Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus series.
First Day of Camp Training
"Artemis also I will be going to Camp Half-Blood sooner than I expected." He expected her to turn to face him but she didn't.
"And why is that Perseus, you have still not completed my archery training." Lady Artemis asked, still facing away from him. She did not trust herself when she saw him before her shirtless, with his bulging muscles and bare body open to her.
"I become wiry of this palace; I should be helping the demigods by training them. I should not be here wasting time and have Apollo drag me into various bars."
"Very well, but I hope you know that going to that camp will not end your training with me. Once I have started training someone I see it to the end."
"Of course, Lady Artemis," Perseus replied genuinely surprised.
Artemis spun to face Perseus, once their eyes connected; Perseus quickly turned his gaze to his feet. "I would like to ask a favour..." Artemis hesitated when she said 'favour', she had never asked help from a man in her whole life, least of all a favour. "From you Perseus, I would ask you train the hunters and me in close combat sparring."
"Of course Lady Artemis, it's the least I can do for you." She gently placed her hand under his chin, instantaneously Perseus froze. Ignoring his sudden tensing, she used the hand under his chin to raise his head for his eyes to come into her gaze. Once his deep sea green eyes came into contact with hers, she stopped lifting his head, but kept her hand under his chin in case he averted her gaze again.
With his powerful raptor like gaze fixed directly into her silver eyes she spoke, "Why Perseus do I frighten you so?" Perseus swallowed and backed out of the light grip on his chin, but he kept his eyes fixed on her since if he looked back at his feet. It would be a sure sign of disrespect, seeing as she obviously wanted to search his eyes for any lies when he answered her.
"Honestly La..." Perseus gulped as he saw her eyes harden when he was about to say 'Lady'. "Honestly Artemis" He saw a faint sparkle of appreciation when he didn't add 'Lady' before her name. Even before she gave him a nod of approval, the look in her eyes suggested the same.
Perseus released a slow sigh, "You frighten me Artemis, because I still remember when I was young. You had told me that if I showed you any signs of disrespect I would be turned into a jackalope."
Her expression looked pained when he told her this, but her expression soon turned blank. "I regret that day Perseus, but know that you have nothing to fear from me." Thunder rumbled off into the distance, "I must leave; I will be at camp with my hunters soon." With that there was a bright silver flash before Perseus, once the light faded Artemis was gone.
Camp Half-Blood 6 days after Artemis had spoken to Perseus.
Everything at Camp Half-Blood was normal for the most part. Every part of the day now, campers flowed in through the camp borders. The camp now had approximately three times as many campers as there was when Crystal arrived. The only oddity that was about to befall at camp was now. Every camper had been told to gather at the Amphitheatre after diner, it was said Mr. D had a special promulgate.
"Well you brats," Dionysus began. "I am happy to inform you that this is the last time we see each other." Up on stage Dionysus seemed to be shaking with excitement at finally leaving Camp Half-Blood. Every now stunned demigod could see the God of Wine; shake like a giddy school girl.
"Why is that Mr. D?" A camper asked from within the crowd.
"I'm getting replaced, brat." Dionysus snarled towards the voice. "I was supposed to stay another two weeks, but the fates have spared me. Your replacement Camp Director will arrive tomorrow, so this announcement is my last." Dionysus took a long breath of air, like it was his first in years.
"Also do not harass my fellow centaur," He pointed towards Chiron. "Because just like you brats, he has no clue who my replacement as Camp Director is. Just be patient your new Camp Director will arrive early tomorrow morning."
Before Dionysus took his leave, campers bombarded him with questions about the new Camp Director. The only person that he narrowed his glare on before teleporting away was a girl from the Aphrodite cabin who asked, "Is your replacement the new god Perseus?"
The campers left the Amphitheatre disappointed, after Mr. D flashed away leaving behind a slowly fading purplish red light with the scent of grapes. Most went to the campfire for the sing a long; others went to their cabins in an attempt to make the sunrise arrive faster.
The next day, most campers rushed to enter the dining pavilion for breakfast. The campers' speedy morning toward the dining pavilion was not for food though; it was mostly in anticipation to see the new Camp Director. The guys were shocked when they entered the dining pavilion to see someone other than Mr. D with Chiron. The girls however were drooling at the sight of the man that was supposedly the new Camp Director.
Nymphs began distributing platters of food to the campers, but fighting broke out within the Nymphs on who would get to serve the god. The god didn't seem to notice he just continued to speak with Chiron and Grover at the front table. Once a Nymph finally set the platter of food before him, he stopped his conversation and gave a small smile of appreciation to the Nymph. The Nymph turned back, but every camper could see she was blushing greener than was healthy.
Even after everyone had finished their breakfast, the campers stayed at the dining pavilion expecting an introduction from the god. Chiron seemed to notice all the campers glancing his way. Chiron leaned toward the god, "Seems they want an introduction from you Perseus." He whispered just loud enough for the god in front of him to hear.
Perseus turned and saw what his old teacher meant; the campers were still all at their own tables all their gazes fixed on him. Perseus turned back to the centaur and gave him a nod of agreement. With the nod the young god stood up and addressed the campers.
"Good morning campers, as you should all know I will be the new Camp Director, Chiron here," He gestured toward the centaur. "Will keep his position as Activities Director, so not to worry." The older campers sighed happily with this news being delivered.
"Now I do believe a proper introduction of who I am is in order. The new cabin in the Olympian section, some of you may have made the connection, but most have not. That cabin rose there two weeks ago when I became the thirteenth Olympian. I am Perseus, God of Tides, Heroes and Swordsmanship. As such I will be training you heroes in the arena."
Perseus made his way toward the arena; a beaming Chiron rose after the introduction and addressed the gawking campers. "Now heroes off to your activities!"
Shortly after, campers began arriving at the arena with a sword and shield each. The campers that he would be training on his first day as Camp Director were the sons and daughters of Aphrodite. Campers from other cabins were assigned for the arena today, but the majority were from the Aphrodite cabin.
"Okay campers, get yourselves a partner and start sparring, once I've seen pretty much what you can do we'll begin." The guys separated into pairs, move away from the others and started attacking each other. There seemed to be no apparent technique to any of them, they just hacked away at each other. The girls however just stood there, mouths agape and eyes pulsing now that they could see him up close.
Perseus clapped his hands, "you too girls I have only two hours to train you, can't be standing around doing nothing the whole time."
An Aphrodite girl in the front spoke before the rest began to find a spot to spar, "we are doing something Lord Perseus. We are intently contemplating our hot teacher." The other girls agreed to the statement with giggles and crimson blushing.
After examining the campers' sparring duels, he concluded that they needed to learn disarming and foot work. Hacking at your opponent with all your might is pointless; they needed to learn how to conserve the most energy possible, by doing quick and efficient techniques to dispose of that opponent.
He called the campers over and with one hour and 30 minutes spare; Perseus taught them a simple yet effective disarming and foot placement. To demonstrate the disarming technique he needed a partner to show how the technique was preformed. When Perseus had asked for a partner to make the demo, every girl's arms shot into the air for the opportunity.
Once he did pick a partner, the girl was practically run over by the tempest of furious teenage girls. Seeing as getting in the middle to separate the girls only got his shirt shred to pieces, he soaked them from head to toe with a 10' wave.
The blast of cold seawater seemed to do the job of cooling the girls off. The unexpected assault of water made them splutter and blink vigorously. Once the seawater was out of their mouths and eyes, they turned toward the god.
The girls who'd just been in a full on combat, and just recently been whining about their clothes being ruined, stared at the god with jaw slacked mouths and bulging eyes. Perseus shifted uncomfortably at the girls staring so intently at him. Until he pinpointed where they were actually looking at, looking down he saw that his shirt had been ripped open in several spots by nails, revealing a good deal of his front by several decent sized holes.
Discounting his now ruined shirt he called for his partner so he could demonstrate the disarming. Once the girl was before him he slightly wacked the side of her shoulder with the flat of his blade to get her attention. After rubbing her shoulder she looked up at Perseus expectantly. Once her eyes were off his chest and abdomen he spoke, "Getting distracted by your opponent's body will only get you killed." The girl looked away as she blushed so Perseus looked out at the other campers surrounding him. Directing his gaze to the campers to let them know the girl before him was not the only target of his statement.
An hour and 30 minutes later the training at the arena was over, the campers had learned a valuable disarming technique and their foot work had greatly improved from the start of the training. Every camper was exhausted, even the girls didn't even look up when he finished ripping his already torn shirt. Although walking back toward the big house to grab a new shirt and tell Chiron of the day, Perseus could sense campers coming from other activities regarding him with wide eyes. A few he felt faint at the sight of him shirtless, which made him smile slightly but his smile faded once he saw hunters moving about. Smiling in front of them shirtless, would surely cause disrespect to seep to Artemis.
Artemis was on the porch of the big horse, her regard at seeing him shirtless was not wide-eyed like the girl campers but she looked at his abdomen and chest apprehensively. Only when she looked up into his gaze did her cheeks redden, realizing that he'd seen her looking at his body the whole time.
Once he was close enough to her, he lifted his shirt to show her how ruined it was. She lifted an eyebrow at him, wanting an explanation but he ignored it. Passing by her he said, "Artemis you can go gather your hunters and head for the arena, I'll join you after I grab a new shirt." She wanted to pursue the incident with his shirt but she soon let it drop, and nodded in confirmation.
Ten minutes after seeing Artemis at the big house, Perseus entered the arena. As he made his way toward the center of the arena to where Artemis and Thalia were, the other hunters regarded him with rancid expressions. Finally arriving behind Thalia, he decided a demonstration was in order.
"What do you want male scum," Phoebe snarled. He disregarded the comment looking at Artemis to tell her to ignore it as well. That still didn't keep Artemis from glaring at the girl. He placed his hands on each of Thalia's shoulders startling her.
After letting the tension build in the air, he removed his hands from Thalia and moved to the side. He examined the hunters before he spoke, "Thalia your weapon of choice?"
"What, Perseus!" Artemis yelled. But before she could continue he silenced her.
"Thalia your weapon of choice," He repeated with more force.
Thalia gulped nervously, "My twin daggers." She said, pulling the daggers from their sheaths.
"Good, Artemis your weapon of choice?" Perseus pronounced loudly.
Artemis seemed to understand that she was to fight her lieutenant, "I am a goddess I will not be fighting my best huntress." She said coldly.
"Please humour me, Artemis." He said his expression had turned extremely serious making it even frightening.
Artemis drew her own daggers, visibly troubled by Perseus' sudden change in posture.
"Begin!" Perseus called.
Artemis wanting to end the duel quickly, she made a lung with her left at Thalia's shoulder, while her right was being thrust towards Thalia's left hip. Thalia seemed to go into overdrive; she deflected the blow towards her shoulder and finishing with a quick twist of her wrist. The deflection of the blow followed by the rapid twist, caused the disarming of Artemis left dagger. Quick as a fox, Thalia's left dagger connected with Artemis' right locking both together, at Thalia's left hip. Thalia was able to win by surrender with her right blade hovering over Artemis' throat.
"Now that is precisely what I have come here for," Perseus exclaimed after the short burst of action.
"That is?" Phoebe asked disgustingly. The other hunters were flabbergasted, seeing as the Goddess of the Hunt had been so easily bested by Thalia.
"To train you girls in close combat," Perseus said bemused.
"We don't take lessons from males," she said it as if it was a disease. "And we sure don't need any."
"I'm afraid you do need my experience, did you not, your mistress would have taken care of Thalia easily." Perseus responded kindly.
Phoebe let loose a cry of anger and drew a dagger. Perseus saw Artemis beginning to stop the girl and stopped her with a look not to be questioned. Perseus just stood there waiting for the girl to arrive, as she ran towards him in fury with a raised blade, Perseus announced clearly over the battle cry.
"First lesson: when your opponent is to angry to think clearly, use that to your advantage. For example, the palm of your hand," Perseus lifted his palm gesturing toward it. "Simply use the palm of your hand, and push against the flat of your opponent's blade."
With Phoebe striking in a downward arc, Perseus did exactly as he'd said. The palm of his hand came onto the flat of the blade, slightly making it go off course. The deadly arc of the blade continued freely inches from Perseus' shoulder. With no contact to stop the motion of the blade, Phoebe stumbled opening her defences to Perseus.
"With the strong motion of the blade in action, it cannot be stopped unless it hits something. By moving the blade away with my palm, it alters the trajectory but keeps it in motion. With the powerful swing going through non-resistant air, your opponent stumbles forward losing any chance for protection, making them open for a killing blow." Perseus shook his right fist dangling before Phoebe's exposed throat.
"Now," Perseus said moving away from Phoebe. "I am not here to touch, harm or pamper you girls in anyway shape or form. I am simply here to help teach you close combat to assist you girls when on your hunts."
"We do not want the assistance of a man," Phoebe snapped.
Perseus turned to face Phoebe, "So Phoebe, you are telling me that because my sex is male you with not take lessons from me. Were I female you would take my lessons gleefully?" Perseus asked turning Phoebe and many girls expressions inside out. Making them stumble, with a lost for words.
"Okay, as you girls wish," Perseus said dismissively before a flash of blue, gold and red obscured him from the hunters' view. After the flash faded, a beautiful woman with long black hair and sharp deep green eyes stood in Perseus' place.
"So Phoebe," The woman's feminine voice rang. "Since my body is now of a woman's you will allow me to train you?"
Phoebe was too dazed to form a coherent statement to challenge the inquiry. "As I thought," The woman said grumbling getting covered in the same blue, gold and red flash returning to Perseus' male self.
After some time with more heinous explanations and realizations, the girls finally came to trust in Perseus' words. Believing honestly that he was there to help them, the girls accepted him after sometime, where he could use his experience and skill to enhance the girls' skills with blade wielding. Albeit he did take Thalia's swordsmanship blessing before beginning the training as it wouldn't be fair to the others. She wasn't pleased, but she understood more so after he told her that learning of her own accord, would grant her to learn more than just blade work in the process. She would in the process learn other valuable skills, and after a lot of debating she let it drop. No good resulted when she pestered Perseus as a demigod, less so now, since he was a god.