"Wake up, Mr. Stagnant Water" said Leo pulling Percy's covers.
Percy shot out of bed yelling, with riptide in his hands;
"Hey! Don't you know you must NOT do that" he said giving Leo an accusing look, sighing and recapping Riptide.
Leo looked at him from head to toe and back again.
"Well, I still see your night dress on. Not like I want to see it off and neither does it….ummm…sound tempting" replied Leo putting on a confused and innocent face.
Percy grumbled something about "a guy not getting a good night's sleep", and went to the washroom of the Café.
They had booked two rooms in the Café, which the owner had generously given them (even though it was not for rent). It was a nice beautiful morning, and they were waking up to head out towards a beautiful danger that could kill them.
"You know, bro" said Percy coming out of the washroom, "something is not right. I mean we are so close to the danger point and yet we slept without a single fly hurting us." There was a frown on his face, as he tried to figure out what was going on.
"Well, I did see a fly sitting on your drool and then on your nose while you were sleeping and-" Leo stopped short as he saw the look on Percy's face that clearly said:
"Seriously dude?! I could say lot worse at a better time. So get to the point, because we are about to stick ourselves to the forks of monster and a dangerous psychopath-god-magician!"
"What?!" asked Leo shrugging, "I was just trying to clear-" Percy was still giving the look, "Okay, Okay. I know it looks pretty fishy and honestly, even I have thought about it. And I came to many conclusions all of them not that satisfying" then he added, "but defiantly cool".
"And what are your unsatisfying-ly cool conclusions?" asked Percy in a mock interested tone.
"Well, there was one about him being attached to his pet monsters" Percy gave him a puzzled look,
"I mean people now a days don't sleep without their pets" Leo added. "So maybe he too-
"Okay enough, Leo" said Percy trying to sound serious while hiding his smile. "We seriously need a plan-
Percy stopped talking as the door flew open of their room and there stood Nico with Ron and Harry on his either side. There was a look of disgust on his face.
"We need to check out of here right now" he said, "there are about a dozen monsters and some weird stuff heading towards us." He nodded his head towards Ron and Harry when he said "weird stuff" to point out that it was from their side of world.
"Wow this is great! Didn't even get a cup of coffee for breakfast" said Leo and sighed. "But you are right, we need to leave, or the owner won't be happy if her Café turns into a Coffin."
Percy took his backpack and so did Leo. They hurried out of the Café after checking out with the lady, who very generously handed Leo a cup of cold coffee. They showed themselves out of the Café and reached the park area where they had faced the Boggart.
"Which direction?" asked Percy turning to Nico.
"North-west" answered Nico pointing towards the woods.
"It looks like the Forbidden forest, but not that creepy" said Ron.
Harry nodded, "Yup. I think we must keep the fight as far as we can from the settlements" he said to the group.
All of them nodded. Then Nico asked,
"Okay before we head out, it would be helpful to know how to kill those monsters from your world, because they seem to have odd ways of dying. I mean we all don't have that stick-er—I mean wand to wave at their faces". He was looking at Ron and Harry for answers.
There was a short silence, then Harry said,
"Actually, not all the creatures of the Dark are to be killed using magic. We use magic because it is our major weapon. But there are creatures like Unicorns, Hippogriffs, Griffins, Basilisk, Centaurs-
"Wait, did you just say Centaurs?" asked Leo, and went on without an answer, "We have them too. Chiron is awesome and the Party Ponies- " he stopped when he saw the pressing look on Nico's face.
Harry and Ron were smiling but still had a nervous look on their faces.
"Yeah, so what Harry was saying is that," continued Ron, "all the creatures that he mentioned can be killed without magic. You know, like using a sword, knife, etc. So yeah…your weapons are good enough."
"And I think those who can't be killed using your weapons will be handled by us, but from what I saw yesterday in the park I think if you choose not to pay attention and just pretend it's not affecting you, I think it really will work" said Harry.
"Oh, I love the idea of not paying attention and of course we are awesome at ignoring monsters, but what if it happens like last time, with that ridiculous creature?" asked Leo, who had turned slightly pale, remembering the last experience.
"Hope is what we have. And I that creature was a Boggart. You can confuse it from making you see things if all of u attack it once. That way it won't be able to scare all of you at once" replied Harry, trying to instruct them as best as he could.
"Guys, they are almost here" Nico said in a tight tone, "I think we should move into the woods now."
And so they did.
Just like Nico had said there were about a dozen monsters advancing towards the five. There was a trio of Dracaena, Sphinx, Minotures, Nemean Lion, Trolls, Three-Headed Dog, Hippogriff, Griffin and two Dementers. They had a cold murderous looks on their faces.
"Now that—that is what I call an ugly party" said Leo nodding towards them, "they would make great opposites for the Party Ponies."
Nico shook his head. "Guys, what is the plan?" he asked.
"From what I remember, Nico, Percy was about to discuss a plan before you Ninja walked into our room at the Café" said Leo rubbing his chin, pretending to appear as though he was trying to retrieve an old memory. "I'm sure he has got a plan" He turned towards Percy, "What's the plan, bro?"
Percy looked at them, and then at the monsters that were now hardly a few yards away.
Clearing his throat he said;
"Well, about a plan, it would be Annabeth thing" he sighed trying to keep the sadness and sorrow at bay, "but since it's just our rusty talented brains which those monsters are going to devour if we don't fight back…I think the best plan is that we-
"ATTACK!" they all said it together. All of them were grinning.
"You see, it's not just my style, it's theirs too" said Harry to Ron, still grinning.
And so they charged.
"For Olympus!" yelled Percy, Leo and Nico and ran towards the oncoming monsters, swords and blades raised.
Ron and Harry looked at each other, and then yelled;
"For Dumbledore" and started firing spells at the nearest available monsters and creatures of the Dark.
"Take that-and that, along with THIS!" Leo kept blasting fire into the faces of the monsters sent by Krovo. "When you reform remember the taste of fire-on your skin" he said just before he vaporized one of the Dracaena.
"Hey Fat Face, long time no see. Remember me?" called out Percy, attracting the attention of the Minotaur. The Minotaur came like an out-of-speed truck (growling as recognition hit him), towards Percy, who side stepped it but still, received a cut on his forearm from its nails. "Argh! You Ugly Headed Lollipop!" swore Percy, "looks like you need a nice dental and nasal flush to Tartarus." And with that Percy summoned water from a nearby creek and directed its flow towards the Minotaur's nose and mouth. The Minotaur coughed, gasped and gagged, while clawing at his face, as water kept suffocating him. After a lot of struggle it gave up falling down and vanishing off to some part of Tartarus.
"Have a nice time re-growing" said Percy as the Minotaur vaporized.
Nico looked like mini form of Hades. Skeleton warriors danced around him killing the monsters around him while Nico used his Scythe to absorb the soul of the second Dracaena. There was disgust and hatred on his face.
Harry and Ron had busied themselves with what they had agreed was the greatest threat and had to be eliminated first: The Troll. They had left the Dementers because they were flanking the end of the group.
"Do we use the same spell that we used?" asked Ron referring to their first year of Hogwarts.
"Yeah sure, and you can get on his head and sit, this time" said Harry still dodging the Troll, trying to figure out how to kill it.
"Hey! I was just suggesting it" said Ron looking offended but was actually horrified at the idea of climbing the ugly creatures head.
Harry raised his wand, pointing it towards the Troll's head;
"Stupefy" he yelled, the Troll shook a bit like he was shaking out flies from his head. Then, he started advancing again.
"Wingardium Leviosa" fired Ron, lifting the Troll from his feet.
"Stupefy" yelled Harry again. And this time it worked. Ron let go off his Leviosa spell, and the Troll fell head first, leg up. Ron used the Leviosa spell again and placed the Troll in a patch of sunlight, where it turned to stone.
They moved towards the Sphinx next, but then they heard Leo yelling.
"Guys! I think you should check that out" he yelled over the noise of the monsters. He was pointing towards the patch of dirt where the Minotaur had fallen and vanished.
"Di Immortales" swore Percy. The Minotaur was rising and reforming again, and as it walked towards them again they saw that the two of the Dracanae who also had been killed were also coming back. Harry turned to see the Troll coming to life again despite the sun.
"Why is this happening? And how do we kill them….I mean how do we kill them permanently?" asked Nico feeling frustrated.
"I think it's Krovo's doing. But I think we can kill them permanently by fighting as one" said Percy.
"Well, isn't that what we have been doing?" asked Leo trying not to set the woods on fire.
"He means we combine powers and then fight" said Harry.
"Exactly!" said Percy looking glad that someone understood what he was saying.
"Wow! I got that! But how exactly do we combine?" asked Ron, "We are not having super water or fire or skeletons summoning pow-" he stopped mid-sentence, "we actually do. Though honestly I don't know how to summon killer skeletons." He shrugged.
"Okay here's the plan" said Percy still dodging the monsters, "Harry with me, Ron with Leo and er-Nico you keep the rest distracted until we finish them one by one." Seeing the "not-again" look on Nico's face he added, "I mean we can handle only one at a time. We don't want to be eaten up while killing one of them."
"Ok! So I'm sure Ron here knows how to summon fire" said Leo trying not to sound dubious.
"Don't worry, he has a record for setting things on fire" said Harry, with a smile.
By now all the dead monsters were back to their full monstrous form.
"Hey Rotten Egg" called out Percy to the Minotaur, "that was short visit to Tartarus dude. Come here let's get you a longer stay."
The Minotaur came running towards Harry and Percy. When he was almost about to swat them out of exsistance Percy yelled;
"NOW!" and Harry raised his wand and summoned water using the 'Agumentia and AquaEructo'
spell. Water went through the Minotaur's nostrils, ears, and mouth. At the same time Percy concentrated and summoned water with sheer force. The Minotaur struggled hard but soon started melting into salt…sea salt and poof! It was gone! They stood there staring for a while, looking for any signs of reformation of body organs.
"WE DID IT!" said Harry grinning, but his grin faded when he looked around him. The monsters and the magical beasts had formed a circle around them. Nico was trying to ward them off by cracking open the ground, but was having a hard time, even with the skeleton warriors helping him.
On the other hand Leo was sending hot jets of flames towards the Dracanaes while Ron held steady his wand with fire shooting out of it. So far he had used the Incendio spell without causing major forest fire. When the Dracanaes were dead and poofed! out of existence they looked around for Harry, Percy and Nico, whom they found to be assessing the situation. There were plenty of monsters and beasts they couldn't beat them all.
"Percy" called out Leo, "Let's fight only enough to get out and then we run for it."
Percy was about to agree since running-idea had been going on his head too, when suddenly everything froze.
Fear gripped them all. Percy tried in vain to move his right hand that had Riptide in it, but only managed to twitch his pinkie. Leo tried o gain control by trying to set himself on fire but the result was a puff of smoke. Ron and Harry on the other hand stood frozen in time too. They all heard sickening laughter boom around the trees,
"At last! We meet" said a raspy stone grinding voice, "and this time your pieces shall be chopped, Percy Jackson, and will be dumped into the deepest pit of Tartarus, personally by me". There was a pause and then again the voice spoke but with a hissing tone to it, "Harrrry Potter – The Boy Who Lived Not Once But Twice" the voice sneered, "Mistakes are made once and sometimes twice, but three times" the voice chuckled with a cruel tone "low chance."
The squad of four stood trembling with effort to free themselves. Their hearts were drumming with fear – Krovo was here.