you are worried about me." She teased him.

Left speechless, Percy grumbled and looked away. Annabeth helped him get up and they stood beside each other, ready to face the skeleton again.

Meanwhile, three much more experienced Half-Bloods stood a good distance away. About fifty feet from the battle, they were observing the fight on top of a rocky boulder that rest beside a fresh pond. It had a clear view of the small hidden pathway in the park, and there were no trees in the way to block their line of sight.

"They are doing pretty good, eh?"

Piper was trying to be encouraging, but that only made Jason scoff.

"They could do much better..." He said, "If we taught them how to unleash their own powers, this fight would have ended before it could begin."

A gasp left the daughter of Aphrodite.

"You can't be seriously considering that method when they haven't even learned how to activate their art controls yet, are you?" Piper argued, "Remember what happened to Percy that night?"

Jason kept quiet and shrugged, "Still, I am getting bored just watching them play tag."

"Oh shut it, you massive fog head."

"You shut it, pixie queen."

Thalia rolled her eyes as the former couple glared at each other's throat, "Sheesh, can't you two keep quiet for one minute? I'm trying to focus on the fight and be ready if they need our help."

She crossed her arms and heaved irritably.

"Hmph!" Piper huffed.

"Whatever," Jason snorted.

The bicker ended before it could begin. Thalia silently thanked the Gods as she watched the two most important figures for their world's survival having their first battle with a skeleton summoned from the depths of their secret abyss; an alter dimension where they put all of Kronos's evils underlings they've captured along the way.

Luckily, the prince and princess were holding their own without much trouble. Thalia was thankful their training paid off. It was a relief worth more than anything else in the world.

"…..!"

Then all of a sudden, three bodies tensed at the same time. Their sharp intuition build upon years living as a Half-Blood told them dangers were heading their way.

"Piper," Thalia called cautiously.

Piper nodded at the ready, "I know."

Something was slowly approaching from behind them. Of course, they all knew who it was. Thalia shared a look with her twin brother. No words were needed for them to understand each other. Jason smirked confidently and he was at the ready too.

Thalia called out to the person staking them. He was trying to hide behind a tree trunk.

"You really shouldn't have come here, son of Hermes," Thalia said.

Caught sneaking up on them, a self-satisfying chuckle left his lips as he revealed himself and threw his hands out as if signaling his defeat, "I see. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Jason flexed his shoulder and crane his neck in preparation.

Thalia kept her gaze forward at the prince and princess, "So, what do you want, Luke Castellan? I am sure you are not here to start real trouble now, aren't you?"

"That depends, daughter of Zeus." Luke spoke in an amused manner, "But that said, I guess you could say I am interested in how the mock battle is taking place down there too."

"Why don't you join us then?" Thalia smirked.

Luke grinned, "As much as I'd love to, I am pretty sure I'll be cut to pieces if I did, so that's why…"

Swish!

A smirk landed on her lips for a fraction of a nanosecond.

Ting!

Everything took place within a second. Time froze around them.

"Hahaha… I see. This is most definitely interesting." Luke sneered with mocking sarcasm.

Inhuman reflexes and godly powers helped both of them escape their cruel dying fate. Thalia was out of harm's way when she tilted her head to the side. The object flew past where her head was just a nano-second ago, narrowing avoiding the sharp point with accurate precision. At the same time, Thalia caught the hilt with lightning speed reach.

"Celestial bronze, eh? I guess he really taught you everything there is to know about this world." Thalia finally turned around to face the sandy blond hair boy wearing his school uniform in a purposefully unkempt manner, twisting a throwing knife in her hand with a nonchalant smile.

Luke relaxed backward and laughed as if something funny was said, "Of course! To think there is a secret world out there where idiots with unbelievable power fight against one another! It's ridiculous!"

His wicked smile was basked with his evil. Luke was clearly no longer a regular Half-Blood anymore.

"What's more, I find out that I am a part of this mythological world too! Hahaha… It's really fate then, isn't it? I guess what started two years ago is repeating itself all over again."

Thalia's nerves flared, "And I guess you'll be disappointed to hear that it's not going to happen."

"Ha! Such confidence..." Luke laughed outrageously, "Don't make me laugh."

He gestured at the two throwing knives levitating in mid-air before it could hit his body and smirked, just like the arrogant Titan king would, "You couldn't even hit me with a sneak attack, and yet, you claim you can stop me all on your own. How absurd! Are you really that stupid?!"

Thalia tensed in preparation as she recalled the small throwing knife into her bracelet, then released a long spear from her phantom stash. Jason and Piper pulled their outstretch arm back and readied their weapons as well after calling for them.

"Are you sure you want to start this, Luke? You are facing the three of us together. Even with his powers helping you, you know there's no way you could beat us."

Luke shrugged, "Well, if it will amuse you brutes, then I will happily oblige."

He took the two throwing knives before him and held them both in each hand. He was clearly mocking them, "This is going to be fun."

The atmosphere thickened.

Crystal blue electricity as sharp as fiber glass and as vibrant as lightning strikes crackled around the rocky boulder and permeated through the warm glowing afternoon air.

..

In the hidden corner of the green park, Percy and Annabeth were desperately fighting a battle that was dragging out longer and longer than they were expecting. It was draining them beyond what they were used to, but it couldn't be helped. They needed to do the same thing over and over again for Annabeth's plan to work.

The skeleton roared and turned to face them. His deadly features grew annoyed.

"You ready, seaweed brain?"

Sweat dripped off his eyebrows as Percy smiled, "I am ready, wise girl."

Finally, they figured out what the skeleton's weakness was. When his left arm was cut off, he would do a wide arc attack with his cutlass, but when his right arm was cut off, he would bull rush and attack with his shield to force them back.

In essence, no matter which limps they cut off, he would always have ample time to fix his arms back in place and prevented them from attacking further.

It was a frustrating strategy. Luckily, Annabeth finally came up with a solid plan. They were going to cut off both his arms at the same time. It would prove difficult from their previous bait and switch tactic, but it was possible.

The trickiest part would be his shield. Any attacks they've done so far were deflected easily, not to mention his giant cutlass that acted as a secondary shield as well.

But if Annabeth's new plan worked out, then those obstacles would mean nothing in their next combined attack.

"Okay." Annabeth smirked and released a throwing knife into her left hand, "Three…"

Percy readied his stance and put his feet in a running position.

"Two…"

Annabeth lifted the throwing knife with her left hand, holding the hilt with a soft grip between her thumb and four fingers.

"One!"

With clear precision, she sent the knife flying forward at the skeleton with inhuman speed. Their overall distance was less than five feet away so it covered the empty space between them in less than two seconds in total.

The skeleton clanked its teeth in surprise and put his arms up, a cross guard with his shield and cutlass that took him less time than the throwing knife could reach his empty skull.

Thud!

The small knife was stuck in the wooden shield.

When it was over, the skeleton clanked its teeth again as if mocking them for the attack. He turned smug because they were finally out of ideas on defeating him. Yet, he forgot something important at that point. He didn't confirm his enemies' whereabouts.

A pair of quick and audible dashes from five feet in front of him left his body agitated. He lowered his arms to look, but by then it was too late.

Annabeth and Percy had already reached attacking range with their one-handed long sword and were about to slice off both the skeleton's arms with a downward slash.

"Claaaawww…."

The skeleton screamed as both arms fell off at the same time.

Celestial bronze shimmered gold as it came in contact with the rotten bones, accented by the orange sun which illuminated the blade with deep glitter-like waves.

However, Percy wasn't done yet. After a downward slash, he twisted his body around using the momentum of his swing and ready another attack, this time with a diagonal upward slash that sliced off the skeleton's shoulder.

Another rotten bone fell off.

"Kkaawww…"

Defeated, the skeleton stood there defenseless against any attacks coming his way.

"We did it, seaweed brain!" Annabeth cheered almost too excitedly.

Percy smiled at his wise girl, but that moment was too short-lived because he sensed a sudden danger he didn't feel before.

"Shit! He is… His arms…"

Annabeth took a moment longer to notice. Despite not having the ability to fix his arms back in place, the rotten bones rattled noisily on the pavement. Annabeth blinked.

"Shit! Hurried, his legs! We need to cut them off too!"

Percy barely had enough time to sliced off his left legs from below the knee, and at once, the skeleton lost his balance, then crumbled over. However, Annabeth's reaction was too slow. Her swing wasn't able to connect because his right arm holding the cutlass flew upward back in place. He immediately made a wide horizontal swipe at Annabeth.

Percy watched when Annabeth's eyes widen, realizing she was about to get hit defenseless by the dull cutlass blade. Percy's throat went dry as he tried to scream.

"Aaahhh!"

Annabeth took his attack straight on and flew back at least fifteen yards away.

"Annabeth!"

Percy couldn't move as his blood ran cold. Time went still as he watched his wise girl land on the pavement with a hard crash. She laid motionless.

A flicker of fire ignited within him.

"Rahhh! Don't touch her!"

As the skeleton struggled on the ground with just his right legs and arms, Percy easily got behind his attacking range and jab the tip of his sword down his right leg. The bone fell off with a satisfying crush as tiny fractures scattered. Percy picked up the rotten bone, then went to pick up the rest.

Now, the skeleton couldn't regenerate like before.

Percy gripped the bones with a crushing grip. He didn't realize it, but even the dense weight of his rotten bones was beginning to crack under his tremendous pressure.

"You hurt Annabeth…" Percy growled as he readied the tip of his sword against the skeleton's skull. He looked around, his expression blanked with emptiness for the first time as if he was finally showing a bit of fear, "Now you get to join the rest of your companions in the depths of hades."

Percy pushed with all his might from a downward stab and broke through his thick skull. It shattered into millions of different pieces. It seemingly wailed as it disintegrate. The monster finally died, and their first battle was finally won. Afterward, the skeleton's bones faded into fine dust and piled up on the pavement like sand, soft breezes blew it away bit by bit.

Percy watched it disappear and sighed with relief.

"Annabeth…"

Percy quickly turned to catch Annabeth's figure. She was laying on the ground with painful scratch marks all over her. Suddenly, air rushed out of his lungs as he ran toward her, albeit with a small bit of apprehension. He just wasn't ready if something had happened to her while he'd been careless during the fight.

"Please be okay…" Percy prayed as he kneeled down next to Annabeth.

Her eyes were close, but luckily, it seemed the armor protected her where it mattered most. There was a heavy dent in the lower bottom of her chest guard, but Percy couldn't see if she was injured underneath.

"Annabeth?" He reached out and touch her motionless body, "Hey, please tell me you aren't faking it?"

She didn't respond. In fact, there was no noise coming from his princess, and the worst part was that she didn't seem to be breathing either.

"Damn it!"

At the first sign of trouble, Thalia should have come rushing in to help. Where the heck were their protectors?

Resigned, Percy unclasped the armor himself. It was all he could do to make sure the cutlass didn't actually hit her straight on. Surely, the lack of blood on her uniform told him as much, yet, that didn't tell much of anything else, not least why Annabeth wasn't waking up.

Maybe if I…. Percy looked down at Annabeth's expressionless face, paused for a second, and made a rushed decision. Don't blame me if you wake up afterward, wise girl!

Leaning down, Percy climbed and hovered over his girlfriend, then he slowly kissed her, or rather, gave her mouth to mouth as a last resort to bring her back to the realm of the living. Of course, it never went exactly as he planned because…

"Mmm… Mmmm!"

Giggles?

Percy pulled his lips away when the other pair didn't seem to want to let go just yet. He stared at his girlfriend wide-eyed. Of course, she was still asleep, but the amusement decorating her pretty features told him otherwise.

"You were awake this whole time?"

Unable to hide, Annabeth confirmed his worse dreaded fear when her eyes slowly open, "Oops."

Rendered speechless, Percy was too shocked to move.

She made another cute giggle followed by a shiver-inducing smirk…

"Thank you, my prince charming…" Annabeth whispered with an all-too-amused smile on those very lips he kissed, "You save me…"

Realization dawned on him a moment too late.

"Oh my God! Screw you! That's so not funny, Annabeth! I- I really thought you—"

Her big sparkling expression never faded away, and of course, Annabeth had to tease him more and egg him on like a sulked puppy, "Oh come on…. You have to admit, that was pretty funny, the way you looked so worried before you kiss me."

The corner of his lips twitched in annoyance, "And you almost gave me a heart attack, wise girl."

"Awww…." Annabeth sat up and pressed herself against Percy. It was all she could do to ease his worries and reassure herself too, "Is that better?"

Sure, her warmth comforted him in more ways than one, but Percy shook his head defiantly, "I'm not going to forgive you for that, ever."

Annabeth smiled into his shoulder and upper arm. She was silent for a bit, but what she said next held something a lot of genuine than wanting to tease him.

"You did save me though, so thanks for that, Percy."

Percy wanted to huff, but it was very difficult to stay mad when his girlfriend was clinging to him affectionately and apologizing. Seriously, using her charm to get what she wanted was lethal and totally unfair.

"Fine, but I get one free pass for the future just because you were a massive douchebag."

She pulled away and grinned, "Fair enough."

Her smiles soon captured his attention and Percy didn't resist. They settled for each other's gaze and voluntarily lost themselves. Percy felt something warm well up in his throat, and just before he could make a move, Annabeth leaned up and kiss him. Her soft and feather-like lips pressed him passionately and filled with loving warmth, and for the first time, Percy felt some else through their long kiss, a sort of yearning as he kissed her back.

"I love you, seaweed brain."

A little dazed by her surprise, Percy barely whispered, "I love you too, wise girl."

Now he was desperate for more time so they'd never have to leave this bubble, but reality called and their intimacy didn't last very long after that. Percy was disappointed when Annabeth turned away toward the pile of sand on the pavement.

"You defeated our first monster, Percy."

He tilted his shoulders, "Yeah, but we did that together."

They shared a grin.

"Anyway, where do you think they are right now? Shouldn't they come over and check on us when the fight is finished, right?"

Annabeth tilted her head too, "Honestly, I don't know…"

Both curious, that wasn't something Annabeth liked to say, especially when she was the one and only daughter of Athena, so saying I don't know literally translated to her being clueless.

"Maybe they..."

Boom!

They turned their heads in alarm, but it was too late by the time they looked. An overpowering snap of thunder just split the earth opened with an ear-piercing crack, a deep explosion reverberated from their right side as a sudden shockwave threw them backward on their hands.

"Eeek!"

Percy instinctively covered Annabeth with his body as tiny fragments of rocks flew toward them. His well-develop figure was able to protect Annabeth from getting hit.

"Percy…"

Even though the fragments were no more than pebbles, Annabeth couldn't help but keep her gaze trained on her seaweed brain for covering her from the blast. Her grey eyes grew soft and dreamy. Even when there was no real danger, he still went above and beyond to protect her from harm. Her heart melted before she knew it was happening.

"You okay?"

Annabeth nodded, still in a daze by what happened.

"Seriously, what was that?!"

Then it became clear what was going on. When the sound of rapid and loud clashing came from the same direction, they shared a look and immediately came to an understanding. What should have been a small peaceful pond for recreation, now the whole place lay in ruins with smokes fuming over the utterly destroyed boulder. In fact, the whole area had been shattered to smithereens. Worries fall over their heavy hearts.

"We should go and help."

Percy nodded in agreement, but before he could get up, his heart sank to the point where it felt like time was slowing down all around him.

Behind you!

From four o'clock, Percy's hidden senses shot up with alarm. Something was sneaking up from behind and whatever it was just pounced from above the tree.

"Duck!"

Percy tackled Annabeth out of the way, a set of sharp fangs flew by their head and missed their intended target, but just because they narrowly avoided the sneak attack, Percy didn't see it had another.

Strong claws swiped in from his left. Luckily, his armor protected him from being hurt, but the force was so powerful that he was sent flying with Annabeth in his arms. This time, Percy had enough experience to learn how to land on his feet without crashing.

Twisting his body in the air until he was parallel with the ground, he threw Annabeth up above, and once he landed on his steady feet after skidding backward a bit, he reached out and caught Annabeth tumbling down in mid-air. She was squealing that whole time until she landed on his open arms, he was holding her bridal style now.

A moment of pure fear turned into fury rage.

"Don't you dare do that again, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth was livid, "I am serious! If you try doing that to me again, I won't go easy on you!"

Percy sighed. As expected, that's what he got for saving her from hurting herself, what a funny world he was living in…

Despite the tangible death stare she was giving him, Annabeth never asked to be put back down. If anything, she didn't even seem to want to get off from being in his arms like this. Of course, she wasn't heavy, so Percy let her stay despite his better judgment and looked at their new enemy.

A large fur body, fluffy yellow mane around his head, a long tail….

"A lion?"

Annabeth shook her head while holding her arms around his neck, "No, not just a lion, Percy. It's the Nemean Lion."

Ferocious in nature, the Nemean Lion growled aggressively as he paced around in a small left and right circle. With a glance, he was clearly sizing them up as if he had a mind of its own and was planning how best to kill his prey for dinner tonight.

"Well, this isn't how I thought our first battle would go."

"Me neither…" Percy finally let Annabeth down.

Quickly, she fixed her armor back on and dust her skirt, "Are you scared?"

"Yeah, a little…" Percy admitted.

So many things were going off the rails so it's only natural to get nervous, though Percy was more concerned about Annabeth because he wanted nothing more than to keep her safe. Meanwhile, his ability to do that, especially against a named monster with a renowned reputation….

"Are you?"

His princess composed a soft sigh and let out a deep breath, "I am, but as long as you are here with me, Percy, I won't let it win. I know you are going to protect me, so don't worry, let me protect you too."

It was exactly what he wanted to hear.

"I promise, Annabeth. We'll be fine."

He sealed it with a brief kiss and Annabeth returned his gesture with matched intensity. When they pulled away, a glowing smirk reflected off each other's lips.

"Now let's kick some lion's butt!"