Chapter 5- "Percy vs. Jason"
Alright, so to catch everyone up (mostly to catch myself up as I'm a little lost as to where to go with this chapter and how far to expand) I'm going to give a little time frame.
So at the moment Percy is fourteen, Reyna is twelve, Jason is twelve, Thalia is thirteen, and the Son of Poseidon is thirteen. So far the Son of Poseidon has dealt with the Lightning thief thing, Thalia has been turned into a tree, and he is currently about to go off into the Sea of Monsters. The Titan's curse will be in a year from now, so until then I pretty have to make things up from scratch. Because of this I may be doing a large amount of time skips and just developing Jason's growth to political power, Percy and Reyna's relationship development which is still in the "There's no way she likes me but she's really hot." And then the. "There's no way he likes me but he's really hot." phase. So bare with me as I try to write a development of feelings between two teenagers who are so romantically challenged that they can't see the most obvious signs of attraction. It will be very hard for me as well. Also I may have to delve into the Son of Poseidon's quests for some action as we won't be getting much of that until the Titan's Curse barring the sparring. So bare with me...
3rd person P.O.V.
Percy awoke the next morning at 4:30 A.M. to get to the gym. He'd been trying out a new schedule lately, and it 100% had nothing to do with Reyna getting up about 30 minutes later, nope... nothing. Absolutely nothing.
After about 35 minutes or running he saw Reyna come running out to meet him for her own cardio. He'd been prepping her and helping her so she could make it into his Centuriae. As he was running he turned around and watched her as she ran towards him. She's about 4' 8" at the moment, minimal fat but very noticeably toned muscle like a warrior. She's wearing a tight spandex top for exercise and some lulu lemon shorts that to Percy seemed like they should be illegal with how short they were, but he wasn't complaining. He got caught up staring for a few seconds and he was running noticeably slower.
Reyna was running towards Percy. She had began to dress a bit more provocatively around him lately, and these early morning exercise sessions they had been having seemed like the perfect time to attract his eye without seeming like she's dressing inappropriately. When she noticed him slowing down as he looked at her she grinned. 'Score! Now if I can just get it through that thick skull of his that I like him back.' She thought to herself as she thought up ways she could do just that. Unknown to her Percy was having similar thoughts. The utter incompetence of teenage boys at noticing when a girl is attracted to them is legendary and it was wearing on Reyna's nerves.
"So Reyna, today's chest and shoulders for me. Can you spot me on my heavy lifts? We can spar afterwards?" Percy inquired. He was hopeful he'd have an excuse to be shirtless around her without seeming inappropriate.
'He wants me to spot him!? Score again! This day is going great already!' Reyna thought in her head.
After getting a confirmation from Reyna Percy and her ran for another 30 minutes before heading off to Percy's personal section of the First Cohort's gym.
2 Months later: Percy's dreaming, he's having a flashback:
Jason easily defeated the rest of the Centurions of each Cohort. Finally he had come up against Percy. "We have the final match, the one we all know everyone's been waiting for, Percy Grace Son of Jupiter Optimus Maximus versus! Jason Grace Son of Jupiter Optimus Maximus! BEGIN!" He shouted and the excited screams of the crowd were drowning out everything else.
Percy stood there with AUGUST out in the form of his Xipthos, Jason had IVLIS out in the form of his gladius.
Percy went on the offensive immediately. Rushing Jason and using his significantly superior strength and size greatly to his advantage. He struck hard and fast from all sides, Jason was quickly pushed onto the defensive and was backing up quickly as Percy kept up his onslaught combining it with random front kicks to the chest whenever Jason went to expand his shield. After a good 30 seconds Percy kicked Jason hard on the chest plate with all of his enhanced strength and significant strength from all his working out. Jason was literally airborne. Percy then flicked his sword up and it was quickly followed by a powerful gust of wind sending Jason a few feet into the air. As Jason tried to control himself and land on his feet or get into a back roll Percy sought to stop those very possibilities. He called down a powerful bolt and ricocheted it of his Xipthos directly at Jason.
His little brother was smoking and his hair was sticking up at all angles. Then a quick barrage of wind gusts to keep him off guard came as Percy advanced and traded his sword off for AUXILIA's melee form, his Hasta. Then he expanded his shield and launched his Hasta at Jason. His little brother barely had time to dodge the Hasta and not get thrown on his ass by the constant barrage of wind knocking him off his footing and keeping him unbalanced. As it was he had to limbo low enough to dodge it. When he came back up however he was met with an immensely powerful shield bash to the chest.
Percy knocked the wind out of Jason and quickly summoned AUGUST back to his hand and began advancing on his brother once again. So far it looked like a complete curb stomp. Then out of the blue anger flashed in Jason's eyes. He had hoped to defeat or at least greatly injure Percy so as to show Reyna that he is not a little wimp and is a better choice for her than his brother. He was rather obsessed at this point. It had been a couple days since Reyna had showed up and it was starting to piss Jason off how she'd just swat him aside like he's not important at all while constantly hanging on his brother's every word.
He screamed and thrust his gladius at Percy Grace. A tremendous gale force wind was launched directly at Percy. He was able to withstand it by digging his heels into the ground and raising his shield to protect his face. When he lowered his shield and prepared for a barrage of attacks he was shocked to find his brother no where to be seen. That was until he looked up.
Jason was mid-leap and was about to thrust IVLIS into Percy's chest plate in spear form when Percy raised his vambrance covered arm to barely quirk the path of the spear to glance off the side of his armor. He then grabbed Jason's arm and put it into an arm bar. Just like at the wolf house.
This time however Jason was ready. He raised his leg and slammed it into Percy's chest plate sending his brother away and with a gust of wind onto his ass. Percy was able to grab Jason's spear as he was launched away however and it was now on the ground between them.
Jason grabbed his PUGIO and threw it end over end at Percy's face. It was quickly knocked aside by a well timed flick of the wrist however it allowed Jason to grab his spear and base ball swing it at Percy's head.
Before he knew it Perseus was seeing stars and his head was ringing. Lucky for him however he had trained specifically for a situation like this. Two large bolts of lightning came down from the Heavens. One hit Jason square on the head and the second hit Percy square on the head. Percy however was ready and absorbed the lightning thus healing himself a bit and reorienting himself. Jason on the other hand was now stunned and twitching on the ground from the bolt out of the blue. He didn't know that Percy could summon lightning without any motion and simply will power. It caught him completely off guard.
Percy took advantage and flipped AUGUST forming his Xipthos once again. Away went his shield and in his hand was an arrow from AUXILIA's bow form. The arrow was thrown like a flechette and hit Jason right in the thigh cutting through his hamstring and causing him to fall to his knees. Then he ran up and with his foot to Jason's chest plate, his left hand grabbing the leather straps of his armor, and his right holding AUGUST to Jason's neck he asked his younger brother to yield.
Jason's face was stoic.
Percy stared into his eyes with determination as he flexed his leg putting even more pressure on Jason's chest. Jason let out a quick breath of pain and flinched for a second before any sign of pain was gone barring the slight glistening in his eyes. Jason tried to roll out but Percy's left hand was far too strong and Jason was kept still. "Fine! I yield!" Jason dejectedly admitted. He then walked off with a large limp and a dejected look. An hour later, after a significant amount of ambrosia. Jason came out to decide what cohort he would be in.
Percy had won about 5k denarii on that match so he was rather happy and was expecting hid brother to choose the second cohort.
Everyone was shocked however when Jason chose the third. From that day forth Jason was looked at as a kind of black sheep.
Jason used this to his advantage however and began training the fifth, within the next few months their skill would eclipse the second and third cohorts with Jason leading them. Jason was on the warpath. He wanted to bring the fifth back to the spotlight and use that along with he centurion title he gained a month after joining the fifth to become the next praetor. Surely then Reyna would choose him over his all brawn brother.
2 Months later:
Over the last few months it had been very quiet in New Rome. That was just on the surface however. Jason gained much of a reputation and was much respected by the senators and fellow centurions. He quickly became the second option for many. While before it had been that either you're in the first Cohort or you get left behind. The First Cohort was so far superior in terms of skill than all the others. It was simply that no other Cohort had Perseus Grace personally training their legionnaires, crafting perfect exercise schedules for them, and leading them in battle. Now however, they had the next best thing. They had Jason Grace and he was much less aloof. He was much more inspirational, much more... personable. Percy was more like this goal that you could never reach so you just gave up, and ended up settling for something worse than you started out at.
In the First Cohort Percy was still practically a God however outside of it he began to be despised by many new, unskilled, or just the common soldier. Also he began to be despised by the Centurions. They were jealous and Jason played upon this. He was playing many political games trying to raise through the ranks to finally be toe to toe with his brother. Percy had always said the both had their strengths however Jason's was just finally beginning to show itself. And Percy was about to finally notice.
Reyna had just made it into Percy's Centuriae after months of training from Percy himself. Her skill increased dramatically and she was immediately accepted.
Percy walked with Reyna next to him. They were walking around very furthest stretches of the camp as they talked. Mulling over their thoughts and just spending time together. Both was trying to keep their feelings for the other in check as they didn't want to get embarrassed by blurting something out. Percy had that happen to him a few times and Reyna as well. Usually after an intense sparring match when both of their inhibitions were lowered.
"Percy, do by any chance want to. I don't know, go for praetor?" Reyna finally asked. She'd been wondering for a while now. She knew she wanted to be Praetor but she felt that Percy would be perfectly fit for the job. Little did she know Percy despised political positions. They're conversation went on for a while.
Percy went into detail about how and why he disliked political positions so much. It basically boiled down to that being Jason's thing and not enough fighting. Reyna then began telling him about her wish to be Praetor. Percy then went on to explain how she'd most likely have to become the female Centurion of the First Cohort first. Percy was then interrupted by an Iris message popping up before him. It was his brother, Jason.
"Hey man, I just got a message from Juno. She told me that Boreas has requested that I get something he lost. She hinted that I will be getting a big payment for it! I had to tell you so you know where I'll be alright man?" Jason informed Percy. He was clearly very excited and Percy was very happy for his brother. Reyna on the other hand was a little jealous. She had yet to go on a single quest while both Jason and Percy had gone on at least on each.
3rd Person POV: With Jason
Jason was wearing his armor and had IVLIS out in Gladius form in his right hand. He took tall, long steps to traverse the deep snow under his feet. He was a few miles from Boreas's palace. He could see it connected to the mountain he was climbing.
'Alright, so I have to get up to his palace. Then I have to ask him what he lost. Obviously. Then let's just assume it's in like, I don't know. Georgia or something. Then I'll have to travel from Quebec all the way to wherever it is. That should take me a couple of days at least. However before that I have to stop at New Rome to get the people I want to join me on my quest. Then of course we'll all have to go and fetch whatever it was the Wind god lost. Seems simple enough. Though I'll probably pick Percy to come with me so we'll be attracting a lot of monsters. That should be fun. Maybe I can bring Percy and Reyna, to show Reyna that I can keep up with Percy. I gotta get her away from him. He can have any girl at the camp and he chooses the one I like. Of course he does. That's all he does. Upstage me. Hey I'm Percy I can fly faster than an airplane, hey I'm Percy I have all the girls ogling me whenever I have my shirt off, hey I'm Percy and I was the only singe person since Hercules to be gifted with super strength. Hey I'm Percy, and I can embarrass my little brother in the coliseum in front of the entire legion!' By the end of it all he was seething. What had started out as a plan in his head turned into a mental rant.
Jason shook his prior thoughts from his head and trudged up the hill.
Then, all of a sudden three large Hellhounds leapt from his right and three more leapt from his left. they landed in front of him and began converging on his position. Jason began backing up slowly. His Gladius raised and his shield enlarged and on his left arm.
Then, one lunged at him. It came from his left, however it was immediately met with a gust of wind and a gladius to the throat. Jason jumped to the right to dodge the jaws of another and as he lunged away he slit its throat as well. Two were now golden dust on the snow. The next two went down to a bolt that came down between them, the noise making them jump and fall off the ledge to their right. The last two tried to flee however one was hit by a bolt redirected from the sky into Jason's spear then through the spear and into the hound, the next died from the spear itself being thrown and boosted by a wind gust from Jason that sent it right through the spine of the last Hellhound.
Jason summoned IVLIS and went back to trudging up the slopes. That battle was nothing and he wasn't even breathing heavy. Oh the perks of being trained as a Roman Demigod.
After a few hours of climbing he finally reached the door to the palace.
It was rather tall and was made of marble. There were holes at the bottom that gusts of wind would repetitively be expelled from.
Jason knocked on the door.
The next few hours basically boiled down to Jason having to deal with some crazy air spirits that just couldn't accept that he was the Son of Jupiter. Eventually, a bolt of lightning and a few threats from Jason and he was let in to see Boreas.
"Welcome, welcome mortal!" Boomed Boreas from his throne. He was tall, and looked like Jack Frost.
Jason bowed before his throne. "Rise, Son of Jupiter."
"Now, as you know I lost something. That something was my crown. My crown is what I use to channel my power and control the wind all across the world. If you get it back I will bless you. This will greatly improve your Aerokinesis up to the point that it will nearly be on par with your brother." Boreas exclaimed with a rather annoyed look on his face.
"Thank you for such a generous reward Lord Boreas, but may I ask who took the crown from you?" Jason asked?
"Yes, yes it was I know. But the one who took my crown was none other than Echidna. She's apparently bitter after that Kyle kid escaped her last year with his crazy luck." Boreas seemed to get a little angered at that last bit.
"Echidna? As in the queen of monsters Echidna?" Jason asked with no small bit of trepidation. Though the comment about some "Kyle kid" did not slip him by. He merely ignored it not wanting to press his luck.
"Yes, she is somewhere in Oklahoma. Now go back to New Rome and get your other two quest members. Then go get my crown and return it to me." Boreas ordered before Jason suddenly found himself back in New Rome.
AN: Woah! Really short chapter guys sorry! I'm gonna have to do more than 2 hours of writing to get a 10k chapter out guys sorry. But I spent about 45 of those 120 minutes writing out an outline of the chapter and the first half of the next. So expect chapter six to be up by Friday, or Saturday, hell maybe even sooner. It will be the rest of what should have been this chapter so together they should make up about 11-13k words. Yay.
By the way it's good to be back. This chapter was mainly me trying to progress through time, get Jason his blessings that will make him at least competitive against Percy and show how Jason is trying to get more political power. Also since the poll said you guys want Reyna to be with Percy then I'm trying to develop that as best I can with what I went on about at the beginning of the chapter. Next chapter I will also include my responses to every single review from when I was gone. Also any review between then and now. So get to reviewing guys. I'll state your name, put your review next to your name and then write my answer after it. I will also answer guests of course. I'll even answer any "kill yourself" review. Those are always fun.
Anyways, expect a new chapter to be out by Fri. or Sat. and have a good time until then.
Word Count: 3,518 words