I really like this chapter. I hope you do too. A couple of the giant's abilities are a little different than the book, that's intentional… don't worry. I hope to be almost done with this, it's been a labor for sure, sometimes of love, sometimes not. Again, I hope you like!

AnnabethWeasleyFowl: Yep... Finally I've updated! YAY!

Disclaimer: Don't own PJO. Never have, hope to in the future.

3rd Person POV

Next to Percy, Hazel drew her spatha and stood up from behind the de-leafed bush. Nico followed, lifting his scepter, the orb glowing a medium shade of purple. Small cracks appearing around him.

Lanada hissed and the remaining cats transformed into saber-tooth tigers. "Yes sweeties." She purred. "You might be able to feast on demigod flesh." Her pets growled with delight. "Yes, and now… we attack." She drew her own short knife and approached, two tigers flanking her on either side.

"I got her." Whispered Hazel. She did and running handspring over Lanada's head and landed running. Arion. She yelled in her head. One of Lanada's tigers attacked, claws outstretched. She sidestepped, bringing her sword in a large arc, lopping its head off. "Nice." muttered Hazel. "What else you got?"

Still behind the bush, Nico focused his attention on the entire battlefield. The scepter's orb glowed a dark purple and spirits rose up from the cracks previously created. Smirking slightly, he directed a portion of the spirits broke off and started to circle and attack the giant. The rest took out various hunting and camping tools and started on the remaining sabers. Nico took out a small stygian iron knife and attacked the nearest tiger, cutting it in a couple places and drawing out its false life force. In a couple of moments under the dual attack of Nico and the spirits, the tiger was soon nothing more than a pile of bones that crumbled into dust and blew away with the wind.

Percy, meanwhile, started his attack on the giant. He rolled under the giant's legs and brought Riptide in a circle around his head. Alcyoneus roared and stomped his feet, causing Percy to have to roll out from under, but not without getting a final jab at the giant's jewel encrusted rear.

"Oh, you flea bitten worm." The giant cursed. "You Hades scum."

"Oi!" Nico shouted. "I resent that." He raised him scepter and more spirits flooded out. Directing the spirits to Alcyoneus, Nico gave the giant a death stare.

Hazel had incapacitated a tiger and now turned her attention to Lanada. Arion had arrived a short time after the first one had been killed, so Hazel was pretty much on top of the world. A quick sweep of her spatha chopped off the remaining feline's legs and the body rolled over and over down the sloping hill.

A wail was heard from Lanada. "My children!" She screeched. "Not cool." With catlike grace, she leaped forward, dagger in hand, towards Hazel. Arion whinnied in fright and sidestepped quickly. Hazel urged Arion forward, making a wide circle and facing the cat girl.

Lanada sprinted and rolled underneath the horse's legs. She stood and whirled around, jamming her knife deep into Arion's flank. The horse screamed and reared, throwing Hazel. She landed on the ground with an "Oomph." while Arion raced off, leaving his rider defenseless.

Lanada pulled out a second knife from around her waist and approached Hazel. Slashing quickly, a few, but well placed cuts were inflicted on the daughter of Pluto. A quick whack to the temple rendered her unconscious. With that, the cat girl stowed her knife, gave a brief nod to the giant, and scampered up a tree and away from the battle.

When the giant realized his lieutenant had vacated him, he gave a howl of rage and started slashing more violently at Percy. A shake of his head sent a shower of precious gems in most directions, making Percy have to lunge out of the way and landing near Hazel.

"Nico!" He yelled.

The boy looked over and saw Hazel. He twirled the scepter and stowed it quickly, rushing to Hazel's side. Rummaging in his pockets, he pulled a square of ambrosia out. "Go Percy." He said, opening her mouth and attempting to have Hazel swallow.

Percy rotated his sword and faced Alcyoneus.

The giant smiled cruelly. "This is the second time I've seen you, puny demigod. And you know what they say about second meetings."

"Yeah, not as lucky as the third." Percy retorted. "Meet me again, then we can discuss." He rushed the giant. He brought Riptide up in an arc and the giant met with his iron staff. The battle continued, neither fighter giving an inch of ground to the other.

Nico, on the other side clearing, had finally gotten Hazel sitting up and a little color in her cheeks. He looked over to his cousin and was relieved he wasn't dead until Percy tripped over a stone and Riptide went flying. Alcyoneus snarled with delight and moved in for the kill. In a panic, Nico took out his scepter and twirled it, the orb growing a dark plum color. A horde of spirits melted out of the ground and swarmed up the giants legs. Almost as if the ghosts carried weight, his movements became more and more sluggish until he was just fighting to stay upright.

While the ghosts kept Alcyoneus distracted, Percy scrambled over to his sword and picked it up. "Man." He groaned. "Stones are the worst." He picked up one and tossed it in the air and caught it. Percy looked over at the giant and cocked his head. Shrugging, he tossed the stone towards the giant, hitting him square in the temple, just like Lanada did to Hazel. The giant fell over, unconscious.

Nico lifted the Diocletian scepter and the spirits stood to attention. "Dismissed." Nico commanded and the ghost army dissipated. The son of Hades walked over to where Percy was standing and looked down at the mass of precious gems. "Well, good news: he's not a threat right now. Bad news: we still can kill him and that cat girl is on the loose."

Percy snapped his fingers. "I got a way to kill Alycon- no... Alon-" he groaned in frustration and kicked the giant. "This dude." Percy reached into him pocket and pulled out a whistle. Blowing into it, a dark shape melted out of a tree shadow and bounded in the direction of her master. "Hey girl." He greeted the hellhound. "Mind helping us out?"

A couple minutes later, Percy attached a makeshift harness to Mrs. O'Leary with camping rope he found in a nearby campsite. Nico and Percy lifted Hazel onto the large dogs back and then climbed on behind her.

As soon as the trio were secure, Mrs. O'Leary took off, covering large amounts of ground in a single bound. Ten minutes later, they found themselves crossing into Tennessee. Mrs. O'Leary stopped and collapsed. Percy jumped off and pulled the ropes his dog. She scooted herself under the shade of a nearby tree and promptly falling asleep, her snores shaking the surrounding trees.

"Uggh-" Alcyoneus groaned, starting to come to. He clutched his head and tried to sit up. "Where am-"

"Where are you?" Nico supplemented. "A ways away from Alabama." He got off and scratched Mrs. O'Leary behind the ears.

Hazel slid off the now lowered dog, looking much better after letting the ambrosia doing its work. "Oh, that not good for you." She cooed. "Let me help you out with this problem." She whipped out her pugio and stabbed it into the giant's diamond heart.

He gave one last scathing look to the trio before dying, the precious metal and gems composing him breaking apart into a large pile. Oil that filled his veins pooled on the ground. Eventually, everything sank into the ground, leaving a strong smell of sulfur in the air.

Percy high-fived Hazel. "Nice going cuz!" He cheered. He looked over at his pet that was still snoring. "We can walk to the nearest town." Slinging an arm around his cousins, he started off in the general direction of northeast.

While walking, Percy thought of all the recent events: Hades' palace and realm getting broken into and diving into chaos, the eldest giant being awoken, and Circe being freed. Altogether, not good. Better start preparing for the endgame, Percy thought.