In this chapter, our heroes will start their rescue mission. Can they save Annabeth? Perhaps they can gain some levels along the way. It will certainly be of help against Atlas.
You likely know how strong he is.
Chapter 4: Rescue Mission
"What's wrong, Percy?" asked Thalia.
Well, maybe she already knew what was wrong. Annabeth had fallen off a cliff. It was such a shame. She had been a friend of hers.
"Annabeth is in danger!" exclaimed Percy.
"She is?! We have to save her!" shouted Thalia. After all, were they not heroes?
The son of Poseidon nodded.
Sure, she had a habit of calling him "Seaweed Brain"...but that didn't mean that she deserved to die. The whole camp could benefit from her intellect. Maybe install a few new defenses.
"Wait, she survived the fall?" questioned Thalia.
'Yes...but I think she was captured by Luke." explained Percy.
"How I wish that he hadn't turned evil." remarked the teenage girl. Curse the titan of time.
"Did you have any dreams?" asked Percy.
The good thing about being a halfblood is that they had dreams that allowed you to keep an eye on your enemies.
Though he did admit they could be pretty scary sometimes. One of his enemies was Kronos, after all.
"I had one about Atlas searching for the Ophiotaurus...I don't know what that is though." answered Thalia.
The two of them decided to consult a book.
Apparently, the Ophiotaurus was a sea creature...that also resembled a bull.
"It says that if somebody were to kill the Ophiotaurus and burn its internal organs...they would have the power to defeat the gods." spoke the girl with black hair.
Their eyes widened upon reading that.
That wasn't good. At all.
"Oh man...my dad is not going to be happy to hear about this." noted Percy.
It could be the end of the Olympians' reign.
One could only hope that Atlas wouldn't be able to find the creature. Otherwise the titans just might end up winning this time.
Chiron had important news to tell them.
"Artemis has arrived in our camp!" exclaimed Chiron.
"She has? Isn't she the moon goddess?" asked Thalia.
They decided to talk to Artemis.
With her were her hunters.
The campers were excited to meet her in the flesh. Though none of the campers had Artemis for a mother, on account of her being a virgin goddess.
She wouldn't stick around for long though. She had urgent matters to attend to.
Apparently, Artemis was going to try to find the Ophiotaurus before Atlas did.
The fate of Olympus could very well depend on her mission.
Failing was not an option.
"Can I join your group? It sounds exciting." noted Bianca.
Unfortunately, her brother wouldn't be able to join.
"Of course." nodded Artemis.
Artemis left Zoe Nightshade in charge of the hunters while she went on the mission. She had been around since Hercules was still alive. So she had lived a pretty long life indeed.
"I won't let you down." spoke Zoe.
Suddenly, the oracle appeared.
"What the heck is that?" asked Dani.
"I know. It scares everyone." remarked Thalia.
As usual, the oracle had a prophecy for them. It was nice to be able to prepare for advance for the future. Though it was unfortunate that the oracle was undead. That gave most of the campers the creeps.
"Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."
Afterwards, the oracle stopped speaking and lied on the ground.
"Oh great! Now we have to bring her back to her resting place!" exclaimed Percy Jackson.
Grover sighed. That certainly didn't sound pleasant.
Something awakened inside of Bianca.
Using her power, she had the oracle walk back towards her resting place.
"How'd you do that?" asked Percy.
"It must be one of my demigod powers." noted Bianca.
"Does that mean your father is...Hades?" questioned Thalia.
"My dad is the god of the dead? What were the chances?" asked Nico. He was under the impression that his father would be a bit more...lively.
"Does that mean he also violated the oath?" asked Percy. Some gods just couldn't keep their promises. Though he wouldn't judge Poseidon so badly given that he genuinely wished to make his mom's life better. Perhaps the other Olympians could forgive this slight deviation from the oath.
"Actually, according to their profiles, Nico and Bianca were born before the oaths were made." explained Thalia. So, Hades did keep the oath after all. If he had a positive quality, it's that he didn't go back on his word.
"But they aren't even eighteen!" exclaimed the teenage boy. Theoretically they would be old enough to be his grandparents.
"Well, they did spend some time in the Lotus Casino. I heard that it's a fun place..." noted Thalia.
"That place gives time flies when you have fun a whole different meeting...an hour inside is multiple days on the outside." spoke Percy.
He didn't want to go there when he had things to do within a certain time frame. Though if he found a way to prevent time from passing there so quickly, maybe he could play a game or two there.
"That would explain why they're as young as they are." spoke Thalia.
"I was so sad when I had to leave that place..." remarked Nico. It was so much fun.
"At least we can make friends with people like us." pointed out Bianca. Chances are they would understand each other fairly well.
Though people did seem to be afraid of their father Hades.
Meanwhile, Dani decided to visit Mr. D.
"I didn't know that there was an Olympian working at the camp." noted Dani. It was a pleasant surprise.
Though to be fair, Chiron was related to Zeus and he too was working there.
"I got in trouble with Zeus for chasing after a nymph who wasn't interested in me. She was interested in him." explained Dionysus.
"Really?" asked Dani.
"Yeah. And to make matters worse I can't drink any wine." noted Mr. D.
'Oh man..." spoke the teenage girl.
"I'm here whether you like it or not, Manny." spoke Dionysus.
"Did you deliberately get my name wrong?" asked Dani.
"I do it to everyone." explained Mr. D. There was no discrimination.
Dani chuckled.
Mr. D raised an eyebrow curiously.
Her reaction was different than Percy's, that was for sure.
"Why do you do that though?" asked Dani.
"There are gods who are fond of heroes...but I'm not one of them." explained the god of wine.
"How come?" questioned the daughter of Hera. The stories about them were rather enjoyable. Though she wondered how much was fact and how much was fiction.
"They can't be trusted." explained Mr. D.
"Huh. I think I see your point. Didn't Oedipus kill his own father?" asked Dani. Some family they turned out to be.
"It's ironic that the prophecy happened because everyone tried to avoid it." noted Mr. D.
"Is there no fighting fate?" questioned the teenage girl. That was a bleak outlook on life, in her opinion.
'I'd like to think that the future isn't set in stone. But if the oracle prophesizes I get to go back to Olympus early, I'm all ears." spoke Dionysus.
Suddenly, Tantalus showed up.
He was scrubbing the floor.
"Is that Tantalus? I heard that he's one of the foulest residents of Tartarus." noted Dani. Not even his son had been safe from his wrath.
"He should have known better than to serve his own son at the dinner table." spoke Dionysus.
Even he knew better than to displease Zeus that way.
"Now he can't eat or drink anything!" exclaimed Dani. She couldn't imagine a life without either of those things personally. It would most likely drive her crazy.
"I decided to send him back to Tartarus at first, but I found it amusing to watch him fail to eat and drink. So I made him the janitor instead." explained Mr. D.
"I see." noted the girl.
"He once replaced the camp counselor. I actually preferred Chiron over him." spoke Mr. D.
Tantalus was actually worse to the campers than he was.
Suddenly, a donut appeared.
Mr. D was surprised.
Tantalus decided to chase after it.
But it bolted out the door.
Tantalus groaned.
A roast turkey appeared.
Dani scratched her head.
Was she the one doing that?
She decided to try summoning a burger.
She succeeded.
"Huh. I guess I'm not going to go hungry." noted Dani.
She decided to keep summoning food.
Tantalus attempted to grab it, but it ended up flying in all sorts of different directions.
This left quite a mess.
"You know who's cleaning that up." said Dionysus.
Tantalus groaned.
"I'll see you later, Mr. D." spoke Dani.
Percy and Thalia were discussing how they should plan the rescue operation.
"Six of us are going to save the goddess, right?" asked Percy.
"Yeah...I think we should analyze our options carefully." noted Thalia.
Knowing Percy, he would want to bring his buddy Grover.
They had experience working together as a team, after all.
But it was still up in the air who were going to be the remaining three.
Would they make good choices?
They noticed Dani conjuring a chicken wing.
"Having Dani on our side would ensure that we don't run out of food supplies." noted Thalia.
"Yeah. But isn't she a troublemaker?" asked Percy. She might be more trouble than she was worth.
"We might need some time to think that over." spoke the black-haired girl. If they chose their teammates poorly, the mission might not end well. And this mission was very important.
"Maybe. But we shouldn't take too long. Annabeth needs our help." noted the teenage boy. He couldn't just leave to his fate. And he was worried that the titans would capture the Ophiotaurus. What if Luke gained its power?
Thalia wondered if her guide could help them decide. And yes, that rhymed.
Suddenly, Circe appeared.
"Annabeth...where are you? We have unfinished business!" exclaimed the woman.
'Oh no. Not again." spoke Percy.
"You know her?" asked Thalia.
"She turns people into animals." explained the half-blood.
"That doesn't sound good." remarked the daughter of Zeus.
"Trust me. It's not." answered Percy.
Circe approached them.
"Where is Annabeth?" asked the sorceress.
"She's being forced to hold up the sky." noted Thalia.
"That's a bit of a shame. I was hoping to get revenge on her myself. But I suppose if she's about to get crushed, I won't need to raise a finger." spoke Circe.
"Why do you want revenge on Annabeth, anyway?" asked the daughter of the lightning god.
"She ruined my resort." explained Circe.
"I can't let you do that." spoke Percy. Besides, Annabeth was in enough trouble as it was.
"Then I'll just have to turn you into animals!" exclaimed the sorceress.
"Not again!" shouted the teenage boy.
Circe turned Percy into a frog.
It was appropriate since he was amphibious as a human.
"Oh no! Percy!" exclaimed Thalia.
Circe then followed by turning Thalia into an ostrich.
It was appropriate since Thalia was the daughter of the sky god but didn't want to take to the sky.
"Now then...let me see if I can find any more of her friends." spoke Circe. Not having them around would make things a lot easier for her.
Suddenly, Dani showed up.
"What's going on? Why all the screaming? I didn't even enter Athena's cabin this time." noted Dani.
"Ah, speak of Kronos!" exclaimed Circe.
She turned Dani into a raccoon.
But much to her surprise, she changed back.
"What's the big idea?!" exclaimed Dani, glaring at the evil sorceress.
"What?!" shouted Circe. That had never happened before.
"I guess being polymorphed doesn't do much when you can shapeshift." thought Percy.
Circe kept turning Dani into animals, but she kept changing back.
She then noticed the two animals that reminded her of Percy and Thalia.
"You turned my friends into animals, didn't you?" asked Dani.
"It's part of my revenge plan!" exclaimed Circe.
Dani shapeshifted into a rhino.
"You had better change them back. Or you're going to have a very angry mammal chasing you!" exclaimed the girl.
"Alright, alright! I'll abandon the revenge plan!" shouted the woman.
She wanted to get her resort back up and running anyway.
It was doubtful that she would turn more people into animals anytime soon though.
"And change my friends back!" exclaimed Dani.
"Yes! Of course!" nodded Circe.
Circe snapped her fingers and Thalia and Percy were returned to normal.
Thankfully their clothes stayed on so that the readers wouldn't be scarred for life. And neither would the campers.
Circe teleported away.
Since Dani had helped them in their time of need, Thalia decided to make a decision.
Dani could come along...so long as she behaved herself.
She might be mischievous, but she was a good person at heart.
"Are you up for your first mission?" asked Thalia.
"Of course!" nodded Dani. Going on a trip away from camp sounded exciting.
Though she did like it here. She thought Mr. D was her friend. So she might enjoy it at camp more than anyone else.
"Three down, three to go." said Percy.
"We're halfway there!" exclaimed Thalia.
Percy approached Grover.
"Of course! I would love to rescue Annabeth!" exclaimed Grover.
"Now we only need two more." spoke Thalia.
"Maybe I could sniff out some campers." noted Dani.
"All the more reason to bring you on this mission, I suppose." spoke Percy. Her good sense of smell would definitely help them find Annabeth.
Bianca volunteered for the mission.
"You'll take care of my sister, won't you, Percy?" asked Nico.
"Of course." nodded Percy.
The prophecy did say that two of them would meet an unfortunate fate...unfortunately.
But even so, he would do his best. And he couldn't just leave Annabeth in fate.
Besides, he got the feeling that something big was at stake.
Zoe Nightshade volunteered to join them. Though she seemed to wish to take charge of this mission.
"That's everyone. Should we get going?" asked Thalia.
Percy nodded.
It was time to begin their search for Annabeth...
...and the Ophiotaurus.
One could only hope the mission would be a success.
Although, the prophecy did say that they would prevail.
But they would exercise caution, just in case.
It was certainly going to be a mission that they would remember.
Our heroes now have a party. Hopefully they can make it without too many casualties.
And yes, Dani is friends with Mr. D. Why are they friends you ask? Well, I figured even he could have a camper that he is friends with.
Dani is a bit of an oddball among the campers, as you can tell.
And yeah, I'll be featuring characters that only appeared in one book. Rick Riordan has a habit of featuring one-shot characters in his books, doesn't he? That's not a bad thing but I figured it would be fun to give some of them a bit more screen time.
