A/N: Alright! So, I'm just gonna go ahead and guess that y'all liked that chapter. The scenes described as Percy, Annabeth, and Barry were flying through the breach to Harry Potter are from the following fandoms: (1) Alien and Aliens, (2) Star Wars: A New Hope, and (3) Jumanji. The conversation they heard was taken from John Wayne's True Grit, which is an absolutely wonderful movie. As they went through the breach to Doctor Who they saw (1) Jaws, (2) The Lion King, and (3) Matrix. The song they heard was "All I Ask of You" from Webber's Phantom of the Opera. I hope you like this one too!
Follows: veesmaster, perseus vindictus black, Melanie Arden Desmond, CP Nightshade, A Rarer Fondness, We The Few, willyerfull, and Alexandra Daughter of the dead. YEE-HAW! That's 164. I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Favorites: the Bass Beast, Melanie Arden Desmond, perseus vindictus black, CP Nightshade, A Rarer Fondness, Rocking Red Reaper, Susanoo23, We The Few, willyerfull, and Vanguard117. That's 119. I LOVE Y'ALL TOO!
Puppylove84: Yeah, I like never recognize my real name. It's kinda sad. Also, I'm assuming SPN refers to Supernatural, but I've never seen a Supernatural episode in my life, so... :) (by the way, that's supposed to be a tentative smile)
Turtlepower12: Glad you liked it! :)
Guest: ...and now you have it. :)
meganmollard: Yeah, I've never seen Supernatural. Ever. I should probably go watch that right now... We'll see. :)
reedmonkey: Yeah, I know these should probably be a little longer, and I'm trying. And I know my grammar needs some work. Ah, well. But HERE YOU GO!:)
silverbird6: Aww, thank you! I'm so glad you decided to check this out, especially because I LOVE YOUR STORY! You don't have an update schedule by any chance, do you? I'm on my hands and knees begging you please don't go... Hang on. I think I heard that in a song somewhere... :)
the Bass Beast: Heh heh. Well, what can I say? I love sticking these poor babies into weird situations. :)
KiSierra: Well, you know me. Or, actually, you don't but, I love making people laugh! :)
FavFan: I can't decide which one I like best... I'm glad you can. :)
Perseus314: Well, I think after a hundred you'd get tired of it, but I appreciate the sentiment. :) And I'm so happy that you liked it!
IcyFox17: Glad you caught on to the Harry Potter thing; I wasn't sure anyone would until I said it outright or started describing the room. I, too, don't watch Doctor Who, so I get that. I used to, but then we got rid of cable and Netflix (CURSE THEM!) took it off. As to putting them in our world: why would I do that? Heh heh heh heh. I definitely don't already, like have that chapter written out, or anything. Thanks so much for checking out some of my other stories, and while I want to encourage you to go check out the others for publicity reasons, I don't like those as much. But, you never know. You might. :) And, as always, I'm glad I could make you glad. :)
ElderBlade276: What? Hunger Games? That's totally not part of this chapter... Heh heh heh. :) And I'm glad you like the crossovers.
TheOkWriter: Yeah, I figured I'd at least put some people off with that. Don't worry, I totally get it. If you want, you could always wait until this is complete and then check out the last few chapters where they get to go home. Oops. I spoiled it. I mean, they wander in the abyss forever. And ever. Yeah. :)
Guest (2): Oh, trust me, this baby is NOT EVER going to be discontinued. Until the end, that is. And even then, I have plans. :)
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Percy's POV
We emerged once more in the Breach Room. And, just like last time, we were greeted enthusiastically by Cisco.
"So?" he started.
"Here's an idea," Iris interjected before we told Cisco something that would make him more jealous and more eager to travel to these other earths. "Why don't we wait until we're done for the day to hear stories?"
Cisco looked like he was about to disagree, but then Iris gave him one of those death glares, like the ones Annabeth gives me. I guess no matter which earth you go to, someone will always have a death glare.
"Oh, I need to head out," Joe realized as he glanced at his watch. "Iris, you should too. This looks like it could take a while."
"Okay, Dad. I hope you two make it back home," she added with a glance to Annabeth and I. We all said our goodbyes (not like, I'm-dying-final-farewell goodbyes, although this was probably the last time we'd see them, but never-see-you-again-acquaintance-goodbyes) and then Joe and Iris walked out of the Breach Room.
"Alright. I think that we'll try Earh-15 next," Cisco said.
"At least the number makes a little more sense this time," Annabeth grunted.
Once more, unto the breach we went. Get it? 'Cause people always say "once more unto the beach," but I used it because we were actually - you know what? I think you get it.
You're probably getting tired of me describing all the weird stuff I heard and saw on the journey, but I'm gonna do it anyways, just for the Hades of it. This time, we saw a lone cowboy riding in the desert as he came upon a man who was lying in the sand in nothing but...long underwear? What the Hades? There was also this really freaky looking monster that snagged a young person around the midsection and pulled him up onto the roof of a small cabin shared by six or so college students and a pretty little house that floated into the air supported by hundred of balloons.
We heard a guy who had some kind of speech impediment, but he sounded like he was marrying two people. "Mawwiage," he said. "Mawwiage is wot bwings us togevar today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam…" Then, thankfully, we exited the breach.
We emerged into a thick forest, leaves dappling the light that shone onto the ground. Nothing seemed to be weird or dangerous about our surroundings, which was a relief. Maybe we were back in our own world!
Well, that was actually unlikely. The woods in our world are not safe for us. There's always all kinds of nasty beasts crawling through the bushes and trying to sneak up on us and kill us. You know, just your everyday, average problem.
I was just starting to relax a little and think, Maybe we could spend some time here and just unwind, when I heard a twanging noise. I had only just processed that I was probably hearing a bowstring when there was a gust of air and the sound of crackling electricity. I turned around and found Barry holding two arrows, one of which had been aimed at my head. The other was headed (hah hah, headed) for Annabeth.
"Where'd it come from?" I instantly demanded.
"Somewhere over there," Barry pointed to an area in the trees where there was a fair amount of brush, but not really enough for someone to hide in. "I didn't see anyone, though."
Annabeth scanned over the area, not really focusing on anything, but searching for movement. "Oh, they're good," she muttered. "They're not moving at all."
Barry glanced down at the arrows in his hand. "Um, guys? These arrows are wooden."
What does that have to do with anything? So the arrows are wooden. Big deal. I basically said as much. Well, kind of, but in a more concise way. "So?"
"People don't use wooden arrows anymore," he explained like it should have been obvious. "They're unreliable. Today, they use aluminum, carbon fibre, or a hybrid of the two. Not wood. It's unreliable because the shafts warp easily."
"What if this earth is behind us in their technological advancements?" Annabeth nodded as she caught on. "Just by being here, we're seriously messing with their timelines."
"Yeah," Barry agreed. "It's like in Star Trek: Into Darkness when Kirk reveals the Enterprise to the natives -" He stopped. "I'm just making things worse, aren't I?"
Annabeth and I shrugged slowly, but then nodded with apologetic smiles.
"Why haven't they followed up on their attack?" I wondered.
"They're probably still trying to process what they saw Barry do. I mean, Percy and I have super weird lives and even we had to adjust to seeing your speed."
I only wanted to know one thing: where they were. The arrows were shot at almost exactly the same time, which meant there were either two of them or one Apollo-cabin caliber archer. Once we knew exactly where they were hiding, I could charge them with Riptide yelling, "YAAAAAH!" Or something like that.
The three of us turned to the area that the arrows came from once again, only to have four more arrows come zipping towards Barry. Apparently, whoever was in the bushes had identified him as the greatest threat. And no, that didn't hurt our pride. At all.
Oh, I'm sorry, were you wondering what happened with the arrows? Barry caught them all, of course. But after, he whispered, "Oh, very good."
"What?" I asked impatiently.
"I can see them," Barry answered. "They're wearing some kind of cloak that blurs their outlines. I only noticed when they drew back their bows."
Annabeth cocked her head. "I didn't see anything."
"Superspeed." Barry tapped the area below his eyes. "That still applies to my brain function and such." Then, without another word, he dashed away and came back a millisecond later, two men dangling from his grasp.
Both wore cloaks, like Medieval Times cloaks, that were a mottled green color, allowing them to remain camouflaged in the forest if they stayed completely still. They had huge longbows in their hands and a quiver of same arrows Barry had intercepted each. They also seemed to have some kind of fancy sheaths that would hold two knives tucked into their belts. One of the men was older than the other, his beard streaked with gray. The other was obviously much younger and had an honest, open face. Both looked rather disgruntled, however, which was understandable.
After a moment, they exchanged glances and drew thick heavy knives from a sheath in their belts. Before Annabeth and I could warn Barry, the two men in his grasp drove the hilts of their heavy knives into Barry's solar plexus, causing Barry to let go of the men and all the air to whoosh out of his lungs.
Thankfully, Barry recovered quickly, zipping over to stand by Annabeth and I.
"Now," the older man said cooly. "Who are you, and what do you want with King's Rangers?"
I frowned. "King's what?"
"Rangers," the younger man answered like I was an idiot.
Rangers, Annabeth mouthed, her brow furrowed as she thought. I could tell she was searching for a connection to something she had read in history books, but wasn't finding anything.
I nodded like I knew everything. "Yeah. We...know what those are, but why don't you explain it to us so we're sure that you know."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Seaweed Brain, that's the oldest trick in the book."
"Look," Barry raised his hands in the air in a pacifying gesture. "We don't want any trouble. We're just trying to find our way to their home. I'm the Flash, and these two are Percy and Annabeth."
"Wait, so they get your alias, but our real names?" I said. Barry gave me a look like, Yes. Shut up.
"How can you...run so fast?" the younger man asked Barry.
"Uh...it's a long story," the breach popped up in front of us, "one that we don't have time for now."
"What is that?" the older man demanded.
"Here's a quick rundown," I began. "We jump through that, we go to another universe. Cool, right?"
"Another...what?" the young man spluttered.
Annabeth didn't seem to notice the breach at first; she was too busy taking in the "ranger's" attire. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh my gods!" she exclaimed. "This is the Ranger's Apprentice series!"
Barry smacked his forehead. "Yeah, you're right! I can't believe I didn't see it before."
"Guys, let's go." I made a little shooing motion with my hands. "Time's a-wastin. The breach is gonna close."
"Just a moment-" the older man (who Annabeth tells me was named Halt) started as Barry ran us back into the breach.
Right. So, I'm sure you're familiar with the drill by now, so I'll abbreviate this. Here we go. (1) We pop out of the breach. (2) Cisco barely contains his excitement. (3) We find out which earth we're going to next. (4) We jump through the latest breach.
This time, we were going to Earth-75. And if you're wondering why we were hopping randomly from earth to earth with no clear pattern in sight, I have no idea. Ask Cisco, if you ever meet him by some chance.
On the way there, we saw a bunch of animals. And no, I'm not kidding, in case you were wondering. There were deer, rabbits, and skunks in one scene, fish in another, and cats and dogs in another. The weirdest thing? They were all talking. It was like we were watching a bunch of earths where some Disney movie came to life.
Apparently, the multiverse decided we needed to listen to more musicals, because as we were flying through we heard, "Way out there, beyond this hick town, Barnaby, there's a slick town, Barnaby! Put on your Sunday clothes, there's lots of world out there! Get out the brillantine and dime cigars…"
Okay, so just to give you a heads up, Earth-75 was crazy. It turned out to be an earth that made us want to leave almost immediately, so of course we couldn't.
Anyways, when we exited the breach, we were tossed into pure mayhem. We were dropped onto a surface that felt like sand edged by rock, but we couldn't really see because the entire thing was spinning. At first, Barry was the only one of the three of us really able to keep his feet under him because of his speed, but eventually we slid out towards the rocks, centrifugal force dragging us back.
So of course the rocks were wet, right? Because dry rocks would've been too easy for everyone. Well, technically, wet rocks were easier for me than dry rocks, but I meant everyone else. Luckily, I was able to get to my feet using the water to stabilize myself and grab Annabeth and Barry. The two were actually doing okay, as Annabeth had dug her dagger into the rocks for a handhold and Barry's speed, while not ideal considering the slipperiness of the rocks, did keep him from flying off into the salt water that surrounded us. Wow, that was a long sentence.
Then, all of sudden, it was over. The ground stopped spinning and I let go of Annabeth and Barry. We glanced around and could see a lush jungle beyond the salt lake we were apparently in. There were weird rock formations that spiraled out from the island we stood on, making near-perfect bridges to land.
"Twelve sections," Annabeth mused. "Why does that sound familiar?"
It was only then we noticed the other people on the island.
There were three men and two women that were coughing like they had a hairballs. Their clothes were puzzling; some kind of suit. Most worrying, however, were the weapons they either carried or had slung over their backs. When I looked around, I realized there were even more weapons spilling out of some kind of metal cone-like thing.
"Oh, Hades. This is great." When I turned back around, all five people were staring at us. Again, mostly Barry. Come on guys. Just because the guy in the red suit pops out the most doesn't mean the other people there aren't important and dangerous.
"Who are you?" the younger of the two women asked, her dark braided hair hanging limply over one shoulder. The more disturbing detail about her was the arrow she was pointing at the three of us. I had a feeling she knew how to use her bow well, but Barry's got us covered. Seriously, what is it with people and bows and arrows? Demigods use them because it's our heritage, and most of the Celestial bronze weapons are old fashioned, but guns are much more efficient.
"That's a long story, but we're not here to hurt you," Annabeth promised. All five scoffed, but then continued to question us.
The man who looked like he was tallest and had the lean yet strong look of an athlete was next to speak up. "How did you get into the arena?"
"Arena?" I laughed. "What is this, the Hunger Games?" I kept laughing, but my smile dropped off my face pretty quickly.
"Yes," all five answered simultaneously like I was an idiot. Seriously, people. Can I get a little respect here? My intellect has proved that I can be a very smart and wise person when I want to be.
"Alright, you need to talk to Cisco after we get home," Annabeth told Barry. "Or, even better, as soon as we get back. Tell him to stop throwing us into fandoms!"
"I don't think he's trying to," Barry defended his friend. "But this does need to stop. We're gonna freak a lot of people out because we know who they are. Like, this looks like the arena from the second book, and the spinning correlates with that, so that's Katniss, Finnick, Peeta, Johanna, and Beetee."
The five of them just gave us bored looks like, Yeah, we know who we are. Then I remembered (from my limited Hunger Games knowledge) that the "tributes" were used to people knowing who they were. Yay! We found a few people we couldn't freak out. Much.
"How did you get in?" the man - or, Finnick, I guess - repeated.
I shrugged and spread my hands. "Would you believe us if we said that the State-"
"You mean the Capitol," Barry hissed.
"- right, that - sent us here to help you?"
I knew the answer to that before anyone even opened their mouths.
Barry narrowed his eyes at me. "You do know that President Snow and the Capitol were the villains in that book, right?"
"Okay, look," Annabeth said as she stepped forward. "We don't want to be here. We have enough people trying to kill us in our own lives, but we're trying to find our way home. I don't really want to go into details because of all the cameras planted around here, but we'll be gone soon."
"Cameras?" I demanded as my eyes roved around the area. "That's creepy. Why don't you just, like, find them and smash them?"
"There's no way you can get out on your own," the guy who I assumed was Peeta informed us, completely ignoring me.
The breach formed right behind us. "Watch us," Barry smiled.
I opened my mouth and Annabeth cut me off. "Don't even think about it."
"What?"
"You were going to say something to spoil their timeline. Don't."
"Fine."
And then we were gone.