Chapter Nineteen: Dulce Deditionem
Disclaimer: I mean, who am "I" really? Am I a character in a game that an alien is playing? Am I the collective consciousness of those close to me? I can very well be Rick too. Or the entity calling himself Multifandom Geekerello could just be a collection of 1000 monkeys typing on 1000 typewriters for 1000 hours to generate each chapter according to the laws of probability.
Author's Note: Well everyone, thanks a ton for all your support and your love. I know I have slowed down a little update-wise, but I feel like the quality of my work has improved because of it.
GodZeus – Wow you reeeeaaallly like you Percabeth don't you? Dw, I do too :)
Callum Runchman – Yep, kids reading this, just remember – "CONSTANT VIGILANCE." And don't worry, I'll show mercy…..maybe :)
CalRedEss – Thank you so much! I loved the latest chapter by the way! It was SO Good. Specially the way Percy is like gobsmacked by Annabeth's happiness. Seriously people need to check out your fics. And fast.
1234 Booklover – Editing cliffhangers huh. That's actually a pretty smart policy! Ensures that you'll be saner than the rest of us crazy fanpeople. (myself included)
The needle-sword expert – Thank you! Next chapter is here. A little late, but eh, can't help it.
Olympus Angel – Aww thank you! Here's a cookie while you read the chapter - (::)
Merendinoemiliano – Yeah, it WAS pretty sweet wasn't it? Don't worry, there's plenty of darkness in this chapter.
The Dark Fallen Fairy – TYSM for reviewing all my chapters! I gushed my thanks on the forum, but it bears repeating. Thank you.
This time, instead of a quote, I'm gonna write a semi-quote-ish by me. I dunno what to call it hahaha.
Anyway, please read, review, and promote this story, but above all, ENJOY!
"Percabeth is more perfect than perfect is perfect for describing perfection."
Percy's POV:
I should probably save everyone else the trouble and smack myself over the head. Even though Leo deserved the rest, I should've asked Frank or someone else to man the wheel when all I was gonna do was fall asleep.
Leo, bless the poor guy was blaming himself for not switching the ship's detection system from RADAR to SONAR. He'd designed the hull to resonate every few seconds, sending waves through the Mist and alerting Festus to any nearby monsters, but it only worked in one mode at a time: water or air.
He'd been so rattled by the Romans, then the storm, then sheer exhaustion, that he had completely forgotten. Now, a monster was right underneath them.
The ship tilted to starboard. Hazel gripped the rigging. I yelled, "Leo, which button blows up monsters? Take the helm!"
Leo climbed the tilting deck and managed to grab the port rail. He started clambering sideways toward the helm, but when he saw the monster surface, he forgot how to move, and to be fair, so did I.
The thing was the length of the ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II.
Its head surfaced last—the slimy pink face of an enormous catfish with glassy dead eyes, a gaping toothless maw, and a forest of tentacles sprouting from each nostril, making the bushiest nose beard I had ever seen.
Behind us, the rest of our friends stumbled up the stairs.
Jason yelled, "What's going on?"
"Gah! Shrimpzilla!" I explained eloquently, while trying to stabilize the ship.
Shrimpzilla butted the ship again and the hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper, and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard.
Leo reached the helm, taking over from me and freeing me up to fight the giant, red monstrosity. His hands flew across the controls. Over the intercom, Festus clacked and clicked about leaks belowdecks, but the ship didn't seem to be in danger of sinking—at least not yet.
Leo toggled the oars. They could convert into spears, which should be enough to drive the creature away. Unfortunately, they were jammed. Shrimpzilla must have knocked them out of alignment, and the monster was in spitting distance, which meant that Leo couldn't use the ballistae without setting the Argo II on fire as well.
"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields.
"I'm stupid and forgot to switch to SONAR" Leo yelled.
"No, it was because I was dumb and decided to sleep while manning the ship." I said.
Everyone looked at the two of us incredulously, and we both winced.
"Perseus fricking Jackson you WHAT?" Annabeth yelled.
I paled, and Leo gulped, dreading his turn.
Just then, a huge tentacle slammed onto the deck, causing the ship to rock precariously. Hazel looked green in the face, ready to throw up all over Shrimpzilla.
"Can you call down lightning Jason?" Piper asked, when it was clear that surprise-surprise, charmspeak didn't work on the monster.
Jason just shook his head, too drained to charge up an iPhone, forget lightning.
"Percy can you do your son of Poseidon thingy?" Leo asked, looking around, trying to assess his options. Annabeth was also trying to figure something out.
"I dunno, that monster doesn't seem to be under Poseidon's control. Or…well…not entirely at least. Maybe it's just curious about the ship or – "
BAM! A tentacle slammed into my chest, hurling me off my feet and slamming me against the mizzenmast, which honestly, what even?
I felt white hot pain expand outwards from my chest and I winced, certain that I had cracked a rib or two.
"Nose-hair attack!" Leo yelled, too late for it to actually be a warning.
Another wrapped around Piper and dragged her screaming towards the rail. Jason ran after her, cutting down the tentacles in his path with his Imperial Gold Gladius.
"Gee Leo, you really think so?" Annabeth asked, cutting and dodging through a swarm of tentacles with deadly speed and grace.
Against the likes of Percy and Jason, people tended to underestimate Annabeth, they looked over her as if she weren't one of the deadliest demigods in both camps combined. And looking at her, Leo could see why no one who looked down on her survived.
It wasn't that she was a better straight combat fighter, indeed, against a sword, the knife had a natural disadvantage. No, Annabeth was deadly with her knife because she had an almost preternatural flair for combat, her mind analyzing patterns the others weren't ever aware of. Like right now – there were tens of tentacles, all moving randomly, trying to ensnare her, or trip her. She moved almost as if she knew what was going to happen, smoothly sliding and dodging them, letting them slide past her, not even an inch away before she whipped up her dagger and sliced them off, repeating the process again and again.
She was like an eel, as slippery as a wet floor with a banana peel on it.
Leo was forced to wrench his gaze away from her as a huge mass of tentacles rushed towards him.
"Oh you wanna dance Octopops? Let's tango" he taunts, setting both his palms ablaze with a white-hot flame that warps the air around him, making it shimmer. He had tried for a full body blaze, even yelling "BLAZE ON!" once or twice in the hopes that it would trigger something, but so far, he could only safely cover his hands in the intense flame that could melt even the purest Celestial Bronze.
He had always been scrawny and wiry, wayyy too acrobatic for his age. Even now, when the tentacles came, he ducked, dodged and twisted, placing his bare hands wherever he could find. When he made contact, the flesh sizzled and the tentacle seemed to seize, convulsing violently.
"Take that you stupid fish! HA." Leo yelled triumphantly. As he got some breathing room, he looked around and his eyes landed on a supply crate next to Hazel's feet.
"Hazel!" he yelled. "That box! Open it!"
She hesitated, then saw the box he meant. The label read WARNING. DO NOT OPEN.
"Open it!" Leo yelled again. "Percy, take the wheel! Turn us toward the monster, or we'll capsize."
I had managed to distract the monster enough that Leo was relatively free to enact whatever hare-brained scheme he had. After all, with Annabeth singlehandedly keeping the tentacles at bay, Leo was the next best guy for improv strategy and stupid ideas that worked.
"Hope you got a plan!" I shouted as I took the helm.
"A bad one." Leo raced toward the mast.
The monster pushed against the Argo II. The deck lurched to forty-five degrees. Despite everyone's efforts, the tentacles were just too numerous to fight. They seemed able to elongate as much as they wanted. Soon they'd have the Argo II completely entangled. The others were fighting for their lives against nose hair.
"Frank!" Leo called as he ran toward Hazel. "Buy us some time! Can you turn into a shark or something?"
Frank glanced over, scowling; and in that moment a tentacle slammed into the big guy, knocking him overboard.
Hazel screamed. She'd opened the supply box and almost dropped the two glass vials she was holding.
Leo caught them. Each was the size of an apple, and the liquid inside glowed poisonous green. The glass was warm to the touch. Leo's chest felt like it might implode from guilt. He'd just distracted Frank and possibly gotten him killed, but he couldn't think about it. He had to save the ship.
"Come on!" He handed Hazel one of the vials. "We can kill the monster—and save Frank!"
He hoped he wasn't lying.
"What is this stuff?" Hazel gasped, cradling her glass vial.
"Greek fire!"
Her eyes widened. "Are you crazy? If these break, we'll burn the whole ship!"
"Its mouth!" Leo said. "Just chuck it down its—"
Suddenly Leo and Hazel were pushed to the side by a tentacle, but they soon realized it was made of water, as it washed away under the onslaught of the actual monster.
Unfortunately, I was distracted because of the ship and saving Leo and Hazel, so I did not see the tentacle wrap around my legs till I was dangling by my legs, being reeled into the ginormous pink maw of the monster. I rose ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet above Shrimpzilla. I caught a glimpse of my friends fighting a losing battle. I knew they wouldn't use the Greek Fire now, not when I had been taken. Even though I wanted them to, they stopped, choosing to fight with swords and spears, as if that would help.
The last thing I saw before the monster swallowed me was Jason and Piper back to back, holding back a sea of tentacles, Leo using his…..palms? to hurt Krusty Krab here and Annabeth looking as radiant as ever as she fought off tentacles of her own. No one had noticed me yet, it seemed.
Then, Hazel screamed and pointed towards me, and I got swallowed by the man eating squid….or whatever the heck it was.
Strangely enough, I didn't die immediately or turn into a big pile of acidified mush, no, I was in a….stomach.
The stench assaulted me as I dry heaved, retching inside Shrimpzilla. The thought almost made me barf again.
It reeked of course, and the floor was all gross, squishy, and slimy. I grimaced and raised Riptide, throwing some much-needed light.
Just as I was about to try my hand at hacking out of said stomach, I faltered and my grip on Riptide slackened and suddenly I wasn't in the moist cavern anymore, suddenly, darkness enveloped me and all I could see was a tall, aristocratic figure, forming from the ground up before my eyes. Vaguely, I was aware that the monster was moving away, and I was glad that it was seemingly satisfied with capturing me.
As I refocused my attention on the woman in front of me, I saw that her dress seemed to be made entirely from leaves and roots and dirt and pebbles.
Her eyes, when she opened them were green, like the trees rather than the sea. But they were veiled by a thin, almost translucent membrane.
My blood turned cold.
"Gaea" I said, trying to keep my voice steady. This was going to be a long day.
"Silence the voices in my head
I picked my poison now, I'll drink it to the bitter end
Hey-ho! Hear me now!
I take on the darkness by myself
'Cause I'm ready to give (Hey!)
Whatever it takes"
Author's Note – Well, I don't have much to say right now except that y'all should read, review, enjoy and promote this story coz I'm an attention hog. Also, PM me if you have any questions or suggestions or something!