Goku and the Olympians

Chapter 16: Roadblock (Edited)

Snow fell upon Camp Half-Blood as all of its camper were still busy cleaning up the mess caused by Goku and Ares' fight. Thankfully, as a result of their teamwork, most of the camp's more severe damages were already taken care of. They even had some time to decorate each cabin with balls of fire that resembled Christmas lights, even if that holiday wasn't exactly part of Greek culture or practiced by its gods. Most of their demigod children, however, wished to celebrate the holidays, regardless.

Percy wasn't expecting to see the camp with such a wintry atmosphere. It, after all, was usually able to generate its own climate separate from the outside world.

"Kinda weird to see snow here. I always thought Mr. D would want it to be bright and sunny all the time."

Annabeth shrugged. "He probably wanted to keep it consistent with the rest of New York during this time of year. Winter here would be even weirder without snow, don't you think?"

"Guess you got a point there."

They were both joined by Nico as he eagerly got off the bus. He looked around the entire camp and inspected its current damages in awe.

"Whoa! What did that used to be?"

They looked to see that the climbing wall's was almost completely toppled over. Molten lava oozed out of it, much to the chagrin of a few demigods who were instructed to put it back in place. One of them, unfortunately, stood too close to the lava and had their shirt catch on fire. They panicked and leapt into a pile of snow, so the flames could be just barely extinguished.

Percy winced at this sight and shook his head.

"Well, that used to be the climbing wall. The lava is used as a little extra challenge." He explained. "If you're not careful enough with it, you'll end up like... uh... that guy."

"And don't even think of intentionally setting yourself on fire. We lost far too many campers that way." Annabeth advised in a strict, sisterly tone.

Nico pouted in disappointment. "Aww."

Nearby, Goku, Apollo, the Hunters of Artemis, and everyone else walked into view. Zoë crossed her arms and didn't even spare a single glance at the daughter of Zeus. She just glanced over at Grover with a stern expression on her face.

"Tell Chiron that we will be in Cabin Eight."

The satyr nervously twiddled with his thumbs and asked, "Mind if I show you the way—"

"We know the way."

Before leaving with her fellow sisters, she spared a quick look at Goku. Her brown eyes bore into his black ones for a moment or two before she took a deep breath and sighed.

"I... erm... apologize for my behavior back there, Goku. My lady, Artemis, told me to trust thee a bit more and I... went against her word." The huntress awkwardly admitted. "Thank you for saving us. Our injuries could have been much worse without thy intervention."

Goku blinked a few times in surprise. He, admittedly, wasn't expecting this type of response from Zoë so soon, but he was happy to hear it all the same.

"Uh... it's no problem, really. Apology accepted!"

Zoë nodded her head and, within seconds, pretended that such an interaction between them didn't happen at all. The other Hunters walked behind her, feeling just as confused by their lieutenant's behavior as everyone else. Even Grover managed to trip over a canoe in his attempt to run after them.

Bianca took this opportunity to lean close to her brother and whisper something in his ear. "Look, I know you're upset about this, but try not to let my decision get to you, Nico. You'll be better off at camp with Percy, Goku, and the others. Do you understand?"