Chapter II:
Percy woke up to a melodic symphony of loud bangs and muffled shouts coming from the deck above. Surprisingly, he hadn't been subjected to the vivid nightmares that he tended to get. Being a child of a Big Three god and the prophecy, nightmares were about as common as a can of diet coke in Mr. D's hands. He had been hoping to dream about something related to the quest, maybe a glimpse of Annabeth, Grover and Tyson. Hell even Luke or Kronos would've been welcomed, but instead he had gotten nothing. Not knowing what was going on back in his time was starting to drive him crazy.
It took him a moment to shake off his remaining thoughts and fumble his way out of the canvas hammock. Will had converted one of the storage rooms on the stern side into a makeshift bedroom for Percy to use, which was a blessing since most of the pirates were horrendously loud snorers. He had also lent Percy a pair of spare clothes and shoes to change into; they were a little baggy on the sides but overall a good fit.
Percy was instantly greeted by his favorite toothless pirate, who he had earlier learned was named Barty, as soon as he opened the cabin door.
"Ay, I been just comin' to get ye Stormbreaker ye." Barty raised his grimy hands upwards, and unidentifiable food objects flew out of his mouth. "Got yerself another foul beast to fight."
A series of quick footsteps tumbled down the stairway, and Elizabeth appeared with a strained expression on her face. "Good you're awake already. We got a problem."
Foul beast? A problem? It sounded like the average grumpy sea monster.
Percy followed Elizabeth back up to the upper decks, and was surprised to see that the Sun had barely risen. It seemed as if most of the crew were already awake, or had just woken up, and they were all yipping frantically and pointing somewhere off to the front of the ship. He tried to locate Will and Jack, but they were nowhere to be seen. The ship itself felt structurally sound.
There was a small island cresting over the horizon in the far distance, about ten nautical miles away. Other than that, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.
"Something big attacked the ship just before I woke." Elizabeth explained. "The crew keeping watch said it was some sort of serpent. Do you mind doing your… thing?"
Percy found it kind of funny that he had already established himself as 'that one dude with water powers.' But hey, it definitely was a marketable upgrade over something like 'Poodle Boy' or 'Prissy.' Maybe he could convince one of the Hephaestus boys to make him a t-shirt when he got back.
"Yeah sure, try to keep the ship moving unpredictably, just in case." Percy told Elizabeth, before he swung his feet over the railing and plunged into the sea.
He still had not gotten used to how good the water felt to be in. Calling it a 'breath of fresh air' would've been an understatement, it was more like a 'holy hell this is amazing,' type of feeling. It was almost equivalent to the time his mom had gotten him a Gameboy Color for his seventh birthday. No wonder all the sea animals he encountered were always in a bad mood, their home was a dumpster fire in comparison.
Percy closed his eyes and used his newfound abilities to sense the vibrations flowing around him. He could see the definite shape of the Black Pearl moving above him, and the various schools of fish scooting around and about. The only way to describe it was that he was immersed in a black realm, and everything had a pulsating white outline to them. It was what he had always imagined x-ray vision to look like.
All of a sudden, a large blip appeared briefly, far below him. It was large and lengthy, and moving swiftly across the bottom of the sea floor. But it was swimming too fast for him to track, and it quickly swam out of his range. Percy, still in echolocation mode, willed himself to dive deeper and follow the creature, leaving the ship behind.
The further he descended, the more pronounced and clearer his vision became. He began to pick up on large pods of whales and dolphins, that he never would've seen from this distance with his natural eyesight, even with the clearer water.
Finally, five miles between the ship and the incoming island, the mysterious blip reappeared. Percy still couldn't make out its exact identity; whatever his dad had cooked up during his free time was bigger than a whale but smaller than something like the Kraken. That was about all he could discern, for now.
Percy watched with curiosity as the creature turned around, and continued swimming towards the island. Naturally, he followed it. The creature made periodical stops, like it was making sure that Percy was still tracking it, before continuing on. This happened four more times, and in each instance the creature let Percy get closer and closer, before it zoomed away again.
The strange game of cat and mouse went on until they reached the waters surrounding the base of the island, which was when the creature abruptly changed its course and rocketed up to the surface at an extraordinary speed, given its size.
"Alright then." Percy said to himself. "Let's see what all the fuss was about."
The Sun was now making its voyage across the clear sky, casting its light upon the vibrant green colors of the island's vegetation that spiraled down its lone mountain top. A handful of miles away was the Black Pearl, cruising its way through the mild waves. Its yellowing sails looked like miniature napkins as they fluttered against the strong morning winds.
In the nearest inlet was a tall spire of rock, jutting out unnaturally at an awkward angle. And when Percy looked closely, there appeared to be a human figure hanging from it by a chain.
Percy commanded the current to propel him forwards, and as he got closer he realized two things. One, it was a woman, dressed only in a white toga and nothing else. And two, she was screaming directly at him, her face a contorted mixture of fear and agony. Her words were totally unintelligible, and lip reading was not one of his talents, but it was clear that she was in some sort of danger.
Faster, Percy told the sea, and it responded accordingly. He covered the last stretch in a fraction of the time, all the while keeping his eyes glued to the stranded woman. It was only when he reached the entrance of the cove that he was able to hear her voice.
"Watch out!" She yelled hoarsely, her strained vocal cords cracking at the end. Her body was swinging from side to side like a pendulum; trails of blood were running down from her wrists. "Cetus!"
The sea acted on its own accord, encompassing Percy once again in a protective vortex of water before he could finish processing what the woman had just said. He now stood a clean twenty feet out of the water, surrounded by a glowing case of white water that formed the same rough shape as himself, just a helluva lot bigger. It was about as close as he was going to get to being a Jaeger from that terrible action movie, Pacific Rim. Milliseconds later, the creature, now Cetus, appeared behind him, finally revealing itself.
Percy swiveled his water avatar around, and took in the horrid amalgamation of flesh. Its head was one of a greyhound, except scaled up to fit on top of the body of an adult blue whale. The colorful tail on its back fanned out like a peacock. Poseidon must have been in one hell of a bad mood when he constructed this monstrosity.
Cetus's massive snout growled, before leaping at him with impossible agility and speed. Something that big shouldn't have the ability to move that fast.
The avatar survived its first test, and Percy absorbed the impact of the shot with little problem by crossing his arms over his chest. Cetus landed back down with a decent flump, displacing tonnes of water in the process. Now it was Percy's turn to go on the offensive; he uncapped Riptide and its water counterpart appeared in the avatar's hand.
"His stomach!" The woman called out. "That's where he's weakest!"
Cetus seemed acutely aware of his supposed weakness, never allowing Percy a clean shot towards his underbelly. His whale hide was golden-fleece-like, and Percy's attacks did nothing but bounce off harmlessly.
As it turned out, Percy's power wasn't completely boundless in the water. Keeping the avatar active had become an increasingly exhausting task, and he had to focus most of his consciousness on making sure it stayed intact. The woman's constant jabbering wasn't helping out either.
"Good!" She exclaimed when Percy dodged an attack that almost took his avatar's head off, acting like she was the color commentator for the final fight of a UFC card. "Again!"
Cetus, on the other hand, had apparently just been warming up. The monster exploded outwards, roaring with rage and bringing most of the cove water with him. The combination of Cetus's brute force and the preceding tidal wave sent Percy tumbling backwards. The move almost knocked him out, and dots danced across his vision in disjointed loops as he struggled back up to his feet, which felt like he was trying to roll out of bed with a piano strapped to his shoulders.
Cetus was toying with him now, circling around like a vulture, and forcing Percy to exert more energy to keep him in front. The avatar was starting to shimmer and diminish in size, Percy didn't know how much longer he could last before he became chopped sea liver.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The three successive cracks ripped through the air, and Cetus groaned when the canon balls connected with the whites of his eyes. The score elicited taunts and jeers from the pirates, who had the look of the devil in their eyes as they prepared to fire again. The Black Pearl had arrived on the scene.
"We got your back, son!" Jack yelled from where he was standing on top of the mizzenmast, before pointing his cutlass at Cetus. "Come 'ere ya filthy bastard!"
Cetus, not taking kindly to pirates sudden intervention, slapped his tail against the water, sending a miniature tsunami their way. Percy countered the attack by generating his own to meet it, and the two waves clashed with each other before dissipating into a sea of foam. The move drained him of energy even more, and the avatar shrunk again.
Percy moved so that he was in between Cetus and the ship, and racked his brain trying to figure out a way to get Cetus to expose his stomach as the monster geared up for another attack. It looked as if Will was the one manning the wheel of the ship, and he was struggling to make her turn so that her canons were facing the right way.
"Closer!" Jack ordered from his perch. "Bring us closer!"
Percy realized that he had made a tactical mistake when they had rotated far enough that their backs were now facing the cliffside. They were now literally stuck in between a rock and a hard place, and the shallow water was threatening to ground the ship in place. Cetus, also realizing this, made his way past the spire, and sent another large wave that Percy was forced to counter.
The cliffside was very close behind them now, the separation between it and the hull of the ship was only a couple body lengths. He could feel the bottom of the ship scrapping against the jagged rocks. Percy continued to retreat backwards; Cetus, with his mouth wide open, continued advancing.
"Get out of the way!" Will yelled at Percy from the deck. "Canons are ready!"
Percy knew the moment he stepped out, the ship would be toast. He barely had enough energy to stand straight, yet alone deflect another attack. What he needed was some nectar injected into his veins, or maybe a ham and cheese sandwich.
From this point forward, everything happened in slow motion. Percy watched as Cetus leapt out of the water, aiming straight for him; and at the same time, the Black Pearl fired.
Using the last of his strength, Percy formed a protective shield, but Cetus broke through it with ease. He felt the cannonballs rip through his avatar, killing it and leaving him vulnerable as he fell back down towards the water. But the pirates had done him a favor, and Cetus soared cleanly over his head. Unfortunately for the pirates, Cetus was now barreling straight towards the bow with no intent on stopping.
Percy landed in the water just as Cetus simultaneously collided with the ship. The sound of cracking wood reverberated around the walls of the cove as the waves washed over Percy, renewing his stamina.
The Black Pearl was mortally wounded, it was as if somebody had bitten off the front half of the ship, its hull was starting to take in massive amounts of water. Cetus reemerged and let out an emphatic moan, the bowsprit of the ruined ship had lodged itself deep inside his stomach. The monster looked to be incapacitated, and started lumbering out of the cove in a staggered manner.
Percy was forced to make a choice, rush to save the ship, or go after Cetus and potentially finish him off. He went with the first, and concentrated using his powers to lift the ship back out of the water. Thankfully, the crew seemed to be alright, save for the couple that he had to pluck out of the water. As for Cetus, the monster had seemingly vanished.
"Wretched bastard!" Jack cursed as he stumbled across the splintered deck. "Doesn't know who he just messed with!"
"Percy." Will said, after checking to make sure that Elizabeth was alright. "The woman on the rock."
"Oh…" Percy looked towards the spire, to find the woman still hanging by her chain. Going off the look on her face, it was like she didn't even want to be rescued anymore.
Percy quickly zoomed across and used Riptide to free her from her bonds. She had dark brunette hair, and striking blue eyes that reminded him of Apollo's.
"Heroes." She grumbled audibly once they touched back down on the sands of the beach. "Can never trust them to do a job right."
"Excuse me, missy." Jack cooed with multiple layers of sass. "And who might you be?"
"Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus and wife to Perseus." She said monotonously, while wringing the water from her hair.
Percy's eyebrows shot up at the first and last words. Andromeda, the namesake of Luke's cruise ship; Perseus, his namesake.
"Well miss Andromeda, I think we'd all appreciate it if you went on your merry way." Jack made a shooing motion, which did nothing but make Will shake his head.
Andromeda peeked over Jack's shoulder, and let out a laugh. "And what about yourself? I doubt you'll be going anywhere with that broken ship of yours."
"We got a son of the Sea God here." Jack gave Percy a supportive slap on the shoulder, leaving Percy feeling a bit awkward. "He can handle it."
Andromeda turned to Percy with a curious expression. "A son of Poseidon… I should've figured as much, his children were always brash and compulsive."
"I don't like her." Jack said plainly. "Let's hang her back up."
Percy was tempted to agree with Jack, but he sided with his better judgement. She was here, might as well get some information out of her. "How long were you chained to the rock?"
Andromeda gave his question some thought, tapping her finger against her temple as she did so. "Ever since the heart of the flame moved to the west. As for exactly how long it has been, I'm not sure. Time works differently in places like this."
She was right about the time aspect. The Sun was already beginning to descend, meaning that he had supposedly spent almost the entire day fighting Cetus, even though their fight felt like it had lasted fifteen minutes.
They left Andromeda to do whatever her heart desired, and went to work on trying to patch up the Cetus-sized hole in the ship. Unlike the first time Percy had to fix the ship, they now had an ample supply of extra wood from the surrounding forest, making the job a lot easier.
By nightfall their task had been completed, and the Black Pearl was floating on its own in the cove, looking a bit wonky at some ends but serviceable nonetheless. As the entire crew began to board, Percy noticed Andromeda staying behind on the beach, far away from the rest of them.
"Are you not coming?" Percy asked hesitantly as he approached where she was sitting by the shore.
Andromeda shook her head sorrowfully, and threw a rock into the lapping waves. "By ancient law, I am still bound here. Cetus is not dead, and he will be back in the morning to chain me to the rock, like I was before."
Percy was at a loss for words. Sure, she wasn't the most likable person to be around, but being held captive by a monster probably would've made him irritable as well. "Then we'll stay the night here, and fight him again tomorrow."
"You heroes, always trying to do the right thing." Andromeda stared Percy directly in the eyes, and Percy could see why she had been one of the most sought after women of her time. She truly was beautiful. "You're on a quest, are you not? No hero dares step foot into the Sea of Monsters, unless there's a good reason."
Percy nodded his head, and was about to speak before Andromeda cut him off.
"No need to get into the specifics of whatever you are doing." Andromeda was back to throwing her rocks. "But I must warn you, being in these waters, you are a double-edged sword. Your powers may be extraordinary, but your scent is like a beacon for all monsters. Every one of them will be clamoring for the chance to say that they killed a son of Poseidon. Now go, and be careful."
And with those final words, Percy made his way back to the ship alone, and on to the upper decks. The pirates, mainly Will and Elizabeth, gave him confused glances but didn't push the subject. The sails were soon hoisted into position, and the Black Pearl slipped her way out into the night.
Author's Note:
First of all I want to thank lildrummerboi for basically becoming the beta for this story, his insight is just as incredible as his stories. If you haven't checked him out yet, do so. You're missing out.
For my older readers who might be confused, I combined the original two chapters into one chapter, so this is the new second chapter, but third overall update. As for the length of the story, originally it was going to be a three-shot, but now it's going to be a bit longer, as per the one week voyage mentioned in the first chapter.
I found an annoying little plothole while I was writing this. Canonically, the heart of the flame moved to the west in 1860, which is obviously a bit after when this story is taking place. Let's all just pretend the heart of the flame moved to the west in like... the 1600s or something, ok? Cool.
I started another story as well that I'll be updating sporadically, called Percy Ex Machina. It's a one-shot collection of random OP!Percy moments in crossover universes, so I guess abbreviated versions of what I got going on over here. Check it out if you want.
Thank you for all the feedback I've gotten so far, I tried to respond to all of them privately, but if I missed you I'm sorry. Take care, and see you all soon.