Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Obviously, I won't be able to update every day (or even multiple times a day) all the time, but at the moment, I'm bored and have ideas, so I'm back! You can expect updates at least once a week if not more often. :)

And if you would feel so inclined, tell me everything I'm doing wrong!

Cheers!

justapercyjacksonfan

Chapter 7

"Yeah, sure." Jess replied. "But what's this area?"

"This is the arena. We practice sword fighting, umm, the Ares kids like wrestling, occasionally we have chariot races around the track-"

"Do you guys do, like, hand-to-hand combat?"

"Uhhhhhh….not a lot. Most of our enemies have weapons, so we need to know our way around the armory." the child of Zeus replied, "But, I mean, we know how to throw a punch."

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Really? Let's have a go."

"Jess, I'm just showing you around camp."

"And I was told I was here to train."

"I mean, yeah, but you should also know where dinner is….and it's hard to eat with broken ribs…" Bri responded, more confused than ever. Jess was way different than the rest of the Nemesis kids. They usually just wanted to settle a score. Jess was confrontational, more like an Ares kid.

"Confident! I bet you ten bucks I take you down, no weapons or tricks."

Bri snorted. This girl hadn't been at camp for an hour, and Bri had been here their whole sixteen years of life. "Easy. Let's do this."

Jess assumed a stance, but it was foreign to Bri's eyes. She was slightly crouched, and her fists were clenched, but that was it. They would have to be careful, and learn Jess' fighting style.

They walked a few paces away, took their own stance, and locked eyes with the daughter of Nemesis. "Ready? Begin."

Jess launched out of her starting position, surprising the bejeebers out of Bri, and forcing them to dodge and retreat from Jess' first blow, that threatened to knock their head off of their shoulders. She came back, just as viciously, and landed a punch onto Bri's arm, that would have stung worse than it already did, had they not been wearing armor over their Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

Bri was forced to retreat, and retreat, and retreat, but managed to block or dodge every other blow from Jess. Their mind raced as fast as it could. The girl was leaving herself incredibly open to attacks with her all offense, no defense fighting style, but it didn't matter, because she left Bri zero opportunities to strike back.

And besides that, Jess was improving at every turn. She seemed to realize in seconds that Bri favored their right side, was inclined to turn left to avoid a punch, was nimble, but but not agile, and then, what really got spelled doom for Bri. A hit in the same place as before told Jess that Bri wasn't balanced, as the older demigod stumbled and almost fell.

Bri did everything they could to keep her at arm length, where her fists wouldn't connect.

If you don't open your senses to things other than the opponent right in front of you, you're going to get stabbed from behind.

The sword master's words played out in their mind. That would certainly be helpful to utilize against Jess, but Bri didn't think they'd have the chance to use said advice.

They deflected another punch, and turned their attention to the other arm, before realizing what was really happening. That Jess had jumped up, and was swinging her legs around to meet Bri's, her full body going into the action, smacking the older demigod down, and to the floor.

Bri wheezed as the breath was knocked out of them, and they felt Jess' forearm rest on her throat, without applying any pressure, just there to remind them that they had lost.

"Tour then?" Jess asked. "I think I'd like to see where we eat now."

Bri glared at her. "Fine. Help me up, and sure. We can go see the dining pavilion."

Jess offered them a hand, and hauled them up. Bri brushed the dirt off of themself, and stormed out, not looking at Jess, but expecting the girl to follow.

Jess did follow, her mind still racing. To be fair, she had been pushing herself to keep up the insane speed she had started out with. And she had pushed herself beyond anything she'd done before to take out the child of Zeus' legs. If it hadn't worked, she would have been defeated, simple as that.

Besides that, she had gotten some very crucial information. They were pretty lousy in the style of fighting Jess specialized in. And yet Bri had managed to counter, dodge or deflect all but two of her blows, and those had been cheap shots, aimed at the area she had identified least defended.

And even more important, she knew that Bri would never take being bested at something with any sort of grace. She had seen the way lightning seemed to dance around her hands, how her formally bright blue eyes seemed to darken like a stormy sky after the child of Zeus' defeat.

Jess knew that she could only push Bri so far. She may outclass her in speed and fisticuffs, but she could tell Bri had some sort of powers from Zeus, and given she had been carrying a sword, she had to assume Bri knew how to use it.

All in all, a single though danced around Jess' mind

I might need to get myself a weapon

Author's Note:

That's the chapter! Hope you got at least some enjoyment out of it.

To drarry shipper24: Ahhhh! Thank you so much! The answer is coming soon, I promise, but not quite yet! For now, I hope this will tide you over, but I'm working on that chapter. ;)

Huge thank you to darkrabsol for caring enough about my idea to follow it!

And remember to give me some feedback if you either liked or hated it! (it is the lifeblood of a writer after all)

Have a wonderful day!

justapercyjacksonfan