Naruto: Prince of the Underworld

Chapter 16 Games Galore!

The war god was waiting for them in the diner parking lot, leaning on his motorcycle. "Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

Percy glared at him. "You knew it was a trap,"

Ares cracked a wicked smirk. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV, but I gotta say, the ending was hilarious!" He then gave a thumbs up to Naruto, who just smiled.

Percy growled and shoved the shield in Ares' hands. "You're a jerk." Annabeth and Grover caught their breath. Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas." The demi god trio took one look at the truck and was able to read it because of the fact that it was in big black and white letters that were reversed. Heh, a good combination for people with dyslexia. It said: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

Percy gave Ares a dead panned looked. "You have got to be kidding me."

Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job." He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to him.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos. Naruto smirked, "No more looking like walking advertisements....sweet!"

"I don't want your lousy-" Percy growled out before Grover got behind him and covered the boy's mouth.

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

Percy gritted his teeth, feeling the oppressive aura that Ares was giving off. Making him remember at the bullying he had to deal with in life. It was not comforting in the least, he still could not understand how Naruto could just shrug it off! He turned his head back to the diner and saw the waitress from before. He was nervously looking at Ares, like he was going to hurt them or something.

She even dragged out the fry cook to look. She said something, not that him or the now watching Naruto could make out, then the man took out a camera and snapped a photo of the group. Percy felt his eye twitch. He could already see the news headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER And he could tell that Naruto would just laugh at it.

"You owe me one more thing," Percy said as he turned back to Ares and trying to keep his voice in check. By now, Grover had let go of his friend but stayed close....just in case. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

Percy took a shell shocked look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me."

"You never know Percy." Naruto said with a frown. "My dad could be expecting us....question is, why?"

Percy gave Naruto a look and said, "I am not sure, but we need to be careful either way."