A/N: What's up guys. We finally got the first interaction between Nick and Percy last chapter! The Lightning Thief Arc is about to get underway. The last bit felt a bit rigid to myself but it was one of those things I kind of had to leave in for plot reasons and I kinda struggled to make a random shouting voice that told Percy to keep a sword sound eloquent in nature.
Anyways, to the Reviews!
Nirmtheworm14- This was a very fun chapter, the mind games were fun to read and you executed them well. As for the pairings…. Artemis and Thalia have to be the most boring pairings I've ever read. They're not bad at all, but they're just so common and just rarely ever done well. Calypso is something original but there are so many other options like Silena, Piper, or even Reyna. feel like you should be the one making the decision, don't let the voters force you into making an important narrative choice. Let us give you reasons why a character is better than the other and then you decide based on how well the story flows. Great chapter regardless!
Thank you nirm. And I get your point regarding the pairing but honestly I think I can do a good job of making an Artemis pairing original and not too unforced despite the obvious flaws of her being an eternal maiden who never broke her vow. Plus, I would like to reiterate that this is only the final pairing, not the only one. I'm not sacrificing my own ideas on certain ideas I had preplanned for Phoenix its just I didn't mind who he ended up with in the end so wanted to know what you guys wanted as a whole.
Mewingdog- Another amazing chapter.. loved it ! Unfortunately, I'm a bit too dumb to understand the last bit , but I think this entire game is something that is being viewed by other people, who in turn , are complaining to the man seen in the dream ? Not sure...
Still hope the pairing is Venus /Aphrodite...it's really unique , Pertemis and even perlia have many stories...
(also I'm stuck with a mental image of a talking tomato , so...)
The mental image of a talking tomato is a curse we must all live with but one I have no regrets inducing. Thanks for the information though and perhaps I should try to my concise and make sure the conversations are easier to follow in the future? I will definitely take your words into account. (P.S for all who actually read this part. Even if they don't end up as the final pairing, don't worry about the Venus pairing not happening ;). Maybe it will only be a platonic friendship or maybe it will be more...)
PrimeSpectre- Thanks for the chapter and when will the poll for the pairing be closed?
No problem I appreciate you guys all continuing to read my story. As for the poll, I dunno really, maybe after a month or when I get closer to 100k words? I want to be able to dive more into Nick's character before you guys fully decide. Plus, if the top votes are within like 10 of each other, which the top three currently are, I was gonna do another vote with less options and only one choice per person to make sure Nick ended up with the people's choice. Basically, poll will still be open for at least a few more weeks.
Raisinman- Nice story. I am liking the pacing. I always get disappointed when authors make characters too op early on and end up destroying any plot afterwards. This seems to be moderately paced, and im very happy about it. But either way, I look forward to where you take this story. And how the Percy Nick meeting will go
The story's pacing was really important for me. Making the MC too OP is a pitfall I definitely don't want to fall into too soon. A lot of the PJ GamerFics end up with the character training non stop for the first few chapters then just automatically end up being stronger than any other demigod. That will not be the case with me. For one, training non-stop doesn't fit Nick's personality the same way it wouldn't Percy who went back to school each year instead of staying at camp. And two, the strength of other demigods will end up working differently in this universe compared to what you might have seen before. It's just not entertaining to me otherwise. How could anyone in camp be useful in anyway on a quest if Nick has like 2-5 times their stats.
Hope my replies answered some of your guys questions you might have. Other than that, hope you guys enjoy what is a shorter chapter than normal but a good one nonetheless. Don't forget to follow, favourite and Review!
Oh and vote on the poll on my page!
1 and a half days later
"I LOVE YOU APOLLO!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I shot down the empty interstate at close to 130MPH.
I was currently driving a black Dodge Challenger Hellcat SRT Widebody and absolutely loving every second of it. This was the first time I really had the chance to open her up, and boy did she not disappoint. I wasn't driving at close to the cars top speed, but the purr of the engine and feeling of going at such speeds was still amazing.
I should probably explain the car. I had woken up early yesterday after dreaming of Percy and realised that if I went to Yancy and was the one who introduced him to the Greek world, I would probably become one of his most trusted friends. And if I began to train him before we left for camp then it might help his quest go a bit smoother.
I was also really worried about him facing Ares. I know in the books it says he was scrawny before he first went to camp but I don't think it hit me just how unheroic he looked until I saw him take on the Fury with my own eyes.
No confidence, no real skill and certainly nothing intimidating about him. I had been around enough gods and trained with Apollo enough to know that the kid I saw would get destroyed by Ares in a battle. Even if he is widely considered the weakest Olympian in myth. I mean he got captured in a glass jar at one point by Otis and Ephialtes for goodness sake.
Even with the week and half training he got at camp he would stand no chance and I wasn't betting on plot armour being a thing in this universe. Not unless he had a faster improvement and growth rate than me, which I highly doubted considering the immense power of the gaming system. So I needed to try and even the odds. No matter how little difference I was worried it might make.
Anyways, I decided to head straight to New York although I had no idea how I would go about doing so. That was quickly sorted though. After returning my tent to the form of a small golden box and chucking it in my inventory, I got ready to leave.
Only to find Apollo, Marcus and Jacob waiting for me with gifts. Apollo had handed me a set of car keys with a miniature car figurine attached to it on a key chain. At first I thought it was a joke. At least I did until Apollo told me to unhook the mini car, place it on the ground and press the unlock button on the keys. When it proceeded to expand into a full sized Dodge Hellcat I was corrected. He had also procured documents and registered the licence plates to that of a foreign ambassador of Greece, ironic I know, which I now apparently was. This meant that I had diplomatic immunity so was exempt from speeding and parking tickets as well as any fines.
That was if the police could even see me breaking the law through the mist. Apparently, they would tend to ignore me because the car is technically magic in nature due to its shrinking ability.
I lunged at Apollo when he explained this, hugging him and making sure he understood my gratitude. Partly for the diplomatic immunity and the car, but mostly because of the amount of restraint I knew it must have taken to not wrap the damn car in gold. I seriously love the guy.
Marcus and Jacob meanwhile had a less expensive, but just as thoughtful a gift as Apollo.
See, about 2 months ago we had accidentally found a gathering of monsters, around 25 of them, a mix of Cyclops, dracaenae and empousae. It was very unusual to see something like this but I knew it was because the Great Stirring had begun. Monsters could sense the rising of the Titans, even if they didn't know it yet.
They were taken care of relatively quickly as we had the element of surprise and could take out the empousae, our biggest threat due to their charmspeak, from range before they even knew what was happening. The thing was, wild monsters don't tend to have weapons and the ones who do tend to not have ones in pristine condition as they take it off dead demigods. Most also don't tend to carefully maintain their weapons either.
Meanwhile, all Archers are only given a bow, arrows, a gladius and a dagger, a pugio to be precise, by Apollo upon joining. So when Marcus and Jacob shot the same dracaenae at the same time and it dropped a perfectly pristine Imperial Gold Spear, of course both wanted it and claimed the spoil as their own. It was a rare find.
One long argument later, Jacob got the spear as I pointed out that Marcus preferred a gladius anyway and wasn't a child of Mars who would probably love having a larger range of weaponry and get more out of it. But Marcus did claim the rights to it should Jacob give it up or die. I frowned at the statement but Jacob didn't seem bothered by it. Actually, the guy probably wanted to die on the battlefield when he eventually passed so it definitely didn't bother him.
When both were willing to hand the spear over to me as a gift it truly meant a lot to me. Initially, I tried to reject it as it wasn't mine to take but eventually they forced me to accept the gift. They both knew I wasn't entirely comfortable with a sword and Jacob believed I might more naturally be suited to fighting with a spear. I mentally punched myself for not thinking of trying out multiple weapons but thanked them anyway and put it in my inventory.
After a few heartfelt goodbyes, I left in my new car, heading for New York.
The car itself wasn't any different than a mortal one other than its transfiguration magic and the fact its interior was reinforced with Celestial Bronze, something I only found out after using Observe on it. I also was pretty sure that I had a driving license in my previous life since I found driving a car pretty easy as some sort of muscle memory kicked in. Since I technically didn't need to rest or eat, I had been driving cross country for the last 30 something hours as I wanted to get to Percy as fast as possible.
It was all going perfectly fine as well until I hit New Jersey. I was driving down an old country road next to a forest, one without any other cars seemingly on it, when suddenly the sound of sirens appeared behind me. Looking through my rear-view mirror, I scowled. A police car was flashing its lights whilst tailing me, clearly asking me to pull over.
I was instantly suspicious. I was specifically going the speed limit once reaching this road as something just felt off to me so the police had no reason to pull me over. And if they had ran my plates they would have definitely left me alone. But the most suspicious thing was the police car itself. Instead of the usual white and black colour theme, it was green and blue with 'APD' printed on the front hood of the car. I knew I had recently passed Newark so I was pretty sure I should have been dealing with a car that had something like 'NPD' on it. This car was definitely out of place.
Deciding it was better to not get into a high speed chase, I chose to play along and pull over opposite a closed down gas station.
The police cut off its siren and lights as it pulled over behind me and I shut off my car engine. It had tinted windows and I couldn't see who or what was inside which put me even more on edge. And it just stayed like that for a good minute. Staring at the car through my rear-view mirror in anticipation, it showing no signs of life or movement.
My heart was starting to beat faster the longer this lasted, waiting for the moment whatever was interested in me made its move.
I had just started to reach out for my spear in my inventory when it happened.
Water burst through my AC units, every droplet flooding straight at me. I started to panic as it surrounded me in a mini hurricane and I lost all my vision of the world around me. I was just about to conjure my spear or call to the shadows when I noticed something. The water wasn't attacking me. No, it was just swirling around me like a cocoon and I didn't sense a hint of malice from whatever was happening.
Call me naïve for not trying to do something if you want. But if there's one thing I had learnt whilst being a demigod, it was that you should trust your instincts. And my instincts were saying I wasn't in danger. I was right as well because just as quickly as it appeared, the mini cocoon of spinning water dissipated into thin air.
Except now I was sat in a completely different car. And I was in the passenger seat. Looking straight ahead I saw a black Hellcat parked in front of me. Wait. That's my black Hellcat. Which meant I was in the weird looking police car.
I panicked, turning towards the driver's seat. Only to find a god sat there looking at me with amusement. I knew he was a god instantly, the power I could feel literally rolling off him left me little doubt about that. He was wearing a blue Tommy Bahama shirt, khaki Bermuda shorts and leather sandals. He was deeply tanned, had untamed black hair and crinkles around his eyes that suggested he smiled a lot. I used Observe on the god.
Poseidon, God of the Sea
Lvl- ?
I visibly relaxed once I realised who was in front of me. After all, he had no real reason to kill me. From the books, he didn't seem like the type to go after his brother's children, even if Percy had recently been attacked by a Fury. I also didn't feel any hostility from him so was quite comfortable as I sighed back into my seat.
"Lord Poseidon." I said respectfully.
"You do not address me as my Roman name son of Pluto?" He asked curiously.
"You are not Neptune so why would I?" I replied, to which he raised an eyebrow.
"And how did you figure that out so quickly, if you don't mind me asking?" Poseidon asked, although I had a feeling I wouldn't like the consequences of me minding him asking.
Now I was in a bit of a sticky situation. I hadn't personally met Poseidon or Neptune and I doubt I could just say 'Oh I could tell the difference between your two forms in the throne room' because truthfully I wasn't focusing on him during my meeting and getting caught lying wouldn't probably end well for me. Luckily, I had recently come up for an excuse for knowing about children's godly heritage and I was hoping it would fool Poseidon.
"I can sort of sense auras. It helps me identify gods as well as who a child's godly parent is as each god's signature is unique. Romans and Greeks auras also feel different to each other so it wasn't difficult to figure out you were Poseidon." I lied.
Poseidon was quite good at keeping a poker face and making himself unreadable but I thought I saw a hint of surprise on his face when I spoke of sensing auras. He looked to be in deep thought for a moment before focusing back on me, seemingly buying my lie.
"Quite a rare ability. Only few mortals in history have ever been able to sense auras, and that is after years of training. Yet you can do so already. Very interesting and it has a lot of potential with it." Poseidon mused, half to me, half to himself.
I didn't bother asking what he meant by that as I was lying so information on this 'potential' was useless to me. We were drawn away from the topic anyway by a flash of blue light from the forest behind a nearby petrol station. It left as quickly as it came but it was bright enough to catch our attention.
"What was that?" I asked after it had disappeared. I couldn't see anything out of the blue (hehe get it) but it did help me notice a shop open next to the abandoned petrol station. It sold garden pieces and decorations and I was surprised it was still in business since it looked like no one ever really travelled this way or stopped here. Poseidon furrowed his brows, both at the shop and where the blue flash of light came from.
"It cannot be just a coincidence you pulled over here." He muttered to himself but I heard perfectly. Turning back to me he spoke up louder this time, "It is not of importance to you at the moment. Now to business, I'm not just here for a friendly chat."
"Really, not just here for a catch up and juicy info on Apollo. I assumed you would be as big a gossip as all the naiads I've come across." I joked.
"You know, in Ancient Greece I would have smote you for talking to me in the way you are. Nowadays I find it… amusing." Poseidon replied, hiding any emotion from his voice. I would hate to play poker with him.
"That's reassuring." I muttered.
"I have something to ask of you. You have recently saved my daughter from your own family and from what I can tell you fight for what you believe to be right rather than anyone in particular." He said.
I think that was Poseidon's way of saying he trusts me. Then it clicked. Why one of my rewards was Poseidon's trust, why he appeared in his Greek form, why he said I would fight for anyone unless I believed in a cause. The fact I saved his child from my own family.
"You mean I wouldn't just fight for or side with Hades because he's my father, right?" I asked, once again receiving a surprised look from the god.
"I might have underestimated your perceptiveness. How did you know what I meant?"
"I had a dream 2 nights ago of a kid who looks like a mini you being attacked by a Fury. Its why I'm heading straight for New York to help him. The last thing I saw was Chiron making it seem like Alecto was never there. Considering he's about to be dragged into the Greek world when your brother's firecrackers been stolen, he needs as much help and training as he can get."
Immediately, I knew I might have messed up. I knew way too much. Poseidon was now giving me a cold stare, causing me to internally gulp.
"How do you know of the stolen Masterbolt?" He asked suspiciously, his aura flaring slightly.
I had luckily prepared for such a question because, lets face it, I knew my mouth would get me in trouble at some point for spilling knowledge I shouldn't have. I kept a confident tone and look when replying.
"The weathers been crazy since around January. A lot of thunderstorms have appeared in the sky and the seas seem restless, almost as if they're fighting. Apollo also mutters to himself a lot when he's stressed so I knew there was something off. Plus, I've been having weird dreams about lightning and the sky pouting like a baby.
Finally, 2 nights ago Apollo said the Archers are to go looking for something but wasn't allowed to say what, just that we would know it was what we were looking for if we found it." I explained.
It was partially true to be fair. I know I didn't have to say anything about Zeus being a baby but it made Poseidon relax a little and chuckle so I regret nothing.
"It's stupid to ask people to hunt something but not tell them what it is. All evidence pointed towards the King of the gods and his ego trying to keep anyone from knowing anything was missing. Namely, his Masterbolt. And my guess is he blames you. Add to that Hades finding out about your son, it wont help matters when he eventually shows up at camp. Which is why I'm heading to help him out a little." I finished. Poseidon just looked at me for a few moments. Just long enough to be unnerving before speaking again.
"You have earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt so I believe you. I was going to ask you to look over him anyway. I wouldn't normally but Zeus turned up to a council meeting even more paranoid, irritated and angry than he had been recently, which is saying something. I fear for young Perseus when he finds out about his existence."
Oops. Sorry about that Poseidon, might have been a bit of my fault he's so pissed off. Probably didn't take being threatened by a demigod very well. Or Bellona agreeing to my conditions and not just smiting me. Wait, could Bellona smite someone with her powers?
"Now, do you have a plan of how you will go about this? Do you know where my son even is?" He asked sceptically.
I was about to retort when I bit my own cheek to stop myself. I had no idea where I was going. I knew Percy was at Yancy, yes, but I had no clue where the hell that was. Its not like I had any technology to google it either.
Demigods and technology don't mix. Its one of the first lessons you learn. Moreover, I couldn't just walk into the school when not being a student. That would be suspicious as fuck, not to mention I would just get kicked off school grounds. I gave the god of the Seas a rather sheepish look, causing him to sigh.
"Of course you don't. Its fine, I will sort it out for you." He said.
"Really?"
"Yes." He said with an eye roll. He then stiffened up and put on a more serious face before continuing, "Just promise you will protect him."
"I promise." I replied seriously.
XXXXXX
Percy sat by the river, absentmindedly messing around with the ballpoint pen in his hands. The last few days had nearly broken him. His Maths teacher had turned into a bat monster and attacked him on their field trip, claiming he had stolen something, which Percy had never done. His mother raised him far too well for that.
Then, Mr Brunner had wheeled himself in and chucked Percy a pen to protect himself with as Ms Dodds had attacked him. Except, when he reached out to to grab it, it had turned into a sword! Which he then killed Ms Dodds with, turning her to golden dust.
As soon as he had digested what had happened though, he noticed Mr Brunner had disappeared and his sword was once again a pen.
To make matters worse, everyone was convinced Ms Dodds never existed and pretended Mrs Kerr had been their Maths teacher the entire semester. They all gave him strange looks when he mentioned the teacher turned monster and tried to trip them up, as if he was crazy. And he almost believed he was.
Almost.
Grover, his best friend, couldn't lie to Percy. Grover pretended that Mrs Dodds didn't exist, just like everyone else, but Percy knew he was lying. There was a slight hesitation whenever Percy asked before he answered, a small amount of fear that flashed through his eyes. Added on to that, Percy still had Mr Brunners pen sword that the voice told him to keep to confirm he wasn't delusional.
The voice. It told him to keep it, it warned him that everyone would try to pretend what happened never did. It was the only thing that wasn't lying to him so he trusted it, even if he didn't know anything about it or where it came from.
He was pretty sure he had even seen Mr Brunner take discreet looks at Percy's pencil case, as if looking for the pen. But Percy was smart enough not to bring it out during class. If people wanted to keep secrets from him, he could do the exact same thing. He had called out for the voice once or twice but it never answered. He was always alone when he did so though. Didn't want people thinking he was even crazier than they already did.
He took the cap off his pen and it changed into the 3-foot-long sword once more. They couldn't pretend this didn't exist. He had cut himself enough times since he had taken the sword to know it was real. He looked over it like he had done so many times in the last few days and read the inscription.
Anaklusmos.
Riptide. Percy had no idea how he was able to read the foreign language with his dyslexia or how he was able to understand it but he just added that to the list of weird occurrences that was his life now.
"Nice sword."
Percy almost jumped at the sound of the voice. He had been so distracted he hadn't noticed the boy who had sat down next to him on the banks of the river, looking amused by his scared reaction.
Percy took in the boy in front of him. He was taller than Percy, he could tell that even though they were sitting down. He was wearing all black clothing but didn't look goth and had a very approachable nature to him. He had wavy black hair that was combed back, long enough to reach the back of his head but it didn't look like he used any visible product to keep it that way.
He was clearly of Asian decent, with caramel brown skin and looked around 14. He could have easily passed for older if he wanted to though with his clearly visible yet lean muscle and handsome looks.
His eyes though took most of Percy's attention. They were onyx black and seemed to look straight through you into your soul. And his pupils, there were trapped black flames flickering inside trying to escape. They were the same colour as his eyes but they had grey and white outlines, making them visible, like the orange outline of a blue flame. Percy could tell that he would probably break a lot of girls hearts with those eyes. Hell, he even had Percy staring at them, and he was straight. His voice as well, it sounded familiar…
"Who are you?" Percy asked warily. He had been on edge ever since the monster attack. The boys smile in response to the question relaxed him a little though. The boy held out his hand for Percy to shake.
"Phoenix, but you can call me Nick. I'm your new classmate at Yancy and a fellow demigod. Oh, and the guy who told you to steal the sword of course." He replied, causing Percy's jaw to drop.
