Chaos Warriors

Disclaimer; I don't own PJO or HOO!

Chapter eleven

Percy's POV

I smile back at Wolf and say, "Thanks." Then, glancing at the game screen before turning to Illusion, I say, "If you'd like, I can use a different character. Villager is really easy to use, as well as well rounded, meaning that I'm probably at a bit of an advantage, even if I've never played Smash before." However, Yin - Yang shakes her head.

"The characters are all ranked in tiers. Illusion was playing the fairest, choosing another character in tier b. Wolf chose a character in tier a, so he has a bit of a technical advantage over you and Illusion, but not as much as Meteor, who selected a character from those amount the top tier, tier s. If anything, you're at a disadvantage, Hurricane." I'm a little lost on all that talk about "tiers", but I nod, and pretend to understand what Yin - Yang just said.

Meteor pouts a bit, protesting Yin - Yang's analysis. "It's not my fault I like using ninjas! And anyway, there's only three characters in tier b, so we would all have to change characters if we wanna make it fair."

Then, Wolf steps in, offering a solution. "How about this? We all make our own customized Fighter, and use those from now on."

However, Illusion points out a flaw in that plan. "There's no way to make sure all the Fighters will be the same level, and it would take too much time for us to all make the appearance, not to mention get power ups that are decent, and choose our move sets." I'm thoroughly lost by this point, so I just stay out of it. Then, Yin - Yang offers a good solution.

"What don't you just play Karts? There, all the players have the same number of total points, but the points are divided differently depending on which character you choose."

Meteor immediately agrees. "That's a great idea Yin - Yang! Let's do it!"

Then, without consulting anyone else, she jumps up and presses the eject button on the console. When the disk comes out, Meteor puts it back into a case, and pops a new disk in. Once the console is able to process the new disk, the screen lights up. I notice an '8' after the title, and assume that signifies this is the eighth installment. Illusion, who has the player one controller, presses the start button, then, when the game asks how many players there are, the 4 button. The game loads for a few seconds, then a character selection screen comes up.

Unlike Smash, where we could all choose our characters at the same time, only Illusion, who's player one, can interact with the screen. Me, Wolf, and Meteor's cursors are all faded out, and don't do anything. Illusion chooses a blond girl wearing a crown and a light blue dress. She has some sort of star that seems to be a recurring theme in both this game and Smash.

Then, it's Wolf's turn to choose a character. He goes with a short red thing wearing a white mask. The mask is in a sort of confused expression, making it actually pretty cute, if you're into that.

Meteor goes next. She chooses a short, wide gray turtle thing. It has a gray star pattern over its left eye, and looks very angry. It's probably one of the scarier characters, but the cartoony feel of the game doesn't really do Meteor's character's looks justice.

Last, I get to choose a character. With some help from Yin - Yang, I choose some sort of green dinosaur thing. Apparently, mine is one of the most balanced characters in the game. The game asks for confirmation from each of us on our characters, and then Illusion picks a track.

The camera shows a wide, sweeping view of what looks like a flooded theme park, then zooms in on our characters, all in go karts. There's a brief thing saying to remember to hold your remote sideways... Oops, I guess there was a reason the d-pad didn't do what I inputted... And also to press 2 to go, and b to use a power up... Wonder what those are. Then, numbers start blinking down at the top of the screen. 3... 2... 1... GO!

Meteor, whose car had been blowing smoke, ends up spinning in a circle for a few seconds. Illusion and Wolf shoot off, with Illusion pretty quickly taking the lead. I realize a little late that the race has started, and quickly press 2. My car passes Meteor's which is still spinning, and I look at the track, keeping half an eye on Meteor's portion of the screen. She finally gets her car under control and shoots off, faster than anyone else.

I pay attention to my own section of the screen, seeing a turn up ahead. Illusion and Wolf take the turn ahead of me, and Illusion scrapes the wall a little, slowing her down enough for Wolf, who has no such problem, to catch up. I don't see them after that until I've also rounded the turn, careful not to hit the wall like Illusion did. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Meteor ramming full force into the wall, with her car bouncing back a little bit, and stars appearing over her character's head. Then, I notice a split in the track and swerve onto a lower path, just not too far behind Wolf. Illusion went on the upper path, and I can see her trying to stay in the center of her path. There's a short ramp, and Wolf, Illusion, and I go flying into the air, landing back on a single path... Under water. I can't say I understand why, exactly, we're suddenly racing underwater, but hey, I'm not complaining. Then, the track starts to curve up, and I realize we're on a loop - the - loop of shorts. Then, we reach a flat area with a bunch of what looks like merry - go rounds. The road curves a lot here, and there are signs saying to follow the road, but Wolf and Illusion both go straight through the merry - go rounds without anything bad happening. I follow suit, and suddenly, Meteor comes flying by me. She goes straight in between Wolf and Illusion, crashing into a merry - go round, and making her character have the little stars above their head. However, because of where she 'passed' Wolf and Illusion, they both ended up swerving straight into merry - go rounds, too. I pass all three, and get back on the main road. Then, I hit some sort of boost thing on the ground, and am extremely surprised when not only does my cart speed up, but wings pop up out of the back of my cart, and I go sailing straight towards a ferris wheel. I swerve, just barely managing to avoid a collision, and start to fly low to the ground. I turn my character away from a little stone structure in the middle of the road, then touch the ground, the wings disappearing back into my cart. Seeing a straight path ahead leading to a black and white checkered line, I take the chance to glace at the other's portions of the screen. I see Meteor slam full force into the ferris wheel and fall, then turn my attention to Wolf and Illusion, who are neck - and - neck, about to hit the boost in front of the ferris wheel. Looking back to my own character, I see him cross the line. A little turtle thing on a cloud carrying a fishing pole comes onto the screen. At the end of the fishing pole is a black sign that reads "/32" Maybe a score? The I realize that my character is still going, and figure out that it was just my dyslexia acting up. It probably said "2/3" meaning I still gave two laps to go.

*one lap later* I see Meteor speeding ahead of me as I fight Illusion for second place as we cross the checkered line. Meteor slams into the wall again, but I barely notice as I try to figure out what the heck "LalFni pa" means. By the time I figure out it was "Final Lap", I'm in last place. Dangit.

*one more lap later* We're nearing the ferris wheel boost pad when Illusion's finger slips, sending her character flying off the stage. "stercore!" Meteor crashes into the ferris wheel, and down she goes. Wolf and I are neck - and - neck, both leaning forward and pushing the 2 button as hard as we can, as if that's going to make our characters move faster. Slowly, my character starts to gain, but not fast enough; I'm still in second place, and the finish line is coming up fast. Then, at the last possible millisecond, my cart manages to overtake Wolf's, winning the game.

A/N; Woo hoo! Another chapter done, and I plan to at least start the next one before I quit! Sorry about the wait for this one, between the holidays, and homework, and horrible writers block on Meeting Mortals, I haven't had much time to work on this. If you have any suggestions for a demigods meet mortals one shot, feel free to leave a review, or PM me! I'm currently accepting ship/group requests, plot ideas, scenarios, and just about any other prompt you can imagine. Peace out! -Snowdrop