NinjaTerra: What? What's this you say? NinjaTerra finally updated The Big Three? I don't believe it! But yes, it is true. I have finally won my gigantic battle against the Writers Block Monster and am now writing chapter 4! I'm really sorry for not updating! My mind was just totally blank! But, I' here now and ready to write the story! And, now, may I present, chapter 4 of The Big Three.
Ch 4: I Really Hate Capture the Flag
A man with dark black hair stood alone on the shore of a sandy beach. He seemed like he was waiting for someone, pacing back and forth, his ocean blue eyes darting around wildly. I remembered him as the black haired man from one of my earlier dreams. Suddenly, in a bright flash of light, the other, curly brown haired man appeared. The first man's head snapped up as he appeared.
"What took you so long?" he asked, annoyed. The other man gave of an air of superiority.
"My whereabouts do not concern you, Oceanus. Is everything prepared?" Oceanus nodded, seeming very angry at being spoken to like this.
"Yes. I've sent the message. Morpheus was happy to assist. It is only a matter of time before our plan begins." The other man nodded.
"Good. Soon, the Lord of Time will be raised again. Now, I must go. Mnemosyne is expecting me." And, with that, he disappeared in another flash. Oceanus growled after the man had gone had gone.
"Ανόητος."
"Hey, girls! Wake up!" A male voice yelled. My eyes shot open. I was lying on my sleeping bag on the floor with Travis Stoll standing over me. "Oh, good. You're up," he said when he saw my eyes open. "Breakfast is in a few minutes so you should probably get ready." Shadow sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Morning already?" she asked, groggily. I nodded. I watched as Connor Stoll strode over to the still sleeping form of Sparrow and poked her in the side.
"Hey! Time to get up!" he said.
"No, I don't… wanna…eat a…taco…" she mumbled. Connor gave Shadow and I as look as if to say, 'What the Hades?' He turned back to the sleeping girl.
"Sparrow, wake up! It's time for breakfast!" Sparrow's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a jolt. Connor's eyes widened. Their faces were about 6 inches apart. Sparrow blushed when she realized this and scooted backs a foot. Shadow and I smirked at each other. Sparrow sent us a glare, all traces of sleep gone. Suddenly, the sound of a conch shell being blown could be heard. We lined up with the rest of the Hermes cabin, ready to go to breakfast.
We entered the dining pavilion and sat down at the Hermes table. Nymphs soon came and served us plates of wonderful food. Before we could dig in, we walked up to the blazing fire and slid some of our food inside. To the gods, I thought.
After breakfast, Chiron stamped his foot (Err, hoof) for attention. Everyone's eyes turned to him.
"Today, at noon, we will be playing capture the flag." Loud cheers erupted up from the campers as the centaur said this. He waited for it to quiet down before continuing. "All campers are required to bring a weapon of some sort. Magical items are aloud. The team cabins today are the Apollo cabin-" Cheers from said cabin. "-and the Ares cabin." More cheers, this time from the Ares cabin. I leaned over to Travis.
"Whose team are we on?" I whispered.
"Apollo, of course," he said back. "We also have the Athena cabin, the Aphrodite cabin, Poseidon, Hades, Hecate, Nemesis, and some other minor gods' cabins. Ares has Demeter, Dionysus, Persephone, Hephaestus, Nike, and some others as well. The teams are pretty evened out, so watch your back." I nodded. Just then, I saw Nico de Angelo making his was over to the Hermes table. Most people had finished dinner and had already left to go about their training. Nico walked right up to Sparrow, Shadow, and me.
"Hey, girls. Chiron said that I'm supposed to teach you sword fighting before the game tonight. Meet me in the practice arena when you're ready." He then turned and walked off, most likely to said arena. Sparrow, Shadow, and quickly finished up breakfast and set off to the arena.
When we got there, I noticed that a few other campers had come to watch us practice. I mentally rolled my eyes. Yes, come and watch the new camps look like idiots, shall we, I thought. Nico looked up as we entered. He smiled and then pointed to a table that had a diverse selection of swords on it.
"Thanks for getting here so quickly. Grab a sword so we can get started," the son of Hades said. We nodded and walked over to the table. I browsed through the weapons until my eyes rested upon one sword. It was a moderately long celestial bronze sword with a golden hilt. I examined the beautiful sword more closely to see that the hilt was shaped like an eagle with its wings spread. I picked it up gingerly and turned it over. On one side it read it fancy gold letters, Πάρτε στους ουρανούς, which I somehow read to be Take to the skies. It turned it over once more to seeΤυφώναςwas printed on the other side.
"Hurricane," I whispered to myself. The sword felt so right in my hand, like it had been waiting for me. I somehow knew that this sword had not been made by the Hephaestus kids. Holding my sword, I walked back over to Nico. Sparrow and Shadow stood there as well, both clutching plain, celestial bronze swords. By the way they held them, I was certain that those weren't the swords for them. Shadow stared at her sword, as it willing it to change into a different one while Sparrow's sword tilted at strange angles, like it was out of balance in her hand. I smirked, remembering Percy being in the same situation at his first practice with Luke. That was before he got Riptide.
"OK. You've all got a sword," Nico said. "Now, one at a time, you'll come forward and I'll show you some movements. Then, I'll pair you up so you can get the feel of battling one-on-one. Got it?" We nodded. "OK."
After learning some basic moves, we were split into one-on-one groups. First, it was me and Shadow. We were pretty evenly matched. She swung her sword at mine while I pushed back, the sound of metal clashing reverberating around with every hit. This was about our 6th go. We were tied for winning, both having beaten the other 3 times. This was the tie breaker. I jabbed at Shadow's hilt, colliding with the bottom. The sword became out of balance in her hand. I saw my chance and swung again before she could get a better hold on her sword. There was a loud clank as Shadow's sword hit the floor. I grinned at her. She rolled her eyes.
"You may have won the battle but you have not won the war!" she exclaimed dramatically. I laughed. Nico clapped.
"Good job. Next is Sparrow against Terra," he said. Sparrow stood up and took Shadows place. She held her sword out in from of her, going into a battle stance. I swung at her sword as she swung at mine. They connected with a clang. I pushed against hers. Clank! Sparrow's sword hit the floor. It was kind of surprising how quick it was. Sparrow frowned. I felt kind of bad. She picked up her sword again. Then, I really took in the sword. The way she held it, looked at it, even the way she fought with it, the sword didn't look right in her hand. I frowned at this. This wasn't Sparrow's sword. We continued to fight anyway, me always getting the better of the fight. After a while, Percy came in to watch, along with Annabeth.
We went again and again until Nico called water break. We were all hot and tired. I watched as Sparrow took a small sip of her water and then dumped the rest on her head. I did the same. The cold water felt so good!
We went back to the arena. Sparrow and I got back into our stances. But this time, I noticed a difference. Sparrow's sword no longer looked lop sided in her hand, but straight and firm, her stance was confident, and she had a new, bright light in her eyes. It started. I swung. She jabbed. I slashed. She sliced. Suddenly, in one swift movement, Clank! I stared at Sparrow in amazement, for it was my sword that had fallen to the ground. She had swung against my hilt, sending my sword cascading out of my hands.
I noticed movement out of the corner of my eyes and turned to see Percy staring at Sparrow, his eyes wide, mouth hanging open slightly. In a flash, he had recomposed himself, yet his eyes showed a bright emotion. Disbelief? Recognition? I couldn't tell. I turned back to Sparrow to see that she looked quite stunned. I smiled at her.
"That was amazing, Sparrow!" I said. She blinked and then smiled back.
"Thanks." Then, a conch horn blew. Nico jumped up.
"Lunch time."
After lunch we had more activities. We did archery (The Apollo kids creamed us), canoeing (Sparrow flew past Shadow and me), the rock climbing wall (I just barely avoided being crushed), and foot racing (Boy! Nymphs are fast!). Soon, it was dinner. We ate with the rest of the Hermes table as usual. Then, Chiron called for attention.
"As I can see you are all finished, it is time for capture the flag." Loud, enthusiastic cheers erupted from all the tables. "Ares team is red. Apollo, blue. You know what to do." Chiron glanced at Mr. D, who sighed before waving his hand at us, as if he were waving away annoying flies.
"Yes, yes. Now run along and get on with your silly game," he muttered. More cheers met his sentences and the camps jumped up and ran off toward the armory. Shadow, Sparrow, and I followed with the rest of our cabin. Angelina made her way through the mass over to us.
"This is going to be great! You guys will love capture the flag!" the blond girl exclaimed. I smiled.
"I can't wait." Then, I felt something metal shoved into my arms. I looked down to see a Greek helmet with blue plumage had been placed in my hands. I looked up to see Travis Stoll giving a similar helmet to Shadow and Sparrow as well. Connor strode over and handed Shadow and I our swords from practice. I smiled at feeling of the familiar sword in my hands.
I glanced up as Connor went to give Sparrow her sword. Sparrow held her hand out to receive the weapon, her finger brushing Connor's slightly as she did so. As the boy and his twin walked away, I could have sworn I saw a red tinge creep its way onto the sea green eyed girl's face. Was Sparrow blushing? I didn't have time to elaborate before Angelina's voice broke into my thoughts.
"Well, since this is your guys' first game, you'll be on defense. The three of you will guard the path by the lake, got it?" We nodded. Angelina nodded back. "OK, then." Then, suddenly, a conch horn blew. Scattered cheers and battle cries could be heard from different directions. Angel grinned. "Looks like it's time. See you guys later." And, with that, the girl ran off to play offense.
Shadow, Sparrow, and I walked a bit until we found a small clearing by the lake on our side. We stood, waiting, for what felt like forever. A few people from our own team streaked by occasionally, some we knew, other we didn't. Suddenly, after what felt like eternity, a girl burst out of the bushes on the opposite teams' side. She had long, ebony brown hair and bright, misty blue eyes. She was wearing a blue plumed helmet. One of our own. Then, 5 other figure burst out of the bushes, all wearing red plumed helmets. I grinned. Finally.
My mood quickly turned to one of amassment when I saw what they were wearing. The 5 burly, men were all dressed in light pink ball gowns. I shoved my hand in my mouth to stop myself from laughing.
"You'll pay for that, witch girl!" one of the men screeched. Another man swung at the girl's feet. She lost her balance and fell, head first, into the ground. This is where we step in.
"Five against one. Now, that doesn't seem fair," I said. The men's eyes immediately turned to me.
"Shut it, idiot. This doesn't concern you." Shadow rolled her eyes.
"Well, seeing as she's on our team, it obviously does," she said. Then, I lashed out with my sword, slicing the sleeve of the nearest guy's dress and then whacking him in the back of the head with my sword. He hit the floor like a rock.
"Not very protective armor, I see," Sparrow noted. I grinned at her before lunging again, this time, hitting another in the chest with the hilt of my sword. He let out a small Oof! as the air left his lungs. Sparrow bent down and helped the brown haired girl to her feet. "Are you OK?" she asked. The girl nodded. Suddenly, there was a small shriek, and Sparrow was lifted from the ground by one of the red team guys. He pointed his sword at her throat.
"Hand over that brat or the girl gets it." I felt my eyes widen.
"You can't hurt her! It's against the rules!" Shadow exclaimed. The guys smirked before swinging at Sparrow's shoulder, leaving a long, bleeding cut.
"Oops," he said, still smirking. I growled before lunging at him. The two other men still standing jumped to stop me but I pushed them aside. I ran forward and swung my sword at the guy holding my friend. It collided with his helmet, sending him crashing to the ground, dropping Sparrow in the process. Sparrow let out a squeak of surprise as she fell backwards and slipped into the deep lake water. A moment later, her head broke the surface. I held out my arm and helped her out. When I turned around, I saw the other two guys down as well, Shadow and the other girl standing over them. I smiled.
"Well that was fun," I said. Sparrow nodded. Then, I noticed something. "Sparrow! Your shoulder!" Sparrow glanced at her cut shoulder. Or, at least, it had been cut mere moments before. Now, right before my eyes, the cut turned a dull pink before shrinking and then disappearing completely. My eyes widened as well as Sparrows.
"Woah," the had-been cut girl muttered. Before we could do anything else, though, a low growl met my ears. I whipped around to see two sets of bright red eyes watching me and Sparrow. Then, out from the bushes burst two humongous dog. Or, at least, they looked like dogs. But, no dog could be that big. They were hellhounds. Running full speed at us!
Before I could react, though, one bowled me over, sending me falling hard onto the ground. Blue eyes bore into red. As its long, yellow fangs drew closer, I felt a strange, sort of energy flowing threw me. The next thing I knew, the hellhound leapt back in terror, as if it had been electrocuted. My head then whipped to Sparrow, who was staring at the hellhound in front of her, which was drenched in water, amazed.
Just then, a bunch of our blue plumed teammates ran, cheering to our side of the field, holding a banner with a bloody boar head on it that slowly changed to a golden lyre as they ran. The cheering abruptly stopped as the group entered our part of the clearing.
"Chiron!" Somebody called. My heart skipped a beat as the hellhound in front of me shook its head, coming out of its daze. This time, however, it didn't run at me. Instead, it turned at charged at Shadow. Shadow's eyes widened. She threw her arms out in front of her, as if to shield herself. Then, suddenly, as if on command, the ground opened up under neither the giant dog. With a finally yelp, the hellhound fell, plummeting into the darkness.
The momentary silence was soon broken by a scream. I spun around to see Sparrow being attacked by the other hellhound. What happened next was strange, on my part. I felt as if I wasn't in control of my own actions. I swiftly pulled out Hurricane and ran to my friend. I jabbed the weapon into the monster's side. It yelped in pain, but I wasn't finished. I felt a familiar energy flow through my veins, but this was different then last time.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and electricity crackled through the air. With a loud Crack! a bolt of lightning jetted from the sky and hit my target. The hellhound melted into sand and blew away in the wind.
"Sparrow!" I hissed into my motionless friend's ear. She groaned. I scooped her up, ignoring the looks I was getting from the other campers. I suddenly found my self weak and drained of energy, unable to support her weight. Then, the weight was lifted. I looked over to see Shadow had come over to help me. Together, we both slid our friend into the lake.
Twitch. Blink. Sparrow opened her eyes.
"Sparrow!" I exclaimed. The girl sat up.
"What happened?" she asked. I heard a gasp. I finally turned to face the other campers. Strangely, they weren't staring at us, but a spot slightly above the tops of our heads. I looked up to see a fading golden sphere with a lightning bolt symbol in it floating above my head. Zeus. I glanced at Sparrow and Shadow. A trident and a pitchfork. Poseidon and Hades. Crud…
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