Man, how long has it been? Hello fellow reader and welcome to the Mortal who Rivals Mythology. A year or two ago(I forget) I posted a chapter one this story having great interest in the plot and the feedback was good. Wish it got some reviews, but the amount of favorites and follows that it got for only the first chapter was amazing. To the people who followed or favored the story, sorry it took so long to write the next chapter. My problem was that I just didn't like how I wrote my stories and always compared them to others that brought down my spirit to write more, but I feel like that has gone away now and I might be writing more constantly than I used to. So to the new and to the old readers I hope you enjoy.
P.S. I don't own anything that has to deal with Percy Jackson. All that goes to Rick.
16 years later…
Chilling in his room at Apollo's temple, the son of the famous hunter Nile was throwing a ball around the room. The once cheerful baby was now a sixteen years old gloomy hunter. The last six years took a toll on him and with his dad nowhere to be found, he became a different person. Percy was by no means depressed, he just thought there was no purpose in life. Sure his dad left him the family business, but Percy found no joy in it.
Usually hunters take any quest given to them by a god or try to look for their own to help mortals who are in trouble. Percy didn't follow their way anymore, he only took high paying jobs, never looking to help people.
Percy went from a small, thin boy at the age of ten to a well built body like his dad. Most people say that they couldn't tell the difference between them, but he couldn't see it. Nile was a 6'2'' having black hair with brown eyes man while Percy at the age of sixteen was 6'1'' having black hair with white streaks and being heterochromia with his right eye blood red and the left being brown. This might have been a weird combination of features, but Percy loved it.
Throwning the ball around not caring what broke, Apollo was downstairs making dinner. It was hard to believe how the Bachelor God turned into a caring father figure, but he did. With the absense of Nile, Apollo took the role of godfather seriously with continuing to train him in the ways of the hunters while trying to set him onto the right path of becoming a man.
There was no question that Apollo didn't love him like his own, some would say more than his actual childern, but worriness took the god seeing the current state of Percy. Apollo had met most of the Jackson bloodline always being adventurous and full spirited with Nile showing these traits the most, but Percy hasn't been like that for years.
Thump Thump Thump, everytime the ball hit the wall, echoing across the temple, Apollo's worriness for Percy increased. Then the ball stopped, hearing it constantly for hours, yes hours, Apollo could only hear the sound of silence.
The silence brought a shock to Percy as well, quickly sitting up to observe what happened to his ball. Questions were answered when Percy noticed the God of the Underworld in his room with said ball in hand.
"Percesus Jackson," The god spoke in his usual serious tone, "My childern have the repuatation of being down in the dumps but one look at you can make a run for their money." Hades broke into a smirk with Percy chuckling a little.
Percy met most of the major greek gods, with only Dionysus and Artemis not being one even though she was his God Aunt, but Hades was one of his favorites.
"Also add more powerful than your childern, with the fact of being mortal, and more handsome." It was Hades turn to get roasted while engulfing Percy's ball into shadows. The young hunter didn't shudder in fear of upsetting a god instead pouting over his ball being taken away.
The God of the Underworld always got in the last laugh as Percy's ball appeared behind him, hitting him in the back of the head. No longer pouting over the loss of his ball and now rubbing the spot of where the ball hit him.
"What's the Job?" The hunter asked.
Hades acted all defensive, hands up and all, "Wow wow wow, how dare you think that I only came for self benefit. Can't I ever just visit my favorite mortal without any questions." Percy gave a little chuckle of disblief
Not able to lie sucessfully Hades broke his act. "Fine," The god said in annoyance, "I do need your help." Instead of saying anything Percy pulled over a chair and motion for Hades to continue.
"Let's get to the point here," Hades started, "You remember my child who was in the Lotus Hotel." Percy nodded, he knew of Nico and of how Hades didn't break the Big Three's rule, but the child still wouldn't be accepted by the gods. Percy never met Nico, but knows what he looks like from Hades asking Percy to check on him. (AN: No Bianca, I don't want a depress Nico. No offense Rick.)
"Well with the upcoming war, I decided to take Nico out of the hotel and send him into the mortal world.." Percy didn't know how to react to Hades actions, but wondered what his part in this was.
"Well now Olympus and Camp Half Blood know of his presence. Adding to that both have sent a retreval party after him." Curiosity grew in Percy of what Hades would offer from this job. Yes Percy had friends in the Olympian court, but going against an order from Zues himself would cause him trouble. Percy didn't give two shits about the camp though, he didn't think too highly of demigods. "I can't have my son be excuted by the Olympians Percy and he would get nowhere in that Camp however I would rather see him at that camp then dead." Worriness could be seen in God's eyes and that was what Percy liked about him. Percy always thought the gods should be able to see their children. If so, then this upstart Luke whatever it is wouldn't be causing a ruckus that Percy keeps hearing about.
"Why me?" Was the only thing the hunter wanted to say.
"My son is 14 years old only slightly younger than that Poseiden wanna be. I don't know if he would be the one in the Prophecy, but he should be given the chance to prove himself. That Posidein offspring can't compare to what my son can do. You're the only person I know that takes no sides and has the skills to go against the Hunters of Artemis. Percy, I need you to retrieve Nico and guide him to Camp Half Blood." The hunter had to give it to the God of the Underworld that he loved his childern, but that wasn't the only thing Percy cared about.
Percy stood up, "What's your offer?" Hades suddenly looked upset from Percy's response, but the hunter didn't want to question it.
Trying to clear away his emotions Hades responded. "My offer is granting any favor that is within my power." Percy couldn't help but smile. All he needed to do was to transport Nico to the demigod camp and in return be able to ask anything from one of the most powerful gods.
Percy happily accepted the job and went to gather his equipment, he was then intrrupted by Hades. "I also came here with another propasal. More work with more rewards." More work didn't bother Percy, it depended on what more than a favor can be.
Going into uncharter territory, Hades had to choose his words carefully trying not to set Percy into a rage. Before Hades were to explain his second offer it look like he was getting ready for a fight. "Zeus proposed to the council that any Olympian god that hired you for a job would also try to convince you to join the war." As the words left the God's mouth, both rage and annoynce could be seen in Percy's eyes but couldn't speak as for Hades was still talking. "My offer is granting any favor with power that even the Ancient Laws prohibts me from using if you retrieved my son and joined the God's side in the war to come." It took no time for Percy to think of an answer.
"I'm not joining." Percy refused walking away, not wanting to talk about it anymore, but Hades kept pursuing. "Percy think about the amount of lives you can save, the amount of destruction that could be avoided with a flick of your sword." Hades repeatly spourled out the pros of Percy joining the war.
"I DONT CARE!" The mortal screamed at the god no longer able to listen to him. "The four years alone that I dedicated to the ways of my family have ward off any destruction and loss of lives. I want out Hades, this job only causes pain and I can't take it no longer. The gods will do fine without me and after you guys win the war, that is when I plan on doing, ending the Hunters of Jackson. I will accept your first offer, message me the details and I will leave soon" Hades couldn't believe what he was hearing, but sadly understood where Percy was coming from.
With a nod, Hades opened a portal to the underworld, before stepping through he turned back to Percy. "The pain doesn't come from what you love, young hunter, but from loneliness following you on your journey." With his final words Hades left.
Percy didn't care to look at the god leaving or even have a second thought to his parting words. He had a job to do and he'll finish it with ease.
The hunter suited up with the traditional hunter's clothing like his dad's. Percy grabbed his bracelets that would turn to chains in a flick. The celestial bronze rod that would transform into his weapon. Lastly, a bag of supplies that would last him a night or two. With a couple of sneaky little objects that would find their way to help. Last but not least, his favorite gift from a certain minor god.
Thalia POV (Third Person)
Traveling to Maine in one of the camp vans was some of the best camp half blood had to offer. Piper McLean who was a daughter of Aphrodite was driving being the only one able to with Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, sitting in the passenger seat while the two love birds in the back couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Said people were Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Thalia's best friend or though she thought until the so called Ryan Reed, son of Posiedon, came into her life. Oh then there was Grover Underwood, the satyr who was the only one able to find the demigod they were looking for, also in the back sitting very uncomfitbly.
But let's get back to what important though, how fucking annoying Ryan Reed was at least to Thalia. Never in her life would she thought to see another demigod who acted so much like her father that wasn't his child. Power hungry, bossy, impulsive, ect. She couldn't even fathom how Annabeth liked him and chosed him over her. Not to mention that he was weak as they come, but his pride never let that got in the way.
Arriving to their destination, Thalia didn't like the idea of getting all dressed up, school dance or not. But Piper left no room for arguments, just one of the great traits of an Aphrodite's child. Dont get her wrong Piper was more of a friend to Thalia than Annabeth, however the daughter of Zeus wouldn't mind if the girl didn't focus on appearance much.
Getting out of the van, everyone took the time to stretch after such a long drive, but found it hard with the outfits they were wearing. Both boys wore regular suits for such events, while Annabeth and Piper wear dresses matching the colors of their godly parents. Thalia instead decided to bring black back into style and went with an all black dress.
After ten minutes of finding their way to the gym and dealing with an annoying teacher, they finally made it to the dance looking over a huge crowd of kids.
Piper turned to the group, acting as leader with the reasoning of age. Thalia found it funny when she realised that technically she was the oldest one here, but she didn't bother ruining her friend's spirit. "Word from Chiron was that the demigod should be here someone, so while Grover goes on the lookout everyone else will blend in until we rather find the kid or help is needed. Understood?" Piper gave a stern look to everyone with getting nods in return.
Everyone desperse, Thalia planned to stay with Piper until she saw her staring at a group of boys and decided not to get into that mess. The daughter of Zeus made her way to the dance floor catching a glance at the two lovebirds dancing together.
Usually Thalia would love this kind of scene, but something was off. One being that no punk rock was on. Nevertheless she danced by herself and was coming to enjoy it until the music stopped.
Everyone in the room turned their head to see a panicking Dj, "Sorry about that, music should be up in a bit." The man said with some disappointing signs in response.
'Great,' Thalia thought, if there was no music for her to dance to then she would just be an idiot standing alone on the dance floor. Thalia was about to go look for Piper unti she felt somebody bump into her.
She whipped her head around to see a clumsy person, but instead found a boy around Piper's age dancing, but to the sound coming from his earbuds. Looking at how he reacted Thalia guessed he didn't feel himself bumping into her.
Doesn't matter she still wanted an apology. Thalia tapped the kid on the shoulder, his back turned away from her, and all his motion stopped at once.
He reached for his earbuds taking them out while turning to face the daughter of Zeus.
Thalia was shocked at how well dressed and handsom he was. Looking around 6'1", he had the body of someone who worked out but more endurance than muscle, raven black hair with white streaks, and finally what caught her the most was his brown and red eyes but most importantly his red eye. It wasn't creepy at all, it was more like drawing curiosity from you to learn everything about him.
Thalia was practically staring at him until said person waved his hand infront of Thalia's face trying to get her attention, "Hello , anyone in there." The boy said with a grin.
This brought Thalia out of her trance and finally able to communicate, "Hi sorry about that, wait," the girl changed her attitude real quick, "why am I the one apologizing, you bumped into me."
The boy couldn't help but laugh at what Thalia said, "Look at me," he raised his arms, "Does it look like I am one for apologizing." Thalia's fist tighten, really wanting to punch this kid's perfect face
Thinking about the mission in hand and not wanting to cause attention to herself, Thalia decided to walk away, not saying another word to the strange boy.
Three feet into walking away staring at a cheap looking disco ball, Thalia bumped into some else again. Looking up, lightning flashing through her eyes from anger, Thalia was looking at none other than the kid she was just talking to.
From her anger, Thalia lost focus of what was really important, how did the boy get around her so fast. She saw no movement in the corners of her eyes.
"What do you want." Thalia hissed trying to make the boy flinch, which didn't happen. Instead it brought a light chuckle out of him.
"Aw how cute," The boy said, "We just met and you already hate me, can't blame you though, happens to everyone that meets me." Thalia couldn't tell if that was honestly or a joke, she couldn't read him, which only increased the anger.
"Well doesn't matter," He continued, "I thought it would have been nice if I introduced myself to you." Thalia was stumped. His eyes showed her that he was telling the truth, but his smile had the sort of feeling that if she trusted it she would be heading into a trap.
"Not interested." Thalia turned away trying to look for her friends.
"But I insist." Thalia heard behind her, but stopped dead in her tracks when seeing said kid infront of her holding out his hand. How does he do that? she wondered.
"Name's Percy Jackson and you are." His smile grew brighter.
"Katie Gardner," Thalia lied, she didn't trust him enough to tell him her name. "Listen, I dont mean to be rude, oh wait I do, so I'm leaving." Just as the demigod was walking away, she stopped from Percy Jackson's sudden laughter.
Hearing him laugh for a few seconds, Thalia turned back to see Percy. One look at his face could tell that Percy knew Thalia was lying.
Percy replaced his laugh with a grin. "C'mon, out of all the names you could have used, you pick the name of someone I know." Thalia eye's widen, she didnt know what he was talking about.
Trying not to retreat, Thalia went into a smirk as well. "Whatever do you mean, I am Katie." Percy started walking circles around Thalia like a detective would when telling the murderer how he solved the case.
"The only thing you have in common with Katie Gardner is that you both are girls." Percy gave Thalia a look that asked if he shall continue. Thalia didn't give any response, but her smirk retreated to a plain look. "Katie has brown hair with green eyes while you have black hair with blue eyes. Having a more stern personality like I'm going to give you a lecture, yet you're screaming rebellious. Not to mention she is taller, and she is known as a good fighter. However you couldn't last a round against a squirrel." Thalia was frozen on the spot, she didn't know what to do. Be angry from his comments or concern that he knows who Katie is.
"How do you know all that." Thalia could mutter out.
Percy stopped in his tracks behind Thalia. He leaned in, whispering in her ear, "Well, I guess you weren't the only one telling a lie too. I never met Katie, but I have talked to her mom, and she doesn't shutup about her daughter." Thalia couldn't comprehend what was being said to her. Who is this guy, how does he know about Katie, did he actually meet Demeter? There's no way he's telling the truth. Questions were rapidly flowing through the demigod's head.
"Why so shocked, daughter of Zeus?" Percy whispered.
Thalia's plain look turned to one of worriness, she knew nothing of the person she was talking to, but he knew all about her. Thalia couldn't take it anymore, she tightened her hand into a fist. Then turning around, swinging at Percy. As her punch was about to land Thalia noticed that he was gone and also saw that everyone around her was looking. Thankfully Thalia was saved by Piper.
"Let's go, we found the boy, but something has come up." Piper said, grabbing Thalia's arm.
Thalia barely heard what Piper said, she was too busy thinking about Percy and what just happened. "Piper, you wouldn't believe this guy I-"
Piper interrupted, "No time to hear about your crush, not when this kid is at risk." Thalia didn't try to talk about Percy, she needed to shift her attention to the mission at hand.
After dodging and weaving through groups of students, Piper and Thalia finally met up with the rest of the group. "Status update Grover." Piper said to the nervous looking Satyr.
It took Ryan to slap Grover behind the head before he had the guts to speak, "I found the demigod we were looking for. Small, skinny kid with black hair. Just as I was about to approach him, that teacher from early, what was that teacher's name again? Oh right, Dr. Thorn, well he got to the boy before me and started leading him into the hallway outside." Finishing his status update, Grover had a small look of pride for being able to give it his all.
"So what are we doing here, let's go." Annabeth said with agreements from others. They stormed into the hallway to find the half blood. After running for a couple of minutes, they found the pair outside, Dr. Thorn dragging Nico away.
Just when Dr. Thorn thought he got home scot free, he heard a door smashed open. "Let him go." Ryan yelled out while all of the demigods raised their weapons. Ryan weilding the famous Riptide sword and the shield that his half brother made for him, Thalia using her spear while having protection from her Aegis shield as well, both Annabeth and Piper holding their own daggers in their respectful ways, and lasty Grover who brought out his pipes.
Mr. Thorn threw Nico to the side with the kid landing in a pile of snow out of harm's way. Dr. Thorn was on a mission as well and he couldn't have the package damaged in any way. "Better if the kid doesn't get hurt, but the rest of you can die just fine." He said standing still, not moving from his postion.
Ryan couldn't wait any longer and charged first with a battle scream so loud that the gods could hear, only after getting about ten feet from where he started was when Ryan got knocked to the ground from a spike crashing against his shield and one grazing his leg. "Be careful!" Thali screamed at the other Thalia, "He has projectiles too." The rest of them showed a bit of fear in their faces for being lefted out in the opening.
It was Thalia's turn to try to charge at the unknown creature, five feet in her shield absorb a spike as well, but she was able to take the force of the projectile. Moving as fast as she could, Thalia couldn't get close enough to Dr. Thorn. Her shield already took ten spikes looking like a porcupine and couldn't last any longer.
Only thirty feet away, Thalia had a stupid idea. Summoning up all her will, Thalia called down a massive lightning bolt at the creature hoping to end it in one strike. One stomach knot later and Thalia heard a massive lightning bolt hit the ground. Looking up, she had dissaportment in her eyes as she missed the target, but something else happened that she didn't plan for.
The heat from the lightning bolt caused the snow around the spot to instantly melt producing steam that covered Dr. Thorn. This was her chance. Thalia sprinted with all her might to close the distance between them.
Mr. Thorn, vision still blinded from the steam, started to shoot spikes everywhere not knowing where they were going. The two demigods and satyr in the back dive to the ground to avoid the spikes. Only a few were sent Thalia's way, but she was able to rather dodge them or use her shield. As the steam went away, Thalia was five feet from Dr. Thorn. Not letting the opportunity slip by, she thrusted at the creature, but in return dodged her attack. This sequence countinue for a bit where Thalia would thrust at him trying not to let Dr. Thorn rebalanced himself, but was always able to dodge her spear.
After the 9th time Thalia overthrusted and left her guard open, Dr. Thorn reacted too fast. All Thalia saw was Dr. Thorn spinning his body then felt something massive hit her sending Thalia flying fifthteen feet behind her.
Thalia was barely holding on to consciousness, lifting her head up a little she saw Dr. Thorn not moving from his spot, also seeing a massive tail with spikes behind him. Thalia realized that he was a manticore and how stupid she was for not noticing sooner, all she could hear now was the beast gloating.
"Ah," He said with cheers, "You demigods aren't what they used to be, like where is the challenge, the so called fish boy over there is supposed to be some hero, but he's still on the ground." After some more boast, Dr. Thorn set his eyes on Thalia and started walking to her.
Having no spare energy, Thalia couldn't even raise her arm to protection. Thalia just sat there and accepted her second death. Hearing his tail flicker and the whistle of the spikes coming at her. Seconds past and she felt nothing, something was wrong. Where's the pain, the feeling she had many years ago. Why wasn't she dead?
Thalia lifted her head up to see what was going on. Her eyes widened when she saw a tall figure standing five feet infront of her. She didn't know what she was seeing was right or if her head was damaged because the figure really looked out of place. They wore a black trench suit that made them look like a character from the Matrix, matching black jeans, combat boots, and from the straps around their head; they might have been wearing a mask too.
What made it worse for the girl was when said figure started speaking. "And they said the children of Zeus were the strongest." The only thought that came to Thalia was how could this day get any worse.
What a chapter, I wanted to add in Percy fighting Dr. Thorn, but I thought this was a better place to stop at. Some information to give you guys is that if this story does go on for a long time I will be covering POJ and HOO but not TOA. It doesn't fit into my story so sorry to the people that enjoyed that part. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please show some support, but like I say, Criticism is great with reasoning not just saying it sucks. I know this isn't selling author level writing but it's how I want to write my story and improvement will be made.