Chapter 7: Flags, Perverts and Parents
"Character Speech"
'Character Thought'
"Monsters/Summon/Jutsu /Deity Speech"
'Monsters/Summon/Jutsu /Deity Thought'
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Naruto or Percy Jackson.
So far these are the people that have been voted to pair with Naruko:
Percy – 58
Artemis – 27
Luke - 14
Apollo – 11
Hermes - 9
Connor - 4
Clarisse – 4
Annabeth – 3
Zoe – 3
Silena – 3
Thaila – 3
Piper – 3
Kate – 3
Travis – 3
Clarisse & Artemis – 2
Harem's
Harem with Percy, Luke, Connor, Travis, Apollo, and Hermes – 55
Naruko with Annabeth, Zoe, Artemis, Silena, Thaila, Piper, Reyna, Clarisse, Calypso and Katie – 41
Percy, Apollo and Luke – 34
I am so so so sorry this took so long, my laptop broke and I need to get a new one so updates will be a little slow. So no, I am not abandoning my story at all, so please bare with me.
Chapter 7: Flags, Perverts and Parents
The next few days Percy and Naruko settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that they was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. Each morning Percy took Ancient Greek from Annabeth with the help of Naruko, they talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which for Percy was kind of weird. He'd discovered Annabeth was right about his dyslexia; Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for him to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, he could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.
The rest of the day, Percy's rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something he was good at. Chiron tried to teach him archery, but they found out pretty quick he wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. Chiron didn't complain, even when he had to de-snag a stray arrow out of his tail.
Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left Percy in the dust. They told him not to worry about it and that they'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating for to be slower than a tree.
Wrestling? Forget it. Every time Percy got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize him. "There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in his ear. The only thing he'd really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from one of the kids who had beaten the Minotaur.
Naruko however excelled in almost everything, she'd already learned Ancient Greek through the language seals given to her on her arrival to this dimension, she didn't have Dyslexia or ADHD due to her past carer as a ninja, a job where you had to be silent and deadly, you couldn't be moving everywhere at one, you needed to be straight, steady and deadly. Something she'd learned on her two and a half year trip with jiraya . Bow and arrow needed accuracy and precision, something you needed in kenjutsu, something Kurama had beaten into her.
Foot racing, was something she had to work at, the nymphs were fast but after a while she got the hang of it without using any chakra or enhancers, Kyuubi had made fun of her the first time she ran, that was before checking out the nymph that beat her, earning him several slaps from Naruko and giggles from the Nymphs.
Wrestling? It was almost like Clarisse enjoyed getting beaten by her and judging by her blush every time she was pinned to the ground. Canoeing was one of the final things Naruko way yet to do, and she, wasn't so keen. In her mind, the canoe was a dot, in the ocean.
Both Percy and Naruko knew the senior campers and counsellors were watching them, trying to decide who their dad's were, but they weren't having an easy time of it. Percy wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. Yet Naruko was. Percy didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or-gods forbid- Dionysus's way with vine plants but Naruko after many tries had gotten the hang of it. Luke told Percy that he might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But Percy got the feeling he was just trying to make him feel better. Nobody really knew what to make of the pair.
Despite all the drama, Percy and Naruko had grown to like camp. They got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night and Kurama perv-ing on every nymph.
They would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of their meal into the fire, with Naruko continuously threatening the fire and trying to feel some connection to their real dads but nothing came. Percy did get that warm feeling he'd always had, like the memory of his smile. Although he'd tried not to think too much about his mother but he kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...
Percy started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. 'So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something?' Was one of the things going through Percy's mind, while Naruko waited patiently, her threats getting worse each every time she scrapped food of her plate into the fire. If Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air, and Naruko could make him look that good. Why couldn't their dads, who-ever they were, make a phone appear?
Thursday afternoon, three days after the pair arrived at Camp Half-Blood, Percy and Naruko had my first sword-fighting lesson. Every-body from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be their instructor. Percy started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armour, and Naruko used Katana from her great great Grandmother Nyx with Kurama cheering her on from the side lines as well as putting Percy down.
From the time Kurama and Percy first met, they instantly hated each other, doing everything in their power to trip the other up. Only to be scolded by Naruko, then blame each other for the scolding. It was a good thing that Percy's reflexes were good.
The problem was, Percy couldn't find a blade that felt right in his hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix him up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for him.
They moved on to duelling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time. "Good luck." one of the campers told Percy. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. "
"Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy said before hearing a snort on his right, looking over he saw Naruko folding her arms at him.
"Percy. Do you honestly think that he'll go easy on you? Does the enemy go easy on you in a battle. No, so get out there and kick some ass" smiled Naruko.
This time the camper snorted. Naruo glared at him, "Wanna lose that nose." He shook his head quickly 'No'.
Luke showed Percy thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, Percy got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy, " he'd say, then whap Percy in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!
By the time Luke called a break, poor Percy was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head. Handing Percy a bottle Naruko rolled her eyes when Percy splashed the water on his head like Luke, but the raised her eyebrows when he seemed to recharge. Percy instantly felt better. Strength surged back into his arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward for him.
"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy and Naruko don't mind, I want to give you guys a little demo."
'Great', Percy thought. 'Let's all watch Percy get pounded.'
Almost sensing what Percy was feeling Naruko placed a hand on his arm giving him a warm smile "You'll be fine"
"Eazy for you to say" Percy snorted.
Naruko frowned immediately "I grew up in a place marred by war Percy, do Not compare my progress to yours"
Percy's face softened "You're right sorry" he muttered, Naruko nodded excepting his apology.
The Hermes guys soon gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. Percy figured they'd been in his shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used him for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.
"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy or Naruko, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique. "
He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of Percy's hand.
"Now in real time," he said, after Percy retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
Percy nodded, and Luke came after him, holding nothing back. Somehow, Percy kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. Percy's senses opened up. He saw his attacks coming. He countered. Percy stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, but Naruko saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force. She simply raised a unseen delicate eyebrow the gears in her head turning.
The sword soon grew heavy in Percy's hand. The balance wasn't right. Percy knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took him down, so he figured, What the heck? And he tried the disarming manoeuvre.
Percy's blade hit the base of Luke's as he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust.
Clang.
Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest.
The other campers were silent as a huge smile broke out onto Naruko's face "Yes! I told you that you could do it!"
Percy lowered his sword. "Um, sorry. " skidding across the floor.
After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"
Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe, " he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword... Ok Naruko your next.
Nodding Naruko went up onto the fighting area. "Aren't you going to take of your hood" Luke asked.
"Nope." Smiled Naruko "I don't need to." This response of course made all the campers watching start to whisper.
"Fair enough... begin!" Luke jabbed and swung at Naruko with skill as she danced around his attacks with grace mesmerizing the people observing the fight. Luke slashed at her and Naruko did a back flip in the air before landing gracefully on Luke's sword, making Luke buckle and drop rolling away before Naruko droped on top of him. Flipping over, Naruko saw that Luke was back on his feet, she brought her leg up before using her heel to drop kick Luke in the shin. Luke fell forward reaching out his hands to catch himself he closed his eye and waited for the impact. But then his right hand came into contact with something squishy and soft Opening his eyes he saw his right hand on Naruko's Chest. Now the smart thing to have done would be to let go and apologies continuously, but instead Luke chose the stupid choice. Staring down at his hand he squeezed gently earning a breathy moan from Naruko. Making him blush lightly.
Two Azure blue eyes snapped open in a glare as a dark aura only Luke seemed to feel surrounded Naruko, she kicked Luke off of her earning a groan. "So you decided to become a pervert huh..." she hissed. Naruko brought the Katana to Luke's throat pressing gently. The pressure got harder ever few seconds making Luke sweat bullets. Until the black Katana was plucked out of Naruko's hands as she was thrown over Kurama's shoulder as he ran towards the Lake and threw her in. "You need to cool down"
"KURAMA!" she shouted before she was eloped in the water.
Slowly she swam back to the land, "I'm going to hurt you when I get dry, "Be thankful I haven't fully mastered bending!" she shouted before stomping off towards the camp.
Friday afternoon, Percy was sitting with Grover and Naruko at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, and Naruko had pushed the Percy out of the way of the lava putting herself in his place, not really getting hurt due to her relation to Amaterasu but some lava had almost gotten Percy still. His shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off his forearms.
The group sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until Naruko got tired of waiting for Percy to get enough nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.
"Fine, " he said. "Just great. "
"Puh-lease, Grover if it went fine you wouldn't be acting like this" snorted Naruko earning a glare from Percy and a sigh from Grover.
"So your career's still on track?" Percy asked.
Grover glanced at Percy nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"
" No. " Naruko answered, "We had no idea what a searcher's license is, and this isn't the right time to ask"
"He just said you had big plans, you know ... And that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"
Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with the two of you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If either one of you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we all came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete. "
Percy's spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"
"I'm not so sure Percy..." Naruko trailed off making Percy stare at her, newly hooded body. She had changed from the incident into a pair of black denim jeans shorts that stopped mid thigh showing off her long slender tan smooth looking legs making most of the boys at camp ogle at her. Not that the girls noticed, they were too busy look at the new Mr.D. Naruko was also wearing a tight GEEK t-shirt, and a zip up, sleeveless hoodie that was zipped up all the way, with some black All-Star converse.
"He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of two getting a quest... And even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Ouch, I'm feeling the love Grover" Naruko pouted holding were her heart would be.
"Of course we'd want you along!" Percy insisted.
Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."
Naruko got a deadpanned look at that "Grover were talking about quests filled with, wonder, excitement, fights excreta, excreta, and you go and random talk about weaving, a basket. You have lots of talents"
But by Naruko saying this just made him look more miserable. They talked about canoeing much to Naruko's dismay and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, Percy asked Grover about the four empty cabins.
"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."
"Well that's a stupid waste of resources" Naruko muttered, making Grover chuckle nervously and look up at the sky.
"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?" Percy asked.
Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."
"Hades, Poseidon and Zeus." Naruko answered.
"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what.""Zeus got the sky," Percy remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."
"Seems to me that Hades is the one who got the most profit, I mean do you know how many minerals, metals and precious rock, dimonds and gems there are underground? The rest are really just suckers, no counting Poseidon of course, certain things in the sea are worth quite allot."
"Naruko" Gover warned.
Naruko blinked innocently "What? And how come there's no Hades cabin here?"
"Please stop before you get us killed, And Hades doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that.""But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" Percy wondered aloud.
Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed.
Naruko looked at the sky rolling her eyes.
"Is that the most serious oath you can make?" Percy asked
Grover nodded.
"How'd that work out for them? We all know that promise must have crashed and burned." Naruko stated
Grover's face darkened. "What do you know?"
"I know that Uncle Zeus fell off the wagon and ended up having Thalia." Naruko answered.
"Yes but how did you... never mind. Well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."
"But that isn't fair. 'It wasn't the little girl's fault."
"Number on she's way older than you Percy, so you can't really call her little girl. And number two. No one ever said life was fair" Naruko said, Percy just scowled.
Grover hesitated. "That's true..." Grover stated sadly. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."
He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where Percy and Naruko had fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
"It's not your fault Grover" said Naruko as she stared at the pine in the distance.
The story made Percy feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl his age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, his victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. Percy wondered, if he'd acted differently, could he have saved his mother?
"Grover," Percy said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"
"Sometimes," Grover said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."
"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"
"Percy, No. Ok, No. You are not about to go out there and to the Underworld, and then you Grover, answering the question makes it worse. So please tell me you're not going to go to the underworld."
"No, " he lied."I was just wondering."
"Yeah you better be 'just wondering'. Instead of trying to be flipping superman all the time." she muttered as Percy just rolled his eyes feeling guilty for lying, he knew how Naruko felt about promises.
"So… A satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"
Grover studied Percy warily. Percy hadn't persuaded him that he'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."
"And you found us. Chiron said you thought we might be something special."
Grover looked as if Percy had just led him into a trap. "I didn't… Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you and Naruko were- you know- you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You guys probably a child of Hermes or in Naruko's case Apollo. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"
Naruko had a feeling he was reassuring himself more than Percy and Herself.
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.
At last, it was time for capture the flag.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.
Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
Percy turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"
"Yeah"
"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," he said. "But often."
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do? Repaint the flag?"
He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one. "
"Whose side are we on?"
Luke gave Percy a sly look, as if he knew something Percy didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.
Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what Percy'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters Percy wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet but there was one thing that really made Percy nervous.
They had Naruko on their team.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
"Awesome " Naruko said.
"We're really supposed to use these?" Percy asked.
"That's what their there for." Answered Naruko.
Luke just looked at Percy as if he were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here- Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol. "
Percy's shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed to him about a million pounds. 'I could snowboarded on it fine, but I hope nobody seriously expected me to run fast' Percy's helmet was like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
They cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.
Percy managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."
She kept marching.
"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"
Annabeth's hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid Percy had stolen something.
"Just watch Clarisse's spear." she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"
"Border patrol, whatever that means." Percy replied.
"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan. Oh, and you should already know to watch out for Naruko."
Annabeth pushed ahead, leaving poor Percy in the dust.
"Okay," Percy mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."
It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed Percy next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.
Standing there alone, with his big blue-feathered helmet and his huge shield, Percy felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords he'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.
'There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?' Percy thought.
Far away, the conch horn blew. He heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.
'Great,' he thought. 'I'll miss all the fun, as usual.'
Then he heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.
Percy raised my shield instinctively; he had the feeling something was stalking him.
Then the growling stopped as he felt the presence retreating.
On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.
"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.
She glared at Percy through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords-not that that made Percy feel any better. They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. Percy could run. Or he could defend himself against half the Ares cabin. Percy had managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded him, and Clarisse thrust at Percy with her spear. His shield deflected the point, but he felt a painful tingling all over my body. Percy's hair stood on end. His shield arm went numb, and the air burned.
'Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.' Percy thought as he fell back.
Another Ares guy slammed him in the chest with the butt of his sword and Percy hit the dirt.
They could've kicked him into jelly, but they were too preoccupied laughing.
"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."
Percy managed to get to his feet. He began to raise his sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both of Percy's arms felt numb.
"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."
"The flag is that way," Percy told her. He wanted to sound angry, but he was afraid it didn't come out that way.
"Way to protect you team Percy" said Naruko ducking out of a bush.
"Yeah, " one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."
"Well I care about the flag" said Naruko. The boy smiled at Naruko sweetly before turning back and glaring at Percy.
"You do that without my help," Percy told them. It obviously wasn't the smartest thing to say.
Naruko gave Percy a blunt look that screamed 'Are-You-Stupid, Shut-Up'
Two of Ares boys came at Percy. He backed up toward the creek and tried to raise his shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck him straight in the ribs. Making Naruko flinch. If Percy hadn't been wearing an armoured breastplate, he would've been shish-kebabbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked his teeth out of his mouth. One of her cabin mates slashed his sword across Percy's arm, leaving a good-size cut. Seeing his own blood made Percy dizzy-warm and cold at the same time.
"Were not meant to maiming people" Naruko hissed before kneeling next to Percy, luckily it wasn't very deep and would heal within a few days.
"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege.
He pushed Percy into the creek and he landed with a splash. They all laughed. Percy figured as soon as they were through being amused, he would die. But then something happened.
The water seemed to respond to Percy, waking up his senses, as if he'd just had a bag of his mothers's double-espresso jelly beans.
Clarisse and her cabin mates came into the creek to get him, but Percy stood to meet them. He suddenly knew what to do. Percy swung the flat of his sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. Percy hit him so hard he could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.
Ares Boy Number Two and Ares Boy Number Three came at Percy. He slammed one in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ares Boy Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, Percy caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and his sword, and snapped it like a twig.
"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"
"Wow…. nice one Percy, now let's see if you can take me" Smirked probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with his sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek before nodding to Naruko.
Percy and Naruko were just about to start when they heard yelling, elated screams, and they saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.
"A trick!" Clarisse shouted. "It was a trick."
They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Percy's side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.
The game was over. Percy's team won.
Naruko pouted before letting out a sigh, she wasn't much of a sore loser so she started cheering too.
Percy was about to join the celebration when he heard Annabeth's voice, right next to him in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."
Percy looked, but she wasn't there.
"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
Percy felt myself getting angry. He wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," he said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."
Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."
"A plan to get me pulverized." Percy scowled.
"Very true." Naruko commented..
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but… " She shrugged. "You didn't need help."
Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"
Naruko raised her eyebrow before muttering "Yeah, that cut wasn't that deep, but there's no way it could have healed that easily."
"Sword cut," Percy said. "What do you think?"
"No Percy. It was a sword cut. It's fading look at it." Naruko pointed
The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As Percy watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.
"I-I don't get it, " Percy said.
"Something's helping you heal at a rapid speed" Naruko said, the gears in her head turning, as she thought back to the toilet incident, "Step out of the water, Percy."
"What-"
"Please don't question me right now, Just do it. " Naruko asked.
Percy stepped out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. His arms started to go numb again and his adrenaline rush left him. In fact he almost fell over, but luckily Naruko steadied him.
"Oh, shit" Naruko cursed. "This is not good, If what I think is true, is in fact true, then this is definitely not good."
Before Percy could ask what she meant, they heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.
The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which Percy would realize, only later, he had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"
Annabeth and Naruko drew their swords.
There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
It was looking straight at Percy. Nobody moved except Naruko, who yelled, "Percy, run!" Before going into a defensive position and jumping in front of Percy. The Hound leaped over her, an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit Percy, as he stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through his armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other.
"STOP!" shouted Naruko, her voice filled with authority; The Hound froze before it turned to Naruko slowly bowing its head in submission. "Come" The Hound nodded meekly before walking over slowly to Naruko, "Sit" The Hound immediately sat down. "Go Back To Where You Came From" The hound, whimpered before nodding and disappearing in a swirl of shadows.
Percy didn't want to look underneath the ruins of his shredded armor. His chest felt warm and wet, and he knew he was badly cut. Another second and the monster would've turned him into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat. If it wasn't for Naruko.
Chiron trotted up next to them, a bow in his hand, his face grim.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... They're not supposed to ... "
"Someone summoned it, " Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp. "
Luke walked over to them, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"
"Be quiet, child, " Chiron told her.
Naruko sighed as she relaxed her muscles before turning to look at Percy "You're wounded, " She muttred."Quickly, Percy, get in the water. "
"I'm okay." Percy argued.
"Percy, No you're not." she said.
Being too tired to argue further. Percy stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him.
Instantly, he felt better. He could feel the cuts on his chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.
"Look, I-I don't know why, " he said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry... "
But they weren't watching his wounds heal. They were staring at something above Percy head.
"Percy, " Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ... "
By the time Percy had looked up, the sign was already fading, but he could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
"Your father, " Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."
"LOOK, ABOVE NARUKO'S HEAD" shouted a random camper. Naruko looked up and swore, there above her head were four glowing signs. But one stuck out to campers.
"Hades... Lord Of The Underworld..." Annabeth muttered. "But what do the other three mean?"
"So It looks like Hades is my father… how clique as for the other three, they are Shinto signs, representing my Grandfather, Omoikane Shinto God Of Wisdom, my Great Grandmother, Amaterasu Shinto Goddess of the Sun, and Great Great Grandmother, Nyx Titan of the Night." Naruko answered.
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around them, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about kneeling to Percy.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.
"Poseidon" said Chiron and Naruko .
"Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God. " Chiron continued. "And Naruko Uzumaki Namikaze, daughter of Hades, Grandaughter of Shinto God Omoikane, Great Grandaughter of Shinto Goddess Amaterasu, and Great Great Grandaughter of Nyx Titan Of The Night."
"Well we sure do have some family don't we" Naruko sighed.
Another chapter done, this is the LAST chapter you'll be able to vote once next chapter is finished, the poll will be officaly closed and your votes will not be counted.