I'm so sorry for getting this out so late! I had a camping trip and a couple vacations so I'm super sorry! I'm hoping this update will make up for it. You should like it! Anyways, I'm hoping on adding more drama to this chapter, in hopes that you guys will review. I didn't get any reviews on my last update and I was sad about that. :( An unhappy author leads to unhappy readers! It doesn't take long at all to review! Please help me out here! Anyways... Let's get on with it!

(Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan.)

Percy's POV

Percy sat in the mess hall, lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't think straight ever since Jason had had a little talk with Reyna about how he felt like he was a "third-wheeler praetor." Was Percy's flirting really that obvious? What if Jason had told Annabeth how he had felt? Or Piper, or… someone else? He wouldn't be surprised if Piper had already figured something out. Her Aphrodite instincts had to have been going wild, right?

Percy start at his slice of pizza, only half-noticing all the conversing around him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades.

"Ow!" He snapped back to attention, feeling in his pocket for Riptide, his battle instincts kicking in.

"Easy!" Said a familiar voice.

Percy turned and saw Leo, an impiish grin on his face. Percy blew out a breath, glad that he hadn't nearly sliced the son of Hephaestus to bits.

"What's up?" Percy asked.

Leo fidgeted with an unrecognizable object. "Well, I gotta show you something."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"With the ship," Leo added.

Percy stood up, ignoring his lunch, and excusing himself from the table. He weaved his way through the other couches and tables, following Leo.

"Is something wrong with it?" Percy asked.

"Wrong with what?" Leo asked.

Percy sighed, smiling. "The Argo ll. You wanted to show me something with the ship. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, yeah…" Leo replied. "Yeah, nothing's wrong. At least not yet. It's best that I just show you…"

Percy shrugged, but he was still a bit worried. What if the ship wouldn't take off? Or sail, or whatever. How would the Seven get to the ancient lands without that trireme? He calmed himself, though, trusting Leo. He was the mechanic. He knew what was up with the ship.

Then again, was staying here at Camp Jupiter such a bad thing? They had friends here, and they wouldn't have to worry about going to Rome and Greece and killing giants, and all that fun demigodhishness.

Percy shook the thought away. It was nonsense. He couldn;t stay here and leave the world to be destroyed. Everyone's lives depended on Percy and his friends stopping Gaea. Staying her would be selfish.

But, Reyna was here.

Percy couldn't help but fantisize about what life would be like with Reyna. Dating, staying here as praetor…

No, he had volunteered to give his job fully over to Jason again. And he couldn't stay with Reyna. No way when he had Annabeth.

He and Leo reached the Field of Mars soon enough. The Field of Mars was where the Argo ll was being homed until the Seven set sail in about a week and a half.

Percy could hardly wrap his mind around how quickly that day was approaching. They'd have to leave soon, and he'd have to leave Reyna.

"Anyways," Leo said. "I'll take you to Festus."

Leo lead Percy over to the trireme, the bronze dragon figurehead looming above.

Leo looked up at Festus. "Hey buddy, tell Percy what you told me."

The dragon opened it's mouth and let out a series of clicks and squeaks that Percy didn't undertsand at all. When Festus was finished, Leo turned to him, eyes wide.

Percy stares blankly at Leo. "I can't speak automaton dragon, Leo."

Leo slapped his forehead. "I completley forgot not everyone can understand him! Sorry!"

Percy just shrugged. "What'd he say?"

"He said that he can detect monsters not too far off. Maybe just a few miles? And they're heading for this very camp. It's the same thing he told me earlier today when I came to check on him."

Percy frowned. "Does he know what kind of monsters?"

Leo relayed the question to Festus. After a few more dragon noises, Leo said, "He's not sure. Probably some big ones, though."

Percy's frown deepened. "Why did you only tell me this?"

Leo shrugged. "I dunno. Just felt right."

"I'll tell the other praetors," Percy said. "We'll set up extra sentries for guard duty."

Leo nodded.

Percy smiled."Thanks. For letting me now, I mean."

Leo shrugged. "I guess you wanna go finish your lunch, huh?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, my pizza's probably cold by now."

Reyna's POV

Reyna finished her lunch quickly. Where had Percy gone? She'd seen him walk off with Leo, and she couldn't help but get nervous. What were they talking about?

She tried to calm herself. Relax, she told herself. He's Leo for gods' sake. He was probably just saying something about the Greek trireme.

She wasn't sure why, but it still made her nervous…

Suddenly, as if on cue, Percy and Leo strolled into the mess hall. Well, strolled wasn't really the right word. Percy burst into the mess hall, his eyes searching for something. Or, someone.

When's Percy's eyes landed on hers, he jogged towards her. "Reyna?" He asked, breathless. "Where's Jason?"

"What's wrong?" Reyna asked, standing up. Some of the demigods seemed to notice the tension, and shifted uneasily, casting glances their way.

"I'll tell you when Jason's here," Percy said. "It's important."

Reyna frowned, scanning the mess hall for praetor regalia. When she spotted Jason, she called him over. He immediatley came.

"What is it?" He looked at his fellow praetors' grim faces.

"Leo's metal dragon said that there are several monsters a few miles off who are approaching Camp Jupiter," Percy explained.

"How does Festus know that?" Jason asked.

Percy shrugged. "I'm no dragon-whisperer. I guess he did a scan or something? Dunno, ask Leo."

Reyna's brow furrowed. The camp had already taken one attack since the Greeks had arrived, and they certianly did not need another one.

Without saying anything to the other praetors, she turned to the crowd of eating demigods and she raised her hands, signaling for their attention.

"Romans! Expect an attack on Camp Jupiter very soon!" She called.

Some legionairres gasped and started shouting and asking questions. Some looked excited, as if willing to fight. The centurions tried their best to calm down their cohorts.

"All we know is that the attacking monsters are some of Gaea's minions," Percy added. "We'll have to shore up our defenses on the watch towers."

"Prepare for a fight!" Jason finished.

The noise level in the mess hall rose several notches. Reyna took charge again.

"Legionairres! Stay calm. Be prepared, but keep your composure!" She shouted above the din. "Romans don't panic."

This made the legion becomeless rowdy, but the anxiety was still evident in the atmosphere.

Reyna exhaled. She liked feeling in charge.

"The First Cohort will take the North and East borders, and the Fifth will take the South and West borders," Jason spoke up. "Centurions, prepare your cohorts."

"The rest of you, prepare for a battle, though we don't know how many monsters will invade," Reyna concluded.

The half-bloods continued their nervous chatter. Reyna sighed. "I'm not sure what else we can do," she said to her co-praetors.

Percy shook his head. "I'm just glad Festus detected the monsters. It's better than being ambushed."

Reyna just hoped that the only casualties in this fight were on the enemy side. Camp Jupiter needed as many campers as they could get.

Same POV

Reyna stared ernestly into the distance, her spear brandished. She was searching for the enemy army. There could, possibly, be some flying monsters within their ranks, and she wanted to be sure when Gaea's minions were coming.

Scipio nickered anxiously a few feet away. Reyna had tied him up where she could easily mount him and lift into the sky if needed. Her dogs growled at her sides. She had sent them to scout out a little far out of the camp border, and they had just returned.

She reached into her jeans pocket and grabbed some jelly beans, throwing the candy at her feet. The greyhounds eagerly ate them.

Percy and Jason were placed around the border with a couple of the cohorts. Reyna was currently standing near the First Cohort. She heard the one of the centurions yelling orders to the cohort. But it wasn't Octavian's voice… Where was the other centurion?

She got her answer when she heard his familiar nasily voice at her side.

"How did you figure out about these supposed monsters?" He asked, his eyes narrow.

Reyna held back an eye roll. "The dragon figure-head on the greek ship sensed them," she explained.

Octavian raised his right brow. "And how can we trust the Greeks?"

"Why would they lie to us?" Reyna asked, irritated. "They have no reason to have us prepare for a battle, if no enemy was approaching?"

Octavian sneered. "If this is a trap-"

"Then we'll punish Leo accordingly," Reyna said. "Don't worry, Octavian. Return to your cohort."

Octavian huffed, but didn't argue. It was just like him to find an excuse not to trust the Greeks. It annoyed Reyna. The Greek demigods hadn't given them a reason not to trust them so far. But his accusations did make her a little nervous…

What if they were planning on stealing something from the Principia while the whole camp was distracted? Was Percy in on it?

Reyna immediatley felt guilty for thinking that thought. Why would Percy betray her? He had made it very clear that he liked her, and maybe even loved her. But maybe it was all just an act…

Reyna wanted to hit herself. This was nonsense. The Greeks wouldn't trick the Romans, Percy wasn't planning Camp Jupiter's demise, and he had feelings for her, right? Octavain was wrong.

Reyna straightened her spine. Aurum and Argentum bared their teeth, sensing trouble. Or maybe they were just sensing Reyna's nerves. She held her hand out to calm them.

A shriek in the sky made Reyna look up. It was one of the scout eagles, alerting the legion. Alerting the legion that the enemies were here.

Reyna was surprised at the number of monsters marching towards the camp. She had quickly mounted Skippy and was now in the air, staring at the monsters below. There were maybe a couple hundred, not nearly as many as she had originally suspected. The legion could take them… right?

Reyna tightened her grip on her spear. The centurions shouted orders at the cohort in front of her. The legionairres at the top of the towers mouted crossbows and sent a volley of arrows into the monster army. As long as they could keep them on the other side of the Camp borders, none of the warriors on the ground would need to attack. Reyna wanted to put the least amount of campers in danger as possible.

She heard growls and screams from the enemies who had been shot. The back of Reyna's mind wondered why Gaea would send an army now, and why wouldn't they try sneaking up on the Camp instead of marching. That's what they had done when the first attack had happened in the Field of Mars. Strategically, it didn't make sense, unless it was a trap.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a small explosion erupted in the enemies ranks. Thank the gods. Terminus was doing his job. She was glad he had recovered from his possesion.

Another volley of arrows shot into the sky, arching towards the monsters. Reyna realised that just crossbows wouldn't be sufficient to stop these monsters. Some of the arrows didn't even hurt the brutes.

Reyna turned Scipio and flew towards the 5th Cohort. When she was low enough that Percy, who was with them, could hear her, she said, "send the Fifth out for a frontal attack. If we need the other Cohorts, I'll get them."

Percy nodded, before speaking quickly to the Centurions. They shouted orders and lead the Fifth through the main gates. Reyna had thought that this cohort would be the best choice because they were farther away from the enemy army and would be able to surprise them. Whereas the 1st Cohort, who was closest, wouldn't be able to pull that off.

Reyna swooped back towards Gaea's army and lead Scipio into a nose-dive, her spear out-strecthed. She turned a couple monsters into shish-kebabs and repeated the movement, taking out a few monsters at a time, careful to avoid their own spears and weapons.

She saw the 5th Cohort commencing an attack on the left side of the army, undoubtedly taking them by surprise. She beamed with pride. Though the Fifth wasn't her cohort, she was glad they had broken the status quo and returned the eagle standard.

She continued this until she heard some shouts from the other side of the camp border. She brought Skippy back up and over the sentry wall, to see that some odd winged monsters were doing an aerial attack on the Second Cohort.

They started forming ranks and using their shields to protect themselves, but they couldn't do much for offense. She bristled her spear and started slashing at the weird-looking monsters. She'd never seen any thing like them before. Reyna couldn't spend much time looking at them, however, when they were attack her legion.

She and some of the sentries in the watch towers took care of the winged monsters easy enough. While she was flying back to the main battle, she noticed that her pegasus had a large gash on his side. Reyna winced, feeling guilty. One of the monsters must've gashed him with their sharp claws.

"Can you keep going for a bit or are you in too much pain?" Reyna asked her pegasus.

Her whinnied defiantly and continued to fly, so Reyna took that as a sign that he was alright for now. She would look at the incision later. All she had to do was defeat this small army.

Percy's POV

Percy fought alongside the 5th Cohort, Riptide unsheathed. Annabeth fought shoulder to shoulder with him. Since she wasn't technically a member of the legion, she didn't have to stay in ranks with the cohort. Percy was glad. He and Annabeth had fought likee a team since they were 12. He enjoyed being with him when he battled.

Percy wasn't about to say that this fight was easy, but it wasn't his most difficult encounter with monsters. He had expected far more monsters then there had been, which made him a little bit suspiscious. What was Gaea up to?

Of course it helped that it wasn't just he and Annabeth fighting these monsters. They had the Fifth Cohort with them, and there were close to only 50 monsters left. Comparatively, this was a simple fight.

Percy couldn't help but think that if Gaea really wanted to make Camp Jupiter anxious, wouldn't she send a larger army like she had done with the Battle of the Field of Mars? Perhaps she was trying to distract them from a bigger attack later on…

Percy momentarily looked up into the sky, squinting because of the mid-day sun. He saw Reyna's pegasus fly over him quickly. She looked so gorgeous and… majestic sitting atop Skippy, her cloak billowing. Gods, Percy wanted her so bad.

He snapped out of it as Annabeth stabbed at a dracanae warrior lunging at him. Great, now he just felt guilty for thinking that. But it was true!

"Thanks," Percy said, breathing hard.

Annabeth nodded as she cleaned the monster dust from her kinfe. The rest of the Fifth Cohort was finishing killing the rest of the enemy army, and Percy exhaled. Of course he was glad that the monster army wasn't huge, but he couldn't shake the cold feeling he got when he thought about it. This had to be a trap, right? Or part of some elaborate scheme Queen Dirt-Face had put together.

Percy hadn't realized he'd been sneeringg until Annabeth asked him what was wrong. He cleared his throat and shook his head.

"You can't really think that after that small army, nothing else is going to come? This has to just be a preparation to what's to come or something, right?" Percy voiced his worries.

Annabeth nodded. "The strategic part of me knows Gaea is up to something. I'm just not sure what."

Okay, so another battle! More action coming as you can see by that ending. I sincerely hoped you guys liked it! If you didn't, please let me know what you'd rather see! I'd really like to know your thoughts! Thanks to godric777 for PMing me and putting in some input on what'd you like to see! If the rest of you want to be shouted out, please review or PM me! Anyways, it might be another week and a half until the next update! I have a camp that lasts a week, and I'm sorry about that! I hope this'll hold you over until then! Review, review, and REVIEW!