Chapter 1 – A dislike for pork
The blue school bus was charging through the forest, while trying not to bump into any trees, but there were almost none left around. A giant fire had left a big scar on this part of the hills near Long Island. According to the lack of noise, there were no more than 10 people inside the vehicle. The only talk were the curses, addressed to the driver, who was basically crazy - both by mind and by heart. His eyes were so open, that he looked like a promoter of caffeine products and his trembling hands were barely holding the steering wheel. While dodging the rocks and fallen branches, he kept swearing that something had been chasing them since they started their trip.
Of course, everyone else was more pissed off than stressed, except one guy in the back, who had somehow fallen asleep. He was obviously older than the others with short black beard and was dressed in a rusty brown coat, reminding of a sloth's fur – full of any kind of garbage you wouldn't want in there. All the others were the typical rich douchebags, except the pair of seats next to the driver. There were two really confused boys, who although being part of the rich group, didn't look like complete assholes. One of them, whose blue hair was ridiculously messed up, was in the middle of a mental breakdown.
"Lelouch, please remind me, how we ended up in here?!" The blue haired boy yelled out, panicking, clinging onto his seat for dear life.
"Well, our friend Mr. Wilkson saw something suspicious and decided to 'save' us from it. We are still in the right way, according to this crappy GPS, so there is no need to cry right now, Rivalz!" Lelouch scolded his friend, while trying to keep his composure.
Lelouch Lamperouge was a dark haired high school student with violet eyes. He was dressed in a black top, over which he wore a red jacket, grey jeans and black sneakers. He was currently trying to think of a way out of the mess that had befallen them.
"Can't we call someone?! Like…anyone?!" screamed one of the girls behind them, whose personal bag was bouncing around in the bus, hitting almost everyone.
"Already tried, my lady! Unfortunately, there is no connection around but don't worry, we are almost where we are supposed to be so…" Lelouch replied with a slight dose of sarcasm in his voice.
Some giant rocks appeared like out of nowhere.
"Well, maybe we are kind of screwed." The dark haired teen noted, acknowledging his fate with a merciful look on his face.
A giant trench was right in front of these sweet looking rocks.
"Ok then. I guess we die now. Any last words, Rivalz?" He turned to his friend, who was terrified out of his skin and was desperately searching to do something that could save his skin.
Rivalz was busy trying to wake up their guide from his horrifying trance or at least to take the control back by himself and as such, answering his friend wasn't on the list of important stuff to do at the moment.
"C'mon dude! Stop pretending to be possessed and at least turn left or right! Why do you have to be such a douche? Listen, if you really save us all, I'm gonna buy you lunch for the rest of the month, ok?!" Rivalz yelled, as he shook the guide up and down.
"That's not how it works!" – yelled Lelouch.
The trench was already dangerously close. The rest of the students were hugging each other, repeating things like "My mom was right." And "I just wanted to go out with you".
The only way to prevent the epic crash was to stop immediately or turn around, and the second option was pretty much impossible.
Suddenly, while trying to think of a situation without the participation of death, Lelouch felt a really bad headache and almost went unconscious but his buddy caught him on time and slapped him angrily:
"Don't you dare go dying on me before the epic fall! That isn't fair man!" Rivalz yelled at him pleadingly and slapped him hard across the face.
The slap refreshed Lelouch, enough to quickly stand up without difficulty in the charging buss and confronted the driver eye to eye. It's happening again…The first time I thought it was a dream… but why can I do that…I don't want to be so …dangerous…so…afraid of myself!
Slowly, his stress turned into pure anger and without knowing what he is actually doing, Lelouch shouted with a dominant voice, while looking deeply in his eyes:
"I ORDER YOU TO STOP RIGHT NOW!"
The scene made an unexpected turn, Mr. Wilkson got back to normal, shouting "Holy cows!" and stopped the massive vehicle. No one had the time to react, as the sudden breaking made everyone flop down on the floor of the bus, some falling over each other.
What made it worse was the fact that it started raining and everyone was pissed off and still scared, as they righted themselves and got out of the bus. Most of the group decided to walk until they find a village or at least a sign.
After 15 minutes of walking in every possible direction, Rivalz noticed that some of the trees around had suspicious marks, orange and red lines, forming a diamond-like signature. While trying to understand what the symbol could possibly mean, Lelouch reached him, holding an old map.
"Look what I found near Mr. Wilkson!" He exclaimed. "Now, we can finally search for help without dying slowly and painfully inside this goddamn forest!" He yelled, irritation present in his voice, just barely. "Take it." Lelouch handed Rivalz the map. "I need to talk to our insanely scared driver before we can start regrouping. The rest are too scared to listen to me, which means I should bring him back into stable condition."
"What about the location? Are we even near the right place?" Rivalz asked.
"We should be. Do you remember how the area we are in is called?" Lelouch inquired.
"Well, I think it was something like Durango as much as I remember." Rivalz said, scratching the back of his head. "Although, I'm not sure if I have ever heard of such a name before."
"Of course it is new to you, Revalz. Because it's in Mexico! What the hell!" The dark haired teen raged.
"According to your tone, this area is not the best choice for a trip." Rivalz noted stupidly.
"No shit, captain obvious!" Lelouch yelled out, but then cleared his throat. "My father had a project there long ago. I thought it was something cool and decided to stay there for a while. It was pretty boring but suddenly something important went wrong and we haven't been talking about that since then." Lelouch said. It was also the time I found out what I actually possess, so it's kinda hard to forget.
"Is there a village near us? Please tell me there are not more than 5 kilometers to there." Rivalz pleaded with a desperate look, as he and Lelouch began to walk.
Lelouch tried to find a place with internet connection around while looking at the map along with his friend, but once again the forest proved itself as an isolated area. He knew that without him and the driver, the group would have been lost long ago. Most of the students were stupid enough to go on their own in the depths of this, untouched by human beings, region.
While these two were roaming around, discussing the map, the driver was trying to keep calm, although he was conscious, he still hadn't forgotten the thing that made him go crazy. Unfortunately, no one would believe the description he had in mind. Thankfully, the rain soon stopped and everyone's mood got better. The old man put away his glasses, cleaned the windows of the bus and shared his sandwiches with the others. What took his attention, however, was the fact that the guy on the back seat was STILL sleeping even after all that had happened. After that, the slim figure of the young Mr. Lamperuge appeared from the forest and Mr. Wilkson asked him impatiently:
"Did you find at least a path to the nearest town?"
"I don't want to confuse you more than necessary, but the town you are talking about is not even in this country. I need to know from what are we running, so I can calculate how much time we have until splitting up." Lelouch stated.
The guider's mind slowly built up the lost memories and one particular memory occurred. He was inside a coffee shop, enjoying the sunset, seeable from the window, when a strange hooded man walked in and left a journal on his table before going out. Inside the journal were placed 200 dollars and a note with details about where the hotel for the students is situated. For some hilarious reason, the fully grown man had believed that this was the real route. The memory ended fast, but for him everything was still messy.
"Split…splitting up? For real?" The driver didn't want to believe what he was hearing.
"The way I see it, the only three well-functioning brains here are mine, Rivalz's and probably yours. If we end up in groups I can go with him on our own risk and you can guide my colleagues. He is currently following the trail from the trees." Lelouch explained.
"How does it look?" The driver asked the violet eyed student.
"A strange shape with orange and red lines. If my friend does not come back, I suggest going to the opposite direction as plan B." Lelouch noted with a slight nod of approval of his own hypothesis.
"You are prepared for anything, huh? I have a flair somewhere around here and probably a lighter, because we will most likely need a fire, if we'll be staying the night." The driver said, pointing to the bus.
"Nah, I'm just good at improvising and many books have gone through my hands, which helps a lot." Lelouch replied causally, strangely enough.
Suddenly their talk was interrupted by the unexpected voice of the strange sleeping man, who had exited out of the bus.
"Don't worry. The dude with the nice hair will be here in no more than half an hour. If he arrives from the right direction, of course…" The man said with a yawn, as he stretched from his sleep.
"Right direction? What do you mean by that?" said Lelouch, pissed off by the man's mysterious behavior.
"Let's say that your elder companion knows what will wait for him in the wrong direction. If you need help you know where to find me" said the bearded guy, as he had pointed to Wilkson, and then fell asleep on the ground.
Stressed by this unusual warning, Lelouch and Wilkson decided to wait patiently for Rivalz. In this time, they discussed the overall situation.
"Can you describe the creature? It had to be quite the sight to scare you like that. I would like some insight on what's after our lives, thank you." Lelouch asked Wilkson impatiently.
"Well, it was as big as the bus, with wings and greedy yellow eyes. I'm not sure about anything else." Mr. Wilkson said, but his gaze then became worried. "Nobody'll believe me if I tell them what it was!"
"They don't need to. Once we start walking in the RIGHT path, we will be safe from your exotic nightmare. Or at least I have this feeling. I will be really really sorry if I'm wrong."
Meanwhile, Rivalz struggled to find an end to the marked trees but just when the sun started going down, he noticed some pieces of cloth, accompanied by parts of necklaces and... armor. Most of the cloth was orange and big spots of dried blood were surrounding the interesting pile. His phone vibrated in his pocket, indicating that there was signal again, and that put a smile back on his face. The first thing to do was to call Lelouch.
"Finally, there's signal!" Rivalz exclaimed, relieved.
"Yep. Everyone's phones are now working. I will wait for them to escape so I can see exactly where you are." Lelouch responded on the phone.
"I found a very fishy pile of equipment here. You better check this out. The driver might not be joking about the monster." Rivalz said, sweat forming on his face.
"He isn't joking. I talked to him eye to eye. I will explain to you the other details later. Stay where you are. I'm coming as fast as possible. If the sleepy guy is…" Lelouch said and was cut off, as the call dropped down.
The connection went off again and no one missed the opportunity to curse like it was The Judgment day. Lelouch didn't notice that the relaxed dude from the last seat was awake and was protecting his classmates, watching every corner of their route like a trained dog. John Wilkson was not sure if he wanted to follow them or to drive his own vehicle to the city they started their trip from. Soon, the students were watching with amusement how the most used example of public transport was charging through the forest once again with enough fuel to arrive at the closest gas station, effectively leaving them all behind.
The two friends barely heard the revving of the engine from their location, but carried on nonetheless, disinterested in the driver's cowardice. Rivalz showcased the uncomfortably looking mess to his mate and both started thinking about what type of creature or activity could cause such a scenery.
"Rivalz, what is the possibility of the thing responsible to be something supernatural?" Lelouch asked, off-put by what he saw.
"Meh, doesn't seem plausible. You're more likely to go on a date with Caitlyn than something strange to pop out." Rivalz said, scratching the back of his head.
"Rivalz…" Lelouch sighed. "I thought we went over that already…"
"She is like 300% into you and you treat her so badly! At least, that's how it looks like from every viewpoint except yours! You need to learn to have some fun, buddy." Rivalz exclaimed, flailing his arms about.
"Look, I'm not obligated to go out with every girl that throws herself at me. Plus, the chance of things to work out between us is almost nonexistent and I don't really like her! Hell, I might consider going out with her if pigs start to fly!" Lelouch raged about his friend's constant attempts to get him laid with a random girl.
Like an answer to the dark haired teen's whining, an epic roar, combined with grunting, exalted upon the trees and a glorious creature appeared in front of them. It actually had wings and yellow eyes, and it was…a pig, much to the two teens' surprise. A pig on steroids and Ecstasy, bigger than any Christmas dinner you can possibly imagine. Not only that, its mouth was full of different types of teeth, painted with blood and parts of unlucky rodents.
"You've got to be kidding me." Lelouch mumbled to himself, staring at the creature in disbelief.
"You know, when I was younger, my mom told me that killing a swine will bring you bad luck ... I guess…I guess she was right." stammered Revalz.
"Rivalz, do NOT move." whispered his friend as calmly as possible.
"Dude, it's not a T-rex! Even dinosaurs can see that we are a nice bite!" Rivalz panicked.
The flying swine concentrated its eyes on the boys and roared again, then rushed their positions. They both let out a panicked scream and made a jump sideways, the monster missing them as they rolled to the side. The levitating fatty monster made an impressive looping, while trying to find their smell again.
The two boys were running as fast as they could, though Lelouch seemed to be trailing behind his friend, evident that if the swine came at them again, he would be the first to make a tasty treat.
"Idiot! Now it's even more agitated because of your unnecessary shouting, Rivalz!" Yelled out Lelouch, as he panted and struggled with the running, trying to catch up to his friend.
"It's not my fault! That is the most disturbing killing machine I've ever seen!" Rivalz yelled out, scared for dear life, as he ran at top speed.
Unfortunately, the swine chased after them and a few seconds later, both students were running like it was their last run, accompanied by a pink hurricane with hunger issues.
"How long will it take before this abusive piece of meat gets tired?" Rivalz exclaimed as they ran head to head.
Lelouch, whose body had gone into overdrive from the adrenaline was surprisingly running at the same speed as Rivalz, didn't seem any more cheerful than his companion. "I hope it gets eaten by something!" He yelled out, as he heard the giant pig roar again. "For god's sake, just leave us be already! My legs won't hold out for much longer!"
"Don't stop running!" Rivalz exclaimed.
"I hate this! I'm not cut out for stuff like this!" Lelouch cursed the heavens, as he continued to run.
Meanwhile, on the road, 1 km north of them
A group of 10 young men and women were patrolling around, observing the area. Each one of them had scars either on their faces or on their arms and was holding a melee weapon. Their orange T-shirts were a hint that they were from a team or from a camp. The squad was headed by a black-haired boy with a mask, revealing only the upper part of his face, and a set of light armor. An unfriendly roar reached his ears and he made a sign for everyone to halt with his hand. The group stopped and waited for orders. Some of them even had scared looks on their faces.
"I can handle this alone. You check if there are casualties or witnesses and show them to the camp. I will talk to them later. And don't try to add yourselves in the battle, I know you have the skills, but all of you need to save your best for something worse. Understood?" The masked boy said to his team.
They all nodded and waited for the roar to come closer.
Two frightened boys came out of the forest, desperately running away from the monster chasing them. The leader's face didn't show any surprise, but then the fabulous beast revealed itself, which caused wild shine to appear in his green eyes, as he shouted:
"Now!"
One of the male members of the team threw a toxic grenade in order to distract the monster, while two girl ran over to the two fleeing boys. Both girls grabbed one of the male students, much to the teens' surprise, hurled them over their shoulder and ran for a gate near them with the two boys dangling behind them like sacks of potatoes. The rest of the team ran behind the gate too, leaving their chief, who was ready to meet one of his older enemies. He started talking to it like it was a cute domestic animal.
"So, Piggy wants to play? Ok, I know one game, it's called 'Exquisite pork meals 101'!''.
Saying that, the young man jumped ahead and held on one of its wings, while it was charging to eat him. While the swine was making insane rotations with its new passenger, the wing was slowly cut off by the young man, who had taken out a sword and while falling down, its body was pierced several times. The monster dissolved into a pile of dust, as the young man righted himself.
Lelouch and Rivalz were staring with astonishment at what had transpired, their jaws hanging from shock.
"What the hell just happened?" Said Lelouch, blinking a few times in confusion as he stared at the spot where the monster had dissolved.
"Well, let's say… Piggy just got outplayed. Again!" laughed the commander, but then saw Rivalz watching the gate suspiciously, as he attempted to pass it, but bumped face first into what felt like an invisible wall. "Why can't your friend go through the entrance? Oh, wait, is he normal?" The masked individual said to Lelouch, as he then spoke to Rivalz. "How unfortunate. Sorry, dude. You can't proceed. It's only for demigods, gods and weirdos."
"But I'm a weirdo!" argued Revalz, wanting to get inside, to which Lelouch sighed and held his head low in disappointment.
"Still not weird enough." Noted the team leader. "Believe me you don't wanna mess with OUR psychopaths. Now where was I? Ah, yes! I didn't even introduce myself, how rude of me!" said the chief and stretched out his hand to Lelouch. "Name is Percy Jackson. I'm the person in charge of this camp right now. Our former principals are getting ready for something big *cough* as usual *cough* so I, with the help of our allies and my friends, am responsible for the new additions in this very camp!" Declared proudly the masked boy.
"Wait, is this some kind of military camp?!" asked the two boys at the same time, surprised.
One of the girls from Percy's squad giggled at the two boys. "It is pretty similar but the discipline here is not so hardcore and it's way more fun in general."
Percy then checked his watch and exclaimed. "Wow, the time is going faster than I want to." He sighed. "Squad №3, you are free from patrolling. I need to talk to him eye to eye." He told his team, pointing at Lelouch, who stared back confused.
Percy then turned to Lelouch's friend, who was also equally confused. "I'm afraid you are not suitable for our exotic conditions, but because our border is controllable by will, I am able to allow you to stay at our wild party." He said, confusing the two boys even more. "I, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, torturer of Cronos and slaughterer of giants, allow you to be part of Camp Half-blood!" He declared happily, as Lelouch and Rivalz stared at him oddly.
The invisible wall immediately disappeared and put the smile back on Rivalz, as this time he didn't hit his face. But Lelouch didn't saw his happiness. Cronos, giants, Poseidon, these names sounded so familiar and in the same time he felt instinctive fear only by hearing them. The boy couldn't stop his curiosity and made his conclusion aloud.
"If I am understanding it right." He said, gaining Percy's attention. "You are son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas. Do you expect us to believe something as far-fetched as that?" Lelouch narrowed his gaze at Percy.
"Meh, people eventually come to accept the truth. Trust me, I know it's hard to believe right now, but I promise that you won't be thinking I'm lying in a few moments." Percy said with a shrug, to which Lelouch seemed suspicious, but did not pry any further..
Rivalz was watching and listening to their conversation which such attention like it was a talk show.
"I know what you are thinking – you are surprised and satisfied that your secret ability, whatever it is, is not alone in this world and the things you are seeing sometimes are actually very real." Said Percy, which caught Lelouch's attention, since he hadn't spoken or displayed his ability and yet the masked person before him knew about it.
"You've been here for quite a while, haven't you?" Lelouch said, eyeing the masked boy suspiciously.
"Oh, boy! You haven't seen anything yet!" Percy exclaimed cheerfully.