AN: Pertemis, for those of you who don't know, is the ship name for for Percy and Artemis. No, the Pertemis will not be based solely on his skill with archery, and of course it isn't going to be love at first sight (which is still going to be in Titan's Curse). They're going to deny their feelings for each other constantly, to themselves, each other, the Hunters, and to Aphrodite, who of course is going to be the first to find out. Although his skill is most likely going to be what makes her notice him at first, as what happened with Orion.

The next few days I fell into a routine. In the morning I had Ancient Greek lessons with Annabeth, which came surprisingly easy to me. Annabeth thought so too, even with a demigod's natural hardwiredness for the language. Then the rest of the day we had other activities, and I tried to find something I was good at, which surprisingly wasn't hard. The first thing I tried, archery, was really easy, even if I struggled to draw the string because of the incorrect bow. I couldn't find one that was just right, even after trying all the practice bows. It went like this.

"So, Percy, have you ever shot a bow before?" Chiron asked as we approached the Archery Range.

"No, but I'm good at basketball." I answered.

"That's a good sign, most of Apollo's kids that are gifted at archery are good at basketball." He mused. We stopped next to a shelf of bows and a pile of loaded quivers. "Try to find one that feels right." He advised.

I picked up each bow and tried to draw the string as best I could, but each one didn't feel quite right. The one I liked best was actually the last one, although it was still off. It was wood of some kind reinforced with bronze, and the string was woven hair of some kind. When I showed it to Chiron, he took it and tested the weight on the string.

"This is a good bow, Percy. It is currently adjusted to have a draw weight of twenty-five pounds, meaning pulling it fully back will be the same as lifting twenty-five pounds one-armed. Now if you would pick a quiver that rests comfortably on your back and you can reach the fletchings with your dominant hand."

"Eh, sir?" I asked.

"Yes?" He looked at me.

"I'm mostly ambidextrous. I can't write with my left, but everything else I've tried I've been able to do either hand." I answered.

"Well, then, you will still need to be able to comfortably reach them with your right hand. You might be capable of shooting ambidextrously, but you will still most likely be more accurate with your right hand on the string. We do not currently have ambidextrous quivers or bows, so you will have to have Cabin Nine make you one, if they want to."

"If I'm any good at this." I answered.

"Yes, there is that." He agreed.

The rest of the lesson was stance, and how to hold the bow and such. When he finally approved of my stance, he let me release a blunt arrow. It struck the target dead center. All the Apollo boys who were practicing stared.

"Do that again, child." Chiron's gentle voice sounded excited as he handed me another arrow.

I shot again, trying to aim as close as I could to the other arrow. Little did I know, he had accidentally handed me a sharpened arrow. My aim was a little too close to the other arrow, as in, it split the other arrow down the center.

Chiron was staring now. First at the target, then at me. I caught him staring.

"What?" I asked.

"Perseus, child, I can not do that, and I was born before the age of the gods began. If you can do that with an unpaired bow, I wonder what you could do with the right one. Shoot again, please. And this time try not to split the arrow." Chiron said kindly.

I drew another blunt arrow from the quiver, drew it in a perfect stance, and let it fly. Chiron watched it go, sailing down to the target. When it went over the edge, he turned to me, looking like he wanted to say something when one of the Apollo kids called out "Chiron! Bullseye!"

"What!?" He shouted, looking flabbergasted.

"He hit the next target, a further fifteen yards!" The kid called.

Chiron turned back to me. "Percy, can you even see that target from where you're standing?"

"No, sir. I saw it on the way over here, though." I replied.

"And were you aiming for that target?" He asked.

"Actually, I was. I didn't even think I'd hit it." I admitted.

"Are you telling me that you hit a target you couldn't see, from memory, without really trying?" He asked.

"Yeah." I answered sheepishly.

"Your stance is already perfect. If your aim is already this good, then all you can do is improve with practice. You will also learn to take proper care of your bow and quiver, and how to make your own arrows. You will have archery once a day, hour long sessions, and shoot under supervision. I will tell Cabin Nine of your need for an ambidextrous bow and quiver at today's end." He said, eyeing me critically.

"Shouldn't I try to shoot with my other hand before I get an ambidextrous bow?" I asked back.

"A good idea. Come, try my bow. It is currently the only left-handed bow in camp. It is drawn currently at a hundred and fifty pounds." He handed me his bow, which was very large and the bowstring quite taut.

When I attempted to draw it, I failed miserably. It was drawn much too tight. I handed it back to Chiron and explained that to him. He chuckled and said he didn't expect me to be able to draw it, but he'd still order the ambidextrous bow and quiver anyways, just in case I could shoot left handed.

The next lesson I tried was foot racing. That, I was no good at. The dryads told me not to feel bad, some of them had had thousands of years of practice running from lovesick gods. The third thing, Wrestling, I was pretty good at. I couldn't get Clarisse in a hold, she was much too strong, but she couldn't hold me either. Canoeing I was really good at, for some odd reason. Three days after I woke up, on Thursday, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Cabin Eleven gathered in the Arena, where Luke would be our instructor.

The lesson started with practice on straw-stuffed dummies for the rest of the class, while I tried to find a good sword. I had a similar problem as with the bow. I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Eventually I found one that was alright, but the pairing was much worse than the bow.

So I got to work on my dummy. Slashes, stabs, overhead swings. The blade was throwing me off, I could feel it. Eventually we moved on to pairs, where I ended up with Luke.

"Good luck. Luke's the best swordsman in three hundred years." Somebody said to me.

"Maybe he'll go easy on me." I replied, semi-dismayed to receive a snort in return.

Luke showed me swordfighting the hard way. Every motion of his blade gave me a new bruise. After about twenty minutes, Luke called a break. We all drank some water, and Luke poured some on his head. I thought it was a good idea, so I did the same. As soon as the water touched my body, I felt stronger. I wasn't so tired and the sword felt a little more balanced.

"Gather round, everyone. I've got a new move to show all of you, if Percy doesn't mind." He explained the disarming technique he wanted to show us, where you used the flat of your own sword and twisted the opponent's in such a way they had no choice but to drop the sword lest it break. "Now, no hounding Percy, alright. I've had this technique used against me. Most swords-people work years to master this technique." He then demonstrated the move on my outstretched sword. Sure enough, I had to drop it because it turned the grip out of alignment. "Now we'll duel until one of us can get this move in." I nodded at him and he came at me.

Somehow I prevented him from disarming me immediately. I could feel his strikes coming, predict them almost. I saw an opening so I tried a thrust. Luke deflected it easily, but his narrowed and he started putting more force into each swing. Luke tried to stab at me again, so I figured what the heck? I was already tiring, I knew if I waited I'd get taken down easily. I tried the move. My sword hit his hilt, and I twisted, putting all my force into the move. his sword clattered onto the ground. My sword was a single inch from his undefended chest.

"Sorry?" I offered.

For a moment Luke was stunned before his face broke into a grin. "Percy, why are you sorry? That was really good! Show me that again."

We started another duel, but Luke disarmed me easily.

A long, awkward pause followed, broken by someone muttering questioningly "Beginner's Luck?"

"Perhaps." Luke answered. "Though I wonder what you could do with a balanced sword?" He muttered, halfway to himself. "Dismissed!" He called to the class. He turned back to me and asked me to remain behind. "While you're really good with a bow, and apparently have talent with a sword, each camper is allowed to try and learn any close-range weapon they desire. If you've got the funds for it, you can modify a gun to shoot celestial bronze, or make a crossbow, although those aren't that popular. You can learn to throw javelins or spears, learn to use a spear in close combat, knives, throwing knives, whatever. And of course children of The Big Three practically have a favored close up weapon by default, it's not usually a sword. Most Big Three kids use a weapon based on their parents, so Zeus' used to use spears or swords, Poseidon's usually favored swords or tridents, and Hades' like staves or swords as well. Of course, none of that is really relevant anymore, seeing as how they all swore not to have kids seventy years ago because of a prophecy and their general power levels. So we let everyone choose a favorite weapon, but everyone gets at least the basics of swordplay."

"Was there a point to that rambling?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Luke laughed. "Of course there was. Basically, you get to go to the weapons shed and pick something out, if it appeals to you. Then we find someone to train you to use it, if we can." He replied.

"Oh. So where is this weapons shed?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Right this way, Your Majesty." Luke said jokingly.

"At least you know your place, scum." I said back, though I smiled at him.

In the weapon shed there was all manner of things. Mostly swords and spears, although there were plenty of knives as well. In the far back, the wall had bows and quivers hung on it, obviously of higher quality than the practice bows I had tested out. I tried out the bows first, although none were a better fit than the practice one I was using currently. None of the swords matched at all, none even close to the still-unbalanced sword I had just used in practice. I found a pair of knives, though.

They were nice, with celestial bronze blades and bone handles, though what kind of bone we couldn't tell. They could be thrown or used in close combat, as necessary. There was some kind of liquid inside the handles, we could tell. Each one had a blue line painted from the handle to the hilt of the blade. I tested them a few times, finding myself as much a natural with them as with the bow.

Then, after forty-five minutes, I found something in the far back, under a shelf, wrapped in waterproofed canvas. When I pulled it out and unwrapped it, I found a trident so black it looked like a hole in reality. When I touched it, it began to glow and appear to crack. The shadows fell away from it, revealing a beautiful five-pronged celestial bronze trident with an arrow-shape on the end, obviously for use like a spear. When I let go of it, it was rewrapped in shadows, resuming the hole-in-reality look. I decided to leave it, but when I held out my hand to take the knives I'd chosen from Luke, the trident flew back into it and transformed again in a burst of light, leaving me with a very familiar-looking ballpoint pen. When I clicked it, the trident reappeared with a burst of light. When I looked closer, I found an inscription on it. Υψηλή παλίρροια, or High Tide. At the end of the inscription there was another inscription, separated from the name by a raised ridge on the handle. This one read Αλλαγή, or Change. Touching it left me with a pen again.

"I think it likes you." Luke chuckled.

"I guess so. I'll take this and the knives." I told him.

"Well, I guess that's good. Annabeth is currently the best in Camp with knives, so she can teach you close combat. She isn't the best at throwing them, but don't tell her I said that. It doesn't help that her favorite knife isn't shaped for throwing. There isn't anyone here who can properly teach you the trident, but Chiron can probably at least get you started. If it helps, you can use it like a spear, but there are moves that are unique to the trident and unique to the spear, so there's that." Luke told me as we left.

"Hopefully I can fit this into my busy schedule." I said sarcastically.

"Hopefully." He chuckled.

AN: Thank you so much! I've barely written anything and you all are already blowing this up! I'm trying my best to write this story along the lines of canon, but in situations where archery, throwing knives, etc. are helpful will be used. Percy will, of course, be quite powerful. My highest hope is that I can get this story all the way to slaying Gaea, but I might cut it off at TLO.

High Tide is a gift from Poseidon. It absorbs the strongest qualities of any weapon it breaks or monster it slays, as the receding tide takes everything from the shore. It returns to Percy's pocket, but it can come to the hand when called. The knives have water in the handles, and that will come in quite handy. Percy's bow will be the only thing it that doesn't have great hiding capabilities, mostly due to that it was forged by demigods and not Cyclopes, Telkhines, etc. However, it does have a stronger Mist shield around it, and like all supernatural metals, will not set off a metal detector.

Please tell me if you notice egregious spelling, grammar, or plot errors. I am happy to receive constructive criticism, but ranting, rudeness, and and such will be called out. Each user will only get one warning per story, and then they will be blocked, as I said in one of my previous Author's Notes.

Anyway! Next chapter is going to be the Capture the Flag Game, plus some other stuff. Yay!