James woke up with a bucket of cold water dumped on his face and a punch in the guts. Not exactly the best way to start the day, but, oh well.
"Morning, Boy." Artemis said.
James judged groaned. He heard laughing and realized that all the hunters were gathered around watching him.
"Milady, why do we need look after this useless male?" Said a girl with dark hair and a punk shirt and a tiara on her head.
"This useless male is a Demigod who we need to look after." Artemis replied.
"Why do we need to look after him?" The dark haired girl asked.
"Because Zeus commands it." Artemis said simply.
Just then James heard a voice in his head.
"I have opened a mental connection, and they will want to know who your parent is." Artemis said.
"Put me down as a son of Hades, that is as close as I can go without telling them my true parent." James replied, as he felt the mental connection close.
"Girls, you may be wondering about his aura, well he is a son of my uncle, Hades." Artemis told them.
They all gasped.
"Does that mean he can shadow travel?" Asked a blond hunter.
James didn't know what that was.
"Shadow what?" He asked.
"Never mind that," Artemis said. "This means he is our slave, so he will start the day making breakfast."
"I am an awful cook." James said.
"We'll see about that boy." Artemis said.
James was provided with everything he ever needed to be a good cook, and no idea how to use them.
He picked up a knife and an apple and started to cut the apple, and he cut through the apple, cutting board, and counter.
"What the…." James started.
James then felt a mental connection open.
"Hello, Son." Tartarus said in his mind.
"Hello, Father." James replied, his voice devoid of emotion.
Tartarus chuckled.
"Not one to get emotional are we? Well, as you may have noticed, you just displayed an enormous feat of strength. This is because now that I have claimed you, your dormant powers have opened and will slowly allow you to use them." Tartarus explained.
"The first is super strength. At the moment your power matches that of Heracles, which will slowly grow to the point where you can destroy mountains with a single flick of your wrist. Do not worry, you will be able to control the strength you use." He continued.
"The next is shadow travel, which is a form of teleportation. At the moment you can only travel maybe 200 miles at a time, but in the future, you can be anywhere on in the universe instantly." Tartarus said.
"The final power is control over monsters that have no real mind of their own, like the hounds of hell or powers cost massive reserves of energy, so use them well. Farewell my son, and train hard." Tartarus said as he ended the connection.
James then turned to see a hunter in the doorway.
"What are you doing boy?" The hunter shrieked. "Get to work!"
James sighed, adjusted his strength to that of a regular man, and got to work.
One Year later…..
"Good morning James." Said Thalia, the girl with the tiara.
"What time is it?" James groaned.
"About 5 in the morning, why?" She asked.
"Why are you awake?" James said as he realized all the other hunters were gathered around his bed.
"James, it's training time!" A blond hunter, named Tracy, grinned evilly.
James cursed. He had training once every month.
"What kind?" James asked.
"Hard." Said Thalia.
Training went on three levels, easy, medium, and hard. He had only had easy and medium so far, but hard meant pushing his body to the absolute limit.
"So begins a day of Hell," James muttered. "At least it can't be worse."
"Also, Tracy is cooking breakfast." Thalia said.
"I was wrong." James said.
"I heard that!" Tracy yelled from a distance.
Thalia and James walked out of his tent, when a flash of light appeared from the distance.
"That must be Artemis, back from Olympus." Thalia said.
Then, a tall man walked out of the wood. The hunters gathered around with their bows readied.
"Ares, why have you come?" Questioned Thalia.
Ares was dressed in a black biker jacket, a red shirt, Diesel jeans, and biker boots. He had close cropped hair and sunglasses on.
"Good news everyone!" Ares said. "Artemis is a bit wrapped up right now, so she put me in charge of your training."
Everybody groaned.
"Fifty laps around the campsite then meet me back here."
Fifty Laps Later
Everybody was out of breath and wheezing and getting yelled at by Ares was no help.
"You out of shape pieces of crap! Today is hard training, so your bodies will be pushed to the limit, and beyond. The first test is strength, in which you will be boxing against one another. The winner of these rounds will face me, and if you beat me, then I will join you in this exercise." Ares said.
None of the olympians nor hunters knew of the abilities that Tartarus had given him. But today was not the day to show them. His strength had grown so now he was three times as strong as Heracles.
"Round one will be Hayley versus Brooklyn." Ares said as he conjured a boxing ring.
"Asshole." Brooklyn mumbled under her breath.
"What did you say to me girl?" Ares asked.
"Asshole." Brooklyn repeated loudly.
Ares reared back his fist to punch her, but was intercepted by James. Ares glared at James.
"What do you think you're doing, twerp?"
James put all his strength into squeezing Ares' knuckle. The bone shattered and Ares' screamed in pain.
"Kicking your ass." James said aggressively.
James squeezed harder and Ares' screamed in pain. Ares threw a punch with his other arm and James intercepted it again and squeezed. Ares knuckles broke and he cried for mercy. James let go, and the god teleported away.
The hunters were in awe.
"Ares is going to murder you when he heals." Thalia said.
James considered what he had just done.
"I need to get away from him. Eventually he's going to come for revenge." James said.
"I know where you can go." Thalia said.
"Where?" James asked.
"A friend of mine works at camp half-blood. He once beat Ares in a sword fight, and he will protect you and teach you some stuff." Thalia said.
"Then off to camp I go." James said as he ran to his cabin. He packed his bag and turned to Thalia.
"Where is camp half-blood anyway? I can shadow travel there." James said.
"It is in Long Island, on half blood hill." She said.
"By the way, what is the name of your sword master friend?" James asked.
"Percy Jackson" Thalia Said.