Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. Here, we're gonna get back to Annabeth's quest. So, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Naruto.
Chapter 21: The Horrible Greek Version of Riddler
(Camp Half-Blood)
"What do you mean Nico's missing?!" Bianca exclaimed in shock and horror. After she, Luke, and Silena got back to Camp Half-Blood, the three went to tell Chiron that the mission was a success. After they did, Bianca was about to go to her cabin to check on Nico, but then Chiron stopped her.
After that, he told her that both Lacy and Nico are missing. Chiron sighed. "A group of leaf shinobi tried to kidnap the two, to use them as bargaining chips. Luckily, Nico manage to shadow travel out of there, with Lacy in tow."
"I'm glad he two are okay, especially Lacy." Silena said in relief. Meanwhile, Bianca looked down, her eyes being covered by her hair.
Despite the fact Nico annoy her from time to time, she really do love her little brother. Not only that, but he's the only family that she has left (Well, one that can be here with her). To hear that someone tried to kidnap him, along with the fact that he's nowhere to be found, awaken something inside her. Something dark.
The only thing that she can take solace to is that she can sense if someone close to her is dead, an ability that all children of Hades has. But right now, the fact is far from her mind. Right now, she want to show them why children of Hades are feared.
The group saw her turn around and went to leave the room. "Where you're going?" Silena asked her. Bianca look at her, a look of a calm sadist in her eyes.
"To the barracks." Bianca stated shortly, but calmly. With that, she close the door with an eerie sound.
"...I suddenly pity those ninjas now." Luke said with a shiver. Chiron and Silena couldn't help but agree with him. Seeing the look in Bianca eyes shows that the ninjas' imprisonment is going to get worse.
Chiron shook off the scary look saw and went back to business. "The dark look aside, how long do you think it will take for the moles to IM us?"
"At the very least, a few days." Luke said with a shrug. "At most, I don't know. It depends on what info they hear, and what they deem important."
"Still, a few moles is better than none." Silena stated. Chiron nodded in agreement to this.
"So, as soon as they contact you Luke, come to me and tell me the information you have." Chiron told him.
Luke nodded. "By the way, how's Naruto's and Annabeth's group? Did you hear from them yet?"
Chiron shook his head. "No, nothing yet. Hopefully, we'll hear something from Naruto soon, but I'm not sure we'll hear anything from Annabeth." Luke sighed and nodded. "Don't worry Luke. You know those two groups are strong, especially Naruto and Percy. I'm sure they'll be fine."
"I hope so." With that, Luke left to his cabin while Silena went to her cabin.
(Labyrinth)
"Why didn't we put this thing on a leash?" Nico questioned in exasperation as the group chased after the mechanical spider. It was something Euryton gave them, to help find Hephaestus within the Labryinth. The second it dropped into the ground of the giant maze, it shot off, barely staying in sight. Their lucky that Tyson and Grover got better hearing than the demigods. "We should've at least consider putting it on a leash."
Nico and Lacy are riding on Tyson and Grover respectively as the group chased after the spider, since the two children don't have as much stamina as the group of teens. "Yeah, it probably wouldn't be the best idea." Percy dryly stated, noticing that Annabeth is shivering at the thought of putting the eight legged creatures on a leash.
As the kept running, Percy noticed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel, wearing remains of dress clothing. Then he noticed a large pile of broken pencils in the direction their going.
He stopped focusing on them when they saw the mechanical spider run up to a large room inside the tunnel they're in. None of them hesitate to go in there, and when they did, they saw something that made at least half the group paled.
Skeletons. Several of them, scattered around the room. And a Sphinx on a pais. Oh joy. Things got worse once again.
As Annabeth, Grover, and Lacy cover their noses at the smell, Tyson whimpered at the sight of the Sphinx. That doesn't surprise Percy. He knew that Tyson had a bad experience with another Sphinx when he was on the streets.
Percy grabbed his pen while Grover put his hand on his staff. Annabeth walked forward, which succeeded in making the monster roar at her, revealing her fangs, and scaring Lacy in the process. The blonde immediately stepped back and put her hand on one of her kunais. Paying the action to no mind, the Sphinx stopped roaring and got back her deceitfully sweet smile.
"Welcome new contestants!" The Sphinx greeted cheerfully. "It's time to play….ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"
As soon as she said that, lights around here started spinning around like a TV show and game show-like music started playing. The demigods' and satyr jaws dropped at this.
"Winner will receive a fabulous prize!" The Sphinx continued. "Pass the test and you may advance! Fail and I'll eat you! Either way, I'll win!"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Percy groaned. She's one of those teachers.
"I'll handle this." Annabeth said, relaxing. "I know what she's going to relax." Nico, Percy, and Grover relax slightly at this. They don't want Annabeth to be of risked of getting eaten, but if she says she know something, you are inclined to believe her. Plus, even if it's a riddle Annabeth didn't heard of, she will most likely figure out the answer.
She stepped into one of the contestant's podium, pushing away the skeleton on it. "Um, sorry." Annabeth said.
"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!" The rest shared a glance, with Lacy asking Nico how the monster know Annabeth's name. Nico shrugged in response. "Are you ready?"
Annabeth nodded in determination. "Ask your riddle."
"Actually, it's twenty riddles now! Isn't that exciting?!" The Sphinx asked in eagerness.
Lacy looks frighten at the eagered Sphinx while Nico gulped a little. "Is it me, or is this woman, monster, whatever is too excited for this?"
"It's not just you." Percy replied back. "Grover, Tyson, put Nico and Lacy down incase we need to fight." The two nodded before putting the kids down. He saw Annabeth glance at him nervously, causing the boy to give her a nod of encouragement.
She took a deep breath before speaking. "Okay. I'm ready."
"Number one!" Drum roll sounded from above, the Sphinx's eyes glittering in excitement. "What….is the capital of Bulgaria?"
Annabeth was stunned. The others were as well, wondering why she asked a question instead of riddle. "S-Sophia, but-"
"Correct!" Applauses was heard throughout the room. Percy briefly wondered where on earth a Sphinx got all this stuff before the monster's voice broke out of his thoughts. "Make sure to mark your answers clearly on the test sheet with a number 2 pencil. Make sure to bubble each answer within the bubble. If you have to erase, erase completely, otherwise the machine will not be able to read your answers."
"What machine?"
The Sphinx pointed at the bronze box machine with her paws. "Now, next question-"
"Wait a second." Annabeth interrupted. "What about the riddle about the man, 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"
The Sphinx grew angry at the reminder of that riddle, but shook it off with a smirk. "Oh, that riddle is old, something that was spread around. And you already know the answer, why should I tell that riddle. Now, next question, what's the square root of sixteen?"
As the Sphinx started asking questions, Percy thought to himself. This would be the easiest part of this whole quest, thanks to this horrid greek version of Riddler. They could just answer a couple of questions, and they could go catch up with a spider. 'It's a good think these are questions Annabeth can answer easily. Otherwise, we either stay over here too long or, worse case scenario, end up fighting the Sphinx. We might actually got a break for once.'
"Hold up!"
'...You gotta be kidding me.' Now her hubris acts up?
"These aren't riddles." Annabeth stated firmly.
"What do you mean?" The Sphinx snapped back. "Of course they are. This test are materials designed for-"
"These are just a bunch of random facts." She insisted on. "Riddles are suppose to make you think."
"Think? How am I supposed to test on how you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required-"
"Stop!" Annabeth interrupted once again, looking angry. "This is a stupid test." A part of her knows that she should just answer them. That they should be focus on a quest, rather than be bothered by these questions. After all, they are easy and they can catch up to the mechanical spider.
But the other part is screaming in outrage of these so called riddles. And right now, she's letting herself listen to that side.
"Annabeth." Grover called out calmly and cautiously. "How about finishing these questions and complaining later about it?" Annabeth merely glared at him, but Grover held his ground. "We have a quest we need to finish as soon as possible."
"I'm an a child of Athena." Annabeth stated, anger showing in her tone. "And this is an insult to my intelligence. I'm not gonna answer these questions and will get a real riddle."
A small part of Percy is shock and a bit proud of Annabeth standing up to a monster. But the bigger part of him is screaming at her for being an idiot right now. Her ego is gonna get them, and to an extent the camp, killed.
The Sphinx's then turned glittery black. "Well then, my dear." She replied calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since I can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"
The lights suddenly pointed at the group, temporarily blinding them. That's when the Sphinx use this chance to pounce at Annabeth.
"No!" Swallowing his fear, Tyson tackled the Sphinx in midair and they crashed into the pile of bones. That gave the group enough time to get out of their weapons. Tyson and the Sphinx got up, with the former blocking the latter's path.
Percy stepped in front of Nico and Lacy. "Nico, take Annabeth and Lacy out of the room."
"What? No, I can't fight!"
"We don't have time to kill her!" Percy countered. "And think the Sphinx is after you. Grover, Tyson, and I will catch up, but the three of you need to go now." As if to prove his point, the Sphinx knocked Tyson aside and charged at them. Grover formed rapid hands movement before forming a jutsu.
"Wood Style: Great Forest" As the Sphinx past him, long blocks of wood grow rapidly out of Grover's hands and wrapped around the Sphinx. It got a hold on her, but not for long. "Go!"
Without hesitation, Nico grabbed Lacy's and Annabeth's hands and shadow traveled out of the room, just as the Sphinx broke out of the trapped. It tried to pounce at them, but only up missing. "No! Cheater!"
With Annabeth gone, she turned to Percy. But before she could pounce, or before Percy could strike, Tyson ripped the machine off the floor and threw it at her, hitting her right in the head. It ended up in pieces around her.
"My grading machine!" She wailed in despair. While she was wailing, the three boys saw the bars lift from the exits. None of them hesitated to dash to the exit, something that Sphinx noticed. "Oh no you don't!"
Percy cried out in pain when Sphinx scratched him in the back, but didn't dare stop or slow down, ignoring the pain in his back. The Sphinx was about to chase after him when Grover did a jutsu to make the pencils grow into trees, slowing her down.
The three got out of the room, with Percy seeing the Sphinx running at them. Just as he was about to use his water to push her back and give them more time, the bars suddenly close, just as the Sphinx was about to pounce through the exit.
Unfortunately for Percy, her paws reached through the bars and scratched him around his right eye, causing him to cry out and jump back, falling on his back. Luckily, the Sphinx didn't damage his eye nor the eye covering. But her attack did leave semi-deep scratches.
"Percy!"
"Brother!"
The cyclop and satyr helped the son of Poseidon up as the Sphinx growled and yelled at them. "Are you okay?" Grover asked his friend in concern.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Percy said with gritted teeth. "But let's not worry about that for right now. We just need to catch up with Annabeth and the others." Grover and Tyson nodded before they all started running once again.
(With Annabeth, Nico, and Lacy)
Due to Nico's shadow traveling, they manage to get grab the mechanical spider and temporarily stopped it trip for right now. Now, the three are simply waiting for Percy, Grover, and Tyson.
Three are silent, with Nico and Lacy, who's shivering at what transpired, sitting on the ground while Annabeth is standing and pacing. "Annabeth." Lacy called out, her voice sounding small. The blonde turn the young girl, waiting for her to speak. "Is Percy, Grover, and Tyson are going to come back?"
Annabeth smiled weakly towards her, trying to hide her worries. "Yes, I'm sure they will. Percy is one of the strongest demigods I know, and Grover is no slouch in fighting either. Also, Tyson is a cyclop, and they are very strong. They'll come back, don't worry."
Lacy smile back, a bit weakly, before putting her down. Annabeth, in the meantime, went back to pacing. But she stopped when she heard Nico speak. "Why did you do something so idiotic back there?"
Instantly, she whirled around to glare at him. "What?"
"Oh, don't give me that look." Nico stated with an eye roll. "You know you did a stupid thing back in that room. You could've easily answer all those questions, yet you decided to get a big head and refuse to answer those question, causing the Sphinx to attack us."
"Because those are not riddles, those were random facts. And that's an insult to a child of Athena." Annabeth said heatedly.
"So you decided to put your ego ahead of our lives?" Nico questioned back. "I'm twelve, and even I know that's a stupid thing to do. You're leading this quest, and a leader put his/her comrades' lives first and their personal feelings second, including their ego. That's what Naruto told me, when I asked him how was leading a quest like. Didn't he say the same to you?"
Annabeth is trying to find a good comeback, something that won't make her sound like a child. But she knew for a fact that Nico is correct. That's what a leader should be doing, and at that time, she had done the opposite. She put herself, along with her comrades, in danger due to her hubris.
The three then heard footsteps and they turned to see Percy, Grover, and Tyson running over to them. "They're back!" Lacy cried out in happiness.
Annabeth felt a wave of relief until she got a good luck of Percy. She froze when she saw the claw marks around his eye, as well as the blood slowly dripping out of it. Lacy looked horrified and sick as well as when she saw while Nico merely look shock. "P-Percy?"
"Hey." Percy said, breathing heavily a little. "Don't worry, I'm alright. The Sphinx just got a bit lucky, that's all." Grover snorted.
"A bit lucky is an understatement Perce." Grover stated. "Did you forget that she scratched your back?"
"What?!" Instantly, Annabeth went behind Percy and saw the gashes on his back. That made Annabeth paler, and Nico's word echoed back into her mind.
Because of her pride, her ego, her hubris, Percy got hurt badly. She thought she had tune down her pride long ago, but apparently, she hadn't. She had put her personal pride above her comrades, something that would make Naruto sick. The thought made her looked down in guilt, tears stinging her eyes.
"Annabeth?" The child of Athena felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up. She flinched a little when she saw the injury on his face once again, but Percy either didn't saw or ignore it. "Don't worry too much about it. I'll be fine. Right now, we need to get to Hephaestus as soon as possible."
Annabeth looked at him, taking in his words. Finally, she rub away the tears and nodded. "Yes, you're right." She look at the wounds again. "But first, you need to heal yourself. Those cuts look deep."
"I'll heal later." Percy told her. "These wounds will take a while to heal, and we need to find Daedalus as soon as possible. We can't waste time." Annabeth wanted to argue, to make sure he's healed now, but her she stayed quiet. Her pride got hit badly by what Nico said, as well as seeing Percy hurt, so she couldn't find it in herself to argue right now. "Alright. Let's go."
The others, while worried for Percy, nodded their heads and the group went running once again after Nico let go of the spider. As they run, Percy and Annabeth got in front of the group. "By the way, Annabeth." Percy spoke up, gaining her attention. "Don't think too much on what happen. Don't forget that I did the same thing months ago, putting my pride above the mission, when we were trying to get Nico and Bianca."
The black haired boy didn't miss the guilt in her eyes, or the flinch, when she saw the state he was in. He knows Annabeth well enough that she's feeling guilty about what happened. "The best thing you can do now is learn from that mistake. To be the best leader you can be."
Annabeth stayed silent, taking in those words. Finally, she smiled and nodded. "I will. Thank you." Percy smile back and look back forward as they ran towards the spider.
As they kept running, Annabeth's thoughts are around Percy. He changed ever since the quest to rescue Artemis. He's still the selfless and reckless Seaweed Brain she knows, but she notice during this quest that he became stronger, smarter, and wiser.
Comforting her and giving her advice when needed, the fight against Geryon, and the recent fight against the Sphinx showed how much he changed. And those are changes she's enjoying much.
She knew that she had harbored a small crush on him ever since they were twelve. But those feelings kept growing each year, with this year having the most growth. She know now that she's falling in love with Percy Jackson.
And that's the end. I hope all of you liked this chapter. Yes, I know that Percy didn't got hurt in that part of the book, but I did it a few reasons. One is to add some differences in the scene. Two is to make a way for Annabeth to see that her hubris can put the people around her in danger. So no complaining about it please. So next up, we're going back to Camp Jupiter. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.