13. Subterranean Explorations

The day after our arrival to Las Angeles, me and my two fellow questers grabbed a cab and had it drop us off five blocks away from the entrance to the Underground that had been marked on the map Ares gave me. The cab driver was a bit uncertain about letting us out in this part of the town but one look at the ten steel kunai I had on me convinced him that I could take care of myself and knew what we were getting into. So with a half cheerful good luck, the driver let us out after I paid him and made his way back to the more cleaner parts of the city.

We normally would have made good targets for the locals considering we just looked like three twelve year old kids lost in the bad part of town. Two things kept most of the would be thugs and other lowlifes away from us. One was the fact that while Annabeth and Grover were both nervous, I was walking with the confidence of a Shinobi who had lived for over ten decades and had won countless battles and no one was willing to mess with someone with that much confidence in their stride even if said someone appeared to be a middle school student. Second was the low level Killing Intent that I was letting out to prevent anyone from getting ideas which only added to the effect of the first.

Unfortunately, a group of idiots apparently didn't listen to their instincts as much as they should. As we passed a dark alley, a voice called out "Hey, you." I stopped and looked into the alley and rose an eyebrow as six white kids in expensive looking clothes and mean looks came out and surrounded us. Rich kids trying to be mean, the lot of them. Annabeth and Grover went back to back with me ready for anything even if Grover was biting his lip with nervousness and I allowed a part of me to approve of their actions even as I kept my eye on who I assumed to be the leader of this group of miscreants.

Eyebrow still raised, I said "Can we help you?"

"Yeah, you can help us by giving us all of your cash and your little lady friend can come hang out with us." The kid in front of me said with what he probably thought was a smug smirk on his face while his five buddies all chuckled.

I put a finger to my chin as if thinking about it as I said "Hm, I think we'll pass on that actually."

The kid's smirk turned into a frown as he pulled out a switchblade knife and opened it as he said "I wasn't asking. Now fork over all your cash before I introduce you to my good friend here."

I gave the knife in the kid's hand a bored look as I said "Kid, you need to get out more. That's not a knife you want to threaten someone with." Reaching into my kunai pouch, I pulled one of my steel kunai out and said "This is a knife you threaten someone with." All of the kids took a step back at the deadlier knife that was easily and inch longer and three times wider than the knife in the leader's hand.

The kid warily stared at the knife in my hands before the fact that we were outnumbered two to one gave him courage as he said "Get 'em!" And charged me. I sighed in annoyance as he thrust forward with his knife which I stopped by grabbing his wrist with my off hand before I raked my kunai across his hand. As the kid screamed in pain and dropped the knife, I stepped back and round house kicked him in the chest sending him flying before I kicked out again knocking the second kid who tried to rush me flat on his ass with a broken nose. Behind me, Annabeth broke the arm of the first kid who tried to grab her and kicked the next kid in the groin sending him to the concrete. I saw out of the corner of my eye Grover dodge the kid who lunged at him before he pinched a pressure point on the kid's neck instantly sending him to la la land. The final kid stared at Grover in wariness before his eyes darted over his buddies. Deciding to cut his losses, the kid turned and bolted like he had a Rottweiler chasing him. The leader of the group began getting up but stopped when my kunai embedded itself hilt deep into the asphalt between his legs. He stared at the kunai for a moment before his eyes raised to look at me and he paled at the sight of four more of the ninja blades that were held between the fingers of my right hand.

That was more than enough for him to decide now was a good time to do like his friend and he quickly scrabbled away from the kunai in the asphalt before he turned and bolted as well leaving four guys on the ground, three of them whimpering in pain.

We left them there as I retrieved my kunai and continued toward the studio. If those kids wanted to play at being muggers than they could play at being victims too. After that, everyone else avoided eye contact even more which had made me smirk. That smirk faded though when we reached Valencia Boulevard and my eyes landed on the studio. The building was made out of black marble and DOA RECORDING STUDIOS etched in golden letters over the glass front of the studio which had NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING. on the doors. The lobby was packed full of people with a tough looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece sitting behind the security desk.

We walked in and I got a better look at the guy, who's desk was on a raised podium, thus making everyone have to look up at him. He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag that said Charon.

I shifted my eyes around after studying the Ferryman of the Underworld to get a better picture of the entrance to said Underworld. Music was playing softly on hidden speakers, the carpet and walls were steel grey, and pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, talked, or did much of anything really, but what could expect when they were all dead. Out of the corner of my eye, I could them all just fine, but If I tried looking at them head on trying to focus on the one in front of me, they took on a transparency that allowed me to see right through them. It reminded me of the bridge in the first Indiana Jones movie that served as the third test to reach the Holy Grail, you had to be looking at them at an angle to see them.

I repressed a shiver at being so close to ghosts, my phobia of them from early in my first life not completely cured even after all this time. Instead, I strode purposefully towards the security desk. Once there, I said "Charon." Said security guard looked up and seemed to blink at me from behind his glasses as he drawled "Yes? Can I help you little ones?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, you can. Me and my friends need to get to the Underworld, and we're willing to pay for the journey." Taking my backpack off my shoulders and opening the zipper, I reached in and lifted the bag of Drachmas out and shook them making the golden coins clink. Seeing Charon's focus sharpen upon hearing the sound and recognizing what made said sound, I said "We'll pay even more for your discretion in this matter."

Charon's eyes narrowed at my words and he growled "Do you think I can be bought little godling?"

I smirked and said "Everyone can be bought good sir, you just need to find the right price." I glanced at his obviously expensive Italian suit and then back at his sunglasses with a raised eyebrow. Opening the pouch, I dipped my hand in and brought out a fistful of gold coins before letting them slip back into the pouch and said "I reckon you could buy quite a bit with all this gold. So how about it? Three spots on your ferry and your silence for this pouch."

Charon stared at the bag for a moment debating with himself the pros and cons of letting three non-dead people on his boat in exchange for all that gold. In the end though, I was right, everyone has their price, and apparently I had met it. Charon grinned at me and said "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."

He stood up from his desk and I happily handed over the sack of golden coins before following him as he made his way to the elevator, pushing the spirits who tried to grab us away while Charon muttered "Free loaders." Once there, Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby and said "Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone, and if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?" He then shut the doors before putting a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing." Charon said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh, that's…fair." Annabeth said frowning.

Charon raised an eyebrow but it was me who answered as I sighed and said "Death is hardly ever fair Annabeth. I've seen enough of it to know that."

Charon turned his raised eyebrow towards me and said "Have you now? And just how would someone your age have seen so much death little godling?"

I met his stare head on as my eyes shifted from sea green to sapphire blue. Charon's eyebrow rose even higher as I said "In my previous life I was a member of a military organization called shinobi. We were not exactly the most peaceful people."

Charon gave a soft hum at that before his attention shifted back forward as the elevator stopped descending and began moving forward. The air around us tuned misty and the spirits around us started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying as it turned into a wooden barge. At the same time, Charon's creamy Italian suit shifted in a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses also disappeared. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets that were totally dark, full of night and death and despair. His flesh became transparent, letting me see straight through to his skull.

He pulled out a large pole from somewhere and dipped it into the water now surrounding us drawing my attention to the river we were on. And what a river, dark and oily, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things-plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so…"

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across-hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

"Ever consider having some of the souls come out here in a barge and clean it up?" I asked.

"We have some of the souls who were in waste management in life come clean it twice every year. But so many of you humans have been dying daily that the results are negligible." Charon said with his skeleton mouth somehow giving off the impression of a frown and I dropped the matter.

Mist curled off the filthy water as we passed through. Above us, almost lost in the gloom was a ceiling of stalactites while up ahead the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison. Annabeth suddenly grabbed hold of my hand and I when I turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow I saw that her skin was pale and she was slightly trembling from fear. Seeing Grover was doing little better, I sighed before I briefly flared my chakra which pushed back most of the feelings of doom and gloom much like how Kakashi-sensei had done to thin out Zabuza's mist. Annabeth and Grover gave me thankful looks, but I simply turned back forward.

The shoreline of the Underworld was now in clear view of the ferry. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones-the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry, bad luck for you, godlings." Charon said with a smile.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had complications on a mission." I muttered and I swear the part of Charon's skull over his eyebrow shifted, like the walking skeleton was raising an eyebrow at me.

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand and the dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand, and old man and woman hobbling along arm in arm, a boy no older than I was shuffling silently along in his gray robe. As me, Annabeth, and Grover stepped off the ferry Charon said "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here." I gave him a nod which he returned before he took up his pole and began heading back to the world of the living, warbling something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he did. As he faded from view the three of us turned around and followed the spirit to the gates that were ahead of us.

I really held no preconceptions about what the actual gates would look like before coming to the Underworld since all that had been waiting me the first time I died was a white expanse and Kami, but even I was surprised at what form they took. The entrance looked like some kind of cross between airport security and the Jersey turnpike. I blinked at the sight, shook my head hard and blinked five more times as I took in the fact that if not for all of the doom and gloom around us the Entrance to the Underworld could have just as well been the entry to Disneyworld.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robe ghouls like Charon. The dead queued up in three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line were moving right along. The other two were crawling.

Meanwhile, the sound of the hungry animal howling was continuing to echo around us, but I couldn't actually see where it was coming from yet. I thought it was in front of us, but there wasn't any visual sign of the Cerberus. Unfortunately, until I could see the dog, I couldn't initiate the next part of my Blitzkrieg plan. So when the thing suddenly appeared fifty in front of us after moving, and thus drawing attention to its semitransparent form, I was relieved. That relief quickly turned into amusement as I said "The Cerberus is a Rottweiler? Did they even have those in Ancient Greece?"

Annabeth gave a who knows shrug even as she and Grover wearily looked at the Cerberus who was staring back at us like we would make a good meal. Swallowing, Annabeth said "You've got a plan for that thing right?"

Said thing was twice the size of a wooly mammoth, but the dead walked right up to him-no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him while the EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

Despite having all three heads focused on us, I smirked and said "Oh yeah, I've got a plan for that big fur ball." Said fur ball snarled at us but I just kept smirking at it. The dog saw this and the head on the right cocked to the side in confusion. Smirk widening, I said "You think this guy's big? Wait till you see what I bring to the floor."

I suddenly flared my chakra to the point it became a fifty foot tall bonfire around me startling everyone around me including the Cerberus before I pushed all of the gathered chakra into a shadow clone which grinned like a shark that just had the underwater equivalent of a turkey placed in front of it as it deliberately made a set of hand signs and shouted "Transform!" There was an explosion of smoke that covered the whole are and Grover and Annabeth began coughing as it slowly dispersed. Then theirs and everyone else's eyes widened at what now stood over our heads: a one hundred foot tall at the shoulder orange furred nine tailed fox. A nine tailed fox that was showing all of its teeth at the Cerberus it was currently grinning down at.

The clone Kyuubi's grin was sadistic as it said to the dog in a voice that was exactly like Kurama's "Hey there little doggy, want to play?"

Said doggy had just enough time to get an "Oh Shit!" look on all three faces before I shouted "Get him!" and the clone shot a paw forward and slammed it into the Cerberus sending it crashing through the gates completely ruining them and crushing all of the spirits in the area as he went, which hissed like air out of a balloon as they burst into smoke. My clone looked down between his legs at us and said "Good luck boss." The next instant, he was right by the Cerberus and picking him up by the scruff of the middle head's neck and began shaking it around for a good twenty seconds before he let go and threw the large dog further into the Underworld. As the security forces in the surrounding area finally gathered their wits and began calling for backup and rushed him, the clone swept a tail forward and sent them all flying as well. The clone let out a loud howl making the whole area shake before he took off further into the Underworld to wreak even more havoc.

I followed right behind it with Grover and Annabeth under an arm each before we passed the bottleneck the entrance formed and shot into the Fields of Asphodel in order to get my bearings and hand low while my clone continued to tear the place apart drawing as much attention as it could towards it. Reaching the fields and stopping next to a really old and dead tree, I set Annabeth and Grover down as I said "Not bad for a distraction eh?"

Grover's eyes were on my clone as he stared in awe as said clone was swatting whole packs of hell hounds away from him like they were nothing but flies to him. Other monsters were thrown around the same way and it seemed like nothing could touch the guy let alone hurt him, which was why I had him go tailed beast in the first place, since even if he did get hit, with how big he was, it'd have to be a really big hit to dispel him. Annabeth tore her eyes away from the sight and instead stared at me in disbelief as she whisper shouted "That's a distraction?! What the hell is a full on attack for you?! No, no, don't tell me, I don't want to know."

I laughed at that before I turned my focus towards a palace of glittering black obsidian that I could just barely see on the horizon with chakra augmented eyes. As I did, a semi familiar screech filled the air as the Three furies rushed away from the palace and towards my clone, brandishing their fiery whips as they shot at him. My clone raised its head to look towards them before it went back to playing crush the ant. This seemed to infuriate the furies who put on a burst of speed and sent their whips at him as soon as they were in range. Or at least they started too, only to be swatted out of the sky in an almost carefree manner by the closest tail.

I shook my head at that sight and said "Come on, we need to stop wasting time and get to Hades' palace." I put action to words and began running. Grover and Annabeth quickly followed and we soon put the ongoing fight between my clone and the forces of the Underworld far behind us. We were making good time with the palace now only about ten miles away when something bad happened like it inevitably did during my missions.

We were just passing a large hill leading down to a tunnel that was seriously making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and do the Tango when Luke's shoes suddenly sprouted wings and yanked Grover off his feet with a yelp. I did a turning skid stop just in time to see Grover shoot down the hill and into the tunnel at a good forty miles per hour with him screaming the whole way.

My eyes widened before I poured chakra down my legs and shot after him, Annabeth going into a full on sprint behind me trying to catch up to the two of us. As I did my best to close the distance between me and Grover, I saw a massive black pit up ahead and my blood ran cold as I instinctively knew where that pit led to. My eyes narrowed as I ran even faster before I lounged towards Grover's form and managed to grab the collar of his shirt fifteen feet from the edge. As soon as my body hit the gravel of the tunnel floor, I poured chakra out of my body and sent it down to latch onto the rocky ground beneath it. We managed to skid to a stop five feet away from the rim of the hole, Grover's shoes kept going though and popped off his feet and darted down into the pit.

As I got up and helped Grover to his feet I muttered "You know, sometimes I hate it when I'm right."

Grover gave me a confused look but his attention was drawn by Annabeth as she shouted "Guys!" Coming to a stop next to us and panting, she said "We need to get out of here! This place is-"

She cut herself off when I raised my right hand. I turned my head towards the pit where a deep voice was whispering. As the whispering grew to a mutter, I frowned and said "I've lived for a hundred and ten years now and never in any of those years has hearing a voice from a deep pit ever been a good thing. Let's move."

Annabeth and Grover didn't need telling twice and the two were quick to turn around and make a sprint for the exit. I gave one last look into the pit and followed after them. As I did, the voice got louder and angrier behind us. Then, a cold blast of wind pulled at our backs, as if the entire pit were inhaling. Instinctively knowing just what was causing the wind, I shouted at Annabeth and Grover to keep moving before I spun around and blitzed through hand signs as I shouted "Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Jutsu!"

The air around me surged together to form a large wind dragon that filled the entire tunnel in front of me. The voice stopped its chant as the jutsu let loose a loud roar that shook the surrounding area before it shot straight down the pit. I didn't stick around to hear if the jutsu actually hit anything. Instead, I turned back towards the entrance and bolted. As I did, I heard a wail of outrage come from deep in the tunnel. I chuckled and muttered "Old Grandpa must really have wanted a family reunion."

When I exited the tunnel, I saw Grover and Annabeth waiting next to a poplar at the top of the hill. Ninja jumping to them, I said "Grover, are you alright? That rush down there didn't break anything did it?"

Grover shook his head in the negative but kept his wide eyes on the tunnel entrance as he said "I don't understand, the shoes just sprouted their wings and took off with a mind of their own. Why would they do that?"

I sighed and said "It would appear that I was right when I thought that Luke was the one who would betray us."

Annabeth's eyes snapped over towards me in disbelief as she said "What? But that's impossible! Percy, I've known Luke for seven years, he wouldn't have betrayed us like this!"

I sighed again and said "Annabeth, remember the prophecy the oracle gave me? You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. After the attack by the hellhound and my claiming during the CTF game, besides Grover here, only Luke would still willingly associate with me. And let's not forget whose shoes Grover was just wearing, Luke's. And let's also not forget that Luke wanted me to be the one wearing them. If I had been wearing them when they took off like that, I don't know if I would have been able to get them off in time before I fell into the pit. No, Luke is the betrayer, the only question is if he is the one who stole the Lightning Bolt as well or is working with someone who did. Also, we still need to verify if the bolt has been sent down here and-"

I trailed off with a frown as I suddenly realized that something felt off with the backpack on my shoulders. I shifted my shoulders trying to figure it out drawing confused looks from Annabeth and Grover before my frown grew as I realized that sometime during my time in the tunnel it had gotten heavier for some reason. Taking the pack off and ripping open the zipper, my frown grew into a scowl as I said "Well now, it looks like we know who the god who turned is." Sitting inside the blue nylon back pack that Ares had given me was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

Grover and Annabeth had wide eyes as they stared at it. Annabeth stuttered out "Z-Zeus' Master Bolt! Bu-but how did it get there? It wasn't there before!"

"It must have been summoned somehow when I entered the tunnel. We had ways to summon things back in the Elemental Nations, it would not surprise me if a magical equivalent was used to do the same now." I said as I placed the pack on the ground and took out my seal notebook. Flipping to an empty seal, I said "Regardless of how it actually got here, we cannot allow Hades or anyone else to obtain it. I've seen the destruction a Tailed Beast back home could cause, and it was not pretty. This thing could easily cause a hundred times more damage. That kind of power could seriously rewrite the lines on the globe if it is abused." Sealing the Master Bolt in the notebook, I then took out my emergency seals paper and sealed the notebook in the one that held my sleeping bag.

Security measures for keeping the bolt out of the wrong hands taken care of, I zipped the back pack closed and slung it over my shoulders and said "We may have the Master Bolt now guys, but we can't leave just yet. Hades still has my mother, and I'm not leaving this place without her, prophecy from the Oracle be damned."

Annabeth nodded believing that I could get her back after seeing everything I had done up to this point. Grover gave scared gulp but nodded as well. I gave them a nod of my own before I turned my gaze onto the obsidian palace where my next objective waited.