Hey guys, it's your favorite target practice writer :D :D A few announcements to make before the new chapter.
First off, according to my "writing pad"…this story is about to end…maybe this chapter or the next will end it. I'm not planning to do Percy's future and marriage etc. because well…I don't know XD I need to see if I can make one because lately I can't get a solid idea on PJ…on Kingdom Hearts however I've got pretty good ones, so if there are any KH fans out there give me a shout on the review because you'll probably be hearing from me soon
Second order of business…last Tuesday[28/6/2011] this story had its 1 year birthday :D :D I want to officially thank each and every one of you out there that read my story, reviewed, flamed it and so on. So far, I've reached 826 reviews and I am extremely honored that everyone took their time to read and review So I thank you from the bottom of my heart, all of you made me proud of what I do and write and hope that if I post future stories, you'll consider reading them.
Finally, and this might sound a bit strange but…in this chapter I might not deliver as expected. I hope you'll forgive me if I disappoint but I've been all winter…practically since September, away from this story so my characters and plot might be a bit off. No worries though, if you feel I didn't deliver, simply say so in the review. If I receive a majority of negative criticism, I'll simply re-do.
WHICH REMINDS me…I did a MEGA mistake in the last chapter and many of you were generous enough to point it out. Yes, Luke's hair is sandy-brown ( I hope I got it right this time). I don't know why but I mistook him for Percy…shame…on..me
BEFORE YOU START READING!
I REALLY hope this isn't asking too much out of my loyal readers but I have a small favor to ask of you guys and I would REALLY appreciate it if you did it. My best buddy has this reviewing website where he reviews tech, posts some novels and such…it's really cool and all, I help him sometimes because I'm his test subject (hihihi) but anyways…go check it out it's really cool.
The link is .com/ and if it doesn't show simply write reviews (dot) wiltabone (dot) com
THANKS A BUNCH guys! :D
Well that's all I have to say…and I do say a lot XD
ON WITH THE STORY!
Chapter 18 – Showdown!
Percy's POV
I woke up at 10am and it was raining outside. Not that it bothered me, but I knew that I couldn't go out and not get wet.
I got up, put on some clothes, brushed my teeth and went to have some breakfast. Typical boring morning.
My mother was in the kitchen reading the paper. When she saw me, she put it down quickly.
"You ok Percy?" she asked, clearly worried.
I shrugged casually.
She sighed. "Please sit down. We have to talk."
I sighed. After telling her what happened yesterday, I didn't want to talk to anyone. What Annabeth told me still hurt.
I hate you.
Her voice is still very clear in my head.
I sat down. "What?"
"Percy do you hate Annabeth?" she said plainly.
Of course I don't! I spent 3 months thinking how to get back to her and gave her the betrothal necklace. How could I hate her!
"No," I said calmly.
"Then why don't you go to her then?"
"I don't know!" I said, half yelling, all confused. I wanted to go to her, hold her, kiss her. but what if she said was true? What if she did hate me?
"She doesn't hate you Percy," said my mother as if reading my mind. "Chiron called this morning and said that Annabeth told him that she hates herself for what she did to you and what she told you. She's got it in her head that you'll never forgive her. Are you letting her believe that?"
What in Hades name am I doing here! Of course I won't let her think that! This is all so wrong! Hold it…what am I STILL doing here?
"Hell no!" I said standing up quickly.
Before my mum could say anything, I grabbed the keys to my Dodge Viper, courtesy of Poseidon and bolted outside. I got in the car, buckled up and sped off. But then a thought hit me.
Where the hell was Camp Half-Blood?
I immediately hit the brakes and parked quickly, ignoring the interesting words from the people that where behind me.
"How on earth do I get there?" I mumbled to myself.
Just then, the GPS started to beep. I turned it on and on it was an arrow showing me where to go.
But it wasn't the usual blue arrow.
I was a mini green trident.
"Thanks dad," I said smiling.
I hit the gas, went to the right lane and…
Traffic.
"GREAT!" I yelled.
It was already 11am…I hope I didn't take too much time.
…
…
…
3hours.
That's how long I was stuck in traffic!
3 hours!
Thankfully it stopped raining…Either Zeus is in a good mood or he's in the Jacuzzi…what? Gods can relax in Jacuzzis too you know!
When I arrived at the Camp's borders, a dragon came to me, looking like he's going to burn me to a crisp. Honestly I didn't know what to do…so I waited. Why? Maybe I thought he'd get bored and leave. When he started walking towards my car, I started to worry.
All of a sudden, a green light shined on the bonnet [or hood for any U.S readers] of my car and a green trident appeared. The dragon looked at it for a second, raised its head to look at me and tilted it a bit as if confirming something, let out a snort then went back to its post as if nothing had happened. I'm guessing that's my ticket inside.
Note to self : Thank Poseidon later.
I drove slowly to what seemed like a parking area which was numbered. By the numbers, there was a symbol, such as a lightning bolt, a skull, a trident and so on. My witty mind quickly figured out that the numbers and symbols must refer to the gods and their seats. Obviously Zeus was first, so naturally my father was second. Yay.
I quickly got out, locked the car and went to look around the place, maybe to find someone that can tell me where Chiron was or if anyone saw my friends…especially Annabeth. I saw a few campers and went up to them.
"Hey do you know where I can find a guy named Chiron?" I asked. Since my mum said he called her, it should be safe to guess that he's in charge or something like that.
Only problem was…they were girls. When I spoke to them, they started giggling. Typical. It was as if I was talking to water nymphs in dad's palace. At least these girls didn't go away gossiping that some hot dude talked to them. What? I heard it from them!
"Yeah sure he's down at the Big House," said one of them. She had blonde hair and blue eyes.
"I'm new here and I don't know the place at all," I said slightly embarrassed.
The same girl pulled me by my hand and pointed towards a building.
"It's over there," she said pointing at a building which was…well…big and…looked like a house. Mental facepalm.
I said a quick thanks and made my way to the Big House…more like ran actually but whatever.
When I got there I saw a centaur and some human-goat creatures which I assumed to be satyrs playing some sort of chess. He looked quite pleased as if he knew he was going to win the game.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Chiron. Anyone know where he is?" I asked the centaur.
His facial expression changed from that of triumph to that of pure surprise.
"Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, we meet at last," he said with a small bow. The satyrs bowed as well. As a sign of respect, I bowed to them as well. Yes, seaweed brain is respectful. Stop insulting me!
"It is an honor to finally meet a son of the sea god. Shall we talk in my office?" he said politely.
"Later," I replied plainly. "Where's Annabeth?" I asked, jumping straight to the point. Screw formalities. I want to know where my girl is!
His smile faded. "She's probably at the cafeteria. But be warned. There's someone from her past that you don't wish to clash swords with. He's a very powerful swordsman but sadly one of the few campers that went bad."
I looked at him purely confused. "Who?"
"His name is Luke Castellan."
At those words, my heart stopped and my blood froze.
But then I realized something.
He was a demigod.
Perfect.
"So he's here?" I said, smiling.
Chiron looked confused. "Clearly you don't know what he did Perseus. He— "
But I cut him off.
"I KNOW what he did!" I half yelled, losing my cool for a second. I looked Chiron in the eye and said "But now I can fight him with everything I got since he's a demigod."
Insert cynical smile.
Chiron sighed. "I know what she means to you Perseus. But do me two favors ok?"
I nodded.
"First don't kill him. I hate to have to give a reason to Hermes why his son got killed by a son of Poseidon. That would start some war," he said seriously. I nodded.
"And secondly," and here he started smiling "don't wreck the place too much. It would be a bit expensive to do a lot of damage control."
I smiled as well. "You got it. Oh and do me one small favor. Call me Percy. Perseus is annoying." I said grinning.
Chiron laughed a bit. "Very well if that's what you wish. Now go to her Percy. Keep going straight and you'll find the cafeteria. You can't miss it."
"Thanks," I said before taking off.
First order of business when I arrive…beat Luke to a puddle then evaporate him.
Second order of business…find Annabeth and sort things out with her.
Third order of business…find a cabin and sleep for the next few hours. Preferably with Annabeth in my bed as well. No I'm not a pervert! Some guys do want to just innocently sleep with their girlfriends! [YES we do! It's not that hard to believe people! Not all guys are sex driven pigs! Thank you :3 ]
Finally I found the cafeteria. I stopped at the entrance to re-collect my thoughts.
Luke, out. Annabeth, in.
When I entered, I saw some tables with some campers around them. One in particular caught my eye, which was the most crowded one. From where I stood, I could easily recognize Nico and the rest, along with Annabeth and some other girls I didn't recognize. Then I saw a guy standing next to Annabeth.
Thalia suddenly shot up and said "You stay away from her Luke."
My eyes zeroed in on the target.
Luke Castellan.
Number 1 on my "Must Kick Ass" list.
Anger clouded my mind.
Hate ran through my veins.
Revenge filled my thoughts.
I saw Nico tell Thalia to sit. Then he said something which I couldn't understand and summoned a skeleton, along with his sword. The skeleton went back underground immediately.
Nico said with a smile "Do you know that if you stay here any longer, you're dead meat?"
Luke scoffed. "Oh yeah? Who's going to kill me? You're daddy?"
"How about me?" was all I could muster without lunging at him and slicing him into Kraken food.
Everyone in the cafeteria turned to me and I could swear I heard Annabeth gasp.
Luke walked up to me, looking down on me as if I was nothing more than some guy he could beat up easily.
"And who might you be?" he said poking my chest.
"I'm her boyfriend," I said simply, pointing towards Annabeth. Her facial expression changed again from surprised to shock. I swear I could see a small tear sliding down her face. "And your worst nightmare." I said to Luke, poking him in the chest.
Luke laughed as if it was the funniest joke he ever heard. "Yeah right. As if you can beat me!" he lowered his head to whisper and said "And besides. I own her."
That's it.
I snapped.
I grabbed his shirt violently and threw him outside…literally.
Luckily for him, he landed on his feet, but now he had his sword drawn and a shield materialized from his watch.
I uncapped Riptide and went outside. Thankfully, I threw him a bit far away from the cafeteria…and near the lake.
He lunged at me with speed that surprised me at first, so much so that he managed to cut a bit my shoulder.
"See little demigod…I'm not the best swordsman demigod there is for nothing. Prepare to die," he said with a level of confidence that made me doubt for a second if I could beat him.
I tried a frontal approach but it was no use. His shield was too thick and it had spikes on the edges, so I couldn't grab it and pull it from his hold.
I tried to confuse him, faking left but slashing right and so on, but it was no use either. While I was trying to do all this, he had left a cut on my leg and on my cheek. Clearly he was overestimating his own swordsmanship abilities.
"You handle a sword well Percy," he said smiling. How did he know my name?
He seemed to understand this question from the expression of my face because he said "Don't worry. Dad mentioned what you did to Lord Poseidon in the Solstice when he visited this morning. Brave stuff actually."
I was getting sick and tired of this guy, so I devised some sort of plan that usually doesn't work. I'm never good at planning. The plan that always got me going was "Hit, dodge and repeat." But now I needed a new plan.
I looked to his feet, thinking he had some weak spots when I saw a puddle.
Of course! How could I be so stupid! I wanted to do a mega facepalm that instant!
I grabbed Riptide's hilt with both hands and concentrated on the water in my surroundings. As it started to come to me, it accumulated around Riptide. After a few seconds, I had a full-length, three-tipped Trident made of water, with Riptide as its core.
I could see Luke faltering after he saw this move. Then I lunged.
You see, I'm pretty good with a sword and I stick to using it only because it's the easiest to use. But in certain situations, I can re-create my father's trident, having it form around Riptide. This way, I can battle better because of the longer reach it has.
And currently I was owning him.
Whenever he tried to dodge left or right, I could easily take a swing to his legs, forcing him to stay in the middle where my reach was its best.
"Someone's been holding up on me! Come on Percy! Show me how strong you are! When I sleep with Annabeth tonight, I want to sleep with the pride of having defeated the son of Poseidon!"
Him? Sleeping with Annabeth? Hell no!
I doubled my strength by covering myself in a thin film of water, also adding to my defense. I started hitting him non-stop, pushing him to a corner. I could see his smile fade away, his confidence disappearing and confusion and doubt falling into his face.
"What's the matter Luke? Giving up?" I taunted. Can't help it!
"Go to Hades! She's MINE!" he yelled.
"As If!" I yelled back louder than him! He must've lost his concentration because I disarmed him with one quick twist of the trident and removed his shield with a quick swoop with the base of the trident.
I pinned him to the wall easily, removing the middle tip of my weapon and sticking the trident to his neck. One emotion finally ruled in his face. Fear!
See I wasn't about to kill him and let Hades have all the fun with him. Oh no. I wanted to torture him. I wanted to hit him in the gut! Hit him in the face! Hit him everywhere so much that he'll regret touching Annabeth. I wanted to make him plead for death, plead for my mercy, make him grovel at my feet to make me stop.
Sadly a hand stopped me from doing this.
"Enough Percy. You've beaten him in combat. Revenge will stop nothing."
Chiron.
He grabbed Riptide and handed it to me, the water dropping at his touch, dropping also Luke.
Chiron grabbed Luke by the shirt and pushed him away.
"You're leaving with your mother immediately. She's waiting for you outside the camp's borders with your belongings. You are banned from Camp Half Blood. I'll join you in a moment."
Before he left to put the trash away, he turned to me and said "It's sad to do this to a camper. I feel like a failure whenever I have to do this."
"Justice is harsh on those who defy it. Sadly a teacher must always pay a heavy price when they have to serve justice on their student," I said automatically. Then I blinked, clearly confused.
Woah…when did I get so philosophical?
Chiron chuckled. "I see Athena's betrothal necklace is taking effect. So Poseidon's betrothal necklace should start granting Annabeth some strength too."
Wait what? How did he know about us?
Chiron smiled again. "Anyone can see the love between you two. On top of that, Athena spoke to me of the events regarding the betrothal necklaces and asked me to "Keep an eye on the sea spawn and make sure he doesn't get too intimate."" Thunder rumbled.
"My apologies Lady Athena. Fair warning should be given to those who are daring to enter your territory is it not?" Chiron asked the sky…or Lady Athena.
The thunder subsided. Probably he was right.
"Go to her," he said suddenly "And remember Athena's warning."
I nodded and went to the cafeteria.
Gods help me.
FI-NA-LLY! Chapter 18 is up and running!
Hope everyone enjoyed the fight :D I did it at 2 in the morning so if it's not that epic for you, please forgive me .
On to business.
Thanks to all my readers out there who stuck up with me so far and where patient enough to continue reading after my long stops without updates!
Here's a thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter :
Bob, chronos the cookie thief, anime-lover10, Soonersgirl86, DITYMLNID, mib, FalafalafaPancakes, Animal Charmer 11, Neon Templar, shadow, PrettyGreyEyes, Perserverance, chessrd, Lolgtgbrb, Bea, Syrena Aria, ..94, JordanMathias, kraziladyt321, EyesWideOpen, Dixie25, xx Annabella Princess xx, candace123456, sugarrush12, unclaimed12, ixdookiie, Reach4theStars, Ren, MissBliss8527, clashercutie101, Gkat78, Sneaky ninja 05, poseidongurl4, Ogden writer, ed , percabethatw, AnnabethsReplacement, 122boy, SilentlyQuiet, assassin blade siith, Ae123monkey, the only daughter of Pluto, JaceHPPDhush, Annabeth124, miley, 8675309-yesthesong, Lulu, teenXpotter, daughterofapolloandaphrodite, Awsomeness, annabethsadie123, Alexandria Nightingale, Mai Ascot, crest of courage and light, klydo, Poseidon's Son Forever, Sushisquad, SeaOfWisdom18, I will be me, DFogelbergRocks, Zone, Anonymous, someoneyou3, sportschic5646
I appreciate ALL reviews from my readers, no matter how long, short, detailed or not they are. To me a review means that my reader has taken some of their time to put some words together in regards to my story and I appreciate all that
But here's a special thank you to those who wrote to me veerryyyy detailed reviews Thanks a lot guys :
WiseGirl747, Whatever Is Catchy, Viper SirenGirl , XxLostBetweenThePagesxX, xAxRainingxLxStarlightxCx.
Well that's it for this chapter =D fair warning...the next chapter is probably going to be some mush between Annabeth and Percy. I'll add some ass kicking just to liven it up
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR INTERESTING AND CREATIVE RESPONSES IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW!
Peace Out :D
Or wait a second...forget Peace out!
From now on it's...
MISCHIEF MANAGED!
To any Harry Potter fans out there...bloody hell that was one awesome finale don't you think? Add it in your review what you thought of the movie, because I'd like to hear what others think about it Thank you
So...in the wise words of the Marauders.
Mischief. Managed.