Hello, peoples! I'm ba-ack!

Anywhoo… Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Percy Jackson. I do, however, own the random characters I choose to randomly mention in this fic!

Chapter 5: I Capture A Few Flags

MPOV

Then Chiron stamped his hoof against the floor. "Heroes!"

The talking ceased and all eyes were drawn the him.

"Tonight is Capture the Flag!" he announced. "Currently leading is the Apollo cabin! They will be going against the Zeus cabin!"

I looked to Ella and Lucas for explanation, but they motioned for me to wait.

"The rules are simple!" he said. "No killing or maiming allowed. But magic items are. I will serve as referee and field medic. And no Travis and Connor, you may not use Annabeth's mirror shield." I heard some boys at the Hermes table groan. "The creek is the boundary line. The flag must be in plain sight. Now pick your teams and prepare for battle!"

Then, plates ad goblets were suddenly replaced with swords, shields, spears, and armor.

I stood and grabbed some armor before it was all gone. "Who are we teamed up with?" I asked.

"We've made a temporary alliance with the Athena cabin," Ella said. "Also the Ares and Hephaestus kids. And Nemesis and Hecate cabins are with us, along with Hermes. The rest are with Apollo. The Aphrodite kids usually sit out, but I predict that this time around they're going to team up with Apollo."

I nodded. "Oh." Inwardly I was grinning. As long as I had some of the flock on my team, I would be fine.

Suddenly, I noticed that Wind Ryder was belted at my side. "How…?" I muttered.

Lucas looked at me. "The blade is magical. Whenever you need it, it will appear."

I nodded, and tried not to look too shocked about this new topic.

"Who's leading?" one of the girls from the Ares cabin asked. She was big, and wore camo. She had stringy brown hair, blazing eyes, and looked slightly intimidating.

"Me, you, Annabeth, Jake, Connor, Travis, aaaannnd…" Lucas said, he looked around, as if looking for a worthy candidate.

"Max," Ella said. "She's a really great leader."

Lucas shrugged. "All right. Sure. Why don't we give it a shot?"

Lucas picked up a flag. It was electric blue and had a neon-yellow lightning bolt in the middle.

"Let's roll out," he said, sounding jaunty.

We walked, our army and swords clanking against each other, to the forest.

"Home base is on Zeus's Fist," Lucas said to our army when we reached our side of the creek and were out of earshot of the other team. "We need a plan. Ideas?"

Those of us who would be leading our team gathered in a circle.

"I say we pick off the snipers," the large girl, Clarisse Lucas said her name was, whispered. "They're bound to have some."

"No," Annabeth said. "That's a horrible idea. What we need is to charge from both sides, and box them in."

I thought about this for a moment. "Yeah. But, we have to think stealth," I said, surprising even myself. "I say that we use your idea Annabeth, but I have a few modifications. I say that we have a small group of good fighters run straight down the middle. We'll use them as decoys. Distractions. Also have another group of good fighters hold the border. Then, we have two slightly larger groups run the sides. Whoever gets there first gets the flag. But they meet up and run together, for extra protection. Then run back down the side with the group as cover."

They all stared at me.

"That's brilliant!" the kid from Hephaestus, Jake Mason, said. "And for defense?"

"We set up traps. Bombs. Sabotage. Snares. Greek fire. Anything you've got. Set it up around the perimeter of Zeus's Fist. Make it look like nothing would be there. That it's totally unguarded."

He nodded. "Connor and Travis? Do you think that you can help us with that?"

Connor and Travis Stoll both nodded. "Sure thing, boss!" Travis said, saluting.

"Good luck to you all," Lucas said. "Let's split up into those teams.

I ended up being one of the people running to get the flag from the right side. Lucas, Clarisse, and a bunch of Ares kids were the decoys.

As we got into position, a conch horn rang out. "Let the games begin," I muttered. Then, my group and I ran, quick and silent through the trees.

I heard the clear sounds of swords clashing through the trees. Still, my group ran.

We reached their flag, a gold one with no designs, quickly.

Too quickly.

I held up my hand, and my group stopped.

Using my raptor vision, I scanned around. I drew Wind Ryder softly. I could sense that there was someone here, but I couldn't see them.

I picked up a rock and rolled it towards the flag. Sure enough, they had set up traps. Nets of all sorts flew into the air, enclosing around the enemies that they had failed to capture.

I walked cautiously towards the flag. It still felt wrong. Where was the other group? They should have met up with us by now.

Then, I had my question answered.

Like a shadow, he appeared. "Not so fast, Maximum."

Mine and Fang's swords clashed together loudly.

The other group appeared, staring in shock at what was unfolding.

"Grab it and go!" I shouted to the others. They nodded, and a girl from the Hecate cabin named Rhina grabbed the flag. The groups ran off into the woods the way I had come.

"What?" I asked sarcastically. "Are you a ninja now?"

He scowled at my comment. Our blades were still locked together. I stared deep into his dark eyes; my own showing nothing but determination and competitiveness. He knew that I wouldn't lose even if I tried.

He pulled his sword away.

Fang's blade came down to strike me, but I parried him. I thrust and parried and blocked his strikes for what felt like ages.

Then, I elbowed him in the ribs and ran.

I ran to the left, dodging and weaving trees and branches as they came.

I reached the creek before the other group.

Suddenly, I saw a flash of gold as the flag came over the boundary. We had won!

Just then, Fang caught up to me. But he knew it was useless, as we had already won. I saw the golden flag of Apollo transform, changing into the pure-white flag of Hecate with a wand shooting red sparks.

Lucas came over and clapped me on the back. "Your plan worked! We should definitely have you be the official lead next time!"

Then he saw Fang, and his face stiffened. "You new as well?"

Fang nodded. "Yeah."

I glanced between the two. "Lucas," I said. "This is my boyfriend, Fang. Fang, meet my half-brother, Lucas Verde."

They shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Fang, Son of Hades," Lucas said.

Fang just nodded.

Lucas grinned mischievously. "Break her heart, I break your face."

I rolled my eyes. Fang chuckled.

Chiron trotted over. "Well done, everyone! That was the quickest game I think we've ever played!" He patted my shoulder. "A special congratulations to you, Maximum, winning your first game on your first day!"

My team cheered. I got a lot of jealous looks from the Apollo team. I blushed, feeling embarrassed. "I didn't think it all through. Most of the credit goes to Annabeth."

"Well then," Chiron said. "Congratulations to you both then."

Our team cheered.

"Now it's off to bed, all of you," he said. "We have another full day tomorrow."

We all headed off into the directions of our cabins. Fang walked with me, holding my hand.

"You did very well," he commented. "I had no idea that you could use a sword."

I grinned. "I think it has something to do with being a half-blood. Sort of like how I can read in Greek, and I've never seen it in my whole life."

He nodded. Angel came running over to us. "Wow, Max!" she said, her blue eyes wide in awe. "That was so amazing! Chiron said that I couldn't play, because I'm so young. But he said that maybe he'll let me next summer! We're coming back, right?"

I smiled and ruffled her blonde curls. "We'll have to see if the others like it here. And if they do, then we'll stay."

Nudge joined us. "Are we gonna stay year-round? Some of my friends say that we can. I hope we can! This place is sooo awesome! I mean, where else in the world can you find flying horses? Or dryads who know how to do amazing French braids? This place is just soooo cool! We can stay, right? I—Mphhh!"

I shot Gazzy a thankful glance as he covered Nudge's mouth with his hand.

"Sooo," Iggy said. "Are we gonna stay or what?"

I grinned. "It's up to you guys. I personally like it here. And, you know, seeing my sister and half-brother."

"I want to stay," Angel said firmly. "This place is the one place on the face of the earth that we can fit it."

"I'm staying," said Gazzy.

"I second that emotion," Iggy said. "Plus, I promised to show Travis and Connor how to rig a stink bomb in the Ares cabin tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes. "Clarisse will never forgive you for that," I muttered.

"I'm so totally staying," Nudge said. "I like hanging out with my half-sisters. It's nice to talk to someone about fashion and stuff."

I looked to Fang. "I'm staying if you are," he said quietly, his hand warm on mine.

I smiled. "I know that I'm staying."

The others cheered, but Fang just gave me one of his half-smiles.

The others left, but Fang walked me to my cabin. I could sense Ella looking at us through the curtains. Like Angel, Nudge, and hundreds of other fangirls on Fang's blog, she was all into the "Fax" thing. (And yes, I do know what that is. I'm not totally clueless people!)

"Goodnight," I said.

Before he said anything, Fang pulled me to him and kissed me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist.

I wrapped one arm around his neck and put one hand on his cheek. I wished that this would just go on and on forever.

When we broke apart, he whispered, "Goodnight, Miss Ride." I rolled my eyes, but still blushed at the intensity of his gaze.

He walked away, disappearing into the dark like a shadow.

The moment I walked into the cabin, Ella was all over me. "OMG! You guys are, like, soooo cute together! I just knew from the moment I first saw you together that you were gonna end up, like, together together!"

I sighed and started to take off my armor. I took off the belt that held Wind Ryder. I placed it at the end of my bed, against the post that served as the ladder to get to the top bunk.

"Hey, Max," Lucas said from his bunk, which was across from mine and on the top. "Next time, please save the making-out with Fang for when I'm not around. I swear, the next time I see you kissing him I'm going to hurt him."

I rolled my eyes at his protective-brother attitude. "All right, Lucas. You just keep telling yourself that."

I went to the bathroom and put on a pair of navy sweat pants and a white tank-top. I pulled my hair back in a messy bun. I sat at the edge of my bunk and thought. Total came trotting over, his black fur shining in the light.

"What're you doing here, buddy?" I asked as he jumped onto my lap. "I thought you would be with Angel in the Demeter cabin."

He wagged his tail as I scratched him behind his ears. "Cabin was full. This was the only free one. I didn't want to stay in Cabin Two or Eight. It's too empty and cold in there."

I nodded, totally getting what he was saying.

"When's light's out?" I asked Lucas.

He shrugged, and went back to sharpening his sword, a Celestial bronze double-edged blade that he called, "Thunder."

"Whenever I say so," he said.

Ella came back from the bathroom wearing pink shorts and a neon blue tank-top that said, "Back off. I'm famous."

"So how are you and Fang faring?" she asked, brushing her hair, which was a darker version of mine.

I blushed. I never really liked to talk about this. But I knew that Ella was going to get me to talk, even if she had to beat it out of me.

I shrugged. "Same as when you last saw us."

Her brown eyes brightened. "Ah. So happy to be together and madly in love."

I blushed. "I guess."

"All right," Lucas said, sheathing his sword and hanging it from the tall bedpost. "Light's out!"

Ella groaned, but obeyed. I laughed and crawled underneath the sheets. Total curled up against my feet, not having too much trouble keeping warm.

The lights turned off, and I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

Soooo… Whatcha think? Review! Flames will be reported or deleted. Then, if you do choose to send a flame, Fidget the Zombie Chinchilla (who I just got back from a friend) will come and attack you in your sleep, Freddie Kruger style!

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Maximum Ride.

-A$h and Fidget the Zombie Chinchilla