The House of Hades

Chapter 2: Jason

       

         DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HoO OR PJO, RICK RIORDAN DOES!!!!!!!!

             Chapter 2: Jason

       "The monsters of the Mare Nostrum strike again" Jason muttered to himself as he scrambled above deck. He wondered why Hazel had said that he already knew how to defeat it. An uneasy feeling crept over him, but he shook it off. This was his chance to prove to himself that he could do something right without the others carrying him.

            He pulled himself up, and charged, ready to fight the monster- and his jaw dropped when he saw which monster it was.

             A huge, red monster that resembled a drakon rose thirty feet out of the water, it's colossal fangs bared. The only things keeping it from turning the Argo II into a shipwreck were Hazel, Frank, and the three skeletons that Nico had summoned the other day. Nico himself was lying unconscious at the other end of the deck, and Coach Hedge, who had been thrown off the ship, was bobbing up and down in the water, screaming insults at the sea monster. Leo was the only one missing, but Jason didn't have time to wonder about that. Hazel rushed over.

              "Jason, come on, we need help," she yelled at him.

              "But-but- that's-," Jason spluttered, still gazing open-mouthed at the monster.

             "Yeah, I know, it's the Ketos Troi, the Trojan sea monster you defeated two years ago. That's why we need you to get over here, seeing as you know how to kill that thing!" said Hazel impatiently.

              Jason tried to remember. Since he, Leo, and Piper had rescued Hera from her prison, pretty  much all of his memories had come back, but this one seemed to still be frustratingly fuzzy. In fact, the more he tried to remember, the fuzzier it got.

             "I can't remember," he admitted, feeling frustrated.

             Hazel gritted her teeth. "Well, so much for that. I guess we'll just have to hope we find another way to defeat it, because that monster is pretty much impossible to kill. Just come on!" 

              Jason followed her, Piper at his side. The Ketos Troi roared, and swung its tail at the Argo II, smashing off some of the railing and nearly taking out Festus, while at the same time it snapped at Frank with its fangs, nearly taking off Frank's head.

             "Argh! Where's Percy when you need him!" yelled Frank as he ducked under another onslaught of fangs and claws and tried unsuccessfully to stab the sea monster. Jason tried not to feel resentful about that. 

                   He charged at the monster and slashed its side, but his sword didn't make a dent in the monster's hard scales. Suddenly, he remembered an important piece of information about it.

                  "It can only be killed by being hit in the eye," he screamed at Piper, Hazel, and Frank.

                   "Fine time to mention that," Frank grumbled, "Anyway, how do we stab it in the eye? Just get close to that thing's head and you'll be sliced to shreds. Even if I transformed myself into an animal, like a dragon, it would just snap me up."

                   As Jason ducked under the sea monster's fangs and swiped at it's head, he suddenly got an idea. 

                     "Frank, use your bow!" he shouted at Frank. Frank understood what Jason meant and dropped his gladius, taking out his bow, and quickly aiming an arrow. But before he could shoot it, the Ketos Troi scooped Frank up in it's claws, and lifted him up in the air.

                    "Frank!" screamed Hazel, panicking, but Jason knew what to do. He was beginning to remember how he had defeated this monster the first time.

                     He ran up to where Frank had dropped his bow and quickly picked it up, selecting an arrow labeled "explosive". That sounded good. He aimed it at the sea monster's eye and shot. Even though Jason was the son of Jupiter, he was as good of an archer as he was a swordsman.

                   The arrow hit the monster's eye and exploded with a blast, killing the monster, and throwing Frank into the water to join Coach Hedge.

                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

           "Everyone get down to the Mess Hall!" Hazel shouted, once Frank had gotten on a change of clothes, "We need to talk".

           Once they were all seated, the first thing Jason did was turn to Leo.

         "Where the heck did you disappear off to?" he asked angrily,"we could have used some help!"

        Leo looked embarrassed. "Well, while you guys were arguing, I decided to go and work on installing some new weaponry into the ship from Archimedes's scrolls. When the monster attacked, I thought if I could work fast enough I would be able to use the new weaponry to kill the monster but...you killed it on your own."

                        "It's okay, it doesn't matter at this point," put in Nico, who had recovered, "We need to decide what to do next."

                            "I'm actually beginning to think that Piper might have a point, and that maybe we should go back and get some back-up before going on to the Doors of Death." said Hazel.

                           "No," interrupted Jason, remembering what Poseidon had told him, "A dream I had...Poseidon told me that we have to sail to the Doors of Death immediately." Jason didn't want to mention the other part of his dream just yet.

                          "Well then, I guess that settles it," said Nico, looking pointedly at Piper and Hazel.

                            "No it does not," said Piper shrilly, "Are you guys forgetting about Camp Half-Blood? We can't let a Civil War happen. Remember what Hera said? Then Gaea has already won." Jason could feel her charmspeak washing over him, making him believe what she said. 

                        "Um, well, I was thinking," began Leo tentatively. Hazel and Piper both let out audible gasps and he snorted and went on, "I was thinking that maybe we could try to resolve the issue from here. Annabeth and Jason mentioned that the praetor, Reyna didn't want a war anymore than we do, so maybe we could Iris-Message her and convince her to convince the Romans to make peace and come with the Greeks to help us."

                       Everyone looked doubtfully at each other. Finally, Jason said, "I say we go for it, it's the best idea we've got. When should we Iris-Message her?". 

                       Frank raised an eyebrow, "Well, no time like the present, huh?"

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How was that for chapter 2?