"Wait wait wait!" Thalia cut in, stopping Naruto's explanation. "You are telling me that you, Annabeth, Grover, and this Percy are going a quest to get my father's lightning bolt….which you call his toy of mass destruction. Why do you call it that again?"

"Well," Naruto replied while scratching the back of his head, "him and everyone is making a big deal about and with the odd dreams me and Percy have been getting, the man is acting like a brat about it."

"You know….I am not surprised." Thalia deadpanned.

"Ah well, looks like we are going the highway to hell." Naruto shrugged.

Thalia burst out laughing. "You do know that made a song with the same title…right?"

"Huh…I am going to have to listen to that" Naruto said thoughtfully. "Well, I better get going…I will see you later Thalia." Naruto said as he start fading way from Limbo.

Thalia had an unsure face at first, but just waked forward and planted a kiss on Naruto's fading cheek, shocking the boy greatly. "Good luck….Naruto." She said as he disappeared. She then sighed. "He probably won't get it."

XXXX

"Ok….that was new." Naruto said as he put a hand to his cheek. He then made his way to where he was meeting his traveling companions in a dazed state, trying to figure out why Thalia had kissed him on the cheek.

Soon, Grover, Annabeth, and Percy arrived in their 'outside the camp' attire. OF course for Percy…it was what has been wearing all week. For annabeth…that was the same too, but with same book on famous classical architecture…go figure. He also wondered if they were going to get caught thanks to that knife she had, I mean their weapons changed into semi-useful items, but hers does not…..oh well.

Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and anyone could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes. Kind of sad when you think about it.

"Naruto." Annabeth asked, noticing Naruto's state, "What is with the dumb look?"

"I am not sure why, but when I was fading out of Limbo to meet you guys, Thalia just came up and kissed me and told me good luck." Naruto numbly, Percy sighed and smacked his head and Grover chuckled a bit.

You have got to be kidding me. Annabeth thought. A relative of Aphrodite DOESN'T know about love…..by the gods! "Eh, don't worry about it too much Naruto, you will find out eventually…..hopefully."

"I guess, so how we getting out of here?" Naruto asked.

"You got me, Chiron just said to come back here." Percy said.

"Correct Percy, now I would like you to meet Argus." Chiron said, coming up to them in his wheelchair form with a surfer dude tailing him.

"Ah, the head of security." Annabeth said respectively. Naruto just quirked an eyebrow, that job was perfect for this guy in Naruto's opinion, for this guy has eyes all over his body.

"He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things." Chiron and Naruto chuckled at the inside joke.

"Hey!" Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes. "Glad I caught you." Naruto noticed that Annabeth was blushing.

Oh god….don't tell me she is a fangirl like sakura…poor poor deluded girl. Naruto thought. Of course he didn't have much say in that matter with his old crush for the pink haired girl, but being in this world long enough opened his eyes. Yay for enlightenment!

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told them. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these." He then handed the shoes to Percy. These….shoes, looked like any normal pair of shoes to him. "Maia!" White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels

Percy was so startled that he dropped the shoes and Naruto said, "Well, you don't see shoes like that everyday."

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." He then had a sad expression on his face. Somehow, Naruto knew he was thinking the other quest he did to get to this came….with Annabeth, Grover and Thalia. He didn't know what do and patted Luke on the shoulder. Luke smiled sadly at him.

"Hey, man," Percy said. "Thanks."

"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you and Naruto. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"

"HA! With Percy's luck, we might just run into a few." Naruto laughed.

"Hey!" Percy pouted.

"Ah don't worry! You got me and my awesome ninja skills!" Naruto boosted. "Besides, you could use the practice." Percy chuckled a bit a that, he knew was not that great with a sword….yet. "I am just the backup, along with Annabeth's brains and Grover's magical flute…powers. God I am never going to get used to that."

"I guess you are right" Percy smiled and then shook Luke's hand. "We'll kill one just for you them man!"

"Good." Luke said as he then shook Naruto and Grover's hands as well and gave Annabeth a hug, who looked ready to pass out.

Why does that remind me of Hinata?

After Luke was gone, Percy smirked and to Annabeth, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not."

"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"

"Oh ... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?" Annabeth then stomped down the other side of the hill they met on, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.

"Oooh, this is going to be fun!" Naruto cackled, scaring Grover. Of course Percy had already gathered the shoes and was hastily following Annabeth, so he didn't hear what Naruto said.

"You scare me sometimes Naruto." Grover replied.

"Really? Does my pranking side really scare you that badly?'

"Yes"

"Oh well, come on Grover. Let's to go to Hell." Naruto said with a carefree attitude.

"You are not making this any better on me." Grover grimaced.

"Sorry about that man." Naruto said as they were at the car.

Once near the car, Percy remembered that it would not be a good idea for him to wear the flying shoes. So…he gave them to Grover. Naruto could not help but laugh a little at that. A flying satyr.

Sad to say, when Grover tried to fly….the results were less than desirable, but it was funny to watch as Grover had not control on where he was going. Poor poor possessed lawn mower, uh I mean Grover.

Chiron rolled up them and said, "Good luck you two. Know I know Naruto has some training, albeit ninja training, but I wish I had more time to train you Percy. I mean, Hercules and Jason and lot more training after all.

"That's okay. I just wish—" Percy said but stopped himself, not wanting to sound selfish and not getting a magical item to help him on his quest.

"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this." He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to Percy. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap.

"Gee," Percy said. "Thanks."

"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one." Chiron stated.

Percy took a better look at the pen and remembered how he and Naruto vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Could this be the same weapon? He took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in his hand. In a few seconds, it had turned into a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. He smiled, somehow, this sword felt right in his hands.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told him. "Its name is Anaklusmos."

"Riptide." Percy translated; surprised that he could do that so quickly.

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."

"What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?" Percy asked, confused as he looked at the deadly looking blade.

"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

"Good to know." Percy replied and after Chiron explained more about the blade, like he could not lose it and how to turn it back, he joined the others in the car. They turned back to see that Chiron was now under Thalia's tree, shooting of an arrow, which mean he was just sending them off.

Naruto decided to interrupt the silence. "So…you got your weapon huh?"

"Yeah, it is called Riptide." Percy smiled.

"What are your blades called Naruto?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, the one that looks like a fox is called Fear and the one that looks like a black dragon is called Destruction." He said nonchalantly.

"Ok...why?" Grover asked nervously.

"Hell if I know, I just got the feeling that they were called that." Naruto shrugged.

"Oh joy." Grover said.

XXXX

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. For Naruto and Percy, it felt weird to be out on the highway again. They did spend two weeks in the camp after all. Naruto caught Percy looking at all the Mcdonald's and other places like that on their way. He could not blame the kid, the camp was like a renaissance fair after all. Percy was just regaining his grip on reality.

"So far so good,"Percy told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

She gave him an annoyed look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me." He mumbled.

"Hey, can't we all get along?" Naruto interrupted, earning annoyed looks.

"Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals." Annabeth replied.

"Why?" Percy asked dumbly.

Annabeth sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives." replied Percy.

"Oh, forget it."

"Now, if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."

"I said, forget it!"

Naruto smirked. "You know, that just what our parents did. I don't understand why certain people have to hate each other for that reason alone. If everyone believed that, everyone would hate me because of all the crap my dad did. Just like in Konoha." Naruto said, the last part softly to himself, but they heard it. Percy knew what Naruto was talking about but the others didn'y and they didn't want to upset him, so they didn't ask. However, Annabeth considered Naruto's words but kept quiet.

Traffic slowed them down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and was starting to rain. Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from Percy's mom and Gabe's apartment. Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye, that there was a soggy fly with Percy's face on it. What was odd though was that Percy ripped it down quickly before the other two could see it. Odd.

Argus unloaded their bags, made sure they got the bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch them as he pulled out of the parking lot. Naruto noticed that Percy was looking off into the distance, probably thinking about his home.

Naruto slapped his back and said, "Don't worry man, we'll get your mom back."

"I know." Percy said with a sad smile.

Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction Percy was looking.

"You want to know why she married him, Percy?"

"Huh? Where you reading mind like Naruto?"

"Just your emotions." Grover shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"

"That ability, is pretty useful." Naruto smirked.

"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told him "You caledl him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."

"Thanks," Percy deadpanned. "Where's the nearest shower?"

"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."

"Ugh, that still has to suck though. Just walking in there, made me want to gag." Naruto replied and when he got odd looks he said, "Heightened senses for the Kyuubi." They nodded after that and Percy stared a little more into the distance until they had to move on.

They got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. Naruto was the same, but he somehow got it to land on his nose!

The game ended when Perct tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all. Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but the other three were too busy on the ground, laughing. Though, Naruto did wonder HOW Grover managed to do that.

Finally the bus came. As they were standing in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas.

"What is it?" Percy asked, curious.

"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

As they boarded, Percy was get nervous because his friends were acting differently. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh, Grover kept looking everywhere, and Naruto had a serious face on…..yea, something was up.

As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand on Percy's knee. "Percy."

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she

tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and Percy gained a freaked out face. It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face. Percy silently whimpered and scrunched down in his seat.

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers. They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," Percy said, trying to keep his voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"Percy, these are the right hand …uh… grannies of my dad, they probably don't stay down for long. Besides, they feel more powerful than at the museum."

"Yeah and I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not, and if Naruto is right, they must be at full power"

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters

from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" she suggested, looking to the back, only to find none.

Naruto growled, "I could always make one."

"No, we don't need to cause a scene and bring attention to ourselves." Annabeth replied,

"Aw…and I wanted to have some fun." Naruto hung his head in defeat.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Percy said. "Will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"

She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"

They entered the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

They all started coming down the aisle.

"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."

"What?"

"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you

can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys—"

"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."

"Yeah, and if they come after me…well they won't know what hit them." Naruto said. "Now go!"

"I can't just leave you."

"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"

With trembling hands, Percy put on the cap and started up the aisle. Naruto watched his friend intently, hoping Annabeth's plan would work. Percy got ten rows up before he had to dodge into an empty seat as to not run into them. Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at Percy. His heart started pounding like crazy and Naruto fists clenched.

Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.

Naruto somewhat relaxed after that and Percy quickly made his way to the front of the bus. He was about to press the emergency stop button when he heard a hideous wailing from the back row.

The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same, which couldn't get any uglier if you asked anyone, but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.

The Furies surrounded Grover, Naruto, and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"

The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.

"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"

"Yeah, so can't we all get along?" Naruto asked with a small smile. The Furies raised their whips. One of them snapped it where Naruto's head would have been if he did not dodge.. "Yikes! I guess not" He replied as he took out Fear, Annabeth drew her bronze knife, and Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.

Percy then did something so stupid that should be posted as the ADHD poster child. He grabbed the wheel of the bus and it slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them.

The bus careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters were tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.

Somehow the driver found an exit. The bus shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to the left, the

Hudson River to the right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river!

Percy got another great idea and slammed on the emergency. The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. Percy stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.

The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans, while Naruto cut up the whips there were aim at him.

"Don't think just because you are the son of the Master, we will go easy one you boy!" one of the old crones lashed out.

"Why would I expect that?" Naruto commented while smirking as he sliced up the whip that came for him, infuriating the Fury even more.

"Hey!" Percy yelled, taking off the hat and revealing himself. The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at the Son of Poseidon, and he instantly regretted it, which was easily seen thanks to his freaked out expression. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, like she was about to give him another failed paper. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather. Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward him like huge nasty lizards.

"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."

"I liked you better as a math teacher," Percy told her. Naruto heard him and said.

"Oh? That's news to me."

Mrs Dodds growl and yelled, "Stay out of this!"

Naruto grumbled something in audible, help Annabeth and Grover sneak up behind the creepy looking grannies. Percy had, by this point, uncapped the pen and it was not the sword that helped kill the old bag.

The Furies hesitated.

Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again. "Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."

"Nice try," Percy replied.

"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried. Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around his sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at him.

Percy grimaced at the pain that whip was causing, but he regain some composure to strike back. He used the hilt of his to knock away the fury on the left, but noticed that he would not have enough time to strike the one the right because she was coming in to fast! That was when Naruto suddenly appeared and kicked the hag away; shocking the leader of the Furies so bad that she loosened her grip on Percy. He took that opportunity to get free.

Mrs Dodds glared at Naruto and said, "Stay out of this! We were ordered NOT to kill you but that just gives up free range on what we could do to you!"

Naruto had a deadpanned expression on his face at that. "Sorry, but I like younger girls."

This made them even more mad than they were….which probably was not a good thing to do, because the one on the right lunged at him, but he smirked and spun on his heel to stab her in the neck, 'killing' her instantly.

Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands. "Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

The Fury that Percy had hit before came back in full force and tried to slice him with her claws but he swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.

Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"

"Hey, let them try, we can beat anything you throw at us." Naruto said happily.

"Braccas meas vescimini!" Percy yelled, which oddly meant, 'eat my pants.'

"Fools….you will die!" the fury yelled.

Thunder shook the bus and Naruto smelled gas.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled. "Now!"

They rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped their photograph before they could put away their weapons.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"

BOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told them that Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

They plunged into the nearby woods as the rain started to fall; the flaming bus behind them and nothing but darkness ahead of them. Naruto smirked and looked at Annabeth while running. "So, what was that about not causing a scene and having all the attention on us?"

"Oh shut it!" her rang throughout the forest.