You may notice throughout these chapters that there are visuals of some weapons and such. There is an official website for this series (my thanks, GoogleSites) that contain all of the profiles of both characters and weapons.

~Innovation

Chapter 14: Pranu's Side

I searched the trees, looking for any sign of movement. My teammates were just off to my sides. When there was a flash, I looked and saw Ruidi shooting through the forest, branches cracking around him.

'Why in the world is he making so much noise while there could be a person just waiting to ambush him in the bushes?' I thought.

Nonetheless, this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. I signalled to my team that I got this, and then shot after him, careful to avoid hitting anything with my wings. When I was close enough, I drop-kicked him right on the back of his neck, a grin of satisfaction lighting up my face.

Then, my smile faded abruptly. There was a popping sound, and Ruidi burst into flames. When the flames were gone, I could see I'd been tricked. There was a little ball where the Ruidi was- possibly a solidified and compressed ball of poison-and even while I was racing away, there was a loud explosion.

"Clone!" I alerted the rest of the team with a yell, racing to stay ahead of the poisonous-looking gas that had spewed out from the ball. Although it probably wasn't fatal, I wasn't taking any chances, and as I focused on a single thought, a smile once again lit up my face.

Ruidi had used a clone, which meant there would be a slight delay while he regenerated his energy, meaning I had about two minutes.

And those two minutes I would use. For now, I had the advantage- and I wasn't about to let it slip through my fingers.

Chapter 15: Bhavana

I rubbed my rock in between my fingers. Where should I put it that was safe? It glowed purple, and I was pretty sure that the glow showed through my pockets.

Then, I got an idea. I stuck it into my hair, and took out the collapsable mirror I stole from Eshana. To both my surprise and delight, it concealed the glow perfectly. And just in time too, 'cause just then, something shot towards me.

I just managed to dodge it, and it exploded against a tree, sending thick ropes of steel flying everywhere. I dodged again as a particular rope got too close. I immediately recognized it. This was a "Python", one of the "Constrictor" devices built by people in the Hephaestus cabin. I was being ambushed.

Twenty or so Hephaestus boys leaped out of the bushes with an assortment of weapons and armor clanking together.

"Hand over your rocks!" the nearest Hephaestus guy boomed, waving his club around, "Surrender!"

I personally think that when big Hephaestus guys wave clubs around they remarkably resemble their ancient ancestors, the Neanderthals.

"No," I said, with a lot of confidence. I wasn't about to let these guys get the better of me. When it all came down, I could just fly away... but the other people in my group weren't so lucky; they didn't have wings.

I would protect them, both for the team and for my own benefit; but mostly, I just wanted Tim to notice me, and after this, there would be no way for him to forget me.

I zoomed into superspeed, and swiftly dispatched the first person with a well executed neck chop. He gurgled and went down. I winced and thought back to the time an Ares guy had taught me it. He had made a point of demonstrating it on me, and my neck had been sore for an entire week. Not to mention the fact that I could barely breath for an entire day.

I quickly snatched up his stone, and shot around behind another person. I did a jump-up drop-kick that was one of the most basic moves taught. It was also the number one most favored because, if executed correctly, was extremely effective, often resulting in sudden consciousness with no chance of crying out.

That was the case here. He dropped like a rock, and I swiftly grabbed his rock from the place it was glued to-his shirt.

There was a brief intermission when Raven popped up, took a look at the unconscious people and the ones missing their stones; then tossed them roughly into portals that led to the bleachers. Those bleachers were out of my line of vision-blocked by the line of trees.

After seeing this, the rest of the cabin was a little more wary. They advanced cautiously, activating their electric 360 degree forcefields. When they were within about 20 feet of me, they all drew out another "Constrictor" grenade, and threw it.

I wasn't worried a bit. I knew the speed of those ropes, and knew that I could avoid them with both legs tied together. But when it exploded in mid-air before hitting the ground first, I knew I had made a vital mistake.

This wasn't a "Python," It was a "Boa," which was about 10x more powerful than a "Python," because of its filmy net that was practically invisible, and how the slightest movement while caught in it would set it off, causing it to wrap itself tightly around you, pushing the air from your lungs.

I tried to stay as still as possible. I was going to lose soon, no doubt about it, but I refused to the surrender. Sadly I couldn't stop doing some of life's processes, such as, say, breathing and the pulsing of my heart. Which somehow the net detected.

What could I do? I got constricted and my stone got taken away. A Hephaestus guy had grabbed it out of my hair and stuck it onto his shirt. But only the one that was mine. The ones that I'd gotten from the Hephaestus guys seemed like they were stuck onto my shirt with superglue. No matter how much they yanked, they still couldn't un-stick them. It was hard to breathe, but I still could breathe.

Raven appeared again, and easily pulled off the two Hephaestus guy's rocks from my shirt. She threw them in the air, and they scattered over the field. A telepathic voice- Raven's- sounded in my mind, but it probably was heard in everyone else's, too. There are now fifteen rocks scattered over the field in groups of five. Their locations will be lit up in yellow. Whoever gets to them first, keeps them.

Then Raven opened a portal for me to step into and fall onto the cold metal bleachers.

Chapter 16: Charlie

There are now fifteen rocks... lit up in yellow... finder's keepers... was what I thought I heard Raven's telepathic voice say. It's hard to be sure, because then we were fighting some Apollo girls, led by Carina. They kept on flinging these high-pitched sounds at us from their flutes (or piccolos, whatever you call them.), and Carina manipulated the winds so that it didn't matter how we covered our ears, the sound still reached us. The shrill notes of the Apollo girl's flutes basically drowned out every single sound and almost deafened my ears.

"Retreat!" I shouted to my troops- most of the Hermes cabin. "Head for the yellow glows!" I'm not sure if they heard me, because the Apollo girls were still playing shrill notes on their flutes.

But magically, they did, and they all sprinted toward the place where a yellow flare was glowing in the sky. I had a feeling that we couldn't be stopped!

Alex

Five free rocks! That would add a bunch of points to my team! And we wouldn't have to take out anybody, either, so it was easy-peasy.

I sprinted with my group to the nearest yellow glow. And ran headfirst into someone. "OW!" I exclaimed, rubbing my head, the same time that the person said, "Watch where you're going!"

I jumped back. IT WAS CHARLIE! "Aaaaaah!" I whipped out my newly-made dagger, Faer, that I had finished on the Fourth of July, and stabbed it in his direction. He dodged it, scrambling to his feet.(A/N Visual)

Charlie

I looked around, panicked, trying to find something, anything, I could use as a weapon. With a jolt I remembered the weapon shack Neesik had led me to, and the weapon I had chosen. Where is that thing? I flipped out my pockets, half-searching for the marble and half-dodging Alex's attacks. By now the other Hephaestus girls had caught up with her and were speedbuilding something to help Alex with.

Now my group had caught up with me, and they were looking through their pockets, too, for something to counter the Hephaestus girls with. One of them held up a little green packet with an "Aha!" and threw it at the Hephaestus girls. Greek fire leapt in front of them. One brave (or stupid- there really isn't a difference) Hephaestus girl tried to cross the immediately caught onto her shirt. She rolled around, trying to put out the flames.

I shouted a little "Aha!" of my own when I found the marble. Its red and lime green depths swirled faster now, faster and faster, getting bigger and bigger until, with a pop, two long twin daggers, one dull red, one pale green, appeared in my hands. (A/N Visual)

I was able to block Alex's next blow. After all, she only had one dagger, while I had two. One in each hand. I swung the green one toward her legs, and used the red one to block her dagger.

She jumped to avoid my attack. We fought for a few more minutes before I realized that we were evenly matched in swords. Internally, I reprimanded myself for slacking in Weapons Training. To win this I'd need everything that I'd got.

Alex

I knew I was going to gain an edge on Charlie soon. He was inexperienced, and I didn't really want to lose to Ruidi's team. It would be embarrassing. However, Charlie had an advantage because he had two weapons, while I had only one.

I swung Faer toward him as forcefully as I could. Charlie raised his daggers to block it, but then he stumbled to the left, caught off-balance by my blow. I stuck out my foot, and he tripped over it, crashing to the ground. I nodded toward Chrisel, one of my half-sisters. She pressed a red button on her newly-built remote. A floating pod veered over and sucked Charlie's rock into its 'mouth'. It burped, then chittered happily.

"Awww, it's so cute!" I marveled at her handiwork, ignoring Raven popping in and dragging Charlie into a portal.

(A/N- this is a visual)

Chrisel beamed at my compliment. "It's called Meeple," she said proudly.

I turned my attention back to the game at hand. "Ok, guys, see that yellow glow over those trees? Let's head-" I cut short as I heard a voice resonate in my head. There are thirty minutes left. Now, a few rocks will be chosen at random and their glows will become black, shooting flares into the sky with every fifth step. These rocks count as ten when stuck onto a bulletin board. Raven's telepathic voice interrupted. Current score is 36 Ruidi, 35 Pranu.

Intermission- summary of what happened that you missed/short clippings;

each paragraph is its own separate story. usually has when it happened.

Pranu led a large attack group into the forest and ambushed the Hermes cabin that had abandoned Charlie, gaining a lot of rocks for her team. One of the rocks, possessed by Peter, a Hermes boy, glowed black. The Hermes cabin had been very clever, and carried Peter so that a flare wouldn't go up into the sky. Since that counted as not walking a single step. That rock counted as 10 of 'em. Pranu returned to her side and put them onto the bulletin board. Score: 67 to 46, happened after the scene before the intermission.

Previous Tales

Caiyi led the Apollo/Ares cabins on a charge toward the Aphrodites. He captured most of their rocks (some Aphrodites hid), causing the score to become 24 to 12.

Tim and the Athena/Zeus cabins adopted the Revolutionary war's 'guerilla' style of fighting, and picked off a few rocks at a time from the opposing team, then ran away, only to come back and pick off a few more rocks. Score 36 to 17.

Eshana and the Aphrodite cabin 'convinced' most of the Demeter/Dionysus demigods on Ruidi's side to give up their rocks. Score 33 to 36.

Tales that happened after Pranu led the large attack group

The Apollo girls (led by Carina) and the Apollo guys had a musical showdown. Beautiful melodies rolled across the land and floated through the trees. Finally an Apollo guy admitted that Carina played the flute better than he did and gave her group 5 stones. Score 72 to 54.

Ruidi combined forces with Tim and led the humongous attack group to charge at the Athena girls, along with the Demeter/Dionysus kids on Pranu's side. One of them, similarly, had a stone that glowed black. A few of the Athenas were clever enough to escape, but the score evened out and it was now 75 to 75.