Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto nor Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I am just a lowly writer with too much time in my hands.

Warning: This is a sequel story. Read the following first before you read this story.

Child of the Moon: The Lightning Thief
Child of the Moon: The Sea of Monsters
Child of the Moon: The Titan's Curse

Chapter 9

It was a sweltering day in the Triple G Ranch. The demigods were taken on a tour around the ranch, even if they did not need that at the moment so that they won't offend their new host.

Among the demigods was Nico di Angelo, who had been missing since the events last winter. After a bit of catching up and a lot of convincing, Nico was finally able to see the truth and, at the moment, is not currently hostile to the group from Camp Half-Blood.

Currently, we find Geryon's choo-choo train overlooking a pen filled with an all too familiar bed of massive scorpions.

Annabeth's eyes widened. She pointed to the distance and said, "Wait. Those are–"

Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing at. They both had shocked expressions on their faces.

"What are the odds?" was all Naruto's dumbfounded comment.

"I never thought I would see those again," Grover said, with a bit of fear in his voice. After stumbling around all night, as those monsters chased them, he would never forget what they looked like.

"Big scary scorpions again," Tyson pointed out.

"I see you already encountered my prized scorpions," Geryon noticed the look of recognition on the other's faces minus Nico who was looking at them like they were sharing an inside joke.

"Hmmm, you're demigods," Geryon thought aloud. "I remember shipping out some scorpions to a Camp Half-Blood. If you're familiar with that place–"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Percy spoke up. "I knew your ranch sounded familiar!" He remembered his encounter with the crates in the sword arena, and the words printed on them. "Do you know anyone by the name Quintus?"

The enthusiasm drained from Geryon's face. "Quintus, huh?"

"Yes?"

"Never heard of him…"

His tone was a tone of finality. He made it clear that he didn't want to talk about it anymore like it was some sort of sore subject.

He drove and moved on to another section of the ranch. This part of the tour, everyone was not looking forward to.

As they got closer, their sense of smell was assaulted by a really bad odor. Think of that dumpster at the back of your local Walmart or the piece of roadkill that had started to grow maggots. This was worse. I couldn't imagine what this would have smelled like to those with an enhanced sense of smell.

They were passing by the banks of a river, which Percy was surprised did not look as polluted with how close it was to the body of water. Next to the river shore was a large horse corral that stretched out to the size of a football field. The closer they get, the stronger the putrid smell became. And the closer they had gotten, they began to understand why.

About a hundred horses were milling around, but really, they did not seem like they were walking. The offensive smell was coming from the poop that reached up to half of the horses' feet, so they looked like they were wading through the river rather than walking.

"These right here are my prized stables!" Geryon introduced. "Well, they actually belong to Aegas, but we watch over them for a small fee."

"Lots of poop," Tyson commented.

"What happened here?" Nico gagged.

"He's too cheap to have the stables cleaned," Eurytion grunted at the back of the train. Even he was awakened by the smells.

"Quiet!" The boss of the ranch snapped. "Fine. I admit that they are challenging to clean. And maybe I get a little nauseous when the wind blows the wrong way, but at the end of the day, I still get paid."

"How can you think of money when the animals are living in these conditions?" Annabeth asked.

"Look here, lady. Ya'll startin' to get on my nerves." Geryon said. "I keep tellin' you. They're just animals. The clients pay well for them."

"Clients?" That got Naruto's attention. "If they knew the condition they were in, they would demand to pay a lot less than they have been paying."

"What they won't know won't kill them, kid. Unless they piss off the horses," He muttered that last part to himself. "Besides, these horses are in demand. You don't know how many people will pay for a flesh-eating horse."

"You're a monster!" Annabeth yelled, which the three-bodies man wasn't too happy about.

"What gave it away, lady?" Geryon deadpanned. When it comes to his appearance, he was really sensitive. "Was it the three bodies?"

"No, no," Naruto clarified. "What she meant was the way you treat these animals is inhumane, making you a monster."

"Right," Geryon rolled his eyes, not really convinced. "Look, I am a businessman, and these animals are mere commodities that I trade for sweet, sweet gold."

Nico sighed. He had been delayed in this ranch long enough. He will not allow any more distractions to keep him away from his mission.

He exited the train. Eurytion took this as a cue to get off as well. The immortal demigod didn't look as sleepy as he made it out to be.

The Son of Hades stormed to the boss of the ranch, making Eurytion heft his club. This didn't deter Nico. He still said what he had to say.

"Look, I appreciate you guys coming after me," He told the questers first. "And even though Bianca is still alive. It is my duty as a Son of Hades to track down this soul that has escaped death for millennia."

He then walked over to the front and said, "You and I had a deal, Geryon. My guide told me that you would be able to help me."

"Guide?" Naruto asked, remembering what Bianca had told him. "Is this some kind of spirit that has been leading you on since you left camp?"

"How did you know?" Nico asked, surprised that the shinobi would guess right. "I supposed Bianca would have told you, huh?"

Naruto nodded.

"Speaking of spirit, where is he?" Geryon interjected.

Nico looked uneasy. "He's around here somewhere, I'm sure. It's just hard for him to reform in broad daylight."

"I'm sure Minos disappears when things get…how do you say it?...difficult," Geryon smiled.

"Difficult?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean difficult?"

"Son of Artemis," Geryon gave Naruto a look that was full of greed. "Scratch that, can I call you Naruto instead?"

"Yeah, sure whatever works," The blonde rolled his eyes at the change in subject.

"You see, Naruto…I have been given a really good business deal. Luke Castellan is offering very good money for half-bloods. Especially powerful half-bloods," He rubbed his hands together. "I'm sure if he learns about the lot of you, he might pay me very, very well. I can just imagine how much he would offer for you, Mr. di Angelo."

"I knew it, you're working for Kronos's Army!" Percy snapped.

Eurytion hefted his club at the first signs of aggression.

"I wouldn't call it that," The boss said, with mock hurt on his face. "I would call it a partnership. I am a businessman after all. Now, my trusty second-hand man, restrain them,"

Eurytion sent his employer an 'Are you out of your mind look?', but still stepped forward to do his job.

Naruto stepped forward as well, ready for a fight to get out of the ranch. Right behind him, Percy was ready to back him up, his pen already in hand. Annabeth, though, was wracking her brain for a way out of here without a fight.

Before things could escalate, she yelled. "Wait!"

Everyone relaxed and looked at her oddly, even her teammates.

"What is it this time, girlie?" Geryon asked, annoyed at the interruption.

"You're a businessman, right?" Annabeth asked.

Geryon rolled his eyes, not knowing where this was going. "We already established that."

"Then I got a proposition for you," Annabeth said in her best businesswoman voice.

"You have gold?" Geryon asked, briefly considering it.

"Well, no," Annabeth said, almost losing the ranch owner's interest. "But I can barter with you."

The boss didn't look interested, but Annabeth pushed through anyway. "You said the horse stables stench bothers you, right?"

That got his attention. "Those stables haven't been cleaned in a thousand years. How sure are you that you can do any different?"

"Because we have a Son of the Sea with us," Annabeth said, gesturing to Percy like he was selling a product.

"What? Why– Ow!" Percy protested but immediately changed his mind when Annabeth elbowed him. "I mean, yes! I can control water really well."

"Think about it," Annabeth continued. "If Percy cleans the stables, you're free of the stench and have more uses for your stables. If he gets eaten–"

"Hey!" Percy protested but was ignored.

"–then you could sell us to the Titan Army. What do you have to lose?"

"If that stable was cleared, I might be able to sell more stable space. Hmmm…" Geryon muttered to himself. "All right, deal! I accept your offer. You have until sunset. If you're not done by then, you're all going to the Titan Army."

"Deal."

The ride back to the house was quiet. It was just like before, Geryon drove the choo choo train with Orthus by his side. Eurytion took the last train car and doze off. The demigods took the middle car. The only difference was that Percy was not there.

"That was quick thinking there Annabeth," Naruto praised the Daughter of the Wisdom Goddess.

Annabeth smiled, a tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks. "Thanks…uhh…I'm just glad we can get out of here without much of a fight."

She sighed tiredly and leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder. "You don't mind if do this right?"

"Not at all," Naruto smiled.

"I'm worried about camp…Do you think Luke found Ariadne's String yet?" Annabeth asked.

"Not likely," Naruto answered. "He's just as lost as we are. And in addition to that, he's leading a large army which would make their travel much harder than ours."

"You're right," Annabeth said, more confidently this time. "We'll get to Daedalus before. We'll convince him to give the string to us."

As soon as she said that, the train screeched to a halt, and Geryon and Eurytion exited the vehicle.

Geryon waited for the children to exit his train. When all of them were off, he snapped his fingers, and Orthus immediately became hostile. Eurytion hefted his club once more, causing Naruto to tense.

"We had a deal!" Annabeth protested, with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Sorry, girlie," Geryon shrugged, which looked like a wave with his three torsos. "I thought about your offer once more and decided that Luke Castellan's proposition brings me much more profit."

"You fiend!" Grover cried out. "I'll go call Percy!"

The satyr stepped back to run towards his best friend, but the moment he did, Orthus looked ready to pounce.

"Uh, uh, uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Geryon wiggled his finger at the satyr. "You do that, and you might just become goat meat. Remember satyr, I won't be able to sell you, so you might just become a treat for Orthus."

The two-headed dog bared his fangs.

Grover hesitated.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Geryon grinned savagely. "This is the best deal I've gotten in millennia. I get my stables clean, and I get heaps of gold for you demigods."

"Only because you double-crossed us, you sick f*ck!" Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Now, now, there's no need to use that language on me," Geryon reprimanded the boy. "It's your fault for not letting swear on the River Styx."

Annabeth slapped her own forehead. She looked at her friends with remorse. "I'm sorry guys. This is my fault."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Naruto consoled his friend. "We'll still get out of this."

He looked back at his friends. "Because I will never let my friends die."

WITH PERCY

"Why do I have to get stuck with the dirty work?" Percy sulked to himself as he stared at the knee-deep muck in the stables. Percy was once again reminded that these were not normal horses as they were eyeing him like a piece of meat, instead of grazing on grass, not that they could do that with all the poop.

"I don't suppose you guys know how to clean your house?" The Son of Poseidon asked.

'Come inside. We will ea– I mean, show you,' The horses answered in the teen's head.

"No, thanks," He shook his head. No other way around it, he had to use the water from the river. He turned in the direction of the body of water and began to make his way there.

As he neared the body of water, there was someone waiting for him at the banks of the river. She looked like a normal teenager, except for bits of river grass braided on her long, brown hair.

"I know what you're thinking," She didn't even greet the teen.

"You look like a normal human," was what Percy said.

"Duh, we can look like a normal human if we want to?" The girl rolled her eyes. "Why was it you that came here? I heard there was the Son of Artemis here, but noooo~, I'm stuck here with an ignorant sea boy, not that I'm going to let him use my river either."

Percy ignored the jab at him. He was already used to all the nature spirits going gaga on his adoptive brother, but it was then that the naiad's words hit him. "You know what I came here to do?"

"You're not the first to come to ask me a favor, and he was soooo~ much better-looking than you are," There she was again. "I can't believe I let myself get sweet talked into helping him. WORST MISTAKE I'VE EVER MADE! Do you have any idea what the horse manure would do to my ecosystem? I'm not a sewage treatment plant! My fish will die. I'll never get much out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"

"But, my friends…" Percy pressed.

"NO! That's not my problem! I'm not going to let anyone ruin my river ever again!" She was resolute with her decision.

"Alright, you win…" Percy said.

"I said– Wait, what did you say?" The Son of the Sea God's response surprised the naiad. "Really?"

"This is your river. I'm not going to fight you for it," He explained.

"O-oh…Good thing for you," She said. She was expecting much more of an argument than this one.

"But what am I going to do? My friends are going to be sold to the Titans if I don't clean the stables by sunset," Percy asked the naiad.

"You're not as bad as I thought, sea boy, so I suppose I can help you," The naiad said. "Let me tell you a secret. Dig up some dirt."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Percy wasn't sure about the naiad's advice, but he was pressed for time and out of options, so he decided to trust her. He dug out some dirt. It was dry and black and spotted tiny clumps of white rock and…what's this?

Percy picked it up and studied it. It looked suspiciously like–

"Sea shells, petrified sea shells," The naiad pointed out. "Millions of years ago, when Gaea and Ouranos ruled the world, this land was submerged under water."

The demigod started to realize what the naiad meant. In his hand were little pieces of ancient sea urchins.

"Okay, I see your point," Percy looked up from the rock back to the naiad. "But what good is this going to do me?"

"You and I are not so different, demigod. Even when we're out of water, the water is within us, like a life force," She stepped down to the river. "I hope you succeed in helping your friends and tell your friend to come and say goodbye before you leave."

The sun was about to dip into the hills when he was back in the stables. Sometime before he returned, someone must have come around and fed the horses; he suspected it was Eurytion because he and Geryon were the only ones he saw on the ranch. The horses tore through whatever animal carcass was fed to them like a pride of lions. This, if it were possible, made the stables even more disgusting.

'Did you come to be our– I mean, join us for dinner?' The horses looked at him expectantly.

He decided to ignore them. He was in a pinch. He was denied the use of the river, and now, he was left with no way to clean the river. Out of frustration, he threw the rock into the poop. He was about to leave to regroup with his friends when he heard something fizz. It was like a balloon that had a leak.

He looked towards the direction where he threw the rock, which should have been impossible if not for the tiny water spout.

"No way…" he said, dumbfounded at what he had done. He walked closer to the fence, and spoke, "Get bigger…"

To his surprise, the water shot three feet into the air. A few curious horses stuck their tongue out to the water and immediately recoiled at the taste.

'Yuck! Salty!" They complained.

Not understanding how it happened, Percy just shrugged. He continued digging shells out of the soil and threw them at various areas of the stables. Wherever he threw them, water shot out of the poop.

The horses whinnied in panic, "Stop! Horses don't like baths!"

"More!" He yelled. He felt a tugging sensation in his gut. At the same time, the waterspouts exploded like crazy. The horses panicked around the stables as geysers spread out in various directions. Gradually, the poop started to melt like ice next to a flame. The sight was exhilarating for a Son of the Sea. In the middle of nowhere, far from the ocean, he brought the saltwater here.

The tugging sensation was more painful than before now. Water was everywhere, and the horses were begging him to stop. The horses were drenched and slipping in the mud.

The next alarming thing was trickles of water started to stream out of the stables and lead to the river.

His eyes widened.

Stop!" He yelled.

To his horror, nothing happened. The pain only built up in his gut. If he didn't do anything soon, he would be defeating his purpose of looking for another way to clean the poop.

He concentrated. He thought of the sea. He drew on the power of his father that was within him.

His eyes shot open, "STOP!"

That certainly seemed to do the trick. The geysers shut down. Percy collapsed to his knees, reeling from the effort. He raised his head to see the aftermath of his little project.

A clean stable stood in front of him, albeit with wet salty mud and around fifty horses that gleamed in the light of the setting sun.

Percy sighed in relief. He had completed his task, but his demigod intuition was pinging like crazy. Something was telling him that something had absolutely gone wrong.

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the ranch as another of Naruto's attacks had connected. It was a light show with chakra that he was expending in the fight, but the most frustrating thing, this particular monster was so persistent. Don't get me wrong, Naruto's attacks were hitting true, every single time. It's just that every time his attacks had connected, Geryon would just shrug it off and regenerate. Every. Single. Time.

"Boy, what the hell am I paying you for?" Geryon barked to his second in command. "Come and help me get rid of this boy."

"Do it yourself," Eurytion said as he lounged around a porch.

Naruto almost lost his footing with what he heard. It is the most unAres-like thing to come from a child of Ares. He would never dream of Clarisse or any of her siblings saying such things. It was just unheard of.

"Why I oughtta—"

Naruto capitalized on Geryon's distraction. He appeared right in front of him and delivered a Rasengan straight to his gut.

The latter flew back screaming in pain at the intense burning sensation that the jutsu inflicted on him.

Seeing that his attack momentarily incapacitated the monster, he immediately rushed off to his friends' side and moved to free them.

"He won't die the conventional way," Annabeth told him as he moved to cut her restraints.

"I've been stabbing him and throwing jutsu at him for hours," Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration. "How else am I going to kill him?"

"Very good question, son of Artemis!" Geryon said as he walked back to the battlefield, his wounds once again healed. "For you see, I have three hearts. The perfect back-up system, don't you think?"

Seeing the frustration in his opponent's eyes, he let out a chuckle and turned to the lazy son of Ares. "You're really not going to move a muscle? I'll deal with you once the children are dealt with."

He turned back to Naruto and smirked, "It's futile to try and fight me. Why don't you just give up?"

"If there's one thing you should know about me," Naruto rushed forward and met Geryon once again. "I never ever give up."

Naruto was a blur as he attacked from all directions. Every stab and slice was doing damage but not the lethal damage that he needed.

"Hold still, will ya?!" Geryon growled as he tried to swipe at the blonde, though his efforts were futile.

"Now why would I do that?" Naruto appeared in front of him virtually unguarded.

Geryon made a grab at him, but Naruto leaped on his hands and used them as a vault to jump in the air.

In the air, a silver bow materialized in his hands, three arrows already notched.

The three arrows fired.

Geryon smirked. Two of the arrows were off the mark and one of them even flew in the path of the other. There was no way that any of them would hit.

"You know for a Son of Artemis, yo—"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence as an arrow impaled itself through his chest from the side.

Naruto landed on the ground with such grace that his audience did a double take. It was like they were watching Lady Artemis herself.

The smugness was wiped from Geryon's face. "I-impossible, the shot…"

"Maybe you shouldn't have been so overconfident," was Naruto's cold reply.

He watched with the same expression as the slain monster collapsed to his knees, his face turning a sickly shade of green. Geryon's form broke and began crumbling into sand, leaving only his cooking aprons and a pair of oversized aprons.

He looked up to the sky and stared at the moon that was beginning to climb to the sky. "Kaa-san, are you watching?"

The moon seemed to glow brightly in response. Naruto returned it with a grin.

At that moment, his friends swarmed him.

"Naruto! That was great!" Annabeth praised.

"You're like…like…her…" Grover said with so much awe that he was practically swooning.

"Yay for Naruto!" Tyson clapped.

Nico stood on the porch watching the scene. Before that ghost had found him, he would have acted like his usual jovial self, but now he had changed. A pang of guilt washed over him. If Bianca really was alive, then she wouldn't really want to see him like this…

"We're not done yet," Naruto looked at Eurytion warily.

Sensing the eyes on him, the son of Ares sat up, his cowboy hat falling to his lap.

"Relax," he held up his hands in surrender. "I won't fight. I owe you one though. Geryon always sends me to do his dirty work. I'm just glad that he's gone."

Everyone relaxed.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Naruto asked.

"For years, I only tended the cows and fought Geryon's fights. Now...I don't know what to do."

"Maybe you could change things around here?" Grover offered.

Eurytion studied the goat, "How?"

"For starters, be nice to the animals; stop selling them for food. And more importantly, don't deal with the titans," Annabeth suggested.

The immortal son of Ares thought for a moment. "That would be alright, I guess."

"Say, how long will it take for Geryon to reform?" Naruto asked.

"Couple hundred years maybe?" He guessed.

"That will give you time to get the animals on your side," the blonde said. "And when Geryon reforms, the animals will be on your side, while he works for you for a change."

"Now that's something I can live with," the cowherd grinned.

"Naruto! Annabeth! Everyone!" Percy came running to them with worry written on his face.

Everyone turned to him.

"Yo Percy," Naruto greeted. "I take it you cleaned the stables?"

"Yes!" Percy nodded. "But what about you? Are you okay? What happened to Geryon?"

"He's gone," Naruto answered with a grin.

Percy exhaled. "That's a relief."

He noticed Nico on the side watching them. "What about you? What will you do now?"

"I don't know…" Nico's voice faltered.

"Do you still not trust us?" Naruto asked.

Nico didn't answer, but his expression betrayed him.

"If you don't believe us, do you want to talk to her?"

Hope washed over the young boy's features.

"I…I…"

Naruto tossed him a golden drachma. All we need is some water.

"We have a hose out back," Eurytion offered.

"Okay," Nico relented.

Nico gulped as Eurytion turned on the faucet and sprayed the water in the air.

After hearing the first hearing of Bianca's death, he immediately believed the words. He felt her soul leave her body. And without anyone else to tell him otherwise, he immediately believed the voice. He acted entirely on impulse.

Now, he will finally talk to Bianca after everything he did.

Will she still accept him?

Will she be mad?

What would she think of what he's become?

Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder, allowing him to gather the confidence.

He started to chant

O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow.

Accept my offering.

Show me Bianca di Angelo

I apologize for the wait. I was swamped as soon as school started. I'll try not to take longer for the next chapter