Percy Jackson: War of the Gods [T] [Best Rookie 4Q '11]

[for him.]

"Okay, now. The teams for today's Capture the Flag are...

Children of cabins - Aphrodite, Demeter, Apollo and Hermes with the Red Flag.

VS.

Children of cabins - Ares, Hephaestus, Athena and Dionysus with the Blue Flag." He said, as he rolled up his scroll. He then remembered something, and said, "Oh, and yes, the lone 2 children of Artemis... you are going to be divided into the 2 teams. Jared Angelo, you are in the red team. And Luna Cynthia Krescent, you are in the Blue team. And from now onwards, you have exactly an hour to get prepared for the game, after which we shall begin. Good luck to all of you."

Hearing this, Evan had winced. It seemed like the Red Team got the short end of the stick. The Blue Team had Hephaestus' cabin and if Evan knew that demigods of Athena's cabin would be able to utilize them to make traps. They had Ares' cabin for the brawn. He didn't know much about demigods of Dionysus' cabin, so they were a bit of a wild card.

Personally, Evan thought Chiron was crazy. He knew better than anybody that Ares' demigods often butted heads with Athena's. It was nearly suicide to have them near each other.

Evan then sighed, there were one or two demigods in both of the cabins that would be the glue that would hold them together and stop their cabins from killing each other. Chiron seemed to really want them to lose. He wondered who made him made him mad this week.

Well they had Demeter and that was a bright side. Demigods of this cabin were known for their extensive knowledge in medicinal herbs and healing magic. They were a great help if anybody happened to be injured. The Red Team also had Apollo's cabin and the lone demigod from the Artemis's cabin. They were best for long ranged combat and at the moment Evan had no idea what to do with them. He was worried about putting them by the flag because most could only fight in long ranged combat. Demigods of Hermes' cabin were very versatile. Most were fast and agile and there were a handful that had brawns to help as well.

Evan decided that it was good to keep some demigods from the Hermes' cabin behind with a few from Apollo's cabin and maybe one or two from Demeter's. The other demigods from the Hermes' cabin had to be the ones to steal the flag because demigods from that cabin were fairly fast and could avoid most trouble. The traps however, would be a problem. The rest of the other demigods could be reinforcement for the demigods of Hermes'.

He sighed loudly. At least odds weren't hopeless, but it was easy to tell that they were going to lose this one. They needed a miracle, a really big miracle.

 

[Nideous]

Kira sighed to herself. They were supposed to fwin with all of the odds stacked against them like this? How on earth was that supposed to happen? She shook her head. This was not fair! Not in the slightest! She turned to Gwen when she approached and sighed.

"Maybe I can charm some of the morons from Ares into joining our side..." Kira said distantly. She shook her head. Odds were that it wouldn't be that easy. She unsheathed the lovely dagger that she had brought from her cabin and looked at it. It was long and slender, about five inches long, with a wavy silver blade. She shook her head. She sheathed the dagger and looked at the rest of the people on her team. They were going to lose, and nothing anyone could do could stop it.

 

[SylveonStar]

Ariala looked at her team and saw them all sighing and looking like they were going to lose. "Hey come on, there's no way we're going to win with attitudes like that" she said looking at them. She was the youngest so maybe she was a bit naive but she believed that if they tried their hardest they could win. "But hey, it's just a game. Win or lose that's all it is just a game it's no big deal." she said smiling at the others.

 

[for him.]

A child of Demeter, Evan guessed, had spoken. She was trying to encourage everybody. She was naïve, Evan admitted, but he had to admire her trying to see the good in the bad. He had never seen her before though. She seemed nice enough. He decided he could work with her.

Evan knew that their chances weren't impossible, but it would take a miracle.

"We might as well make a plan," Evan spoke, "Athena's cabin probably will probably split their teams into groups."

"I am thinking about two or maybe even three," Evan continued after a pause, "Usually it is best for the faster demigods to steal the flag, usually a demigod of the Hermes cabin."

"However, we have Hephaestus' demigods to worry about. They will probably set up traps to prevent us from getting passed the river, so I advice we split into fours," He pointed out, "I may not be a child of Athena, but I am pretty smart and sneaky. Why don't we try to have four stay behind to protect the flag, teams of two charge the two groups bound for the river, and the rest will be a small group who will go after the flags?"

Evan paused before adding, "I have no idea what to do about the traps though. I guess we'll just have to be lucky. Since the blue team has three powerhouses we can't rely on our skill alone. We need luck and lots of it."

 

[Conjurer]

Guinevere McCastor
Daughter of Aphrodite
The Edge of the Forest
​

"So, what are you planning for the game?"

"Maybe I can charm some of the morons from Ares into joining our side..." said Kira distantly. Kira soon shook her head in dismay, apparently cancelling the idea.

Gwen chuckled a little. "Well I guess some of them would cave in if we played our cards right. After all, who could resist beauties such as ourselves? I would still keep my wits--and my weapons--about me though, if I were you." She pulled out her rapier, or Yvette as she often called it, out of its sheath. "See you around. I've heard some whispers about traps set by the Hephaestuses, so be careful."

As she walked away, she glanced back to see Kira unsheath a dagger. It was really quite beautiful, rather like a midnight tide--a silvery wave of a blade, emanating pale beauty. She then turned her head around find a suitable place to sharpen her rapier in, just in time to miss Kira sheathing her dagger back with a grim look on her face--a look that clearly stated she knew they were going to lose.

Gwen went to the nearest tree. Even though it was still quite early and light morning breezes are still blowing, she was fairly sensitive to heat. Under the tree's shade, she sharpened Yvette with a grindstone, put it back in its sheath and walked around for more intel.

 

[Karma Police]

Alex Newton
Edge of the forest, Camp Half-Blood​

I looked at the son of Athena in front of me. He seemed to be very cheerful, and had formulated a plan. "Great, awesome." I thought. We were totally gonna win this game. Those Apollo kids with their shiny teeth weren't gonna get in MY way.

Josh walked over to a nearby stump, and laid out a map of the forest. I glanced at Benjamin behind me, and whispered, "Come on." He nodded, and silently followed me to the stump.

"The forest is divided into two sections by the center creek, as team blue our flag is in the bottom left of the forest and the red teams is in the top right, the creek cuts diagonally through the middle, making the flags on either side as far away from each other as possible and the creek as the main colliding point for both teams." Josh explained. I already knew all that, I needed to know the plan. But I didn't want to be all impatient and all, and piss off the planner of the team. He should probably keep quiet and just listen for now.

"So first things first we need some guards for our flag, I give the position to Jennifer from my own cabin." I felt my eye twitch. He should've listened to us first. But yeah, if the kids from the Ares cabin marched ahead on the offense, we could win this. I glanced back at Benjamin, a confused look on my face. I then turned to Josh and said,

"Well, since there are allowed to be 2 guards for the flag... I'm going to give the second position to my friend Benjamin over here." I waved a hand in Benjamin's direction, making everybody's attention turn towards him. I knew he was turning all red with all the attention on him, but I felt that he was best suited for this job. He wouldn't do as well in offense... but in defense, he could probably stand a chance.

"Alex I would also like you to choose one of your Ares' to be our second flag guard, the rest of the Ares, supported by those from Dionysus' will meet the enemy at the creek... Now my fellow children of Athena, we have numbers to our advantage. Apart from Jenn we have thirteen in our group so we split into two groups of six and seven. The smaller group is A1 and the bigger group is A2. We'll start with A2, your the backup, wait for Alex to give somekind of signal and then come in to help with the main battle. Now A1, I'll be leading this group, we'll be taking half of the Hephaestus cabin, in other words four of them, as silently as possible to the other side of the creek. Once there Hephaestus can use their craftsmanship to set up traps for the forces I'm hoping we can push back, we'll then push forward and attempt to secure the flag. As for the rest of Hephaestus, you'll be doing the opposite of your siblings and setting up barricades on our side of the creek. Luna you will accompany A1 and try to keep us safe with your bow and pick off enemies from afar." Josh finished the strategy and rolled up the map.

I shrugged. Sounded like a good plan. Maybe we could pull this off well. Josh knew what he was doing... all I had to do was give him a signal, and punch some Apollo demigods around. This was DEFINITELY gonna be fun. I smiled, and I could feel my eyes grow hot. The excitement was turning them red, like they always did. Good thing I was wearing my shades.

I heard the Artemis girl, Luna mumble, "I hope so..." I frowned a bit hearing this. last thing I needed was a pessimistic demigod. I patted her lightly on her shoulder, saying, "Hey, now. It's not like there's a lot of burden on you. If ya get in a spot of bother, you can always depend on me and my brutes to bail ya out!" I said, winking at her. I pointed a thumb at my siblings from the Ares cabin, who were goofing around, obviously they had not heard the plan. I couldn't expect a lot from them anyways.

I saw Josh chat with some kind of huge owl, but it didn't strike me as weird at all. I mean, after spending years at this place, I hardly found anything weird at all. I simply patted Josh on his back, wishing him luck. I turned around, and saw a person taking lead from the Hephaestus Cabin. I walked over to him, and noticed he had a huge metal arm, in place of a normal human arm. I stared at it for a second, amazed at the work done on it. Of course, I couldn't expect any less from a kid of Hephaestus. I snapped out of my daze, and walked over to him. "So, taking charge, eh? Nice to see that. Good luck in the game."

I didn't even bother to wish the Dionysus kids luck, I didn't trust them. I mean, they could turn me mad, and I already was dealing with the madness of my dreams. I saw Benjamin standing nearby, polishing his sword nervously. I walked over to him, to try and find out what the matter was.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah... yeah, kind of. I was just wondering whether I would do good..." He replied, nervously glancing at me. I let out a huge laugh, it would have made me sound like a maniac, but I couldn't help myself.

"You're a son of Ares, Benjy! Of course you'll do well!" I said, with a grin. I punched him on his arm lightly, and he smiled a bit. I walked away from there, and stood in the middle of the whole group of Team Blue. I clapped my hands, and at the top of my voice, yelled, "Okay, people. We don't have much time left, let's get geared up!" The kids from my cabin immediately walked away to get their armor, but I stuck around and waited for the rest of the people to act as well.

I suddenly remembered one thing, and walked over to Josh once again. I whispered to him, "Hey, listen... don't discuss our plans anymore. Don't want any spies to listen." and once again, I walked away from him. I was pretty nervous though, the Aphrodite cabin was gonna be fighting against us. Already a lot of kids from my cabin had a crush on a lotta demigods from there, they would eventually try and win over my brothers and sisters. I don't know how I could stop them... but yes, the demigods from the Aphrodite cabin were going to give him a lotta problems with their charmspeak.

 

[Wymsical]

You guys post too quick :P

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Edge of the forest.

Jared huddled up with his group. They obviously had the 'downer' as Henri mentioned. He listened to the various Demigods formulate plans, but there was one that caught his attention.
"Athena's cabin probably will probably split their teams into groups." said a boy, Jared looked beside him to find Evan Huynh, a child of Hermes speaking. It was rare that they came up with a plan, that Jared had learned from T-J. But the boy seemed confident enough.
"I am thinking about two or maybe even three, usually it is best for the faster demigods to steal the flag, usually a demigod of the Hermes cabin." Evan spoke. "I agree. Hermes kids should try to steal the flag." Jared agreed.
"However, we have Hephaestus' demigods to worry about. They will probably set up traps to prevent us from getting passed the river, so I advice we split into fours," Evan continued. This wasn't a bad plan, since the Apollo cabin was on their side, and the Apollo cabin had twenty kids, the Red Team had the upper hand in numbers here. Splitting them into fours would give the Red Team great mobility.
"I may not be a child of Athena, but I am pretty smart and sneaky. Why don't we try to have four stay behind to protect the flag, teams of two charge the two groups bound for the river, and the rest will be a small group who will go after the flags?" That sounded good, if Evan had listened to the rules. "There's only one problem with that, Evan, we're only allowed to leave two guards at the flag, and we can't stand within ten yards of the flag." Jared pointed out. As he did so, he could see a child of Aphrodite walk out on them. Classic. Jared had only been at camp Half-Blood for a year, but he knew the Aphrodites could be such brats. And if there's one thing Jared hated it was a brat.

"I have no idea what to do about the traps though. I guess we'll just have to be lucky. Since the blue team has three powerhouses we can't rely on our skill alone. We need luck and lots of it." Evan continued. Jared couldn't agree with Evan on that. "Luck has nothing to do with it." Jared said. "Planning is everything. If I could add to your statements, I believe we have aproximately twenty Apollo kids, which means we have numbers. Your idea of splitting us all up into fours is great." Jared continued. "We have to send Hermes kids after the opponents flag, that's for sure. We should get two Apollos to protect our flag, because we can't stand within ten yards of our flag, it's best to have a long-ranged attacker ready to shoot anybody who nears the flag." Jared said. "I say we should have two groups of four Apollos called D1 and D2 patrol the forest, a group of Hermes kids called H1 try to steal the opponents flag without being detected by their guards-since I know they have some-and two Apollo guards to guard the flag."

"We should have any others-who would probably be close-range attackers- be divided into as many teams as possible. Depending on how many we have, which should be C1, C2 and so on. Everybody with me so far?"
Almost everybody nodded, but Henri was left scratching his head.

 

[Conjurer]

Guinevere McCastor
Daughter of Aphrodite
The Edge of the Forest

Gwen's intel gathering was going pretty well. The people doing recon had scoured the battlefield and one drew a rough map of the area, along with some excellent places to place the flag in. A few of her cabinmates were discussing people from the opposing team that they can manipulate to do their bidding.

"Oh, my third beau is a Hephaestus. I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving us some of his traps after some well-placed compliments..."

"Ah, that's swell and all, but I've got to say two of my boyfriends are Ares's brats, and I doubt they would mind faking being imprisoned, you know..."

"Of course, we all know my favorite boyfriend--well, my favorite in Athena's cabin, anyway--would just love to reveal the enemy's strategies to us..."

Then again there were some of Hermes's kids who had swindled a few Hephaestuses of their traps, and figured out how they worked. They gave a little presentation to the front line fighters, just so they have a general idea of what to look out for.

"You see, this one is cleverly designed like a patch of grass, but one rustle against it and zap--paralysis! The key difference here is the top area. Notice this here gray tip. That's superconductor material to channel the electric energy. And of course there is this spike trap, oh, it's a really tricky one too. Took me half an hour to figure out what triggered it, it did..."

Then there was Evan, the clever kid from the Hermes cabin, had been discussing strategies with a majority of the Red Flags. Of course, Gwen joined in.

"We might as well make a plan," Evan spoke, "Athena's cabin probably will probably split their teams into groups."

Quite accurate, Gwen thought. Athenas are never direct with their strategies, but with the impulsive Ares demigods as their partners, who can tell...

"I am thinking about two or maybe even three," Evan continued after a pause, "Usually it is best for the faster demigods to steal the flag, usually a demigod of the Hermes cabin."

"I'm with you there," Gwen chimed in. "What better people to steal the flag than the ones who could fly? Especially since we have the Apollos on our team and they only have one archer. It'd be quite difficult for them to prevent an aerial attack."

"However, we have Hephaestus' demigods to worry about. They will probably set up traps to prevent us from getting passed the river, so I advice we split into fours," Evan pointed out, "I may not be a child of Athena, but I am pretty smart and sneaky. Why don't we try to have four stay behind to protect the flag, teams of two charge the two groups bound for the river, and the rest will be a small group who will go after the flags?"

"Well, your cabinmates did uncover the secrets to some of their traps, so that sort of helps with the Hephaestus problem," an Apollo pointed out.

"There's only one problem with that, Evan, we're only allowed to leave two guards at the flag, and we can't stand within ten yards of the flag," the Artemis boy, Jared, pointed out.

"I'm kinda with you on everything else though, Evan. What else are you planning?" asked Gwen.

Evan paused before adding, "I have no idea what to do about the traps though. I guess we'll just have to be lucky."

A Demeter said, "What, the rest of the traps? Maybe we Demeter demigods can prepare some antitoxin and antiparalysis herbs for you to carry around...that's kind of on too short of a notice though. I wonder if we can actually do it."

"Don't forget, the Dionysus demigods have that power over vines and stuff. We're right on the edge of a forest--there're plenty of vines for them to control," said a Hermes.

"Since the blue team has three powerhouses we can't rely on our skill alone. We need luck and lots of it," continued Evan.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Jared said. "Planning is everything. If I could add to your statements, I believe we have aproximately twenty Apollo kids, which means we have numbers. Your idea of splitting us all up into fours is great." Jared continued. "We have to send Hermes kids after the opponents flag, that's for sure. We should get two Apollos to protect our flag, because we can't stand within ten yards of our flag, it's best to have a long-ranged attacker ready to shoot anybody who nears the flag." Jared said. "I say we should have two groups of four Apollos called D1 and D2 patrol the forest, a group of Hermes kids called H1 try to steal the opponents flag without being detected by their guards-since I know they have some-and two Apollo guards to guard the flag."

"And us Aphrodites, I reckon you're going to say we'll be doing the spying, seducing, deceiving and all those dirty tricks, right?" chimed Gwen. "Alright then. Your plan is pretty solid. I say we should go through with it."

"We should have any others-who would probably be close-range attackers- be divided into as many teams as possible. Depending on how many we have, which should be C1, C2 and so on. Everybody with me so far?"

There was some general nodding, and someone who was scratching his head.

"Only we have one problem," said an Apollo. "We don't exactly have a ton of close-range attackers..."

"He's right," agreed Gwen. "What are we going to do about that?"
​

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Edge of the forest

Jared listened to the suggestions and additions given in during the planning. This plan was coming along pretty well. Hopefully this would work out. "And us Aphrodites, I reckon you're going to say we'll be doing the spying, seducing, deceiving and all those dirty tricks, right?" said an Aphrodite. Jared did not recognize her, but her idea was good. "That's actually a pretty good idea," he said, nodding to the girl. "If we can get a few groups of Aphrodite to meet with the enemy, we could have a few Hephaestus and Ares kids temporarily on our side." he grinned. This was actually more fun than he thought, the last time Jared had tried this was over a year ago, and he'd been stuck in a horrible team. This was slightly better, however.
"Only we have one problem," an Apollo added "We don't exactly have a ton of close-range attackers..."
"He's right," agreed the Aphrodite girl. "What are we going to do about that?"
Jared had to admit they were both right. "When I said a few groups, I meant as many groups as possible. At least one could be available, I hope?" he looked around. "We can use the charmspeaking skills of the Aphrodites to get a few Ares kids on our team too, but that means the Aphrodite would have to stay with the Ares to keep convincing him to work for us. So I say Aphrodites go off in twos-fours if possible-and either try to spy on the enemy or charmspeak someone. If they charmspeak someone, stay near your subject at all times, if they look doubtful, charmspeak him. Our main targets for charmspeaking would be Hephaestus and Ares guys." Jared said.

In reality, this was just like a chess game to Jared. Each piece had their own powers to be taken advantage of. It was amusing, really. Last time an Ares kid made all the decisions, which sucked because he could only think about crushing the opponent's flag. Jared often had trouble imagining a girl like that, though. There were only a few girls in the Ares cabin, and for good reason.
Jared looked around him at his various team members. There was Henri and T-J of course, Hermes and Apollo kids. There were a bunch of Aphrodite kids gossiping, the girl who had suggested earlier didn't seem to want to join them. Next to her was Evan, the smart Hermes kid. He had come up with most of the plan, and Jared was thankful for that. Then there was of course the Apollos, about eighteen or twenty of them, which really gave the Red Team strength in numbers. Plus they were long-range attackers, which was very useful. The only downside is that they hardly had any close-range attackers. Next to none, really. But the Aphrodites were a really good edition due to the fact that the Red Team now had the ability to 'steal' a few blue team members. An Aphrodite could also convince someone to betray the Blue Team, which would be very useful.

"Right, if there are no more suggestions we can start talking about exactly WHO is going WHERE." Jared announced.

 

[SylveonStar]

Ariala Davies
Camp Half-Blood
Edge of the forest

Ariala sighed and looked at the others on her team no one had acknowledged her but Evan from the Hermes cabin was making a plan. She took a breath and tightened her grip on her lotus staff before looking at them. "I know some herbs around here that could help if anyone gets poisoned or paralyzed, if you guys want I can go gather some, and I have an idea for a trap we can easily make, members on our team will just have to remember where they are" she said smiling a bit.

"We can dig some holes leading up to our flag and cover the holes with grass and leaves they will blend in, When any member of the blue team runs over them they will fall in the holes." she said looking at the older kids. "I'll go with a group to retrieve the other team's flag. Us from the Demeter cabin know this forest better than anybody else"

 

[The Noob Hacker]

(OOC: Looks like it's time for me to play the catch-up game.)

Familiar waters shimmered as a single, thin strip of orange peeked over the horizon, breaking the darkness of night. The water was still, almost clear in the light of the early morning. Soon, the birght sphere of the skies began to make its ascent. Higher and higher into the sky it rose, growing brighter and a deeper yellow as it did. It wasn't long before the night's stars became invisible, and the sky reflected the blue of the waters.

Silently and still, demi-god Jayson Illaudus studied the sunrise, his eyes not averting even from the intense brightness that would have bested near anyone else. He had awoken mere minutes before the sun began to rise, it seemed almost as if an inner clock forced him to do so daily. He always was awake this early, at least as far as he could remember. He never even stayed in bed for a second, he simply couldn't. Perhaps it was because he was such a light sleeper, and never slept well anyways. Jayson didn't like the night. Not being able to see what was in front of him, looking into nothing but the unknown, it was unsettling to the boy. He wasn't afraid of the dark, he told himself, he just didn't like it.

The boy broke from his thoughts and began to observe the sun once more. It was nearly halfway up its ascent at this point. This, he thought is my father's work. My father, my real father. Jayson's mind strayed to the father that until realatively recently, he didn't even think was real. Apollo, Greek god of the sun and archery. Yet, looking at the sunrise, he wondered why he was not also noted as the god of art, or of poetry. States of thought like this were rare for Jayoson. The boy had barely a formal education and learned a lot of the things he does now at Camp Half-Blood, camp for children of a godly parent.

As the sun was nearly at the peek of its ascent, Jayson looked to the waters again. They still shined with the brilliance of the rising sun. It was still absoultely still and looked so peaceful. As the celestial sphere continued to rise, Jayson pulled a long object from his back. It was his longbow. It was a plain thing, easily mistaken for any other bow. In fact, the bow he held probably wasn't the same bow he held when he first entered the camp. No, it was more likely that somewhere along the way, perhaps multiple times, dropped his own bow somewhere and scooped up another's.

He took an arrow from his quiver, and fitted it into the bow. With control beyond the average fifteen-year-old, he drew back the string and let the arrow fly several yards, then descending and ultimately splashing into the water, never to be seen again. Jayson wasn't sure why he did that. He just felt like he had to, as if nothing would ever be right again if he didn't. Jayson smirked to himself. "That's one arrow lost," he muttered under his breath.

Jayson looked behind him. He saw a number of kids. Most of them were from the Apollo cabin, but no face was especially familliar to me. Seeming as if they had all suddenly remembered they had somewhere to be, they began walking off. Jayson knew that the sun had risen fully without having to turn his back. They began walking towards the forest. Jayson began jogging lightly, and caught up to one of the campers near the back. Isabel, he believed her name was.

"Where are you guys going?" he asked.

She giggled and responded "Going to play Capture the Flag, of course."

Jayson's face lit up. "I forgot! Capture the Flag was today! We haven't played in so long that I must have not remembered. This is going to be good, maybe even better than last time." Jayson trailed off as he realized that he had slowed down and was now completely behind the rest of the group.

Jayson arrived in a clearing just in time to hear camp centuar, Chiron, explain the rules of Capture the Flag. Just some old boring rules that Jayson had heard before. He was too busy bouncing in excitement and looking around the crowd to listen. Gazing around at the faces, Jayson realized he didn't really know any of the people there. He had probably talked to most of them at least once, but never really took the time to know them. Jayson shrugged. Guess he was a conversation maker, not a friend maker.

After the speech, Jayson wandered off with the rest of the Red Team. He was decided he was going to stick back and blend into the back ground for a little bit.

 

[Nakuzami]

Luna Cynthia Krescent
Camp Halfblood
Counter Strategies

★

​

My muscles tensed and I nearly jumped as I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. "Hey, now. It's not like there's a lot of burden on you. If ya get in a spot of bother, you can always depend on me and my brutes to bail ya out!" I turned to see a boy from the Ares cabin. He gave me a wink and pointed at the others from the Ares cabin as he spoke, and of course they were all messing around, probably completely missing the battle plan.

"If... you say so?" I muttered as the boy walked away.

"You hope so?" Josh asked me at the same moment. "Well if you need a bit more help understanding your position I could better expl... what the...?" Josh continued before he trailed off once a giant owl approached. "W...Wait hang on a se.... WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The owl grabbed Josh and flew away with him.

A few seconds later I spoke, a bit confused, "Should we... should we be worried about him?" I asked no one in particular, and I doubted that anyone could hear me anyways. After a moment more of thinking, I figured that that owl must have been Athena's... or something. "I guess not," Apparently Josh got to talk to mommy. Whatever, I'd probably prefer not having to talk to Artemis, ever...

...If only that were true. No matter how much I denied it, I couldn't help but want to talk to my mother. I had never really met her, and just because she was a goddess was no excuse. In fact, that should have made it easier for her to contact me at least once over the sixteen years of my life. Sixteen years, and nothing. What a caring mother.

I looked around once more. Others were talking and preparing their things for battle, and even though we had a fairly good battle strategy, it couldn't hurt to come up with a counter strategy. I figured that the Red Team would be trying to guess what the Athena kids would come up with, I knew Solissa wouldn't just be sitting around without thinking over the types of strategies us on the Blue Team would use. It would be predictable for the Hephaestus kids to make traps surrounding the flag, so maybe they'd try to figure out a way around that, or make traps of their own.

"Okay, think..." I said to myself, quiet enough so that no one would hear. "The Red Team has Apollo, Demeter, Hermes... Aphrodite, and my brother... er, Jared. The Apollo kids have a slight advantage in the day time, and they'd all be skilled in ranged combat, and the Demeter kids would have a fair knowledge of the forest. The Hermes kids would be fast, so they'd most likely send them out to get our flag... no doubt they'll use the Aphrodites' beauty to their advantage, and Jared is in about the same position as me..." I quietly explained to myself.

I thought for a few moments, "But how exactly would they build their strategy? Send all of the Hermes kids out with some Apollo kids to get the flag? The Apollo kids would probably be the most skilled in combat, something that the Demeter and Aphrodite kids wouldn't be very skilled at, though I'm not completely sure about the Hermes kids... So they'd probably have some Apollo kids protecting the flags, and maybe some Demeter kids go with the rest of the Apollo and Hermes kids for their knowledge on the forest and herbs..." I sighed, "But... what else could they do? I'm sure they have something more up their sleeves? They'd have to, or else they wouldn't stand a chance, and they'd know that... right?" I paused for a moment, "Gods, I don't know!" I groaned, deciding to leave the thinking to all of the Athena kids. I'm sure they had some sort of counter strategy for this. I hoped they did.

I turned to see that Josh was now back with the group. Guess there really was no reason to worry. I decided to ask him about the counter strategy. I walked up to him and spoke, "Um... hi," I said, feeling a bit out of place as I actually attempted to interact with someone without being forced to. "I was wondering... do we have some sort of counter strategy for whatever the Red Team might think up? I mean, I'm sure they'd be thinking about what battle strategies you Athena kids could think up, so should we maybe think about what they might come up with?" After a second of hesitation I added, "Just in case."
​

 

[Fearless Love]

Mallory Miller
Camp Halfblood
Demeter Cabin

Mallory was perfectly aware of what she was suppose to be doing. She knew it was time to wake and arise from her bed. Yet at the same time, she just refused to do so. Many of the demigods in the Demeter cabin knew that she would naturally wake herself up just in time for whatever was planned for the day, so they rarely ever bothered her if she was still in bed during this time. She preferred this after all. If she had gotten up with the rest of them, conversations, questions, and comments would have aroused, and she wasn't too fond of answering or replying to any of them. Her voice was still an in and out thing, so why they bothered to talk to her, she never understood.

Once the last demigod from the cabin had exited, she sat up and quickly slid down the latter of the bunk she had been resting on. Her brown hair moved into it's normal position, resting against her face, and nearly covering and blending in with her eyes. She slipped on her denim jacket which hung right at the edge of her bunk. White and brown. That was all she ever wore. It made her blend in. Blend in with nature, and even the kids around her. She never posed as any kind of challenge, so she just faded into the background. She'd be surprised if anyone outside of the Demeter cabin even recalled her name.

She didn't really waste any time standing around in the cabin. No need to make all of the others wait. Upon gripping the door handle, the heart charm trapped inside of thorns caught her eye. Letting out a sigh, she used her free hand rub across its surface, and for a moment, sadness overcame her. She had no idea how to contact him anymore. He said all she had to do was call...but she wasn't even aware of the proper way to do that from here.

She shook the thoughts from her head. She had a game to play. Capture the Flag. It hadn't been played in a while, not that it was really a game she was fond of, to be honest. But she put up with it anyway, for the sake of the team she was placed in. She didn't consider herself much help to the others. Healing and hiding, that was basically all she was good at in these cases, and she didn't feel like that really did much for her or for her team.

She ran out to where she knew the rest of the demigods would be. By the time she got there, she realized that the teams had already been sorted out, and she bit down on her lip, trying to recognize faces from her cabin. But everyone was so spread out, perhaps not even all in their teams, that she could barely make out one person from another. Much less figure out which cabin they were from.

A hand coming onto her shoulder startled her, and she turned her head quickly in the owners direction. A name didn't come into mind, nor did an encounter with this person, but she didn't say a word.

"You look confused. Did you lose something?" the demigod asked.

Mallory opened her mouth slightly, but the sudden cold air into her lungs forced her to shut them, and she just shook her head at a rapid pace.

"Uh...what cabin are you from? I'm sure that will help!" they said with a wide smile across their face.

Mallory looked down at herself. Even if people didn't remember her, she figured her choice of colors or her attitude, or her lack of much of a weapon would give some sort of hint. She just shook her head and pointed at the patch of grass beneath her feet. The person looked at her in a confused manor, but she just smiled, hoping they would get it.

"What? ....Oh! Demeter, right?" they asked.

Mallory nodded and let out a sigh of relief.

"Well in that case, your cabin is over there," the person pointed towards a crowd of people. "You're mixed with Aphrodite, Apollo, and Hermes."

She nodded and smiled in appreciation before making her way over to that ground. She didn't often intertwine her social interests with those of any of the three cabins to be honest. But this was her team, it was who she had to work with.

She stopped in front of the group and just stood there. She waved at them and smiled, though she doubted that any of them noticed. They were planning, and even though her role in this probably was little to zero, she listened to them anyway. It wouldn't be very bright if she went into this game without a clue as to what her own team was doing. Fighting wasn't her thing, thus why the only real weapon she had was a stake, something she had made on her own time.

She stood there, watching and listening to those in her team. Of course, she recognized them. If she took a moment to really listen or look at one of them, she could probably have recalled a name, but she didn't attempt at this point. She just kept her mouth shut, as always, and let those who could actually do some good figure out what to do. She was just a background player after all. That wouldn't ever change.

 

[Beegu]

(OOC: Jeez! I leave for seven hours to go to school and you guys leave me in the dust!)

Almost right after he split his cabin into teams, Josh was lifted into the air by a giant owl. Maddox was hardly startled, Weird, unexplainable happened almost daily at camp Halfblood.Maddox had decided against saying something similar to that. He was no book worm, but he soon recalled that Athena's bird was the owl, Josh would have a chat with his mother.

"W... Wait on a se... WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" he yelled as he was lifted off.

"Should we... should we be worried about him? I guess not." someone behind him murmured.

A kid came up to Maddox and patted him on the shoulder hard. He would've winced if he hadn't been through much worse in the shop and under a car. Definitely an Ares.

"So, taking charge, eh? Nice to see that. Good luck in the game." Maddox turned to see it was the same kid who had probably asked Josh for the strategy. A wave of irritation passed over Maddox. Ares kids were so mindless and mean. A lot of what he had head about Ares had come from his father's magical radio in cabin 9. However, they were on the same team and they might as well work together. The Hephaestus and Ares cabins were practically the main part of the blue team's strategy. Only then he noticed that he was looking at Maddox right arm made of Celestial Bronze. Maddox smiled a bit, Ares kids don't usually expose their appreciation so obviously. Maybe this Ares wasn't so bad he though. A second after he thought it he shook it out of his head, No, he's just showing sportsmanship, all Ares are the same.

"Thanks... Same to you." he murmured to Al. Then he looked across the river. The red team was breaking up, and a fair amount of cute girls were looking over at their teams and some were approaching. Their eyes were darting from boy to boy, most likely choosing their first victims. Maddox would've been exited if he didn't know they were Aphrodite's children and were probably going to try to convert the Ares and Hephaestus children's' loyalty. Al began walking away, but Maddox called him back.

"Hey! Al! Warn your cabin to not give in to the Aphrodite girls!" He then turned to his cabin again, who were beginning to disperse

"Same to you, Stay away from the Aphrodite cabin. Don't give 'em info on our traps or fight for them." Most of them muttered a reply and kept walking to get their traps and armor. Maddox began towards the cabins as well to get some of his better traps, he had in mind the ones that would tightly tie up opponents when touched, and some newer ones that would magnetize armor so they would bounce away from each other and probably topple and disperse them. He also had traps that, when stepped on, would trigger electric currents in all directions that would send enough amps through a body to make him or her pass out when the currents reached them. On the way he found Josh Wandering back to the group. He looked like he had some thoughts other than capture the flag on his mind. They couldn't he good thoughts judging by his expression.

"Hey Josh, wattsup? Looks like mommy's owl gave you some bad news. Care to sare your new knowledge?" He looked at Josh who wasn't meeting his eyes. "Dude, c'mon, what happened?"

(edit: WOOT! THIS IS MY 100th POST!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[The Noob Hacker]

Jayson listened intently to the plans that the others were formulating. For the most part, they seemed pretty solid, given the restrictions in place. Jayson had to admit, they were defineately not in an ideal position. They had little offensive power and pretty much had a lot of the cabins with people who were likely to not be of immediate help in a fight. The Hermes kids were pretty fast and sneaky, so they could certainly help with getting the flag itself. Apollo had some pretty great defensive and offensive capabilities. They could defend the flag from a range, as well as cover the Hermes kids as they move in on the flag. But without an especially powerful group of pure melee fighters, things could get a bit messy.

Jayson shrugged it off. They still had a chance. What did it matter anyways? Jayson would be able to loose some arrows on some moving targets, and had some motivation to perform to his fullest. It was bound to at least be some fun.

"Right, if there are no more suggestions we can start talking about exactly WHO is going WHERE." Jayson heard a kid say. Turning, he saw the owner of the voice. The Artemis boy, no doubt. There were only two Artemis kids at the camp, so they were easy to pick out and remember. But what was that name....

Jayson decided it didn't really matter. Pushing through the crowd up to him, wearing his traditional smirk, Jayson folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes as he paced in front of the boy. Jayson was basking in the sun's warmth as if he were on a stroll through the park. For a moment, Jayson saw some grand and beutiful park through closed eyes, then he remembered what he was doing and spoke.

"Well if I do say so myself," Jayson began, never stopping his pacing, "we've got some pretty strong defensive abilities. We Apollos can hit any mark you throw at us. Plus, if a couple of Hermes stay behind they can easily take out anyone lucky enough to get past us from the back, if they stick to the shadows. We just need to put some obstacles up. Not big enough to take cover under, of course, just big enough so that those Ares kids, who will probably charge us head-on, will be slowed down enough so that they wouldn't be able to avoid an arrow or a speedy dagger from behind."

Jayson stopped in front of the Artemis boy, and opened one of his closed eyes.

"And just to make sure this goes off without a hitch, I'll volunteer myself to be one of those who will stay behind and help with the defense."

 

[SkyisUmbreon]

-A fuzzy image of my cabin's ceiling slowly came into focus as my sleepy eyes slowly began to open up, and the sun caught me by surprise, forcing my eyes closed again. As they opened again and adjusted to the light, I sighed contentedly, enjoying the peace and quiet of the Hermes cabin. ....Wait, when had it ever been quiet in the Hermes cabin, unless it was lunch time or we were doing some kind of camp activity like... wait... My eyes snapped open, and I sat upright quickly, looking for my calendar which I found still crookedly pinned to the back of my door. I squinted my eyes and leaned slightly forward trying to read the text that was circled about 7 times in 7 different colors.

"Capture the Flag" I read out loud to myself before almost falling out of my bed and stumbling into the bathroom, my drowsiness long gone and forgotten. I took a really quick shower and dried myself then quickly completed my other hygienic duties with great haste. Before my armor, I threw on a pair of half dark blue, half white slightly skinny jeans with blue lined designs runing along the white side. After putting on my kicks, I pulled a black fitted t-shirt that had a white nike logo on the front of it. It was a pretty hot day outside so I didn't bother putting on my hoodie, besides I would be wearing armor, and that alone would bake me. As I put on my armor, I left a few things off like some of the leg and arm protectors, so that I would be able to run faster.

Before I left my room, I knocked my alarm clock off my desk as punishment for not waking me up on time, of course I knew it wouldn't really feel it but it made me feel better. It didn't take me too long to reach the forest's edge where all the other campers were already assembled and planning out their tactics. During my run over here, I had heard Chiron announcing the teams for Capture the flag, and apparently I was on the red team with the cabins Aphrodite, Demeter, and Apollo and of course mine, Hermes. During the planning on my teams part, I heard them mentioning that they needed someone to be the runner. Among my own cabin I was known as one of the fastest, both in running, with quick hands.

"Hey," I said over the planning "I can do the running if that would be cool with you guys! I might need another runner with me though just in case. Even though Athenas and Ares are not the best together, I still think they are going to have something cooked up for the person attempting to grab the flag. I don't want to take any chances, so anyone feel like volunteering?"

 

[Aura Rift]

Joshua Alden Emeress
Forests edge​

"Hmmmmm..." Josh looked up at Luna who had questioned about a counter strategy.

Josh momentarily forgot about the news he had gotten, he shouldn't worry. How could he even know that the owl was being truthful?

"The Hermes cabin..." Josh muttered.

"If the other side has any idea of battle strategy they'll be the ones sent after the flag, they're fast and they can fly. Thats obviously a problem,however they need to get close to our flag before they even touch it, thats why I have an Ares and Athena there, Jenn will be able to anticipate them comming from a relatively good distance and the Ares can tear through them like butter, after al Hermes are in no way skilled when it comes to hand-to-hand combat unless they specifficaly trainewith that sort of thing. Then theres the Aphrodites... I've got a way of dealing with Aphrodites, plus having a female at the flag will stop any charmspeaking, plus Jenn should be able to keep the Ares out of the way of it, Ares' lack of basic comprehension and understanding actually gives them a slight resistance to charmspeaking." Josh explained.

"Whatever happens happens, I'm sure we've got this covered." Josh smiled.

He turned to hear the voice of a friend behind him. Maddox, or X as he prefered to be called, stood behind him and had put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Josh, wattsup? Looks like mommy's owl gave you some bad news. Care to sare your new knowledge?" That hurt Josh slightly but X had a bad habit of speaking before considering.

"You know X, my mother has never talked to me before, she's talked to everyone else, letters, postcards, even an iris message to Jenn once, but never me..." Josh muttered, but X didn't seem to hear him.

"Dude, c'mon, what happened?" X asked.

"Look... it's nothing man, just drop it for now and..." Josh was suddenly cut off by a blasting battle horn.

Chiron stood at the forest entrance, he had a battle horn and was wearing armour, he would act as referee.

"It appears everyone has arrived." Chiron said with a smile.

" Half bloods take your positions, you have five minutes before the game begins!" With that Chiron galloped into the forest and half-bloods with weapons raised charged in with them.

"Alright everyone take your positions! A1 follow me, we take our stand just North of the blue flag!" With that Josh charged into the forest the others hopefully following.

(CTF will begin when all campers have posted about reaching their positions, the signal for the game to begin will be Chiron blowing his battle horn again.)

 

[Conjurer]

(OOC: CBF to Bold all the convo, too much @_@)

Guinevere McCastor
Daughter of Aphrodite
The Edge of the Forest
​

"And us Aphrodites, I reckon you're going to say we'll be doing the spying, seducing, deceiving and all those dirty tricks, right?" said Gwen.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," the Artemis said, nodding benevolently. "If we can get a few groups of Aphrodite to meet with the enemy, we could have a few Hephaestus and Ares kids temporarily on our side."

"Isn't that what we're here for?" Gwen mumbled to no one in particular. Perhaps she wouldn't need Yvette after all.

"Only we have one problem," an Apollo added "We don't exactly have a ton of close-range attackers..."

"He's right," agreed Gwen. "What are we going to do about that?"

Jared was quick to respond, "When I said a few groups, I meant as many groups as possible. At least one could be available, I hope?" he looked around. "We can use the charmspeaking skills of the Aphrodites to get a few Ares kids on our team too, but that means the Aphrodite would have to stay with the Ares to keep convincing him to work for us. So I say Aphrodites go off in twos-fours if possible-and either try to spy on the enemy or charmspeak someone. If they charmspeak someone, stay near your subject at all times, if they look doubtful, charmspeak him. Our main targets for charmspeaking would be Hephaestus and Ares guys."

"Not bad, not bad at all. I say Aphrodites go in groups of two or more; at least one of each gender. We never know what gender the person we need to charmspeak is..." added Gwen. "So Aphrodites, find your partners!" She already had in mind who she would go with--Emil, of course. And maybe one of his twin sisters, but definitely not both. Having their bickering while trying to charmspeak someone is absolutely not a good idea.

"I know some herbs around here that could help if anyone gets poisoned or paralyzed, if you guys want I can go gather some, and I have an idea for a trap we can easily make, members on our team will just have to remember where they are" a Demeter said, smiling. "We can dig some holes leading up to our flag and cover the holes with grass and leaves they will blend in, When any member of the blue team runs over them they will fall in the holes." she said looking at the older kids.

"That's a fairly simple kind of trap--too simple, might I say, but since it's all leaves and plants I guess you Demeters would be particularly good at making those," said a voice Gwen knew very well--Emil. Perfect. Just the person she needs.

"I'll go with a group to retrieve the other team's flag. Us from the Demeter cabin know this forest better than anybody else," continued the Demeter who suggested the trap before.

"Unless there's a particularly quick-footed one among you guys, I don't think that would be a good idea," said a Hermes. "We Hermeses are known for our speed. Would you really be able to catch up with us?"

"I'm guessing a map would be more helpful. Would that be alright with you guys?" asked Gwen to the Demeters.

"Right, if there are no more suggestions we can start talking about exactly WHO is going WHERE." Jared announced

"Well if I do say so myself," an Apollo said, "we've got some pretty strong defensive abilities. We Apollos can hit any mark you throw at us. Plus, if a couple of Hermes stay behind they can easily take out anyone lucky enough to get past us from the back, if they stick to the shadows. We just need to put some obstacles up. Not big enough to take cover under, of course, just big enough so that those Ares kids, who will probably charge us head-on, will be slowed down enough so that they wouldn't be able to avoid an arrow or a speedy dagger from behind."

The Apollo demigod stopped in front of the Artemis boy, and opened one of his closed eyes.

"And just to make sure this goes off without a hitch, I'll volunteer myself to be one of those who will stay behind and help with the defense."

"Hey," a Hermes enthused over the planning "I can do the running if that would be cool with you guys! I might need another runner with me though just in case. Even though Athenas and Ares are not the best together, I still think they are going to have something cooked up for the person attempting to grab the flag. I don't want to take any chances, so anyone feel like volunteering?"

"I think you'll do fine. Maybe three or four of you Hermeses could go together, two distracting the guards and the people remaining trying to grab the flag. Remember, use the woods to hide from enemy sight, but don't actually touch the trees--they could have stuck a trap in there somewhere, and if you trigger it, it ain't going to be a pretty sight," ranted Gwen. "As for Aphrodites, well, if you're not confident in your charmspeaking abilities or can't find a partner--remember, they have to be a different gender--then don't hesitate to help out in the front lines. Well, I'll be finding myself a partner then. See you guys around."

Gwen went to find Jessie. She knew Jessie wasn't really good at charmspeaking yet, so Gwen wanted her to take the front lines. She was particularly gifted in battle, at least among Aphrodites, and luckily enough she was an adept whip user.

"Jessie," Gwen said lightly, her hand on Jessie's shoulder.

"Oh, it's you, Gwen."

"You don't sound too excited to see me, haha."

"You're just imagining things. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I kinda want you to help the Apollos with the actual combat, you know?"

"Oh, is it because you don't believe I'm good enough with charmspeaking?"

"N-no, it's not like that--"

"I'm just messing with you. I know you meant well, Gwen, don't worry."

"By Zeus, don't scare me like that! Anyway, since your whip is a bit, um, worn...I'm lending you Yvette."

"Oh, really? That's nice of you. Thanks. Can I have it in whip form, please? You know I fail at jousting."

"Heh, sure." Gwen said the special chant to turn Yvette into a whip, and handed it to Jessie. "Take good care of it. Oh, and put this on." Gwen took off her chainmail and gave it to Jessie. You're going in the front lines, so you'll need that. Also see the bush there, right next to the huge tree? Yeah, that one. There's a pair of arm protectors there. I'm not sure if it's your size, but try it on anyways."

"Kay. You done yet?" Jessie said.

"Yes, hun. Best of luck."

"You, too."

And with that, Gwen left to find Emil. She found him talking to his little sisters. After Alyssa and Theresa left, Gwen approached him.

"You're coming with me. C'mon," Gwen said, taking his hand and dragging him towards the forest.

Emil was passive, but he did comment, "There's no rush. Plenty of time to relax before the game sta--"

"Half bloods take your positions, you have five minutes before the game begins!" Chiron said over their argument.

"Damn," Emil mumbled under his breath.

Gwen was delighted. "Come on now. Oh, and can I borrow a rapier? You're carrying two anyways, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Gwen plucked one of Emil's rapier from its sheath. "Thanks. Now then, to the forest we go."

And with that, they ran into the forest and got into their positions.

 

[Wymsical]

Jared Angelo
Camp Half-Blood
Forest edge

Jared listened to more suggestions, and nodded to each one. He couldn't do much more, because everyone was speaking in a rabble. But when everyone was done, Jared spoke. "Alright guys, our hour's almost up. We should divide ino groups now." He neared a bunch of Apollos, four of them. "You're D1, you scour the forest for our enemy." he said. Then he pointed to four others, including the girl who had spoken to his sister. "You're D2, also patrolling." he said. He kept doing this until all the Apollos were divided into four groups, one Demeter going with each as a sort of guide and healer. The remaining Apollos would venture with the Hermes kids as a sort of cover. Hermes were not skilled in combat, so having a few Apollos with them would help if they were attacked. The Aphrodites were divided into two groups, and all other close-range combatants into one group. Suddenly, a though occurred to Jared. An Aphrodite would make a great flag defender, because if someone like an Ares got to the flag, she could ask him to put it back. The only problem was, what if it was a female Ares? But Jared doubted that highly. Still, the enemy would've taken a few female Areses with them, because the Aphrodite's charm speaking was predictable. Jared decided to discard this idea, too risky. After the Aphrodites were paired up, Jared walked over to the Apollo who had volunteered to defend the flag, and said "You and I will guard the flag. You may think my power won't be boosted like yours but..." he looked up at the sky "In this place, there really isn't much sun to boost you either." he grinned. It was true, the forest was a great mass of various types of trees all huddled up to block out almost all sunlight. Which was really why Jared loved it, the pleasure of hunting animals here when there's almost no sunlight around was wondrous for an Artemis kid. Jared wondered if his sister, Luna, thought the same of the dark. There were only two children of Artemis, so each was probably very unpredictable. But then again, if you know a Demigod's godly parent, a Demigod is very predictable.

Jared looked at the groups of Aphrodites. "Also, you might wanna watch out for Athena kids," he said, "they're probably gonna know you're coming and try to resist you."

Finally, the Hermes kids were sorted with two Apollos beside them into groups H1 and H2. Jared was happy with his arrangements, and hoped he wasn't forgetting something. He looked behind him, and there were the children of Dionysus, controllers of the vines and forest. very useful for making natural traps. "I want you guys to scour the forest in twos and make traps." Jared said. "Use your powers over the forest to fashion anything you can." he said.

"It appears everyone has arrived." Camp director Chiron said. He looked about as happy as Jared.
"Half bloods take your positions, you have five minutes before the game begins!" Chiron announced, before galloping with a bunch of Demigods-probably Ares kids- running behind him with swords raised.

"Well guys, good luck." Jared said. "D1 and D2 start scouring, you know the drill." he said. Then he turned to Jayson, the Apollo who was going to defend the flag alongside him. "C'mon, we gotta head over to the flag." he said with a grin as he sprinted off to the lake.

 

[Nakuzami]

Luna Cynthia Krescent
Camp Halfblood
Into the forest

★

​

"Hmmmmm..." Josh looked up at me after I asked my question. "The Hermes cabin..." Josh muttered, "If the other side has any idea of battle strategy they'll be the ones sent after the flag, they're fast and they can fly. Thats obviously a problem, however they need to get close to our flag before they even touch it, that's why I have an Ares and Athena there, Jenn will be able to anticipate them comming from a relatively good distance and the Ares can tear through them like butter, after all Hermes are in no way skilled when it comes to hand-to-hand combat unless they specifically trained with that sort of thing. Then there's the Aphrodites... I've got a way of dealing with Aphrodites, plus having a female at the flag will stop any charmspeaking, plus Jenn should be able to keep the Ares out of the way of it. Ares' lack of basic comprehension and understanding actually gives them a slight resistance to charmspeaking." Josh explained, "Whatever happens happens, I'm sure we've got this covered."

I quickly turned at the sound of a horn blaring nearby. "It appears everyone has arrived." Chiron said with a smile. "Half bloods, take your positions, you have five minutes before the game begins!" Chiron then galloped into the forest, followed by a few demi gods with weapons readied.

"Alright everyone take your positions! A1 follow me, we take our stand just North of the blue flag!" Josh yelled as he too charged into the forest.

I grabbed my bow and gripped my necklace tightly. A moment later I was following Josh and the others into the forest. I smiled as I entered the forest, I could do this.

The sun was for the most part blocked out by all of the trees, and on top of that I was back in the forest. I couldn't help but feel a bit more confident, even if it was only a little bit more. I was back in my element, for the most part, and I was ready for whatever the Red Team had in store for us.
​