15. Deadliest Warrior: Shinobi vs. God of War

We had left the Underworld at a point that was approximately twenty miles out to sea. As me and my clones shot over the ocean towards Las Angeles, we had plenty of time to see that the city was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake all right, and it had caused massive, massive damage to the city of the angels. Mom stared at the sight in open horror with Grover and Annabeth doing the same at all of the destruction that we could see even as far out as we were. I myself had a grim frown on my face as I saw all of the devastation. Hades had caused this, and I was indirectly responsible for it too.

However, I had bigger things to worry about, such as the figure that was standing on the beach next to a rumbling motorcycle whose headlight was turning the sand red. A figure wearing a black leather duster and sunglasses, and aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. As me and my clones made land fall, he grinned at me and said "Hey, kid, you were supposed to die." He actually sounded genuinely pleased to see me, the bastard.

My eyes narrowed as I uncapped Riptide and said "You have a lot of nerve, showing your face to me after what you pulled Ares."

Both of Ares' eyebrows rose in amusement as he pointed to himself and said still grinning, "Me? What did I do?"

"Don't play games!" I snapped. "You had Luke steal the Master Bolt, and most likely Hades' Helm of Darkness as well. My plans to go to the Underworld to rescue my mother was never a secret and so when you found out I was in Detroit you gave me that back pack which would summon the Master Bolt to it once I reached the entrance of Tartarus. You knew I would arrive there at some point since Luke had tampered with the shoes he had gave us to drag whoever was wearing them to that infernal pit. There, old grandpa would be able to obtain the Master Bolt, thus removing one of the most dangerous weapons he would have to worry about if he ever came out of that pit out of play. Most likely your plan counted on my dying at some point so dad would be furious at Hades. With the Master Bolt still missing, Zeus would be just as pissed with dad and soon there's a three way war going on. What I would like to know is why you didn't keep the Master Bolt for yourself. A weapon that powerful would be right up your alley. Why would you so easily let it out of your grasp?"

Ares had an amused look on his face when I first started, but his grin turned into a frown as I continued. At the end though, he got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I…Yeah…with that kind of fire-power…" My eyes narrowed as I realized something just as Ares' face cleared and he said "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing."

I suddenly smirked and said "I call bullshit. Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea. Which means you aren't the grand mastermind in all of this."

"Of course I am!" Ares shouted as smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

Taking a logical stab in the dark, I said "You probably didn't order the theft either. Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent everyone out on a chase to find the thief like I'm sure he would, you caught him. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus because a certain someone down in the well convinced you to let him go. Then you kept the items until I came along and you secretly gave the back pack to me knowing that it would summon the bolt at the right time, thus completing the delivery. You're not the one giving orders cousin, it's grandpa."

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!" Ares shouted.

I rose an eyebrow and smirked as I said "Who said anything about dreams? But anyway, what I would like to know is if you actually have Hades' helm still on you, or if you had enough common sense to keep it somewhere else for in case I came back from the Underworld and decided to kick your ass after I got through with Hades."

Ares scowled at me as he said "Watch your tone little godling, if I wanted to, I could turn you into a cockroach."

I smirked and said "Yeah, I'm sure you could. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it? What's the matter big guy, afraid to go at it mono a mono?"

Ares face was turning purple with rage as flames danced along the top of his glasses as he said "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

I smirked and said "Well why don't we make this interesting. Fight me, and if you win, you can turn me into anything you want, and take the bolt. You lose, the helm and bolt are mine."

Ares sneered at me as he took a ski mask out of his pocket and placed it on the handlebars of his motorcycle where it immediately transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet. Stepping away from it, he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder and said "You have a deal, now how would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

I made a hand gesture with my off hand and my clones grabbed the others as they dashed to stand a hundred yards away from the danger zone while I brought my right hand to my shoulder showing Riptide to Ares before I brought it back down to my side in a spinning flourish.

Ares grinned at me as he said "That's cool, dead boy, Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth. As he began marching towards me, he said "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got that can counter all that?"

I smirked and pointed to the ocean with my free hand before taking a ninja jump back. Ares rose an eyebrow and looked before he took a step back in shock as the water in the ocean surged together to rapidly form a one hundred foot golem that wasted no time in swinging the broadsword it held down onto the beach. Ares quickly raised his own broadsword and caught the water blade on it. But for all of his boasting of unlimited strength, Ares was still pushed waist deep into the sand which had no such strength whatsoever and easily gave under the force of the pressure. Ares began cursing as he realized this as I had the golem withdraw its sword and burst apart, returning it back to the ocean.

Not giving Ares a chance to get out, I manipulated the water underneath the sand and had it rise to his level and grab him before dragging him down as fast as possible. I got his head ten feet under before I heard Ares give a loud roar and the sand all around him exploded upwards forming a sixteen foot deep crater around him. The next millisecond, I blocked Ares' broadsword with Riptide as the war god came at me a lot faster than I would have given him credit for. The only thing that had saved me was my shinobi instincts which had been honed for a century. As I spread my chakra out across the sand from being buried myself by the strength Ares was pushing his sword with, I entered sage mode and said "Time to kick things up a notch."

Ares' eyes widened slightly at the transformation my eyes underwent before they widened even further when I flowed wind chakra through Riptide and proceeded to cut through his broadsword like a plasma cutter through butter, twisting slightly to the left to avoid the falling blade and slammed a sage mode enhanced punch into Ares' diaphragm which knocked the wind out of him and sent him a good fifty feet away. That was only how far he flew though. As soon as he hit the sand, he rolled for another six before he could stop himself.

While this was happening, I capped Riptide and pulled out my two celestial bronze kunai and shunshined to stand behind Ares as he got back up cursing up a storm. His words stopped though when he saw that I was no longer where he remembered me to be. Then he felt two pokes on his back, one where his heart was and the other where his T7 vertebrae was. Snapping his head over his right shoulder, he saw me with my kunai positioned in an instant kill spot as well as an area that would paralyze if I actually went through with my attack. I grinned up at him and said "I do believe that's match, unless you want me to prove my point further?"

Ares snarled and spun around in order to back hand me. At that close of range, I would have been swatted, even if I was expecting it without anything augmenting my speed. However, Ares had never fought a Toad Sage before and I had enough time to duck even as I stabbed my left kunai into his arm which tore a chunk out with nothing but the arm's momentum. Ares roared in pain and I was surprised when it caused a shockwave that knocked me back just as far as my punch had.

I landed on my feet and skidded for a couple of feet before I shunshined back towards my opponent with both feet slamming into Ares' face. As Ares flew backwards, I shunshined again to where he would land and slammed an elbow into his diaphragm sending him crashing into the sand. Not finished with simply taking his breath away, I slammed an ax kick down on him and to my satisfaction heard at least one rib break before I ninja jumped away to avoid the retaliatory swing Ares took at me.

As Ares stumbled to his feet clutching his chest in one hand glaring at me, I heard the distant sound of sirens getting closer instead of just being background noise. Knowing that even with the Mist most likely hiding what was really going on, things would get complicated if the police got involved, I blitzed through hand signs and said "Sorry cousin, but I'm ending this before the cops show up. Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Horde Jutsu!" The seven dragons formed overhead, spread out in a circle around Ares, not even bothering to go through their usual intimidation tactic of roaring as they all rushed their target as soon as they were created. Ares had just enough time to widen his eyes before all seven dragons slammed into him simultaneously from seven directions and an explosion of sand was thrown into the air as the low S Rank wind jutsu did its best to completely obliterate the god.

I used my mastery of wind chakra to manipulate the wind around me to prevent any of the thrown sand touching me. As the sand began to clear, I held my kunai in a ready stance as I watched the war god struggle to his feet, massive lacerations running up and down his body spilling life giving Ichor which sunk into the sand of the miniature crater he was now in.

As he turned to glare at me, pure hate shone in his eyes. In the span of less than a quarter hour, I had gone from someone who amused him, to an annoyance, to someone who he had no problem picturing more and more gruesome ways to torture and then kill me by the second. This was made clear as a claymore shimmered into existence that Ares easily held with one hand as he spun it in a circle much like I had done with Riptide. My face gained another level of seriousness and my hands tightened their grips on my kunai before the two of us rushed the other and the sound of metal slamming on metal sounded as kunai clashed with claymore. I idly noticed that even with Ares loosing enough Ichor to make the Red Cross's monthly quota of blood, the god's enormous strength was still present.

We disengaged our blades from the block and began tearing up the sand underneath us as we began a lethal dance that would make professional film choreographers weep in awe. Punches and kicks were both thrown in and blocked along with using our bladed weapons as we did our best to send the other into the permanent ward of a hospital. Two minutes in, during one of our brief power struggles, the sirens finally reached our block and I heard one of my clones shout "Boss, cops!" The loud popping sound and sixteen sets of new memories after the warning told me my clones had all dispelled in order to avoid the awkward questions that would be asked if the cops saw sixteen copies of me.

The screeching of tires and the red and blue flashing lights of police cars announced the arrival of the city's protectors. Car doors were slammed as someone yelled "There, officer! See?"

"What the heck, they're both armed!" A gruff voice shouted.

Now knowing that playtime was well and truly over, I ignored the voice for now instead grunting as Ares tried to push me further into the sand. Retaliating, I slammed a foot on the ground and a spike of water answered my gesture and pierced Are' left foot before the tip expanded left and right trapping his foot. Ares roared in pain which only increased when I pushed his claymore to the side and let loose with a rapid barrage of slashes to his chest that tore his shirt to shreds and left his entire torso crisscrossed in one inch deep cuts. As Ares began to fall to his knees from all of the pain he was now feeling, I spun around him and slammed my left elbow into the back of his neck right at the joint where the skull met it.

The god or war keeled forward and planted his face into the sand, unconscious, and after the stasis seal I applied on him via touch, definitely not waking up anytime soon. Hearing the flapping of wings near where Ares' motorcycle was still rumbling, I said "You furies don't stay dead long do you?" I stood up from where I had crouched to apply my seal on Ares and turned around to see Mrs. Dodds standing next to the motorcycle with Hades' helm in her hands.

Said fury was staring at me with narrow eyes, wanting to attack me but both knowing it was suicide and that she had a higher priority. Instead, she replied "No we don't, Percy Jackson. My lord is obviously quite furious with you. But seeing as how you have spoken the truth about never stealing his helm, I will advise him to leave you and yours alone. In exchange, I suggest you stay as far away from my lord's domain as possible for a century or two."

I gave her a nod and she sank into her shadow, presumably to return to her master. Fury gone, I turned my focus back to the police cars where the ten officers were standing behind their car doors with pistols drawn and staring at me warily. I rose an eyebrow at them before I spun the kunai in my hands once to throw off the ichor on them and put them back in my kunai pouch. I then raised my hands and stepped away from Ares' still form as I made a snap decision and said "Officers, I have a perfectly good explanation for all of this which I will tell you if you put those guns away."

The cops continued to stare at me warily before the cop behind the driver side door of the police car directly across from me sighed and holstered his pistol before he closed his car door and began walking down the beach towards me. The rest of the officers followed suit and soon they were all joining me in a circle surrounding me and Ares. Giving them all a hard leveled stare, I said "Officers, what you're about to hear is probably going to shock you, and unfortunately, I'll have to take some precautions to keep the information I have from spreading. In short, what you are about to hear should be classified as Top Secret, do you understand?"

Each of the cops blinked in surprise before they nodded, willing to listen to a twelve year old who had just out dueled a guy who was easily three times his size wielding a claymore with nothing but two knives which had looked like toothpicks compared to it. I nodded as well before I rose a privacy Genjutsu and began giving them the basics, shifting forms and uncapping Riptide as proof at some points. When I was done, they were all stunned speechless to find out that there were in fact Greek gods and that all of the terrible weather had been the result of them arguing over the theft of a magic item. An item which I had recovered and needed to get back to New York city with. They asked questions and I answered as best as I could. When the Q&A session was over, I placed secrecy/illusion cancelation seals on each officer's right hand that vanished from sight after applied. The seals would allow them to talk about it between them but not when others not in the know were present, and also allowed them to see past the illusion effects of the Mist.

After that, it was decided that some of the officers would escort us to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport after I had placed Ares into a stasis storage seal and we would immediately head to home. The official report would be an attempted kidnapping attempt was stopped by one of the potential victims and the kidnapper got away. Need for secrecy now over, I dropped the Genjutsu and gestured for Mom, Grover and Annabeth to come join us. The three began marching over towards us from where they had watched my fight with Ares and follow up discussion with the police officers with worried looks on their faces.

I took out my emergency seal paper and unsealed my storage seal notebook as they came over. I had just finished modifying the last seal into a stasis seal and had placed Ares inside when they reached us. Looking over at them as I put the notebook away, I said "I've explained everything to these officers as well as made sure that no one but them and anyone else in the know about the Greek gods can talk about it in their presence. Their official report will be that there was an attempted kidnapping that I prevented and that the kidnapper escaped. We'll be given a ride back to the airport and once there, we will continue on to New York."

Annabeth opened her mouth to protest telling the cops about the hidden world we lived in but closed her mouth as my eyes turned sapphire while looking at her, not wanting to discuss the need for secrecy that I had already dealt with and she instead simply nodded. I nodded as well and all of us walked over to the police cars with us entering the center car. My mom rode up front with the officer while the rest of us sat in the back.

An hour and a discussion with Andrew and David, including an introduction of my mother thrown in later, we were airborne and racing back to New York at the Chinook's top speed of one hundred and ninety seven miles an hour. As Andrew and David took the first pilot shift of the nearly thirteen hour flight, I sat mom down on one of the seats near the rear hatch and began explaining everything about my previous life to her in more detail than I had time to when we last talked, which seemed so long ago even though it had only been a few weeks at most. I also briefly explained how I had managed to acquire a Chinook to go cross country and about the quest we had been given.

As me and my mother had a talk that was long overdue, Annabeth decided that the knowledge of how to fly a helicopter could potentially come in handy in the future and was up front listening to David as the retired Air Force pilot explained what each of the controls and gauges in the cockpit did. Grover meanwhile had decided to take the same path as many long distance travelers and was currently sawing logs with the intention to keep sleeping for as long as possible.

Five hours later, me and a clone traded spots with Andrew and David, and continued our full out sprint across the continent while the two were asked questions by mom as she tried to figure out just how I had managed to get the workers of the Eagle's Roost to help me. Needless to say, she was rather shocked when she had learned that I had entered a casino and came out ten grand richer before I was ten years old. Me and my clone both snickered when we heard over our headsets mom wondering if I planned on doing it again anytime soon to pay for college.

After that, the ride was pretty much uneventful, and after another shift change with the two retired Air Force pilots, we were crossing the New York State border, our quest almost over.

AN: Only two more chapters planned for this. The next one is currently half done and I plan on posting it within twenty four hours after I get some much needed sleep since I've now been awake for twenty hours straight at the time of posting this.