The Warrior Reborn

Part 22

I was woke up at midnight in a cold sweat. A heard thunder and the pitter patter of rain outside so I assume there was a storm. Strange, normally Dionysus kept rain out. Maybe its because he needed energy against Typhon. I woke up because of an intense tugging sensation in my gut and instantly knew the Hunters were in trouble. As I grabbed what I needed, clothes, emergency ambrosia, riptide and my dagger belt, and went outside, I wondered how I knew the Hunters were in danger. It was probably something to do with the fact that I use to be their guardian. I turned into a wolf and smelled the air. I caught the scent of the Hunters not too far away and I took off running.

Artemis POV

I noticed during lunch that the Hunters weren't eating as much. It probably had to do with what day it was. Today was the day Percy Jackson quit being the Hunter's guardian and disappeared from the planet. I decided I needed to cheer up the Huntresses.
"Thalia gather up the girls. We're going on a hunting trip" I say. Thalia smiled and nodded before leaving to relay the order. I know she of all people needed to get her mind off Percy for today. After about 10 minutes, everyone was ready to head out. Jack (the newest guardian/protector) was following us and was forced to carry all their bags. None of the Hunters actually liked him and made his life hell. We took about an hour to make our way to the forest we were going to hunt in. Once we set up our temporary camp, we got ready to hunt. We split into teams, me going by myself, and we started a challenge.
Rabbit= 1 point
Deer= 3 points
Wild boar/bear= 5 points
Group with the most points win. Jack stayed back to guard the camp. By the end of the challenge, I was first beating Thalia's group by 60 points.
"Stop bragging Arty. Your the Goddess of the Hunt for Zeus's sake. If you lost to any of us, that would be embarrassing" Thalia said. I just smirked at her. We spent the rest of the day either chilling or practicing archery while jack skinned the animals and prepared dinner. We relished being away from all the boys at camp, save Jack, and just enjoyed each others company. While eating, Jack's cooking was horrible so had Hestia send us some food, Thalia asked for a rematch.
"Why, do you really want me to beat your arse again?" I ask innocently.
"No why? Is the goddess scared I can beat her at her own game?" Thalia retorted.
"Oh your on lieutenant" I say smirking. After dinner we had the same competition, me alone again, again Thalia's group. Jack and the other Hunters came to spectate us. This hunt went on for 3 hours this time. I still managed to best them by 18 points. By now I assume the creatures in the forest were actively hiding from us.
"So close!" Thalia complained.
"But yet so far" I mock.
"I'll get you next time" Thalia said glaring at me.
"Sure you will" I say sarcastically. By now it had started to rain so all the Hunters were walking back to camp when suddenly I heard a eerily familiar voice.
"Hello Artemis. So good to see you again" it said. I turned around, my bow already drawn. I snarled when I realized who it was.
"Milady who is this?" Asked Pheobe cautiously.
"Gration the giant who was killed by me and Hercules in the first giant war" I growl not taking my bow off him.
"Aww you remembered how sweet. I hope a make a more lasting impression this time" Gration said drawing his spear.
"I hope you didn't just get out of Tartarus because you just got a 1 way ticket back there" I say as I release my silver arrow. He caught it in his hand.
"Such a shame. I could have let you live but now, I think I'm going to kill you" Gration said twirling the arrow in his hand.
"You will not harm Lady Artemis" said Jack who drew his imperial gold sword and stepped in front of me.
"I'm sorry who are you again?" The giant asked in a bored voice.
"I am the protector of the Hunt and since you threaten it, you shall die" Jack growled. Was the son of Zeus trying to be intimidating? It clearly wasn't working. Gration watched as jack charged him wildly swinging his sword.
"Ok play times over" the Giant said before swinging his spear like a baseball bat, hitting Jack in the chest which sent him flying into a nearby rock. He slumped down, either unconscious or dead, I couldn't really tell.
"Attack!" He bellowed and a small army came out from around us. The Hunters shot arrow after arrow into the crowd but they were about to be overwhelmed. We were outnumbered 10 to 1. I snarled and charged the giant. Hunting knives, as long as my arms, appeared as I charged him. He blocked my attack and countered with a jab. I spun out of the way and charged again. I was faster than Gration but he was clearly stronger. He faked a lunge but I didn't see it. I dodged to the right only for him to spin his spear and sent me flying into a nearby tree. My vision blurred and I tried standing but pain shot up my leg. I looked down to see a very sharp piece of wood penetrating through my leg. Golden ichor spilled onto the ground. While I was looking at my injury, I failed to notice the giant charging me. He swung his fist which caught me in the face, not that I could have avoided it with my broken leg. My head snapped sideways and I was slammed to the ground by the force of the punch. The air was knocked out of my lungs and I coughed up ichor. Mt body refused to move when the giant picked me up by the neck and lifted me into the air. I saw Thalia pinned to a tree by a sword which went through her shoulder. She tried to remove it but bloodloss made her weak. Pheobe had a broken ankle and her bow was snapped in half next to her. She was swinging her hunting knife wildly in front of her, fending away a few dracaenae. Atalanta had a nasty running down her face and a claw mark on her leg from an empousa. The others were either badly injured or were chained up next to each other.
"This is who you worship Hunters? This puny goddess who didn't even have the strength to protect herself" Gration shouted. While he was monologuing, I summoned my hunting knife, which dropped when he hit me into a tree. I swung at him in a desperate attempt to free myself but he somehow knew what I was doing and caught my hand. He then twisted it and pushed it the opposite direction of where is should go, breaking the bones in my hand and dislocating my shoulder. I screamed in pain and dropped the knife. He caught it and stabbed it hilt feel into my gut. A metallic taste filled my mouth as blood poured from the wound. Gration then crushed my windpipe. I tried to scream for help but all that came out was the gurgling as my own blood filled my mouth. My not broken arm scratched his hand and my not broke leg kicked him over and over but to no avail. My auburn hair was plastered onto my face due to the rain and my silver eyes showed fear.As black spots danced before my eyes, either from blood loss or from lack of oxygen, I silently prayed. I prayed for my brother to come down and kill this giant, I prayed for my father to strike Gration down with lightning, I prayed for someone to help me. My hand went limo and I lay there, not being able to breath and drowning in my own blood. I saw a blur of movement and Gration roared out in pain and dropped me to the ground. As soon I as landed, I spit out the blood and took long gulps of air. I tried to scurry away but it's hard to do that with a broken arm and leg. I looked back at the giant to see him take out a dagger from his arm. Gration was glaring murderously at the spot where the dagger was thrown.
"Come out and face me coward!" He shouted. Then came out the most unlikely person to help us, Anagenniménos. He casually played with a dagger I'm his hands.
"You know you could have asked nicely right?" He said smirking.
"Who are you and what business do you have here?" the giant asked.
"My business is because you harmed the Hunters. I am Anagenniménos, assassin and commander of the Chaos army but here on Earth, people know me by another name" he said. Then Anagenniménos threw down his hood leaving all of us staring at the lost son of Poseidon.
"I am Percy Jackson, 2 time saviour of Olympus, son of Poseidon and original guardian of the hunt" said Percy. While he was speaking the rain came down hard but none of the raindrops hit the floor. All the rain in the vicinity flew and circled around Percy until a giant snake surrounded the son of Poseidon. Fire danced across the serpent's skin and it's eyes were made of shadows and the snake kept growing due to the nonstop rain. It then charged straight towards the giant and tail whipped him into a tree. The other monsters got out of the stupor and tried to attack but the snake wasn't really there and they only hit water. The giant serpent bit into a Cyclops turning him to dust. He left a trail of flames behind him which burned many of the monsters. Gration finally got up just in time to be slammed back into the ground by the tail yet again. Soon all the monsters were gone except Gration. The giant stood up and roared. Inside the snake, Percy smirked and rushed the giant again. Gration positioned his spear so that he could stab Percy through the snake. Percy's body stopped following but the train still rushed the giant like a train. Before Gration could move out of the way, the snake rammed into him headfirst and pushed his back into a giant rock.

Percy wasn't even wet when he slowly walked over to the injured giant. Four scorpion tails extended from his back and each sank into and pinned down the giant's limbs. Gration struggled but couldn't break free.
"Apologize to them or you will face my wrath" Percy said in a deadly calm voice.
"Your just a mortal. You can't do anything to a giant" Gration boasted but I could hear the fear in his voice. I shivered at the cruel evil smile he gave the giant.
"Good, I was hoping you would say that" Percy said cruelly. Before the giant could respond, Percy snapped his fingers and the giant's scream pierced the air. Me and the Hunters watched in horror as Gration was slowly turned inside out by some invisble force. (Don't ask me how it looks I didn't want to think about it.) It exposed all his bones and muscles. We could see his heart beating quickly and the blood running through his veins.
"This is for Thalia" Percy said while breaking a rib and stabbing a dagger through the giant's liver
"For Atalanta" he continued breaking another rib and stabbing the dagger into his pancreas. Slowly, Percy started calling every single one of the Hunters by name and each time, he would break a bone and stab an organ. Ichor was spilled everywhere and covered the ground. Percy was drenched head to toe in the blood of the gods.
"And this is for Artemis" he said finally as he uncapped a familiar pen and a 5 foot long completely black sword replaced it. Greek fire engulfed the blade as he plunged it into Gration's heart. The giant screamed out and Percy twisted the sword inside his heart, which is impressive considering both his lungs had a dagger in them. The worst part about this was that Gration couldn't die. A giant could only be killed by a god and demigod working together. I summoned a bow, nearly passing out due to having less than no energy, and shot it. It almost missed entirely because of my broken arm but it just barely nicked Gration in the foot. The Giant poofed into golden dust before our very eyes. Percy turned around and walked towards me. I flinched as he put his hand on my shoulder. Flames engulfed me but it didn't hurt. I felt some of my wounds healing. I gasped as my shoulder popped back into place. After a while, he stopped and stood up. His cloak surrounded him yet again.
"I will leave you here. I suggest you head back to camp. I shall set Will Solace that you will meet him soon" he said and as he was about to walk off Pheobe called out.
"Percy wai-" she tried but the son of Poseidon turned around and glared at the daughter of Ares.
"Do not call me by that name. To you I am Anagenniménos. Only my friends call me Percy and you have not earned that privellage" he shouted. His eyes fell over all the Hunters. He glared at most of them but his gaze softened when he saw Thalia. He also smiled slightly when his eyes met the girls who said they were saved by a mysterious hooded man. I should have know Percy was that man. His eyes then fell upon me and I froze. His gaze assessed me but didn't change.
"I need you to swear to not reveal my identity" he said coldly, not a hint of forgiveness in his voice.
"We swear" I said softly and he nodded like he was satisfied. Without another look, he burst into flames and disappeared. The only thing going through my mind was, Percy Jackson was back.