章 10: Chapter 10
The one word Naruto would use to describe the current situation would be;
Boring
Riding in a taxi on what seems like hours may not have been the brightest idea, but they were running out of time. The ride did take a toll on the crew as Grover and Percy were asleep, Annabeth was looking out the window, while Naruto was knitting. The driver did ask where they were from but got mixed answers from Annabeth and Percy. He asked again, and Naruto was the one that answered;
"We're actually homeless," said Naruto, "We heard that was an open shelter in Los Angeles."
"Wait, if you're homeless then how did you get that casino card?" replied Steve*
"Lady Luck happens to smile upon us," said Naruto
"I've heard weirder things," said Steve
That was two hours ago, and things have been silence since then. Grover almost blow their cover when his fake feet came off, and he kept 'baaing' in his sleep, but Annabeth managed to put his feet back on before the driver could notice and explained that Grover grew up around goats. He asked further about their past and out of the remaining three Percy's was the one that didn't make sense;
"So let me get this straight you were the son of a fisherman that worked on an oil site and was a part-time go-go dancer, you now spend your life looking for traces of your father," said Steve
'That's the weirdest backstory I've ever heard' thought Annabeth.
'Idiot' thought Naruto.
'Enchiladas' thought Grover as he was still asleep.
"You have to forgive Percy, he has a problem remembering certain information" whispered Naruto to Steve, "He's also a little shy."
"That would explain his story" replied Steve.
"That's why he travels with us," said Naruto, "if left alone for an extended amount of time he could get in trouble with the law."
"You truly are kind people," said Steve
"Thank you," said Naruto, "It's not needed as the satisfaction of helping someone in trouble is enough."
It was after that comment did Naruto decide to take a nap, missing the conversation Annabeth and Percy were going to have. Naruto's dreams usually consisted of a world bathed in darkness and the only sight that greeted him were strings. This was a common dream for him, he never dreamed of large buildings or reading in a giant library. This was just another mystery that surrounded Naruto, even Chiron couldn't explain it. Naruto walked further into the dream was saw the only other person in this dream, he didn't know her name but having someone to talk to is nice. She had lavender hair that reached the nape of her neck, her pale skin, and her semi-shy personality really touch him as he was the same way in the past. She would seem normal until you see she as a spider-like legs, pitch black abdomen and the black shell that covered her arms. She was a descendant of the original Arachne, and honestly, this didn't bother Naruto at all. Unlike his siblings he wasn't bothered by spiders, in fact, he felt a sort of kinship with them.
"Welcome back Naruto," said the girl
"Good to see you too," said Naruto, "something is different about you, did you change your hair."
"Why yes I did," said the girl, "I trimmed my bangs."
"Well they look nice," said Naruto, "Are you ever going to tell me your name."
"That question will be answered in time," said the girl.
When Naruto woke up and looked around, he saw the taxi was parked near a beach.
"Why are we here," said Naruto as he exited the taxi.
"Back at the arch Percy was given a message from a naiad," said Annabeth
"I can see that happening, but the better question would be, why here?" said Naruto, "We're at one of the polluted beaches in America. No nereid in their right mind would be here, especially a nereid that would come from Poseidon's court."
"I agree with you there, but this was where the spirit wanted to meet," said Annabeth
"Did Percy tell you anything else?" asked Naruto
"Just 'don't trust the gifts'" said Annabeth
"That could mean anything," said Naruto
"I agree with you again," said Annabeth as she saw Percy walk into the sea.
"Anybody hungry because it looks like this might take a while," asked Naruto
"I could eat," said Annabeth
"It has been a few hours since we last," said Grover.
"A hunting we shall go then," said Naruto.
The search lasted for five minutes, and the group of three found a suitable eating establishment, it was a Denny's, but it suited their needs.
"So any ideas on what to expect when we get to the underworld?" said Naruto
"Besides the screams of tortured souls and the sight of everlasting darkness," said Grover
"Grover trust me on this, the Underworld isn't that bad at first," said Naruto
"How would you know that?" asked Annabeth
"Because I've been in the Underworld before," said Naruto
"How?" asked Annabeth
"It was part of the contract I signed with Hermes," said Naruto, "Since the gods can't enter each other's territories without permission that's where I come in, I have permission to enter the Underworld when I have a delivery to any of its inhabitants. That's why I disappear once or twice a month."
"We did talk about that issue a few weeks ago, and we just thought you were in love with one of the nymphs around the camp," said Annabeth
"That sounds more like a theory Aphrodite's cabin would think of," said Naruto
"One of her daughters loaned us some romance novels," said Annabeth," Still an interesting clause in that contract," said Annabeth
"You're telling me," said Naruto as the food began to arrive, "I'm also surprised you guys would read romance novels for fun."
"Surprised me too," said Annabeth
Their lunch lasted for half an hour, and after paying the bill, the three ventured back to the beach to meet Percy and continue their quest.
"Percy glad to see you're back," said Naruto as he looked at Percy, "what's with the pearls though, if you're going into the jewelry then you're going to need more than three."
"No, these pearls were a gift from my father," said Percy
'Something tells me those pearls will only bring grief' thought Naruto.
"So what do they do?" asked Grover
"I don't know" answered Percy.
"Just remember this Percy," said Annabeth, "no gift comes without a price."
Tyche seems to smile upon them as the group managed to find a bus station near the beach. Annabeth tried to convince Percy to tell her more information about his encounter with the nereid, but Percy stood firmly by not answering her.
"Hey haven't I've seen before," asked the bus driver.
"No no you must be mistaken," said Percy
"Now I remember," said the Bus driver, "You're the designer behind the Olympus collection."
"I'm always glad to meet one of my fans," said Naruto
"I got to say, kid, you're definitely making a name for yourself," said the Bus driver, "how do you do it?"
"Let's just say I have friends in high places," said Naruto as he boarded the bus
"Must be some friends?" said the Bus driver as he closed the bus doors
"Nice use of the mist" whispered Percy.
"That wasn't mist I used," said Naruto
"What but how then?" said Percy, "I thought you only deal with the supernatural."
"Percy I do both mortal and immortal clothes," said Naruto, "the mortals really like my designs."
Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing that someone his age was famous and was well recognized. He should feel happy for his friend, but there was a little voice in head saying it wasn't fair I mean he was the son of Poseidon, one of the great three, and he was still being ignored.
"Percy, I know what you're thinking," said Naruto, "You're jealous of me, but you have only known me for a few days. It took years of hard work for me to get the reputation I now have, all the downfalls and death threats I received."
"Death threats?" asked Percy.
"My uncle is very unhappy with me," said Naruto, "I apparently deprive him time with his lady because she's always filling out order sheets."
"Which uncle?" asked Percy
"My mother's brother," said Naruto.
"Oh," said Percy
The bus ride went by quickly as people tended to keep to themselves. The group decided to shop near the shopping outlet and were greeted with the sight of street urchins and various other vagabonds. The four got off the bus and began the walk towards the entrance to the Underworld, DOA Recording Studio. As they walked, they felt the various stares from the viler citizens, checking to see if they were worth mugging, and the group only got six blocks from the bus stop when a gang decided to make their move.
"Well, well what do we have here," said the leader, "a couple of little brats, listen give up your money, and we'll let you pass unharmed."
Naruto saw that Percy was reaching for his pen/sword, idiotic move but the kids the noob, so Naruto decided to make the first move. With his hands behind his back and when the would-be thugs weren't looking, his fingers started to twitch.
"Boss help!" said one of the thugs as he attacked his own gang, "I-I can't control my body."
"Chris stop fooling around!" yelled the boss, "This isn't the time to fool around."
"I'm not fooling around," said Chris, "Help!"
"Run," said Naruto
As soon as the command registered in their mind the questing group ran further into the dark city.
"What just happened?" asked Percy as he ran.
"What you saw were the effects of my parásito technique," said Naruto, "I basically took control of one of the thugs and made into my puppet."
"Neat," said Percy
"I'm just glad you finally finished to technique," said Annabeth
"Took a couple of rats but I finally got it," said Naruto
"How did you think of it?" asked Grover
"I was bored, business was slow, and I was visiting Hephaestus's cabin to relieve the boredom. One of his daughters was whittling some wood, turns out she had an interest in puppetry. I offered to help, and she said yes, we made various figurines, and I got curious. I thought since the human body is like a giant puppet, could it be controlled by an outside source. It took months of trial and error, but I managed to make my first breakthrough when I managed to navigate a rat through a maze."
"Why a rat though?" asked Percy
"Pigs were too expensive," said Naruto
The group stopped to looked around to see where they were and discovered they were at a water mattress store.
"Who's Crstuy?" asked Percy
"It's actually Crusty," said Naruto, "You learn a few reading tricks after a couple of years."
"Should we go in?" asked Grover only to hear the sound of a group of gang members running towards them.
"I believe we should," said Naruto as he opened the door.
The interior was what you would expect, various bed models spread across the room with their prices on the headboards. They journeyed further into the store to see if anyone was actually here, only to run into an abnormally tall man.
"Hello how can I help you?" asked the man.
"We were interested in purchase one of your mattresses," said Naruto before Percy could reply, "and just checking your prices."
"Good well my name is Crusty and if you need any help don't hesitate to seek me out," said Crusty
"Thank you, and we'll let you know if we need your help," said Naruto
"Hey how about I show you my most impressive bed," said Crusty, "it has an excellent message feature, and the mattresses liquid viscosity practically makes a mold of the body."
"What about support?" asked Naruto
"The bed has a remote that controls the amount of water in the mattress at any given time," said Crusty
"Interesting feature, but what about the price?" asked Naruto
"It's negotiable," said Crusty
"Really because waterbeds are starting to become a rarity," said Naruto as he walked around the bed.
"That may be true, but water beds have shown to relieve the arthritis pain and since they're filled with water dust won't settle in.," said Crusty
"Those are some advantages, but tell this why should we buy from a monster that tried to kill Theseus."
"Oh I see you picked up on that," said Crusty, "Ergo."
Chains sprang from the bed latching onto Naruto's feet and wrists and dragging him onto the bed.
"Short, you're too short," said Crusty.
"Hear it, but that changes nothing Procrustes," said Naruto
"Oh it will change," said Procrustes," and I will be the one to do it."
The chains started to recede back into the bed stretching Naruto and alerting the others to his position. Annabeth and Grover ran to where they heard the clanking of chains and found Naruto chained to a bed with Percy just standing there doing nothing.
"Percy what happened?" asked Annabeth.
"He won't answer you, his mind is blanketed by the mist," said Naruto
"So shock," said Grover.
"In layman's terms yes," said Annabeth
"Ah, more customers," said Procrustes, "That means more beds. Ergo"
Chains launched out of the other beds, dragging Annabeth and Grover towards the beds.
'Looks like it's all up to Percy' thought Naruto, 'Great.'
Percy came back to his senses to see that three of his friends her chained to a bed and are in the process of getting stretched.
"Now to deal with you," said Procrustes.
"Wait!" said Percy, "I'm different I appreciate what you do. I mean you do push the envelope on design, lava lamps in the headboards are genius."
"Thank you," said Procrustes, "Everyone just overlooks the effort I put into running this business. I spend good money on getting the best products for the customer, but do they notice nooo."
"I feel your pain, but I do have a quick question, what would you do if the customer is too tall for the bed?"
"I just 'trim' them until they fit," said Procrustes as he retrieved a bronze ax
"Interesting," said Percy, "but what if they squirm and the bed starts jiggling."
"That's simple, all the beds have dynamic stabilizers that prevent the bed from making too many waves," said Procrustes, "Guaranteed."
"I don't believe you," said Percy, "I use to have a waterbed, but it kept making waves, and I couldn't sleep."
"I promise you that won't happen," said Procrustes, "I'll even show you."
Procrustes showed Percy one of the luxurious bed and laid on it.
"See no waves," said Procrustes.
"I see, and I admit you're right," said Percy, "but what about when they're struggling, Ergo."
The bed sprouted from the bed said secured Procrustes to the bed;
"Wait! Listen if you let me go I'll throw in three sheets and two beds," said Procrustes.
"Sorry no sale," said, Percy, as he uncapped Riptide
"Ok, how about thirty percent off on anything in the store and free shipping," said Procrustes
"Nope, Sorry to say but you've been put in the clearance bin," said he and Percy bisected Procrustes.
With him gone the ropes that were holding Annabeth, Grover and Naruto hostage loosened allowing the three to go free.
"You've been put in the clearance bin, that's'" said Naruto, "that's the best you could think of."
"Give him some slack," said Grover, "It takes a while for a person to come up with good one-liners."
"Alright alright fine," said Naruto," let's just get out and get to the studio."
"But we don't have the address," said Percy
"I do," said Naruto, "I go there on a regular basis."
"Oh," said Percy as he joined the rest of his group.
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