𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 || PJO Fanfic

SIXTEEN [Hades]

Hades POV

Me, Zeus, and Poseidon arrived at Annabeth's house in the morning the next day. Percy drove us to Long Island along with Annabeth. The camp was already set, and everywhere there were teenagers, aka demigods.

"Conor Stoll, son of Hermes. Travis Stoll, son of Hermes, twin of Connor. Will Solace, son of Apollo..." I counted off the demigods in the camp. "Rachel Elizabeth Da—"

"Shut up, please. I don't need to know their names." Zeus whisper-shouted to me with a pleading tone. Poseidon nodded. I sighed and instead muttered the names under my breath.

"So! Ahem. Welcome!" Percy said to us, grinning and spreading his arms wide. "We come here for Summer camp every year, that's how all of us met," Annabeth added.

"Newbies?" A demigod walked over. I was momentarily offended by the way he called us newbies. "Zayden, Dylan and Asher." Annabeth introduced us to the campers, and we moved on.

I surveyed the camp. There was a huge campfire in the middle and colorful tents were set around it. Some demigods were chatting, most were dueling, and the rest were playing games with each other.

Annabeth showed us our tents. The three of us put down our stuff in a cozy, orange-colored tent. (Zeus complained that they had no taste at all) We would be staying there for a few days. Annabeth insisted we stay more than one day.

- - -☦︎︎- - -

We had barbeque for lunch (don't ask), then Annabeth announced a competition. We were going to go through an obstacle course. The fastest person was the winner.

"Well, this'll be such fun," I said as I looked down. The first section of the obstacle course was right over a huge pool of mud, the second over a clear pool of water, and the third was, well, very high up in the air. I changed my clothes for jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull mark, which a lot of campers stared and whispered at. Then I figured that I probably looked exactly like Nico, except that he usually wore an aviator jacket.

We had our own divided route, designed in a way that we wouldn't bump into each other. Me, Poseidon, and Zeus were in the second group of teenagers, along with two other demigods.

"Oh, brothers, who do you think will win?" Zeus asked me and Poseidon with a smirk. A silent challenge. Poseidon smiled, "ah well, I'm sure it won't be you two." Annabeth blew the whistle, and I set off through the course, determined to be faster than my brothers. The three of us were already leading the game, with our slightly enhanced strength. However, Zeus pounced towards me the first chance he got. In normal circumstances, that would've disqualified him, but the demigods didn't have any particular rules. After all, we did just watch Conor and Travis rig traps and dump glue onto the other competitors to slow them down. Zeus grabbed my shirt, ripping it slightly, and we both collapsed into the mud, but not before I grabbed Poseidon and dragged him along.

I landed on top of Zeus, who let out a yelp. Poseidon landed on top of me, and I immediately pushed him off. "HEY!" Poseidon complained. When I got off Zeus and stood up in the knee-height mud, Zeus sat up. Gods. He was a huge mess. His face was completely smeared with mud, as was his shirt and pants. Zeus spat out a mouthful of mud.

I suddenly felt the urge to laugh. Zeus gave me a look. "What," he spat. "I'm just thinking, the king, as in the king of the gods, is sitting here covered in mud, and—" I stopped when I saw Zeus glaring at me. That's when I noticed Poseidon trudging over to climb back onto land. "Oh no you don't," I grabbed him just as he hefted upwards, and pulled myself up too, leaving Zeus alone in the mud. He yelled at us angrily. I made a face at him and high-fived Poseidon, "that's one brother down."

We passed the first section with no trouble. By the time we'd reached the second one, Zeus had caught up with us. The second course: water. Sadly, water was Poseidon's specialty. I would need to be extra careful this time.

I was leading the second section when I heard a huge "splash" behind me. I looked back to see Poseidon in the clear blue waters. He paddled over to me cheerfully. "What are you doing in there?!!" I asked him. He grinned and yanked at my jeans, pulling me down into the water with him, "I find it more easier to pass this obstacle course by swimming, and I'm sure you two will agree, too!!" I sighed. Not again. Then I went down.

Luckily, I knew how to swim. Unluckily, Poseidon also yanked Zeus down, and he didn't know how to swim. ("I refuse to learn about anything related to Poseidon.")I mean, dude, he's the king of the gods and he actually doesn't know how to swim? Poseidon, being the best swimmer amongst us (and probably the best among Camp or the gods... WAIT is there a god of swimming?) had to rescue the damsel in distress. Like, seriously, the water wasn't even that deep, but then Zeus had his reasons for being called drama queen by me, not that the other gods dared call him names. He gasped and sputtered when Poseidon broke the surface with him in tow. Zeus glared at us. Poseidon just looked back at him with wide, innocent eyes, while I shrugged.

Last section: air. Well, that was frustrating, Zeus was the god of the sky and air. (Wait is he the god of the air?! Okay idk so skippppp hehe) Plus, Zeus was... ultra-mad at me and Poseidon. Leo Valdez from Hephaestus helped secure our safety belts ("Just in case") and gave us amused looks.

Surprisingly, the other two competitors weren't that far away. They were very slow, for demigod standards. Well, I mean, that might have been because one of them was a daughter of Aphrodite, and the other was... Clovis from Hypnos. Honestly, I don't know how he's awake, and why he's here, but eh. We had to climb a wall. Me and Poseidon climbed like crazy, not wanting Zeus to catch up, but he did. Of course he did, and when he did, he dumped us with water the second course. I didn't know how he managed it, but he managed to scale the wall with a bucket in his hand. "Hey!" I yelled and blinked my eyes. When I opened them, Zeus was already on top of us, faster than the other two demigods. He blew a raspberry at us and climbed up. Poseidon, having recovered from the water faster than me, started climbing in super speed. I was slower. I lunged, and reached up towards the top of the wall, startling Zeus. I stumbled towards the ending line and reached my hands out for the flag, when Zeus and Poseidon lunged at it in the same time, and we pulled out the flag together.

The three of us collapsed on the floor, gasping and panting.

"Who won?" Was the first thing Zeus asked when Annabeth's came over to us. She gave us a look, "I dunno. You three pulled the flag in the same time."

"What?!! No fair! I got here first!" I protested.

"Well, you pulled it together."

"Hah! Bro, you didn't win. I said so."

"Heh. Doesn't look like you won, though."

We were still arguing as we got down the wall and changed into new clothes. God, we were a huge mess and an unpleasant sight. My perfectly fine shirt (which I really liked) was torn, soaked, covered in mud, and my hair was dripping with water. I sighed. Yay.