Fates have a hundred ways, and thousand others if those hundred doesn't work.
Soon as Zeus announced that Athena and Dionysus are the only Olympians left to select their representative, Dionysus spoke, "I'm out of this game! I have only two demigod sons alive and I'm not sure if I'm ready to send any one of them for this quest. I'd rather have them here where I can keep an eye on them."
"I agree with Dionysus." Surprising enough, it was Athena who said that. "I refuse to send one of my children as well."
Zeus' expressions turned stern. "Athena, you, of all people?"
"Ironic enough when you consider she was the one who gave the idea in the first place!" Hera said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, father." Athena said. "But I can't let my children fight each other as enemies. It's one of the many reasons I don't have any Roman child."
"I thought it was because you hated them for-" Leo spoke, but stopped when he found nobody paid him attention. "Ah, never mind!"
Any chance of further negotiation was crumbled when a loud explosion shook off the mess hall.
A demigod came running inside, some Hermes kid who was on guard duty. "MONSTERS! HUNDREDS OF THEM DESTROYING THE CABINS!" And he fainted.
Brilliant, Leo thought. Out of all the problems in the world, we wanted just that! More problems!
It was Alex who responded first. The boy ran out of the hall and Leo caught just a glimpse of his omega ring melting into a golden sword hilt out of which retracted three parallel blades of Adamantine, Celestial Bronze and Stygian Iron.
No distraction! Leo told himself. What if he has the coolest sword I've ever seen. The camp is in trouble!
Percy, Jason and Annabeth were already after the time traveler kid. Leo joined the run as well. Hundreds of monsters? Wasn't that pine tree supposed to be a protection barrier?
However, the real thing made Leo shiver in horror. In front of him, hundreds of monsters rampaged around, demolishing cabins and setting everything on fire. Leo has never seen such an army of monsters in his demigod life!
There were gryphons, drakons, minotaurs, cyclopes, Laistrygonian giants, bronze beaked crows! This was a Monster Marathon! In the centre, a seriously obese woman with really annoying voice gave orders to the monsters.
"Echidna!" Percy exclaimed.
"Echidna?" Leo asked. "You mean, like Knuckles from Sonic: the Hedgehog?"
Everyone gave their best 'What the heck' look to Leo, then Alex spoke, "It's Echidna, Typhon's wife and the mother of all monsters, at least 90% of them."
"She can give Zeus a run for his money when it comes to number of children." Leo said.
"I met her on my first quest." Percy said. "Why does she chose to appear after so many years?"
"With so many monsters!" Leo added. "Wait, what's he doing?"
He pointed at Alex who charged at Echidna and shouted, "Hey, Echidna!" The she-monster turned just in time to receive a great blow from the flat of Alex's sword. Considering her fatness, she shouldn't have been able to even stand up after a fall, but the lady swiftly dodged Alex's next strike, that could have pierced her skull.
"You don't smell like a demigod!" Echidna said in surprise. "You're... a mortal! How?"
"Simple!" Alex answered. "I evolved!" He sliced the blade again, but Echidna did a backflip (that was obviously impossible with a body so fat and round) and landed several feet away. Alex proceeded, but two drakons blocked his way.
Leo watched around. The demigods have already started fighting the monsters. Leo concentrated and tried to summon his powers, but the noises of battles made it hard to concentrate.
A gryphon lunged at Leo, but a giant hammer sent the creature flying in opposite direction.
"Are you okay, kid?" Hephaestus asked.
"Somewhat." Leo replied. "Thanks for the save, Dad."
"ECHIDNA!" Zeus' voice boomed like thunder, as the gods joined the scene. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"
"Oh, hello everyone!" Echidna chimed, as if she was attending guests in a party. "How's the things going? I see you came on a vacation, leaving Olympus unguarded, so I decided to join the party with my kids. Hope I'm not late."
"You mean you knew the gods are here?" Percy asked.
"And still you dared to attack?" Leo added. Gee, this woman had guts!
"Of course I knew." Echidna smirked, looking at Percy. "Jackson, isn't it? It's been a while we had a nice chat."
"Yeah, I remember." Percy spoke. "Your Chihuahua tried to kill me."
Echidna pouted. "Little sonny wanted to meet you, but he had other assignments-" She turned to Zeus, "-in Olympus."
"You monstrous scum!" Ares bellowed, hurling his spear at Echidna, who swatted it away like a fly.
"Save your curses, war god!" Echidna said. "You'll need it later."
Before anyone could say anything, a bright flash illuminated the sky in the direction of New York.
"That'd be my beacon." Echidna said. "Gotta go, but I'm leaving my kids to play. Enjoy!" With this, the fat lady disappeared.
"Signs are not good." Zeus said. "We must return to Olympus!" The gods nodded and disappeared, leaving the demigods to fight a huge phalanx of monsters.
Leo was trying hard to summon fire, failing every time. He looked around for motivation. Percy was fighting a few feet to his left against a minotaur. To his right, Jason and Frank faced a pair of cyclopes. If Leo was lucky, the monsters would stay busy with others, because he had nothing he could use to save himself.
And that was when a Laistrygonian giant charged at him. Yeah, Leo, he told himself, luck isn't your best suit. He frantically searched his tool belt to look for something to fend the monster off. Chainsaw, hammer, shovel, anything would do!
Just when the Laistrygonian was about to attack, Leo pulled out a large screwdriver and stabbed it into the giant's gut. The giant winced in pain and backed up, giving Leo enough opening to use the screwdriver for slashing its chest. It made a nice gash, and a line of dark, blackish red blood oozed from the monster's wound.
"Weren't you supposed to turn to dust?" Leo asked the giant, who slammed its club against Leo's chest in response. Leo was thrown off, and he felt like he has broken a rib or two. He desperately tried to summon fire again, but no matter how hard he concentrated, the flames won't work.
He watched the Laistrygonian raise its club to attack and closed his eyes in horror. He suddenly sensed a mystical and intricate machinery near him and a loud wail was heard. Leo took a moment to consider whether he was still alive, then opened his eyes to watch the Laistrygonian giant writhing in pain, holding its severed wrist.
In between him and the giant, Alex stood in a fighting stance with his Blade of Olympus. The boy saved him, even though he saw Leo as an enemy.
"No need to say thanks!" Alex spoke, without shifting his gaze from the giant. "As much as I'd like to see you dead, this is not how it should be."
"Gee..." Leo spoke, finding himself out of words. "Never mind! THE GIANT!"
Alex didn't needed Leo to warn him though. As the giant tried to attack him, Alex did a backflip to dodge and then sliced off the monster's shoulder. Leo was sure such injuries should've turned any monster into a pile of sand, but the Laistrygonian was just not ready to die. Alex charged forward, using his sword as a pole to vault off and kick the giant on the face. The giant tried to get up, but Alex held out his hand and the sword responded (wow!), flying back to Alex who made a final swipe and decapitated the monster's head off.
Then it disintegrated into dust!
Leo realised he wasn't the only one with the problem. All the other demigods were having trouble killing the monsters. Usually, one fatal blow or a nasty swipe of blade should kill a monster, but these set of rogues seemed to be at another level completely.
Most odd fact: they bleed. Suddenly, it occurred to Leo. "CUT THEIR HEADS OFF!" he shouted at the top of his voice.
At first, it seemed like the others mistook this for a war cry, but slowly, they realised it was the plan. Clarisse hurled her newly acquired chain-blades at one of the giant bronze-beaked birds she was fighting, accurately piercing its head, then tossed the bird at its brethren, disintegrating them.
Percy followed Leo's advice and beheaded the minotaur he was fighting. "They're too many!" he spoke.
Obviously. The demigods were simply outnumbered. Even if they knew how to finish the monsters faster, they were exhausted. Half of them were already knocked out cold, and the remaining looked like they would soon join the ranks. Some rather unfortunate ones needed immediate medical assistance, but the monsters kept everyone busy.
Something stirred inside Leo. Like the gears of a machine. It was rage, born out of despair for being so helpless.
"ENOUGH!" he screamed, and a giant wave of heat rippled out like waves of an earthquake, throwing everyone off their feet. Leo collapsed on his knees, exhausted and sweating. But the image in front of him wasn't much heartwarming.
"Oh, no!" Leo exclaimed. He had somehow started the Great Fire of Camp Half-Blood! Everything except the demigods was on fire. Burning monsters flailed around helplessly before turning to ashes. The remains of what were demigod cabins were ablaze, dryads panicked as the trees caught fire.
"LEO!" Percy shouted. "What have you done?"
"Oh gods! Oh gods!" Leo panicked, trying to calm the fire, but it just swept around, burning everything.
Suddenly, the air became chilling cold. Dark clouds blocked the sunlight and a flash of white flared up the sky. The next thing Leo saw was the whole camp buried under a pelt of snow.
"Looks like you were in much greater trouble than what I was told." a familiar voice caught Leo's attention. A beautiful girl with unnaturally white skin walked towards him, her white fur coat glistening in the sun like fresh snow and her shiny black hair flowing in the wind. A silver tiara adorned her head.
"Khione!" Leo said through gritted teeth.
"What are you doing here?" Piper asked, standing beside Leo.
"Trying to help." Khione replied, gesturing at the giant icicle that stood over the cabins like a gigantic frozen cobra. "That wave could have drowned all of you."
"Since when do you care?" Piper asked in disgust.
"Long story." Khione answered.
Before anyone could raise further questions, Alex knelt down before Khione. "Thanks a lot, goddess Khione."
"Dude, really!" Leo screamed. "She's one of the enemies. Definitely not a good goddess."
"Not even a goddess anymore." Khione added with a heavy sigh. "After you defeated Gaia, Zeus punished me by taking away my godly powers and making me one of you. A demigod!"
"Really?" Leo asked skeptically. "And you're here because?"
"I heard you need help." Khione replied. "Zeus sent wind spirits all over the world to inform gods about the dangers. Dad asked me to come here to help. This is my only chance to regain my place as a goddess."