I follow behind Mom and Zoe outside to see a horde of around 69 human-like beings. Guess these are monsters. It seems there are 3 groups of monsters. One group of snake people, 34 of them. Another 34 of 8-foot one-eyed people. And finally, one 10-foot half man-half bull, the Minotaur.
I remember the story now. This ancient woman got cursed and fell for a bull. Then somehow, birthed the Minotaur. I don't want to go into specifics.
Anyway, most of the hunters were focused on the snake people and were shooting them down with perfect accuracy.
Meanwhile, Atalanta, Zoe, Phoebe, and Artemis were fighting the one-eyed. Zoe and Pheobe are going up close, hacking and slashing them into golden dust as Zoe explained. While they are doing this, Atalanta and Mom are shooting them so rapidly it is like they have an automatic bow. Watching the hunt fight, especially my mom and sister, Zoe's- I mean my sword, it became heavier as if itching me to join in the fighting.
I gaze around, scanning any enemies that I could fight until I spot one. The Minotaur currently isn't fighting anyone and is currently destroying the food tent. His plan is probably to vanquish the whole camp, then kill all of us, I can't let that happen now, can I? I unclick Riptide and it shrinks out. The Minotaur appears to be a bull's upper half with a human's bottom half. I try and get his attention.
"Hey, Beef Boy!" I call out. No one seems to hear me as they are all focusing intensely on their own battles. Not everyone though, because ground beef happens to hear me. Fine by me, that's the only monster who needs to hear me. He flicks towards me and grunts as if he's trying to say, 'You said that?' I wave like I'm signaling a helicopter.
"Don't just stand there, you pile of methane. Fight me!" I'm guessing he doesn't like my commentary because he pauses at his destruction and charges at me. I take a side step and dodge it. I felt like one of those bullfighters in Spain, the ones that wave those red clothes. He continues to show aggression by roaring and slapping Zoe and I's tents.
Our tents fall next to the fire put and go down into flames. I scream. My whole side scorches away, then a breeze comes by and the fires die down. Luckily, Zoe's side is still intact. All of my stuff was in that tent, and now it turned to ash. Including my picture of my mother. My vision turns red, all I could see is the damned face of the stupid Minotaur.
"Hey, quit being a coward and fight me!" I yell angrily. He charges at me again, but this time I'm done with running. Every single situation I encounter I run. I'm tired of it. When he charges at me I take my blade and swing. It collides into his horns and makes a clang.
I real my blade back, cock it, and swing at his side. He grabs the sword in mid-air and throws the celestial bronze blade 3 feet to my right. He then thrusts his head so his horns are about 10 seconds away from smashing into my skull.
I come to my senses and stretch my arms to grab my sword. Once I retrieved the sword I rolled like a ninja to my right before the Bull-man could even stab me with his horns.
"That was closer than I thought, better not lose control again," I mutter for future reference. I calm myself down and try again, swinging, and of course, he once again catches it with his BARE hands! He chucks it even farther than last time.
"Bro why!" He charges again and this time I'm weaponless. I stick it in my pocket and sure enough, my sword appears. Zoe explained to me when I got Riptide, that it will reappear in my pocket if I lost the sword. Which by the way, is a lifesaver, because in the last week I've lost the sword well over 20 times.
Once I have a proper grip on the pen, I unclick, and it transforms right as the bull is rushing towards me. I narrowly defend, which he seems to be surprised and angry about, because he couldn't kill me so quickly like he normally does with his usual enemies.
He grunts menacingly, I can't keep doing this, or else I'm never going to overcome him. His horns are his main source of the attacks, so I start to concoct a plan revolving around his horns. The plan is basically this: No more horns = Happy Percy.
The only problem is, I have no idea how to remove his horns. Maybe if I can distract him…
"Take this, idiot!" I yell at him. I know that isn't the best insult, but I'm too annoyed to care. I slice horizontally, and he blocks it as expected. Then my plan hatches, I unclick my pen, surprise him, then by dismounting off the ground, I land onto his back. My guy has the physique of a body-builder, but cannot seem to nab a small child off his back, which to say the least, is surprising.
With Riptide in my hand, I grab onto his horn and ride him like I'm a cowboy. He isn't as dumb as I thought, because he quit trying to grab me. Instead, he starts throwing his whole body around, causing me to soar, but I manage to maintain a firm grip on his horn. He keeps on thrashing around and I'm starting to think desperately. Apollo! Maybe Apollo can help me! Wait no, Apollo is busy today, right he told me that. Think, Percy, think! What has Apollo taught you? I attempt to figure this out while the Minotaur is stomping around.
Alright, Apollo taught me how to use my sword. But that isn't helping me since I am very inadequate at fighting Beef Guy with the sword. Dang, Apollo needs to teach me wordplay because I'm running out of names to call the Minotaur. He also schooled me with the bow, which unfortunately is still with Zoe because she was polishing it, or something like that. He also briefly mentioned my powers, which was going to be my lesson today, but something came up in his 'very busy' schedule.
Maybe that's it, my powers! I can use my aquatic powers to take off his horns. He continues to thrash, and he ever so slightly inches forward every time. Unknowingly, or maybe not, or maybe even on purpose, he goes in the direction of the Lieutenant Tent.
"No! Don't go there!" I yell but what's that going to do? We are like 15 feet away from the already half-decimated tent. If I can get him away, there is a small chance my photo might still be intact. The Minotaur goes back to the base where he was trying to grab me.
He stretches his arm so far back that I thought he would dislocate his shoulders. Not that I'm worried for the big guy, but just saying. After one attempt, he goes at it again, and this time I don't expect his arm to come flying in from the right. I dismount off his back, making sure I still have my hand on his horn. My result is: I narrowly dodge his arms of certain death.
He roars in rage and charges. I must have misjudged his intelligence because he seems to think if he runs into a tree, I will get off of him. Then I realize he is running at Zoe and I's tent.
"Noooo!" I scream, but it's too late. He tramples the tent that is only half the size of him into rubble. There's no way my last and only picture of my mother, the first one, survived. Tears spring out of my eyes and they cascade down my cheeks. Those tears rapidly turn into anger. White rage.
The Minotaur senses my anger and stops his stride. My vision is red, and this time nothing is stopping it until this ugly beast is dead.
"You will pay for that," I say, deadly but calmly. I finally get why Zoe and Mom speak softly when they are mad. Loud is anger is scary, but quiet anger is petrifying. My mind goes into overdrive, focusing on everything. Yes, I'm aware that I sound like one of those mind-bending riddles but it's like my vision magically turned to 40/20.
Every bit of noise seems to fade away as I go to sense the calm ripples of the water. I grasp the horn with both of my comparatively small hands and close my eyes. I take one hand off the horn and fish it into my pocket. Riptide, in pen form, is there, when my hand comes down and I take it out and click it. Whilst concentrating on the water, I wield Riptide and command the water to splash the bull as I yank the horn as hard as I can, trying to pull it off with sheer force.
With the combined forces of water, Riptide, and my pure strength, one horn comes off clean. The Minotaur seems to be too stunned to move. Fine by me. I quickly maneuver Riptide and stab him directly where he recently lost his horn.
So a cool thing about my powers, is that I can tell if water is salt water or not. The water I'm commanding just so happens to be saltwater. When you have a cut, you can disinfect it with salt water, and I just made a really big cut. I will let the water flow on his newly formed cut.
I use my anger and now focus on the other horn.
"This jerk is gonna die," I say to myself, gritting my teeth. The Minotaur writhes in pain. His roar is so loud that people in Canada can probably hear him. I swivel my head and see my mom. I don't really pay any attention to her because my anger is rolling over and over again like waves in the ocean.
My picture is probably now burned, scorched, and lost to the depths of time. The picture was from when I was on vacation to Montauk and I was wearing a neutral blue jacket, my mom wearing a similar magenta one with her arms tightly wrapped around me, and a big smile. Just like how Artemis does to me now. Sometimes, it's almost like I can feel her arms still around me.
'Percy stop,' I scold myself, 'She is gone, there is nothing you could or can do about it. Now this guy here with his bronco bull shit is trying to get rid of your only physical memory with her. Kill him!' It's like my words push me over the edge. Pipes of water shoot out of my hands like I'm using Hydro Pump and I shove my hands in his face. Then I begin the final part in my plan. While he is distracted and drenched, I hop off.
Now you must be thinking: 'Percy, you had the high ground, why would you do that?' For which I would say: 'Shut up and enjoy the process. Also, sorry I told you to shut up.'
When I hop off, The Minotaur, now creating small puddles on the ground from the water dripping off, feels the weight off his back and stares around confused. At which point, I charge with Riptide. Once I get to about 5 feet away from the startled beast, I jump with a cocoon of water surrounding and protecting me like Ash-Greninja in Pokemon XYZ and stab The Minotaur smack dab in the center of his bullish face.
The Minotaur slowly dissolves into golden dist and I fall to the ground exhausted. While I'm collapsing, I faintly see Zoe and Artemis hovering over me, looking severely concerned. Then the world changes to black.
(2033 Words)
Ink- It's a lackluster chapter, but hopefully the next chapter will be a bit more interesting.
Scenario- He's lying
