In which Percy gets his first taste of childhood.
Despite Percy's origins, he knew a surprising amount about humans. Annabeth felt a little dumb thinking that he might be clueless about the entire thing, but she never really met a demigod before that summer. The son of Poseidon knew quite a bit about general activities, habits and behaviors, so he wasn't as awkward as some cartoon portrayals of, excuse the pun, other fish out of water were. He acted just as if he had been on land his entire life—excluding that one minor trip over a caution cone and his embarrassed admittance that he had forgotten to tie his shoes. He melted right in with the other teenagers of their seaside city and soon he was a normal part of Luke's little group.
It had been a little over a week and a half since Percy had taken his first steps out of water. The five teenagers were simply relaxing at the beach again, as it seemed that Luke had silently declared it their headquarters of sorts for the summer. Annabeth didn't exact mind it any longer. Percy could easy join in on their activities while still returning to the ocean every night, therefore keeping up with his vague duties and still being able to hang out with land dwelling humans.
It was wonderful weather for a Wednesday. The skies were clear and painted a vibrant blue, the traffic on the streets was surprisingly lower than average and the noise was at a tolerable level. It might have been a picturesque day for an outdoor activity, but Luke had other ideas. Instead he was more interested in competing in an age-old tradition of the four at the arcade, a fight so legendary and sacred that it was inexcusable to skip it.
It was time to face off in a Dance Dance Revolution challenge.
Living in the ocean for all of his life and having most of his knowledge of humans based from either observation on the beach or the minimal lessons from his parents, Percy honestly had no clue what sort of revolution a person could create against their governing body by dancing. However Annabeth was quick to explain that it was simply a game and suddenly the world made sense again. Still, the next time some foolish sea creatures tried to revolt against Poseidon, he would be impressed to see them dancing in their futile attempts of battle. It would make things less boring, he supposed.
The group was on their way to the arcade in a matter of minutes, walking down the sidewalk in an orderly two-by-two line, with Grover wobbling along between Luke, Thalia, Annabeth and Percy. Luke seemed to be talking to Thalia about what sort of playlist they would be using that day, while the girl was shaking her head and telling him that he always picked the same music and that they should leave it up to random. With Percy and Annabeth taking up the rear, the demigod had a chance to get a bit of information on where they were going.
"So...we're going to an arcade," he asked, his green eyes locked on the girl's serene expression. "That's the place where you go and play games, right?"
"Exactly," Annabeth confirmed. "The arcade is a building with these machines with little screens on them. You put a coin in and it lets you play a video game for a certain amount of time or until you lose." Her grey eyes looked at him as she frowned slightly. "It's a little hard to explain, but it'll make more sense when you get there."
Percy nodded. "As long as it's not too noisy there," he muttered. "I never realized how loud it was out of the water." Annabeth smiled a bit and he grinned back, suddenly realizing that she thought it was funny. "I mean," he went on, "My father was right. You humans have really big mouths." She gave him a light push on the arm and he just stumbled back in line next to her as they approached the final crosswalk. "It's like you never shut up or something. Fish are better than you noisy lot. They only speak when they have something very important to say to you." His nose crinkled just as the light changed, telling them to cross. "Either that or when they want you to move out of their way," he grumbled. He walked along as the cars waited patiently for the five to pass in front of them.
"You know what," he asked, suddenly a bit louder. "I totally take it back. Fish are not better than humans." Annabeth tried not to laugh at his crinkled eyebrows and tight face of displeasure. "They are rude and bossy and silent unless they want something from you. Humans are better than fish."
"Okay then," Annabeth chuckled. "You just remember that when we walk in the arcade." Percy gave her a confused look but was ultimately cut off by Luke clearing his throat and standing proudly in front of the arcade's doors.
"We've got enough money to play a best two out of three setup this time," he announced. He pointed to his wrist as if he actually was wearing a watch before smiling at his waiting friends. "We'll battle it out two on two and set the playlist to random." Thalia nodded quietly in agreement, pleased with the music not being locked to the same songs as they always were. "The teams will be decided by a coin-flip, so no one can argue about who teams up with who this time."
"Why did you argue," Percy asked Annabeth quietly, as Luke and Grover talked about what he could do while the other four played a game that strictly required not-broken legs.
"I'm the best at Dance Dance Revolution," the blond told him happily. "Luke and Thalia would always fight with each other over who I team up with because whoever I'm with almost always wins."
"What about when you don't win," the black-haired boy questioned, his eyebrow raised in silent respect.
"When I don't win," she grumbled, "It's because the machine glitched and stopped registering my steps."
Percy nodded in understanding. He was about to ask another question when suddenly Luke opened the door and walked inside, leaving him to scramble after them. Immediately the poor demigod was attacked by a rush of sound. He covered his ears and winced as the sounds of screaming children, clattering token dispensers, high octane music and the artificial sounds of the arcade games all merged and twisted in his ears, overwhelming his head with noise. Annabeth stopped beside him and gave him a worried look as Luke walked off to get some tokens.
"Are you okay," she shouted above the clamor. Percy felt like his head was swimming in the ocean during a thunderstorm, but he nodded anyway. He took deep breaths and slowly pulled his hands away from his ears, letting his head slowly adjust to the foreign sounds. They were still nauseatingly loud, but he couldn't exactly walk around with his hands over his ears. Instead he just gritted his teeth and tried to adapt to it.
"I'll be fine," he lied. "It's really loud in here but it's nothing compared to when those sharks found out about those movies you humans made about that one shark that goes around and eats people for no reason." The blond blinked at him as he shrugged. "They were yelling and screaming for days about that. They were pretty offended."
"I'm...sorry," she weakly apologized. "For the record, I never liked those movies either."
Luke then came back to the group with a handful of tokens, smiling at them. "Alright, I've got more than enough coins for the matches and even the tiebreakers if they come up." He looked expectantly at Thalia and she stared at him, raising an eyebrow at him. "Could you hold these please," he asked after a few moments of silence. "I need to flip the coin."
"Oh no you don't," Thalia chuckled. Luke gave her a stern look as she lifted her shoulders and gave him a quick smirk. "Since when have you ever flipped the coin? We agreed long ago that Grover flips the coin to ensure that neither of us decides to cheat."
"But Grover needs to hold on to his crutches so he doesn't fall," he playfully shot back. "I think it's only fair that we give him a break. I'll hold the burden of flipping the coin."
"A coin flip's not going to work," Grover piped up. Both pairs of blue eyes turned to look at him as the teenager leisurely leaned in on his crutches. "You're forgetting that Percy might want to team up with her." He looked back at Percy and lifted an eyebrow. "Would you like to team up with Annabeth," he asked.
"Uh...yeah," Percy responded, a little out of it from the conversation suddenly including him. He raised his voice a little louder when he noticed that everyone was trying to talk above the noise. "I mean, I've never played this game before. It would be nice to team up with Annabeth for it." The blond rocked her head back in forth in pride as both Luke and Thalia blinked at him. Eventually Luke sighed and smiled at them.
"In that case, I guess Percy can team up with her today." Thalia looked a little disappointed that she couldn't team up with Annabeth, but she eventually shrugged it off and nodded in agreement. "I'll go with Thalia and Grover will—"
"Grover will go and play Pac-Man," Grover abruptly announced. He motioned to a game with a blue and black cabinet around it, complete with a giant yellow character chomping on little white circles. "You guys have fun with your little dancing game while I go and try to beat that record on the machine." He took a few coins and started to walk off. "I'll prove to you that I can totally beat that score without cheating."
"You'll never win," Luke called after him as he joined the crowd of children and other teenagers. "The Stoll brothers cheated to get that high of a score! They broke into the cabinet, remember?" The group watched Grover simply wave him off, deposit a token in the machine and start playing. The blond sighed before turning back towards the others. "Well, let's go before someone else gets to the game first," he declared. He then turned towards the center of the arcade and lead the way, Thalia stomping in her heavy boots after him.
Annabeth and Percy walked quietly after them, giving the demigod a chance to take in the bright lights of the other games. A bunch of younger kids seemed really invested in one game and the black-haired boy stopped to take a closer look. Once his eyes focused on the screen he found them shouting eagerly at a bright red car that was making an impossible jump over the ocean and turning in the air, making some numbers appear. Percy found himself in a trance by the screen and he didn't move until Annabeth came back and tugged on his blue shirt.
"Come on," she grumbled. "Everyone is waiting at the game." Percy gave the car that was now falling into the water one last look before reluctantly following after her. They stopped at a giant machine with plenty of bright lights and loud music, something that Percy was still trying to get his brain to wrap around. Two teenagers were bouncing around on a stand in front of the actual machine that was decorated with four arrows, each pointing to a different direction. The two boys, who were basically identical in appearance, quickly jumped around and pressed the buttons with their feet at ridiculous speeds, astonishing the young demigod out of water. When the noises from the game got louder, they switched spots and took the other's spot on the stage, but they stumbled and the machine let out a few painful sounds that Percy somehow knew meant that they had messed up.
"The Stoll brothers," Annabeth told him as he watched them in fascination. "They play this game on occasion too, but they focus too much on being flashy instead of getting points." Abruptly the sounds from the game stopped and they hopped off on the left side, one after the other. One of them gave Luke a quick wave before they walked off towards a table with a low humming noise coming from it and bright red lines painted on it.
"Okay then," Luke spoke up, prompting Annabeth and Percy to get closer. "Thalia and I will go first and then you two can go." He pointed to the screen, which was now displaying a long list of songs to choose from. "We'll all choose the random option and whichever team gets the most points wins." Thalia pulled out a scrap of notebook paper and a pencil from her black jacket and placed them on the machine.
"We can write our scores down on this piece of paper so we don't forget." She gave Luke a quick nod before stepping up to the machine. "Hopefully, we won't get some really slow music. The faster the beat is, the more points you can get, typically anyway." Luke climbed up after her and sat on the red bars that divided the back of the stage from the open space in front of Percy and Annabeth. Thalia stepped on the top arrow a few times before stepping on the space in between all of the arrows. The game made a sort of strumming noise and abruptly music started to play.
"Come on," Annabeth stage-whispered above the noise. "We should get closer to the screen so you can see what happens when you play." They shuffled up to find the screen covered with little arrows that slowly rose up to the top of the screen and lined up with a row of bigger arrows that didn't move. Most of the time they burst apart in the bigger arrows with a flash of color, but sometimes the ones on the far right row would disappear in a flicker of grey and that annoying noise would play again. Whenever that happened, Luke would grumble and stomp the next direction. Percy had a feeling that when that happened, it meant Luke had messed up.
"You step on the arrow that you see on the screen, but only when it's lined up with the guide arrows on the top," Annabeth explained. The black-haired teenager nodded and watched, his eyes flickering from the screen to Luke's frantic feet. "Sometimes two arrows will show up at the same time, and that means you have to press them at the same time." Just as she said that, Thalia and Luke jumped up and stomped down on the right and left buttons at the same time. Percy nodded again and kept track of what she was saying in the back of his mind. The blond looked up at the screen and pointed out a left arrow with a faint line following it. "If an arrow looks like this," she continued, "That means that you have to hold that button down until the end of the line reaches the top row." The three other nodded and the action was quickly carried out, leaving a long note and some indistinguishable vocals to garble in Percy's ears.
"Uck," Thalia grumbled as she stood in place. "I forgot how annoying this voice is." Luke thought for a moment before twisting his mouth and nodding in agreement. The duo stood still for a few more moments before they sprung back into action and started hitting double notes in quick succession. Annabeth's grey eyes focused on the growing numbers in the center of the two guide arrows, while Percy's green eyes voted on staring at the floating arrows in the flashing colors. They were more interesting than the white numbers that kept spinning around.
Eventually the song ended and Luke climbed down from the stage, breathing heavily and trying to fill his lungs again. When Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk, he just shook his head and pointed at the screen. "They left it on Ultra Hard," he explained between gasps. The blond girl nodded and Luke retreated to a row of four plastic water bottles that Percy hadn't noticed before. Luke's feet dug into the carpet as he picked up a bottle, uncapped it and guzzled the water down. Thalia however hummed the song they had just played as she carefully copied their score down on the paper before stopping with a scowl and writing the last digit. She then climbed down and reached for a bottle as well, her bright blue eyes on the two who hadn't played yet.
"Your turn," she announced as she tore off the lid. "Good luck on getting a song that's not as annoying as ours was." Annabeth just chuckled and Percy smiled, already climbing on the stage. Annabeth climbed up after him before quickly switching places with him and explaining that the person in left spot was the one controlling it. The boy just nodded and rocked back and forth on his heels as the girl selected the random option and started the game.
Percy snapped to attention the second the music started to play. His eyes became locked on the screen as the white arrows at the top of the screen flashed with a beat before they grew still. He could faintly hear Thalia and Luke giving him words of encouragement from the sidelines. "Don't look at your feet," Thalia said. "Only look at the screen. You don't have to land on the arrows exactly for it to count; the buttons are pretty big."
"Don't trip and fall into the machine," Luke added.
Percy gave the two a glance to see Thalia giving the blond boy a punch on the arm. "Really? Percy's not that clumsy, Luke!"
Luke just shrugged. "Reminding him can't hurt."
Percy took a deep breath and focused on the screen again. It was nice to know that Luke thought that he was so clumsy. Granted, he had only been using his legs consistently for less than two weeks, but he wasn't that bad. He seemed to have better balance than Grover.
Annabeth seemed to brace herself out of the corner of his eyes. Immediately after Percy took note, the arrows started to fill the screen. His eyes widened. They were nearly a cascading wall of bright flashing lights and he had to make sure to hit every single one. The boy gulped. Well, if he wasn't shaky with his legs now, they'd be shaking from the strain after this game.
Annabeth was the first to hit the first note, her foot slamming into the board below her with incredible speed. Percy flailed to hit the note after her and started to try and focus his eyes on the top note in the sequence instead of looking at them all at once. It was a Herculean task with so many things blinking and flashing at him, but he tried his best. He did remarkibly well for a beginner who was thrown straight into the deep end, but at least Annabeth was scoring points for them with her flawless precision.
Percy could clearly see why the others had been so insistent over the coin flip. Annabeth was carrying their team without breaking a sweat.
Speaking of sweat, Percy was starting to realize that he was sweating far too much. His throat started to feel dry. Who knew that an arcade game could make him feel so tired? He struggled less lifting a shark. He glanced momentarily towards the unopened bottles of water sitting just out of his reach and the machine gave him a squeaking sound of failure for it. His eyes snapped back and he starting jumping up and down in time with the double notes.
Thalia and Luke made it look so easy earlier. Even those twin boys did better than he was at the moment. His stomach churned. He was totally going to make them lose. Even with Annabeth's skill, she couldn't carry him forever. His lower total would bring them down. He needed far more energy to keep up with her and hopefully hit more notes.
There was only one way to get more energy on such short notice.
"I need water," Percy struggled as he held down one foot and stamped the three other keys on his left side in ridiculous intervals. Annabeth glanced at him as she did the same with twice as much grace and composure. She then indirectly looked at Luke.
"Luke," she said quickly, her hands catching herself on the rail behind her as she did a few crisscross maneuvers. "Could you give Percy his bottled water, please? I can't reach it from here."
"Sure thing." He immediately snatched a bottle with Percy's name scrawled upon it in and walked around to Percy's side. The boy with black hair looked beside him as Luke handed it to him with a smile. "Here you go. I pulled the cap off for you. Hope you don't mind."
Percy grabbed it quickly, his center of balance shifting just enough that he missed a note. He pulled back up abruptly and cut the amount of water within by half within a few gulps. All at once, the noisy atmosphere around him faded away into a murmur. The sound of the machine was much louder now and below him, he could feel the board vibrate under his feet. He passed the water back to Luke. "Thanks," he said. "I really needed that."
Luke just nodded. "I'll just watch from here and hold it in case you need it again," he told Percy. "I'd place it on the rim there but it'd probably fall off and short circut it or something. We've had weirder things happen before."
Luke's words were in one ear and out the other. All of Percy's attention was focused solely on the screen. His heart pounded somewhere behind his ear. He could do this. He could totally beat this game and make them have a great score to lead with in the next round. No one could call Percy dead weight after this.
Well...no one had before either, but he wanted to pull his own weight in this game! He wanted to be a good teammate!
His feet hit their mark with renewed determination and energy. Every note exploded with color as he quickly started stringing a combo. Percy Jackson quickly went from missing every fifth note to not missing a single one. "Hey, good work, Percy," Thalia encouraged from the sidelines. "Now you're getting the hang of it!"
"Yeah, nice combo," Luke said happily.
Annabeth remained silent beside him, but he could sense that she was at least smiling.
Using his natural ability to use water in ways that made him stronger or heal him wasn't cheating if he used it to help him do better in an arcade game, was it? I mean, all he did was use it to make him faster and to give him more energy...and maybe more focus... Totally not cheating, right? Especially when he used said ability to simply keep up with his new friends.
The song ened within a minute or so and Thalia and Luke both clapped at Percy's performance. "You did great, Percy," Thalia cheered. "Good job!" Luke mirrored her words and offered him another drink of water. Percy was about to take it when Annabeth gave him a warm pat on the back. He turned to find her a little breathless, with a dash of pink on her cheeks and a happy smile.
"You did really good for your first time playing this game, Percy," she said as she tried to breathe. "You really learn fast."
As much as Percy liked all the praise, he felt a little embarrassed. "Uh...Thanks?" He pushed some of his hair back before smiling at Annabeth. "You're amazing, Annabeth! Your score was like, double mine for most of the game! No wonder everyone wants you on their team. You're like a dancing secret weapon," he chirped.
Annebeth's face gained a little more color, but her smile grew wider, too. "Thank you, Percy." She seemed like she wanted to say something else, but she closed her mouth with a slight shake of her head. Apparently she couldn't find the words. She then hopped off the machine and started to fix her ponytail, which was now falling over to one side like her hair would spill over if left unattended.
Percy took that as his cue to walk off as well. He took his water from Luke and hesitantly took a sip. A surge of energy filled his veins and eased his tired legs. He should start carrying a water bottle around in case he got tired. While being out of water was fun, he could now actually feel what it was like to be tired. It was a new sensation, but not one he wanted to grow familiar with. He felt like his abilities were halved the second he stepped out of the ocean. Wonder if that's how dad feels when he leaves the water too, Percy thought absently. It would explain why Poseidon never seemed to leave the water. If this is how he felt as a demigod, he couldn't imagine how much worse it would be for the god of the ocean.
Thalia stretched her arms before fixing her shirt and placing her jacket aside. "Looks like it's our turn again, Luke," she said with a grin. "You ready?"
"Hang on a minute." Luke took a drink of his water and walked around to place it next to Annabeth's drink. He then took his place right where Percy had been standing a few moments before. He reached above his head, yawned and glanced back at the girl next to him with a grin, his eyes gleaming. "Okay, now I'm ready."
Annabeth grabbed her water. "Good luck," she said. She then glanced at Percy and stared. He stared back for a few moments before he felt a little awkward.
"...What," Percy asked quietly. "Why are you staring at me?"
"You're supposed to wish them luck, too. It's basically a rule with us."
"Oh." Percy turned back to Thalia and Luke with a smile. "Good luck, guys! Hope you don't get an annoying song!"
Annabeth elbowed him shortly after the words left his mouth. "Percy," she hissed. "You'll jinx them!"
Luke just laughed as Thalia smiled. "Yeah, I hope so, too," he shot back with a grin. "That's always the struggle with this game, finding a good song to play!"
"That's why we play random," Thalia replied, still smiling as she hovered over the random button. "We'd spend too long otherwise." Her foot pressed the key and soon the two were playing once again, this time with another bouncy pop song with almost indistinguishable lyrics.
"Ugh," Thalia groaned. "Not again!"
Annabeth gave Percy a pointed look. "Told you you'd jinx them."
Percy shrugged as Luke started laughing at Thalia's dramatic complaints about Dance Dance Revolution not supporting iPod connectivity to allow you to play your own playlists. "I didn't know. I was just trying to encourage them."
"I know...but we're always jinxing each other like that, though. It's become something to expect. That's why we just refrain from saying it," she said.
After around five minutes or so, Thalia and Luke's turn came to an end. Thalia pulled out a small notebook Percy hadn't noticed before and scribbled down their score. She then turned to Luke, who then walked over to Annabeth and grabbed a calculator from her backpack. He presented it to the girl with blue eyes as she then added up the numbers. Thalia then proceed to say a number that was large enough to make his head spin. He didn't even realize the scores could go that high. How could he and Annabeth beat a score like that?
Luke smiled. "Not bad for getting annoying pop songs, right Thalia?"
The girl gave him a reluctant smile as she hopped off the board. "I guess so. I still wish that I could use my own music, though."
Annabeth gave Percy a careful nudge. "It's our turn again," she told him. "Are you ready? I'll wait a few minutes if you need more to drink first."
Percy gave his nearly empty bottle of water careful consideration before turning his green eyes back to his friend. "Well, I think I'm ready. My water is almost gone, anyway." He glanced around, looking for the place their bottles had been before. "Um...where did this come from, again?"
Thalia stepped towards him. "I've got it, Percy. You go ahead and take your turn."
He flashed her a smile and handed her his water bottle. "Thanks, Thalia," he chirped. Percy climbed up to his second player slot and waited for Annabeth to take the controls. She took a final drink of water and took her place beside him.
Annabeth absently pulled her ponytail tighter as she pressed the random button. The game lulled into silence before the next song slowly started. Percy lifted his head. He knew this song. He actually knew this song! Of all the songs on this game, a song that he was actually familiar with was on the list. Maybe that would make him play better, since he knew the song and could expect the beat.
"I know this one," he exclaimed excitedly.
Annabeth simply nodded. She seemed to enter a completely different plane of existence when the game started. Percy knew what it was. She was hyperfocusing. He was prone to doing so on occasion. It was nice to know that she did, too. It made him feel like he had more in common with her, even if she was a human and he was a demigod.
"Beethoven's Symphony Number Five is pretty well known," Thalia said. "It's probably one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music. Ask pretty much anyone and they've probably heard it."
Luke gave her a sly sidelong glance. "I didn't know you liked classical music, Thalia. I thought you were more alternative...rock...er...whatever genre you listen to." His face looked a lot less sly and far more bashful by the time he finished speaking.
Thalia just shrugged. "A little symphony never hurt anyone. Though my personal favorite will always be Mozart's Symphony Number Forty-One. Can't go wrong with that one."
Percy bit his lip. That sounded familiar. He didn't exactly know why, though. His brain was definitely telling him that the name meant something to him, but he wasn't sure what. Man, he wished his memory recall would help him out a bit. What's the point of remembering things if you only remember parts of them?
He didn't have time to dwell on it, though. The notes were rising to the arrows already. He needed to focus and do his best so that they could beat Thalia and Luke. He wasn't going to hold Annabeth back.
The song was abridged to a more reasonable length, but even then it was longer than the song Luke and Thalia had played. Percy's feet moved in near sync with Annabeth. He wasn't paying attention to her now. His eyes were glued to the screen. His mind went into focus. Left, left, right, down, up, up, down, right, left... His brain cycled from direction to direction, telling him each note and which one to prepare for. The demigod's mind always looked at what was ahead, not what he was facing now. Look at the note that is next. Prepare for it. Stomp it until it burst into color. Rinse. Repeat.
The song ended with Percy in a trance, his attention still focused on the screen. He couldn't even hear the people around him. He just looked at his score on the screen. It was in the thousands...tens of thousands? His eyes kept switching where the numbers were and where the zeros of unoccupied place values were. Where did his score end?
A light touch on his shoulder made Percy jump and nearly fall off the board. Only a quick grab of the railing and Annabeth grabbing his arm could save him from hitting his head on the arcade floor. Annabeth's grey eyes melted with worry.
"Percy," she said anxiously, as if she were repeating herself. "Are you okay? You spaced out on us. The game's over. Thalia is adding up our scores.'
Percy gave her a blank look before shaking his head. "...Yeah. I'm okay. I just...got really focused I guess. I wanted to do my best."
Luke gave him a sympathetic look from over Annabeth's shoulder. "Hyperfocus? We're all guilty of it. It's actually how we all met..."
His reminiscing was cut abruptly by Annabeth pulling Percy away from the game and handing him his water bottle. "You should have a drink," she told him. "You're sweating again."
Luke stopped talking and gave Percy a once over. "Yikes. You look like Grover during Gym class. Your hair even looks wet, Percy."
"Thanks," Percy replied sarcastically. He took his water and swiftly gulped the remaining amount down. Man, I really hope sweat doesn't count towards being wet. I'd hate to get a tail in the middle of the arcade, Percy thought with a shudder. He could see it now. Percy Jackson, the first ever human to spontaneously grow a tail after playing Dance Dance Revolution. At least, that's how mortals would see it. They'd probably start an intensive investigation to find if the game had any further side effects. Mortals tested everything. That's what his father told him, anyway. They could never accept things as they were.
He clenched his plastic bottle until it cracked and popped. He made a mental note to buy all of his new friends reusable water bottles so that they wouldn't use plastic anymore. He was constantly destroying plastic in the ocean. It was exhausting work. He didn't need to worry about any further garbage getting in there.
His mind drifted back to reality just as Thalia smiled at them. "The scores have been tallied. The results are now in!"
Luke frowned. "Hey, I wanted to do the score reveal! Making an announcer voice is my favorite part of the results!"
"You always do the score reveal," Thalia told him plainly. "It's my turn."
"Fine..."
She then looked back at Annabeth and Percy with a grin. "And our totals are..."
Percy's breath caught in his throat. Thalia and Luke's score was positively intimidating. Was that over a million? There was no way you could have a score over a million in a game of Dance Dance Revolution, right? He had to have heard wrong.
Then Thalia told them the score that he and Annabeth had earned.
His heart sank. That number was definitely not a million. They lost. He tried so hard too. He ended up holding Annabeth back. Now that was the first loss she'd ever had, not including technical failure. He couldn't imagine how disappointed she must feel...
"You did great, Percy," Annabeth said as she gave him a pat on the back. "You're a great partner. With a little practice, I'm sure you can beat even Luke's score!"
Percy looked over at her in awe, his green eyes as wide as a tide pool. "Wait...aren't you upset that you lost? You said you never lose."
"Nah. I had a lot of fun today," she said with a smile. "Having you play DDR with us was great! I hope you can play again next month."
Luke grinned. "Absolutely! You really learn fast! That score was really good. It was way better than Thalia's first score."
The girl with blue eyes slowly turned her head towards her friend as if she were plotting revenge already. "Excuse you? Don't you mean your first score? You hardly hit the hundred-thousand mark," she shot back.
"Nah, that's totally your first score, Thalia. Mine was flawless."
Annabeth just laughed as Thalia and Luke playfully began to argue over who was worse at the dancing arcade game when they had first played it. Percy couldn't help but smile with them. He might not have been there to witness it, but their jovial energy was infectious.
Annabeth gathered their things into her backpack, swung it over her shoulder and tapped both Thalia and Luke on the shoulder. Two pairs of blue eyes turned to face her. "Hey, we'd better get going. It's getting late and I'm certain our parents will want us home for dinner soon."
Luke and Thalia exchanged a glance before they both nodded. "Alright then, I guess it's time to go, then," Luke sighed. "We'd better go get Grover."
The group started for the exit, leaving Percy to quickly catch up and fall in step with his new friends. "You don't think Grover's been playing Pac-Man the entire time, do you," Thalia asked. "You know how obsessive he can get over that game."
They stopped when they reached the blue and yellow game cabinet. Luke chuckled. "Oh yeah, he's still there."
Grover was staring at the screen with a fevered look in his eyes. The joystick moved with a loud clack with every turn he made in the game. A few kids gave him an odd look when they passed, mostly because Grover was totally muttering under his breath what direction he was moving in next and which ghost was getting too close for comfort.
They carefully moved towards him. "Grover," Annabeth called gently. "Grover, it's time to go home."
"Can't. Must. Beat. High Score." Grover's voice was shaking. He sounded like his mouth had gone dry somewhere as he was playing.
"Underwood, it's time to go. You're not anywhere near beating the Stoll's high score, anyway. It would take you reaching the death screen and beyond to get even close to that number," Luke chided. "Come on. We have to... Where are your crutches?"
"Floor. Lost them in the battle against Blinky a few levels back. Worth it," Grover explained, his voice hoarse and monotone.
Thalia picked them up and gave them back to Grover, much to his protest. "Come on, Grover! We need to go!"
Luke shook his head and looked back at Annabeth and Percy. "How many tokens does he have left? They should run out soon."
True to his word, the game clicked out and displayed a continue screen. Grover screamed under his breath before dejectedly turning away from the game. "...Got any tokens," he asked hopefully.
Percy shook his head. "Nope. All gone."
Grover sighed and reluctantly walked away from the Pac-Man cabinet. He gave the screen one last look as it flicked back to the title screen. He then looked back at his friends. "Okay then, let's go."
Luke grinned. "Alright. Everyone got everything?"
"One calculator, one pencil, one notepad, four water bottles and a backpack. We've got everything," Annabeth informed them.
Thalia gave them a smile before leading the way towards the door. "Then let's go, shall we?"
The group of five walked down the street, the sky still bright and the air warm around them. Percy craned his neck and stared out into the ocean. The beach was more crowded now than it had been when they went in the arcade. It would be harder to slip in the water undetected. He especially had to watch out for that new lifeguard. He'd already pulled him out of the water once, thinking he had been underwater far too long. That lifeguard was now his new enemy. He was his sole opponent standing in the way of him making a simple getaway into freedom's loving embrace—
He was reeled back in when Annabeth tapped him on the arm. "Why are you scowling at the water, Seaweed Brain," she asked teasingly.
"No reason," he answered immediately. He then looked towards her with a fleeting glance at the others ahead of them. "I need to go."
"Okay," she said sadly. "You'll hang out with us again tomorrow, right?"
"Of course. I wouldn't miss it," he chuckled.
Percy then made a show out of stretching his arms over his head and yawning. "Man, I'm beat! Who knew a game about dancing could take so much out of you?" The other stopped and stared at him, listening to their friend. "Well, I'd love to walk back with you guys but I've gotta go."
"Right," Thalia said. "You live over in that housing development over by the ocean. That's in the opposite direction of where we're going. Guess it does make sense for you to split off."
Luke gave him a smile and a pat on the back. "Thanks for hanging out with us today. It was really fun! You're coming back tomorrow, right?"
"Totally," Percy said with a smile. "I'll meet you guys on the beach again around noon."
"Sounds good," Grover told him. "We're probably going out for lunch tomorrow. They want burgers or something. I however, am looking forward to that new salad that burger place has. Heard it has avocado in it."
Percy gave them all a grin. "Sounds like a perfect plan! I'll be sure to bring my appetite." He then carefully started to walk away. "See you tomorrow," he said, that grin still on his face. He waved goodbye until they finally turned around and headed deeper into the city.
Percy watched them walk away for a few minutes before he took a deep breath and walked towards his hidden path to the beach. He ducked past the rocks, passed the small space near the tide pools where he had met Annabeth and paused at the very place he had pulled her out of the water when she nearly drowned.
This was his beach. He was safe from prying eyes here. No one would know if he jumped in the water here, not even that pesky lifeguard. He brushed off his blue and white striped shirt before taking a running dive towards the water. Instead of hitting his head on the sand as any human would, the water gushed off the shore to meet him halfway and encased him in water. A fresh wave of energy and clarity rippled through him, giving relief to his aching arms and legs after an afternoon above the water's surface.
Percy kicked his legs together and dove deeper, feeling them contract and merge into a single agile tail. He moved faster now, which let him carry on until he reached the shark net. The hole he had made in the center of the beach had since been repaired, but that didn't affect him here. There was a space in the net that was easily passed through by someone of his size. All he had to do was squeeze through the space he had carefully cut through two nets. The demigod pushed through and then made a break for it into the deepest depths of the ocean.
He swam for several miles, passing through small schools of fish and diving deeper to make absolutely sure that he wouldn't be seen by any of the small boats on the waves above. He passed the lighthouse and carried on, swimming a path that had been memorized long ago.
He swam until he could see a faint shimmer of his home, the magnificence of pearls and abalone shells woven in with sea stone nearly blinding under the rippling light. The sound of chattering reached his ears as he could finally hear the dolphins talking among each other within the city. Percy spun a few corkscrews before plunging through the open gates and disappearing within the gleaming castle hidden behind the veil of the Mist and the sweet embrace of the ocean's darkest depths.
Author's Note: It has been eons, but I finally return with another addition to "Of Awkward Summer Vacations and Beached Dolphins". In the time between the original three parts and this one-shot addition, I've finished the first series and nearly finished Heroes of Olympus. As of this writing, I'm more than halfway finished with House of Hades. Will I include some of the second series characters? Probably. They're too good to ignore.
In this continuation, Percy gets to see just how much fun it is above the surface. Will it be tiring for him to be out of water? Yes. Will he have fun regardless? Absolutely. Also a short note. I've definitely included some foreshadowing in this one. I've got more planned for this series and I'm happy to give hints as to what that might be.
I'd also like to say that I'm beyond thrilled at how much positive feedback I've had for this series! It warms my heart to see how much you guys enjoy it, and how much you wanted to see more! Thank you very much! I sincerely hope that this new chapter/continuation will live up to your expectations. I know the wait was a little long (and that this was started a while back and my writing style changed up a bit during that time), but I hope it was worth it! Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!