"When will we reach there?" Percy asked again.
I was getting frustrated now. "Stop whining now Percy. We will reach San Francisco in a few minutes." I said in a robotic voice.
Yeah, I was controlling a helicopter with Upgrade. After dodging some lightning bolts thrown in our way, Thalia prayed to her father (Why didn't we think of that before?) to stop doing that so we can rescue Artemis. After that no lighting bolt struck us.
Thalia replied instead of Percy "It's not our fault! We can't sit still because of ADHD."
Grover squinted and peeked down "There! I can see San Francisco!" Percy perked up hearing that.
After landing safely, I transformed back and left the helicopter there, unsure of what to do with it.
"We have to take advice from Nereus." Zoe said. I jumped because she was so silent I forgot she was with us.
"Who's Nereus?" Percy asked. Omnitrix beeped *Nereus is the old man of the sea. Son of Pontus and Gaea, he has wisdom and gift of prophecy.*
Zoe was about to answer but shut up when omnitrix answered. She said instead "Nereus sits on the corner, with the homeless people. Only one should go."
I raised my eyebrow "And who might that be?" Thalia answered "Of course Percy, he knows water much more than you."
Percy said "Excuse me? I'm not going there. Maybe Thalia should go there."
Zoe countered "Boys are best suited for this. Girl cannot do this."
I crossed my arms "Has anyone told you that you are a big sexist?"
Zoe huffed "I'm not a sexist!"
"Define sexism" I asked.
"Sexism is the discrimination of women by men." Zoe answered.
"Look, even the answer is sexist." I muttered.
Thalia interrupted "Can you stop? You two can do the flirting later." I blushed hearing that "I'm not flirting!" I shouted at her.
Turning, I saw Zoe wasn't faring better either. Once she saw me looking, she adopted a mask of indifference.
Percy grumpily agreed. After a few minutes, he looked like a homeless person. If I didn't know who he really was, I would have given him some money out of pity. [😂]
"Hey Perce! Looking good!" I fake cheered. He huffed and said "Shut up."
He walked to the homeless man, which I identified as Nereus. I saw him pinning down the god and rolling towards the ocean. After a few minutes, they both came out, Percy holding Nereus.
"Alright, the rules are 1 question per capture." He said.
Zoe asked "Where was the mythical beast Lady Artemis was hunting?"
Nereus looked amused "You want to ask that? It's right here."
Zoe looked down at the ocean and I saw a half snake half cow. Zoe paled seeing that.
"Bessie? But why was he being hunted?" Percy asked.
"You named him Bessie?!" Thalia asked.
"So what? It seemed like a good cow name." Percy argued.
Zoe' s face looked gaunt "I remember the creature. When sacrificed, it has the power to destroy the gods. The Ophiotaurus."
Thalia looked sick hearing that. "And that my dear, is why you will be sacrificing it and destroying the gods." a voice said from behind.
My hand immediately went towards the omnitrix and turned behind. It was the Manticore.
"Dr Thorn." Percy gritted his teeth. The Manticore, or Dr Thorn grinned evilly "I see you remember me. Come on Thalia Grace, kill it and strike down the gods!"
Thalia's eyes shined. Percy said "No! Thalia, snap out of it! Don't be tempted!"
"Shut up, stupid boy! Thalia's decision is hers to choose." The manticore growled.
Thalia however recovered after what Percy said grew determined "I won't." she whispered.
"So be it!" and he pounced upon us. I dialled into my omnitrix. "Kickin' Hawk!" I squaked.
I kicked him in the face and he staggered backwards. I dodged his spikes and Percy slashed with his sword. The manticore dodged it and aimed another poisonous spike at me.
I knew it would be fatal to be hit by the spike. I dodged it again and transformed again.
"Rath!" I growled out with a green flash.
"Let me tell you something, you lion faced monster! Rath doesn't like poison spikes and he will crush you! Antarian Arm Bar!" and I attacked him.
I grew angrier when he dodged again. "Listen here you manticore, Rath doesn't like anyone dodging his moves, that's why Rath's gonna beat you black and blue!" I snarled.
The manticore growled "Stop wasting my time!"
"Ophiuchus Face-plant!" and I made him face plant on the ground.
"Argh! Stop interfering you little pest!" The manticore snarled.
"Sirius Butt-kicking!" and executed the move on him. Finally Percy got a strike on him and he turned to dust.
"That's why Rath is unbeatable! Everyone should remember Rath is the strongest of them all!" I shouted. After saying that I transformed back.
Percy asked "Bro, what the hell?" I shrugged "Not to worry. Rath has a really small brain and thinks everything can be solved by punching it. It's not the smartest alien."
Zoe came up and said "We have to hurry to Mt Tamalpais. How do we get the Ophiotauros out of here?"
Percy answered "Grover, you can talk to it right? Take him to Dad in Atlantis."
Grover said "But I can't swim." Percy sighed "Maybe I can ask dad..."
He walked to the ocean and took out the lion pelt he had "To dad. Please ensure Grover reaches you safely."
To my astonishment, the water parted on its own and Grover started walking towards it. Eventually, he disappeared.
"How will we reach Mt Tamalpais now?" I asked.
Percy and Thalia answered "Annabeth's father."
***
We ran towards her father's house. We rung the bell and waited outside. After a few minutes, a man came out and asked "Are you here to deliver the Sopwith Camel?"
Percy answered "No sir, it's about Annabeth."
He immediately tensed "Annabeth? Please come inside." We went inside and I noticed his house had a lot of paintings about historical events. It looked like a domestic museum.
"Honey, is someone home?" a female voice asked.
The female came out and asked "And who are they?"
Annabeth's father answered "They're Annabeth's friends."
"Oh! Any friend of Annabeth is welcome." she said and went inside, probably to get us something.
"Now tell me what happened." Annabeth's father asked urgently.
Percy started explaining everything, with Thalia adding bits which Percy missed. After explaining everything, her father went into a deep thought. The woman came in again and said "I heard everything. It sounds Annabeth is in danger, so we should help them."
"Yes sir, we only require a car to reach there." Percy said. Annabeth's father replied "It's OK. I can take you there."
Zoe cut in "Thee cannot enter because thy are a mortal."
The woman answered "Frederick, you can let them borrow your car for some time."
"Alright dear." he answered and rose from the sofa.
***
And a lightning bolt struck us. Now what did we do that Zeus didn't approve?
Thalia looked outrageous "He struck a lightning bolt at me?! Me?!"
Percy tried to calm her "Calm down Thalia! It wasn't Zeus. It's the titans and they want to remove your trust from gods." I wasn't convinced by the answer but whatever. Thalia seemed to buy it.
As we advanced to the mountains, Zoe yelled "The Mist is very thick here!"
"Which kind?" Percy asked. Thalia muttered "Probably both."
It was a densely fogged area. I dialled into my watch "Terraspin!" I exclaimed with a green flash.
I became a floating fan and started spinning, blowing off the fog. Percy was looking at me amazed.
"Bro, I have to admit, that watch is seriously amazing. I gotta get myself one." Percy said.
I chuckled "Good luck on that."
"Sisters." Zoe said in an unnerving voice. I saw four really beautiful girls walking to us. In the corner, a dragon with one hundred heads was curled around a tree, which looked like it had golden apples. Apples of Idun, I thought. Wait, no. Wrong mythology. Apples of Immortality. There we go.
One of the girls stepped up, she looked like the leader "We see no sister. All we see is a Hunter of Artemis, a son of Poseidon, a daughter of Zeus and a stranger. We advise you to not step further."
"We must proceed." Zoe said.
"We will wake Ladon up if thy continues." They said in unison. It was creepy.
Zoe shouted "Ladon, wake!" The oldest one hissed "Are thee mad?"
Zoe smirked at her "Thee never had the courage," she turned towards us. "Go, I will distract it."
I wanted to argue but Percy pulled me away. After a while Zoe ran towards us. She looked badly bruised. Percy gave her some ambrosia to heal herself.
We walked towards a huge black castle. "Mt Ortrys." Zoe whispered. "The base of Titans."
When we reached the top, I saw a man waiting for us. Not exactly, but he looked really buff, and very tall man. "Father." Zoe hissed angrily.
Wait this was her father? Percy grit his teeth "Atlas."
"My, my. The son of Poseidon and the daughter of Thalia." he turned to me "And the 'new' son of Poseidon. Why, if you had come 5 years earlier, we could have joined forces and defeated the gods."
Another young man came forward "Jackson. And Thalia. I have been wanting to meet you. How is life?" he asked casually.
Percy grit his teeth "Shut up Luke! Where's Annabeth?"
Luke had a scared look but recovered quickly. "Ask the General. He knows."
The General, or Atlas, smirked "Ah, your little girlfriend. She is being experimented upon. And let's say, the demigods are wonderful test subjects."
Percy and Thalia had a look of horror on their faces. Thalia took out her spear and Percy took out his sword. Percy said to me panicking "Ben, go and search for Annabeth. Please, I don't want anything happening to her."
I nodded, seeing his expression. I turned around and ran where there were multiple guards. "I'm coming Annabeth."
I dialled into my omnitrix. "Bigchill!" I rasped after a flash of green light.
"Let's cool off everyone, shall we?" I taunted the guards. I blew a blizzard which took out a lot of guards. One of them threw a knife and I became intangible to dodge it. I gave a harsh breath and froze a guard before punching it hard so it broke.
I looked around to see a lot of monsters coming out. Just my luck. I tapped my omnitrix symbol again. "Ultimate Bigchill!" I rasped.
I took in a deep breath and blew a harsh cold-fire breath. Did you know that fire when so superheated can turn into ice? (Don't try this at home kids!)
Immediately all of the monsters were frozen. I made a huge ice Lance and ran it through the ice. All of the monsters turned to dust.
I flew by hurriedly to the room. And I saw Annabeth in a bed with a lot of machinery fitted on her.
_____
And done another chapter! There weren't that many changes, except a twist in the end of this chapter.
Let's see if you can answer this one
Q. Which mythos are Apples of Idun from?
Comment down if you know the answer.
As for Alien X, it has a very little role to play because of its powers. However there is a major transformation for Alien X planned later on.
Arc 2 of this story will start when The Titan's Curse ends.
Stay safe, stay healthy. See ya next time!
~PerseusKyogre