Chapter 20

Start with the basics

Camp Half-Blood

Dean met Chiron by the sandpit where there were training dummies.

"I'm here bright and early like you asked" Dean said.

"Good, now we can begin" Chiron said giving him a sword and shield.

"I thought I could chose my own style of fighting" Dean said.

"You will, after you've mastered the ones I teach you" Chiron said.

"But wouldn't it be better if I practiced my own style so I'm better at it?" Dean asked.

"Before you create your own way you must learn the proper way" Chiron said.

Dean sighed, "Fine, you're the expert after all"

"Take the sword but leave the shield for now" Chiron said.

Dean picked up the short sword, it was significantly heavier than he would have thought considering his strength. It was dual edged and glimmering bronze. He never saw metal shine like that, "This thing is heavy. What is it?"

"The sword is Celestial Bronze. Now attack the dummy, let's see what you can do on your own" Chiron said.

"What bronze?" Dean said in confusion as he slashed and stabbed at the dummy.

Chiron observed his technique carefully, "Celestial Bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes', tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, and cooled in the river Lethe. It's deadly to monsters and to any creature from the Underworld. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. And I should warn you, as a demigod, you can be killed by either enchanted or normal weapons"

Dean finished by cutting the dummy in half with one swift attack. Even though the weapon was heavy he still managed to use it properly.

"I see you know the basics, you've had some training" Chiron noticed.

"Only a little" Dean added.

"Yes, you're not perfect. You dropped your guard a couple of times" Chiron mentioned.

"I did?" Dean asked.

"Don't worry, we'll fix that in time. Since you already have experience with a single sword let's move on to sword and shield" Chiron said.

Dean picked up the shield which was a lot heavier than the sword, 'You can handle this' he hyped himself up and started to swing his sword, "What are enchanted weapons?"

"Raise your shield" He pointed out as he practiced, "Weapons that are either made from special metals like celestial bronze or are augmented with magic"

Dean made a conscious effort to keep his shield up, "What special metals are there?"

"Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Stygian Iron, and Adamantine" Chiron said.

Dean slashed low going for the dummy's feet, "You mean adamantium?"

"The metals are similar but Adamantine is simply….holier" Chiron said.

"Ok" Dean stabbed the torso of the dummy, "What about monsters? Do they still exist?"

"Yes they still exist. Monsters can be killed but they don't have souls like mortals. Eventually over time they will reform and return" Chiron said.

"So how come nobody has noticed these monsters lurking around?" Dean asked.

"The Mist is a powerful thing. When you thrust forward try putting your body behind it" Chiron said.

"Mist?" Dean asked as he listened to his instruction.

"Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You would have noticed some things but you were unaware of this world that is why you couldn't see any before. But now you will see things just as they are, being a demigod, but humans will interpret things differently. The mist can even be manipulated with proper training" Chiron said.

"Sounds useful" Dean said.

"In time you'll learn to use it'" Chiron said.

At the Institute

For the first time in a while Scott was actually enjoying some quality time with Jean.

They were sitting by the cliff above the water. They were playing a game they invented when they first arrived at the Institute.

Jean would practice her telekinesis by throwing a rock and Scott would practice using his optic beams to hit it. It was a fun way to gain better control over their powers when they were younger.

Jean levitated a small rock, "It's been a while since we did this" she sent it flying.

Scott lowered his visor and vaporized it, "Yeah brings back memories right?"

"Yeah" Jean frowned, "Not all good ones though"

"You can say that again" Scott said agreeing.

Flashback

Scott opened his eyes and gasped, "Mom, Dad" he said out loud. He noticed a man standing right in front of him.

"Shhhhhh" he came up to Scott and pat him on the back, "Its ok son. You're fine" the man said.

"Where am I?" Scott asked looked around.

"You're in the hospital" the man said. "I'm Dr. Brooks, I've been—"

"I want to see my parents. Please, where are they?!" he asked.

Dr. Brooks put his hands on Scott's shoulders, "Scott, you need to calm down, okay? I'll explain everything. Now tell me the last thing you remember"

"My family…we were getting on a plane. We were in Alaska and…I don't remember what happened" Scott said.

"You were in an accident, a plane crash" Dr. Brooks explained.

"Where are my parents!? Where's Alex!?" Scott pleaded.

Dr. Brooks' face darkened, "I'm afraid your brother and your parents were not found"

Scott's eyes widen, "But—But me and Alex had parachutes, I made sure I opened Alex's before mine"

"I'm sorry Scott but we didn't find him" Dr. Brooks said.

"No! He has to be alive, I know it. He can't be" Scott got out of bed and fell on the floor due to his legs being too numb.

Dr. Brooks helped him up, "I'm afraid he had no choice Scott"

"Why?" Scott asked.

Dr. Brooks sighed, "Listen Scott, you've been asleep for a long time. We thought we lost you"

"How long?" Scott asked.

"6 months" Scott's eyes widened with shock.

A few years later at the Omaha meadows orphanage

Scott walked out of the building and into the cold winter weather.

As he was walking some jocks purposely bumped into him.

The bigger one came back and stood in Scott's way, "Tough guy, huh, Summers?"

Scott tried to keep on walking but his path was blocked by the other guy, "You trying to start something?"

"Just leave me alone guys" Scott said.

"What?" the big one grabbed Scott by the coat, "You started it" he pushed him into the jock behind him.

"What's the matter? Can't back it up?" the other one said before pushing him back into the bigger one.

The bigger one then punched Scott in the back making him fall, "Do something about it, punk"

Scott grunted in pain.

"Come on man let's see it" the jockey said before kicking Scott in the head knocking him into the mud.

They started laughing at him.

Scott formed a fist in his hand and his eyes started to glow red, "I said leave me alone!" a red optic blast came out of his eyes blasting the bigger one into the air. He landed rock hard on the pavement.

Scott's eyes widened in shock and started to turn back to their normal color.

"Oh man, oh man" the second one said. He backed away, "What are you? Are you some kind of monster?" he ran away.

"No. No, I'm not. Wait! Help me!" Scott yelled. He then clutched his head from the sudden jolt of pain and he grunts, "AH!" he yelled as he opened his eyes, red once more, a huge optic beam hit the orphanage splitting it in half.

Scott closed his eyes, holding back the energy, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

A few months later

Scott was sitting inside some kind of mental institution, inside his cell he sat with a blindfold over his eyes.

A man spoke from outside his cell, "Hello, Scott"

"Who's there?" Scott asked as the cell door opened and in came rolling a bald man in a wheelchair, but Scott couldn't see this.

"My name is Charles Xavier. I understand you're frightened, but all is not lost. This is the first day of a very important journey in your life" Charles said.

Scott didn't answer.

"Scott, I know what you're going through" Charles said.

"No, you don't. I'm a monster" Scott muttered.

"If you are" 'Then so am I' Scott heard the man's voice inside his head. 'At one time my telepathy was uncontrollable. I heard everyone's thoughts. I couldn't shut them out, couldn't think' "I was losing my mind" he said out loud.

"What changed?" Scott asked.

"I learned that my abilities could be controlled, as can yours" Charles goes to remove the blindfold.

"Don't!" Scott said.

"Just keep your eyes closed" Charles removed the blindfold and replaced it with a red visor, "Now look at me"

"No, I can't" Scott refused to.

"It's alright, I promise. Just open your eyes" Charles reassured him.

Scott did so and when he did everything looked red. He looked around the room until he was staring at the man.

"Now Scott, I'd like to take you away from here. To a place where you can see how truly special you are" Charles said.

At the Institute

Scott exited from the danger room all soaked in water from the simulation, Charles waiting outside for him.

"I don't know why you even brought me here" Scott said while trying to get the water out of his uniform.

"You're too hard on yourself, Scott. This will all take time" Charles said.

"You're wrong about me. I'm not cut out to be an X-man" Scott said.

Charles smirked, "Tell you what, that's enough training for today. Go dry off and we'll take a little drive"

On the road

"Where are we going?" Scott asked now wearing a more casual red visor.

"To meet a special friend of mine" Charles said.

He turned left and what Scott saw amazed him, floating cars, "Whoa" Scott said.

"Indeed" Charles said.

They came to a stop outside a nice home and were let in by a middle aged man.

"Charles" The man said abruptly before giving out his hand.

"Good morning, John" Charles shook his hand.

"I'll fetch Jean" John said going upstairs.

Scott leaned closer to the Professor, "Him?" he asked.

The man came back down but this time with someone else, "No, her" Charles said.

Scott noticed who Charles was taking about and his jaw dropped. He saw a beautiful young girl about his age, with red hair and green eyes wearing a pink shirt.

Charles turned his attention to the young girl, "Hello, Jean"

Jean stayed silent behind her father.

"I'd like you both to meet a student of mine, Scott Summers" Scott shook John's hand.

"Jean how are you feeling?" Charles asked.

John bumped in, "You saw what's going on outside. She's a mess"

"Can you tell me why?" Charles said.

"It's because of your old friend Eric. He came to visit her" John said.

"What did he say?" Charles asked.

"I don't know. She got scared and ran inside. She won't talk about it" John said.

"You must understand, this changes everything" Charles said.

Jean moved away from her father so she wasn't directly behind him so she could look at Scott.

Scott noticed this.

"What does he want?" John said.

Jean sent Scott a warm smile.

"He wants her on his side" Charles said.

Scott returned the warm smile.

"Eric is trying to assemble an army of powerful mutants" Charles said.

"Does that mean he'll come back for her?" John asked.

"Most assuredly. And next time he won't ask first. He'll just take her" Charles said.

"Jean won't let him" John put his arm around Jean's shoulder and lead her to the couch.

"She may not be able to stop him. John…I need more time with her. My weekly visits aren't enough. I'd like Jean to come and stay at the institute" Charles said.

"No, she's too young" John said.

"But you can't protect her like I can" Charles said.

Jean put her hand on her dad's shoulder, "Dad, I'd like to go with them"

End Flashback

After that they became best friends. Jean was there for him when no one else was. She made him forget about his own troubles. So why can't he seal the deal with her already? It's been almost two years since that day. Dean was really starting to replace Duncan, at least in his eyes. Why couldn't he ever just catch a break with Jean? It isn't like he hasn't been patient enough.

"Who was that guy anyways?" Scott asked.

"I don't know, I never asked the Professor. Come to think of it, I haven't thought about that man in a long time. Not since the Professor put those mental blocks in my head to suppress my power" Jean said.

"You think he tried to make you forget?" Scott thought of the possibility.

"Even if he did, which I doubt, I'd rather not remember him. He always creeped me out" Jean said.

"Well at least things got better" Scott said looking on the bright side.

"They did" Jean agreed, "We have a better handle on our powers now"

"You do, I still don't" Scott reminded her.

"Scott you'll learn to control it eventually" Jean always tried to give him hope.

"If it wasn't for that damn plane crash" Scott said. He suffered a head injury that messed up his powers and on top of that lost his little brother. That's a day he won't ever forget.

"Hey" Jean pat him on the back, "That's in the past, there's no point in getting all worked up for nothing"

Scott felt better, Jean had that effect on him.

"And speaking of memories remember the older members?" Jean asked levitating a rock and throwing it.

"Yeah back when we were the newbies" Scott said as he shot it with an optic blast, "When Thunderbird was the group leader"

"He was pretty good too" Jean had to admit.

"Yeah, like Logan's second in command. I've never seen him so proud of a student before" Scott said.

"Dazzler was fun too" Jean said.

"But useless without any sound to use her powers" Scott said.

"She was a broken leg at times. But Agni made up for her" Jean said.

"What about Emma?" Scott asked.

Jean made a sour face, "What about Emma?" Jean was mostly a nice person who didn't like to hold grudges. But there was one person on this earth that she hated with a passion, Emma Frost.

"She was a good teammate" Scott said.

"Are you kidding? She was so selfish and egotistical. I never liked her" Jean said honestly.

"She was nice to me" Scott said not feeling the same way. Although in his defense, unbeknownst to Jean, they did go out for a while so his opinion is a little bias.

Camp Half-Blood

Hours later Dean was still practicing with Chiron.

"You can stop" Chiron said.

Dean dropped his weapons and sat down panting. Swinging around a sword for hours at a time was tiring.

"I must say I'm impressed with your determination" Chiron admitted. He never stopped once regardless of how tired he was.

Dean finally caught his breath, "I'm just motivated to reach my goal"

"And what goal is that?" Chiron wondered.

"To be the best fighter in the world" Dean said standing up.

Chiron could see how serious he was, "Well then, you have a long way to go. Continue practicing forms I, III, and IV. I'll be back momentarily" he left.

Dean picked up his weapons and continued practicing.

Chiron joined Mr. D.

"How does my little brother fair?" Mr. D asked drinking from his goblet.

"His physical abilities appear to be on par with the other half-bloods, although his skills are somewhat developed" Chiron said.

"The beginning is always the hardest to mold them, the fates were kind to bring him to us now" Mr. D said.

"Yes, but there's something else. His eyes" Chiron said.

"I saw them. The eyes of a killer" Mr. D said.

"I saw it too" Chiron looked back at Dean who was still practicing, "But I also saw something else. A kind soul"

"Which doesn't help us. The prophecy spoke of a savior and a destroyer, we need to know which one he is" Mr. D said.

"Time will tell. Until then I'll continue training him" Chiron said.

"I don't like the idea of investing so much time into my possible killer" Mr. D said.

"Well I don't like the idea of holding out on our only hope" Chiron said sternly.

Mr. D looked aggravated, "Fine, fine"

Chiron went back to Dean who was using whatever energy he had left to keep moving. He briefly wonders just how far this boy will go.

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

Kratos swam with purpose. He'd been at this for days without stopping, without food or rest. And the ocean had not been helpful, the waves and strong currents had become tiresome. But he was about to face its full wrath.

Suddenly the sky darkened and a storm blew over him. The waves tripled in size and the current would have been too powerful for any mere man but Kratos was no pathetic mortal.

Then an invisible force pulled him under.

"You think you can enter my domain without tribute boy!" a voice echoed through the water.

'Your domain is beneath me sea god' Kratos thought as he continued swimming west.

"You won't live to regret those words fool!" the voice said.

Kratos heard movement behind him. He looked back and saw sea serpents on his tail. They were grey scaled, about 4 feet wide and over 10 feet long.

He stopped moving and waited to be attacked.

The first sea serpent came at him with its jaws open, ready to swallow him whole.

Kratos moved at the last second, grabbing on to the serpent, as it leaped out of the water.

He drew one of his swords and put it through its skull as they were in the air.

The next sea serpent leaped out of the water, in attempt to snatch him off the falling dead serpent corpse.

Kratos jumped off the corpse and used his Adamantine blade to slice open the leaping Serpent's belly letting its guts pour out.

As he fell back in the water a third serpent went to attack him from behind. Kratos turned around and stopped the beast in its tracks with a single powerful punch.

The serpent stood still, disoriented from the force of the blow.

'Wretched beast!' Kratos grabbed both its upper and lower jaw and ripped its head apart.

While he was distracted the last serpent managed to swallow him. Then a blade stuck out of its stomach and Kratos began tearing it apart from the inside out while he roared.

Camp Half-Blood

Dean was still practicing on the same dummy. A puddle of sweat below him from all the lost liquids. He huffed and puffed, barely swinging his arms to hit the dummy.

"That should be good for one day" Chiron said.

Dean let go of his weapons and dropped to the floor from exhaustion, "Holly shit. Do you train everyone like this?"

"No, you asked me to train you like the heroes of old. So I am" Chiron said.

Dean sat up, "Damn, they all must have been great warriors"

"They were. Each of them unique in their own way and worked hard" Chiron said.

Dean nodded. He got to his feet still feeling drained, "Hey Chiron, if you had to pick, which one of your past students would you say was the best?"

Chiron looked puzzled, "That is a tough question my young demigod. One that's not easily answered"

"Alright I'll try and make it easier for you because best is too broad. Who would beat all the others in a fight, judging by his skill, power, speed, and determination" Dean said.

Chiron seemed to be deeply considering this, "I can't determine who's the best…but I can narrow down the list to two people"

"Alright let's hear it" Dean said.

"Achilles and Hercules" Chiron said.

"Hmmmm, interesting. I can understand why you'd pick those two but tell me why you can't decide who would win?" Dean asked with the outmost curiosity.

"It's simple, the two of them were polar opposites. Hercules was immensely strong, he preferred fighting directly using his sheer brute force to win his fights, and he mostly liked to battle with his fists. Achilles on the other hand was fast, agile, and no weapon could pierce his skin. He fought strategically, outthinking and outmaneuvering his opponents with a number of different weapon styles. They both countered each other in every way" Chiron said.

"So, would you say a perfect style of fighting would be to blend the two heroes' styles together?" Dean asked.

"Theoretically, yes. Although if you're trying to become the perfect warrior I have my own way of achieving it" Chiron said.

"Really? After all these years you've discovered how to achieve perfection? Which by the way how have you lived this long?" Dean asked.

"Your father actually gave me immortality for as long as I am needed to train heroes. And yes after millennia of training heroes I've developed a way for anyone to reach their maximum potential. I call it the 3 points of perfection" Chiron said.

Dean picked up his sword and shield, "Do tell, this'll save me years of training"

"3 points, Power, Knowledge, and Discipline. Power: you must discover your body's physical and supernatural limitations. Knowledge: you must learn everything, after all your brain is a muscle and knowledge in itself is power. Discipline: you must gain complete control over your body and master your technique" Chiron said.

Dean nodded, "I've started with power and discipline, but I'm probably lacking in knowledge"

"Then it's time for you to get started and catch up. Do you have access to books?" Chiron asked.

"A whole library actually" Dean said.

"Start by reading everything" Chiron said before he trotted away.

"Everything? The hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

Chiron gave no reply.

Dean sighed, "Great, I got studying to do"

Author's note: Another filler chapter unfortunately, a whole lot of info to fill in the blanks. For both Demigods and Mutants. Kratos just wrecking Poseidon's pets is just cool to imagine. But what is this prophecy Mr. D was talking about? That sounds pretty important...next chapter we'll get some more action I promise