Disclaimer: All the characters and places mentioned in this story from the Percy Jackson series belong to the amazing author Rick Riordan

Chapter 1: The announcement

"What`s the matter Chiron?" Jason asked as he, Piper and Leo entered the Ping- Pong room at the Big House.

"You will know soon enough Jason. Just wait for the other counselors to arrive," Chiron replied in his forever serious tone.

"Maybe another Great Prophecy," Leo guessed, trying hard not to laugh. It was a week since Gaia was defeated and all the Greek demigods who had been part of the prophecy were in a cheerful mood.

"If it is, then I am not volunteering," Piper said, "I have had enough with prophecies."

"I assure you that we are not going to talk about prophecies. In fact, you are going to be very excited by what you hear," Chiron said.

Slowly, all the counselors were arriving at the Big House. Percy and Annabeth arrived the last. They stumbled through the door, laughing and tickling each other playfully.

"Um, guys...?" Piper asked with a quizzical look on her face.

They suddenly seemed to realize that everybody was watching them and took their seats with a little embarrassment.

"So," Chiron said, "You all are called here to inform you about the arrival of some guests at Camp Half- Blood. Our camp is hosting an event which is going to need all the demigods available at the moment. It is not compulsory, but I am sure that all those who hear about this event will want to participate. All demigods of age 15 and above can participate so the 15+ demigods from Camp Jupiter are going to come here plus some… other demigods."Chiron screwed his face while saying the last few words.

"Other demigods? But all 15+ demigods must be in either Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter. There can`t be such older demigods anywhere else," Percy said.

"Unfortunately, there are a few. They travel in a group. As our satyrs, these demigods too travel to various schools and recruit young demigods. But they do not let them reach any camp. They make them join their own clan and train them. They do not believe that our camp can protect them. We are trying to make peace with them since the last few years but they don`t listen. They also didn`t come to help us during the Titan war and the war with Gaia. I myself am not much fond of them but it can`t be helped. The gods say that they too should be given a chance at this event so, much to my displeasure, we are going to have them stay at our camp."

"But surely they are not going to behave very nicely to us, because we are members of Camp Half-Blood," Piper pointed out.

"That, I agree with. But I am sure, how much they manipulate you; you all will not lose your control and start fighting with them. Just concentrate on the competition. That is more important," Chiron replied.

"But what are we hosting? The Olympics?" Leo asked.

"Certainly not the Olympics. It is a competition which the gods started for their entertainment but stopped it when the demigods started dying due to the dangerous tasks they had to face. It was conducted every once in a century. After many millennia, the gods are restarting this competition once again after reducing the level of violence in it."

"So this time none of us is going to die?" Clarisse asked with a little disappointment.

"Not at all. Some of the Olympians themselves are going to come here to supervise the competition."

"The Olympians themselves!" Butch asked with awe, momentarily stopping to put pencils in the 'as always' asleep Clovis`s nose.

"Yes. Inform the other campers about what we just talked and please tell them that they all can participate fearlessly and do their best. The meeting is adjourned." Chiron said loudly.

As all the demigods began to disperse, Annabeth came up to Chiron and asked, "What exactly is this competition Chiron? I have never read anything about this before."

"You never could have. The gods were very secretive about it. You will know soon enough what it is, and I am sure you would want to dearly win it," Chiron said with a smile.

Mike Brookes was not feeling the love. He had just now received a letter from that Camp Half-Blood director, Chiron, calling him and his team of demigods to their camp for some sort of competition organized by the gods. The letter further said that some of the gods are going to be there personally for supervision. His clan was instantly excited. Their idea was to stamp out all the camp demigods in front of the gods to prove their worth. Mike was in no mood to step foot in that cursed camp but he had to admit that his friends were right. They had to show that Camp Half-Blood was nothing compared to their team. Mike had increased his numbers over the years so their team size had become considerable. He had trained his demigods to survive in all sorts of difficult situations by practically living there. He had trained them in all sorts of activities essential for a demigod. He had excellent swordfighters to excellent archers. His team would easily snuff out their rivals.

Many years ago, when Mike was only 11, a satyr from Camp Half-Blood had come to receive him from his school. He had been informed by that satyr that he was a demigod and that camp would protect him. His family also agreed that that was the safest place or Mike to go. He was old enough to face monsters on his own. Mike had waited outside the house for the satyr to return with stuff when he spotted the creature approaching. Mike was scared out his wits. It had occurred to him after many years of searching that it had been a Minotaur who had attacked his house. He ran and hid behind a tree. It was a chilly night and the entire neighborhood was asleep. Nobody heard the screams from the house. The Minotaur couldn`t find him inside and destroyed the entire house along with his whole family and that satyr. He ran away as fast as he could and half the night was over before he could lose the Minotaur. He found a safe place behind a garbage can in an alley and sat there crying all night. He cursed himself for being a demigod, cursed the gods and mostly cursed Camp Half-Blood. If the satyr hadn`t come for him he wouldn`t have left school and his house wouldn`t have been under danger. He promised himself that he would never go to camp. He would train outside in the open on his own and avenge all the monsters.

He had found stray demigods like him along the way and they faced all the dangers together. It was the only family Mike had ever had and he wasn`t going to lose it.

He looked around his recent hideout. They were just now camping in the woods on the outskirts of a school where they had picked up their recent recruit. They constantly shifted camp from one place to another. This time, much to Mike`s surprise, they were camped very close to Long Island, the satyr had said that Camp Half-Blood was located. It was as if the gods knew they were close and accordingly planned the competition.

Flash Ryder, Mike`s very first demigod friend was sitting outside his tent and sharpening his sword. He had got it from his father Ares as a gift. His mom had given it to him when he was leaving home. Flash was the kind of guy who could easily impress girls with his looks. He had a handsome face, a military haircut and muscular arms. He was excellent with any weapon you gave him and also exceeded at all mortal sports.

Mia Fortesque was checking her face in the mirror. She was the daughter of Aphrodite so most of the time she was doing that. She had brown hair and a heavily make-up applied face. He had tried in vain to teach her some combat but she was the most useless of their team. Mike thought she had a big crush on him but he wasn`t that 'dating' sort of boy. She should try Flash instead. He is always looking for some way to impress girls.

Kristen Rivers was trying to shoot the birds on the nearby trees with her bow and arrow. She was the daughter of Apollo and the sharpest shooter we had. Most of the times Kristen would go and hunt our food for us. She didn`t care much about her beauty but the amazing thing was that most of the boys in their camp were mad on her and not Mia. She had curly black hair and brown eyes with which she could give someone a very unnerving look.

Beside her were the Hoodies, her forever fans. They were twin sons of Hephaestus, Ricky Hoods and Mickey Hoods. Why their mother named them like that, Mike had no idea. Their surname suited them very well as both always kept the hoods of their jackets over their heads only showing their faces. They both had coal black eyes and sandy colored hair which could only be seen when they took their hoods off. They were always seen making jokes or talking about some machine they had invented. They were exceptionally good with repairing anybody`s weapon so they couldn`t be called useless. They were presently trying to make a metal helicopter take a rose to Kristen.

They were the only demigods including Mike who were above 15. All the others were recently recruited and Mike didn`t know their names. They were all kids. They couldn`t do much at Camp Half-Blood except cheer their team members.

" Okay everybody," he called. They all looked at him.

"As you all know by this letter, we all have been called at Camp Half-Blood for this competition. It is our promise that that we would never go to any camp for training or for any other purpose but I don`t want to disappoint you as you all seem to be so excited about this."

"So are we going?" Flash asked.

"I want to know each of your opinions before we take any decision."

"What do you think Mike?" Kristen asked.

"I think that it is not a bad idea to go. We always wanted to show that we are superior to any camp. The chance has come. We could take a chance at this competition and beat those filthy camp people to it. The gods are also going to be there. We could show our worth in front of them. After it all is over we will leave camp instantly, no more staying in our enemy territory. What do you all think about my idea?"

"I am fine with any idea you put forth Mike," Mia said and smiled sweetly at him.

"We agree!" the Hoodies said together.

"I would love to beat those camp people to pulp," Flash mused.

"What will we do then?" One of the small kids asked him. They had momentarily stopped reading their Greek mythology books which the Hoodies had made them read.

Mike smiled at them. "You could cheer for us. We want at least some people in the audience to be on our side. You could also spy for us and tell us all the camp secrets. They are bound to behave a little lenient with you."

"Deal," the children said happily.

"So all in agreement?" Mike asked.

"Yes," they said in one voice.

"Okay, so tomorrow we leave for Camp Half-Blood. Chiron has given some directions as to the camp`s location so we should have no problem finding it. Take with you all the weapons we have. I guess we will need them for the competition. Also take our camping material with us. We will not be sleeping with those wretched people. For the below 15 people, good luck with the spying and supporting. For the 15+ people, do your best at the competition and be sure to blow all the Camp Half-Blood people to dust."

The gods were all excited about the coming event.

Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Apollo, Hermes and Aphrodite were going to be present at Camp Half-Blood as they were going to set the various tasks for the demigods. They were discussing in the throne room about it.

"My children will do the best at the competition as they have knowledge as well as power to fight." Athena announced proudly.

"Minotaur poop," Ares said, "My children will show their war power and knock of all the top prizes."

"I doubt they will get past the first task itself," Apollo muttered to himself.

"WHAT?"

"Um, nothing."

"I don`t hope much from my children," Hermes grumbled, "They will not get any stealing or navigating tasks, which is their specialty."

"My children will bring out unexpected results," Hephaestus said, "Some of them are quite talented."

"I hope my children make it to the third task," Aphrodite spoke in her silky and soft voice, "They will love it."

"As if the first two tasks are easy for them," Dionysus whispered to Apollo who tried hard not to laugh.

"I think all the demigods will do their best to win the competition. The prize is to intimidating. But no offence, I think only the Big Three children are going to make it to the prize. All of them are much too talented," Poseidon confirmed.

Just then, Zeus spoke for the first time.

"Let us see later whose siblings do what, but just now we have a more pressing issue to discuss. Are we right in letting those outsiders in the competition?"

"We have talked about this, father. The decision cannot be changed now. They are also demigods. This competition is conducted once in a century, that means only once in a mortal`s life. They won`t get this golden opportunity again. It would be very unfair if they missed this competition," Athena said firmly.

"Yes, all our children should be given a chance," Hephaestus rumbled.

"Okay, then if you want them to be in the competition, it is your responsibility that they do not start fighting with the Camp Half-Blood demigods. I will not accept a war when the competition is going on."

"We will take care of that. Nobody will be arguing during the competition. It is so many years after that we are going to witness this. Nobody will spoil our fun," Apollo answered.

"Well then, inform Chiron that we are going to arrive at Camp Half-Blood tomorrow itself. We should be given a grand welcome and our all requirements are to be ready." Zeus vanished from the throne room leaving behind him an electric smell. Slowly and slowly all gods started disappearing from the throne room. Only Aphrodite and Athena were left behind.

"I am going to first thing meet Percy and Annabeth when I get to Camp Half-Blood. I have been giving them too many warnings about their relationship and my not liking it but they won`t listen to a thing I say," Athena said.

"Don`t worry, Athena. I have a very nice twist planted for them and they are going to get separated very soon. But I think they won`t get permanently separated. Those two are mad for each other," Aphrodite replied.

"We will see."

"We sure will."

AN:- HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE REVIEW. THIS IS MY FIRST STORY SO PLEASE DON`T GIVE ME ANY FLAMES. YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THE COMPETITION VERY MUCH.