All rights below to Rick Riordan
Daughter of the Dragon (Part 2)
(Thalia)
"So, then Miss Lieutenant, what exactly is your plan for dealing with that thing? Its armour makes it all but immune to projectiles and I don't imagine they would be kind enough to let us close the distance and hack a few of it's tendons apart." Hylla inquired sarcastically after I landed and made my way over here, off all the people on our side she now looked the least like a hunter.
On top of the fact she appeared older than everyone else being in her twenties. She had also forsaken her jacket in favour of a large golden breastplate with shoulder guards and vambraces to suit. Topping it all was an extremely ornate golden belt she wore around her hips.
"I am quite aware of that; I am however more concerned with the fact of where it came from? Reyna was not even aware of them having it today. She was as surprised as we were." I told her looking over the edge of the trench and spotting the hulking creature slowly making its way in this general direction. Fortunately, the state of the field was slowing it down as it had to avoid all the undulating and scarred ground.
"Good to hear that our spy on their side missed that little nugget of information." One of the other Amazons muttered angrily only to be immediately cowed by her Queen glaring at her.
"Regardless it is there and we need to deal with it. It is bad enough having Clarisse rampaging about unchecked. We need to separate the two of them and deal with one of them at a time. Fortunately, we have bait that one of them can't help but chase after." Hylla said with a smile as suddenly I felt a lot of eyes looking at me.
"That is hardly fair." I protested weakly.
"Pretty sure it was your fault this game is taking place anyway Thals, so it kind of is." Erika joked as I face-palmed.
"Relax it is not as if you are going to be going alone, we have your back even if we do sometimes want to kill you ourselves." Zoe said reassuringly as a number of girls laughed, I looked at the demi-Titan who was standing next to Queen Hylla. Though you could barely tell it was her due to the long cloak she was wearing covering her from head to toe leaving just her face visible.
"As it stands, we have two issues to contend with simultaneously so we are going to need to separate our forces. Hylla, you and Zoe take the chariots and try and find a way of dealing with that Elephant. If you can't then just keep it busy. The rest of us unfortunately get the Legion and a very angry Hipparch." I stated as the two older girls looked at one another with almost matching grins. I wish I could say the rest looked as enthusiastic about their task as they looked almost resigned to their fate.
"What about Morganna and Marina?" Suzie asked curiously, as far as we were aware, they were still playing cat and mouse with a squad of pursuers on the far side of the field.
"We are fine for the moment; they haven't caught us yet but they are stopping us coming back to you. Are 'those' two still on the city side of the field." Morganna answered through the headset after a few seconds sounding a little out of breath.
"Obviously, where else would we be? If you want help you better come to us, bad enough we got dragged out to this muddy hell hole. I don't know what our goddess was thinking." Another girl complained as everyone present with headsets rolled their eyes in perfect synchronicity. Whilst any extra help was always appreciated in this case, it had some serious caveats particularly when their overall attitude sucked.
"It doesn't matter if you like it or not, you are here now so help them if you can. If not stay hidden, I am quite aware of your 'limitations'." I told her back sharply the girl's sense of superiority driving me mad. She was not the only one wondering what a goddess was thinking; though I think even she was given little choice in the matter in accepting the help.
"You two with us, the rest of you follow Thalia's command." Hylla added pointing to two of her Amazons whilst the rest merely nodded as she walked away towards where the mechanical chariots were hidden a short way away.
"Good luck sisters." Zoe said simply before following with the Amazon's. Despite the relatively soft ground in the trench you could still hear the girl's uncharacteristically heavy footfalls for a short while.
"Are we allowed to feel sorry for the Elephant?" One of the remaining Amazons asked.
"Of course, however our opponents could say the same could be said for us having to deal with Clarisse. Now come on we have a game to win."
(Percy)
Whilst none of us immortals except Artemis were aware of the Hunter's plan to deal with the Elephant that was not to say we ignorant of the situation. In fact, it was actually raising some very uncomfortable questions for another group of immortals standing in front of us looking very pale.
"Would someone like to explain that to us clearly before I disqualify the entire Legion?" Zeus said threateningly.
"What do you mean fathe-"
"Jason I do not appreciate being lied to, so I recommend you consider that answer really hard before answering."
"That is not the Legion's Elephant is it? Because as of a week ago it should be in San Francisco where Mercury took it for treatment. Unlike the Hunt the strengths and capabilities of the Camps is known to most of us present and some of us take note of these things." Anna Minerva remarked seriously her grey eyes boring into her youngest sibling.
"So, can one of you kindly explain what is going on with what I assume to be Frank Zhang masquerading as a damned animal on a battlefield he should not be on? Need I remind you all that the ancient laws exist for a reason!" Jupiter boomed.
"I don't know father; I swear on the Styx we never discussed this to my knowledge." Jason answered.
"Hazel?" Hades asked looking at his Daughter.
"I swear on the Styx father."
"For what it's worth I want the Hunt to win, so not guilty." Nico said smiling at me and Artemis.
"Artemis what is your opinion on this? You have been strangely quiet about it so far." Zeus looking at the silent goddess.
"For the moment it or rather they have not done anything other than cause a small force to soon engage it. Though I am sure I can think of something appropriate by the time my former Lieutenant and the Amazon Queen has dealt with it. I would rather win this game honestly than on a technicality due to some behind the scenes trickery."
"Haven't they been cheating the whole game so far, half of them are not even Hunters?" Venus asked seemingly finally noticing that none of us were paying attention to the battle below.
"Technically I am one of their patron gods along with Ares so they are able to join if they so wish. As one of the parties who stand to gain from the potential new system, it was in their interests. It was only the camps that were restricted from increasing their numbers." Artemis explained with a smile looking at her rival who looked away. Come to think of it, this was one of the few times her appearance was remaining static in her natural looks.
"That doesn't explain those two annoying harpies." Apollo chimed pointing at the random pair of girls sitting in the corner of the field as if they were having a picnic. They were not even trying to hide with their silver Parka's tossed behind them as they sat next to a small fire stoking the flames.
"They are pure human they can do as they wish; it would be against the Ancient Laws to do anything about them would it not." Vesta explained innocently as every pair of eyes turned towards her. What she said was technically true, even if they were both blessed by the goddess in question. However, that was also reliant on them being close to her temple hence why they were on the city side away from everyone else. Any further and they would be as powerless as a mortal.
"Silence, we will deal with any other transgressions after this situation is dealt with first." Zeus demanded as below a pair of chariots charged towards the 'elephant' at last.
(Zoe)
As I rode the chariot across the field towards our target, I couldn't help but feel strangely euphoric about the coming battle.
For the last few millennia up until my first death, I had generally disliked fighting. Sure, I like my fellow sisters-in-arms was more than capable of it. But it was always simply a means to an end. We specialised as ambushers, strike hard and fast and then get out of trouble. We were exactly as the name said Hunters.
Sure, some of us got a bit more into it than others depending on their respective heritage, but unlike the vast majority of Hunter's over the years I was not a demigod, I was by birth a Hesperide, a fancy title but nevertheless a Nymph. As such I was more naturally inclined to the wild side of the Hunt.
As a result, in the time between my death and return it was quite startling to see the change that the Hunt had undergone. Following my death, the Hunters had waged a gorilla campaign against the Forces of Kronos for 18 months before fighting an open siege battle for New York and Olympus. A short break and then dealing with Gaia and then being unwitting victims in a demigod civil war. That was not even getting into the whole Lady Artemis / Percy Jackson situation.
So as to say that things had changed under Thalia's leadership was an understatement. However, I did not blame her for her choices in those conflicts. Sure, I might question some of the things she did on impulse but that was the way the children of the 'Big Three' were, even Artemis was prone to this herself let alone Percy who seemingly had the potential to change all known conventions at a whim.
But that was beyond the point of why here I was now riding a chariot to fight an armoured war elephant with no plan and no weapons other than a short pair of hunting knives with very little backup to boot. I should have been questioning where everything had gone wrong but instead, I was almost excited for the challenge.
"If you could kindly avoid wrecking my chariot it would be appreciated." The amazon girl next to me asked, snapping me out of thoughts as I noticed I had slowly been bending the bronze frame of our shared chariot as I had leaned forward. Relaxing I slowly raised my left hand to my face looking at the bright metal encasing it.
Whilst I would likely never have a normal relationship with my father on account of the fact he did… kill me.
He was at least trying to make amends judging by the gift I was now wearing underneath the cape.
What was more surprising to me was that he still actually had it. Being that it was made before the first Titanomachy for his firstborn son. Which fate had caused to continuously avoid him as my fellow Hesperides and Calypso were constant reminders of. Even the adopted boy Hyas had been rather short-lived before being gored by a Boar whilst hunting like an amateur. Didn't stop my distant half-sister's the Hyades from literally crying themselves to death over the fact. Sure, enough the gift I now bore would probably have protected him if he had worn it but hindsight was a wonderful thing, didn't stop him being a fool though. From what I heard my father had not taken the loss of either him or them particularly well but being stuck in place, there was little he could do about it other than shout and stamp his feet.
Technically I suppose I helped avenge him a few years later when the Hunt killed the boar but that was really nothing to do with me. I had long since stopped caring about my biological sisters at that point. I was still just a junior hunter at that point still.
"Were up, are you ready for this?" The Amazon queen said through the ear piece.
"I suppose it is about time I do something in this battle." I retorted calmly looking across at the other chariot as the Amazon cracked her knuckles.
As we closed to within twenty meters the two chariots swung in opposite directions violently as myself and Hylla leapt off them and ran towards the Elephant barrelling towards us in kind.
What happened next was strangely instinctive as I grabbed a hold of the elephants left tusk as Hylla grabbed the other and we dug our heels in. For a few seconds I felt myself sliding backwards as my muscles strained against the force being exerted against them, and yet despite all known conventions of size and mass we then stopped as the elephant's impetus was lost and we settled into a straight test of strength.
The two of us against the large grey beast in front of us who lowered its head as it tried to dislodge us but to no avail. I imagined it was rather surprising for the elephant who was probably confused why the two girls holding its tusks were not either A) Gored, B) Tossed aside or C) Trampled underfoot.
However, what was most surprising was the fact that even now I did not feel particularly taxed, sure I recognised I was putting a lot of effort into this but not enough to feel tired or to break a serious sweat. If anything, I was rather disappointed with the lack of difficulty I was under. Sure I was only doing half the work the Girdle enhanced Hylla likewise sharing in the burden but even so I expected… more.
"Do you feel like doing something crazy?" Hylla asked from besides me. A little sweat appearing upon her brow and her breathing slightly laboured but otherwise fine.
"Sure, what could be crazier than charging an elephant in the first place?" I asked back looking at her as she grinned and tilted her head back and I got the rough idea as I started to tilt the elephants tusk in the opposite direction lifting its head up as its eyes seemed to open in panic as its front pads were slowly rising from the surface of the soil.
It soon began to try and flail erratically but even so this was only now just beginning to cause a little stress upon me and I carried on lifting and repositioning myself as I prepared for one final act of brute force.
The sound of the elephant trumpeting in panic was drowned out as I found myself laughing my way through the ordeal like some sort of mad woman as I finally managed to lift the beast of the ground and throw it over our shoulders onto its back with a heavy impact as six thousand kilos plus of armoured mammal impacted onto the California soil.
It was only after a delivered a sharp blow to the creature's temples and its eyes rolled backwards did, I look around and realised what I had just done. From where we had first come into contact there were four, 8-meter trenches in the soil before they stopped where we were currently standing.
"Did we just… Suplex… an Elephant?" Hylla asked through heavy breaths of air before falling to her knees and bending over as she began to cough seemingly painfully however, she held an arm out to stop me approaching as if to say she would be fine. Eventually she would sit back on her knees and look up to sky and the stands high above and begin to laugh.
Taking a seat next to her I could not help but do the same as I was questioned the absurdity of the whole situation that had just transpired.
"Yeah I think we did." I said patting her on the back unfortunately hard enough to almost throw her forwards on her face.
"Ouch… Next time start off by punching it in the face please." She whined rubbing her back.
"That would probably be easier come to think about it, maybe I will next time this was a bit over the top to be honest but it was your idea. Still that was only the beginning we still need to win the game yet." I said grinning getting back to my feet before realising I had lost my cape.
At this point there was no point in trying to hide the elaborate suit of silver armour I was wearing or at least most of it.
"It is such a shame the breastplate didn't fit, it looked really good." Hylla said noticing my dilemma as she slowly rose to her feet.
"The key term being breast, this was made for a man after all. I would take being able to breathe normally over a small amount of protection. Still the least I can do is make use of it for the time being, the last thing I need is breaking my own knuckles when I hit something." I told her with a sigh as I looked at the shiny metal carapace covering parts of my body.
As it was the composite Orthritic Silver/Steel armour covered my arms, legs and hips and back leaving just my chest unarmoured. Despite the added bulk and weight, it still felt only slightly heavier than a set of thick clothing due to my enhanced strength.
The armour was basically made with whatever Orthrytic Silver was left over after the creation of the other symbols of power that the Titans created the largest obviously being Selene's chariot and Pallas's full suit of armour. What my father managed to scrounge up was not enough for his own large frame and being that it for most was just an ordinary if ornate set of armour it was largely forgotten about when the Titanomachy occurred. Ironically it was actually the steel that was more interesting considering it was produced several millennia before Human's developed stainless steel themselves.
"Fortunately then for me, I am pretty much a billionaire and can get mine tailored to my body. Hahaha, such first world problems we face." The Amazon Queen said laughing though sure enough the bronze breastplate did place quite some emphasis on her own considerable curves, she certainly had her younger sister beaten that was for certain.
"Right then, suppose we better go knock some sense into that Ares g-. The fuck!" Hylla said turning towards the Roman formation in the distance as the 'elephant' besides us glowed briefly before shrinking to the size of a familiar dazed member of the god of Heroes.
Before either of us could respond however we were suddenly greeted by no less than three gods, a goddess and a Titan Lord as they instantly surrounded the collapsed minor god.
"Hephaestus would you kindly bind him please, Father is likely to lose patience if we take too long." Anna Minerva said almost commandingly to her older sibling as the smith god procured a bronze chain that shot towards Frank like a snake made of links wrapping around and binding him securely in seconds.
At which point the other two gods approached him and dragged him to his feet, one who was looked like he was struggling not to burst a blood vessel out of anger.
"Is the fool fine or not, I don't have the time and certainly not the patience currently Apollo." Mars said tensely as he looked over his son's bound body.
"Well someone tried to punch his brains out of his ass, but other than a little concussion he should be fine in a few hours." Apollo said shrugging taking his hand of the Canadian gods head.
"Good enough, because I and many others want some answers now. Otherwise Artemis is having everyone's balls over this." Mars growled grabbing the chained god by the neck and flashing away as me and Hylla hurriedly looked away. Shortly afterwards by the smaller figure of Anna Minerva.
"Ha the only person's balls that sis is interested in is h-" Apollo began to joke as thunder boomed overhead, though not as a result of Zeus but the sonic boom of an arrow passing next to the gods head and digging another trench in the soil.
"Shit sis, take a fucking joke." Apollo said sheepishly looking at the floor.
"One of these days she is going to choose not to miss you, you know that right?" Hephaestus said gruffly with a sigh as he shook his head before turning towards the two of us.
"You did good girls, takes serious guts to do something as crazy as that. Nice armour by the way, I would love to take a look and adjust it for you some day if you want." He said tilting his head as if to take in all the finer details until I decided to just do a full turn so he could see.
"Thank you Lord Hephaestus for your offer but I am not keeping it." I replied bowing.
"Shame, it suits a Hunter with your 'gifts'. Well maybe you were a little too gifted I suppose." He said with a chuckle at the innuendo.
"Hey sis where is his arrow? I say something like that-" Apollo shouted indignantly at the highest floating platform where a silver-clothed goddess could be barely seen holding a notched bow aimed at her twin.
"Difference is I have done nothing to annoy her constantly for two thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine years in a row. Now come on before she does kill you. Good Luck to the both of you." The blacksmith said with a wave as he slapped his sibling on the back winding Apollo before they both disappeared.
"Well that was interesting? Can't say any of us thought you were going to do that. Considering that was not a normal elephant, surprised you pulled it off; then again you did punch me through a wall." Percy said in amusement finally saying something for the first time since arriving. Turning towards us I noticed his eyes shifting from full gold back to normal.
"Wait you knew that was Frank?" Hylla said wide-eyed at the revelation.
"Give us credit, if we had known beforehand we would have stopped it before the game. But it was pretty obvious the moment he came out on the field. We didn't lie in planning when we said Scipio was at the Zoo, so suddenly making a miraculous recovery and getting back was a bit of a strange situation that only had one reasonable answer. But we had faith in you to pull it out of the bag, besides now we get to play a wildcard of our own." Percy said with a grin that was almost worrying, it was the sort of look I would more expect on Perseus.
"Like what?" Hylla asked as something small and golden walked out of the Titan's shadow.
"Pick a number between two and five." He asked as I got the feeling where this was going. The fact he excluded one being obvious. An eye for an eye. Whatever the situation with Frank was, the camps had the unwitting help from a divine animal. So Artemis was naturally equalling the score and Nemea was certainly on equal footing with a minor god.
"Two." Hylla said instinctively beside me.
"You heard her girl, Second Cohort and please don't eat anyone." He said as the kitten suddenly bent downwards to stretch her body out before she started to grow quickly obscuring the Titan behind her.
"Right then before I go, another small gift for you." He said reappearing above the lioness having taken flight as he tossed a small Ziploc bag towards us which I instinctively caught. Without another word he flapped his wings and began to ascend as he headed back to the gods platform.
"So wait what happens now, because I am really confused." Hylla admitted confused as I handed her the bag of Ambrosia pieces. Our struggle having clearly been more tiring on her than me. The girdle gave her enhanced strength to almost match my own but I had the extra advantage in endurance.
"This beautiful girl is going to annihilate the second cohort as requested and then we are going to beat the other three up as well. Sound like a plan?" I told her reaching upwards and climbing onto the Lioness's back before reaching a hand down towards the Amazon who was stuffing the ambrosia down her throat trying not to choke. Eventually managing to swallow the last of it she grabbed my hand and climbing in front of me.
"As long as it does involve judo flipping any more large mammals then I am game. Beats having a profit meeting, on how to avoid all national taxes around the world.
"Wait what?" I asked in confusion.
"Nothing just Amazon stuff." She said shiftily looking forward.
"Let's go Nemea." I told the divine animal as she purred appreciatively before surging forward knocking Hylla back against me.
(Reyna)
"What in hades is going on?" One of the remaining Greek campers said out loud echoing probably many similar thoughts from both myself and the rest of my forces.
I was as confused by the appearance of 'Scipio' as everyone else but was able to roll with it and was looking at how this could be used to our advantage, when before we could do anything two armoured figures had engaged it into hand to hand combat, over-powered it and flipped it over in the space of less than a minute.
After which two tense minutes later the elephant was now gone and we caught site of what I assumed to be Percy flying back upwards as a large golden mass replaced where the Elephant had been.
Then with a single large bound the Lioness shot off in the direction of Clarisse and the second, third and fourth Cohorts who were engaging the Hunters on the other side of field. I was still with the fifth cohort, who was currently acting as a rear guard defending the fort in case of some form of surprise. Which was good because by my estimate in five minutes we were likely to be the only forces left on the field on our side.
"We are so screwed!" Another Greek Apollo boy shouted in terror. The fact that he was likely completely correct was beyond the point and certainly not helpful.
"Praetor what should we do?" The cohorts now senior Centurion Dakota asked uneasily as the distance continued to decrease between the other forces.
"Against Nemea? There is nothing we could do, unless someone has got the world's largest steak or a small whale over there, they are fucked. Someone has seriously screwed things up if Artemis is allowed to unleash her and I bet it had something to do with that damned Elephant. Order the Cohort to retreat inside the fort; out here we are simply easy pickings." I said with a sigh, turning Scipio around and trotting back towards the gates.
Not for the first time in my spell as leader of this camp I was glad for the more laidback nature of the Fifth Cohort. There was no complaining about cowardice or challenging the command they simply did as they were told. Because in truth they knew I was not lying to them, I knew what Nemea was capable of more than they did.
Besides they were also not mindless glory hungry idiots that recognised that they were outclassed.
Sure I knew that Percy, Thalia and Zoe had killed her before with some help but that was before she became a Divine Beast with Adamantium Claws, increased intelligence, the ability to breath fire and whatever else she had inherited from Percy. They had at the time three children of the big three counting the unclaimed Bianca and the greatest Hunter to ever live. Even with the currently empowered Clarisse that was a hell difference in capability.
Still despite my conflicted loyalties in this 'battle' it was hard to watch the Lioness smash into the side of the Second Cohort's formation and scatter it like a set of pins down a bowling lane. Sure it was the same result as if Scipio had done the same thing. However Nemea was considerably faster and more agile as she darted around knocking around the dazed Legionnaires. I unfortunately could not see the two smaller figures that leapt off her back to further crush the Cohort in such a systematic blow to our combined forces.
However just as the last Legionnaire fell incapacitated the Lioness was gone, disappeared back into shadows leaving just two armoured girls standing where a full cohort of forty had been only minutes before. I half expected Nemea to reappear in the fort and slaughter everyone in there but the lack of screaming from inside put an end to that thought. Sure enough she was simply gone as quick as she arrived.
Little did I know from here even the Hunter's had stopped fighting the third and fourth to watch this short annihilation with awe. In fact the only person who had not stopped was Clarisse who had managed to knock out Amy, Suzie and Jacqueline and two Amazon's in rapid succession. Only the fact that the Hunters were spread out slowing her down from this point onwards.
'What should we do?' I found myself suddenly reconsidering at this latest development.
"Um. Praetor maybe you should take a look towards the cit—" Someone began to say before being cut off by an inhuman bestial screech that caused me to cover my ears despite being at least half a mile away. Unfortunately for me Scipio had reared back in surprise or fright dropping me to the floor as I let go of his reigns.
Despite this I was still able to look across the Field of Mars towards the city in the distance.
Or rather what was visible of the city over the large wall of flames that was raging at the corner of field perpendicular to it.
However that was not the worrying thing about this situation. No that was the large black mass at the base of the flames that was slowly uncoiling its body as its head reared its cry at the sky. Finally a pair of large wings unfurled from its back blocking out the flames from view.
"Praetor?" Dakota said panic hurrying to help me to my feet.
"I have no idea just run." I told him and the nearest Legionnaires as the entire cohort began to run for the fort. Nemea I could somewhat explain and knew roughly what to deal with, as for a fifty meter black-scaled dragon I had no idea what it was, where it came from or why it was here.
The only thing was for certain was that considering the multitude of divine beings overhead, not immediately delivering instant death to it, it must have been a legitimate part of this battle since the beginning… Wait wasn't Marina and Morganna last seen over there heading towards the city?
[Marina]
"Come on we are almost to the edge now." I told the older girl as I desperately tried to half drag her with me. Morganna had taken an arrow to her leg that had paralysed it stopping her from running.
Up ahead we could see the two girls who were supposed to be on our side, albeit unwillingly but any help would be appreciated compared to the six demigods chasing after us. Unfortunately the two Apollo kids had been able to target us with ease, incapacitating Morganna in an arm and leg whilst two arrows had also me but instead simply gone through me with only a little discomfort.
But now they were only a few dozen meters behind, closer than the safety offered ahead.
"Go get out of here, leave me." Morganna said struggling to stand on her own and pushing me away.
"I am not leaving you behind." I shouted back grabbing her side again and trying to move her again only to feel another sting as a third projectile hit me in the side of the chest. However as I went to take a step Morganna dropped to the floor as deadweight carrying me down with her.
It was only when I hurriedly stood up and grabbed her parka did I see the blood flowing out of the side of her mouth and the javelin in her sternum, the point piercing out of her back as blood pooled beneath her.
"No no no, I didn't mean to. Alexi get over here and try and help her." A boy behind me said in panic as I simply sat back in shock at the sight of the crimson fluid on my fingers. I suddenly found myself pushed aside as a boy and girl tossed aside there bows and bent over the fallen hunter.
"She doesn't have a pulse, Sherman." The smaller boy treating her shouted back at the muscled figure that had caught up at last.
"Alexi focus, O great father Apollo, help me to treat this wound." The girl began to pray and I felt tears on my face. I had only known her for a few days but she had tried to protect me and now I could do nothing in return as she lay dying.
(Artemis)
"What do you mean, leave her be Hecate? My Hunter, your Daughter is dying!" I screamed at the stone faced goddess of magic who had appeared in our stand the moment Morganna was wounded.
"With respect I know my daughter better than you do. She will be fine, same as she always has." The former Titaness turned goddess said calmly and firmly.
"And I have two children, currently treating her saying she is not breathing and flat lining." Apollo said rising from his seat.
"Hecate you know I can save her, so let me go or you will lose that hand and then I will save her." Percy threatened having already had one foot on the railing before she had appeared and grabbed him.
"Have patience and watch, this is not the first time this has happened. Is it Lord Hades?" Hecate said turning towards my uncle who suddenly looked uncomfortable
"No, nor do I feel her soul getting ready to leave her body." The Lord of the Dead coldly conceded as everyone looked at him.
"See now watch." The elder goddess said with a sinister smile.
(Marina)
"Wait I have a pulse again." The girl said as she continued to do CPR on Morganna as her sibling hurried to stim the blood loss from the hunter's wounds.
"That's great and all but if we don't stop her bleeding she is still going to die…" The boy Alexi said only to go quiet as a hand grabbed him by the throat.
"What on earth, you are in shock; we are trying to save you. Let him go and stay still." The girl said panicked before she found herself being crushed under her sibling as Morganna threw him away towards her.
I could only look wide-eyed as the Hunter slowly rose back to her feet. Her outfit torn and bloodied now in multiple places and still impaled upon the javelin through her side. What was most startling was that her hair was slowly paling to blond from its previous black colouring.
"Morganna?" I asked nervously as the girl looked around now with yellow eyes replacing her previous emerald green.
At my words the girl seemed to notice me as well the six foot object penetrating her flesh. With one deft movement she grabbed the spear and pulled it clean out of her body before dropping it to the ground with a clang of metal on stone. However as I stared in horror the wound in her side repaired itself instantly as flesh sowed itself back together without so much as a scar.
"Morganna…No, that is not my name." She said her voice sounding deeper more mature as she slowly looked at her own blood stained hands.
"My name is Morgan Le Fay, oldest daughter and rightful heir of Uther Pendragon and Hecate, Queen of Britannia" The now pale blond said her voice now one of someone who spoke with authority and dignity.
Well that was until she collapsed to the ground and began screaming in agony.
"Run, get away from me!" She shouted her voice back to that it was previously.
"Sorry girl, I know your goddess doesn't like this sort of thing but we are leaving." The larger boy Sherman said as he grabbed me by the waist and started carrying me away as fast as he could run towards the city as his compatriots hurriedly did the same. From my position I could look back as Morganna screamed in pain as her leg snapped the wrong way at her knee now bending forwards. The sound of bones breaking and reforming only rivalled by her screams.
Before long however her voice faded into little more than the occasional whimper or growl. Yet even so her body continued to change as her skin turned black and her body grew. Her hands and feet now ending in sharp claws as a long serpentine tale stretched out behind her significantly larger body.
Slowly the creature she had become was able to rise to it four feet. Crushing the soil between its paws the now distinctly dragonic being let out a shrill screech that caused the boy carrying me to drop me and cover his ears as he and his fellow campers fell to the ground in pain at the high pitch. However I appeared to be fine as I watched the dragon girl suddenly charge towards us covering several meters with each stride. Yet still she appeared to grow as two raven scaled wings spread out behind her.
When she was only a few meters away an enormous column of flames leapt up in front of me, my body instinctively leaping back from raging inferno as I crawled further away.
"Really sister what are they thinking with this battle. Monsters and abominations everywhere you look."
"In fairness sister I don't think anyone expected this from the last Pendragon girl. Begone we don't want you here." The second girl said standing upright her hand outstretched towards the wall of fire behind me. Barely visible through the blaze the now fully transformed dragon was standing on her hind legs with her wings flared to the side towering over all but the largest temples in the city and making any rational person feel insignificant as I would have measured up to an ankle at most.
'Keep…S-safe…Mar—na.' I felt a voice tell me mentally before the great dragon turned around headed back towards the battlefield.
"Do you girls mind if we just stay here and not have to fight against whoever or whatever that is?" Sherman asked sitting down next to the Vestal Virgins.
"Depends on whether you can be silent or not Greek?"
"Pretty sure that was racist but why not, beats fighting dragons, invincible lionesses and very angry girls. Pack it up guys we're done, I will deal with Clarisse… if she survives." He added as a great roar echoed across the field.
(Percy)
'So did you somehow plan this or is this crazy circus occurring naturally now.' I asked Artemis now as I watched the hunter turned dragon lumber across field.
'Oh hades no, I stopped predicting the moment Clarisse went invulnerable. It is certainly interesting though is it not? It is almost as if someone was trying to rig the game against us and was failing absolutely miserably. Have you noticed someone is starting to squirm around a lot in the front row and I am not talking about the one chained up?' Artemis retorted with a sense of satisfaction.
'So what Piper was behind Frank and the bewitched kid?'
'Well two people didn't swear earlier and I cannot see Valdez being able to do anything like that. Besides he does not have a vendetta against certain people, as annoying as he can be, he is not that bad. Still so far she has sacrificed a small amount of effort for an entire cohort with that Frank shenanigan and now we have a sentient dragon. Doesn't look like it is going according to plan, the only reason she is not in chains already is because my father wants to see if anything else happens before the end of the game. So let's see what other surprises are in store today.' She replied with a smile before taking a sip of wine and offering the chalice to me.
"Makes me miss when capture the flag only had the occasional Hellhound incident." I said with a sigh before taking a sip myself.
Authors Note: Well that is part two of this battle done at last, shame it took me so long to actually start writing it considering it only took less than a week.
In all honesty there are parts I am not entirely happy with and I am sure some of you would probably agree so I accept any criticism coming my way.
Anyway I see that dear old Rick has been copying me again with regards to everyone's favourite Praetor, I did it before it was cool just like Nemea. Not that I have been bothered to read the Apollo Books since the first one which seemed to be desperate to pile as many coincidences together from the first two series and say Nero and friends was to blame for it all. With Respect Kronos or Gaia would bitch slap a sort of god thing like him harder than Thanos did Captain Marvel in Endgame.
Spoiler alert Arianna is going to hunt them all down in an afternoon for shits and giggles. With no one else in the cast literally none the wiser.
Still better than killing the wrong one in certain coupling. But that is what this fic is for ;).
If anyone want any clarification on any of the developments in the last two chapters just message me or leave it in the reviews and I will endeavour to answer where possible.