Rival in Styx

by River.W

Percy thought that his life would be perfect. He has the perfect girlfriend, great friends, and peaceful years at camp. At least that's what he thought. Another year begins at Camp Half-Blood, alongside it, new campers... Among all of the new campers, one in particular holds a dark secret. A secret that will shake the foundation of Olympus, and with it, Percy's belief in his father

3. Game Begins

'Percy Jackson,it has been a while...' is the first thing the goddess Artemis said to me when she saw me.

There's only Artemis,Thalia and me right now.

The rest of the Hunters and the cabin gamers are still preparing for the game.

So it's a duty for me as the team leader to greet them first hand.

'Long time no see Jackson.'Said Thalia.

'Lady Artemis,Thalia.'Greet me.

'Think you got what it takes to beat us,Jackson?'

'I wouldn't mind to kick your butt once in a while.'

'Loser team treat the winner team cheeseburgers?'

'Deal.'I agreed.

'Well,get ready to empty your wallet.'Thalia smirk to me.

'I doubted it.'

'It's good to see you all so high-spirited.'Said Chiron when he approach us.

'Chiron!!'Thalia jumped to Chiron the moment he got close to her.

'It's good to see you too,Thalia. But you might want to save that energy for the game.'

'That's okay,I can give Percy some handicap to make it more challenging to us.'

'Oh,you are so going down.'I mumbled.

'My lady Artemis.'Greet Chiron to Artemis.

'Chiron,somewhere private,may us?'

'Certainly my lady.'

Thalia got off from Chiron,and Chiron turned to us.

'I prepared a judge for you,he will be here shortly and you may begin the game once you're all ready.'

Chiron turned his back to us and Artemis walked along with Chiron back to the big house.

'Thalia!!'squealed Annabeth after she saw her.

Annabeth ran to her and hughed her with all her might.

'Annabeth!! I missed you so much.'

'So am I!'

Both of them hold each other for so long,it feels like they ignored the world.

'Can we please cut the drama?'I grumbled.

'Don't be so stingy Jackson,you get her for the rest of the camp year while I only seen her once in a while. Besides,the judge is not even here yet.'Said Thalia.

'If you're talking about me,I've been here for about three minutes ago.'

We turned around to the voice and we saw somebody who's really unexpected.

Nico di Angelo was there,and he didn't showed up often here.

'Nico?'I looked at him confused.

'Judge,for special occasion only,privilege from Chiron.'he said to me as if to answer my question.

Let me answer all this confusing question that you might wanna ask.

Yes,it's true that there's a new Hades cabin for all the children of Hades,and there's people staying there.

But Nico didn't stay there,mostly he would stay with Hades in the underworld.

Something about keeping the family together.

So yeah,seeing Nico here is very fact,seeing Nico at all is very surprising.

Annabeth let go of Thalia and turned to me.

'I'll help the others to prepare.'She said to me.

I nodded and she ran to the campers

'Hey there kid.'Greet Thalia to Nico.

'I'm not a kid!! I'm thirteen!!'

'Still a kid for me.'

'I'm beginning to think whether it's allowed for me to join Percy team and leaving the judge position to somebody else.'

'Why would you do that?You're bored from just watching from the side?'Asked Thalia.

'No,it's so that I can kick some muscle girl butt like yours.'

'"Muscle girl"?Oh,you got some guts there kid.'

'Bring it. Percy,I'm joining your team.'

'Whoa,hold it there little guy. We really need a judge,and you agreed to be the judge.'

'...Fine,I'll judge.'Nico grumbled.

'Too bad Percy,You would need all the help you can get to beat us.'Thalia smirk to me.

'We'll see.'

Thalia walked back to the Hunters while I turned around and walked to the campers

My team consist of Lisa Heidi,Matt Grey,Will Solace,Jake Mason,Evan Song(korean,son of Hades,newly appointed Hades cabin counsellor.),Pollux,the Stoll brothers,the new kid,Annabeth and me.

There's also a bunch other Apollo,Nemesis,and Morpheus campers.

The rest (and almost half of our team,about fifteen of them.) is Ares campers,Clarisse not included.

It looks like Clarisse hasn't recovered yet from her last defeat.

The Ares didn't look exactly pleased,since the new kid is also in the team.

Demeter,Aphrodite and the rest of the other cabin only get to watch.

'Well then,we only have five to ten minutes to think of a strategy. Anyone got any bright ideas?'Said Annabeth.

'Or we could just charged and pound all of them on sight!'Said Connor.

'Do you ever think before saying anything..?'Lisa blurted.

'I'm more of a pounder than a thinker.'Said Matt.

'I can't think of anything smart.'Will mumbled.

'Well,we have to think of something.. Last time we played against them,we got our butt kicked pretty hard,and Thalia is with them now.'Said Jake.

I hate to admit it,but he's right.

Last time we played against the Hunters,we lose badly,and the only thing that prevented us from having a total humiliating lost is Thalia.

But now Thalia is not on our side,and what makes it worse is that she's on their side.

We do have Annabeth now on our side,but she doesn't seems to be able to think of any strategy.

'Split up into two small offense teams,and one main defense team.'

We turned around and looked at the new kid.

He barely speaks,but somehow he just start to talk all of the sudden.

'The hunters are strong on their offense,they're fierce as the lions. Trying to fight them heads on is both stupid and idiotic. Instead,this is a game. It has rules and winning conditions,we win if we're able to grab their flag and bring it on our side.'He continued.

'We split into two offense team,it's a two pronged attack from the left and the right side. Two small teams,a three members team. They have to be swift,fast,and stealthy. The rest go with the main defence team,holding on until the offense team are able to grab the flag back.'He said while drawing some sort of a map in the ground.

'The attack will be from the left side and right side of the river,the Hunters will put some insurance of course. Four or five of them in the guard position,our goal is to take their flag before they take ours.'

'But wait,if they put that many guards,shouldn't we put more people into the offense team?'Annabeth asked.

'No,the Hunters aren't stupid. Once they figured that there's too many people that are missing from our team,they'll go back and capture our offense team. Once they get a hold of both of our offense team,we will lose the advantage of surprise and numbers.'The new kid answered.

'Even if there's only four or five of the Hunters defending their base,they won't be so easy to beat. They're fierce just as you said before.'Said Jake.

Annabeth looked like she just figured out something and turned to the new kid.

'That's exactly why we would bring only our best fighter with the offense team,so that the offense team can beat their guards fast enough before the Hunters would notice.'Annabeth said.

The new kid nodded and continued with his explanation.

'The defensive team will have to endure the Hunters attack,it won't be easy,but it's our only chance of 's a simple yet important job.'

Everybody looked at the new kid with amazement,especially Annabeth.

I didn't really like when Annabeth looked at a person like that,it reminds me of how she used to look at Luke.

'Then which area would we use as our main base?'Asked Travis to the new kid.

'...That hill would do.'He pointed to a high big hill.'The hill would be good for defense.'

'Well then,we should decide who's in the offense team.'Said Lisa.

'The best fighter would be Percy and Clarisse.'Said Jake.

'Well technically it would be the new kid and Percy,since he did beat Clarisse.'Travis blurted.

'He's right,that means both of them should be on the offense team.'Said Matt.

'The other best fighter right now would be Pollux,Matt,Lisa and me.'Said Annabeth.

'Then I'll take Annabeth and an Ares camper with me on the first offense team. Percy,you take Matt and Lisa.'The new kid ordered.

The Ares campers who heard this groan in disagree,but it doesn't seems that they have much in a choice.

Before I have the chance to protest his decision,Annabeth blurted it out first.

'Alright,let's go.'

'What about me?'Asked Pollux.

'We need at least one good fighter in the defensive team.'Annabeth replied.

'I don't like this team arrangement.'I grumbled.

'Why?'Asked Matt.

'I just don't like it.'

Jealous?Maybe. After all,Annabeth once look at the new kid with the same look she used to give Luke.

It's only once,but it's enough to make me angry for no solid reason.

But I set it aside,since Annabeth probably wouldn't give him the same look twice.

'Hey.' I called to the new kid.

He turned around and looked at me.

'It's kinda weird by calling you "the new kid".'

'...I don't mind.'He replied.

'I don't feel very comfortable by calling you with that kind of nickname.'

There's a sudden silence between us,and it doesn't look like he want to answer my question.

'...Willy.'He whispered.

'Willy..?'

'My name...'

He gave me one last glance and turned his back to me.

And at that time,I could've swore that I saw hatred in his eyes...

Everyone heard his name,but I was probably the only one who saw that hatred.

Before I have any time or chance to think about it,Nico approach me.

'You're ready?'Asked Nico.

I stared at Willy's back and answered Nico.

'Yeah.'

Nico nodded and we went to the hill and set up our formation.

Nico looked to both sides,and he blowed a horn afterwards.

'Let the game begin!!'He shouted.