Chapter 17

"The Lotus hotel and casino huh?" said Naruto, as he looked up at the hotel. Naruto had to admit it stood out quite a lot, and he was surprised that it was not grouped with the other hotels.

However they all noticed that no one was going in or out of the casino, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom. To Naruto it smelt just like the leaf village when the cherry blossom trees were in bloom. It was a smell that he greatly enjoyed and appreciated.

Slowly the group decided to approach the casino since the place just felt so tempting to approach. When they did one of the doorman smiled happily at them and gestured for them to go on inside.

"Hey kids, you look tired, You want to come in and sit down?"

The group looked at each other.

"It couldn't hurt right?" Percy asked. "I mean we have had a long day so we could rest up in here for a bit. We do still have six days left."

"One day should be fine," Grover said getting wary nods from Annabeth and Naruto.

Though Naruto felt a little suspicious of the place, he had read that casino's in Vegas only allowed people of twenty-one and up to enter. Those younger could stay in the hotel but were not allowed in the casino part. So why would this guy be gesturing for them to go in? It seemed a little odd in his own opinion.

Plus Naruto doubted his mom or grandmother would approve of their fourteen year old son and grandson going into a Vegas casino.

But the look on his friend's faces showed they wanted to go in, and he really didn't want to be a party pooper.

"I'd prefer to just carry on with the quest, but if you guys want to take a little break then I guess it would be okay. Best not stay here too long though," he said getting cheers from the others as they slowly headed inside.

However as soon as they entered the casino Naruto figured they made the right choice, as they all stood gaping at the inside and interior of the hotel and casino.

The whole lobby was a giant game room with just about every generation of game over the years that could be imagined. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the multiple glass elevators, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns, and hundreds of video games, each one with a large widescreen TV. Naruto figured that any fun thing you could think of, this place most likely had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.

"Whoa," was all the four could say, as they all looked like they just found Black Beard's buried treasure.

"I'm guessing you guy like it," a bellhop said, as he walked over to them grinning at the amazed looks that were on their faces.

He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key," he said handing over four room keys to the four.

"But we didn't even hire out any rooms," Naruto said a little skeptically getting out of his amazed funk and looking at the guy with a curious eye checking whether this guy was trying to pull on over on them. But the guy just shook his head.

"Don't worry about that. We knew you were coming and prepared your rooms already. The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed them all four green plastic credit cards that all had the lotus symbol on it.

"Um, out of curiosity how much credit is on this?" Grover asked getting nods of agreement.

"Well since it's all paid for, it's unlimited" he said never losing his giant smile.

"Whoa," was all they could say again, as they stared at the card.

As much as Naruto wanted to say that this was some sort of trick, and that something must have been going on, he was still a fourteen year old kid who was now holding something with unlimited cash and could do whatever he wanted.

It was the most tempting thing Naruto had ever faced. He was trying to fight it, but looking at other and seeing the giant smiles on their faces, he knew it was a losing battle.

The group then took the elevator upstairs and checked out their room. It was a giant suite with four separate bedrooms, and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips, and a hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun.

"Is this heaven?" Percy asked

"I'm not sure but I think this could be as close as heaven as you could get," Naruto said entranced with the place as much as the others.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

The first thing they all did was run into their bathrooms and takes a long hot shower. Naruto sighed happily as the hot water touched his skin.

After the last two days and having fought the Kindly ones, the Gorgon Sisters, the Nemean Lion, the Chimera and Echidna, this hot shower was exactly what Naruto needed. He could already feel the his muscles relaxing

After exiting the shower he looked inside the closet to find new pairs of clothing. He picked a dark green shirt with grey jeans and green converses and a black zip up hoodie jacket to put over that.

After drying off and getting dressed into the very comfortable clothes, he went back into the main room where a completely refreshed Percy, Annabeth and Grover sat waiting for him. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart content while Annabeth was watching the discovery channel. Naruto swore she just never stopped learning. While Percy was currently playing on a PSP.

"You guys want to head back into the lobby and have some fun?" he said getting grins of excitement from the others before they stopped what they were doing and exited their room.

They were back on the glass elevator and entered back into the main lobby to see everything was the same as they left it.

"So what are you guys going to do first?" Naruto asked before he realized they had all separated as soon as they got out of the glass elevator.

He looked around to see Percy about to bungee jump from the top of the lobby and had a strange grin of excitement.

Annabeth was in front of a giant 3d Sims game. Naruto recognized it as the one where you could build your own cites and stuff like that. He was not surprised that she went to that and guessed she was happy since he saw her talking away to herself while pushing random buttons.

Meanwhile Grover had found himself in front of some reality game where you played as the deer and had to shoot the rednecks. Naruto had to laugh when he heard Grover shouting "death to rednecks" and "nature conquers all."

He decided it was best to let Grover have his moment at kicking society's ass.

"Well everyone else has found something to do. What should I do?" he thought to himself as scanned the area. He thought about playing some zombie game called house of the dead 3 where you essentially went around killing zombies.

He also thought he might go on the slide that wrapped around the glass elevators or maybe join Percy in bungee jumping.

At lease he would have, if his nose had not caught a familiar scent.

When he smelt the scent he just stopped mid step and his body completely froze. He recognized that smell more than anything in the world. It was a smell he had grown so accustomed to back in the Leaf that it was like second nature to him now.

His head whipped around sniffing the air before he sprinted off down one of the hallways that led out of the lobby.

After only a minute of running Naruto stopped at looked at where he ended up and found where the all familiar smell was originating from. He looked up to see a bright blue neon sign, and his legs almost gave out when he saw it.

Godly Ichiraku's

"No way," Naruto thought before he went inside.

When he stepped inside he took a good look around .The restaurant was very similar to Ichiraku's back in the leaf but was far bigger. There were tables scattered all over the place with some people sitting around enjoying their meals. There was also a stool area near the kitchens for anyone who came alone.

There was no one else there so Naruto walked over and took a seat. He did not have to wait long before a pretty looking waitress with long brunette hair that went down to her back came up to him with a smile on her face. She looked a little like Ayame but this girl looked a little older and had lighter skin with blue eyes.

"Hi there can I take your order?" she said with a kind voice.

"Urm sure could I get two bowls of miso ramen please," he said as the waitress scribbled it down.

"Anything else?" she asked before Naruto shook his head.

"That's all for now thank you," he said as the waitress gave him a nod. Just before she could leave and put the order in Naruto quickly spoke up to her.

"Excuse me but could you possibly answer a question of mine I have about this place?" he said getting a curious look from the girl.

"I guess so. What would you like to know?" She asked.

"This place. There is place just like it back in the Elemental Nations called Ichiraku's Ramen. I was wondering if this place was based on that ramen stand," he asked getting a surprised look from the waitress.

"Actually yes it is. The owner of this restaurant is none other than Hebe, the Goddess of Youth," she said surprising Naruto a little. "Lady Hebe visited the Leaf village in the Elemental Nations a few years ago and came across the ramen stall by chance. She fell in love with the little place. When she returned she made her own. Though the ramen here is not exactly like the one in the Elemental Nations, it is still pretty damn good" she said before she walked off to give the cook Naruto's order.

Naruto just sat there taking it in. The Goddess Hebe had visited the Leaf and had apparently spent a lot of time at Ichiraku's. This was all news to him and he doubted Teuchi and Ayame were aware they had a goddess visit them.

In fact now that he thought about it, when he was eight he noticed a very beautiful woman was at Ichiraku's a lot and had been conversing with Teuchi and Ayame quite a lot. Naruto even spoke to her a few times and she seemed nice enough. She didn't glare at him or treat him bad. She just kindly spoke to him and he thought she called herself Miyo.

Naruto had to chuckle to himself. "Looks like Dionysus was not the first god I ever met after all."

He didn't have to wait long before the waitress came back to him with his orders and set the two bowls in front of him. She told him to enjoy before she went to the other customers.

Naruto looked at him and gave it a close expectation. He eyed the noodles and the pieces of pork in the bowl while tasted a little bit of the soup. It tasted pretty good. Much better then what he had so far during his time in this world. He shrugged before he picked up his chopsticks and ate some of the noodles with the pork and chewed away.

When he did he completely froze and his mind switched off completely.

This ramen. It was so damn good that it was almost exactly like the one back in the leaf village. It had been so long since he had such great ramen that he never thought he would taste it again.

"Um sir are you okay?"The waitress said waving her hand in front of Naruto dumbstruck face.

She wondered if she should give him a light slap to wake him out of it before Naruto suddenly jumped ten feet in the air before landing back in his seat.

"THIS IS JUST LIKE ICHIRAKU RAMEN" he shouted as he began to devour his ramen at a very quick speed which amazed the waitress and everyone in the restaurant.

For the next hour Naruto ordered bowl after bowl after bowl since he just could not get enough of the stuff. Slowly the pile of bowls began to pile up and up until eventually it got to a staggering thirty bowls.

Everyone was just amazed at how he could eat that much and yet not look fat at all. It made many a little jealous.

"Where does he put it all?" the waitress thought. The most that anyone ever ate had been 25 bowls and that was from Hermes who is a bit of a regular. Yet this kid had just out eaten a god somehow."

Naruto dropped his chopsticks as he rubbed his full stomach. "Now that is what I am talking about," he murmured to himself. It had been a while since he could indulge himself like that and it felt good doing it.

"Whoa that was amazing," said a voice from behind him causing Naruto to turn around look behind him.

Standing just behind him was a young boy who must have been about ten years old. He had scraggy black hair and had an olive skin tone. His eyes were dark brown and he was wearing a dark green shirt with faded blue jeans and a brown scarf that was wrapped around his neck.

"Hehe thanks," Naruto said scratching the back of his head. "It's been a while since I had such great ramen that I kind of lost myself a little."

"What does it taste like?" the young boy said examining the bowls that Naruto had eaten from. "I have never tried it before."

"You want to try some?" he asked getting a quick nod from the young boy who took a seat next to him.

"Waitress two more bowls of miso ramen please," he said getting a tiered nod from the waitress before she gave in the order. Naruto swore he heard a grumble from the kitchen.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way," he said to the young boy who was looking up at him since he looked a little small for his age.

"I'm Nico, Nico DiAngelo. You want to see my Mythomagic cars?" he asked with ah hopeful expression which confused Naruto a little.

"Um sure why not. What are they exactly?" he asked getting a giant happy smile from Nico as he pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket.

"It's a car game, though I just kind of like to collect the cards and the little figurines" he said as he pulled out a few figurines from his other pocket. "They are based of Greek mythology" he said surprising Naruto who had the urge to grin.

"You don't say," he said as Nico laid some of the card out in front of him and Naruto got a good look at some of them. There were some of the gods all drawn in a cartoon like fashion thought Naruto had to admit they looked pretty cool. Underneath the pictures they had little info like attack and defense points.

Thought Naruto was a little surprised that Nico liked them so much since at the bottom of the card it said made in 1940. He just guessed he liked old things.

"So do you have a favorite out of them all?" Naruto asked which got a furious nod from Nico.

"Yeah out of all of them my favorite is Hades," he said handing over a card which had a picture of a man in black armour with pretty bad ass helmet that stood all opposing and menacing like. Naruto was curious to whether the real God of the Underworld really looked like that.

"Although he is the only one I don't have the figurine for. I have all the others but just not Hades."

"Don't worry I'm sure you will find it eventually. Then you will have the full set," Naruto said encouragingly which got a smile from the younger boy.

"I don't suppose you have the Artemis card do you?" he said getting a nod from Nico you started shuffling through the set.

After a couple of seconds of searching Nico pulled a card out and handed it to Naruto. "Here you go."

Naruto looked it over. The card was off a woman with auburn colored hair that went halfway down her back and was wearing some sort of silver crown on her head. She was wearing some sort of toga like dress that stopped just above her knees and was barefoot. She was wielding a bow in her hands and there was a picture of a stag behind her with golden antelors.

Naruto smiled as he looked at the picture. "I wonder if this is what Mom really looks like," he thought to himself.

"Why Artemis?" Nico asked since he wanted to know why Naruto wanted to see that one.

"Um I guess you could say she is my favorite of the Greek gods. She seems like she can kick all kinds of butt." he said since he doubted Nico would believe him if he said 'Oh that's my mom. Cool huh?'

"Oh okay," Nico said before going back to his cards. "Do you want to keep it?" he asked, surprising Naruto. "I have two of the Artemis card and two of her figurines so you can keep them if you like." he said as he dug his hand into his other pocket and bought out a little figurine of Artemis. Her stance was just like how it was in the card.

"Really, this is okay?" he asked, getting a nod from Nico. "Well thanks little buddy" he said as he put the card and figurine in his pocket.

"No problem," Nico said as the waitress came back and put the bowl on the table. She then looked at Naruto and said

"Please don't order any more. The cook is getting stingy."

"Um sure," Naruto said raising his eyebrows before she walked off before shrugging at the confused Nico.

"Well dig in," he said as Nico looked at his chopsticks. He picked them up and tried using them but was having a bit of difficultly.

"Here use a spoon for now," he said handing it to Nico who then took a moderate size scoop of the ramen. When he did his face lit up like Christmas.

"Whoa this is amazing," Nico said as he began devouring his food as quickly as it came.

"Told you it was good," Naruto said getting a nod from Nico as he finished his ramen and was rubbing his warm stomach with a satisfied look on his face that made Naruto laugh. Oh the greatness of ramen.

"NICO DI ANGELO," a voiced shouted out through the room catching both Naruto and Nico's attention. When Nico saw who it was he paled a little and Naruto swore he even saw a bit of sweat.

Marching over toward Naruto and Nico was a girl a few years older than Nico but had very similar feature to him. She had long black hair with the top being covered by a rather large faded green hat and had olive toned skin. She was wearing a dark brown jumper with faded blue jean and wore black boots that looked a little too large for her. Naruto could only guess that this girl must be related to Nico somehow.

"Nico I have been looking for you for the past half an hour. You just ran off without telling me," she said in an annoyed tone getting a sorry look from Nico before he turned to Naruto. When she did a small blush made its way onto her face.

"U-Um h-hi," she stuttered out. "I'm Bianca Di Angelo, N-Nico's big sister."

"Hi I'm Naruto, it's nice to meet you," he said politely and shaking Bianca's hand. He couldn't help but find her stuttering a little cute.

"I'm sorry if my brother has been a bit of a nuisance. I hope he didn't bother you."

"No not at all," Naruto said shaking his head. "Nico has been good company and has been cool to talk to. He showed me his Mythomagic cards," he said getting a groan from Bianca.

"Nico not everyone is obsessed with those cards as you are," she said sternly getting a whine from Nico.

"But sis Naruto does not mind. He even treated me to ramen," he said surprising Bianca.

"Naruto you didn't have to do that," she said but Naruto just waved his hand.

"It's fine. Nico had never tried ramen before and I wanted to spread the greatness of ramen," he said getting a little sweat drop from behind Bianca's head. "Plus it was free anyway with these unlimited cards."

"RAMEN," Nico called out.

"Oh great," Bianca grumbled getting chuckles from the two boys before she let a small smile appear on her face.

"Well thank you for looking after him but we have to get going," said Bianca, getting an understanding nod from Naruto.

"Can we finally go down the giant slide?" Nico said getting a small nod from Bianca which made Nico whoop for joy.

Nico then got off of his stool before making his way out of the restaurant. He turned around and waved goodbye to Naruto. "Bye Naruto. Thanks for the ramen," he said before he disappeared.

"Nico wait up," she shouted. She quickly turned around to say goodbye to Naruto before she found herself buried in Naruto's chest. Naruto had stood up moment before Bianca had turned around and knocked into him with her head leaning against his chest.

"Warm," was the first thing she thought before a blush made its way to her face which she quickly shook out off.

"Oh s-sorry," she said but Naruto chuckled.

"It's fine. You better go after him before he gets into gods knows what kind of trouble," he said getting a nod and a smile from Bianca before she chased after her younger brother.

"What an odd pair," he thought before he walked out of the restaurant and gave a goodbye to the waitress who by now was exhausted.

As he walked down the hallways of the hotel he looked at everything around him, taking in the different rooms filled with all kinds of fun stuff and activities.

Thought, he couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something. Something important that he just was not seeing, and it was worrying him a little. This place just seemed too good to be true. There had to be some kind of catch.

"I wonder where the others are?" he thought to himself before he heard the sound of slot machines and shouts of glee and fury erupted.

Naruto turned his head and looked down one of the other hallways to see a room with a lot of the more adult residents of the hotel in the casino part of the hotel.

Naruto looked at the place and had a grin make its way to his face.

"I wonder if my amazing luck is still intact?" he thought before he quickly looked around him. There was no one around so he quickly made a hand sign before he poofed into a plume of smoke. When the smoke died down there was Naruto disguised as a twenty something man with dark brown hair that was tied in a pony tail with a scar going over the bridge of his nose.

"I hope Iruka sensei doesn't mind me borrowing his look for a little while," he thought before he casually strolled into the casino.

He had his money in his pocket from what was left since he didn't really want to just leave it in their hotel room, no matter how safe it apparently was.

Walking into the casino he took a seat at one of the slot machines and put in a quarter. He then pulled the lever excited to see what would happen. As soon as he did the machine started making loud noise and coins began pouring out. Naruto smiled.

His luck was still intact. Luck that Tsunade was greatly jealous over since she had the worst luck in the whole entire world.

He spent the next ten minutes t the slot machines and was winning every single time. He had to get quite a few containers for all of his quarters. It drew some attention when people were wondering just how one person could be so lucky.

"I've still got it," he thought before his gaze began to look around the casino and saw a poker table. Now that was where the real money was at.

Naruto was not exactly someone who enjoyed gambling, but when you're good at something you can't help but take a liking to it. Plus if he played his cards right he could get quite a bit of money from this place that could both help fund the quest and provide money for later on in life. "Win win," Naruto thought.

He walked over to the poker table just as one person got up and left. Naruto presumed they did not do very well since they were grumbling and cursing under their breath. Naruto took a seat and looked at the card dealer.

"Deal me in."

One Hour Later

Naruto looked down at his cards as he eyed the guy in front of him. The only ones left on the table was Naruto and some middle-aged rich guy who Naruto figured must have thought he was the god father with the black suit and tie, slicked back hair, cigar in his mouth with a bowler hat on his head.

The guy was eyeing Naruto nervously while Naruto was keeping calm as he had an emotionless look on his face.

A crowd had formed around, due to how high staking the game was getting. Each had multiple coloured chips ranging from thousands upon thousands of dollars. Everyone else had folded and left the game, not wanting to lose any more money while only Naruto and the other guy remained.

"Okay gentleman what will it be," the card dealer said as the godfather wannabe smirked and pushed all his chips into the middle.

"I'm all in," he said getting a few gasps from people around him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow before he smirked. "Same for me," he said pushing his chips in the middle too.

The other man was sweating a little as Naruto somehow managed to keep up his emotionless facade when the card dealer said "okay boys. Show your cards."

When he did the other man went first as a grin made its way to his face. He laid his cards out and said "Full house," as three 2's and two 5's found their way to everyone's eyes who clapped a little.

"Maybe next time brat," he said to the disguised Naruto as he went to collect all the chips.

"Not so fast," Naruto said getting everyone's attention as he laid his cards down on the table showing a ten, jack, queen, king and ace of hearts.

"Royal flush," he said causing everyone to scream with amazement as the other guy had a look of disbelief cross his face. "I believe these are mine," he said, as he collected all the chips. He figured that he must of just won at least 2.5 million in cash since all the people he beat looked extremely wealthy and seemed to have endless wallets.

As he gathered his chips he stopped when he heard a voice in his head. Almost like a whisper.

"Do not be fooled Naruto. You must get out of the casino. Remember your quest. Do not fall for the hotels trick any longer," it said before it quickly disappeared.

As soon as the voice spoke reality finally hit Naruto like a brick wall. "Dammit," he thought as he quickly scooped up his poker chips, took them to be changed into money before he quickly left with a giant briefcase in his hands which he quickly sealed away for later.

When no one was looking he poofed back to his normal form before he ran around the hotel trying to find the others.

"This place," he thought as he ran. "It has to be enchanted. How did I not see it before? I'm so stupid," he thought berating himself before he turned a corner and ran into Percy.

Percy also had a panicked look on his face and Naruto could only imagine that Percy figured it out as well and maybe got some kind of message like he did.

"You figured it out too?" Naruto asked rapidly as Percy nodded his head.

"I can't believe how we fell for it. I completely forgot about the quest. I only remembered because I heard someone whisper in my head. I-I think it was my dad," he said getting a nod from Naruto.

"The same from me. I think it was my mom talking to me. I got so caught up in this place, it felt like it just kept drawing me in and made me want to never leave."

"We have to get out of here. Percy you find Annabeth while I will go and find Grover. Don't stop for anything. As soon as you get Annabeth go to the room, get your stuff and we will leave."

Percy nodded before the two split up to look for their teammates.

It didn't take Naruto long to find Grover. All he had to do was listen for the shout of "DIE REDNECKS."

Grover was still playing the same game the entire time and he didn't look the one bit tiered.

"Grover!" Naruto shouted but Grover seemed oblivious.

He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

"GROVER!" Naruto shouted finally making the satyr turn around and pointing the plastic gun at him.

"Come on we are leaving," Naruto said grabbing Grover's arm with a firm grip as he led the satyr away. Grover was struggling to get out but Naruto easily overpowered him.

"No just a bit longer. I'm teaching red necks a lesson they will never ever forget," he declared before he got a few slaps in the face from Naruto who then started shaking him like a rag doll.

Grover froze and blinked before a few times before his eyes went wide. "OH CRAP," he shouted finally getting a hold of himself causing Naruto to groan. "How long have we been here?" he asked getting a shrug from Naruto.

"No idea but not long I hope. Only a few hours I think but at the rate we were going I doubted we were ever going to leave," Naruto said as the two got in the glass elevator and went back to the room to get Grover's stuff.

As soon as they got there Grover bounded towards his room to collect his things and saw that Percy and Annabeth were already there just finishing packing.

Annabeth looked annoyed that she gave into temptation so easily while Naruto's eyebrows rose when he saw Percy's face was red with some scratch marks on it. Naruto motioned to his face which got a groan and a glare aimed at Annabeth.

"Someone didn't want to be taken away from her Sims game so they decided to claw and slap my face when I tried to move her," Percy said in an annoyed tone as Annabeth nervously laughed while scratching the back of her head.

"Hehe sorry about that," she said.

Percy had to stifle a laugh when she did that because it looked like a girl version of Naruto when he got embarrassed.

"Wow so vicious," Naruto said getting a playful slap on the chest from the blonde haired girl as Grover rushed out of his room where the four ran out of the room and headed back towards the lobby.

When they got out the glass elevator they went to the front desk where they found the guy from earlier standing and still had his giant cheery smile on his face.

"We're leaving," Percy told him told him.

"Such a shame," he said with his eyes drooping a little. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

The man held out the cards in front of them and they all felt a wave of desire to take them. However knowing they had to get out of there, they all just shouted out "NO THANKS!" before running towards the doors.

The sound of games being played and laughter filled the air and strong smells of delicious food could be smelled but the group just kept running forward and thankfully made it outside after going through the casino doors.

"Were out. Thank the gods," Annabeth said before as she saw Naruto picking up a discarded newspaper to the side of them.

He picked it up and when he saw the date yelled out "DAMN IT."

What they all said looking at him before he held the paper in front of them and pointed at the date at the top.

It read June twentieth.

The others gasped and held their heads in realization "We were in there for five days. That means...," Percy started before Annabeth interrupted him and looked at them gravely.

"Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice. We have one day left. If we don't make it, then the gods will be at war."

Naruto took a long deep breath as he went by the side of the road and whistled. When he did a taxi pulled up right in front of them. "I always wanted to try that" he said causing the others to roll their eyes before they began to pile into the taxi.

"Los Angeles please," Annabeth said as she got in.

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you got to pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. "Some of them. Same as credit cards mostly. I have to swipe it through first."

Annabeth handed him her green Lotus Cash card. The man looked at it a little hesitantly before shrugging and swiping it through his machine.

His meter machine started rattling and before long the lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The man whistled before he looked at Annabeth. "Where to your highness," he said in polite tone which caused Annabeth to sit up straight. Naruto guessed she liked being called 'your highness.'

"Los Angeles," she said as the cab driver nodded before he began driving.

As soon as they began driving off they took one last look at the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

"I have not had that much fun in so long," Percy said sighing as the others nodded.

"I got to shoot red necks," Grover muttered with a wistful smile. He obviously had a lot of fun too, even if it did cost them five days.

"I built cities," Annabeth said referring to her Sims game she was obsessed with. No doubt that what she wanted to do in the future.

"I won 2.5 million dollars," Naruto said nodding his head before he noticed it went quiet. He looked up to see everyone including the cab driver looking at him with gobsmacked looks on their face. Naruto never ceased to amaze them.

"What?"

Chapter 17 Completed

if your wondering about the Bianca part and about the blushing part. Bianca won't be paired with Naruto of course but she will have a small crush on him though.

Also on the topic of Bianca i can't decide what to do with her when the titans curse rolls around. I don't really want her to join the hunters and die cause she is so awesome. Plus then maybe i can use her in future stories after it. Tell me what you think of it.

Thanks for reading and please REVIEW :)