章節 15: Chapter 15
June 24
The days following Tantalus beginning as the new councilor could only be described in one word, Horrible. He's reduced the number of campers on defensive duty and even distracted Naruto from maintaining the Bird Cage, so the damage to the camp has increased.
"We can't keep doing this" said Naruto, "the camp is getting destroyed."
"I'm aware of the damage, but Tantalus is the head councilor so his word is law around here." replied Melanie, "I can't do anything either per Zeus's orders."
"So, we're supposed to suffer in silence?" said Naruto, "the jerk has me making him a suit to wear and even told me to ignore the other orders. He deemed his order the most important and all the other orders were insignificant, he's further crippling the camp through the business."
"Well I'm sure we'll be able to recover without causing a large drop in our profits." said Melinoe
"That isn't my top concern," said Naruto, "I'm more concerned about Aphrodite's reaction to her orders being late, she may destroy the camp."
"Or have a hissy fit" commented Melinoe, "I wouldn't worry too much about her."
"If you say so" said Naruto as he continued to sew.
The reaction to the news of Percy having a brother were mixed, at best. Some were happy for him while others made fun of him, but luckily Tyson didn't notice them or didn't seem to care. Naruto saw his arrival as a challenge as he had yet to make clothing this big or fire-proof. When Tyson began to move his stuff to Poseidon's cabin he couldn't stop giggling or repeating the phrase 'Percy is my brother' over and over again. Tyson's arrival also meant getting help at the forges, with Hephaestus children for guidance.
Lunch was interesting, as watching Tyson eating could be simplified in one word, messy. Since he wasn't use to eating with utensils he ate with his hands, mashing potatoes and chunks of meat flying everywhere, making several campers nauseous. At the head table Mr. D and Tantalus were eating, or attempting too as Tantalus's curse prevented him from eating and drinking, they too were disgusted by Tyson's table manners. Tantalus stood up and began
to clear his dry throat;
"Campers may I have your attention" said Tantalus, "I have decided to replace capture the flag and resurrect the chariot races."
This caused the Ares and Hephaestus cabin to get excited as this would give them the opportunity to show off their craftsmanship and punish the other campers without repercussion. Aphrodite's and Apollo's children dreaded the event as being black and bloody wasn't a good look. Athena's cabin had mixed responses; their knowledge of mathematics and physics allowed them to engineer the perfect chariot, but only a few of them could really fight, so the chances of them coming out unscathed were slim to none. The only one in Athena's cabin that was looking forward to the race was Naruto, he wasn't banned from participating.
The lunchroom began to break up and form teams and selected the best campers to represent their cabin. Naruto was selected as the warrior, his combat experience and unusual abilities would allow him to decimate the competition, while Annabeth was chosen as the driver, she was good with horses. She declined at first, but agreed after having a fight with Percy over his new brother.
June 31
A week had passed since the announcement was made and construction of the chariots first started. The day of the race was upon then and the only unusual thing was the various birds that were resting in the tree. Birds nesting in the trees was normal but it was the birds themselves that caused suspicion, they appeared to be made out of metal and had glowing red eyes.
'Are those Stymphalian birds?' thought Naruto as he pushed the chariot to the starting line, 'why are they here?'
The race was about to begin and other chariots were being revealed. Hermes's was the least impressive as theirs looked like they dragged it out of an old garage. It was green and looked like it was about to fall apart. There was nothing really special about it compared to the other chariots. Are's was bloodied and looked menacing, black wood bordered it as red wood planks made up the main body. Pulling Are's chariot were two fleshless horses with flaming eyes that seemed to have a temper. Apollo's was constructed out of gold and silver. The chariot was smooth, aerodynamic even, and was pulled by palominos. Hephaestus's chariot was made of bronze and iron and did have some hammer marks in it. Pulling the metal chariot were two automated horses made of bronze. Percy, with the help of Tyson, managed to put together a chariot and it looked pretty good. It was tinged blue and had a trident on the front and pulling it were two pegasi, although they did have a problem with Tyson. The finale chariot was Athena's, an olive wood body with feathers carved into it with a birch owl on the front.
"Attention racers this will be a standard chariot race, quarter mile track, weapons and dirty tricks are allowed, but no killing" said Tantalus but he smirked at the last part, "anyone that breaks these rules will face harsh punishment."
'Something tells me those 'punishments' aren't going to that severe.' thought Naruto as he got on the chariot.
"Charioteers to you marks" shouted Tantalus as he stood up, "GO!"
The race began and Hermes's chariot fell apart just a few yards from the starting line.
'Not five minutes in and we already have a casualty' thought Naruto as he looked behind him
'Clarisse's work, by that smirk on her face.'
Ares's cabin was bringing up the rear as Apollo's was leading the pack. Hephaestus's cabin through pulled alongside Poseidon's chariot and tried to gum up their wheels with lengths of chains, but Tyson managed to thwart their plans.
"Should we bring out the big guns yet?" asked Naruto to Annabeth
"Not yet, let them tire themselves out first" replied Annabeth
"Alright" said Naruto
As the race, continued Ares's children decided to attack Hephaestus's chariot by launching spiked metal balls at their wheels. The first tactic didn't work as Hephaestus's chariot had a metal axle so Clarisse decided to use tactic two, a hook attached to a rock. Clarisse threw the hook towards the axle and caught it on the first try, she then pushed the rock off her chariot and let it drag on the ground. The Hephaestus chariot jerked as the additional weight took effect. Ares's charioteer overlooked the dragged down chariot and focused their sights on the chariot in front of them, Athena's chariot.
"How about now." said Naruto as he saw Ares's chariot coming closer.
"Yes." replied Annabeth with a smirk.
"Finally," said Naruto as he turned his attention towards the approaching
chariot, "Time to redesign this outfit."
Naruto concentrated on the palm of his hand to manifest a small ball of string, he then threw the ball at the Ares chariot and it made a minor explosion, but it seemed to do nothing.
"HA! Was that supposed to do something?" said Clarisse.
"At first no, but that was the point" replied Naruto as he tightened his fist. "What?" said Clarisse, but soon noticed that the wheel that the ball hit was now in pieces and the chariot was now unbalanced, "curse you feather heads!"
"Well, Ares is out all, that's left is Apollo and Poseidon chariots." said Naruto.
"Poseidon will be easy to care of them, but Apollo's is in the lead." replied
Annabeth
"Not now" said Naruto as he pointed forward.
Annabeth looked ahead and saw that Percy and Tyson had managed to dislodge one of wheels on Apollo's chariot. As Annabeth was catching up to Percy, Naruto noticed that the birds in the tree started to move and produce a loud grinding noise from their beaks. Just as Naruto noticed this the birds began to attack, the two chariots on the course were fine but the audience was a different matter. Aphrodite's daughters were screaming as their exposed skin was being pecked at, Apollo's children tried to fire arrow at the flying threats but could only hit a few of them. The only one not panicking was Tantalus but that could be his just appearance, the guy looked like a walking skeleton.
"Stymphalian birds!" yelled Annabeth as she pulled the chariot to the side, "We have to stop them before they strip everyone to the bone."
"How do we stop them!?" yelled Percy as he to pulled to the side.
"Give me a minute." said Annabeth as she began to think, "Bells! bronze bells."
"And where are we supporting to get bronze bells?" said Naruto was he surveyed the situation, "the last of the bells went to Texas."
'Why would Naruto have sent bells to Texas?' thought Percy
"Chiron's music!" exclaimed Annabeth, "we can use Chiron's music to drive the birds to the middle."
"Percy, take Annabeth and go to the Main House, while Tyson and I try and fight
the birds."
The four agreed to this plan and split up to accomplished their tasks.
"How I help with birds?" asked Tyson
"you do what Cyclopes do best" said Naruto, "grab a giant object and swing it
randomly."
"Oh, I can do that." said Tyson as he grabbed the broken axle of Hermes's chariot.
As Tyson was swinging his makeshift club, Naruto was launching string towards the injured campers and pulling them to safety. The tone of the battle changed when the sound of Italian moaning permeated the air, irritating the birds and making them group in the middle of the track.
'Thank Zeus for Chiron taste in music.' thought Naruto was he spotted his sister and Percy
Once the birds were in the middle Annabeth gave the command towards Naruto.
"Net them!"
"I thought you would never ask." said Naruto as he clapped and pulled his hands apart to reveal a spider web-like structure, then thrust them in the bird's direction. The result was the birds being caught in a spider web, while being cut into various pieces at the same time. The stragglers were handled by Apollo's children, while Hephaestus's children gathered the scattered pieces for later use.
As the dust settled and the campers began to calm down, the sound of clapping
could be heard.
"Let us cheer for the winner of the chariot race" said Tantalus, "Team Ares."
The nymphs reluctantly, not because they hated her but it was more of the occasion, gave the golden laurels to the daughter of Ares. Clarisse shared this feeling with them as it was a hollow victory to her.
"Now before we celebrate her victory we must first punish the three trouble makers" said Tantalus, "and you weaver boy, why isn't my suit done yet?"
"You never came in for a fitting so I had to guess your measurements and you're always changing the design." said Naruto, "first the material too dark than it's too light, you want an orange blossoms on the collar but then you change it to cherry blossoms. I had to go through over 10 yards of cloth because of you!"
"Enough of your excuses, just get the suit by the end of the day." commanded Tantalus
'I really hate that guy.' thought Naruto as he headed for his shop.
Percy, Tyson and Annabeth were sentenced to dish washing duty, which may not sound very harsh but considering that they're washed in hot magma to guarantee cleanliness. The two demigods were wearing asbestos lined aprons and glove, while Tyson was barehanded. His Cyclopes physiology protected him from the extreme heat of the magma. It took a couple of hours to clean all the dishes, a celebration banquet was held in Clarisse's honor so the usual amount of plates doubled. When Percy first told Annabeth about his dream involving Grover, she thought it was Percy's way of distracting her from the race but now she started to believe him.
"Percy if you're right and Grover found it then we need to tell Tantalus." said Annabeth
"that would be Good news for the camp, but bad news for Tantalus" said Naruto as he entered the kitchen.
"What do you mean?" asked Percy
"Percy the only reason Tantalus is here being to replace Chiron, so news of a possible way to heal our camp may convince the Big Guy to reinstate Chiron" said Naruto, "which means that Tantalus would be sent back to the Underworld."
"I guess you are right, but we still need to tell the camp" said Annabeth, "maybe with added support it will force Tantalus to issue the quest."
"Good idea" said Naruto, "now come, Tantalus summoned us to the camp bonfire."
The four reached the bonfire and saw that the fire was dim and the Apollo children tried to brighten everyone's spirit by singing, but it hardly did the trick, Tantalus on the other hand was happy and was clapping along to the beat.
"Well that was lovely" said Tantalus as the Apollo children completed the song, "Now to announce tomorrows schedule."
"Wait!" yelled Percy
"Yes, kitchen boy" replied Tantalus as the Ares cabin chuckled.
"We have an idea on how to save the camp." said Percy
The camp responded to this new with silence, but they seemed interested.
"Silence!" yelled Tantalus, "Speak boy, what is this 'brilliant' idea of yours."
"We know where the Golden Fleece is." said Percy
Tantalus was unable to stop them as Percy told them about his dreams and Annabeth continued as she explained the Fleece abilities.
"We don't need the Fleece, as the camp is fine." said Tantalus, but he was glared at for his stupidity, "and even if did wouldn't know where to look."
"We do though." said Percy, "I have the sailing coordinates on the way here."
"And how did you come across this information?" asked Tantalus not believing Percy
"From the Grey Sisters, they told me" said Percy, "precise sailing coordinate."
The camper discussed among themselves and decided that Percy's idea might work. "We need a quest! "shouted Annabeth
"You want me to issue a quest?" said Tantalus, "That's ridiculous."
"We need a quest" chanted the campers as the camp fire began to rise and change colors. After the fifth chant Tantalus, finally broke;
"Alright, alright I'll issue a quest" said Tantalus
Hearing their victory over Tantalus excited the camper as they might have a way to save the camp now.
"Our champion shall consult the Oracle and leave as soon as possible." said Tantalus
"I'll go first thing in the morning" said Percy as he confidently stood among the campers.
"Who said it would be you?" said Tantalus, "Our champion is the one that won the
chariot race, Clarisse.
Once her name was heard her cabin mates started to chant her name.
"I accept the quest and shall choose my team wisely." replied Clarisse
"Wait! Grover is my friend so shouldn't I be the one to go." said Percy
"He's trying to steal the spotlight again."
"Give someone else a chance"
"This glory should go to Ares's Cabin"
Those were the comments that were heard among the campers as they waited for Tantalus to settle this.
"She has earned the camps' respect, so she deserves this quest" said Tantalus
'It sounds like he's setting her up for failure' thought Naruto
"Now sit down and shut us as I tell you a ghost story." said Tantalus, "There once was a mortal king who was beloved by the Gods who even invited him to dine in Olympus. This changed when the king decided to take a small doggie bag of ambrosia and nectar back to his kingdom to decipher the recipe. The Gods decided to punish The King be banishing him from their realm, never to feast with them again. The king was laughed at by his subjects; men, women and even children laughed at him. The king decided to remedy the situation by inviting the God to feast in his castle, they accepted. What the king didn't tell them was he made the food out of the children that laughed at him. After the Gods found out about this they punished him further in the afterlife, some say his spirit even wanders the camp in look of more kids to eat."
This spooked some of the campers but to those that had read the tale before realized that Tantalus was talking about himself and how he got cursed in the first place.
"Weren't you there Melinoe?" asked Naruto
"No, I wasn't, At the time I was in the Underworld looking after Father's domain. The Gods didn't eat the stew Tantalus served, except Demeter, and even had Clotho resurrect Pelop." replied Melinoe
"Well At least the Big Guy was nice at one point." said Naruto as he returned
to his marshmallow.
"Now I'm sure no one has any objections to Clarisse taking this quest" said Tantalus. He was meet with silence, "Clarisse go to the Oracle and get her prediction."
She might not want to be Tantalus's pet, but she didn't want to be lunch either so she began the trip to the Big Cabin.
"Who do think she'll choose to accompany her?" asked Naruto
"Maybe some of her brothers." answered Melinoe
"Or some of her friends" said Naruto
"What if she chooses you?" asked Melinoe
"I highly doubt that" said Naruto, "I'm just a craftsman that plays support."
"That may be the reason she brings you." said Melinoe, "She is a frontline fighter so she may look for someone to play support."
"Or she may go for another frontline fighter to join her." said Naruto as he ate his marshmallow.
"You never know until it happens." said Melinoe as she grabbed his arm, "Now let's get out of her and cuddle for a while."
"Do we? it's late and I need to get started on the orders first thing in the morning." said Naruto
"No" said Melinoe, "We are going to act like a couple, even if it's just in the confines of the workshop."
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票