Percy / December 3rd

Waking up to a talking dragon with a British accent blowing steam into your facewasn't as weird as it got around here.

"They need you in the mess hall" Caeruleum said, standing on my chest, though I could hardly feel the weight difference

"Oh... okay" I replied. "Is it urgent, because I don't normally wake up at this time"

"If you can defeat a giant you can wake up at nine in the morning" The dragon retorted

I opened my mouth to reply but closed it knowing that she had a point. If I couldn't win an argument with Annabeth, there was no point in trying a literal knowledge dragon.

After getting changed into some clean clothes, I made my way to the mess hall where the others were having some kind of meeting - like a war council but with food. Then again, we did have the most important meeting around a Ping-Pong table back at Camp Half-Blood, so the scene wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

Then it hit me. The dream I had seen last night. The twin giants were planning something underground that had to do with a lot of explosives and Nico being trapped in a jar and dying from suffocation.

"There you are" Annabeth said as I took my seat next to her

"What can I say? I need my rest after what happened yesterday" I pointed out

"He's got a point" Jason agreed, rubbing his head

I told the group about my dream and mentioned some kind of seeds I had seen at Nico's feet which had seem important.

"Oh gods. The seeds" Hazel said

"What are they?" Annabeth asked

"They're seeds from our stepmother's garden. There suppose to be a last resort for child of Hades. Nico always kept some on him, so if he's really imprisoned -"

"The giants want to lure us in" Annabeth finished

"And by extension, Xander" Layton said

"That is assuming we try to rescue him" Annabeth said

"Then they're right!" Hazel looked around at all of us. "Right?"

"Does it involve fighting? If it does, I'm in!" Coach Hedge exclaimed

"Of course we'll rescue him" Frank assured. "But how long do we even have?"

"He had three seeds in my dream" I informed

"And we only have three days until Majin Kai heads to Rome and turns into one big pile of ash" Layton added

"So we don't have much time" Piper concluded. "And we know what some lines from the prophecy meant now. Nico must be the angel considering his last name"

"Then we'll rescue him" I promised. "We have to anyway. He supposedly has the key to endless death"

"Won't we be walking into a trap?" Leo shifted around in his seat

"We don't have a choice" Hazel argued

Above us, a whirring sound like a big drill went off.

"That's Festus. We must be nearing Atlanta" Leo said

Leo got up and raced for the stairs as we discussed our plans.

"When we land, we'll scout around. Frank, I could use some of your help" I said

"I guess" Frank shrugged

"Cool. One more then. Annabeth-"

"No!" Coach Hedge interrupted. "You both are grounded. By that, you two aren't going anywhere together after that stunt a couple of days ago"

"Excuse me?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him

"I will go Frank and Sneaky Jackson. The rest of you go do whatever it is you need to" Coach Hedge said

"Wait a second. We're forgetting our priorities here" Layton said. "I'll go with Frank and Hedge to find this sea god. Percy can stay here to learn that technique. It's the best way to make use of our time"

"I'm sure it won't take too long" Ava backed up

"Sounds like a good idea if we're going to defeat Majin Kai and the giants in one go" Annabeth agreed, turning to face me

I sighed. "Fine. I'll get it over with"

"So why are in the hot tub?" I asked as I took a seat in the ship's large tub

"Well It would make more sense for you to learn this where your most comfortable" Ava answered

"I guess you're right"

"Now, the reason why you struggled so hard to summon the energy last time must've been because you were really trying to learn it. For this, it'll be much easier, but you'll only have one shot" Ava explained

"One chance or it's over" I frowned

"Basically" Ava shrugged. "I will have to trigger those visions again though"

The physical pain was some what bearable, but the visions I saw from trying to summon the energy were beyond that. It was like by brain shut off any kind of processing between reality and a vision.

In moments, plenty of visions flashed before my eyes - the worst scenarios possible. One by one, everyone I cared out died before my eyes. The last vision I saw must've been a warning though.

I was in first-person mode and I was standing in the middle of a city that definitely looked like it was in Rome. Above, red meteor-like objects started to crash down on the city that went off like bombs. Then I realized that it wasn't meteors, but ki.

Once all of the explosions had finished, there was nothing but rubble and smoke from the surrounding buildings. Through the smoke, a familiar silhouette walked closer. Majin Kai made himself clear and in his hand, he held the lamp.

"Is that what you're after, demigod?" He presented the lamp before crushing it to pieces. "You'll never defeat me, or the giants"

He held his palm out and fired off a large ki blast that hit me. My body reached an extremely high temperature like it did in my previous vision, and I literally died.

When I came back to reality, thunder crashed outside the ship and the water in the hot tub began to flow with miniature waves as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"I'm deeply sorry, but it had to be done." Ava apologized. "Now that the worst is over, we can begin the rest of the process"

"It's fine" I croaked. "What's next?"

"You're in your natural domain, so you must channel that power both externally and internally"

Somehow, I knew what she meant. I stood up and the water from the hot tub began to inch up my legs until it exploded and a water spiral surrounded me, obstructing my view on anything.

Around me, the water spun rapidly like a high velocity tornado. It was probably going so fast that it would hurt to touch it.

"Almost there. You've got external power but you need it internally too, or you can't channel the energy"

There was a burning sensation in my chest as I closed my eyes to concentrate. It was a pretty similar feeling to when I had bathed in the River Styx - though that power was gone now. I focused on the few things keeping me going - the things that I was fighting for. Family, friends, home, and Annabeth.

On the inside of the spiral, electricity began to circulate as if I was inside a thunder cloud. The temperature also began to increase and I could feel sweat rolling down my forehead and back.

"You're a natural" Ava observed

"It's just kind of coming to me somehow"

"You must truly be a powerful demigod then. I could never imagine the others getting to this step" Ava stated

"Thanks... I guess"

Suddenly, gravity got heavier inside the water spiral and my knees buckled but I stood back up and resisted the force. It felt like I was lifting my own body weight as I stood up. After, the water spiral opened up like a coil, leaving gaps that were filled in by fire. Somehow, the water, fire, and electricity were all mixing to create one elemental spiral.

Through all this, the burn in my chest got hotter and hotter until it felt like it was going to explode. I reached out and touched the water spiral, which made it narrow inwards, leaving less room for me.

"Do you feel the burning in your chest? That's your soul channeling your inner energy. The spiral around you is exactly that, conjured up"

I grunted. "How am I able to summon fire and electricity though?"

"That's simply the result of pure internal energy, or ki. Your demigod powers don't matter when you learn this kind of stuff. How do you think Layton is able to summon elements?"

"I didn't know he could use ki"

"It's an extremely limited version. It could hardly be considered ki. But what you're doing right now... it's definitely working"

The red, blue, and yellow from the three elements mixed in until there was a simple spiral of pure dark blue energy surrounding me with white streaks that appeared every few inches.

"You've bathed in the River Styx?" Ava asked

"Yeah, but the Curse of Achilles is gone" I replied

"The fact that you did such a feat remains though. No wonder you're able to do this so easily, you've already gone through a similar experience" Ava said

Now that I was looking at it, the color of the spiral did look pretty similar to that of the River Styx. Somehow, they must have been connected.

I staggered as the burning chest in my pain took a literal jab from the inside. My back hit the water spiral and I was bounced back off it, feeling as if I had hit the pavement - something I was use to by now.

A vision flashed before my eyes and I had to think if it was from the energy or me just imagining. It was of an older Annabeth holding the hand of a small boy with sea green eyes and messy blonde hair.

It ended as quick as it came, and the color of the spiral turned the darkest shade of purple and black that there was, mixed together. The speed of the spiral slowed down and closed in until there was a black aura around me.

"You've done it" Ava smiled

I moved my arm but there was an intense pain as I did, causing me to flinch back, which in turn caused my whole body to flare up with a sharp pain, as if every square inch of my body has been pierced by a spear.

"When you face Majin Kai, this is where you want to be"

"Not being able to move?"

"You can't move, but nothing can touch you" Ava pieced up a soap bar and tossed it at me.

Instantly upon contact, the soap bar exploded into purple sparkles that vanished into the air in less than a second.

"At the same time, you'll want to aim carefully. The same amount of energy you'll need to beat Majin Kai could take down a tall building" Ava warned

"Aim, got it" I said. "Now, how do I turn this off?"

"You're a son of Poseidon, you should know how to release"

I exhaled deeply and concentrated. The aura around me whisked away and I nearly fell backwards as all of my muscles instantly became sore.

"Next time you do that, it'll be the real thing" Ava said. "You did exceed my expectations though. You only took a couple of hours"

"A couple of hours? How long has it been exactly?"

"Two hours, thirty-two minutes, and seven seconds" Ava answered as she looked at the clock

"Felt like five minutes to me" I said as I looked around the room

Annabeth

"There was also this one time Percy crashed his own funeral" I said and Hazel finally showed a hint of a smile

"What'd he do?"

"Well, we thought he died because -"

Frank stumbled into the hall and bursted into the room. "Where's Leo? We need to go, like now!"

"Where's the others?" I asked

"They're fine. Mostly. But we're being followed!" Frank replied

I pushed past him and ran down the stairs. On the deck, Coach Hedge looked like had gone through the world's funnest amusement park, while Layton looked annoyed, covered in scratches as if he had ran through several windows.

"What now?" Leo complained as he, Piper, and Jason entered

"We're being followed!" Frank repeated

"By what?" Jason inquired

"I don't know!" Frank panicked

"That doesn't make any sense, but Leo, get us out of here" I instructed

Before we knew it, The Argo II was back up in the sky and taking off, leaving Atalanta fading away in the distance.

"Set course for Charleston" Frank said

"Why Charleston?" Jason asked. "What did you guys find in Atlanta?"

Layton sighed. "Snow globe, winter scarf, umbrella, shirts, some notebooks, you name it"

Frank unzipped his backpack and brought each souvenir that Layton had listed.

"Ok, start it from the top, not the backpack" I requested

Suddenly, it felt like a heavy and dark presence entered the room. The feeling was almost similar to the first time I had been in the same place as Kronos.

I looked over to the entrance, and Percy walked through looking exhausted with Ava trailing behind.

"Would you look at that, I think it worked. You feel totally evil" Leo said

"I do?" Percy asked

"Yeah, you've got this heavy presence" Piper answered. "It's kind of... scary"

Percy stood next to me and I unwillingly flinched back, causing him to frown.

"So it worked then?" I asked

"If he can do what he just did again in the real fight, you guys have a shot at winning" Ava said. "Speaking of shots, he's only got one"

"Yeah, no pressure at all" Percy muttered

"It's okay, you'll be great" I took Percy's hand and smiled at him

At least, I hoped so...