A/N: Oh my dear, I am super nervous and super excited that we finally got to Percy. I love him so much, and I want to write him just as good as Uncle Rick. GO PERSASSY! I probably shouldn't set such high expectations for myself. Wish me luck!

mnp16891: I have read all the Rick Riordan books except the Tower of Nero. I cried when I read the Burning Maze. If you've read it, you know what I mean.

Percy's Pov:

I have nothing against fish, but do I really have to wear them? My stylist, a man named Anibal, was insane. I would much rather dress myself for the opening ceremonies. I had already been tortured by my prep team, who had fluttered around me, and killed all hope of my normal appearance. I really didn't need this guy to come and mess up my dignity too.

"JUST PUT ON THE FISH OUTFIT!" the heavyset Anibal raged.

"Dude. It's made completely from fish. It smells. I don't want to. All perfectly good reasons not to wear the fish," I reasoned.

There was a knock on the door, and a pretty girl in a purple mermaid costume came in. She gave the room a one over like she was deciding the best way to kill it and said, "Cleotilde wants me to check and see if you're ready, which it appears you are not. We need to be in our chariot in 15 minutes, so if you want to look like a moron, take your time."

"Good to see you too..." I paused for a moment. What was her name? I swear, she had told me like four times. But I couldn't remember it for the life of me.

"Angel, we would be in the chariot already, if MR PICKEY PANTS over here would put on this perfectly fine costume that I created by hand to introduce you to the public." Anibal informed.

"Its not 'Angel' it's Sam or Samirah, and if you ever call me that again, I may have to kill you. Also, that is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Except perhaps your face. And if you love it so much, why don't you wear it?" Sam retaliated. This girl was either a terrible person or in a really bad mood.

A tall woman with a brown bob waltzed into the room. "Anibal, I told you not to give the poor child that outfit. I have something."

"I told you I could to it myself," Anibal muttered.

"What was that? I told you, if you mutter too much, it'll become a habit. Come, come," she said.

I was wary of the scary lady, but I was defiantly not going to wear the fish outfit, so I followed her.

"Here it is!"

She pulled a costume off a rack. It had green shiny scales on a tail, plus this, collar thing with jewels in it I think it was a merman to go with the mermaid. In short, it was hideous, but not as bad as... whatever Anibal wanted me to wear.

Before I knew it, I was standing next to Sam in a chariot that was painted to look like a wave.

"Just simile and wave, and you'll be fine." Cleotilde/Scary Lady was saying.

"And don't look anybody in the eye," Anibal advised.

"Keep your chin up,"

"Don't humiliate us,"

"Keep your face in the light and avoid looking down,"

"Don't fuss with your costumes,"

On and on it went, until I stopped listening and looked around. We seemed to be in a garage of sorts. Except for horses. So, stables? Yeah, I didn't really listen during our history classes, ok? Anyways, the chariots were lined up by district number, so our chariot was the fourth one in line. In front of the chariots was this huge door that was closed at the moment. Above the door was a clock that read 00:40. It took a second for me to figure it out, but that meant that we had 40 seconds before the doors opened and we were released onto the streets.

I took that precious time to look at the tributes around me. Most of them looked like nervous kids. There were so many, but a few stood out to me. There was a girl a few chariots back with "dark, piercing eyes and long black hair" who caught his eye. (The words in quotation marks are direct quotes from The Son of Neptune) In the number one spot, there was a mean looking girl with long and stringy brown hair. "She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer" (Lightning Thief quote) In the chariot directly in front of me, there was a boy who was fidgeting with some scraps of wire. He was short, with curly brown hair and a tan complexion. There was also this blond girl who looked so steriotypically Career, that I had to laugh because she wasn't. She had tan skin, striking gray eyes, and blond wavy hair. This pair must be the District 3 group. They were up here in the high numbers, but they weren't Career.

I turned back to the clock on the wall.

00:03

00:02

00:01

The doors opened, and the "fun" began.

A/N: Confession time-I haven't read the Hunger Games, The Heroes of Olympus or Percy Jackson and the Olympians in FOREVER, so I have as many of those books as I need right here next to me and I keep referencing them. OMD I just realized that I forgot Alex Fierro in the tribute lineup. Well, that stinks. I'll just have to add Alex somewhere else...

District 1 (luxury): Luke Castellan (18) and Clarisse La Rue (17)

District 2 (masonry and defense): Jason Grace (16) and Thalia Grace (15)

District 3 (technology): Leo Valdez (15) and Annabeth Chase (17)

District 4 (fishing):Percy Jackson (17) and Samirah Al-Abbas (16)

District 5 (power): Will Solace (18) and Hazel Levesque (13)

District 6 (transportation): Carter Kane (17) and Sadie Kane (15)

District 7 (lumber): Walt Stone (18) and Reyna Ramirez-Arellano (18)

District 8 (textiles): Calypso (15) and Magnus Chase (16)

District 9 (grain): Zia Rashid (18) and Frank Zhang (16)

District 10 (livestock): Grover Underwood (17) and Piper McLean (16)

District 11 (agriculture): Meg McCaffery (12) and Lester Papadopoulos (15)

District 12 (coal): Bianca Di-Angelo (16) and Nico Di-Angelo (14)