Prep For Battle

//I'm switching things up since obviously no one is gonna donate without some persuasion. A chapter a day on here and 2-3 a day on Patre0n. If you wanna read ahead, link is below.

Also, chapters will now be much longer and more packed with content after this chapter so if you donate, you get more bang for your buck. About 2.5k words to 3.5k words a chapter. 2,500 is the minimum.

I'll have 3 chapters on P@treon before the end of the day. Check it out if interested

Patre0n.com/ShadowDrev

Goal: $118/ $400

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"Here. You can have this back."

Before Chion could open his mouth, a blue hoodie hit him square in the mouth. Retracting it from his jaw, the youths bright blue eyes landed on Annabeth, of whom was standing there with a serious look on her face. Readjusting her clothes, the girl turned away and walked in the other direction, heading towards the boulder Luke had called "Zues's Fist."

"Whyd you wait until we were out here to give it to me?" Chion asked as he put the hoodie back on. "Could have given it back after lunch."

"Shut it, Brain Freeze."

{{"Hey. Brain freeze, how lazy are you gonna be? You have responsibilities."}}

Chion let out a breath of cool air, something that now seemed to be a permanent part of himself since he first used the ice magic. A bit of time had passed since having conversed with Luke at the Hermes table, and some things had transpired in its wake.

Shortly after Luke and the youth had finished eating, the older blonde had led his cabin into woods towards the pile of rocks that, just as its namesake suggested, appeared to be a giant fist. From there, Luke briefly explained the rules to Chion and those that didn't know (mainly Chion) about the game Capture The Flag. Its objectives, the boundaries, the teams, the prize, everything that Chion needed to not only understand the game but to be properly motivated as well. Though in truth, the white-haired youth would've been motivated regardless since it was the very first combat oriented activity that wasn't going to get him killed. Perhaps for the first time, Chion could actually enjoy himself.

Or something would happen and cause him to die nearly. He was already seeing a pattern.

Once everything had been explained, Luke gave a speech about how, this time, they would dominate the Hunters and claim victory. Chion was only half listening at that point. It was a good pep talk, but the youth wasn't really interested in such things.

Then came the part where the strategizing began. That's when Chion had gotten his hoodie thrown back at him. Most of the Hermes cabin didn't really do anything to offer pointers, they mainly stood by while the Athena Cabin did the majority of the heavy lifting.

Which made sense. Apparently, in Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of wisdom, battle, and a whole list of other things such as mathematics, intelligence, arts and crafts, so on, and so forth. The children of this goddess were known to possess above average capabilities when it came down to preparing for battle, devising plans, absorbing information, and adapting to their environment. Due to this, they were in such a league of their own in terms of strategy it was usually accepted that those who had Cabin 6 on their team would win the game. No one else came close to them in terms of pure intelligence.

Which meant that the Hunters were either that much stronger or that much smarter. Maybe even both.

Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, so she was one of those individuals preparing for the battle, mulling it over with her teammates. So why she had stopped just to give him the hoodie was beyond him.

"Chion. Come over here." Annabeth motioned the youth over. She looked quite irritated as if she had difficulty swallowing. "Luke says to let you help out on the strategy."

"I can try," Chion responded as he made his way over. "Do you have one already written out?"

The schematics for their strategy was written on a piece of parchment paper, resting atop of a foldable desk they had managed to drag out from their own cabin. From the looks of it, from the very first glance, Chion could see that they had mapped out the entire battlefield down to the detail as well as the general location for both flags. Off to the side of the table, around 30 balled up pieces of parchment could be seen thrown around like pieces of garbage.

"We don't as of yet. We're trying to agree on a strategy." Another individual with the same blonde hair and grey eyes as Annabeth leaned over the table. "The Hunters have beaten us so many times and have overcome some of our best strategies. It's hard to get a read on what they might do."

"Who ARE the Hunters anyways?" Chion asked. "I seem to be missing some key components here."

Annabeth let out a frustrated sigh. "They're called the Hunters of Artemis, led by the goddess Artemis, one of the twelve Olympians. A team of maidens who have vowed to serve Artemis and reject love for as long as they live in exchange for a sort of immortality. Some of them have lived hundreds of lifetimes and have seen countless battles."

"Meaning they won't fall for any sort of cheap trick." Chion touched his chin.

"We don't use cheap tricks because of that reason." The other guy spoke up again. "Such tactics wouldn't work against them."

"Then maybe we go the opposite route." The white-haired youth grinned. "How would you describe the majority of the Hunters in one word? Personality wise."

The man, who Chion would later known as Merrick Stone, furrowed his brow in thought. After a few minutes, the teen shrugged. "Proud, I suppose."

"The prouder someone is, the more they overlook the small things, or refuse to take things they see beneath them seriously." Chion leaned over the map. "If we wanna win, we can't try to match them blow for blow or one up. We need to hit below the belt and make sure they don't get back up."

"You have a plan?"

A sort of idea was beginning to take root within the white-haired youths mind, and it was because of this that he merely nodded. Quickly, he gave them a rundown of what he had in mind.

"You're out of your mind." Merrick grinned. "I'm all in."

"This is dumb." Annabeth scowled after listening to Chions proposal. "Once again, you're risking it all on some thin possibilities. I can name three faults in the plan off the top of my head. Starting to think all you have up there is ice."

"Name them then."

Without missing a beat, Annabeth pointed out five of them, each one a valid point that Chion took into consideration.

Thinking carefully, the youth tried to readjust. He knew nothing about the opponent except they were old and were led by a goddess. It was probably a combination of both of those things that they saw themselves as above everyone else, mainly men from the sound of it. They were hunters, living their lives for battle and confrontation, meaning that this game of Capture The Flag was merely a mere walk past a bunch of children. Strength, experience, knowledge, they were vastly superior in all categories that even the thought of fighting them head on sent a wave of annoyance through Chions entire being. Even hearing about them for the very first time, the young amnesiac came to the conclusion that besting them fairly wasn't going to work.

"Do you guys have any schematics on the Hunters or from your previous games with them?" Chion glanced over to Annabeth, of whom still looked immensely irritated. "Maybe we could use those to line up our strategy better."

She didn't say anything at first, merely mulling it over in her head, eventually she nodded.

"Also, why do you look so....angry?"

Annabeth turned her head away, looking in the other direction. "It's fine. Let's just grab those papers so we can properly plan ahead."

Walking away from them, the young blonde began a trek towards the direction of her cabin. Looking over towards Merrick questioningly, the man merely held up his hands in surrender. Whatever reason Annabeth was acting the way she was, it wasn't something that her siblings were aware of. Chion made a face as he followed the frustrated female towards her cabin, not uttering a single word. He wasn't going to be the one to open that bombshell, especially since he wasn't exactly good with emotions himself, much more comfortable with logical reasoning and things rooted in facts. The inner workings of people he had just met were better off left as a mystery.

They eventually found the schematics, well Annabeth found them and shoved them into Chions arms. Once secured, they returned to Merrrick, walking in silence.

From there, the plan started to come together. Working together, the three of them broke down the habits, strategies, failed strategies, what worked, and what didn't. They pinpointed the problem children and who the weaker ones were. Everything they needed to properly execute the Chions plan.