~Alysse's POV~

AFTER THAT DAY, Danny and Alysse became the best of friends. One day, after a long and boring debate about if Danny had to go to Lupa for training- after a lot of convincing done by her, Alysse had made the Senate believe that Danny could be trained by herself- Danny and Alysse were walking by the Little Tiber. This was Alysse's favorite spot to relax.

"So, what did they say? Can I stay?" Danny asked hopefully. The praetor rubbed her head and said,

"Thankfully, I can train you here. But you have to prove to the Senate that you don't need to go to Lupa. Okay? Promise me you'll always try your best."

"I promise. So, what are the abilities you have because of your godly parent?" he asked.

"Well, not much. I mean I'm okay looking I gue-" Suddenly, Danny all but shouted,

"Okay looking? Okay looking? You're not 'okay looking'!" making quotation marks at 'okay looking.'

"Wow. I didn't know I was that ugly. Gods, thanks Danny, for lowering my self-esteem." Alysse joked. Danny blushed at his sudden outburst and motioned for her to continue her sentence.

"Anyways, I'm ugly." she started, looking at Danny with a smile, indicating that she was joking, "I can sometimes change my appearance at will, I can make shields around the ones I love in battle- the more I love them, the stronger it is, and-well this one's sort of a curse-I fall in love very scarcely. Mostly because every time I fall in love with someone, my mom rejects them. I guess she's just picky on who I love, being the goddess of love herself." He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. She sat down under a Cherry Blossom tree and he plopped down next to her.

"Well that's not exactly 'not much' in my book, but those are pretty cool. I mean, shields around the ones you love? I'd like to be one of them!" he said. Alysse blushed furiously and became suddenly interested in her sneakers. After a few seconds, Danny realized what he'd said and stuttered out,

"I-I mean, n-not like-like that. I mean, I like you, b-but that would-" Alysse interrupted him.

"Danny, calm down. Now, are we going to train, or are am I going to have to listen to you stutter an explanation all day?" He calmed down and looked at her as she unsheathed her Imperial Gold gladius. "Train. I am not leaving you." he said confidently. She stood in a defensive position. He sank into one himself then snapped up back into his casual stance.

"Wait. Where's my weapon?" he said. Suddenly, a glowing bow appeared in his hands and a flash of light behind him indicated that a quiver full of arrows had materialized on his back.

"Oh. Never mind. Wait." he said and concentrated. Suddenly, the quiver and bow turned into a gladius with a sun above the mantle.

"Much better. Now, let's do this." he said and they both got in their positions. Right as Danny was about to charge, they heard rumbling from the entrance to Camp Jupiter. They turned their attention over there, which was a bout 10 yards away from them, and spotted about 50 empousa heading their way. Alysse's eyes widened as she spoke,

"For the love of Venus..."

~Danny's POV~

DANNY WOULD LIKE to say that he wasn't scared out of his mind, but he didn't like lying. Alysse's face hardened and she looked at Danny with a grim expression. She said with a slight smirk on her face,

"A bow and arrows would be nice right now, if you don't mind." He nodded at her and focused on a bow and arrows. They materialized in his hands and on his back and he immediately pulled an arrow out of the quiver and loaded it onto his bow. He let go and it soared through the air, right into an empousa'schest.

"Wow, Mitchell. You're a good shot." Alysse muttered, just loud enough for Danny to hear it. He smiled and continued taking out the monsters with his bow. They were to far away to charge at, so- being the ADHD kid that she was- Alysse bounced on her heels and looked at the incoming monsters, as if desperate for combat. Once they were close enough, she let out a war cry and charged. Now, Danny had never seen her in combat, although he'd been warned not to get on her bad side. She was amazing. Danny couldn't stop watching her as she took out the monsters with ease. She was so graceful, so beautiful. He didn't even realize when an empousa jumped at him. He noticed it right when it was a foot away from his face. He heard Alysse scream his name. He braced himself for impact but it didn't come. The monster bounced right off of a pink bubble surrounding him. As soon as Danny saw it, he blushed as bright as a tomato. He looked over at Alysse to see that she looked the same way. They turned away from each other and continued to fend off the army. Once all the monsters he was fighting were golden dust, he looked over at Alysse to see her fall to the ground in exhaustion. He would've been the same way, if it hadn't been for Alysse's shield. All of the sudden, an empousa shot through the air and was a few inches away from killing the praetor when Danny pulled out an arrow and shot it right into the monster's chest. It exploded in midair and golden dust went everywhere. He stumbled over to his friend and crouched down next to her. He looked her over and saw a gash on her wrist. He immediately summoned medical supplies and healed her. He then fed her ambrosia and nectar and laid down next to her.
"So, is that enough training for today, praetor?" he said and chuckled with her.

"I guess, for a first practice. Tomorrow you'll work harder." she said jokingly. Guards rushed over to help them up. They said goodnight and went to their respective sleeping areas.

And for once, Danny didn't have any dreams.