LOL. So the top two I think were Thalia and Grover… but hey—Nico needs an accomplice, doesn't he? ;)
Sorry for not updating in ages… I didn't think that you guys would actually like this.
It took a long time because in the first draft, Percy ended up in the hospital. Sorry, Perce. So I decided to change it! XD
ANNOUNCEMENT: I MAY NOT BE UPDATING MY OTHER STORIES FOR A WHILE. I'VE KINDA DECIDED TO BREAK OFF FROM PJO FOR A WHILE AND GO DO SOME POKEMON STUFF. I'VE BEEN IGNORING MY OTP FOR TOO LONG... Sorry, guys. I love PenguinShipping just as much (or maybe more) than I love Jeyna. (At this point, I'm thinking that Reyna deserves better than Jason. Anyone else started to think that too?)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, as usual. Not MLP, PJO, Adventure Time, or Gunter. Nobody owns Gunter. Gunter's just too awesome.
Nico found himself standing next to Percy, who was stabbing one of the straw dummies that they used at Camp Half-Blood.
"HAH! Take that, and that, and that!" the son of Poseidon shouted as he violently hacked the dummy into pieces.
"Whoa, dude! Anger issues, much?"
"What the—Nico! Since when are you back at camp?"
Nico frowned. He'd been transported back to camp? But hadn't Thanatos said the amulet would give him the power to walk inside peoples' dreams?
"Nice necklace, bro. Where'd you get it?"
He looked down and found that the glowing purple pendant still hung around his neck.
"Percy, I'm not really at camp."
"Sure you are. You're standing right in front of me, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah. 'Cause you're dreaming."
"I'm what?"
"You're dreaming that you're stabbing dummies at camp," Nico explained.
"No way. That's a dumb dream! I usually have better dreams than that."
"Like what?"
"Oh… um…" Percy blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's kinda personal."
"Let me guess. You go on a date with Annabeth and she doesn't hit you for once."
"Basically, yeah."
"That's sad." Nico shook his head. "I usually have cool dreams. Like, one time, I was swimming in a volcano and somehow didn't get burned and could breathe lava and there were all this cool fishes and monkeys and whatnot swimming around!"
"Okay, two things," Percy said. "One: WHY IS THE GROUND SUDDENLY MADE OF LAVA?! Two: Is fishes grammatically correct? I thought plural was just fish."
Nico huffed. "Fishes is fine. But if you don't like it… I could say fishi."
"Fishi?"
"Yeah, like cacti and octopi and stuff."
"I… don't think that really works."
"Everybody's a critic!"
"Yeah, um, you still haven't answered my first question!"
"Oh, the one about lava? Wait. What? Lava?" Nico looked down and squeaked in surprise.
The ground had turned into a glowing red and gold liquid mess. All around them, tiny spouts of flame sizzled up and periodically burned out.
"I SURE HOPE YOU'RE RIGHT THAT I'M DREAMING!" Percy yelped as a bubble of molten rock popped by him. A few drops of lava sprayed onto him, and his shirt started smoking.
"AH! AH! OH GODS! HOT! HOT! HOT!"
"Stop, drop, and roll!" Nico advised.
"Drop and roll? Where? The whole ground is freaking made of lava, genius! That won't help anything!"
"Weird," Nico mused. "I was talking about my lava-swimming dream and suddenly the floor is made of lava."
"That reminds me of that little-kid game. You know, The Floor is Lava?" muttered Percy.
The son of Hades ignored him. "Wait, this isn't right! I was talking about SWIMMING IN LAVA, not STANDING IN LAVA!"
Percy started screaming as they began to sink into the lava. "OH GODS! NICO! STOP! STOP!"
"Stop doing what?"
"Whatever it is that you're doing!"
Nico wasn't quite sure exactly what he was doing as the lava reached his waist level.
"Hey, it's nice and warm," Nico said.
"No, it's burning hot! I'm dying! HELP!"
Nico thought about it for a moment. "It's all in your head, Percy. This is a dream."
"AGGGGHHHH!" Percy yelled as his shirt caught on fire. There were burns all over his arms and hands.
Nico looked down at himself. There wasn't a mark on him. And his clothes weren't burning.
The lava reached chest high. Percy completely flipped out, hopping up and down and swearing and screaming his heart out.
"Percy! PERCY! CALM DOWN!"
"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! HELP!"
Nico thought quickly. He needed to stop this. He'd been talking about his dream, and suddenly it had started to come true.
"Um, and then the lava drained away," Nico said aloud. "And everything was fun and happy again."
The glowing-with-heat lava disappeared, leaving a hyperventilating, shaky Percy Jackson.
"Oh gods. Oh gods. Oh gods," the son of Poseidon muttered over and over, trembling. "That wasn't cool, Nico. I once had a really bad experience with lava."
Nico patted him on the back awkwardly.
Percy snapped out of his shock. "What are you doing?" He slapped Nico's hand away.
"Oh, you know. That 'there, there' thing that people do sometimes."
"Why… why would that…"
Nico shrugged. "I don't know. It's supposed to make you feel better."
Percy frowned. "That didn't really help me feel better."
"Hey, I didn't invent it."
Percy changed the subject. "So, how did you do that? How did you suddenly make lava appear?"
"I don't know. Want me to try to do it again?"
"NO!" Percy yelled. Nico jumped, startled.
"Okay… I could try something else." Nico let his mind wander—which wasn't hard, since he was ADHD—and picked something random to say.
"Then Blackjack arrived…"
The donut-loving black Pegasus winked into existence beside Percy.
"… and so did Pinkie Pie from MLP…"
"Wait. What's MLP?"
"Duh. My Little Pony."
"You watch My Little Pony?" demanded Percy incredulously.
"DON'T MOCK MY LIFESTYLE!" hollered Nico.
"Wait. My Little Pony is a lifestyle now?"
"YEAH! You ever hear that quote, 'MLP isn't just a show—it's a way of life'?"
"No… although I DID see that Adventure Time thing with Gunter. You know, 'Penguins CAN fly!'"
"You watch Adventure Time?" demanded Nico incredulously.
"… I don't think you're fully aware of the irony. This coming from the son of the god of the Underworld, who claims MLP is a way of life."
"… This coming from the son of the god of the seas and earthquakes, who thinks penguins can fly."
Percy sighed. "You know what? This is pointless. Go ahead and continue doing whatever it was you were doing before I interrupted."
"Okay. Uh… hmm…" Nico scratched his head, trying to remember where he'd left off. "So, um, Pinkie Pie from MLP arrived…"
Percy yelped. "OH GODS, WHAT IS THAT?!"
Nico looked at where he was pointing to see a familiar enormous-eyed, pink pony with a curly mane and tail.
"That is Pinkie Pie," Nico explained.
Percy shuddered. "That… that thing is from a little kid show? What is wrong with the children of today?"
"ANYWAY," continued Nico, "then Pinkie Pie and Blackjack fell in love."
"NO! BLACKJACK!" Percy cried. "DON'T JOIN THE DARK SIDE!"
"And then Rarity appeared…"
"GAH!" Percy cringed as another cartoony-looking pony appeared—this one was a white-coated unicorn with a purple mane and an aloof attitude.
"Rarity was jealous of Pinkie…"
Rarity whinnied angrily and glared at Pinkie Pie and Blackjack, who were nuzzling each other.
"And then—"
"NO MORE!" Percy howled, clamping his hand over Nico's mouth. "Dude! Quit it! You're going to make me puke!"
Nico huffed and yanked Percy's hand off of his face. "Fine. Then all the horses disappeared."
The three equestrians vanished into thin air.
"Dude. With this kind of power, you are seriously the most formidable demigod I've ever met," Percy said.
Nico shrugged. "Eh. I could do better."
Percy looked at the glowing purple amulet around Nico's neck. "So… what's that?"
"Oh, this is Hypnos'. Thanatos lent it to me because I was bored."
"Wait. The death god gave you his brother's magic necklace because you were bored?"
"Pretty much, yeah. He hates it when Persephone makes him baby-sit me." The son of Hades pouted. "I've already told her I don't NEED a babysitter, but she just likes messing up my life."
Percy shook his head in amazement. "You know, normal people say stuff like, 'My mom hired a babysitter for me when I'm home alone even though I don't need one.' But you say stuff like, 'My immortal stepmother forced the god of death to baby-sit me even though I have a Stygian iron sword and kill monsters daily.'"
Nico laughed. "Yeah, pretty much."
Percy asked, "So, what do you want to do now that you've got Hypnos' amulet?"
Nico considered. "Huh. I hadn't really thought about that."
An evil grin spread across the son of Poseidon's face. "Hmm… I know some people whose dreams we could mess up…"
Nico returned the smile with a devilish one of his own. "Grover?"
"Heck yes. Grover."
So, next chapter, we get to see what the enchilada-loving satyr dreams about. :) Hope ya'll liked this chapter!
