Here is The Boy On The Ground. Take two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, Avatar: The Last Airbender or P!nk

Chapter 6

"Wow..." Percy breathed. "You know, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that there's another world out there..."

The gang laughed at Percy but nodded in agreement.

They had been sitting there for nearly two hours, explaining to him what their world was like. He listened and asked questions and the gang was starting to feel like he fit right into their group, despite the fact that he was a couple years older then most of them.

"Are you going to tell us what your world is like?" Aang asked.

Percy looked hesitant. "Well, I could." He seemed to be having an argument with himself. "You see, I have this thing called ADHD and it means that I have trouble sitting down and focusing on things like we've been doing. I'm actually impressed I lasted this long, but anyways, do you think I could later? I need to go stretch or something." He stood up and looked around.

"Okay!" Aang used airbending to make himself stand up. "What do you want to do? Bending battle? A ride on Appa? Go to the beach?"

"Geez, kid." Percy joked. "Do you have ADHD too?" He rocked on his toes and put his hands in his pocket. "I was actually thinking a little sword play, what do ya say, Sokka?"

Sokka's eyes sparkled. "Sure, bring it on."

"Good thing your girlfriends not here to watch you lose." Toph nagged.

Percy flashed a grin at Sokka. "Let's get started, then."

. / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / . / .

The two boys stood facing each other, they had decided to have the fight by the tents, where most of the bending training happened. Circling each other and getting a good feel of the others defenses, they faced off. Percy was taking into consideration Sokka's grip, stance and confidence.

"I hope your good, Sea Legs!" Toph yelled from off to the side. "I haven't seen Sokka get his butt whopped in at least three hours."

Percy ignored her but Sokka couldn't help and shoot a quick glare her way.

"Your grip is good." Percy commented. "You must have been taught by a master."

"Actually, I was taught by-"

Sokka's blade flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground, the tip of Percy sword rested on Sokka's chest.

"Dead."

"What happened?" Toph demanded. "He barely moved!"

Sokka grunted as he bent to pick up his sword, Percy took a few paces back and waited. A small grin had crept up on his face.

Taking his stance again, Sokka glared at Percy. "I wasn't ready that time."

Percy nodded. "Sure, sure." He was full on grinning now. "Ready now?"

Sokka nodded. "That was just a warm up. Let's do it for real now."

/././././././././././././././

Nearly an hour later the two boys were drenched in sweat and still at it. Percy was coaching Sokka while trying to keep up his own defenses and advancement. Sokka was good, but not as good as Percy.

"Higher! Higher!" Percy yelled. "Watch your feet, keep your arms up! I said watch your feet! My neck was completely unprotected, you didn't even go for it. Keep your arms straight! What does that cloud look like to you?"

Sokka was taken by surprise by the last question and fumbled. With a quick flick of his sword, Percy had disarmed him and had swept his legs out from underneath him. He stood panting over Sokka while Katara and Aang cheered and Toph laughed. Even Zuko looked impressed.

Holding out a hand to pick Sokka up, Percy grinned and bowed awkwardly to the small audience. Zuko shook his head but smiled at the show, it had been worth his time after all.

"You're pretty good, you know." Percy told Sokka.

"Really?" Sokka asked hopefully. "You think so?" Percy had beat Sokka every time.

Percy nodded and put the cap on Riptide, it turned into a pen and he pocketed it. "Sure, I do." The two started walking over to the others. "You've got the makings of a great swordsman."

Aang and Toph ran up. "You're amazing!" A beaming Aang told Percy, "You were good too, Sokka." He added as an afterthought.

"I've been told I'm pretty good." Percy blushed. "They wanted me to take over as the sword play instructor at camp, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to or not."

"Who's 'they'?" Katara asked.

Percy glanced at her. "I'll tell you... after I go for a swim."

Suddenly, they all noticed his ashen coloured face, he swayed slightly on his feet.

"Sure, let's go!" Aang cheered. He tapped Toph on the shoulder, "Race you!"

The two took off and Percy took one step forwards and stumbled slightly.

"Here," Sokka dropped his sword and put an arm around him, "Let me help you."

Zuko came up and helped him too. Katara followed behind, hovering and fretting.

The small party reached the edge of the water and Percy eased himself in, Aang burst from the water and air bended himself dry, he stood next to Katara and watched Percy.

The older boy slowly put one bare foot in the cool water, his whole body shuddered and Aang thought it was from the cold, but the he realized it was from pleasure. The bright blue water was pretty calm, but the second Percy touched it, the water started churning and foaming.

Percy threw back his head and laughed. He already looked a lot better. The wind picked up and messed with his black hair. Taking a few steps back, Percy took a run at the water, he splashed in and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

The wind was still blowing and Katara closed her eyes and leaned her head back. The wind caressed her hair and Aang stared. She really was beautiful.

"Don't you just love the smell of it?" She asked, eyes still closed.

Toph dropped down and sat in the warm sand. "No, I hate the water."

"Keep the negativity to yourself..." Katara shot back.

Zuko shrugged, "It's not really my favourite smell either.I just want to know why it seems to help Percy get better. He's not a bender so he can't heal himself with it, right?" Zuko asked.

"I'm not really sure what he is." Aang said thoughtfully. "But I do know I like the smell of the water too."

"See? Aang agrees with me." Katara stuck her tongue out at Toph.

"It reminds me of home and-" Sokka sniffed. "Suki..."

"Sokka, it's only been a couple of hours." Katara told him unfeelingly.

"Yeah... grow up already." Zuko snorted.

Sokka's face brightened as an idea popped into his mind. "Oh, I get it now!" He yelled.

Zuko shoved Sokka over. "Shut up. You nearly burst my ear drum."

"No, I really get it now!"

"What do you get?" Aang asked.

"I get why Mr. Grumpy is so grumpy!"

Zuko scowled and folded his arms. He stood over Sokka and tried to look intimidating. "Enlighten me."

Sokka smiled proudly. "It's because you're away from Mai." He waited for everyone to congratulate him, instead he got silence and a blushing Zuko.

"Who?" Aang asked.

"Mai! Remember? The really gloomy girl with the knives, she traveled with Azula."

"Oh, her!" Katara remembered. "Why does Zuko care about her?"

Zuko looked a if he'd been slapped. "She was my girlfriend."

Katara gasped. "You're kidding."

Zuko shook his head.

"Oh, Zuko. I'm so sorry." Katara apologized. She hesitated. "You know, I can see it though. You're both really depressing."

"She could do better." Toph spoke up.

"What's that supposed to-" Zuko stopped halfway through his accusation to look out at the water, where shrieks of laughter were erupting.

./././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././././.

After Percy had disappeared into the water, everything seemed to be going fine. He was swimming underwater, just enjoying the feeling of power it gave him. The weak feeling had be plaguing him ever since he woke up, he was the son of Poseidon! He shouldn't feel so powerless all the time.

The water wrapped itself around him and when he moved, he didn't feel pain. Being underwater was more natural than being on land, sometimes.

Schools of little fish were soon swimming around him. They were excited that a human was in their home and could talk to them. A few larger fish swam over too, curious.

Percy laughed at them, all of their brightly coloured scales shone in the dim light of the ocean floor. The fish were acting like a couple of kids, all wanting Percy's attention, trying to show him their homes.

The chatter was suddenly hushed and all Percy could hear was a few of the fish thinking, It's The Messenger

He turned his body around and saw the biggest and ugliest fish he had even seen swim up to him. It was the size of a king sized bed, and a dark muddy colour. He had an impressive beard but it did nothing to make him less ugly.

"Hello." Percy said, tentatively.

Greetings, Controller of The Waters.

Percy blushed, the water around him swirled slightly. "I don't control the ocean." He corrected the fish quickly. "My dad does, I guess I inherited some of his powers."

The old fish blinked slowly. Percy took that as a nod.

My masters, the Ocean and Moon Spirits, felt your great power the moment you first touched the waters of our world. It said in a raspy, but kind, voice. They wished to bring you gifts, to favour you in what you come to do here.

The fish opened his mouth and Percy thought for a second it was going to eat him. Instead it lifted it's great, pink tongue. Under his tongue lay a large cloth bag, tied up in a delicately woven rope.

Percy slowly put his hand in and carefully drew out the bag, he held it in front of him in confusion.

"Um, tell your masters I say thanks." He said. He bowed his head.

The great fish blinked again and twisted his large lips into a smile. It seemed he got even uglier.

I also bare a message. He wagged his head and started turning his great body around. Try not to wake up too many naiads and oceanids.

Percy stared at him as he made his exit.

The rest of the small fish, who had been hiding and watching the entire exchange, now crowded around Percy, all excited and bubbly.

What's in the bag? What's in the bag? They cried. Oh, please open the bag!

Percy laughed out loud. He couldn't even try to be mad at the annoying little fish. They were too cute and excitable.

"Okay, okay." He tried to calm them down. "I'm opening it! Give me a second."

He tugged lightly at the rope and it came away quickly, the bag was filled with giant, glittering, gold coins. Percy picked one up. Drachma's. It was filled with ancient Greek money. It glinted brilliantly in the dark, odd, lighting of the ocean. The fish gasped and chattered excitedly, giddiness was just bubbling out of them. Percy smiled and tied up the sack again, he hid it safely in the folds of his burnt, torn up clothes.

Percy was about to say something more to the fish when he heard a sound. The sound of a human giggling.

Peering into the water, Percy saw a girl. She was slim and delicate looking, with pale blue skin and hair a million different shades of green, all tied up in a long braid. Her arms and slender neck were covered with bracelets made out of seaweed and sea shells. Her clothes consisted of a skimpy wrap the colour of sand. and when Percy looked closer, he realized she didn't have feet, her legs just seemed to fade away and end, just below the knees.

She was a naiad.

Percy suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. What were the naiads doing here? Whatever it was, Percy didn't see how it could be good.

She giggled again and rubbed her huge, sleepy eyes. They glinted like fish scales.

"Hello, Sea Prince." She bubbled.

Percy hesitated, not sure how to respond. "Hello?" He said carefully. The fish were swimming so fast around him he could hardly see.

The naiad stretched out her arms, the bracelet's tinkled slightly. "You've woken me up! You're my hero!" She gushed, she floated forwards and smiled sweetly. "I've been sleeping for ever so long.

Percy shifted uncomfortably. All the warning signs in his head were flashing red.

"Umm, how did I wake you up? Exactly?" He asked.

The naiad giggled and put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Oh, my dear, Prince! Just by being here, of course! Your powerful presence has woken us up from our slumber."

Percy gulped. "Us?" He wasn't sure he could deal with more than one naiad at the moment.

The naiad nodded. "Yes, my sisters will wake soon, we must use this time we have together, alone." She leaned forwards and Percy was terrified that she would kiss him when she was suddenly thrown back.

"Hey!" She shrieked indignantly.

Her place was taken by another naiad. This one looked extremely similar except her colours were different.

This one lost no time in putting her watery hands on Percy. "Don't waste your time on that old thing. Wanna try a real water spirit?"

"I-I, umm, I have a girlfriend." He managed to sputter out before she too, was thrown back.

More and more naiads appeared out of nowhere. There must have been almost a dozen. A few other creatures came too, these one resembled mermaids, though. At first, they were all fighting and yelling, but they soon lost interest in that and started shooting water at each other, shrieking and laughing.

The fish were going crazy. Apparently, they liked having someone to play with.

Without realizing it, the entire group of sea creatures and Percy, were slowly rising to the surface. The first naiad broke the surface and shrieked in delight as the warm air touched her face. Some oceanids jumped out and dived back in, barely making a splash. Percy broke the surface last. He looked about himself, confused and bewildered. Deciding that everyone had forgot about him, he started swimming for shore.

He walked up to the beach and stood up. Aang and the other were looking out to the water, dumbfounded.

"Where did all those girls come from?" Sokka asked in a strangled voice.

"How come you're dry?" Katara demanded.

"I think I woke them up..." Percy ignored Katara's question.

"They were sleeping in the water?" Toph grinned like she thought it was a joke.

Percy grimaced, knowing how crazy he sounded. "I think I should probably tell you about my world now." He folded his arms over his chest, trying to keep the bag of coins from falling out or making noise. He wasn't sure why, but something was telling him to keep that and the run-in with 'The Messenger' to himself.

A couple naiads came to shore. They had legs now, Percy noted. Standing ankle deep in the water, the giggled and waved. Dumbfounded, the boys waved back.

"Don't." Percy told them. "They are terrible flirts and you'll only encourage them." He smiled as he remembered Annabeth telling him the exact same thing on his first day at camp. Well, the first day he was conscience.

"Come on, darling!" The naiads called, switching their attention to the girls. "Let us do your hair!"

"Oh..." Katara looked surprised and blushed a little bit. "Umm."

"Not today, you don't." Toph snarled at them, she stood up and stomped the ground, a large portion of earth underneath the naiads rose up suddenly and launched them back out to the water.

They yelled curses and shot a large stream of water at Toph, but Katara intercepted it and stopped it before it could hit her.

"We'd better go." Aang said nervously, "I don't want to fight any spirits today." He started walking away and everyone followed him.

The group walked silently until they walked past a cluster of trees. The few heads popped out from behind the large trunk and the girls rubbed their eyes and smiled sleepily.

"Who are they?" Zuko sounded exasperated.

"Just some dryads." Percy replied. Not looking at them. "Tree spirits."

"If you're spirits, how can we see them?" Katara asked in a hushed tone. She looked at Aang, who shook his head and lifted a shoulder as if to say, 'I dunno'.

Percy only shrugged and kept moving forwards. He thanked the gods that dryads were more shy than the naiads.

When they reached the camp, Katara made everyone sit by the cooking pot again, so that she could talk to them while she prepared supper. She quickly started throwing things into the pot and Percy couldn't help but smile when he saw how intently Aang watched her. The young boy wasn't watching in a creepy way, just in the way that made everyone wish they could love someone as he loved her.

"So... your world..." Sokka started.

"Right, okay... I don't really know where to start."

"Start from the beginning!" Aang chirped.

Percy rolled his eyes at him but started talking. He was a Greek though, and Greeks take pride in all things beautiful. Storytelling included. There was even classes back at camp on how to present a good story.

He sat cross legged and used his arms to help illustrate.

"So... long ago, there was a war between two groups of immortal beings. The titans and the gods. It was a terrible war but eventually, the gods won and threw the titans into tartarus, which is basically hell. You follow?"

Everyone nodded.

"Now, there are twelve gods that are in charge, I guess you could say. They are called the Twelve Olympians and out of the twelve, there are three who are the biggest three gods. The Big Three. There's Zeus, who is ruler of the skies and king of all the gods, Poseidon, ruler of the oceans and Hades, the ruler of the underworld."

He stopped and looked around at the faces surrounding him. They didn't look too confused so he went on.

"With the gods ruling over the world, the human race prospered and evolved. Soon, the gods saw this and some of the fell in love with a few humans, they had children with the humans and the children were half god and half human. These children of gods were dangerous. They were powerful and brave, they had many names. Some called them Hero's, demigods or half-bloods."

"Why were they called hero's?" Sokka interrupted.

"They were called hero's because that's what they were. They often had to fight people, gods who went bad and monsters to keep the people safe when the gods turned a blind eye."

"Whoa! Wait!" Toph held up her hands. "Did you just say monsters?"

Percy nodded. "Monsters. And because they're were so many things that the half-bloods had to do, they needed to be trained."

"Trained with what?" Aang asked.

"Swords, spears, bows and arrows, daggers, hand-to-hand combat... Not to mention the running, climbing, strategizing..."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah... but you see, the half-bloods attract the monsters, they can smell a half-blood from miles away. A couple years ago the gods made a camp for their children. A safe heaven where monsters couldn't get in... Also most of the kids have special disorders that help them in the Greek world but make it difficult in the normal world."

"Greek?" Katara snorted. "What do you mean by that?"

"The Greeks were the one who originally worshiped the gods. They're considered Greek gods."

"Okay..." Katara pondered that. "Why did you say, 'in the normal world' though?"

Percy sighed, this was about to get complicated. "Well you see, when the Greek's died out, people stopped worshipping the Greek gods and either forgot about them or said they were things of myth. Nobody really knows about the Greeks gods, monsters or half-blood anymore. We have to hide."

"You just said 'we'." Aang noticed. "Does that mean you're a half-blood?"

Percy nodded. "Yup." He popped the 'p'.

"It must be hard hiding all the time." Katara said softly.

Percy nodded. "It is.. but the mortals are special. They only see what they want to see. The look through something called, 'mist'. I don't know how it works but if there's a demon hound running through the streets, they'll see an adorable puppy that's lost it's way. It our job to protect them from monsters like that."

Toph snorted. "They sound like a load of wimps to me."

"I wasn't asking you." Percy shot back. "Some of the bravest people I've met are mortals." He thought about his mom and Paul and how brave they had been when Manhattan was under attack.

"Okay." Toph spread her hands. "No need to get offended."

Percy glared at her. "Anyways, the Big Three made a pact a while ago, not have any more children because they were too powerful and unpredictable." Percy suddenly looked thoughtful. "Plus, there was a prophesy spoken about the next child of the Big Three to reach the age of sixteen. The demi-god would decide the fate of Olympus." He spoke quietly, only looking at the ground.

"How are you a demi-god?" Zuko asked. "I mean... who's your parent that's a god?"

Percy looked up again. "My godly parent? My dad is Poseidon, god of the oceans."

"So that's how you could control the water." Katara mused. She stirred the pot again, thinking hard. "Wait, didn't you just say the Big Three swore not to have any more kids?"

Percy shrugged. "I also said they weren't perfect. My dad broke the rules... I'm a mistake." He couldn't help but let some of his old bitterness slip into his voice. He knew that both his mom and father loved him, but that didn't stop the fact that he should never have been born.

Aang's voice was soft and understanding. "That must've been hard."

"My father says that my sister was born lucky." Zuko told him, staring at the ground. "He says that I was lucky to be born."

"My parents don't even know me." Toph drew her knees up under her chin. "They think I'm weak and need to be taken care of. They don't trust me."

"Neither of my parents were there for me when I needed them most." Katara said quietly.

The whole day seemed to be darker and colder than before. Never before had they all said these things out loud to everyone. Each and every one of them felt terrified, refusing to look in each others eyes, but it also brought them a little bit closer. There was nothing anyone could do to break them apart.

"Aren't we pathetic." Percy and Sokka said together. They looked at each other in surprise and laughed.

Suddenly, the sun shined brighter and the day was warm and cheery again. The moment had passed but they all could still felt it's presence clinging to them like wet clothing.

Only Aang and Sokka hadn't said what was on their mind. Both of the boys knew their place in the group and right now wasn't an appropriate time for them to break their walls down.

"How old are you?" Zuko asked abruptly.

"Sixteen, almost seventeen. Why?"

"You said the next child of The Big Three had to decide the fate of Olympo when they turned sixteen." He said, all the others realized he was right and turned for an explanation, to Percy.

"Olympus." Percy corrected. "And, um, well, I did." Percy blushed and scratched the back of his head. He didn't want to talk about it, the story always made him look like a hero instead of a kid who made it because of his friends.

"And did you? Save Olympus, I mean?" Aang asked, his eyes shinning brightly.

"It's a long story." Percy stumbled over his words, making him look even more awkward than before.

"We've got time." Sokka commented.

"Yeah! I want to hear more about these monsters!" Toph grinned wickedly.

"I want to know more about those gods!" Aang added. "You only told us about three."

Katara laughed. "How about somebody helps me serve up the food and then we can talk."

Percy nodded but inside he was shaking with fear. He knew Aang was the Avatar, but he also knew the Avatar and his friends had to come on a dangerous journey to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. They would have to find out about the quest eventually, Percy just didn't know how to tell them. They were just kids and judging from earlier, they had already been through a lot.

Hello everybody!

You all may have noticed that I'm not very quick at updating... It's so weird to look and see how many readers this story has... It's just a little fun thing I decided to start one day.

Now, I want this story to be really good and not something I'm embarrassed about like the first take on it. (Seriously, that spelling...)

So I'm looking for a Beta! I've sent PM's to a few people but nobody will reply to me. I think I remember someone saying in the reviews that if I needed a beta they would do it, I can't find WHO said it though...

So if you would like to beta this story and help me make it awesome, I would appreciate it a lot :) PM me or leave a review saying you can or will do it and I will contact you!

Thank you guys so much!