Chapter 8

"TO THE FIELDS!"

Chirons voice echoed through the air as the campers rushed off with loud cheers.

Percy was one of the first gone, though he didn't see the point in running.

The boy had picked out a decent enough sword, though he still felt like something was missing. It simply just wasn't made for him.

Percy wasted no time in scanning the battle field, envisioning his plan. He had never been on this side of the creek, but it more or less looked the same as Drew's description.

He saw his team gather with Clarisse at the front. He quickly filed in to hear the the girl had to say.

"Listen up runts!" She started loudly. "I'm taking these two with me, and I don't care what you do after that. Just don't get in my way!" She said walking off as two of her siblings followed.

Percy scoffed. He knew she was strong, but didn't see why she insisted on doing everything by herself.

"You gonna let them in on the plan?"

Percy's head whipped around, and he was surprised to see Drew. Not so much because she was there, but because she was kitted with some light leather armor and a short celestial bronze sword.

Somehow, the daughter of Aphrodite still managed to look good in the gear.

"I mean, the games about to start." She said with a giggle.

The boy nodded, as he knew now was the time to talk to his team, before Clarisse got too far.

"Hey everybody, listen up." Said Drew, and immediately the entire red team whipped their heads around.

Percy was slightly impressed. The team had been talking pretty loudly, yet they all listened to Drew at a moments notice. He gave her a slight nod of appreciation, which she beamed in response to.

Percy flashed a sinister smile to his team, waving them forward so they could hear. No one spoke as they listened, completely surprised that such a young boy could come up with a scheme like this.

The game was soon started by the sounding of the conch horn.

"We move out, blue team!" Yelled Luke, leading his teams charge. He smiled to himself, barely able to wait to see what Percy had in store.

No matter what it was though, it couldn't stop him.

Once his group started to near the creek, he slowed down. "Ok team, be wary. I don't know what they have planned, but it's going to be big!

With that in the back of your mind, let's move ou-..." Luke trailed off as he turned around to see something truly confusing directly in front of him.

"What are you doing here?"

Percy smiled playfully as he span his sword around in his hand.

"What do you mean? I'm obviously here to stop y'all." Replied the boy with trickery seeping through his voice.

Luke hesitated as he was puzzled.

He didn't expect this.

"Does he really want to take on all of us at once?" Said a Hermes boy from behind.

"He must be crazy." Said another from Athena.

Luke raised his hand, silencing them.

"Don't worry about this guys, I'll handle him by myself." He said with a cocky smile as he readied his sword. "And once I do, we'll continue our charge!"

Percy's smile only grew widened, though there was nothing joyful about it. Luke, being perceptive, hesitated once again.

"He had to have something in mind." He thought to himself. Deciding to trust his instincts, he turned back momentarily to his forces.

"Annabeth." He said.

The girl perked up. "Here!"

"Take half the Athena cabin and flank around the left. Don't stray too far, but go unnoticed." He said.

The girl nodded, and a second later her and her squad ran off away from the creek.

Percy watched this with a slight frown. He didn't expect Luke to be so cautious, but decided that it was a slight mistake on his part.

In the end though, it wouldn't really matter.

His smile returned.

"Are you ready?" He said, pointing his blade at Luke.

Luke matched his energy. "Of course!" He said, getting cheers from his team.

"Teach em, Luke!"

Show him who's boss!"

Luke used the support to boost his confidence, walking forward to face Percy. After the two got into their stances, they nodded, and their fight began.

Luke adopted the role of the aggressor, applying as much pressure as he could within the first couple of seconds. He didn't know how good Percy had gotten as he had never seen him go 100%, but he knew that he could for sure secure a win if he drained his stamina.

He may have been a quick learner, but there was no way his endurance could match Luke's.

Percy quickly realized Luke's angle, and opted to stop attacking as much. It wasn't like any of the blows landed, after all.

Though he knew he was outmatched for now, he still never backed down, fighting like a seasoned pro.

Despite his confidence, Luke was still a little off put by the way Percy fought.

No matter what he threw at him, Percy never seemed surprised, responding instantly.

"What is he thinking?"

Luke slashed forward with all of his might, causing Percy to stumble backwards. Instead of pouncing though, he took a step back to think things through.

"Cmon Luke, stop messing with him!" Called a voice from behind. The rest of the squad muttered in agreement.

Luke however, wasn't paying attention. No matter how cocky he was, he wouldn't rush into battle just to get embarrassed.

Percy mentally grinned to himself. He realized he was having a bit too much fun with this, but didn't seem to care.

"Cmon Luke. The people are waiting."

Luke gripped his blade harder and stared Percy down seriously. Without a word, he ran forward with his sword reared back.

Just before he could reach striking distance though, Percy surprised him.

"Y'know what, I decided I don't want to fight you." He said tauntingly.

"Huh?"

Before Luke could get what was happening, Percy did a complete 360, running off with his back exposed to Luke.

Luke quickly snapped back into things.

"Hey where are you going?" He said, but Percy was on the move. He growled.

"Cmon! Let's go after him!" Said Luke, already running towards the boy.

"AHH!" Yelled the group as the too rushed forward, swords raised and ready to dismantle the demigod.

Percy smiled slightly to himself.

"Perfect."

With the creek in sight, Luke and his men were confident in their attack. Take out one of the best fighters on red team, and rush the flag.

Because of this self confidence, they never expected an attack from above.

"Now!" Yelled out Percy, seemingly to himself.

Luke was confused at first, but he didn't stop running. This would be one of his first mistakes.

It wasn't a moment after Percy spoke when his teammates responded. From the trees, a rain of arrows completely caught Luke and his men off guard.

"GAH!" Yelled out there leader as a blunt arrow hit him directly in his arm. It may not have pierced him, but a few of those would render his hand unusable for days.

The arrows didn't let up, forcing Luke's team to slow down. With this, Percy was able to run off with his tracks covered.

Luke growled as he watched his team struggle to protect themselves.

"Was this his plan? Lead us on to ambush them?" Luke thought. It was smart, no denying that, but it would take much more than some arrows to get rid of Luke.

"Fall back!" He called out to his squad, and they did so, avoiding the hellfire, but losing their ground.

There were slight cheers from the trees, and even Percy himself gave a genuine smile.

He didn't know how good he would be at convincing Luke to fight him, but it had worked surprisingly well. That said, he should've expected the boy to send of a separate group.

He had no doubt that Chase would try her best to mess up his plans, but he wasn't worried. After all, things had gone well so far.

The boy ran throughout the woods as fast as possibly, almost tripping over his own feet. Though the Apollo kids had worked as a diversion, it wouldn't be long before Luke realized exactly what the boy had done.

Percy hopped over a log and was happy to see the flag still perched atop a rock. With a little struggle, he raised himself up, and sat down, relaxed on the stone.

The boy leaned on his sword, relaxing slightly.

Things were going good for now, but he expected that. But still, he couldn't get too comfortable. The best part had yet to come.

It had to have been at least 5 minutes before Percy sensed a person coming. He tensed up, but didn't make it visible. He'd let the intruder think he was careless.

Percy stretched outwards, feigning at ignorance. He'd have to time things right if he wanted this to work.

Confirming his suspicions, Percy heard the faintest pitter behind him, letting him know he was not alone. To be fair to the newcomer though, the noise had almost gone unnoticed.

Percy took a deep breath.

He reached down slowly, and grabbed a handful of dirt. Percy thought to himself,

"Here goes nothing."

Percy shot upwards as fast as possible and lunched his hand forward. The crumbled dirt flew out and stopped midway through the air.

"Agh!" Yelled a feminine voice.

Percy watched as the dirt covered an invisible figure, but allowed him to get a rough estimate of the person's outline.

Without hesitation, he jabbed the hilt of sword in the middle of the dirt, landing a hit on the invisible intruder.

Percy watched as the dirt moved, and a second later the annoying daughter of Athena appeared. Annabeth hit the ground as her Yankees hat flew off to the ground below.

Percy had only been warned of the magical item a couple of hours before the match, and was glad. If he had let the girl get the jump on him with it, the plan would've been doomed.

But because he was ready, he was able to use Annabeths confidence to his advantage. He knew the girl would want to sneak her way to get the flag, and pretended like he was oblivious.

He determined that though the hat made her unseeable, if he was to somehow mark her he'd be able to land a hit. And with the dirt covering her clothes, he did just that.

Percy raised his sword up above his head. He looked down at the demigod below him, and decided he would savor this moment.

Percy swung his hilt down above the girls leg, enough to put her out for at least an hour. The boy was surprised though, when Annabeth eyes locked on to him.

He felt his heart jump a little when they made eye contact. He clamped down hard on his sword and went even faster.

Annabeth, not one to give up, shot her hand out before the boys blade reached her. Instead of grabbing the base however, she grabbed Percy's wrist.

The boys eyes went wide, and before he could react Annabeth swung him above her head. Percy landed on his neck, and folded immediately. He could've passed out right there.

With a huff, he pushed himself up as qucikly as possible and raised his sword. Annabeth too was ready, a fierce look in her eyes as she held her knife.

It was then when Percy realized he had never actually seen the girl fight. He knew she was competent, but that was the extent of it. He guessed how would be the best time to see just how good she was.

Mentally the boy noted that the flag was currently behind the girl, and she definitely knew it to. He decided that she didn't think she could take the flag and run before he caught her, which made things easier for him.

Without saying a word, Annabeth launched herself forward and slashed her knife upwards. Percy was a little caught off guard, but was able to parry it easily.

The girl attacked once more and hooked her blade around Percy's own, confusing him. Before he could asses what was happening, he felt the girl pull her hand back, dragging Percy's blade out his hand.

Percy's eyes went wide, and he desperately lunged forward to grab his sword, only to take a knee up the chest.

"Oof!"

The boy stumbled back as he struggled to not loose his breath. He was a second away from tumbling off the rock when his head started to pound.

Percy blinked, and when he opened his eyes, it was as if everything became clearer. Percy had always been good at keeping track of all the little things in a fight, but now every little move Annabeth made became obvious.

His gaze dropped to see Annebeths blade a inch away from his cheek. Without much thinking, Percy felt his body shift backward. The blade continued its path, and thankfully only left Percy with a small cut that leaked down his face.

With his face out of danger, Percy capitalized on this moment of slow motion. Without a weapon, Percy resorted to the next best thing.

Percy reared back his fist, and before Annabeth could recover he swung.

He watched as the girls eyes went wide. "How did he dodge that." She though too herself in a panic.

Without many options, Annabeth resorted to raising her shoulder upwards to take the blow instead of her face, though it'd still hurt.

Percy hit the girl with a surprising amount of strength for such a previously scrawny kid. Annabeth immediately lost her balance and hit the ground with a thud.

She tried her best to get up and recover, but Percy had already picked up his blade and placed the tip below the girls chin.

There was a moment of silence before Annabeth spoke. "I just had to lose to you." She said exasperated.

Percy was beaming in his mind, but didn't let the girl know that. He wasn't done just yet.

The boy walked over to the girl and grabbed her by the collar, not too gently. After confiscating her knife, he dragged her over the grass and plopped her down, away from the flag.

Annabeth scowled. "You think I'm done with you!" She said starting to get up.

She was stopped in her tracks by two swords crossing over her chest, forcing her in place. Her head whipped around to see two Aphrodite kids who had apparently appeared out of nowhere.

"You didn't think I was protecting the flag by myself, now did you? Cmon Athena, you gotta do better then that." Said Percy as he turnt around.

Annabeth flinched, disliking the fact that he was using "Athena" as an insult.

"Though you did come close with that last knife swing. Y'know, it almost felt like you were trying to kill le for a second there." He said casually which just pissed her off even more.

Though he acted confident, Percy really didn't know how he dodged the attack. He attributed it to his ADHD and moved on.

"Throwing dirt? That's low, even for you."

Percy shrugged as he turned back around. "You were invisible, not much else I could do.

Though of course, I had expected it."

Annabeth squinted at him. "You think you've won? Because you haven't."

Percy smirked for the first time.

"That's where your wrong, Athena." He said.

"You think Luke's gonna get stopped by Apollo kids? They may have a nice shot, but they won't hold him forever. Also stop calling me Athena!"

Percy laughed slightly. "Your right, the Apollo kids won't be able to deal with him. That's why I only sent two of them."

Annabeths eyes went wide. "What?!"

"It's like you said, I know what Luke's capable of. Instead of sacrificing the entire Apollo cabin, I only sent two to cover my back.

Once Luke realizes that, he'll take care of them and come rushing here."

Annabeth squirmed a bit in her constraints, trying avoid the blades at her neck.

"So what was the point if you knew what was going to happen. Luke'll be here in minutes, and there's nothing even you can do about that."

Just as the girl finished, there was yelling from the direction of the creek. Percy smiled.

"What was that?!" Asked Annabeth.

"I told you, all of this was meant to be."

The boy turned around and continued talking.

"Aphrodite." He said, referencing the two love children guarding the girl currently. "Make sure she doesn't get out. No one should be able to come and help her, but she's a tricky one.

But Annabeth, I just want you to know...

Athena may always have a plan, but I'll always have a way to counter it." He said, and with those words he hopped off the small hill, out of the girls line of vision.

She squirmed uncomfortably, wondering what the kid had planned.

Percy went through the woods, though this time with less urgency as before. If the screams before were what he thought, then he didn't have any reason to rush.

Percy slowed down as he reached the creek, and mentally smiled as he saw what he had caused.

All over the clearing was the remnants of the major bulk of blue team. Wether it was kids knee deep in the running water or kids in tree's, they were all out of commission.

You see, this wasn't something caused by any camper on the red team, but an outside force.

No one knew exactly why Percy knew this, but the capture the flag battle ground was actually highly populated with nature spirits.

This had been the case for the longest, though said spirits never came out during the games. However, Percy had decided he would use them to his advantage.

Only a couple hours before the start of the game, Percy had came to scope out the battle field with Drew. After getting familiar with the layout, he came into contact with the nature spirits.

After a long back and forth, Drew had stepped in, and using her Charm Speak she had convinced them all in only a couple of seconds (to Percy's annoyance) to join his cause, though he couldn't complain as that was her whole purpose in this battle.

The plan had been simple for the spirits. All they were asked to do was cause a ruckus as soon as Luke's squad tried to cross the creek, but they did much more than that.

As soon as the demigods had stepped foot in their territory, the nature spirits wreaked havoc the moment Drew gave them the word.

The waters had sprayed forward and tree roots shot out, wrapping around certain demigods and sweeping through the rest.

Percy was honestly impressed.

"Hey Percy." Said a upbeat voice from behind.

Percy turned around to see Drew, beaming at him with a smile.

"I did just what you asked! I even got them to take out Luke." She said almost bouncing up and down.

Percy's eyes scanned once more, and sure enough there was Luke.

Percy wasn't even sure he was conscious. He was completely laid out flat on his back with his head resting in a pile of mud.

The worst part was that he wasn't even the worst off out of everyone there.

Percy turned back to the girl.

"Yeah, you did good." He said with genuine gratitude. The boy placed his hand on the girls and patted down a couple times, almost as if he wasn't 2 years younger then the girl.

Drew seemed surprised for a moment, not even responding as Percy turned around and started to walk off.

"Oh umm, thanks!" Said the girl, recovering from her shock. Had Percy Jackson just gave her an actually compliment?

She wasn't one to get flustered, but when Percy had touched her she had felt something different. She struggled to hide her blush.

Percy walked off with his sword tucked on his hip. Drew had done much more than he had asked for, and the Apollo kids had their job as well.

It was finally time for Percy to do his part.

"Good luck Percy!" Yelled Drew from behind like a celebrities loving fan.

Percy smiled despite himself. For a girl who liked to act all high and mighty, Drew wasn't too bad. She had even ended up contributing in the battle.

Percy decided that he'd stay in touch with her even after capture the flag, as she could be useful in the future.

But that'd have to wait. Percy's priority right now was to finish off what he started.

With that in mind, the demigod broke into a full on sprint. He was pretty sure that all of the others teams forces were either wiped out or fighting Percy's team, meaning he shouldn't encounter too many people on this side of the border.

Percy doubted that Annabeth would set up guards due to her overconfidence. The only thing that mattered to Percy though was that he hadn't met Theo yet.

He knew Annabeth would use him as bait, and this was confirmed when Clarisse went off by herself, probably to deal with his brother. He wasn't too worried about Theo, but he would've liked to have Clarisse on the front lines.

He was too busy thinking about all the little things about the fight, and was caught off guard when a blade appeared in front of him from the right.

Percy's watched the sword reach his eye level, but for some reason he wasn't worried.

With all the time in the world, Percy simply ducked his head downwards and slid forward, ducking the blade with plenty of space. At least relatively so.

Percy slid through the dirt before whipping around with his blade ready. He didn't know who tried to sneak up on him, but he'd make them pay for wasting his time.

You couldn't imagine his delight when he saw who it was.

"Malcom."

The son of Athena squirmed a bit, but held his sword steady.

"How did you get past Luke?" He asked, obviously uncomfortable.

"You have other things to worry about." Percy said, and without another word he ran forward.

Malcom seemed surprised, and was barely able to deflect the first attack.

Percy smirked. Malcom was skilled, but he was obviously nervous.

Percy jabbed forward towards Malcoms chest. He parried and returned the gesture. Using a move Luke had taught his class, Percy hit the hilt of his blade and disarmed him in a single move.

Malcom's blade fell to the ground, but Percy wasn't done just yet. He wasn't the most honorable, but he would have to finish his end of the deal with Drew.

Defenseless, Malcom could do nothing as Percy went to finish him off with the flat of his blade, crushing hit chest and sending him into the floor.

Malcom coughed out as the air was knocked out of him.

Percy stood still for a moment as he watched the boy struggle to get back up. He cringed slightly, but he had to see it through.

Slowly, Percy hovered his blade above the boys arm. After a fruitless plea for help from Malcolm, Percy stabbed forward, cutting a gash through his arm.

"AHH!" The boy yelled out in pain, clutching his already blood soaked arm.

Percy's face darkened as he prepared to finish this off. He wasn't the cruelest, but he managed to stop himself from feeling bad for the kid.

Deciding to go easy on the boy, Percy opted to simply bruising up his leg. Percy raised his sword up, and crashed down with the base of sword onto the boys leg.

Percy ignored his cry as he turned around. The blow had probably broken his leg, or at least severely damaged it. Either way, Malcolm wouldn't be getting back up.

Percy quietly scowled at himself. He had taken too long, he needed to finish this quick. He also wasn't too fond of Chiron finding him with the boy like this.

Percy ran off from the site with a slight struggle as his abs had started to ache. It was probably due to Annabeth's kick, but the even brief fight with Malcom had made it worse.

He was happy to see the blue teams flag perched upon a stack of logs. Percy quickly retrieved the flag and made his way back to his side of the creek.

Percy's head stayed on a swivel. He was confident in his plan, but he was worried that things were too quiet.

Had his team been wiped out? We're they waiting to ambush him? It was entirely possible that Annabeths group had taken care of Ares and the rest of Apollo, though it was unlikely.

He was extremely surprised to find that there was in fact no one waiting to kill him. The boy walked past the creek barrier, and just like that, red team had won.

Yet there was no one in sight.

Not even Drew was waiting for him with a bright smile, something he didn't think he'd want so much. Percy was starting to wonder what exactly was going on when a light appeared from somewhere around him.

After frantically searching for the source, he was surprised to see it was coming from directly above him.

"What?"

Theo was shaking as he slowly got up from the ground, his chest bleeding heavily. A hellhound, Annabeth had called it. The fiery red wolf had lunged from the woods and landed on the boy.

On instinct, he swiped his sword upwards to slash off one of its legs, but that didn't stop it from ravaging his exposed body with the rest of its assets.

The only reason Theo had survived was because of Clarisse knocking it off him and Chiron filling it with arrows.

"Preciate it." Theo breathed out, though even that was a struggle.

Clarisse only grunted. They hadn't even finished their battle, yet the game was over. She was more annoyed that her fight was interrupted by the hound, as opposed to her caring about Theo.

Percy tried to get up, but fell right back down due to his injuries. Somehow Annabeth made it to his side and caught him before he fell forward. "Thanks." He said. Theo did his best to avoid looking at his chest, and he couldn't be blamed.

At this point all the campers had gathered to see what was going on, and even Chiron had made his way over.

Annabeth saw this as the perfect opportunity to test a theory she had had in the back of her mind ever since the bathroom incident.

"Theo, step into the water." She said.

"What?"

"Just do it!" She said frantically, scared that he would die before he could make it.

The boy didn't see the point, but he took a step back into the creek. "Chiron, watch this."

Theo stepped into water and immediately he was able to stand on his own. The boy said nothing, only finding the whole thing fascinating. He watched as his previously lethal wounds had fixed himself, due to some kind of magic, he thought at least.

Theo was about to ask what was going on when a blue haze appeared in front of him, lighting up the faces of all the campers. A moment later, they all took a knee, even Chiron in his horse form.

"Wha- what?" Asked the boy.

"It has been decided. Theseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, god of storms, earthquakes and the sea." He said solemnly. He almost looked sad for the demigod.

Theo looked around, completely confused on what was happening. He was about to voice his thoughts when he locked onto something behind all the campers that was much more important to him.

"Hey guys? Does anyone know what this means?"

All the campers as well Chiron turned around to see the newcomer. They all were shocked to see what was above the head of Perseus Jackson, not even caring about the blue flag planted not far behind him.

Hovering above the head of the young demigod was something not a single person could expect.

"Di Immortalis..." whispered Luke under his breath. He never expected things to play out like this.

"All hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Hermes, god of travelers, messengers, cunning, and thieves."

He said, though he couldn't stop the faltering in his voice or the waver of his legs. Not only were the brothers not of the same godly parent, but there was something strange about the claiming of Percy.

The usual sign of Hermes was obviously his caduceus. Usually, it would shine with a grey-ish white color above the claimed, but that was not the case tonight.

Instead of white, Percy's claiming sign was a deep amber like gold color, that almost looked blood red in the night sky. This alone was enough to shock even Chiron. Something like this had never happened before.

Had Hermes made a mistake? No that wasn't it. No god would make a mistake about claiming there child.

Chiron tried his best to keep his thoughts to himself, as he knew the campers would be even more confused then himself.

"That boy is no normal demigod."

I left a single sentence in here that really captures Percy's character (in a bad way). Lmk if y'all find it, lol.

Btw, it's not him referring to demigods by their parents name (like the way he calls Annabeth, "Athena"). But that is actually something important about him.

Hoped y'all enjoyed the chapter though, feel free to review.