12. Pre Flight Fight

I had just caught Annabeth after my clone had tossed her over the fence a second time when Grover shouted "Percy! I smell monsters!" Immediately after, my senses picked up four presences behind me. Spinning around with riptide uncapped and humming with wind chakra, my eyes widened at the sight of the four figures and I began elegantly cursing at Zeus in Japanese.

Standing in front of the three other figures was a monster that had the upper body of a scaled woman and the lower half was that of a snakes. With the three monsters behind her, it wasn't hard to place her as Echidna, the Mother of Monsters. Said three monsters were the Chimera, the Teumessian Fox, and the Lernaean Hydra.

The Chimera standing behind Echidna was easily large enough to step over the chain linked fence behind us with no problems. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. It let loose a loud bark at us and the ground shook from the vibrations it caused.

The Teumessian Fox on Echidna's right was just as big and just as mean looking as it's sibling. Red fur covered in even darker blood patches surrounded it's body which looked like it could pop a balloon at the slightest touch and it's eyes were red with slits for pupils like a certain Tailed Beast I once carried. Its teeth were extremely sharp and the claws were just as sharp and were also very long, perfect for gutting the children it once ate.

The most troubling monster though in my opinion was the Lernaean Hydra who was standing on my right. It may have been smaller than its two siblings, being only about rhino sized like the Hellhound I had faced back at camp, but it more than made up for that size with the eight heads it currently had. I idly wondered what poor sap had last tried to fight this creature before I shook my head free of that thought in order to get a better picture of what kind of snakes it had for the heads. They were diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, and I allowed myself to feel a moment of relief that they weren't black mamba heads before I saw the teeth, rows of razor sharp teeth that looked like they came straight out of a great white shark's mouth.

Echidna smirked at us as she said "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood, and never with three." A horrible grin spread across her face revealing a forked tongue that slithered out and back in as she continued "It seems that not only have you stolen Lord Zeus' Master Bolt and made a mockery of him by daring to enter his domain, you also had the audacity to claim Lord Ares' shield as well. Lord Zeus obviously can't have any of that, so now we have been assigned to take both from you, preferably by force."

Grover's face had gone pale white in fear and Annabeth wasn't faring much better as she stared at our opponents, probably already calculating how low our chances of surviving a fight with all four powerful monsters at once. I had a much more different reaction though. As soon as Echidna had finished speaking, I snorted and rolled my eyes before I looked up to the sky and shouted "I told you before you paranoid spark plug! I did not take your stupid bolt! I'm on this stupid quest to get it for you since you obviously can't keep track of it yourself! And if you had been watching just now, you would know that your son sent me to retrieve his shield for him!"

Grover and Annabeth grew even more pale while Echidna was staring at me with wide eyes. And then out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky straight towards me. I had been expecting that reaction though and I was already in sage mode as I caught the bolt on Riptide's blade where my wind chakra wasted no time in making it fizzle out to nothing. As Grover and Annabeth stared at me in wide eyed shock, my eyes drifted back down towards my current opponents who all shifted backwards in surprise when they saw my bar shaped pupil eyes and the red pigment surrounding them.

Then I grinned at them, as I transferred Riptide to my left hand and said "I'm going to give you one chance to leave. If you don't take it, none of you are leaving this parking lot alive."

All four monsters shifted back again at the look in my eyes before Echidna scowled and said "Arrogant fool! We outnumber you puny demi-gods and are more powerful than you. For your sins against Lord Zeus we will destroy you!"

I rose my right hand as a Rasengan spun into creation as I muttered "It's only arrogance if you can't back it up. Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" My arm shot up towards the sky as the Rasengan expanded into a full-fledged Rasenshuriken that I wasted no time throwing straight at the Hydra. Echidna and her brood was at first shocked at the Rasengan, but quickly scrabbled out of the way as the Rasenshuriken was thrown. The low slung Hydra was too slow to move out of the way though and the Rasenshuriken slammed into it before it expanded, tearing into the monster with an uncountable number of microscopic wind blades tearing it apart. The hydra screamed in pain before the jutsu detonated and it dissolved into golden dust, leaving nothing but a large snake head on the ground.

Echidna stared at the detonation site with wide eyes before she snapped her head back forward with hate filled eyes. She opened her mouth to shout at us only for her eyes to go wide again as I appeared in front of her and slammed another Rasenshuriken into her chest. She went flying backwards for a good two hundred feet with the shuriken still grinding into her before it suddenly expanded and tore her to pieces like her many headed child leaving a scaled hand that fell to the ground.

As Echidna's pain filled scream echoed through the air, I dodged the Chimera and Teumessian Fox's fanged mouths before I threw my fists in the direction of both and sent the two flying thanks to the sage mode that was still coursing through me. As the two landed in crumpled heaps, I created a team of four shadow clones and shouted "Annabeth, Grover, take my clones and take out the Chimera while I deal with the fox!" I didn't wait to hear their answer as I ninja jumped towards the fox and threw another punch that the fox managed to dodge in time thanks to the fact that it was destined not to be caught only for the secondary effect of the Toad Style to come into play and sent it blasting away a second time.

As the fox struggled to its feet from the unexpected blow, I capped Riptide and put in my pocket knowing that it would not do much good here due to its length and instead drew one of my two celestial bronze kunai as I fell into the starting stance of the Gentle Fist style Gai and Lee were so fond of using with the kunai in my right hand behind my back and gave the Come gesture with my free left hand that was in front. Assuming that I was now unarmed, the fox growled at me before it rushed at me tearing up the asphalt underneath its paws due to its speed as it barreled down on me with all of the inevitability of a train crash.

When it got near me, it took a running leap and launched itself at me with its mouth open and its claws raised on either side in order to catch me when I dodged. So instead I made a snap decision and stepped into its lunge bringing my right hand forward and my left braced it as I lengthened my kunai with wind chakra and thrust it into the fox's opened mouth. The fox had just enough time to widen its eyes in surprise at the fact that I didn't dodge before my wind blade pierced the back of its skull. The fox's body exploded into dust which blew past me and I heard the sound of something falling to the ground behind me.

Turning around, I saw that it was a fox ear and I picked it up before I heard a pain filled bellow and my head snapped over to where the Chimera was. I watched as the Chimera's tail hit the ground before bursting apart into the now familiar gold dust and the clone that had cut off the tail with Riptide dance out of the way of the Chimera's retaliatory mule kick. Another clone taking advantage of the creature's currently less than steady two foot stance rushed forward and shoulder tackled the large monster sending it sprawling on its side in an undignified heap with a roar of surprise. The other three clones dog piled the goat body keeping it pinned to the ground as the one who had initiated the pile shouted "Annabeth, finish it!"

Annabeth sprinted into position and buried her dagger in the top of the struggling Chimera's head all the way to the hilt and the monster immediately burst apart into dust leaving a lion's fang and dropping my clones to the pavement. As the clones stood up and brushed themselves off, I saw Grover land holding part of a broken handicap sign like a javelin that had some monster blood dripping from the top. Raising an eyebrow at the sight, I sealed the fox ear away before I walked over to the group and said "Good job guys. Why don't get back to the restaurant and get this little side quest over?"

Annabeth and Grover both tiredly nodded and we began making our way back to the Outback, only pausing long enough to seal Echidna's hand and the Hydra's head on the way.

An hour later, the three of us exited the cab we had grabbed in front of the Outhouse Steakhouse and walked over to Ares who was leaning against a lamp post in the parking lot. The man grinned at us as we approached and said "Well done, little godling, that was quite an impressive performance at the end with those monsters."

I rose an eyebrow and said "You saw that?"

Ares' grin grew as he said "Old Crippled was curious about you and used one of his spy cameras he had in the waterpark to watch you. Now, I believe you have something of mine."

I nodded and took out my seal notebook. Flipping to the right page, I applied chakra to the storage seal on it and with a cloud of smoke had Are's shield in hand. Handing it over, I said "Just so you know, this time you would have been better just destroying the trap. Hephaestus was counting on you to leave in a hurry so that way he could apply a trip wire to that thing."

Ares rose an eyebrow at that and 'hmmed' before he spun the shield like a batch of pizza dough turning it into a bullet proof vest which he smoothly put on. Grinning at us, he said "Well kid, a deal's a deal. Here's your information, your mother is alive."

I frowned and said "I already knew that. I picked up her life signature beneath the west coast the night she was taken. Do you have anything else you could tell us? Maybe where the entrance to the Underworld is or any weaknesses Hades has that we could exploit?"

Ares looked a little put out that I knew that mom was alive but simply shrugged as he said "Can't tell you anything about Hades, there'd be no fun when you faced him otherwise. But I can tell you where the entrance to the Underworld is. It's in a place called the DOA Recording Studio, there's a map to it in this. As for getting in, bribing the doorman always helps." He grabbed a blue nylon backpack off the handlebars of his motorcycle and tossed it to me as he said "Consider that a little extra for your help and the great show you gave."

I rose an eyebrow before I opened the pack and whistled at the sight of five wads of twenty dollar bills that were held together with one of those bank bills that said two hundred on them. Beside them was a rather large pouch of golden drachmas, easily the size of a football, the aforementioned map, and a bag of double stuffed Oreos with a sticky note attached that said For the trip. Closing the bag, I slung it across my left shoulder as I nodded to Ares and said "Much obliged good sir. Now if you will excuse us, we need to be getting back to the airport. We have a long flight tomorrow and we twelve year olds shouldn't be up late anyway."

Ares let out a loud bellow laugh at that before he gave us a wave and vanished in a gust of wind taking his bike with him. As soon as he was gone, I caught Annabeth's arm that was shooting towards the back of my head. Turning my head to look behind me, I rose an eyebrow at the angry look she was giving me and said "What?"

Annabeth continued to glare at me as she said "Don't you what me! What was that all about, 'we twelve year olds shouldn't be up late anyway', huh?!"

I snorted and said "You know a better way to tell a god of war that it was nice talking to him but we have to go? Besides, we do have a long trip tomorrow, so it's not like I lied to the guy. Now come on." I let go of Annabeth's arm and walked over to the curb to call for a taxi. Behind me, Annabeth stared before she shook her head and muttered something about seaweed brains.

The next morning, we woke early. So early in fact, the sky was still grey with false dawn light. But planes were still coming and going as we boarded the Chinook. Once the hatch closed, I used the transformation jutsu to look like Andrew and created a shadow clone that transformed into David as I headed past the strapped down engine parts and into the cockpit, dropping the blue backpack Ares had given us on a seat on the way. Behind us, Andrew and David set down their own travel packs and checked the straps holding the parts one last time before they sat in the seats across from Annabeth and Grover.

Me and my clone sat at the controls and gave a nod to the mechanic at the hangar doors who nodded back as well and pressed the button that would open the hangar doors. As the motor controlling them grinded into action, me and my clone started flicking switches bringing our own machine out of its sleep and beginning the pre-flight checklist. We finished as the hangar doors fully opened and we taxied out onto the tarmac towards our designated helipad. Once there and properly oriented, our rotors spun up to speed and I clicked on my radio and said "This is Flight 234 to Tower, requesting permission for takeoff."

The radio crackled for a moment before the Flight Tower responded and said "Roger Flight 234, you are clear for takeoff."

"Here we go." My clone muttered as we lifted off the helipad and gained altitude even as we began moving forward. We gained speed and even more altitude as we cleared the airport, dropping our transformation jutsu as we did so before shifting our forms until we looked twenty four again with my clone looking like I did in my previous life. Soon the city of Detroit was nothing but a memory behind us as we continued towards the west coast.

The ride started mostly silent relatively speaking as we made our way through the sky, everyone else trying to get some more sleep since the sky was only just gaining a tint of red as the sun began making appearance. But after an hour of flying, my clone seemed to have gotten bored and he unsealed an old style CB radio set complete with headphone buds from his copy of the sealing notebook that I DEFINITELY did not put in mine. Blinking at the sight, I said "How did you get that?"

The clone grinned at me and said "Expert chakra manipulation." At my second blink, the clone chuckled and said "You know how we shadow clones our inherently better at using chakra due to the fact we are composed entirely of it?"

"Yeah." I stated in a deadpanned voice since I had found that out two months after first using them.

The clone grinned as he placed it on the floor and said "Well it lets us use the transformation jutsu on inanimate objects that are formed on us which I did on the copy of the fox ear that was the actual object that came out."

I gave a "huh" at that wondering if any other clones had done that before and I just hadn't noticed due to how many memories they actually gave me and turned my attention back forward as the clone slipped one of the earphone buds into his right ear and turned the radio on and begin scrolling through the channels as he listened to the chatter of those traveling by road. Four hours later, me and my clone transitioned control over to Andrew and David and we went back into the hold, my clone still listening to the radio with one ear.

We found Annabeth and Grover splitting the double stuffed Oreos as Annabeth read her book and Grover reading a few National Geographic magazines he had bought back in the Detroit airport. As we sat down, I let my form slip back to my current age and sighed as I let my head roll back and said "Richie was right, piloting long flights are BORING."

Annabeth looked up from her book and frowned in confusion at my clone and the radio he was holding before looking towards me. Her frown grew as she said "Percy, what's the plan for when we touch down? You haven't said anything about what we are going to do once we reach Los Angeles."

I opened my eyes and brought my head forward as I considered the question for a minute. What were we going to do once we reached Los Angeles? This wasn't like back home in the Elemental Nations where I could just kick down the door and go in jutsu blazing like I used to. Not only did I have Annabeth and Grover with me who weren't shinobi and therefore unable to provide aid on that front, they were also close range and support respectively, meaning I would have to keep an eye on them, or at least dedicate a shadow clone to each. But it wasn't just that either, there was also the fact that mom was down there. If I went in tearing everything in my way apart, what was stopping Hades from killing her?

No, we'd have to do this differently than my usual operandi modus. Which most likely meant stealth, something that I was thankfully very, very good at when I wanted to be. The question was, was it even possible to enter the Underworld without alerting Hades to the fact. Something told me no, which meant we really only had one option. We needed to get in, most likely by bribing the guy up front like Ares suggested, get to Hades, grab mom, figure out if Hades actually had the Master Bolt or not, grab it if he did, and get the hell out of there, pun intended. And if all else failed, I could drop the roof and flood the place with the ocean to serve as a distraction.

Plan in mind, I leaned forward and said "We're going to have to do this Blitzkrieg style. We get in, we find out if the bolt is there, we grab my mom, and we get out as soon as possible. If we wind up trapped, I'll flood the place and we can get out that way."

Grover stared at me wide eyes while Annabeth's narrowed as she said "Your escape plan is to flood the Underworld. That's great and all but what about me and Grover? We can't breathe underwater Percy, and I highly doubt your mom can either. How are you going to even get enough water in to do that? Not even the River Styx would have enough to do such a thing. And need I remind you that the Blitzkrieg utilized armed infantry and tanks? How do you plan to make it work with only three people?"

I gained a mock hurt look on my face as I said "Oh ye of little faith. Annabeth, I was the best user of the wind element back when I was in the Elemental Nations and am now a Son of Poseidon. If I want to tear a whole in the roof of the Underworld and let a bit of water in to make an escape, I will do so. And as for you, Grover, and mom, it's actually not that hard to create and maintain air pockets if you do it in an open atmosphere. Trust me, one way or another, we'll be leaving that place in one piece. The amount of damage done to the Underworld however is completely up to if Hades cooperates or not. As for the needed support," Here My face gained the grin all pranksters recognized as I said "You let me worry about that."

Grover stared at me in awe while Annabeth frowned before she went back to her book. I sighed at that before I perked up as David said over the radio "Hey Naruto, if you do decide to flood the Underworld, could you do David's place next?"

"Hey!" David shouted causing me and Andrew to laugh. Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered boys, while Grover let out a strained chuckle. I leaned back with a sigh and closed my eyes to take a nap. After all, I still had the last stretch of the flight to make.

The last rays of sunset were just disappearing when we landed at the Bob Hope Airport. It wasn't the mainstream airport like the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport was, dealing mainly with local flights, meaning smaller aircraft, but that was actually a good thing since there would be a lot less people spending the night meaning we would be getting our own rooms instead of all of us having to share one. Also unlike the Los Angeles International Airport, it was only fifteen miles away from the center of Los Angeles opposed to the nineteen miles to the city that the international airport was.

As me and my clone taxied into the hangar we were assigned, I sighed and said "Well, the easy part of this quest is over. Now we just need to get into the Underworld, grab mom and the Master Bolt if it's there, and get back home."

The clone chuckled and said "I'm sure you all will come out of this grinning boss. Still, best get a good night's sleep tonight." The clone flicked the last switch needed to shut down the Chinook before he gave a jaunty wave and dispelled, giving me his memories. Exiting the cockpit, I put a grin on my face and said "Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and Satyrs, to the City of Angels."