Lightning Strikes

6

Okay, so here we are. On Tuesday we're going to start the actual quest and start the (probably cheesy) ship. The god in question should be incredibly obvious by the end of the chapter, so do make a guess. For now, enjoy Aru being OP!

"Listen up, everybody," Annabeth said. "I don't know what's up or why Lady Artemis wants us to lose so badly, but we're not going to give up, yeah?"

There was a cheer from the campers. Aru just stood at the side, trying to process why this was being taken so seriously.

One by one, all of the cabins were assigned their jobs. Finally, Aru was the only one left jobless. "You, new girl, you're going to be right here," Annabeth pointed to a spot on the map. "Good luck."

Aru nodded and turned around, but not before she saw Percy's look of horror. She was being sent into a trap.

Well, she definitely needed music then. Aru pulled out her phone, only to get it smacked away by Annabeth. "You can't have that in camp," Annabeth explained. "Monsters can track them."

"Maybe you should try turning off location sharing," Aru fired. "You know that is an option, right?"

Annabeth shook her head slowly and walked away. Aru managed to fit into the armor she had been handed by somebody. She didn't know how leather armor would help, but something was better than nothing.

A few minutes later, Aru was fighting bugs right next to a creek. They were buzzing everywhere, biting her far too many times. "Ow!" Aru swatted a mosquito. "I swear I will kill you all once I'm done with these idiots."

In the distance, she could see orange shirts being beaten up by silver blurs. Yup, this was definitely a trap. Because if Aru wasn't mistaken, that specific silver blur was Artemis.

It was. Artemis tried to sneak past Aru, leaping through the trees. Aru smirked and summoned Vajra to her hand and took aim. It sailed through the air and smashed right into the branch that Artemis was holding onto.

Artemis fell to the ground, landing with cat-like agility on her feet. She looked right at Aru, who was smirking. "You really thought you could get past me with that?" Aru asked.

Artemis snorted derisively. "I expected no less from you, Arundhati. Now, will you attack me or just stand there?"

Aru took a slow step forward, feigning caution. Artemis taunted her. "Scared?"

Aru smiled and shook her head, taking another slow step. Then she leaped straight at Artemis.

Another feline dodge came from the goddess as Aru managed to keep her balance. Two hunting knives appeared in Artemis's hands, and she thrust at Aru with her right blade.

Aru curved around the thrust, barely managing to avoid the sharp blade. Artemis swung at her from the other side, and Aru ducked as she struck at the goddess's knees.

Artemis jumped over Vajra, but Aru had seen this coming. She elbowed Artemis in the stomach.

There was no perfect landing this time, regardless of how hard Artemis tried to keep her balance. The goddess tripped and fell, landing on her back. Aru slammed downward using Vajra.

Artemis rolled out of the way and leaped to her feet, only to be kicked in the knees by Aru. One of her knives went flying away from her.

Surprised, Artemis launched a rapid assault with her remaining blade, leading to Aru having to duck and dodge repeatedly. With inhumane speed, Artemis sliced downward, nicking Aru's arm.

Aru slid like a baseball player, kicking at Artemis's legs. The goddess jumped, but what she hadn't seen coming was Vajra. Quite literally. Aru threw it at Artemis's back. Blood spurted out as Artemis howled in pain. Aru pulled Vajra out, realizing that the spear had electrocuted Artemis, cauterizing the wound, and burning Artemis badly in the process.