Longer wait once again.. Sorry.. But enjoy!

(25)

Hermes Palace,

final day of training

After a long month of crucial training, Percy was finally able to successfully turn his powers off and on, but most importantly he able to control his speed more efficiently.

At the moment Apollo was watching Percy complete his exam. Which consisted of using his new found ability.

"That's it Percy!" Apollo shouted as Percy finally reached the end of the course.

Shadow traveling to Apollo, Percy smiled with accomplishment.

"Two months," Percy sighed with relief, " took me two months to learn how to not crash into trees!"

Laughing as well Apollo added, "and turn off your abilities at will. You are now a master of stealth with your shadow traveling, and a master of speed!"

Smirking and nodding his head Percy said, "just wish Arty could be here to see the end of are beautiful adventure!"

"Well apparently her hunters needed more attention today," Apollo sighed.

Shrugging his shoulders Percy shouted, "end sequence!"

Within seconds the large training room turned into the typical brown exercise room.

"You have gained a lot and exceeded my expectations in less time than any normal demi-god would be able to do, "Apollo said proudly, "you were able to do years training in about two months."

"Plus the time with my dad," Percy added.

Nodding his head with a smile, Apollo said, "point is you are a fast learner, you can adapt to any or most situations with ease and incredible efficiency. You just have to remember to never underestimate your foes. Otherwise all this training could come crashing down on you."

Nodding his head Percy said," don't you worry uncle I won't forget.

Nodding his head and Smiling, Apollo clapped Percy on the back and said his goodbyes before flashing away.

Running through everything that Apollo had just told him, Percy exited the gym

Percy got something to eat from the fridge before sitting down at the kitchen table.

Seconds later Hermes appeared.

"How was the day?"

Swallowing his food, Percy said, "it went pretty well."

"Excellent!" Hermes smiled, "now all we have to do hope for the best with the future events to come.."

Sighing Percy said, "indeed."

Percy and Hermes spent another ten minutes talking about their days before Hermes went off to do more deliveries.

Finishing his lunch, Percy stopped as a thought came back into his mind.

"I have a lot of visiting to do," Percy sighed.

Looking at his watch Percy read, "only twelve-thirty. Think I will visit Nico and Bianca first."

Grabbing presents from his room Percy shadow traveled away to the underworld.

Hades Palace

Coming out of the shadows, Percy saw smiling Hades watching his children play in his wife's garden.

The sound of Nico and Bianca laughing relaxed Percy as he hasn't seen the twelve and eleven year old children in quite sometime.

It only took seconds before Nico noticed Percy standing in the shadows.

"PERCY!" Nico shouted with happiness.

Smiling Percy came out of the shadows next to Hades.

Nico ran up to Percy with open arms.

Crouching down, Percy hugged Nico before doing the same to the smiling Bianca.

"How have you guys been?" Percy asked with a smiled.

"Everything has been perfect since we left that horrible school," Bianca smiled.

Nodding his head furiously, Nico added, "and we are having so much fun here with dad!"

Chuckling Percy said, "great to hear kiddo."

Deciding it was best to ask now, Hades asked, "how about you Perseus? How are you? How did the training go?"

Sighing in relief Percy recalled the events that took place in the last two months.

"Always great to hear the words training and done in the same sentence," Hades chuckled.

"Indeed," Percy laughed, "just a whole lot of practicing now."

Hades nodded his head with a smile.

Looking back at the kids Percy said, "got something for you guys."

Nico's eyes lit up at the sound of got and something.

Smiling at Nico's excitement, Percy took the two presents out of his pocket.

Handing them to Bianca and Nico Percy said, "a little something to help you through your training Bianca."

Bianca opened her present which revealed a gold and silver ring with tiny flowers.

"Speak the words afypnizo."

Nodding her head, Bianca placed the ring on her ring finger and said, "afypnizo."

Within milliseconds the ring transformed into a beautiful dark oak shortbow.

The sight of such bow made Bianca gasp in delight.

Rushing over to Percy Bianca engulfed him in a hug.

"Thank you Percy! I love it."

"You are welcome," Percy said as he smiled.

"Guess that scratches a bow off my list of weapons to create," Hades sighed in relief.

"My turn!" Nico exclaimed.

"Of course Nico!" Percy said as he handed Nico the rectangular box like present.

As Nico ripped into his present, Percy said, "I know you don't like bows are daggers Nico, and I imagine your dad already has a sword being made for you, so I got you the next best thing."

"A set of the ultra rare god card!" Nico exclaimed happily.

Smiling Percy said,"Your dad told me about that card game you played and how you didn't have the last few cards."
"How?" Nico asked stunned.

"Found them at a stall while I was in town."

Smiling with happiness Nico hugged Percy as he said thank you over and over again.

"No problem little man, enjoy them!"

After about ten minutes the children of Hades went off to play with their newly acquired items.

"It was nice of you to visit Percy," Hades said with a friendly smile.

"It was nice to finally see them again. Safe and sound in your palace," Percy explained with a joyful tone.

"I would give my life for my children," Hades said firmly.

Smiling at Hades remark, Percy said, " those are the best kind of dads. Your children will grow to love you even more than they do now. Just remember to give them the care and love they deserve.

Rolling his eyes, Hades said, "I may be a god, but I am no brother of mine who only has them to gloat and fulfill prophecies given to him by Apollo."

Smiling at Hades' remark, Percy yawned before saying, "tell the kids I will be back sometime next week. Well if that is okay with you of course."

Nodding his head and smiling, Hades said, "you are always welcome here, come and visit us as you please."

Nodding his head, Percy said his goodbyes r before shadow traveling back to his father's palace

Hermes Palace,

It was now one-fifteen in the afternoon.

"Guess it is time to visit camp."

Putting on his camp shirt and a pair of blue jeans, Percy shadow traveled away.

Camp Half-Blood

Coming out of the shadows Percy was met with a familiar sight.

"Ah the good old strawberry field."

As usual the twins Castor and Pollux where picking and eating strawberries from the field.

Inhaling the camp aroma, Percy smiled, "Good to be back."

Once Percy was in camp he decided to visit the people he owed an apology to.

"Now if I was an Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia where would I be," Percy mumbled under his breath.

Seconds after he said this a bunch of screams were heard from outside the borders of camp.

Turning towards the location of which the screams came, Percy quickly shadow traveled to their location.

Coming out of the shadows Percy was met with yet another familiar sight.

"The Minotaur?" He mumbled confused, "I killed him like two-ish years ago."

Hearing the others from camp running to the same position he was in, Percy decided it was best he took on this monster himself. He did in fact have a little quarrel with this beast.

Cracking his neck, Percy moved to the right so he could be dead on with the Minotaur and far away from the kids.

"INCOMING!" He shouted right before he dashed off.

Within milliseconds Percy knocked the beast down from under the legs with his nifty new slide attack.

The minotaur mooed in surprise.

Getting up and turning around, the minotaur widened it's eyes with shock.

"Miss me?" Percy taunted, "seems so since you are already back from the depths of Tartarus."

Letting out a loud and angry moo. The Minotaur charged at Percy with his horns in a deadly position.

Moving to the right, Percy evaded the attack with ease.

Noticing he had missed, the Minotaur slowed down and turned towards Percy once more.

"And still wearing that same pair of underwear that I met you in," Percy said as he shook his head with a disappointed look, "you outta clean those things once in awhile you know. They are more brown then white.

Huffing in annoyance the Minotaur scrapped his hoof against the ground.

"Awww is bull man a wittle upset."

Mooing loudly, the Minotaur charged at Percy once again.

Intertwining his fingers, Percy extended his arms and cracked his fingers.

Shadow traveling to the location that the Minotaur was just in, Percy watched as the beast struggled to get out of the tree he had just so clumsily got stuck in.

Once he was free, the Minotaur turned around and faced Percy.

Activating his sword, Percy gave it a quick swing before pointing it at the Minotaur.

"This is the last time you will ever see the light of day," Percy shouted in a deep and dark like tone.

Not caring about what the demi-god had to say, the Minotaur charged at full speed.

Slowly walking toward the beast, Percy quickened his past as seconds went by. Right before the Minotaur hit the one-hundred meter mark, Percy activated his speed and ran at the beast.

Once he had reached the Minotaur, Percy sliced its heels so that it would fall onto it's knees.

Using the nearby tree, Percy turned off his speed just as he was about to lung at the beast.

The speed would have pushed him a little bit farther than needed.

As Percy lunged towards the Minotaur, he held his sword with both hands as he thrusted it down into the skull of the Minotaur as soon as the head was close enough to him.

The sound of flesh and bone tearing and breaking filled the area.

Percy stabbed the Minotaur several times in the head before it fell on it's stomach.

"Can never be too careful."

Jumping off of the beast, Percy watched as it's essence was sent back into Tartarus.

Summoning his demonic servant, Percy ordered him to make sure the beast would never leave the depths of Tartarus ever again.

Nodding his head, the servant vanished.

Cooling himself down, Percy turned around and made his way back to camp.

"Hope those kids are alright," he said to himself, as he was concerned for their safety.

Not knowing where they had went, Percy decided it was best to check in with Chiron.

Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, Percy looked up to see the entire camp looking down on him.

Sighing he mumbled, "first day of camp all over again."

Not wanting to be bombarded with campers, Percy shadow traveled to the big house. The Place Percy knew the children he just saved might be.

Once he was inside Percy walked to the room that had the most noise.

"Most likely them," he said to himself.

Expecting to see some new faces, Percy was surprised by the familiar faces of the two Hecate children he had saved a little while back.

Noticing Percy Chiron stopped talking before motioning Percy to come in.

Upon entering Mr.D said, "did you know of these two's little adventure in search of their imaginary dog?"

"He isn't imaginary!" Daniel said a little agitated.

"Then why haven't we SEEM HIM!" Mr.D shouted.

Taken back by the shouting, Ali's lip began to quiver.

"Dionysus," Percy growled as he gritted his teeth and cocked his head at Mr.D.

"Percy is right," Chiron stated, "that was out of line. Shouting at these children."

Cutting off Mr.D, Percy said, "before you speak the dog they are talking about is real. I saw it with my own eye. The night I fell conscious after bringing them to camp he seemed to disappear."

Seeming a bit agitated, Mr.D said, "and why did you not report this to me?"

"Simple, It isn't any of your business," Percy stated.

Now clearly angry, Mr.D said, "watch your tone of voice around me Perry. Don't forget what I am."

Rolling his eyes, Percy said sarcastically, "you are the great god of wine! I should tremble under your ability to make wine in front of my eyes!"

Huffing with annoyance, Mr.D left the room.

Once he was gone, Chiron sighed, "Percy he may be a bit of a douche, but he is still a god."

Shrugging his shoulders, Percy turned towards the twins.

Able to calm Ali down, Daniel looked up at Percy.

"Could you find him for us? He may have been spooked by the force barrier or something."

Nodding his head, Percy said, "I promise I will find him for you guys."

Smiling, Ali got up on her tippie toes and kissed Percy's check.

"Thank you Percy."

Smiling back, Percy said, "no problem Ali."

Saying his goodbyes, Percy left the children to Chiron before venturing on to find his friends.

After about ten minutes, and after many campers greetings and pats on the back, Percy finally found his friends.

At the moment Thalia, Grover, and Annabeth seemed to be talking down by the beach.

Walking up to them, Percy up a rock from the ground and attempted to skip it across the water.

As soon as the rock hit the water, all three friends turned around to see a smiling Percy Jackson.

"Percy!" Grover bleated with joy.

"Hey G-man," Percy smiled at he hugged his oldest friend.

"Annabeth, Thalia," Percy said with a smile and a nod.

"Long time no see," Annabeth said, her hands on her hips like an angry looking mother.

Scratching the back of his head due to his embarrassment, Percy said, "training does take away a lot of my social life Beth."

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth walked up and quickly hugged Percy before stepping back.

"Enjoying the life of a human once again?" Percy said, looking at Thalia with a crooked grin.

Rolling her eyes and laughing Thalia nodded her head before hugging Percy as well.

Such a wonderful smell, I wonder what shampoo she uses. Must be lemon or something like that.

Stepping back Thalia joined the others.

"I see you are letting your hair grow," Percy commented as he calmed himself down.

Nodding her head, Thalia said, "decided to change it up a bit. Since I have to wear these camp clothes, and Annabeth says longer hair suits me."

"I totally agree," Percy smiled.

Trying not to blush, Thalia was quick to change the subject.

"So what's up?

"Eh, just finished my training, so now I have a lot more time off to do visits and hangout," Percy explained, "how about you guys. Anything happen while I have been away."

"Once all the summer time campers left it's been a lot quieter around here," Annabeth said in relief.

"And for happening, well nothing besides those newbies you brought in awhile back," Thalia added, "basically not a whole lot. It has been quite dull."

"Sounds boring," Percy laughed as he stuck his tongue out at Annabeth as she rolled her eyes.

Looking at Grover, Percy could tell something was up. Whether it was good or bad, Percy wanted to find out.

"How about you Grover?" Percy asked, "anything special at all?"

Gulping, Grover said," Uh.. Well you see I well.. Met this tree nymph named Juniper.. and well we are now dating."

Percy's smile grew after every word Grover had said starting from met.

"Ahhh. G-man has a girlfriend," Percy said as he nudged Grover with his shoulder.

"Boys," Annabeth sighed.

"When will I get to meet her?"

"Soon," Grover said as he tried to hide his blushing.

Letting the boys talk about Grover's girlfriend, Annabeth asked Thalia, "was it nice smelling him again?"

"Shut up!" Thalia said with a blush.

"Well?" Annabeth said with a sly grin.

"Yes.." Thalia said quietly.

Just as Annabeth was about to say something back, the cheering of the campers was heard near the dining hall.

Noticing that everyone of the year rounders were gathering up, Annabeth decided to follow suit and motioned everyone to follow her.

Once they all reached the others, Percy having no clue what was going on asked one of his old cabin mates, "what's up?"

Smiling the boy known as Dan said, "we are going to be playing a game of capture the flag!"

Knowing what was right, Percy didn't get to excited.

His extremely rare and powerful powers could be a little unfair, and he did in fact want to see what the Hecate children had in them.

"Is Percy playing?" A camper from the Ares cabin asked out loud.

"Yeah, if so it is a guarantee win for his team. "

"Would be so unfair," another camper complained.

Sighing Chiron looked at Percy with a saddened expression.

Waving it off Percy said, "no worries Chiron. I would rather like to observe."

Nodding his head Chiron shouted, "you all know your teams. Game starts in ten minutes."

Everyone did one last cheer before heading off in their assigned teams.

Noticing the Hermes cabin was on the Athena team, Percy said to himself, "looks like another win for the good old Hermes cabin.

Deciding to be useful, Percy went over to the struggling Daniel and Ali.

Helping them put their armour on, Percy assured them they wouldn't die.

"It's against the rules, but on a side note. Watch out for the ares kids," Percy warned, "brutes with no sense of remorse."

Nodding their heads, the two twins went off to join their team.

Mumbling to himself, Percy said, "now let's see what you do when frightened."

It had been already five minutes in and no one was even close to the opposing teams flag.

Wanting to keep full contact of the Hecate twins, Percy used a one way Iris message.

Of course he did have to pay extra for such a bizarre order.

At the moment the twins were nearing the creek, better known as the boundary. Whoever gets the flag past the creek wins the game.

Upon reaching the creek, laughter emerged from the bushes.

"Well what do we have here."

A couple of Ares children appeared from the bushes.

Not able to see their faces, Percy hoped for the best.

Gulping nervously, Daniel said with confidence, "a couple of demi-gods that are ready to kick your ass."

"Watch that mouth of yours kid," one of the Ares goons said.

"otherwise bullshit will be spewing out of it uncontrollably," another one added.

Standing beside her brother confidently, Ali whispered something in his ear.

Nodding his head, Daniel said,"just like we practiced."

Becoming bored of the lack of action, the one ares camper shouted, "nighty night."

As soon as they said that the goons moved in on the twins.

Percy watched as the twins just stood there.

"What in the hell are they doing?" Percy said confused.

Just before the Ares goons reached the twins, Ali and Daniel shouted, "exafanizomai!"

With that said both children disappeared.

Percy watched impressed as the Ares children looked around confused.

"Where in the fuck are they!" Goon number one shouted in surprise.

"How in hell do I know?" Goon number two answered.

After a few seconds the three children of Ares gave up and moved on.

Chuckling, Percy said, "nice one guys."

Percy took a mental note of their apparent studying of magic.

"Basics, but they will get there," Percy said proudly.

Once the Ares campers where completely gone, the twins both reappeared.

"If only that worked against the Minotaur," Daniel sighed with relief.

Giggling, Ali said, "yeah, but at least we had Percy there."

The game lasted about an hour before Blue team, known as team Athena was victorious.

Percy had decided to wait until the twins were down changing before he would confront them.

Making sure to keep sight of them, Percy waited as he watched Daniel and Ali take off their armour and put away their swords.

As they began to exit the area, Percy caught up to them and threw a bunch of confetti all over their heads.

"There are my two victors!

Turning around, both Daniel and Ali smiled brightly.

"You should of seen us Percy!" Daniel said pleased with himself.

"We disappeared!" Ali added.

Nodding his head and smiling, Percy said, "I saw. It was incredible you guys. At this age I would expect you to be worrying about action figures and stuff, but beginning to learn magic? That is stupendous!"

Looking confused, Ali said, "stu-pen-dis?"

Chuckling, Percy explained, "another word for amazing!"

"Oh," ali and Daniel said with a smile.

"It isn't weird or anything?" Daniel asked.

Shaking his head, Percy said, "it is better to start when you are young, but just remember to enjoy your life. Don't get consumed by these studies. I do however want to know where you acquired such a book."

"it was a gift from mom, she told us all about her in a dream," Ali explained

Nodding their head, both Ali and Daniel said their goodbyes before heading to their cabins.

Percy turned around and was about to go and meet up with his friends before something pulled on his shirt.

Turning around Percy was met with the sad face of Ali.

"What's wrong Ali?" Percy asked confused.

"Why won't our mom claim us?" Ali said upset, "I don't like this cabin. It is to crowed and stuffy. I would rather be in her cabin."

Clearing his throat, Percy said, "um, well you see Ali, she will, it just takes some time. Your mom has just been very busy lately."

Not wanting to tell Ali that only major God's and goddesses had cabins, so whatever children of the minors God's and goddesses made it to camp were stuck in the Hermes cabin.

Nodding her head Ali rubbed her eyes before running up and hugging Percy.

She was around four feet and two inches, so Percy kind of bent down to hug her before she ran off to meet her brother once more.

Sighing sadly, Percy said to himself, "if I get a reward for this battle to come I as sure will focus on all these unclaimed demi-gods."

Shaking his head sadly, Percy turned around once more, completely unaware of something in the bushes behind him, Percy walked off to find his fellow campers.

Once Percy was out of view, the something walked out of the bushes and revealed itself to be a dog like animal with black fur.

It seemed to be quite large like a hell hound.

The animal looked in the direction of the Hecate twins once more before dashing off into the shadows.

Mount Tam

Looking at picture of Annabeth, Luke sighed before placing it back into his pocket.

"You are such a fool Annie," Luke mumbled under his breath.

Walking up to the sarcophagus of Kronos', Luke said, "my lord, we have found it."

"Good, good," Kronos said, "come next July we will annihilate that pathetic camp."

"Indeed my lord."

"Gather a group of your demi-god friends and go search for the entrance," Kronos ordered, "we must find that secret entrance."

Well guys there is chapter 25! Next chapter that comes out will be another time skip, but to the beginning of the summer. That is where book four shall commence!

Before I go if you have any questions, etc just message me! Until next time!