Chapter 9:Where are You?

STORY START

"So let me get this straight. You talked to the kindly ones then they told you to get off the bus after they found out you didn't have the helm of darkness and now we have to look for it did I leave anything out?" Annabeth said as she summarized what Naruto had just explained to them.

"Yep that's about it" Naruto nodded.

"OK now our quest just got harder thanks to that side quest" Annabeth complained.

"No not really I have a feeling that both the master bolt and the helm of darkness were taken by the same person." Naruto said as he explained to Annabeth.

"Hmm I guess you could be right" Annabeth nodded as she grasped his idea.

"Whoa guys hold up I'm kinda hungry can we stop to look for a place to eat or something" Percy said as he tried to catch up to the talking blonds.

"Why what did you want to eat?" Naruto asked as they stopped by the side of the road.

"Um why are we stopping here?" Percy asked.

"Just tell me" Naruto said plainly.

"A burger or something I guess" Percy said and just as he did Naruto snapped his fingers and a burger with some fires appeared along with a plate.

"H-how did you do that" Percy asked amazed Annabeth looked interested as well but since Percy already asked she didn't want to be redundant.

"As a son of Hestia I am able to make home cooked meals appear right away and at a five star approval rate" Naruto answered as Annabeth nodded it made sense for a son of Hestia to be able to do this.

"Can I have a burger as well?" Annabeth asked as Naruto made another for her and just materialized a can of coke for himself Grover seemed to be fine eating the cans from his pack.

"Well let's get going shall we?" Naruto said after they had rested a few minutes after eating their meals.

"Yeah thanks for the food man" Percy said thanking Naruto.

"Yeah thanks bro" Annabeth said trying the word out after all he was older than her and they were related.

"Anything for my little sis" Naruto said smiling at her.

And so the four began to trudge down the path eventually they came to a small store by the side of the road and because of their dyslexia none of them but Grover could read the sign. Though it seemed Naruto knew the place seeing as he looked a bit nostalgic at seeing the place.

"Um guys it reads Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium" Grover said to the group.

"Why don't we check it out" Percy said.

"Not a bad idea seaweed brain" Annabeth said chidingly.

"Hey!" Percy said indignant he was not that slow at the upkeep was he?

Any further banter was cut short as Naruto entered the place followed by Grover seeing no point in waiting outside Annabeth and Percy followed them in.

"Whoa these look so realistic" Percy said as he admired the statues that littered the outer dome of the place.

"That looks like uncle Ferdinand" Grover said as he saw a satyr statue.

"This place feels weird" Annabeth said as all the statues loeked so lifelike they might as well be staring at you not to mention the terrified faces of the statues themselves.

Naruto made no comment as he ventured in towards a door where he found a reception desk.

"Excuse me anyone here" Percy yelled out and rang the bell on the counter.

Hearing no answer they decided to wait for someone to arrive maybe the employees were busy or something.

"There is no one here anymore" Naruto said as he moved over to a box on the side grabbing the few drachma coins that were in them.

"What do you mean no one is here who would leave all this" Percy asked while Annabeth was intrigued she never thought Naruto would be so knowledgeable about this specific place.

"The owner is shall we say is earning her forgiveness" Naruto said cryptically.

"Who is the owner?" Annabeth asked no longer able to hold back her curiosity.

"That's a secret for now you might meet her eventually" Naruto said sadly remembering her alternative punishment given when he broke the curse upon her.

"Okay so what now?" Annabeth asked dropping the subject.

"We'll go as far as we can and hope to make it to the next town to catch the train somehow" Naruto said as he let them rest first before they moved to leave again.

They managed to end up in the forest just beside the town and since they had no money they decided to camp out in the woods.

Gathering kindling Naruto set it afire for them to warm up for the night.

"Thank goodness you're here I don't know what we would be doing if you weren't here" Percy said as he sat down beside Naruto in front of the fire.

"Indeed thanks a lot brother can I have some soup?" Annabeth asked making Naruto smile as he made some hot soup for Annabeth.

"Anything for you Percy?" Naruto asked Percy.

"Um some Barbeque would be good" Percy said again Naruto had three sticks appear for Percy.

"And you Grover?" Naruto said turning his attention to the satyr.

"Enchilada's please" Grover said making Annabeth and Percy giggle a bit at him asking for his favorite meal.

And so Naruto made an enchilada for Grover and some ramen for himself.

After their meal Annabeth who was tired out from their walk fell asleep promptly leaving the three boys awake.

"I'll take first watch" Percy offered.

"No need Percy this will do for now" Naruto said as he erected a barrier which kept their scent from spreading through the area hiding them from monsters.

"Whoa that's cool" Percy said amazed at all of Naruto's skills.

"Just how are you doing this at the camp you even wielded many weapons without holding most of them?" Percy asked he just had to know.

"Hehehe you really have no sense of tact do you? But I can do these things simply because I'm the son of Hecate meaning I can wield magic and the very mist which hides the supernatural world from humans. However I am also the son of three other goddesses Athena, Artemis, and Hestia who have mixed their blood with mine giving me some of their gifts as well." Naruto answered Percy as he made sure the barrier would last them the night.

"Wait if your the son of Hestia couldn't you have put out the fire on the Vimana during capture the flag?" Grover asked noticing this.

Only for Naruto to tap his nose while keeping quiet.

Could he have put out the fire himself or did he just dispel the Vimana so he could fight them on the ground? Grover couldn' figure Naruto out at all but he did realize Naruto went easy on them during the game WAY easy.

Shaking his head to clear his mind he then saw a few feet from him scattered pieces of garbage littered on the ground.

"You know guys this makes me sad it seems humans have lost all touch with nature" Grover said as he tried to clean up the mess and when Naruto saw this joined him as well.

"Not all Grover not all some still try to help as much as they can" Naruto said earning a thankful nod from Grover.

"Though I do miss the old stars you can't see them all anymore" Grover said when he finished cleaning lying down on the earth.

"Indeed when I was with my sisters in the hunt I remember the stories they told me of the old constellations that can no longer be seen thanks to man's so called 'development'" Naruto agreed.

"I take it you guys are environmentalists huh" Percy said out loud only to receive deadpan stares from the two.

"Only humans don't care well most anyway" Grover said looking at Naruto at the last part who gave a thankful nod.

"With all this mess how will we ever find Pan?" Grover said out loud.

"Pan huh well from what I have heard it will be a while no one has found clues to his location yet. Cheer up though not every place has been searched yet you will find him eventually" Naruto said calmingly.

"Pam? The cooking spray?" Percy asked out of place.

"Sometimes Percy I wonder If you paid attention to Chiron's classes at all since those were mostly verbal teachings not something you read." Naruto said in a deadpan voice.

"Sorry" Percy mumbled out embarrassed.

"Don't sweat it you'll learn eventually any way Pan is the god of the wild and wild things" Naruto explained getting a look of understanding from Percy.

"So why are they looking for him he is a god isn't he?" Percy asked.

"He disappeared all we know is that a sailor of the coast of Ephasus said that he was dead and since then humans have been plundering his kingdom" Grover said.

"I see well then which should get to sleep huh good night." Percy said getting good nights from Grover and Naruto as well.

Grover and Percy fell asleep right away though Naruto stayed up a bit to listen for monsters only to hear teeth chattering from the cold. Standing up he saw that Annabeth herself was cold and shivering her single blanket not enough for her he made a blanket appear out of nowhere and gave it to her stopping her shivering making her curl up even more to absorb more heat.

"Good night little sister" Naruto said as he stroked a single strand of Annabeth's hair behind her ear then went to rest himself.

Unbeknowest to the four out of the hearth a girl manifested from the flames. Hestia herself had come to watch them in person.

"Oh Naruto you always forget to watch over yourself. Remember a king is still human after all" Hestia said as she made a blanket for Naruto before kissing him in the forehead and vanishing back into the flames.

(In Olympus)

The council had gathered at Zeus's request and they have yet to speak about anything at all.

And so as Hestia returned she had to sweat drop at the sight of her family.

Zeus and Poseidon were having a shouting match over who was Rhea's favorite and so on and so forth.

Hades was not there as he was not invited.

Hera was simply reading a book trying to drown out the noise Zeus and Poseidon were making

Demeter was talking Hermes's ear of about adding more cereal into his diet

Apollo seemed to be writing music.

Hephaestus was arguing with Ares over some weapon shipments or another.

Aphrodite was reading a fashion magazine giggling occasionaly.

Athena was reading as well.

Artemis looked like she wanted to be somewhere else other than her as could be noticed by her tapping fingers.

"Where have you been?" Zeus asked Hestia when he noticed her retake her spot by the hearth.

"Oh just visiting my son who went on the quest with his sister Annabeth and a satyr named Grover as well as Poseidon's son Percy.

All the gods felt relieved that Naruto was on this quest they had grown to like the blond and he was very successful on the quests they give him so with him there it helping Percy they felt relieved.

Athena though was on a different boat muttering about how her children might be corrupted by the sea spawn.

Artemis however looked a bit antsy.

"Is he doing well?" Artemis asked.

"Oh yes he was helping out his sister quite a bit while constantly correcting Percy on his mistakes. It seems you rubbed off on him quite a bit Artemis." Hestia said while Artemis blushed at the last part.

"Not my fault at all Hecate asked me and my hunters to raise him after all" Artemis said still blushing a bit as she was indeed the closest to Naruto amongst his adoptive mothers.

"Hmph at least the quest should go smoothly now that he is there helping the sea spawn out" Athena said.

"What did you call my son" Poseidon said slightly angry.

"Sea spawn or did you not hear fish head?" Athena said glaring at Poseidon while he glared back at her.

It was no mystery that the two hated each other.

"Well now that the quest has been given all we can do is wait. Dismissed!" Zeus said halting further argument between the two and left in a flash of lightning causing Poseidon to mutter "showoff" under his breath.

With that the council was dismissed.

(The Next Day)

As the new day broke out Naruto who woke with the sun checked to make sure his traveling companions were safe and when he had checked over them all he could find was that they were still fast asleep.

Finished checking over them he then proceeded to go over his morning routine where he would meditate finding a secluded place he managed to find one near the tree he was under deciding to stay there he failed to notice that Grover had already woken up and left in search of something.

By the time Naruto finished his meditation he found that Grover had found a poodle, a pink poodle.

"Grover what's with the poodle" Naruto asked.

"Oh there was a reward for her return so we can use those for our train tickets" Grover explained.

When Naruto heard the word train everything else went mute for Naruto.

"Train?" Naruto asked to be sure.

"Yeah why?" Grover asked now confused.

"Oh thank you I haven't ridden on a train yet you know" Naruto admitted and he was excited for it being with the hunt all he had ridden was a car and he often flew on Vimana to get to other countries and such he had never rode on a train yet.

"O-k" Grover said with a slight sweat drop.

"Well this is Gladiola say hello" Grover said pointing at the poodle.

"Hello" Naruto said to which he got a bark.

"Hello human you smell like alcohol" Naruto heard the dog bark.

"Oh that's because I keep a huge amount of it In my storage dimension that I occasionally smell like it" Naruto answered.

"You can understand Gladiola?" Grover asked amazed.

"Yeah it's a gift I got from being in the hunt as well as an adopted son of Lady Artemis I can speak to animals" Naruto said answering Grovers question.

"Good morning Grover, Naruto. What's with the dog?" Annabeth said as she woke up.

"Good morning Annabeth Grover said there was a reward for this dog so he decided to find it I guess." Naruto answered.

"Oh I see" Annabeth said as she petted the dog.

"Hello little guy" Annabeth said as she played with the dog a bit.

"Ugh that was not relaxing I slept on a stone" Percy whinned as he woke up.

"Hey Percy over here say hello to Gladiola." Grover said presenting the dog to Percy.

"Why it's just a dog" Percy said offhandedly.

"Percy I said hello to the dog you say hello to the dog" Annabeth said sternly.

"Fine hello Gladiola" Percy said reluctantly.

"Well what now" Percy asked as just then his stomach grumbled.

STORY END

Well this is it I hope you enjoyed.

Thanks for reading until next time.