Aren't battle scenes just fun? Lots of editing still to be done, but I'm just too lazy to do it with like, five other stories that I'm focusing on (two of which are on Fiction Press). So yeah, super busy, and school sucks, so it's not exactly making this process any easier. *Sighs* but it never is, is it?
Review? Maybe? Pretty please?
Also enjoy, course. :)
First Person: Lucy
Things went wrong almost immediately. The giants vanished in twin puffs of smoke. They reappeared halfway across the room, each in a different spot. Percy sprinted towards Ephialtes, but slots in the floor opened under his feet, and metal walls shot up on either side, separating him from the rest of us, and the walls started closing in on him like the sides of a vise grip. I leaped over to stand on one of the walls, swinging my hand out to have a green whip launch out and wrap around his waist before hauling him out just before they closed in and crushed him.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet, water boy." To prove my point, Kaze's shuriken went flying past, and I pushed Percy out of the way just in time. He lost his balance on the metal wall and ended up flailing to grab onto the bottom of the hydra's cage. It wasn't exactly safe and sound, but it was gonna have to be enough as Kaze came rushing up for the attack, and there was no way I could assist Percy at the moment.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason charging at Otis - who pulled his spear and heaved a great sigh, as if he would much rather dance Swan Lake than kill another demigod - and Piper leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico and Veon, the former of which being weaponless, both being dazed to a certain extent and being stalked by a group of leopards. I wanted nothing more than to hurry over and defend them, but right now, Kaze was right in front of me, and though I could hold my ground during training when he didn't want to do actual harm, he was significantly faster than me (obviously), even with my power boost.
Funny story: whenever my life is in serious danger and I'm on the verge of death, I get a significant power boost. It's because of my mother, or so I've been led to believe. It's her thing, like Zeus is lord of the skies, Poseidon the seas, Hades the Underworld, etc. She's the goddess of limit breaks, basically. When someone's life reaches a do-or-die moment, like when someone's significantly weakened and is about to be defeated, but then suddenly they get a big boost of power from like, love, or anger? Yep, that's my mom's doing. Power like that doesn't come out of nowhere, people, come on! I get a power boost naturally whenever my life is on the line, so that's why I'm in better condition than Veon now - who thought he was fine until he stood up and his head spun like it had been turned to liquid and was sloshing around in his head.
Of course, the power boost is usually just enough to get me out of whatever situation I got into to be near dead, and afterward, I'm basically left with the worst hangover in the history of hangovers. Either that, or I pass out for about a day. Or both. Plus all my limbs feel like lead afterward for about a week. Hey, I never said my mother's gift was OP or anything. It saves my life, and so I suppose it's worth all the suffering after, right? Point is, right now, I've got enough power to at least handle myself somewhat.
Kaze charged and tackled me off the metal walls so we went tumbling to the floor. It wasn't exactly the most strategic move, but hey, it wasn't like the kid was trained to be a military general or anything. We tumbled away from each other, but obviously, Kaze recovered much faster and retrieved his weapon. I grabbed my bow from my belt and blocked a blow that was aimed precisely to cause me to be knocked back across the floor.
"Rei, don't fight us!" He ordered. "You need to open your eyes!"
"You stop fighting us! You need to open your eyes!"
"My eyes are open!"
"So are mine!"
"You are being deceived!" He said that as though if he said it enough times and emphasized his point enough, I might suddenly change my mind. Honestly, did he think I was deaf? I was a descendant of Apollo. I was the opposite of deaf.
"I know you are, but what am I?!" Hm, did I use that right? Honestly, a lot of English sayings still confuse me. Meh. Dramatic battle between me and my sort-of brother here.
I got to my feet and charged. Our weapons clashed with booming force, Kaze's and my strength pretty equal, considering I didn't have much of Zyanya's power running through me, only my own and my mother's, which paled in comparison, but it would have to do. Yet I knew how Kaze's shuriken was made. Heck, I was the one who made it into what it was. I knew it far better than he did. I twisted my bow so it slid down one of Kaze's blades and spit the shuriken into two boomerangs, snatching one of them in one swift motion before spinning in Kaze's fractional moment of surprise and swinging my bow all the way around to try and strike him from the side. At the last second - or possibly a little before, considering he was probably in speed-mode and saw my attack coming with plenty of time to react - and pushed his half of his shuriken to intercept my bow.
I jumped back with both my weapon and the half of his, flicking it so that the two blades went from perpendicular from each other to parallel - i.e., I transformed it into a double-bladed lance. He snapped the two halves of his boomerang apart to have two swords, and I snapped my bow onto my belt so that we each were fighting with the half of the shuriken.
"You have yet to realize the true power I infused within this weapon, Kaze. I will not let you stop us!"
"And I won't let you stop us!"
"Too bad for you then!" The two of us charged, albeit Kaze was a bit faster. To make up for his speed, I threw my weapon like a javelin, aiming for his head. Kaze, unsurprisingly, was able to dodge with room to spare, however, I was a descendant of Apollo with my mother, Zenobia's, power enhancing my own even further than normal, and so it was impossible for me to miss my target. Kaze continued forward after my attack without breaking stride, but before his weapon could make contact, I disappeared, leaving only a momentary silhouette of green dust before it dissolved into the air. Another silhouette appeared next to my half of Kaze's shuriken, revealing me, my hand on the hilt of the weapon.
"This is a little trick I like to call…" I pulled the weapon from the floor where it was embedded, pulling the two swords apart. "A Warp-Strike." (No, I did not come up with the concept of Warp-Striking. It's a Final Fantasy XV thing, and I do not claim any rights to it and whatnot. Probably one of the most awesome things to possibly come out of that game, gameplay-wise, and it looked awesome in Kingsglave. Non-Final Fantasy nerds, you can ignore this or go and see for yourself.)
Before Kaze could process what was happening and how it happened, I tossed the two swords in two different directions, one to either side of him. His eyes instantly moved to follow the one to his left, and even with his speed, the distraction was all I needed. I warped to the blade that went to his right, appearing with my hand already on the hilt of the sword to stop its flight and twist it in Kaze's direction. I swung it so that the blunt of the sword hit him (after all, I didn't want to slice him in half) and swung the blade like a bat to send him flying.
Kaze hit the ground rolling, landing next to the blade that I'd thrown as a distraction and taking the opportunity to snatch it up. But I'd also planned for this. I then warped to that blade, ending up standing beside him with my hand on the hilt and pushing to slam the butt of the sword right into his nose, nearly hitting his eyes. With that debilitating blow, I snatched his half of the shuriken, merging all four blades into the original weapon, before throwing it black and warping to end up a good thirty feet away.
"You wanna fight me? Don't play with fire, Kaze, or I promise, you'll get burnt."
"I could say the same to you. You're not the only one who's learned things since I died!" He threw his hand up and the air around him began to spin to create a mini-tornado, which he promptly send my way. I held my hand out to intercept it, and when it hit my hand, it froze in its tracks, still spinning, but no longer charging in my direction.
"Daughter of the sky god, remember?" I shoved the tornado back at him, before pulling a lighter out of my bag. "This is how it's done, Kaze. Firestorm!" I blew the flame, using the winds to increase its power, before it all got sucked into the tornado as Kaze got sucked in. Meanwhile, the hydra snapped at Percy's hands, so he swung and dropped, landing in a grove of painted plywood trees that sprang up from nowhere. The trees changed positions as he tried to run through them, so he slashed down the whole forest with Riptide.
"Wonderful!" Ephialtes cried, standing at his control panel about sixty feet to the left. "We'll consider this a dress rehearsal. Shall I unleash the hydra onto the Spanish Steps now?" He pulled a lever, and we looked to see the cage Percy had been hanging from rising toward a hatch in the ceiling. In three seconds, it would be gone, and if Percy attacked the giant, the hydra would ravage the city. Cursing, he threw Riptide like a boomerang. The sword wasn't designed for that, but the Celestial bronze blade sliced through the chains suspending the hydra. The cage tumbled sideways, the door broke open, and the monster spilled out - right in front of Percy.
"Oh, you are a spoilsport, Jackson!" Ephialtes called. "Very well. Battle it here if you must, but your death won't be nearly as good without the cheering crowds." Percy stepped forward to confront the monster - then realized he'd just thrown his weapon away. A bit of bad planning on his part. He rolled to one side as all eight hydra heads spat acid, turning the floor where he'd been standing into a steaming crater of melted stone.
"Dammit," I muttered. I threw the shuriken towards the monster, purposefully aiming to miss striking one of the heads, as the end result would probably be an accidental decapitation, and another head springing out. I warped over the moment it was above the hydra, and then changed its direction downwards to strike the hydra in the back. All eight heads roared in pain, before then turning to try and snap at me, I warped up as high as I could toss the weapon, before then tossing it away again once more in the air to land beside Percy.
"Percy, look for explosives, will you? Didn't you see some rocket launchers in your dreams?"
"Right!"
"Rei!" Someone shouted in a rage.
"Go!" I tossed Percy away, jumping up before Kaze went running past where I'd been standing. He ended up running towards the hydra before coming to a stop and turning back my way. I split the shuriken into four blades, tossing them to the left and right of the hydra, and then two, one before the other, above its heads. I warped to the left, struck the hydra in the hind leg and drawing all of its heads my way with a roar. I repeated the process with the blade that went to the right, before then warping to the first one above the hydra. By that point, I was able to bring it down on the monster's back, this time piercing its spine, before warping to the final blade and bringing it down on one of the heads, slicing its head off from about halfway down. Pulling out my lighter, I blew a wave of fire into the head, setting the neck stump on fire, and therefore preventing it from growing back. Because if cauterizing the necks of the hydra worked for Iolaus, (eye-oh-l-ow-us, awesome name) it'll work anywhere, as we've learned.
At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico and Veon. Veon had gotten up and had his sword drawn, but he looked like he was on the verge of passing out just from standing up. Piper aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats' heads. It must have smelled pretty good, since a couple of them raced after it, while the others decided that demigods were a larger and tastier meal, especially ones who's worst attack seemed to be flying food.
"Dammit," I muttered. I warped up above the hydra, falling onto one of its heads. While the others all turned to where I'd landed and moved to lash out, I sheathed Kaze's shuriken and drew my bow. Jumping off the hydra's head just before the others came crashing in - consequently causing all of them to smash into each other - I launched as high as I could with a gust of wind and then took aim.
"Time to show me what you've got, bow." The bow responded, infusing my the arrow with a mucky green glow before I fired it off. It landed in between the leopards, but let turned the ground around it into a pool of acid. It expanded quickly, and when it touched the animals, they instantly roared and darkened, their skin rotting like a zombie's on fast forward, going through the entire decomposition process in an instant, and melting into a disgusting-looking and disgusting-smelling pile of dead meat. Eventually, even that melted away, and the bones crumbled into oblivion. Meanwhile, about eighty feet to the right, Jason battled Otis, sword against spear. Otis had lost his diamond tiara and looked angry about it. He probably could have impaled Jason several times, but the giant insisted on doing a pirouette with every attack, which slowed him down. Ephialtes was laughing as he punched buttons on his control board, cranking the conveyor belts into high gear and opening random animals cages, causing mass panic throughout the place and leaving far too many variables to keep track of all at once.
The hydra shook its heads, trying to recover its wits, and then charged around a hamster wheel where Percy was. Percy swung behind a column, grabbed a garbage bag full of Wonder bread, and threw it at the monster. The hydra spit acid, which was a mistake. The bag and wrappers dissolved in midair, and the Wonder bread absorbed the acid like fire extinguisher foam, splattering it against the hydra, covering it in a sticky, steaming layer of high-calorie poisonous goo. As the monster reeled, shaking its heads and blinking Wonder acid out of its eyes, Percy looked around desperately for the rocket launchers. Tucked against the back wall was a strange contraption like an artist's easel, fitted with rows of missile launchers. There was a bazooka, a grenade launcher, a giant Roman candle, and a dozen other wicked-looking weapons. They all seemed to be wired together, pointing in the same direction and connected to a single bronze lever on the side. At the top of the easel, spelled in carnations, were the words: HAPPY DESTRUCTION ROME!
I slammed down upon the hydra as it tried to chase after Percy, who bolted towards the device. It hissed and its heads turned their attention to trying to snap at me once more. I shot an arrow off to the side and instantly warped to it, but it wasn't exactly pretty, since the arrow was going far faster than the shuriken - which I had merely thrown, not shot from such a powerful bow - and so I ended up finding myself flying at high speeds when I appeared, the arrow shaft burning my palm as I brought it to an abrupt stop.
"I know!" Ephialtes cried out happily. "We can start with explosions along the Via Labicana! We can't keep our audience waiting forever!"
"No you don't!" I called, pulling back the bowstring and firing at the small-giant. That was an oxymoron, wasn't it? Whateves. The arrow hit the control board, sparking with electricity and causing a small explosion, forcing Ephialtes to take a step back in surprise. The next thing I knew, I was struck by another explosion from a grenade, small bits of metal digging into my left side. The fact that I landed on my left from the force of the blast didn't help either, and I let out a small noise of pain before biting it back, tasting copper in the process. Don't show your enemies that you're in pain. They'll only use it to their advantage.
"Stop this Rei!" Kaze's clothes were slightly charred, but it wasn't like I wanted the Firestorm to kill him, and so he looked only half crispy. "Or we will have to make you!"
"You won't touch her!" Veon suddenly appeared behind Kaze from his shadow and wrapped his arm around Kaze's throat, dragging him back. Kaze struggled at high speeds, making it basically impossible to keep a grip on him, no matter how strong Veon was, and in his current state he was in no condition to be shadow-traveling in the first place, so it wasn't hard for Kaze to rip himself free and elbow Veon in the face before turning and punching him in the gut.
I concentrated and forced a surge of energy through the metal shards, causing them to all vibrate, which was painful to say the least, and then dislodge themselves. I muttered the quickest hymn in history, trying to concentrate on healing the lacerations, while also standing and swinging my bow at Kaze. It was obviously ineffective, as he dodged with ease and turned to kick the bow out of my grip. With my left side still incapacitated, I had the bow in my right hand, which was still blistered from warp-striking to my arrow, and so it wasn't a surprise that he easily kicked it out of my grasp with his strength and speed behind it. He punched me in the forehead hard enough that I swear I could feel my brain crashing against my skull, and disrupting my concentration so that my healing process stopped. Then, I was punched in the gut and send flying with the wind knocked out of me and my head spinning.
"Yo, stop it, kid!" Audrey suddenly formed behind Kaze, gripping her hand over his mouth and nose, her hand made of water. Kaze struggled against her at high speeds, but everywhere he was touching her, she transformed into water, which morphed out of the way - as what usually happens when punching water - and gave him nothing solid to hit.
"Are you okay?" Veon asked.
"Besides the fact that I'm gonna knock you upside the head later for shadow-traveling in your condition?" I asked. "A little winded and sporting a massive headache."
"Welcome to the club."
"Give me your hand." He did so, and when I touched it, it flickered and became transparent. He concentrated, and it flickered solid again.
"Sorry, that happens."
"Right," I muttered skeptically. "Drink this." I passed him a vial from my bag, the dark red liquid slightly bubbling inside with small sparkles of both golden flakes and black ones.
"Is that safe to drink?"
"Yes, unless you're secretly an evil monster in disguise. Then, it will burn you from the inside out and turn your insides to acid within seconds, therefore melting your body and soul down into eternal torment, instantly sending you to the darkest depths of Tartarus for eternity."
"Uh, and where was this every other time we've faced deadly monsters in disguise?"
"Give me a break. These things are rare, all right? And making them burns out my bag for a good hour. Now drink, idiot, before you fade away."
"I'm not gonna fade away!" I moved to slap him in the face, but even as he flinched, my hand soared right through him like he was made of air. He fell to the floor from a sudden wave of fatigue and nausea, and finally sighed and drank the Phoenix Blood. Oh, right, it's called Phoenix Blood, by the way.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Audrey complained. Kaze had been on the brink of passing out, but then screamed in his final desperate attempt to flee and exploded into a strong gale of wind that caused Audrey's water to explode outwards before reforming. "He can turn into air?!" She demanded. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"
"He's never done it before!" I shouted.
"Now how the hell are we supposed to restrain him?!"
"Tar makes an air-tight seal. We just need to capture him in a bubble of tar. Ve?"
"Not gonna be easy," He muttered.
"Obviously not. Plus, Kako are slow. You're gonna have to jump him and not leave a single opening. He has to be completely covered or it's not worth anything. And don't let him suffocate you. Trust me, he's a fast learner and he doesn't fight fair."
"Duck and cover!" Percy suddenly shouted. The easel he was at shook and the weapons began to hiss. Percy leaped to one side as the easel fired. The sound was like a fiesta in the middle of an exploding gunpowder factory, and the hydra vaporized instantly. Unfortunately, the recoil knocked the easel sideways and sent more projectiles shooting all over the room. A chunk of ceiling collapsed and crushed a waterwheel. More cages snapped off their chains, unleashing two zebras and a pack of hyenas. A grenade exploded over Ephialtes's head, blasting him back off his feet while he was trying to work with the control board that I'd shot. Across the room, sandbags rained down around Piper and Nico. Piper tried to pull Nico to safety, but one of the bags caught her shoulder and knocked her down.
"Piper!" Jason cried. He ran towards her, completely forgetting about Otis, who aimed his spear at Jason's back.
"Duck!" I shouted. Jason, luckily, had fast reflexes, and as Otis threw, Jason rolled. I fired an arrow to hit the spear in mid-air, knocking it off course with an explosion of wind. Jason flicked his hand as well, helping send the spear across the room and skewering Ephialtes through his side just as he was getting to his feet.
"Otis!" Ephialtes shouted, stumbling away from his control board, clutching the spear as he began to crumble into monster dust. "Will you please stop killing me!"
"Not my fault!" Otis had barely finished speaking when Percy's missile-launching contraption spit out one last sphere of Roman candle fire. The fiery pink ball of death (naturally, it had to be pink) hit the ceiling above Otis and exploded in a beautiful shower of light. Colorful sparks pirouetted gracefully around the giant. Then a ten-foot section of roof collapsed and crushed him flat.
"Well that went well," Audrey muttered.
"I got him!" Veon shouted. We looked over to see him panting next to a large orb of tar. "I never…want to do that again. Your brother…is crazy."
"He'd probably take that as a compliment," I muttered. Jason ran to Piper's side and helped her up, but she yelped when he touched her arm. Her shoulder looked unnaturally bent, but she muttered that she was okay.
"Nico, you good?" Veon asked. He helped Nico sit up, and Nico looked around him in bewilderment, as if just realizing he'd missed a battle.
"Piper, let me help," I said. I touched her gently and began to send her some healing energy. And then I felt a large wave of fatigue. "Crap." I would've hit the floor if Veon hadn't dived to catch me. Now that the fight was over and my enemies were turned to dust, the power boost from my mother wore off. It worked like that, whether the battle was truly over or not.
"Zy?" Veon asked, and though his voice was nice, the noise was making my head pound painfully. "What's wrong?"
"Sleep. Bye."
"Hey, no, stay with me."
"No~!"
"Come on, it's not over yet. We need you." Sadly, the giants seemed to agree with him. Ephialtes was already re-forming, his head and shoulders rising from the mound of dust, tugging his arms free and glowered at Percy. Across the room, the pile of rubble shifted, and Otis busted out, his head slightly caving in. All the firecrackers in his hair had popped, his braids were smoking, and his leotard was in tatters, which was just about the only way it could've looked less attractive on him.
"Percy!" Jason shouted, which was piercing to my power-hangover sensitive hearing. "The controls!" Percy unfroze from his shock and found Riptide in his pocket again, uncapping it and lunging for the switchboard. He slashed across the top, decapitating the controls in a shower of bronze sparks.
"No!" Ephialtes wailed. "You've ruined the spectacle!" Percy didn't turn fast enough, and Ephialtes swung his spear like a bat and smacked him across the chest. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Jason ran to his side, but Otis lumbered after him. Percy managed to rise and found himself shoulder to shoulder with Jason. Meanwhile, the orb of tar holding Kaze began to dry and crack thanks to Kaze creating a wind inside. Once it was brittle enough, his wind was able to bust free.
"Well. So much for that plan," Audrey muttered. Piper was still unable to rise from her injury, and I joined her when Veon set me down in favor of drawing his sword. Nico was barely conscious and basically had as much fighting energy as me and Piper. The giants were healing, getting stronger by the minute, while the others were not. Without me, Kaze was going to be harder than the twins, having actual cognitive faculties and rational fighting skills. Ephialtes smiled apologetically.
"Tired, Percy Jackson? As I said, you cannot kill us. So I guess we're at an impasse. Oh, wait…no we're not! Because we can kill you!"
"That is the first sensible thing you've said all day, brother," Otis grumbled, picking up his fallen spear.
"You'll find I am very hard to kill," I muttered. "Even without the goddess, I am strongest at my weakest. Come and get it, losers."
"We'll cut you into pieces like Jupiter did to Saturn," Jason growled.
"Why did I just imagine the planet Jupiter chopping up Saturn?" Audrey muttered. "And hey, wasn't it Saturn that chopped up Uranus? Or am I remembering that wrong?"
"Just go with it, Audrey," Veon said. "It was a dramatic battle quote."
"That's right," Percy said. "I mean, about not giving up and winning, and just going with it, Audrey. You're both dead. I don't care if we have a god on our side or not."
"Well, that's a shame," A new voice boomed. To the right, another platform lowered from the ceiling and, leaning casually on a pinecone-topped staff, was a man in a purple camp shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals with white socks. He raised his broad-brimmed hat, and purple fire flickered in his eyes. "I'd hate to think I made a special trip for nothing."
