17 Roadblock

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 climb'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?"

She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and shrugged her off.

"Tch. I understand that you care more about those dumb Hunter girls than me." He hissed. "Just leave me alone and be with your new family."

His older sister tried to say something else in reply, yet nothing she'd say would make this situation any less painful. Bianca just nodded her head and walked away.

Noticing the glum look on Nico's face, Goku crouched down to rest a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine." The boy muttered in such a quiet, dejected voice that the martial artist could just barely hear him.

It was this awkward moment that marked Apollo's cue to leave. He slyly grinned and waved back at the Hunters.

"Take care, sweethearts!" He then winked at Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean by that?"

Rather than answer, he turned away from him to shake Goku's hand.

"That goes double for you, my Saiyan friend. Take care of my sister for me, will you? She could really use some more… friends who aren't teenage girls, to be honest." The sun god chuckling before suddenly becoming more serious. "Also, be on the lookout for any more of the Titan Army's new recruits. They might be far closer to home than you think."

Goku raised an eyebrow. "Closer to home? Are you talking about that Kogu guy I fought?"

Apollo didn't say another word. He simply hopped back on his bus and gave everyone a wicked smile. It felt as if he knew something they didn't.

"Later, Thalia." He called out. "And, uh, be good!"

"Be good?"

He then closed the bus's doors and revved up its engine. It managed to transform back into a red Maserati as it took off in a blast of fiery heat. It soared over the woods, and glowed brighter and brighter until it completely vanished in a ray of sunlight.

Goku slightly shielded his eyes to prevent the sun chariot from blinding him.

"At least it seems to be driving just fine."

"Maybe now it is, but you never know. That dent you left in the hood was pretty big." Thalia replied.

"It'd be best not to jinx us, Thalia." Annabeth grumbled. She then pointed toward the Big House. "Come on, Nico. Let's go introduce you to Chiron."

The boy still looked a little miffed by what Bianca told him, but he nodded, anyway.

"Who's Chiron? I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Percy added. "He's… well, you'll see."

The group then walked over to the Big House. This gave him a pretty good look at all the fallen trees and massive craters imbedded into the campgrounds. Most campers were busy cleaning everything up while others, like the Stoll brothers, preferred to goof off as always.

Apart from them and Charles Beckendorf, there weren't really that many half-bloods around. There were some kids from the Aphrodite, Ares, and Hermes cabins, but that was mostly it. Not even Clarisse was there, surprisingly enough.

"Man, you really did jack this place up, huh?" He asked Goku.

The martial artist scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

"Well, it was mostly Ares who did all of the damage. I was trying to cause as little destruction as possible. Hehe."

"Sounds about right. Ares is all about flash and little substance when it comes to fighting." Thalia affirmed. "Just like how most wars are, now that I think about it."

"True, but I still feel a little bad about it. None of this would have happened if Ares didn't follow me back to camp." He replied in slight guilt.

Annabeth rested a hand under chin in thought.

"Technically, from what we've heard, he was after Aphrodite, not you. You were just a means of letting out his frustration… which, of course, backfired considerably."

Percy snorted. "Pfft. Backfired? More like making the biggest mistake of his immortal life. I don't think he'll ever recover from this."

"Same thing, Seaweed Brain."

They reached the Big House and saw that it was decorated with red-yellow fireballs that kept the porch warm. Inside, Mr. D and Chiron were playing a game of cards near a crackling hearth. The latter was wearing a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and had a blanket that concealed his wheelchair.

He looked relieved to see everyone in one piece and smiled.

"Ah, what a surprise! I'm glad to see that you helped Percy and the others complete their mission, Goku." The centaur beamed. He then addressed the other child that he hadn't met before. "You must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," Percy interjected. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Chiron let out a pleasant sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then. I wouldn't expect anything different from you, Thalia, and Annabeth."

"Whoopee. You all survived…" Mr. D muttered in a bored, disingenuous tone. He was wearing a neon orange leopard-skin tracksuit and purple running shoes. He also wore a golden laurel wreath atop his curly black hair that was obtained from winning his and Chiron's last game of cards.

Goku, while trying his best not to make a comment about Dionysus's weird fashion sense, looked at both of them and frowned.

"Well, I wouldn't call it a total success just yet, Chiron."

The centaur's smile disappeared in response.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"What didn't happen would probably be a better question." Thalia scoffed. "Some blue alien swordsman dude teamed up with a manticore named Dr. Thorn to apparently kidnap Annabeth. They would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for Goku jumping in at the last second."

"Even worse is the fact that this Kogu person's not alone. There's four more members of his race that are all working with Kronos and his current general, Atlas. He goes by the name, Bojack, I guess." Annabeth glumly added.

Chiron looked clearly unnerved by this news. He stroked his beard and grimaced.

"Hm. That is quite troublesome indeed. I'm relieved that Goku was able to foil their attempts to capture you, Annabeth, but what ended up happening to Kogu? Was he defeated?"

"Well, he would have been… if Goku didn't let him get away." Percy said.

The activities director glanced over at Goku. "You did what?"

"Hey, it could have been a whole lot worse! At least we found out that Kogu and the other Galaxy Soldiers all came from that Labyrinth thingy." He proclaimed in defense of his actions.

Dionysus and Chiron both looked at one another in growing curiosity. That, admittedly, was not something either of them expected to hear.

"Wait a minute. If what's-his-name or… whatever they are was able to fight you one-on-one, are you implying that Daedalus' Labyrinth is some sort of dimensional gateway? And these aliens are possibly from your world, not ours?" Mr. D inquired.

Annabeth nodded her head.

"He's not implying anything. According to Artemis, that's pretty much what Atlas and Kronos are doing." She explained. "They're using the Labyrinth to recruit alien warriors and fighters into their army. And based on how Bojack was described, some might even rival Goku in terms of power or outright surpass him."

Dionysus pinched the bridge of his nose and growled to himself.

"Wonderful. Just when I thought cleaning up after Ares's little shitfit was all I needed to worry about…"

"Where is Artemis, by the way?" Chiron asked.

Thalia pursed her lips and said, "She's out completing a mission for Zeus. He asked her to hunt down and kill the Ophiotaurus before Atlas got their hands on it."

"Ah. The Bane of Olympus, hm? I wasn't expecting it to return so suddenly."

"Neither was she. That's why the Hunters of Artemis, unfortunately, will be staying here until further notice." The daughter of Zeus grumbled.

"Oh, good. Even more wonderful news!" Mr. D sarcastically grunted. "What's next? You gonna tell me that they're moving in permanently or something, Annie Bell?"

"It's Annabeth, Mr. D."

"Whatever."

Suddenly, Grover trotted in, grinning like a madman. He had a black eye and red slap mark on his face, showing that his company amongst the Hunters wasn't welcomed by any means.

"The Hunters are all moved in now!"

"Oh. Perfect timing, Grover. Take our young friend here to the den and show him our orientation film." Chiron ordered.

"But… uh … sure! Right away, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!"

He then happily followed Grover towards the Big House's den.

Goku quirked a brow. "G? PG? Are those letters supposed to mean something, guys?"

Everyone gave him a funny, practically bewildered look.

"They're movie ratings, dude." Percy answered. "Do… Do you not have movies back in your world?"

"Nope, we do. I just don't really watch TV all that much. Hehe." He chuckled.

"Like I said earlier, you really need to get out more." Mr. D sniffed. "But anyway, this Labyrinth situation definitely complicates things. Not that I care all that much personally, mind you, but Clarisse's safety is another story."

"You mean Ares's daughter?"

"The very same, Goku. I sent her on a mission to scout the Labyrinth yesterday night. It was during your trial on Olympus, I believe." Chiron said. His expression then became more regretful. "However, if I had known how dangerous it had become, I never would have sent her out on that mission in the first place."

"Then let's go find it and bring her back. There's still time to—"

"You most certainly will not, Peter Johnson!"

Percy looked over at the wine god in annoyance. An aura of purple fire could be seen in his eyes.

"Why not? That maze could be crawling with all sorts of monsters like Kogu or worse. She won't even stand a chance against them!"

"Clarisse accepted the mission of her own accord. I had full confidence in her abilities as a half-blood, so I see no reason to risk any more lives with some… asinine rescue plan." Mr. D snapped. "But if she does, in fact, die while traversing the Labyrinth, then so be it. You already procured a small annoying boy to replace her, so it won't be too big of a loss."

Goku couldn't believe what he was hearing right now. It almost seemed like the former Olympian didn't care if any of these kids lived or died. Even Clarisse, one of the god's favorite half-bloods at camp, was completely expendable from his perspective.

"How could you say something like that? Clarisse may have been a little rude and aggressive towards me, but she's still just a kid. I'd be pretty scared at her age." The Saiyan exclaimed in a sympathetic manner. "I mean, she did just see her dad get "killed" right in front of her…"

Mr. D rolled his eyes. None of Goku's words really left that much of an impression on him. "FYI, she's a daughter of Ares, Wukong. She has fought and trained to deal with this type of situation. Any accidents that may happen are thus her responsibility, not mine."

Percy wanted to strangle Dionysus right then and there. His position as camp director was intended to be a punishment for his bad behavior alone, yet it ended up being a punishment for everyone at camp.

He stood directly in front of him, much to Annabeth's concern. "Percy, don't—"

"Her responsibility? Please. I bet you're just hoping that she'll go MIA, so you'll have one less annoying camper to deal with. You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D yawned. "You have a point here, Peter?"

"For the millionth time, it's Percy and yeah, I do!" He growled, beginning to lose his temper. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment, doesn't mean you have to be such a lazy jerk! This is your civilization too. Maybe you could try helping out a little! Maybe by cleaning up that huge mess you forced everyone else to fix, but you!"

The wine god remained completely silent. He glared at Percy in pure contempt and surrounded himself with purple energy.

"Well, in a few seconds, brat, I might just have another mess to clean up instead." Mr. D fumed. "But it won't be as huge as the one outside, I guarantee."

Before he could potentially blast Percy to smithereens, Goku stood in front of the boy and narrowed his eyes.

"I wouldn't do anything to him if I were you, Dionysus. Poseidon was pretty darn serious about keeping him safe."

He then slightly unleashed his invisible, white aura, almost knocking Chiron, Annabeth, and Thalia off their feet from sheer surprise.

"And so am I."

Dionysus proceeded to stare Goku down for a good few seconds at most. Having no interest in angering Poseidon or getting into a mindless fight like Ares did, the camp director sighed and dispersed his divine energy.

"Tch. Like I'm angry enough to even care." He grumbled. He then pointed a finger at Goku accusatively. "And it's Mr. D to you, off-worlder. Keep in mind that you'll be starting out as a new counselor first thing tomorrow morning. You got that?"

Goku scratched the back of his head and chuckled. His mood took a sharp 180 as soon as Percy's safety was assured.

"Yep. I almost forgot, to be honest with you. Hehe."

"Course you did."

Once that little confrontation was over, Nico and Grover walked back into the room. The young demigod was almost completely starstruck by what he just viewed.

"SO COOL!" He yelled while pointing directly at Chiron. "You're… you're a centaur!"

"Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"Neat. Could you take it off now?"

"Maybe tomorrow. Hehe."

"Aww." He whined before looking over at Dionysus. "And, whoa! You're the wine dude? No way!"

"The wine dude?" He repeated in disgust.

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!" Nico beamed. "They're not as cool as Goku's super-duper, glowy hair powers, but he doesn't have a figurine, unfortunately. I really wish he did, though…"

Goku frowned. "Super-duper… glowy hair?"

"Heh. I'm so calling your transformation that now." Thalia laughed.

"Ah." Mr. D replied, looking truly perplexed by what the boy was rambling on about. "Well, I guess we can't all be all-powerful Saiyans now, can we?"

He then ruffled his own curly locks and yawned a bit louder this time.

"As gratifying as that conversation was, I think it's about time for you kids to scram. Goku's got some nice… paperwork to fill out."

The martial artist flinched. His skin paled at the mere thought of writing or reading something for hours.

"Oh no. I-I thought you were joking about that."

"Ooh! Is that going to be his holofoil card info?" Nico asked enthusiastically.

Dionysus smirked. "Sure. Let's go with that."

As Goku stood frozen in place from fear, Chiron addressed all four half-bloods and their satyr companion.

"Grover, bring Nico over to the Hermes Cabin. He'll need some place to stay until his divine parent claims him." He instructed. "You three can go inform the other campers that we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

"Capture the flag? Are you sure we'll have enough campers?" Annabeth wondered.

"Doesn't matter. There's always a friendly match held whenever the Hunters visit. We had one yesterday, in fact, when Goku first arrived here."

"Yeah," Thalia grumbled. "I bet it's real friendly."

"There's no use complaining about it, Thalia. Now run along and do as I asked."

"Right."

Much to the Saiyan's growing ire, they all walked through the door and left him behind.

"You can't just leave me here, guys! I don't know if I can even handle this all alone!" Goku cried.

Percy shrugged. "Sorry, man. You're the one becoming a counselor, not us."

"We'll save you some food at dinner. Good luck!" Annabeth promised.

He whimpered and ultimately slumped his shoulders. Chiron just patted him on the back, chuckling.

"There's no need to be so worried, Goku. Filling out paperwork is actually rather simple once you get used to it."

"Really? How much do I have to fill out then?"

Dionysus dug through the drawer in his desk and pulled out a massive stack of paper. There were so many sheets that the god struggled to hold it securely in his hands. He smiled from ear-to-ear and dropped it right in front of Goku.

The Z-Fighter could have sworn the entire Big House shook from this paperwork's impact. He didn't even dare inspect its written contents, fearing that there'd be more spaces to fill out than initially anticipated.

"Oh."

"I suggest you take a seat. You might be here a while." Mr. D advised.

Goku did as asked and sat down in front of the figurative mountain of paperwork. Once Chiron handed him a ballpoint pen, the fighting prodigy, begrudgingly, began signing his name on each and every single sheet.

He would have tried speeding up the process with his ki, but that would more than likely make his writing illegible. He needed to take this seriously for Olympus and the demigods of Camp Half-Blood's sakes.

Wonder how Aphrodite will handle this once she gets here…

Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth split up so they could tell everyone about the upcoming capture the flag match. The girls were forced to break up a fight between one of the Hunters and a kid from Ares Cabin, so Percy was left to circulate the campgrounds alone. They were apparently arguing over some random basketball game and the Ares kid had a sword that he was prepared to use at any moment.

After about a half-hour, he finally made it to the Poseidon Cabin, which served as his temporary home for the past two summers. It was a gray building made up of sea stone that had shells and coral fossils imprinted into it.

He walked inside and inspected his damaged shield. It was dented in a few places by Dr. Thorn's spikes and wouldn't properly open all the way. He'd need to ask Charles Beckendorf to fix it at dinner. He was, after all, the best armorsmith in the entire camp.

"Good thing I didn't block one of Kogu's attacks with my shield. There probably wouldn't be anything left of it." Percy winced.

He then hung the shield on its hook and, suddenly, noticed a new fountain that was built into the cabin. Poseidon must have installed it while he was gone.

Percy stepped up to look into the water. "Thanks, Dad."

Realizing that the fountain was for communicating with Tyson and other members of his family, he fished a golden drachma from the water and said, "Iris, O Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering."

The coin then disappeared in the form of a misty rainbow. He wasn't sure who to contact first, but considering who created his now-damaged shield, he quickly made up his mind.

"Show me my brother, Tyson. At the forges of the Cyclopes." He requested.

The rainbow, within seconds, transformed into a vision of Tyson. The young Cyclops was surrounded by fire as he bent over an anvil, hammering a red-hot sword blade. Sparks were flung off the blade as he repeatedly slammed his hammer against it.

Behind him, there was a marble-framed window that showcased the bottom of the ocean and its dark waters.

"Tyson!"

He turned around, causing his one eye to widen from surprise. Although, for some reason, he looked more tired than outright excited.

"O-Oh, hi, Percy. I'm so happy to see you…

"Uh… you feeling alright, bro? Usually you'd try to run up and hug me or something." The demigod asked. "This is an Iris Message, obviously, but still."

"No, I'm fine. Daddy is busy, because of the war, so I can't really talk with him that much. That's why I'm happy to see you right now." Tyson said with a crooked smile.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed and stuck his sword out the window, so it could cool. "Old sea spirits making trouble. Aigaios. Oceanus. Those guys."

Percy shuddered. Those two were immortals who had ruled the oceans before the First Titanomachy, so their return was not good at all. On top of Bojack and his crew, Kronos' forces were getting progressively more dangerous by the second.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Tyson shook his head sadly. "We are arming the mermaids. They need a thousand more swords by tomorrow." He looked at his sword and sighed a bit more heavily. "This job would be pretty fun if not for her showing up…"

"Her?"

"Can I please take a break?! My poor little arms are about to fall off!" A female voice whined overdramatically.

An adult Cyclops seethed with rage. "You took break five minutes ago! When are you going to start actually doing some work and fix this damn elevator?!"

"Obviously when the conditions in this putrid cesspool suit my preferences, you dolt!"

Tyson's eye drooped from exhaustion. "Aphrodite. She was brought here to repair that broken elevator by Boss. But she won't do anything without complaining or trying to make someone else do it."

Percy shook his head. Figures that Aphrodite of all people would make a rather simple task monumentally more difficult. It was almost as if she wanted to be punished.

"She's that bad, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah and she's really mean too! She called me ugly and a… a freak-of-nature." Tyson sniffled. "She treats all the poor Cyclopes like that."

That remark made Percy a bit angry. He hated seeing his little brother cry, so Aphrodite would certainly not go unpunished for doing something like that.

"Don't let her get to you, man. Aphrodite is a love goddess, so of course she's going to be shallow. You have a lot to love about yourself, trust me."

Tyson wiped a few tears from his eye. "T-Thanks, Brother. You always know how to cheer me up."

"That's what I'm here for."

The two then heard something drop onto the ground. Tyson spun around to see Aphrodite staring at him in a crazed state of glee.

"Wait a second… IS THAT AN IRIS MESSAGE?!" She cried. "MOVE OVER, LITTLE CYCLOPS!"

The love goddess used her divine energy to charge forward and slam directly into Tyson. She proved to be much stronger than the young Cyclops anticipated.

"Doh! Owie!"

She took deep, near-animalistic breaths and stared directly at the Iris Message. Although just as gorgeous as ever, her hair, face, and dress were covered in grease. Small burn marks were also caked all over her arms and legs. They vanished just as fast as they appeared, thankfully, so the goddess didn't pay much attention to them.

She quickly fixed up her blonde hair to look more presentable and smiled.

"Ah, Percy Jackson! Just the young demigod I was hoping to see." Aphrodite beamed. "Is my Goku there? May I speak to him? Please?! I beg of you!"

Percy struggled to speak coherently at first. Even when cooped up in an underwater forge, Aphrodite still looked like the most beautiful woman in the world to him. She resembled, embarrassingly enough, a mixture of Annabeth and a random TV actress he had a crush on back in fifth grade. The same couldn't be said for her personality, however, so after a few seconds, he managed to respond to her question.

"I-I dunno, Aphrodite. You did say some rude things about my little brother earlier."

She tiled her head to the side. "Little brother?"

"Down there."

She obliviously looked from the collapsed Tyson to Percy. She then held both hands over her mouth in shock.

"O-Oh! My mistake!" The goddess powerfully lifted him off the floor and patted him on the shoulder. "Sorry about that, dear. You're all better now, right?"

Tyson's pupil was currently spinning around from dizziness.

"Uh… I think?"

"Good enough for me. Now, will you please tell me what's happening with Goku, Percy? I just need to know how he's doing and I'll get back to… ugh… work." Aphrodite exclaimed.

The son of Poseidon crossed his arms and frowned.

"That depends. What's in it for me?"

Aphrodite playfully smirked at him. "Hmm. How about I help you get together with that Annabeth girl? I know you have a huge crush on her. You can't hide that from me."

Percy's face became beat red from sudden embarrassment.

"What?! I do not have a crush on—"

"There's no use denying it, Percy. Once I start counseling at Camp Half-Blood, I can give you all sorts of advice on how to win her heart. You'll become quite the Casanova; I assure you. Hehe."

"What's a Casanova?" Tyson muttered to himself. "Tell Annabeth hello if you see her! Is she there?"

"N-Never mind that! Forget I said anything." A flustered Percy growled. "Goku's fine. He's currently being tortured with a ton of paperwork right now, but apart from that, everything's pretty normal with him. He also got to fight some alien swordsman and drive Apollo's sun chariot back to camp"

Aphrodite looked concerned. "While all of that is normal for him, I'm still curious about this 'alien swordsman'. Was it a past enemy of Goku's by any chance?"

Percy shrugged. "I honestly don't know. They seemed to be aware of who he was and what race he came from, but Goku didn't. I think it has something to do with their group being Time Bandits who can jump from one timeline to another. That's how they described themselves, anyway."

The goddess tapped her chin in thought.

"Suppose I'll need to ask Goku more about it once I see him again." She muttered. Her expression then darkened at the thought of her fellow goddess and current rival. "Is Artemis still there? And is she spending time with him at all?"

Percy was perceptive enough to realize that Aphrodite and Artemis did not get along at all. Now that the moon goddess seemed to be close friends with Goku, he had a feeling some drama was going to take place at Camp Half-Blood soon. He just hoped that their feud wouldn't cause as much destruction as Goku and Ares's.

"No, she left to go hunt the Ophiotaurus a few hours ago. She won't be back until the Winter Solstice, apparently."

Aphrodite struggled to suppress her excitement. She squinted her eyes and giggled in a fairly maniacal fashion.

"Perfect! With that auburn-haired nuisance gone, I'll have more an opportunity to spend time with Goku and grow closer to him. Hehe." She murmured to herself. "All I'll need to worry about now is this damn elevator!"

Pink energy was about to burst forth from her body, but she managed to take a deep breath and calm down at the last second. Getting angry, after all, was unbecoming of a delicate, high-profile lady like herself. It was more suited for less attractive women such as Artemis.

"Thank you for the intel, Percy. I promise that your services won't go unrewarded."

"Sure. Now, can I go back to speaking with my—"

"Aphrodite!" The loud voice of Hephaestus bellowed aloud. "This elevator isn't going to fix itself; you know?! Stop bothering the boy and get back to work!"

Aphrodite childishly stamped her foot in frustration.

"Ugh! Are you doing this to get back at me for cheating on you?! It's a little late for that, dear! We've both seen other people by this point, so any resentment you have for me should be irrelevant!"

Percy and Tyson looked at each other in nervousness. They weren't expecting an episode of Divorce Court to be taking place in front of them.

"No. This is a job and I need your help accomplishing it. Need I remind you that none of this would have happened if you didn't decide to seek Goku out and strand him here! You have no good reason to be acting like such a whiny brat." Hephaestus shouted.

"Whiny brat? Oho! Look who's grown some balls now!" The love goddess laughed sarcastically. "News flash, Hephaestus! I'm the goddess of love and desire! If I don't get what I want, I'm going to whine and complain! And I certainly never wanted you, unlike…"

"Yeah, yeah. Unlike Adonis, unlike Ares, unlike Hermes, unlike Tristen freaking McLean… the list goes on and on and on."

"What I feel for Goku is different and you know it!"

The clash between Aphrodite and Hephaestus's divine energies caused Percy's Iris Message to lose stability. It began to shimmer and fade right as Tyson waved at him.

"I got to get back to work now, Brother! Boss gets extra mad during one of these arguments, so I need to stay focused. Good luck, Brother!"

"Wait, before you go, tell Dad that—"

The Iris Message then officially dispersed before he could finish that last sentence. He was now alone in his cabin to mull over what just happened.

"So much for catching up with Tyson."

He then grumbled to himself and headed over to the Dining Pavilion for dinner.

"Hope Goku's doing alright with that paperwork. I don't think the dude's ever held a pen in his entire life."

Although such a statement was greatly exaggerated, that task was still not the type of training Goku signed up for. It'd be hard to tell what the effects of that fateful session would be.

About an hour later…

Turns out that these effects were all, but completely negative. After signing the last paper, Goku officially accepted his role as Camp Half-Blood's new counselor and exited the Big House like a mindless zombie. Part of him almost could have sworn that Dionysus kept adding more papers to the pile just to mess with him, but at that point, Goku could care less. He just wanted to sit down in the Dining Pavilion and get some much-deserved relaxation. Putting some food in his stomach would be an added bonus.

Looking defeated, he trudged over to the nearest table and sat down. It just so happened to be the table closest to the pavilion's central fire, which Hestia was busy tending to. The goddess of the hearth noticed her friend's sudden change in mood and sat next to him.

"Welcome back, Goku. I was hoping to see you earlier, but I could tell you were busy discussing some important matters with Dionysus and Chiron." She greeted warmly. "Are you feeling okay?"

He dejectedly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and said, "Yeah, I'm alright. I just don't think my brain can handle writing that much. Sitting in the same position like that was kinda driving me nuts."

"Strange. Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't you meditated for much longer periods of time?" Hestia asked.

"I have, but that deals with focusing my energy and well, getting stronger. Filling out paperwork doesn't help me at all! It just made me feel exhausted and not want to do anything else." Goku groaned, resting his cheek on the table in utter disrepair.

The goddess sympathetically rested one of her small hands on his back and patted it.

"Well, look at the bright side. At least you won't have to deal with it anymore." She said. "Now, you can focus on training these half-blood children as their new counselor and mentor."

"I wish that was all I needed to worry about…"

"Ah. Is there something else that's bothering you?"

Goku crossed his arms and looked upward with narrowed eyes.

"You weren't there, Hestia, but back at Westover Hall, I fought this guy named Kogu. Although he wasn't stronger than my other past enemies, he mentioned something about his leader, Bojack, having the potential to be more powerful than I am." He recalled. "And I'm not sure if I should feel excited by that or… concerned."

Hestia glanced over at the Hunters of Artemis. They were eating, drinking, and laughing amongst each other like one big family. Zoë sat at the center of the table as their surrogate leader and mother while Bianca di Angelo learned to arm wrestle with Phoebe.

She smiled, knowing exactly what kind of concerns were racing through Goku's mind in that moment.

"I see. You're worried about Artemis, aren't you?"

"It's that obvious, huh?" Goku chuckled. He couldn't really hide anything from a wise, mature goddess like Hestia. "I know she said she'd be able to take care of this Ophiotaurus thing by herself, but I don't know. She's going straight to the place where Bojack and his other friends are. There's a chance that something bad could happen to her and… I won't even know it happened."

Hestia's fiery gaze softened in response. As a goddess who prioritized family above all else, she could definitely understand the man's concerns.

"Artemis has always been a fairly prideful goddess, Goku. She doesn't like to accept help from anyone, especially when it comes to more dangerous missions given to her by Zeus himself." She reminded him. "Some might say it could be driven by her instinct as a huntress while others, namely myself, think it could be driven by her need to keep the people she cares about out of harm's way."

Goku nodded. "Which is why she didn't let me, or Zoë go with her…"

"Exactly right. If this Bojack individual is as powerful as you claim, bringing Zoë Nightshade along would have spelled doom for both of them. After all, once a Hunter falls in battle, their immortality is stripped away from them, and they'll be more likely to die than not."

Goku grew tense hearing this fact. He looked over at Zoë's smiling face and gulped.

"Yeah. When you put it like that, Zoë being there would just prevent Artemis from going all out." The martial artist whispered. "But I still could have helped her. Maybe she would have come around and changed her mind."

"Her own pride would have gotten in the way of that. There's nothing you could have done to stop her from going on this hunt alone."

Goku sighed, knowing that Hestia's logic couldn't be argued against.

"Guess you're right."

"Now, stop beating yourself up about this, Goku." The goddess pleaded. "Here, allow me to soothe your worries a bit. Hope this helps."

She projected a soothing aroma from the fire and enshrouded Goku's body with it. It then entered his nostrils, creating a potent sensation that reminded him of his old home on Mt. Paozu. This, as expected, immediately made the man feel far more relaxed and content within Camp Half-Blood.

He then breathed through his nose and let out a satisfied sigh of euphoric bliss.

Hestia grinned. "Better?"

Goku nodded and gave her an appreciative thumbs up.

"Yep. That helped a lot, Hestia! Thanks!"

"My pleasure." Hestia lightly giggled. She then manipulated some flames from the fire to create a few plates of food. "Mind sharing some of this dinner with me?"

"You had me at the word, dinner! Haha!"

Goku then, as per usual, devoured multiple plates of food while Hestia watched him in amusement. The campers were too distracted by his monstrous eating habits to really notice the little girl sitting next to him.

In fact, the only two half-bloods who noticed Hestia's presence were Annabeth and Percy. Both of them were surprised by Goku's seemingly close friendship with her.

They were sitting at their own separate tables, yet they expressed similar thoughts about the disguised goddess, nonetheless.

That's the little girl I saw on my first day at camp! Does Goku have some connection to her or is she another goddess like Artemis and Aphrodite? Percy wondered. She was poking at a hearth back then, so I guess it would make sense for her to be Hestia.

Annabeth was more aware of her identity, at least, but still seemed somewhat surprised by Hestia's willingness to talk with Goku directly.

First, Aphrodite, then Artemis, Mom, and now, Hestia?! I get that Goku's a strong fighter from another world and all, but him receiving this kind of attention's getting a bit ridiculous!

She rested a hand on her cheek and temporarily stopped eating.

Though, he did save my life back in Maine, so I can't be too dismissive or anything. I just hope the impact he leaves on here, Olympus, or anywhere else he decides to go isn't completely detrimental.

With that last thought, Annabeth brushed back her blonde hair and finished eating her dinner. She, Percy, and Thalia sat alone at their tables while the Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes, and Aphrodite tables had a few people each. Lacy, in particular, tried to wave at Goku, but he was too focused on eating to see her.

Nico was sitting at the Hermes table playing poker with the Stoll brothers. Both of them were trying to convince him that it was a much better game than Mythomagic, especially when it involved money. Luckily, the poor kid didn't have any cash to gamble away.

After everyone finished eating, including a quite satisfied Goku, Chiron made a toast to the gods and welcomed the Hunters of Artemis back to camp. He also sent a short prayer out to Artemis, wishing her well on her search for the Ophiotaurus whatnot. None of the campers were all that receptive towards this part of the speech until an unexpected announcement was made.

"Also, before we head off to bed and call it a night, I'd like to formally announce Camp Half-Blood's newest counselor… Son Goku!" He proclaimed. "He will be helping you kids with basic combat training and martial arts techniques. That shall begin sometime tomorrow, depending on how our revised schedule turns out."

The centaur then gestured to where Goku was sitting and smiled.

"Let's give him a hand, everyone."

All of the campers then clapped for him. Zoë and the Hunters of Artemis joined in as well, but their applause, as expected, was more halfhearted and disingenuous.

"Yay, Goku!" Lacy cheered.

"Do another energy blast, man!" Travis Stoll yelled.

"Transform again! It's getting dark out here and we need some more light!" His younger brother, Ethan, added.

The Saiyan chuckled and brushed off their cheers. "Aw, come on, guys. It's not that big of a deal."

"When you're the one who's gonna help us take down Kronos, then yeah, it kinda is." Thalia replied from the Zeus table.

Once that session of clapping was over, Chiron informed everyone about the next "good will" capture-the-flag game that would take place tomorrow night.

"Since you were unconscious during the previous game, Goku, how about you help me run this one? I'm assuming you haven't seen what capture-the-flag is like, right?" He asked.

"Well, I'm assuming it involves capturing a flag for some reason. Haha." This comment caused the Hunters and the kids from Ares' Cabin to groan. "But sure! It's not like I have anything better to do."

Chiron clapped his hands together. "Splendid! Then I suppose that's where we should call it a night."

Afterward, the campers all trailed back to their cabins for an early, winter lights out. Goku waved goodbye to Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, and the others before walking up to Chiron in confusion.

"Where am I supposed to sleep, anyway?" He asked.

"You'll be sleeping in the Big House with Mr. D and I. There should be an extra bed available somewhere."

Goku looked relieved. "Phew! For a second there, I thought I was going to have to sleep outside."

"Cause any more damages to this camp and you just might have to." Chiron joked.

The immortal centaur then trotted back into his wheelchair and left the Dining Pavilion. Both Goku and Hestia followed after him not so long after.

"Do you sleep in the Big House too, Hestia?"

"Sometimes, but it's not really necessary. I prefer to rest by the camp's hearth more often than not." She replied.

"Well, you're open to sleep next to me if you want. I'm sure there's room on the bed."

This offer caused Hestia to ever-so-slightly flinch from surprise.

What did he just say?

"N-No, no. You deserve some rest, Goku. My presence would just get in the way of that." Hestia stammered.

He ultimately shrugged and said, "Suit yourself then. See you in the morning, Hestia!"

"You too. And remember not to worry too much about Artemis, alright? She can take care of herself just fine."

Goku smiled and gave her an 'ok' sign with his fingers.

"Got it!"

Once he entered the Big House, Hestia fanned herself and let out an exasperated sigh.

"That man really needs to think before speaking. I haven't had someone ask for something like that since Apollo and Poseidon." She huffed. "Not that I would have said, yes, anyway."

She then readjusted the position of her hood and grew more somber. Even she wasn't certain that Artemis could complete this mission unscathed. She knew what Goku's past enemies were capable of, so new ones would be just as dangerous, if not more so.

Good luck out there, Artemis. For Goku's sake, I hope you don't get too in over your head.

The goddess then interlaced her sleeves and walked back over to the Dining Pavilion's central fire. Nearby, similar thoughts were going through Zoë Nightshade's mind as well.

She stood there, looking over at Goku and Hestia's parting forms in worry. The huntress rested a hand over her chest and felt the wind brush past her braided dark brown hair.

"Goodnight, my lady." Zoë murmured. "Please come back safe."

Without another word, the Hunters' lieutenant walked back over to Cabin Eight and rejoined her fellow sisters.

Somewhere near Mount Tamalpais, San Francisco – Saturday, December 15th, 2007 (Age 775)

Night had fallen over the city of San Franciso once Artemis arrived there. She had traversed the entire country from Maine all the way to California, yet no trace of the Ophiotaurus could be found. If she were a mortal woman, the goddess would have been all, but completely drained by now.

She took a short break to look around the forests near Mount Tamalpais. Apart from the full moon, this entire area, including the Titan Army's base, was pitch black. It created this dark, almost foreboding atmosphere that Artemis did not enjoy one bit.

Luckily, her glowing silver eyes gave her the ability to see everything as clearly as it would be in the daytime.

"There's no sign of it," The moon goddess muttered. "The beast must be masking its presence somehow."

She brushed her hands along the soil and grimaced. Everything near the mountain appeared to be brimming with magical Mist, making it a definite hotspot for all sorts of dangerous monsters.

"Atlas knows that I'm here. It's only a matter of time until—"

Suddenly, a noise could be heard coming from the edge of Mount Tamalpais. She peeked from behind a tree to see multiple Hellhounds and their Cyclopean caretakers. The massive canines snarled and sniffed the grass for any sign of intruders.

"They must have guards patrolling the mountainside." She whispered. "I'll have to take care of that…"

Artemis then drew her bow and shot a few arrows at them. Thanks to her Divine Energy, they homed in on the Hellhounds like heatseeking missiles and pierced their fur-coated bodies. They whimpered from pain and exploded into piles of dust.

This caused one of the Cyclopes to roar with rage. "WHO'S OUT THERE?! SHOW YOURSELF, INTERLOPER!"

Artemis remained completely silent. She took a deep breath and used the surrounding moonlight to transport herself in front of each Cyclops.

"If you insist," She glowered.

Upon seeing an actual Olympian goddess in front of them, the Cyclopes pulled out their wooden clubs and attempted to smash her into the ground.

"ARRGH! DEATH TO OLYMPUS!"

She performed a much faster counterattack by shooting an arrow straight into his eye. He gutturally screamed in pain as Artemis jumped upward and sliced his head off with a Celestial Bronze hunting knife.

Afterward, she continued to remain airborne and threw her second knife into another Cyclops's eye. This one didn't even have time to scream before Artemis grabbed ahold of the blade and tore his head clean off!

Both corpses then dissolved into dust, leaving one more Cyclops for the goddess to dispose of. He, however, didn't seem afraid of Artemis at all.

"You may have the upper hand now, Goddess, but once the General finds you, your fate will already be sealed."

The moon goddess crouched down and placed both knives in front of her.

"The General, hm? Will he be brave enough to face me alone or is he going to bring some friends along?"

The Cyclops just gave her a crooked, malevolent grin.

"Doesn't matter. No matter the scenario, a puny goddess like yourself will never get out of here alive! Killing us monsters was your first mistake and it won't be the last! Hahaha!"

Growing irritated by the Cyclops's baseless threats, Artemis brought out her bow and shot at his chest with a dozen or more arrows. Blood oozed from his mouth as the monster collapsed and died with a smile on his face.

"She took the bait. It's your turn now." He choked out.

Upon exploding into a pile of dust, Artemis's eyes widened in sudden realization.

"Bait? No, this was—"

A fist then powerfully slammed against her face, causing the goddess to be flung across the ground like a ragdoll. She just barely managed to clutch the ground and pick herself back up.

Ichor trickled down Artemis's nose as she wiped it away with her sleeve. She then narrowed her eyes to see Atlas, Bujin, Bido, and Zangya standing there in a large group. The Titan General's right fist was coated with traces of her divine blood.

"Greetings, Artemis. We've been expecting you."

"Atlas," She growled. "Did you lure me here intentionally? Is that your next grand scheme to please Kronos?"

"But of course! Did you expect to just waltz onto my territory and not face any repercussions for that kind of offense? I expected better from you."

He then chuckled and glared down at Artemis with cold, proud brown eyes. They were the splitting image of his daughter, Zoë, which the goddess found quite unsettling.

"And I obviously know why you're here. You're trying to locate the Bane of Olympus before my army does." Atlas assumed. "Well, I hate to rain on your parade, little goddess, but that won't be happening today. Neither you or I know its current location, so I'm afraid you traveled all the way down to San Francisco… for nothing."

Artemis couldn't exactly deny that fact. She was no closer to finding it than he was.

"Then why would you "bait" me, as your Cyclops subordinate claimed? My presence must benefit you in some way, correct?"

"It's rather simple, goddess. He baited you to make you the bait for someone else." Bujin snickered.

"For who?"

"For Son Goku." Atlas sneered. "Given your supposed friendship with each other, that idiot will jump at the chance to rescue you and blindly pick a fight against anyone involved in your capture. And that's exactly what my partner, Bojack, wants."

"Yeah, so Master Bojack can defeat that Saiyan monkey in combat and, finally, kill him!" Bido laughed.

"Maybe not kill him per say, but definitely beat him within an inch of his life." Atlas corrected. "Kronos will still have some use for him, after all."

All of these statements were starting to get to Artemis's head. That final statement was the most concerning of them all by far.

"Kronos? What could he want with Goku, specifically?" She asked.

The General went silent. He just shook his head and cracked his knuckles.

"Hmph. Looks like I've said too much." He murmured. "Maybe if I beat you badly enough, my daughter will come along to rescue you as well. It'll be one big family reunion now, wouldn't it?"

At the mention of Zoë, Artemis unleashed her Divine Energy and surrounded herself in a powerful silver aura. The three Hera were forced to cover their bodies, so they wouldn't be pushed back.

"As long as I'm still standing, you won't be laying a finger on that child, Atlas! I won't allow it!"

Atlas released his own Titanic Energy and stood in a fighting stance. He towered over the goddess in terms of height, yet Artemis continued to stand her ground without any hesitation.

"That can be arranged then."

He then materialized a large javelin from thin air and attempted to stab Artemis with it.

"HRAAAGH!"

The goddess backflipped away from this attack, leaving her wide open for Bujin, Bido, and Zangya's own moves. They collectively fired yellow blasts of energy from their fingertips that exploded upon contact with the ground.

"Damn." Artemis winced.

She somersaulted into the air and fired multiple arrows at each of her opponents. The three Hera shifted from one area to the next, evading the arrows' paths to the best of their ability. Bido was even bold enough to shatter a majority of the arrows with small punches alone.

Upon landing, Atlas jabbed his spear at each of the moon goddess's vital organs. She hopped from side-to-side to avoid these consecutive jabs and stopped it with her Celestial Bronze knives. The clash of metal on metal produced a massive shockwave that shattered the ground beneath their feet.

"If you think this is good enough, then you've already lost, Artemis!"

"On the contrary, Atlas, I never settle for anything that's 'good enough'."

Suddenly, in order to break their one-on-one clash, Artemis shapeshifted into a large silver tiger and slashed at the Titan's legs. He winced and almost fell over from pain.

"Huh. I wasn't expecting her to do that." Zangya commented.

Artemis leapt into the air as a tiger and transformed into a falcon. She soared into the sky until her avian body was directly in front of the full moon.

I haven't drawn power from the moonlight in quite some time, but it's something I have to do. They won't let up their attacks, otherwise.

Transforming back into her humanoid form, Artemis took a deep breath and harnessed the moon's energy, or as some would call them, Blutz Waves. These waves were converted into pure light energy that she could manipulate within the palm of her hands.

Right when Bujin, Bido, and Zangya flew after her, Artemis outstretched her hands. Massive lasers of concentrated moonlight shot out from her palms and hit all three of them at once.

"GAAAH!"

"Don't just stand there! Move out of the way, Zangya!" Bido growled.

They tried their best to recover, but Artemis wouldn't give them the opportunity. She continued firing one laser after another until they all crashed into the ground, temporarily defeated.

She then set her sights on Atlas and charged up as much moonlight as she could handle. The goddess lifted her arms up in the air and flicked them downward, resulting in a massive beam of light that came from the moon itself.

It completely engulfed the area Atlas was standing in and laid him down on his knees. The Titan of endurance tried his best to stand back up, but the pain caused by Artemis's Moonlight Ray was far too potent.

"Errgh! Why did it have to be a full moon today, damnit?" He grunted.

"You should have fought me earlier, Atlas. As the goddess of the moon, I already have the advantage at this time of night."

"Heh. That's what you think."

Enduring the laser's power, Atlas tightly grabbed ahold of his javelin and spun it around. This allowed him to block it and smack the blast away in the opposite direction.

"What?!"

The General took advantage of Artemis's shock and grabbed ahold of her face. He repeatedly slammed his forehead against hers and then kicked her near-lifeless form back to the surface.

A massive crater was left as a result of her body's abrupt impact. She slowly, but surely stood back up and groaned from pain. Her forehead was now caked with a fresh puddle of golden Ichor.

"Ugh. How could I have left myself wide open like that?"

"Maybe it's because you're not…" Bido yelled. "…paying attention, fool!"

She spun around to see that the bearded Hera was holding a red ki sphere in his right hand. He threw the Underground Energy Ball right below Artemis's feet and ignited her body in an enormous explosion.

"AHHHHHH!"

The forest was almost completely lit up and incinerated by the red dome-shaped bomb, but, thankfully, Artemis managed to escape from it in the nick of time. She transformed into a silver gazelle to increase the speed of her stride and ran away.

"You won't be getting away that easily!"

Bido lit up all ten of his fingers with red ki and successfully launched his Brave Gatling technique. Ten individual beams of ki were now following the goddess, forcing her to transform back into her normal self and improvise.

"All I need to do is throw off their path with some arrows."

She quickly fired ten of them from her bow. They flew in different directions and successfully managed to throw off the Brave Gatling's aim.

However, this ended up leaving her wide open for a kick from Zangya. She slid her body across the ground and kicked Artemis directly in the stomach. This wasn't enough to send the goddess flying, but it did hurt, regardless.

"That's for messing up my hair earlier." The female Hera snarled.

Artemis clutched her stomach and wiped some Ichor from her mouth.

"Why are you doing this? What do you have to gain from following some demented, power-hungry man's orders?"

Zangya rolled her eyes. "The same could be said for Zeus or whatever his name is, don't you think?"

"That's different. My father may have done some horrible things in the past, but he only wants what is best for this world. Your leader, on the other hand, only wishes to help Kronos and the Titans for his own personal gain! Where's the satisfaction in following a man like that?"

For a second, it seemed like the orange-haired woman somewhat agreed with Artemis's point. She, however, frowned and shook her head at the last second.

"Tsk. I owe everything to Master Bojack. I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand." Zangya scoffed. She then rested a hand on her hip and inspected Artemis from top-to-bottom. "What I don't understand, though, is why you're such a huge letdown? I was expecting a lot more from you, honestly."

The moon goddess sighed. She didn't want to resort to her Divine Form so soon, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She was just relieved she wouldn't have to risk endangering any innocent lives like Ares did at Camp Half-Blood.

"Maybe it's because there's still more of my power that you have left to see, alien."

Zangya nervously gulped. "More… of your power?"

In that precise moment, Artemis's entire body was now enshrouded in moonlight. She grew in size and became a being composed of ethereal, silver energy. Her outfit now consisted of a similarly colored cloak threaded with twinkling stars and craters that were once exclusive to the moon's surface. A pair of towering deer antlers could be seen poking out of her hood, representing both the goddess's sacred animal and her close attachment to nature.

To Zangya's horror, a massive pair of falcon wings sprouted out from her back. She ever-so-slightly flapped them and controlled everything in the forest itself. This included the surrounding wind, which she used to blow the female Hera with a mere flick of her hand.

The wind, now reverberating with silver Divine Energy, slashed at her body and caused implosions of moonlight to burst out from her limbs. Zangya couldn't do anything, but scream in sheer agony.

"GYAAAH!"

Once she fell unconscious, Artemis stepped forward in search of Atlas and his other two alien allies. Each step she took created a burst of divine power so destructive that any monster surrounding Mount Tamalpais would spontaneously combust out of nowhere.

Bujin and Bido no longer looked all that cocky. They expected an Olympian's Divine Form to be powerful, but this transformation far exceeded their expectations. Realizing what they needed to do, the two flew away, so there'd be some distance between them and the goddess.

"Bujin, let's go!"

"Right! I'm on it!"

Unfortunately for them, Artemis sensed their energy signatures and brought out her now-massive, crescent moon shaped bow. She shot an arrow into the sky and made it rain down upon her enemies as what appeared to be thousands of smaller arrows.

These arrows moved at speeds exceeding light itself, making it almost impossible for Bujin and Bido to avoid all of them.

"Shit!" The goateed Hera cursed. A few arrows pierced through his arm and sent his blood shooting out like a small, makeshift fountain. "She got me."

"Will you still be able to create some Psycho Threads?" Bujin asked. One of the arrows appeared to have pierced straight through his stomach, but not any of his vital areas.

"Yeah, but we need to do it now. That bitch won't give us another opportunity."

"Let's hope Atlas can do something to assist us."

Somewhere close by, the aforementioned General was trying to think of a way to overpower Artemis's Divine Form. A true, all-out battle between them could level Mount Tamalpais and all of San Francisco, potentially, so he'd rather avoid that type of confrontation. After all, Artemis's capture was still the key to drawing out Goku and the Ophiotaurus to this location. Nothing would go as planned if there wasn't even a location to draw them to.

He bared his teeth and roughly chucked his javelin over at Artemis.

"Don't you ignore me, huntress!"

She managed to see the javelin coming and used the wind to stop it in place. Narrowing her golden eyes at the Titan, Artemis tossed the spear back at him as a devastating laser. It spun around at breakneck speeds and pierced the ground, shooting out a geyser of Divine Energy that sent Atlas skipping around like a stone in water.

His face was buried into the grass as he stood back up and resumed their battle. Its main features were covered in deep bruises and newly perspired Ichor as a result.

"Haha! I'm the Titan of endurance, Artemis! This is nothing compared to that utter hell your father made me endure for thousands of years!" Atlas growled. "If I can handle carrying the heavens, I can certainly shrug off your pathetic attacks!"

He then saw Bujin and Bido standing on either side of the forest. Realizing that they were attempting to corner Artemis, the General deviously smirked and continued to draw her towards him.

"You won't need to shrug off anything. This fight was already over before it started."

"My sentiments exactly." Atlas then glanced over at the two remaining Galaxy Gang members. "Do it now!"

"What?!"

Bujin and Bido launched purple energy balls from their hands. They joined together and consumed Artemis's Divine Form, wrapping her up in near-invisible energy threads. No matter what she did, the goddess could no longer move a muscle or even reach for her bow.

"W-What is this? What have you done to me?"

"They're Psycho Threads. They create a barrier that latches onto your physical form and keeps you in place." Bujin chuckled in amusement. "The more you struggle, the more energy it drains from your body until you pass out or die! Hehehe!"

"And considering how much energy you Olympians have, there'll be far more for us to drain than usual. Unleashing your true form was the biggest mistake you could have made!" Bido added.

"No!"

Artemis tried to shapeshift and draw more power from the moon, but nothing seemed to work. The Psycho Threads continued to absorb her Divine Energy and weaken her with each passing second.

This process was drastically sped up by the return of Zangya. She also contributed her own Psycho Threads, but compared to the others, she looked a bit more reluctant doing so.

This left her vulnerable to receive one last devastating attack from Atlas. He grew to at least twenty feet tall and armed his body with Ancient Greek armor, sporting his own Titanic Divine Form that made Artemis's look defenseless by comparison. He resembled a living marble statue with stone gray arms, muscles, and legs.

With this new form fully adopted, Atlas created an exact copy of the heavens themselves and slammed it down on top of Artemis. The goddess was far too weak to even try defending herself against it.

All she could do was internally lament her arrogance and shortsightedness.

Zoë… Goku… Please… forgive me…

Her broken Divine Form was then stripped of its lunar energy until Artemis resembled her more common, human-like appearance once again. She didn't even bother trying to move or continue fighting. She had already lost this battle a long time ago.

Pleased with what happened, Atlas immediately shifted back to his smaller form and held the goddess up by her auburn hair. He smiled at the utter look of defeat on her face.

"This is what happens when you mess with Atlas, terror of the Olympians!"

He thrust his fist into her stomach, which made Artemis spit out a ton of golden Ichor. To add further insult into injury, he grabbed ahold of her head and repetitiously slammed her face into the ground. He continued to do this over and over again until Bido even found it a bit too difficult to watch.

"I… uh… think you made your point, Atlas."

Atlas stopped his brutal onslaught to take another look at Artemis. Ichor was now oozing from her mouth and eyes as she struggled to breathe or talk.

"Yeah. You're probably right." The Titan Army's general grunted. He then tossed the goddess's despondent body by her ponytail. "Catch."

Bujin used his telekinetic abilities to stop Artemis in midair. Bido would have surely dropped her without them.

"What should we do with her?"

"Take her over to Mount Tamalpais. Your friend, Kogu, needs a well-deserved break, don't you think?"

"Hehe. Understood."

Bido then held Artemis along her shoulder and made his way back to Mount Tamalpais alongside everyone else. Zangya spared one last apologetic glance at Artemis before tending to her injuries and pretending that nothing happened.

The moon goddess was barely responsive, but she could still think about and feel everything that just took place. A small tear fell from her eye before she fell into a deep, pain-stricken slumber.

I'm sorry… Goku. We may not be able to see each other as soon as you think.

Her eyes closed as she thought of Goku's smiling face and her lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade. She hoped that they wouldn't be foolish enough to come find her and give the space pirate, Bojack, what he wanted.

Take care of everyone, my dear Zoë. And please… don't come rescue me…

Back at Camp Half-Blood…

At around three in the morning, Zoë bolted upright from her bed. She was sweating profusely and had tears in her eyes. It appeared that she was able to see Artemis's fight and eventual defeat in her dreams.

"MY LADY! NO!"

Looking a little panicked, she noticed that all of the other Hunters were still asleep and hadn't experienced the same dream at all. This proved that whatever she saw was a vision of something that actually happened to Artemis, rather than a simple nightmare.

"I need to inform Chiron right away. This can't be ignored."

She then quietly snuck out of Cabin Eight and headed straight for the Big House. It may have been incredibly late, but she didn't care. All she cared about was rescuing her mistress from a fate worse than death.

And if that included getting Goku involved, then so be it.