Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Virtual World – Chapter Three (The Son of Poseidon)

Annabeth found a seat up close to the action, and clutched her single beaded necklace. She was worrying about Percy. Would he be okay? Of course he would; he just beat her, a level five. But she still nibbled her bottom lip anxiously.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" shouted the announcer. "Please be seated by the next ten minutes before the show starts!"

Annabeth let out a breath of relief, and then scrunched her brows together. Why would she be relieved? No, she couldn't be that worried about that boy. Of course, she wouldn't be afraid for him when the tournament starts. Isn't that right?

Annabeth gently rubbed her temple as if she was going crazy. She can't be thinking about a boy right now. Now was a chance to look for new battle strategies, new opponents, and new allies. She can learn from their matches, their movements, and know who would be best for her team. It's one of the best reasons to watch tournaments like these. Aside from the fact that ninety percent of the people filling this stadium was to watch level ones get beat up.

She looked back up, below where the stadium was. She could see the newbies effortlessly swinging their sword and striding as if they were already pronounced winners. Obviously, they thought too highly of themselves. She needed a successful team, not an egotistical one. So Annabeth looked through the crowd of people carefully. However, she unconsciously ended up scanned the area for a certain somebody, but stopped herself when she realized what she was doing. She sighed, knowing this was hopeless. It seemed so impossible to get those green eyes out of her head.

So instead, she gave up and analyzed the audience. The seats were filling quickly, chitter chatter consuming the ears of every player in the amphitheatre. There were NPCs selling edible buffs such as Critical Wine (increases critical hits, but lowers agility), as well as healing foods like ambrosia. Of course, most people seemed to like the wine more than anything. Tch, virtual alcoholics. People were casually talking with one another, sitting in groups of friends.

Come to think of it, Annabeth began to realize how empty the seats next to her were. Throughout the fifteen minutes of her game-playing, she'd been training herself and neglecting other people who came to talk to her. Well, she was never a people-person anyways. However, her eyes met a couple sitting parallel to her seat, and they were giggling and giving each other butterfly kisses. Her face flushed at the embarrassment of invading their privacy, but her eyes lingered on the couple for a couple more seconds before she looked away. Oddly, she somehow wished she had a partner to share secrets with.

As if on cue, as soon as Annabeth looked away from that couple, she saw a dorky Perseus Jackson come tumbling into the stadium. She watched as he nervously looked at his opponents who were either arguing about who will beat up whoever's ass, or chatting and thinking of teaming up with one another. She noticed the way he gripped his sword as he looked at his surroundings, and there wasn't much. Sand coloured cement flooring and high cement walls to prevent the newbies from escaping their opponent. Otherwise, there's an old, useless looking chariot sitting in the corner and a barrel.

"Hey, Donkey! Move out of the way," cackled a voice.

Annabeth turned to see a nervous satyr being pushed down the stairs by a couple of bullies, and instinctively stood up, seeing that the bullies looked much weaker than she is.

"Hey!" she shouted at them. "Leave him alone, or you'll regret it!"

The bullies looked warily at her before bro-punching each other's chest and giving each other cautious looks. They knew who she was – they've seen her train at the arena many times before. "Pft, forget it," one decided. "Let's not waste our time here." They strode off with false pride, going up to the nosebleed section.

"Thanks," says the satyr happily, looking relieved. He hopped over to stand next to her, eyes gleaming at her as if she was some sort of hero. "I'm actually pretty new here. Apparently, the tournament is only for demigods, so I have no idea what to do," he laughed unintelligently.

"That's fine," Annabeth says shortly, taking her seat. She didn't want anything to do with the satyr now. She just wanted to feel superior and take her mind off of Percy at the same time. But unfortunately, he had different ideas.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" asked the half-goat hopefully. "My name's Grover, by the way! Actually, my user's supposed to be G-Man, but that Chiron tricked me! He just asked for my name! I didn't know it was supposed to be my username. So what's yours?"

Annabeth instantly regretted saving this boy's hide. He talked too much; Annabeth liked her peace and quiet. It gives her some thinking time too. Also, she didn't seem to enjoy his company compared to Percy's, but she decided to be nice anyways. Just a little bit.

"I'm Annabeth. You can sit next to me if you want," she replied, sounding like she didn't care about him at all.

"Great!" Grover exclaimed, not noticing her tone of voice. Grover sat down and looked around at the stadium below to see the participants of the tournament. He laughed joyfully when he spotted someone. "Hey, Perce! Stop standing around like that! You look like an idiot!"

Annabeth froze. Perce? Grover didn't mean… No. Impossible. This world can't be that small. But clearly, it was. Annabeth looked down to Percy to see him facing Grover. She couldn't believe they actually knew each other as she saw him grin at the satyr. The feeling of knowing this Grover suddenly didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore.

Percy looked next to Grover after he waved at him. Annabeth sucked in a breath when his eyes met hers, and all of a sudden, the loud noise around the amphitheatre dimmed as her heart thumped loudly. Gods, she was being way too over dramatic, but it was exactly how she felt. An overwhelming sensation surged through her when Percy grinned and waved at her too. She felt her face burn up as she gave Percy a small smile and wave also.

And then Percy looked away when a tough looking girl shoved him aside, causing him to bump into the barrel. They looked as if they've gotten into an argument. Annabeth's feeling of happiness faded as she watched Percy's attention being paid elsewhere.

"What the heck was that?" Grover asked her.

Annabeth flinched, forgetting for a moment that he was there. She turned to his acne covered face, a blush creeping up her cheeks again. "What was what?" she asked, keeping her voice leveled.

Grover raised an eyebrow, obviously amused. "That. There it is again."

Annabeth glared. "What?" she asks exasperatedly.

"Oh hey, Percy's looking in this direction," Grover says, waving down to the stadium once more.

Annabeth quickly whipped her head to look down, hoping to see Percy smiling at her again. Sadly, Percy was still having a conflict with the buff girl. Annabeth continued to stare however, watching closely at how Percy over exaggerates by using hand gestures.

"You fell for it."

Annabeth blinked before bringing herself back to reality. "Huh?" And then Annabeth felt like face-palming herself. That stupid – that little – he tricked her! Annabeth bubbled with rage.

"You have a crush on Percy or something?" Grover lit up.

"Wha – no! I don't!" Annabeth says a bit too quickly. "I – I'm just interested in him, that's all…" She realized how wrong that sounded once the words came out of her mouth.

"Ah-ha!" Grover smirked. "You do like him! Well, tough luck. There're a lot of other girls swooning over him too, the lucky git."

"No!" Annabeth waved her hands frantically. "That's not what I meant!" This satyr was pissing her off, but her eyes couldn't help but look around the amphitheatre. Sure enough, she spotted girls giggling and pointing at Percy everywhere. Seeing that certainly struck her nerve. Who did they think they were? Making googly eyes at Percy like that?

"Well, what'd you mean then?" Grover wondered innocently.

Annabeth's eyes flickered back to Grover, and she gripped onto her armrests to calm herself down. "You know, he's a potential fighter," she replied. "I could use him in my team," she mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Then you'd better be quick about that. Those girls would ask him to join their team if you don't act fast, you know. Say, can I join too?" Grover asked, filled with hope.

Annabeth frowned. "Maybe. You can do woodland magic?"

"That's right!" Grover says proudly. "I can do a teensy bit of healing, buffs, and I can trap bad guys with vines. Cool huh?"

"Well," Annabeth said thoughtfully. "I suppose you could be of some use…" But then again, he basically has the basic powers of an Apollo and Demeter/Dionysus demigod. However, you can only have three players in a team. Having a healer and someone who's good with a little earth magic can be useful. Having a satyr on her team isn't a bad idea, except that she found Grover terribly annoying. She wants Percy to be in her team too, but it'd be way too embarrassing if she had to ask him after he beat her in their one on one match. He might want to be in a stronger team than with her. However, if Grover was in her team… "Fine. You're in. But it'll be your job to get Percy in our team, got it?"

"Sweet!" he fist pumped the air, causing Annabeth to sigh. "Thanks! I won't let you down!"

"Just remember 'bout Percy," she grumbled.

"Heroes!" boomed the announcer's voice. "Our claiming tournament is beginning!"

Annabeth stiffened and looked below. The participants were all heading into the arch way entrance of where they entered from. There were so many people huddled together to squeeze into the large arch way; there were so many heads – she couldn't spot Percy. Metal bars then slid down to block the players from entering the stadium. Deafening cheers went about in the crowd, and Annabeth let out a shaky breath.

She had won the pervious tournament. The winner gets rewarded with special items and unlocks cool skills or better stats. The ones who pass the first round are the only ones to get claimed, and all Percy needs to do is to at least pass this part of the tournament and he's free to go on quests – with me, Annabeth added to herself unintentionally, but let it pass. She received an invisibility cap and a huge boost for accuracy and intelligence. She's obviously a daughter of Athena, but she's curious about Percy's demigod parentage. It's one of the reasons why she's so interested in this tournament.

"Hey," says a voice.

Annabeth looked up to see Luke staring down at her with a warm smile. Annabeth smiled back with a faint blush – she can't deny to herself that she's got a small crush on him. He's handsome, strong, kind, brave, and he helped her win her first tournament. Not to mention, he's an amazing swordfighter.

"Hey," Annabeth replied shyly. He was the only person that made her feel shy, and it's most likely because of his icy cold eyes. Once his eyes are targeted onto somebody, he wouldn't stop staring until their conversation was over. It gave her the chills, and she wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a good or bad thing.

"Hi!" Grover piped up, completely ruining the atmosphere. "I'm Grover! It's nice to meet you. What's your name? Whoa, is that a scar? That's wicked! Where'd you get it from? Bla-aah!"

Luke glared at Grover, and it was the first time she's seen him angry. It was understandable – Annabeth couldn't take Grover either. Luke's angry expression disappeared quickly and he smiled at the satyr.

"I'm Luke. It's nice to meet you too." And he says it as if he meant it. However, Annabeth noticed that his eyes told a different story. Luke tilted his head so that his eyes met hers. Annabeth instinctively looked away, unsure why. It was the very first time she's looked ever so closely at Luke's eyes. It's what they say: the eyes are the windows to your soul. For some reason, Annabeth didn't want to see what was in his soul as if she was afraid of something.

"Mind if I sat next to you?" Luke asks.

"Sure!" Grover replies, totally cool with his presence. "We can be buddies n' stuff! Say, you like enchiladas?"

Luke scowled. It was obvious he was talking to Annabeth, and she felt a little disappointed when Luke sat next to Grover rather than her. However, the show was starting, and she quickly forgot about that matter when the announcer was about to unfold the mystery of the first two participants.

"First up is Nico di Angelo and –" Annabeth completely zoned out when she didn't hear Percy's name. This Nico, however, got beat up real bad, but used up his little amount of energy to stab his opponent quickly. After his opponent's death, a hologram of a helmet flew above his head.

"Congratulations to Nico di Angelo, son of Hades! You made it to the next round! Please rest in the infirmary until the second round begins!"

Nico was escorted by several other demigods out the amphitheatre, and to the infirmary. Annabeth bit her lip; she can't have him on her bad side of the list. He could make a dangerous enemy, but a good ally. She pushed the thought to the back of her head and concentrated on the tournament.

"Next up is Thalia Grace versus Conner Stoll! Let's give them a round of applause!" Hearing this made Annabeth let out a sigh of relief. Luke heard and sharply turned his head to check up on Annabeth who seemed fine, and watching the tournament with ease. He gave her a suspicious look – although she's not noticing – before sitting back properly in his seat.

The metal barred door opened and a girl with spiky black hair came striding out with an intimidating aura. The next was a tall, but skinny brown haired boy who was staring at the girl as if she was going to pound him to death. Which, she most likely would've. The door closed back down, and avoiding awful descriptions of Conner's death and loss, Thalia won and Conner flashed in bright light to return to his revival spot. Cheers went all around as Thalia was claimed to be a daughter of Zeus; a worthy teammate. A blue hologram of a lightning bolt hovered over her head for a few moments before flashing away.

"We have Katie Gardner and Travis Stoll! Let's all give them a warm greeting to the stage!" Annabeth almost laughed. A warm greeting? More like encouragement for slaughter. But claps and cheers were heard all around.

A long brown haired girl and a guy oddly similar to Conner came out to stage. I couldn't hear them, but it seemed like they were throwing insults at each other. When the battle started, it took a while for it to finish. Though in the end, Katie won as she victoriously stomped on Travis's chest before he disappeared to light. Katie was claimed to be a daughter of Demeter. She muttered something, shaking her head with a sigh, before leaving to the infirmary.

More names were called, and more matches were ended. Annabeth looked bored and tired whereas Grover was on the edge of his seat, wincing every time someone gets sliced. Luke simply observed the battles. Annabeth leaned back and sighed once more.

"You're doing that again," Grover says. "What's wrong?"

"Doing what?" Annabeth raised a brow at him.

"You're sighing like –," Grover did an over exaggerated sigh, "– and then looking down at your feet as if you're bored or disappointed."

"He has a point there," Luke joined in. "What's up?"

"A cloud."

"Ha-ha," Luke faked a laugh. "But really, are you impatient about something?"

"No, I'm just…" But Annabeth got interrupted. The next contestants were called up and she clearly heard a "Perseus Jackson." Annabeth sat up straight and scooted over to the edge of her seat, and looked down at the stadium with anticipation as she gripped her arm rests and bit her bottom lip with worry.

Grover completely ignored Annabeth's strange behavior and started cheering for his best friend. Whereas Luke on the other hand, he knew there was something strange about her, and was for some reason angry as if a plan of his was being ruined.

Down below was Percy Jackson and his oversized helmet. He walked out, dragging his overweighed sword behind him and onto the center of the amphitheatre were everybody was watching him silently. It was odd; everyone cheered for the other contestants, but this time, the aura was different. People weren't cheering; they were whispering to each other, and muttering and giggling about something – some sort of gossip, perhaps. Some girls gave Percy a dreamy look, and some guys gave him a death glare.

"He's so cute," Annabeth heard a girl behind her say.

"Yeah, but haven't you heard? There was a rumour that this boy beat up a girl. Ethan told me. He was like, 'oh, this boy is merciless,' and said, 'he's dangerous, so you've got to stay away from him.'"

"Oooh, so he's strong!" the first girl squealed quietly.

"Yeah, but he'd probably kill you in a second. I'd bet my money that he'd win this competition. He won't even be hesitant to kill his opponent," replied the second girl.

Annabeth's grip on her arm rests tightened, glaring at Percy. Thanks to him, she'd be known as some helpless little girl. Beat up a girl mercilessly? Ha! I bet you he doesn't even have the guts to kill a bunny rabbit even if he was stranded on an island with no food.

She watched as Percy looked around until he spotted Annabeth amongst the crowds again. He grinned at Grover and Annabeth with a friendly wave. Great, and now a new sprout of rumours are coming alive again.

"Oh my gods, was he waving at us?" the girl behind her asked excitedly. "He doesn't even look dangerous. Want to ask him to join our team after this?"

Annabeth was burning in blinded anger. What the Hades did those whores say?

Thankfully, Grover came to save the day, and Annabeth was grateful once again for letting him join her team. "Sorry, gals," Grover says to them in some sort of smooth talk. "That's my best friend; he's in our team. Afraid to disappoint you ladies," he winked.

"Ew," one winced. "Is that goat flirting with us?"

Grover scowled and slumped back into his seat. "How lady-like," he muttered, causing Annabeth to laugh.

"Well, you can always do better," she's decided to say.

"You're right! I can! I'll probably find a pretty dryad who'll love me back!" Grover nodded, feeling extremely determined. "Ooh! Here comes Percy's opponent: some girl named Clarisse. He's probably going to beat her up easily!"

Yeah, that wasn't quite true. A bulky looking girl stormed out with a glaring sneer directed towards Percy. It was that girl Percy argued with earlier. He visibly gulped and pulled his sword up, getting ready in his fighting position.

Clarisse – the girl, she shouted an insult so loud that Annabeth could hear her from such a distance.

"Prepare yourself, skinny punk! I'm gunna rip out your all your damn internal organs and feed them to the monsters!"

Annabeth scrunched her nose with disgust. "That's revolting. I don't even want to image that."

Next to her was a shuddering Grover. "T-Th-That's…t-that's…a g-girl?"

Luke snorted. "She's going to beat up Percy real good then," he said in an amused voice.

"He's a good fighter," Annabeth replied. "He can win."

"Sounds like you're just trying to reassure yourself," Luke says, relaxing in his seat. "Don't worry about it; he's a tough kid. He can handle a virtual death, can't he?"

Annabeth scowled. She wasn't trying to reassure herself. She was certain. Deciding not to convince Luke about Percy's skills, she looked back down where the battle was starting.

Clarisse was the first to lunge. She could've struck Percy right in the chest with her sword, but Percy had luckily stumbled over his feet, dodging her attack.

"Ooh!" says the announcer. "Perseus got a close hit! And here comes Clarisse with another strike!"

Annabeth wished he would shut up. She's already panicking on the inside; would the announcer stop making the situation worse? Percy was a much better fighter when he was against her, so why isn't he trying now?

Percy dodged one attack; two swings; avoided another kick. She watched as Percy kept backing up towards the barrel. Just when Percy stood beside it, Clarisse slashed at the barrel, causing it to break apart, blade almost scratching Percy. The barrel exploded with water and it showered the audience near the scene.

"Oh!" shouted the announcer once more. "It looks like the adrenaline is getting pretty serious now! It seems to me that Perseus is now cornered! It looks as if it's going to be his final moments in this tournament."

Annabeth clenched her teeth when Clarisse raised her sword above her head with a wicked grin. However, with the look on Percy's face, she knew that he probably came up with some dumb plan. He smiled right back at Clarisse who now had confusion written all over her face, but quickly recovered to let her sword slice Percy's head in half.

Luckily for Percy (and Annabeth as well as Grover), Percy didn't die. Quite opposite, actually. It went by so fast that she hardly even saw it coming. Percy merely flicked his wrist and the water on the ground formed into a shield, protecting Percy, kind of like him being in a large bubble. The audience gasped in surprise; nothing like this has ever happened before. Clarisse's sword bounced off his water shield, and let her weapon go out of shock. Her sword flung all the way across to the other side of the battlefield. The shield suddenly dropped in a huge splash, but Percy stayed dry. He lifted his sword and pointed it at Clarisse's throat.

Annabeth read his lips. "I win."

"THEN KILL ME!" Clarisse roared.

But Percy shook his head; his sword didn't move an inch.

"What's he doing?" Grover wondered. "Come on! Kill her! Win this tournament!" he cheered, hopping out of his seat. "Kill her! Kill her!" Grover mimicked the chants going all around the amphitheatre.

Annabeth grabbed Grover's wrist and pulled him back down to his seat.

"What're you doing?" Grover asked. "Don't you want Percy to win?"

"He's already won," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Haven't you read the rules? You don't have to kill somebody to win; you have to defeat your opponent. Clarisse is already defeated; Percy's already won. He doesn't need to kill."

"Come on, Perseus!" shouted the announcer. "Let's give the audience what they want!"

Percy's hand gripped onto the handle of his sword, and everyone went silent, thinking that he'd send Clarisse to her revival point. Instead, he flabbergasted everyone once again, and made Annabeth feel proud at the same time. "I win!" Percy shouted, sword still at Clarisse's neck. "I've won! There's no need for death!"

Muttering went all around another time as the announcer cleared his throat. "I suppose… Alright, fine. Perseus wins; Clarisse you're out. Better luck next time."

Percy lowered his sword and talks with Clarisse for a few moments before she nodded solemnly and walked out of the stage as cheering blazed amongst the crowds of people. Percy looked up at Grover and Annabeth and gave them such a happy expression that they couldn't help but smile along with him.

The curiosity of how Percy moved the waters was then explained. A hologram of a sea green trident hovered above Percy's head, causing Annabeth's grin to falter, but the audience to cheer louder. It was as she thought. He was a son of Poseidon.

Ha ha. I hope this chapter makes up for my absence.
Make sure to check my blog for any sneak peeks of my fanfictions! The link's on my profile! I've also got a deviantart account, so you can check out some of my drawings sometime too! And yeah, I totally drew that - my new profile picture, I mean. I know, I could've done better...
Anyways, please review and tell me what ya think of this chapter, yes?

Review!

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