SoftWare: Party time!

Ruka: Ooh! Where's my hat?

SoftWare: What hat?

Ruka: My party hat. Where is it?

SoftWare: You have a party hat?

Ruka: You didn't get any?

Artemis: What are party hats?

Ruka: You wear them at birthday parties.

Artemis: ...

SoftWare: I told you telling Ruka ahead of time was a bad idea.

Artemis: I felt she had the right to know.

SoftWare: Have you seen how she acts when she gets excited?

Artemis: I cannot say so.

SoftWare: Good. Last time, I had to pick up all the tables in the game room...

Chapter Four I Visit Olympus

Ruka and I were still talking when the main door opened. Artemis walked in, bouncing like a four-year-old upon hearing

that they're going out to eat. Ruka looked at me like, who is this nutball?

Oh, yes, you did, Ruka. Oh, yes, you did.

Artemis skipped over to us giggling like she was being tickled, which is saying something, since I don't know anyone,

myself included, who would have the courage to do that. Well, maybe Jason Grace, but I doubt he'd get away

unscathed. Anyway, she looked very excited, more than I had ever seen her (You know when you get your mom some

jewelry for her birthday or something, and she looks ready to hug you and kiss you and all that jazz? Yeah, that

happened to me with Artemis twice.), and said, "Guess what?" Ruka looked at me and said, "Um..." "What?" "Father is

allowing Apollo and I to have a BIRTHDAY PARTY!" I had never had a birthday party, but it wasn't that big of a deal to

me. "Congratulations." "You know what I'm going to say next?" I shook my head. Hey, it's my mother. I don't know

HALF as much as I would like to know about her. "You two are invited!" Ruka looked at me pleadlingly. I looked at

Artemis. "Could you give us a moment?" Artemis nodded with the biggest grin I had ever seen on her face. I took Ruka

into the Girl Demigod room and faced her. "What?" She gulped. "Who is she?" "That is our mother." "Really?" I nodded.

"Why's she so short?" "She prefers to appear in a preteen form. I have NEVER seen her in an adult form." Ruka nodded.

"Do you think this invitation is a trap of some sort?" I faced her, and quoted one of my favorite lines from Aladdin's

Arabian Nights: "Never refuse an invitation. You'll never be lonely." Ruka frowned. I guess she didn't want to go, but

knew she wouldn't win this discussion. "All right, nii-chan, but she better not tackle me." I chuckled. "She doesn't do

that, even on her bad days." "This is a good day?" "Best day I've ever seen her have." "Me too." I nearly jumped out of

my skin when Bianca di Angelo came out of nowhere. "Sorry, Captain. Children of Hades can use shadows to travel

places. I've been experimenting lately." "Really? How's that going?" "Pretty well, considering my first attempts. I ended

up in Denver, in San Francisco, a couple accidental trips to China..." "What'd you trip over?" She scoffed. "Very funny."

We walked out of the room, and Artemis was still on Cloud Nine, much to Ruka's discomfort. Not that I blamed her. If

this was my first meeting with Artemis, I'd probably get the heck out of Dodge. We told her we were coming. Bianca

couldn't go, because she was a Hunter, not a Child of Artemis, but we were able to walk over to the Moon Chariot,

which Artemis had conveniently parked in front of the Artemis Cabin. Except she had made some changes to it. I've

seen it before. Heck, I even drove it once with her. She wanted to get some bonding in, so, naturally, I didn't get any

sleep that night, and had to sleep through all of Camp's activities the next day. I didn't miss Chapter the Flag,

thankfully, but I did sleep through all three meals. Anyway, it looked a lot like a Toyota Prius. "I thought you weren't a

fan of cars." "Hey, I am in such a good mood right now, I don't really care how I travel right now." I decided not to

argue. Thankfully, so did Ruka. We reached Olympus, and, little word of advice: If you get a choice between a regular

birthday party, a rich kid's birthday party, and an Olympian birthday party, I recommend the Olympian. There was a

table outside of what I figured was the throne room, since this was my first time being here, where Artemis signed us

in. The person sitting behind the table was some guy with a LOT of facial acne. "Hello." "Greetings. I am Hephaestus." I

cocked an eyebrow. "Valdez's father?" He nodded. "Zues has put me on sign-in duty for this event. I don't really mind

it, though. Means I don't have to come up with a haiku to satisfy Apollo." Ruka piped up. "Haiku?" "Don't mention it to

Apollo. I'm still trying to get the one he told me out of my mind." Ruka glanced at me in concern. "That man, I don't

care if he's our mother's brother, has no respect for Japan." Artemis snorted. "Ooh, you are very lucky he missed that

comment." "My daughter." Someone said. We faced the speaker. He was wearing one of those business suits, so I

guessed he was Zues. "Hello, Father." Zues smiled at Artemis, then faced me. "So, this is your new Champion, is he?" I

didn't know what to say to that. "And who is the other one?" Ruka was barely keeping her excitement in. "Ruka Azumi,

my liege." He faced me. "What's her home country?" he asked. I guess it was because he could tell she hadn't been

born in America. "Japan. I already told her not to mention haiku to Apollo." "That may not be neccessary. He seems to

have given that up." I sighed in relief. "Thank goodness." Zues chuckled. "I will be watching you with great interest."

With that, he walked off. I then noticed Athena, speaking with some woman in a pink dress. Seriously, what is with

people and pink? Said woman faced me. She frowned. "How are you resisting my love magic?" "Aphrodite?" I guessed.

She didn't smile. "Answer the question." "What love magic? You're just standing there." She was about to walk over

when Artemis drew an arrow. "Stay away from my son, lovebird. Unless you want to taste my arrow, again?" Aphrodite

wisely backed off. Athena walked over. "She is going to kill you, sister." Artemis just grinned. "She can't catch me."

Athena faced me. "Nephew. Good job with the obstacle tower earlier. I was very impressed." I couldn't tell if she was

being sarcastic. Artemis was about to say something, when we heard a sudden, "ARTEMIS!" We faced the speaker.

There stood Apollo, holding a book, which had the title How to Be a Better Brother. I looked at Artemis, who seemed

shocked that Apollo was holding that book. "Brother, where did you get that?" "I found it on a clearance rack several

weeks ago." I couldn't resist. "Did it say not to use haikus in your sibling's presence?" Apollo laughed. "Funny, nephew.

No, it didn't say that. After the whole Python incident, I decided to change things up a little with my life." Artemis

looked pale. "Why do I not like where this is going?" Apollo didn't answer. "See you later, nephew." He winked and

walked off. Ruka faced me, then Artemis. "Can I call him a baka?" Artemis faced me. "What does 'baka' mean?" "It

means 'idiot'." Artemis smirked at that, then faced Ruka. "Very good!"

A/N

Ruka: Yay! I can make fun of Apollo!

Apollo: Why do you hate me so?

SoftWare: We don't hate you. We just dislike you.

Apollo: (Looks at Artemis) (Makes puppy dog face)

Artemis: (Glares at Apollo)

Apollo: (Whines like dog and leaves)

SoftWare: Okay, that was pretty good! (Laughs)

Computer: SOftWare, offline.