Happy Valentine's Day

Disclaimer- I do not own The Percy Jackson and the Olympiad series or the Heroes of Olympus series. Only the changes in storyline are mine, as are any original characters.

This is the First chapter of the Champion of Sun and Moon: The Lightning Thief. It is the sequel to the Early Years. It follows the canon storyline of The Lightning Thief with my special twist.

Chapter 1

It was about a month before school was to end, and Percy was the one of the few persons who did not want it to end. Don't misunderstand him, he loved the holidays, and he even liked going to camp and spending his time with his friends. But he liked it more to spend time with his guardians-cum-patrons-cum-cousins Apollo and Artemis, where he could practice all his powers without abandon, and where his family can easily visit him without any problems. In the two summers he had spent in camp with his best friend Luke and Thalia, he had terribly missed his family. And speaking of best friends, his best friend Thalia, on whom he had a small crush, ok very big crush, was moaning near him about the approaching exams. Thalia was both ADHD and dyslexic, and hence exams were hell for her. She kept on her ranting, but Percy tuned her out and reflected on the unnatural storms and clouded weather that have had been happening on the coastal areas for the past day. He had inferred that for some reason, Zeus and his father Poseidon were angry. Yes, you are correct, Percy was a son of Poseidon, the god of Seas and also his best friend Thalia was also a demigod, a daughter of Zeus and his other best friend Luke was a son of Hermes.

Percy decided that he would go to Apollo's mansion for the next weekend, and when he said this to Thalia, she jumped up and asked, "Are you mad? We have our exams after this week, and you want to go to home in the weekend?" Percy stared at her and asked, "And I care why?" Thalia stared at him, and gave a defeated sigh, "Alright Mr. Genius, sure you can go. After all, you have all the studies on the tip of your tongue." Percy smirked, before saying, "After all, I am Perseus 'Awesome' Jackson." Thalia hit him on the shoulder, before both of them dissolved into laughter.

They went to the Goode High School, which was a progressive school near Apollo's Condo in New York. It allowed the children to live in hostels and still visit guardians over weekend with parental permission, which both of them had, and used shamelessly due to the closeness of the house.

When the weekend came, Percy was ready to go, but as he packed his backpack, he was suddenly greeted by the sight of another backpack being slammed near his. When he looked up, he saw a resigned looking Thalia also ready to leave. When Percy raised an inquisitive eyebrow, Thalia sighed and said, "It's no use studying now since I cannot even read the words properly under stress. I believe I too need a break." Percy smirked and nodded, before they were out of the school campus. Percy decided that a stroll down to his home would be good, since it was only 5 blocks from the school. As they walked, Thalia asked Percy, "Percy, I believe something has been bothering you. Can't you tell me what is it?" Percy sighed and answered, "The freak weather is worrying me. I believe that the storms have even baffled meteorologists, as they are appearing suddenly without any reasons. Hence I believe that both of our fathers are angry. That's why I wanted to contact Apollo and Artemis, which is the cause why I am going home this weekend." Thalia looked thoughtful before nodding her head.

As they reached the mansion of Apollo in New York, they saw that both Apollo and Artemis were in their 25 year old form and were looking frantic. As soon as they saw Percy and Thalia, they ran over to them, and said, "Percy, Thalia, it's good that you two are here. We were going to retrieve you from your school now." When Percy asked what happened to them, "Artemis replied, "There are all the signs of making of a three-way slugfest between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Zeus' bolt has been stolen as are Hades' helm and Poseidon's trident. Poseidon is blaming Thalia and Zeus is blaming Percy whereas Hades is saying it is done by both of you together. The news was discovered yesterday, and today we have an emergency meeting of the Olympian Council along with Hades. So you two remain in the house and don't go out, as no one can find you here." Then both of them started glowing. Percy and Thalia immediately closed their eyes, as they knew that looking at the true form of a god can incinerate a mortal.

Percy and Thalia sat on the couch and switched on the television, before turning with an extremely worried expression toward each other. As they sat in the nervous silence for a few minutes, Percy started feeling uncomfortable and said, "Don't worry Thals, we each have an alibi for the other. Also, our school is far way from Olympus, and Apollo and Artemis think they don't know, but I believe I have a wind nymph who follows me everywhere I go except for the toilet thankfully. I will be able to properly co-relate my story, and I believe that Apollo and Artemis also keep track of me throughout the day and night, and would be able tell that to the Council. Also, I believe that during last week, both of us had the same classes and spent almost all of our awake time together, which would avert the suspicion of your fathers from the two of us. Besides, your father's bolt was stolen, as was my father's trident. Most of the other gods will be able to convince the gods that we are not the thieves, but it is someone else." Thalia nodded mutely before hugging Percy tightly before saying, "I am afraid what will happen if the other gods are unable to convince them of our innocence." Percy hugged back Thalia and said, "Don't worry Thalia they would be successful in making our dads understand. Believe on it."

Thalia reluctantly left Percy and watched the television, but her worry was evident as she kept chewing on her lower lip. Percy looked at her and said, "Do you know, you look extremely cute when you worry your lower lip like that." Thalia frowned at him, and Percy was immediately alarmed and asked, "Did I say something wrong? If I said, please forgive me, I am sorry." Thalia laughed and said, "You also look very cute when you are thinking and your forehead gets all scrunched up. But I was asking, am I ugly for rest of the time?" Percy vigorously shook his head before replying, "No, not at all. I think that you are extremely beautiful and cute all the time." Thalia heard the dreamy edge in Percy's voice and thought that finally she might get together the courage needed so that she can confess to Percy that she has a huge crush on him. For you see, she also had a crush on Percy, though she was conflicted, as she was not sure if Percy liked her back or not, and she also knew Luke liked her, and though she also liked the son of Hermes, but as a brother.

But the dreamy voice Percy used to describe her, and the fact that he said that she looked beautiful all the time, lit new hope in her heart. But as she was about to confront Percy, the door burst open and a tired looking Apollo and Artemis walked in. When they met the inquisitive eyes of the demigods, both of them sat down and began, "Well the 'Big Three' are extremely stubborn, but we were able to make them believe that you are not responsible for the theft, as you were in the school whole day. Also you were not among the demigods who came for a visit of the Olympus that day, and it was finally understood by our father and uncles that you are blameless. But Hades was the most stubborn, and we had to concede his demand that you two should be in the quest to retrieve it, with Percy as the leader, as he has better abilities in weapons. Also, they have threatened each other with war if their weapons are not returned within 10 days."

Percy and Thalia looked at each other and seemed to communicate through their eyes, before they sighed and said to Apollo and Artemis, "It's not as if we have any choice. We will do the quest, but I believe we have to go to Camp Half-Blood to retrieve our third team member and get a prophecy for the quest." Thalia added, "Now I don't even have to give the exams. At least there is something good in it." Artemis clucked her tongue, and said, "Not so fast young lady. We will arrange with the school authorities to allow you to take your exams after you have completed your quest." Thalia gave a pained groan, but went to her room to ready herself so that he can go to camp.

The two friends were ready within half an hour, and came out of the rooms dressed for a long quest. They were wished luck by both Apollo and Artemis, before both of them got and headed to the door, as they were going, Apollo snapped his fingers, and all their things they had to collect from their school appeared, and three packed quest bags also appeared, the third with Luke's name. Percy smiled and thanked him again, before leading Thalia out. Percy called for Arion, he had learned that Thalia was afraid of heights after their school had taken them mountain trekking. He got a lot of blackmail and teasing material out of that bit of information. As soon as Arion reached them, Percy greeted him, before saying, "Hurry up buddy, today we have an important quest to begin."

Arion helped them reach Camp in a few minutes; and by the time they reached Camp, both the demigods were grinning like lunatics due to the speed rush they experienced. When they walked into Chiron's office with two quest bags, it was a credit to Chiron that he didn't even bat an eyelash, said, "Very good. I see have been informed of your latest quest. I am sure you would be successful in the quest. Percy, you can go and meet the oracle. I will call Luke here." Percy nodded and moved towards the attic, where the mummy-cum-oracle was kept.

Percy entered the attic, which was spooky in its own right, and went towards the mummified oracle. It was one of those few things which could spook out anyone. Percy faced the Oracle, and it sat up straight and said green smoke billowed out of its mouth. Percy heard a strange voice inside his head, saying, "I am the Spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, the Slayer of Mighty Python. Approach, Seeker, and ask." Percy gathered his courage and said, "What do I have to do to retrieve the weapons of the Big Three?" The green smoke that had poured out from the Oracle's mouth formed a scene of a large city with many high rises, before Percy heard,

Go west to the god who has turned,

Find what were stolen, and see it safely returned,

Go on wheels, to find the true thief,

Succeed, to be betrayed by one who you call a friend.

The green smoke retreated into the Oracle's mouth, and the mummy slumped into its frame. Percy knew his audience with the Oracle was over and returned to Chiron's office, thinking about the words that the Oracle had spoken. When he reached Chiron's office, he saw that Luke was being briefed about the situation. He entered the room as soon as the briefing finished, and was immediately surrounded by Thalia, Luke and Chiron. Chiron asked him about the prophecy, and Percy recited it, causing Luke to remark, "It is a good Oracle that predicts a sort of both success and possible failure, so that it cannot be wrong." Percy and Thalia laughed, even Chiron gave a smile. Before he turned grave and said, I believe the first part of prophecy is clear, "You have to go west, and it probably means Los Angeles, as it has the entrance to the underworld in it. The prophecy also specifies your means of transport. As all of you are ready, I believe you should leave at the earliest, as you have a fixed time period to work inside of." Percy asked Chiron, "But Chiron, if the helm of Hades is also stolen, then shouldn't we go to San Francisco? After all, the Mountain of Despair is situated there." Chiron shook his head, saying, "No Percy, most of the gods believe that Hades has stolen the symbols of power, and is faking the theft of his symbol of power. I believe that the prophecy refers to Los Angeles."

All the three demigods nodded, before they picked up their bags and walked, Chiron went to the dining pavilion and blew the conch horn, and within a few minutes, the entire camp was assembled there. Chiron said in a loud voice, "Heroes, the weapons of the big three was stolen, and thief has not been apprehended till now. The gods have decided to send Thalia Grace, Perseus Jackson and Luke Castellan in a quest to retrieve the weapons. I wish them the best of luck on their quest. May Tyche favor them!" And he led the trio of demigods towards the camp borders, where Argus was waiting for them to take them to the bus station in a Camp car. As they were reaching for the camp, Percy was stopped by Ethan, who gave him a cap and said, "Hey Perce, I thought I was going to miss you all. Here is gift from the Hermes cabin, which I had been planning to give Luke for completing 2 years as the counselor, but I think it would serve you better." When Percy looked properly at the cap, he saw that a pair of wings were kept folded at the cap's side and thanked Ethan, saying, "Thanks Ethan, I am grateful for your gift, but I cannot use it myself, as Zeus would blast me out of the sky, and Thalia can fly using her own powers. It would be best if you give it to Luke." Ethan looked reluctant, which Percy stored at the back of his head for further thinking, and saw Ethan give the cap to Luke and to show him how to use it.

Percy, Luke and Thalia finally bade Chiron and Ethan goodbye, but not before Percy pulled Chiron aside and asked, "Chiron, what about the Romans?" Percy had informed Chiron that he knew of the Romans, and Chiron had almost collapsed in his shock, stammering about not knowing what he was telling. Chiron replied, "I am not sure Percy, but Roman Camp doesn't even know the location of Olympus. Romans are not as close to the gods as the Greeks are, and the Roman gods don't show much emotion on the public, nor are they fond of the publicly visible relationships of Greeks and therefore the location of Mt. Olympus was kept a secret from them." Percy nodded and left in the Camp vehicle.

It was the beginning of the latest adventure of Percy Jackson, which would have many far-reaching effects in his life. But did not have the slightest idea what secrets he will encounter in his latest adventure with his best friends.

It was the first chapter of The Champion of Sun and Moon: The Lightning Thief. I know it is a little rushed and there are many plot holes. But I still hope you all will enjoy this. Leave your views in the reviews please. And again, a Happy Valentine's Day.