Hey guys! So, there is always that question: Should I write something as fast as I can, even if it sucks? Or should I take my time, and have people wait an agonizingly long time for me to upload my awesomeness? Well. Obviously, since it took so long, I went with the latter. Sorry for making you guys wait, but enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Two

"The gym? This is your idea of a best friend bonding experience? I'm disappointed." Leo crossed his arms over his chest as Jason inspected the weapons on the wall.

"First of all," he said, taking his eyes off the swords and daggers and axes that decorated the wall, "this is called the arena. Second of all, it will be fun. Trust me."

"You call hacking each other into pieces, fun?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes." Jason replied, pulling out a long sword from its sheath on the wall. He turned to Leo, his face completely straight. Leo prayed to the Gods that he was joking.

"Fine, fine," Leo put his hands up in defeat, "How will we be maiming each other today, J-man?"

"We will each choose a weapon of our choice and fight." He explained, while picking out the appropriate armor. "But there are rules. No using powers," he looked pointedly at Leo [Hey, his pyrokineses wasn't that dangerous]; "we will use the entire arena as our 'battlefield' and scream a codeword if someone gets injured."

The last part, the part about getting injured, worried Leo a bit. Looking at the wall, trying to seem nonchalant, Leo asked; "What's the codeword? 'Help, I'm dying'?"

Jason chuckled, "That could work, but how about we make it: Honeybunchkins."

"Honeybunchkins? Missing Piper much?" Leo grinned, putting on minimal armor, Greek style.

"No, it's a Roman thing. If someone gets hurt, and you want to stop the fight, to symbolize you are inferior, you must call out something embarrassing. Or, that was the rule when we were kids." Jason said, securing his last piece of armor around his waist. For some reason, Leo couldn't imagine Jason as a 'kid'. He imagined a small blond toga wearing superman laughing as some poor Roman kid shouted for a hippopotamus.

"Sheesh, talk about rubbing salt on a wound." Leo looked around before picking out an axe. It was the closest thing here to a hammer, his preferred weapon of choice. "Fine, I am ready. But if I survive this, we are doing something fun. Really fun. Like playing a prank on Frank or something."

"Dude, you shouldn't be so mean to Frank." Jason said, obviously concerned for Frank's underwear drawer.

"I'm not being mean!" Leo said, "It's just fun to tease him. Plus, he practically asks to be pranked. I mean, even his name rhymes! Frank, prank, get it?" He grinned.

Jason responded with an amused look, "Are we going to sit here all day and talk, or are we going to fight?"

"You know, I wouldn't mind talking. We haven't chatted in, how long has it been? A year or something?" Leo replied.

"Quit stalling Valdez."

"I'm not stalling." Leo said incredulously before turning to the left, "Hey, do you see that? I could have sworn I just saw that kid—"

"Come on Leo." Jason replied with a grin before walking out of the artillery room and into the arena.

The arena wasn't your basic demigod training center. It was huge, the size indeterminable by those who hadn't seen it. Some could walk through it and it would be fifteen meters across, others could spend days in it and not get to the other side. But it wasn't as simple as just walking across. There were obstacles, obstacles chosen by the fighters to prepare them for whatever they wished. By using a strong enough 'mist' the demigods were able to trick themselves into believing they were anywhere they want, and proceed to fight in that environment. The demigods in different scenarios rarely met each other, but it was known to happen sometimes.

As Leo walked in, he noticed one demigod wriggling on the floor, another suspended in air watching him like Jason watches any guy who tries to hit on Piper. There were many more, doing equally ridiculous things, and Leo could only wonder where these demigods thought they were. Shaking his head, he followed Jason to the control center.

"How about the Sahara desert?"

"Too hot."

"Manhatten."

"Too crowded."

"The Amazon rainforest?"

"Too wet."

"Leo, you realize this isn't supposed to be comfortable, right? Here, let me choose, a deserted warehouse." Pressing the corresponding buttons, Jason said, "That's okay with you, right?"

"Oh, yeah, right. Deserted warehouses. My favorite." Leo mumbled. He tried to remember, once again, why he was still here and not back in his favorite recliner. I'm with my best friend. I'm socializing. I'm not the freaky fire user who sits in his room all day. Only slightly satisfied with those reasons, Leo turned to find himself in front of a deserted warehouse.

The building was long and grey, with ivy covering the sides. The sky thundered and Leo looked around for the son of the sky god himself, but realized that Jason wasn't there. Deciding to get this over with as soon as possible, Leo jogged to the slightly parted doors at the side of the warehouse. Peeking inside, Leo saw crates and boxes galore.

"So much for a deserted warehouse." Leo whispered to himself. He reached for the one of the boxes to look inside. Empty. Gulping, Leo crept forward, looking around every so often for any sign of Jason. A slight movement caught Leo's eye. He turned around and swung his axe, and not a moment too soon. Jason jumped from Gods-know-where, bringing his sword with him. They clashed and Leo jumped backward, putting some space between him and his best friend.

"How did you find me so quick?" Leo asked, swinging his axe to slash Jason's torso.

"I could see you from the other side. Dude, you are literally steaming." Jason replied, jumping out of the way. Leo took a millisecond to look down and see that he was, in fact, steaming. Focusing on the fight, Leo and Jason parried, Leo usually on defense.

"I can't help it if I'm hot bro." Leo teased, although it sounded more like panting. Leo was a decent fighter; he had been in several battles before. But he wasn't as good as Jason. Jason pushed forward relentlessly and Leo realized he had to do something quick before he was run through. He threw his axe toward Jason, and Jason caught it by the hilt.

"That wasn't really a smart thing to do… Leo?" Jason looked around and realized that the little distraction had allowed Leo to escape unnoticed.

Leo was by no means scared. He crept around the creepy warehouse, stopping behind a particularly large pile of boxes when he saw one. Whenever he reached a bend in the path, he slowly looked around to make sure Jason wasn't there. He breathed, trying to keep his body temperature at a cool seventy degrees Fahrenheit. So far, it seemed to be working. He wasn't steaming.

But Leo knew he couldn't stay this way. The only way the round would end is if one of them managed to tackle the other to the ground for twenty seconds. Harsh, but true. And now, Leo didn't even have a weapon. Leo pondered this, trying to think of a plan. There were two ways out. Either he beat Jason or he allowed himself to get beat up. Nope, I don't feel like getting injured. Not today. So Leo focused on finding Jason. He wouldn't be able to beat Jason in a face to face fight, but perhaps…

And Leo had a plan.

It required him to find Jason first. It was underhanded and sneaky, but Leo didn't have much of a choice. If, by some chance, Jason found Leo first. Well, in that case, Leo was dead. Probably literally.

Leo froze at the sound of footsteps. Jason. He leaned over one box and saw a dark shadow. Leo scampered up the boxes as quietly as he could and crouched on top.

One…Two…On the count of three, Leo jumped onto Jason's back, his arm around the neck. Swiftly he kicked the back of Jason's knees causing him to fall and Leo to fall on top.

But as quickly as Leo had pummeled Jason to the ground, Jason elbowed him and sat on top of Leo, a small dagger at his throat.

As Leo's eyes adjusted, he wondered how he could even mistake Jason for the gorgeous, completely out of his league Praetor that was currently glaring at him.