AN: Thanks to everyone who left reviews for the last chapter. I was quite proud of it and it was a relief that it was so well liked.
Son of the Moon
Chapter 18
-Percy-
"There it is," He said softly "the island of Polyphemus. One of the five most powerful Cyclopes in existence, beaten only by the three great elders.".
"Are you sure Percy?" Will asked skeptically, as all heads turned towards the son of Apollo "I mean, aren't monster islands supposed to be horrifying pits of death and despair, with skull laden beaches and carnivorous beats. You know…like with the sirens. Not…this." The blonde archer trailed off, not sure how to accurately describe the tropical paradise that lay before them.
"The power of the fleece flows through the island," Bianca said, rolling her eyes "as long as the fleece is here its magic will keep the island lush, green, and as beautiful as it is now.".
"Show off." Nico muttered causing Bianca to giggle and stick her tongue out at her brother.
Rolling his own eyes he shot a hand out and pinched his girlfriend's tongue between his thumb and pointer finger causing her to let out a noise that was a mixture of shocked squeal and affronted whine (AN: I have managed to pull that trick off on my girlfriend and that was the sound she made…and it was hilarious) causing those who were watching to laugh uproariously at the daughter of Hades having her tongue caught by her boyfriend.
When she turned her half affronted, half amused, gaze upon him he let out a soft chuckle and felt a little of the tension in his shoulders that had been there since the sirens vanish. Dropping her tongue he quickly pulled the beautiful daughter of Hades into a warm hug, partly as an apology, and partly to once again reaffirm that she was still there. Ever since the island of the Sirens he hadn't talked as much and when he did it was soft-spoken.
He knew he had worried his friend with his new behavior, and he truly regretted that, but nothing had ever shaken him to the degree the siren's call did. As he nuzzled his way into Bianca's hair he softly whispered "I'm sorry." To his love before giving a soft squeeze and pulling back, seeing in her eyes that she understood as she gave him a soft kiss with watery eyes before snuggling up against his chest.
"So what's the plan boss?" Beckendorf asked seriously once the four other girls were done cooing over the 'cute moment'.
"Polyphemus is one of the physically strongest of the Cyclopes and has Poseidon's support. He's a spoiled little Daddy's boy who runs to his father if anything happens that he doesn't want or if he meets someone who he thinks is even the slightest bit stronger than he is." His friends sneered in disgust at the pathetic description of the Cyclops. "He does have two key weaknesses though," he continue after the sneers and snickers had died down "the first is his that he is mostly blind thanks to Odysseus. Makes sense, a flaming stake to the eye is bound to mess up someone's vision.".
"And the second weakness?" Clarisse asked seriously as she fiddled with her spear, unconsciously making it crackled periodically with lightning.
"His mind," his said with a smirk, a bit of his old humor seeping back in "Polyphemus is the epitome of idiotic. Add that stupidity and gullibility to his hatred of Odysseus or 'nobody' as the beast knows him you can send the brute into a blind rage.".
"Very Punny." Nico said with a smirk and chuckle.
"Thank you." He responded, tipping an imaginary hat while Beckendorf and will laughed.
In his amusement he didn't notice the looks shared between Bianca, Clarisse, Amanda, and Hylla as each smacked their respective boys upside the head with Bianca punishing him, Clarisse dealing with Beckendorf, Amanda with Nico, and Hylla with will. "Hey!" the four of them protested in unison as they rubbed their assaulted skulls as the girls giggled at them.
Turning to face the island he sent a psychic command to the vessel to land them on the beach at the far side of the island from where the fleece was seen gleaming in the trees. "Uum, dude," Will began confused "why are we going to the part of the island away from the fleece?".
"Because I don't feel like being eaten by demonic piranha sheep." He deadpanned causing the others, bar Nico and Bianca, to burst out laughing, thinking he was kidding before seeing his dead serious expression causing their jaws to drop.
"Are you serious?!" Will exclaimed with a freaked out expression and, when he nodded, cried out "Who in the name of Hades did Echidna sleep with to make those freaks of nature?!".
Instead of an answer the naïve son of Apollo was struck by two fists by the two irate children of Hades who yelled out in unison "Don't use my dad's name as a cuss!" causing the blonde demigod to nod quickly before scurrying over to hide behind a laughing Beckendorf.
"Behold!" Clarisse declared dramatically "The Brave, and Mighty son of Apollo!" causing said demigod to pout as the others laughed at him.
Getting an evil idea he called out "Hey Will," causing his blonde friend to turn towards him "I know a way you can prove that you actually have some guts.".
"How?!" Will asked excitedly, not noticing the sadistic gleam in the eyes of Nico and Bianca that he was sure also resided in his own orbs.
"You can finally ask Nyssa out on a date when we get back to camp." He said teasingly, having seen the looks the blonde had sent the daughter of Hephaestus. Beckendorf froze at the words and slowly turned to look at Will who was sweating bullets before roaring and chasing after the terrified demigod, screaming about protecting his sisters' innocence while Will pleaded for mercy. "Alright," he said clapping his hands together "while Beckendorf tries to rearrange Will's facial features…" his speech was momentarily punctuated by a scream of "DIE!" by the large blacksmith "we shall make a plan on how to take out Polyphemus.".
The next hour was spent going over different Cyclops slaying strategies while their largest member tried to reduce their numbers by one. Finally, after Beckendorf issued numerous threats at Will who swore up and down that he had no intentions of ever hurting Nyssa the two finally rejoined the group and told them the plan they had decided on.
Pulling out a set of hooks and rope the nine of them began scaling the cliff before them and climbed to the top of the cave home of the Cyclops. Walking over to an opening in the cave roof they looked down and saw a massive Cyclops with bone braided dread lock hair, stomping around the cave with a belt decorated with the skulls of satyrs as he periodically checked a massive bubbling cauldron. "Is that a potion?" Will asked confused.
"No," he growled "Polyphemus is too stupid to make a successful potion…its soup." As he finished he pointed to a satyr who was tied to a rope and dangling from the ceiling, trying to bleat in terror through a gag.
"Brat!" the giant Cyclops roared in anger making them duck down, afraid they'd been seen before he continued "Bring more firewood! I want my soup!".
"Why do we have to kill the satyr?" a quieter voice asked upset before they saw a much smaller, but still large, Cyclops enter with an armful of wood.
His jaw dropped when he saw Polyphemus spin around and backhand the smaller Cyclops, sending it slamming into the wall of the cave "Because I said so!" the giant beast roared "I refuse to let you be a…a…vegetarian." Polyphemus cringed in disgust at the word but it just seemed to anger the smaller Cyclops.
"I prayed for daddy to give me a family," the smaller Cyclops groused "not to make me a slave to my brother.".
"We aren't brothers!" Polyphemus "I will not have a weak vegetarian Cyclops for a brother!".
"Alright," he growled, furious at Poseidon abandoning another child "let's kill that bastard. We should rescue the younger one though.".
"Let's tear him apart!" Nico growled as he pulled out his hooks and the others readied their various weapons.
"Reyna, Hylla," he turned towards the two Roman demigoddesses "you two try and rescue the Satyr. We'll take on Polyphemus.".
The two girls nodded and readied their swords while he stabbed a rope and hook into the stone and slid down with a battle cry, gaining the attention of the one eyed menace as he kicked off the nearby stone wall and flew at the stunned monster, slashing at it as he landed making the beast roar in pain. "Hey!" he taunted "Polly want a cracker?".
Yelling in anger Polyphemus ran at him like a bull only for him to jump the side and yell "OLE!" (AN: Not sure if that is the correct spelling but you know what I mean) as the giant ran face first into the wall with a crash as the others slid down the rope with Bianca and Will flanking the smaller Cyclops to cover them from behind , Reyna and Hylla rushed over to lower the Satyr, and finally Nico, Beckendorf, Clarisse, and Amanda rushed Polyphemus to aide him. Looking around he saw a large stalactite crack and shake from the impact and grinned before yelling out "Omega formation!" getting a cacophony of acknowledgments from the others.
With a yell they charged their respective targets as Amanda used her Thunder Run to stab her daggers into the bag of the Cyclops' knees before leaping back to avoid his swing and, unintentionally, giving Clarisse and Beckendorf their openings as they charged, Clarisse hitting the metal dagger and conducting lighting through her spear into the weapon while Beckendorf smashed his dagger in deeper with a two handed war hammer causing Polyphemus to yell in pain and drop to his knees giving Bianca and Will the shot they needed to fire concussive arrows to force the beast flat onto his back. While the others did all this Nico had used his chains to swing up and knock the stalactite loose and he ran up, kicking off the walls till he was above the stone javelin and kicked off the wall, pushing it down with all the force he had as it stabbed into Polyphemus's milky blind eye, going through the beast's skull as he slowly disintegrated to gold dust and collapsed, only his skull remaining.
Rising, golden monster dust rolling off him in waves like an aura of power, he gazed about the cave and let loose a victorious roar which caused the ground to shake from its power while the others cheered alongside him
-Tyson-
Groaning, Tyson tried to regain his bearing after being struck, once again, by his brother when he heard a terrifying yell and looked up to see a black haired warrior swinging off a rope and attacking his brother, taunting Polyphemus and running circles around the powerful son of Poseidon. Within moments he found two archers next to him and he cowered before the beings he was sure were demigods until the blonde one looked to him with a smirk and said "Relax bud, we're here to help and we'll take big and ugly over there down.".
"You can't beat Polyphemus," he said sadly "brother is too strong.".
"You shouldn't call him your brother," the girl with black hair said "he hasn't earned that title." At this point she smirked "Besides, he's no match for the son of Artemis.".
With a sense of awe he turned towards the legendary hero that bested Hercules and heard him shout out "Omega formation!" as the five warriors brought down Polyphemus in less than a minute much to his shock.
As the black haired warrior, who he assumed to be the son of Artemis, rose from the sea of golden dust that had once been Polyphemus the hero let loose a victorious roar that shook the cavern with its strength…and he was sure that what he saw before him must have been a god among gods.
AN: I HAD to put Tyson and Grover in at some point so I decided to do so here.