A/N: Thanks ChyrstalineCD, SockBreeder, Limeime, Annabeth Chase, Luna Lovegood, thedauntlessamity, Guest, Angel Valdez, and Samhildanach.
Task Four: As we all know, our four contestants have various talents. Music though, is hardly one of them.
Each of them have an instrument waiting for them. A person will walk into the room, and they have to pretend like they know how to play it, all the while doing whatever the others tell them to do. At the end, they have to ask the person whether or not they would like to take another class with them. If the person says no, or they don't do what they're told, they lose.
"So, this is the big deal, right," Leo said. "The last game. Only Frank's in the clear this time."
"So any of the rest of us could lose," Percy said. "But what happens if only Frank gets a penalty? Then there's no one to think of the punishment."
"I don't know," Frank said. "I don't think we need to bother though, as that's pretty unlikely."
"I'll go first though," Leo said. "And sadly, I have an advantage in this since I actually made an instrument and sold it to the very god of music himself!"
Leo opened his box to see a tuba. And not just any tuba, but a huge one.
"Wow, that thing is almost as big as Leo," Percy said. "There's no way he could lift it."
"Judge me by my size, do you?" Leo said as he picked it up. He almost collapsed going to the other end of the room with it.
"I don't think he can do it," Frank said. "He clearly doesn't have the lung capacity to play that thing."
"I think you're forgetting that time we all dressed up as aliens and scared him on Halloween," Jason said. "I remember he screamed way past how long he should have been able to afterwards. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Remember guys, no matter what instrument I'm playing," Leo said and then paused for dramatic effect, "…I can always set the stage on fire!"
He smiled like he was expecting laughter or applause, but what came was this:
"You're doing bad puns again?" Percy asked. "La-me!" while the others chorused 'Boo!' simultaneously.
So then the guy Leo was supposed to be talking to came in. He was a whole lot larger than Leo.
"Hey," the guy said.
"Hey," Leo said, and put his tuba on the table. There were the usual pleasantries. "So, let's begin your tuba lesson."
"Now, remember," Percy. "Before you begin, you need to warm up."
"Okay, now the tuba is a pretty hard instrument to play, you know, you need a pretty large lung capacity, so I like to warm up before I start playing," Leo said.
"First you should start with some push-ups," Jason said. "Go ahead, Leo."
"Alright, so let's start with some push-ups," Leo said.
The guy dropped to the floor and began doing them mechanically and perfectly. Leo on the other hand, struggled to do one properly and almost fell over after three.
The others were laughing hard.
"You know, I kind of feel bad," Frank said. "This is just us making fun of Leo for being un-athletic and short."
"I don't think it's very nice to call someone short," Percy said. "I think the politically correct term is 'vertically challenged.'"
"Say what now?" Jason asked.
"So, I think that's enough," Leo said. He had done maybe five push-ups compared to the guy's twenty. "You see, push-ups are necessary to build up your upper body strength, you know, to help in your lung capacity."
"Makes sense," the guy said.
"Yeah, you can really build up your Pectoralis Major and, uh, Nissan Maximus like that," Leo said.
"Since when is there a muscle called the Nissan Maximus?" Frank asked.
"You need to spend less time around cars, Leo," Jason said.
"So, now, you next exercise is singing," Frank said.
"This is a bit unorthodox, but I also like to sing a bit, you know, get the lungs working," Leo said.
"Yeah, you look kind of small for a tuba player- no offence," the guy said.
"Don't worry," Percy said. "We've already insulted Leo for that. And we're sure he took offence for that!"
"Great, now sing," Frank said and burst into giggles.
There was a good reason they were laughing.
You see, Leo couldn't sing. Not for his life. He tried singing in the Camp Half-Blood shower once and Percy had immediately burst in, certain there was a dying whale crying out for help in there.
"Okay," Leo said, wondering which song he should choose.
"Sing something by Katy Perry," Jason said.
Leo sighed, wishing he had chosen something before the guys got an idea to ask for something specifically, and just went for 'Roar.'
"Okay, so let's start," Leo said, and began singing. The other guy was honestly too busy laughing to join in.
"Now try actually playing the tuba," Jason said.
To Leo's credit, he managed to hold a note for a whole fifteen seconds before his face turned red, making him look like a really angry Christmas Elf, and then collapsed and dropped the tuba on his foot.
The guy rushed to help him.
Meanwhile, the others were quite literally rolling on the floor laughing at Leo. Once they could actually speak, Frank said, "You know, if he keeps raising his thoracic pressure like that, he could develop a hernia."
"Good thing we're not legally responsible for any injuries incurred to the workers during this filming," Percy said.
"We're not?" Jason asked.
"So," Leo said, once he got his breath back, "would you like to take another class with me?"
"You mean on this same topic?" the guy asked.
"Yup," Leo said.
"Well, alright then. But don't faint that time too," the guy said.
Result: Leo passed.
Next up was Percy.
He walked into the room to see what his instrument was.
"Oh wow, I'm so overwhelmed," Percy muttered sarcastically.
The others had apparently deemed it appropriate to give him a triangle of all things.
"Like seriously, how do you even play one of these things? What does it do?" Percy asked.
"Silly Percy, you have to put in the batteries first," Leo said.
"But where do I put the batte- I almost fell for that," Percy said.
"Now, Percy, listen, when whoever we send comes in, only answer yes or no questions for the starting," Jason said.
"I only answer yes or no questions? Why?" Percy asked.
"No, you only answer 'yes' or 'no' to questions, depending on what we say," Jason said.
A kid only about a year younger than Percy walked in. "Hey- my name's Jacob."
"Now say no," Jason said.
"No," Percy said.
"Uh… no? Like no to what? Am I in the wrong room or something?" the kid asked.
"Say no."
"No," Percy said.
"So, what's your name?" the kid asked.
"Say yes."
"Yes," Percy said.
"Uh, I asked what your name was," the kid said.
"Say yes again," Jason said.
"Yes," Percy said.
"Your name is yes?" the kid asked.
"Now say no."
"No," Percy answered.
"What?" the kid asked. "So, you name is not yes?"
"Say yes."
"Yes," Percy said.
"Could you just repeat what you said? It wasn't really clear, like I mean, more detailed," Jacob asked.
"Say no."
"No," Percy said.
"Do you also think that this conversation is getting really weird?" Jacob asked.
"Say yes."
"Yes," Percy said.
"Really? So, should we start?" Jacob asked.
"Now say that you're going to teach him how to play an instrument, bake muffins, learn how to become a public notary, and bring balance back to the Force," Frank said.
"Okay, so if we're over with that, I'm going to teach you how to play an instrument, bake muffins, learn how to become a public notary, and bring balance back to the Force," Percy said.
"And… we only have twenty-four hours to do that?" Jacob asked.
"Percy, show him the instrument and call it a hexagon," Frank said.
"So, first off let's learn how play this hexagon," Percy said, holding the triangle up.
"I'm pretty sure that it's called a triangle- you know based on the fact that it looks like a triangle," Jacob said.
"Tell him if you were that good at math you wouldn't be here," Leo said.
"If I was that good at math I wouldn't be here," Percy said.
"So, how do you play it?" Jacob asked. "I mean, it's just a metal triangle."
"Now, Percy, wow us with your originally composed song- the Hanging Wind Chime," Jason said.
"Now, let's start off by something that I wrote myself, the Hanging Wind Chime," Percy said.
"Sounds cool. What'd you do?"
"Take the triangle, and using the stick hang it using some string from something," Jason said.
"So, all you need to do first is hand it from something," Percy said, and took the coat rack and hung the triangle from there.
"And now all you have to do is wait for the wind to come and blow it around," Frank said.
"And now all you have to do is wait for the wind to come and blow it around," Percy said.
"So, it's exactly like a wind chime?"
"Yeah. That's why there's that name."
"But-but you don't even play it yourself!"
"That's the beauty of it," Percy said. "You can always hear another song every time you play it. That's why it is my masterpiece."
"…There's not even any wind in here. It isn't even making any noise," Jacob said.
"Well you know what they say," Percy said. "Silence is golden. Plus, it is how it would sound like to someone who can't hear."
"Can you actually play anything with it using the stick and stuff?" Jacob asked.
"Percy, make one note using the triangle and say that the kid's demo period is over," Jason said.
Percy took the triangle, and said, "Watch carefully, 'cause I'm about to do something awesome." He then hit the thing once. "Well, that's all over for your demo period. So, wanna take another class with me?"
"Nah," Jacob said.
Result: Percy failed.