"Claimed?" I asked. "Im confused."

Astroid finally released me from a never ending hug. I didn't want it to end to be honest. "It's a bit hard to understand at first, well it was for me, but pretty much being claimed means that your godly parent noticed you and accepted you as their child." The way I saw it, was that I had to prove myself before my dad would give the time to acknowledge my existence.

"So what god claimed me? Because I have no idea."

"Poseidon." Clarisse picked herself up of the ground. Her face was red with rage. "This is pretty ironic actually, but I don't get why your godly parent claimed you yet. The fight isn't even over yet, and I've been beating the crap out of you this entire time." She pressed her palms against the dirt. The ground shook and a gleaming bronze great-sword arose from the earth. She swung it over her shoulder and approached us. I struggled to get up but my body wouldn't obey me. Astroid stopped me. She had a tender flame in her eyes. Suddenly I felt a power greater than Clarisse's.

"You did good, Sea breeze. Now rest. I'll do the rest for you." Her voice were soft and sincere. All I could do was nod. Astroid stood up, her red hair blew in the breeze. She looked like a god from this view.

"Ah, the princess is gonna fight now." Clarisse teased.

"You said I was timid, Clarisse?" Her voice was calm. She snapped her fingers and a small flame spread along them. Clarisse jumped back. Astroid laughed. "Seems like Zeph ripped the invincibility out of you." The flames crawled up her arms and caught onto her hair. I could feel the heat of the flames, but it wasn't the kind of hot you would expect. It felt cozy hot. Like sitting next to a fireplace in winter and drinking hot chocolate sort of hot. It felt like I could touch the flames and not get burnt. I guess it was because it came from Astroid. The flames in her hands turned into a glowing red sword. A greek  Xiphos. Clarisse charged, her huge sword held high over her head. Astroid didn't move. As the sword cut through the air, coming down on Astroid, she effortlessly raised her sword. As Clarisse's sword touch hers, the huge great-sword split in half, leaving a red, melted point on the ground. Clarisse gasped. She swung the remaining blade at Astroid's neck, but she easily moved out of reach and slammed the flat of her sword against Clarisse's helmet. The helmet glowed red and Clarisse didn't waist time tossing the melted helmet off. Her hair was slightly singed. She gritted her teeth and cursed in ancient greek. Astroid was amazing. Now I realized the only reason they could never beat Clarisse was because of her invincibility power. Now that it was gone, she didn't stand a chance against Astroid.

"Ok guys, seems like that flag was a dud--" I turned my head to see the other members of the blue team drenched in sweat and looking quite surprised. "Clarisse's in trouble! Guys battle--"

Clarisse held her hand out. "Don't you dear interrupted our fight. Go finish of the rainbow boy and Zephyros."

The team turned their eyes towards us and drew their swords. Plute cursed under his breath. I picked myself up. As jacked up as I was, I could still fight. "Yo, Plute. You think we can take em?"

Plute stuck a cigarette in his mouth and looked up at the rainbow in the sky. "After what I saw you do back there to Clarisse, I'm certain these scrubs don't stand a chance." The blue team came charging at us. I drew Sea Storm. Plute inhaled the rainbow smoke. Suddenly he was gone. I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and I was gone too. The blue team stopped, frantically trying to make sense of this. Plute let some smoke seep out into the air. Then all of a sudden a  stampede of winged horses stormed through the woods towards the blue team. They panicked and scattered. Then the winged horses flashed their wings and a huge flash of bright light filled the perimeter with white light. I couldn't see a thing except a few blotches of red. "Go!" Plute squeezed out without letting much smoke exit his mouth. I instinctively went for the red blotches. I sliced with the dull end of my blade, since I couldn't see were I was cutting in the bright flash. I heard machine like explosions as some of the red blotches were sent flying. I slammed my sword on there metal helmet's, taking them out quickly. Once all the red blotches were on the ground, Plute exhaled, placing his hands on his knees. Everything went back to normal and I could see that we've really kicked ass. The whole team lay on the floor moaning. Some of them had dented helmets and armor. I turned to Astroid and Clarisse. Their fight was over. Astroid held her glowing red sword to Clarisse, who's weapon was reduced to nothing but a bubbling puddle of bronze. She smirked.

"It's about damn time I've beaten you. Thanks to Sea breeze. This is the second time he's done something amazing." I blushed. Even though I only the got the crap beaten out of me and managed to disable her invincibility, she still gave me credit. That was the best victory I could've asked for. Clarisse's eyes burned with hatred and shame.

"Kill me then!" Astroid gasped. Plute almost choked on his rainbow smoke. "I'd rather die then be defeated by some defective Ares child--"

"You kidding me!? You friggan kidding me!?" My nostrils flared. "Who the hell do you think you are!? Astroid just whooped your ass easily. She's obviously way better than you. The only reason you've been winning is because you had that stupid invincibility crap. You should be honored to be defeated by Astroid, out of all people. You should be thankful I chose to not blow you to bits!" Astroid's cheeks glowed softly too. Even though she was crazy powerful and tough, she was actually really shy sometimes.

suddenly Clarisse began to cry silently. I began to not understand her anymore. One minute she was ready to die, the next she was sobbing her eyes out. I felt kinda guilty now. She probably grew up like me. Winning was the only thing that kept her going. "Damn it...damn it! You wouldn't understand crap! No one does!"

"Astroid, put the sword away real quick." She nodded and extinguished the flaming blade. She didn't know what I was doing. I walked over to Clarisse. Each step sent a painful jolt of pain through my chest where Clarisse sent a million volts through me. I place my hand on her shoulder and instantly had a fist planted in my jaw, sending me back a few feet. Astroid was ready to charge back in but Plute stopped her. He seemed to get what I was doing. I got up, the metallic taste of blood fresh in my mouth. I walked over to Clarisse again. Another fist slammed into my nose. Blood gushed out but I got back up and walked over to her again.

"Why the hell won't you just stop already!" She cried through tears.

"You want to know why..." Another fist slammed into my face. I got up. "Because I don't like to see girls cry!" Her fist slammed into my face again, but this time I was able to hold my ground. "Tell me what's wrong Clarisse!"

Her fist fell and she began to really sob. Let it out. That's the only way to get passed the pain and anger that's been built up. She wiped her eyes, still looking down. "Selena..." she said. "That stupid,stupid Aphrodite kid..." We were making progress.

"Who is Selena?" I asked. My words sounded like I had a mouth full of peanut butter.

"She died in the battle against the titan army and Kronos. Two years ago..." She paused and swallowed hard. "I promised her I would never lose again. That I would never fail in battle. And then...an Aphrodite kid beats me."

I understood everything now. "You have to move on. You can't never lose, Clarisse. If you never lose then you'll never get stronger." I paused before continuing. "My friend died too." I suddenly got a very bitter taste in my mouth. "He was the only person that noticed me. He even knew my name..." My breaths got deeper as I replayed scenes in my head. "Then one day he was killed right in front of me. The only kid that noticed me..." I choked back heavy tears. "But it wasn't all that bad, because the same day he died, was the same day I met a great friend, and managed to save her." Astroid seemed to know who I was talking about. She held her head down, hiding the stream of tears falling down her cheeks. "Look, my point is, you shouldn't treat Astroid like she is some sort of disease, Clarisse, she's your sister and she loves you. You just gotta love her back." I stood up and held up my hand. "So what do you say, Mighty Drakon Slayer?" I could see a smile twitch in her lips, like she was trying to smile. She grabbed my hand. I got through to her. Somehow, I did it. Once again, I saved someone.

"Thanks, Noobie."