At last, Friday had finally come.
Rhea watches with wide eyes as people started standing up at the tables once the plates were cleared away. A conch shell rang through the night air, mixing alongside the cheers of the campers. Leaning over a bit, Rhea watches with wide eyes as Annabeth and two of her siblings carried a large silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painted Uxie above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and two of her brothers, ran in with another banner. Theirs were a gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a Koraidon's head.
"Those are the flags?" Rhea asked over the noise at Luke and Chris, "do Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"
"Not always," Luke smiles, "But often,"
"Sooo...what happens when another cabins gets the flag...do you repaint it?"
Chris grins, Deslizar, his Galarian Linoone pants beside him, tongue hanging out, "You'll see...first we have to get it,"
"Heroes," Chiron calls out, with a smile as he pounded his hoof on the marble "Its time. The game begins,"
The teams were announced, Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded- shower tines, chore schedules, the best slots for activities- in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everyone else: Dionysus Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. The Dionysus kids Castor and Pollux were pretty athletic and could control plants and, as Chris warned her, could make her a bit paranoid with their small ability to control madness. It wasn't as strong as Mr. D's but it could mess anyone in a fight. Demeter kids, led by Katie Gardiner, who was deadly fighting beside her Vileplume. All of them have edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff. At first, Rhea wasn't too worried about the Aphoridte kids, as they mostly sat out of every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair while gossiping. But seeing Silena beginning to order them around, standing tall besides Clarisse, with her Lopunny gazing at them as if they were something that she had stepped on, Rhea began to worry. It was clear to her that Silene took after Aphorodite's war side the most out of her kids. Hephaestus' were big and huge, and allied themselves with fire types, Rhea knew that besides the Ares' kids, they were going to be a problem. And speaking of the Ares' kids, Rhea swallows as the biggest meanest kids of all of Camp scream, banging their fists on their table.
"The first team to retrieve the opposing flag and return it across the river, shall be the victor," Chiron announced, pulling the attention to him, "As always, there will be no maiming and no killing," Rhea gulps, wondering why that had to be told, look at Luke with wide eyes. He gave her a sly look, as if he knew something she didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight, but she shakes it off. Luke would never hurt her, he reminded her too much of Triton. "I trust these rules will be respected," he gives a hard look to the Ares' table, to Clarisse who grins wide, crossing her arms. "The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game and not only are you allowed your Pokemon to fight beside you but all magic items you may possess, are permitted as well.
Rhea frowns at this, rubbing her bracelet and wishing more than anything that she could use it. Shaking her head and ignoring the concern looks from Ethan and Chris, she goes back to listening to Chiron. "The banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic alongside Bianca and Michael," the two children of Apollo smile, waving their hands. "And now, arm yourselves!"
Chiron spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, bows and arrows, tridents and oxhide shields coated in metal, "Whoa," Rhea gasps, her mouth dropping a bit, "Now only if I knew what my job is," Rhea asked grabbing a hold of a shield that was the size of an NBA backboard with a big caduceus in the middle. She frowns a bit, it feeling like it weight about a million pounds. "I could possibly snowboard on this," she whispers, "Maybe I won't even need a shield,"
"Let the games begin!" Chiron calls out, and the Red Team roar out, shaking their weapons in the air before throwing taunts at the Blue Team.
"I'm...gonna need a shield," Rhea whispers, making Ethan snort under his breath.
"Unless you want to get skrewed by your friends in cabin five," Luke laughs before he joins the Blue Team in their battle cry. He then turns his head towards Annabeth, who walked over to him. Rhea blinks at the helmet that she wore, that like all the helmets on the Blue Team, had a blue horsehair plume on top. The Red Team led by Ares had red plumes.
"All right," Annabeth nods to Luke as she walks over, Atalanta on her shoulder, "We have twenty minutes before the conch and game on. You know what you're doing?"
"Yes ma'am," Luke nodded his head, and began to lead the blue team down the path to the south woods.
"Hey," Luke stops, turning his head over his shoulder to look at Annabeth, "Today feel like a winning kind of day to you?" Luke grins and throws a Pokeball into the air. Rhea watches as the Pidgetto that was released gives out a cry before flying over head.
"See you on the other side," Luke stated, following after the others. Rhea began to march after them when Annabeth stops her.
"Not you, guppy," Rhea blinks as Annabeth grabs her by the arm. Looking at the others gray eyes, that seem to match perfectly with her gray scales and the brown feather wings on her back, speckled with white. It was so weird to Rhea on how she missed all of this but could had seen Hilbert's wings...she figure it was because she saw him flew down from the hill when she was fighting the Minotaur, at least in the corner of her eyes. "You're with me,"
Nodding her head, Rhea follows behind, turning her head over to see other kids, with the same blue as her and Annabeth marching by, "So what's the plan," she asked, "Got any magic items you can loan me?" Rhea had to roll her eyes as Annabeth's hand drifted towards her pocket, as if she were afraid, I'd stolen something. She opens her mouth to say something, but trips, falling onto her hands. As she pushes herself up, she sighs and gives Annabeth a look as the other girl just watched on, "I'm fine, thanks. But I appreciate you, you know, standing there silently. Holding back the groan as Annabeth kept marching, Rhea ran up to her to catch up, pulling the helmet off her face. "Listen...I get it. Okay. Y-you're better at this than me, but I would like it if you gave me some advice?"
"Just watch Clarisse's spear," Annabeth said, turning towards her. She frowns, bringing her hand up to finish the buckle that Rhea had accidentally left undone, "You don't want that thing touching you," Rhea nodded her head at that, frowning at this. Why did Clarisse matter? She opens her mouth to ask this but stops as she notices that Annabeth was looking at her, "You still don't know where you fit into all this, do you,"
Tail twitching at that, fin ears droop. She looked away; her words choked in her throat. How could she explain even if she wanted to? That her dad, who might not want her...her dad who might think of her as a mistake because he broke an oath...it was Triton who told her the truth… it was Triton who trained her, who was there for her when she needed it. She wished more than anything that Poseidon would claim her, but she was afraid that once he did...he would either ignore her or worse...she didn't have time to think about it as a conch shell began to blow, making both their heads turn towards it.
"Game on," Annabeth smiles, pulling out a blue baseball hat, "You're on border patrol. Its really easy, all you have to do is stand by the creek," she gestures to said creek which gurgle over some rocks, "Keep the reds away and leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan," and with that, she place the baseball hat on her head, and disappeared right before Rhea's eyes, making her jump.
Turning her head this way and that, her eyes zone in on the footprints that appeared on the ground, walking deeper into the woods and leaving her in the dust. "Okay…" Rhea mumbles, "Glad you wanted me in your team,"
Shaking her head, she went over to a fallen log, swinging her arms back and forth. She scrunches up her face as she wipes her arm against her forehead. It was a warm and sticky night. The woods were dark with Illumise and Volbeat popping in and out of view. Standing there alone, with her huge shield, Rhea couldn't help but feel like an idiot, especially with the bronze trident, while better than the swords that she had tried since coming to camp, still feel off balance. "Probably because it wasn't made in the sea," Rhea thought to herself before a low canine growl rumble in her ear, somewhere close by. Rhea raised her shield up, narrowing her eyes into the darkness. But when the growling stop, Rhea frowns, lowering her shield as she felt the presence leaving.
And then the underbush on the other side exploded, making Rhea turn on her heal to see Clarisse, charging at her, followed by four other of her Ares siblings. Beside her, a Torracat with narrowed yellow eyes and flames sparking out of it mouth leaps at her. Yelping, Rhea grabs her Pokeball, releasing Murphy who blinks before shooting out a water gun, hitting the Fire Cat Pokemon straight in the belly.
"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screams, her eyes glaring through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard bronze swords- not that they made it Rhea feel any better as she managed to sidestep the first kid's swing. Unfortunately, they were not as stupid as the Minotaur, surrounding her and allowing Clarisse to thrust her spear at her. Raising her shield, Rhea was able to deflect the point, but gritted her teeth as she felt a painful tingling all over her body. Her shield arm going numb, and the air burned. "Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric," Rhea thought as she fell back, just as another Ares guy slammed her in the chest with the butt of his sword, making her hit the dirt.
"Flag's that way," Rhea wheezes, pointed in the opposite direction. She pray that they fell for her bluff but Clarisse smirk.
"We know," she grins, showing her sharp teeth, as her black vulture-like wings spread behind her, "Glory's fun, but revenge is more fun,"
"No maiming… its like the one rule," Rhea grounds out, trying to sound angry...she felt a slight tremble underneath her feet and takes a deep breath.
"Yeah," one of her siblings laugh, "But I guess we'll lose our desert privileges for awhile." he smirks, "We'll live. We care more about the girl who made our cabin look stupid,"
"You do that without my help," Rhea mutters, before two of the Ares kids came at her making her back up towards the creek, trying to raise the sheild again but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear struck Rhea straight in the ribs, forcing a cry of pain as the electric point just about shock her teeth out of her muth. She then felt a burning pain as one of her brothers slashes his sword across her arm, leaving a good size cut. "That...wasn't probably a good idea to say…" she thought as the blood dripped down her arm and onto the ground. Seeing it, her own blood made her dizzy. Warm and cold at the same time...Rhea was so unfocused that she didn't notice until too late that the five Ares siblings were laughing.
One push her into the creek, making her land in with a splash, "Just admit that you're a fraud," Clarisse remarked with a laugh, "And this will all be over," Clarisse yelps as razor shell bounces off her back. And she turns to see Murphy glaring at her, the fainted form of her Torracat at his feet.
"Deal with that damn otter," she was interrupted again but this time as the earth shook under her feet, much fiercer. They all turned, watching as Rhea slowly sat up, their eyes widening as the cut on her arm slowly healed.
"My….my mother...fucking died you bitch!" Rhea snaps as she turns her head, lips curled as she shows sharpen fangs. The four other siblings stare at her, and Rhea growls as she steps out of the water, the sound of the ocean roaring in her ears. First, she swung at the one who had slashed at her, knocking the helmet clean off his head, and Rhea could see his eyes vibrating as he crumbles.
Ugly number two and three came at her, but Murph charged forward with an Aqua Jet, slamming one in the face and allowing Rhea to her sword to shear off the other guy's horseplume. Both of them backed up quickly, Three holding his nose as blood dripped stream from it, now broken. Ugly number Four didn't look really anxious to attack but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. Remembering what Triton taught her, as soon as Clarisse thrusted her spear, aiming at her face, Rhea caught the shaft between the edge of her shield and her sword, and snapped it like a twig.
Clarisse stares, her red eyes wide as she stares at her broken spear, "Nooooo!" she wails, throwing it to the ground, "You corpse breath worm!" she took a step towards Rhea, looking like she wanted to kick Murphy when he took a step between them before they both heard yelling. Elated screams rang through the forest, and Rhea turns to watch Luke racing towards the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high, Pidgeotto flying overhead. He was flanked by some of his cabinmates, Chris right by his side with his Galarin Linoone right behind him, before he spins around as a few Apollos ran by them. Inhaling, Deslizar roars, unleashing a wave of purple rings from his mouth knocking down Charles and his siblings to the ground.
"A trick!" Clarisse mutters before she curses, "It was a fucking trick!"
They tried to run to look, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territroy. The Blue Team explodes into cheers and Rhea sighs, looking down at Murphy as he waddle over to her, both of them watching as the red banner shimmer and turned into silver. The Koraidon and spear were replace with a huge caduceus with a Galrian Zapdos, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team crowded around Luke, picking him up and started carrying him around on their shoulders.
As Chiron cantered out from the woods and blowing the conch horn, Rhea scoops Murphy up about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to her in the creek spoke from the darkness, "Not bad, hero,"
She shimmers into view, holding a Yankees Castelia Cap. She opens her mouth, and then cries out in pain as Rhea punches her in her face, "What the hell Jackson?!" she holds her hand to her face, as blood dripped down.
"You set me up!" Rhea snarls, her tail lashing behind her, "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank!"
Annabeth glares at her, her wings poofing up in her rages, Atalanta hissing at Rhea, the Rowlet looking like she wanted to rip Rhea's eyes out. "I told you. Athena always has a plan,"
"Had it all figure out," Rhea huffs, before she slips into Paldea, "Sabía que no debería haber confiado en ti. Mi hermano tenía razón, ustedes, hijos de Atenea, son todos iguales. Lleno de orgullo y arrogancia, no puedes pensar en nada más allá de tu gran plan,"
"What was that about my mother?!" Annabeth screams, pushing her face into Rhea's that their noses were touching.
Rhea growls, "You heard me," she snarls, "Surprise you don't know Paldean. I said that you can't look past your grand plans just like her. As long as you succeed you don't care about the people you may sacrifice!"
"Its just a game!" Annabeth scoffs, "No one is actually going to die,"
"Maybe but no one should get hurt either!" Rhea's arms were trembling, and Murphy look to be about to shoot a Water Gun in Annabeth's face. "You're a leader, and yet you left me behind to deal with five, not one, five angry Ares kids!"
"I came back as fast as I could!" Annabeth protested, "and by the time I came back you had it handle!"
"You came back but still left me to deal with them!" Rhea growls, but it was soon joined in by another, the canine growl she had heard earlier. But this time it was followed by a howl that ripple through the forest.
The campers cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted out, in Parthenon, "Steady! Ready my bow!" Annabeth drew her sword just as the growls got louder. Turning their heads, they spotted what they though was a Mightyena at first...one that was the size of a Rhyhorn, with eyes that burned lava red red and fangs much sharper than normal...almost like daggers and it was looking straight at Rhea.
And then it lunged off the rocks, Annabeth was the only one to move, Atalanta leaping off her shoulders and sending sharpen blades of Razor Leaf at it, but it bounces easily off its form. "Rhea, run!" Annabeth scream, trying to step in front of her. But the Mightyena leaped over her, diving straight down at Rhea...and Rhea reacted. She grabs her bronze bracelet in hand, rubbing the green jewel and everyone gasps as it shifted into that of a trident. Rhea stumble backwards, but she lifts up the trident, watching with wide green eyes as the Mightyena falls onto the prongs, ripping into its shadow-like flesh.
Rhea pants, watching as the...monster fell dead at her feet, watching as like Mrs. Dodds and the Minotaur, it faded into yellow powder, sinking into the very ground. Rhea pants, gripping her trident so hard that her knuckles were turn white. Chiron trotted up to her, a bow in his hand, his face grim.
"Di immortals," Ammabeth whispers, her gray eyes wide before they turn to Chiron, "That was a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment...they don't...they're not supposed to…"
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said, but he didn't move his gaze from Rhea, "Someone inside the camp,"
Luke and Chris ran over to Rhea, Ethan not far behind,. The moment of glory for cabin eleven gone. But before they could help her out of the creek, they all stared above her head. Feeling dread forming a pit in her stomach, Rhea looked up, and floating above her head, were two holograms shimmering above her head.
"I...I thought it would be Zeus," Annabeth mutters, "This...this is not good...and how.."
Rhea stares, one at the three-tipped spear: a trident that shined with green light. Next to was a crab claw, sparkling with light that reminded her of the sun shining on the sea. "It...has been determined," Chiron softly announced, as all around Rhea, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't seem happy about it one bit. Rhea could help but look at them in bewilderment. "Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringerer, Father of Horse Pokemon. Amphitrite, Queen of the Sea and one of the Fifty Nereids of Nereus. Hail, Rhea Jackson, Daughter of the Sea God and Goddess, Princess of Atlantis.
Rhea stares at them all, before she sighs, banging her head onto the trident, "Fuck,"
So its been awhile, problem I had was trying to figure how to write this chapter. Its kinda hard since I know that its going as canon, just with Percy as a girl name Rhea and with Pokemon...but I hoping the changes will come soon. One of them being that Rhea punched Annabeth. I was reading some Annabeth bashing fics and I thought they had some good points. Listen I love Percy with Annabeth, but there were some things I did not like that Rick did so I'm hoping to change it. One thing being that Annabeth really left Percy to deal with five Ares kids by himself and no one said a thing, espically with percy getting injured. I know his claiming probably push it out of everyone's mind but here it won't be. Annabeth will face consequences and she will experience growth, she isn't the always in the right and won't be in this fic. And she won't be trying to control rhea...these two will be a fucking team once they get over their issues.
Anyway...I hope you all enjoy, please leave a comment!