******************BIG ANOUCEMENT AT THE END PLEASE READ*******************
A/N: Well hello, this chapter is supposed to be a special thanks to all of you wonderful readers. Since today I have over 100 followers I decided to do an extra long chapter relatively soon compared to ch.5. Now as I am writing this AN I posted ch.5 yesterday, but this is the first thing I type so I don't know how long the chapter is going to take but hopefully it will be done by Friday, after that, well don't expect a lot of updates between now and December. Even this is stretching my time but hey, it's a small gift for all you awesome people reading my story.
Shout out to those that PM ideas, they were added to the story, so if you have ideas just PM.
So, on we go!
Camp seems to be very peaceful the next morning. However inside of the big house tensions were big as there was discussion between Dionysus, Chiron, Hestia and Percy. As Hestia and Percy finished explaining the plan after telling their stories and revealing who they really were Dionysus had a rare serious expression on his face as he thought about what he was just told.
"Your do realize what you are asking correct?" He was trying to sound uninterested and calm but it was this was affecting him and making him a bit nervous.
"Please, you know that Zeus would make a big deal out of it if he found out about Percy, all I am asking you to do is to turn a blind eyed and not stop him from training the kids for the incoming war, for me?" Hestia pleaded.
Dionysus face softened ever so slightly before he sighed, "Only because it's you Hestia, I do owe you quite a lot, but I hope you realize that I will deny any involvement with this if Zeus finds out right?"
"That's fine, by then the camp would be trained and the war would be too close for Zeus to focus on anything else, if we survive the war Percy and I will face whatever the consequences are."
Dionysus didn't say anything as he turned towards Percy. "I am not a big fan of heroes, but you somehow manage to get the trust of Hestia so I suppose I won't turn you into a dolphin for lying to the entire camp, but I still don't understand how did you get Pan to claim you? Do you know where he is?"
"I am in the dark about that as much as you, I did not expect to be claimed nor do I know the location from lord Pan. My story of being adopted by the Aztecs is true and I am an ally to you not an enemy, I swear this on the Styx."
After the sound of thunder was heard Dionysus relaxed a bit but he kept looking at Percy suspiciously. "Why help us then? You said you were protecting wild life and people in South America, why risk exposure by coming here, to fight a war that is not your own?"
"I am originally from Greek parentage, so I know the suffering that demigods go through, if I can be of help I will not allow innocent blood to spill."
Dionysus chuckled, apparently satisfied with the answer. "So you are not here to save the gods?"
"To be honest lord Dionysus, I see the gods, most of them anyway to be the lesser of two evils. You have all done acts that can be considered villainous because of your pride and arrogance. I however do not wish to oppose the gods as that would only bring more destruction so I simply choose to help where I can keep destruction to a minimum."
Hestia looked at Dionysus with worry, thinking Percy maybe went a bit too far and that he was about to be blasted or incinerated. Instead Dionysus laughed.
"Oh I like you kid, you have something that I don't think I have seen in any of the so called great heroes, selflessness. Your actions are dictated by how the consequences could affect others and not yourself. While I hate heroes I will make an exception for you seeing as you are not an ordinary hero by any means."
Percy smiled and bowed "Thank you lord Dionysus, this will make preparations for the upcoming war much easier and increase our chances significantly."
"Don't be so quick to thank me Peter Johnson, I am only doing this because it limits de amount of time I need to interact with you brats, now get out of here as I am very busy."
He then proceeded to create a wine magazine and immerse himself in it a bit too much. Chiron who was silent the entire time simply sighed and guided both the demigod and goddess out of the big house.
"Well that went a lot better than I had planned." Percy said simply.
"I hope you know what you are getting yourself into my boy, you are pretty much opposing Zeus by acting on your own behind his back. If he learns of your true power he would most likely try to execute for treason."
Percy simply shrugged the comment off as if he had already given the topic plenty of thought and was no long concerned.
"If worst comes to worst I have an emergency plan that will allow me to escape after the whole war is over and not show myself on Zeus' radar ever again."
Chiron and Hestia both looked worried not quite convinced but didn't comment seeing Percy's easiness towards the topic.
"Alright then, I think I will go to the arena to begin some basic hand to hand combat, after that I think I will meet with all of the head councilors from the cabins to decide how we want to approach the whole getting into war mode thing. It would be easier to decide that with people that already know about the threat. I will see you later then ok?"
Hestia nodded as Percy ran away towards the arena.
"That's a very peculiar hero." Chiron said
Hestia smiled softly at the trainer of heroes; that was not something he said often.
"Well then I must go to teach archery, so if you would excuse me Lady Hestia, or Amber I should say." IT was still difficult for the centaur to get used to the fact that one of the goddesses is pretending to be a camper.
"See you later Chiron." He galloped away leaving Hestia alone to think about what was going on. She had agreed to a plan that will with no doubt make Zeus turn against her, not that he would do much her being, well her, the gods had a very hard time staying made in her presence but still, she was taking great risk to simply help a demigod that she meet no more than a week ago. She didn't know why at the moment but she was determined to help Percy in any way she could.
She was pulled from her thoughts as some kid bumped into her and fell down. She looked up to see a group of pretty beefy kids who didn't really look too friendly, probably children of Ares. "S-sorry" she tried to say before she was abruptly lifted up by the boy that bumped into her.
"Oh? You are the new girl aren't you? Well we have a inauguration ritual for noobies, since that tree freak seems to be your body guard we weren't able to do it but it seems like he is not around at the moment…"
Hestia wasn't really scared, but rather trying to think of a way to get out of this without hurting the kids. "Please, I don't want any trouble; I just want to go on with my day." She tried to free herself but the guy simply tightened his grip on her clothe.
"Don't worry, you will go on with your day, but first we will do a quick visit to the bathroom." All the Ares kids started to snicker as they made their way to the male bathroom. Hestia started to struggle but not with much energy as she really didn't want to hurt the kids, so she just resigned herself to what the kids were about to do until a voice made them all stop.
"That's enough, let her go." Hestia looked up thinking it was Percy who came to her rescue but was surprised to find that it was actually Jake who was standing in front of the bathroom door with his arms crossed.
"Move it Ugliano, are you telling me that your defeat by tree boy made you have a change of heart?" All the Ares kids started doing "Awww" sounds and laughing but Jake didn't move or show any reaction.
"We are all campers here; we shouldn't turn on each other." That's all Jake got out before the group surrounding the kid holding "Amber" went after him.
Jake tensed, getting ready for one Hades of a beating, he was good but 6 vs 1 away from any reliable source of water weren't the best of odds. Before the battle could even start Jake noticed a blur that appeared in front of him. Next thing he knew all of his previous attackers were now on the floor holding their stomachs or faces.
"Well said Jake well said." Jake had a smile on his face as his old enemy turned around to face him. Then he turned back to the guy holding "Amber" with rage in his eyes.
"Now I believe you said something about an inniciation ceremony, would you mind demonstrating it?" His voice was deadly calm.
The kid paled before he released "Amber" and ran like his life depended on it, which depending on Percy's humor it kind of did.
Jake and Percy approached "Amber who was on the ground from being roughly released. "You ok? Sorry for not coming earlier." Percy offered a hand that she gladly took.
"I am fine, thank you for coming; it appears I don't have the intimidation factor that you do."
"Well if you were actually willing to rough the campers up a bit that might change, but I know that's not in your nature so no problem, I will just have to rough them up for you. Oh, and it's not only me you should thank, Jake here proved to be quite Heroic." He patted Jake on the back as he was doing a pretty good imitation of a tomato.
"I-its fine, they try to do that to me when I first came here, I kind of blew the bathroom in their face but I didn't want anyone else to go through that."
"Well, since you have now prove that you have returned from the dark side how about you come with me to teach some sword and hand to hand combat?"
"You want me to teach? After I ridiculed so many campers? I don't know if they will be willing to have me as a teacher."
"Don't worry about that, I have a plan for that." Percy had an evil smile on his face that made Jake nervous as he was dragged towards the arena.
"Amber you should come to; if you don't want to use your powers some basic hand to hand combat will do you some good."
Amber nodded and the trio made their way to the arena where there was an eager amount of campers waiting when they heard at breakfast that Percy would be giving hand to hand combat lessons. After seeing the way he dealt with Jake without using any weapon many people were excited to say the least.
Amber took a seat as Percy and Jake made their way to the center of the arena facing the campers. Percy seemed relaxed as always while Jake was a bit nervous considering all of the glares he was receiving.
"Well hello everyone, before we start with the official lesson I will like to do a little warm up exercise. Anyone who has a grudge or has been hurt by Jake in the past please come forward, you have both our words that no harm will come to you, right Jake"
Jake nodded, he wasn't sure what Percy's plan was but he decided to simply go with it.
The campers were confused by this request, but having the protection of Percy and the apparent change in attitude in Jake the campers listen. Ten campers, including Thalia made their way to the arena.
"Very well you all listen to me, I know that forgiveness is something that takes time, but holding grudges for ever doesn't help anyone. I believe that Jake has made mistakes that you have all the right to be angry for, but you need to be willing to forgive and move forward. If there is anything that you need to say to Jake, here he is, and he won't harm anyone anymore."
Jake was surprised by the speech and felt guilt crawl inside of him. Why was this kid helping him? He barely knew the guy, had tried to harm him multiple times and he has been nothing but friendly. Then he realized that it was his turn to talk and to back up Percy's words with actions.
Jake steps forward and took his pen out and gave it to Percy willingly to ensure that I wouldn't return to his pocket. "I am sorry for what I have done, please if you feel the need to return the damage that I have done, I won't move."
Percy smiled, seeing that Jake understood quite well how the others felt. Thalia was the one who stepped towards Jake with a seemingly calm expression. Jake gulped but didn't move as Thalia was now face to face with him.
Without any noticed she brought up her hand and slapped him so hard that even Percy flinched a bit. Jake simply turned his head back and didn't say anything as another slap came his way. Again Jake remained unmoving, Thalia dropped her mask as she screamed and began to release a storm of punches to Jake's face and body. Percy was about to stop her, when every other camper that was up there grabbed her in any way they could. Thalia was strong but eventually stopped after being restrained by 9 other campers.
Once she calmed down she looked at Jake who still refused to move despite being filled with injuries and a black eye.
" Do you feel better?"
Thalia turned and was met with Percy having an waiting expression, Thalia looked back at Jake and at her hands that were now bloody.
"Not really…" it was barely a whisper but everyone in the arena heard it.
"Well, that was the point of this, I am surprised that Jake took that beating so well, but you should know that revenge is a foolish concept, no matter how much you hurt others that won't help you heal yourself. For that you need to talk, to express yourself without hurting anyone, got it?"
Everyone nodded and Thalia seemed to relax a bit. Percy went to Jake and put a hand on his head.
"Sorry she gave you such a big beating, I didn't think she would attack you so much." As he apologized a green light appeared around Jake and all of his wounds disappeared leaving him with a confused expression.
"Dude, just how many powers do you have?" His tone was light but there was the tiniest amount of jealousy that made everyone laugh. But the laughs disappeared as Percy almost fell over, but Jake caught him.
"Well with great power, comes great need to take a nap." With this everyone laugh again with more strength this time. It was hard to believe that those two were going to be teaching,
After everyone calmed down Percy got the class going and everyone was pared up and doing basic exercises. As Percy walked around to see how everyone was doing he noticed a couple of kids that didn't really seem to be into it and were starting to walk away, they were rather young, maybe 10 or 11.
As Percy approached they got really nervous; seeing this Percy got down to his knees to be face to with them. "Hey, what's wrong? Do you not like the exercise?" Percy's tone was calmed and caring. That made the kids be a little more at ease.
"We are too small; other campers are telling us that we shouldn't be here." Percy looked around, and heard something moving rather ungracefully through the forest so he guessed they were the Ares kids, they were really starting to get on his nerves.
"Listen to me, there is no such thing as too small, most of the monsters I have fought are twice or even 3 times my size, it's all about using your size to your advantage. Which cabin are you from?"
They all lowered their heads, telling Percy that was a bad question to ask. "We don't have a cabin, we are in the Hermes cabin but that's only because our parents haven't claimed us."
Percy didn't like to hear that, those arrogant gods were only causing suffering to these kids. He suddenly got an idea that made him smile. "Well how about you stay in my cabin? There is plenty of space and I am sure my dad wouldn't mind so what do you say?"
The response was instantaneous as the kids jumped on Percy making him fall to the ground. Other campers that were hearing the conversation started to swarm Percy, as they would also like to live in what was hands down the coolest cabin in all of camp.
"Ok, ok I get please get off me." Percy managed to say between the giggles of the kids on top of him. After that little boost in motivation the kids paid more attention and did the exercises with a lot more energy and ended up doing a pretty good job.
After an hour of this Percy was pretty satisfied with the progress of the group. "Ok then to finish things off, who would like to spar with me?"
Everyone paled and started to back away as they had seen what Percy was capable of and none of them wanted to be in the receiving end of it.
"How about I fight with one hand behind my back, you call come at me all at once and whoever manages to land a hit on my face will be able to stay in my cabin for a week and I will be your personal butler for that week?"
Everyone seemed motivated but there was something about the smile in Percy's smile that made them feel uncomfortable, there was no way he was that good, right? Thalia was the first to react as she launched at him and started to throw a barrage of punches at his faces. Percy simply moved his face out of the way, grabbed one of her arms and threw her back at the campers.
"Is that it?" With that, they all charged at him. As they charged some simply went to the side to make sure he was completely surrounded as he easily dodged the attacks of the campers in front of him.
They try to charge him at the same time from all the directions, but that only resulted in them hitting each other and Percy jumping using their heads as platforms. They charged him again but this time he went on offensive, using only one arm and his legs he managed to immobilize or knock out most of the campers by giving them a punch or kick to the stomach or legs.
This continued for a bit until Thalia and Jake appeared to be the last two standing. They walked around Percy who still had one arm behind his back while the other one was in his pocket.
Thalia and Jake nodded at the same time and charged they aim a punch to the face making Percy duck, but it was a trick as they both had kicks already on their way and going straight at Percy's face. His eyes widened as he brought his arm up to block.
The force of the combine kicks forced Percy back but he recovered himself quickly and was on his feet before the duo could deliver another attack. They were both panting while Percy seemed completely fine.
They charged again, except this time Jack on in front while covering Thalia. He aimed another punch to the face, but Percy blocked this time instead of dodging, this seemed to be what Jake wanted as he grabbed his arm and immobilized him making it so that neither of them could move. Thalia didn't waste any time as she charged trying to finish this.
Percy smiled at their team work but he wouldn't let himself go down so easily. "Sorry about this Jake" He didn't get a response as he quickly reared his head back hitting Jake in the nose making him release Percy's arm, Percy then grabbed Jake by the shirt and threw him at Thalia like a rag doll who had her eyes wide as she was hit by the son of Poseidon making them both fall out of the arena.
"Well that was fun but it would appear that-" Percy stopped as he felt a tingle in his spine that made him instinctively ducked as he very narrowly avoided a punch to the face. He launched a blind quick that hit its objective but he could tell that it was blocked. Percy rolled away and stood quickly to gain some distance. As he looked at his opponent he found Hestia- well Amber of all people standing there with a smile on her face.
Oh I am so screwed… Those were Percy's brilliant thoughts as the goddess charged him with blinding speed that he could barely blocked. Percy was forced to stay in the defensive for a good five minutes as Hestia's attack didn't faltered and kept the same speed. Percy really wasn't in bad shape, when it came to hand to hand combat his endurance was remarkable provably even by godly standards, but he had a feeling that he would end up losing… after like 20 hours probably.
So, he changed to offence as he took a punch to the gut grabbed her arm and threw two kicks simultaneously one to the head and one to the feet. Hestia reacted accordingly by jumping and twisting her arms making Percy's kicks go off course.
Percy tried to let go of her arm to cushion his fall but Hestia took hold of it and slammed him to the ground with her on top of him and a fist just centimeters from his face.
Everyone was in stunned silence not really comprehending the fight they just witneced and the stunning conclusion.
Hestia removed herself from Percy and offered him a hand. "I believe I win."
Percy smiled and took the hand. "I believe you do." And with the arena was filled with applauses and cheering. There cheering was interrupted by the horn of dinner. Everyone made their way to the dining hall but not before congratulating "Amber" for her amazing victory.
Percy made his way towards Jake and Thalia. "Sorry about your nose Jake, I guess I got a bit to competitive."
"Don't worry about it dude, you didn't even break it so it's fine. But, man, you didn't say Amber was such a good fighter."
"You never asked." Jake rolled his eyes and went to the dining hall leaving Percy and Thalia alone.
"You know if I had my spear and shield I could kick your ass."
"Sure you could, we can a rematch some other time if you want." Thalia huffed and walked way as Percy made his way towards Hestia who was currently surrounded by what seemed to be a group of angry Aphrodite girls.
Percy approached her just in time to hear a familiar voice. "Don't try anything just because you are sleeping in the same cabin got it honey?"
Percy coughed to get their attention making all the Aphrodite girls jump. Once they saw it was Percy they simply smiled and walked way but not before giving Amber one last glare.
"What was that about?" Hestia simply chuckled.
"They apparently wanted to warn me not to try anything since I beat you and I know get to sleep in your cabin for a week."
"Okay… That's a little creepy on their part. Well anyway let's get going my lady." He then gave a bow and signaled the way.
"Are your surprised that I beat you?"
"Not really, I am just surprised you actually showed your abilities. I have always known you were probably the most powerful Olympian being the eldest daughter and all that. I just assumed that your nature would stop you from actually showing that power, but it would seem I was wrong." To make emphasis he rubbed his bruised arm.
"Well sorry, but you were getting a bit too cocky for my liking and there seemed like one else would be able to beat you so I had to do it myself."
"Ha, you know just as well as me, that it was just an act to get them motivated to actually fight, you only fought for fun and nothing else."
"Hmmm, maybe, but having you as a butler for a week is definitely a nice bonus."
"Whatever you say, come on I am hungry."
Hestia simply rolled her eyes and walked behind him but noticed something, only his right arm seemed bruised. It was then that she realized he was only fighting with one arm. That made her wondered just how powerful was Percy Jackson?"
Line break
The next few weeks went by rather quickly as Percy had a meeting with all the head councilors that knew about the war and simply explained that they needed to act quickly to prepare themselves. They asked how Percy knew, but "Amber" simply said that her mother had informed her behind Zeus back.
With that information they got to work, and camp went into war mode. Training became more rigorous as all the campers were told exactly what the danger was and despite still being a few years away they needed to be prepared.
Percy became like a war General, organizing everyone and training them to make formidable warriors. He soon grew to be respected by all camp.
His cabin was now more crowded, not only were all the unclaimed campers there but Hestia also decided to make it its permanent home after the one week where Percy was her butler stating that it was "much more comfortable". Percy didn't really care, he treated her the same and he couldn't deny that he enjoyed her company.
There was also an increased in campers, so Hestia's cabin was now used to fill people that just couldn't fit in the tree house. Percy ordered the satyr's to bring as many as possible, and since he was technically a son of Pan, they listen to him without hesitation.
He was now in the living area of the tree house which became the meeting area for councilors since it had an actual table instead of a ping pong table. He was with all of the head conselours discussing the progress of each camp and any info that they had on the enemy army which wasn't much.
All they knew was that after Jake ruined Luke's plan to get the fleece, he retreated and disappeared somewhere to the south. They haven't received any updates in a few months.
This bothered Percy, not knowing what your enemy was up to was definitely a disadvantage all he could do was recruit as many campers as he could and train them to the best of their ability.
"Well I believe that is all, meeting is adjo-" Percy was interrupted as an Iris message appeared in the center of the table showing Grover.
"Percy! Oh it's good to see you."
Percy immediately smiled. "Grover, my man! I haven't heard from you in weeks, did you find any demigods?"
"Grover's expression turned serious. "Yeah, two of them in fact, brother; but they are not ordinary demigods their aura is two strong. Every time I tried to get close one of the teachers stops me. I am pretty sure he is a monster, so I need back up. Well I need to go now; I can't let them find me."
"Understood, I will send you reinforcements, don't try anything on your own ok?"
"Yeah ok, thanks Perce." Grover then waived his hand in front of the image and it shimmered.
"Jake, Annabeth and Thalia are you willing to go?"
The three demigods looked at Percy then between themselves before nodding.
"Good, you leave tomorrow morning. If the monster is too much you pull back and IM for reinforcement ok?"
All three nodded. "Alright then, meeting adjourned."
Everyone left leaving Percy alone as he led out a big exhausted sigh.
"Man, preparing an army for war is absolutely exhausting." He rubbed his temples as he felt two warm hands massaging his shoulders.
"Thanks Amber, how are you holding up?"
"I am fine thanks, better than you anyway. You need to relax you know? Camp won't collapse if you take a day off to relax."
Percy thought for a moment before letting out another sigh. "I guess you are right, hey tell you what, how about we both take Friday of and go out for a picnic, there is a place I want to show you."
Hestia was startle by the offer. "Eat, like only the two of us?"
"What's the big deal? We are in the tree house only the two of us most of the time."
Hestia simply shook her head, "Um, sure that sounds nice." That made Percy smile.
"Awesome, well I think I will go for a little training in the arena see you later." He then gave her a wave before jumping of the tree house leaving Hestia alone to think.
They did a lot of things together lately, but Hestia didn't think much of it until now. She was growing very attached to this demigod, more than she cared to admit. She had never interacted so much with demigods in all of her existence and it was probably one of the most enjoyable periods of her life. She told herself that is was because all the campers were fun to hang out with, but she knew that the real reason she was enjoying herself was because of Percy.
She shook her head; this was not the time to be thinking about that. So she went to the top of the tree house to get a good view of the whole camp.
It was very different compare to when they first arrived there; there were more defenses around the borders thanks to Percy and Beckendorf. Once he heard about what happened when the tree was poisoned Percy decided that something like that will not be allowed to happen again. There was also a whole new training section with actual monster automatons to give every camper the experience of a real fight.
One would think that Percy transformed camp in some hellish military training camp, but he managed to make everything fun and entertaining. He would dress up as Medusa and give the campers wooden swords and tell them to cut his head without looking into his eyes, and other training exercise that while fun were also education giving the campers a feel to fighting real monsters.
She could see that Percy was in the arena training alone, simply repeatedly beating on straw dummies; Hestia noticed that unlike any demigod Percy didn't use a weapon. In all the fights she had seen him fight he would use his opponent's weapon against them. While it had always worked on his favor Hestia wondered the reasoning behind that.
She smiled as she saw a certain daughter of Zeus approach with spear and shield out. This is going to be fun.
Hestia got out of the tree house and made her way to the arena to what would surely be an entertaining fight.
Line break
Percy was on the arena beating on a dummy with remarkable speed as he tried to clear his head. His time in camp has been rather enjoyable despite all the war preparations he has had to make. His only regret is that he couldn't help the environment as much as he wanted to. He had his old friends, to take over for him and informed him if they had any issue. So far nothing seemed to be out of order but Percy still wished to help more.
"You know that dummy isn't really much opposition right?" Percy turned to see Thalia at the other end of the arena with his shield and spear out.
"Hey there Thalia, what's up?" Percy didn't pay her much attention as he continued to beat down on his dummy until he kicked it so hard that it broke in half, making Percy sigh.
"I guess you are right…"
"Come on tree head how about you spare against me instead? I could use a little work out before the mission tomorrow."
"Alright, powers or no powers?"
Thalia seemed taken aback like she didn't even consider the question. "You do know that I will win if we use powers right? I mean no offense but plants don't fair too well against lighting."
"You would be surprised; I have more tricks up my sleeve than you think so powers?"
"Alright, if you want to be beaten down so badly." She got in a defensive stance showing his shield to Percy. Supposedly the medusa head on the shield is supposed to scare her opponents but Percy didn't even flinch.
He was the first to attack, as usual without a weapon but he didn't seem to care as he just started to pound on the shield full force. This approach took Thalia of guard as usually only monsters, like Cyclopes, took that approach.
She quickly recover and backed away trying to use her reach as an advantage and thrusting her spear, but as usual he simply dodged it and continue on his attack.
Thalia had improved a lot over the last couple of months, she was probably one of the most capable warriors at camp but Percy still had many years of experience at his advantage plus his blessing from the Aztecs gods, but she didn't really know that.
They kept going back and forward neither of them really able to land a hit until Percy glowed green and raised his hand. Thalia waited for something to happen but nothing did as Percy charged again. She tried to back away but found that her legs were stuck in some tree branches. Too late did she realize that Percy was right on her and before she could do anything he tackled her making her fall to the ground. She however wasn't done. She let go of both her shield and spear and delivered a lighting powered up punch at Percy's gut making him fly back while all of the branches that were holding her turned to ashes.
"Told you, lighting is a bad mach up for plants." Thalia had a smirk on her faced that quickly disappeared as Percy had a smirk of this own.
"We shall see." He then started pulsing with energy again but this time stronger as he raised his hands he let out a roar and huge branches started to come out of the arena floor and going after Thalia.
She had her eyes wide but shot lighting at anything that got too close. This kept the branches at bay but was incredibly draining. By the time she got rid of all the branches she was in her knees, waiting for Percy. Once she saw his silhouette she pointed her hand at him trying to hit him with her last bolt but he disappeared only to grabbed her by the neck and pinning her down with a hand to the throat.
"Yield?"
Thalia was shocked as she saw Percy, not only because of his speed but his appearance. He now looked similar to a cat with claws and some fangs. But it appeared to be an illusion because as soon as she noticed the features they disappeared.
"Told you I had a few tricks up my sleeve, anyway good battle, you have improved a lot lately. Keep it going and you might beat me some day." Percy smiled down offering her a hand.
Thalia recovered herself and took the hand. "I didn't know you meant it so literally when you said you had the power of a jaguar."
"Yeah, well it's not something I use much; believe it or not it kind of scares some people."
"Well it's not that different from your regular face tree boy so I don't see the problem."
Percy just rolled his eyes but smiled none the less. "You better get rest for your mission tomorrow; I have a feeling that those sibling demigods are going to be important."
"Yes sir!" She made a mock salute making Percy laugh and push her lightly.
"So anyway, I heard that the Aphrodite girls are rather depressed lately…" Thalia said changing the conversation.
"Ugh… not this again" Percy had a slight idea what she was talking about and didn't really want to touch the subject.
"Yeah, in their words: "OMG! I can't believe Percy would let that Amber girl sleep in the same cabin as him. Like he is MINE! Do you think they are dating? Do you think we should do something?! Why doesn't he ask ME to sleep with him?!". So yeah, someone is popular with the ladies."
Percy glared at her but couldn't hold it as she started to laugh and made him smile.
"So? Anything interesting going on between you two? I mean we all know you still sleep in the same cabin despite the bet only being for a week. Plus you go like everywhere together, so it's only natural to assume that there is something going on."
Percy simply sighed, "Look, I am not saying that I agree with you, but let's say that hypothetically, I might feel something for Amber, it doesn't really matter, there can't be anything between us."
"Why is that? You do know she likes you right? I mean the whole camp has bet's on how long is going to take you to be together, I am guessing a couple of years considering how oblivious you both seem to be."
"It's… complicated, but she is a friend and there just can't be anything else, so can we please drop the subject?"
"Ok, ok, whatever you say Romeo, I think I am going to go now. Good battle any way."
As she left Percy made sure he was alone before making his way to the forest making sure he wasn't followed. He then started jumping through the trees until he reach a spot that was pretty secluded from camp and that would be pretty hard to spot unless you were looking for it.
It was like Percy's secret meeting place. As he waited against a tree branch his "generals" appeared. The same jaguar as before, one of the wolfs from Lycaon and his eagle.
"So what report do you have?"
I have asked around South America and I believed that the ship you were referring to crossed the Panama Canal. But that was a few months ago. I only recently got the information so I have no idea where he is now.
The eagel spoke in Percy's mind. So that's why he went south… Any way great job, at least now we know that he is in the west coast for some reason. Try to get as much info as you can on troop locations and such as you are my eyes on the sky.
The eagle simply nodded and flew off.
We have done anything we can to assist the satyrs in rescuing demigods while keeping monsters of their back. But their activity is increasing, I am afraid we won't be able to hold them back much longer if their numbers rise much more.
Percy though for a moments, those were not good news but he had been expecting it. That's alright, keep distracting them and doing Guerilla tactics but don't put you or your troops in danger if it gets to the point where you can't attack anymore then so be it.
The jaguar did the same as the eagle before disappearing leaving only Percy and his newest general.
There has been suspicious activity around the San Francisco area. I believe that there is something going on around the old throne of the Titans. The Romans are not doing much to stop it as the mist seems to cover it up really well but there is talk among the monsters of a general that has risen.
Hmmm, interesting… Well keep me updated and try to figure out who this general is, great job anyway I am glad to add you to the family.
The wolf gave a grin that would have looked intimidating with all those teeth. I am thankful; I will take my leave now my lord.
Ugh… what did I say about calling me lord? We are a family there is no need for that.
The wolf laughed, but it came out as a growl as he also disappeared within the trees.
"Well looks like someone had a secret meeting."
Percy jumped as he turned around and saw Hestia with a face that said, Explain.
"Well yeah, I need to keep myself updated on what is going on around the world. I need every bit of information to stay ahead of the enemy."
"Well, look at you, sounding like a general."
Percy just shrugged, "You could say it's the Aztec in me. Anyway why were you following me?"
"Well I saw that you were having a fight with Thalia and decided to see it. I have to say that it was a good fight."
Percy froze for a second, did that mean that she heard their conversation?
"Also you seemed to have quite the conversation after that something about depressed campers?"
Percy repressed a sigh, and instead grunted. "Those Aphrodite girls are getting on my nerves is like they see me as a piece of meat." Percy then shivered at thought of what they would do to him if they got their hands on him making Hestia laugh.
"Anyway, did you get good info from your friends?"
"Just general stuff, nothing major. What does bother me is that it seems there is some activity going on in San Francisco, I might have to go check it out later."
"Alright well let's go, we don't want to be gone too much, rumors might spread..."
"Great, as if I didn't get enough as it is now." He then grabbed her hand and took her back to camp.
The rest of the week as rather uneventful, the three demigods lead my Thalia left to find the siblings that Grover had mentioned and training continued as usual. As Friday rolled around Hestia got a little nervous about her "date" with Percy. Well it wasn't really a date, but she still felt nervous for some reason. She simply wore a brown t-shirt and jeans as she waited at the top of the tree house for Percy to show up.
"Ready?" She heard behind her making her jump.
"Don't scared me like that!"
"Hey, you did it to me on my meeting, so anyway are you ready?"
She rolled her eyes before nodding, "So where are we going?"
Percy simply smirked, "Now that would be telling wouldn't it? Just take my hand and wait."
She was not happy about not being told but did what he told her nonetheless.
"Close your eyes."
She did and felt the familiar surge of power from teleportation. "OK, you can open your eyes now."
As she did, she had to blink a couple of times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. She now stood at the top of a mounting overlooking a beautiful forest divided by a river. She could tell just by looking that she wasn't in New York anymore.
"Welcome to the Amazon! Pretty cool huh?"
Hestia's brain slowly got back to functionality as she processed what Percy said.
"How did you bring us here? I thought you said that you couldn't teleport."
"Not true, I said that I couldn't teleport the way you do it, but if I have blessed a particular spot on earth I can teleport in and out of there like opening a door. However t he actual blessing process is exhausting so I have only done it a few times in the most endangered areas of the world."
"Wow this is incredible, but why bring me her?"
"Well you said I should take a day off, so a picnic in the Amazon seems to me like a good way to relax."
He got out a blanket and some food and the duo enjoyed a very good and relaxing picnic as they simply did some small talk as time went by. Before either of them realized it they were leaning on each other taking a nap as the sun was still high in the sky but they had a tree to cover them from the rays.
Percy was the first to wake up as he detected some weight on his chest, as his eyes adjusted he realized that it was Hestia. His eyes went wide not sure what to do but he decided not to do anything to disturb her so she could keep sleeping. Then a loud voice resonated in his mind.
My lord! My lord! We have an emergency! Not two seconds later an aegle appeared and almost crashed into the tree.
My- what are you doing my lord? The eagle had a sly tone to it.
Shut it, she just fell asleep, anyway what's the issue?
That right! The 3 campers you sent to for the siblings are in danger! It seems that a rather powerful monster was guarding the kids and if nothing is done all 5 of them would be captured.
Percy immediately got to his feet, "What?! I didn't you warned me of this sooner?!"
At this Hestia had a rude awakeing as she wasn't really sure what was going on.
I am sorry but I told you as soon as I located you, I sent someone else to camp but seeing as though you weren't there I assume you would be here.
Ok, I am sorry for yelling thanks for telling me.
"Whats going on?" Hestia asked still half asleep.
"No time, I need you to teleport us to where Jake, Thalia, and Annabeth are quickly or they are going to be captured."
Hestia immediately forgot all about asleep and was on her feet, she grabbed Percy's hand and teleported them across the world to what would result in a bigger problem than either one of them were ready for.
A/N: Woo hoo! DONE! Alright I am quite satisfied with this chapter, not quite the 10k I was aiming for but still a solid 7.9k. So this is sort of my thank you chapter for having 100 followers, well it's like 120 now but yeah. So this is the last chapter for a while, as November is the busiest month for me, but I have another story called "Last Hope" that takes a post apocalyptic look at Percy Jackson, there is only one chapter out right now, but people seem to like. Chapters for that are shorter so I might updated during November at least to the point where both stories are at about the same length. At that point I will either switch between stories one chapter at a time or focus on a single story until its finish, I will let you decided.
So I hope you had a good Halloween for those who celebrated and Thank you again and check out my other story if you want updates in November. I might update this story by thanksgiving but no clue, I will for sure update before the end of the year but we will see.
Anyway I need to go prepared for my course on Monday so I am out.
Oh! Final thing, BIG THANKS to the people that PM me ideas, they were implemented in the chapter, so if you have an idea, question or suggestion, PM as I will for sure respond to you within 24 hours of the message, normally I will respond immediately but I have limited internet so I might not see it immediately.
I am looking for a Beta reader to correct my stories, so if any of my readers is interested please contact me, thanks!
So, now I am done.
Peace and calm,
Al red.