This one might be a little short, but we'll see.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Percy's POV

It had been a few days since the fight, and Nico was still as difficult as ever.

"I'm telling you Nico, she waved back." I told him, for about the hundredth time.

"No way," he said, "a princess? Waving at you? If she was going to wave at anybody, it wouldn't of been you."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You think she might've been waving at you?"

"That seems more likely than your story." he said, shrugging.

"You were still faced down in the dirt, you didn't even see her. Besides, I've met her before."

Nico laughed in my face.

"When did you meet a princess? You haven't been out of this cell since we got here."

"Well, I guess I didn't actually meet her, but when we first got here she came through the square. She smiled at me."

Nico still didn't believe me, and he refused to listen to anything else I had to say, so I turned my back to him. He was just jealous. She had totally waved at me, and I bet she'd wave at me again the next time we were out there.

Despite the very possible threat of dying a painful death, I was kind of excited to get back out there. Not to fight of course, but seeing that princess again wouldn't be bad at all. That's why when the guards came in and the other slaves groaned, I let them lead me out easily.

There were ten of us, Nico being one of them, but none of them looked very strong or at all athletic. This could be a tough one, I thought, and we walked out into the arena. But the gate we came out of didn't let us out into the sandy arena floor, but thirty feet up the walls. The entire space was flooded, and two small sail boats were moored at either end. We climbed I to the one nearest us, and I saw the other one was full of gladiators. Again, they were all carrying dozens of weapons, while we only had a sword a piece. The ropes behind us were cut, and the boats started to drift together.

I took a quick look toward the balcony, where I saw my blonde haired princess, then surveyed the ship. It didn't look too sturdy, but it was still floating. The main mast, a tall, thick wooden pole, was splintered and cracked and looked like it might snap any second. I checked below deck, and found a few dusty rum bottles, a small barrel of oil for refilling lanterns, a few old wooden crates, and a little cabinet filled with bowls. Before I could make use of anything, the crowd cheered loudly outside, and a series of thuds sounded against the side of the boat.

Bounding back up the stairs I saw the gladiator's boat was only fifty feet from us, and half a dozen javelins were stuck in the hull of our ship. If they got any closer, they could pick us off easily with their other weapons, and this fight would be over before it even started. Formulating a plan quickly, I sprung into action.

"Nico! Starting sawing through the mast!" I yelled over the roar of the crowd.

"What?!"

"Cut through it!" I yelled again, "Like this!"

I swung my sword at the mast, and a chunk of wood fell away. Nico still looked confused, but did as I told him.

"You, come with me!" I said, grabbing another slave and pulling him below deck with me.

"Start filling these with oil," I said, and handed him the rum bottles, "bring them up when your done."

I left him to filling the bottles and ran back onto the deck. Nico was still hacking away at the mast. The gladiator's ship was getting closer, and Nico wouldn't make it all the way through in time, so I made a quick decision, a scrambled up the ships rigging.

Nico stopped chopping. "Percy, what are you doing?"

"Keep chopping!" I yelled back, nearing the top of the mast.

Nico looked unsure, but kept going as I made it to the top. The other ship was twenty feet from us, and luckily, the mast I was on was about that same length. I rocked the mast back and forth, and it swayed with me. Back and forth, back and forth. It started to splinter, and with an ear splitting crack, it snapped, and it tipped towards the other ship, with me still on top of it.

It was at about a forty five degree angle when I jumped off, and grabbed a rope hanging from the gladiator's mast. I swung around and saw the broken pole smash into our enemy's ship, opening a huge hole in the side, which water started to pour into.

A gladiator saw me hanging from the mast, and started to climb a rope next to me. I waited until he neared the top, then cut the rope, and sent him plummeting back to the deck, where he took out another gladiator.

There was a whistle from my boat, and I saw a slave waving to me, arms filled with rum bottles. I grabbed a longer rope and tried to swing across, but I didn't quite make it, and dropped into the water. When my head broke the surface, I heard a horn sounding, and looked around to see what was happening. The crowd was watching a gate half under water. It opened, and I saw long, muscled figures swim out. One raised its head and snapped its huge jaws. Crocodiles. I swam for the boat as fast as I could, but they swam faster, and one was on me before I was halfway there. It snapped at me, and I tried to jab at it as best I could with my sword; not an easy task in the water. The crocodile swam down, and I lost it in the murky water. I took that second to swim for the boat again, but I didn't get far. The croc shot back at me and latched it's jaws around my thigh. I yelled with pain and shock and dropped my sword; it disappeared into the dark water as the beast started to pull me under. It started to roll through the water, and I let out a breath of air. I was pulled deeper, and my lungs screamed for air. I tried to pry the crocs teeth off of my leg, but it was too strong.

Frantically, my hands fumbled around, searching for something, anything that could help me. Something brushed my hand, and I reached for it. A small lump on the crocs head. Another one close to it. Eyes. Finding them both I jabbed my thumbs into them as hard as I could, and it released my leg. I swam to the surface and gulped down air greedily.

There was a ship right next to me, and judging by the many javelins protruding from the hull, it was ours. I reached for one of the javelins, but it was just out of reach. I was about to look for another way up when my crocodile friend came back to say hello. It shot at my legs and by pure luck my feet connected with its nose. The force pushed me out of the water and I grabbed hold of two javelins, keeping my feet far away from the water and the croc, which snapped angrily at me.

Using the javelins as a makeshift ladder I climbed to the deck of the ship. The slaves were in a pretty good position; the only way across the two ships was the fallen mast, but it was impossible to make it across without completely exposing yourself. Every time a gladiator tried to come across, the slaves would jab at him with their swords as soon as he got within reach, and he'd have to turn back. But eventually they'd find a way across, and that meant it was time for phase two of my plan. Grabbing an oil filled rum bottle in each hand, I signalled the others to do the same. When every body had one, I threw mine, and the others did the same. They smashed into the gladiator's ship and over the gladiators themselves, drenching them in oil. I ran below deck and grabbed the little oil barrel, which was now empty. I opened the cabinet and pulled out a small bowl made of stone, then hurried back up.

The gladiators had recovered from their oily bath, and had resumed their efforts to cross the bridge, but the oil made it twice as hard. Satisfied that they were kept busy for the moment, I ripped my shirt off and mopped up the remaining oil from the barrel, then rapped it around a javelin stuck into the ship. I picked up a sword and hit the stone bowl against it, creating a spark. The spark caught on the oily rag, and it caught on fire. Grabbing the flaming javelin, I took aim, and threw it at the oil soaked ship that the gladiators were on.

The boat and gladiators lit up as the oil ignited, and they started to run around wildly. A few of the smarter ones jumped over board, but they actually weren't too smart, 'cause the crocs got them.

Water was still rushing I to the boat through the gaping hole made by our mast, and it started to sink. Soon it was completely under, and I turned away, not wanting to see the gladiators eaten by the crocodiles. The crowd cheered, and the water started to drain. Our boat touched the bottom, and then tipped over as the rest of the water drained, and we spilled out into the muddy soup that was the arena floor. I stood up, caked in mud, and winced as pain flared in my leg.

I looked up at the balcony, and saw that beautiful face, smiling down at me. Composing myself, I tried to forget about my leg, and gradually the pain subsided, until it was only a dull throb.

"Hey Nico," I said, nudging him, "check this out."

I waved to the princess, and she waved back. Nico's jaw dropped, and I laughed. I turned back to the princess, and my jaw dropped too. She raised a hand to her lips, and blew me a kiss. For a second I was stunned, but then I got my wits back and reached up to catch it. I made a big show of holding it to my chest and bowing politely. She covered her mouth, but I could see the laughter in her eyes as I turned to limp away.

"Look what I got." I said to Nico as we left the arena.

"I don't see anything Percy." he grumbled.

He was right, there was nothing in my empty hand, but he knew what I meant.

"Oh come on, you saw the whole thing. You're just jealous."

"I'm not jealous! I just kind of wish that happened to me, that's all." he said.

"Isn't that the definition of jealous?" asked a slave who was behind us.

"Oh shut up." growled Nico, and sped ahead of me, leaving me to my thoughts.

And what was I thinking about? I'll give you one guess. The princess? Correct! I had to find some way to meet her. If I could only talk to her for a few minutes, just see her up close for once, that would be perfect. And maybe it was wishful thinking, heck, it was completely implausible, but maybe if she liked me enough she could get me out of here. The only problem was, I'd never get the chance to see her. I was a slave, they'd never let me out, but little did I know, my luck was about to change.

How will Percy's luck change? You'll find out soon enough. Probably a shortish chapter next, because I really want to get to the next Percy chapter, but there are a few little things I need to put in first. But who knows, maybe something exciting will happen.

R&R please and thanks.