II
Percy

Hazel wiped a bead of sweat off her brow. "I think that you're actually pretty much ready for the assessment," she panted. "You're gonna surprise everyone with your fighting style and skill, Percy...I've never seen anybody fight that way before. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

She stared at Percy, who looked as fresh as ever; he wasn't even sweating. Percy shrugged self-consciously. "It's just instinct," he said. "Even I don't know how I managed to disarm you so many times."

Hazel crookedly smirked. "Your instinct saved your life. May the gods be with you, Percy. Frank and I will be watching. And don't have that look on your face; the matches are usually not fatal. Of course, there's an emphasis on usually."

Percy smiled nervously back and jogged for the Colosseum, waving at the two demigods. Reyna didn't seem like the person he wanted to anger, so he figured that he had better be on time if he wanted to get out of this test alive.

In fact, she was right there in the Colosseum, behind a set of heavy looking gold gates, impatiently tapping her foot. "You're late," she accused. "By three minutes and thirty-seven seconds."

Percy blinked. "Uh...do you really keep track of how late everybody is that accurately?"

Reyna scowled at him. "Part of legion training is being strictly on time for every battle practice. If you're late, you suffer the consequences."

"Er...consequences because you're late for a lesson?" Percy was becoming more and more confused. He was pretty sure that where ever he came from, that place was most certainly not as strict as this 'Camp Jupiter' was.

Reyna sharply turned around. "Time to start, Jackson. I hope that you're prepared for the brawl."

With that happy note, Reyna stalked off, yelling something in Latin. Percy stared after her and muttered, "Braccas mes vescemi." He had no idea where the Latin came from, and he was sure that he said that before to an old leathery woman with bat wings and a paisley handbag. Why did he just tell Reyna to eat his pants, anyways?

Percy jumped as a loud gong boomed across the whole camp. Within seconds of the huge noise, demigods in gold armor began streaming in, murmuring amongst themselves and eventually settling down in different sections of the Colosseum stands. Percy saw a red banner with the words "FIRST LEGION" sewn in gold onto it in Latin and spotted Hazel and Frank, who were both talking to a girl with auburn-colored hair. The mystery girl seemed to be smirking as Hazel started scowling at her, and she completely ignored the girl later on.

Talking immediately ceased as the chocolaty-red wolf, Lupa bounded into the middle of the dirt floor of the arena and howled, the chilling sound rippling throughout the Colosseum. Lupa flicked her ears and growled, We have a new pup today. He shall go through the traditional assessment that every demigod must pass to enter our camp. Percy Jackson! You must fight the Praetors of all the legions at Camp Jupiter. Whichever Praetor defeats you shall be the legion you are in.

Lupa slunk off into the shadows as the gates creaked up, admitting Percy into the Colosseum.

If there had been crickets in the arena, they would have been the loudest thing in there because everybody was taking in the physical appearance of the new camper. Percy glanced towards Frank, who gave him a subtle thumbs-up. Hazel rolled her eyes and Frank suddenly gasped, his eyes bugging out as he slapped at the ground. He started furiously berating Hazel, who was now silently laughing her head off. Everybody in the Colosseum turned to view Hazel and Frank until Lupa gave a menacing growl. Begin!

Another set of doors were slowly pulled up at the other end of the arena and a guy with a sword charged out, uttering a raucous battle cry. Percy almost laughed out loud as the boy swung at him. Percy's wrist flicked up, easily deflecting the other strike that was thrown at him as if he was swinging a flyswatter at an inanimate object.

Percy went into a series of quick jabs and slashes, driving the astounded boy back, step by step. With a final jab, he hooked the hilt of his opponent's blade with his own and twisted. The sword clattered to the ground, leaving the boy defenseless. Percy's sword, Riptide was pressed against the boy's throat.

And so it continued, Percy defeating the Praetors one by one and the crowd getting louder and louder, eventually reaching the point when you would think that a hydrogen bomb had exploded in the middle of the Colosseum. By the time Percy had won with his sword pressed to the Second Legion's Praetor, some girl called Amber, everybody in the crowd was screaming their head off, cheering and stomping their feet. This obviously didn't happen too often; a new camper making his way up to fight the Praetor of the First Legion. In fact, when Percy glanced towards the gates where Reyna was standing, she was glowering at him, her stormy-gray eyes threatening to explode into a full-gale lightning storm.

Silence! Lupa snarled. Once again, the Colosseum was more silent than the dark side of the moon. Perseus Jackson, if you win the fight against the Praetor of the First Legion, you shall become Consul.

There was a collective gasp around the Colosseum. Reyna's face remained impassive, but her eyes narrowed dangerously at Percy, suggesting that he'd better fail in a really spectacular way or there would be Hades—er, Pluto—to pay.

The bronze gong sounded, and Percy scrutinized his opponent. Reyna glared at him, not moving a muscle. As far as Percy knew, she wasn't even breathing. How she managed to do that if she had ADHD, which he had heard from Frank that she had, Percy had no idea. He knew that he couldn't stay still for five seconds.

As quick as lightning, Percy charged her, his sword poised in an offensive position. Reyna smirked and a sword that literally appeared out of nowhere blocked Percy's first swing. Brilliant technique; as well as a flexible wrist. Every single time Percy was sure that his sword would at least make a small cut, he found his strike blocked by that Imperial Gold blade, minimal amounts of sparks flashing where bronze hit gold.

Percy got increasingly frustrated as he played relentless offense while Reyna went with cool defense. The crowd was howling, screaming for blood. Percy vaguely wondered how long the fight had been going on while he slashed at Reyna, who obviously blocked it.

Come on, Seaweed Brain, an extremely familiar voice quietly chided. You can do it...I know you can. Don't fight with force...

Another voice, one that sounded like a bleat of a goat: Just think, Perce! You can share a Coca-Cola tin can with me after you beat her! That wasn't exactly motivating Percy, but it gave him a massive brain freeze, as if the names of the people whispering in his brain should have been in the exact same place.

A sneering voice accessed his mind. Prissy, all you have to do is tire her out and then you can lop her head off. Somebody from his past was pretty violent.

C'mon, Fish Breath... a teasing voice remarked. Hurry up and disarm her or else we'll set the Ares cabin on fire again. You know how much we disagree on everything.

Then, while he wasn't paying attention, Reyna swung at him with her blade. Percy didn't even have time to look up before it hit his neck.

The crowd gave a collective gasp as Reyna tensed. She had obviously not meant to hit him on the jugular vein, but it didn't matter because her sword had bounced off his skin like it was solid iron, just as the gorgons' fangs had.

"You bathed in the River Styx," she hissed. "Now, how am I supposed to defeat you?"

"I bathed in the what?" Percy asked, confused. "What's the River Styx?"

Reyna scowled at him. "You're invulnerable, except for one mortal point that ties you to life on Earth. You don't remember where your Achilles' spot is, and if I accidentally hit it, you immediately die. Which basically means that you're Consul of the First Legion now."

Lupa padded forwards. This match is over. I now declare Perseus Jackson, son of Neptune as temporary Consul to demigods of Camp Jupiter...as Jason Grace has disappeared.

"Grace," Percy absently said. "As in...?" Who was that girl again? He had a feeling that she was the same person who said the last phrase during his battle with Reyna.

Lupa's head whipped towards him and she was on him in an instant, her claws sliding out and slicing straight through his armor. You will not utter a word about her again, Consul. Your Achilles' Curse is fading, and by the end of the week will be gone completely. Again, I strongly suggest that you do not breath a word about her until the summer solstice.

Why was Lupa so agitated? Percy thought, confused yet again. All he had said was a name he remembered from his past. Percy thought that the girl had turned into a shrub or something along the lines of that.

The crowd was yelling, Reyna staring down at him as if he were a leech that had gotten stuck on her arm. Judging by the look on her face, it had happened to her before.

Lupa got off of him and snapped, Dismissed.

Somebody from under another red banner that said "FIFTH LEGION" in Latin called, "Will he be getting a tattoo?"

Lupa growled without turning around, No. I don't expect to hear anything more from you, unless you would like to be whipped again.

The boy gulped and hurried out of the stadium with his fellow legionaries chortling behind his back.

The gates burst open and Hazel came rushing out of it, closely followed by Frank. "Son of Neptune?" she asked, flabbergasted. "How are you a son of Neptune?"

Frank was staring at him as well. "Percy...how did you survive on your own? A child of the Big Three, especially one that's your age definitely wouldn't have survived on their own."

He glanced at Hazel, who shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me; Pluto claimed me after I got to camp."

"The god of the Underworld?" Percy guessed. Hazel ruefully rolled her eyes. "Not the best father. He's kinda...sour to everybody he sees except for his lovely wife, Proserpina." She spat out the last word as if it were poison.

"DIi she turn you into a dandelion or anything?" Percy asked, again, not sure where that came from.

Hazel scowled again. "She came darn close to it! Why?"

Percy thought for a moment, coming up with the image of a boy with dark brown eyes and tousled black hair. "Nothing," he muttered. "Not important."

"What I'm worried about," Frank cut in, "is how in the name of Pluto did you survive on your own? There were only two children of the Big Three before, Jason and Hazel."

Percy frowned and scratched his head. "No, that's not right...there were three other kids of the elder gods. I think one of them, a girl, died, and she had a brother who is still alive...and the other child, I think that she's a plant or something."

Hazel raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Interesting story. Are you sure you aren't hallucinating about them?"